Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Standard Chartered is introducing a cryptocurrency trading solution that lets its wealthy UAE clients buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum directly through their existing bank accounts in a closed-loop system with institutional custody.

The bank says this marks a global first for the institution and the UAE’s first such offering by an international bank, regulated by the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA).

Eligible affluent clients can execute trades within the bank’s ecosystem where Standard Chartered handles custody and settlement to reduce third-party risks through collaboration with its wealth and corporate businesses plus SC Ventures-backed Zodia Markets.

The service launches first for Professional Investor clients in the UAE with expansion planned to other markets later and builds on the bank’s existing crypto access through ETFs, structured products and OTC derivatives.

Samir Subberwal, Global Head of Wealth Solutions at the bank, highlights growing client interest in digital assets.

“With digital assets moving into mainstream wealth conversations, clients are increasingly looking not only for access, but also for the security, trust and confidence that comes from investing through a regulated and trusted institution.”

Rola Abu Manneh, CEO for UAE, Middle East and Pakistan at Standard Chartered, notes the strategic fit with the region.

“We are proud to be the first international bank in the UAE to launch a cryptocurrency trading offering. The UAE was a natural choice for this launch, given the country’s forward-looking approach to innovation, strong regulatory environment and growing leadership in digital assets. This also reflects the strategic importance of the UAE within our network as one of our four global wealth hubs.”

Generated Image: Midjourney

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has introduced an advanced framework for anonymous payments and privacy-preserving agent interactions in the Ethereum ecosystem. The initiative centers on an OpenAI-compatible agent daemon designed to process requests while erasing identifiable information through local prompt rewriting. Buterin reported that he is using the “qwen3.8-flash-next” language model for these tasks, which helps obscure stylistic and user signatures before relaying requests to external models.

Privacy measures and technical designEvery conversation managed by Buterin’s agent is assigned a dedicated Tor circuit to conceal network identity. Outbound requests are routed through Tor, and random cover traffic is introduced to disrupt timing patterns and further mask activity. This architecture aims to prevent possible correlation between user prompts, payment credentials, and network metadata.

Payments for agent interactions utilize zkAPI, a privacy-focused protocol created by the Open Anonymity Project with support from the Ethereum Foundation. With zkAPI, users top up private balances and employ zero-knowledge proofs to show sufficient funds for agent requests, effectively separating wallet identity from query data. The protocol has been live on Ethereum mainnet since October 1.

The agent harness itself is sandboxed using bwrap and is experimenting with MicroVM isolation for additional security. The entire platform is wrapped with torsocks to ensure all outgoing traffic passes through Tor, providing an extra layer of anonymity and privacy. Buterin has also implemented a “paranoid mode,” which adds further randomization to traffic and request handling.

Mini dictionary: zkAPI, or zero-knowledge API, is a protocol enabling private payments by allowing users to prove fund availability without revealing linkages between deposits and specific transactions. This system leverages advanced cryptographic proofs to protect user anonymity and transactional privacy.

Wrapped zkAPI, Tor, additional cover traffic, plus local LLM prompt rewriting are combined in an OpenAI-compatible daemon, allowing agent requests to remain unlinkable and private through a “paranoid mode” that assigns each conversation a separate Tor circuit and adds random cover activity.

Implications for agent-based financeWith autonomous AI agents increasingly engaging directly in economic activities—holding digital assets, accessing financial protocols, and interacting with data providers—Buterin stressed the importance of preventing leakage of sensitive information. He argued that linkages between wallet activity, prompt content, and network address can compromise user privacy.

The combination of zkAPI and advanced network obfuscation offers developers a way to build agents on Ethereum, and potentially other blockchains, that can cover their payment trails. This removes the risk of exposing wallet balances or revealing user behavior patterns via payment metadata.

Developers interested in leveraging inference markets or creating complex agent harnesses may find these tools critical for maintaining confidentiality and operational separation between agent actions and user identity.

Technical challenges and future developmentsButerin acknowledged that while Tor and cover traffic can defend against passive surveillance, they may not fully protect against adversaries with the ability to correlate timing data from both ends of a communication channel. He pointed out that Tor was not originally intended for this application and noted limitations in preventing active correlation attacks.

He suggested that mixnets, which delay and shuffle messages and add constant cover traffic, can counter more sophisticated threats, but often introduce additional latency and bandwidth costs. Buterin indicated that this kind of persistent privacy challenge might be better addressed by a dedicated mixnet infrastructure rather than low-latency anonymity networks.

Usability remains satisfactory despite some increase in latency, especially when initiating fresh dialogues. Buterin noted that lower gas fees for deposits and withdrawals with zkAPI are expected soon, potentially expanding its appeal on mainnet as more developers adopt agent harnesses and inference markets.

Developer adoption and real-world use will determine the effectiveness of this privacy-focused stack as Ethereum continues to evolve toward more autonomous, agent-driven activity.

Updated Published

2 min read

An OpenAI agent ran out of Ethereum funds, and took from a wallet it did not own. (Ethereum)Кратко

An internal OpenAI research model used a publicly available recovery phrase to access and spend from another person’s cryptocurrency wallet after it ran out of funds during a coding assignment.The June 26 incident occurred on Ethereum’s Sepolia test network, whose tokens have no connection to ether traded on the main network, and OpenAI discovered it on Sept. 25.The model completed the assignment without disclosing the source of the funds, prompting OpenAI to add internet-access restrictions and increased monitoring.An OpenAI research model stuck without funds on an Ethereum test network went looking for someone else’s wallet, found one through recovery phrases that were already public, and spent from it to finish a coding assignment, the company disclosed Thursday.

The incident occurred on June 26 during training of an internal model in the GPT-5.6 Sol family, and OpenAI discovered it on Sept. 25, according to its incident report.

The model needed no hacking skills to get in.

A recovery phrase, also called a seed phrase, is a list of words that generates a wallet’s secret keys; whoever has those words can recreate the accounts and spend from them without ever touching the owner’s device.

The assignment let the model deploy contracts, programs that run on a blockchain, but gave it no funded wallet to pay the fees. After its attempts to get free test tokens failed, it wrote a script that checked 362 addresses generated from recovery phrases commonly used by developers and found one with enough money.

“But using public known key/funds ethically?” the model asked itself in its recorded reasoning, before deciding that a public phrase and test tokens made it acceptable.

How an AI found someone else’s wallet and spent from it. (Shaurya Malwa/CoinDesk)The spending happened on Sepolia, a separate network where developers rehearse Ethereum applications before launching them. Its tokens only pay for testing and aren't linked to the ether traded on Ethereum’s main network.

The deployment went through, and the wallet paid the fees. When the model reported back, it said the work was done and left out where the money came from. OpenAI said it has since added restrictions on internet access and more monitoring.

Crypto and AI companies are building agents that hold wallets and pay for services without a person signing off on each step.

OpenAI’s model ran out of money mid-task, found a wallet that wasn’t its own and spent from it without asking. Had it been on Ethereum’s main network, that would have been real ether taken from someone else’s account.

12345678910

Stablecoins can live on almost any blockchain. Over the past 90 days, most of their volume still flowed through one family of networks.

According to a report from Ethereum Institutional dated October 15, 2026, $16.75 trillion in stablecoin transfer volume settled on Ethereum mainnet and its layer-2 networks between July 15 and October 12, 2026. That works out to 77% of the $21.55 trillion in stablecoin transfers recorded across all networks over the same stretch.

The data comes from Token Terminal.

Where the money actually moved
The most interesting detail sits inside the total, in the breakdown by network.

Ethereum mainnet settled $7.1 trillion in stablecoin transfers during the period. Base, the layer-2 network, settled $8.5 trillion. Optimism handled $0.8 trillion, and a collection of other Ethereum layer-2s accounted for the remaining $0.35 trillion.

Base alone accounted for more than half of the Ethereum ecosystem’s $16.75 trillion total. The report places that result within a broader mid-2026 pattern: users and capital drifting toward lower-cost layer-2 networks, with Base capturing larger slices of the stablecoin transfer market.

Not exactly your morning coffee
Ethereum Institutional says the volume is driven mainly by large institutional transfers and DeFi-related flows. That includes flash loans and liquidity provision, not pure payment activity.

The report also notes that no new protocol launches or issuer-specific announcements occurred during the period. The volumes reflect ongoing trends rather than a sudden change in market structure.

Why the share matters more than the size
A 77% share of transfer volume signals that Ethereum’s ecosystem remains the default venue for serious stablecoin flows. The remaining 23% of volume, spread across other networks, represents a meaningful amount of activity. Ethereum’s lead is substantial. It is not a monopoly.

What this means for investors and builders
The Base figure complicates the story in an interesting way. Value captured by layer-2 networks does not necessarily flow back to Ethereum mainnet in proportion to the activity. A trillion dollars moving on Base generates fees on Base first.

For builders, stablecoin users appear to care about cost, and they are willing to leave mainnet to save on fees while staying inside the Ethereum ecosystem. Applications that ignore layer-2 networks may be missing where a large share of the activity now happens.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Most founders spend their careers making themselves indispensable. Vitalik Buterin keeps making the case that Ethereum should be able to run without him.

The Ethereum co-founder has again stressed that the protocol can progress without his direct involvement, as more community members take on responsibility for its core values. He made the point most recently at the Network State Conference 2026 in Singapore on October 9. It is a theme he has returned to repeatedly this year.

What Buterin said in Singapore
Buterin used the Singapore stage to describe a shift toward a widely distributed leadership model across the Ethereum community.

He also linked that shift to technology. Buterin said AI could speed up the “Lean Ethereum” roadmap, a planned overhaul meant to make the protocol more efficient.

Lean Ethereum is not a minor patch. The proposal aims to replace significant core components of the protocol, which makes it one of the more ambitious engineering projects in the ecosystem.

A smaller Ethereum Foundation, by design
In May, he said the Ethereum Foundation (EF) should become smaller and concentrate on a narrow set of core properties.

