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Crypto Markets Face Major Liquidation Risk, Q3 Data Shows

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Starknet explores move from Ethereum Layer 2 to standalone Layer 1 blockchain

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The crypto project Starknet, which was originally created as a technical add-on for scaling Ethereum, has announced plans to become a fully independent blockchain. The StarkWare team has put a radical question to a community vote: should the project break free from the control of the main altcoin network and move to the status of an autonomous Layer 1?

The market reacted to the prospect of this "divorce" as a powerful financial trigger. In the first weeks of October, the native STRK token had already soared 200%, then pulled back along with the rest of the industry. But today, right on the day the official vote launched, the charts went up again, with the price gaining 25% at one point.

STRK price reaction following StarkWare's Layer 1 governance proposal on October 15, 2026, Source: TradingViewTrading activity has shifted entirely to derivatives: the daily trading volume on the futures market reached $894.84 million, almost eight times the spot sector's figure ($116.38 million). The market is aggressively digesting this flurry of orders alongside today's scheduled unlock of 127 million tokens for early investors.

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Behind this decision lies a cold mathematical calculation: Starknet is trying to protect itself against the quantum computers of the future. The head of the project, Eli Ben-Sasson, is convinced that the development of AI has brought the arrival of machines capable of breaking modern encryption closer.

Starknet is technically ready to deploy quantum resistance as early as 2027. The problem is that it is currently tightly tied to the slow Ethereum, which plans to upgrade its security only by the end of 2029. To avoid losing two years, Starknet wants to take full control into its own hands.

99% "for" and one very big risk. How much it costs to leave EthereumThe poll on the Snapshot platform, which will run until October 22, has already shown total unanimity: the "For" option is gaining 99.88% of the votes. At the same time, the project's tokenomics will not change: STRK will remain the network's only settlement asset, and the bridges to Ethereum will keep working. 

However, investors should understand that the current referendum is preliminary (non-binding) and only gives the green light to research. The technical transition itself will require months of preparation and new votes.

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The main price of this independence is security. Currently, Starknet transactions are protected by the authority of Ethereum and the billions of dollars of its staked validators. Having set sail on its own, the project will have to build its own protection system, whose reliability will rest solely on the capitalization of the STRK token. 

At the moment, it stands at $580.24 million, which is incomparably smaller than Ethereum's, but the developers are deliberately accepting this trade-off for the sake of a technological edge.

Vitalik Wants ZkEVM Developers to Stop Chasing Speed and Fix Security

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.

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Jensen Huang backs CoreWeave: The company’s financial conditions continue to improve and it does not require guarantees from NVIDIA.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said data center operator CoreWeave’s financial health is improving. Nvidia is CoreWeave’s computing equipment supplier. Speaking at an event in Stockholm, Huang stated: “CoreWeave’s strength grows stronger every day.” He believes Nvidia does not need to provide financial guarantees for CoreWeave. “I am optimistic. In fact, their cost of capital is declining.” Earlier, credit market confidence in CoreWeave had deteriorated, with concerns rising over its default risk, and Huang is trying to restore market confidence in the company. CoreWeave is a key case testing the sustainability of business models for emerging AI infrastructure firms. These firms emerged to meet the nearly unlimited growth in AI computing power demand as described by companies like Nvidia. Backed by suppliers including Nvidia, CoreWeave and similar entities have taken on large amounts of debt, sparking market concerns about circular financing generating artificial demand.

2 minutes ago

During intraday U.S. stock trading, most crypto-related concept stocks turned positive, with Circle surging over 7%.

According to market data from BIT (bit.com), most US-listed cryptocurrency-related stocks turned positive during US trading hours. Circle (CRCL) rose 7.10%, Block (XYZ) gained 3.80%, Strategy (MSTR) rose 3.79%, Coinbase (COIN) gained 3.29%, and BitMine (BMNR) rose 1.71%.

2 minutes ago

Nasdaq is currently experiencing network issues, and clients may intermittently encounter data gaps.

Nasdaq stated it is currently experiencing network issues, which may cause intermittent data gaps for its clients. The firm recommends clients use Chicago-based data sources as a backup.

2 minutes ago

Jupiter launches YOLO, a high-leverage trading product modeled after PaperTrade, supporting up to 1000x leverage.

