Cardano, one of the world’s leading blockchain networks, registered a notable increase in on-chain activity, coinciding with the launch of a new token standard and the tokenization of an actual company’s equity assets.
Jump in on-chain activity with CIP-0113 debutBlockchain analytics firm Santiment observed that daily active Cardano (ADA) addresses climbed sharply in early October, reaching approximately 27,500 on October 7 and 27,200 on October 8. These figures represent nearly a 70% jump compared to Cardano’s average daily active addresses during a typical September weekday.
The surge aligned directly with the mainnet rollout of CIP-0113, a new programmable token standard designed to enhance the usability and flexibility of digital assets on the Cardano blockchain. Despite this milestone, Cardano’s ADA saw its price fall around 13% between the close on October 6 and the end of October 8.
Cardano’s recent network activity spike was not mirrored by Bitcoin or Ethereum, whose daily active addresses remained unchanged or dropped during this period. The sustainability of Cardano’s growth, however, remains a point of discussion in the crypto community.
DateActive ADA AddressesADA Price ChangeBTC/ETH AddressesOct 727,500–No changeOct 827,200-13% (Oct 6 close to Oct 8)Flat or lowerCardano is a proof-of-stake blockchain platform built to enable complex programmable value transfers, known for its gradual and research-driven development approach.
Mini dictionary: CIP-0113 is a Cardano Improvement Proposal introducing a new token standard aimed at supporting advanced digital asset functionalities and programmable features on the Cardano network.
Veridian becomes first equity asset on CIP-0113In tandem with the address spike, the Cardano Foundation facilitated the spin-off of its digital identity initiative, Veridian, as an independent entity in Switzerland. Most noteworthy, Veridian’s 1 million shares were tokenized directly on the Cardano blockchain using the new CIP-0113 standard, marking the first live equity asset to adopt this upgrade.
This move goes beyond theoretical tests and demonstrates tangible adoption of Cardano’s improved on-chain capabilities.
Mini dictionary: Veridian is a digital identity project originally developed by the Cardano Foundation; it now operates independently and claims to have tokenized its equity on Cardano.
Bullish call targets $20 ADA priceAmid the technical developments, a prominent analyst on X, UniverseTwenty, expressed optimism about ADA’s future. UniverseTwenty projected a bullish scenario, suggesting ADA could surpass $20 per token by early 2027, with further gains possible if momentum persists past significant Fibonacci levels.
Achieving this target would demand not only a major rally in ADA’s price but also a fundamental transformation in Cardano’s market capitalization and narrative.
UniverseTwenty argued that, with the combination of surging activity, the new token standard, and live tokenized equity, conditions are aligning for a potential parabolic phase in Cardano’s market trajectory.
While these bullish targets capture attention, analysts and the Cardano community remain divided about whether the recent uptick signals the start of a sustainable period of growth or simply reflects a temporary reaction to product launches.
Cardano price has fallen below $0.24 after reversing its early October rally, with weakening daily momentum and an analyst’s ascending-channel warning putting $0.21 back in focus.
Summary
Cardano price traded near $0.236, down about 9.2% from its weekly opening price. Daily RSI fell to 48.06, while price slipped below the $0.2483 Bollinger midpoint. Ali Martinez identified $0.21 as a possible downside level following an ascending-channel rejection. Weekly Supertrend resistance stood at $0.2762, above ADA’s attempted recovery. TradingView’s Binance ADA/USDT data showed Cardano trading at $0.2359 on Oct. 9, recovering modestly after a sharp sell-off. The daily session ranged between $0.2313 and $0.2415, with ADA up 1.59% from its opening price.
The rebound followed a much larger retreat from the weekly high. TradingView’s weekly chart recorded a high of $0.2824 and a low of $0.2238, leaving ADA near $0.2358 and down 9.2% against its weekly opening price.
Measured from the weekly high, Cardano had lost approximately 16.5%. Its bounce from the weekly low amounted to about 5.4%, leaving the recovery well short of the preceding decline.
Cardano’s channel rejection puts $0.21 in focus Analyst Ali Martinez identified a rejection at the upper boundary of an ascending channel on Cardano’s daily chart in an Oct. 8 post. His analysis placed the channel’s lower boundary near $0.21 and made a move toward that level conditional on the rejection holding.
The channel illustration marked intermediate levels near $0.23 and $0.256, with the upper region around $0.29. ADA’s subsequent move below $0.24 left it closer to the lower marked levels than to the area where the analyst identified the rejection.
A decline from $0.2359 to $0.21 would amount to roughly 11%. Before reaching that level, ADA would encounter the recent weekly low at $0.2238, an observable reference from the latest sell-off.
Jesse Olson also pointed to weakening daily momentum in an Oct. 9 post. He said Cardano had shown bearish divergence several days earlier and that a sell signal, together with a candle close below his trend dots, had preceded two targets being reached.
Olson identified a lower yellow zone as a possible retest area. His warning and Martinez’s channel analysis both described downside setups, although they used different chart tools and conditions.
A recovery above $0.24 would reverse the immediate loss of that price level. TradingView’s daily readings place another reference higher, near $0.2483, before ADA reaches the $0.256 region marked in Martinez’s chart.
Daily RSI slips below 50 as ADA loses its midpoint TradingView’s daily chart showed Cardano’s relative strength index at 48.06, below the neutral 50 level. The RSI also sat beneath its displayed moving average of 59.88 after falling sharply from its early October readings.
Cardano price daily chart — Oct. 9 | Source: TradingView The daily Bollinger Bands placed the 20-day simple moving average at $0.2483, the upper band at $0.2700 and the lower band at $0.2276. ADA traded below the midpoint and approximately 3.6% above the lower band.
The midpoint stood around 5.3% above the latest price. A move back to that average would recover part of the recent decline, while the upper band remained approximately 14.5% higher.
On the downside, the lower Bollinger Band and the weekly low formed two nearby references at $0.2276 and $0.2238. Martinez’s $0.21 scenario lies below both.
The daily chart also showed that the latest retreat followed a recovery from the June lows, when ADA traded around $0.14–$0.15. Despite the October reversal, the price remained above that earlier trough.
Weekly resistance remains near $0.276 TradingView’s weekly Supertrend remained red at $0.2762, above Cardano’s latest price. The weekly high of $0.2824 briefly exceeded that level before ADA retreated beneath it.
Cardano price weekly chart — Oct. 9 | Source: TradingView At $0.2358, Cardano would need to rise roughly 17% to reach the Supertrend line. The daily upper Bollinger Band at $0.2700 sits slightly below that weekly reference.
The weekly Awesome Oscillator showed a positive reading of 0.0120, giving a different momentum reading from the daily RSI below 50. The positive oscillator coincided with price remaining beneath the weekly Supertrend.
The longer-term chart showed ADA’s recovery from its midyear low, but the latest weekly decline interrupted that advance. The $0.2700–$0.2824 area now contains the daily upper band, weekly Supertrend and recent weekly high.
Liquidation bands sit above and below ADA’s rebound CoinGlass’s one-month liquidation heatmap showed visible concentrations around $0.23–$0.24, with further bands below near $0.215–$0.22. Above the latest price, brighter concentrations appeared around $0.257–$0.26 and $0.28.
Cardano liquidation heatmap | Source: CoinGlass The heatmap traced ADA’s early October rise toward $0.28, followed by its sharp fall toward $0.224 and a partial recovery near $0.24. Its lower concentrations overlap the price region between the recent weekly low and Martinez’s $0.21 channel target.
For US investors using exchange-traded exposure, Volatility Shares’ Cardano ETF provides ADA-linked exposure through instruments rather than directly holding ADA, according to the issuer. Its product disclosures identify price volatility and rebalancing among the fund’s risks.
Cardano’s immediate recovery references remain $0.24 and the $0.2483 daily midpoint. Below the market, $0.2276 and $0.2238 precede the conditional $0.21 downside level identified by Martinez.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
@Cardano has officially crossed the 125 million cumulative transaction mark on its mainnet, with network data showing close to 1 million transactions registered within the current epoch alone. The milestone reflects a sustained uptick in on-chain activity that has been building across several months.
Momentum Building Across the Network The 125 million figure is the latest in a series of transaction records for the network. As recently as late September 2026, That trajectory has continued upward, supported by a broader surge in activity.
The activity is spread across multiple use cases. Network statistics confirm contributions from DEX liquidity pools, native asset transfers, and smart contract execution. while
What Drives Activity on Cardano's eUTXO Model Cardano's architecture sits at the centre of its usage patterns.
That architectural approach has drawn growing interest from developers. as part of its broader infrastructure, underscoring the scale of participation across the ecosystem.
The 125 million transaction milestone adds another data point to a network that has maintained uninterrupted operation since launch, with activity now clearly accelerating heading into the final quarter of 2026.
Sources:
The Crypto Basic: Cardano DEX Volume Jumps 112% as On-Chain Activity Grows
The Coin Republic: Cardano Foundation Marks 9 Years with 123 Million Transactions
CryptoNews: Cardano Transaction Activity Surges as Daily Transactions Hit 7-Day High
Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) slid with the rest of the digital asset market this week as risk appetite cooled across major tokens. The decline was not confined to ether. Solana (SOL), Binance Coin (BNB), and Cardano (ADA) all gave back ground in a broad correction that hit larger altcoins harder than bitcoin, a familiar pattern when leveraged positions are forced out and traders rotate toward the most liquid names.
Market summaries from October 8 and 9 described a session in which bitcoin itself was under pressure, with several trackers placing it well below recent highs of around $87,000, while ether posted a steeper daily loss and traded near or under widely watched support of $2,500.
Solana and Cardano were among the names that lost technical footing after failed attempts to hold recent ranges, and BNB moved lower with the rest of the large-cap complex.
Total crypto capitalization shed a sizable amount in a short window, and derivatives desks reported heavy liquidations skewed toward long positions. Spot products tied to ether also saw outflows, adding to the selling rather than cushioning it.
The move sits inside a wider financial backdrop shaped by the unresolved conflict involving Iran.
Reports on October 8 that Washington had asked the Pentagon to prepare strike options that could be used before the November midterms pushed oil higher and weighed on equities.
Brent crude briefly traded above $105 a barrel before settling near $104, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished the day lower.
Bond yields have already been elevated for months as markets price the inflationary risk of disrupted Gulf supply, particularly through the Strait of Hormuz.
Stocks have not collapsed—the AI-heavy indexes have often limited the damage—but the latest headlines showed how quickly energy shocks still transmit into equities, rates, and sentiment.
That combination leaves global investors without a clean script for the months ahead.
The conflict has already run long enough to reshape energy prices and regional markets, and fresh talk of escalation suggests a workable settlement is not close.
Heading into 2027, global traders are now weighing whether higher oil and tighter financial conditions will eventually slow growth, or whether markets will continue to look through the war so long as corporate profits hold up.
Crypto, which has traded as a high-beta risk asset through much of the episode, is exposed to both the liquidity impulse from rates and the broader mood in equities.
Running in the opposite direction is the scale of artificial-intelligence spending.
The 2026 State of AI Report, published October 8 by Air Street Capital, put the combined annualized revenue run rates of OpenAI and Anthropic at about $105 billion by late summer, up from roughly $30 billion at the start of the year.
Nvidia remains the central supplier of the chips and systems that fund that build-out, and hyperscaler capital expenditure plans for the year run into the hundreds of billions of dollars.
Cheaper inference has widened adoption even as total spending has surged, giving the digital economy a growth engine that has helped offset geopolitical drag in equity indexes.
The near-term picture is therefore split.
Digital assets are digesting a correction led by ether and the major altcoins, traditional markets are still pricing an Iran conflict with no clear exit, and AI infrastructure continues to absorb capital at a pace that few other sectors match. How those forces net out into 2027 is the question portfolios are being built around.
Remittix defines the final RTX pricing stage before its November debut as XRP and Cardano keep payments and real-world financial utility at the center of the crypto market.
MAJURO, Marshall Islands, Oct. 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Remittix has set $0.46 as the final RTX presale price and planned minimum exchange launch price ahead of its scheduled November 24, 2026 market debut.
RTX remains available at $0.23. The progression to $0.46 establishes a visible path as Remittix approaches its $36 million hard cap and tests PayFi with 1,000 invited holders.
The update arrives as an ambitious XRP price prediction targets $12 and Cardano’s RealFi expansion revives discussion of a return to $1 for ADA. These established assets demonstrate the size of the global payments and onchain-finance opportunity, while Remittix gives buyers earlier exposure through a platform preparing for its first exchange launch.
Remittix Establishes Its Final Presale Price
The $0.46 figure is the announced final presale tier and planned minimum exchange launch price, not the current RTX price. The token remains available at $0.23 while the present allocation lasts, creating a defined transition before the November 24 debut.
Remittix has raised more than $32 million from over 40,000 participants. With the hard cap set at $36 million, the project has entered the final portion of its funding cycle while product testing and launch preparation move forward simultaneously.
For buyers, that creates a clear proposition: a current entry, stated final tier, confirmed trading date and an ecosystem demonstrating user activity.
PayFi Gives RTX a Direct Real-World Role
The Remittix PayFi platform is designed to let users fund eligible payments with digital assets while recipients receive conventional currency through compatible banking routes. The model targets remittances, international invoices, contractor payments, supplier settlement and crypto portfolio withdrawals.
One thousand invited holders can now test EUR and USD routes, with crypto-to-fiat and fiat-to-crypto functionality available. Supported stablecoin options include USDT and USDC across Ethereum, Celo, Base and Polygon, with further currencies, assets and networks planned.
The broader ecosystem adds further utility. The iOS wallet has surpassed 10,000 downloads, Remittix Markets has processed more than $50 million in volume, and Remittix Earn is approaching release with advertised yields of up to 22% APY on eligible holdings.
XRP Price Prediction Targets $12 as Cardano Eyes $1
XRP recently traded near $1.40. A move to $12 would require an increase of more than eightfold, representing an aggressive payments-led bull case built around institutional adoption, ETF demand, stablecoin growth and greater XRP Ledger activity.
Cardano has added a tangible real-world-asset catalyst. RealFi is live on Cardano mainnet, bringing its USDrf and sUSDrf model to the network. ADA initially advanced toward $0.27 following the launch, while the combination of real-world assets and onchain yield has revived the long-term $1 Cardano price prediction.
XRP focuses on institutional payment infrastructure, and Cardano is broadening its decentralized-finance economy. Remittix targets the user-facing bridge that can turn supported crypto into fiat delivered through familiar banking channels.
The $0.46 Stage Sharpens the RTX Launch Case
The path from the current $0.23 stage to the announced $0.46 final tier places a measurable milestone before public trading. At the same time, PayFi testing, wallet adoption, Markets activity and the upcoming Earn product provide several potential drivers of ecosystem demand.
November 24 represents the point at which a connected payment, trading and earning platform enters open-market price discovery, giving RTX a powerful utility-led launch narrative.
About Remittix
Remittix is developing a connected PayFi ecosystem for crypto-to-bank and bank-to-crypto transactions. Its products include payment settlement, a mobile wallet, Remittix Markets and the forthcoming Remittix Earn service.
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Ethereum rose 71% in Q3, with its profit supply ratio still not entering the warning zone.
Coinbase Institutional issued a report noting that ETH rallied 71% in the third quarter, yet on-chain metrics show no clear signs of overheating in its price action. Data indicates the share of ETH supply in profit has exited the accumulation range, but remains well below the warning threshold, signaling the current market has not reached the overextended levels flagged by historical metrics.
5 hours ago
Hacker who stole funds from Ledger transferred $1.07 million worth of ETH to Tornado Cash, with some of the funds flowing into Binance’s hot wallet.
According to Onchain Lens monitoring, the suspected hackers linked to the recent crypto heist involving Ledger reseller CryptoBillis — with the stolen amount reportedly nearly $90 million — have transferred 430.2 ETH, valued at around $1.07 million, to Tornado Cash via four wallets. After Tether froze some of the related funds, the suspects reportedly began converting USDT to USDD via SUN.io and USDD’s Peg Stability Module (PSM), while another portion of the funds flowed into Binance’s hot wallet. The suspected wallets flagged by Onchain Lens currently hold approximately $70.6 million in assets, including 11,406 ETH (worth ~$28.35 million), 213.371 BTC (~$17.65 million), 13.646 million USDD (~$13.65 million), and 10.909 million USDT (~$10.91 million). As on-chain funds continue to move, the above tracking data and suspect associations remain to be further verified.
5 hours ago
Former Mt.Gox CEO claims to have discovered Ledger hardware wallets implanted with spy modules, which can send mnemonic phrase information via LTE.
Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès revealed in a post that a Ledger hardware wallet he received is suspected to have an implanted spy module. The device originated from Malaysia; its outer packaging’s heat-shrink film was intact, and anomalies were not immediately noticeable upon opening. The implant was hidden in the position of the screen’s original buffer pad. Karpelès further detailed that the module contains LTE communication components, an antenna, eSIM, and a microcontroller connected to Ledger’s SPI bus. It can analyze characters displayed on the device to users and exfiltrate relevant data after the mnemonic phrase is configured. Attackers may subsequently monitor the victim’s wallet address and transfer assets at an opportune moment. He urged users to inspect their devices in accordance with Ledger’s official guidance.
5 hours ago
MAGIC rose over 60% in 24 hours, pushing its market capitalization to $33 million.
According to HTX market data, MAGIC has surged over 60% in the past 24 hours, currently trading at $0.0992, with its market cap rising to $33 million.
5 hours ago
某用户6月抄底80枚BTC浮盈138万美元,一周前存入Ledger现已全部被盗
According to Lookonchain’s monitoring, a user purchased 80 BTC for approximately $65,000 around four months ago, with a total investment of about $5.2 million. The user once recorded an unrealized profit of roughly $1.38 million. However, the user bought a Ledger hardware wallet from third-party dealer CryptoBillis a week ago and transferred all 80 BTC into it, only to have the entire funds stolen now. This incident is linked to recent fund thefts involving multiple CryptoBillis clients, though whether the devices were tampered with, the specific attack method, and the attacker’s identity remain unconfirmed.