Those properties are censorship resistance, open source development, privacy and security. Everything else, in his framing, is fair game for other ecosystem participants to pick up.

Buterin also said at the time that his own personal influence would diminish.

He has described the EF as just one node among thousands in the Ethereum ecosystem.

The walkaway test
Buterin has a name for the standard he wants Ethereum to meet: the “walkaway test.” The idea is that the protocol should keep functioning through external contributions, even if any single team or person stopped showing up.

He emphasized Ethereum’s ability to pass that test at the 4th Hong Kong Web3 Festival on April 20, 2026.

Recent discussions in the community have also put weight on external support from key players across the ecosystem.

Not a new idea for Buterin
Back in 2021, at the “AskVitalikBA” conference, Buterin made the same basic point in plainer terms.

“Ethereum will exist with or without Vitalik Buterin.”

Concerns about how the EF would restructure as community involvement grew were already visible around that time.

What has changed is the specificity. In 2021, the idea was a philosophical statement. In 2026, it comes with a defined list of EF priorities, a named test, and a technical roadmap that Buterin thinks AI could accelerate.

What this means for Ethereum’s stakeholders
Buterin is actively trying to remove himself from that equation. If the walkaway test holds up in practice, Ethereum’s long-term story rests more on the depth of its contributor base than on any one name.

A smaller EF also changes the competitive dynamics inside the ecosystem. Work the foundation chooses not to do creates openings for other teams, companies and research groups.

The things to watch are concrete. One is how quickly the EF follows through on narrowing its focus to censorship resistance, open source, privacy and security. Another is which outside players step in to take on work the foundation sheds. A third is whether Lean Ethereum’s milestones actually arrive sooner, as Buterin suggests AI might allow.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Safe has moved its transaction-security network out of beta. Safenet Aegis went live in production on October 15, 2026, covering Ethereum Mainnet, Gnosis Chain, and Arbitrum.

The idea is to check a transaction before it executes and, if the user opts in, stop the bad ones onchain. Warning pop-ups are helpful. A contract that refuses to cooperate is more helpful.

The launch came through Safe’s governance structure, with Safe Foundation and SafeDAO steering the rollout. It also introduces paid transaction checks and a fresh round of staking rewards for SAFE holders.

How Safenet Aegis works
The first group of Sentinels includes OpenCover, BlockSecTeam, Candide Labs, and IntentGuard. Each operates independently of the others.

Validators then attest to those evaluations onchain. These validators are governed by SafeDAO, the community body that oversees the protocol.

The final layer is optional. Users can enable a formally verified Safenet Guard on their Safe account, which allows the network’s findings to be enforced directly onchain.

That distinction is the core of the product. Without the Guard, Aegis acts as an advisory service. With it, security goes beyond interface warnings and into the transaction logic itself.

Safe says audits for both the Guard and the staking contracts have been completed. User funds stay non-custodial throughout, so the network reviews transactions without ever taking control of the assets.

Fees, staking, and the beta numbers
The security checks are not a free add-on. Users pay onchain fees for transaction evaluations, and that money goes to the security providers doing the review.

One example given for the fee is 40 USDC.

The production launch follows a six-month beta that concluded in early October 2026. Over that stretch, approximately 4.5 million SAFE tokens were distributed as rewards.

Throughput reached around 100,000 transactions per week during the beta, giving the team a read on how the network behaves under load.

More than 72 million SAFE tokens were staked across roughly 865 participants after the beta ended.

Those participants do not need to do anything to carry their positions forward. Existing stakes transition to the production network without migration, which spares stakers the usual unstake-and-restake routine.

SafeDAO passed SEP 56, approving approximately 7.4 million SAFE from the treasury for a 12-month period that began on October 13, 2026.

The allocation is primarily earmarked for staking rewards. In practice, the DAO is underwriting a year of incentives while the fee side of the network gets established.

Background: from beta experiment to production layer
Integration into Safe{Wallet} is planned for Q4 2026. Until that ships, users looking to use Aegis will need to take the extra step of enabling the Guard themselves.

What this means for SAFE holders and Safe users
The key tension is between subsidized rewards and earned fees. For the next 12 months, SEP 56 money does much of the heavy lifting. The real test is whether paid transaction checks generate enough activity to keep Sentinels and validators engaged once that allocation runs its course.

Pricing will shape that answer. A fee like 40 USDC may be easy to justify for a treasury moving large sums, but smaller users may weigh it differently against the risk they are trying to avoid.

The launch cohort of Sentinels is four names: OpenCover, BlockSecTeam, Candide Labs, and IntentGuard. The model is built on independent judgment, so how that group grows will matter for how credible the network’s verdicts become.

Validators answer to SafeDAO, which ties the network’s reliability to the health of that DAO’s decision-making. That means governance votes now carry operational weight, not just treasury weight.

The planned Safe{Wallet} integration in Q4 2026 could move Aegis from an opt-in tool for security-minded teams to something closer to a default experience.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Kaye Quema. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Asset manager VanEck has asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to withdraw its proposed Lido Staked Ethereum ETF registration, ending plans for a fund designed to hold Lido’s stETH token and earn Ethereum staking rewards.

Summary

VanEck requested withdrawal of its proposed Lido Staked Ethereum ETF through an October 14 SEC filing. The asset manager originally submitted its registration statement on October 16, 2025, seeking regulated stETH exposure. VanEck confirmed the proposed fund never issued shares, sold securities, or distributed a preliminary prospectus. The planned ETF would have held Lido stETH while accumulating rewards generated through Ethereum staking. The withdrawal request gave no detailed explanation for ending the offering or announcing replacement fund plans. VanEck Digital Assets confirmed the decision in an October 14 filing, nearly one year after submitting the original registration statement on October 16, 2025. The company said it no longer intends to offer shares in the proposed fund and confirmed that no securities were issued or sold. The filing did not disclose what prompted the decision.

The withdrawal request concerns the VanEck Lido Staked Ethereum ETF, a proposed investment product that would have allowed investors to gain exposure to Ethereum staking through shares held in traditional brokerage accounts.

In its filing, VanEck Digital Assets asked the SEC to withdraw the fund’s registration statement, including its subsequent amendments and supporting exhibits.

The company submitted the request under Rule 477 of the Securities Act of 1933. The rule provides a procedure for withdrawing certain securities registration statements with the regulator’s consent.

VanEck explained that it “does not intend to proceed with the planned distribution” of the fund’s shares.

The asset manager confirmed that the registration statement had never become effective. It stated that no shares had been issued or sold and that investors had not received a preliminary prospectus.

As a result, the proposed fund never began operating as a publicly offered ETF. No existing shareholders need to redeem investments because the offering did not proceed.

The filing requested that the SEC approve the withdrawal effective October 14 or at the earliest practicable date afterward.

VanEck did not identify a replacement investment product or explain whether it intends to return with another ETF linked to Lido’s staking tokens.

The document was signed by Matthew A. Babinsky, vice president of VanEck Digital Assets, and submitted under registration number 333-290918.

What would VanEck’s Ethereum ETF have offered? VanEck originally filed its registration statement on October 16, 2025, proposing an ETF that would hold stETH, the liquid staking token issued through the Lido protocol.

The fund’s investment objective was to track the price of stETH after accounting for operating expenses.

Unlike conventional spot Ethereum ETFs that primarily hold ETH, VanEck’s proposed product would have held tokens representing Ethereum already deposited into Lido’s staking system.

Staking allows participants to help secure Ethereum’s network and receive rewards for supporting its transaction validation process.

Through Lido, users can deposit ETH and receive stETH representing their underlying deposits and accumulated staking rewards.

The token uses a rebasing mechanism, meaning holders can receive additional stETH over time as the underlying Ethereum staking position earns rewards.

VanEck’s original prospectus explained that the fund expected to accrue certain staking rewards through its ownership of stETH.

However, those rewards were not guaranteed. The filing described risks involving validator penalties, smart contracts, liquidity and changes in the market value of Ethereum.

The proposed ETF would have tracked stETH through a benchmark developed by MarketVector, an affiliate of the asset manager.

VanEck intended to operate the product as a passive investment vehicle. Its prospectus said the fund would not attempt to predict market movements or actively trade stETH to avoid losses.

The original registration left certain operational details unfinished, including the proposed exchange ticker and named custodians.

The fund was therefore still in the registration process when VanEck decided to abandon the planned offering.

Lido welcomed VanEck’s original ETF application VanEck’s withdrawal follows an earlier announcement from the Lido ecosystem supporting the proposed investment product.

In October 2025, the Lido Ecosystem Foundation welcomed the original ETF application, describing the proposal as an opportunity to bring liquid staking exposure into traditional investment markets.

Kean Gilbert, head of institutional relations at the foundation, said the filing showed growing interest in staking products that could meet institutional investment requirements.

He described liquid staking as an important part of Ethereum’s infrastructure and pointed to Lido’s existing role in providing staking services.

At the time, Lido reported that users had earned more than $2 billion in staking rewards through its protocol since launch.

The organization placed the total value locked in the protocol near $40 billion in its October 2025 announcement. The figure represented the protocol’s position at that time, not a current valuation.

The earlier VanEck ETF application linked to Lido’s staked Ether followed the company’s October registration of the proposed trust.

An earlier Lido price rally following VanEck’s trust registration saw the LDO governance token gain approximately 7%, with trading activity increasing after the initial announcement.

However, LDO and stETH serve different purposes. LDO is the governance token associated with the Lido protocol, while stETH represents Ethereum deposited into the staking system.

VanEck’s proposed fund would have held stETH, not LDO.

The October 14 withdrawal filing provided no market data or explanation linking the decision to either token’s price performance.

SEC had previously clarified rules for liquid staking The abandoned ETF proposal followed regulatory guidance addressing certain cryptocurrency staking activities in the United States.

