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A Zcash-focused advocacy group has filed to lobby in Washington, stepping up the privacy-oriented cryptocurrency ecosystem’s efforts to shape US policy on digital assets.

Pretty Good Policy for Zcash (PGPZ) filed a lobbying registration effective on Oct. 1, naming executive director Divij Pandya as its sole lobbyist. The registration lists the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act and two digital asset tax proposals as among its current and anticipated lobbying issues.

PGPZ was launched in June this year, growing out of Pretty Good Policy for Crypto, which was launched in 2022 by Electric Coin Co. The initiative hosted Washington policy roundtables and organized a congressional briefing on encryption technologies in 2023.

PGPZ founder and chief policy and regulatory officer of ZODL, Paul Brigner, said the goal is to “make sure Zcash has serious, organized, and credible policy engagement in Washington.”

“Policymakers are making decisions that will affect whether privacy-preserving digital cash can exist, be used lawfully, and serve the public interest. PGPZ is about ensuring Zcash is understood, represented, and defended in those conversations,” he said.

In August, the Zcash Community Grants approved a $750,000 grant to fund PGPZ’s first year of work.

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

7h05 ▪ 5 min read ▪ by Ariela R.

Summarize this article with:

The NEAR Intents hacker returned the $3.8 million stolen on October 1, 2026, announced Alex Shevchenko, CEO of the crypto exchange protocol, on October 2 on X. The return happened before the expiration of the 48-hour ultimatum set to the attacker, whom the leader claimed to have identified. Cointribune cross-checked this announcement with Bitquery’s on-chain analysis: about one fifth of the loot passed through NEAR Intents itself during the theft.

In brief Night of September 30 to October 1 (UTC): 3.87M USDT withdrawn in five times from a NEAR Intents vault on BNB Chain, according to Bitquery; NEAR Intents mentions about $3.8M. October 2: the hacker returns the funds before the end of the 48-hour deadline (Alex Shevchenko, on X). As of October 1 at 2:30 PM UTC, 76% of the loot was in bitcoin (34.69 BTC) and 21% had reached KuCoin (Bitquery). The stolen amount is about 1% of the $387.5M stolen from Bitget on September 24 (Cointribune calculation, according to Bitget). How did NEAR Intents recover $3.8M in less than 48 hours? The crypto hacker sent back the funds on October 2, before the ultimatum expired, Alex Shevchenko wrote on X. The announcement comes a week after the Bitget hack, which NEAR Intents said it blocked part of the fund transfers from.

The $3.8M NEAR Intents hacking funds were fully returned. We are stopping the investigation.

According to NEAR Intents on X, a bug in the interaction between the Omni layer of deposit and withdrawal and the main smart contract (the code holding the funds) enabled the theft. The service suspended its operations, promised full compensation, and alerted authorities. Our first article about the NEAR Intents hack details these announcements.

Bitquery’s analysis details the sequence: 3,865,000 USDT withdrawn from a vault on BNB Chain, in five withdrawals over about six hours, after two tests of 10 and 11 USDT.

However, this figure does not tell the whole story. The difference with the $3.8 million announced by NEAR Intents could come from the last withdrawal of 35,000 USDT. Moreover, the detailed report promised on October 1 has not been published at this stage.

Where did the funds go after the crypto hack? As of October 1 at 2:30 PM UTC, 76% of the loot was converted into 34.69 BTC distributed across four wallets, and 21% ($802,000) had reached KuCoin deposit addresses, according to Bitquery. Investigator ZachXBT also reported a passage through KuCoin, then a transfer to Bitcoin.

Another fact noted by Bitquery: about $822,000 was exchanged via NEAR Intents during the theft, automated exchanges that do not reveal what the protocol knew, nor when.

Why did the crypto hacker return the funds? The exact reason has not been publicly established. NEAR Intents claimed to have identified the attacker and gave them 48 hours to practice responsible disclosure, meaning reporting a crypto vulnerability rather than exploiting it, in a message on X.

You know better than most people how responsible disclosure works: this is the last window to use it. After 48 hours, this window closes.

A message attached to a transaction, shared by Alex Shevchenko and apparently from the attacker, acknowledges wrongdoing and invites using the bug bounty programs (rewards for reporting vulnerabilities). The crypto hacker’s identity and the identification method have not been disclosed either.

Is the NEAR Intents hack connected to the Bitget one? At this stage, no public evidence establishes that the two crypto hacks were carried out by the same actor. Bitget suspects a North Korean group for its September 24 attack, without independent confirmation.

NEAR Intents says it blocked more than $50 million in transfers attempted by crypto wallets linked to Bitget: $503,000 frozen in execution and $166,000 passed, according to Alex Shevchenko.

NEAR Intents hack: what we know and what remains unknown ItemInformationWithdrawalsNight of September 30 to October 1 (UTC), $3.87M in five withdrawals (Bitquery)Ultimatum48-hour deadline announced by Alex ShevchenkoReturnOctober 2, before deadline, announced by Alex ShevchenkoAttacker’s identityNot public, identification method not detailedReason for the returnNot publicly establishedTechnical reportPromised, not published at the time of article writingLink with BitgetNo public evidence at this stageSources: NEAR Intents, Alex Shevchenko, Bitquery. Information available as of October 5, 2026. The sequel depends on a deadline still undetermined: the detailed report promised by NEAR Intents. It will reveal whether this hack remains an isolated incident or reveals a weakness in its cross-chain infrastructure, which covers 35 blockchains, after the crypto hacks in September.

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Ariela R.

My name is Ariela, and I am 31 years old. I have been working in the field of web writing for 7 years now. I only discovered trading and cryptocurrency a few years ago, but it is a universe that greatly interests me. The topics covered on the platform allow me to learn more. A singer in my spare time, I also cultivate a great passion for music and reading (and animals!)

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.

China's Huawei Technologies (HWT.UL) said on Monday it had agreed a broad multi-year ​patent licence deal with Qualcomm (QCOM.O) covering ‌artificial intelligence, 5G, computing and networking technologies.

Here are some details:

The agreement includes Qualcomm's purchase of ​certain Huawei US patents related to ​computing, AI and networking, Huawei said in ⁠a statement.

It is Huawei's first patent ​licensing deal with Qualcomm that covers 5G ​technologies.

Huawei said the deal is expected to push the total value of its patent licensing agreements ​to more than $6.9 billion once completed.

The ​company said its intellectual property licensing business has generated ‌positive ⁠revenue since 2021, reflecting years of heavy investment in research and development.

Huawei ramped up R&D spending in recent years, as ​US trade ​restrictions since ⁠2019 have limited its ability to buy advanced chips and ​crucial software.

Huawei made its first licensing ​payment ⁠to Qualcomm in 2001, while it received its first licensing income in 2011 ⁠from ​Motorola.

The Qualcomm agreement follows a ​licensing deal with HP Inc (HPQ.N) announced by Huawei in August.

@Hedera's native stablecoin market cap has jumped roughly 71% over the past week, reaching approximately $48 million, according to data cited by @BSCNews. The move is notable for a network that is still building out its decentralized finance presence, and it comes against a backdrop of broad stablecoin expansion across the industry.

Still Climbing the Rankings Despite the sharp weekly gain, Hedera sits at just 39th place globally when chains are ranked by stablecoin market cap. That ranking, however, may not hold for long. The network is now within reach of several established layer-1 blockchains, including @Algorand, @XDCNetwork, and @Cardano, all of which have longer track records in the stablecoin space. A continued run at this pace could see Hedera overtake each of them in the near term.

The growth fits a broader pattern on the network. Earlier in 2026, Hedera's stablecoin supply had already been trending upward, with crypto.news reporting in January that USDC accounts for the vast majority of the total stablecoin supply on the chain. Data from DeFiLlama showed stablecoin supply surging nearly 17% over a single seven-day period earlier this year, driven largely by USDC, which accounted for about 99.8% of the total supply.

Why Stablecoin Supply Matters Rising stablecoin supplies on a network signal greater on-chain liquidity, which in turn can fuel increased investor demand for the native token. For Hedera, that native token is $HBAR, which currently carries a market cap of around $4.5 billion and ranks among the top 30 cryptocurrencies globally, according to CoinGecko data, with roughly 44 billion HBAR tokens in circulation.

The stablecoin surge also reflects a wider industry shift. Total stablecoin market capitalization crossed $310 billion in mid-2026, up from roughly $124 billion at the end of 2023, a 150% increase in under three years. As more capital flows into stablecoins across all chains, networks that can attract and retain that liquidity stand to benefit in terms of activity, fee revenue, and ecosystem growth.

For Hedera, the 71% weekly gain in stablecoin supply is a meaningful signal that on-chain activity is picking up. Whether the network can sustain that momentum and close the gap on its L1 peers remains the key question to watch.

Sources:
crypto.news: Hedera price breaks above crucial support as stablecoin supply grows
CoinGecko: Hedera (HBAR) live market data
Spark Money: Stablecoin supply growth and 2026 projections

Australia's CSL (CSL.AX) said on Monday it had entered ​into an agreement with Switzerland-based Alentis Therapeutics to ‌co-develop and co-promote a treatment for rare kidney and liver diseases, in a deal worth up to $1.6 billion before development ​funding.

Under the partnership, CSL will make an upfront ​payment of $355 million, while Alentis is eligible for ⁠up to $1.2 billion in commercial milestone payments.

The deal ​gives the Australian biotech giant rights to jointly develop ​and commercialise lixudebart, a potential first-in-class treatment being studied for rare kidney and liver diseases.

Lixudebart, formerly known as ALE.F02, is currently ​in a Phase 2 trial for a rare autoimmune ​kidney disease that can cause irreversible kidney damage and end-stage renal ‌disease.

The ⁠drug was granted orphan drug designation — a special status granted by the US FDA to investigational therapies intended to prevent, diagnose, or treat rare diseases or ​conditions — for the ​treatment of ⁠idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or chronic lung disease, in 2024.

The companies also plan to advance ​the drug as a potential treatment for ​focal ⁠segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a chronic kidney disease, and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), a chronic liver disease for which there is ⁠currently ​no approved therapy.

Once commercialised, global profits ​from the drug will be shared 55% to CSL and 45% to ​Alentis.

TLDR: Table of Contents

BlackRock built three model portfolios, covering high income, diversified growth, and high growth.  Ondo turns each strategy into one token, so investors skip managing and rebalancing separate positions.  Tokenized real-world assets near $9 billion in market cap, with equities growing fastest in holders. Partners like Mirae Asset in Korea and SBI in Japan widen access across Asia, Europe, and Australia.  BlackRock tokenized portfolios are now entering the onchain market through a collaboration with Ondo Finance. BlackRock built three model portfolios focused on high income, diversified growth, and high growth.

