According to Lookonchain’s monitoring, an Ethereum OG whale that purchased 3,000 ETH at an average price of $18.8 spent only $56,500 on this investment 8 years ago. The address sold another 1,000 ETH today, valued at roughly $2.68 million. To date, it has sold a total of 2,000 ETH at an average price of $3,096, worth approximately $6.19 million, while still holding 1,000 ETH valued at around $2.67 million. The whale’s total profit stands at about $8.8 million, marking a 156x return on investment.
Morgan Stanley: The Federal Reserve may raise interest rates by a smaller margin than market expectations.
Morgan Stanley interest rate strategists stated in a report that following the Federal Reserve’s September rate hike, they project additional increases in December and March next year. However, current market pricing points to a more aggressive rate hike trajectory over the coming year. The strategists highlighted that uncertainty surrounding the Fed, economic growth, corporate bond issuance, and oil price movements is boosting expectations of further monetary policy tightening over the next 12 months. Still, Morgan Stanley argues the Fed’s actual tightening will not align with market expectations, as key factors shaping the central bank’s policy path will only become clearer later this year. Per data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), money markets are currently pricing in a total of 100 basis points of Fed rate hikes over the next 12 months.
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U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs have posted net inflows for eight consecutive days, adding $31 million yesterday.
According to Farside data, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows for the eighth consecutive trading day yesterday, totaling $31 million.
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U.S. Ethereum spot ETFs have posted net inflows for seven consecutive days, with a net inflow of $17.1 million yesterday.
According to Farside data, U.S. Ethereum spot ETFs posted net inflows for the seventh consecutive trading day yesterday, totaling $17.1 million.
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SharpLink staked another 42,074 ETH today, worth $112.8 million.
According to Lookonchain’s monitoring, SharpLink, the second-largest Ethereum treasury firm, staked an additional 42,074 ETH today, valued at $112.8 million. The firm currently holds 892,127 ETH (worth $2.4 billion) and has earned staking rewards of 27,945 ETH (valued at $75 million).
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Multiple positive catalysts have propelled NMR and HBAR to lead gains in the altcoin market, with the two tokens surging over 40% and 27% respectively.
According to HTX market data, NMR leads the altcoin market, surging over 40% in 24 hours, hitting a high of $15.5 before trading at $14.1 as of press time. The rally is more of a catch-up move by capital under the "AI + institutional narrative": earlier, established institutional-linked tokens like QNT had rallied first, with some traders viewing NMR as a peer asset. Its price broke out of the $9–$10 consolidation range with significant volume, trading volume expanding notably from prior levels. Fundamentally, Numerai currently manages around $700 million in assets, has repurchased approximately $3.2 million worth of NMR over the past year, and has switched to a new on-chain staking mechanism. HBAR also leads the altcoin market, jumping over 27% in 24 hours, briefly breaking above $0.13 before trading at $0.122. On the news front, Hedera’s IDTrust identity solution was added to the IBM Cloud catalog, targeting enterprise clients and AI Agent identities; a Hedera council member appeared on NVIDIA’s Open Agent Safety-related list, which the market interpreted as its entry into the AI security sector. Combined with positive factors including RWA rumors such as Lloyds Bank’s tokenized Treasury bonds and BlackRock’s money fund shares going on-chain, plus its inclusion in a UK wholesale digital market working group, multiple tailwinds have driven HBAR’s rise.
SharpLink Gaming(@Sharplink) staked another 42,074 $ETH($112.8M) today. SharpLink now holds 892,127 $ETH($2.4B) and has earned 27,945 $ETH($75M) in staking rewards.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Ethereum treasury firm BitMine Chairman Tom Lee stated that Wall Street veteran Jim Bianco has turned bullish on U.S. Treasuries for the first time in six years, following U.S. bond yields climbing to roughly a 20-year high, and views the current level as attractive. Should U.S. bond yields begin to decline, narratives around "peak pain" yields, fiscal deficits, inflation concerns, and the Federal Reserve's hawkish stance may simultaneously soften, which could trigger a rebound in risk assets including stocks and crypto.
Morgan Stanley: The Federal Reserve may raise interest rates by a smaller margin than market expectations.
Morgan Stanley interest rate strategists stated in a report that following the Federal Reserve’s September rate hike, they project additional increases in December and March next year. However, current market pricing points to a more aggressive rate hike trajectory over the coming year. The strategists highlighted that uncertainty surrounding the Fed, economic growth, corporate bond issuance, and oil price movements is boosting expectations of further monetary policy tightening over the next 12 months. Still, Morgan Stanley argues the Fed’s actual tightening will not align with market expectations, as key factors shaping the central bank’s policy path will only become clearer later this year. Per data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), money markets are currently pricing in a total of 100 basis points of Fed rate hikes over the next 12 months.
1 minutes ago
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs have posted net inflows for eight consecutive days, adding $31 million yesterday.
According to Farside data, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows for the eighth consecutive trading day yesterday, totaling $31 million.
1 minutes ago
U.S. Ethereum spot ETFs have posted net inflows for seven consecutive days, with a net inflow of $17.1 million yesterday.
According to Farside data, U.S. Ethereum spot ETFs posted net inflows for the seventh consecutive trading day yesterday, totaling $17.1 million.
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SharpLink staked another 42,074 ETH today, worth $112.8 million.
According to Lookonchain’s monitoring, SharpLink, the second-largest Ethereum treasury firm, staked an additional 42,074 ETH today, valued at $112.8 million. The firm currently holds 892,127 ETH (worth $2.4 billion) and has earned staking rewards of 27,945 ETH (valued at $75 million).
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Multiple positive catalysts have propelled NMR and HBAR to lead gains in the altcoin market, with the two tokens surging over 40% and 27% respectively.
According to HTX market data, NMR leads the altcoin market, surging over 40% in 24 hours, hitting a high of $15.5 before trading at $14.1 as of press time. The rally is more of a catch-up move by capital under the "AI + institutional narrative": earlier, established institutional-linked tokens like QNT had rallied first, with some traders viewing NMR as a peer asset. Its price broke out of the $9–$10 consolidation range with significant volume, trading volume expanding notably from prior levels. Fundamentally, Numerai currently manages around $700 million in assets, has repurchased approximately $3.2 million worth of NMR over the past year, and has switched to a new on-chain staking mechanism. HBAR also leads the altcoin market, jumping over 27% in 24 hours, briefly breaking above $0.13 before trading at $0.122. On the news front, Hedera’s IDTrust identity solution was added to the IBM Cloud catalog, targeting enterprise clients and AI Agent identities; a Hedera council member appeared on NVIDIA’s Open Agent Safety-related list, which the market interpreted as its entry into the AI security sector. Combined with positive factors including RWA rumors such as Lloyds Bank’s tokenized Treasury bonds and BlackRock’s money fund shares going on-chain, plus its inclusion in a UK wholesale digital market working group, multiple tailwinds have driven HBAR’s rise.
SharpLink Gaming(@Sharplink) staked another 42,074 $ETH($112.8M) today. SharpLink now holds 892,127 $ETH($2.4B) and has earned 27,945 $ETH($75M) in staking rewards.
Ethereum is attracting stronger buying interest from several corners of the market, though a major resistance level remains in focus.
September 2026 is turning out to be entirely different for Ethereum, as it appears to have bucked the “September Curse.” Since the start of the month, ETH is up by more than 9%.
Fresh data also revealed that the asset may be approaching a major resistance zone before a potential bullish move.
Real Test According to the latest findings by Ali Martinez, whale activity has risen sharply across the Ethereum network. Transactions worth more than $1 million jumped nearly 500% in the past week. The number of such transactions increased from 1,202 to 7,113. Martinez also found that large holders accumulated more than 320,000 ETH. At current prices, this stash is worth around $864 million.
However, Ethereum still faces a major wall between $2,722 and $2,822. More than 13.3 million ETH were previously traded in this range, which makes it a significant hurdle. Martinez said several failed breakout attempts could occur. If the leading altcoin breaks above this zone decisively, the next resistance levels are near $2,970 and $3,366. According to the analysis, rising whale demand remains a major market signal.
At the same time, another important trend is developing on the supply side. CryptoPotato recently reported that Ethereum’s available supply on crypto exchanges has dropped to a record low. Only 3.49% of ETH is held on tracked platforms, while another 1.16% of the supply has left exchanges since June 1.
The decline is linked partly to growing activity in staking and DeFi. Around 35% of ETH is estimated to be staked, while roughly $53 billion is locked in DeFi. Long-term holders and large treasury firms are also keeping more tokens off exchanges. This could limit readily available supply if demand increases.
Separately, Ethereum is also seeing an aggressive bet from a trader with an unusual track record. A mysterious trader has taken a $99 million long position on the crypto asset using 25x leverage. The position was opened when ETH traded near $2,660, with liquidation set at $2,552 unless more collateral is added.
You may also like: Institutions Watched Bitcoin Fall 50%: Yet None of 15 Bitwise Surveyed Investors Cut Exposure Ethereum Is Disappearing From Exchanges Fast: Here’s Where All the ETH Is Going Ethereum Investors Are Pulling ETH Off Binance at a Pace Not Seen in 3 Years The trader has reportedly made 3,156 trades with a 100% win rate and earned $5.5 million in profits last week alone.
Institutional Appetite On the institutional side of things, US-based spot ETH ETFs recorded another week of positive inflows, as nearly $690 million entered across five trading days. Monday saw the strongest inflow at almost $270 million.
On Tuesday, these investment products attracted $162 million, while Wednesday brought another $104.6 million, followed by $66 million on Thursday. Flows picked up slightly on Friday, with almost $87 million recorded.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Morgan Stanley: The Federal Reserve may raise interest rates by a smaller margin than market expectations.
Morgan Stanley interest rate strategists stated in a report that following the Federal Reserve’s September rate hike, they project additional increases in December and March next year. However, current market pricing points to a more aggressive rate hike trajectory over the coming year. The strategists highlighted that uncertainty surrounding the Fed, economic growth, corporate bond issuance, and oil price movements is boosting expectations of further monetary policy tightening over the next 12 months. Still, Morgan Stanley argues the Fed’s actual tightening will not align with market expectations, as key factors shaping the central bank’s policy path will only become clearer later this year. Per data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), money markets are currently pricing in a total of 100 basis points of Fed rate hikes over the next 12 months.
1 minutes ago
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs have posted net inflows for eight consecutive days, adding $31 million yesterday.
According to Farside data, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows for the eighth consecutive trading day yesterday, totaling $31 million.
1 minutes ago
U.S. Ethereum spot ETFs have posted net inflows for seven consecutive days, with a net inflow of $17.1 million yesterday.
According to Farside data, U.S. Ethereum spot ETFs posted net inflows for the seventh consecutive trading day yesterday, totaling $17.1 million.
1 minutes ago
Multiple positive catalysts have propelled NMR and HBAR to lead gains in the altcoin market, with the two tokens surging over 40% and 27% respectively.
According to HTX market data, NMR leads the altcoin market, surging over 40% in 24 hours, hitting a high of $15.5 before trading at $14.1 as of press time. The rally is more of a catch-up move by capital under the "AI + institutional narrative": earlier, established institutional-linked tokens like QNT had rallied first, with some traders viewing NMR as a peer asset. Its price broke out of the $9–$10 consolidation range with significant volume, trading volume expanding notably from prior levels. Fundamentally, Numerai currently manages around $700 million in assets, has repurchased approximately $3.2 million worth of NMR over the past year, and has switched to a new on-chain staking mechanism. HBAR also leads the altcoin market, jumping over 27% in 24 hours, briefly breaking above $0.13 before trading at $0.122. On the news front, Hedera’s IDTrust identity solution was added to the IBM Cloud catalog, targeting enterprise clients and AI Agent identities; a Hedera council member appeared on NVIDIA’s Open Agent Safety-related list, which the market interpreted as its entry into the AI security sector. Combined with positive factors including RWA rumors such as Lloyds Bank’s tokenized Treasury bonds and BlackRock’s money fund shares going on-chain, plus its inclusion in a UK wholesale digital market working group, multiple tailwinds have driven HBAR’s rise.
SharpLink Gaming(@Sharplink) staked another 42,074 $ETH($112.8M) today. SharpLink now holds 892,127 $ETH($2.4B) and has earned 27,945 $ETH($75M) in staking rewards.
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The cost of Instinct’s 10% daily growth: Computing power demand doubles weekly, and the founder spends 40% of their time figuring out how to procure it.
In a Beating AI Express report, Noah Shinn, founder of personal AI agent Instinct, said the company’s user base has grown by roughly 10% to 11% daily in recent weeks, with corresponding computing power demand nearly doubling weekly. He now spends around 40% of his time deciding how much computing power to purchase in advance. The challenge is that computing power cannot be bought on-demand to match user growth. Shinn crunched the numbers: buying just twice the current computing power would be exhausted in about a week; five times the current capacity would be used up in under three weeks; while purchasing ten times the current capacity would mean tying up a large sum of capital upfront. Many resources also require booking months in advance, and emergency computing power purchases can cost 3 to 4 times more. Even if Instinct’s daily growth rate drops from 10% to 5%–8%, Shinn estimates that after 3 to 4 months of sustained growth, the company may need to prepare computing power for a 100-million-user scale. The problem is that this timeline is exactly how long it takes for new computing power to come online. Buying too little cannot support growth, while buying too much leads to inflated costs if growth slows. Shinn believes this is more difficult than scaling for regular consumer internet products. When Instagram or Facebook double their user base, they mainly handle more requests; each new user of a personal AI agent also continuously consumes large amounts of model inference resources. He added that the scaling speed Instinct is currently facing is even faster than similar challenges encountered by Claude Code and Codex in the past.
Leading cryptocurrencies declined further on Monday as investors reacted to rising bond yields and growing expectations of interest rate hikes.
Crypto Market Drops FurtherBitcoin pushed for a breakout above $84,000 but met strong resistance and fell back toward the $82,000 area.
Similarly, Ethereum hit an intraday high of $2,717.37 but failed to break through. XRP and Dogecoin recorded sharp dips.
Cryptocurrency-related stocks also slipped, with Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR) and Bitmine Immersion Technologies Inc. (NYSE:BMNR) closing down 0.93% and 2.61%, respectively.
Over $530 million was liquidated from the cryptocurrency market in the last 24 hours, predominantly in bullish long positions, according to Coinglass data.
Bitcoin’s open interest fell 2.21% over the last 24 hours. However, smart money sentiment — the collective outlook and capital allocation of institutional investors — remained “bullish.”
Top Gainers (24 Hours)
The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $2.96 trillion, broadly unchanged over the last 24 hours.
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Stock Market PlungesStocks kicked off the week in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 347.11 points, or 0.67%, to end at 51,481.51. The S&P 500 fell 0.77% to end at 7,683.69, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed down 0.92% at 26,820.38.
The 10-year Treasury yield has spiked 48 basis points in a month to 5.23%, the highest since June 2007. The longer-dated 30-year yield advanced to 5.55%.
Market participants are now pricing in a 71% chance of another 25-basis-point rate hike in October, up from 64% the day before, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
BTC Buying Opportunity?Ali Martinez, a widely followed cryptocurrency analyst and trader, identified a double bottom breakout on Bitcoin’s daily chart, with price now retesting the $82,000 neckline.
A double bottom pattern signals that a downtrend is likely ending and an uptrend is beginning. It resembles the letter "W" and shows buyers taking control.
“If this level holds as support, the retest could offer a buying opportunity before the rally resumes toward the pattern’s $100,000 target,” the analyst projected.
Michaël van de Poppe, another well-known cryptocurrency commentator, said Bitcoin may have formed a local bottom and projected an upward trend if the cryptocurrency reclaims the $84,000 level.
After the security incident on September 24, Bitget has started to resume the crypto withdrawals, and the withdrawals of the BTC network and BSC network are resumed on September 28. The exchange stated that the process of restoring was made in a phased manner as part of other security reviews and remediations that took place on its withdrawal infrastructure, without impacting on user account balances.
Bitget Identifies Attack Path After $388M Crypto Hack Incident Bitget said it also discovered that the attacker was able to gain access to internal credentials at a high level by exploiting a third-party security tool. Those credentials were then used to make withdrawals that were counterfeit and caused abnormal transfers that circumvented risk controls.
“Private keys were not compromised and cold wallets were not affected,” Bitget said. The crypto exchange also noted the flaw has been patched and the incident is contained.
The exchange estimated the total assets moved out of the bank are around $388 million. It explained that the amount is based on the latest amount that transactions were reconciled with to the original incident but not additional amounts that were not authorized after containment.
Mandiant and SlowMist are providing ongoing assistance with the forensic investigation. Meanwhile Bitget is working with law enforcement, exchanges, blockchain projects and security experts in asset tracing and recovery efforts. Some impacted assets have already been frozen as a result of industry coordination, the company said.
ETH and USDT Withdrawals To Resume Soon Bitget announced that ETH withdrawals will reopen on September 29 and USDT withdrawals will reopen on September 30. Other supported tokens, fiat and P2P services will be re-enabling on October 2.
According to Bitget, it had completed 9,585 BTC withdrawals with a total value of about 4,098 BTC, as of 09:00 UTC on September 28.Bitget reported that as of 09:00 UTC on September 28, it had successfully completed 9,585 BTC withdrawals with a total withdrawal amount of approximately 4,098 BTC on the Bitcoin and BSC network.
The exchange further noted that the September 24 Bitget hack incident marks the first time that such a security incident has occurred on in its 8-year history. Currently, Bitget’s comprehensive reserve ratio is reported to be 127%, and its User Protection Fund is said to have over $464 million.
“Bitget will continue to provide material updates on withdrawal restoration, the forensic investigation and asset recovery as information is verified,” the company said.
Bitget will release an official security report this week, outlining additional information from this investigation and how it will respond after the incident.
Chainlink and Ethlabs bring Ethereum's Fast Confirmation Rule to CCIP 2.0@chainlink has launched CCIP 2.0, and its headline feature is a significant cut to Ethereum cross-chain transfer times. Working with @ethlabs_org, Chainlink has built support for Ethereum's Fast Confirmation Rule (FCR) directly into the protocol. Transfers that previously required a full wait for $ETH finality, around 13 minutes under normal network conditions, can now settle in as little as 12 to 24 seconds.