In August 2025, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance published a staff statement examining whether particular liquid staking arrangements involved securities transactions.

The guidance explained that certain activities involving the deposit of crypto assets and issuance of staking receipt tokens may fall outside federal securities registration requirements, depending on their structure.

The SEC staff distinguished administrative staking services from arrangements involving managerial or entrepreneurial efforts that could create investment contracts.

The statement did not provide blanket approval for all liquid staking products or automatically authorize ETFs holding staking tokens.

As covered in earlier reporting on the SEC’s liquid staking guidance, the staff’s position applied to arrangements meeting specific conditions.

VanEck’s October 2025 prospectus discussed the guidance and stated that the sponsor believed its planned staking activities were consistent with the SEC staff’s interpretation.

The prospectus acknowledged that a different regulatory interpretation could create legal risks for the proposed fund and its service providers.

VanEck had pursued other staking-related investment products during the same period.

In August 2025, the company submitted a registration statement for a proposed ETF linked to JitoSOL, a liquid staking token associated with the Solana network.

The earlier VanEck JitoSOL ETF application sought exposure to staked Solana through a traditional investment structure.

The October 14 withdrawal concerns the Lido Staked Ethereum ETF registration specifically. The document does not request withdrawal of VanEck’s other cryptocurrency fund applications.

The original Lido ETF application remains identifiable through SEC registration number 333-290918. VanEck’s latest filing asks the regulator to withdraw that registration statement and its amendments under Rule 477, confirming that the planned securities offering never became effective.

Ethereum is holding steady close to $2,500 following recent volatility, with the latest market action marked by a shift in institutional flows and a surge in derivatives positioning. ETH is currently trading at approximately $2,511, reflecting a marginal daily increase of 0.08%. The price has fluctuated in a narrow band between $2,490 and $2,530 during the latest session.

Fractal pattern and potential for upsideTechnical analysts are tracking the similarities between Ethereum’s current structure and the setup that preceded its major rally in 2025. The coin previously consolidated around the mid-$2,000 range before briefly falling below support, only to recover sharply and enter a stronger upward trend.

Crypto analyst Ash Crypto is drawing attention to a comparable sequence forming today, where ETH recently dipped towards the $2,400–$2,300 area. This zone is now seen as a critical support region that could define whether the recent selloff marks a temporary liquidity event rather than a sustained slide.

In the 2025 cycle, Ethereum’s recovery did not move straight to the highs. The price initially cleared $3,000 and then consolidated in the $3,000s before a later move toward $4,800. If ETH can stabilize at current levels, analysts believe a similar trajectory could bring the $4,600–$4,800 zone into focus in the coming months.

The bullish outlook is dependent on Ethereum holding the $2,400–$2,500 support. If this base remains firm and price reclaims $2,600, analysts view $3,000 as the next major target, while a move below support may signal the need for further consolidation.

For now, the fractal comparison remains conditional. A sustainable recovery above $2,500 would add weight to the bullish thesis, whereas further losses below the recent low could undermine this setup and delay a larger move higher.

Bitfinex longs reach multi-year peakData from Bitfinex, a leading cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2012 and known for its large-scale derivatives trading, shows that Ethereum long positions have climbed to their highest level in four years. According to Crypto Rover, these positions have increased sharply as price hovers near $2,500, indicating strong conviction among traders preparing for a significant breakout.

Rather than waiting for a confirmed rally, market participants are building long exposure during the consolidation phase, suggesting confidence in a potential larger move if resistance is cleared.

The acceleration of long positioning stands out compared to previous periods, signaling that traders are willing to commit aggressively to an upside scenario. Sustained support above $2,400–$2,500 could drive further momentum in the next uptrend attempt.

ETF inflows recover after sustained outflowsEthereum ETFs in the United States have returned to positive territory after several sessions of heavy outflows. On October 13, net inflows reached approximately $24.84 million, breaking a streak of 10 consecutive trading sessions of withdrawals.

Of this total, Grayscale’s mini Ethereum ETF contributed about $16.73 million, while Fidelity’s FETH added $8.11 million. This shift is notable, following a previous session with roughly $85.43 million in outflows and a five-day withdrawal sum near $576.9 million.

If institutional demand for Ethereum ETFs continues to recover and ETH remains above $2,500, analysts believe these inflows could provide increased support for a potential rebound.

ETF providerNet inflow (Oct 13)Grayscale mini ETH ETF$16.73 millionFidelity FETH$8.11 millionTotal (all ETH ETFs)$24.84 millionWhale traders show caution despite improvementDespite the positive trends in other data, some large traders remain cautious. Ethereum’s Whale vs Retail Delta, a metric tracking the difference between larger and smaller trader positions, continues to register below zero. This suggests whales still hold more short exposure than retail investors.

CW8900, a crypto market data provider, reports that the imbalance has improved from deeper negative levels seen throughout September. Whale short positions have decreased, although these participants have not fully shifted to a bullish stance.

This cautious posture explains why ETH is still consolidating near $2,500 even as ETF inflows and long positioning improve. A further move upward in the Whale vs Retail Delta, especially with price surging through $2,550–$2,600, would be seen as a signal of growing confidence among larger market players.

Mini dictionary: Whale vs Retail Delta – A metric used to measure the difference in net positions between large traders (“whales”) and retail investors in crypto derivatives markets. A negative value reflects higher short exposure among whales relative to smaller investors.

Key price levels and outlookThe $2,400–$2,500 price area has emerged as Ethereum’s main support. A decisive move above $2,600 could strengthen the bullish case and bring $2,700 back into focus. If this momentum continues, the $3,000 level becomes the next target for traders and analysts tracking historical price patterns.

Bullish traders are watching for a move above $2,600, which could open further upside toward $3,000. Any failure to hold $2,400 support may trigger renewed selling and a deeper reset.

The situation remains fluid, with further gains requiring both increased spot demand and continued flows into ETFs. Conversely, a return of significant short exposure from whales or renewed outflows from ETFs could undermine the recent improvements and delay a full recovery.

Ethereum staking has long had a cover charge. Myrmidon Staking is trying to lower it to roughly the price of a nice lunch.

The Denmark-based validator operator has launched the Myrmidon Staking ETH Pool, a pooled staking product built on Lido V3 stVaults. Users can stake with as little as 0.01 ETH. The product went live on October 14, 2026, and Lido itself promoted the launch.

What Myrmidon is actually offering
The pool runs on Lido’s stVaults, the modular staking infrastructure introduced with Lido V3. Myrmidon also uses Lido’s DeFi Wrapper toolkit, which is designed for pooled delegated staking setups.

The economics are straightforward. Myrmidon charges a node operator fee of 10% on staking rewards. Stakers keep the rest of what their ETH earns, and the fee only applies to rewards, not to the principal deposited.

The pool also carries a reserve ratio of 50%, one of the configurable risk settings within the stVaults framework.

Myrmidon has set a modest goal: 1,000 ETH staked in the new pool within 12 months of launch.

For those who want to go directly, the pool’s staking address, 0x456…409322, is listed on lido.fi.

The operator behind the pool
Myrmidon has run Ethereum validators since 2023 and reports a zero slashing record over that stretch. At its peak, Myrmidon’s validator operation managed approximately 1,200 ETH.

The company has also collected some credentials along the way. It received stVaults Professional Operator status from Lido, a designation meant to signal that an operator meets the protocol’s standards for running vaults. Myrmidon was also the first live pool using Northstake SVM.

How Lido V3 set the stage
This launch is a downstream product of a bigger architectural shift at Lido. Lido V3 hit mainnet on January 30, 2026, introducing a modular design that lets third parties build customized staking products on top of Lido’s infrastructure. Operators can now design their own vaults with their own fees, risk settings and target audiences, while still plugging into Lido’s tooling.

Roughly nine months separate the V3 mainnet launch from Myrmidon’s pool going live.

What this means for stakers and the staking market
For smaller ETH holders, the most obvious change is the entry price. A 0.01 ETH minimum means people who were previously priced out of running a validator now have another option with a named operator and a track record attached.

The fee structure deserves a closer look. A 10% cut of rewards is the main cost stakers pay for not running their own hardware. Users should also understand how the 50% reserve ratio and the DeFi Wrapper mechanics affect their position before depositing.

There are still risks worth naming. Pooled staking concentrates trust in the operator and in the smart contracts underpinning the vault. A spotless slashing history is encouraging, but it describes the past, not a guarantee about the future.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Kaye Quema. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

The market is continuing to bet heavily on the potential altseason.

Technically, the setup looks more and more interesting. Following the ETH/BTC 20% rally in Q3, traders are already positioning for another move higher in Q4, with early accumulation signs starting to show.

However, Bitcoin dominance has broken over 60%, indicating that capital is still flowing towards the flagship crypto, which makes a general altcoin breakout not so certain for now.

And yet, Lookonchain spotted a big whale rotation in the last three days. The whale sold 1,074.36 BTC equal to $89.5 million and bought 36,159 ETH.

Naturally, the question becomes: Is this whale positioning ahead of a potential Ethereum rally, with the border market now catching up to the hype? 

Source: X
From an on-chain perspective, this does seem to be the case.

According to Santiment data, Ethereum FOMO is growing, with ETH rapidly becoming a favorite among bulls. On X, Reddit, and Telegram, ETH is registering 2.05 bullish comments for every bearish comment.

Bitcoin is the opposite, with 0.82 bullish comments per bearish comment. Rejected levels around $87k, a slide toward $81k, heavy liquidation of long positions, and macro pressure have pushed sentiment toward fear.

Notably, this shift is also seen in the derivatives market. As the post above highlights, ETH/BTC longs are going parabolic as Bitfinex traders are increasingly betting on Ethereum [ETH] to outperform Bitcoin [BTC].

In short, traders are positioning for an ETH-led rally, potentially hinting at an early rotation into altcoins.