Ondo then converted each strategy into a single token. The portfolios combine stocks, bonds, and Bitcoin ETFs. Holders can trade the tokens around the clock, including outside traditional market hours. The launch comes as tokenized real-world assets near $9 billion in market capitalization.

How the Ondo Tokenization Model Works Tokenization so far has centered on individual assets. Stocks, bonds, Treasuries, and funds have each been placed onchain separately.

This launch takes a different route by tokenizing a complete investment strategy. As a result, investors can hold one token rather than several separate positions.

Coin Bureau described the structure in a post on X. According to the post, BlackRock designs the portfolio while Ondo turns access into an onchain token.

Blackrock took TOKENIZATION to the NEXT LEVEL

Until now, most tokenization has focused on putting individual assets onchain.

Stocks. Bonds. Treasuries. Funds.

Now BlackRock and Ondo Finance are pushing toward something bigger: putting the entire INVESTMENT STRATEGY onchain.… https://t.co/rRCp2nGqTG

— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) October 4, 2026

Therefore, investors avoid managing and rebalancing multiple positions by hand. Each token represents one of the three BlackRock strategies.

Because the BlackRock tokenized portfolios exist on blockchain rails, the tokens can move between wallets and platforms. They can also connect with other financial applications. Holders may use them as collateral in onchain apps. This feature extends the use of the tokens beyond simple holding.

Coin Bureau added that this move points toward tokenizing asset management itself. Model portfolios held roughly $9.8 trillion in assets as of June, according to Broadridge.

Consequently, asset managers could distribute full strategies through blockchain infrastructure if part of that market moves onchain.

Market Growth and Global Expansion The launch comes as tokenized real-world assets near $9 billion in market capitalization. Among these assets, equities have seen the fastest growth in holders and trading volume.

Ondo’s portfolio tokens enter this market as a new category of product. BlackRock tokenized portfolios therefore join a market that is already expanding.

Ondo has also secured partnerships across Asia, Europe, and Australia to widen access. In Asia, Mirae Asset in Korea and SBI in Japan are among the partners.

The partnerships expand access to the tokenized portfolios in those regions. Together, these partners broaden the distribution of the tokens.

The Coin Bureau post also looked at what could come next. AI could eventually build personalized portfolios around an investor’s goals, risk tolerance, and tax situation.

Tokenization would then provide access to a much wider range of assets. This scenario remains a possibility rather than a confirmed development.

The post also summarized the progression in three steps. Stablecoins brought cash onchain, while tokenization brought assets onchain.

Now BlackRock and Ondo are bringing entire portfolios onchain. According to Coin Bureau, blockchain could become part of global asset management infrastructure rather than only a settlement layer.

Table of contents

Hyperion DeFi, Inc. (NASDAQ: HYPD), the first publicly listed U.S. company building on the Hyperliquid blockchain, said on October 2 that it repurchased 240,124 HYPD shares and retired roughly $8.6 million of legacy debt, with the paydown partially funded by HYPE token sales, according to a press release filed with the SEC.

The Dallas-based company bought back 240,124 common shares at a weighted average price of $3.21 per share, before costs and fees, and repaid all outstanding principal and interest under its loan agreement with Avenue Capital. The move leaves Hyperion DeFi with no long-term debt outstanding. Chief Executive Officer Hyunsu Jung said September brought raised guidance, the start of buybacks, the debt paydown and several new business announcements, and thanked Avenue Capital for supporting the shift away from the company’s former biotech brand, Eyenovia.

A treasury funded partly by HYPE As of September 30, the company held about $14.5 million in cash, cash equivalents and stablecoins and owned 1.85 million HYPE tokens, with roughly 15.44 million HYPD shares outstanding. HYPE is the native token of Hyperliquid, a layer-one blockchain built for high-frequency trading, and has traded on major venues since Binance listed it with a seed tag in September. The company said more than 47 million HYPE have been autonomously purchased and sequestered by the network from trading fees on its central limit order books. The network settles orders, cancellations and liquidations in 70-millisecond block times and also runs HyperEVM, a smart-contract platform for permissionless DeFi applications, according to the filing. Staking HYPE grants holders lower trading fees and higher referral bonuses on the network.

From biotech to onchain DeFi Hyperion DeFi describes itself as the first U.S.-listed DeFi company on Hyperliquid, offering shareholders exposure to HYPE through staking yield and onchain utility revenue. The business is expanding alongside a broader build-out of the Hyperliquid borrowing and lending services launched this year. The filing’s forward-looking statements, including plans to scale its onchain DeFi businesses and further optimize its capital structure, remain subject to market and regulatory risks, and the company did not set a timetable for additional buybacks. It provides investors with streamlined access to what it describes as one of the fastest-growing blockchains. The company did not disclose a total dollar value for the repurchase beyond the share count and average price.

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Entrepreneur and freelance writer based in Nakuru, Kenya. I cover cryptocurrency, the Blockchain technology, and financial topics. It’s my joy to transform the simplest phrases in a way they reach a reader’s heart to help them discover how crypto is disrupting the world as we have known it. I believe in transforming the world, one word at a time.

Peter Schiff says MicroStrategy has pulled its Stretch (STRC) preferred stock back toward its $100 par value. However, he argues the company has lost the issuance channel that funded its Bitcoin purchases.

Even so, Strategy has kept adding Bitcoin, funding its latest purchase with proceeds from common stock sales.

Schiff Credits Buybacks and a Bitcoin Rebound for STRC’s RecoverySchiff, a longtime Bitcoin critic, made the case on his October 2 podcast. He said STRC trades near $99.4, a recovery he admitted surprised him.

MicroStrategy Stretch (STRC) Stock. Soure: TradingViewHe credited Strategy’s weekly STRC buybacks and Bitcoin’s rally for the move. Schiff said that rally may have restored some confidence in the stock or triggered short covering.

The preferred stock had sunk to about $75 earlier this year, which CEO Phong Le blamed on unexpected leverage.

Referring to Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, Schiff argued that the rebound has not reopened Strategy’s key funding route.

“There’s no way that he’s going to be able to start selling more Stretch; that means he’s not going to be able to raise money to really start buying more Bitcoin,” Schiff said.

He added that Strategy has raised enough cash to keep paying STRC dividends a little longer before it runs out. However, he said the company no longer has the machinery to buy more Bitcoin.

Saylor, for his part, pointed to calmer trading in the stock. He said STRC’s 30-day historical volatility stood at 9% as of October 2. That put it below the 10% reading for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY).

A milestone for Digital Credit: $STRC’s 30-day historical volatility is now 9%, below $SPY. We’re harnessing the power of Bitcoin while reducing price volatility for income investors. This is what financial engineering should do. pic.twitter.com/Jka7oOesa1

— Michael Saylor (@saylor) October 3, 2026
Common Stock Has Funded Most of Strategy’s Bitcoin Buys Since MayStrategy’s weekly filings support part of Schiff’s argument. The company last sold STRC through its at-the-market program between May 11 and 17, raising about $1.95 billion.

Its remaining STRC capacity has held at about $17.51 billion in every filing since, meaning no further shares were sold.

Strategy then paused Bitcoin buying for 10 weeks over the summer, selling coins instead to fund dividends and STRC buybacks. When it resumed in late August, it relied on other funding sources.

It sold class A common stock (MSTR) to fund 4,603 BTC that week and 1,665 BTC in late September. In between, it spent $75.7 million from its USD Cash account on 950 BTC.

Common stock proceeds also flow back into STRC. Between September 21 and 27, Strategy used $103.5 million from MSTR sales to repurchase STRC shares.

Strategy also held a $5.02 billion USD Reserve as of September 27. The company says the pool is meant to support preferred dividends and debt interest.

Schiff expects Bitcoin to roll over once tech stocks pull back. Strategy usually reports purchases on Mondays, so its next filing will show whether common stock sales keep funding its buys.

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Ethereum traded near $2,687 on October 4 after reaching $2,765 briefly the previous day, according to historical data compiled by CoinCodex.

Key price levels and technical landscapeThe $2,700–$2,800 zone marks a critical region for Ethereum, with analysts identifying this range as the dividing line between short-term price consolidation and the potential for a renewed move toward $3,000.

Bulls have repeatedly failed to secure $2,800 as a support level, leaving ETH in a familiar trading range. A sustained close above $2,800 could open the door to $3,000, while further rejection likely puts the $2,600–$2,650 range in focus as the main support area.

Ethereum will need to stabilize above $2,700 and close decisively above $2,800 before a push toward $3,000 becomes plausible, based on current breakout analysis.

Despite periodic attempts to break above resistance, the technical setup for Ethereum remains heavily influenced by both price action and institutional sentiment.

Institutional flows and ETF outflowsRecent data from Farside Investors shows that U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs saw three consecutive days of net outflows through October 2. Investors withdrew $59.6 million on September 30, $55.4 million on October 1, and $17.3 million on October 2, in contrast to stronger demand seen earlier in the quarter.

Coinpaper also reported this divergence, noting that while Ethereum funds moved back to net outflows, Bitcoin-based ETF products showed greater resilience.

ETF/ProductSept. 30 Net FlowOct. 1 Net FlowOct. 2 Net FlowTrendU.S. Spot Ethereum ETF– $59.6M– $55.4M– $17.3MOutflowBitcoin ETFStableStableStableMore resilientThe shift in institutional demand has added headwinds for Ethereum’s rally attempts at key price levels.

Glamsterdam upgrade and price outlookBeyond technicals and fund flows, market attention is turning to the upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade. This major Ethereum network update is set to activate on the Sepolia testnet on October 6 and aims to deliver improvements in Layer-1 scaling, block construction, and gas pricing. Mainnet activation is expected later in the fourth quarter.

Coinpaper has linked the anticipated Glamsterdam upgrade to the possibility of ETH testing the $3,000 mark, should resistance break and positive sentiment build.

Mini dictionary: Glamsterdam Upgrade, the next major Ethereum network update designed to improve core Layer-1 scalability, block production processes, and reduce transaction fees through more efficient gas pricing. Activation will occur first on testnets like Sepolia before mainnet deployment.

Technical analysts have already highlighted a possible connection between the upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade and a renewed attempt by $ETH to break key resistance and approach $3,000.

17h05 ▪ 14 min read ▪ by La Rédaction C.

