Global grain trade in the 2026/27 agricultural year (July–June) will total 505.8 million metric tons, down 3.5% from last year, according to a forecast by the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations).
According to the organization’s monthly grain report, the new estimate is 3.5 million metric tons lower than the previous forecast made in September. “This reflects a downward revision of wheat and corn export forecasts, driven primarily by shipping difficulties through the Black Sea and insufficient capacity on alternative transport routes,” the report states. “The upward revision to the barley trade forecast only partially offsets the lost corn and wheat trade volumes.”
Forecasts for corn exports from the EU were lowered due to reduced supply from Ukraine resulting from logistical difficulties. At the same time, an increase in export supply from Australia has allowed for an upward revision of the forecast for barley trade, a significant portion of which will be shipped to China.
The improved forecast for wheat exports from Kazakhstan has not fully offset the decline in shipments from Russia and Ukraine.
According to the forecast, international rice trade will decline by 2.2% in calendar year 2026; however, it may increase by 1.7% in 2027, reaching 61.2 million metric tons. “In 2027, a recovery in import demand is projected in most regions; however, the availability of sufficient domestic stocks in East Asian countries suggests that the downward trend in their purchasing volumes may continue for the third consecutive year,” the document states.
According to the FAO forecast, the wheat harvest in 2026 will total 813.9 million metric tons, which is 3.3% less than last year, while the total grain output will be 2 billion 979 million metric tons (2.1% less).
The European Union’s promises regarding Ukraine’s accession through the standard procedure are not true, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said in an interview with the German newspaper *Welt am Sonntag*.
“What they are promising her (Ukraine) is a lie,” Rama emphasized, adding that under the standard enlargement rules and with all existing criteria met, the country will definitely not be admitted into the bloc, and “everyone knows this.”
At the same time, the Albanian prime minister cautioned Brussels against making concessions in the process solely for geopolitical reasons. Instead, he proposed granting full membership only based on the results of specific tasks and achievements (a results-oriented process).
At the same time, the Albanian prime minister called for accelerating his country’s European integration. Albania applied for EU membership back in 2009 and has held candidate country status since 2014.
On Sunday, October 4, there will be no precipitation in Ukraine; however, the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center reports that fog is expected in some areas of the western, northern, and Vinnytsia regions at night and in the morning.
Winds will be variable, 3–8 m/s.
Nighttime temperatures will range from 1 to 6° above zero across Ukraine, except in the south, where ground frosts of 0–3° are expected; in the south of the country, temperatures will range from 4 to 9° above zero. Daytime temperatures will range from 14 to 19°, and in the eastern regions from 11 to 16° above zero.
In Kyiv, skies will be partly cloudy with no precipitation. Winds will be variable, 3–8 m/s. Nighttime temperatures will range from 4–6° above zero, and daytime temperatures from 16–18°.
According to the Boris Sreznevsky Central Geophysical Observatory, the highest daytime temperature on October 4 in Kyiv was recorded in 1888 at 28.0° above freezing, and the lowest nighttime temperature was 2.6° below freezing in 1910.
On Monday, October 5, there will be no precipitation in Ukraine, with fog in some areas of the western regions at night and in the morning.
The wind will be predominantly westerly, 5–10 m/s.
Temperatures will range from 4–9°C at night to 16–21°C during the day, reaching up to 24°C in the south of the country.
In Kyiv, no precipitation is expected, with winds predominantly from the west at 5–10 m/s. Nighttime temperatures will range from 7–9° above freezing, and daytime temperatures from 18–20°.
The European Union did not support Ukraine’s request for early disbursement of additional funding in 2026 and emphasized that the allocation of funds will depend directly on Kyiv’s implementation of agreed-upon reforms, according to the Financial Times, citing a letter from European Commissioners Valdis Dombrovskis and Marta Kos to Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk.
This summer, Ukraine estimated its additional defense needs at approximately $27 billion and approached the European Commission with a proposal to advance a portion of the funds from the two-year €90 billion Ukraine Support Loan program (€60 billion earmarked for defense, €30 billion for direct budget support). According to the program’s terms, up to €45 billion is to be made available to Ukraine in 2026, with the remaining €45 billion to follow in 2027.