Ethereum hype builds as USDT borrowing against Bitcoin jumps 
The timing of this rotation between BTC and ETH is crucial.

An analyst recently reported that $6 billion in USDC had been minted this month, adding fresh liquidity to the crypto market. However, with BTC dominance of over 60%, it appears that Bitcoin is still gathering the most capital.

However, according to data from CryptoQuant, this may be about to change.

As the chart below shows, the amount of USDT borrowed by users who hold $10 million or more in BTC has jumped by 83% last month. This suggests that whales have used their BTC as collateral to unlock funds and buy more crypto. In short, risk appetite may soon be on the rise.

Source: CryptoQuant
This is where on-chain signals start to converge. Whale rotation is picking up, ETH longs are increasing, and ETH/BTC gained 20% in Q3.

Now, with USDT borrowing against BTC jumping 83%, traders could be positioning for another Ethereum/Bitcoin rally and a subsequent rotation into altcoins in Q4.

Final Summary

USDT borrowing against BTC jumped 83%, hinting at rising risk appetite.
ETH/BTC’s 20% Q3 rally could set the stage for an altcoin rotation.

One massive Ethereum (ETH) whale has just sold off all their positions, earning a massive $24.5 million profit after dumping over 52,000 ETH coins, according to blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain. 

One massive whale, a major over-the-counter (OTC) investor, just dumped the remaining ETH positions. Altogether, they've sold 9,996 ETH ($25 million approx.) from the wallet address 0x8c58.

This is the final in a line of large selloffs since this massive whale has been unwinding the entire 52,001 ETH position.

HOT Stories

Lookonchain has estimated this whale invested approximately $112.4 million into the positions, resulting in a combined average price of $2,162 per ETH for the initial collection.

You Might Also Like

This whale has now unloaded the entire portfolio for an average price of $2,632. This results in a massive $24.48 million profit. 

As a reminder, this whale previously dumped the majority of their Ethereum positions on Sept. 24. They sold 42,005 ETH. This was worth roughly $111.89 million at the time. This happened during a general downturn in crypto markets.

They were left holding 9,996 ETH at the time. This whale has now dumped the final tokens in the latest move.

Ethereum whales going big Of course, not every whale is dumping Ethereum at the moment.

In fact, on Oct. 12, Lookonchain spotted a mysterious whale making some very aggressive positioning flips from Bitcoin (BTC) to Ethereum.

First, this whale sold 410.14 BTC ($34.16 million approx.) and then went on to purchase 14,341 ETH ($36.14 million) on DEXes.

Later, this same whale dumped 229 BTC (worth $19.1 million) and purchased another chunk of 7,469.8 ETH.

So, we can see a few of these big investors increasing their exposure to ETH while others are locking in profits.

Currently, Ethereum (ETH) is trading at $2,507.47. It's up 0.7% over the last 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data. 

An Ethereum wallet associated with sven.eth has reportedly lost 9.1231 ETH, valued at approximately $22,770, and 1.69271471 TAPEETH tokens after an attacker used a malicious EIP-7702 authorization to gain control of the account.

Summary

Security firm ExVul reported that an Ethereum wallet lost 9.1231 ETH through malicious account delegation.
The reported attack involved 1.69271471 TAPEETH tokens alongside Ethereum valued at approximately $22,770 at detection.
A sponsored EIP-7702 transaction reportedly enabled attacker controlled code to execute through the victim’s wallet.
ExVul attributed the theft to malicious wallet authorization, not a vulnerability in PodMining or TAPEETH.
The security firm warned that the malicious delegation remained active at Ethereum block 26,188,153 afterward.

Blockchain security firm ExVul reported the incident on October 14, identifying an attacker-sponsored transaction that activated malicious code previously authorized by the wallet owner. The firm attributed the theft to an unsafe delegation, explaining that the attacker drained the wallet without exploiting the underlying DeFi protocol.

The reported incident involved the wallet linked to sven.eth and an attacker-controlled address beginning with 0x9208. According to ExVul’s investigation, the authorization allowed code installed through Ethereum’s EIP-7702 mechanism to operate with the wallet’s permissions.

Ethereum EIP-7702 attack drains ETH and TAPEETH
The reported theft involved 9.1231 ETH and 1.69271471 TAPEETH, with the ETH portion valued at approximately $22,770 when ExVul published its findings. The security firm did not provide a separate dollar valuation for the TAPEETH tokens.

ExVul identified the transaction hash as 0x36e0d1491c14e3d8e50bc70d73675b89d2d4712814d16f808f957c84fde820ee, linking the activity to a sponsored type-4 Ethereum transaction. Such transactions support EIP-7702 authorizations, which allow ordinary wallet addresses to execute smart contract code.

The investigation attributed the attack to 0x9208097c007be15e28b20e94e66870a3f9f820bc. The victim’s wallet was identified as 0xd8ba9e5886b7000bace2c9dbdd0be98ac77d4a28, while the malicious delegation pointed to 0x0366b55f948a688888ca6e029ad0831f6ec260d1.

🚨 ALERT — EIP-7702 Wallet Drain on Ethereum

sven.eth was drained for 9.1231 ETH net (~$22.77K) plus 1.69271471 TAPEETH.

No flash loan or AMM manipulation was involved: the attacker sponsored a type-4 transaction carrying the victim's valid EIP-7702 authorization, then swept…

— ExVul (@exvulsec) October 14, 2026

According to the security alert, the attacker submitted a transaction containing an EIP-7702 authorization signed by the victim. Once Ethereum processed that authorization, subsequent calls to the affected wallet executed the delegated contract’s instructions within the victim account.

The attacker-controlled code reportedly contained a fixed address authorized to operate the wallet. The controller then invoked the PodMining.claim() function, transferred the resulting TAPEETH rewards and withdrew the wallet’s ETH balance.

ExVul emphasized that “No flash loan or AMM manipulation was involved.” Its findings identified the account authorization as the entry point, with no evidence in the supplied analysis of an exploit involving liquidity pools or price manipulation.

How malicious wallet delegation enabled the theft
EIP-7702 is part of Ethereum’s account abstraction development, allowing externally owned accounts to temporarily gain smart contract functionality through delegated code.

Under the official Ethereum specification, a user signs an authorization identifying the smart contract that will control the account’s execution behavior. Once submitted through a compatible transaction, Ethereum records the delegation and runs the designated code when the wallet receives relevant calls.

The feature supports legitimate applications, including sponsored transactions, transaction batching and more flexible wallet permissions. A user can authorize multiple actions through a single transaction or allow a third party to cover the network fee.

However, the same mechanism carries security risks when an account delegates execution to malicious code. Ethereum’s EIP-7702 specification explains that poorly designed or malicious delegation contracts can grant an outside party extensive control over the account.

In this incident, the attacker reportedly paid the transaction fee and submitted the signed authorization. The wallet owner did not need to fund or broadcast the transaction that activated the malicious delegation.

The signature supplied authority for the wallet to execute the attacker’s code. Once activated, the code operated under the victim’s account context, allowing the controller address to initiate the reported asset transfers.

ExVul stated that the exploit “is not a TAPEETH / PodMining bug.” The conclusion distinguishes the authorization mechanism from a vulnerability in the token or the reward contract.

The firm did not establish how the attacker obtained the victim’s authorization. Its public findings do not identify a specific phishing website, malicious application or compromised signing interface.

Malicious authorization could threaten future deposits
After the reported theft, ExVul warned that the wallet’s malicious delegation remained active at Ethereum block 26,188,153.

The warning concerns a feature of EIP-7702: setting a delegation does not automatically remove it when the transaction finishes. The authorized contract can remain associated with the wallet until the account owner replaces or clears the delegation.

Ethereum’s official security guidance explains that a wallet owner retains control through the original private key, including the ability to reset delegation by authorizing the zero address. However, malicious delegated code may remain dangerous until the change is successfully processed.

ExVul warned users against transferring new assets into the affected address while the suspicious delegation remained active. Newly deposited funds could face the same exposure if the attacker’s code continued to control spending permissions.

The firm recommended clearing or replacing the authorization and moving remaining assets to a secure wallet. Such recovery actions require care because the affected address may execute malicious instructions while the delegation persists.

The warning was based on the delegation status observed at block 26,188,153. ExVul’s original alert did not establish whether the victim had subsequently removed the malicious code or recovered any assets.

No reimbursement arrangement, recovery transaction or law enforcement action was identified in the supplied investigation.

EIP-7702 has raised similar security concerns before
The latest reported attack follows previous warnings from blockchain security researchers about malicious account delegations.

In May 2025, crypto market maker Wintermute identified widespread use of EIP-7702 contracts designed to automatically drain funds from compromised Ethereum wallets.

Wintermute’s research found that more than 97% of observed EIP-7702 delegations at that stage pointed to contracts using identical code. Its analysis associated many of those delegations with automated sweepers that could transfer incoming ETH to attacker-controlled addresses.

The earlier security concerns surrounding Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade centered on attackers abusing wallet delegation features introduced through EIP-7702. Security researchers warned that malicious code could remain connected to accounts after victims completed the initial authorization.

A separate incident involving World Liberty Financial tokens in September 2025 raised similar concerns. Blockchain investigator Yu Xian reported that attackers were using compromised wallet permissions and EIP-7702 delegation to target holders after token transfers became available.

The phishing attacks against WLFI token holders involved malicious delegation contracts that allowed attackers to execute unauthorized transactions. Investigators linked the activity to compromised wallet credentials and fraudulent authorizations.

In July 2026, another Ethereum phishing incident involving nearly $1 million demonstrated how dangerous wallet approvals can expose cryptocurrency holdings. That case involved malicious transaction permissions and was not established as the same exploit method reported against sven.eth.

Ethereum’s EIP-7702 specification identifies several safeguards for developers building delegation contracts, including replay protection, authenticated transaction parameters and secure initialization procedures.