Summarize this article with:

Crypto rankings almost always sort by price or market cap. This one looks at neither. It counts what each project actually put into production between 1 July and 29 September 2026, with a date and an official source for every milestone. The result: Stellar finishes first, Qubic and Chainlink follow, and two of the market’s heavyweights, Ethereum and Bitcoin, do not even make the table.

In Brief Five projects selected after a review of the CoinGecko top 100 on 29 September, plus Qubic, a guest from outside the top 100 (about $66 million in market cap). Four criteria, nothing else: an upgrade activated on mainnet, a product launched, a named institution or regulator, a usage figure published by the project. Stellar ticks all four boxes with six dated milestones, including MoneyGram joining as a validator and $40 billion processed since January. Chainlink lands the largest institutional deal of the quarter: 17 banks and asset managers connected to Swift’s blockchain ledger. Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana and Hyperliquid are absent: nothing dated on their mainnet in the third quarter. How was this ranking built? By counting dated, sourced milestones, not promises. A milestone scores one point if it is dated, published by the project itself (blog, press release, GitHub repository) and happened between 1 July and 29 September 2026.

The starting point is the CoinGecko top 100 as read on 29 September. The approach extends the one used in our AI crypto comparison, which already refused to line up Qubic, TAO or Render by price alone.

Four categories were reviewed for each project.

Mainnet: the real version of the blockchain, where user funds actually move, as opposed to test networks. Only an upgrade that was voted and activated counts. Product: a service open to the public. A roadmap does not count. Institutions and regulators: a named partner, a licence obtained, a financial product listed on an exchange. Published figures: a usage number released by the project itself, such as transactions, accounts or volume. Projects are ranked first on the number of categories covered, then on the number of milestones. Ties are broken by the size of the counterparties. What does not count: price, undated announcements, testnets, rumours and forecasts.

RankProject (CoinGecko market cap, 29/09)MainnetProductInstitutionsPublished figuresDated milestones1Stellar (XLM), $7.8BYesYesYesYes62Qubic (QUBIC), $66M, outside top 100YesYesNoYes63Chainlink (LINK), $10.9BNoYesYesYes54Injective (INJ), $0.77BUnconfirmedYesYesYes55Ondo (ONDO), $2.5BNoYesYesNo6Market caps rounded, read on CoinGecko on 29 September 2026. Just behind, with two categories each: TRON, Algorand, Zcash, Avalanche, XRP (see below). Why does Stellar finish first? Because it is the only network in the panel to tick all four boxes with dates. One upgrade, two products, three named partners and one published activity figure, all in twelve weeks.

On 8 July, validators activated Protocol 27, nicknamed “Zipper”. Validators are the computers that confirm transactions. The upgrade lets an account delegate its signature check to another address, which simplifies multi-signer wallets (Stellar software versions).

On 16 July, MoneyGram, Figure Markets and Range became Tier 1 validators (press release, 16 July).

The day before, Tradable had committed to tokenize up to $1 billion of private credit on the network (press release, 15 July). Tokenizing means representing a traditional asset as a token on a blockchain.

On 2 September, USDT0, the multi-chain version of Tether’s stablecoin, went live on Stellar. The same release puts the value processed by the network since January at $40 billion (press release, 2 September).

On 22 September, payments infrastructure provider BVNK integrated the network (press release, 22 September).

Denelle Dixon, CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation, on 2 September:

Stellar has been trusted to power cross-border payments for more than a decade and the addition of USDT0 to the Stellar ecosystem strengthens the network’s industry-leading payments stack.

What is missing: no active-user figure in any of these releases, and the stablecoin clearing prototype linked to the Bank of England’s settlement system, announced on 3 September, remains a prototype.

Qubic: what is a project outside the top 100 doing here? On the grid, it matches the big names. On market cap, it is nowhere near them. Six dated milestones in one quarter, no named institution, and a $66 million market cap, one hundred times smaller than Stellar.

Qubic has its miners work on useful computations, in practice training neural networks, instead of disposable ones. The project calls this useful proof of work, which we detailed in Qubic: turning every CPU cycle into real-world value.

On 29 July, Outsourced Computing went live on mainnet: third parties can now buy the miners’ computing power. On 4 August, the AIO developer kit was released publicly.

On 19 August, at epoch 227, token issuance was cut in half, an event known as a halving (Qubic recap of the 6 August meeting, published 13 August).

At epoch 228, in late August, Ant Colony mining was activated. Instead of each starting from scratch, miners extend results published by others. Each published result requires a 1 million QU deposit, and the 676 best miners are rewarded every week (Qubic blog post, 4 September).

On 22 September, the project reported a score of 0.38 for its Neuraxon model on ARC-AGI-3, a reasoning benchmark for artificial intelligence, up from 0.13 at the start, achieved on standard CPUs with no graphics card. The same recap reports a live cross-chain oracle and AEON Pay coverage at more than 20 million merchants in six countries (Qubic recap, 22 September).

The limits are clear. The ARC-AGI-3 score is self-reported by Qubic, not taken from a third-party leaderboard. 

The Alchemy Pay purchase campaign converted $12,613 from 38 buyers between 29 July and 28 August, a modest figure the project publishes itself.

The legal entity needed for its MiCA file, the European crypto-asset regulation, is “being registered”. No bank, no regulator, no exchange named this quarter. Hence the empty “Institutions” box, and second place rather than first.

Chainlink: the quarter of the institutions Five milestones in six weeks, every one with a named counterparty. A ranking weighted by partner size would put Chainlink on top. That is not the choice made here, and we say so.

Chainlink is a network of oracles: it feeds smart contracts with real-world data, such as a price or a bank reserve.

On 18 August, the State of Wyoming migrated its FRNT stablecoin to CCIP, Chainlink’s protocol for moving assets between blockchains, across eight networks (press release, 18 August). On 2 September, the same state adopted Chainlink Proof of Reserve (press release, 2 September).

On 24 August, Coinbase chose Chainlink price feeds for its tokenized stocks on Base (press release, 24 August).

On 28 September, CCIP 2.0 launched, with ANZ, Fidelity International, Sygnum and SBI Digital Markets among the named users, and $84 billion of cross-chain value secured according to the project (press release, 28 September).

The heaviest milestone came the same day: 17 financial institutions connected, in a pilot, to Swift‘s blockchain ledger through Chainlink’s runtime environment (Chainlink press release). We covered the starting point of that relationship in Chainlink enables tokenized asset transactions via Swift integration.

Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, in that release:

I’m very excited about the Swift ledger and what it will mean for tokenized deposits, as well as where global payments goes next.

One nuance to keep: this is a pilot, not a production rollout, and the oracle network itself saw no dated upgrade this quarter.

Injective: shipping inside a regulated frame An SEC registration, $1 billion of tokenized mortgage records, and INJ on Solana. Three categories covered, a fourth possible but unverified.

On 19 August, Injective Institutional Services was registered as a transfer agent with the SEC, the US securities regulator. A transfer agent keeps the official register of who holds a security (Injective blog post, 19 August).

On 4 September, Pineapple Financial tokenized more than $1 billion of mortgage records on the network (blog post, 4 September).

On 17 September, the INJ token became available on Solana (blog post, 17 September). On 22 September, Injective opened stablecoin payments at thousands of merchants through Bitrefill (blog post, 22 September).

What is not counted: two mainnet upgrades, IIP-677 in late July and Meridian on 24 September, relayed by exchanges but not found on Injective’s blog or governance page as of 29 September. If they are confirmed, Injective covers four categories and moves ahead of Qubic and Chainlink.

Ondo: tokenized stocks move from pilot to regulated framework Six milestones, including three US authorisations, but no network upgrade of its own and no usage figure. That is what keeps it in fifth place despite sharing the highest milestone count in the panel with Stellar and Qubic.

Ondo tokenizes US financial assets. On 15 July, it launched the first tokenized stocks backed by entitlements held at the DTC, the US central securities depository (Ondo blog post, 15 July).

On 23 July, its subsidiary Oasis Pro Markets obtained FINRA authorisations, the US broker-dealer regulator, to offer tokenized stocks and funds to US investors (blog post, 23 July).

On 16 September, it became the first tokenization platform to join Fund/SERV, the DTCC system that handles 85% of US fund transactions (blog post, 16 September).

Talia Klein, Managing Director at DTCC, in that post:

Interoperability between traditional infrastructure and digital asset ecosystems will be critical to achieving scale and broad market adoption.

Add the SBI partnership in Japan on 16 July, USDY on BNB Chain on 4 August and Ondo Stocks on NEAR on 22 September (blog post, 22 September). None of these posts gives a volume, a holder count or assets under management: the “Published figures” box stays empty.

Just behind: TRON, Algorand, Zcash, Avalanche, XRP Five projects with two categories each, including the fifth-largest by market cap. They fall outside the top 5 on the grid, not on importance.

TRON changed nothing dated on its protocol, but the first spot staked TRX ETF listed on Cboe on 9 September, and the project published $30 trillion in cumulative volume and 405 million accounts on 24 September (press release, 24 September). The previous step is in TRON breaks records: 400 million accounts.

Algorand did the opposite: protocol, no partners. Post-quantum accounts, built to resist future quantum computers, have been live since 20 August, with 1.24 million transactions in nineteen days, and the August report counts 677,000 active wallets (August report).

Zcash responded to a flaw discovered in May: the Ironwood upgrade on 28 July closed the old shielded pool and opened a new one (official NU6.3 page), then Grayscale’s Zcash ETF listed on NYSE Arca on 25 August. Context in Grayscale launches the first Zcash ETF listed in the United States.

Avalanche has only two milestones, but heavy ones: the Helicon upgrade on 22 September, six proposals activated at once (v1.15.0 on GitHub), and the Goldman Sachs FTIXX money market fund made accessible through Lynq, a settlement network built on a private Avalanche chain (tZERO press release, 28 September).

XRP: Ripple obtained its full CASP licence under MiCA on 6 July, valid in thirty countries (Ripple press release), and launched Ripple Mint on 23 July. On the XRPL side, versions 3.3.0 and 3.4.0 were released, but no major amendment activation is confirmed as of 29 September: released software is not activated software.

Who is missing, and why? The absentees are not stalled projects. Their quarter played out on test networks.

Ethereum activated Fusaka on 3 December 2025. Since then, everything has happened on testnets: Glamsterdam is scheduled on Sepolia for 6 October and the mainnet date is “not decided” (Ethereum announcement, 17 September).

Bitcoin: Core 31.0 shipped on 19 April, nothing dated since (31.0 release notes). Solana did activate Transaction V1 on 9 September, but Alpenglow slipped to October (Solana changelog, 18 September): one category only. Hyperliquid has only dated testnets.

