SpaceX successfully executed a double-header Falcon 9 launch on Sunday (Oct 19), withion 2 hours, from Florida and California achieving multiple milestones across the two separate missions and deploying a total of 56 Starlink satellites for the company's internet megaconstellation.

The first launch, Starlink 10-17 (or Starlink-312) mission occurred at 1739 UTC from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex(SLC-40)A, with a Falcon 9 carrying 28 Starlink V2 Mini satellites.

This flight marked a significant achievement as the Falcon 9 first-stage booster B1067 completed its 31st flight, setting a new record for the most flights by a single booster. The booster, which had previously flown on the Starlink 10-11 mission on August 28, 2025, successfully landed on the drone ship "A Shortfall of Gravitas" about 8.5 minutes after liftoff, marking the 129th landing on that vessel and the 520th overall landing for SpaceX.

About 64 minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9 upper stage deployed the 28 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit at an inclination of 53.°

The second launch of the day, Starlink 11-19 (or Starlink-313) mission, took place at 1924 UTC from Vandenberg Space Force Base's Space Launch Complex(SLC-4E), with a Falcon 9 carrying yet another batch of 28 Starlink V2 Mini satellites. This Falcon 9 booster B1088, which was launching for the 11th time, landed on the drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" in the Pacific Ocean.

This was also the 132nd Falcon 9 liftoff of the year, equaling the mark set by the rocket last year, with nearly 2.5 months still to go in 2025.

The Falcon 9 second stage deployed the 28 satellites into a 295 km orbit at a 53° inclination, about 1 hour after liftoff. Those 28 included the 10,000th Starlink spacecraft ever to reach orbit, which a SpaceX employee noted on the company's launch webcast: "From Tintin to 10,000! Go Starlink, go Falcon, go SpaceX!"

SpaceX launched its first two Starlink prototypes — known as Tintin A and Tintin B — to low Earth orbit (LEO) in February 2018, then began building the megaconstellation in earnest 15 months later. The company offered Starlink service for the first time with a public beta test in October 2020 and started a commercial rollout the next year.

Each Starlink satellite has an operational life of about five years, and 8,608 are reportedly currently operational. Others have been deorbited, guided down to burn up in Earth's atmosphere.

Tether has officially open-sourced its Wallet Development Kit (WDK), a modular framework designed to enable the creation of secure, self-custodial, multi-chain wallets for humans, autonomous machines, and AI agents across various devices and blockchain networks.

The toolkit supports Bitcoin, the Lightning Network, Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, Solana, TON, and other EVM and non-EVM blockchains, with initial asset support for USDT (USD), Bitcoin (BTC), XAU (gold-backed), and upcoming integration with USA₮. This release is a cornerstone of Tether’s strategy to build a free and resilient monetary infrastructure, empowering developers and organizations to deploy white-label wallets without reliance on centralized providers.

The WDK is fully open-source and ecosystem-neutral, allowing developers to integrate features like DeFi, payments, savings, swaps, and cross-chain transfers into any application or device, from mobile and desktop to embedded hardware.

The framework incorporates USDT0 network-scaling technology to ensure seamless bridging and high liquidity, and it includes a Starter Wallet for iOS and Android, demonstrating how quickly developers can build a complete digital assets wallet. 

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino emphasized that the kit is built for a future where "every single AI agent will have a wallet" within 15 years, predicting a trillion AI agents transacting in stablecoins and Bitcoin, a vision driven by the need for decentralized, machine-to-machine commerce.

This initiative expands on Tether’s broader AI strategy, including the launch of Tether AI—a runtime for AI agents—and the development of AI-powered tools like an AI Bitcoin Wallet Assistant and AI Translate, all designed to operate locally while preserving user privacy and self-custody.

The WDK is available for free at https://wallet.tether.io, with upcoming integrations including the Rumble Wallet and Tether’s own self-custodial solution, both built entirely on the WDK.

The company wrote in a blog post:

Tether today announced it has open-sourced its Wallet Development Kit (WDK), a new development toolkit designed to empower humans, machines, and AI agents to build, deploy, and utilize secure, multi-chain, self-custodial wallets. These wallets can be integrated into any device, from the smallest embedded systems to mobile, desktop, or server operating systems.

With WDK by Tether, developers, organizations, nations, AI Agents, and even autonomous systems can create cross-platform experiences by leveraging a single solution to develop secure, production-ready wallets and integrate wallet functions such as DeFi, payments, savings accounts, prediction markets, gaming, and tipping. 

Self-custodial wallets are the foundation for a free and open financial system, forming the backbone of a resilient infrastructure that cannot be abused or disrupted by centralized entities. By open-sourcing WDK, anyone can audit, use, contribute back to the code, and build their own independent, secure, and permissionless white-label wallets. 

“Self-custodial wallets are the cornerstone of a free and resilient monetary infrastructure,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. “We imagine a world where humans, autonomous machines, and AI Agents have the freedom to control their own finances. In that future, where programmable money is the social network across the fabric of society, WDK by Tether is the cornerstone of the financial backbone, a fully open-source, self-custodial toolkit designed to be modular, independent, resilient, and infinitely scalable, enabling trillions of wallets.”