5 hours ago
Investor Loses 80 $BTC ($5.2M) After Buying Compromised Ledger From Reseller
Poor guy! 4 months ago, he bought 80 $BTC ($5.2M) at a low price of ~$65,000 and was sitting on a $1.38M profit. But a week ago, he bought a Ledger device from reseller CryptoBillis and deposited all 80 $BTC into it. Now he's lost everything.
Nearly $90 million in losses have been tracked in connection with the Ledger security incident, while Tether has frozen USDT held at addresses linked to the case, according to blockchain tracker MistTrack.
We’re seeing @tether freeze a significant number of $USDT across addresses linked to this incident.
Based on our current tracking, the reported losses are approaching $90 million. Some affected users have contacted us for assistance, and our team is actively following up on… https://t.co/KDffyMx1fv pic.twitter.com/IvOwCu655C
— MistTrack🕵️ (@MistTrack_io) October 9, 2026
The incident surfaced this morning after on-chain analyst Specter said wallet-draining attacks reported by Ledger users on X and Reddit may have resulted in more than $86 million in losses.
Specter said they traced the addresses receiving the stolen funds and identified inflows from hundreds of victim wallets across several major blockchains, including Ethereum, TRON and Bitcoin.
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Ledger said it is investigating the case, which reportedly affected customers in Southeast Asia who purchased its hardware wallets through reseller “CryptoBilis.” The company has also asked “CryptoBilis” to suspend all sales and shipments of Ledger devices while the investigation is underway.
MistTrack said some affected users had contacted its team for assistance and that it was actively following up on their cases.
Concerns over possible Ledger hardware tampering Mark Karpelès, the former CEO of Mt. Gox, said the Ledger security incident appeared potentially connected to an issue he was investigating.
Days before the case came to light, he warned users about buying Ledger hardware wallets from suspicious sellers and alleged that tampered devices could contain a surveillance implant with a SIM card.
In a follow-up statement, Karpelès urged affected users to contact him or send photographs of their Ledger circuit boards for inspection. The potential connection remains unconfirmed.
This looks like this could be exactly what I'm investigating. Anyone affected, please contact me or open your ledger and send me pictures so we can confirm if there's a bug in there (pictures: ledger board on top, spy implant below).https://t.co/mg2VRHLRHE pic.twitter.com/0HN3fr7Baq
— Mark Karpelès (@MagicalTux) October 9, 2026
Binance founder Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao said that reported Ledger-related fund losses may be linked to a supply chain attack involving a single vendor, warning users who had recently purchased the hardware wallets to exercise caution. He suggested some customers may have bought counterfeit or compromised devices.
⚠️ Beware if you use a Ledger hardware wallet, especially if you bought one recently.
Based on information so far, it seems to be localized to a supply chain attack with one vendor. A small number of people probably bought fake (or tampered) Ledgers.
Ledger is one of the most… https://t.co/zW8wkvdZNf
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) October 9, 2026
Zhao also called on the BNB ecosystem and the wider crypto industry to help trace the stolen assets and recover the funds.
Disclosure: This article was edited by John Chen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
TLDR: Hinkal joins Mastercard’s Crypto Partner Program to advance privacy-focused digital asset payment applications. Zero-knowledge proofs help verify transfers without publicly exposing transaction amounts, senders or recipients. Existing integrations include Polygon Wallet, Tether’s Wallet Development Kit, Turnkey and Avvio. Screening and viewing keys aim to balance transaction confidentiality with regulatory and audit requirements. Hinkal has joined Mastercard’s Crypto Partner Program, bringing blockchain privacy infrastructure into a global payments initiative focused on digital assets. The partnership connects Hinkal with Mastercard’s ecosystem as stablecoins expand into payments, settlements, and commercial transactions.
Hinkal provides infrastructure that allows platforms to process private stablecoin transfers without exposing transaction amounts or counterparty relationships publicly. Its technology uses zero-knowledge proofs to verify transfers while keeping sensitive transaction details confidential.
The integration could help businesses explore onchain payments without making their financial activity visible to everyone on public blockchains.
Hinkal Brings Privacy to Mastercard’s Crypto Partner Program Mastercard’s Crypto Partner Program connects blockchain companies with its payments teams and a broader network of industry participants. Members include stablecoin issuers, blockchain infrastructure providers, crypto card enablers and companies supporting digital asset transactions.
According to an announcement, the initiative supports practical digital asset applications through partner collaboration, industry connections and go-to-market opportunities. Selected members can also access financial institutions across Mastercard’s issuing and acquiring network, alongside regulatory and compliance support.
For Hinkal, joining the program creates an opportunity to bring confidential transaction infrastructure into payment products. Rather than requiring companies to build privacy systems independently, Hinkal allows wallets and platforms to integrate its technology through software development kits (SDKs) and APIs.
The infrastructure supports private settlements and payouts across fintech platforms, payment providers and wallets. Hinkal operates across Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, TRON and other major EVM-compatible networks.
Existing integrations demonstrate how the technology can fit into products already serving users.
Polygon Wallet offers Private Send powered by Hinkal, while Tether’s Wallet Development Kit includes its private-send functionality. Turnkey wallets can also integrate privacy through Hinkal’s SDK, and Avvio operates private payments through its interface.
These integrations allow partner platforms to maintain their products while adding transaction confidentiality as a feature.
Hinkal has joined the @Mastercard Crypto Partner Program, bringing privacy infrastructure to its global payments ecosystem.
The program connects blockchain innovators with the broader payments industry to advance practical applications of digital assets.
As stablecoins expand… pic.twitter.com/C2YIca4kL9
— hinkal (@hinkal_protocol) October 9, 2026
Why Does Stablecoin Payment Privacy Matter? Stablecoins can transfer value around the clock, but public blockchain transactions can expose financial relationships and payment amounts. That transparency may create challenges for businesses handling payroll, supplier payments, treasury movements and other commercially sensitive transactions.
Hinkal addresses this issue through zero-knowledge proofs, which allow a network to verify transfers without publicly revealing their underlying details. Its system keeps transaction amounts, senders and recipients confidential from public observers.
However, privacy does not mean eliminating compliance oversight. Hinkal says funds undergo screening before entering its system, while viewing keys allow users and businesses to share transaction histories with authorized auditors or regulators.
This approach aims to balance confidentiality with the oversight required for regulated financial activity. It could prove useful as payment providers explore stablecoins for cross-border transfers, business transactions and settlement flows.
Mastercard’s program provides a framework for connecting these technical capabilities with established payment infrastructure. However, Hinkal’s membership does not itself confirm a direct Mastercard product integration or a commercial launch.
In brief Sen. Richard Blumenthal sent Cantor Fitzgerald a 13-item request for records on its Tether business arrangement, with responses due Oct. 23. The letter claims Cantor's 5% Tether stake rose from $600 million to an estimated $10 billion since Trump returned to office, but does not accuse Cantor of breaking a specific law. Blumenthal also asks for the terms of any Tether loan that helped Howard Lutnick transfer his Cantor stake to his children. Sen. Richard Blumenthal is asking Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald to hand over records on its business relationship with Tether, the issuer of USDT, the world’s largest stablecoin—the dollar-pegged digital asset that underpins the crypto economy.
He also wants to know how much money the family of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has made from the arrangement, according to a letter dated Thursday.
Myriad: Who wins the midterm elections? Click to make your prediction.“Disturbingly, Cantor Fitzgerald’s lucrative business arrangements with Tether come at the expense of America’s national security,” Sen. Blumenthal argued.
The letter went to Brandon Lutnick, Cantor’s chairman and Howard Lutnick’s son, from Blumenthal as the top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. It is a request for information with an Oct. 23 deadline rather than a subpoena, and it describes the minority’s probe as an investigation into “the illicit use of cryptocurrencies and the Trump Administration’s self-enrichment and self-dealings with cryptocurrency firms.”
The letter does not accuse Cantor of breaking a specific law, and nothing in it is a finding of wrongdoing. It asks how the firm checks that Tether follows U.S. sanctions and anti-money-laundering rules, and the claims about Tether and the Lutnick family are Blumenthal’s, built on press reports and his staff’s earlier work.
“Just as Tether has made untold millions in interest and investments from the stablecoins used in these illicit activities, so has Cantor Fitzgerald profited from its relationship with Tether,” Blumenthal wrote.
“Given the longstanding and deeply intertwined relationship between Tether and Cantor Fitzgerald, and its substantial relationships within the Trump Administration, I am writing to request information about your business partnership with Tether and to learn about your practices for detecting violations of American banking and sanctions laws,” the senator added.
Blumenthal wrote that Lutnick has made more than $250 million since President Donald Trump returned to office, including a $192 million distribution from Cantor. Over the same stretch, he said, Cantor’s 5% stake in Tether climbed from $600 million to an estimated $10 billion, on top of the tens of millions of dollars a year the firm collects from the assets it holds for Tether.
Cantor acts as Tether’s custodian, the firm that safeguards its reserves (the cash and other holdings meant to back every USDT in circulation). Blumenthal noted that although Tether claims to operate out of El Salvador, “the vast majority of its assets reside in the United States under your custodianship.”
Howard Lutnick ran Cantor until the Senate confirmed him as Commerce Secretary in February 2025, and the firm is now chaired by his son Brandon. The senator also requests the terms of any loan or legal strategy that would allow Lutnick to transfer asset ownership to his children.
That request tracks a reported loan from Tether to a trust for Lutnick’s four children, for an undisclosed amount, made around the time they bought out their father’s stake in Cantor. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden asked Lutnick and Tether about it in April.
When assets are transferred to a trust, the people under investigation don’t have the legal property over those assets.
The letter landed 10 days after the subcommittee’s Democratic staff released “Tethered to Terrorism,” a report finding that 84% of 846 crypto wallets (addresses that hold tokens) sanctioned or targeted for seizure over links to Iran and its proxies used USDT exclusively or nearly exclusively.
The headline number rests unevenly on two lists: 87% of the 757 wallets designated by Israel’s counter-terror finance bureau transacted mostly in USDT, against 57% of the 101 designated by OFAC, the Treasury office that enforces U.S. sanctions.
Tether, which can lock a wallet so the tokens inside cannot move, published a statement the same day citing roughly $550 million in Iran-linked freezes this year, including $344 million in April and more than $130 million in July. It did not address the report directly.
Blumenthal also wants Howard Lutnick’s own records on Tether from his time at Cantor, including “any discussion of Tether with the White House or state and federal regulators, lobbying on Tether’s behalf.”
Other requests cover Cantor’s know-your-customer policies (the checks a firm runs on who it does business with), whether it has ever weighed ending the relationship, and its communications with the President’s Council of Advisors on Digital Assets.
Cantor has until Oct. 23 to respond, and the letter asks the firm to preserve every document, record and communication tied to its Tether relationship in the meantime.
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In brief Sen. Richard Blumenthal sent Cantor Fitzgerald a 13-item request for records on its Tether business arrangement, with responses due Oct. 23. The letter claims Cantor's 5% Tether stake rose from $600 million to an estimated $10 billion since Trump returned to office, but does not accuse Cantor of breaking a specific law. Blumenthal also asks for the terms of any Tether loan that helped Howard Lutnick transfer his Cantor stake to his children. Sen. Richard Blumenthal is asking Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald to hand over records on its business relationship with Tether, the issuer of USDT, the world’s largest stablecoin—the dollar-pegged digital asset that underpins the crypto economy.
He also wants to know how much money the family of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has made from the arrangement, according to a letter dated Thursday.
Myriad: Who wins the midterm elections? Click to make your prediction.“Disturbingly, Cantor Fitzgerald’s lucrative business arrangements with Tether come at the expense of America’s national security,” Sen. Blumenthal argued.
The letter went to Brandon Lutnick, Cantor’s chairman and Howard Lutnick’s son, from Blumenthal as the top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. It is a request for information with an Oct. 23 deadline rather than a subpoena, and it describes the minority’s probe as an investigation into “the illicit use of cryptocurrencies and the Trump Administration’s self-enrichment and self-dealings with cryptocurrency firms.”
The letter does not accuse Cantor of breaking a specific law, and nothing in it is a finding of wrongdoing. It asks how the firm checks that Tether follows U.S. sanctions and anti-money-laundering rules, and the claims about Tether and the Lutnick family are Blumenthal’s, built on press reports and his staff’s earlier work.
“Just as Tether has made untold millions in interest and investments from the stablecoins used in these illicit activities, so has Cantor Fitzgerald profited from its relationship with Tether,” Blumenthal wrote.
“Given the longstanding and deeply intertwined relationship between Tether and Cantor Fitzgerald, and its substantial relationships within the Trump Administration, I am writing to request information about your business partnership with Tether and to learn about your practices for detecting violations of American banking and sanctions laws,” the senator added.
Blumenthal wrote that Lutnick has made more than $250 million since President Donald Trump returned to office, including a $192 million distribution from Cantor. Over the same stretch, he said, Cantor’s 5% stake in Tether climbed from $600 million to an estimated $10 billion, on top of the tens of millions of dollars a year the firm collects from the assets it holds for Tether.
Cantor acts as Tether’s custodian, the firm that safeguards its reserves (the cash and other holdings meant to back every USDT in circulation). Blumenthal noted that although Tether claims to operate out of El Salvador, “the vast majority of its assets reside in the United States under your custodianship.”
Howard Lutnick ran Cantor until the Senate confirmed him as Commerce Secretary in February 2025, and the firm is now chaired by his son Brandon. The senator also requests the terms of any loan or legal strategy that would allow Lutnick to transfer asset ownership to his children.
That request tracks a reported loan from Tether to a trust for Lutnick’s four children, for an undisclosed amount, made around the time they bought out their father’s stake in Cantor. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden asked Lutnick and Tether about it in April.
When assets are transferred to a trust, the people under investigation don’t have the legal property over those assets.
The letter landed 10 days after the subcommittee’s Democratic staff released “Tethered to Terrorism,” a report finding that 84% of 846 crypto wallets (addresses that hold tokens) sanctioned or targeted for seizure over links to Iran and its proxies used USDT exclusively or nearly exclusively.
The headline number rests unevenly on two lists: 87% of the 757 wallets designated by Israel’s counter-terror finance bureau transacted mostly in USDT, against 57% of the 101 designated by OFAC, the Treasury office that enforces U.S. sanctions.
Tether, which can lock a wallet so the tokens inside cannot move, published a statement the same day citing roughly $550 million in Iran-linked freezes this year, including $344 million in April and more than $130 million in July. It did not address the report directly.
Blumenthal also wants Howard Lutnick’s own records on Tether from his time at Cantor, including “any discussion of Tether with the White House or state and federal regulators, lobbying on Tether’s behalf.”
Other requests cover Cantor’s know-your-customer policies (the checks a firm runs on who it does business with), whether it has ever weighed ending the relationship, and its communications with the President’s Council of Advisors on Digital Assets.
Cantor has until Oct. 23 to respond, and the letter asks the firm to preserve every document, record and communication tied to its Tether relationship in the meantime.
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On October 8, 2026, Senator Richard Blumenthal, ranking member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, asked Cantor Fitzgerald chairman Brandon Lutnick to preserve documents and answer questions about the firm’s relationship with Tether by October 23, 2026. The five-page letter lists no release time or inquiry number. It says Cantor’s stake in Tether has risen from $600 million to an estimated $10 billion since President Trump’s return to office.
The request comes from the Subcommittee’s minority and describes an investigation. It is not an enforcement order, a finding against Cantor, or a change to the operation or redemption of $USDT. Its immediate effect is a document deadline for Cantor. The requested material could show how the company handles Tether’s reserves, compliance monitoring, ownership interests and contacts with federal officials.
What the Senate request covers Blumenthal says the minority is investigating illicit cryptocurrency use alongside what the letter calls the Trump Administration’s self-enrichment and dealings with crypto firms. The letter states that former Cantor chairman Howard Lutnick, now Commerce Secretary, made more than $250 million during the same period, including a $192 million distribution from Cantor. Those are allegations and estimates presented by the senator, not findings reached through this request.
The letter describes Cantor’s economics with Tether in two parts. It cites the firm’s 5% ownership stake, valued in the letter at $600 million before rising to an estimated $10 billion. It also says Cantor collects tens of millions of dollars each year from assets it holds for Tether. The senator asks Cantor to provide the annual revenue the partnership has produced and the annual amount the Lutnick family has received from it.
Custody is central to the inquiry. Blumenthal writes that Tether claims to operate from El Salvador while the vast majority of its assets are in the United States under Cantor’s custodianship. He requests records describing that custodial relationship, including financial audits and documentation concerning holdings on Tether’s behalf. He also asks when the partnership began and what circumstances brought the firms together.
The audit question is direct. Cantor must say whether it requires regular audits of Tether and its operations by a credible independent auditor to verify asset values. A separate request seeks descriptions of services Cantor provides, investment positions it holds in Tether or for Tether, and any decision-making or oversight role it has in the partnership.
Ownership and financing receive their own document request. The senator seeks records on Cantor’s ownership stake in Tether, the terms under which Howard Lutnick relinquished his Cantor stake, and any Tether loan or other provision that enabled him to transfer that interest to his children. The letter also requests communications about the Lutnick family’s Tether ownership interests and any potential fundraising.
Compliance and sanctions questions The letter ties these business questions to the Subcommittee minority’s September 28 report on Iranian shadow banking. Blumenthal says the report examined wallets targeted for associations with Iran and its proxies. He alleges that the analysis showed those actors had shifted toward Tether and that Tether had not frozen or destroyed funds in wallets receiving or providing millions of dollars, sometimes tens or hundreds of millions, to illicit actors.