Cardano completed its van Rossem hard fork on 18 July, the first ratified entirely by an on-chain vote (Intersect post): one category, one milestone.

What this ranking does not tell you Counting is not weighing. Avalanche sits outside the top 5 with two milestones, each of which outweighs half the table. Chainlink would be first if ranked by counterparty size. The grid is deliberately simple so it can be verified; it is not fair in every case.

The figures are self-reported. Chainlink’s $84 billion, Stellar’s $40 billion, Qubic’s 0.38 are published by the projects. None has been audited by a third party as far as we know. And a quarter is a snapshot: Kaspa activated Toccata on 30 June, one day too early to make it here.

Finally, there is no link to price. Algorand, outside the top 5, saw ALGO gain 72% in six weeks. Stellar, first, publishes no figure of that kind. Shipping and rising are two different things, and this article makes no forecast.

On the current market dynamics, see Altcoins outperform Bitcoin, but this is not altseason yet. 

FAQ Does a project outside the top 100 belong in a crypto top 5? Yes, provided the same grid is applied and its market cap is shown. Qubic weighs about $66 million, one hundred times less than Stellar, and it is a Cointribune partner. Both facts are in the table. Excluding it on market cap alone would amount to ranking by price, which this article refuses to do.

Where can I check each milestone myself? Every date in this article links to the project’s blog, press release or GitHub repository. For software versions, the repository’s “releases” page is the reference. For ETFs, the issuer’s press release and the listing exchange’s page.

Why don't testnets count? Because a testnet can slip with no consequence for users. Alpenglow at Solana and Glamsterdam at Ethereum were both pushed back this quarter. Only mainnet commits user funds, so only mainnet counts.

Will this ranking be updated? Yes, at the end of each quarter, with the same grid. The next dated deadlines: Glamsterdam on Sepolia on 6 October, Alpenglow targeted for October by Solana, and Zcash’s NU7 upgrade targeted for 5 November according to developers, a date not confirmed by the Foundation.

On 6 October, Ethereum will activate Glamsterdam on Sepolia. If mainnet follows before 31 December, the fourth-quarter table will have a new leader. If not, the question will be the same as today: who ships, and who announces?

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The Cointribune editorial team unites its voices to address topics related to cryptocurrencies, investment, the metaverse, and NFTs, while striving to answer your questions as best as possible.

 | Source: Vaxcyte, Inc.

SAN CARLOS, Calif., Oct. 04, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vaxcyte, Inc. (Nasdaq: PCVX), a clinical-stage vaccine innovation company, today announced it will host a webcast and conference call tomorrow, October 5, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. ET / 5:00 a.m. PT to present topline data from the OPUS-1 adult pivotal Phase 3 trial evaluating the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of VAX-31, the Company’s 31-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) candidate designed to prevent invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and pneumococcal pneumonia.

To participate in the conference call, please dial 800-445-7795 (domestic) or 785-424-1699 (international) and refer to conference ID PCVX1005. A live webcast of the conference call will also be available on the investor relations page of the Vaxcyte corporate website at www.vaxcyte.com. 

After the live webcast, the event will remain archived on the Vaxcyte website for at least 30 days.

About Vaxcyte
Vaxcyte is a vaccine innovation company engineering high-fidelity vaccines to protect humankind from the consequences of bacterial diseases. VAX-31, a 31-valent PCV candidate being evaluated in the OPUS Phase 3 adult clinical program and in a Phase 2 infant clinical program, is being developed for the prevention of IPD and is the broadest-spectrum PCV candidate in the clinic today. VAX-24, a 24-valent PCV candidate, has generated positive Phase 2 clinical results in both adults and infants and is designed to cover more serotypes than any PCV on-market. VAX-31 and VAX-24 are designed to improve upon standard-of-care PCVs by covering the serotypes in circulation that cause a significant portion of IPD and are associated with high case-fatality rates, antibiotic resistance and meningitis, while maintaining coverage of previously circulating strains. VAX-XL, in earlier-stage development, also leverages the Company’s carrier-sparing, site-specific conjugation technology with the aim of further expanding coverage to deliver the broadest-spectrum candidate in the Company’s PCV franchise.

VAX-A1 is a prophylactic vaccine candidate designed to provide broad, strain-independent protection against disease caused by Group A Strep and is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical study in adults. Group A Strep remains a significant global cause of morbidity and mortality across both adult and pediatric populations and is a leading driver of antibiotic use, underscoring the substantial public health burden.

Vaxcyte is re-engineering the way highly complex vaccines are made through XpressCF®, its cell-free protein synthesis platform exclusively licensed from Sutro Biopharma, Inc. Unlike conventional cell-based approaches, the Company’s system for producing difficult-to-make proteins and antigens is intended to develop and deliver high-fidelity vaccines with enhanced immunological benefits. Vaxcyte’s pipeline also includes VAX-GI, a vaccine candidate designed to prevent Shigella. For more information, visit www.vaxcyte.com.

Contacts:
Patrick Ryan, Executive Director, Corporate Affairs
Vaxcyte, Inc.
415-606-5135
[email protected]

Jeff Macdonald, Executive Director, Investor Relations
Vaxcyte, Inc.
917-371-0940
[email protected]

Tokenized stocks on Solana have racked up $12.4 billion in decentralized exchange trading volume so far this year. Raydium accounts for the biggest share, at $6.1 billion.

The numbers behind the surge
In Q2 2026, Solana recorded $5.8 billion in tokenized equity DEX volume, a 114% jump from the prior quarter.

That same quarter, Solana captured approximately 95% of global on-chain equity DEX trading.

September 2026 alone produced $4.4 billion in tokenized stock DEX volume on Solana, with Raydium and Orca handling the flow.

Raydium has become the default venue for this activity. In recent snapshots, it routed over 90% of Solana’s tokenized stock DEX flows, and its cumulative volume in the category passed $5 billion by mid-September.

Through mid-September, Raydium processed about $2.3 billion in tokenized stock volume during Q3 2026. That works out to a 40% increase over the previous quarter.

Across all blockchain networks, tokenized stocks generated $48.7 billion in volume over the preceding 12 months, and Solana’s share often tops 95% during peak trading windows.

Tokenized equities have also claimed over 4% of total DEX spot volume in 2026.

How xStocks built the on-ramp
Much of this growth traces back to one product: xStocks, built by Backed Finance. Each token is backed 1:1 by an equity held with a custodian.

By September 18, 2026, xStocks had surpassed $6 billion in cumulative Solana trading volume.

That figure represents 54% of all tokenized stock volume in Solana’s history.

Traditional stock markets keep business hours, while DEXs run 24/7, so a trader can react to news on a Saturday night instead of waiting for Monday’s opening bell.

Regulation and rivals enter the frame
The growth has coincided with a shifting regulatory backdrop. A recent SEC innovation exemption is designed to make compliant on-chain trading easier.

Solana is not the only chain chasing this market. BNB Chain has its own bStocks offering, and Robinhood Chain is also competing for on-chain equity traders.

What this means for traders and the market
Raydium handling over 90% of flows in recent snapshots and xStocks owning 54% of historical volume make the ecosystem efficient, but also dependent on a small number of players.

The custody model deserves attention too. Tokens backed 1:1 by custodied shares are only as reliable as the custodian and the issuer behind them, so traders are taking on counterparty considerations that do not exist when owning a stock directly.

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

Solana recorded its strongest month yet for tokenized stock DEX trading. Raydium drove most of September’s acceleration, while activity spread across multiple venues. Off-hours trading is becoming a major part of the market. October will test whether September’s surge represents durable liquidity or a temporary spike. Tokenized stock trading on Solana reached a record in September, with decentralized exchanges processing more than $4.4 billion, according to Blockworks data shared by Solana in X.

Solana transaction activity reached a quarterly record in Q3 2026. The monthly chart shows a sharp acceleration from the relatively small market of 2025. Activity first broke higher in June 2026, cooled over the following two months and then climbed to a new peak in September.

Raydium was the main driver. Reported volume on the exchange reached approximately $2.8 billion, up more than fivefold from roughly $500 million in August. Orca, Meteora, Byreal, Tessera, JupiterZ and several smaller venues accounted for the rest of the market.

Trading Activity Is Outpacing Asset Growth Solana’s tokenized equity supply reached roughly $684 million in September. Against monthly trading activity, that implies turnover of approximately 6.4 times the value of equities represented onchain.

The comparison does not measure capital inflows. Supply is a point-in-time measure, while trading volume counts repeated transactions. Instead, it indicates that the market is developing significant secondary turnover rather than simply accumulating tokenized shares in wallets.

The visual below adds a different dimension: where the market’s liquidity is coming from and what still needs to be tested.

Solana Tokenized Equities

September’s Liquidity Map

Market Structure

Raydium

Dominant liquidity venue

Orca + Meteora

Established alternative pools

Long-tail DEXs

Liquidity spreading across more venues

Next Market Test

Spread Quality

Can liquidity stay tight during volatility?

Off-Hours Pricing

How closely do tokens track closed U.S. markets?

October Retention

Does record activity persist?

Source: Blockworks and Solana ecosystem data

xStocks and Ondo Expand Solana’s Equity Market Solana’s tokenized-stock market is developing around more than one issuance model.

Backed Finance’s xStocks helped establish early activity. By mid-September, the products had generated more than $6 billion in cumulative Solana trading volume, with SPYx, CRCLx, TSLAx, NVDAx and QQQx among the most actively traded instruments.

xStocks are tracker certificates designed to provide economic exposure to their referenced securities rather than direct ownership of the corresponding U.S.-listed shares.

Ondo Finance takes a different route. Its Global Markets platform connects token issuance and redemption with securities held through traditional financial intermediaries and has expanded to hundreds of tokenized stocks and ETFs.

The different structures matter as liquidity moves beyond issuer platforms and into third-party DEXs. Investor rights, redemption mechanisms and access restrictions depend on the product rather than simply the blockchain on which it trades.

Most Activity Happens Outside U.S. Market Hours One of the more unusual characteristics of Solana’s equity market is when investors are trading.

Solana ecosystem data indicates that 63% of cumulative tokenized-equity volume through August occurred outside standard U.S. stock-market hours.

That creates functionality conventional equities cannot provide, but also introduces a structural pricing problem.

Tokenized Nvidia or Tesla exposure can continue changing hands while Nasdaq is closed. During those periods, traders lack continuous price discovery from the underlying cash equity market. Liquidity can thin, spreads can widen and token prices can move before the underlying security reopens.

Continuous token trading therefore should not be confused with continuous trading of the underlying stock.

September Puts Liquidity Under the Spotlight The September record shifts attention from how many equities can be tokenized to how well those assets actually trade.