The specification warns that poorly implemented delegation contracts may give malicious actors nearly complete control over the affected account. It recommends carefully verifying the permissions granted to delegated code, particularly when external parties can submit transactions on behalf of wallet owners.

ExVul’s October 14 alert identified the malicious contract, controller address and affected account, but did not disclose whether the victim had since replaced the authorization. The investigation recorded the suspicious delegation as active at block 26,188,153.

Ethereum‘s derivatives market has witnessed a notable decline in leverage, as persistent outflows from institutional products and weak US trading activity weigh on the cryptocurrency’s recovery prospects.

Leverage and institutional flows weakenRecent data from on-chain analytics provider CryptoQuant indicates that Ethereum’s Estimated Leverage Ratio (ELR) has declined to 0.62. This marks its lowest reading since November 2025, pointing to a reduction in the use of leverage by traders in the ETH market.

The Estimated Leverage Ratio is calculated by comparing open interest in derivatives to the amount of an asset held in spot exchange reserves. It provides insights into how much of the market’s activity is driven by leverage versus actual holdings.

Mini dictionary: Estimated Leverage Ratio (ELR), a metric that assesses the proportion of leverage used in the derivatives market by comparing derivatives open interest with spot exchange reserves.

The drop in leverage has coincided with declining open interest on Ethereum derivatives exchanges. This trend indicates that traders have generally adopted a more cautious stance, preferring not to expand leveraged positions despite recent price movements.

In addition, the Net Taker Volume for Ethereum remains negative, reflecting ongoing sell-side pressure in perpetual futures trading. This metric highlights that market-order selling currently exceeds buying across these instruments.

The cautious sentiment was further underscored by the Coinbase Premium Index, which recently fell to -0.117. This negative value means that Ethereum is currently trading at a discount on Coinbase compared to other major exchanges, suggesting more muted demand from US-based buyers.

Ethereum’s market data continues to highlight cautious behavior from traders, as the decline in leverage and persistent negative taker volume signal that participants remain wary of new long positions.

Institutional flows have also been under pressure. Data from SoSoValue shows that US-listed spot Ethereum ETFs reported $85.4 million in net outflows on Monday. Although there was a modest inflow of $24.84 million on Tuesday, the 10-day net redemption streak is now the longest since mid-May to early June.

DateETH ETF Net FlowsMonday$85.4 million outflowTuesday$24.84 million inflowPrevious 10 daysConsecutive outflowsTechnical outlook for ETHTechnically, Ethereum has been consolidating on its daily chart as it attempts to build support near its 50-day exponential moving average (EMA), which sits around $2,501.

The immediate challenge for buyers lies at the $2,548 resistance level. A successful move above this first barrier would bring the 20-day EMA, currently at about $2,578, into focus as the next key resistance.

If bullish momentum strengthens, traders may watch for targets at $2,636 and $2,781, with further resistance identified at $3,075 and $3,253.

Momentum indicators remain subdued. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is hovering near 43, below the neutral 50 midpoint, while the Stochastic Oscillator has dropped to 27, which signals weak momentum and nears oversold territory.

On the downside, initial support can be found at $2,413. Further declines could expose Ethereum to support at $2,355 and its 100-day EMA. Deeper pullbacks would likely bring $2,204 and $1,971 into view as additional support areas.

Ethereum must clear the $2,548 and $2,578 barriers to shift momentum in favor of buyers, while sustained ETF outflows and sluggish US demand create challenges for a robust recovery.

Coinbase

Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer-2 network, Base, has introduced “Earn & Borrow,” an integration layer allowing applications to provide features such as variable-rate stablecoin yield and crypto-collateralized loans. This new system utilizes third-party protocols like Morpho and Aave. The update aims to enhance in-app access to credit and yield markets built on Base, rather than introducing a native lending protocol. Recent data indicates an average stablecoin yield of 4.45% in these markets, excluding incentives. This development could indicate a significant increase in Ethereum’s utility, potentially influencing market perceptions of its future price potential.

Key Takeaways Introduction of “Earn & Borrow” on Base suggests increased utility for Ethereum, potentially enhancing its market perception. Current market pricing for Ethereum reaching $10,000 by December 2026 remains low, with a 0.9% YES probability. The development is consistent with scenarios where Ethereum’s growing functionality supports higher future valuations. What to Watch Watch for any significant shifts in Ethereum’s price movement following the integration announcement. Observers will be keen to see if this development leads to increased adoption and use of Ethereum-based financial services. Additionally, monitoring any changes in stablecoin yields and loan demand on Base could provide further insights into the network’s impact on the Ethereum ecosystem.

Term Structure

Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h December 31, 2026 0.9% — — View market → December 31, 2026 0.9% — — View market → December 31, 2026 2.4% — — View market → December 31, 2026 3.1% — — View market → December 31, 2026 5% — — View market → January 1 2027 18.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 4.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 1.1% — — View market → January 1 2027 1.1% — — View market → January 1 2027 2.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 4% — — View market → January 1 2027 8.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 8.6% — — View market → January 1 2027 2.6% — — View market → January 1 2027 1.6% — — View market → January 1 2027 5.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 42.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 15.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 2.1% — — View market → January 1 2027 24.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 48.5% — — View market →

Ethereum’s validator set is in the middle of a quiet renovation. According to an update tied to Lido, staked ETH sitting on 0x02 validators has now reached 40%.

The move came from two sources. Around 1.8 million ETH migrated over from older 0x01 validators, and total ETH staked on 0x02 validators rose by 2.8 million.

What changed, and why validators are moving
Ethereum’s Pectra hard fork in May 2025 changed the rules through EIP-7251. Validators using the newer 0x02 type can now carry an effective balance of up to 2,048 ETH. Bigger stakes fit into one validator, and rewards can compound instead of stalling at a fixed ceiling.

Lido, Ethereum’s leading liquid staking protocol, has leaned into this hard. Its Curated Module v2, or CMv2, launched on July 27, 2026. The plan is to consolidate over 8 million ETH, worth approximately $16 billion at the time, from more than 265,000 legacy validators into an estimated 4,000 active 0x02 validators.

Those 8 million ETH represent around 20% of all staked ETH. Collapsing 265,000 validators into roughly 4,000 is the staking equivalent of merging a sprawling office park into a single tower.

The numbers behind the shift
The consolidation has already moved the needle on Lido’s own footprint. Its share of staked ETH on 0x02 validators climbed from approximately 32% to around 52%, according to the research findings.

As of late October 2026, the share of all staked ETH on 0x02 validators approached 50%. The 32 ETH validator is slowly becoming a legacy format.

Once consolidation wraps up, the network is expected to drop from an estimated 880,000 validators to approximately 628,000. The research points to an expected reduction of about 29% in consensus attestation traffic per epoch.

Bonds, accountability and what comes next
CMv2 also introduces a bonding requirement for curated operators. Under the new module, operators must lock up ETH as collateral. That bond can be seized for violations such as slashing or downtime.

Lido is also building a Community Staking Module, or CSM, slated for mainnet in Q4 2026. The goal is to allow permissionless operator participation, opening the door to node runners who are not part of Lido’s curated set.

What this means for Ethereum and stakers
For the Ethereum network, shrinking the validator set by about one-third should ease network load, reduce attestation traffic and cut operational overhead. For stakers, with a 2,048 ETH ceiling, rewards can compound inside a single validator rather than stalling at the old 32 ETH cap.

Lido already holds a large share of staked ETH, and its share of 0x02 stake has reportedly jumped to around 52%. The bonding system and the upcoming Community Staking Module are Lido’s answer to concentration concerns. A permissionless module, if it ships as slated in Q4 2026, could broaden who actually operates the infrastructure.

The key metrics to track from here are the network-wide 0x02 share as it climbs toward and potentially past 50%, the total validator count as it moves from roughly 880,000 toward the projected 628,000, and whether CSM lands on schedule in Q4 2026.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Top Ethereum (ETH) bull and co-founder of Fundstrat Tom Lee has issued a very unusual bearish alert for the second-largest crypto. 

According to his latest post on X, Lee sounded an alarm about the potential negative impact of the dramatic stock market drop in South Korea on the crypto market, which may trigger more ETH sell-offs. 

"This major decline in Korean equities is likely spilling over into crypto," Lee wrote. Lee expressed serious concern about South Korean brokerages' margin liquidations. He also mentioned the fact that South Korean investors hold a large share of crypto, and the crypto asset market is vulnerable to financial contagion. "Short-term pain," he continued, and highlighted ETH. 

HOT Stories

You Might Also Like

Lee issued the bearish alert at a time when South Korea's benchmark KOSPI dropped over 6% on Tuesday, Oct. 13 due to the massive sell-off in technology and semiconductor stocks. The stock market crash was so severe that the Korea Exchange had to take emergency market stabilization measures.

What's happening in South Korea?The South Korean stock market has been under pressure due to growing concerns about the artificial intelligence boom and the competitiveness of major South Korean semiconductor companies. 

The massive stock market sell-off has mainly affected two of the most influential Korean stock market companies: Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. 

It was reported that Chinese memory chip maker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) made considerable progress in terms of semiconductor technology. That is why there are concerns about growing competition from China that could negatively impact memory chip prices and profit margins. 

Notably, U.S. semiconductor stocks also plunged. The last session saw a significant drop of 2.67% for the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. 

Korea Exchange triggered the so-called sell-side sidecar at approximately 9:48 a.m. local time due to a drop of over 5% in KOSPI 200 futures. However, the intervention could not prevent a wider sell-off.

Crypto analyst Darkfost posted that despite Ethereum (ETH) recently pulling back from $2,775 to roughly $2,500, a nearly 10% drop, the notional value of Binance’s ETH futures open interest fell by about $600 million over the same period. However, when measured in ETH quantity, its open interest has rebounded to the level at the end of September, standing at around 2.46 million ETH. Between October 8 and 9, the market liquidated approximately $345 million worth of ETH long positions in a 24-hour window. Even so, Binance’s share of total ETH futures open interest across major centralized exchanges has climbed to nearly 49%, a new high since 2023. Darkfost noted that this means that despite ETH’s price correction and some leveraged positions being liquidated, the amount of ETH traders have deployed to Binance’s futures market has not decreased notably, further strengthening Binance’s dominance in the ETH derivatives market.