Cantor is asked to describe how it regularly monitors and assesses Tether’s compliance with Office of Foreign Assets Control rules and anti-money-laundering requirements. The request also asks what conditions would make Cantor end a business relationship and whether it has conducted such a review of Tether. Another item seeks the steps Cantor has taken to investigate allegations involving illicit finance, Iran’s shadow banking network and Russian sanctions evasion.
The senator requests Cantor’s know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering policies for business partners. He also wants procedures for continuing due diligence on Tether and for de-risking partners in foreign jurisdictions. The letter defines the requested period as January 1, 2023, to the present unless an item says otherwise.
The inquiry extends to communications. Cantor is asked for records Howard Lutnick sent while employed by the firm concerning Tether compliance, custodial work, lobbying, fundraising and discussions with the White House or regulators. The senator separately requests communications about Howard Lutnick’s involvement with Tether after he left the chairmanship, as well as communications between Cantor and any member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Digital Assets.
Blumenthal also asks for all Cantor-Tether communications about compliance with banking and sanctions laws, the financial backing for Tether tokens, potential fundraising and the Lutnick family’s ownership interests. That request reaches beyond reserve custody. It covers what the firms said to each other about the controls surrounding the stablecoin and the financial interests around their partnership.
What changes for $USDT holders The letter does not direct Tether or Cantor to freeze assets, change reserve management, suspend issuance or alter redemptions. A holder or protocol using $USDT therefore has no new transaction step in the document. The practical change is on the diligence side: reserve counterparties, audit requirements, sanctions controls and ownership ties are now named subjects of a Senate information request.
For issuers, exchanges and DeFi protocols, the questions identify records that may matter when assessing a stablecoin counterparty. These include who holds reserve assets, what independent verification is required, how the custodian monitors sanctions exposure, and when the custodian would end the relationship. The letter itself supplies none of Cantor’s answers, so it does not resolve those points.
Congress is considering digital-asset regulation, and Blumenthal says the Cantor partnership could provide insight into the industry’s inner workings. The next dated milestone is October 23, 2026. The open question is whether Cantor will provide the requested custody, audit, ownership and compliance records by that deadline, and what those records will show about its controls around Tether.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed that the United States is preparing to seize $1 billion in cryptocurrency assets this week as part of ongoing efforts to enforce sanctions against Iran.
Crackdown targets Iran’s financial networksBessent shared this statement at the Newsmax NPolicy Summit on Thursday, confirming that the planned seizure forms part of a broader strategy to restrict Iran’s access to international financial resources. The move coincides with increased scrutiny following Iran’s latest military actions that began in February.
While Bessent did not specify whether the assets are tied to particular crypto exchanges or stem from action by stablecoin issuers, he emphasized the aim is to economically isolate Iran. He stated, “We know where it is, and we are isolating them,” during a discussion with journalist Greta Van Susteren.
“We know where it is, and we are isolating them.”
The strategy includes a focus on disrupting financial channels that support Iran’s regime, regardless of whether transactions occur in US dollars, Iranian rials, or digital assets.
Role of OFAC and previous seizuresThe Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has played a central role in targeting entities suspected of facilitating crypto transfers for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. OFAC, which administers and enforces US economic sanctions programs, announced new designations in August against crypto exchanges accused of assisting Iran with illicit finance.
Bessent said that Washington intends to raise pressure on Tehran by further disrupting networks moving funds to the Iranian government, reflecting a continued focus on cryptocurrency as a vector for sanctions evasion.
In an interview in April, the Treasury Secretary indicated that US authorities had previously confiscated $500 million in digital assets allegedly linked to Iran.
Mini dictionary: OFAC – The Office of Foreign Assets Control is a department within the US Treasury responsible for administering and enforcing economic and trade sanctions based on US foreign policy and national security goals.
Stablecoins also under scrutinyStablecoin issuer Tether took action in alignment with sanctions, freezing $550 million worth of USDt (USDT) linked to Iran in 2026. According to Tether, $344 million of these frozen assets were blocked in April alone as part of efforts led by US authorities.
US authorities have focused on disrupting the financial networks supporting the Iranian regime using traditional and digital currencies alike.
The crackdown on crypto related to Iran underscores Washington’s intention to tighten controls on digital assets suspected of facilitating sanctioned activities.
Wallet maker Ledger has begun an investigation into the alleged loss of funds from customers’ wallets. The investigation into the alleged Ledger exploit follows claims that users have suffered wallet drains totaling up to $86 million.
Ledger Exploit: Hardware Wallet Maker Begins Investigation In an X post, the wallet maker said it is investigating reports of users in Southeast Asia losing funds after purchasing their wallet from a reseller named CryptoBillis. “As a precaution, and pending the results of our investigation, we have asked CryptoBillis to pause all sales and shipments of Ledger devices,” it said.
Furthermore, Ledger recommended that users who purchased their product from the reseller in the last 90 days do not set up their wallet yet, if they haven’t already. Meanwhile, the wallet maker advised those who have set up their wallet to consider moving their funds to a new signer.
The alleged Ledger exploit comes amid increased concerns over crypto security. Notably, in August, crypto hardware wallet maker Trezor disclosed a data breach which affected nearly 14,000 customers.
Meanwhile, crypto exchange Bitget suffered a hack last month, allowing hackers to steal up to $351 million in XRP, ETH, and other crypto assets.
Users Allegedly Lose Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT In Wallet Breach Onchain investigator Specter drew attention to reports on X and Reddit of Ledger users suffering wallet drains. He also revealed an investigation showing the Ledger exploit spans several networks, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and TRON.
The investigator said that total losses exceed $86 million. Meanwhile, Arkham data also shows the hackers stole nearly $30 million in ETH from users of the top crypto wallet provider.
Furthermore, 211 BTC, worth around $17.55 million, have also been drained from users’ wallets. Users also lost USDD and USDT on the TRON network in the Ledger exploit. Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao also commented on the incident, noting that it appears to be isolated to a supply chain attack with one vendor. He added that the affected users likely bought fake or tampered Ledger devices.
⚠️ Beware if you use a Ledger hardware wallet, especially if you bought one recently.
Based on information so far, it seems to be localized to a supply chain attack with one vendor. A small number of people probably bought fake (or tampered) Ledgers.
Ledger is one of the most secure and oldest hardware wallets in the industry. Stood the test of time. But these things happen.
I expect and know all BNB ecosystem players (and all industry) to help trace and recover the funds.
Specter traced theft addresses across Ethereum, TRON and Bitcoin, while Ledger said it is investigating losses among users who bought from one Southeast Asia reseller.
Ledger users reportedly drained of over $86 million
Posted October 9, 2026 at 9:41 am ET.
Specter (@SpecterAnalyst) said on X on Oct. 9 that a trace of theft addresses shows losses of more than $86 million from reported wallet drains of Ledger users. Specter said the addresses took in funds from hundreds of victims’ wallets on multiple major chains, among them Ethereum, TRON and Bitcoin.
Specter cited user reports on X and Reddit of Ledger wallets being emptied, and said it traced the theft addresses. The post listed 10 addresses. Those addresses held only over $25 million as of last check, suggesting the majority of the funds have been moved.
A post from tanuki42 published at 12:00 UTC asked anyone drained to contact SEAL 911 as soon as possible. The post said, “Total loss is >$72M+ and increasing.” It listed eight addresses, all of which also appear in Specter’s list of 10. Specter’s list adds two more bitcoin addresses and was posted at 12:24 UTC.
The Security Alliance (SEAL) quote-posted tanuki42’s list at 12:29 UTC. It asked anyone whose funds were drained to those addresses to get in contact with the group as soon as possible through the SEAL 911 Telegram bot.
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Ledger Cites a Reseller Ledger (@Ledger_Support) said at 13:32 UTC that it is investigating reports of lost funds from users in South East Asia who bought products from a reseller named CryptoBillis. Pending the results, Ledger said it asked the reseller to pause all sales and shipments of Ledger devices.
Ledger recommended that users who bought from the reseller in the last 90 days not start setup if they have not done so. It said users who have already set up a device should “consider moving assets to a new Ledger signer (with new seed)” and that it will keep informing customers as the investigation progresses.
Ledger’s post does not mention the $86 million tally or the addresses in the other posts, and does not say how many users or how much money is involved.
This is still a developing story that will be updated…
Related Listen: Inside the Coldcard Hack That Drained Over $100 Million in Bitcoin: Uneasy Money
AI-assisted content: This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and was reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by a member of the Unchained editorial team before publication.
Ledger has asked a Southeast Asian reseller to halt sales of its hardware wallets while it investigates reports that buyers lost funds. The move came about an hour after on-chain investigators put suspected Ledger losses above $86 million.
Ledger has not confirmed that figure or said whether any devices were tampered with. Its warning covers only recent buyers from one reseller in Southeast Asia.
What Ledger Told Buyers of CryptoBilis DevicesA hardware wallet is a small device that keeps the secret keys to a person’s crypto offline. Ledger is one of the best-known makers.
On Friday, Ledger Support named the seller as CryptoBilis. The Malaysian shop, founded in 2020, sells crypto merchandise and Ledger devices. It also operates in Indonesia and the Philippines.
Ledger told anyone who bought from the shop in the past 90 days not to set the device up. Buyers who already had were told to move funds to a new device with a new seed phrase. A seed phrase is the 24-word backup that controls a wallet.
“As a precaution, and pending the results of our investigation, we have asked CryptoBilis to pause all sales and shipments of Ledger devices,” Ledger Support stated.
Where the $86 Million Claim Comes FromThe loss figure comes from Specter, an on-chain investigator who tracks public blockchain data. Specter said they traced funds from hundreds of victim wallets on Ethereum, TRON, and Bitcoin.
There have been a reports on X and Reddit of wallet-draining by Ledger users.
I traced the theft addresses and identified inflows from more hundreds of victim wallets across several major blockchains, including Ethereum, TRON, and Bitcoin.
Total losses $86M+… pic.twitter.com/c5dhQeAZ0l
— Specter (@SpecterAnalyst) October 9, 2026 Public records on mempool show three Bitcoin addresses Specter listed hold about 211 BTC combined. None of it had moved as of 13:44 UTC on Friday.
Ledger has not endorsed the $86 million total. It also has not explained how funds left users’ wallets.
A Second Hardware Wallet Scare Since AugustTampered devices sold outside official stores are a known risk. In April, a researcher found fake Ledger units on a Chinese marketplace that sent PINs and seed phrases to attackers.
Separately, in August, a Coldcard firmware bug drain cost Bitcoin holders about $70 million. Coldcard is a rival hardware wallet.
Ledger said it will share updates as the investigation progresses. Whether the CryptoBilis devices were altered before reaching buyers remains unanswered.
Ledger Suspends Reseller as Drain Reports Surface@Ledger has confirmed it is investigating reports that customers in Southeast Asia had funds drained from hardware wallets purchased through regional reseller CryptoBillis. As a precaution,
Over $86 Million in Estimated Losses Across Three Blockchains
However, Ledger has not confirmed any vulnerabilities in its devices or software.
though that figure remains unverified. Users who purchased a Ledger device from CryptoBillis are urged to follow Ledger's guidance immediately and monitor official channels for updates.
Sources:
BeInCrypto: Ledger Pauses Reseller Sales After $86 Million Drain Claims
TokenPost: Ledger Investigates Southeast Asia Theft Linked to CryptoBilis Devices
The Defiant: Ledger Asks CryptoBilis to Halt Sales Amid Reports of Lost Funds
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.
TLDR: More than $86 million in reported crypto losses are linked to suspected fake or tampered Ledger wallets. Ledger told reseller CryptoBilis to pause sales and shipments while the investigation continues. On-chain analyst Specter traced funds across Bitcoin, Ethereum, and TRON from hundreds of victim wallets. CZ described the incident as a suspected localized supply chain attack, not a confirmed Ledger-wide exploit. Ledger is investigating more than $86 million in reported cryptocurrency losses involving users in Southeast Asia who purchased hardware wallets from reseller CryptoBilis. The affected devices are suspected of being counterfeit or tampered with before reaching customers.
Ledger has instructed CryptoBilis to suspend sales and shipments while the investigation continues.
On-chain analyst Specter traced stolen funds across Ethereum, TRON, and Bitcoin, identifying inflows from hundreds of victim wallets. The findings point to a possible supply chain attack involving one reseller, rather than a vulnerability affecting Ledger hardware wallets across the board.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, also warned users who recently purchased Ledger devices.
How the Ledger Hardware Wallet Attack May Have Happened The reported incident raises concerns about how compromised hardware wallets can expose crypto holdings.
Hardware wallets typically keep private keys offline, reducing their exposure to internet-based attacks. However, that protection depends on users receiving genuine devices that have not been manipulated.
If counterfeit or tampered devices were distributed through a reseller, attackers could potentially compromise wallet security before customers began using them.
The provided information does not establish exactly how the suspected devices enabled the reported thefts. Ledger’s investigation will need to determine the compromise method and identify the affected products.
Specter’s on-chain analysis identified multiple theft addresses receiving funds from victims across three major blockchain networks.
There have been a reports on X and Reddit of wallet-draining by Ledger users.
I traced the theft addresses and identified inflows from more hundreds of victim wallets across several major blockchains, including Ethereum, TRON, and Bitcoin.
Total losses $86M+… pic.twitter.com/c5dhQeAZ0l
— Specter (@SpecterAnalyst) October 9, 2026
The identified addresses include Bitcoin addresses beginning with bc1q, TRON addresses beginning with T, and Ethereum addresses beginning with 0x. This cross-chain activity suggests the reported losses extend beyond a single cryptocurrency.
The scale of the incident remains significant, with reported losses exceeding $86 million. However, the available information does not provide a final breakdown by blockchain, the number of confirmed victims, or the total amount recovered.
What Ledger Users Should Know About the $86M Crypto Theft Ledger’s instruction to CryptoBilis to pause sales and shipments represents a precautionary response while the investigation proceeds. It does not establish that Ledger’s entire hardware wallet product line has been compromised.
CZ similarly described the available evidence as pointing toward a localized supply chain attack involving one vendor.
⚠️ Beware if you use a Ledger hardware wallet, especially if you bought one recently.
Based on information so far, it seems to be localized to a supply chain attack with one vendor. A small number of people probably bought fake (or tampered) Ledgers.
Ledger is one of the most… https://t.co/zW8wkvdZNf
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) October 9, 2026
For cryptocurrency holders, the incident highlights a security risk that extends beyond software vulnerabilities and exchange breaches. Purchasing hardware wallets through trusted channels can help reduce exposure to counterfeit products.
Users should also follow official manufacturer guidance when verifying devices and setting up wallets.
Anyone concerned about a recently purchased device should avoid entering existing recovery phrases into unverified software or websites. A recovery phrase can provide direct access to the funds controlled by a wallet.
Users who suspect compromise should follow official security guidance and consider moving assets to a verified, secure wallet.
The investigation also highlights the role of blockchain analysis in tracing stolen cryptocurrency across networks. Specter identified multiple addresses associated with the reported thefts, giving investigators potential leads for tracking fund movements.
CZ said he expects industry participants to help trace and recover the assets.
For now, the key distinction is between a suspected reseller-level compromise and a confirmed vulnerability in Ledger’s broader hardware wallet systems. The investigation must establish how the devices were compromised, how many users were affected, and whether any funds can be recovered.
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 rose 71% in Q3, with its profit supply ratio still not entering the warning zone.
Coinbase Institutional issued a report noting that ETH rallied 71% in the third quarter, yet on-chain metrics show no clear signs of overheating in its price action. Data indicates the share of ETH supply in profit has exited the accumulation range, but remains well below the warning threshold, signaling the current market has not reached the overextended levels flagged by historical metrics.
5 hours ago
Hacker who stole funds from Ledger transferred $1.07 million worth of ETH to Tornado Cash, with some of the funds flowing into Binance’s hot wallet.
According to Onchain Lens monitoring, the suspected hackers linked to the recent crypto heist involving Ledger reseller CryptoBillis — with the stolen amount reportedly nearly $90 million — have transferred 430.2 ETH, valued at around $1.07 million, to Tornado Cash via four wallets. After Tether froze some of the related funds, the suspects reportedly began converting USDT to USDD via SUN.io and USDD’s Peg Stability Module (PSM), while another portion of the funds flowed into Binance’s hot wallet. The suspected wallets flagged by Onchain Lens currently hold approximately $70.6 million in assets, including 11,406 ETH (worth ~$28.35 million), 213.371 BTC (~$17.65 million), 13.646 million USDD (~$13.65 million), and 10.909 million USDT (~$10.91 million). As on-chain funds continue to move, the above tracking data and suspect associations remain to be further verified.
5 hours ago
Former Mt.Gox CEO claims to have discovered Ledger hardware wallets implanted with spy modules, which can send mnemonic phrase information via LTE.
Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès revealed in a post that a Ledger hardware wallet he received is suspected to have an implanted spy module. The device originated from Malaysia; its outer packaging’s heat-shrink film was intact, and anomalies were not immediately noticeable upon opening. The implant was hidden in the position of the screen’s original buffer pad. Karpelès further detailed that the module contains LTE communication components, an antenna, eSIM, and a microcontroller connected to Ledger’s SPI bus. It can analyze characters displayed on the device to users and exfiltrate relevant data after the mnemonic phrase is configured. Attackers may subsequently monitor the victim’s wallet address and transfer assets at an opportune moment. He urged users to inspect their devices in accordance with Ledger’s official guidance.
5 hours ago
MAGIC rose over 60% in 24 hours, pushing its market capitalization to $33 million.
According to HTX market data, MAGIC has surged over 60% in the past 24 hours, currently trading at $0.0992, with its market cap rising to $33 million.