According to Chainlink's official announcement, @ethlabs_org collaborated with @chainlink to make CCIP 2.0 one of the first protocols to support the FCR. The FCR works by evaluating validator attestations in real time, treating a block as safely confirmed after a single slot rather than waiting two full epochs for economic finality.
Speed comes with caveats, and CCIP's default stays cautiousThe faster route carries a meaningful trade-off. Unlike full Ethereum finality, where reversing a confirmed block would require burning at least one-third of all staked $ETH, the Fast Confirmation Rule relies on the network operating normally. In rare cases, a fast-confirmed block can still be reversed. No staked ETH is at risk if the fast path fails, but the security guarantee is softer.
That distinction shapes how CCIP 2.0 applies the feature. The protocol still defaults to waiting for full 13-minute finality. Token issuers can choose to open the faster path for their users, but doing so means accepting the associated risk and charging additional fees accordingly. Existing CCIP integrations continue to work without changes, and different assets can carry different finality settings depending on the issuer's preference.
The broader CCIP 2.0 release also introduces Cross-Chain Verifiers, which let institutions add their own independent verification layer on top of Chainlink's existing infrastructure. Aave and Maple are among the early adopters of the upgrade's features, and partners at launch include ANZ Bank, Fidelity International, Google Cloud, and Amazon Web Services, among others.
Chainlink CCIP 2.0 has announced the integration of Ethereum’s Fast Confirmation Rule (FCR), marking a significant advance in speeding up cross-chain transactions. With this update, users can confirm eligible Ethereum transactions in just 12 to 24 seconds, compared with the previous standard of waiting around 13 minutes for full finality on the network.
Chainlink adopts Ethereum’s Fast Confirmation RuleEthlabs reported that Chainlink CCIP 2.0 represents the first major bridge implementation to bring Ethereum’s FCR into active use. The transition moves Fast Confirmation Rule from a formal specification and research stage into full production infrastructure. Eligible applications—including asset issuers, bridges, solvers, Layer 2 networks, RPC providers and exchanges—are able to take advantage of this accelerated confirmation option when transferring assets across blockchains.
The Fast Confirmation Rule operates by leveraging validator attestations and specific assumptions about network synchrony to deliver an early confirmation signal. Rather than waiting for the longer and more resource-intensive process of full finalization, eligible transactions can be acted upon within seconds, potentially improving liquidity and user experience for DeFi, bridges, and other cross-chain applications.
The integration reduces the time it takes for cross-chain transactions to be confirmed, but full processing and execution delays may still occur for some transfers. The FCR mechanism specifically applies to confirmation speed, without removing all steps involved in a cross-chain transaction.
Security trade-offs and infrastructure reachEthereum’s consensus specification highlights the distinction between early confirmation and full finality. While validator attestations under the Fast Confirmation Rule can offer a practical signal that transactions are confirmed, the network notes that synchrony assumptions matter—if these assumptions are violated, a block marked as fast-confirmed could be reorganized, potentially without adversarial intent. As a result, applications such as asset bridges and large-scale transfers are advised to weigh the risk factors when choosing whether to rely on rapid confirmation for specific use cases.
Chainlink’s security design employs multiple layers, including decentralized oracle networks, independent node operators, rate limits, and timelocked upgrades. These safeguards aim to address core cross-chain risks, such as unauthorized asset movements and infrastructure failure. The integration of FCR addresses the critical challenge of transaction confirmation latency but does not replace the platform’s existing security mechanisms, which continue operating independently to protect transfers.
Chainlink CCIP currently offers interoperability across 78 blockchains, such as Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, Base, and BNB Chain, broadening the pathways through which faster confirmation can circulate. However, the practical availability of FCR will depend on route-specific adoption and technical support within each network integration.
Impact on institutional and token transfersAccelerating transaction confirmation is increasingly seen as essential for blockchain-based financial services, particularly as providers focus on tokenized assets and high-frequency, cross-chain activity. Reducing users’ wait times before a transaction is actionable on the destination chain can improve overall efficiency and minimize liquidity bottlenecks for asset issuers and bridge solutions.
Ethlabs indicated ongoing collaboration with infrastructure teams interested in deploying the FCR innovation more broadly. However, the scope of FCR’s impact will depend on its rollout across the Chainlink CCIP ecosystem, with broader adoption and production use shaping its influence on transaction volume and network demand.
Expert observers note that in fast-evolving corners of the crypto world—such as meme tokens—quick confirmation, timing, and investor insights have become just as critical as price monitoring. In these markets, internet trends can spark millions of dollars in trading activity almost overnight. For example, data from Fomo App highlighted a case where an initial $99 investment in “Niu Lai” soared to $370,000, illustrating the unpredictable nature of this sector. Tools like Fomo App, which combine token discovery, real-time trade notifications, social feeds, and investor rankings, offer a way for participants to keep pace with shifting meme token dynamics and investor movements all in one platform.
Ethereum’s Fast Confirmation Rule provides a much faster confirmation pathway for cross-chain transactions, though applications must carefully consider the trade-offs between speed and full confirmation security. The ultimate benefit will depend on both technology adoption and the operational requirements of participating networks.
Coinbase is accused of covering up losses exceeding $1 billion from a hack, with at least a dozen institutions affected.
Crypto hedge fund BlockTower Capital founder and CIO Ari Paul said that Coinbase "lost" roughly $25 million from his firm several years ago, an incident later revealed to be a cover-up for multiple large-scale hacks, with the funds still unrepaid to date. Paul also claimed that at least a dozen affected institutions have been identified, with the total amount concealed exceeding $1 billion, though he cannot disclose more details due to multiple ongoing legal proceedings. In response, Coinbase’s official customer support account has contacted Paul to arrange a private conversation, and the platform has not yet issued any further public response.
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Instinct and Muse have aligned on the same model: their agents are free to use, with revenue generated from transaction commissions.
Beating AI Express News: Noah Shinn, founder of personal AI agent Instinct, detailed the company’s monetization plans in his first public in-depth interview. Shinn aims for Instinct to eventually remain free long-term, with no subscription fees charged to users. After the agent completes transactions on users’ behalf—such as booking hotels or shopping—Instinct collects a small commission from the merchants receiving the orders. However, this is currently just his goal; Instinct has not yet committed to permanent free access. Shinn also explicitly ruled out advertising. Personal AI agents will grow more familiar with users and increasingly adept at influencing their decisions. If the platform relied on ad revenue, agents might start pushing users to purchase items they had no intention of buying. He prefers Instinct to generate revenue solely from transactions users were already set to complete. The exact commission rate has not been finalized. Shinn cited the platform fees charged by Shopify, Amazon, and Apple as references. Currently, roughly half of Instinct’s transaction volume comes from travel, with some boutique hotels willing to pay commissions of over 30% for orders it drives—though Instinct may not charge that high a rate. Coincidentally, Mark Zuckerberg previously envisioned the same model for Muse: most users would access the service for free, with the agent charging merchants for transactions it facilitated.
14 minutes ago
Meme coin GP’s market cap briefly topped $9 million, surging more than 82.5% in the past 24 hours.
According to GMGN data monitoring, the market capitalization of Solana-based meme coin RuneScape Gold (GP) briefly exceeded $9 million, surging more than 82.5% in 24 hours with a trading volume of $3.6 million. GP is themed after in-game gold from the classic game *RuneScape* and paired with tokenized gold GLDx. Each GP transaction incurs a 3% tax; accumulated fees are periodically converted by StonkFun and distributed proportionally to eligible holders in GLDx form, forming a mechanism of "earning gold price exposure rewards by holding tokens". It is a high-volatility meme asset integrating nostalgic gaming narratives, transaction tax dividends, and tokenized gold concepts. BlockBeats reminds users that most meme coins lack practical use cases, have significant price volatility, and require caution when investing.
14 minutes ago
Bank of America: Bond market volatility is testing the AI bull market, with deleveraging risks heating up.
Bank of America strategist Michael Hartnett’s latest warning flags that sharp volatility in the U.S. Treasury market is emerging as a new pressure source for risk assets. The MOVE index he tracks jumped roughly 35% over two trading days, reflecting heightened volatility in the financing system that uses U.S. Treasuries as core collateral. Hartnett warns that if the Global Financials ETF (ticker: IXG) falls below $125 while the MOVE index remains above 125, the market could enter a broader "risk-off deleveraging" phase. This would subject AI trades to more stringent interest rate tests. For some time, the resilience of tech giants’ earnings and AI-related capital expenditures have supported U.S. stocks, but rising long-term interest rates will simultaneously push up financing costs and valuation discount rates. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield briefly topped 5.2% last week, hitting its highest level since 2007; a prior Bank of America survey of fund managers also showed that "disorderly upward movement in bond yields" has overtaken the AI bubble as the market’s most feared tail risk. Hartnett’s core view is that rising yields alone do not necessarily end risk appetite; the truly dangerous combination is high yields paired with weak financial stocks. This would mean interest rates have shifted from a signal of economic expansion to a source of tightening liquidity and credit conditions; leveraged funds will be forced to reduce positions, and pressure could then spread from bonds to tech stocks, bank stocks, and other high-valuation assets. For AI bulls, the next key factors to watch are whether bond volatility eases, bank stocks stabilize, and long-term yields show signs of peaking. Bank of America continues to view yields as the primary potential threat to current economic and stock market expansion; once interest rate pressures ease, large-cap tech stocks could regain investor favor.
14 minutes ago
CoinShares: SEC's innovation exemptions will continue to push TradeFi on-chain, but high yields are still weighing on Bitcoin.
In its latest report, CoinShares stated that the U.S. CLARITY Act’s failure to advance in the Senate has cooled short-term expectations for crypto market structure legislation, though integration between traditional finance and on-chain infrastructure persists. The report argues that regulatory setbacks have not halted corporate investment in payments, stablecoin distribution, and tokenized securities, with the market continuing its institutionalization process via practical business collaborations. CoinShares highlighted recent TradeFi-related developments in crypto, including the NYSE and Blockchain.com exploring 24-hour trading channels for tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs, ICE establishing a two-way data partnership with Blockchain.com, and Circle expanding its five-year collaboration with Binance while securing $100 million in strategic investment to boost USDC distribution. The firm believes these moves, combined with the SEC’s recent innovation exemptions, will further drive the on-chain migration of trading, payment, and clearing infrastructure. Market performance indicates crypto assets have temporarily weathered dual pressures from regulation and interest rates. Per CoinShares’ data, its blockchain stock index rose 1.9% last week, while Bitcoin gained 3.8%. However, the U.S. dollar hit an eight-week high, 10-year U.S. Treasury yields topped 5.2%, and oil prices remain supported by Middle East tensions, leaving the macro environment unfavorable for liquidity-sensitive assets.
14 minutes ago
Coinbase被指掩盖超10亿美元黑客攻击损失，至少十几家机构受影响
Crypto hedge fund BlockTower Capital founder and CIO Ari Paul said that several years ago, Coinbase "lost" roughly $25 million from his firm. It was later revealed that the exchange had covered up multiple large-scale hacks and has yet to return the funds. Paul also added that at least a dozen affected institutions have been identified, with the covered amount exceeding $1 billion. He cannot disclose more details, however, as multiple legal proceedings are still ongoing. In response, Coinbase’s customer support account has contacted via private message, but the platform has not issued a further public statement.
Donald Trump is willing to offer Iran sanctions relief in exchange for "substantive progress" on the nuclear issue.
According to Al Jazeera, U.S. President Donald Trump is open to considering easing sanctions on Iran and unfreezing Iranian funds if "specific progress" is made on the Iran nuclear issue. U.S. officials said the U.S. and Iran are holding "positive and constructive" discussions via intermediaries, but no deal will be reached if the nuclear issue is not resolved. The official added that Iran has signaled some flexibility on the nuclear issue, though the two sides have yet to agree on the timeline for implementing relevant commitments. Trump previously rejected Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, calling the plan "unacceptable." Trump said more talks with Iran are expected this week. Negotiations on the U.S. side are led by Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said Trump is skeptical of Iran’s proposals, believing Iran is demanding all its conditions be met before advancing further negotiations. White House officials also noted the U.S. is cautious about Iran’s commitments, citing Iran’s violation of the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding reached in July, which included attacks on commercial vessels. (Source: Jinshi)
3 hours ago
Crypto markets saw a short-term rally, as foreign media reported that Trump is prepared to ease sanctions on Iran.
According to Al Jazeera, U.S. officials said the U.S. is continuing active discussions with Iran via intermediary channels; no agreement will be reached unless the nuclear issue is resolved. Trump is prepared to ease sanctions on Iran and unfreeze its frozen assets in exchange for progress on the Iran nuclear issue. Possibly as a result, the crypto market rallied in the short term, while U.S. WTI and Brent crude oil prices dropped by roughly $1 each, hitting $92.02 per barrel and $105.65 per barrel respectively.
3 hours ago
Analysis: The restaking 'gold rush' is ebbing, profits of Ethereum's leading protocols have shrunk sharply
As restaking yields continue to decline and smart contract risks rise, Ethereum’s leading liquid restaking protocol ether.fi is gradually exiting the restaking business and shifting to a "crypto neo-bank" model. Data shows that as of September 8, the restaking sector’s assets under management (AUM) stood at approximately $10.02 billion, generating only around $99,977 in fees over the past week. By contrast, liquid staking protocols manage roughly $51.87 billion in AUM and produced about $27.35 million in fees. Calculated per dollar of assets, fees from liquid staking are roughly 53 times higher than those from restaking. ether.fi CEO Mike Silagadze noted that restaking offers "no meaningful yield opportunities" while exposing users to additional risks, prompting the firm’s exit from the segment. As of August, less than 1% of ether.fi’s assets remained restaked via EigenLayer, with the company expected to fully sever related structural connections by the end of this year. Meanwhile, the five major liquid restaking protocols—Renzo, Kelp, Swell, Puffer Finance, and Bedrock—combined to generate around $953,000 in gross profit in Q2 2026, a sharp decline from the $2.18 million they earned over the prior three quarters. ether.fi has since pivoted its business focus to crypto neo-banking, including offerings such as crypto payment cards, lending markets, yield vaults, and tokenized stocks and metals.
3 hours ago
Bonk Guy pumps MARSCOIN, claiming it could see 'explosive growth' in the fourth quarter.
Renowned crypto trader Bonk Guy has stated in a post that MarsCoin (MARSCOIN) features a "very clean" recent technical trend, indicating it could be primed for a significant rally in the fourth quarter. He noted that BNB and BNB Chain’s influence is growing in this cycle, while MarsCoin combines the "Elon Musk + CZ" concept alongside narratives like SPCX, with its fundamentals gradually taking shape. Bonk Guy also added that during the last cycle, he helped drive rallies for multiple Elon Musk-themed meme coins, with SHIB and DOGE once surpassing $40 billion and $80 billion in market cap respectively. He explained that this cycle, MarsCoin integrates Elon Musk, CZ and SPCX narratives, and Binance currently supports SPCX via its reward program, allocating a portion of trading fees to related incentives. As a result, the market may be underestimating MarsCoin’s future upside potential.
3 hours ago
Manus 2.0 Officially Launched: New Architecture, Professional Studio Tool, and Personal AI Agent Application Cue Roll Out Simultaneously
Beating AI Express (Dongcha) – Manus has officially launched Version 2.0, a comprehensive upgrade rather than a simple iteration, centered on the question of "what the next-generation Manus should look like". Key upgrades include: its self-developed Agent framework Cascade, which tests show cuts token consumption by 23.2%, reduces task completion time by 28.2%, and lowers operating costs by 32%; a new cloud PC for dedicated environments such as game servers or long-term automation; event-triggered automation that enables workflows to start from changes in email, Slack, Notion, and more; a desktop app upgraded to Manus Studio, allowing on-demand integration of tools; and new offerings including a video editor (supporting timeline fine-tuning and Alchemy creative mode) and a game development environment (supporting real-time modification, one-click multiplayer online, and cloud PC hosting). The Computer Use capability has also been upgraded, letting users remotely control authorized computers via natural language. A new standalone app, Cue, has launched for personal Agents, supporting mobile and desktop. Each Agent comes with its own email, phone, wallet, and PC, can form multi-Agent teams for collaboration, and integrate with offline services. Manus noted that Version 2.0 focuses on refinement and control after idea implementation, continuing its core mission of "helping people turn ideas into reality".
3 hours ago
An address linked to BlackRock withdrew approximately $127 million worth of BTC and ETH from Coinbase Prime.
According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, BlackRock’s address has cumulatively withdrawn approximately $126.95 million in crypto assets from Coinbase Prime over the past hour, including roughly $95.43 million in Bitcoin (BTC) and $31.52 million in Ethereum (ETH).
Pump Coin Price climbed 17% to $0.00519 over 24 hours, extending its weekly gain to 38%. The rally stood out as the wider crypto market fell 1.37% to $2.87 trillion.
Bitcoin traded near $84,000, while Ethereum hovered around $2,677 and XRP price near $1.50.
Here’s Why Pump Coin Price Is Surging Pump. fun’s buyback program appears to be supporting PUMP. The platform directs roughly half its revenue toward purchasing tokens and permanently burning them. Its dashboard recorded a $1.14 million purchase on September 27, following $1.46 million the previous day. In total, the platform has spent more than $463 million on buybacks, removing over 168 billion tokens.
These purchases create recurring demand while reducing supply, although neither measure guarantees further gains. Recent platform trading activity on Solana also matters because stronger trading can raise fee revenue and fund larger repurchases. PUMP remains about 44% below its record high despite this week’s sharp rebound.
$1.5M buyback day ($3M in revs) for $PUMP and the chart is breaking out of the range. Oh and social trading is probably just in its 2nd or 3rd inning. I find it unlikely we don’t meaningfully surpass last cycle revenues and that would mean $10M+ revenue days pic.twitter.com/D0wxs5sQmK
— Austin Barack (@AustinBarack) September 27, 2026
Regulatory attention added another talking point for PUMP traders. SEC staff guidance issued September 25 addressed buyback announcements involving nonsecurity tokens on functional networks. Staff said such announcements alone do not necessarily promise essential managerial efforts under securities law. The guidance neither classifies PUMP nor grants Pump.fun a legal exemption, and it has no binding force.