Jupiter co-founder SIONG announced in a post that Jupiter Labs has launched an experimental high-leverage trading product called YOLO, which offers leverage ranging from 500x to 1000x. The product adopts the JLP model framework, simulating positions based on real market prices, with actual realized profits and losses—no need to execute corresponding leverage positions in the open market. YOLO’s profits are disbursed from a dedicated fund pool. If the fund pool lacks sufficient liquidity to settle profit positions, payouts may be queued instead of processed instantly. SIONG emphasized that this model differs from traditional perpetual contracts, carrying its own unique risks and limitations. He stated that launching YOLO under Jupiter Labs is to provide a testing ground for such new financial products and trading experiences, without the need to adapt to existing offerings. Currently, YOLO remains in the early stage of development, with room for further improvement. The launch was inspired by PaperTrade, he added.

2 minutes ago

Final implementation rules for the GENIUS Act are expected to be released by the end of October.

Crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett reported that Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) Director Jonathan Gould said the final rules for the OCC’s implementation of the GENIUS Act are expected to be released soon, by the end of October. Gould made the remarks at the "Building the New Digital Economy" event hosted by the Milken Institute, which was held concurrently with DC FinTech Week.

2 minutes ago

The three major U.S. stock indices opened lower but climbed higher, with the S&P 500 index turning positive.

According to market data from BIT (bit.com), the three major U.S. stock indexes opened lower and moved higher: the S&P 500 turned positive, the Nasdaq’s decline narrowed to 0.4%, and the Dow Jones rose nearly 1%. Among component stocks, Micron Technology neared a positive turn after falling more than 6% earlier; Microsoft, Apple, and Google gained 0.5% each, while SanDisk and SpaceX fell 3%.

2 minutes ago

In brief Ethereum, XRP, and Solana have all dropped in value on the day, with "outsized drawdowns" compared to Bitcoin. Experts point to Wednesday's consumer price index coming in at 3.7% and expectations of an October interest rate hike as major macro pressures. The slide is also a natural hangover from altcoins’ “strength and momentum” over recent months. Altcoins have taken a hit over the past 24 hours, with major tokens seeing "outsized drawdowns" compared to Bitcoin. Experts say that this has largely been prompted by macro pressures pushing prices down.

With the market cap of all cryptocurrencies dropping by 2.5% to $2.8 trillion, Ethereum dropped by 5.5% to a $289 billion market cap over the past 24 hours, XRP fell by 5.1% to $82.4 billion, and Solana slipped by 3.8% to $60.6 billion. Meanwhile, industry leader Bitcoin has slipped by 3.1% on the day and 2.6% on the week, sitting at a market cap of $1.6 trillion.

It comes after the consumer price index rose 3.7% in the year to September, as Decrypt reported on Wednesday, with Myriad predictors pointing to a 28% chance of an October interest rate hike (Disclaimer: Myriad is a prediction market operated by Decrypt's parent company Dastan). 

Nick Forster, founder of options trading exchange Derive.xyz, said in a note shared with Decrypt that this shifted traders into "protection mode" as "hedging activity" on the platform doubled, and whales pulled back on optimistic bets made in spring.

Myriad: What's the Fed's next move? Click to make your prediction."This immediate pull-back from long-term upside bets alongside aggressive short-term hedging shows a dramatic regime shift," he said, "with institutional participants rapidly reassessing their macro risk exposure as the path for interest rates turns murky again."

When markets react like this, Luke Nolan, senior research associate at CoinShares, says that altcoins are impacted the most.

"[It] seems to be high beta assets just got hit harder, similar to in equities as well, where the high flyers have seen outsized drawdowns in recent sessions," Nolan told Decrypt. "Alts are typically more sensitive to financial conditions, and tightening affects the premise of liquidity expanding."

Nolan also highlighted the U.S. dollar hitting a near 18-month high as a downward pressure on the entire crypto market. He said that over a medium-term horizon, crypto tends to have an inverse correlation to the US Dollar Index, or DXY. This is partly due to crypto being priced in dollars, Nolan explained, but also because a rising dollar causes a tightening in liquidity and a fall in risk appetite.

Max Shannon, senior associate at Bitwise Europe, told Decrypt that the slide is also a hangover from altcoins’ “strength and momentum” over recent months.

Since the start of October, futures open interest in altcoins (excluding Ethereum) has fallen by $8 billion, Shannon said. To him, that shows traders have “taken chips off the table,” which is a natural reaction after such a strong run.

That pattern is playing out with Ethereum, he added. ETH outperformed Bitcoin for three consecutive months, the first time it’s managed that since March 2021, and investors have been cashing in since. Ethereum ETFs saw 11 straight trading days of net outflows totalling $782.8 million, he said, before a brief inflow on Tuesday. Money has been heading back out since, per CoinGlass data, with $129.5 million in net outflows.