5 hours ago
某用户6月抄底80枚BTC浮盈138万美元,一周前存入Ledger现已全部被盗
According to Lookonchain’s monitoring, a user purchased 80 BTC for approximately $65,000 around four months ago, with a total investment of about $5.2 million. The user once recorded an unrealized profit of roughly $1.38 million. However, the user bought a Ledger hardware wallet from third-party dealer CryptoBillis a week ago and transferred all 80 BTC into it, only to have the entire funds stolen now. This incident is linked to recent fund thefts involving multiple CryptoBillis clients, though whether the devices were tampered with, the specific attack method, and the attacker’s identity remain unconfirmed.
5 hours ago
Investor Loses 80 $BTC ($5.2M) After Buying Compromised Ledger From Reseller
Poor guy! 4 months ago, he bought 80 $BTC ($5.2M) at a low price of ~$65,000 and was sitting on a $1.38M profit. But a week ago, he bought a Ledger device from reseller CryptoBillis and deposited all 80 $BTC into it. Now he's lost everything.
Enterprise Payroll Moves On-ChainThe @StellarOrg network is quietly becoming a backbone for corporate payroll infrastructure. More than 20 multinational corporations have deployed payroll operations on Stellar, routing employee and contractor payments through non-custodial smart rails that bypass legacy banking intermediaries.
The clearest sign of that momentum came in September 2026, when Zebec Network, the Stellar Development Foundation, and @MoneyGram jointly announced the integration of MoneyGram Ramps into Zebec's enterprise payroll platform on Stellar. The integration establishes MoneyGram as the first fiat off-ramp available through Zebec's Stellar network payroll experience, giving employees and contractors a direct path from stablecoin payroll to local currency through MoneyGram's global payments network.
Zebec's deployment on Stellar enables employers to run payroll, contractor payments, and benefits disbursements in stablecoins. Recipients can receive funds into digital wallets as payroll accrues, and choose to retain digital value, spend through supported card products, or access funds in local currency through participating MoneyGram locations.
Cash Out Without a Bank Account @Circle $USDC is accessible on Solana and Stellar at 480,000 or more MoneyGram locations across 170 or more countries and territories. That reach is central to what makes the arrangement practically meaningful for enterprises. Workers in markets with low banking penetration can now receive stablecoin payroll and convert it to physical cash at a local MoneyGram outlet, no commercial bank account required.
The addition of a global fiat off-ramp addresses a critical part of enterprise adoption: enabling recipients to not only receive stablecoin payments, but also to access their earnings in cash for everyday transactions.
According to Stellar's own fintech solutions page, MoneyGram has enabled cash-to-USDC conversion across 170 countries with over $30 million in volume, while a global payroll platform processes $1.2 billion annually via Stellar, with nearly half of all stablecoin payouts reaching 250,000 or more recipients across seven continents.
The arrangement also carries wider structural significance. By threading enterprise accounting directly into MoneyGram's physical agent network, @StellarOrg has effectively connected on-chain corporate finance to real-world financial outposts in markets that traditional payroll providers have long struggled to serve efficiently. Platforms operating on this infrastructure claim to save companies 20 to 25 percent on cross-border payouts.
Sources:
Zebec: Zebec and MoneyGram Expand Enterprise Payroll with Global Fiat Off-Ramp Access on the Stellar Network
MoneyGram Ramps: Stablecoin On/Off-Ramps for Wallet Partners
Stellar.org: Cutting Cross-Border Payroll Costs by 20-25% with Airtm
Cover image via depositphotos.com Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.
The Stellar (XLM) blockchain has taken first place globally in daily institutional capital inflows into investment funds, overtaking Ethereum. According to data from RWA.xyz and Token Terminal, net inflows into Stellar-based investment funds totaled $17.1 million over the past 24 hours, compared with $16.0 million for Ethereum and $5.9 million for Polygon.
The surge marks a fourfold expansion of Stellar's RWA sector since the end of last year. The total value of real-world assets on the network has grown by 360%, reaching a record $3.5–4 billion.
Tokenized fund market cap growth by chain, past 24 hours 📈 Member @StellarOrg led with +$17.1M, just ahead of @ethereum (+$16.0M), with @0xPolygon third at +$5.9M. Via @tokenterminal https://t.co/VDdF1LjjLL
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— RWA Foundation (@RWAFoundation_) October 9, 2026 As a result, Stellar has climbed to third place in the global blockchain ranking by assets under management (AUM), now trailing only Ethereum and BNB Chain.
How this market works and where the money is goingCapital inflows are being driven by major regulated funds that have distributed liquidity across three key jurisdictions:
France: The network's largest asset is the Spiko Amundi Overnight Swap Fund (EUR), a government bond fund with $1.29 billion in assets operating under the European Union's UCITS framework.
United States: Franklin Templeton's BENJI government money market fund holds $521.1 million, while the Ondo U.S. Dollar Yield (USDY) fund has $537.1 million under SEC oversight.
Luxembourg: The Yuleba Bond 2030 corporate credit instrument accounts for $500 million.
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Circle's USDC stablecoin, with $367.7 million, serves as the ecosystem's settlement gateway. Compliant with Europe's MiCA regulation, it maintains a record 707,248 active addresses for the RWA sector, with monthly transfer volume reaching $10.72 billion.
The network expects another boost in the first half of 2027. The U.S. securities depository DTCC has already confirmed plans to connect its tokenization service to Stellar to bring Russell 1000 stocks and major ETFs on-chain, while the Tradable platform is preparing to integrate up to $1 billion in private credit assets.
Why Stellar is attracting banks while XRP targets energy and industryStellar's performance in the regulated fund segment highlights the technological divergence between the network and its historical competitor, the XRP Ledger (XRPL), which was also created with the involvement of Stellar co-founder Jed McCaleb.
The platforms have developed opposing specializations: while Stellar is accumulating traditional banking capital and government bonds, XRPL has taken a dominant position in the tokenization of commodities and industrial assets.
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Ripple's ecosystem is now built around Justoken's JMWH energy contracts, valued at $2.22 billion, and Latin American corporate debt pools from VERT Capital. Settlement activity across this industrial hub is supported by Ripple USD (RLUSD), a regulated stablecoin with a market capitalization of $1.16 billion.
Thus, the latest inflows have further cemented Stellar's position as the leading public blockchain infrastructure for regulated investment products, dividing the global RWA market into debt and industrial sectors.
681 Whale Transactions in a Single DayChainlink ($LINK) just posted its most active day for large-holder transactions in nearly a year. According to data from @SantimentData, 681 transactions worth at least $100,000 were recorded in a single day on October 8, 2026, the highest daily total since November 19, 2025, and the busiest reading of the year so far.
The figure marks a significant step up from earlier in 2026. Santiment data covering April through October shows that daily whale transactions mostly ranged between 50 and 300 from April to July, before climbing steadily through August and September. The October 8 reading of 681 sits well above that trend.
It is worth noting that large transaction counts alone do not confirm whether major holders are buying or selling. The 681 figure captures all transfers above the $100,000 threshold, including exchange deposits, withdrawals, and wallet-to-wallet moves. Direction matters when interpreting the signal.
Context: A Year of Growing Whale InterestThe latest spike does not sit in isolation. Whale accumulation of $LINK has been a recurring theme throughout 2026. Large holders accumulated over 2.5 million LINK tokens in a 10-day window in late September, a period that also saw the token touch its 2026 high of $14.89. At the time of writing, $LINK was trading around $12.88, down roughly 2% on the day, according to market data.
The broader backdrop for $LINK includes growing institutional attention. Standard Chartered initiated coverage of the token in August 2026 with a long-term $200 price target for 2030, citing Chainlink's expanding role in tokenized assets, cross-chain infrastructure through CCIP, and institutional data services. The bank's research note, titled "Chainlink: Owning the rails," projected LINK reaching $13 by end-2026 before climbing to $41, $82, and $133 in subsequent years. Whether that narrative is now drawing fresh whale activity back into the token is an open question, but the on-chain data is hard to ignore.
For now, all eyes are on whether $LINK can hold key support levels and turn the surge in large-holder activity into sustained upward price momentum.
Sources:
CoinCodex: Chainlink Whale Activity Hits a 2026 High as LINK Tests $15
crypto.news: Standard Chartered Sees Chainlink Price Rising 25x by 2030
Samsung is preparing to place dollar-linked stablecoin transfers inside the digital wallet already installed on eligible Galaxy phones in the United States. The company said the capability will open in the final week of October and will begin with USDC, letting qualifying users move funds without downloading a separate crypto application or handling private keys themselves.
Woncheol Chai, executive vice president and head of the digital wallet team in Samsung’s mobile experience business, framed the change as an effort to make cross-border sending feel as ordinary as the payment tools people already open on their phones.
At launch the feature is expected to reach devices that Samsung counts as compatible with its wallet app, a group the company put at 82 million units in the US.
Eligibility is limited to US residents 18 or older who hold a Samsung account, use a supported Galaxy handset running Android 13 or later, complete identity checks, and set up biometric authentication.
Users will be able to send USDC from the wallet to compatible external crypto wallets or exchange accounts on supported networks.
Samsung said it will not charge a fee on those outbound transfers, though recipient platforms may, and arrival times will depend on network conditions.
Transfers into sanctioned jurisdictions are blocked.
Separately, the same wallet will support payments to qualifying bank accounts in more than 60 countries, with the recipient receiving local currency.
Fees for those bank transfers will vary by destination and amount and will be shown, along with an estimated delivery window, before the sender confirms.
Not every bank or account type will qualify.
The rollout extends an existing relationship with Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN).
Samsung Pay already appears as a funding option inside the Coinbase app, and certain Samsung Wallet users can access Coinbase One benefits.
For the new stablecoin service, custody and movement sit with regulated partners rather than with Samsung itself.
Bastion, which holds a New York trust charter and has received preliminary conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust bank charter, supplies the cross-border payment framework.
Bastion has named Coinbase as sub-custodian, so USDC held through the feature is safeguarded in Coinbase Prime Vault.
Galaxy devices serve as the access point; transfers require biometric confirmation on a registered phone.
Samsung stated that it is not a bank, money transmitter, or digital-asset custodian and does not hold customer funds.
USDC is the first stablecoin the wallet will support, with infrastructure and network connectivity supplied by additional partners that include Solana and Sui.
Later features under consideration include paying merchants online or by tapping a compatible Galaxy device in a store, and expanding the service into other countries as local rules allow.
The Samsung announcement arrives while Coinbase is also expanding regulated derivatives and institutional infrastructure.
In early October the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Division of Market Oversight issued no-action relief that lets designated contract markets remove expiration dates from perpetual-style futures linked to broad-based security indices.
The relief responded to an October 1 request from Coinbase and is available to any qualifying exchange that gives position holders at least five days’ notice, preserves other material terms, and supplies risk disclosures.
It effectively allows contracts Coinbase Derivatives had listed with expiries stretching as far as 25 years to function as true perpetuals that rely on periodic funding payments rather than a maturity date.
The staff position expires on October 20 and followed the agency’s deemed approval of a related Kalshi contract.
Separate staff relief earlier in the year had already addressed similar conversion of certain digital commodity futures.
Coinbase’s chief business officer, Shan Aggarwal, has separately described large banks increasing their bitcoin exposure and pointed to custody of most bitcoin exchange-traded products as a foundation for wider advisor access if new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules open that channel.
On the revenue side, Coinbase’s subscriptions and services line reached about $555 million in the second quarter of 2026, or 48 percent of net revenue, up from a negligible share five years earlier.
Analysts note that stablecoin-related income, custody, and staking account for most of that segment, with data and index licensing a smaller but growing portion, while the company’s paid Coinbase One membership has passed one million subscribers. Together the developments place Coinbase infrastructure behind both a consumer wallet feature on tens of millions of phones and a broader shift toward non-transaction revenue and regulated perpetual products.
Ethereum rose 71% in Q3, with its profit supply ratio still not entering the warning zone.
Coinbase Institutional issued a report noting that ETH rallied 71% in the third quarter, yet on-chain metrics show no clear signs of overheating in its price action. Data indicates the share of ETH supply in profit has exited the accumulation range, but remains well below the warning threshold, signaling the current market has not reached the overextended levels flagged by historical metrics.
5 hours ago
Hacker who stole funds from Ledger transferred $1.07 million worth of ETH to Tornado Cash, with some of the funds flowing into Binance’s hot wallet.
According to Onchain Lens monitoring, the suspected hackers linked to the recent crypto heist involving Ledger reseller CryptoBillis — with the stolen amount reportedly nearly $90 million — have transferred 430.2 ETH, valued at around $1.07 million, to Tornado Cash via four wallets. After Tether froze some of the related funds, the suspects reportedly began converting USDT to USDD via SUN.io and USDD’s Peg Stability Module (PSM), while another portion of the funds flowed into Binance’s hot wallet. The suspected wallets flagged by Onchain Lens currently hold approximately $70.6 million in assets, including 11,406 ETH (worth ~$28.35 million), 213.371 BTC (~$17.65 million), 13.646 million USDD (~$13.65 million), and 10.909 million USDT (~$10.91 million). As on-chain funds continue to move, the above tracking data and suspect associations remain to be further verified.
5 hours ago
Former Mt.Gox CEO claims to have discovered Ledger hardware wallets implanted with spy modules, which can send mnemonic phrase information via LTE.
Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès revealed in a post that a Ledger hardware wallet he received is suspected to have an implanted spy module. The device originated from Malaysia; its outer packaging’s heat-shrink film was intact, and anomalies were not immediately noticeable upon opening. The implant was hidden in the position of the screen’s original buffer pad. Karpelès further detailed that the module contains LTE communication components, an antenna, eSIM, and a microcontroller connected to Ledger’s SPI bus. It can analyze characters displayed on the device to users and exfiltrate relevant data after the mnemonic phrase is configured. Attackers may subsequently monitor the victim’s wallet address and transfer assets at an opportune moment. He urged users to inspect their devices in accordance with Ledger’s official guidance.
5 hours ago
MAGIC rose over 60% in 24 hours, pushing its market capitalization to $33 million.
According to HTX market data, MAGIC has surged over 60% in the past 24 hours, currently trading at $0.0992, with its market cap rising to $33 million.
5 hours ago
某用户6月抄底80枚BTC浮盈138万美元,一周前存入Ledger现已全部被盗
According to Lookonchain’s monitoring, a user purchased 80 BTC for approximately $65,000 around four months ago, with a total investment of about $5.2 million. The user once recorded an unrealized profit of roughly $1.38 million. However, the user bought a Ledger hardware wallet from third-party dealer CryptoBillis a week ago and transferred all 80 BTC into it, only to have the entire funds stolen now. This incident is linked to recent fund thefts involving multiple CryptoBillis clients, though whether the devices were tampered with, the specific attack method, and the attacker’s identity remain unconfirmed.
5 hours ago
Investor Loses 80 $BTC ($5.2M) After Buying Compromised Ledger From Reseller
Poor guy! 4 months ago, he bought 80 $BTC ($5.2M) at a low price of ~$65,000 and was sitting on a $1.38M profit. But a week ago, he bought a Ledger device from reseller CryptoBillis and deposited all 80 $BTC into it. Now he's lost everything.
Ethereum rose 71% in Q3, with its profit supply ratio still not entering the warning zone.
Coinbase Institutional issued a report noting that ETH rallied 71% in the third quarter, yet on-chain metrics show no clear signs of overheating in its price action. Data indicates the share of ETH supply in profit has exited the accumulation range, but remains well below the warning threshold, signaling the current market has not reached the overextended levels flagged by historical metrics.
5 hours ago
Hacker who stole funds from Ledger transferred $1.07 million worth of ETH to Tornado Cash, with some of the funds flowing into Binance’s hot wallet.
According to Onchain Lens monitoring, the suspected hackers linked to the recent crypto heist involving Ledger reseller CryptoBillis — with the stolen amount reportedly nearly $90 million — have transferred 430.2 ETH, valued at around $1.07 million, to Tornado Cash via four wallets. After Tether froze some of the related funds, the suspects reportedly began converting USDT to USDD via SUN.io and USDD’s Peg Stability Module (PSM), while another portion of the funds flowed into Binance’s hot wallet. The suspected wallets flagged by Onchain Lens currently hold approximately $70.6 million in assets, including 11,406 ETH (worth ~$28.35 million), 213.371 BTC (~$17.65 million), 13.646 million USDD (~$13.65 million), and 10.909 million USDT (~$10.91 million). As on-chain funds continue to move, the above tracking data and suspect associations remain to be further verified.
5 hours ago
Former Mt.Gox CEO claims to have discovered Ledger hardware wallets implanted with spy modules, which can send mnemonic phrase information via LTE.
Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès revealed in a post that a Ledger hardware wallet he received is suspected to have an implanted spy module. The device originated from Malaysia; its outer packaging’s heat-shrink film was intact, and anomalies were not immediately noticeable upon opening. The implant was hidden in the position of the screen’s original buffer pad. Karpelès further detailed that the module contains LTE communication components, an antenna, eSIM, and a microcontroller connected to Ledger’s SPI bus. It can analyze characters displayed on the device to users and exfiltrate relevant data after the mnemonic phrase is configured. Attackers may subsequently monitor the victim’s wallet address and transfer assets at an opportune moment. He urged users to inspect their devices in accordance with Ledger’s official guidance.
5 hours ago
MAGIC rose over 60% in 24 hours, pushing its market capitalization to $33 million.
According to HTX market data, MAGIC has surged over 60% in the past 24 hours, currently trading at $0.0992, with its market cap rising to $33 million.
5 hours ago
某用户6月抄底80枚BTC浮盈138万美元,一周前存入Ledger现已全部被盗
According to Lookonchain’s monitoring, a user purchased 80 BTC for approximately $65,000 around four months ago, with a total investment of about $5.2 million. The user once recorded an unrealized profit of roughly $1.38 million. However, the user bought a Ledger hardware wallet from third-party dealer CryptoBillis a week ago and transferred all 80 BTC into it, only to have the entire funds stolen now. This incident is linked to recent fund thefts involving multiple CryptoBillis clients, though whether the devices were tampered with, the specific attack method, and the attacker’s identity remain unconfirmed.
