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# Hemi Pulse - October 16, 2026
- URL: https://news.hemi.xyz/hemi-pulse-october-16-2026/
- Published: 2026-10-16T23:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-16T22:59:59.000Z
- Description: Hemi's weekly recap on yield, DeFi, ecosystem, and community updates.
- Author: Hemi Labs
- Tags: Hemi, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Yield

| ![hemi](https://storage.ghost.io/c/54/c6/54c6f660-26c3-4ce3-8ea1-ea7e37a8cc90/content/images/2026/07/hemi-logo-positive.png)PulseFriday16 October 2026Bitcoin finance, weekly · 10 to 16 October · Published by Hemi LabsStablecoins go to work at Visa.Bitcoin yield takes shape.The week in five lines**Visa moved USDC funding into production** for cross-border payouts on 15 October.**US spot ETFs lost $146M** in four trading days, after losing $679M the week before.**More BTC went to loans.** cbBTC posted on Morpho rose 600 to 49,550, while Spark lost 1,191 BTC.**MSCI finalized rules** that could drop Strategy and Metaplanet from its indexes on 30 November.**Hemi's Oxygen heads to audit,** and ZK proving stays on track for Q4.**By the numbers**Week to 16 October; ETF flows through 15 OctoberMetricNowChangeBTC held in Bitcoin DeFi52,908−522 w/wUS spot ETF flows−$146Mprior −$679McbBTC posted on Morpho49,550+600 w/wBorrowed on Morpho$1.59B+3.0% w/wLBTC backing, BTC7,676−1.9% w/w01THE LEADVisa Takes Stablecoin Payments Out of the LabVisa Direct now lets businesses fund cross-border payouts with USDC, around the clock, with Inyo Global first to go live. Thirteen months after the first pilot, it is in commercial production.24/7USDC prefunding, any hour180+Countries reached via Inyo$7BStablecoin settlement run rate, AprilSources: [Visa, 15 Oct](https://usa.visa.com/about-visa/newsroom/press-releases.releaseId.22851.html?ref=news.hemi.xyz) · [The Block](https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2026-10-16-visa-direct-moves-usdc-prefunding-into-commercial-production-with-inyo-global-418802?ref=news.hemi.xyz)OUR READStablecoins are becoming the funding leg of mainstream payments. The open question for Bitcoin finance is whether BTC becomes the collateral those dollars are borrowed against.02MARKETS AND INSTITUTIONSETF Selling Slows. Bitcoin Loans Keep Growing.Spot ETFs lost $146 million in four trading days as BTC held near $81,000\. Inside Bitcoin DeFi, coins left Spark and moved into Morpho collateral.**US spot BTC ETF net flows by week**to 18 Sep+$6Mto 25 Sep+$2.39Bto 2 Oct+$241Mto 9 Oct−$679Mto 16 Oct\*−$146MWeeks run Saturday to Friday. \*Through 15 Oct. Source: [Farside](https://farside.co.uk/bitcoin-etf-flow-all-data/?ref=news.hemi.xyz)**IBIT and FBTC led the outflows** at −$93.6M and −$49.6M.**Bitcoin DeFi's share of all DeFi rose to 4.88%** from 4.79%.**Bitcoin left Spark again**BTC posted with lenders, net of borrowingVenueNow7dAave v364,420−0.7%Morpho, cbBTC49,550+1.2%Spark7,728**−13.4%**Compound v37,589−0.7%Venus6,760+0.6%Morpho, kBTC6,092−7.0%Spark's −1,191 BTC: cbBTC −1,147, LBTC −216, WBTC +173\. DefiLlama, Morpho API.**Institutions** **MSCI moves to drop bitcoin treasury companies.** Firms failing four of five ratios become ineligible from 30 Nov; Strategy and Metaplanet are named. [Decrypt](https://decrypt.co/381168/bitcoin-treasury-giant-strategy-faces-index-removal-under-finalized-msci-rules?ref=news.hemi.xyz)**Metaplanet moves to cut its bitcoin loan.