"This price action is more of a consolidation period for altcoins that have already done well," Shannon told Decrypt. "Altcoins generally tend to exhibit high correlations with BTC in tough times and lower correlations, especially with idiosyncratic catalysts, in better market environments. Hence, for the near term, it is possible that these altcoins trade in lockstep with BTC, albeit more sensitively."

For prices to recover, Nolan says he wants to see expectations of an interest rate hike in October to fall. Right now, he struggles to call a bottom for altcoins as he sees valid arguments for movements in either direction.

"I could see a situation where Bitcoin loses its support and altcoins likely bleed further," Nolan told Decrypt. "The opposite could also be true: this could be just a short-term correction, and we could be back into decent market conditions soon, which if Bitcoin was to push back decently above 80k, I could very well see an outsized up move for altcoins."

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VanEck Digital Assets has asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to withdraw the registration of its Lido Staked Ethereum ETF, shelving a proposed fund that would have offered investors exposure to Ethereum staking through Lido’s stETH token. The request, submitted in a Form RW filed with the SEC on October 14, 2026, came almost a year after the sponsor first registered the product and confirms the fund never reached effectiveness.

The withdrawal closes a regulatory path that began when VanEck filed for the Lido Staked ETH ETF in October 2025. The sponsor said it “does not intend to proceed with the planned distribution” of the Trust’s shares, adding that no shares had ever been sold.

What the Withdrawal Request States
Under Rule 477 of the Securities Act of 1933, VanEck Digital Assets asked the SEC to consent to withdrawing the Trust’s registration statement, effective October 14, 2026 or the earliest practicable date. The filing covers the Form S-1 initially submitted on October 16, 2025, together with its amendments and exhibits.

The sponsor confirmed the registration statement was never declared effective, that no securities have been or will be issued or sold under it, and that no preliminary prospectus was distributed. The request was signed by Matthew A. Babinsky, vice president of VanEck Digital Assets.

A Fund That Never Reached Effectiveness
The Lido Staked Ethereum ETF was proposed as a vehicle for exposure to Ethereum staking built on Lido’s stETH, a liquid staking token representing staked ETH. Unlike the spot crypto funds VanEck has already brought to market, the staking-linked product never advanced to an effective registration, and the withdrawal removes one of the more closely watched test cases for a staking-enabled exchange-traded product.

What It Means for Staking-Enabled ETFs
VanEck continues to operate spot crypto ETFs, including its Solana ETF, which launched in November 2025 without a staking component. A fund tied to staking rewards remained in registration for nearly a year before the sponsor pulled it.

The filing gives no reason for the withdrawal beyond the sponsor’s decision not to proceed, so it does not by itself establish why the product stalled. Whether other sponsors keep pursuing staking-enabled ETFs is the next signal to watch.

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1 hours ago

Nillion has issued a clarification, announcing it will gradually shut down its Nillion L2 over the coming weeks, as the project is now operational on the Ethereum mainnet. Users still holding NIL tokens on the L2 are required to migrate their assets to Ethereum L1 before the shutdown, with a dedicated bridge portal provided. The team stated that the earlier post sparked concerns among some users, prompting this clarification, and emphasized that the adjustment is purely a maintenance operation.

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Jensen Huang backs CoreWeave: The company’s financial conditions continue to improve and it does not require guarantees from NVIDIA.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said data center operator CoreWeave’s financial health is improving. Nvidia is CoreWeave’s computing equipment supplier. Speaking at an event in Stockholm, Huang stated: “CoreWeave’s strength grows stronger every day.” He believes Nvidia does not need to provide financial guarantees for CoreWeave. “I am optimistic. In fact, their cost of capital is declining.” Earlier, credit market confidence in CoreWeave had deteriorated, with concerns rising over its default risk, and Huang is trying to restore market confidence in the company. CoreWeave is a key case testing the sustainability of business models for emerging AI infrastructure firms. These firms emerged to meet the nearly unlimited growth in AI computing power demand as described by companies like Nvidia. Backed by suppliers including Nvidia, CoreWeave and similar entities have taken on large amounts of debt, sparking market concerns about circular financing generating artificial demand.

2 minutes ago

During intraday U.S. stock trading, most crypto-related concept stocks turned positive, with Circle surging over 7%.

According to market data from BIT (bit.com), most US-listed cryptocurrency-related stocks turned positive during US trading hours. Circle (CRCL) rose 7.10%, Block (XYZ) gained 3.80%, Strategy (MSTR) rose 3.79%, Coinbase (COIN) gained 3.29%, and BitMine (BMNR) rose 1.71%.