5 hours ago
Investor Loses 80 $BTC ($5.2M) After Buying Compromised Ledger From Reseller
Poor guy! 4 months ago, he bought 80 $BTC ($5.2M) at a low price of ~$65,000 and was sitting on a $1.38M profit. But a week ago, he bought a Ledger device from reseller CryptoBillis and deposited all 80 $BTC into it. Now he's lost everything.
Ethereum rose 71% in Q3, with its profit supply ratio still not entering the warning zone.
Coinbase Institutional issued a report noting that ETH rallied 71% in the third quarter, yet on-chain metrics show no clear signs of overheating in its price action. Data indicates the share of ETH supply in profit has exited the accumulation range, but remains well below the warning threshold, signaling the current market has not reached the overextended levels flagged by historical metrics.
5 hours ago
Hacker who stole funds from Ledger transferred $1.07 million worth of ETH to Tornado Cash, with some of the funds flowing into Binance’s hot wallet.
According to Onchain Lens monitoring, the suspected hackers linked to the recent crypto heist involving Ledger reseller CryptoBillis — with the stolen amount reportedly nearly $90 million — have transferred 430.2 ETH, valued at around $1.07 million, to Tornado Cash via four wallets. After Tether froze some of the related funds, the suspects reportedly began converting USDT to USDD via SUN.io and USDD’s Peg Stability Module (PSM), while another portion of the funds flowed into Binance’s hot wallet. The suspected wallets flagged by Onchain Lens currently hold approximately $70.6 million in assets, including 11,406 ETH (worth ~$28.35 million), 213.371 BTC (~$17.65 million), 13.646 million USDD (~$13.65 million), and 10.909 million USDT (~$10.91 million). As on-chain funds continue to move, the above tracking data and suspect associations remain to be further verified.
5 hours ago
Former Mt.Gox CEO claims to have discovered Ledger hardware wallets implanted with spy modules, which can send mnemonic phrase information via LTE.
Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès revealed in a post that a Ledger hardware wallet he received is suspected to have an implanted spy module. The device originated from Malaysia; its outer packaging’s heat-shrink film was intact, and anomalies were not immediately noticeable upon opening. The implant was hidden in the position of the screen’s original buffer pad. Karpelès further detailed that the module contains LTE communication components, an antenna, eSIM, and a microcontroller connected to Ledger’s SPI bus. It can analyze characters displayed on the device to users and exfiltrate relevant data after the mnemonic phrase is configured. Attackers may subsequently monitor the victim’s wallet address and transfer assets at an opportune moment. He urged users to inspect their devices in accordance with Ledger’s official guidance.
5 hours ago
MAGIC rose over 60% in 24 hours, pushing its market capitalization to $33 million.
According to HTX market data, MAGIC has surged over 60% in the past 24 hours, currently trading at $0.0992, with its market cap rising to $33 million.
5 hours ago
某用户6月抄底80枚BTC浮盈138万美元,一周前存入Ledger现已全部被盗
According to Lookonchain’s monitoring, a user purchased 80 BTC for approximately $65,000 around four months ago, with a total investment of about $5.2 million. The user once recorded an unrealized profit of roughly $1.38 million. However, the user bought a Ledger hardware wallet from third-party dealer CryptoBillis a week ago and transferred all 80 BTC into it, only to have the entire funds stolen now. This incident is linked to recent fund thefts involving multiple CryptoBillis clients, though whether the devices were tampered with, the specific attack method, and the attacker’s identity remain unconfirmed.
5 hours ago
Investor Loses 80 $BTC ($5.2M) After Buying Compromised Ledger From Reseller
Poor guy! 4 months ago, he bought 80 $BTC ($5.2M) at a low price of ~$65,000 and was sitting on a $1.38M profit. But a week ago, he bought a Ledger device from reseller CryptoBillis and deposited all 80 $BTC into it. Now he's lost everything.
Crypto hardware wallet maker Ledger is rolling out a new feature that lets users borrow stablecoins against their Bitcoin (BTC) without giving up custody of their assets.
The new Crypto Loan feature lets Ledger Wallet users deposit wrapped Bitcoin as collateral and borrow the dollar-pegged stablecoins USDC or USDT directly inside the app, says Ledger.
The service is powered by the on-chain lending network Morpho and plugged into the app through Yield.xyz.
Users can post either cbBTC or wBTC as collateral and keep their Bitcoin exposure for the life of the loan instead of selling their holdings.
Says Ledger in its latest release notes,
“Morpho is an onchain credit network; the smart contracts govern every interaction, and your collateral stays on-chain rather than sitting on someone else’s balance sheet.”
Every step of the loan, from the first approval to repayment and withdrawal, has to be confirmed on the screen of a Ledger hardware device, which shows each contract function in plain language.
The app also tracks each loan’s loan-to-value (LTV) ratio and lets users add collateral, repay, borrow more or withdraw at any time, with an option to simulate a loan before committing.
Ledger is also adding direct access to Morpho’s lending markets and curated vaults for depositing, borrowing and earning across Ethereum (ETH) and major layer-2 networks.
The company says interest rates are variable, liquidation risks apply and Crypto Loan is subject to country availability.
Ledger says it acts only as a technology provider and does not give financial advice.
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 rose 71% in Q3, with its profit supply ratio still not entering the warning zone.
Coinbase Institutional issued a report noting that ETH rallied 71% in the third quarter, yet on-chain metrics show no clear signs of overheating in its price action. Data indicates the share of ETH supply in profit has exited the accumulation range, but remains well below the warning threshold, signaling the current market has not reached the overextended levels flagged by historical metrics.
5 hours ago
Hacker who stole funds from Ledger transferred $1.07 million worth of ETH to Tornado Cash, with some of the funds flowing into Binance’s hot wallet.
According to Onchain Lens monitoring, the suspected hackers linked to the recent crypto heist involving Ledger reseller CryptoBillis — with the stolen amount reportedly nearly $90 million — have transferred 430.2 ETH, valued at around $1.07 million, to Tornado Cash via four wallets. After Tether froze some of the related funds, the suspects reportedly began converting USDT to USDD via SUN.io and USDD’s Peg Stability Module (PSM), while another portion of the funds flowed into Binance’s hot wallet. The suspected wallets flagged by Onchain Lens currently hold approximately $70.6 million in assets, including 11,406 ETH (worth ~$28.35 million), 213.371 BTC (~$17.65 million), 13.646 million USDD (~$13.65 million), and 10.909 million USDT (~$10.91 million). As on-chain funds continue to move, the above tracking data and suspect associations remain to be further verified.
5 hours ago
Former Mt.Gox CEO claims to have discovered Ledger hardware wallets implanted with spy modules, which can send mnemonic phrase information via LTE.
Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès revealed in a post that a Ledger hardware wallet he received is suspected to have an implanted spy module. The device originated from Malaysia; its outer packaging’s heat-shrink film was intact, and anomalies were not immediately noticeable upon opening. The implant was hidden in the position of the screen’s original buffer pad. Karpelès further detailed that the module contains LTE communication components, an antenna, eSIM, and a microcontroller connected to Ledger’s SPI bus. It can analyze characters displayed on the device to users and exfiltrate relevant data after the mnemonic phrase is configured. Attackers may subsequently monitor the victim’s wallet address and transfer assets at an opportune moment. He urged users to inspect their devices in accordance with Ledger’s official guidance.
5 hours ago
MAGIC rose over 60% in 24 hours, pushing its market capitalization to $33 million.
According to HTX market data, MAGIC has surged over 60% in the past 24 hours, currently trading at $0.0992, with its market cap rising to $33 million.
5 hours ago
某用户6月抄底80枚BTC浮盈138万美元,一周前存入Ledger现已全部被盗
According to Lookonchain’s monitoring, a user purchased 80 BTC for approximately $65,000 around four months ago, with a total investment of about $5.2 million. The user once recorded an unrealized profit of roughly $1.38 million. However, the user bought a Ledger hardware wallet from third-party dealer CryptoBillis a week ago and transferred all 80 BTC into it, only to have the entire funds stolen now. This incident is linked to recent fund thefts involving multiple CryptoBillis clients, though whether the devices were tampered with, the specific attack method, and the attacker’s identity remain unconfirmed.
5 hours ago
Investor Loses 80 $BTC ($5.2M) After Buying Compromised Ledger From Reseller
Poor guy! 4 months ago, he bought 80 $BTC ($5.2M) at a low price of ~$65,000 and was sitting on a $1.38M profit. But a week ago, he bought a Ledger device from reseller CryptoBillis and deposited all 80 $BTC into it. Now he's lost everything.
OKX has launched crypto-backed USDC loans in Europe, allowing customers to borrow up to 250,000 USDC, or 3.25 million USDC for VIP clients, without a fixed repayment term.
Summary
OKX says customers can borrow up to 80% of collateral value against more than 40 assets. The launch announcement lists variable hourly interest of 0.000229%, equivalent to about 2% annually. Borrowers can repay some or all of their debt whenever they choose, according to OKX. The service’s terms allow collateral liquidation and state that MiCA client asset protections do not apply. OKX said in its Oct. 9 announcement that European customers could access Flexible Loans through its app or website, using crypto already held on the platform as security for USDC borrowing.
With Bitcoin, Ether and Solana among the accepted assets, the company said each loan would be backed by collateral worth more than the amount borrowed. Its announced borrowing ceiling is 80% of the pledged assets’ value, alongside separate limits for regular customers and VIP clients.
OKX loans charge hourly interest without a fixed term Under the launch terms, OKX allows borrowers to choose when to repay rather than committing to a set maturity date. Customers can make partial repayments or settle the full balance, the exchange said.
At the time of the announcement, OKX listed USDC interest at 0.000229% per hour, describing that as about 2% a year. The company said borrowers could check the live rate before accepting a loan and continue monitoring it in the app while the debt remained outstanding.
For updated borrowing costs, the exchange directed customers to its rate page, rather than presenting the launch rate as a fixed charge for the life of a loan.
Explaining the product’s intended use, Erald Ghoos, CEO of OKX Europe, said long-term holders sometimes wanted access to cash while retaining their crypto.
“A lot of people in Europe hold crypto for the long term and don’t want to have to sell it to free up cash temporarily,” Ghoos said.
He described the repayment model as: “Borrow USDC when you need it, pay for the hours you use it, and repay when you’re done.”
For the borrowed funds, OKX listed trading, participation in X Drop Club, and use through Earn among the available options. Customers could also withdraw their USDC for everyday needs, according to the announcement.
Collateral remains locked and can be liquidated In its European loan service terms, updated Sep. 30, OKX identifies OKX Europe Limited as the operator and limits the service to European Economic Area residents.
The agreement says loan requests are matched with assets supplied by lenders on the platform, with approved proceeds transferred to the borrower’s OKX funding account. According to the terms, pledged collateral is frozen, preventing borrowers from trading or transferring it while it secures the debt.
For repayment, the agreement says accrued interest is paid before principal when a customer makes a partial payment. OKX also states that full repayment of principal and interest releases the corresponding collateral within one day, while partial repayment does not release it.
When a position reaches the applicable liquidation threshold, the terms authorize OKX to sell collateral to repay the debt. The agreement warns that rapid price changes or technical delays can leave customers without advance notification before automatic liquidation.
On regulation, OKX’s terms explicitly state that the loan service falls outside MiCA’s scope and that the framework’s client asset safeguarding protections do not apply to assets connected with it.
USDC trading and payments already feature in OKX products As crypto.news previously reported, Circle and OKX expanded USDC trading access on Sep. 2 across spot, margin and futures markets for eligible customers.
According to that report, the companies also introduced a USDC Margin Growth Program offering qualifying users a monthly 100 USDC reward funded by Circle. Eligibility required opting in, maintaining at least 20,000 USDC for 17 consecutive days, and exceeding 1,000 USDC in qualifying single-side trading volume.
The September report also described OKX’s July introduction of a one-way USDT-to-USDC conversion route for eligible customers across 30 EU and EEA countries. Under its European setup, the exchange restricted USDT trading while supporting USDC and Paxos-issued USDG.
In a separate Oct. 6 launch, OKX introduced OKX Money, an app supporting funding from more than 50 currencies and balances in USDG, USDC and USDT, according to the company.
OKX said that rollout covered selected markets in Latin America, Africa, South Asia and the Middle East, with local funding and card availability depending on country. The company described virtual and physical cards, transfers and rewards as features of the app.
For its European platform, Ghoos placed borrowing alongside payments and investing, describing OKX Card and Pay as tools “To pay, or get paid.” His launch comments also listed trading products covering crypto, traditional assets and commodities among the platform’s wealth services.
U.S. borrowers have separate crypto-backed loan options For American holders, earlier Coinbase products provide a separate example of borrowing USDC against crypto. An Oct. 7 report on Ledger’s Bitcoin-backed borrowing through Morpho described Coinbase’s earlier borrowing rollout to most U.S. states, excluding New York at launch.
According to the report, Coinbase converts pledged Bitcoin into cbBTC and sends the token to a Morpho smart contract on Base. Coinbase describes cbBTC as backed one-for-one by Bitcoin held in its custody.
Morpho separately announced on Sep. 22 that Coinbase had added fixed-rate loans through Morpho Midnight, allowing customers to agree on an interest rate and repayment date when borrowing USDC against Bitcoin. Morpho said Coinbase’s existing variable-rate service had more than $1.4 billion in active loans backed by approximately $3 billion in collateral.
For Ledger’s own Oct. 7 product, the wallet maker said eligible customers could pledge cbBTC or wBTC to borrow USDC or USDT, with access depending on country. Ledger said Morpho supplied the lending infrastructure, while Yield.xyz handled the borrowing process and position monitoring inside Ledger Wallet.
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 rose 71% in Q3, with its profit supply ratio still not entering the warning zone.
Coinbase Institutional issued a report noting that ETH rallied 71% in the third quarter, yet on-chain metrics show no clear signs of overheating in its price action. Data indicates the share of ETH supply in profit has exited the accumulation range, but remains well below the warning threshold, signaling the current market has not reached the overextended levels flagged by historical metrics.
5 hours ago
Hacker who stole funds from Ledger transferred $1.07 million worth of ETH to Tornado Cash, with some of the funds flowing into Binance’s hot wallet.
According to Onchain Lens monitoring, the suspected hackers linked to the recent crypto heist involving Ledger reseller CryptoBillis — with the stolen amount reportedly nearly $90 million — have transferred 430.2 ETH, valued at around $1.07 million, to Tornado Cash via four wallets. After Tether froze some of the related funds, the suspects reportedly began converting USDT to USDD via SUN.io and USDD’s Peg Stability Module (PSM), while another portion of the funds flowed into Binance’s hot wallet. The suspected wallets flagged by Onchain Lens currently hold approximately $70.6 million in assets, including 11,406 ETH (worth ~$28.35 million), 213.371 BTC (~$17.65 million), 13.646 million USDD (~$13.65 million), and 10.909 million USDT (~$10.91 million). As on-chain funds continue to move, the above tracking data and suspect associations remain to be further verified.
5 hours ago
Former Mt.Gox CEO claims to have discovered Ledger hardware wallets implanted with spy modules, which can send mnemonic phrase information via LTE.
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MAGIC rose over 60% in 24 hours, pushing its market capitalization to $33 million.
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某用户6月抄底80枚BTC浮盈138万美元,一周前存入Ledger现已全部被盗
According to Lookonchain’s monitoring, a user purchased 80 BTC for approximately $65,000 around four months ago, with a total investment of about $5.2 million. The user once recorded an unrealized profit of roughly $1.38 million. However, the user bought a Ledger hardware wallet from third-party dealer CryptoBillis a week ago and transferred all 80 BTC into it, only to have the entire funds stolen now. This incident is linked to recent fund thefts involving multiple CryptoBillis clients, though whether the devices were tampered with, the specific attack method, and the attacker’s identity remain unconfirmed.
5 hours ago
Investor Loses 80 $BTC ($5.2M) After Buying Compromised Ledger From Reseller
Poor guy! 4 months ago, he bought 80 $BTC ($5.2M) at a low price of ~$65,000 and was sitting on a $1.38M profit. But a week ago, he bought a Ledger device from reseller CryptoBillis and deposited all 80 $BTC into it. Now he's lost everything.
Zcash developers are moving to enhance network security by planning to introduce quantum-resistant, hash-based signature support in January. This development aims to address the growing concern over quantum computing threats that could compromise existing cryptographic standards for cryptocurrencies.
Quantum-resistant security measuresRoman Akhtariev, an engineer working on Zakura, a key implementation for running the Zcash protocol and validating transactions, detailed the upcoming initiative in a recent post. According to Akhtariev, the team expects to include post-quantum signature opcodes for Zcash in January, although no date for network activation has been finalized.
The planned upgrade would introduce opcodes enabling Zcash to validate hash-based signatures. These cryptographic methods are specifically designed to resist attacks by quantum computers, which could one day render conventional public key cryptography vulnerable.
Akhtariev wrote that the team aims for these post-quantum signature capabilities to be included in January, and emphasized the move is meant to strengthen network defenses against future quantum threats.
The update focuses on preventing potential attackers from using public keys to reverse engineer and forge transaction approvals, a threat considered more likely in the era of advanced quantum computing.
The mechanism involves producing a signature verifiable through hash functions, rather than just using public keys. This approach helps ensure that even if current wallet keys are compromised, breaking the hash-based system would require a separate and substantial breakthrough.
A standard Zcash transparent address already conceals the public key using a hash until the funds are spent, after which the key is revealed. This new signature approach would add an extra safeguard for transaction approvals once made public.
