Stories from Sunday, October 25, 2026

• Coinbase launches its 15-minute crypto bets again, still settles them on a minute you didn't watch

  The up-or-down contracts pay $1 or $0, and per Vertex Analytics they settle on a 60-second index average, not the last tick on your screen.

  Exclusive · Oct 25, 2026, 3:40 PM EDT · Connor O'Brien

• Trade Desk's CEO shouldn't get to vote himself a cheaper strike price

  Resetting underwater options for 2,300 employees after layoffs has a real case. Letting Jeff Green's 50.2% of the vote decide a repricing that also covers his own options doesn't.

  Opinion · Oct 25, 2026, 1:00 PM EDT · Connor O'Brien

• Trade Desk repriced employee and executive stock options to $12.26 over outside investors' opposition, the WSJ reports

  Green holds 50.2% of the voting power. His shares were about 98% of the yes votes, and about 95% of other holders' votes were no, per VerityData figures reported by the WSJ.

  Equities · Oct 25, 2026, 7:10 AM EDT · Marcus Rodriguez

• Strategy's bitcoin-buying preferreds come with a growing dividend bill

  Perpetual preferreds have contributed to the accumulation of 135,979 bitcoin, Fidelity says. Every new share also adds to the payouts, and Strategy's latest week paired a $193 million buyback with just 267 bitcoin.

  Crypto · Oct 25, 2026, 7:00 AM EDT · Jennifer Walsh

• Coinbase's 15-minute crypto prediction markets settle at $1 or $0

  A new Coinbase post pitches up-or-down contracts on BTC, ETH and SOL, but they aren't new, and bitcoin's 15-minute markets may settle on a different price than the one on your screen.

  Crypto · Oct 25, 2026, 6:50 AM EDT · Jennifer Walsh

• Tech steadied after Thursday's AI rout, but the Nasdaq still closed lower

  A midday tech bounce faded by the close as investors kept weighing the cost of AI spending, while a Bloomberg report on SpaceX's wireless plans hit telecom stocks.

  Equities · Oct 25, 2026, 6:40 AM EDT · Marcus Rodriguez

• Governments urged websites to go dark over two critical PHP flaws, and security firms saw no successful attacks by Thursday evening

  Wiz says frontier AI helped turn longstanding PHP bugs into an exploit. Nine security firms told NBC News they had seen no successful attacks as of Thursday evening.

  Equities · Oct 25, 2026, 6:30 AM EDT · Marcus Rodriguez

• Prediction markets favor a Democratic sweep on Nov. 3, but Morgan Stanley expects tariffs and tax policy to stay broadly in place

  Prediction markets favor Democrats in both chambers. Morgan Stanley says gridlock and a presidential veto limit what changes, though AI and data centers could face more scrutiny.

  Politics · Oct 25, 2026, 6:20 AM EDT · James Mitchell

• Alaska gas startup Polar LNG loses its top executives over alleged secret Russian funding

  Former CEO Joel Riddle and other executives say sanctioned Novatek was quietly bankrolling the North Slope project. Polar LNG says Riddle was fired for cause and that it complies with U.S. law.

  Startups · Oct 25, 2026, 6:10 AM EDT · Robert Harrison

• Two-thirds of the S&P 500's profit growth is coming from just 10 companies, the WSJ reports

  Nvidia and Micron account for 34% of expected third-quarter growth, per Dow Jones Market Data. FactSet says the index's growth rate drops to 20.0% from 29.0% without them.

  Equities · Oct 25, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT · Marcus Rodriguez