2 minutes ago

Nasdaq is currently experiencing network issues, and clients may intermittently encounter data gaps.

Nasdaq stated it is currently experiencing network issues, which may cause intermittent data gaps for its clients. The firm recommends clients use Chicago-based data sources as a backup.

2 minutes ago

Jupiter launches YOLO, a high-leverage trading product modeled after PaperTrade, supporting up to 1000x leverage.

Jupiter co-founder SIONG announced in a post that Jupiter Labs has launched an experimental high-leverage trading product called YOLO, which offers leverage ranging from 500x to 1000x. The product adopts the JLP model framework, simulating positions based on real market prices, with actual realized profits and losses—no need to execute corresponding leverage positions in the open market. YOLO’s profits are disbursed from a dedicated fund pool. If the fund pool lacks sufficient liquidity to settle profit positions, payouts may be queued instead of processed instantly. SIONG emphasized that this model differs from traditional perpetual contracts, carrying its own unique risks and limitations. He stated that launching YOLO under Jupiter Labs is to provide a testing ground for such new financial products and trading experiences, without the need to adapt to existing offerings. Currently, YOLO remains in the early stage of development, with room for further improvement. The launch was inspired by PaperTrade, he added.

2 minutes ago

Final implementation rules for the GENIUS Act are expected to be released by the end of October.

Crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett reported that Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) Director Jonathan Gould said the final rules for the OCC’s implementation of the GENIUS Act are expected to be released soon, by the end of October. Gould made the remarks at the "Building the New Digital Economy" event hosted by the Milken Institute, which was held concurrently with DC FinTech Week.

2 minutes ago

The three major U.S. stock indices opened lower but climbed higher, with the S&P 500 index turning positive.

According to market data from BIT (bit.com), the three major U.S. stock indexes opened lower and moved higher: the S&P 500 turned positive, the Nasdaq’s decline narrowed to 0.4%, and the Dow Jones rose nearly 1%. Among component stocks, Micron Technology neared a positive turn after falling more than 6% earlier; Microsoft, Apple, and Google gained 0.5% each, while SanDisk and SpaceX fell 3%.

2 minutes ago

Arthur Hayes, closely followed for his statements and predictions in the cryptocurrency market, took advantage of the market downturn by making new altcoin purchases.

He Made Purchases in Three Altcoins!
According to Lookonchain, a cryptocurrency analysis platform, Arthur Hayes purchased the altcoins AERO, PENDLE, and ZAMA.

According to Arkham data, Arthur Hayes made purchases totaling approximately $888,000, including 546,610 AERO ($460,000), 120,000 PENDLE ($232,000), and 3 million ZAMA ($197,000).

Crypto analyst Eric Nicholas Freund, citing Arkham data, suggested that Hayes may have resumed altcoin purchases after a long hiatus. Freund estimated that purchases began before October 14th for AERO, October 15th for PENDLE, and October 10th for ZAMA. The analyst also suggested that Hayes might promote these assets on social media in the near future.

There’s Activity Among Whales, Too!
Lookonchain reported that whales were buying at the dip. According to the data, the whale with the address “0x8E8b,” which previously sold 2,050 Ethereum ($4.93 million) and made a profit of $1.08 million, bought back 6,010 ETH ($14.23 million) today.

Another whale missed out on a potential $13.5 million profit by selling early. According to Lookonchain, the whale with the address 0x68Ef had purchased a total of 6.76 million BTW altcoins but sold them early, receiving only about $85,000. However, considering the current price of BTW, if they hadn’t sold, the value of their BTW holdings would have been around $13.5 million. This means the large investor missed out on a potential profit of approximately $13.415 million.

“0x68Ef Whale must be angry at itself.”

He acquired a total of 6.76M BTW but sold them too early for 85K. That 6.76M BTW is now worth $13.5 million. He missed out on enough money to retire!”

According to the whale tracking platform TradingBeats, a whale starting with the initials 0x007d opened a long position of 3,000 ETH using 25x leverage. The data shows that the average entry price was approximately $2,400, the current position value is around $7.05 million, the unrealized loss is approximately $150,000, and the position return is approximately -53%.

Lastly, 0xDD6A, a prominent short trader on Aster DEX who capitalized on the market downturn, made over $6.4 million in profit! Currently holding short positions with 20x leverage on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and Dogecoin, the trader’s total position size has reached $24.6 million, with a win rate of 100%.

*This is not investment advice.