Pump.fun Overtakes Hyperliquid in Weekly Revenue Rankings The Solana-based memecoin platform Pump. fun has overtaken Hyperliquid in seven-day revenue, according to DefiLlama data. DefiLlama Pump generated $15.16 million during the latest seven-day period, narrowly ahead of Hyperliquid’s $15.06 million.
That places Pump third among tracked crypto applications, behind stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle. Tether led the rankings with $121.64 million, while Circle recorded $50.40 million. Pump’s lead over Hyperliquid stands at about $100,000, leaving little separation between the platforms.
PUMP Coin Price Surges Toward $0.0055 as Momentum Builds The PUMP coin price surged to $0.005196 on September 28, gaining 3.12% during the active four-hour period. PUMP briefly reached $0.005366 before easing from that high.
The rise took PUMP above $0.0048, an area that had limited earlier recovery attempts. Trading activity increased as the token approached $0.0052.
A four-hour close above $0.0052 would put the next resistance at $0.0055 in focus. Clearing $0.0055 could open a move toward $0.0060 for the future PUMP coin outlook, though both targets depend on continued momentum.
The four-hour RSI was 70.12, which indicated a good movement and the likelihood of a rest. Chaikin Money Flow stood at 0.11, meaning there was a positive buying pressure.
Source: TradingView Should Pump Coin Price fall below the $0.0052 level, traders would consider a re-test of the level at 0.0048. A fall below that would put the previous trading range of around $0.0045 in sight.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
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Ethereum price fell 1.5% to about $2,665 on Sep. 28 as oil prices rose following a setback in US-Iran talks. ETH remained above its daily moving averages, but its 4-hour chart showed weak trend strength below $2,700.
Summary
Ethereum price fell after reaching an intraday high of $2,703. The 4-hour ADX stood at 14.40 as price traded near the lower Bollinger Band. CoinGlass showed liquidation clusters near $2,700 and $2,740–$2,750, with another near $2,620. Vitalik Buterin described Hegota, planned for 2027, as Ethereum’s likely last “normal” fork. According to Reuters, oil rebounded on Monday after President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s latest proposal to resolve the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The rise in oil prices came as Ethereum and the broader crypto market declined.
Ethereum’s Binance daily chart showed ETH opening at $2,688.65, climbing to $2,703.51 and falling as low as $2,635.69. It traded near $2,661 when the TradingView chart was captured. The move left $2,700 as the nearest level for buyers to recover, while Monday’s low marked the first test below $2,650.
Ethereum stays above its 20-day moving average ETH remained above all four moving averages shown on its daily chart despite Monday’s decline. The 20-day simple moving average stood near $2,586.78, while the 50-day average was at $2,403.66. The 100-day and 200-day averages were near $2,103.59 and $2,104.79.
Ethereum price daily chart — Sep. 28 | Source: TradingView The daily chart therefore placed the nearest moving average roughly $74 below ETH’s price at the time of capture. Before reaching it, sellers would have to push through Monday’s $2,635 low. A recovery above the day’s $2,703 high would instead put the recent price area near $2,800 back in view.
Ethereum’s daily Awesome Oscillator read a positive 145.10, although its latest bars were red. The indicator remained above zero as its bars showed momentum easing from earlier in the rally. ETH had risen from roughly $2,400 in mid-September to a high near $2,800 before pulling back.
The 4-hour chart showed more immediate pressure. ETH traded near $2,661, below the middle Bollinger Band at $2,687.58 and close to the lower band at $2,650.52. The upper band stood at $2,724.65.
Ethereum price 4-hour chart — Sep. 28 | Source: TradingView Its 4-hour Average Directional Index, or ADX, had fallen to 14.40. The reading indicated weak trend strength after ETH moved sideways below its recent high. A return above the middle Bollinger Band would put $2,700 and then the upper band near $2,725 in focus. A move below the lower band would bring Monday’s $2,635 low into the next test.
Liquidation bands frame the $2,700 test CoinGlass’s three-day ETH liquidation heatmap showed a band around $2,700 and brighter concentrations near $2,740–$2,750. Those levels sat above ETH’s price when the map was captured, with the higher band lying beyond the upper Bollinger Band on the 4-hour chart.
Ethereum liquidation heatmap | Source: CoinGlass Below the market, the heatmap showed activity around $2,640–$2,650 and another band near $2,620. ETH had moved through part of the upper area during Monday’s decline before recovering. The bands mark prices where leveraged positions may face liquidation; their size and location can change as traders adjust positions.
Crypto analyst Ella said she was watching $2,715–$2,720 as the first upside test after ETH bounced from around $2,667. She identified $2,740 as the next level if buyers held above that range. On the downside, she said a loss of $2,680 could lead to another test of $2,665.
Analyst Gerla said ETH’s relative strength index was making lower highs while price held its broader breakout structure. Gerla identified $2,400–$2,450 as a wider support zone and said a move back above $2,830 could bring $3,400 into focus. Those levels describe a longer-range setup than the nearby bands on the 4-hour chart.
$ETH is cooling off, not breaking down.
RSI is making lower highs while price keeps holding the breakout structure.
$2.4K–$2.45K is the key support. If that holds, this looks like a reset before the next leg.
Reclaim $2.83K and $3.4K comes into focus.
The bigger $ETH move may… pic.twitter.com/Y1Q5htzqY8
— Gerla (@CryptoGerla) September 28, 2026 Hegota roadmap offers longer-term context Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin wrote on Sep. 27 that Hegota, planned for 2027, would likely be Ethereum’s last “normal” fork. He said later upgrades would involve recursive STARKs, automated formal verification, more efficient consensus, and work toward quantum safety.
Buterin described a longer-term change in Ethereum’s design as the network combines its blockchain with more cryptographic verification and decentralized systems outside the base chain. His post did not set out a near-term ETH price target.
For the current price setup, the levels are closer together. ETH would need to recover the 4-hour Bollinger midpoint near $2,688 and hold above $2,700 before testing the upper band near $2,725 and the liquidation cluster near $2,740–$2,750. A break below Monday’s $2,635 low would bring the lower cluster near $2,620 into focus, followed by the daily 20-day average near $2,587.
US investors are also watching the oil market after the latest setback in US-Iran talks. ETH’s reaction around $2,650 and $2,700 will show whether Monday’s decline extends or the price returns to the range below its September high.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
Tom Lee, the chairman of BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), the world's largest Ethereum treasury firm, has continued to advocate for Ethereum amid his company's relentless accumulation of the asset.
While BitMine had barely skipped on its weekly Ethereum purchases, the firm has pulled another strong move despite the brief crypto market slowdown.
BitMine buys $46 million of ETHAmid its steady Ethereum purchases, the latest data from onchain monitoring platform Lookonchain shows that BitMine has bought another 17,362 ETH worth $46.82 million over the last week.
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As usual, the transfer, which has barely gone unnoticed, was perceived to be part of BitMine's long-term Ethereum accumulation strategy rather than just a short-term purchase.
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While the move has come after Ethereum slipped back into the red, dropping below its recent high of around $2,700, it appears that the treasury may be buying the dip.
As such, BitMine has increased its already large Ethereum reserve at a cheaper price, pushing its treasury to a major milestone.
BitMine hits over 6 million Ethereum Following this latest purchase, BitMine's Ethereum holdings have now reached a key milestone, surpassing 6 million ETH. This is worth about $16 billion at ETH's current market price.
While its fast-expanding Ethereum treasury now represents 4.9% of the asset's circulating supply, BitMine continues to position itself as Ethereum's largest corporate holder.
While the brief market slowdown appears to have sparked a bit of panic among small holders, especially retail traders, Tom Lee's latest purchase has sparked a degree of confidence about Ethereum's short-term potential.
Ether.fi will sever its last structural tie to EigenLayer this quarter, leaving under 1% of assets restaked, and CEO Mike Silagadze says the exit came down to risk with no meaningful yield left in restaking.Restaking secures $10 billion but generated just $99,977 in fees over a week, while plain liquid staking earns roughly 53 times more per dollar secured.The five largest remaining liquid restaking tokens made $953,350 in combined gross profit last quarter, down from $2.18 million three quarters earlier.By the end of this quarter, ether.fi will have cut the last structural link between its staking tokens and restaking protocol EigenLayer. Protocol documentation put under 1% of assets still restaked as of August with EigenPod withdrawal credentials due to be removed by the end of the year.
When ether.fi launched in 2024, deposits were restaked on EigenLayer automatically. In August the company stripped restaking out of weETH, the version of its token that circulates and is accepted as collateral across DeFi, leaving it as a plain liquid staking token. Anyone who still wants restaking has to opt into a separate token built on Symbiotic, a rival platform.
Mike Silagadze, ether.fi's chief executive, said the decision came down to risk. "There were no meaningful yield opportunities in restaking and there was some perceived risk from stakers, so we decided it made sense to exit," he told CoinDesk.
What restaking was meant to beStaking means locking up ETH to help secure Ethereum, in return for a yield. Restaking was the idea that the same locked ETH could do a second job: EigenLayer would rent that security out to other services, such as oracles and data availability layers, which would pay for the protection. Depositors would earn twice on one pot of money. Liquid restaking tokens sat on top of that, giving depositors a tradable receipt that they could sell or use as collateral elsewhere rather than locking their ETH away and waiting. weETH was the largest of them.
EigenLayer held $19.7 billion at its peak and liquid restaking tokens grew more than 1,000% in the first six weeks of 2024. But the services buying security never paid enough to cover both the base staking yield and a premium on top, so the second yield restaking promised never materialized.
On Sept. 8, DefiLlama's restaking category held $10.02 billion and generated $99,977 in fees over the prior week. The liquid staking category, on $51.87 billion, generated $27.35 million. Per dollar secured, ordinary staking earns roughly 53 times more.
Restaking earns almost nothing (CoinDesk/Oliver Knight)Two developments then removed what was left of the incentive to restake. Points programs subsidizing deposits wound down through 2025, and slashing went live in April 2025. Slashing is the penalty that confiscates part of an operator's staked ETH when it misbehaves, by going offline or signing conflicting messages, for example. So restaking suddenly carried a real, priced downside where before the risk had been theoretical. There was no extra yield to compensate.
Set ether.fi aside and the rest of the sector is small. Renzo, Kelp, Swell, Puffer Finance and Bedrock, the five largest remaining liquid restaking tokens, made $953,350 in combined gross profit in the second quarter of 2026. Three quarters earlier the same five made $2.18 million. Puffer, which raised $23 million, recorded $21,590 for the quarter. Swell recorded $22,370.
The income statements also show which part of these businesses was ever profitable, and it was not the restaking. On Kelp's books, EIGEN token rewards appear at $460,600 in gross revenue and $460,600 in cost of revenue: they arrive and pass straight to depositors, leaving nothing with the protocol. Puffer and Swell book staking rewards the same way. Whatever profit these companies made came from the orinary staking fees charged underneath the restaking layer.
The hackOn April 18, an attacker exploited Kelp's cross-chain bridge, the system that moves its token between blockchains, and created 116,500 rsETH in 46 minutes, worth about $293 million, with no ETH backing it. The attacker deposited the tokens into Aave as collateral and borrowed real ether against them. Around $6 billion left Aave in the days that followed, with potential bad debt of $123 million to $230 million. In May, Aave rewrote its collateral listing standards to assess cybersecurity and technical architecture alongside price volatility.
Silagadze objects to reading the incident as a failure of leverage. "The cause of the Kelp hack was poor security practices with respect to cross-chain, not related to leverage," he said. "The ether.fi Aave market has very conservative parameters and we have a strong commitment to security."
He is right that EigenLayer itself did not fail. Nothing was slashed, no restaking mechanism broke, and the weak point was a bridge. But that is exactly what made the hack so damaging for liquid restaking tokens. The money was lost in the wrapper, the tradeable receipt sitting on top of the restaking, rather than in the restaking itself. By April, anyone holding one of these tokens was accepting an extra piece of software that could be attacked, and getting no extra yield in return. The wrapper had stopped paying for itself.
Where the money wentThe capital leaving restaking did not leave crypto lending, it moved from ETH into dollars.
In 2024 the pattern was: stake ETH, restake it, wrap it in a liquid restaking token, borrow against that and buy more, stacking exposure to a single asset. By 2026 the same behavior runs through curated vaults. A curated vault is a lending pool where an outside firm, known as a curator, rather than the lending protocol itself, decides which assets the pool accepts and on what terms, in exchange for a share of the fees. Morpho, the largest venue for this, holds around $5.8 billion.
As in restaking, the token a depositor holds is a receipt whose risks are set by someone else and accepted as collateral by a third party.
Curated vaults have already produced their own version of the Kelp collapse. On Nov. 4, 2025, Stream Finance disclosed roughly $93 million of losses and froze withdrawals. Its xUSD token, a yield-bearing dollar token meant to hold its value at $1, fell 77% in a day. Curators had built vaults on Morpho where depositors supplied real stablecoins against xUSD, and the borrowed stablecoins were used to buy more xUSD, inflating the token far beyond what actually backed it. Those markets valued xUSD at a fixed $1 rather than its market price, so when the real price fell, the automatic liquidations that should have closed the loans never triggered. Researchers later mapped roughly $285 million of debt exposure across lending platforms. A second dollar token, 65% backed by loans to Stream, fell about 98% and was wound down.
The exit from restaking left ether.fi with the question every liquid restaking protocol now faces: What is the business, once the thing it was built on stops paying? Its answer was to stop being a staking company.
Ether.fi’s second actEther.fi now runs a card that lets users spend against their crypto without selling it, a borrowing market on Ethereum layer-2 network Optimism and a set of vaults, and describes itself as a crypto neobank. In August it added tokenized stocks, metals and fiat rails. Silagadze puts the neobanking market at roughly $300 billion in annual revenue, about 300 times DeFi's.
The card took its share of monthly revenue from 17% in January to 46% in July. "Neobank revenue has fully replaced the revenue lost from restaking and lower ETH price," Silagadze said. "We are on track to increase revenue overall run rate this year by about 38%, while staking and restaking revenue has declined by 70%. Diversification of our revenue has been a huge success."
DefiLlama's figures show a different trend over roughly the same period, with ether.fi's gross profit falling 47% from $18.71 million in the third quarter of 2025 to $9.99 million in the second quarter of 2026. Both can be true, since gross revenue is not gross profit and a forward run rate is not a trailing quarter, but ether.fi has not published the basis for the 38%.
ether.fi's gross profit by source in Q2 2026 (CoinDesk/Oliver Knight)Card fees produced $3.14 million of gross profit in the second quarter. EigenLayer restaking produced $2.87 million, ahead of core ETH staking and ahead of vault fees, borrowing and management fees combined. On DefiLlama's accounting, restaking was ether.fi's second most profitable line at the point it decided to leave.
Silagadze disputes one input into DefiLlama’s figures. Cashback, the rewards paid to card users, appears in DefiLlama's figures at $5.83 million in both revenue and cost of revenue, which means it adds nothing to profit "That was back when third-party partners were paying the cashback rewards," he said. "That's no longer the case, so current revenue reporting doesn't include cashback subsidy grants." DefiLlama's adapter still books it on both sides through the most recent quarter.
He also says users were told about changes as ether.fi made them. Moving the cash vaults onto Aave replaced a custom-built debt manager and reduced risk, he said: "Users were notified multiple times and opted in to this change."
The technology was never the problemNone of this is to say the technology failed. EigenDA, EigenLayer's data availability service, runs on mainnet at 100 MB/s and remains the largest service by value secured. Symbiotic, where ether.fi moved its own restaking, has integrated more than 50 networks.
The question was never whether restaking works. It was whether it generates enough revenue to justify building a business on it, and for the protocols that made restaking their entire product, the answer has been no.
EigenLayer has also stopped selling restaking as the product. Rebranded as EigenCloud, it now markets verifiable computing, which lets applications prove that work done off-chain was carried out correctly, with restaked collateral as the layer underneath rather than the thing on sale. Its holdings stand at $5.10 billion, down from $22.06 billion in August 2025.
What the sector has not settled is whether a market that shrank roughly 75% while continuing to secure everything it secured before has failed, or whether it was simply four times larger than the work required. Silagadze did not wait to find out. He moved ether.fi out of restaking while the argument was still running.
12345678910The Definitive Stablecoin Landscape Series: Asia Pacific
The Definitive Stablecoin Landscape Series: Asia Pacific
As stablecoins move into regulated finance, APAC is becoming a key proving ground. This report maps the region’s rules, use cases, and RLUSD’s role.
Sep 15, 2026
As stablecoins move into regulated finance, APAC is becoming a key proving ground. This report maps the region’s rules, use cases, and RLUSD’s role.
Why it matters:
As stablecoins move into regulated finance, APAC is becoming a key proving ground. This report maps the region’s rules, use cases, and RLUSD’s role.
In brief Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published "The cryptographic world computer" on Saturday, setting out what he sees as the network's next decade. Buterin argues the network is already a hybrid of blockchain and modern cryptography, and is called a blockchain for "historical reasons." Users would get finality in 8 to 32 seconds, against roughly 200 seconds for 12 confirmations today. Ethereum's next upgrade will be the last one anyone from 2015 would recognize, its co-founder Vitalik Buterin wrote in a post published on Saturday.
Hegota, the fork scheduled for next year, is "likely to be Ethereum's last 'normal' fork," he said. What follows involves recursive STARKs, automated formal verification, heavily optimized consensus and making the lot quantum-safe.
The cryptographic world computer:https://t.co/ueayODeUPo
My attempt to express in somewhat concise terms the true meaning of basically everything planned to happen to Ethereum starting from the fork after Hegota. It's really not just a blockchain anymore. It's a hybrid…
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) September 27, 2026
A post-Lean Ethereum is called a blockchain "to a large extent for historical reasons," Buterin wrote.
In reality, he argued, it is a "hybrid construction" merging Satoshi Nakamoto's ideas with cryptographic machinery that came out of 50 years of academic work and "did not even exist" in 2009. That architecture, he tweeted, will "enable much more powerful properties" than blockchain alone.