According to the FT, European Commissioners have made it clear that access to funding is contingent upon fulfilling an agreed-upon list of commitments. Specifically, this involves the elimination of VAT exemptions for small international parcels, the introduction of taxation rules for digital platforms, and proper financial monitoring of politically exposed persons (PEPs)—changes to which have raised concerns in Brussels as a deviation from the anti-corruption agenda. According to the publication’s assessment, meeting these requirements will pave the way for Kyiv to receive approximately 34 billion euros in support as early as 2026.
At the same time, the European Commission emphasized that the rejection of the request for an early advance payment does not mean a curtailment of financial assistance. On October 1, the parties announced that they had agreed on sources of funding for budgetary and defense needs through the end of 2026, noting that there is no unfunded financial gap for the current year.
In addition, on October 2, the European Commission transferred another tranche of 2.9 billion euros to Ukraine as part of the Ukraine Facility program. The total amount of aid to Kyiv from the EU and its member states since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion has reached 227.4 billion euros.
According to Experts.news, the largest banks are beginning to move traditional bank money onto the blockchain, creating a potential competitor to the USDT and USDC stablecoins. In the UK, Barclays, HSBC UK, Lloyds Banking Group, Monzo, Nationwide, NatWest, and Santander are already testing tokenized deposits, while in the U.S., Citi is simultaneously building infrastructure that allows corporate clients to work with stablecoins via Coinbase.
In effect, two models for the future of digital money are taking shape. The first involves the use of independent stablecoins issued by companies such as Tether and Circle. The second transfers existing funds from bank accounts onto the blockchain.
British banks took an important step in this direction on September 24, 2026. The industry association UK Finance announced the completion of the first real-world customer transactions involving tokenized deposits in pounds sterling as part of the Great British Tokenized Deposit (GBTD) project.
Participants in the project include Barclays, HSBC UK, Lloyds Banking Group, Monzo, Nationwide, NatWest, and Santander.
The banks conducted two live mortgage refinancing transactions. The tokenized funds were automatically blocked until the terms of the agreement were met, after which the payment was processed without any additional manual steps.
Another test involved a purchase on a consumer marketplace. It demonstrated the ability to transfer tokenized bank funds between customers of different banks via a shared infrastructure.
The main difference between this model and USDT or USDC lies in the legal nature of the money.
A tokenized deposit is not a separate cryptocurrency. It is a digital representation of regular money that the customer already holds in a bank account.
If there is 1,000 GBP in a bank account, the bank can theoretically represent this amount in the digital infrastructure as a corresponding amount of tokenized pounds. In this case, the bank continues to bear the obligation to the customer, and the funds themselves retain the legal status of a bank deposit.
A stablecoin works differently.
USDT is issued by Tether, and USDC by Circle. The user effectively exchanges regular money for a digital token, the value of which the issuer commits to maintaining at the level of the corresponding fiat currency through reserve assets.
Therefore, a tokenized bank deposit and a stablecoin may look the same on the blockchain, but economically they are different instruments.
Banks have a significant advantage—their existing system of trust, regulation, and customer relationships.
UK Finance explicitly states that tokenized deposits must retain the regulatory guarantees of traditional bank deposits while acquiring the properties of digital money—programmability, faster settlements, and the ability to automatically execute payments once specified conditions are met.
It is precisely this programmability that could become one of the technology’s main advantages.
For example, when purchasing real estate, funds can be automatically transferred to the seller only after the transaction has been registered. Payment to a supplier can be made after confirmation of delivery. In financial transactions, the transfer of a security and payment for it can occur almost simultaneously.
As a result, the number of intermediate transactions is reduced, as is the risk that one party will fulfill its obligations while the other does not.
The next phase of the British project will involve using tokenized deposits to settle payments for digital assets. GBTD participants plan to link customers’ tokenized funds to digital securities.
In this way, banks are attempting to create within the regulated financial system the opportunities that blockchain and stablecoins initially offered outside of it.
However, it is still too early to write off USDT and USDC.
The scale of the existing stablecoin market is incomparable to the banks’ experiments. According to CoinGecko data as of October 3, the market capitalization of USDT alone is approximately $184 billion, while that of USDC is approximately $74 billion.
The total stablecoin market already exceeds $300 billion.
