On this date in 2019, US regulators issued landmark cryptocurrency tax guidance while rejecting a proposed Bitcoin exchange-traded fund. The same day, UNICEF announced a groundbreaking cryptocurrency initiative. More recently, October 9 brought a major UK crackdown on crypto advertising, criminal charges involving alleged wash trading, and a strategic partnership connecting Binance Japan with one of Japan’s largest digital payment platforms.
Here is a look back at eight notable developments announced on October 9 in previous years, and what they reveal about the evolution of the cryptocurrency industry.
October 9, 2017: Financial Commission Begins Accepting Bitcoin and Ethereum Payments
On October 9, 2017, the Financial Commission, an independent dispute-resolution organization serving online brokers, announced that companies could pay membership dues and service fees using Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Previously, these payments had generally been made in traditional currencies, including US dollars and euros. The decision expanded cryptocurrency’s use beyond speculative trading and into business-to-business financial services.
The announcement came during the initial coin offering boom, when blockchain companies were increasingly exploring alternatives to conventional financial infrastructure. Financial Commission had also introduced an ICO certification service, reflecting growing interest in bringing compliance-oriented processes to the emerging sector.
Although relatively modest compared with later institutional adoption milestones, the move illustrated how cryptocurrency payments were spreading into established financial-service operations. Importantly, Financial Commission was a voluntary industry organization, not a government financial regulator, and its acceptance of crypto did not constitute official regulatory approval.
Original source: Financial Commission announcement, October 9, 2017.
October 9, 2019: IRS Releases Landmark Cryptocurrency Tax Guidance
On October 9, 2019, the US Internal Revenue Service published Revenue Ruling 2019-24 alongside an expanded set of frequently asked questions addressing cryptocurrency taxation.
The guidance clarified how existing federal tax principles applied to cryptocurrency hard forks, airdrops, transaction gains and cost basis calculations. One particularly consequential distinction concerned whether a taxpayer actually received additional cryptocurrency following a blockchain fork.
The IRS concluded that a hard fork alone generally did not create taxable income when the taxpayer received no new cryptocurrency. However, receiving new units through an airdrop following a hard fork could generate ordinary income when the recipient obtained dominion and control over those assets.
For cryptocurrency investors, the announcement reinforced the need to document transactions, acquisition costs and the circumstances in which new tokens were received. It also highlighted that receiving cryptocurrency without purchasing it could still have tax consequences.
The ruling supplemented the IRS’s original 2014 guidance treating virtual currencies as property for federal tax purposes. Although subsequent rules and interpretations have further developed the framework, October 9, 2019, remains an important date in the history of US cryptocurrency taxation.
Original source: IRS announcement, October 9, 2019.
October 9, 2019: SEC Rejects Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Proposal
The same day brought a setback for investors seeking regulated Bitcoin exposure through conventional securities markets.
On October 9, 2019, the US Securities and Exchange Commission issued an order disapproving NYSE Arca’s proposal to list and trade shares of the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Trust.
The agency’s concerns centered on whether the exchange had adequately demonstrated that the proposed listing complied with requirements designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative practices. Bitcoin spot-market surveillance and the ability to detect manipulation were central issues in the regulatory debate.
At the time, financial institutions had spent years trying to introduce US-listed spot Bitcoin investment products, but regulators remained unconvinced that the underlying markets offered sufficient safeguards.
The October 2019 disapproval was subsequently withdrawn in January 2020 while the Commission reviewed the delegated action. Nevertheless, the episode illustrates the resistance early spot Bitcoin products encountered.
The historical contrast is striking: on January 10, 2024, the SEC approved exchange rule changes allowing multiple spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products to begin trading. The approval did not eliminate Bitcoin’s investment risks, but it represented a major shift in how investors could access the asset through brokerage accounts.
Original sources: SEC October 9, 2019, order and SEC January 2024 approval statement.
October 9, 2019: UNICEF Launches Cryptocurrency Fund
October 9, 2019, also marked a milestone in cryptocurrency’s use outside financial markets.
UNICEF announced the creation of its Cryptocurrency Fund, becoming the first United Nations organization able to receive, hold and distribute cryptocurrency donations through a dedicated mechanism.
The fund initially supported Bitcoin and Ether. Rather than automatically converting all donated cryptocurrency into fiat money, UNICEF designed the initiative to retain and distribute contributions in their original digital currencies.
Initial contributions were expected from the Ethereum Foundation, supporting technology projects connected with UNICEF’s Innovation Fund and initiatives aimed at improving internet connectivity and access to essential services.
The experiment offered an opportunity to investigate whether blockchain-based payments could improve transparency and support international funding activities. It also exposed challenges involving cryptocurrency volatility, custody and operational controls.
UNICEF later described the CryptoFund as a prototype for exploring digitally financed operations. Its establishment demonstrated that cryptocurrency was beginning to attract serious experimentation from major international institutions, even while its practical advantages remained subject to evaluation.
Original source: UNICEF announcement, October 9, 2019.
October 9, 2020: The Graph Announces Ethereum State-Channel Integration
On October 9, 2020, blockchain indexing protocol The Graph announced a collaboration with Connext and State Channels, part of the Consensys Mesh research ecosystem, to introduce generalized state-channel technology for Ethereum-based infrastructure payments.
The project adopted the Nitro protocol and related wallet infrastructure to support micropayments for accessing blockchain data.