Myriad: Where does Ethereum go next? Click to make your prediction.Verification, consensus, and block constructionThree core properties are being replaced outright. Verification moves from downloading and re-executing every block to sampling data with PeerDAS and checking a SNARK. Consensus moves to a "much better optimized" proof of stake model. And block construction moves from one miner deciding what goes in, to multiple parties building it together.
Finality would arrive in 8 to 32 seconds against roughly 200 seconds for 12 confirmations today, slots would run 4 to 8 seconds, and running a node would demand far less hardware. Censorship resistance would come from FOCIL, a scheme in which a committee of validators each publishes a list of pending transactions the next block must contain, enforced by the fork-choice rule so that blocks omitting them are ignored. Buterin described the result as "guaranteed real-time transaction inclusion."
Privacy arrives in pieces, with general-purpose computation remaining expensive and only partly private, while special-purpose applications get "very strong privacy" from zero-knowledge proofs and private account abstraction. Onion routing and mixnets would cover the network layer, work the Ethereum Foundation resourced with a dedicated privacy cluster launched last October.
Developers would feel the shift in gas costs. The same computation will cost more "if you shove it all into one inscrutable serially-executed transaction," Buterin wrote, and less if it is split into dependencies that can be parallelized or stripped out before the transaction reaches a block.
Decentralization as an advantageDecentralization is ceasing to be purely a cost, Buterin argued. It lets data be stored in parallel, computation to happen in parallel inside the mempool, and metadata to be hidden in ways a centralized system cannot manage.
That was the mid-2010s dream, he said, and it failed then for one reason: there was no way to verify that split-up work had been done correctly. Committees sampled at random were "complicated to set up and expensive," added latency, and offered "no recourse if the committee fails." Modern cryptography solves it, with overhead "decreasing month by month."
Further out sits indistinguishability obfuscation, which Buterin describes as the holy grail because it would remove the tradeoff between privacy and generality altogether. He is explicit that nothing in the post depends on it, and that "all of the conclusions in this post will apply long before any of that becomes available."
The harder near-term problem is relatively mundane. Making zero-knowledge proofs fast and safe enough is "encapsulated complexity" already being optimized with AI tools, he wrote. Managing and parallelizing access to very large amounts of state remains "more difficult, and systemically complex."
The post reads as a plain-language companion to the Strawmap, the Ethereum Foundation's draft schedule of seven forks through 2029 that Buterin called "a very important document" when Justin Drake published it in February. Where that lays out dependencies fork by fork, Buterin's post points to the ultimate destination, with slot times falling from 12 seconds to two, finality dropping from roughly 16 minutes to single digits, and the whole network replaced component by component in what Buterin then called a "ship of Theseus" rebuild.
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In brief Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published "The cryptographic world computer" on Saturday, setting out what he sees as the network's next decade. Buterin argues the network is already a hybrid of blockchain and modern cryptography, and is called a blockchain for "historical reasons." Users would get finality in 8 to 32 seconds, against roughly 200 seconds for 12 confirmations today. Ethereum's next upgrade will be the last one anyone from 2015 would recognize, its co-founder Vitalik Buterin wrote in a post published on Saturday.
Hegota, the fork scheduled for next year, is "likely to be Ethereum's last 'normal' fork," he said. What follows involves recursive STARKs, automated formal verification, heavily optimized consensus and making the lot quantum-safe.
The cryptographic world computer:https://t.co/ueayODeUPo
My attempt to express in somewhat concise terms the true meaning of basically everything planned to happen to Ethereum starting from the fork after Hegota. It's really not just a blockchain anymore. It's a hybrid…
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) September 27, 2026
A post-Lean Ethereum is called a blockchain "to a large extent for historical reasons," Buterin wrote.
In reality, he argued, it is a "hybrid construction" merging Satoshi Nakamoto's ideas with cryptographic machinery that came out of 50 years of academic work and "did not even exist" in 2009. That architecture, he tweeted, will "enable much more powerful properties" than blockchain alone.
Myriad: Where does Ethereum go next? Click to make your prediction.Verification, consensus, and block constructionThree core properties are being replaced outright. Verification moves from downloading and re-executing every block to sampling data with PeerDAS and checking a SNARK. Consensus moves to a "much better optimized" proof of stake model. And block construction moves from one miner deciding what goes in, to multiple parties building it together.
Finality would arrive in 8 to 32 seconds against roughly 200 seconds for 12 confirmations today, slots would run 4 to 8 seconds, and running a node would demand far less hardware. Censorship resistance would come from FOCIL, a scheme in which a committee of validators each publishes a list of pending transactions the next block must contain, enforced by the fork-choice rule so that blocks omitting them are ignored. Buterin described the result as "guaranteed real-time transaction inclusion."
Privacy arrives in pieces, with general-purpose computation remaining expensive and only partly private, while special-purpose applications get "very strong privacy" from zero-knowledge proofs and private account abstraction. Onion routing and mixnets would cover the network layer, work the Ethereum Foundation resourced with a dedicated privacy cluster launched last October.
Developers would feel the shift in gas costs. The same computation will cost more "if you shove it all into one inscrutable serially-executed transaction," Buterin wrote, and less if it is split into dependencies that can be parallelized or stripped out before the transaction reaches a block.
Decentralization as an advantageDecentralization is ceasing to be purely a cost, Buterin argued. It lets data be stored in parallel, computation to happen in parallel inside the mempool, and metadata to be hidden in ways a centralized system cannot manage.
That was the mid-2010s dream, he said, and it failed then for one reason: there was no way to verify that split-up work had been done correctly. Committees sampled at random were "complicated to set up and expensive," added latency, and offered "no recourse if the committee fails." Modern cryptography solves it, with overhead "decreasing month by month."
Further out sits indistinguishability obfuscation, which Buterin describes as the holy grail because it would remove the tradeoff between privacy and generality altogether. He is explicit that nothing in the post depends on it, and that "all of the conclusions in this post will apply long before any of that becomes available."
The harder near-term problem is relatively mundane. Making zero-knowledge proofs fast and safe enough is "encapsulated complexity" already being optimized with AI tools, he wrote. Managing and parallelizing access to very large amounts of state remains "more difficult, and systemically complex."
The post reads as a plain-language companion to the Strawmap, the Ethereum Foundation's draft schedule of seven forks through 2029 that Buterin called "a very important document" when Justin Drake published it in February. Where that lays out dependencies fork by fork, Buterin's post points to the ultimate destination, with slot times falling from 12 seconds to two, finality dropping from roughly 16 minutes to single digits, and the whole network replaced component by component in what Buterin then called a "ship of Theseus" rebuild.
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Donald Trump is willing to offer Iran sanctions relief in exchange for "substantive progress" on the nuclear issue.
According to Al Jazeera, U.S. President Donald Trump is open to considering easing sanctions on Iran and unfreezing Iranian funds if "specific progress" is made on the Iran nuclear issue. U.S. officials said the U.S. and Iran are holding "positive and constructive" discussions via intermediaries, but no deal will be reached if the nuclear issue is not resolved. The official added that Iran has signaled some flexibility on the nuclear issue, though the two sides have yet to agree on the timeline for implementing relevant commitments. Trump previously rejected Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, calling the plan "unacceptable." Trump said more talks with Iran are expected this week. Negotiations on the U.S. side are led by Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said Trump is skeptical of Iran’s proposals, believing Iran is demanding all its conditions be met before advancing further negotiations. White House officials also noted the U.S. is cautious about Iran’s commitments, citing Iran’s violation of the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding reached in July, which included attacks on commercial vessels. (Source: Jinshi)
3 hours ago
Crypto markets saw a short-term rally, as foreign media reported that Trump is prepared to ease sanctions on Iran.
According to Al Jazeera, U.S. officials said the U.S. is continuing active discussions with Iran via intermediary channels; no agreement will be reached unless the nuclear issue is resolved. Trump is prepared to ease sanctions on Iran and unfreeze its frozen assets in exchange for progress on the Iran nuclear issue. Possibly as a result, the crypto market rallied in the short term, while U.S. WTI and Brent crude oil prices dropped by roughly $1 each, hitting $92.02 per barrel and $105.65 per barrel respectively.
3 hours ago
Analysis: The restaking 'gold rush' is ebbing, profits of Ethereum's leading protocols have shrunk sharply
As restaking yields continue to decline and smart contract risks rise, Ethereum’s leading liquid restaking protocol ether.fi is gradually exiting the restaking business and shifting to a "crypto neo-bank" model. Data shows that as of September 8, the restaking sector’s assets under management (AUM) stood at approximately $10.02 billion, generating only around $99,977 in fees over the past week. By contrast, liquid staking protocols manage roughly $51.87 billion in AUM and produced about $27.35 million in fees. Calculated per dollar of assets, fees from liquid staking are roughly 53 times higher than those from restaking. ether.fi CEO Mike Silagadze noted that restaking offers "no meaningful yield opportunities" while exposing users to additional risks, prompting the firm’s exit from the segment. As of August, less than 1% of ether.fi’s assets remained restaked via EigenLayer, with the company expected to fully sever related structural connections by the end of this year. Meanwhile, the five major liquid restaking protocols—Renzo, Kelp, Swell, Puffer Finance, and Bedrock—combined to generate around $953,000 in gross profit in Q2 2026, a sharp decline from the $2.18 million they earned over the prior three quarters. ether.fi has since pivoted its business focus to crypto neo-banking, including offerings such as crypto payment cards, lending markets, yield vaults, and tokenized stocks and metals.
3 hours ago
Bonk Guy pumps MARSCOIN, claiming it could see 'explosive growth' in the fourth quarter.
Renowned crypto trader Bonk Guy has stated in a post that MarsCoin (MARSCOIN) features a "very clean" recent technical trend, indicating it could be primed for a significant rally in the fourth quarter. He noted that BNB and BNB Chain’s influence is growing in this cycle, while MarsCoin combines the "Elon Musk + CZ" concept alongside narratives like SPCX, with its fundamentals gradually taking shape. Bonk Guy also added that during the last cycle, he helped drive rallies for multiple Elon Musk-themed meme coins, with SHIB and DOGE once surpassing $40 billion and $80 billion in market cap respectively. He explained that this cycle, MarsCoin integrates Elon Musk, CZ and SPCX narratives, and Binance currently supports SPCX via its reward program, allocating a portion of trading fees to related incentives. As a result, the market may be underestimating MarsCoin’s future upside potential.
3 hours ago
Manus 2.0 Officially Launched: New Architecture, Professional Studio Tool, and Personal AI Agent Application Cue Roll Out Simultaneously
Beating AI Express (Dongcha) – Manus has officially launched Version 2.0, a comprehensive upgrade rather than a simple iteration, centered on the question of "what the next-generation Manus should look like". Key upgrades include: its self-developed Agent framework Cascade, which tests show cuts token consumption by 23.2%, reduces task completion time by 28.2%, and lowers operating costs by 32%; a new cloud PC for dedicated environments such as game servers or long-term automation; event-triggered automation that enables workflows to start from changes in email, Slack, Notion, and more; a desktop app upgraded to Manus Studio, allowing on-demand integration of tools; and new offerings including a video editor (supporting timeline fine-tuning and Alchemy creative mode) and a game development environment (supporting real-time modification, one-click multiplayer online, and cloud PC hosting). The Computer Use capability has also been upgraded, letting users remotely control authorized computers via natural language. A new standalone app, Cue, has launched for personal Agents, supporting mobile and desktop. Each Agent comes with its own email, phone, wallet, and PC, can form multi-Agent teams for collaboration, and integrate with offline services. Manus noted that Version 2.0 focuses on refinement and control after idea implementation, continuing its core mission of "helping people turn ideas into reality".
3 hours ago
Tether labeled as 'financial lifeline' for the Iranian regime by US Senate Democrats
Democratic members of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Intelligence (under the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs) released a report on September 28, accusing Tether’s stablecoin USDT of becoming a key funding channel for Iran’s shadow banking network, helping the Iranian government evade international sanctions. The report estimated that Iran processed roughly $20 billion in transactions via the relevant network last year, though it did not specify the exact amount involving USDT. It also alleged that Tether failed to freeze Iran-linked wallets in a timely manner—some freezing actions took weeks—and did not proactively block wallets suspected of illegal activity. The report noted that USDT has become an important financial lifeline for Iran’s shadow banking network. In response, Tether said the same day it had assisted in freezing nearly $550 million in Iran-related USDT, adding that it has maintained direct cooperation with law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and other countries to help identify and freeze illegal funds.
Photo: Romanpoet / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has unveiled a transformative vision for the blockchain platform, aiming to evolve it into a “cryptographic world computer.” This plan, presented at a recent event, emphasizes the integration of advanced cryptographic techniques, such as zero-knowledge proofs and SNARK/STARK-style verification methods, alongside a revamped consensus mechanism. Buterin’s strategy suggests a shift away from traditional blockchain structures, focusing instead on enhancing Ethereum’s scalability, privacy, and verification capabilities. This announcement aligns with Ethereum’s ongoing roadmap, which includes significant upgrades like Hegotá, indicating a continued commitment to technological advancement.
In the prediction markets, these developments appear to influence sentiment, albeit moderately, given the Tier 3 source of the information. Current pricing in the Ethereum future price predictions market shows a slight increase in optimism for Ethereum reaching higher price thresholds by the end of 2026. Notably, the odds of Ethereum hitting $3,500 by December 31, 2026, stand at 34%, reflecting a stable outlook compared to recent days. However, the near-term market indicators suggest cautious optimism, with modest price adjustments in response to Buterin’s announcement.
Key Takeaways Vitalik Buterin’s plan for Ethereum appears consistent with advancing its roadmap towards scalability and privacy enhancements. The announcement is consistent with the market’s moderate optimism for Ethereum reaching higher price levels by the end of 2026, with key thresholds like $3,500 seeing a stable 34% YES probability. Market participants seem to regard this development as a positive but measured factor, reflecting the Tier 3 source of the information. What to Watch Future developments that might affect market sentiment include any formal announcements of Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) related to Buterin’s plan, particularly those involving major upgrades like Pectra. Additionally, watch for regulatory actions or technological advancements that could impact Ethereum’s price trajectory. Market reactions to these factors could indicate increased confidence in Ethereum achieving its long-term price targets by the end of 2026.
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Term Structure
Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h December 31, 2026 1.3% 0.0¢ $219 View market → December 31, 2026 1.4% 0.0¢ — View market → December 31, 2026 2.8% 0.0¢ $5 View market → December 31, 2026 4.3% 0.0¢ $3K View market → December 31, 2026 8.5% +1¢ $53K View market → January 1 2027 35.5% +1¢ $35K View market → January 1 2027 4.5% 0.0¢ $10K View market → January 1 2027 1.5% 0.0¢ $22 View market → January 1 2027 2.8% 0.0¢ — View market → January 1 2027 3.6% +0.1¢ — View market → January 1 2027 5.5% -0.1¢ $1K View market → January 1 2027 15.5% -1¢ $25K View market → January 1 2027 6.8% -0.2¢ $15K View market → January 1 2027 2.8% 0.0¢ — View market → January 1 2027 1.6% +0.1¢ $2K View market → January 1 2027 5% +0.5¢ $9K View market → January 1 2027 66% 0.0¢ $3K View market → January 1 2027 8% 0.0¢ $34K View market → January 1 2027 2.4% +0.2¢ — View market → January 1 2027 16.5% 0.0¢ $54K View market → January 1 2027 30% -1.5¢ $128K View market → Updated 4min ago
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Donald Trump is willing to offer Iran sanctions relief in exchange for "substantive progress" on the nuclear issue.
According to Al Jazeera, U.S. President Donald Trump is open to considering easing sanctions on Iran and unfreezing Iranian funds if "specific progress" is made on the Iran nuclear issue. U.S. officials said the U.S. and Iran are holding "positive and constructive" discussions via intermediaries, but no deal will be reached if the nuclear issue is not resolved. The official added that Iran has signaled some flexibility on the nuclear issue, though the two sides have yet to agree on the timeline for implementing relevant commitments. Trump previously rejected Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, calling the plan "unacceptable." Trump said more talks with Iran are expected this week. Negotiations on the U.S. side are led by Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said Trump is skeptical of Iran’s proposals, believing Iran is demanding all its conditions be met before advancing further negotiations. White House officials also noted the U.S. is cautious about Iran’s commitments, citing Iran’s violation of the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding reached in July, which included attacks on commercial vessels. (Source: Jinshi)
3 hours ago
Crypto markets saw a short-term rally, as foreign media reported that Trump is prepared to ease sanctions on Iran.
According to Al Jazeera, U.S. officials said the U.S. is continuing active discussions with Iran via intermediary channels; no agreement will be reached unless the nuclear issue is resolved. Trump is prepared to ease sanctions on Iran and unfreeze its frozen assets in exchange for progress on the Iran nuclear issue. Possibly as a result, the crypto market rallied in the short term, while U.S. WTI and Brent crude oil prices dropped by roughly $1 each, hitting $92.02 per barrel and $105.65 per barrel respectively.
3 hours ago
Bonk Guy pumps MARSCOIN, claiming it could see 'explosive growth' in the fourth quarter.
Renowned crypto trader Bonk Guy has stated in a post that MarsCoin (MARSCOIN) features a "very clean" recent technical trend, indicating it could be primed for a significant rally in the fourth quarter. He noted that BNB and BNB Chain’s influence is growing in this cycle, while MarsCoin combines the "Elon Musk + CZ" concept alongside narratives like SPCX, with its fundamentals gradually taking shape. Bonk Guy also added that during the last cycle, he helped drive rallies for multiple Elon Musk-themed meme coins, with SHIB and DOGE once surpassing $40 billion and $80 billion in market cap respectively. He explained that this cycle, MarsCoin integrates Elon Musk, CZ and SPCX narratives, and Binance currently supports SPCX via its reward program, allocating a portion of trading fees to related incentives. As a result, the market may be underestimating MarsCoin’s future upside potential.
