AI and Crypto Roundup: Anthropic Files for Its IPO, Midnight Passes 1 Million Transactions
Anthropic files publicly for its IPO, OpenAI and Google ship new models, an AI agent swarm hits Warp, the Fed holds with Bitcoin near $81K, Midnight passes one million transactions and DTCC launches tokenization.
A busy week on both sides of the house: one of the biggest AI companies is heading to the public markets, two new frontier models arrived, and Wall Street's plumbing took a real step onto the blockchain. Here is what mattered.
AI
Anthropic files publicly for its IPO
Anthropic filed its S-1 on October 26 under the ticker "ANT," putting its financials in public for the first time. Revenue reached $16.3 billion in the first half of 2026, up from $1.2 billion a year earlier, and the company now counts more than 1,900 customers spending over $1 million a year each. The headline net loss of $80.7 billion is driven mostly by noncash accounting tied to convertible debt; the operating loss was $693 million, narrower than $2.1 billion a year earlier. The seven co-founders will hold 50.1% of voting power through a Founder LLC, and the filing warns that AI could pose "catastrophic or existential risks to humanity" (TechCrunch, Washington Post).
OpenAI ships GPT-6.1 Terra
OpenAI released GPT-6.1 Terra on October 26 for paid ChatGPT plans, Codex and the API. It is priced at $1 per million input tokens and $5 per million output, which OpenAI says is half the price of its predecessor, and the company claims it completes agent tasks more than three times faster than GPT-6 Astra (BleepingComputer, Decrypt).
Google answers with Gemini 4 Carbon
Two weeks after Gemini 4 Argon, Google announced Gemini 4 Carbon on October 28. Google says it tops the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index and is unusually strong at finding and patching software vulnerabilities. Security teams get access first this week, with developers, businesses and consumers to follow (Google, 9to5Google). As always, these benchmark figures are company-reported.
An "agent swarm" breaches Warp
Warp, which makes an AI-powered developer terminal, disclosed on October 27 that agent decision logs and telemetry were exposed through a compromised third-party vendor, affecting roughly 1% of its users. Early analysis points to an attack run by an AI agent swarm. CrowdStrike is assisting, and it follows last week's OpenCode breach that exposed stored API keys (BleepingComputer).
Two weeks, two AI developer tools breached, and attackers increasingly using agents of their own. If your team plugs AI tools into your code, cloud or customer data, now is a good time to review what those tools can reach. Our cybersecurity and compliance team can help.
Crypto
The Fed holds, and Bitcoin hovers near $81K
The Federal Reserve held rates at 3.75% to 4.00% on October 28 in a 10 to 2 vote, with both dissenters wanting a hike. Bitcoin rose about 2% into the decision, from roughly $79,756 on October 27 to about $81,360 on Wednesday morning, and held near $81,000 afterward (Fortune, Admiral Markets). US spot Bitcoin ETFs took in $176 million on October 27, led by BlackRock's IBIT (FinanceFeeds). Cardano's ADA traded near $0.20. The Fed meets next on December 9.
Midnight passes one million transactions
Midnight's mainnet crossed one million cumulative transactions on October 27, with daily activity climbing from 128 transactions on September 27 to more than 47,000 on October 26 (crypto.news). It is a strong early sign of real usage for Cardano's privacy-focused partner chain, and Input Output marked the milestone on X.
We are watching Midnight closely. Read more on our Midnight coverage.
The CFTC pushes ahead while Congress stalls
With the CLARITY Act stuck since its failed Senate vote in September, CFTC Chairman Mike Selig said on October 26 that the agency is moving forward with a voluntary federal registration path for crypto exchanges. The CFTC's advance notice of proposed rulemaking is open for public comment until December 14 (crypto.news).
Wall Street's plumbing goes onchain
DTCC, the company that settles most US securities trades, launched its tokenization service on October 28. It covers 34 eligible securities, including select Russell 1000 stocks, ETFs and Treasuries worth about $30 trillion in market value, with 20 firms signed up, including Bank of America, JPMorgan, Citi, Fidelity and Morgan Stanley. CEO Frank La Salla called it "the culmination of years of work" (CoinDesk, crypto.news). Last week, issuers pushed back on tokenized stocks trading without their consent. This week, the system at the center of US markets started doing it with the banks on board.
From Ultra Labs
This week we launched Recipe For Disaster, a chaotic, silly, food-themed shooter that is free to play on Roblox for all ages, and published our field guide, Get the Most from Claude. See everything we build on the Ultra Labs brands page.
Prices and figures are as reported by the linked sources at the time of writing. This roundup is for information only and is not financial advice.