Solana now has multiple issuers, several DEX venues and meaningful activity outside U.S. trading hours. The harder test is whether that infrastructure can maintain deep liquidity and reliable pricing through different market conditions.

October should provide the first indication. If activity remains elevated while liquidity broadens beyond Raydium, September will look less like an isolated surge and more like a structural expansion of Solana’s tokenized-equity market.

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.

Full Profile

TLDR: The Community BuyBack closed with more than 7.2 million INJ burned, and Stockdrop claims are now open. CypherOS made its first public appearance as a privacy platform for confidential trades and tokenization.  Canary Capital filed Amendment No. 3 for a Staked INJ ETF that plans to stake at least 90% of holdings.  Robinhood now supports INJ trading and transfers, giving users native INJ access without a bridge.  Injective Stockdrop went live this week, allowing participants to claim tokenized stock rewards. The Community BuyBack closed with more than 7.2 million INJ burned to date.

CypherOS also made its first public appearance as a privacy platform on the network. Meanwhile, Canary Capital filed an amendment for a Staked INJ ETF, and Robinhood added INJ trading and transfer support. These updates form the main developments on Injective over the past week.

The first Injective Stockdrop is now live. The Community BuyBack that preceded it has ended. According to the project, more than 7.2 million INJ have been burned to date.

Stockdrop participants can now claim their tokenized stock rewards. The project refers to eligible community members as loyal ninjas.

CypherOS also made its first public appearance this week. Injective shared a preview of the platform. CypherOS is built for confidential transactions, trades, and tokenization. The project describes it as a privacy platform on Injective. Injective positioned the platform for use across its network.

Injective’s post on X also listed several ecosystem launches. Sprout (@sproutsomefun) lets users bridge, discover, and trade new launches in one place. RunUp (@runupdotfun) is now live as well.

The first Injective Stockdrop went live. The Community BuyBack closed with more than 7.2 million $INJ burned to date with loyal ninjas now being able to claim tokenized stocks. CypherOS also made its first public appearance as the privacy platform for confidential transactions,… pic.twitter.com/rvRzdtPYT0

— Injective 🥷 (@injective) October 4, 2026

It allows users to launch tokens powered by long or short perp markets. Both projects operate within the Injective ecosystem.

INJ is now live across the Solana ecosystem. Support includes Phantom and several trading, launch, and data apps. The FOMO thesis competition also ended.

INJ was sent to every winner, and Injective said more releases are on the horizon. The network included these items in its weekly recap.

Institutional Access and Network Activity Canary Capital filed Amendment No. 3 to its SEC registration statement for a Staked INJ ETF. According to the update, the fund plans to hold spot INJ.

It also intends to stake at least 90% of its US institutional holdings. Injective shared the filing detail in its weekly post on X.

Robinhood now supports INJ trading and transfers. Users therefore get a direct route into Injective with native INJ. The platform does not require a bridge.

Robinhood users can trade without moving assets across chains. Injective listed the update among its top developments this week.

Injective and LG CNS are also working together. The goal is to bring more activity onchain through a 24/7 programmable economy.

In addition, Injective hosted the largest institutional event during Korea Blockchain Week. Attendees included members from Coinbase, the Federal Reserve, LG, BitGo, and more.

Network data was also part of the update. Injective has processed more than 3 billion transactions. More than 42 million of those took place in the past 30 days. Injective listed these figures under key stats.

Bitcoin (BTC) enters a historically strong month facing four pressures. Thin liquidity, weaker ETF demand, the Iran war, and a Mt. Gox deadline weigh on it.

The largest cryptocurrency has closed higher in 10 of the last 13 Octobers, with a median gain of 12.73%, Coinglass data shows. So far this month, BTC is up 1.98%

Bitcoin (BTC) Monthly Price Returns. Source: CoinglassStablecoin Supply Is Refilling But SlowlyAnalyst Darkfost said too little liquidity is reaching the crypto market. The stablecoin market cap has lost $14 billion since May, pointing to sizable outflows.

Supply has recovered $4 billion since September, lifting the total to about $270 billion. Still, Darkfost called the rebound too timid to push Bitcoin to new highs.

“Even though the trend now appears to be reversing, it remains too timid, and more will be needed to push Bitcoin toward new highs,” he wrote.

Stablecoin Market Cap. Source: X/DarkfostLarge holders are adding capital, though cautiously. Wallets sending over $1 million in stablecoins to Binance lifted their 30-day inflows to $30.5 billion. A little over a month earlier, the figure stood at $21.7 billion.

That marks a rise of over 40%. However, the same group sent more than $61 billion at its October 2025 peak, nearly double the current level.

“This behavior is probably torn between Bitcoin’s seasonality, with a highly anticipated October, and an environment marked by conflict, inflation, and the relentless rise in bond yields,” the analyst added.

ETF Buyers Have Stepped BackInstitutional demand has cooled as well. Spot Bitcoin ETFs drew $998.95 million on September 21, their largest daily inflow in almost a year.

Inflows then shrank for 5 straight sessions, slipping to $31.07 million by September 28. On September 30, the funds posted $148.69 million in net outflows, ending a 9-day inflow streak, BeInCrypto reported.

Flows returned to positive territory on October 1, with $102.67 million in net inflows, SoSoValue data shows. However, the funds took in only $51.25 million across the 4 sessions from September 28 to October 1. In the prior week, they drew $2.39 billion.

Trading activity has thinned too. Daily value traded across the 12 funds fell from $4.57 billion on September 21 to $1.97 billion on October 1.

Iran War Headlines Whip Bitcoin Both WaysThe conflict Darkfost flagged has already moved Bitcoin’s price. On October 2, BTC rallied toward $87,000 before a tanker strike in the Strait of Hormuz erased the gain.

Bitcoin Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto MarketsOil prices barely moved on the news, while crypto markets reacted sharply. That strike marked the sixth tanker attack in a week. Meanwhile, Washington has sent 2 more Patriot missile batteries to protect Saudi and Qatari energy sites, Axios reported. The US is also sending more warships and troops ahead of a possible return to war.

Meanwhile, Iran said the strait stays closed until the US meets 7 conditions from a June deal. Because Bitcoin trades around the clock, it absorbs weekend war news before stocks and oil reopen.

The pressure could build later in the month. US officials told The Wall Street Journal that Trump expects to resume bombing Iran after the November 3 midterms.

Peace signals have moved Bitcoin the other way. It climbed past $81,000 when Trump weighed ending the war. With Hormuz still shut, each new strike or ceasefire signal could swing BTC in either direction.

Mt. Gox Faces Its October 31 DeadlineThe final pressure lands at month-end. Mt. Gox’s labeled wallets held 34,387.51 BTC, worth $2.88 billion, as of the latest data from Arkham.

Mt. Gox Bitcoin Holdings, Source: ArkhamUnder the current court-approved deadline, the trustee must finish creditor repayments by October 31. Last year, it announced the extension on October 27, 2025, just 4 days before the cutoff.

That pattern leaves 2 outcomes. Another extension would keep the coins off the market, while distributions could hand creditors BTC they may sell.

Seasonality has also slipped before. Bitcoin fell 3.69% in October 2025, its first losing October since 2018. ETF flows and stablecoin supply will show whether fresh capital arrives before the Mt. Gox decision.

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Howard Hughes (NYSE:HHH) shareholders elected all 11 board nominees, approved the company’s advisory executive-compensation proposal and ratified KPMG as independent auditor for 2026, according to preliminary results announced at the company’s annual meeting.

Executive Chair Bill Ackman said each director received more than 96% support, while the say-on-pay proposal and auditor ratification each received about 99% support. Final voting results are expected to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within four business days.

Company outlines insurance-led strategy Following the formal meeting, Ackman outlined Howard Hughes’ strategy to become an insurance-led diversified holding company while reshaping its real estate operations into a more capital-light business. The centerpiece of that strategy is the company’s June acquisition of specialty insurance and reinsurance company Vantage. Ackman said Howard Hughes injected $900 million of capital into Vantage, with $300 million coming from Howard Hughes’ balance sheet and the remainder provided by Pershing Square. Howard Hughes owns slightly more than half of Vantage, while Pershing Square holds the remaining economic interest through a preferred instrument that Howard Hughes can redeem over seven years.

Ackman said the company’s initial focus is to expand Vantage’s capital base and eventually consider redeeming the preferred interest, depending on relative investment opportunities. He said the company does not expect major insurance acquisitions in the near term.

Vantage Executive Chair Marc Grandisson said the insurer’s approach will emphasize underwriting discipline over premium growth. “Top-line volatility leads to bottom-line stability,” Grandisson said, describing a strategy of writing more business when market conditions are favorable and reducing exposure when pricing does not meet return requirements.

Grandisson, formerly CEO of Arch Capital, said Vantage has room to grow because of its relatively small scale and opportunities across specialty insurance and reinsurance. He identified Europe and London as potential areas for expansion, while also citing opportunities to build in existing product lines and potentially add areas such as liability coverage.

David Gansberg is expected to become Vantage’s CEO in June, while Grandisson continues as executive chair. Ackman also highlighted the addition of Lucy Fato, formerly vice chair and general counsel at AIG, to the broader leadership effort.

Investment portfolio repositioned Ackman said Vantage’s investment portfolio was repositioned shortly after the acquisition. At closing, the roughly $3.1 billion portfolio consisted primarily of fixed-income investments. The company sold its longer-duration fixed-income holdings and shifted capital toward short-term U.S. Treasuries and a common-stock portfolio managed by Pershing Square.

According to Ackman, short-term Treasuries now represent about 62% of the portfolio, while common stocks account for about 37%. He described the approach as a “barbell” strategy intended to maintain liquidity for insurance obligations while seeking higher long-term returns from equities.

Howard Hughes and Pershing Square compared the strategy to Berkshire Hathaway’s longstanding practice of holding substantial liquid assets against insurance float while investing surplus capital in equities. Ackman said Howard Hughes intends to maintain lower leverage than a typical property-and-casualty insurer and write less premium relative to equity than the industry norm, although management said those levels could evolve as Vantage grows.

Grandisson said Vantage currently has limited catastrophe exposure and that risk management will focus on avoiding events that could materially impair capital. He said the company monitors a range of potential exposures and uses conservative assumptions in assessing probable maximum losses.

Real estate business to seek partners Howard Hughes also plans to bring outside capital into its real estate portfolio, with the objective of extracting capital for redeployment into Vantage while retaining operating control and a meaningful ownership interest in projects.