3 hours ago
Manus 2.0 Officially Launched: New Architecture, Professional Studio Tool, and Personal AI Agent Application Cue Roll Out Simultaneously
Beating AI Express (Dongcha) – Manus has officially launched Version 2.0, a comprehensive upgrade rather than a simple iteration, centered on the question of "what the next-generation Manus should look like". Key upgrades include: its self-developed Agent framework Cascade, which tests show cuts token consumption by 23.2%, reduces task completion time by 28.2%, and lowers operating costs by 32%; a new cloud PC for dedicated environments such as game servers or long-term automation; event-triggered automation that enables workflows to start from changes in email, Slack, Notion, and more; a desktop app upgraded to Manus Studio, allowing on-demand integration of tools; and new offerings including a video editor (supporting timeline fine-tuning and Alchemy creative mode) and a game development environment (supporting real-time modification, one-click multiplayer online, and cloud PC hosting). The Computer Use capability has also been upgraded, letting users remotely control authorized computers via natural language. A new standalone app, Cue, has launched for personal Agents, supporting mobile and desktop. Each Agent comes with its own email, phone, wallet, and PC, can form multi-Agent teams for collaboration, and integrate with offline services. Manus noted that Version 2.0 focuses on refinement and control after idea implementation, continuing its core mission of "helping people turn ideas into reality".
3 hours ago
An address linked to BlackRock withdrew approximately $127 million worth of BTC and ETH from Coinbase Prime.
According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, BlackRock’s address has cumulatively withdrawn approximately $126.95 million in crypto assets from Coinbase Prime over the past hour, including roughly $95.43 million in Bitcoin (BTC) and $31.52 million in Ethereum (ETH).
3 hours ago
Tether labeled as 'financial lifeline' for the Iranian regime by US Senate Democrats
Democratic members of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Intelligence (under the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs) released a report on September 28, accusing Tether’s stablecoin USDT of becoming a key funding channel for Iran’s shadow banking network, helping the Iranian government evade international sanctions. The report estimated that Iran processed roughly $20 billion in transactions via the relevant network last year, though it did not specify the exact amount involving USDT. It also alleged that Tether failed to freeze Iran-linked wallets in a timely manner—some freezing actions took weeks—and did not proactively block wallets suspected of illegal activity. The report noted that USDT has become an important financial lifeline for Iran’s shadow banking network. In response, Tether said the same day it had assisted in freezing nearly $550 million in Iran-related USDT, adding that it has maintained direct cooperation with law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and other countries to help identify and freeze illegal funds.
BitMine Immersion Technologies, recognized as the world’s largest Ethereum treasury firm, has once again demonstrated its commitment to Ethereum by significantly increasing its holdings. The company, chaired by Tom Lee, acquired 17,362 ETH over the last week, valued at $46.82 million, according to onchain monitoring platform Lookonchain.
Major Ethereum acquisition during market dipBitMine’s latest purchase coincided with a period of softness in the cryptocurrency market, with Ethereum falling below its recent peak near $2,700. Despite this dip, the company maintained its regular buying pattern, taking advantage of lower prices to add to its position.
Onchain data suggests that this transaction fits into BitMine’s broader strategy of long-term accumulation rather than short-term speculation. By increasing its Ethereum holdings while prices slipped, BitMine has reinforced its approach of building reserves through market downturns.
As BitMine increased its purchase activity during a market pullback, its treasury exceeded the significant threshold of 6 million ETH, confirming its role as Ethereum’s largest corporate holder.
After the recent acquisition, BitMine now holds more than 6 million ETH, worth approximately $16 billion given current market prices. This holding represents around 4.9% of Ethereum’s total circulating supply, underscoring the firm’s substantial influence within the Ethereum ecosystem.
The company’s growing treasury sets it apart from other corporate holders, allowing BitMine to maintain a dominant position in Ethereum reserves.
EntityEthereum HoldingsMarket ValuePercentage of Circulating SupplyBitMine Immersion Technologies6,000,000 ETH$16 billion4.9%All other known corporate holders (combined)Below 1,500,000 ETH<$4 billion<1.2%Mini dictionary: BitMine Immersion Technologies is a major corporate digital asset manager specializing in Ethereum treasury strategy and long-term blockchain investments.
Impact on market sentimentWhile some retail investors appeared unsettled by the recent downturn in crypto prices, BitMine’s sizable purchase signaled a vote of confidence in Ethereum’s medium-term prospects. Tom Lee’s continued backing of Ethereum through these acquisitions has drawn attention within the industry, bolstering morale among institutional participants.
BitMine’s consistent accumulation also sets an example for larger crypto stakeholders, emphasizing a disciplined approach over reacting to short-term market volatility.
The steady increase in BitMine’s Ethereum reserves has reinforced its market leadership and highlighted the firm’s confidence in blockchain assets.
Corporate digital asset treasury firms kept expanding their positions even as bitcoin and the wider crypto market opened the week with a modest pullback. The buying underscores a structural trend that has persisted through 2026: publicly listed companies treating bitcoin and ether as core balance-sheet assets rather than short-term trades.
Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR), the company chaired by Michael Saylor, disclosed that it acquired 1,665 bitcoin between September 21 and 27 at an average price of roughly $85,681, bringing its total holdings to 847,666 BTC.
The same filing showed the firm also retired about $152 million of its STRC preferred stock and held $6.02 billion in dollar assets as of September 27.
The purchases were funded through sales of common stock under an existing at-the-market program.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: BMNR), chaired by Tom Lee, reported a parallel move on the ether side.
The firm added 17,362 ETH last week, lifting its holdings to just over 6 million tokens—approximately 4.9 percent of circulating supply and 98 percent of the way toward its stated “Alchemy of 5 percent” target.
Combined with cash, bitcoin, and other investments, Bitmine’s total holdings now stand near $17.2 billion.
Lee described the milestone as a “tremendous achievement” reached in under 15 months and reiterated his view that a crypto bull market has been under way since late June.
The announcements landed as prices eased.
Bitcoin slipped toward the $83,000 area after recently testing levels above $87,000, while ether traded near $2,700.
Traders pointed to two overlapping sources of caution: renewed tension around the Iran conflict and lingering questions about the economic return on the enormous capital spending tied to artificial intelligence.
US equities felt the same pressure.
After finishing Friday higher—the S&P 500 closed at 7,743.41, the Dow at 51,828.62 and the Nasdaq Composite at 27,068.72—the major indexes opened Monday lower by roughly half a percent to 0.7 percent.
Rising oil prices and Treasury yields that have hovered near multi-year highs weighed on risk appetite; semiconductor and other AI-linked names were among the weaker groups.
Inflation remains a central constraint.
August consumer prices rose 0.4 percent from July and 3.4 percent from a year earlier, with energy costs contributing a large share because of Middle East supply disruptions.
Core inflation excluding food and energy stood at 2.4 percent annually.
The Federal Reserve’s preferred PCE gauge for August is due September 30 and will influence whether markets continue to price a high probability of another rate increase in October.
The November 3 midterm elections add political uncertainty. President Trump’s approval ratings have stayed low amid dissatisfaction over the Iran campaign and household costs.
Forecasting models currently give Democrats a strong chance of taking the House and a competitive opportunity in the Senate.
A change in congressional control could affect fiscal policy, digital-asset regulation and energy strategy—all variables that feed into both traditional markets and crypto.
Geopolitically, the Iran conflict that began with US and Israeli strikes in February continues to keep oil prices elevated and the Strait of Hormuz under scrutiny.
Mediated talks were scheduled in New York this week, but President Trump has publicly rejected several Iranian proposals.
Higher energy costs feed inflation, support a stronger dollar and raise real yields—conditions that historically compress valuations for both equities and digital assets.
At the same time, questions about whether hyperscaler AI spending will produce the expected profits have prompted some rotation out of crowded technology trades.
Lee has argued that this rotation is already supporting crypto.
These forces cut both ways. Elevated yields and geopolitical risk typically reduce appetite for volatile assets.
Persistent inflation delays monetary easing. Yet corporate treasury buying provides a persistent bid that can limit downside.
Regulatory clarity after the midterms or any de-escalation in the Middle East would likely be received as positive for risk assets.
October has historically been a constructive month for bitcoin, with positive closes in 10 of the last 13 years—the origin of the “Uptober” nickname.
Seasonality is not destiny, especially after already-strong gains in August and September.
Sustained ETF inflows, a contained PCE print and calmer headlines would favor continuation.
A hotter inflation reading or renewed military escalation could keep prices range-bound. Treasury companies or DATs, for now, appear to be treating the current dip as an accumulation opportunity rather than a reason to pause.
The well-known meme coin Shiba Inu (SHIB) reached a new milestone last weekend as it gained 1,235 additional holders on the Ethereum (ETH) network in a single day. Shiba Inu, originally launched on Ethereum, has also expanded its presence to Binance Smart Chain (BSC), increasing its footprint across major blockchain ecosystems.
Holder growth and historical October rallyShiba Inu is now approaching a total of 1.7 million unique wallet holders. Many of these new investors are reportedly positioning themselves for October, a month that has historically favored SHIB’s price performance. Notably, Shiba Inu surged 833% in October 2021, followed by increases of 10% in 2022 and over 15% last year.
This consistent uptick in October, often referred to within the community as ‘Uptober’, has set expectations that SHIB might attempt to surpass its key resistance at $0.00001 if similar trends play out this year. September has already seen strong momentum, with the number of new SHIB holders on Ethereum exceeding 8,935 as of the most recent count.
Despite the coin trading relatively flat, the steady increase in unique holders is often viewed as a positive indicator. Sustained growth in wallet addresses can potentially support future price appreciation by expanding the asset’s investor base.
Current market performance and trading activityHowever, the recent influx of holders has not translated into immediate price gains. SHIB’s price declined by 4% over the last 24 hours, falling to $0.00000569, based on CoinGecko data. Daily trading volume for SHIB stood at $99,461,384, trailing behind several other tokens with comparable market capitalizations. The limited trading activity may contribute to subdued price volatility in the near term.
In futures markets, SHIB is exhibiting a similar pattern. Over the same 24-hour period, speculative trading volume barely exceeded $51 million, according to figures from CoinGlass. Notably, of the $299,990 in total liquidations of highly-leveraged futures positions, bullish positions accounted for $295,400. This imbalance suggests that over-leveraged bullish traders faced significant liquidations, potentially clearing out excess risk ahead of a larger move.
Meme token trends and investor activityWhile many are watching technical factors like resistance levels and liquidation data, recent developments in the wider meme token market highlight the importance of closely monitoring investor behavior. In this niche, internet trends can rapidly transform into millions of dollars in volume within days.
Tracking the timing of purchases and the specific meme tokens chosen by investors has become increasingly important for those looking to identify emerging trends early. Fomo App serves this need by offering a single platform where users can discover new tokens and execute trades while gaining real-time insights through social feeds, investor rankings, and trade notifications.
One notable example involves a “Niu Lai” trade, which turned an initial $99 commitment into roughly $370,000, reflecting how quickly fortunes can change in this sector. By integrating social and trading features, Fomo App aims to bring transparency and efficiency to meme token markets, drawing attention to both price dynamics and participant activity.
Shiba Inu’s expanding holder base on Ethereum, combined with the tendency for meme tokens to attract rapid interest through social trends, underscores how closely investor sentiment and market timing influence this evolving segment. The integration of tools like Fomo App allows participants to monitor both prices and investor movements, which can be critical to capitalizing on new opportunities.
The crypto market showed signs of a cooldown on Monday, September 28. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum registered a 2% drop, yet three altcoins moved the other way in dramatic fashion.
Quant (QNT), Bitway (BTW), and XDC Network (XDC) topped CoinGecko’s 24-hour crypto gainers among the top 100 coins. Each moved for a different reason.
Quant Extends Its Bank-Backed RunQuant was Monday’s top gainer, rising 32.85% to $238.2 at press time. The altcoin stretched its weekly gain to 260%.
Quant (QNT) Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto MarketsBeInCrypto covered that the rally began on September 24, when The Clearing House picked Quant to run its US tokenized deposit network. The Clearing House is owned by 25 of the largest US banks. The network is due to open in the first half of 2027.
In addition, UK banks including Barclays, HSBC UK, and NatWest completed live tokenized sterling payments on Quant’s platform the same day. Even after the run, QNT trades about 47% below its September 2021 record of $427.42.
Bitway Sets a Record HighBitway, a Bitcoin-focused layer-1, climbed 28.3% to $1.38 and printed an all-time high of $1.43 early on Monday. That lifts its weekly gain to 75% and its market cap to $3.7 billion.
Bitway (BTW) Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto MarketsNo listing or protocol announcement surfaced on Monday to explain the jump. The nearest live driver is Bitway Booster Season 5, a Binance Wallet campaign running until October 2.
The move could also be part of a broader altcoin rotation. Blockchain Center’s Altcoin Season Index read 59 on Monday, in neutral territory but well above the sub-25 levels seen in July. The index last flipped out of Bitcoin Season on September 2.
BeInCrypto named BTW the third week’s top gainer earlier this month but flagged weak breakout volume.
XDC Network Rides Sibos and Validator NewsXDC had gained 11.66% over the past 24 hours to trade at $0.034 at press time. The altcoin has risen 20% in the past week.
Bitway (BTW) Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto MarketsMonday marks the opening of Sibos in Miami, the SWIFT-run banking conference that runs through October 1. Teams from XDC Network and Contour, a trade-finance network built on XDC, will be at the event, the network said on X.
Recent validator additions also feed the move. South Korean custody firm DSRV joined XDC as a masternode validator on September 18. Belgian tokenization firm SettleMint took the same role in June. In July, XDC launched XDC AI, a marketplace where AI agents pay for services in USDC.
Each rally now faces its own test within days. Bitway’s Booster campaign ends on October 2, while XDC’s Sibos window closes on October 1.
Quant has the firmest backing of the three. Even so, The Clearing House network will not open until 2027, so the price is running well ahead of live volume. All three also need the wider market to stop falling.
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Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, and altcoins experienced significant price increases in recent days. While this upward momentum has slowed, treasury companies have continued their purchases.
Firstly, Strategy, the world’s largest publicly traded Bitcoin holder, also made purchases this week.
According to a statement by Strategy founder Michael Saylor, Strategy purchased an additional 1,665 Bitcoin. This brings the company’s total Bitcoin holdings to 847,666 BTC. The company also repurchased $152 million worth of preferred shares in STRC.
Saylor noted that Strategy also holds $6.02 billion in assets, adding that the company’s dollar-denominated assets could cover current preferred stock dividends and interest payments for approximately 3.8 years.
Ethereum Purchases Continue! Bitmine, the world’s largest holder of Ethereum, also announced last week that it purchased an additional 17,362 ETH, bringing its total holdings to 6,001,302 ETH. According to the announcement, this represents 4.9% of the total circulating ETH supply.
The official statement also noted that Bitmine’s total assets, including cryptocurrency, cash, marketable securities, and strategic investment assets, have reached $17.2 billion.
This figure includes 6 million ETH, 213 Bitcoin, $672 million in cash and marketable securities, $180 million worth of Beast Industries shares, and $115 million worth of Eightco Holdings shares.
Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee stated, “Bitmine’s total ETH holdings have now surpassed 6 million. This is a tremendous achievement, accumulating this total in less than 15 months. We are already seeing the synergies and positive network effects of accumulating almost 5% of the total ETH supply. Furthermore, we continue to see positive signs that the crypto bull market, which began in late June, is continuing. In our view, institutions are still underinvested in cryptocurrencies, and we anticipate them increasing their positions in the final months of 2026. With just over a week remaining in the third quarter, Ethereum’s superior performance as a macro asset continues to strengthen. Throughout the calendar quarter, ETH has outperformed other macro assets by 6,728 basis points.”
Solana Procurement Announced Too! Last week, Nasdaq-listed company DeFi Development Corp. announced it had purchased an additional 47,706 Solana, bringing its total SOL holdings to 2.54 million. The company also stated that it generated additional SOL and commission revenue by using its SOL holdings for staking and operating its own validator.
*This is not investment advice.
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A wallet, associated with the Bitget hacker, has transferred approximately $6.3 million worth of ETH to BTC using THORChain.The wallet belonging to the Bitget hacker has transferred approximately $6.3 million worth of ETH to BTC through THORChain. The transaction was made amid Bitget’s CEO Gracy Chen requesting the decentralized network to cut off addresses that are connected to Sept. 24 security breach.
Bitget Hacker Swaps 2,390 ETH Into Bitcoin According to blockchain transactions data, the wallet made 27 swaps on Monday. In total, some 2,390 ETH were traded for around 75.2 BTC via THORChain, which is a decentralized crypto exchange. Only a single receiving address received the Bitcoin.
At the time of the review there were an additional 400 ETH waiting in a total of four transactions.
This was an activity that occurred from approximately 03:55 to 06:23 UTC. The majority of orders were for approximately 100 ETH. The cost of each batch, at current prices, was approximately $265,000.
Blockchain tracking platform Lookonchain previously spotted the wallet as part of the attacker’s operations.
With THORChain, users can transfer assets between blockchains without having to go through a centralized crypto exchange. With that set up, it will be more difficult to halt a transaction if the stolen funds are introduced into the system.
The swaps are still on-chain, though. This enables blockchain researchers and security teams to trace the funds.
For context, on September 24, Bitget experienced a massive breach with nearly $352 million stolen. The exchange has stated that the vulnerability has been discovered and patched. It has not revealed specifics of the breach of its security measures by the attacker.
Bitget has also shared addresses related to the attacker and declared a 5% bounty for any good faith attempts to freeze or recover the stolen funds.
THORChain Defends Its Decentralized Model Over the weekend, THORChain was called upon publicly by Chen as funds from the wallet kept moving on the chain.
“Our attacker addresses are publicly listed and actively tracked. We are formally asking THORChain to refuse service to these addresses,” she wrote on X. Bitget CEO Chen added, “Decentralization is a design principle, not a shield for facilitating known stolen funds.”
The request for a targeted freeze was denied by THORChain. The network’s emergency controls are not intended to block specific wallets, but rather the protocol itself, it said.
“A THORChain network halt is an emergency security mechanism designed to protect the protocol,” the team wrote. They further noted, “A halt is not a selective freeze of specific funds or an individual swap.”
According to THORChain, its controls have the ability to suspend swaps across the network or to limit activity on a specific blockchain. This would also impact on legitimate users.