Stablecoins are particularly strong in international money transfers. They operate around the clock, can move between different blockchains and platforms, and do not require the sender and recipient to be served by the same bank.
This is where a fundamental problem arises for the traditional banking system.
If a significant portion of international payments shifts to USDT, USDC, or other stablecoins, banks will have to compete for payment flows that previously passed almost entirely through the banking infrastructure.
Furthermore, a massive shift of funds from bank deposits to stablecoins could potentially reduce banks’ deposit base, which is used to lend to the economy.
The Bank of England is explicitly taking this risk into account as it develops new regulations for digital currencies.
In June 2026, the Bank of England published draft rules for systemic stablecoins. The regulator proposed a model under which at least 40% of a systemic stablecoin’s reserves must be held directly at the Bank of England, while up to 60% may be invested in short-term UK government bonds.
Restrictions on the amount of stablecoins that individual users and companies can hold are also being considered for a transitional period.
However, the Bank of England does not propose banning stablecoins. On the contrary, its strategy envisions the coexistence of several types of digital currencies.
In the future, traditional bank deposits, their tokenized versions, regulated stablecoins, and a potential central bank digital pound could all be used simultaneously.
Therefore, real competition is developing not so much between banks and cryptocurrencies as between different models of digital money.
Citi’s strategy is illustrative in this regard.
On September 28, Citi and Coinbase announced an expansion of their partnership, which effectively combines traditional banking infrastructure with stablecoins.
Coinbase has selected Citi’s Virtual Account Wallet to power Coinbase Virtual Accounts. Incoming traditional currency can be automatically converted into stablecoins.
Conversely, Citi’s corporate clients will be able to accept payments in stablecoins via the Spring by Citi payment platform and the Coinbase Payments infrastructure.
Coinbase accepts the digital payment and facilitates its conversion, after which Citi processes the settlement in traditional currency as a bank.
This is particularly important for corporate clients: the company gains the ability to accept stablecoins without having to build its own infrastructure for storing and managing crypto assets.
According to Citi, this solution potentially gives its corporate clients access to over 150 million stablecoin holders worldwide.
Thus, major banks are adopting different strategies.
British banks such as Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest, and others are creating tokenized versions of their own deposit funds.
Citi, meanwhile, is developing a banking blockchain infrastructure and building a bridge between traditional money and existing stablecoins.
In the long run, these models may not displace one another but rather share the market.
Tokenized deposits have a natural advantage within the banking system—for payroll, corporate payments, mortgages, lending, and securities transactions.
Stablecoins are stronger in areas where round-the-clock cross-border transfers, interoperability between different platforms, and the ability to freely move digital money between blockchains are particularly important.
But for banks, this issue is becoming strategic. If they fail to migrate deposits and payments to a programmable digital infrastructure, a significant portion of the new market could go to Tether, Circle, Coinbase, and other companies in the crypto industry.
That is why competition between USDT, USDC, and tokenized bank deposits could become one of the key drivers of the global financial system’s development in the coming years.
Sources: UK Finance, Bank of England, Citi, Coinbase, CoinGecko.
DTEK and Dragon Capital have established an investment hub to attract funding for Ukraine’s energy sector, whose funding needs are estimated at $100 billion, the energy holding company announced.
“The hub brings together representatives from the public and private sectors to develop concrete and practical solutions that will help attract more investment into Ukraine’s energy sector,” commented DTEK CEO Maksym Timchenko, whose remarks were quoted in a statement posted by the energy holding company on its Telegram channel on Friday.
It is noted that more than $100 billion may be needed to rebuild Ukraine’s energy sector and create new facilities, and the Investment Hub is intended to facilitate the attraction of these funds.
“The main goal is to make Ukraine’s energy system more modern and resilient in order to strengthen the country’s energy security,” DTEK emphasized.
As previously reported, DTEK invested 101.7 billion hryvnias in Ukraine’s energy sector from 2022 to 2025.
In total, Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM Group, which includes DTEK, has invested over $4.3 billion in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale war, of which approximately $1 billion has gone toward rebuilding facilities destroyed by Russia.
SCM is currently launching a global initiative called “Invest in Ukraine,” calling on international businesses to invest in Ukraine today, without waiting for the war to end.