Relevant content

US crypto-related concept stocks reversed earlier losses to trade higher, with MSTR rising 2.04%.

According to market data from BIT (Bit.com), US crypto-related stocks have turned from losses to gains, with the following performance: MSTR up 2.04%, COIN up 2.08%, CRCL up 0.91%, SBET up 0.93%, BMNR up 1.01%, HOOD up 0.34%, and ABTC up 6.73%.

3 minutes ago

Palantir hits an all-time high, with U.S. AI application software stocks remaining active.

According to market data from BIT (Bit.com), U.S. AI software stocks remain active. Palantir (PLTR.US) rose over 1% to hit a new high, while ServiceNow (NOW.US), Shopify (SHOP.US), and Salesforce (CRM.US) gained more than 3%. SAP SE (SAP.US), Snap (SNAP.US), and Workday (WDAY.US) each climbed over 1%. On the news front, Bank of America Securities upgraded Salesforce’s rating from Underperform to Buy, sharply lifting its target price from $160 to $285. In its report, BofA noted that although revenue directly tied to AI still accounts for a small share, it is optimistic about the long-term prospects of the company’s enterprise AI. Additionally, Ben Schneider, chief U.S. equity strategist at Goldman Sachs, and TMT expert Pete Callahan pointed out that the AI investment narrative is shifting from semiconductor capital expenditure to application-layer areas such as the "inference economy" and personal agents. Callahan bluntly stated that "programming AI is no longer a market secret", adding that the market is urgently searching for the next major AI story.

3 minutes ago

AMD unveils Helion AI agent rack solution, with each rack supporting up to 32,768 CPU cores.

Beating AI News (from Dongcha) – AMD today announced the launch of the AMD Helion Agent AI Rack Solution. Built on an open infrastructure design compliant with Open Compute Project (OCP) specifications, the solution is engineered to meet the computing power demands of large-scale AI agent tasks, supporting flexible combinations of CPUs and GPUs.
It offers two primary configurations: The first is a CPU-only rack powered by 6th Gen AMD EPYC processors, supporting up to 32,768 CPU cores, designed for hyperscale deployments, providing dedicated computing power for agent tasks and connecting to separate model inference infrastructure. The second is an integrated rack combining AMD EPYC CPUs, AMD Instinct MI350P GPUs, and general-purpose compute nodes, targeted at enterprise-grade agent AI applications.
AMD states that Helion supports both liquid and air cooling configurations, allowing customers to adjust CPU and GPU resources based on their workload, performance, power consumption, and cost needs. The solution also integrates open-source software and hardware plus a built-in token router, enabling the distribution of agent model calls to both frontier and open-source models.
AMD plans to submit the Helion specifications to the OCP for further community development and adoption. Currently, the solution is being developed in collaboration with ecosystem partners, with a launch scheduled for November 2026.

3 minutes ago

Head of Microsoft’s AI Agents Bets on 2027: AI Will No Longer Wait for Queries, Delivering Work Results Directly via Information Streams

Beating AI News: Nicolas Bustamante, head of Microsoft’s proactive AI Agent team, predicts AI streams will become the mainstream interaction method by 2027. Chat-based models leave too much work to users—requiring them to figure out AI’s capabilities, write prompts, provide context, and repeatedly direct agents. For billions to use agents daily, not everyone can be expected to master these tasks. Bustamante’s envisioned AI stream works like an auto-updated to-do list: AI drafts emails needing responses; when sales data refreshes, team reports are prepped. Users browse it like social media, approving, editing, or ignoring items, only turning to chat for complex issues. Meta’s Muse already proactively suggests and executes tasks. The model also has commercial logic: as users open the stream daily, AI recommends restaurants, goods or services based on their plans, with clearly labeled ads covering the agent’s operational costs.

3 minutes ago

A crypto whale reallocated its UBTC holdings into 16,700 ETH, worth $42.46 million.

According to monitoring by AI Aunt, a crypto whale address swapped its UBTC holdings for 16,704.47 ETH over the past 22 hours, worth approximately $42.46 million, at an average purchase price of around $2,541.89.

3 minutes ago

Microsoft's stock price has hit a nearly one-year high, and the company announced plans to massively deploy its in-house developed AI chips.

According to BIT (Bit.com) market data, Microsoft’s stock price hit a near one-year high, rising 0.8% intraday. On the news front, Microsoft plans to gradually increase the use of its self-developed AI chips in data centers to reduce reliance on NVIDIA GPUs. Microsoft stated that it will mainly rely on its self-developed Maia chip architecture to handle AI model requests in the future, and plans to deploy several gigawatts of computing power on the Maia series chips. Microsoft unveiled its third-generation AI accelerator chip, the Maia 300, on Monday, which is expected to enter production in 2027. Each data center rack can hold 96 Maia 300 chips, double the number of the previous-generation Maia 200; compared with GPUs, its AI token processing capacity per rack can reach up to 7 times higher, and the number of tokens processed per megawatt increases by approximately 40%. Microsoft said the Maia 300 is expected to boost AI service performance and lower data center operating costs. Evercore ISI analysts forecast that by the first quarter of 2027, Maia chips will account for around 10% of Microsoft’s AI chip spending.

3 minutes ago

Is ETH ready to rebound after its recent price pullback?

The second-largest cryptocurrency has retraced 6% over the past week, yet an important development suggests the bullish setup remains intact.

Many market observers believe ETH could soon reach a new all-time high, while one mysterious trader spent millions to open an extremely risky long position in the asset.

The Bullish Perspective
Popular X user Ash Crypto revealed that ETH closed its fourth consecutive week above the 50-week moving average (MA) after bouncing off multi-month support at $2,405. This is considered a major long-term trend indicator and suggests momentum remains on the bulls’ side (despite recent volatility).

“Four consecutive weekly closes above the 50-week MA is an encouraging signal for ETH. Holding this level could strengthen the bullish outlook, but confirmation on the next few candles will be key,” one X user commented on the post.

Many analysts think the asset could be on the verge of an imminent surge. Ali Martinez recently noted that ETH has formed an “Adam and Eve” bottoming pattern, outlining the neckline at $2,520 as the key zone.

“A sustained close above this level could confirm a bullish breakout and open the door for ETH to rally toward $2,640.”

For his part, Ted said ETH is currently facing resistance around the $2,560-$2,570 range. He believes that reclaiming this zone could set the stage for a pump to $2,700. X user BLADE noted the recent price correction but reminded that the asset has historically rallied after such dips.

“It’s a simple dynamic that keeps repeating. Same base as the 2025 bottom, so naturally I’d expect the same run over the months ahead. My target: $5K,” they said.

Meanwhile, investors have become increasingly aggressive on ETH. X user Gerla disclosed that Ethereum longs on Bitfinex have spiked by 266% in just a few weeks, reaching their highest level since 2022. Ash Crypto revealed that an anonymous whale opened a $50 million long position on ETH with 25x leverage and is currently less than $50 away from liquidation.

The Bearish Signals
Despite analysts’ predominant optimism, two key developments suggest the asset could underperform in the near future. The first is the recent performance of the spot ETH ETFs.

You may also like:

BTC, ETH, XRP Crash Sparks Whale Accumulation as Buy Signals Appear

Ethereum (ETH) Correction Deepens, But Binance Withdrawals Tell Another Story

Analyst Warns of Bitcoin Monday Dump After Sunday Gain

As CryptoPotato reported, the investment vehicles recorded total outflows of more than $540 million last week, signaling that pension funds, hedge funds, and other conservative investors have reduced their exposure to the cryptocurrency. More concerning, spot ETH ETFs have posted nine consecutive red days, with September 28 as the last day inflows exceeded outflows.

Next is the rising amount of coins stored on crypto exchanges. According to CryptoQuant, the figure has risen to a one-month high of about 14.9 million units, which doesn’t guarantee a price collapse but increases immediate selling pressure.

ETH Exchange Reserve, Source: CryptoQuant

Tags:

Two wallets linked to the Ethereum Foundation moved 4,393 ETH to Kraken on October 12, 2026. At the time of the transfer, that stack was worth approximately $11.13 million.

The move was flagged by on-chain tracker EmberCN and picked up by outlets including TechFlow and BlockBeats. Neither the foundation nor Kraken has said anything publicly about it.

Following the coins The two sending addresses were identified as 0x4c4…2b94 and 0x999…0229. Together, they accounted for the full 4,393 ETH that landed on Kraken.

One of those wallets has a long history. In 2016, it received 59,751 ETH from an Ethereum Foundation address. Over the following ten years, that same wallet has routed 49,751 ETH to Kraken.

The research ties that ETH to an average price of approximately $658 per coin.

The gap between what the wallet received and what it has sent to Kraken works out to 10,000 ETH. The available on-chain data does not specify where that remainder sits today.

This transfer also does not stand alone. EmberCN-style monitoring has caught similar flows from foundation-linked addresses to Kraken in May and August of 2026, as well as in late 2025. Those earlier movements included both larger transfers and smaller test transactions.

Why the Ethereum Foundation keeps showing up at Kraken The Ethereum Foundation is the nonprofit that has supported Ethereum’s development since its early days. Historically, the foundation has sent funds to centralized exchanges such as Kraken for various operational purposes.

Without a statement from the foundation, the exact purpose of this batch remains unclear. The research describes these flows as potential operational activity, possibly connected to future projects or liquidity needs.

What this means for ETH holders and the market Prior transfers of this kind have drawn attention from the analytics community without typically producing immediate market impact.