It was previously suspended after it suffered an exploit from its own vaults that took approximately $10.7 million of its own money. Trading restarted on June 22, when the developer fixed the vulnerability.
Meanwhile, the trading limits imposed on the Bitget wallet also affected the hacker’s wallet. There were 100 ETH orders that were not completely filled due to minimum price requirements. Approximately 114 ETH went back to the wallet from which they were sent.
Crypto buyers are watching a wide mix of narratives as the market moves into its next cycle. Ethereum is testing a key $2,700 area, Solana is preparing a major speed upgrade, XRP is showing relative strength, and Zcash is gaining institutional attention through new privacy products.
Quant is leading the tokenization discussion after its bank-settlement deal, while NEAR is holding a constructive Layer-1 range near $4.90. MemeToro adds an earlier BNB Chain story built around AI-guided memecoin launches and public fair-launch contracts.
The best altcoins to watch right now are not all trying to solve the same problem. Some focus on payments, some on privacy, some on scaling, and some on making crypto creation easier for everyday users. That variety is what makes the next cycle especially interesting.
MemeToro Adds an AI Memecoin Narrative for BNB Chain Users MemeToro is entering Stage 8 with more than $155K raised and $MT priced at $0.00528. The project is building a BNB Chain ecosystem for users who want to discover trends, create memecoins, and access future trading features.
Its MemeToro AI agent is designed to scan news, social platforms, and online communities for new narratives. Once it finds a theme, it can help form a token concept, branding direction, supply plan, and launch structure.
The project also uses public fair-launch contracts. The FairLaunchEscrow design is built to lock key launch terms before contributions begin, giving users a visible structure for caps, claims, refunds, and finalization.
MemeToro’s planned platform includes:
AI trend scanning and token creation public fair-launch contract rules a crypto news portal prediction-market features future memecoin trading tools $MT staking, rewards, and platform access This gives MemeToro a different role from Ethereum, Solana, or Quant. It is not another Layer-1 chain or bank-settlement token. It is designed to make trend-led token creation and discovery easier for the BNB Chain community.
Why $MT Is Positioned for the Next Cycle $MT is intended to connect the different parts of the MemeToro ecosystem. It can support premium access, transactions, launch funding, staking, rewards, and planned memecoin trading.
The public sale receives 71% of the total 1.2 billion $MT supply. This gives Stage 8 participants a strong place in the project’s planned user base as the AI agent, launchpad, news portal, and trading features develop.
At $0.00528, a $500 purchase secures about 94,697 $MT before processing costs. At the displayed $0.05186 launch price, that amount would show a paper value of about $4,910.
The platform’s strongest idea is its connection between trend discovery and public launch rules. Instead of moving from a social-media trend to an unclear token launch, users can move through an AI-led proposal and a more visible fair-launch structure.
Readers who want to explore Stage 8 can use the official how to buy $MT page.
Ethereum, Solana, and NEAR Lead the Network Growth Narrative Ethereum is trading near $2,647 after breaking out of a multi-week bull flag earlier this month. The token has met strong selling around $2,700, while the $2,570 level acts as an important support area for the current structure.
ETH remains central to crypto because it supports a huge range of decentralized applications. New work around Layer-2 scaling and instant collateralization is also helping Ethereum payments become faster before full chain settlement.
Solana is taking a different path. SOL trades near $118.36 after a 68% rally in two months, while its Alpenglow upgrade has reached a second public test network.
The upgrade aims to cut settlement time from around 13 seconds to 150 milliseconds. That could make Solana more attractive for fast trading, payments, games, and other consumer apps.
NEAR is another Layer-1 project to watch. It trades near $4.90 after breaking a multi-month resistance channel and settling between $4.79 and $5.00.
These three networks offer different strengths:
Ethereum brings a deep developer ecosystem and Layer-2 expansion. Solana brings speed and Alpenglow upgrade progress. NEAR brings a fresh technical breakout and a stable consolidation range.
XRP, Zcash, and Quant Show the Demand for Utility Narratives XRP is trading near $1.60 after securing back-to-back daily gains. The token is showing relative strength as the XRP Ledger prepares for its delayed Batch Upgrade, now scheduled for October 9.
The XRP story remains linked to remittances and payment networks. Its ability to hold firm while the wider market processes major news has kept it on many altcoin watchlists.
Zcash is taking the privacy route. ZEC trades near $1,530 after reaching a local high near $1,698, and institutional attention has grown through 21Shares’ physically backed Zcash ETP on Euronext and strong Grayscale trust inflows.
Quant has created the sharpest tokenization story. QNT is near $254 after a 350% weekly rise, following The Clearing House’s choice of Quant for tokenized-deposit settlement across 25 major U.S. banks.
The three narratives are easy to separate:
XRP focuses on payment and remittance use. Zcash focuses on privacy technology and institutional access. Quant focuses on tokenized deposits and bank settlement infrastructure. Each project shows that the next crypto cycle may be driven by practical use cases as much as price momentum.
Best Altcoins to Buy Right Now? The best altcoins to watch right now represent several major crypto narratives. Ethereum, Solana, and NEAR are pushing network growth. XRP, Zcash, and Quant highlight payments, privacy, and tokenized finance.
MemeToro adds a fresh consumer-facing angle. Its Stage 8 presale, AI agent, public fair-launch contracts, and future memecoin trading tools position it around the growing link between artificial intelligence and internet-native crypto culture.
The next cycle may reward several types of projects. The strongest watchlists will include major networks, institutional infrastructure, privacy assets, and early platforms such as MemeToro that are creating new ways for users to launch and explore tokens.
FAQs Which altcoin is focused on tokenized deposits? Quant is the main tokenization name in this group after its settlement-layer deal connected it to tokenized deposits across 25 major U.S. banks.
Why is Zcash getting attention? Zcash is gaining institutional attention through a physically backed ETP in Europe and inflows into Grayscale’s ZEC trust.
What is MemeToro’s main utility? MemeToro is building AI tools, public fair-launch contracts, memecoin discovery, trading features, staking, rewards, and a news portal around $MT.
More Information on MemeToro ($MT) Presale Here:
Bitcoin and altcoins continue to lose momentum after last week’s surge. Currently, BTC has fallen to around $82,000, while Ethereum has dropped to around $2,650.
However, the activity of large investors in Ethereum has reached remarkable levels. According to data shared by cryptocurrency analyst Ali Martinez, over 320,000 ETH were accumulated by large investors in the last week. During the same period, the number of transactions on the Ethereum network with a value exceeding $1 million also increased from 1,202 to 7,113. This increase corresponds to approximately 500 percent.
Critical Resistance for Ethereum: $2,750! With significant volatility observed in Ethereum, analysts say ETH is approaching a crucial level that could determine its next major move.
According to the analyst, the biggest obstacle for ETH is the 2,750 region. Therefore, Ethereum needs to break above and stay in this region to confirm that buyers have taken control.
According to the analyst, the challenge for ETH is the amount of ETH that was previously traded at higher levels. At this point, the analyst notes that ETH continues to face a significant supply wall between $2,722 and $2,822.
According to the chart he shared, there is a large supply range between $2,722 and $2,822, where more than 13.3 million ETH changed hands.
This makes this region important because many investors in this range might sell if ETH returns to its previous purchase prices.
According to the analysis, if Ethereum surpasses the $2,750 region, one of the key targets to watch is the $3,400 level.
*This is not investment advice.
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Hyperliquid: Next upgrade will raise HIP-4 deployment limits and lower funding rate cap
Hyperliquid co-founder Jeff Yan announced on the official Discord that the next network upgrade will, based on builder feedback, raise the number of active results a single HIP-4 deployer can maintain simultaneously from 100 to 200, and the daily deployment cap from 500 to 1,000; at the same time, the perpetual contract funding rate cap will be lowered from 4% per hour to 0.5%, with officials noting that the cap is rarely hit in actual trading.
Vitalik: Hegota may be Ethereum's last "regular" upgrade before transitioning to a "cryptographic world computer"
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published an article titled "The cryptographic world computer," stating that Ethereum is evolving from a traditional blockchain into a "cryptographic world computer" that integrates blockchain, cryptographic privacy and verification, and decentralized off-chain components. He expects that the Hegota upgrade planned for next year may be Ethereum's last "regular" upgrade, after which the core directions will include recursive STARKs, automated formal verification, highly optimized consensus algorithms, and quantum security. Vitalik said that by 2030, Ethereum's block verification will shift from full download and re-execution to SNARK verification and PeerDAS data availability sampling; consensus will shift to an optimized PoS with few-slot finality and an availability chain mechanism, and block construction will also shift from a single block producer to multi-party participation. On the user side, stronger censorship resistance, privacy protection, lighter node operation requirements, and slot times of about 4–8 seconds and final confirmation times of about 8–32 seconds are expected. He stated that PeerDAS has already begun Ethereum's transformation from a mere blockchain to a stronger system, and after Hegota, this transformation will become Ethereum's main narrative.
Anthropic's female president becomes youngest self-made female billionaire at 39
Anthropic co-founder and president Daniela Amodei entered the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans for the first time with a fortune of about $15.5 billion, becoming the youngest self-made female billionaire. She oversees the daily operations of the AI company, which is valued at nearly $1 trillion and plans to IPO in the U.S. in November, and serves as chair of the board. The report cited market expectations that Anthropic's annualized revenue grew rapidly from $1 billion in early 2025 to $65 billion by the end of July 2026, with private secondary market valuations once pushed to about $1.5 trillion. As the company prepares for one of the largest tech IPOs in history, the equity value of the founding team and employees has grown substantially, with multiple co-founders joining the ranks of the world's wealthiest.
U.S. Senator Lummis: Clarity Act provisions rejected by Democrats would empower Treasury to combat money laundering on offshore exchanges
U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming posted that Democrats had previously demanded that the Treasury be granted new powers to cut off funding channels for money laundering activities conducted through offshore exchanges such as Binance, and that the Clarity Act she proposed already provides the Treasury with such authority. But she said Democrats voted against the bill, thereby rejecting the legislative attempt to strengthen regulation of money laundering on offshore crypto exchanges.
Bitwise NEAR spot ETF approved for listing on NYSE Arca
NYSE Arca has approved the listing of the Bitwise NEAR Protocol spot ETF under the ticker "NRR," making it the first NEAR spot ETF in the U.S.; previously, investors mainly gained exposure through the Grayscale NEAR Trust. The ETF has a management fee of 0.75%, with NEAR custodied and staked by Coinbase Custody; the listing date has not yet been announced. Following the news, NEAR briefly rose to around $5.
Data: Tokens such as 2Z, SUI, and ENA will see large unlocks next week, with 2Z unlocking about $114 million
Token Unlocks data shows that tokens such as 2Z, SUI, and ENA will see large unlocks next week, including: DoubleZero (2Z) will unlock about 1.66 billion tokens at 9:00 PM Beijing time on October 2, representing about 47.69% of circulating supply and worth about $114 million; Sui (SUI) will unlock about 13.26 million tokens at 8:00 AM Beijing time on October 1, representing about 0.32% of circulating supply and worth about $16.7 million; Ethena (ENA) will unlock about 40.63 million tokens at 3:00 PM Beijing time on October 2, representing about 0.45% of circulating supply and worth about $11 million; Kamino (KMNO) will unlock about 229 million tokens at 8:00 PM Beijing time on September 30, representing about 2.81% of circulating supply and worth about $10.8 million; Collector Crypt (CARDS) will unlock about 59.26 million tokens at 3:00 AM Beijing time on September 30, representing about 10.62% of circulating supply and worth about $10.7 million; EigenCloud (EIGEN) will unlock about 36.82 million tokens at 12:00 PM Beijing time on October 1, representing about 5.19% of circulating supply and worth about $10.3 million; Falcon Finance (FF) will unlock about 77.14 million tokens at 9:00 PM Beijing time on September 29, representing about 2.51% of circulating supply and worth about $10.2 million.
MiniMax launches new-generation ultra-fast text model M3.1-Flash-Preview
AI company MiniMax announced its latest text model, M3.1-Flash-Preview, which has officially launched on MiniMax Code. The model is positioned for everyday development scenarios, and the company says it can be used in code development to quickly fix bugs and implement complete features, emphasizing response speed and stability. MiniMax also launched a limited-time campaign on MiniMax Code: from September 28 to October 7 (UTC+8), users who check in daily can earn 2x points, applicable to code models including M3.1-Flash-Preview, as well as the H3 model used for video generation.
Monochrome Exchange, founded by former Binance Australia CEO, launches MCR IEO, raising over 5.5 million USDT
Monochrome Exchange, founded by Binance Australia co-founder and former CEO Jeff Yew, has launched an IEO for the MCR token, with funds raised exceeding 5.5 million USDT so far.
A Solana whale opened a 20x leveraged long position and now has unrealized gains of over $23 million
Address 0x9c6a opened a 20x leveraged long position about a month ago, going long 550,087 SOL with a notional value of about $67.88 million, and currently holds unrealized gains of over $23 million. The trader has placed a take-profit sell order near $200. If the SOL price rises to $200, the cumulative profit from this leveraged trade could exceed $65 million.
Analyst: A group on Robinhood Chain cashed out $18.43 million through 53 token launches
On-chain analyst Wazz posted that he discovered a persistent "rug pull" cash-out group on Robinhood Chain, linked to at least 53 token launch projects over the past two months, cashing out a total of about $18.43 million, with the actual scale possibly larger; the DEED token that triggered this investigation did not even rank in the group's top ten by cash-out amount.
Vitalik publishes sci-fi novel "Snowmoon," incorporating governance settings such as quadratic voting
Vitalik Buterin posted on X that he has completed his personally written 32-chapter sci-fi novel "Snowmoon," with all text written by himself and AI only assisting with proofreading and consistency checks; the story is set in the fictional city-state of Veridia and involves governance and technical elements such as quadratic voting, quadratic funding, cryptographic sortition elections, and zero-knowledge privacy authentication; the work is open-sourced under the GPL v3 license, requiring that if it is adapted into film or animation, the adaptation process must also be open-sourced.
Trump plans private dinner at the White House on Sunday evening to host Anthropic CEO
U.S. President Trump plans to host a private dinner at the White House on Sunday evening for Anthropic CEO Amodei. The dinner will be Trump's first one-on-one meeting with Amodei and signals that relations between Anthropic and the Trump administration are easing. Government officials and their allies have long had tense relations with Anthropic. Trump and House Speaker Johnson plan to meet with several top AI company CEOs at the White House on Tuesday, and this private dinner can be seen as a "warm-up" for that meeting.
Bloomberg analyst: Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have underperformed over the past decade, and crypto's peak moment has passed
Bloomberg senior analyst Mike McGlone wrote that, from a risk and portfolio management perspective, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies may be classified as underperforming assets over the past nearly decade. The Market Vector Digital Asset 100 Index (MVDA, about two-thirds Bitcoin) has been essentially flat since 2017, while the Nasdaq 100 Index (NDX) has continued to rise over the same period. Although MVDA's volatility averages about 3x higher and is positively correlated with the stock market, it has failed to provide effective risk diversification, making it underperforming from a risk and portfolio management perspective. McGlone believes that after Bitcoin futures launched in 2017 and crypto entered the mainstream, MVDA no longer outperformed NDX; the listing of U.S. ETFs and Trump's shift in stance before the 2024 election may have been crypto's peak moment. This situation is unlikely to change.
Driven by partnership with U.S. clearing house The Clearing House, Quant (QNT) surged over 340% in 7 days
Market data shows that Quant (QNT) rose 342.1% over the past 7 days and 97.6% over 24 hours, currently trading at $298.75. According to an official announcement on September 24, The Clearing House, a U.S. clearing house, will use Quant, a provider in the programmable money infrastructure space, to provide technical support for its "Money on Chain" initiative. This is a new interoperable payment network designed to enable financial institutions of all sizes to clear and settle tokenized deposit transactions. Quant's technology will support the network's interoperability, orchestration, and transaction management layer, thereby coordinating the clearing and settlement of tokenized deposit transactions; at the same time, the technology will enable interconnection with existing fiat payment systems used daily by financial institutions and their customers, including the RTP® and CHIPS® networks. The Clearing House operates U.S. payment networks, processing more than $2 trillion in clearing and settlement business daily through wire transfers, ACH, check imaging, and real-time payments.
Data: USDT added 845,900 holders in the past 7 days, more than double USDC
According to Token Terminal data, over the past 7 days, USDT added 845,900 holders, USDC added 390,800 holders, EURC added 69,800 holders, USDG added 23,300 holders, and CASH added 18,600 holders.
Archetype partner: Tokenized stock holders may exceed 100 million within three years
Archetype partner Dmitriy Berenzon posted that, to date, there are roughly 4 million holders of tokenized stocks; and he predicts that the number of holders will reach 100 million within three years.
Ministry of State Security: The so-called "anonymity" of virtual currency is fundamentally a false proposition
The Ministry of State Security's official account published an article titled "Virtual currency crimes cannot be traced? Think again!", pointing out that virtual currency has become an important tool for criminals to engage in various illegal and criminal activities, breeding security risks in multiple areas, including a "hotbed" for money laundering crimes, a "cover" for cyberattacks, and an "accomplice" for espionage and theft of secrets. However, the so-called "anonymity" of virtual currency is fundamentally a false proposition, as the blockchain completely retains data such as transaction records, providing a basis for full-chain tracing. Look at the ledger, and transactions leave traces throughout; trace the chain, and real identities are hard to hide; as for private keys, asset security has no backstop.
GNGN-linked address deposited 6,100 ETH to Coinbase 8 hours ago, possibly Robinhood network fee revenue
A GNGN-linked address deposited 6,100 ETH, worth $16.38 million, to Coinbase 8 hours ago. This ETH was bridged from the Robinhood network to the Ethereum mainnet 6 days ago, and may be Robinhood network fee revenue.