The technical challenge was significant. Decentralized applications require frequent data queries, but processing every small payment directly on Ethereum’s base layer could make routine infrastructure usage expensive and inefficient.
State channels offered a way for participants to coordinate repeated interactions off-chain while relying on blockchain infrastructure for settlement and enforcement. The Graph envisioned using this approach to compensate indexing service providers for individual queries.
The announcement reflected a wider shift in decentralized finance: developers were beginning to focus not only on building applications, but also on the payment, data and scaling infrastructure necessary to operate them sustainably.
The Graph subsequently launched its decentralized network mainnet in December 2020. Its October announcement remains an example of the industry’s early work on making decentralized data services economically viable.
Original source: The Graph announcement, October 9, 2020.
October 9, 2023: UK Regulator Announces 146 Crypto Advertising Alerts
On October 9, 2023, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority announced that it had issued 146 alerts concerning cryptocurrency promotions during the first day of the country’s new crypto financial-marketing regime.
The new rules had taken effect on October 8, extending financial-promotion requirements to firms marketing qualifying cryptoassets to UK consumers, including businesses operating from outside the country.
Promotions needed to follow an applicable legal route and comply with requirements intended to ensure communications were fair, clear and not misleading. The regime also introduced prominent risk warnings and restrictions on inappropriate investment incentives.
The regulator’s immediate publication of 146 alerts demonstrated how quickly authorities intended to challenge potentially unlawful marketing practices.
For retail investors, the implications went beyond advertising language. Exchanges, token promoters and intermediaries faced additional scrutiny over how they attracted customers, while unauthorized promotions could trigger action involving websites, advertising services and other distribution channels.
The anniversary is significant because it shows the transition from relatively permissive cryptocurrency marketing toward more formal consumer-protection standards.
Original source: FCA statement, October 9, 2023.
October 9, 2024: FBI Reveals Fake Cryptocurrency Used in Market Manipulation Investigation
One of the more unusual episodes in cryptocurrency enforcement emerged on October 9, 2024, when the US Department of Justice announced charges against 18 individuals and entities in an international investigation into alleged cryptocurrency fraud and market manipulation.
The investigation, known as Operation Token Mirrors, involved an extraordinary tactic: the FBI created its own cryptocurrency token, NexFundAI, to investigate companies allegedly providing fraudulent market-making services.
According to prosecutors, some defendants used coordinated transactions to create artificial trading volume and give investors a misleading impression of market activity. The alleged schemes involved wash trading and, in certain cases, efforts to sell tokens at artificially inflated prices.
The authorities reported seizing more than $25 million in cryptocurrency and disabling trading bots associated with millions of dollars in allegedly fraudulent transactions across approximately 60 cryptocurrencies.
The operation highlighted a longstanding vulnerability in cryptocurrency markets: visible trading volume does not necessarily demonstrate genuine investor demand.
That distinction remains relevant when analyzing today’s decentralized exchanges. For example, Dave Finances recently examined research identifying two automated trading clusters responsible for 65% of Avalanche decentralized-exchange volume during a measured period. Automated activity alone does not establish unlawful manipulation, but it can complicate interpretations of reported liquidity and market participation.
The 2024 criminal allegations served as a reminder that familiar financial-market abuses can appear in cryptocurrency trading, even when transactions occur through blockchain-based systems. Criminal charges must, however, be distinguished from proven wrongdoing.
Original source: US Department of Justice announcement, October 9, 2024.
October 9, 2025: PayPay and Binance Japan Announce Major Strategic Alliance
On October 9, 2025, Binance Japan announced a strategic alliance with PayPay, one of Japan’s largest cashless-payment providers, confirming that PayPay had acquired a 40% equity stake in the cryptocurrency exchange.
PayPay, part of the SoftBank corporate ecosystem, reported more than 70 million users at the time, giving the partnership potential access to an extensive digital-payment network.
The investment itself had taken effect in September, but the October 9 announcement publicly outlined the companies’ plans to connect cryptocurrency trading with PayPay’s payment infrastructure.
The proposed integration was designed to enable eligible Binance Japan customers to purchase crypto using PayPay Money and transfer proceeds from cryptocurrency sales back into their PayPay balances.
The companies subsequently launched the PayPay Money integration on November 21, 2025, turning the earlier strategic announcement into an operational service.
For ordinary users, this model could reduce friction between existing payment accounts and crypto exchanges. For trading platforms, connections with established payment networks can also influence customer acquisition, transaction economics and competition. Those broader exchange-business considerations are explored in How Do Crypto Exchanges Make Money?.
The alliance illustrated how cryptocurrency adoption was increasingly becoming intertwined with established financial applications rather than relying exclusively on standalone crypto services.
Original sources: Binance Japan announcement, October 9, 2025 and PayPay’s November 2025 integration announcement.
Johan Shamshad is a financial markets writer at Dave Finances covering cryptocurrencies, trading platforms, brokers, fintech, financial regulation, and developments across global markets. He previously worked at Gulf News, adding newsroom experience to his coverage of fast-moving financial and digital-asset markets.
His work focuses on identifying market-moving events, company developments, regulatory changes, product launches, and shifts in trading and financial infrastructure.
Johan contributes news and analysis designed to help readers understand not only what happened, but why a development matters and how it may affect the wider financial landscape.