Transfers in late 2025, May 2026, August 2026, and now October 2026 suggest a steady cadence of treasury activity. Observers will look for any public explanation from the foundation, any follow-up transfers from the same two addresses, and whether the 10,000 ETH gap from the 2016 allocation shows up anywhere.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Vivian Nguyen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Vitalik Buterin thinks artificial intelligence just bought Ethereum a couple of decades. Speaking at the Network State Conference 2026 in Singapore, the Ethereum co-founder said AI is speeding up work on the network’s protocol upgrades by a dramatic margin.

Without it, he suggested, some of the roadmap’s goals could have taken until 2040 or even 2050 to reach.

What Buterin actually said The interview took place on October 9, 2026, and was reported the following day. Buterin’s focus was the Lean Roadmap, Ethereum’s plan to overhaul its core protocol.

His central claim: AI is now handling a substantial share of the research and coding that the roadmap requires. That includes some of the hardest work on the list.

The standout example is formal verification written in Lean 4. Lean 4 is a programming language and proof assistant used to write mathematical proofs that a computer can check line by line.

According to the research summary, AI’s contribution in Lean 4 reduces the need for people to manually audit huge volumes of code.

Advertisement

The architecture AI is helping build The roadmap Buterin described is not a minor tune-up. Ethereum is moving toward an architecture built around recursive STARKs, automated formal verification and stronger quantum resistance.

A quick translation of those terms. STARKs are cryptographic proofs that let one party prove a computation was done correctly without everyone redoing it, and recursive STARKs are proofs that can verify other proofs. Quantum resistance refers to protecting the network against future quantum computers that could break today’s cryptography.

That is where AI comes in, according to Buterin. The research summary describes AI as becoming a crucial enabler as Ethereum heads toward this more sophisticated design.

Hegota and the end of “normal” forks The next milestone on the calendar is the Hegota upgrade, which is expected around 2027. It is described as the last “normal” fork in Ethereum’s history.

After that, the focus is expected to tilt toward advanced cryptographic methods and formal verification, with AI integration playing a central role.

There is already some evidence that AI can do meaningful protocol work. In early 2026, experiments produced a prototype Ethereum client covering approximately 65 roadmap items. That prototype also synchronized with the Ethereum mainnet.

Buterin’s mixed feelings about AI This is not the first time Buterin has weighed in on AI this year. Earlier in 2026, he discussed what the research summary calls AI’s dual role in crypto development.

On one side, AI can accelerate technical work. On the other, it raises security concerns about vulnerabilities, including the possibility that the same tools could help attackers find weaknesses faster.

That tension makes the formal verification angle especially interesting. If AI can generate code quickly, mathematically proving that code is correct becomes a natural safeguard against the risks AI itself introduces.

What this means for Ethereum and its stakeholders For developers, the clearest implication is a changing job description. If AI handles more of the proof-writing and code auditing, core researchers may spend more time on design decisions and less on manual verification.

Buterin’s 2040 to 2050 framing suggests he sees AI as the difference between someday and this decade.

The security question also has not gone away. Leaning on AI for critical infrastructure code raises the stakes on getting verification right, since a subtle error in a widely used blockchain can be expensive.

What to watch next: progress on Hegota, further results from AI-built client experiments, and how much of the Lean Roadmap’s formal verification ends up being machine-generated.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Cover image via U.Today Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.

This week, Ethereum researchers warned AI could break the signatures securing Bitcoin and Ethereum "in months, not years" in the worst case, well before quantum computers arrive.

This information didn't sit well with early Bitcoin pioneer and Blockstream CEO Adam Back, who criticized Ethereum's early design decisions in an X post.

Back was particularly critical of Ethereum's early developers, describing them as inexperienced, saying that they "reimplemented around an obviously broken architecture" despite warning attempts.

HOT Stories

The Blockstream CEO believes Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto's choice of the Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) model for the BTC network reflected a deeper understanding of distributed systems and peer-to-peer network design.

"It's almost like Satoshi knew something about distributed systems," Back said in support of Bitcoin's UTXO model.

@seal_kiman @UtxoSaint It's almost like Satoshi knew something about distributed systems (or network / p2p programming) as the UTXO model is well-designed for avoiding them. .eth's were young, naive, no experience/wisdom, reimplemented around an obviously broken architecture. Tried to warn them 🤷‍♂️

— Adam Back (@adam3us) October 10, 2026 UTXO in this context is short for "Unspent Transaction Output" model, which works like physical cash, where discrete coins or outputs are spent and new ones are created, used by blockchains such as Bitcoin and Cardano.

You Might Also Like

Ethereum does not use UTXO but rather utilizes an account-based model (similar to a traditional bank ledger), where each user or smart contract has a persistent balance and state that updates directly with each transaction.

While Ethereum currently relies on accounts, ETH researchers have proposed experimental frameworks to introduce optional UTXO-style features, such as Ethereum Improvement Proposal EIP-8141, which introduces a new transaction type (0x06, or Frame Transactions) designed to achieve native account abstraction and post-quantum readiness.

What happened?Ethereum researcher Justin Drake, in an X post on Wednesday, told the crypto industry to start preparing for "bunker mode," warning that artificial intelligence could find a way to break the mathematics protecting Bitcoin and Ethereum wallets in the worst case "in months, not years."

You Might Also Like

Accordingly, Drake urged large holders to begin a gradual move of their funds to fresh addresses.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin weighed in on Drake's take, saying he wouldn't recommend anyone scramble to move their funds to new wallets at the moment, but added that the risk from AI-accelerated math remains something that should be taken seriously.

"I don't recommend anyone scramble to move their funds to new wallets today. But we should take the risks to cryptography from AI-accelerated math seriously, and minimize our exposure to not just quantum-vulnerable cryptography but also potentially AI-vulnerable cryptography," Buterin wrote on X. 

Kripto para piyasasında güvenlik endişelerini artıran yeni bir hack iddiası gündeme geldi. Dünyanın önde gelen donanım cüzdanı üreticilerinden Ledger, bazı kullanıcıların kripto varlıklarının çalındığına yönelik iddiaların ardından soruşturma başlattı. Zincir üstü araştırmalara göre toplam kaybın 86 milyon doları aşmış olabileceği belirtilirken, Binance kurucusu Changpeng Zhao (CZ) da yatırımcıları dikkatli olmaları konusunda uyardı.

86 Milyon Dolarlık Kripto Para Çalındı mı? Güneydoğu Asya’daki bazı Ledger kullanıcılarının kripto para varlıklarını kaybettiğine yönelik iddialar, sektörde büyük yankı uyandırdı. Zincir üstü araştırmacı Specter, Ethereum, TRON ve Bitcoin ağlarında yüzlerce cüzdandan şüpheli adreslere gerçekleştirilen transferleri takip ettiğini açıkladı. Specter’ın tahminlerine göre olayla bağlantılı toplam kayıp 86 milyon doların üzerine çıkmış olabilir. Ancak saldırıların hangi yöntemle gerçekleştirildiği henüz kesinleşmedi. Ledger cihazlarının temel güvenlik altyapısının doğrudan ele geçirildiğine ilişkin doğrulanmış bir kanıt bulunmadığı belirtiliyor.

İlginizi Çekebilir: Bitcoin’in Kaderi Bu Seviyeye Bağlı!

Ledger, güvenlik iddialarının CryptoBilis adlı satıcı üzerinden satın alınan cihazlarla bağlantılı olabileceğini değerlendiriyor. Şirket, soruşturma tamamlanana kadar ilgili satıcının satış ve sevkiyat faaliyetlerini durdurmasını istedi. Ayrıca son 90 gün içerisinde CryptoBilis üzerinden Ledger cihazı satın alan kullanıcıların cihazlarını henüz kurmamaları gerektiği bildirildi. Cihazlarını daha önce kullanmaya başlayan kişilere ise yeni bir kurtarma ifadesi oluşturarak varlıklarını güvenilir yeni bir Ledger cihazına taşımaları tavsiye edildi. Bu uyarılar, donanım cüzdanlarının güvenliğinin yalnızca yazılımsal korumaya değil, cihazların güvenilir kaynaklardan temin edilmesine de bağlı olduğunu yeniden gündeme taşıdı.

Binance Kurucusu CZ’den Ledger Açıklaması Binance’in kurucusu Changpeng Zhao (CZ), olayla ilgili ilk bulguların olası bir tedarik zinciri saldırısına işaret ettiğini belirtti. Zhao’ya göre bazı kullanıcılar, orijinal cihazlar yerine üzerinde değişiklik yapılmış veya sahte Ledger ürünleri satın almış olabilir.

CZ, Ledger’ın kripto para sektörünün en köklü donanım cüzdanı üreticilerinden biri olduğunu vurgularken, olayın şirketin tüm cihazlarının güvenliğinin ihlal edildiği anlamına gelmediğine dikkat çekti.

Zhao ayrıca BNB ekosistemindeki katılımcıların ve sektörün diğer aktörlerinin çalınan kripto varlıkların izlenmesi ve geri alınması konusunda destek sağlayabileceğini ifade etti.

Kripto Para Yatırımcılarını Nasıl Etkileyebilir? Ledger hakkındaki güvenlik iddiaları, kripto para yatırımcılarının donanım cüzdanı kullanırken dikkat etmesi gereken riskleri yeniden gündeme getirdi. Özellikle üçüncü taraf satıcılardan temin edilen cihazların güvenilirliği ve kurtarma ifadelerinin korunması kritik önem taşıyor. Genel değerlendirmede 86 milyon dolarlık kayıp iddiasının henüz kesinleşmemiş olması ve saldırı yönteminin tam olarak belirlenememesi, soruşturmanın sonuçlarını önemli hale getiriyor. Ledger’ın yapacağı yeni açıklamalar, olayın kapsamının netleşmesi ve etkilenen kullanıcıların belirlenmesi açısından yakından takip edilecek.

Son Dakika kripto para haberleri için hemen tıkla.