** Borrowing hit 17.7% of its BTC's value; a ¥52B convertible partly repays it. [TDnet](https://contents.xj-storage.jp/xcontents/33500/8841083a/4cc3/48ab/9277/945e6a6dae59/140120261013550010.pdf?ref=news.hemi.xyz)**Strategy buys back more than it buys bitcoin:** $192.4M of STRC against $21.5M of BTC. [8-K](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001050446/000119312526419726/mstr-ex99%5F1.htm?ref=news.hemi.xyz)**A Korean bank lends against bitcoin.** Jeonbuk Bank's first won loan secured by custodied BTC. SINGLE SOURCE [CoinDesk](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/10/12/south-korea-just-got-its-first-traditional-bank-loans-backed-by-bitcoin?ref=news.hemi.xyz)03BITCOIN YIELDBitcoin Yield Gets RealBTC-paid products now offer up to a 3% target with no token incentives, lending against BTC keeps climbing, and treasury preferreds at 12 to 15% show what investors will pay for bitcoin income.**What Bitcoin earns, costs to borrow, and what treasuries pay**Binance BTC savings0.30%Lombard LBTC, Sept (net)0.38%Lombard LBTC target2.5%Stacks Bond 2 target3.0%Borrow vs cbBTC, Morpho5.2%Smarter Web MORE12%Strive SATA13%Strive SATS (proposed)15%Orange: paid in BTC. Grey: borrowing cost. Black: treasury preferreds, paid in cash. Binance, Lombard, Stacks, Morpho, Strive and BitcoinTreasuries.**Lending demand is climbing.** 52% of all cbBTC is now loan collateral on Morpho, up from about 7% in February 2025.**Treasuries are managing capital.** Strategy's buybacks ran nine times its BTC buying in the week to 11 October.**Exchange wrappers won the year.** cbBTC, kBTC and UBTC added about 37,800 BTC over 12 months.04POLICY AND SECURITYRegulators Race to Define Who Holds the CoinsCongress is stalled, so agencies are filling the gap. The question in each proposal: who holds the coins once they enter a smart contract.**Status board**As of 16 OctoberItemNext[SEC crypto custody proposal](https://www.sidley.com/en/insights/newsupdates/2026/10/sec-proposes-crypto-custody-rules-and-broader-custody-reforms?ref=news.hemi.xyz)60 days after publication[GENIUS Act rules](https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/09/24/u-s-federal-reserve-moves-on-proposals-to-implement-genius-act-for-stablecoins?ref=news.hemi.xyz)Treasury comments 19 Oct[CFTC spot-market rules](https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/9307-26?ref=news.hemi.xyz)Comments \~12 Dec[CLARITY Act](https://www.orrick.com/en/Insights/2026/10/The-CLARITY-Act-Stalls-in-the-Senate-Whats-Next-for-Digital-Asset-Regulation?ref=news.hemi.xyz)After 3 Nov midterms[ESMA on non-MiCA stablecoins](https://www.esma.europa.eu/press-news/esma-news/esma-sets-out-supervisory-expectations-services-related-unauthorised?ref=news.hemi.xyz)\~8 Jan 2027[Post-quantum Bitcoin (Coinbase)](https://www.theblock.co/news/ecosystems/2026-10-13-coinbase-bitcoin-post-quantum-migration-418509?ref=news.hemi.xyz)No path yet**What the incidents cost: $92M to $108M**Ledger reseller drain$86M to $102MGamdom\*$4.3MTHEO on Base$1.7M\*Unconfirmed. Tracker