🔑 Key Takeaways

• Bitcoin ended the week near $80,000, down about 2% on daily closes, as ETF flows swung between large inflows and outflows within days.
• $FF unlocks $20.7M (6.62% of unlocked supply) on October 29, with team and investor allocations now in monthly vesting after their one-year cliff.
• GMX's GMLabs-003 pairs a new revenue-funded buyback with a 180-day unstaking timelock, a design that could reduce near-term liquid supply from stakers.
• Aave outlined a buyback, staking and burn framework on October 22 and JUST upgraded its buyback-and-burn program on October 23, though Aave has not yet put a formal proposal to governance.

Weekly Recap

Crypto spent another week inside a tight band. Bitcoin closed Friday at roughly $81,000 and ether near $2,400, and bitcoin slipped to about $80,000 by Sunday. The asset has closed between about $80,000 and $84,000 since October 7, a stretch of under three weeks, after trading between about $83,500 and $86,500 from September 21 to October 6.

The modest weekly decline hides a choppy path. US spot bitcoin ETFs took in $526.6M on October 19, the largest single-day inflow in about a month, and BTC pushed toward $85,000 by midweek. That reversed on Thursday: the Nasdaq fell 2.6% as chip and AI names sold off, and spot bitcoin ETFs recorded a $635.6M outflow. Oil added to the pressure, with Brent settling at $116.72 on Friday, its highest close since April 29, on Middle East supply concerns.

The week ahead carries more event risk than any stretch since the range began. The FOMC decides on rates on October 28, with the target range at 3.75%–4.00% and prediction markets pricing a hold at roughly 90%–95% as of October 25. Attention has largely shifted to whether a hike lands in December.

Top Buybacks of the Week

$HYPE continues to lead by a wide margin, though its weekly buyback is down from $14.81M four weeks ago. $RAY returns to the top five in place of $ASTER, while $LIT, $PUMP and $LINK held near recent levels.

Upcoming Events

Next week’s scheduled cliff unlocks total about $86 Million in value. Dollar figures are marked at October 25, 2026. Top tokens facing the largest cliff unlocks next week include $FF, $CARDS, $SUI, $KMNO, and $EIGEN.

Unlock Spotlight: $FF

• Unlock date: October 29, 2026
• Unlock amount: $20.68M
• Unlock as % of unlocked supply: 6.62%
• Vested allocation: Others, Reserve, Founder / Team, Private Investors

Falcon Finance is a synthetic dollar protocol that issues USDf against crypto and real-world asset collateral. $FF is its governance and utility token, with a fixed 10B maximum supply. Staking $FF unlocks preferential minting terms and yield in USDf or $FF.

This is the week's largest scheduled cliff unlock, and about two-thirds of it goes to the Ecosystem and Foundation allocations (Others and Reserve on the chart), with the rest split between the team and investors.

The allocation mix is the key detail. Falcon's published tokenomics give the core team and early contributors 20% of supply and investors 4.5%, both under a one-year cliff followed by three years of vesting. With the token's first anniversary now passed, insider allocations are vesting, and trackers show monthly instalments running through August 2029, making FF's supply a recurring monthly event rather than a one-off cliff.

Lock-up enforcement is also in focus: DWF Labs-linked entities are suing custodian BitGo for $141M in London's High Court, alleging FF tokens bought in a private OTC deal were sold before agreed lock-ups expired. BitGo has declined to comment, and the claims remain untested.

Notable Tokenomics Updates

GMX: Solana revenue buybacks and a 180-day unstaking timelock

Status: Announced by GM Labs on the GMX forum October 21; planned effective date October 28, subject to implementation readiness

GM Labs published GMLabs-003, which makes two changes. First, all Solana-side protocol revenue remaining after GT buybacks will be used to buy back GMX, with the purchased tokens added to the staking rewards pool. GT buybacks continue, and they currently take 99% of Solana-side revenue with the other 1% going to LPs, so the GMX buyback starts from that 1% share. Second, a 180-day unstaking timelock will apply to both new and existing GMX and esGMX staking positions on Arbitrum and Avalanche.

The change ties Solana-side activity to GMX staking rewards through a revenue-funded buyer, although GMLabs-003 itself notes that no on-chain staking rewards are currently distributed. The timelock is the more consequential piece for supply: it lengthens the gap between a decision to exit and tokens becoming liquid, which could reduce near-term sell pressure from stakers. It also reduces flexibility for existing holders, who staked under different terms.

Aave: Aavenomics 3.0 outlines buybacks, staking and burns

Status: Outlined on Aave's Q3 livestream October 22; no formal governance proposal posted as of October 25

Aave founder Stani Kulechov said on Aave's Q3 livestream on October 22 that Aavenomics 3.0 will include AAVE buybacks, staking and a burn. AAVE buybacks have been paused since April 19, when the DAO suspended them following the rsETH vulnerability incident to protect the protocol's balance sheet. Under the new framework, any burn, staking design and buyback restart would still need to pass Aave governance, and no formal proposal has been posted yet.

JUST (JST): Upgraded buyback and burn program

Status: Announced October 23; deployment begins Q4 2026

Following the completion of Phase 1 with its fifth buyback and burn on October 16, JUST announced an upgraded JST program that adds an estimated $20.34M of surplus above a $50M treasury reserve, sourced mainly from GasFree's cumulative revenue, to supplement buybacks that ongoing revenue already funds. The capital will be deployed across four installments starting in Q4 2026, with revenue allocated to buybacks continuously and the repurchased JST burned on a scheduled basis, under JUST DAO. The program adds GasFree revenue alongside JustLend from Q4 2026, with USDD contributing only once its net revenue exceeds $10M, though the details so far come from the project's own announcement.