Konu ile ilgili yorumlarınızı bize yazabilirsiniz. Ayrıca, bu tarz bilgilendirici içeriklerin devamının gelmesini isterseniz, bizleri Telegram, Youtube ve Twitter kanallarımızdan takip edebilirsiniz.

Ethereum price has recovered to around $2,493 after a sharp fall toward $2,400, but its daily Supertrend has turned bearish, and the 4-hour chart still shows negative money flow.

Summary

Ethereum price trades near $2,493 after recovering from its sharp decline toward $2,400. Daily Supertrend resistance stands at $2,764, above Ethereum’s current price. The 4-hour Bollinger midpoint at $2,569 marks the next recovery hurdle. U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $486.1 million in outflows across four trading sessions. Ethereum price struggles to recover $2,500 TradingView’s Binance ETH/USDT daily chart showed Ethereum at $2,492.98 on Oct. 9, up 0.73% for the session. The day’s price range extended from $2,471.05 to $2,520.54, leaving ETH below $2,500 despite an earlier move above that level.

The daily chart shows a sharp reversal from the trading range established near $2,650–$2,750 in late September and early October. Ethereum’s latest bounce has recovered only part of that decline, with the price still below the area where it traded before selling accelerated.

On the 4-hour TradingView chart, ETH stood at $2,493.31 after falling 0.53% during the displayed period. Its recovery from the recent low had stalled near $2,500, while the latest candles remained below the chart’s falling moving average.

Analyst Ella identified $2,500 as the first level buyers need to reclaim in an Oct. 9 post. She described Ethereum’s move from approximately $2,700 to a wick near $2,400 as a decline of close to 11%, with selling accelerating toward the end.

Ella said a recovery above $2,500 could ease some of the panic, while failure to regain that level would leave the bounce vulnerable. Her assessment places the immediate focus on whether Ethereum can hold above the round-number threshold after briefly trading through it.

Daily Supertrend turns bearish above ETH The daily TradingView chart displayed a red Supertrend reading at $2,764.28 following Ethereum’s latest sell-off. The indicator had previously tracked below the price during the advance from August into September.

Ethereum price daily chart — Oct. 9 | Source: TradingView Its shift above ETH places the daily trend signal on the bearish side. At approximately $2,493, Ethereum traded nearly 10% below the Supertrend level, leaving a substantial gap between the rebound and a potential reversal of that signal.

The earlier green Supertrend line ended around $2,477.52, close to the current price. Ethereum’s sharp downward wick passed below that area before the rebound, while the newly displayed red line established a higher resistance threshold.

TradingView’s daily Average Directional Index stood at 35.48. The reading remained above 25, a commonly used threshold for an established trend, although the line had declined from its September highs.

ADX measures trend strength rather than direction. In Ethereum’s current setup, the bearish direction comes from the Supertrend change and the price breakdown, while the falling ADX shows that measured trend strength has eased from earlier readings.

The daily chart also places the former $2,650–$2,750 trading range above the market. A recovery into that area would retrace more of the recent fall, but ETH would still need to clear the Supertrend resistance near $2,764 to reverse the indicator’s bearish setting.

The 4-hour chart puts $2,569 ahead of a stronger recovery Ethereum’s 4-hour Bollinger Bands showed a midpoint of $2,568.56, an upper band of $2,731.37 and a lower band of $2,405.75. ETH traded in the lower half of that range after bouncing from near the lower boundary.

Ethereum price 4-hour chart — Oct. 9 | Source: TradingView The midpoint stood roughly 3% above the displayed price. A move above $2,500 would therefore clear the nearest round-number hurdle while leaving the 20-period moving average around $2,569 as the next technical test.

The bands had widened during the sell-off, with the upper boundary rising and the lower boundary falling. On the chart, that expansion accompanied the break from Ethereum’s earlier consolidation around $2,700.

The 4-hour Chaikin Money Flow reading was negative at -0.10. The indicator’s position below zero points to selling pressure across its measurement period, even after Ethereum recovered from the low.

Together, the price below the Bollinger midpoint and negative CMF leave the short-term recovery without a clear bullish confirmation. A sustained move above $2,569 alongside CMF returning above zero would strengthen the recovery case on that timeframe.

On the downside, the lower Bollinger Band near $2,406 overlaps with the recent price trough around $2,400. A break below that zone would take Ethereum beneath both the latest low area and the displayed band boundary.

ETF withdrawals continue as liquidation clusters sit overhead Farside Investors recorded $201.9 million in U.S. spot Ethereum ETF outflows on Oct. 6 and another $160.9 million on Oct. 7. Combined withdrawals reached $362.8 million across those two sessions.

The same dataset showed $72.5 million in further outflows on Oct. 8. Including the $50.8 million withdrawn on Oct. 5, net redemptions totaled $486.1 million across four trading sessions, extending the funds’ outflow streak to eight sessions.

CoinGlass’s one-week Ethereum liquidation heatmap showed its brightest remaining overhead concentration around $2,635–$2,640. Additional bands appeared near $2,610 and across approximately $2,740–$2,760, above the current market price.

Ethereum liquidation heatmap | Source: CoinGlass Below ETH, the heatmap displayed smaller concentrations around $2,450–$2,460 and $2,400, with further bands near $2,380. Those levels sit beneath the rebound and around the area reached during the sharpest part of the decline.

A separate weekly assessment from the analyst publishing as Wealthmanager offered a longer-term bullish scenario. The analyst described an inverse head-and-shoulders setup, a reclaimed neckline and improving RSI, with a successful retest potentially opening a move toward $3,200–$4,000.

$ETH is showing signs of a major trend reversal.

The inverse head and shoulders structure is taking shape, with the neckline reclaimed and RSI showing strength.

A successful retest could open the way toward $3.2K–$4K.

The weekly structure is worth watching closely. pic.twitter.com/MpCeaS4PSf

— Wealthmanager (@Wealthmanager) October 9, 2026 That forecast remains conditional on the weekly retest holding. On the shorter TradingView timeframes, Ethereum still faces $2,500 and $2,569 before the former trading range and daily Supertrend resistance near $2,764.

Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.

Stablecoin supply across Ethereum, Arbitrum One and Base rose by a combined $403.1 million over the past week. Ethereum accounted for the largest piece, at approximately $243 million.

The data comes from DefiLlama and covers a week in October 2026. No headline event appears to have triggered the move.

Where the new dollars landed Ethereum’s stablecoin supply now sits at around $146.5 billion, according to DefiLlama figures. That makes the network the single largest home for dollar-pegged tokens tracked on-chain.

Ethereum holds about 47-48% of the total on-chain stablecoin supply across the major networks DefiLlama tracks.

Advertisement

The more interesting percentages came from the Layer-2 networks. Arbitrum’s stablecoin supply rose 2.08% over seven days. Base posted a 0.86% increase over the same stretch.

For readers newer to the term, Layer-2 networks are separate chains built on top of Ethereum. They process transactions more cheaply and then settle back to the main network. Arbitrum One and Base are two of the most widely used.

The tokens doing the heavy lifting Two names dominate the supply on these chains: USDT, issued by Tether, and USDC, issued by Circle. Both are designed to hold a steady value of one US dollar.

USDT controls approximately 50% of Ethereum’s stablecoin supply on its own.

Stablecoins are the plumbing of on-chain finance. Traders park funds in them between positions. Lending protocols use them as the main asset borrowers want. Decentralized exchanges rely on them as the base currency for most trading pairs.

The bigger stablecoin picture Zoomed out, the total stablecoin market cap has held in a range between $300 billion and $306 billion. The weekly growth on Ethereum and its Layer-2s fits within that broader stable pattern rather than breaking from it.

What this means for traders and DeFi users Concentration risk is one thing to keep in mind. With USDT holding roughly half of Ethereum’s stablecoin supply, the network’s dollar liquidity leans heavily on one issuer. Anything that affects Tether’s operations would ripple through a large share of on-chain activity.

A single week of data is a snapshot, not a trend line. The overall stablecoin market cap staying in a tight range suggests the industry is consolidating rather than surging, and the absence of a specific news driver means this growth could just as easily slow down without warning.

The metrics to track from here are straightforward. Watch whether Ethereum’s share of on-chain stablecoin supply holds in the 47-48% range. Watch whether Arbitrum and Base keep growing faster than the main chain in percentage terms. And watch whether the total stablecoin market cap finally breaks out of its $300 billion to $306 billion range, in either direction.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Vivian Nguyen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Ethereum has printed a sharp drop in its reserves on the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, drawing attention from market analysts.

The trend has come at an unusual time, as the latest data from crypto analytics platform CryptoQuant shows that withdrawals on the exchange have climbed significantly while its price is facing a sharp correction.

100,000 ETH exit Binance reserves in 3 daysAccording to the data, Ethereum reserves on Binance fell from 3.57 million ETH to 3.47 million ETH within just three days, with over 100,000 ETH withdrawn in such a short period.

HOT Stories

While this suggests that more ETH tokens are rapidly leaving the exchange, the sharp decline in the Ethereum reserves has seen it fall to its lowest level in the last six months.

You Might Also Like

Although a decrease in reserves prints a bullish outlook for the concerned crypto asset, as it typically indicates increased withdrawals from exchanges, the reverse is currently the case for Ethereum.

Rather than a rally, the sharp decline in the Binance Ethereum reserves came when the asset is facing mounting selling pressure across the broader crypto market, with its price suddenly dropping to $2,400 from a recent high of over $2,700.

What are traders up to?The sudden increase in Ethereum withdrawals while its price is facing a downturn could suggest that traders are making entries amid the market dip to buy the asset at lower prices.

Notably, the data shows that the decline extends a broader trend that began in August, when reserves stood at about 3.92 million ETH. 

While reserves have now fallen by about 11.5% since then, the trend could potentially ease immediate selling pressure for Ethereum when demand returns, positioning it for a stronger rally if sentiment flips.