Ackman said the company intends to seek joint-venture partners for approximately 80% of the equity invested in income-producing assets and its master planned community business. The company also plans to sell certain non-core assets.

David O’Reilly, CEO of Howard Hughes, said advisers are expected to begin marketing the income-producing portfolio to potential partners by the end of the year. He said the company has about $2 billion to $2.2 billion of equity in income-producing assets. Ackman said the company believes it could generate more than $2 billion of capital “comfortably into next year,” though he described timing around the master planned community business as less certain.

The company estimated the after-tax value of its real estate assets at roughly $5 billion and said it could retain about $1 billion of equity exposure while potentially extracting about $4 billion for other uses. Ackman said the new structure would allow Howard Hughes to earn management, performance and incentive fees on third-party capital while continuing to own and control interests in its real estate assets.

O’Reilly said asset-level transactions would involve sales of equity rather than the elimination of existing property debt. For residential land, which generally does not carry substantial leverage, the company expects the strategy to retain a meaningful equity stake while enabling additional development activity where risk-adjusted returns justify it.

Management addresses valuation and capital allocation Ackman said management believes Howard Hughes shares trade at a discount to the after-tax value of its real estate portfolio, with Vantage valued near cost in the market. He argued that transitioning from an asset-heavy real estate company to a capital-light real estate manager and insurance-led holding company could improve returns on equity and lead to a higher market valuation.

When asked whether the company should repurchase shares, Ackman said he believes the highest-return use of marginal capital is currently investment in Vantage, including potentially redeeming Pershing Square’s preferred interest, rather than buying back Howard Hughes shares.

Management also said it does not expect to materially expand its long-term land bank. O’Reilly said Teravalis, the company’s 37,000-acre community west of the White Tank Mountains in Arizona, has commercial-development potential that could include data centers. He said the company has water supply certificates for the first 5,000 acres of the community and is in discussions with companies considering relocations.

About Howard Hughes (NYSE:HHH) Howard Hughes Holdings Inc (NYSE: HHH) is a real estate development and management company focused primarily on master planned communities and mixed-use properties. The company develops residential neighborhoods and supporting infrastructure while also owning and operating commercial, retail, office, multifamily, hospitality and entertainment assets.

Its portfolio includes master planned communities such as The Woodlands, Bridgeland and The Woodlands Hills in the Houston area; Summerlin in the Las Vegas region; Ward Village in Honolulu; and Teravalis in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Host Hotels has paid a special dividend on top of its regular quarterly payout, and its balance sheet looks cleaner than most lodging peers. But the company has slashed its dividend to near zero twice before, and the trigger that…

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Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) closed at $22.56 on October 2, up 34.75% year to date. In July it paid a $0.72 special dividend on top of its $0.20 regular quarterly payment. Lodging demand is strong right now. Income investors need to know what that payout looks like when travel weakens.

Why AFFO Is the Right Measure REITs record large depreciation charges that lower GAAP earnings without using cash, making an earnings payout ratio misleading. Adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) adds depreciation back and removes one-time items such as gains on property sales. Host’s 2026 AFFO guidance is $2.10 to $2.16 per share. Its $0.80 annualized regular dividend uses about 37% to 38% of that, for a forward yield near 3.5%. In 2025, operating cash flow of $1.502 billion minus $644 million of capex left $858 million.

Peers have less room. Park Hotels & Resorts (NYSE:PK) pays $0.25 a quarter, which is 53% to 57% of its guided AFFO. It also faces $1.4 billion of mortgage debt maturing in 2026, and its weighted average debt maturity is 1.9 years. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE:PEB) pays a token $0.01 per quarter. Host has a 4.7-year average maturity, 2.2 times leverage and $3 billion of liquidity after the July payments.

Hotel Rooms Reprice Nightly, and So Does the Cash Hotels set room rates nightly, creating volatility. Host’s comparable RevPAR rose 7% in the second quarter. Management estimates each 100 basis point change in RevPAR moves net income and Adjusted EBITDAre by $32 to $37 million. Fourth-quarter group revenue pace was close to 10%. Transient bookings arrive on short notice and can disappear quickly.

Host Has Cut Its Dividend Twice Before Host cut its dividend twice before. After paying $0.20 per quarter in 2008, it cut to $0.05 that December and $0.01 per quarter through 2010. In 2020, the last payment was $0.20 in April, with no further dividend until $0.03 in March 2022. Operating cash flow fell to negative $307 million for 2020. When demand crashes, the board cuts fast and rebuilds over time.

Verdict: Safe in a Normal Downturn, Exposed in a Shock In a normal downturn, where RevPAR falls by a moderate amount, Host can keep paying the $0.20 regular dividend. A payout under 40% of AFFO, low leverage and investment-grade credit give it a margin of safety that Park lacks. Special dividends will disappear first, because they depend on gains from selling hotels. In a 2020-style shock where demand stops completely, history shows Host will cut again. That reflects how the board handles the payout through demand crashes, with the company rebuilding the dividend once cash flow recovers.

The trigger to watch is AFFO guidance. If Host lowers full-year AFFO guidance below $1.60 per share, the regular dividend would take more than half of AFFO. At that point the safety case weakens, and a reset of the regular dividend becomes a real possibility. Host’s history of cutting fast when demand breaks is the kind of signal we highlighted among the seven warning signs in our free dividend trap guide.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

A high yield on a restaurant stock can mean a bargain or a trap, and the difference comes down to numbers most investors never check before buying.

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Restaurant chains have spent 2026 finding out that weak traffic eventually hits the dividend. Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN | WEN Price Prediction) shares have fallen 65.14% over five years, and its board has cut the quarterly payout twice since early 2025. A high yield only matters if the company can keep paying it. Three well-known restaurant names show how fast that ability can wear down, and how to tell real stress from a stock that has simply fallen out of favor.

How a Falling Stock Makes a Yield Look Better Dividend yield is the annual payout divided by the stock’s price. If the price falls and the payout remains the same, the yield goes up on its own, even though shareholders get nothing extra. A struggling company can end up looking generous. A dividend becomes unsustainable when earnings, free cash flow or the company’s financial position can no longer comfortably pay for it. Check all three before you trust any yield.

Wendy’s (WEN): Two Cuts and a Turnaround Plan Still to Come Wendy’s now pays $0.07 per quarter, or $0.28 a year. At a share price of $6.12, that works out to a yield of about 4.58%. That is a high yield from a brand everyone knows. Be careful with stock screens that use the past 12 months of payments ($0.49). They show a bigger number than a new buyer will actually collect.

Here, the warning signs turned out to be real. The quarterly dividend went from $0.25 to $0.14 in 2025, then to $0.07 when the company reported results on Aug. 7, 2026. In the second quarter, U.S. same-restaurant sales fell 7% as traffic dropped 12.5%. Net income fell 40.8%, and management withdrew its full-year guidance. On the earnings call, CEO Bob Wright said: “Traffic is down, our value proposition has slipped, and franchisee economics are under pressure.” Net debt is 5.0 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). The company also needs to refinance about $430 million of debt due in March 2028.

There is a case for the smaller payout. It equals about 42% of trailing diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.66, and first-half free cash flow rose to $120.3 million. Still, the chief financial officer said the new rate runs “slightly above” the company’s usual payout of 50% to 60% of adjusted net income. Things to watch: traffic, and the turnaround plan due with the next quarterly report.

Dine Brands Global (DIN): Profits No Longer Cover the Dividend Dine Brands Global (NYSE:DIN), which has Applebee’s and IHOP, pays $0.19 a quarter, or $0.76 a year. At $29.95, that is a yield of about 2.54%. The low yield is itself the warning. The payout was $0.51 until the company cut it, starting with the December 2025 payment. That was a 62.7% reduction. The stock is down 57.33% over five years.

Even after the cut, the dividend is hard to cover. It equals about 123% of trailing GAAP EPS of $0.62, meaning the company pays out more than it makes. Second-quarter net income fell to $4.3 million from $13.8 million. Adjusted free cash flow for the first half was just $3.7 million, compared with $48.7 million a year earlier. Capital spending rose to $23.2 million from $9.3 million. Shareholders’ equity is negative $292 million. Net interest costs rose to $22.0 million, and cash fell 49.8% to $97.5 million. On top of that, the board approved a new $100 million buyback, which competes with the dividend for very little spare cash.

Adjusted EPS was $1.16 in the second quarter, and management expects remodel spending to “ease as the program advances.” For coverage to recover, Applebee’s same-restaurant sales (down 1.8%) need to turn positive, and the company-owned restaurants need to reach break-even.

Domino’s Pizza (DPZ): A Fallen Stock With a Dividend That Still Holds Up Domino’s Pizza (NASDAQ:DPZ) pays $1.99 a quarter, or $7.96 a year. At $297.62, that is a yield of about 2.67%. The stock is down 29.48% over the past year, which drove the yield up. That makes it a useful test case: trap, or a strong company that investors have soured on?

The numbers say the dividend looks sound. It equals about 45% of trailing EPS of $17.65. In 2025, free cash flow came to $671.5 million, which covered $236.9 million in dividends about 2.8 times. The quarterly payout has gone up every year, from $1.21 in 2023 to $1.99 now.

The risks are real but further down the road. Second-quarter U.S. same-store sales rose just 0.1%, and EPS of $4.07 missed expectations of $4.17. Shareholders’ equity is negative $3.98 billion, with $4.77 billion in securitized notes (debt backed by the company’s franchise fees). Domino’s also spent $156.2 million on buybacks in the second quarter, so it has room to scale those back before the dividend comes into question. The thing to watch is whether flat sales growth holds up long enough to strain the debt.

How to Tell a Yield Opportunity From a Yield Warning A dividend cut usually pulls the stock down too, so a high yield is never a reason to buy on its own. A yield that signals opportunity is covered by earnings and free cash flow with room to spare, on a stock that fell because sentiment turned while the business remains healthy. A yield that signals stress comes with a payout above earnings, cash used up by capital spending or buybacks, and debt rising while traffic falls (we counted seven of these warning signs and put all of them in a free report: Dividend Traps).

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Investors seeking to cash in on the global nuclear energy resurgence have focused on small modular reactor (SMR) upstarts Oklo (OKLO -0.75%) and NuScale. However, neither company can run one of their future reactors without fuel. That's where Centrus Energy (LEU +0.11%) comes into play, as it supplies the enriched uranium fuel that nuclear reactors need. Centrus recently announced a planned joint venture with Oklo to support growing demand for its specialized nuclear fuel.

Here's a closer look at this lower-risk way to invest in the country's nuclear energy renaissance.

Image source: Getty Images.