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Ethereum HEX Sinks 31% After Reports of Richard Heart's Detention

Lido has launched direct ETH staking through its interface on Arbitrum, Base, Linea, and Optimism, using Chainlink CCIP to eliminate manual bridging while keeping Ethereum mainnet responsible for staking operations.

Lido Launches Direct ETH Staking on Four Layer-2 Networks
Lido announced the integration on October 15, allowing users to stake ETH directly through its official platform. The service allows for the native support of 4 Ethereum Layer-2 networks, without the need for users to move assets between chains.

Users can now deposit ETH into their existing account via the interface and receive wrapped staked ETH. The token represents their staked position, while its exchange value increases as staking rewards accumulate over time.

Previously, users would need to transfer ETH to the Ethereum mainnet and then transfer their staking tokens back in the future. Lido launched the same staking route functionality via third-party platforms first before launching it inside its own platform.

Chainlink CCIP Handles Cross-Chain ETH Transfers
The staking process involves coordinating transfers between Ethereum and supported networks via Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) by Chainlink. Users receive wstETH from liquidity pools in the same L2 network where they put ETH.

The system deposits ETH behind the interface, and stakes it on Lido on Ethereum mainnet. The newly minted wstETH is then returned to the network of origin to add to the liquidity pool.

Chainlink price feeds determine conversion rates using Lido’s protocol exchange rate, without relying on exchange market prices. The integration follows Chainlink’s recent launch of CCIP Vault Adapters, which introduced another application for its cross-chain infrastructure.

Lido Maintains Ethereum Staking Fees and Reward Structure
Despite the interface update, Lido continues processing staking transactions through its existing Ethereum mainnet contracts.The protocol retains 10% of staking rewards, leaving the remaining 90% for participating stakers.

Users still pay transaction gas fees on their selected Layer-2 networks during the staking process. Separate funding of contract balances pays for cross-chain costs, which in turn does not take up staking deposits.

The launch follows VanEck’s withdrawal of its proposed Lido staked Ethereum ETF on October 14. The asset manager filed a proposed statement of withdrawal prior to the asset manager obtaining regulatory clearance for the proposed fund.

In October 2024, Lido announced direct staking support for three chains, Arbitrum, Base, and Optimism. Linea was integrated with XSwap, OpenOcean, and Interport in October of 2025.

Sectora Foundation today announced that four of its products have completed interface development and entered final testing on testnet ahead of launch.

The company’s #SECT token, which serves as the token of its cybersecurity network for crypto infrastructure and tokenized assets, is available on Uniswap (SECT/USDT pair on Ethereum). 

The token has a total supply of 50 million and a market capitalization of approximately $5 million. Liquidity is locked through Team Finance, the token is listed on CoinGecko, and its launch was previously announced on AP News and Benzinga.

Product Development StatusFour Sectora products have finished interfaces and are in final testing on testnet: the Sectora L3 network with its SectoraScan explorer, the Sectora DEX, the hash market, and Sectora Shield. 

The team is conducting 15 tests of the network and its validators; the fourth test has been completed successfully. The SectoraScan explorer is available to the public at sectoraorg.com/sectorascan.

Security InfrastructureSectora develops security solutions for crypto networks and tokenized assets. Its Sectora Shield is a post-quantum security engine built on the NIST FIPS 203, 204, and 205 standards. 

Additional solutions include smart contract audits, custody controls, continuous on-chain monitoring, and an asset tokenization platform.

Token Supply and Contract Details #SECT has a total supply of 50 million tokens.  A one-time burn of 50% of the supply is scheduled for March 15, 2027, which will reduce the supply to 25 million tokens.  After the burn, the supply cannot increase. The smart contract is renounced, contains no mint function, charges 0% transaction fees, and has been audited by Cyberscope.  In addition, 80% of every hash power purchase on the upcoming hash market will be used to buy back and burn #SECT tokens on the open market. Holder Rewards ProgramHolder rewards are the first Sectora product running on Ethereum mainnet. Holders can deposit #SECT at sectoraorg.com/staking and earn 14.9% APY. 

Rewards accrue every second, with no lock-up period and no withdrawal penalty. Rewards are paid from a pool of 1,490,000 #SECT that the foundation funded prior to the first deposit. The staking contract code is verified on Etherscan.

Market contextAt about $5 million, #SECT’s market capitalization is a small fraction of those of established networks such as XRP (over $85 billion) and Solana (over $62 billion). Sectora’s whitepaper illustrates that if #SECT reached 1% of those valuations, its price would be $17.14 and $12.53, respectively.