estimates. [Ledger](https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2026/10/12/ledger-says-unauthorized-implant-found-in-at-least-one-device-sold-by-cryptobilis?ref=news.hemi.xyz) · [Gamdom](https://ambcrypto.com/cryptos-security-crisis-deepens-3-exploits-rattle-the-market-in-24-hours/?ref=news.hemi.xyz) · [THEO](https://cryptotimes.io/2026/10/13/autheo-theo-crashes-over-90-after-1-7m-hyperlane-bridge-exploit-on-base?ref=news.hemi.xyz)**Interop:** LayerZero support on GOAT winds down 23 to 30 Oct; LayerZero WBTC on BOB stops moving after 31 Oct. [GOAT](https://www.goat.network/news/stargate-sunset-and-layerzero-v2-dvn-executor-migration?ref=news.hemi.xyz)05THIS WEEK IN HEMIHemi's Proving Stack Heads to AuditFrom Tuesday's Midweek with Max: the hardest piece of Hemi's ZK work goes to auditors, and the Q4 roadmap holds.**Oxygen goes to audit.** Hemi's Bitcoin daemon stores data in a Merkle structure built for hVM queries, with full ZK provability.**ZK miner private beta nears.** Rewards come from a separate HEMI pool for successful runs, proof volume and bug reports.**veHEMI auto-relock heads to auditors,** with a one-time retroactive incentive; PoP points conversion follows in the next couple of weeks.**ZK proving on track for Q4.** hBitVM is targeted for Q4 but could slip to early Q1\. [Full recap](https://hemi.xyz/blog/midweek-with-max-oxygen-to-audit-and-chainbuilder%E2%80%99s-next-shape?ref=news.hemi.xyz)COMMUNITY · HAIR GAMES SEASON XCandy Cascade Lands in the Arcade500 levels of match-3 with progress saved onchain. Beat your best for Hair Points; 30,000 HEMI across the top 15, and first place wins 6,000.[Play Candy Cascade](https://game.hairtoken.xyz/?ref=news.hemi.xyz)**Earn on Hemi: BrownFi pools**Merkl incentive APR as of 16 OctoberPoolAPRTVL[HEMI-VUSD](https://app.merkl.xyz/opportunities/15936254941414386628?ref=news.hemi.xyz)**115.51%**$5K[USDT-VUSD](https://app.merkl.xyz/opportunities/16836210028280935579?ref=news.hemi.xyz)**42.99%**$11K[WETH-VUSD](https://app.merkl.xyz/opportunities/1300502118348424640?ref=news.hemi.xyz)**42.73%**$14K[USDC.e-VUSD](https://app.merkl.xyz/opportunities/5800716454219059942?ref=news.hemi.xyz)**31.17%**$25K[WETH-USDC.e](https://app.merkl.xyz/opportunities/3759885316334078396?ref=news.hemi.xyz)**29.14%**$26K[hemiBTC-VUSD](https://app.merkl.xyz/opportunities/4022707304947230100?ref=news.hemi.xyz)**23.43%**$33K[WETH-hemiBTC](https://app.merkl.xyz/opportunities/1976922132721210970?ref=news.hemi.xyz)**19.44%**$466K[WBTC-hemiBTC](https://app.merkl.xyz/opportunities/15342484602909041814?ref=news.hemi.xyz)**8.43%**$91KJurisdictional restrictions may apply. Rates may fluctuate based on market conditions.[About the BrownFi partnership](https://hemi.xyz/blog/brownfi-algebra-finance-and-merkl-partner-to-build-hemi-liquidity-hub?ref=news.hemi.xyz)06CALENDARAhead: Money20/20, a Fed Call and an Index CutDateEvent18–21 OctMoney20/20 USA, Las Vegas19 OctGENIUS Act Treasury comments close27–28 OctFOMC29 OctStrategy Q3 results31 OcteCash fork targeted11 NovMSCI publishes affected companies30 NovMSCI rule takes effectQ4**Hemi ZK proving**Figures as of 16 October 2026, 19:45 UTC, from DefiLlama, CoinGecko, Morpho, Farside, Merkl and onchain reads. SINGLE SOURCE marks items confirmed in only one place. Hemi Pulse is published by Hemi Labs for information only. It is not investment, legal or tax advice. Digital assets involve risk. |
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