Unlike commercial wallet frameworks that charge fees or lock developers into specific ecosystems, WDK by Tether is fully open-source and ecosystem-agnostic. Built with flexibility at its core, the framework enables anyone to create wallets that can operate across Bitcoin, Lightning Network, EVM, and non-EVM blockchains, including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, TON, Solana, and more. USDT0 network-scaling technology is embedded to ensure seamless bridging and highly-available liquidity. WDK by Tether supports a wide range of DeFi primitives, from lending to swaps, alongside advanced features that allow developers to create comprehensive user experiences for any use case. WDK also offers customizable user-interface templates and widgets that simplify the most complex aspects of wallet development, as well as secure key management, cross-chain asset transfers, messaging capabilities, and stateful solutions such as real-time balance updates and transfer status tracking. 

Wallets need to run everywhere. WDK by Tether can live and evolve on any embedded device, mobile app, desktop application, IoT device, server, and even autonomous systems. From smartphones to smart fridges, from trading bots to spaceships – WDK by Tether enables financial sovereignty across all environments. In a world where AI agents and robots are becoming increasingly autonomous and will permeate every aspect of our lives, machines need to access and self-manage their own resources. WDK by Tether would be the logical, rational preferred choice for the digital entities of tomorrow, ensuring direct custody of funds, highly scalable transactions, and empowering the infinite AI economy of the future.

End-users benefit from a simple and intuitive experience that hides the complexity of crypto, including gas fees, bridge management, and network switching. At the same time, developers gain a robust and modular architecture that can be easily extended for future innovations. The soon-to-be-launched Rumble Wallet and Tether’s own upcoming self-custodial solution are built entirely on WDK, demonstrating the framework’s scalability, security, and adaptability.

"Self-custodial wallets are the cornerstone of a free and resilient monetary infrastructure. If we continue to build towards this common goal, we'll be Unstoppable Together," Ardoino wrote on X.

Following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, President Donald Trump called for both Ukraine and Russia to stop the war at the current battle lines, urging both sides to "go home, go to their families, stop the killing" and claim victory.

Trump reiterated this stance in a Truth Social post, stating, "They should stop where they are. Let both claim Victory, let History decide!" Zelenskyy described the meeting as "productive" and "long," emphasizing that both leaders agreed not to make statements about long-range strikes into Russia to avoid escalation, as the United States does not want further tension.

Trump had declined to commit to supplying Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles, citing the need to maintain U.S. stockpiles and a desire to end the war. He stated, "We’d much rather have the war be over to be honest," and expressed hesitation about tapping into U.S. supplies.

Zelensky, while acknowledging the need for a ceasefire and negotiations, did not directly confirm or deny Trump's suggestion that Ukraine should accept current battle lines. He emphasized that Ukraine needs strong security guarantees for an enduring peace and reiterated his readiness to meet Putin, despite Moscow's refusal.

The Ukrainian president had proposed a potential swap: Ukraine would provide the U.S. with thousands of its advanced drones in exchange for Tomahawk missiles. However, the U.S. remains hesitant to approve the missile transfer.

Trump's position appears to have shifted from earlier statements in which he expressed confidence that Ukraine could regain all lost territory, a change attributed to a prior phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and plans for a future meeting with him in Budapest.

This was the third face-to-face meeting between Trump and Zelensky since Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025.

Trump’s diplomatic efforts have included a phone call with Putin on Thursday, which he said yielded progress on Moscow’s willingness to negotiate. He also cited a recent Middle East ceasefire as a model for ending the war in Ukraine.

European leaders, including the UK and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, reaffirmed their "unwavering commitment" to Ukraine in a virtual call following the meeting, agreeing to continue discussions on support for a potential ceasefire. The White House described the meeting as "very interesting and cordial," though sources described it as tense and at times "uncomfortable."

Trump Says Maduro Doesn't 'Want To Fuck Around With The US,' As U.S. Military Seizes Smuggling Boat Survivors After Caribbean Drone Strike Off Venezuelan Coast

During the press portion of his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, President Trump sharply responded to a reporter while discussing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, stating, "He doesn’t want to fuck around with the U.S." This outburst marked a rare public display of frustration and signaled a potential escalation in U.S. military operations against drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea.

The U.S. confirmed deadly strike on a drug-carrying semi-submersible drug submarine, killed two people and left two survivors in U.S. Navy custody.

"We attacked a submarine, and that was a drug-carrying submarine built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs," Trump said Friday while hosting the Zelensky at the White House. Secretary of State Rubio said details would be forthcoming.

Thursday’s incident marks the first known case of reported survivors since U.S. forces began their campaign of lethal strikes against suspected drug boats.

The U.S. has conducted six strikes on vessels suspected of drug trafficking off Venezuela’s coast, with the latest targeting a submarine reportedly carrying drugs. The Trump administration claims these operations have killed at least 27 people, though survivors have been reported.

The Trump administration has declared an "armed conflict" with Venezuelan drug cartels, invoking wartime powers to justify lethal operations. On Friday, War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a new counter-narcotics Joint Task Force within U.S. Southern Command.

The task force aims to "crush the cartels, stop the poison and keep America safe," Hegseth wrote last week on X, formerly Twitter. "The message is clear: If you traffic drugs toward our shores, we will stop you cold."

On Tuesday, Trump highlighted a separate strike that killed six suspected smugglers aboard a vessel off the coast of Venezuela.

"Venezuela is a big purveyor of drugs," Trump told reporters later that day in the Oval Office, accusing the country of sending its "criminals" into the United States.

The U.S. has deployed a significant military presence to the region, including eight warships, a nuclear-powered submarine, fighter jets, and approximately 10,000 personnel in the Caribbean and Puerto Rico.