This is an illustrative scenario, not a price forecast or financial advice.

The founders stated that #SECT is not a pump-and-dump token, but one designed for long-term holding. “Sectora is a long-term project, with a fixed supply, a renounced contract, locked liquidity and a public audit,” they said. “We want our community to grow alongside the project, steadily and progressively.”

Official Links Website: https://sectoraorg.com Whitepaper: https://sectoraorg.com/docs Company registration (Illinois, file no. 18523639): https://sectoraorg.com/docs#s02 Uniswap: https://app.uniswap.org/swap?inputCurrency=0xdAC17F958D2ee523a2206206994597C13D831ec7&outputCurrency=0x8C9984B06281f1CA9416e493c2E602AaB08513db&chain=ethereum CoinGecko: https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/sectora Audit: https://www.cyberscope.io/audits/sect Holder rewards (staking): https://sectoraorg.com/staking About Sectora FoundationSectora Foundation is a company registered in Illinois, United States, that develops security infrastructure for crypto networks and tokenized real-world assets, including smart contract audits, institutional custody controls, continuous on-chain monitoring, and post-quantum cryptography. #SECT is the token of its network.

Disclaimer

This third-party press release is published substantially as received and does not reflect BeInCrypto's editorial views. BeInCrypto has not independently verified its claims or assessed the suitability, legality or appropriateness of any referenced asset, product or service; publication is not an endorsement. The content is general information, not investment research, financial, investment, legal or tax advice, a personal recommendation, offer or solicitation. Verify all information and seek professional advice where appropriate before acting. Crypto-assets may result in total loss.

As the global cryptocurrency market cap gradually recovers to $2.91 trillion at press time following the recent drop, Ethereum [ETH] is quietly stealing the spotlight. 

According to the latest data from Santiment, Ethereum is attracting strong bullish interest, while Bitcoin [BTC] and Ripple [XRP] traders are becoming increasingly cautious. 

Source: Santiment
Ethereum outshines Bitcoin and XRP
The bullish-to-bearish comment chart, which measures how many positive comments an asset receives in comparison to negative ones, shows that Ethereum is currently at 2.05. This means that there are approximately two bullish comments for every bearish comment across X, Reddit, and Telegram for ETH.

At the same time, this also showed growing FOMO (fear of missing out), as traders became optimistic about ETH’s recovery above key support levels, staking demand, and upcoming network improvements. 

This further coincided with AMBCrypot’s recent report, wherein Ethereum-led stablecoin market capitalization grew over the past week, adding $243.4 million. 

Why are Bitcoin and XRP losing steam against Ethereum?
Bitcoin, meanwhile, has a bullish-to-bearish comment ratio of 0.82, meaning bearish comments outnumbered bullish ones. This might have happened because of repeated failures to break above $87,000, a subsequent decline toward $81,000, liquidations of leveraged long positions, and macroeconomic uncertainty that may have weakened market confidence.

Following a similar pattern to BTC, XRP too was sitting at a ratio of 0.92, indicating slightly more bearish than a bullish outlook. And this might be because of its decline of more than 9% over the past week and difficulty reclaiming the $1.40 level that might have added to the negative sentiment. 

Is this a sign of an incoming altcoin season? 
On the other hand, Spot Bitcoin and Ethereum are recording net outflows, while XRP continues to attract capital. According to SoSo value data, Bitcoin spot ETFs have seen $278.37 million in net outflows so far in October, following strong inflows of $2.65 billion in September. 

Meanwhile, Ethereum spot ETFs have recorded even larger outflows of $695.35 million this month, reversing September’s $832.43 million in net inflows. In contrast, XRP spot ETFs have attracted $12.09 million in net inflows in October, following $121.40 million in September. 

Source: SoSo Value
This somewhat gives a hint that the altcoin season might be incoming, which was further supported by the CoinGlass Altcoin Season Index, which stood at 64 as of writing.

Source: Coinglass
In other words, the market is leaning toward altcoin season but has not yet entered the official altcoin season threshold, typically set at 75. However, with Bitcoin’s market dominance standing at 60.39%, up 0.04% over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin still has the upper hand.

Source: Trading View

Final Summary

The bullish-to-bearish comment of Ethereum was at 2.05, meaning two bullish comments for every bearish ones.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin was sitting at a ratio of 0.82, and XRP was sitting at a ratio of 0.92. 

4 hours ago

According to Coinglass data, the global crypto market saw $486 million in liquidations over the past hour, including $465 million from long positions and $20.7 million from short positions. Liquidations related to Ethereum trading hit $201 million, while Bitcoin trading liquidations totaled $117 million.