These security improvements are partly in response to recent warnings from Ethereum researcher Justin Drake, who argued that artificial intelligence might accelerate the discovery of methods to break bitcoin and ether wallet security. Drake suggested that such risks could be realized “in months, not years” in a worst-case scenario.
The Ethereum network itself has a target date of December 2029 for implementing quantum-resistant cryptographic upgrades. However, to date, no practical attacks on its wallet keys have been recorded.
Following Drake’s statements, ZEC, the native token of Zcash, closed Thursday at around $1,185, registering an 11% decline over the previous week and leading declines among major digital assets.
NetworkQuantum-Resistant Upgrade TargetZcashJanuary (planned for signatures, activation pending)EthereumDecember 2029 (target for broader upgrade)Private lookup tools and transparent pool focusAs most public ZEC tokens reside in transparent addresses, Zakura has also developed a private lookup tool to address privacy risks for users who manage multiple addresses. The tool enables wallets to verify balances without revealing linked addresses to the querying server.
The experimental private lookup feature, available in the Vizor wallet, allows users to check balances across many addresses while preserving privacy and preventing address linkage, even though their payments remain publicly accessible.
Using a method called private information retrieval, the tool ensures that database queries do not expose which records are being accessed, helping prevent server-side address correlation.
Mini dictionary: Private information retrieval, a cryptographic protocol that permits a user to retrieve a record from a database without revealing which record is being accessed, thereby protecting queries from being linked to specific data holders.
Zcash’s network is divided into transparent and shielded payment pools. While shielded payments completely obscure sender, recipient, and amount, transparent transactions function similarly to bitcoin, displaying all transaction details on the blockchain.
CoinDesk’s analysis of ZecStats data suggests that as of Thursday, around 11.96 million out of 16.98 million issued ZEC—roughly seven out of ten coins—resided in transparent addresses. The upcoming quantum-resistant upgrade will concentrate on this public side of the network.
Type of AddressAmount of ZEC (million)Share of Total SupplyTransparent11.9670%Shielded5.0230%Wallets use a private key to approve transactions and a corresponding public key for network verification. Typically, reversing a public key to obtain the secret key is computationally impractical, but experts warn that emerging quantum and AI-driven techniques could change this assumption.
Shielded pool and future plansWhile the January upgrade will focus primarily on transparent addresses, the shielded pool requires separate research and development for quantum protection. There is concern that if an adversary were to collect encrypted payment history today, they might eventually decrypt it if cryptographic breakthroughs occur in the future.
The Zcash community and its developers are now prioritizing both privacy enhancements and upgraded cryptography to address evolving risks in the digital asset landscape.
Zcash developers target January to add support for quantum-resistant payments, initially focusing on public addresses holding roughly 70% of ZEC. Traders responded immediately, causing ZEC price to extend the 24-hour rebound to more than 11%.
Developers Target Making Zcash Payments Quantum-Resistant Zakura, a full-node implementation for the Zcash network, revealed that the team plans to add post-quantum signature opcodes to Zcash in January. However, the network activation timeline has not yet been finalized.
Those opcodes introduce hash-based signatures to protect wallets from future quantum attacks that could expose private keys and enable theft. The goal is to stop an attacker from taking a public key already visible on-chain and working backward to forge a wallet owner’s approval and spend the coins.
The proposal primarily targets transparent payments to mitigate the risk of transaction signature forgery in the event of future quantum computing breakthroughs that compromise existing public-key cryptography systems.
Currently, approximately 11.96 million ZEC are held in the transparent pool, accounting for about 70% of the total issued ZEC.
Zakura is also advancing a privacy-preserving balance query tool that reduces the exposure of address linkage information to servers when querying multiple addresses; post-quantum protection for the privacy pool, however, will require separate development.
This follows a warning from researcher Justin Drake urging the industry to prepare a “bunker mode” against future quantum threats and AI-assisted attacks on wallet security. Vitalik Buterin explained how AI could weaken quantum-resistant crypto signatures in 2 Years.
ZEC Price Skyrockets Over 11% ZEC price has jumped 11% in the past 24 hours, with the price currently trading at 1,224.57. The 24-hour low and high are $1,114.07 and $1,245.56, respectively. Furthermore, trading volume has increased by a massive 80% in the last 24 hours, indicating a rise in interest among traders.
Meanwhile, Zcash shielded transactions hit a four-year high. 62,379 transactions were sent last week, the highest weekly total since 2022. Moreover, Grayscale Zcash ETF launch drew close to $1 billion in assets within about a month as the token rallied sharply. Grayscale Research predicted that ZEC price can rally to $8100 by 2030.
Zcash Shielded Transactions. Source: ZODL CoinGlass data showed mixed sentiment in the derivatives market. The total ZEC futures open interest jumped more than 1% to $2.60 billion in the last 24 hours.
The 4-hour Zcash futures open interest on Binance and OKX fell., climbed more than 15% and 5%, respectively. This signals bullish sentiment among derivatives traders.
Check the 10 best Zcash (ZEC) exchanges in 2026, along with details on trading pairs, shielded support, fees, security, availability, and track record.
The Zakura team, responsible for maintaining a full node for Zcash, stated it plans to introduce post-quantum signature opcodes to the Zcash network in January. The update aims to enhance the security of funds held in transparent addresses by making them resilient against attacks from quantum computers.
Post-quantum security for ZcashRoman Akhtariev, an engineer working with Zakura, disclosed in a recent update that post-quantum signature opcodes are expected to be available for Zcash in January. While the team set this implementation goal, it did not specify a date for activation on the mainnet.
Akhtariev explained that the focus is on achieving full post-quantum-safe transparent pools, relying on hash-based signature schemes. This upgrade is aimed at users with transparent addresses, which are distinct from Zcash’s shielded addresses that use zero-knowledge proofs for privacy.
Currently, wallets can combine a hash-based signature scheme known as WOTS with the usual elliptic-curve key for transparent addresses. This pairing allows users to generate rotating transparent addresses that are post-quantum safe. However, Zakura acknowledged there is no integrated wallet experience for this functionality yet.
Mini dictionary: WOTS (Winternitz One-Time Signature) is a hash-based digital signature scheme considered to be secure against quantum attacks, offering post-quantum cryptography features.
Protection for public keysZakura clarified that a transparent Zcash address contains a hash of a public key. When funds are spent from such an address, the underlying public key becomes public. To safeguard remaining funds, users can transfer the leftover balance to a new address whose public key has not been revealed.
This mechanism is intended to maintain privacy and security, particularly if public keys could become vulnerable to quantum attacks while hash functions remain secure. Zakura noted this approach adds an extra layer of protection for Zcash’s transparent address users.
Improving privacy with PIRZakura identified a challenge related to wallet lookups. When a wallet checks multiple rotating addresses using a typical server request, the server learns those addresses likely belong to the same owner, undermining privacy even if blockchain analysis cannot make the connection.
To counteract this, Zakura is implementing private information retrieval (PIR) technology. Using PIR, a wallet can fetch specific data from a server without revealing which record it is accessing. The network divides transparent transaction data into block ranges, with each range managed by a shard that shares a compact filter. Wallets check these filters locally and perform private lookups only when necessary. According to Zakura, a range with 10,000 distinct payment scripts requires about 15 KB of filter data.
Mini dictionary: Private Information Retrieval (PIR) is a cryptographic method that allows a user to retrieve data from a server without the server knowing which specific data was accessed, helping protect user privacy.
MethodData Privacy LevelServer AwarenessData Size ExampleStandard lookupLowKnows queried addressN/APIR-based lookupHighNo knowledge of queried address15 KB per 10,000 scriptsThe same approach can restore a wallet’s transaction history from a mnemonic phrase, including addresses with no remaining funds. An experimental PIR feature has been added to the Vizor wallet and can be tested by enabling “Private queries” in its settings.
Industry context and future outlookEthereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake recently urged the industry to prepare for “bunker mode” by moving funds to fresh addresses that have not previously signed transactions. Drake warned of the possibility that cryptographic schemes like ECDSA could be compromised sooner than expected, advising caution and measured action rather than panic.
Zakura noted that while Zcash transparent transactions remain publicly visible on-chain, PIR addresses the privacy of wallet lookups required to manage these transactions. Post-quantum security and advanced privacy tools are becoming focal points as the blockchain sector adapts to emerging threats posed by quantum computing advancements.
Zakura’s engineering team aims to implement post-quantum signature opcodes in Zcash by January and introduce PIR for secure lookups in the Vizor wallet, strengthening privacy and resilience against future quantum attacks.
Zcash price has started recovering from its recent selloff, with easing selling pressure on shorter timeframes raising the possibility of a move back toward $1,300.
Summary
Zcash price recovered above $1,200 after recent losses, with easing selling pressure raising the possibility of a move toward $1,300. Developers are targeting January for quantum resistant payment support, while institutional interest in ZEC continues through ETF developments. ZEC remains above its 50 day EMA near $1,185, although the 20 day EMA at $1,337 continues to act as resistance. The 4 hour MACD remains negative, but its contracting histogram and a CMF recovery to negative 0.03 suggest that selling pressure is easing. A sustained move above $1,250 could bring $1,300 into focus, while a break below $1,185 risks another decline toward $1,100. ZEC was trading near $1,213 on October 9, up approximately 2.2% on the daily session, after recovering from an intraday low of $1,183.24. The token had fallen toward $1,100 during the previous session, following several days of losses that erased part of its September rally.
The privacy-focused cryptocurrency remained more than 25% below its late September peak near $1,670. However, buyers returned after the latest decline, lifting ZEC above $1,200 as traders assessed upcoming network developments and institutional interest in the asset.
The recovery coincided with an improvement in short-term momentum indicators. Selling pressure has eased considerably since the latest downturn, although ZEC has yet to recover several important resistance levels.
Zcash developers target quantum-resistant payments in January One development attracting attention to Zcash is a proposal to introduce quantum-resistant signature support for transparent transactions.
According to developers working on Zakura, a software implementation used to validate Zcash transactions, plan to introduce post-quantum signature instructions in January.
The proposed changes would allow the network to verify hash-based signatures designed to withstand attacks from sufficiently powerful quantum computers. January remains a development target, with no confirmed network activation date.
Initial protections would focus on transparent transactions, which account for a substantial portion of ZEC holdings.
Around 11.96 million of the approximately 16.98 million ZEC issued were held in transparent addresses as of October 8, representing roughly 70% of the supply.
Shielded transactions, which conceal information about senders, recipients and transferred amounts, would require separate protections because they use different cryptographic mechanisms.
The development followed warnings from Ethereum researcher Justin Drake about potential risks to existing cryptocurrency cryptography from future advances in artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
Zakura developers have separately introduced an experimental private lookup feature that allows wallets to check balances without revealing which addresses belong to the same user. The feature is available through the Vizor wallet’s private queries setting.
Zcash’s next major network upgrade, NU7, remains another event on the project’s development calendar. The proposed schedule includes an October 20 activation decision and a November 5 mainnet target, subject to confirmation.
Institutional interest provides another potential catalyst Institutional investment developments have provided another source of attention for ZEC despite the recent correction.
Winklevoss Asset Services filed an S-1 registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on October 6 for a proposed spot Zcash exchange-traded fund.
The filing included a nonbinding indication of interest from Winklevoss Capital to purchase up to $100 million worth of shares.
A spot ETF could provide investors with exposure to ZEC through a regulated investment product without requiring them to hold the cryptocurrency directly. However, the proposed fund remains subject to regulatory review, and the indication of interest does not represent a completed investment.
Existing Zcash investment products in Europe have already provided another route for institutional and professional investors seeking exposure to the cryptocurrency.
The latest filing comes as Zcash continues to attract interest in privacy-focused blockchain transactions and technologies designed to protect sensitive financial information.
Nevertheless, neither the proposed ETF nor the network upgrades establishes that institutional buying caused the October 9 price recovery. The immediate improvement in ZEC’s trading indicators provides a clearer basis for assessing whether the rebound can continue.
Grayscale’s existing Zcash investment product provides more context for institutional demand. As crypto.news previously reported, the asset manager converted its Zcash Trust into a US-listed spot ETF on August 25, with approximately $304 million in assets under management at launch.
However, institutional flows have not remained consistently positive. The fund recorded $93.56 million in net outflows during the week ended October 2, including withdrawals of $30.25 million on September 30 and $26.93 million on October 2.
On the development side, Zcash’s NU7 upgrade entered testnet on October 4. The proposed changes would reduce target block times from 75 seconds to 25 seconds and introduce a mechanism that allocates part of transaction fees toward future block rewards.
Developers are expected to review the testnet results on October 20 before deciding whether to proceed with the proposed November 5 mainnet activation.
ZEC price analysis ZEC’s daily price structure remains bullish over the longer term, but the latest correction has pushed the cryptocurrency below its shortest major moving average.
The token was trading near $1,213 after recovering from an October 8 selloff that briefly took prices toward $1,100. The decline followed a rally that carried ZEC above $1,600 in late September.
On the daily timeframe, ZEC has fallen below its 20-day exponential moving average at $1,337.05. However, it remains above the 50-day EMA at $1,184.74, the 100-day EMA at $963.72 and the 200-day EMA at $740.22.
ZEC/USDT 1-day price chart. Source: crypto.news The moving averages remain arranged in bullish order, with the 20-day EMA above the 50-day, followed by the 100-day and 200-day averages. The recent decline has therefore weakened short-term price performance without reversing the longer-term moving average structure.
ZEC’s immediate support sits near the 50-day EMA at $1,185, where the latest daily candle has recovered after briefly trading below that level.
If buyers defend this area, the price could move toward $1,250 before attempting to reclaim $1,300. A sustained recovery above $1,300 would bring the 20-day EMA near $1,337 into focus, followed by the $1,400 resistance region.
However, a daily close below $1,185 would weaken the recovery attempt and expose the recent low near $1,100. Further losses could take ZEC toward the psychological $1,000 level, followed by its 100-day EMA near $964.
The daily Aroon indicator provides a separate reading of recent trend activity. Aroon Up stands at 92.86%, while Aroon Down is at 7.14%, indicating that the most recent 14-session high is considerably more recent than the corresponding low.
The high Aroon Up reading indicates that the preceding bullish trend still has influence within the indicator’s lookback period. However, ZEC’s position below its 20-day EMA means the reading has not yet translated into a recovery of the latest price losses.
On the 4-hour timeframe, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence indicator remains negative, although its latest readings suggest that selling momentum is easing.
ZEC/USDT 4-hour price chart. Source: crypto.news The MACD line stands at -36.27, below the signal line at -33.19, while the histogram reads -3.08.
Both lines remain below zero, confirming that bearish momentum continues to dominate the shorter timeframe. However, the histogram has begun contracting after a period of larger negative readings, while the MACD line has started turning upward.
A bullish crossover between the MACD and signal lines would provide stronger evidence that the rebound is gaining momentum. If accompanied by a move above the recent 4-hour high near $1,240, ZEC could attempt to recover $1,250 and subsequently $1,300.
The Chaikin Money Flow indicator has recovered to -0.03 on the 4-hour chart after falling toward -0.20 during the latest selloff.
The recovery toward the zero line indicates that selling pressure has moderated considerably. However, the indicator remains slightly negative, meaning buying pressure has not yet become dominant over the measured period.
A sustained move above zero would strengthen the case for a recovery toward $1,300, particularly if the MACD completes a bullish crossover and ZEC maintains support above $1,185.
Conversely, another decline in CMF alongside a widening negative MACD histogram would suggest renewed selling pressure. Under that scenario, a break below $1,185 could lead to another move toward $1,100, with the 100-day EMA near $964 remaining the next major moving average support if $1,000 fails.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
Cardano’s (ADA) recent stretch has mixed technical progress with public friction. Founder Charles Hoskinson has argued that the privacy-focused Midnight network could eventually surpass Zcash, pressed Gemini (NASDAQ: GEMI) to list ADA again, and pushed back against critics who say years of building haven’t translated into stronger token performance.
At the same time, the Cardano Foundation advanced a bid for a .ada internet domain, while Hoskinson criticized the same organization for leaving Midnight off a major conference display.
On September 28, Hoskinson replied to a bullish note from Weiss Crypto, saying Midnight would become larger than Zcash.
He pointed to selective disclosure, private agents, a DeFi kernel meant to work across major chains, and a stack that combines zero-knowledge proofs, trusted execution environments, and multiparty computation, alongside Cardano’s uptime and the planned Leios upgrade.
The gap remains wide. Around the time of the comment, NIGHT’s market capitalization sat near $443 million, while Zcash’s stood in the mid-$20 billion range.
Separate reporting around October 1 noted that ADA itself was still trading roughly 92 percent below its all-time high, even as Zcash held a far larger valuation and stronger recent momentum.
Hoskinson has framed Midnight as infrastructure for controlled privacy and cross-chain activity rather than a pure privacy coin, but he did not specify whether “bigger” referred to market value, users, or on-chain activity. Exchange access remains another sore point.
On October 6, after Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss marked the exchange’s 11th anniversary, Hoskinson replied with two words: “List ADA.”
The request continues a multi-year campaign.
Gemini already supports several proof-of-stake assets, including Solana, Avalanche, Polkadot, Cosmos, and Tezos, yet it has not added Cardano’s token and has not publicly explained why.
Hoskinson previously estimated that the omission cost the exchange about $70 million in revenue over five years, comparing it to volumes on Binance and Coinbase.
He has raised the issue in interviews, at events, and once by posing with a handwritten “Wen ADA?” sign near a Gemini booth.
Governance and visibility have also collided.
At TOKEN2049 Singapore in early October, Hoskinson walked through the Cardano Foundation’s large booth and noted that Midnight—widely described as the ecosystem’s largest project, with its NIGHT token already trading on Binance as a Cardano native asset—did not appear among the featured teams. Projects such as Minswap, Iagon, SNEK, and GravityDEX did.
