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Republicans eye control of the US House, crypto losses escalate and more Wall Street banks cut jobs. Republicans are headed toward control o [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Republicans eye control of the US House, crypto losses escalate and more Wall Street banks cut jobs. Midterms update [Republicans are headed toward control]( of the US House, but by smaller margins than forecast, as some of the bellwether races that the GOP had hoped to snatch were held by Democrats. House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, who is in line to become speaker, declared victory early Wednesday before the full results were known. Meanwhile, control of the Senate will likely come down to a race in Georgia between incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and GOP candidate Herschel Walker. That contest may be ultimately decided in a runoff if neither candidate gets more than 50% of the vote. Crypto drama Cryptocurrencies extended declines as [Binance’s potential takeover of embattled rival](exchange FTX highlighted how strains in the digital-asset industry are now hitting some of its top players. Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao stunned the crypto world on Tuesday by announcing his firm was moving to take over rival FTX.com, which [he said]( was seeing a liquidity crunch. At their extremes, Bitcoin’s declines exceeded 3% on Wednesday and just about every digital coin struggled, from Ether to Solana and even meme token Dogecoin. Bank austerity [Job austerity in the finance world]( continues. Dozens of positions at Citigroup were [cut]( this week, while [reductions]( expected to eventually total about 200 have begun at London-based Barclays, according to people familiar with those moves. US banks have been hurt by the dramatic slowdown in investment banking as the volatility that spurred gains for trading weighed on capital markets and asset management. Third-quarter investment-banking fees plummeted 64% at Citigroup, and were down 45% at Barclays. Cautious markets US equity futures were little changed as investors held off big bets ahead of Thursday’s inflation print, with both S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 contracts flat as of 6:14 a.m. in New York. The dollar was little changed while most Group-of-10 currencies fell, led by the New Zealand kiwi. Treasuries saw small declines across the curve. Bitcoin slid more than 5%, while oil and gold fell. Coming up… At 7 a.m., we’ll get data on mortgage applications for the period through Nov. 4. Later at 10 a.m., wholesale trade sales and inventories figures are due.  Richmond Federal Reserve President Tom Barkin is due to speak at 11 a.m. What we’ve been reading Here’s what caught our eye over the past 24 hours: - Sam Bankman-Fried’s [$16 billion fortune]( is eviscerated in days - Elon Musk [sold nearly $4 billion of Tesla stock](after buying Twitter - The [maker of Apple’s AirPods](said it lost “a major overseas customer” - Apollo, KKR among [private equity firms probed]( by the SEC - China extends the [lockdown for iPhone City]( - The UK’s [top Rolex dealer]( says demand is staying strong - A [secret school for Afghan girls](defies the Taliban And finally, here’s what Joe is interested in this morning Crypto is never boring. But even by the standards of the industry, the last 48 hours have been extraordinary, thanks to the implosion of the Sam Bankman-Fried empire. Obviously a lot of the details are still hazy, and we'll learn more over the coming days, but in the meantime, I have two basic thoughts. The first is that back in the spring, when Sam himself was going around and using his gigantic war chest to backstop failing crypto firms, there were a lot of characterizations of him as the industry's de facto central bank. The lender of last resort. But there's a limit to what any private entity can do on that front. In TradFi, what makes the central bank unique is the truly unlimited balance sheet. When you have an unlimited balance sheet, nobody can call your bluff. You can't face a run. In 2008, JPM bought Bear Stearns, but ultimately the entire banking system would have collapsed that year had it not been for the Fed. The other lesson from the Great Financial Crisis is that the worst implosions occur when an entity perceived as "safe" goes down. When Bitcoin plunges, it's NBD, in part because that's what Bitcoin is expected to do. Even with Terra/Luna, there was a widespread view beforehand that the whole apparatus was unsound. FTX on the other hand was perceived as one of the highest quality exchanges, with some of the most professional practices. Sam was the face of crypto in DC. And of course a major donor to politics and non-profits. So for his empire to implode is similar to a safe asset imploding. The industry has been raw and mistrustful ever since the collapse of entities like Luna, Celsius and 3AC. This is like all those, but even more damaging. Follow Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal on Twitter [@TheStalwartÂ]( Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. 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