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DOW JONES: Ethereum Drops 1.8% to $2,372.69

Crypto Liquidations Near $1 Billion as Longs Take the Majority of Losses

3 hours ago

Vitalik Buterin posted on social media to congratulate the Airbender team, stating that the speed race has come to a complete end, and the top priority for zkEVMs should fully shift to security. He noted that this requires formal verification of the following: the equivalence between arithmeticization and Ethereum specifications, a hard upper limit on the ratio of proof cost to block gas limit, and proof of the system’s own security.

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2 hours ago

Arthur Hayes posted on social media that if AI trading eventually crashes, it could trigger a trillion-dollar-scale market bailout, a scenario that would drive up Bitcoin and Ethereum’s prices. “Will AI eventually crash? I don’t know, and I won’t bet on either side. Instead, just trade for that upcoming trillion-dollar-scale market bailout: go long on BTC and ETH.”

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Trader Loracle turns multiple US stock short positions from losses to profits, logging around $3.76 million in daily gains.

According to TradingBeats, after the release of the U.S. September CPI data, the Loracle address (starting with 0xefe4) posted a single-day profit and loss (PnL) of approximately $4.72 million, an increase of about $3.76 million compared to the nearest snapshot taken before the CPI announcement. Meanwhile, all six U.S. stock contract short positions held by this address—SNDK, NVDA, ORCL, CRWV, MU, and PLTR—are in profit, with a total position value of roughly $48.28 million and an unrealized gain of around $4.55 million. In September, the total unrealized loss on the three U.S. stock short positions (SNDK, MU, and NVDA) held by the address stood at approximately $7.23 million. Currently, both the SNDK and NVDA short positions have turned to unrealized profit, while the loss on the MU short position has narrowed significantly. The address currently holds the following U.S. stock perpetual contract short positions:
- SNDK: ~15,800 shares, position value ~$21.28 million
- NVDA: ~88,500 shares, position value ~$19.41 million
- MU: ~10,400 shares, position value ~$9.13 million
- ORCL: ~41,900 shares, position value ~$5.39 million
- PLTR: ~23,000 shares, position value ~$4.56 million
- CRWV: ~34,300 shares, position value ~$2.19 million

2 minutes ago

A crypto whale opened a 25x leveraged long position on Ethereum (ETH) worth $7.05 million.

According to TradingBeats monitoring, a whale address starting with 0x007d opened a 3,000 ETH long position 4 hours ago, using 25x full leverage. Its average entry price is approximately $2,400, with the current position value at around $7.05 million, an unrealized loss of about $150,000, and a position return of roughly -53%. ETH on Hyperliquid is currently trading at approximately $2,349, down roughly 2.1% from the address's average entry price.

2 minutes ago

Policy uncertainty under the Trump administration has driven central banks to reallocate gold reserves, as gold holdings in London vaults approach 10,000 tons.

The Financial Times reported that U.S. policy uncertainty, tariff risks, and the precedent of frozen overseas sovereign assets are prompting some central banks to re-evaluate the locations of their gold reserves, with London emerging as one of the beneficiaries. New York still dominates gold futures and derivatives trading, but London’s advantages in physical gold storage, over-the-counter (OTC) trading, and central bank reserve management have become more prominent. The Netherlands’ central bank moved around 86 tons of gold from the U.S. and Canada to London between March and August this year, lifting London’s share in its total gold reserves of 612.4 tons from 18.1% to 32.1%. The Dutch central bank said the move aims to improve the tradability and accessibility of its gold in the event of severe crises. Data from the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) shows that as of the end of September 2026, commercial vaults in London and the Bank of England’s vaults held a total of 9,821 tons of gold, up 1.96% month-on-month, worth about $1.3 trillion. London’s mature OTC system allows gold lending, swaps, and trading without physically moving bullion, boosting the liquidity of physical gold. The freezing of Russia’s overseas sovereign assets after the Russia-Ukraine conflict has also made countries pay more attention to the jurisdiction of reserve assets and their availability in extreme cases. However, there are currently no signs that central banks are fully withdrawing from the U.S. gold custody system. Asian financial hubs such as Singapore and Hong Kong are also accelerating the construction of gold storage and trading infrastructure, and the global gold market is taking shape with New York leading derivatives, London focusing on physical gold, and Asia accelerating its development.

2 minutes ago

StandX Co-founder: In addition to airdrops, he will use personal funds to give back to the community.