He jokingly called Midnight the “Where’s Waldo” of Cardano and suggested its privacy focus might explain the absence, then turned more serious, stating that the booth was a public asset funded by the community and urging holders to watch how treasury resources are used.
Midnight maintained a separate presence at the event.
The episode fits a longer pattern of disagreement between Hoskinson and the Foundation over representation.
Those tensions sit beside a defense of delivery.
In early October, after community members questioned whether spinning Midnight out as its own network hurt ADA holders and whether the year had produced enough activity, Hoskinson asked what else he was supposed to do.
He listed RealFi going live on mainnet on October 1 after public testing, Midnight’s network launch earlier in the year, NIGHT’s earlier debut as a Cardano native asset, the Pentad integration push involving USDCx, Pyth, staged LayerZero support, and Fireblocks plans for native tokens, plus work tied to Pogun, Midnight.city, Draper, and AlphaGrowth.
He noted that NIGHT itself was issued on Cardano and is managed through Cardano wallets.
However, the price has not followed the roadmap: holders continue to see ADA lag well below prior highs.
A separate thread from a July interview still frames how Hoskinson explains the pace.
He compared Cardano’s methodical path to Anthropic’s rise in artificial intelligence, arguing that Google and then OpenAI held early leads, yet Anthropic advanced by prioritizing a disciplined approach over raw speed.
In an environment of frequent exploits and AI-assisted attacks, he said, markets may increasingly favor security and governance over the fastest launch.
On the naming front, the Foundation announced on October 8 that its .ada application had moved into the next stage of ICANN’s new generic top-level domain program.
ICANN published advancing applications on Reveal Day, October 7.
The bid followed a Cardano governance action that passed with roughly 75 percent support.
Approval is not guaranteed; technical, financial, and operational reviews still lie ahead, with delegations from this round expected between 2028 and 2030.
If granted, .ada could sit alongside extensions such as .com and support shorter wallet addresses, links to decentralized identity tools such as Veridian, and domain tokenization.
Other crypto-focused strings, including .sol, .ethereum, .btc, and .bitcoin, are also in the round.
The updates show an ecosystem shipping privacy infrastructure, institutional integrations, and a formal internet-domain bid, while its founder remains publicly at odds with parts of the governance structure and with at least one major US exchange. It remains to be seen whether Midnight narrows the gap to Zcash. And whether ADA’s price eventually reflects the buildout remains an open market question.
Zakura is targeting January 2027 for quantum-resistant Zcash signatures. Fresh addresses limit public-key exposure but can create privacy risks. Private wallet queries offer a way to protect address relationships. Zcash’s preparations for quantum computing have revealed a security trade-off that extends beyond replacing vulnerable digital signatures: protecting a wallet’s public keys can inadvertently expose its financial activity to third-party servers.
Developers at Zakura are working on a system that addresses both problems. The project combines transparent address rotation with private transaction lookups, allowing wallets to monitor funds without disclosing their complete address history to infrastructure providers.
The work accompanies a January 2027 target for introducing hash-based signature verification, which would reduce reliance on cryptography that sufficiently powerful quantum computers could eventually break.
While the proposed signatures address who can authorize transactions, the wallet infrastructure tackles a different question: who can observe the addresses a user controls?
For Zcash, where privacy is a defining feature, the distinction has practical consequences.
Why Fresh Addresses Are Not a Complete Defense Zcash supports both transparent and shielded transactions.
Transparent transactions expose addresses and amounts on the blockchain, while shielded transactions use zero-knowledge cryptography to conceal sensitive payment information.
The difference becomes significant when examining future quantum threats.
A standard transparent address contains a hash of a public key. Once funds are spent, the underlying public key becomes visible as part of transaction validation.
Today’s computers cannot feasibly derive the corresponding private key from that information. A sufficiently capable quantum computer running Shor’s algorithm, however, could undermine the elliptic-curve cryptography used to authorize transactions.
One precaution is to avoid reusing addresses after their public keys have been revealed.
Consider a user holding 100 ZEC who sends 10 ZEC to another wallet. Returning the remaining 90 ZEC to the original address leaves those funds associated with a previously exposed public key.
Sending the change to a fresh address reduces that exposure because the new public key is not immediately disclosed.
This does not make the funds fully quantum-resistant. It limits the cryptographic information available to a potential attacker.
The difficulty emerges when users manage dozens or hundreds of addresses.
To calculate balances and identify incoming payments, many wallets query external servers. Those requests can reveal which addresses belong to the same user, even when the blockchain does not explicitly connect them.
A wallet holder may therefore reduce public-key exposure while creating a detailed record of their activity at the infrastructure level.
The addresses remain separate onchain, but the server handling the requests may learn that they belong together.
That is the privacy gap Zakura is attempting to close.
Checking Balances Without Revealing Wallet Addresses Zakura’s solution uses private information retrieval, or PIR, a cryptographic technique that allows a client to retrieve database information without revealing which record it requested.
Applied to Zcash, the system lets wallets search for transactions without submitting a readable list of their addresses to the server.
According to Zakura’s engineering documentation, the implementation organizes confirmed blockchain activity into ranges of blocks and uses compact public filters to identify potentially relevant transactions.
A wallet downloads those filters and checks them locally. When a range contains possible matches, it retrieves the corresponding records through a private query.
A filter covering 10,000 distinct payment scripts requires approximately 15 KB of data.
That relatively small download helps wallets avoid retrieving unnecessary transaction records while reducing the information exposed to infrastructure providers.
The design also supports wallet restoration.
Recovering a wallet involves more than identifying addresses with positive balances. The software must reconstruct historical activity, including payments received and subsequently spent.
Zakura’s system is designed to retrieve those records privately, allowing users to restore wallets containing numerous previously used addresses.
An experimental implementation is already available through the Private queries setting in the Vizor wallet.
The protection has a clear boundary.
PIR does not conceal transparent transactions on the blockchain. Addresses, amounts and transaction relationships remain publicly visible.
Instead, it prevents a wallet’s balance-checking activity from unnecessarily revealing additional information to the server providing transaction data.
This makes private retrieval useful independently of the planned signature upgrade.
Extended Public Keys Introduce Another Weakness Address rotation also raises questions about how wallets derive and manage their keys.
Most modern cryptocurrency wallets use hierarchical deterministic structures, allowing numerous addresses to be generated from a common recovery seed.
This makes backups simpler, but the relationship between derived keys can introduce security considerations.
An extended public key can reveal the public keys associated with multiple addresses belonging to the same account.
Under certain non-hardened derivation structures, combining an extended public key with one corresponding child private key can allow an attacker to recover the parent private key.
That may expose additional addresses derived from the same account.
An extended public key alone does not grant spending authority. The risk arises when it is combined with compromised private-key material.
Nevertheless, it demonstrates why address rotation cannot be treated as a complete solution.
A wallet could generate a fresh address for every payment while still exposing account-level information through an application, service or backup process.
The security benefit depends on how keys are derived, stored and shared, not simply how often addresses change.
January 2027 Is a Development Target, Not an Activation Date Zakura is targeting January 2027 for post-quantum signature verification support in transparent Zcash transactions.
The proposed instructions would allow transactions to use signatures based on cryptographic hash functions rather than relying exclusively on existing elliptic-curve signatures.
The team has also discussed Winternitz one-time signatures, or WOTS, as a potential interim approach alongside conventional keys.
Hash-based signatures avoid the particular mathematical weakness that makes elliptic-curve cryptography vulnerable to Shor’s algorithm.
The approach has an established foundation in cryptographic research. The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology has standardized a stateless hash-based digital signature algorithm under FIPS 205.
That standard provides useful context, although it does not establish which exact construction Zakura will deploy.
The engineering challenges extend beyond signature verification.
Some hash-based schemes produce larger signatures, increasing transaction data requirements. One-time signature systems also require careful key management because reusing signing material can compromise security.
Wallets must support the new authorization process, while network participants must agree on the consensus rules governing it.
The January milestone remains a development objective. No confirmed mainnet activation date or mandatory migration schedule has been announced.
For existing ZEC holders, that means the proposed technology should not be mistaken for protection already available through ordinary wallet transactions.
Transparent Holdings Make Migration a Significant Task The scale of Zcash’s transparent supply gives the proposed changes substantial relevance.
According to an October 9 snapshot cited by TokenPost, approximately 11.96 million ZEC was held in transparent unspent transaction outputs out of roughly 16.98 million ZEC issued.
That represents about 70.4% of the supply.
The figure does not mean all those coins are immediately vulnerable to quantum attacks.
Some addresses have never revealed their public keys, while others have been used repeatedly. Their potential exposure depends on transaction history and key-management practices.
There is also no publicly demonstrated quantum computer capable of breaking the signatures protecting major cryptocurrency networks at the scale required for practical theft.
Still, the figures indicate how much of Zcash’s issued supply depends on the transparent transaction environment.
A future migration would need to accommodate existing balances, compatible wallets and users with varying levels of technical experience.
Alexander Zdravkov is a crypto journalist and market analyst specializing in digital assets, blockchain technology, and the rapidly evolving cryptocurrency market. He entered the industry more than four years ago, drawn to the speed of innovation in crypto and the potential of blockchain-based financial systems to reshape traditional markets. His work focuses on understanding the forces behind crypto market movements, from Bitcoin and altcoin cycles to institutional adoption, regulation, exchange-traded products, stablecoins, DeFi, and emerging blockchain ecosystems. Rather than simply following price action, Alexander looks at liquidity, investor positioning, market structure, and macroeconomic conditions to identify developing trends and explain what they could mean for digital assets. With a degree in International Relations, he brings a broader perspective to cryptocurrency coverage by connecting developments in the sector with monetary policy, geopolitics, regulation, and global capital flows. This allows him to examine crypto not as an isolated market, but as an increasingly interconnected part of the global financial system. Over the course of more than five years in financial journalism, Alexander has written over 5,000 articles covering cryptocurrencies, blockchain, traditional markets, and the global economy. His reporting spans Bitcoin, Ethereum and altcoins, DeFi protocols, institutional crypto adoption, regulation, market infrastructure, security incidents, and major developments shaping the wider digital asset industry. His approach is centered on giving readers context behind the numbers and headlines, explaining not only what is happening in crypto markets, but why it matters and what could come next.
Bitcoin has topped Taurex’s October 2026 comparison of 10 investment assets with a reported 633.2% inflation-adjusted return, ahead of silver, U.S. stocks and gold.
Summary
Bitcoin ranked first with a 633.2% real return despite a reported 25% annual decline. Silver returned 60.7% after inflation, followed by the S&P 500 at 57.3%. Seven of the 10 assets gained purchasing power under the study’s inflation adjustment. Savings accounts, U.S. aggregate bonds and palladium recorded negative real returns in the comparison. Taurex reported that Bitcoin’s cumulative real return exceeded every other asset in its comparison, while several familiar savings and investment options lost purchasing power. The online trading platform included cryptocurrencies, precious metals, shares, property, farmland, cash and bonds in its October breakdown.
In the report’s ranking, Bitcoin was the only cryptocurrency assessed. The study placed silver second with a 60.7% real total return, followed by the S&P 500’s dividend-inclusive return of 57.3% and gold’s 55.5%.
Using roughly 25% cumulative U.S. inflation, the researchers adjusted investment gains to compare changes in purchasing power, according to the supplied methodology. The report says its calculations included dividends and interest where applicable, rather than relying solely on changes in quoted prices.
Bitcoin leads the ranking despite its annual decline Despite reporting a 25% decline in Bitcoin over the previous year, Taurex assigned the cryptocurrency a 633.2% cumulative real return and a 49% real compound annual growth rate. Its reported cumulative gain was more than 10 times silver’s result.
Across the study’s asset list, Bitcoin’s return stood apart from the remaining positive results, which ranged from 1.6% for U.S. real estate investment trusts to 60.7% for silver. The report ranked each asset by cumulative real return rather than its latest annual performance.
For Bitcoin, the platform’s summary described performance since 2020, while its methodology referred to both four- and five-year tracking periods. The stated holding periods therefore varied within the report’s accompanying explanation.
Recent reporting has also documented episodes when investors pulled money from both Bitcoin and gold. On May 28, crypto.news covered JPMorgan’s assessment of Bitcoin and gold outflows, with analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou describing reduced demand for trades linked to currency debasement.
In that assessment, the bank said exchange-traded funds tracking both assets had suffered outflows over the preceding two weeks, alongside weaker institutional positioning in CME futures.
“It is not a case of Bitcoin funds shifting to gold; rather, both asset classes are facing a simultaneous decline in demand,” JPMorgan said.
Silver and U.S. stocks finish ahead of gold Among the traditional investments assessed, Taurex ranked silver above both gold and the S&P 500. The metal’s 60.7% cumulative real return came with a reported real annual growth rate of 9.9%.
For gold, the study listed a 55.5% cumulative real return and 9.2% annualized growth after inflation. In its investment example, the platform said $10,000 invested in gold at the starting point would have purchasing power equivalent to about $15,500 in 2020 dollars.
With dividends included, the S&P 500 delivered a 57.3% real total return and a 9.5% real annual growth rate in the comparison. Taurex’s accompanying account put the index’s nominal cumulative gain at approximately 96%.
Over the five calendar years discussed in the report, the platform said U.S. shares rose in four, including gains of about 29% in 2021 and 25% in 2024. The report identified 2022 as the losing year, with a decline of approximately 18%.
On July 30, earlier coverage of Bitcoin’s post-PCE recovery recorded gains across cryptocurrency, U.S. equities and precious metals following the June U.S. inflation release.
According to that report, Bitcoin gained 1.2% to around $64,804, while the S&P 500 rose approximately 0.9% in early trading. Gold added about 0.3% to $4,076 per ounce, and silver gained 0.6% to approximately $58.
U.S. inflation data provides a separate market comparison For American investors, Taurex’s comparison used U.S. price inflation alongside domestic stock, housing, farmland and bond measures. Its approximately 25% inflation adjustment covered cumulative price increases over the study period, rather than a single annual inflation reading.
An Aug. 13 report examining Bitcoin’s muted CPI response documented a limited price reaction to the July consumer price index release on Aug. 12. That coverage reported annual headline inflation of 3.4% and a monthly increase of 0.1%.
In the same report, Bitcoin moved from roughly $63,800 to $64,100 over four hours, a gain of approximately 0.47%. The article also reported $854 million in U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF inflows during the first week of August.
According to the August coverage, perpetual futures trading activity had fallen to a three-year low ahead of the CPI release, while options markets priced an expected Bitcoin move of only 1.3%.
Housing gains while cash, bonds and palladium lose value Below the four leading assets, Taurex ranked U.S. house prices fifth, with an 18.6% real total return and 3.5% real annual growth. U.S. farmland followed with a cumulative inflation-adjusted gain of 10.4% and annualized growth of 2%.
For U.S. REITs, the report included total returns and recorded a 1.6% cumulative real gain, equivalent to 0.3% annualized growth. The property investment category was the lowest-ranked asset that still beat the study’s inflation benchmark.
At the bottom of the table, Taurex assigned U.S. savings-account cash a negative 18.2% real total return and a negative 3.9% annual growth rate. Its account summary also cited a 34% share of Americans holding savings accounts paying at least 4% interest.
U.S. aggregate bonds recorded a negative 22.2% real total return and a negative 4.9% annualized result, according to the comparison. Palladium finished last, with a 62.7% cumulative real loss and a negative 17.9% real annual growth rate.
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Ethereum rose 71% in Q3, with its profit supply ratio still not entering the warning zone.
Coinbase Institutional issued a report noting that ETH rallied 71% in the third quarter, yet on-chain metrics show no clear signs of overheating in its price action. Data indicates the share of ETH supply in profit has exited the accumulation range, but remains well below the warning threshold, signaling the current market has not reached the overextended levels flagged by historical metrics.
4 hours ago
Hacker who stole funds from Ledger transferred $1.07 million worth of ETH to Tornado Cash, with some of the funds flowing into Binance’s hot wallet.
According to Onchain Lens monitoring, the suspected hackers linked to the recent crypto heist involving Ledger reseller CryptoBillis — with the stolen amount reportedly nearly $90 million — have transferred 430.2 ETH, valued at around $1.07 million, to Tornado Cash via four wallets. After Tether froze some of the related funds, the suspects reportedly began converting USDT to USDD via SUN.io and USDD’s Peg Stability Module (PSM), while another portion of the funds flowed into Binance’s hot wallet. The suspected wallets flagged by Onchain Lens currently hold approximately $70.6 million in assets, including 11,406 ETH (worth ~$28.35 million), 213.371 BTC (~$17.65 million), 13.646 million USDD (~$13.65 million), and 10.909 million USDT (~$10.91 million). As on-chain funds continue to move, the above tracking data and suspect associations remain to be further verified.
4 hours ago
Former Mt.Gox CEO claims to have discovered Ledger hardware wallets implanted with spy modules, which can send mnemonic phrase information via LTE.
Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès revealed in a post that a Ledger hardware wallet he received is suspected to have an implanted spy module. The device originated from Malaysia; its outer packaging’s heat-shrink film was intact, and anomalies were not immediately noticeable upon opening. The implant was hidden in the position of the screen’s original buffer pad. Karpelès further detailed that the module contains LTE communication components, an antenna, eSIM, and a microcontroller connected to Ledger’s SPI bus. It can analyze characters displayed on the device to users and exfiltrate relevant data after the mnemonic phrase is configured. Attackers may subsequently monitor the victim’s wallet address and transfer assets at an opportune moment. He urged users to inspect their devices in accordance with Ledger’s official guidance.
4 hours ago
MAGIC rose over 60% in 24 hours, pushing its market capitalization to $33 million.
According to HTX market data, MAGIC has surged over 60% in the past 24 hours, currently trading at $0.0992, with its market cap rising to $33 million.