Fueling the nuclear renaissanceCentrus Energy supplies nuclear fuel and services to the nuclear power industry. It pioneered the production of High-Assay, Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU), required for most U.S. reactors to achieve smaller designs (i.e., SMRs). The company's Piketon, Ohio, facility was the first one in the country to receive a license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to produce HALEU.

Several SMR developers, including Oklo, have signed agreements with Centrus to purchase nuclear fuel. Oklo initially signed a letter of intent to purchase fuel for its Aurora Powerhouse Deployment in Ohio earlier this year. The planned 1.2 gigawatt clean energy campus will supply power to Meta Platforms to support its data centers in the region. Oklo and Centrus more recently agreed to pursue a joint venture focused on HALEU deconversion services and advancing related fuel-cycle technologies and supply chains.

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Robust demand is driving real growthOklo and NuScale don't currently generate commercial power, let alone any real revenue or earnings. Centrus Energy, on the other hand, is producing strong, growing financial results. During the second quarter, the company reported $176.1 million of revenue, a 14% year-over-year increase. Meanwhile, it posted $16.8 million of net income during the period.

The company ended the quarter with a $4.5 billion future revenue backlog extending through 2040. That includes $3 billion of HALEU and Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU). It recently signed a $900 million HALEU Enrichment award with the U.S. Department of Energy. Centrus has signed several additional deals since the quarter ended, including a multi-year HALEU contract with Antares Nuclear, a long-term HALEU supply partnership with Radiant, and a HALEU supply deal with X-energy. This growing backlog supports the company's plans to rapidly expand its production capacity to meet future demand, as several deals include pre-payments to help fund the expansion.

Why try to pick an SMR winner when you can invest in the company fueling them allThere's a lot of debate about which nuclear energy stock is the best to buy to capitalize on the country's nuclear renaissance. However, instead of betting on which pre-revenue SMR start-up will win, you can invest in the company that will fuel their reactors. That makes Centrus Energy a lower-risk way to capitalize on the country's nuclear energy resurgence, as it should win no matter which SMR developer emerges as the eventual leader.

Matt DiLallo has positions in Meta Platforms and has the following options: long December 2028 $650 calls on Meta Platforms and short December 2028 $660 calls on Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool recommends NuScale Power. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Amazon just pledged over a billion dollars near its data centers without purchasing a single piece of hardware, and the reason reveals a threat to its $496 billion backlog that no amount of chips can solve.

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Headline Number: $1 Billion for the Neighbors On October 2, 2026, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN | AMZN Price Prediction) attached a dollar figure to something no chip plant can make: permission to build. Amazon Web Services committed more than $1 billion over the next five years to the communities around its U.S. data centers. The spending flows through a program called Built Together. The money goes to job training, water preservation and energy affordability. Those are the same three complaints that fill council meetings whenever a new server farm is proposed. None of it buys a GPU.

The pledge comes as local pushback grows. Amazon says more than 100 data center moratoriums are under consideration across the country. AWS chief executive Matt Garman announced the program in a post that compared data center construction to the building of the interstate highway system. He warned that if those bans pass, “the US could be writing its own losing ticket to this race, and the consequences would last generations.”

What It Means for the AWS Buildout Amazon is, in effect, buying community acceptance, and its own economics explain why. Capital expenditures reached $54.21 billion in Q2 alone, up 68.44% year over year. The community pledge is a small line item spread over five years, and its purpose is to protect that much larger capital spending.

Timing is what makes local opposition expensive. Chief Executive Andy Jassy spoke on July 30. On the earnings call, he said “data center capital is spent starting two years before we can put servers into them to start monetizing.” Once a facility opens, Amazon can earn from it for 30-plus years. If a bans stalls a site in its first year, the money spent so far earns nothing while the project waits.

The demand is already committed. AWS backlog was at $496 billion, growing triple digits year over year. Management said most of the AWS capacity planned for 2027 is already reserved. Most AI capacity is signed for at least five-year terms. Each of those contracts needs a building, a grid connection and a town willing to host it.

Residents’ concerns rest on data. After 15 years of nearly flat use, U.S. electricity demand has grown 2.1% per year on average over the last five years. The federal Energy Information Administration lists data center server energy use as a major factor in demand going forward. The average individual data center load doubled from 150 to 300 megawatts between 2023 and 2024. The energy affordability part of Built Together addresses directly to that pressure.

This is also Amazon’s third recent $1 billion commitment that goes to something other than chips. In Q2, Amazon announced a $1 billion investment in AWS Forward Deployed Engineering, with early customers including the NBA, NFL, and Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV). It also committed up to $1 billion in cloud credits to help the U.S. Intelligence Community move to the cloud.

How Shares Responded to the $1 Billion Pledge On the day of the announcement, shares closed at $251.52, up 1.33% from $248.23 in a single session. The stock is up 8.97% year to date and down 1.36% over the past month. Recent coverage has focused on competitive concerns, which Barron’s described as “overstated”.

Bull Case For Amazon, the limit on growth is how fast it can add capacity, and each new site needs local approval. AWS revenue reached $42.23 billion in Q2, up 37%, its fastest growth in 18 quarters. The unit’s operating margin was 39.4%. Amazon’s AI and chips businesses each passed $25 billion annual run rates, and each is growing at triple-digit rates. Amazon Bedrock customers spent more in Q2 than all prior quarters combined.

Amazon also has the cash to keep the program going. Operating cash flow reached $45.39 billion in the quarter, up 39.59%. Management remains on track to double its power capacity by the end of 2027 versus 2025. Jassy discussed AWS. He said the unit could “very possibly be a trillion-dollar annual revenue business for us in time.” The main risk remains cash generation: trailing free cash flow is -$7.6 billion, and the pledge adds another cost. Still, keeping sites on schedule protects a $496 billion backlog.

What Amazon’s Next Earnings Report Must Show Built Together turns local approval into a budgeted cost of doing business, much like land or power. Amazon’s next quarterly report will be measured against guidance of $197.0 billion to $202.0 billion in net sales and $22.5 billion to $26.5 billion in operating income. That compares with $17.4 billion a year earlier. Investors should watch whether AWS growth holds up as new sites come online, and if the pledge keeps those sites on schedule, $1 billion in community spending will have protected hundreds of billions in signed revenue.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Amazon is quietly restructuring who actually owns the AI hardware powering its data centers, and the investors taking the other side of that deal may not realize what depreciates fastest in Silicon Valley.

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Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN | AMZN Price Prediction) is in talks to move $8 billion of NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) Grace Blackwell chips into a special purpose vehicle, the Financial Times reported. The vehicle would sell debt to outside investors, buy the chips, and lease them back to Amazon. The hardware stays where it is. It is already installed in data centers across at least five states, and Amazon would keep up to 10% of the equity.

Amazon spent $54.2 billion on capital projects in the second quarter, 68% more than a year earlier. Andy Jassy committed to roughly $200 billion in spending for 2026. Free cash flow over the past 12 months turned negative at -$7.6 billion. Long-term debt rose to $119.1 billion from $65.6 billion a year earlier. A leaseback lets Amazon keep running the chips while protecting its credit rating and moving the obligation into lease disclosures.

Investors Would Own Tech’s Fastest-Aging Asset The deal is smart for Amazon and weak for whoever buys the debt. Airlines do sale-leasebacks on planes that fly for decades. Grace Blackwell is already one generation behind Vera Rubin. NVIDIA says Vera Rubin delivers 35X lower token costs than Grace Blackwell Ultra. NVIDIA estimates about $25 billion per gigawatt of revenue for Grace Blackwell and roughly $40 billion for Vera Rubin. Each new launch makes the collateral worth less.

On the July earnings call, Jassy said servers take “a little less than three years” to break even and last at least five to six years. Amazon keeps the early, profitable years. Lenders are left with later years, when a chip two generations old must be refinanced or resold.

NVIDIA Is Building Similar Financing Structures NVIDIA is building similar structures. NVIDIA reported $279 billion in supply commitments and guarantee obligations limited at $108.5 billion for AI cloud and data center partners. It signed up six asset managers and banks to raise more than $500 billion of outside capital for AI infrastructure. Management said: “We know some will call this circular financing.” NVIDIA expects the AI labs it supports to account for roughly a quarter of its business next year.

Demand for computing power remains intense. NVIDIA says it can supply about 70% of what customers want. Having chips that lose value quickly carries risk. Amazon is choosing cash over hardware ownership. Buyers want what the chips produce and are passing on the risk of having them to someone else.

What to Watch in Amazon’s Next Two Earnings Reports Three signals will show whether this becomes the template. First, whether Amazon’s third-quarter earnings report reveals the vehicle and how much its lease obligations grow. Amazon has guided to $22.5 billion to $26.5 billion in operating income for the quarter. Second, the interest rate investors demand on the debt.

A wide spread would mean lenders are pricing in an aging risk that stock investors have ignored. Third, whether other cloud giants announce similar deals within two quarters. Should they do so, more of AI’s hardware bill will sit off the balance sheets investors read, and lenders will be left holding chips that NVIDIA is working to make obsolete.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

McDonald's Today

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September delivered mixed signals for McDonald’s NYSE: MCD shareholders, including a landmark dividend achievement, before the stock opened October by falling to a fresh 52-week low.

On Sept. 17, the board of the fast food restaurant chain declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.93 per share, marking a 4% increase and the company’s 50th consecutive year of raising its payout.

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According to Executive Vice President and Global Chief Financial Officer Ian Borden, the “milestone is the result of decades-long commitment to maintaining [McDonald’s] financial discipline and rewarding [its] shareholders."

But lately, those shareholders haven’t been feeling all that rewarded. After joining the elite Dividend Kings club, the stock hit a fresh 52-week low of $229.61 on Oct. 1, reaching prices not seen since September 2022.

Now, the nearly $164 billion market cap company is hoping a multi-year strategic plan can win back consumers and serve as the catalyst to restore investor confidence.

McDonald’s > NEXT: The Fast Food Giant’s Comeback PlanThe fast food industry’s recent struggles have been well-documented. In August, Restaurant Business Magazine’s Jonathan Maze wrote that while McDonald’s same-store sales increased 0.8% in Q2, traffic to its restaurants declined.

Affordability continues to be the main challenge. Maze noted that “McDonald’s lost sales from lower-income consumers totaled $310 million last quarter alone.”

That, among other factors, has tempered growth expectations for the industry at large. According to consultancy firm Grand View Research, the global fast food market is forecast to undergo a 5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2022 and 2029.

Domestically, the outlook is worse. The U.S. fast food market is expected to see a CAGR of just 3.9% between 2022 and 2028.