DYORSWAP: The DYOR contract was not attacked; over 200 ETH in compensation has been distributed
DYORSWAP issued a statement saying that the recent incident was not an attack on the DYOR contract, but rather that its application was affected by the fraudulent network "GIWA Chain 9134." The network was launched by operators who manipulated the bridge infrastructure, ultimately draining the real ETH backing the network. The recovered dataset shows that about 1,335 addresses bridged funds, about 767.65 ETH entered the bridge, and ultimately about 766.25 ETH was drained; DYOR had 1,479 operation records on the chain, of which 1,148 were successful, involving 298 wallets and 104 pools; DYOR has used its own funds to distribute over 200 ETH in compensation to affected users. The team is continuing to trace the deployer, funding sources, batch processing infrastructure, and the flow of drained funds, and is distinguishing attackers from genuine victims based on on-chain evidence. Earlier reports said DYORSWAP stated that the fake GIWA mainnet scam caused users to lose about 766 ETH.
Vitalik Buterin believes that Hegota, the Ethereum fork planned for 2027, could be the last update based on technologies familiar to developers from 2015. The network will not stop evolving afterward. Its future transformations will rely more on cryptographic proofs, parallel execution, and formal verification.
In brief Hegota could be the last Ethereum fork based on technologies familiar to historic developers. After 2027, Ethereum is expected to rely more on cryptographic proofs and formal verification. Parallel execution would allow distributing computations among several machines more efficiently. Vitalik Buterin also aims for lighter nodes, faster finality, and more privacy. Several challenges remain, including the cost of proofs and parallel data management. Hegota would open a new era for Ethereum In an essay published on September 27, Vitalik Buterin presents Ethereum as a system that gradually surpasses its role as a distributed ledger. “It really is no longer just a blockchain”, he also stated on X, as he detailed his vision of the network by 2030.
The Ethereum co-founder considers Hegota to be the probable last “normal” fork. This term describes an update whose components remain recognizable to a developer who was present at the network’s launch. It therefore does not mean that Hegota will be the ultimate evolution of the protocol.
This distinction helps summarize the main announced changes :
Hegota remains scheduled for 2027 according to the roadmap cited by Buterin ; The next updates should use recursive STARK proofs ; Automated formal verification will take a more important place ; The consensus must become more efficient and resist future quantum threats. The final content of Hegota is not yet fully locked. The Ethereum Foundation established a process separating the selection of the main features called headliners and that of secondary improvements. Each proposal must be evaluated based on its utility, maturity, and technical risks.
Cryptographic proofs should replace repeated computations Currently, computers that fully verify Ethereum reproduce the computations contained in transactions. This repetition strengthens security but limits gains when new machines join the network: multiple participants essentially perform the same work.
Buterin wishes to replace part of this mechanic with cryptographic proofs. A computer would perform a computation, then produce a short mathematical proof. Other participants could verify this proof without redoing the entire operation.
“At the time, this approach was not viable for a main reason: the missing ingredient was verification”, he writes about the early attempts to distribute work. The committees used in old models increased costs, delays, and failure risks. Zero-knowledge proofs must now fulfill this role more efficiently.
This architecture would allow several machines to process different tasks simultaneously. Ethereum would keep operations requiring a common order on its main layer, such as two transactions trying to spend the same funds.
Applications will need to better organize their computations This evolution would also change how applications are built. A program grouping all its operations into a sequential transaction might become more costly than another capable of separating its computations into independent tasks.
Developers would thus be encouraged to aggregate signatures or proofs before submitting them in a block. Only state changes requiring precise sequencing would be directly handled by the blockchain. The rest could be executed off-chain, then cryptographically verified.
For Buterin, decentralization would then no longer be only a constraint accepted in the name of security. It would also allow storing more data and distributing computations among several participants. It could even enhance privacy by masking the origin of certain queries.
The vision for 2030 still faces several obstacles Buterin envisions finality between eight and 32 seconds, lighter nodes, and better guarantees of transaction inclusion. Privacy would also cover indirectly revealed data when a wallet queries a server to check its balance. These objectives describe however a future architecture, not Ethereum’s current performance.
Several difficulties remain to be solved. Zero-knowledge proofs must become less costly and secure enough to be used on a large scale. The network must also coordinate parallel access to the large amounts of data stored by applications.
Buterin finally acknowledges a structural limit: “Ethereum itself will never have latency comparable to servers, but the infrastructure built around it could”. Hegota therefore will not mark the end of Ethereum forks, but the transition to a generation of updates much more cryptographic, experimental, and complex.
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Luc Jose A.
Diplômé de Sciences Po Toulouse et titulaire d'une certification consultant blockchain délivrée par Alyra, j'ai rejoint l'aventure Cointribune en 2019. Convaincu du potentiel de la blockchain pour transformer de nombreux secteurs de l'économie, j'ai pris l'engagement de sensibiliser et d'informer le grand public sur cet écosystème en constante évolution. Mon objectif est de permettre à chacun de mieux comprendre la blockchain et de saisir les opportunités qu'elle offre. Je m'efforce chaque jour de fournir une analyse objective de l'actualité, de décrypter les tendances du marché, de relayer les dernières innovations technologiques et de mettre en perspective les enjeux économiques et sociétaux de cette révolution en marche.
DISCLAIMER
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.
Ethereum traded at $2,652 during Monday’s market session, remaining below the $2,700 threshold but still sustaining a constructive technical framework. The asset, recognized as the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, continues to retain support from its 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day exponential moving averages (EMAs), which sit between $2,260 and $2,430.
Technical indicators and support levelsCurrent momentum indicators point to a moderately optimistic but cautious sentiment in the Ethereum market. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) registered at 59, reflecting upbeat trader sentiment without signaling an overbought condition.
The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD), however, has dipped slightly into negative territory, hinting at a pause in positive momentum. Despite this shift, analysts have noted that the uptrend is likely to continue as long as Ethereum trades above its EMA support structure.
Key support levels for ETH include the $2,500 area, with the 50-day EMA providing a reinforced floor at $2,425. Additional technical cushioning is found near the 100-day and 200-day EMAs at $2,265 and $2,259, respectively. If selling pressure increases, broader support could be tested at $2,000 and $1,385. On the upside, the $3,000 psychological threshold has emerged as a significant resistance point for traders seeking further gains.
Growing bearish sentiment and short positioningCrypto market analysis platform Coin Bureau drew attention to the recent surge in bearish sentiment among traders on Bitfinex. Over a two-week span, open short positions on ETH exploded by roughly 13,000%, rising from around 771 ETH to over 101,000 ETH. Coin Bureau described this as an “extreme buildup” in bearish positioning, and noted the potential for a short squeeze if the price begins to climb.
Ethereum bears have significantly increased their positions on Bitfinex over the past two weeks, with short interest jumping from 771 ETH to more than 101,000 ETH, representing a nearly 13,000% surge.
A short squeeze occurs when heavily shorted assets rise in price, forcing those betting against them to cover positions by purchasing the asset, often amplifying upward momentum.
Mini dictionary: Bitfinex, a major centralized cryptocurrency exchange known for high liquidity and derivatives trading, is frequently monitored for significant market moves by institutional and advanced retail traders.
Large holders accumulate amid whale activityWhile bearish sentiment built up among short-sellers, on-chain data has shown an increase in whale accumulation. Crypto analyst Ali Charts reported that transactions exceeding $1 million in value surged from 1,202 to 7,113 over seven days, signaling a major uptick in large-scale market participation. During the same period, wallets with substantial balances collectively added more than 320,000 ETH, an amount valued at approximately $864 million at current prices.
Large-scale Ethereum transactions have jumped by nearly 500% in one week, reflecting strong activity from whales accumulating over 320,000 ETH, or $864 million.
MetricPrevious ValueCurrent ValueChangeETH Short Interest (Bitfinex)771 ETH101,000 ETH↑13,000%Large Transactions (>$1M)1,2027,113↑492%Whale Accumulation—320,000 ETH$864 million addedAnalysts cautioned that high-value transactions do not always signal net buying, as these can also involve exchange transfers or custodial movements. Nevertheless, the volume and scale of recent accumulation have stood out during Ethereum’s current phase of consolidation.
Key resistance awaits as trading consolidatesEthereum now approaches a significant supply and resistance zone in the $2,722 to $2,822 range. On-chain data indicates that over 13.3 million ETH changed hands around this level historically, suggesting many holders may look to sell as the price returns to this range.
Should ETH breach this resistance, analysts identify $2,970 and $3,366 as the subsequent bullish targets. For now, the prevailing market structure is characterized by heightened accumulation from major holders but strong resistance overhead, with market observers watching to see whether buying power can absorb anticipated selling pressure near $2,800.
Ethereum is currently navigating a market defined by both aggressive short-selling and significant long-term accumulation, leaving its near-term price action finely poised.
Leading cryptocurrency analyst Ali Martinez flagged on Sunday the “final hurdle” Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) must clear before entering a bull market.
ETH Whales on Accumulation SpreeMartinez highlighted a sharp spike in whale activity on X, with ETH transactions valued at $1 million surging by a whopping 500% over the week.
Buying activity dominated, with “large holders” accumulating more than 320,000 ETH over the past week, worth over $847 million at current prices.
ETH Needs to Breach This LevelMartinez noted that Ethereum is facing a “major supply wall” between $2,722 and $2,822, where over 13.3 million ETH previously traded
“Once ETH decisively clears this zone, the next hurdles near $2,970 and $3,366 are comparatively smaller,” the analyst stated.
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Buterin’s Grand VisionAmid these price analyses and predictions, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin floated a broader vision—the network evolving into a "cryptographic world computer," a hybrid system that merges blockchain with modern cryptography for better scalability, privacy and efficiency.
Buterin expected Ethereum’s upcoming Hegota upgrade to be the network’s last “normal” hard fork, using features and technology familiar to early users.
“Starting after Hegota, this transformation becomes Ethereum’s primary story,” he added.
Last week, Buterin expressed optimism about the "huge amount of progress" in Ethereum, both at the protocol and application levels.
He noted that the blockchain is gradually transforming from just a blockchain into a "much bigger" network with multiple layers.
Price Action: As of this writing, ETH is down 2.10% in the last 24 hours to $2,649.34, according to Benzinga Pro.
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Key Takeaways Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin released “The cryptographic world computer,” detailing his vision for Ethereum’s evolution through 2030. The proposed architecture leverages cryptographic proofs combined with offchain computation, eliminating redundant processing across network nodes. Transaction finality could accelerate to approximately eight to 32 seconds under the proposed framework, according to Buterin. The Hegotá upgrade scheduled for 2027 might represent Ethereum’s final traditional hard fork before implementing more fundamental architectural shifts. Industry experts and legal professionals have expressed concerns regarding practical implementation challenges of the proposed system. On Sunday, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin unveiled an ambitious roadmap for the network’s transformation. According to Buterin, Ethereum could undergo fundamental changes by 2030, potentially operating in ways vastly different from today’s blockchain architecture while retaining its core identity.
🚨JUST IN: Vitalik Buterin unveils Ethereum's next era as a "cryptographic world computer."
The Ethereum co-founder says the network is "really not just a blockchain anymore," but a system combining blockchains with modern cryptography to be cheaper, faster and more private.
He… pic.twitter.com/BhT5ZP29ik
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) September 27, 2026
In a detailed blog post entitled “The cryptographic world computer,” Buterin outlined a hybrid architecture that combines traditional blockchain elements with advanced cryptographic verification methods and distributed offchain processing capabilities.
Currently, Ethereum employs a validation mechanism where nodes independently execute identical computational tasks. When verifying transactions, each participating node performs the same calculations to confirm accuracy.
This includes validating sufficient account balances for transfers and ensuring smart contracts execute according to their programmed logic.
While this approach guarantees network integrity and trustlessness, it creates inherent scalability limitations. Simply adding more nodes doesn’t increase transaction throughput because every node must duplicate the same verification processes.
Cryptographic Proofs as a Game-Changer Buterin’s proposal centers on utilizing advanced cryptographic verification techniques to overcome these constraints. Under this model, a single node could execute transaction processing and generate a compact cryptographic proof demonstrating correct execution.
Subsequent nodes could validate these proofs far more efficiently than re-executing entire computations from scratch. This paradigm shift would enable workload distribution across the network while maintaining cryptographic guarantees of correctness.
Buterin acknowledged that Ethereum’s development team explored similar concepts a decade ago. However, those early attempts failed because the technology to reliably verify computational work didn’t exist at that time.
The network would still require mechanisms for resolving specific conflicts, such as determining transaction ordering when competing payments conflict. Buterin suggested that significantly more pre-processing could occur before transactions are committed to the blockchain layer.
Enhanced Privacy for Wallet Operations The proposal extends beyond scalability to address privacy concerns in routine wallet interactions. Buterin highlighted that current balance-checking mechanisms typically require queries to third-party servers associated with specific addresses.
These server operators gain visibility into which accounts users monitor, creating privacy leaks even when transaction amounts remain confidential.
Buterin’s vision encompasses concealing balance queries alongside transaction data and smart contract logic. This would enable businesses to maintain financial privacy without exposing comprehensive account activity patterns to external observers.
Parallel efforts are underway across the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Zcash has long offered encrypted addresses and transaction amounts through its privacy-preserving protocol.
As of last Friday, approximately 4.9 million ZEC resided in Zcash’s privacy-shielded pools. The token was trading around $1,660 on Sunday following a roughly 15% weekly increase.
On Thursday, researchers published academic work proposing comparable privacy-shielding functionality for Bitcoin. However, the technical specification doesn’t yet address mechanics for depositing or withdrawing bitcoin within that framework.
Buterin anticipates that Ethereum’s Hegotá upgrade, currently targeted for 2027, will mark the final conventional hard fork. Subsequent protocol improvements would increasingly depend on mathematical proofs, automated verification systems, and quantum-resistant cryptographic security measures.
Ethereum researcher Barnabé Monnot offered commentary on the proposal, acknowledging that offchain computation could substantially decrease network processing requirements. However, he emphasized that critical state data must remain onchain to preserve users’ ability to directly interact with decentralized applications.
Gabriel Shapiro, a prominent crypto-focused attorney, raised questions about market demand for proof-centric architectures. He observed that contemporary financial infrastructure predominantly depends on regulatory frameworks and legal recourse rather than continuous cryptographic attestation.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin says the network's next hard fork, Hegota, is likely to be the last upgrade that looks like the ones that came before it. In an essay published on Sunday, Buterin wrote that Hegota, "the fork planned for next year," is "likely to be Ethereum's last 'normal' fork, with features and technology that would be recognizable to someone in 2015." Everything after it, he wrote, "involves recursive STARKs, automated formal verification, highly optimized consensus algorithms, and making it all quantum-safe."
Buterin describes the destination as a "cryptographic world computer", an architecture that combines a blockchain with cryptographic privacy and verification and decentralised off-chain components. The goal, he wrote, is "much more cheap, scalable and private high-security computation" than earlier technology could deliver.
The cryptographic world computer:https://t.co/ueayODeUPo
My attempt to express in somewhat concise terms the true meaning of basically everything planned to happen to Ethereum starting from the fork after Hegota. It's really not just a blockchain anymore. It's a hybrid…
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) September 27, 2026 The essay compares Ethereum's design in 2015 with where Buterin expects it to be in 2030. The biggest change is in how nodes check the chain. Today a node downloads each block and re-executes it; in the future design it samples data through PeerDAS and verifies a SNARK proof that the block was executed correctly. That would let light clients verify both data availability and computation directly, instead of trusting full nodes.
Consensus would move to a proof-of-stake design with "few-slot finality", with slots of around four to eight seconds and finality in roughly eight to 32 seconds, against the roughly 17-second blocks and 200-second confirmation window of Ethereum's 2015 design. Block construction would shift from a single proposer to a multi-party process, with FOCIL (fork-choice enforced inclusion lists) providing what Buterin calls "guaranteed real-time transaction inclusion" as a defence against censorship. Transactions would pass through a mempool with strong privacy properties, and zero-knowledge proofs combined with private account abstraction would extend privacy to accounts as well as individual transactions.
Buterin argues this changes the role decentralisation plays. Running computation across many independent nodes has usually been treated as a cost paid for security, and he writes that it is "shifting from being purely a burden incurred in the name of safety and robustness to at least sometimes being a strength even from a performance perspective." He adds that a network like the post-Lean-upgrade Ethereum is called a blockchain "to a large extent for historical reasons."
The essay did not commit to specific dates. Much of what it describes, including real-time proving of Ethereum blocks and quantum-safe signature schemes, is still in research or early implementation, and each component will have to go through Ethereum's core developer process.
28 September 2026 | 11:15 Ethereum’s short-position debate spread across Crypto X on Sunday, but Monday’s data offer a more complicated answer about what actually changed.
Ethereum’s short debate in three dates September 21 · Leverage reached its recent high
The CryptoQuant chart places aggregate ETH futures open interest near $16.08 billion, while ETH traded close to $2,775.
September 27 · Crypto X focused on a short-squeeze risk
Several crypto accounts shared the concern that large bearish ETH positions could become vulnerable if price reversed higher.
September 28 · Bitfinex short gauge drops sharply
The Bitfinex ETH/USD Shorts reading fell about 65%, while ETH traded near $2,650.
The timeline raises a clear question: did widely shared posts make some traders more willing to close ETH shorts? The charts show that positioning changed. They cannot identify why individual traders acted.
Crypto X turned positioning into a shared narrative On Sunday, Crypto Goos, Crypto Rover and Coin Bureau each drew attention to Ethereum shorts and the possibility of a squeeze.
🚨ALERT: ETH bears are going ALL IN on Bitfinex.
ETH short positions have EXPLODED by roughly 13,000% in just TWO WEEKS, surging from around 771 ETH to over 101,000 ETH.
That is an EXTREME buildup in bearish positioning, and it could become POWERFUL short-squeeze fuel if $ETH… pic.twitter.com/PXjX6R1jD1
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) September 27, 2026
The discussion centred on derivatives positioning. If ETH rose quickly, traders holding bearish positions could face mounting losses and may need to buy ETH to close their exposure.
For a leveraged trader, seeing that argument repeated across several large accounts can alter risk management. A short may still appear reasonable, yet the potential cost of being caught in a rapid squeeze can become harder to accept.
The broader open-interest decline started before Sunday The timing limits any claim that Crypto X caused Ethereum’s wider leverage reduction. Aggregate ETH futures open interest had already been declining from its September 21 peak before the Sunday posts circulated.
CryptoQuant’s chart shows open interest near $16.08 billion on September 21 and about $14.06 billion on September 28. That is a reduction of roughly $2 billion, or around 12.5%, across the period.