4 hours ago
某用户6月抄底80枚BTC浮盈138万美元,一周前存入Ledger现已全部被盗
According to Lookonchain’s monitoring, a user purchased 80 BTC for approximately $65,000 around four months ago, with a total investment of about $5.2 million. The user once recorded an unrealized profit of roughly $1.38 million. However, the user bought a Ledger hardware wallet from third-party dealer CryptoBillis a week ago and transferred all 80 BTC into it, only to have the entire funds stolen now. This incident is linked to recent fund thefts involving multiple CryptoBillis clients, though whether the devices were tampered with, the specific attack method, and the attacker’s identity remain unconfirmed.
4 hours ago
Investor Loses 80 $BTC ($5.2M) After Buying Compromised Ledger From Reseller
Poor guy! 4 months ago, he bought 80 $BTC ($5.2M) at a low price of ~$65,000 and was sitting on a $1.38M profit. But a week ago, he bought a Ledger device from reseller CryptoBillis and deposited all 80 $BTC into it. Now he's lost everything.
CFTC Moves to Build a Federal Guardrail for Crypto MarketsThe U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (@CFTC) is pushing ahead with its most ambitious effort yet to regulate digital asset trading. On October 5, 2026, the agency released an advance notice of proposed rulemaking covering two new frameworks: Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions (CTX) and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets (CAM). The proposals would establish a federal registration pathway for crypto exchanges, particularly those offering retail customers the ability to trade on margin, leverage, or financing.
The move comes after the U.S. Senate failed to pass the CLARITY Act, the sweeping congressional bill that would have imposed a broader crypto market structure. With legislation stalled, @ChairmanSelig said the agency will act using its existing statutory powers.
The emphasis on segregated accounts is deliberate: it is widely seen as the structural safeguard that FTX lacked before its collapse in November 2022.
Selig Warns That Opposing Federal Standards Protects Fraudsters
The new framework is designed to end that era of litigation-driven oversight and replace it with proactive, rules-based supervision.
The CFTC has opened a 60-day public comment period on the proposals.
Sources:
Bitcoin Magazine: CFTC Chair Says New Crypto Rulemaking Will Prevent Another FTX-Style Collapse
Fenwick: CFTC Previews Regulation CTX and CAM
Benzinga: CLARITY Act Failure Spurs New CFTC Crypto Rules
Former FTX COO Constance Wang criticized Netflix's upcoming FTX series "The Altruists," saying its portrayal of Sam Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison and the exchange's collapse is inaccurate.
The full-length trailer for Netflix's FTX-inspired series "The Altruists" dropped this week, drawing criticism over its portrayal of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison. But former FTX executive Constance Wang said the trailer's depiction of the company's collapse hit much closer to home.
"So many people have DM'd me about this trailer and I’ll be honest, watching it made me physically throw up," Waing said Friday in a post on X.
Wang served as FTX's COO beginning in early 2019 before becoming co-CEO in its final months, until the exchange collapsed in November 2022. She said the trailer's depiction of the company bore little resemblance to her experience working there.
"I was the last one out of the Bahamas after Sam got extradited," Wang said. "I lost everything I had on it and it took me a long time to get over, so I have zero interest in defending the people who caused this. The media loves the story that FTX blew up because we were all partying in the Bahamas, but the place I worked looked nothing like that."
Wang said FTX had fewer than 200 employees, many of whom worked 16- to 18-hour days with "barely" any time to sleep.
The exchange's collapse followed a liquidity crisis that exposed its close financial ties to Alameda and the misuse of customer funds. Bankman-Fried was convicted on seven fraud and conspiracy counts in November 2023 and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Ellison pleaded guilty, cooperated with prosecutors, and testified against him before receiving a two-year prison sentence in September 2024.
Wang also took issue with the trailer's portrayal of Ellison and Bankman-Fried's relationship. Much of the trailer focuses on their romance alongside the familiar rise-and-fall narrative, with Anthony Boyle portraying SBF and Emmy-winning actor Julia Garner portraying Ellison.
"I worked with Caroline and never once saw her get aggressive like she does in this trailer," Wang said. "She's quiet and mild, and often lost in her own thoughts. Most of us didn't even know she and Sam were dating until we read about it after the bankruptcy, and I never saw him so much as put an arm around anyone."
The eight-episode limited series premieres on Netflix on Nov. 19.
"FTX's collapse ruined so many people's lives, including ours, and Netflix decided to make it a love story," Wang concluded. "Shame on you."
Wang co-founded trading platform Pacifica in early 2025, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Aave’s active loans rose 8.1% to $12.6 billion. V4 deposits nearly doubled in September. Crypto payments and tokenized equities are driving expansion. Protocol revenue remains 66.6% below last year. Aave is attempting to build new sources of borrowing demand through cryptocurrency-backed payments, tokenized equities and institutional credit, even as its established lending business remains substantially smaller than a year ago.
The decentralized lending protocol recorded its third consecutive month of growth in September, with total value locked (TVL) averaging $31.4 billion and outstanding loans reaching $12.6 billion, according to Token Terminal’s September 2026 report, shared in X.
Yet the recovery remains uneven. Deposits increased 13.9% from August, while active loans grew 8.1%, leaving both measures more than 55% below their September 2025 levels.
At the same time, Aave V4 is expanding into markets that connect blockchain lending with consumer spending and traditional financial assets.
The strategy could broaden Aave’s borrower base beyond cryptocurrency traders, but its success will depend on whether those integrations generate sustained credit demand and interest income.
Aave’s Recovery Reveals a More Concentrated Lending Market Aave maintained its position as the largest onchain lending protocol in September, accounting for 47% of outstanding loans across projects tracked by Token Terminal. Its $12.6 billion loan book was more than twice the size of its nearest competitor, although its market share remained 17.4 percentage points below the previous year’s level.
The protocol’s average total value locked (TVL) reached $31.4 billion, increasing 13.9% from August and marking a third consecutive monthly gain. The recovery followed a prolonged contraction that reduced TVL from nearly $70 billion in September 2025 to approximately $23 billion in June 2026.
ave’s TVL increased for a third consecutive month in September, but remained 55.2% below its year-earlier level. Source: Token Terminal. The latest increase brings deposits back above $30 billion for the first time since April. Nevertheless, the protocol has recovered only part of the capital lost during the first half of the year, leaving its lending markets substantially smaller than in 2025.
Ethereum continued to anchor Aave’s liquidity, accounting for 83.1% of September TVL, equivalent to approximately $26.1 billion. Its dominance has persisted despite the protocol’s expansion across other networks, including Base, Arbitrum and OP Mainnet.
Ethereum remains the backbone of Aave’s liquidity despite the growing presence of newer networks such as Base, Arbitrum and OP Mainnet. The concentration is also evident in borrowing activity. Wrapped Ether (WETH) represented 39.8% of outstanding loans, followed by Tether (USDT) at 22.8% and USD Coin (USDC) at 22.6%.
While newer blockchain deployments are creating additional opportunities for specialized lending, Aave’s overall performance remains heavily influenced by activity on Ethereum.
A separate view from DefiLlama illustrates the recovery at a daily frequency. Its data shows a sharp TVL decline in late April and early May, followed by stabilization during June and July. A more pronounced rebound began in August and continued into September.
Aave’s TVL has recovered significantly since its April low, approaching $18 billion in October. The daily fee series offers an additional perspective. Although TVL has improved since the summer, fees have not shown a similarly pronounced recovery, indicating that the return of liquidity has yet to produce a comparable increase in fee-generating activity.
DefiLlama reports lower absolute TVL figures than Token Terminal, so the two datasets should not be treated as directly interchangeable. Both, however, illustrate the same broad trajectory: a steep contraction followed by a partial recovery.
That distinction sets up Aave’s next challenge. The protocol is rebuilding its liquidity base, but stronger borrowing demand will be needed to translate that capital into sustained lending revenue, particularly as Aave V4 expands into consumer payments and tokenized financial assets.
Consumer Credit Becomes a Growth Engine for Aave V4 The strongest expansion occurred in Aave V4, the protocol’s newer lending architecture.
Average deposits reached $1 billion in September, increasing 92% from August, while outstanding loans rose 84.4% to $301.2 million.
By month-end, deposits had climbed to a record $1.3 billion and active loans reached $402.7 million.
Much of the expansion came from Ether.fi Cash, a payment card that allows users to borrow stablecoins against cryptocurrency holdings rather than selling their assets to fund purchases.
Its Borrow Mode operates through a dedicated Aave V4 instance on OP Mainnet.
For customers, the arrangement provides spending liquidity while retaining exposure to eligible collateral. For Aave, each qualifying borrowing transaction creates activity within its lending infrastructure.
The Ether.fi Cash instance averaged $279.1 million in deposits during September, nearly tripling in its first full month.
Its influence extended to user activity.
Monthly active addresses across Aave increased 58% to 143,400, the highest level since February. OP Mainnet accounted for 43.7% of that activity, largely because of transactions associated with Ether.fi Cash.
The integration demonstrates how lending protocols can reach customers through financial applications without requiring them to interact directly with decentralized finance interfaces.
However, the reported user metric counts active blockchain addresses rather than verified individuals. Automated activity and multiple addresses controlled by the same user can affect the total.
The longer-term opportunity lies in converting payment activity into recurring borrowing balances, rather than relying exclusively on trading-related leverage.
Aave V4’s hub-and-spoke architecture supports this approach by connecting shared liquidity pools to specialized borrowing markets with separate risk parameters.
That structure allows partners to develop dedicated lending products while drawing on Aave’s broader liquidity infrastructure.
Tokenized Equities Bring Traditional Assets Into Lending Aave’s expansion is not limited to consumer payments.
On September 25, Coinbase Tokenized Stocks became available through an Aave V4 Equities Hub on Base, allowing eligible users outside the United States to borrow USDC against seven tokenized equities.
The supported assets include tokenized representations of Apple, Nvidia and Tesla shares.
This introduces a securities-backed lending model into Aave’s onchain infrastructure.
Instead of selling eligible equity exposure to obtain liquidity, a borrower can use tokenized holdings as collateral for a stablecoin loan.
The integration potentially opens a new source of demand from investors whose portfolios extend beyond cryptocurrencies.
However, tokenized equities introduce operational risks that differ from those associated with continuously traded digital assets.
Traditional stock exchanges have defined trading hours, while cryptocurrency lending systems operate around the clock. Differences in market liquidity, pricing availability and redemption arrangements can complicate collateral valuation during periods of volatility.
Aave’s ability to manage those risks will be important as the Equities Hub begins its first full month of operation in October.
September also brought a V4 deployment on Arc, Circle’s blockchain built around USDC.
Launched on September 16, the Arc market averaged $91.1 million in deposits during its first two weeks.
Together, the Base and Arc deployments broaden V4’s reach into stablecoin infrastructure and tokenized financial assets.
Institutional Lending Moves Beyond Onchain Custody Aave is pursuing a separate opportunity in institutional credit through its Horizon market and a proposed custody-based lending model.
Horizon, which supports borrowing against tokenized real-world assets, averaged $396 million in deposits during September, an increase of 6.5% from August.
Outstanding loans grew faster, rising 17.2% to $135 million.
On an annual basis, Horizon’s deposits increased 216.9%, while borrowing expanded 384.7%, making it one of Aave’s faster-growing specialized markets.
The figures suggest increasing demand for stablecoin borrowing against tokenized collateral, although Horizon remains small relative to Aave’s established markets.
Aave Labs has also proposed Custodied Collateral Lending, which would allow institutions to borrow stablecoins against assets held with a regulated custodian such as Anchorage.
The proposal addresses a constraint that can prevent traditional financial institutions from participating in decentralized lending.
Institutional investors may be subject to custody requirements that restrict transferring securities or other assets into onchain smart contracts.
Allowing eligible collateral to remain with a regulated custodian could make blockchain-based borrowing accessible without requiring institutions to abandon their existing custody arrangements.
However, the model would depend on reliable collateral verification, enforceable legal claims and procedures for managing defaults.
The proposal remained under governance discussion in early October and has not yet become an operating lending market.
Aave Labs has also outlined plans for a dedicated V4 real-world asset hub on Avalanche.
The Revenue Test: Can New Markets Restore Lending Income? Aave’s expansion comes against a difficult financial comparison.
The protocol generated $36.5 million in fees during September, up 7.5% from August but down 65.7% year over year.
Aave’s fee generation has remained below its late-2025 levels, despite a modest recovery in recent months. Interest paid by borrowers accounted for $36.1 million, or 99% of total fees.
The Aave DAO retained $5.2 million in revenue, an increase of 4.4% from August but a 66.6% decline from September 2025.
The distinction matters because total fees are not equivalent to protocol earnings.
Borrowers pay interest to access liquidity, most of which goes to depositors. The DAO retains a portion as revenue.
As a result, additional deposits can increase the capital available for lending without producing proportional revenue growth.
Aave’s newer integrations could improve that relationship if they attract borrowers who maintain outstanding loans and consistently pay interest.
For now, V3 remains the dominant contributor to lending activity, with approximately $12.3 billion in average active loans during September.
V4’s $301.2 million average loan book is growing rapidly but remains a relatively small portion of the total.
The protocol’s treasury averaged $161 million, increasing 22.6% from August. Because the treasury includes AAVE holdings, its reported dollar value is also sensitive to changes in the governance token’s market price.
Meanwhile, AAVE’s market capitalization averaged $2.2 billion, rising 32.6% month over month while remaining 53.7% below its year-earlier level.
GHO Growth Adds Another Dimension Aave’s native stablecoin, GHO, continued expanding despite the weaker annual lending figures.
Its average market capitalization reached $679.1 million in September, increasing 2.6% from August and 127.4% year over year.
The increase marked a fifteenth consecutive month of growth.
Aave’s savings product, sGHO, also benefited from an increase in the Aave Savings Rate from 4.25% to 4.50% annual percentage rate in August.
The rate remained unchanged following the October 2 update.
GHO’s expansion strengthens Aave’s stablecoin ecosystem and creates another connection between lending markets, liquidity provision and savings products.
However, growth in circulating stablecoin supply should not be confused with an equivalent increase in protocol revenue.
The economic contribution depends on how GHO is issued, used and integrated across Aave’s markets.
What Matters After September? Aave’s next stage of development will depend on three areas:
Consumer borrowing: Whether Ether.fi Cash produces sustained loan balances beyond its initial expansion. Tokenized collateral: How much borrowing demand emerges from the new Equities Hub on Base. Institutional credit: Whether the proposed custody-based model progresses through governance and attracts participants. The September report shows improving lending activity alongside the emergence of new products that could broaden Aave’s customer base.
Yet the financial figures also establish a clear limitation: the protocol’s recent growth has not restored the borrowing volumes or revenue recorded a year earlier.
Aave V4 provides a route into consumer payments and traditional financial assets, but those markets still need to demonstrate their economic contribution.
For investors and protocol participants, the more important indicators will be sustained growth in outstanding loans, capital utilization and interest-derived revenue rather than deposits or address activity alone.
Alex is a financial markets journalist and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, and he's spent close to ten years trying to answer one stubborn question: what's really driving this? It started in 2016, when Bitcoin refused to make sense to him - and rather than shrug, he stayed with it until it did. That patience became his method. He's less interested in what an asset is doing today than in the plumbing behind it: how liquidity flows, where risk hides, what a chart is quietly telling you that the headline isn't. That lens eventually stretched well past crypto into traditional markets, because the same forces - fear, leverage, incentives, timing - show up everywhere once you know how to look. Most coverage, in his view, insults the reader by stopping at the surface. Price up, price down, moving on. He'd rather leave someone genuinely understanding a move than merely informed that it happened. His path into markets ran through a Tourism degree at New Bulgarian University - proof, maybe, that curiosity beats credentials. With more than 200 deep analyses and over 10,000 articles behind him, he still walks away from most trading days having learned something he didn't know that morning.
AI agents just got a direct line into one of DeFi’s largest credit markets. Agents can now connect their MetaMask Agent Wallet to the Aave MCP, a pairing designed to link Aave’s lending infrastructure with the growing world of agentic finance.
How the plumbing works Aave Labs launched its Model Context Protocol server on September 8, 2026. It lives at mcp.aave.com and serves as the interface between AI agents and the Aave ecosystem.
The coverage is broad. The server pulls information from Aave V3, which runs on 21 chains, and from Aave V4, which supports Ethereum and Avalanche.
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It ships with approximately 40 tools. Those tools let agents read protocol data, simulate actions before committing to them, and prepare transactions for managing positions across both versions.
The MCP server is non-custodial, so every action it prepares comes back as an unsigned transaction. Nothing moves until that signature lands.
The Agent Wallet is a self-custodial wallet built specifically for AI agents, letting them execute DeFi actions within limits the user sets. Users can cap spending, configure security protocols, and run simulations before anything goes onchain. Throughout, the user keeps control of the private keys.
A month of agent-focused launches MetaMask publicly launched the Agent Wallet on August 6, 2026. On that same day, Aave announced that Agent Wallet users could interact with Aave while keeping self-custody of their funds. The early use cases included automated position monitoring and liquidation protection.
Liquidation protection deserves a quick explainer. On a lending protocol like Aave, borrowers post collateral to take out loans. If that collateral falls too far in value, the position can be liquidated, meaning it gets sold off to cover the debt.
Meanwhile, Aave V4 has kept growing. As of September 2026, total deposits on V4 have surpassed $1 billion, a notable figure for a version that currently supports only two networks.
What this means for DeFi users and builders For developers, the roughly 40 tools lower the barrier to building agent products on Aave. Instead of writing custom integrations for each chain and version, builders can point their agents at a single server that already speaks Aave. With V3 spread across 21 chains and V4 on Ethereum and Avalanche, a unified interface saves builders from stitching together a patchwork of data sources.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Diego Almada Lopez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.