McDonald’s is already planning to address its own growth and productivity challenges. On June 1, the company launched a new multiyear strategic plan called McDonald's > NEXT, which it hopes will usher in its next era of productivity and growth.

The $8.5 billion plan calls for revamping employee training programs for the chain’s approximately 2 million workers, investing billions into upgrading franchisees’ equipment and technology—including advanced back-of-house operational systems and AI-enabled tools—improving dining room spaces, and aiming for higher food quality.

Of that dollar amount, McDonald’s has earmarked $5 billion to be spent through 2030 on a combination of rent relief and capital support. In his Q2 earnings call comments, CEO Chris Kempczinski said the new growth strategy has a singular objective: to make McDonald’s the first choice for more customers, more often.

Despite Ambitious Plans, McDonald’s Still Faces Structural ChallengesOn Sept. 23 at its investor day, the company laid out plans for two connected tools that are critical components of its McDonald’s > NEXT initiative.

The first is a pricing engine that combines transactional data and local market data to make restaurant- and item-level price recommendations while ultimately leaving pricing decisions up to franchisees.

The second is a customer-engagement engine that will personalize experiences through offers and rewards to encourage its existing 220 million 90-day active loyalty members to visit more frequently and upgrade to higher-priced items.

McDonald’s hopes that the initiative will result in a 1.5% gain in market share in both the chicken and beverage categories by 2030, while maintaining its leadership position in beef and expanding operating margins to the low-to-mid 50% range by 2030, with a 2.5% increase in gross restaurant-level efficiency. The company currently enjoys high margins, and how much its new strategic plan can increase them is yet to be determined.

Another perhaps more pressing issue is the aforementioned disconnect between pricing and lower-income customers. AI-informed pricing recommendations alone will not sufficiently address record-high ground beef prices, ongoing inflation, and the subsequent fallout for fast food chains.

After decades of establishing brand loyalty through value menu offerings, McDonald’s has been trying to rebuild its value proposition as lower-income consumers pull back. The cost of a Big Mac in 2000 was approximately $2.24, or $4.27 in today’s dollars. Yet the average price of a Big Mac in 2026 is closer to $7, while a Big Mac combo meal with fries and a drink can run as high as $18.

In doing so, McDonald’s has been able to squeeze more profit per transaction from middle- and higher-income consumers who have been willing to absorb those price hikes, while abandoning the lower-income staple of its customer base.

McDonald’s Needs a Fix, and AI Might Not Be the AnswerIf McDonald’s > NEXT is the company’s answer to its recent troubles, it has some heavy lifting to do. In Q2, revenue growth slowed to 3.74% after registering 9.42% in Q1 and 9.71% in Q4 2025. Meanwhile, net income growth slowed to 4.84%.

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McDonald’s also pushed its target of reaching 50,000 global locations to 2028 from 2027, attributing the delay to inflationary development costs and a pressured consumer environment.

The company’s financial health, as measured by TradeSmith, has been in the red zone for over five months, and while the stock’s forward price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99 may suggest it is undervalued to some investors, recent price action remains bearish.

Short interest stands at just 1.73% of the float, but in dollar terms, that equates to $3.08 billion worth of MCD, which remains near multi-year highs. At the same time, corporate insider buying has dried up, with no insider purchases reported over the past 12 months. Institutional activity, however, has remained net positive. Institutional buying totaled $16.40 billion from 2,170 buyers over the trailing 12 months, compared with $8.78 billion in outflows from 1,741 sellers, while insider buying stood at zero over that period. Shares are down around 24% year to date, including a more than 32% slide from their all-time intraday high of $341.75 on March 2.

Should You Invest $1,000 in McDonald's Right Now?Before you consider McDonald's, you'll want to hear this.

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SummaryMicron generated $54.2 billion in Q4 revenue, an 87% gross margin, and $33.2 billion of free cash flow.Twenty-six strategic agreements now carry $32 billion of customer commitments, with $12.7 billion of deposits already received.Customer deposits effectively help finance Micron’s expansion, while government incentives further reduce the capital shareholders must ultimately fund.MU trades near 6.1x FY1 non-GAAP earnings despite $150 billion RPO and supply constraints expected through 2028. jxfzsy/iStock via Getty Images

The market is still treating Micron Technology (MU) on the premise of how sustainable its extraordinary memory pricing will prove to be. I'm less inclined to believe that this approach to the stock is most

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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of MU either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

Broadcom just agreed to lend billions to the same AI lab it sells chips to, lease equipment to, and may soon own a stake in. That four-way entanglement raises a question shareholders cannot yet answer: whose demand is actually driving…

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Broadcom’s $42 Billion Number Makes the Supplier the Lender Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO | AVGO Price Prediction) has agreed to lend Anthropic up to $42 billion, according to the AI lab’s IPO filing, as reported by Reuters on October 1, 2026. The money pays for Anthropic’s infrastructure spending, and much of that spending goes to Broadcom hardware. The debt can also convert into Anthropic shares. Broadcom now plays four roles in this relationship: chip supplier, equipment lessor, lender, and possible future shareholder.

What $42 Billion Shows About Broadcom’s AI Growth The facility could cover about one-third of Anthropic’s $125.2 billion five-year TPU compute commitment. That commitment supports Broadcom’s AI plan. On the September earnings call, management said it expects Anthropic to become its largest XPU customer in 2027 and to hold that spot in 2028. Broadcom is installing one gigawatt of Ironwood chips for Anthropic in 2026. Anthropic is expected to installing five gigawatts of TPU v8i chips in 2027, and Broadcom says it has “clear line of sight” to an extra 10 gigawatts in 2028.

Those installations support Broadcom’s AI revenue outlook of about $115 billion in fiscal 2027 and $230 billion in fiscal 2028. The $42 billion facility tops the $23.975 billion in cash Broadcom held at the end of its third quarter.

The loan adds to earlier financing support. In June, Broadcom set up a financing platform with Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) and Blackstone (NYSE:BX). Its first $35 billion tranche closed that month to pay for Anthropic’s one-gigawatt installations. Management said at the time that third parties would insure those assets and that Broadcom would provide no direct financing, though it might offer “modest residual value guarantees.” Broadcom lending directly to Anthropic is a much deeper commitment.

How Broadcom Stock Reacted to the News Barron’s reported on October 1 that Broadcom stock rose as the two companies became more closely tied. On the next trading day, October 2, shares gained 3.35%, from $343.64 to $355.14. CNBC listed Broadcom among that day’s biggest noon movers.

Over a longer stretch, the stock has gone almost nowhere. Shares changed -0.39% from September 3 through October 2, and they remain well below the 52-week high of $493.28.

Bear Case: Broadcom Is Financing Its Own Demand Broadcom’s operating results are strong. Third-quarter revenue reached $29.59 billion, up 85.5% from a year earlier, and free cash flow was $13.665 billion. The concern is how much of the future revenue depends on Broadcom’s own credit.

Anthropic’s filing flags the conflict. Anthropic itself warns that Broadcom’s two roles as supplier and lender create “potential conflicts of interest” involving pricing and hardware decisions. Default terms work against both sides. Anthropic put cash into a restricted account for Broadcom’s benefit in April 2026 and may have to add more. If Anthropic misses payments or other obligations, much of what it owes on its leases could come due at once, and its access to the loan could be limited at the same time. Exposure is hard to measure. On the call, management would not give a maximum figure for future guarantees. It said future deals would have “unique features” tailored to each lab. An analyst noted the first tranche carried maximum exposure of about $29 billion. The customer list is short. Broadcom has only six XPU customers, and its filings list customer concentration and “significant indebtedness” as risks. Gross fixed-rate debt stands at $59.6 billion. Reuters described the deal as part of a broader industry pattern, comparing it with NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) using its balance sheet to support chip sales. Shareholders end up carrying credit risk tied to a single AI lab, while the stock still trades at 45x trailing earnings.

Bottom Line: Anthropic’s IPO Is the Key Test The $42 billion figure shows how much of Broadcom’s path to $230 billion in fiscal 2028 AI revenue depends on one customer that Broadcom is also helping to pay for. The next major event is Anthropic’s IPO. Management said the listing could change Anthropic’s credit profile, and it would also show what Broadcom’s possible equity stake is worth. Before that, Broadcom has guided fourth-quarter revenue to about $34.80 billion and AI semiconductor revenue to $21.70 billion. Long-term holders will need to judge whether that growth comes from customers’ own spending or from Broadcom’s lending.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Dutch Bros (BROS +0.15%) stock fell 21% in September, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The company is still feeling negative market sentiment after some disappointing earnings updates in August.

Growing painsDutch Bros is a relatively small coffee shop chain that has ambitious expansion plans. It owns 1,177 stores as of the end of the second quarter, and it plans to reach 2,029 stores by 2029, nearly doubling today's count.

Image source: Dutch Bros.

It consistently reports robust growth, and the second quarter was fantastic, which you probably wouldn't realize based on the market's reaction. The company is still growing fast and becoming more profitable, and it's generating consumer loyalty as it expands across the country.

Revenue increased an impressive 32.5% to $550.9 million in the quarter, and company-owned same-shop sales were up 8.3%. Company-owned same-shop transactions were up 3.4%, indicating that the increase didn't come entirely from price hikes. Systemwide metrics were somewhat lower, at 5.8% and 1.7%, respectively, and Dutch Bros is transitioning from its original franchise model to new company-owned stores only.

So what didn't the market like? There's concern about rising costs, which is why negative market sentiment persisted into September, with inflation remaining strong.

The market also didn't like management's guidance. Although it slightly raised full-year guidance for total revenue and same-store sales, it significantly raised guidance for capital expenditures (capex), from a midpoint of $280 million to a midpoint of $360 million. Management explained that average capex per new store is still $1.4 million, and the higher total reflects aggressive expansion.

After the earnings release, the company announced that a deal to acquire a small restaurant chain that would have made it easy to add 65 new stores fell through, feeding into the negativity about whether Dutch Bros would be able to expand as fast as it's aiming for.

An opportunity to buy on the dip?Dutch Bros has short-term plans to double store count and long-term plans to reach 7,000 stores. These stores are attracting fans and sales, and it's easy to see how it could reward investors despite the short-term drop.

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Dutch Bros' P/E ratio has fallen dramatically along with the price, and it trades at 54 times trailing 12-month sales. That's still expensive, and it demonstrates how much the market expects from it.

The good news is that it's the cheapest P/E ratio ever. The bad news is, it's rich enough that the stock can still fall on any missteps.

I think Dutch Bros is an excellent stock with tons of long-term potential. If you can buy now and hold for at least five years, it's a good time to buy.