StandX co-founder AG announced in a post that the protocol has decided to scrap its planned Token Generation Event (TGE). He noted that despite hitting a peak Total Value Locked (TVL) of $200 million without external VC funding, the team ultimately failed to achieve its goal of becoming one of the top three perpetual contract decentralized exchanges (DEXs).
AG added that while the project’s current fundamentals would still support a token launch, relying primarily on short-term speculation to drive the token’s listing without delivering sustainable long-term value would ultimately shift costs to users and the community—something he called both irresponsible and against his personal values.
Most of the protocol’s prior revenue has already been returned to users via SIP-2 and SIP-3 subsidies; for this airdrop, in addition to using remaining project treasury funds, he will also contribute personally to give back to the community as much as possible. AG also emphasized that all user funds are safe, and DUSD is fully collateralized. StandX will wind down operations in an orderly manner and will release specific arrangements for fund withdrawals, the airdrop, and service termination.

2 minutes ago

Japanese and South Korean stock markets both slumped and closed lower, as South Korea's financial regulatory authorities convened an emergency meeting.

According to Bitget market data, the Nikkei 225 index closed 3,318.34 points lower on Thursday, October 15, down 4.90% to 64,425.95 points. South Korea’s KOSPI index fell 454.54 points on the same day, a 7.56% drop, ending at 5,554.27 points. The benchmark index once plunged more than 9% intraday, triggering a circuit breaker for the 10th time this year. South Korea’s financial regulators convened an emergency meeting on the stock market in the afternoon, after which the market’s decline narrowed. SK Hynix closed down 11.06%, while Samsung Electronics fell 9.48%.

2 minutes ago

South Korean regulators will take firm action against market-disrupting activities.

South Korea’s regulatory authority has stated it will take stern measures to respond to market-disrupting acts, and will stand ready to activate emergency plans if necessary.

2 minutes ago

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

Summary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

REUTERS: KR1 Launches 10 Ethereum Validators, Plans To Scale Beyond 100

Leading cryptocurrencies sank alongside stocks on Wednesday as higher-than-expected consumer inflation raised rate hike odds.

Cryptocurrency24-Hour Gains +/-Price (Recorded at 9:28 p.m. EDT)Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC)-1.90%$81,549.33
Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH)
               -3.30%$2,412.39XRP (CRYPTO: XRP)                         -2.90%$1.32Solana (CRYPTO: SOL)                         -2.40%$104.14Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE)             -3.30%$0.08143Crypto Market PressuredBitcoin dropped sharply from $83,000 into the low $81,000s, while Ethereum fell below $2,400.

Cryptocurrency-linked stocks also plummeted, with Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR) and Bitmine Immersion Technologies Inc. (NYSE:BMNR) closing down 5.87% and 5.28%, respectively. 

The cryptocurrency market saw over $450 million in liquidations in the last 24 hours, almost $400 million of those being bullish long bets, according to Coinglass data.

Bitcoin’s open interest spiked 1.41% over the last 24 hours. An increase in open interest, accompanied by a drop in the asset’s price, typically indicates that short sellers are actively entering the market and selling contracts.

Top Gainers (24 Hours) 

CryptocurrencyGains +/-Price (Recorded at 9:28 p.m. EDT)Pyth Network (PYTH)      +6.0%    $0.08422Bitway (BTW)                   +3.50%    $2.34Figure Heloc (FIGR_HELOC)              +1.30%    $1.04The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $2.84 trillion, contracting by 2.20% in the last 24 hours.

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Stocks Drop After Hot Inflation ReportStocks extended the decline on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 48.62 points, or 0.09%, to close at 51,621.48. The S&P 500 slipped 1.11% to end at 7,718.94, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.88% to close at 26,692.87.

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Consumer Price Index rose from 3.4% to 3.7% year-over-year in September, above the 3.6% economists expected. Core CPI also came in above expectations at 2.6%.

Investors still assign a 75% probability that rates will remain unchanged in October, while the odds of a quarter-point cut in December stand at 66%, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

Bullish Mood IntactOn-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant reported that the majority of analysts are now bullish on Bitcoin, citing its Analyst Consensus Index.

“84% of 164 analysts are now bullish, up from 37% in July. That’s more than at the same stage of the 2023 bull market, after half the price gain,” the firm added.

Daan Crypto Trades, a widely followed trader and chartist, notes Bitcoin has been range-bound around a major horizontal support and resistance near $82,000 for roughly 50 days, with choppy intraday action

“This was a very choppy time period last quarter in July as well,” the analyst added. “We’ll see a decisive break and move again soon enough.”

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