Ethereum price and aggregate futures open interest. Open interest peaked above $16 billion on September 21 before declining through the following week. Source: CryptoQuant. Open interest measures the value of outstanding futures contracts. Each contract has both a long and a short side, so a falling total can reflect profit-taking, liquidations, position closures or capital moving elsewhere. It does not reveal which side initiated the change.
The two charts also describe different timelines. Aggregate ETH open interest began falling after its September 21 peak, while the Bitfinex ETH/USD Shorts gauge continued rising into September 27. That divergence helps explain why the short-squeeze narrative gained attention: bearish exposure was still building on one venue even as leverage across the broader ETH futures market was already being reduced.
It does not show that all exchanges had the same positioning. Bitfinex may have reflected a concentrated group of traders, while the aggregate open-interest figure combines long and short contracts across multiple venues.
Bitfinex shorts kept rising after broader leverage peaked The sharper move appears on the Bitfinex ETH/USD Shorts chart. The reading fell from roughly 97,500 ETH to 34,000 ETH, a decline of about 65% within an incomplete daily candle.
That is a substantial change in short exposure on Bitfinex. It does not measure total Ethereum short interest across the wider futures market.
The move may reflect profit-taking after ETH’s recent decline, lower leverage during a volatile session, or exchange-specific position changes. The gauge records the reduction in short exposure; it does not disclose the traders’ reasoning.
Bitfinex ETH/USD Shorts chart. The gauge tracks one exchange’s short exposure and does not represent total Ethereum short interest. Source: TradingView. ETH’s pullback arrived during a wider risk-off session ETH traded near $2,650 at the time of writing, down about 2.4% over 24 hours according to CoinMarketCap data. The daily chart shows ETH retreating from its recent high near $2,800.
ETH’s pullback came as renewed U.S.-Iran tensions lifted oil prices and unsettled risk-sensitive markets. Bitcoin also pulled back as traders reassessed the Hormuz situation.
The sharp Bitfinex reading did not coincide with an ETH rally. Ethereum fell alongside the wider market, leaving little evidence of a broad short squeeze in price action. The position change may instead reflect profit-taking, reduced leverage or exchange-specific activity during a volatile session.
ETH/USDT daily chart. Ethereum has pulled back from its recent high while remaining above the rising 50-day moving average. Source: TradingView. What a viral positioning call can change How a viral positioning call can affect trading
1. It makes a niche signal widely visible
A single-exchange metric may matter to a small group of derivatives traders until widely followed accounts place it in front of a much larger audience.
2. It can change leverage management
Traders may close a short because squeeze risk, volatility or potential liquidation costs have become too high, even when they remain cautious about ETH.
3. It can amplify an existing move
When traders across several venues react to the same information, positioning can adjust faster than the underlying metric would suggest on its own.
A well-known historical example comes from Elon Musk’s posts about crypto. A 2023 study of his Twitter activity found links between crypto-related posts, abnormal short-term Bitcoin returns and trading volume. Musk’s reach is exceptional, so the research provides context rather than a model for every influential crypto account.
The evidence supports a narrower conclusion The Bitfinex ETH/USD Shorts gauge fell sharply after a short-squeeze narrative became widely shared across Crypto X. Aggregate ETH open interest, however, had already been declining from its September 21 peak, while Ethereum fell during Monday’s broader risk-off session.
Crypto X may have changed how quickly some traders reconsidered bearish leverage. The evidence does not show that posts moved ETH or caused the reduction in positions. Establishing that claim would require matching changes across several exchanges, including funding rates, short liquidations, broader short exposure and price behaviour that clearly diverges from the rest of the market.
This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Social-media posts, derivatives metrics and technical charts are interpretive tools, not guarantees of future market movement.
Author
Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coindoo and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.
Ethereum is currently trading near $2,690 after once again failing to secure a decisive move above the $2,800 resistance. This level has become central to Ethereum’s recovery and its ongoing attempt to outperform Bitcoin.
Institutional inflows and relative performanceOver the summer, Ethereum outpaced Bitcoin, with analysis by Richard Salmond showing that from early June to mid-September ETH gained approximately 25%, compared to a 5% rise in Bitcoin. Salmond connected this trend to significant capital inflows and recent improvements in Ethereum’s network design and institutional appeal.
Despite the gains, Ethereum’s run has not been linear. Bitcoin recently climbed to an eight-month high above $87,000, driven by demand for ETFs, increased liquidity, and short position covering. This move reduced Ethereum’s earlier lead and signaled that capital can quickly pivot back to Bitcoin as broader market sentiment shifts.
Ethereum has repeatedly encountered resistance around the $2,800 mark. Recent analysis by Coinpaper noted that ETH has struggled to achieve a convincing close above this level after several attempts.
ETF inflows and technical outlookInstitutional demand continues to support Ethereum. On September 25, US spot Ether ETFs recorded $87 million in net inflows, led by BlackRock’s ETHA product. This followed several sessions of significant inflows earlier in the week.
While Ethereum funds have attracted capital, Bitcoin funds faced outflows during the same period. For example, Bitcoin ETFs saw withdrawals of about $463 million in a recent week, whereas Ether products brought in approximately $197 million.
However, recent ETF analysis indicated that even with robust fund inflows, Ethereum has yet to break out cleanly from resistance. Reuters technical analysts identified a bullish continuation pattern after ETH rose above $2,661, suggesting a possible target of $3,050 if momentum persists. The immediate consolidation zone remains between $2,775 and $2,825, highlighting $2,800 as the pivotal point.
Meme tokens highlight investor sentimentThe importance of market monitoring and timing also appears in other crypto sectors. In the meme token market, an internet trend can turn a small investment into a substantial gain within days. Fomo App data spotlighted a trade in “Niu Lai” that converted a $99 investment into around $370,000, underscoring how rapidly fortunes can change. Monitoring not just prices but also investor timing and token selection plays a central role in navigating such volatile trends. Fomo App brings together token discovery, social feeds, investor rankings, and trade alerts into a unified platform, providing insight into both price action and trader behavior across meme tokens.
Key resistance levels for EthereumIf Ethereum can reclaim and sustain levels above $2,800 while Bitcoin stays below its recent highs, ETH could continue its relative outperformance. Failure to break through might see Bitcoin regain the momentum it lost over the summer, eroding Ethereum’s lead.
Reuters technical analysis recently identified a bullish continuation setup after ETH broke above roughly $2,661, with a potential path toward $3,050 if momentum holds. It also flagged $2,775–$2,825 as the immediate consolidation zone.
At present, Ethereum keeps its multi-month strength versus Bitcoin, but questions remain about whether this advantage will persist as Bitcoin attempts a comeback.
Ethereum [ETH] is on track for its best September in a decade. Specifically, ETH is up 7% for the month, which would make it the best September since 2016 and only the fourth positive September in the past decade.
With just over two days left, ETH has a real shot at locking in a major monthly performance.
With that being said, Ethereum’s short positioning appears to be extremely bullish at the moment. According to the chart below, ETH short positions have surged by roughly 13,000% in the past two weeks, rising from just over 771 ETH to over 101,000 ETH.
That’s an extreme buildup of bearish bets. If ETH starts pushing higher, this crowded short positioning could quickly turn into fuel for a sharp short squeeze.
Source: TradingView To see whether this squeeze could happen, it’s important to see what’s driving this bearish positioning.
Technically, ETH is pressured by the big supply wall between $2,722 and $2,822, where more than 13.3 million ETH have changed hands.
Moreover, ETH declined by about 1.5% this week after the breakout above $2.8k last week, which suggests that selling pressure is clearly intensifying. In this case, the rising shorts indicate traders are betting on ETH’s inability to surpass this resistance.
But what if ETH breaks through $2.8k? If bulls step in, this massive buildup of shorts could turn into a perfect bear trap. Short sellers may then be forced to cover, adding more buying pressure and potentially giving Ethereum the momentum to push toward $3k.
On-chain signals strengthen Ethereum’s bear trap setup Ethereum’s post-Hegotá upgrade might just be one piece of the puzzle.
In his latest tweet on X, Vitalik Buterin outlined Ethereum’s transition to a more general blockchain architecture and an upgrade to make the blockchain more scalable, secure, and private.
Such a roadmap may come at the most needed time, given the ongoing large-scale accumulation of ETH by on-chain whales.
According to on-chain analytics, the number of ETH accumulated by whales is up 21.4% within the last seven days and reached 321k ETH as of now. At the price of $2.7 million, the total value of the accumulation sums up to $864 million.
But whale buying is not the only sign pointing to a growing demand for Ethereum.
Source: ValidatorQueue As can be seen in the chart above, staked ETH has hit a new all-time high of 43.5 million ETH, or over 35.6% of the total supply.
In addition to that, there has been an influx of more than 500,000 ETH into staking in the past week alone, meaning ETH is actively being locked away instead of being used for trading.
Together, the rise in both whale accumulation and record-breaking staking activity is a sign that investors are buying into ETH for the long term.
Against this backdrop, the post-Hegotá upgrade could become another catalyst to keep this momentum going.
Thus, the 13,000% increase in short positions becomes more interesting. While traders are buying bearish bets, whales acquire more ETH that is staked.
If bulls penetrate key resistances, this crowded positioning will lead to a bear trap that forces shorts to cover and provides the fuel for ETH to reach $3k in October.
TLDR Arthur Hayes says ETH could reach $5,000 within about a year because of Robinhood Chain. ETH trades near $2,650 and would need a gain of close to 89% to hit that target. Analyst Ali Charts reports that large holders added more than 320,000 ETH in one week. US spot Ether ETFs took in $689.8 million over five straight sessions. About 1.61 million ETH is waiting to enter staking, compared with 161,000 ETH waiting to exit. Ethereum’s price could reach $5,000 within about a year, according to Arthur Hayes. The BitMEX co-founder made the prediction at EastPoint: Seoul 2026.
Ether traded near $2,650 when Hayes spoke. A move to his target would require a gain of close to 89%.
Hayes is chief investment officer at Maelstrom. He pointed to Robinhood’s decision to build its blockchain on Ethereum. “Robinhood has started a new narrative for Ethereum,” he said.
He argued that other large financial firms can now point to Robinhood when they make the case for building on Ethereum.
Robinhood Chain and Whale Activity Robinhood launched its chain’s public mainnet on July 1. It is an Ethereum Layer 2 built with Arbitrum technology, and it uses ETH as its native gas token.
By August, the chain had recorded nearly $9 billion in total decentralized exchange volume. Bitquery counted 597 million transactions on the network through Sept. 3.
Large holders have also become more active. Crypto analyst Ali Charts shared on X that Ethereum transactions worth more than $1 million jumped from 1,202 to 7,113 over the past week.
That is an increase of nearly 500%. Large transactions can include transfers between exchanges and custodians, so the data alone does not confirm buying.
In a separate post, Ali Charts said large wallets added more than 320,000 ETH over the same period. Those holdings are worth about $864 million at current prices.
2/5 Whale activity remains elevated across the Ethereum $ETH network.
Over the past week, transactions worth more than $1 million have surged nearly 500%, rising from 1,202 to 7,113. pic.twitter.com/r8m9TEuyct
— Ali Charts (@alicharts) September 27, 2026
US spot Ether ETFs recorded $689.8 million in net inflows from Sept. 21 through Sept. 25. BlackRock’s ETHA led with $326.2 million, and Fidelity’s FETH took in $174.1 million.
The five straight days of inflows reversed about $140.6 million in outflows from the week before.
Ethereum Price Faces Resistance Near $2,800 ETH rallied from around $2,400 in mid-September. On Sept. 23, it reached an intraday high near $2,789 before falling to $2,648.
Ethereum Price on CoinGecko Ali Charts also posted a chart showing a supply zone between $2,722 and $2,822. More than 13.3 million ETH was previously traded in that range.
According to the analyst, the next resistance levels above that zone are $2,970 and $3,366. Even a break above $2,800 would leave ETH about 40% below Hayes’ target.
After the pullback, ETH stayed above its 4-hour 50, 100 and 200-period moving averages.
Staking demand has stayed high. Validator Queue data on Sept. 28 showed about 1.61 million ETH waiting to enter staking, compared with roughly 161,000 ETH waiting to exit.
Around 43.5 million ETH is now staked, equal to 35.66% of supply. New validators face a wait of almost 28 days to join.
TLDR Vitalik Buterin said Ethereum’s Hegotá upgrade, planned for 2027, could be the network’s last “normal” fork. Future development may focus on recursive STARKs, automated formal verification, optimized consensus and quantum-safe cryptography. Buterin said PeerDAS marked the start of Ethereum’s shift toward becoming a “cryptographic world computer.” Researcher Barnabé Monnot said important records should stay onchain even as computing moves offchain. Crypto lawyer Gabriel Shapiro questioned how much demand exists for proof-based systems. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said the network’s Hegotá upgrade could be its last “normal” fork. He shared this view in a blog post published on Sunday.
Hegotá is planned for 2027. Buterin said it will likely be the final upgrade whose features would still be familiar to someone who knew Ethereum in 2015.
After Hegotá, he expects development to shift toward newer technologies. These include recursive STARKs, automated formal verification, optimized consensus and quantum-safe cryptography.
Ethereum Moves Toward a “Cryptographic World Computer” Buterin pointed to PeerDAS as the start of this change. PeerDAS lets nodes check that data is available by sampling parts of it instead of downloading everything.
He said the feature marked the beginning of Ethereum’s transition “from being just a blockchain to being something much more powerful.”
Buterin described the new direction as Ethereum becoming a “cryptographic world computer.” In this model, nodes would no longer simply download and re-run every transaction.
Instead, the network would combine blockchains with cryptographic verification, privacy tools and decentralized offchain parts.
The shift could change how Ethereum apps are built. More computing work could happen offchain, while the base layer verifies results, settles transactions and keeps access to shared onchain data.
Developers and Commentators Weigh In The blog post led to debate over how much computing and data should move offchain. People also discussed what Ethereum itself should keep handling directly.
Ethereum researcher Barnabé Monnot said moving computation offchain, while proving the results onchain, could greatly cut the work the network must do. He added that it could allow for lighter nodes.
However, Monnot said a “world computer” should still keep important records onchain. These are the records its applications depend on.
He said this would let users see what is happening and use applications directly. They would not need to rely on outside servers or middlemen.
A pseudonymous commentator known as Cryptographic said the design could expand what decentralized finance (DeFi) apps can do. More complex computing could take place outside smart contracts, with Ethereum checking that the results follow protocol rules.
Cryptographic used DeFi lending as an example. Tasks such as collateral analysis, liquidation routing, or matching borrowers with lenders could happen offchain before Ethereum verifies and settles the outcome.
Not everyone was convinced. Crypto lawyer Gabriel Shapiro questioned how much demand exists for proof-based systems compared with traditional models built on trust.
Shapiro said many financial services today depend on reputation, regulation and legal enforcement. They do not rely on constant cryptographic verification.
For now, Hegotá is still planned for 2027. The Ethereum Foundation has already named two must-ship Ethereum Improvement Proposals for the upgrade.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has presented a bold new roadmap for Ethereum, describing an overhaul that could fundamentally reshape the network by 2030. Buterin envisions Ethereum operating as a “cryptographic world computer,” merging blockchain with advanced cryptographic proofs and offchain computation, while maintaining its core identity as a decentralized platform.
Hybrid architecture for scalabilityButerin’s latest proposal details a hybrid system that blends traditional blockchain features with modern cryptographic verification and distributed processing offchain. He explained that at present, Ethereum nodes are required to individually execute the same computational tasks to verify transactions, such as confirming balances and ensuring smart contracts operate as intended.
Although this mechanism ensures security and trustlessness within the network, it limits scalability. Adding more nodes does not improve throughput because every node must independently re-execute all transactions. Buterin’s suggested design would instead allow a single node to process a computation and produce a cryptographic proof, which other nodes could verify with much lower resource consumption.
This advance would reduce redundant processing and distribute workloads more efficiently across the network, potentially accelerating transaction finality times to between eight and 32 seconds. The Ethereum co-founder recalled that development teams explored similar structures about a decade ago, but were limited by the absence of reliable tools for proof generation at the time.
Addressing privacy and user experienceButerin’s plan also aims to enhance privacy protections for everyday users. He pointed out that the current method for checking wallet balances usually involves querying third-party servers linked to specific addresses, which allows these service providers to monitor user activity and access sensitive information.
Under the new architecture, Ethereum would obscure user balance inquiries in addition to hiding transaction details and smart contract logic. This would allow individuals and businesses to protect their financial privacy and avoid exposing patterns of account monitoring to outside parties.
Vitalik Buterin says Ethereum is “really not just a blockchain anymore,” but a system uniting cryptography and blockchain elements to deliver lower costs, faster speeds, and greater privacy.
Other projects, such as Zcash, have already focused on privacy through mechanisms like encrypted address and transaction data. As of last Friday, approximately 4.9 million ZEC were held in Zcash’s shielded pools, and the cryptocurrency traded near $1,660 on Sunday after gaining about 15% in one week.
Recent academic research has also suggested ways to introduce similar privacy features to Bitcoin, although practical deposit and withdrawal methods remain under discussion.
Mini dictionary: Zcash, a privacy-focused cryptocurrency, uses zero-knowledge proofs to keep transaction amounts, sender, and recipient data hidden from the public blockchain, thereby enabling shielded payments and protecting user privacy.
Final hard fork and industry responseLooking ahead, Buterin expects the Hegotá upgrade scheduled for 2027 to be Ethereum’s last traditional hard fork, after which ongoing improvements will lean more heavily on cryptographic verification and quantum-resistant security.
Barnabé Monnot, an Ethereum researcher, noted that shifting much of Ethereum’s computation offchain could dramatically decrease the network’s processing needs, but stressed the importance of keeping core state data onchain to ensure permissionless user access to applications.
Prominent crypto attorney Gabriel Shapiro questioned whether there was broad market demand for these proof-centric approaches, observing that most existing financial systems rely on legal frameworks and regulatory trust rather than continuous cryptographic validation.
Gabriel Shapiro pointed out that, in the traditional financial sector, trust is often based on laws and regulation, not just technological proofs.
