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A closely watched signal in the Ethereum ecosystem is flashing caution. The gap between $ETH waiting to enter staking and $ETH waiting to exit has been narrowing steadily since early May, and the latest figures show the spread continuing to compress.

At the time of writing, 1,385,201 $ETH is queued to be staked, while 815,341 $ETH is waiting to be unstaked. The difference remains meaningful in absolute terms, but the trend points in one direction.

How the Queue Got Here For most of 2026, the imbalance heavily favoured entries. The signal at that point was unambiguous: almost nobody wanted to unstake.

That picture has since shifted.

Context and What to Watch

Still, the structural narrowing of the entry-exit spread since May is worth monitoring. If the exit queue continues to grow independently of one-off events, the cushion that has supported net staking demand for most of the year will continue to shrink.

Sources:
CoinDesk: Ethereum staking exit queue jumps fivefold as holders face a two-week wait
KuCoin: Ethereum Validator Exit Queue Jumps 392%
CryptoSlate: A $1,000 MetaMask incident could turn Ethereum's staking queue into a $5 billion traffic jam

In brief Ethereum's Sepolia testnet activated Glamsterdam on October 6 at epoch 353,024, with a block gas limit of nearly 200 million, more than three times mainnet's 60 million. Sepolia blocks 11,872,013 through 11,872,037 used between 47.1 million and 85.9 million gas, roughly 24% to 43% of the limit. The announcement sets no date for the Hoodi testnet and schedules no mainnet upgrade, so mainnet's limit stays at 60 million for now. Ethereum's Sepolia test network activated the Glamsterdam upgrade on October 6 and began producing blocks with a gas limit of nearly 200 million, more than three times the 60 million that Ethereum's main network allows. Gas is the unit that measures computing work on Ethereum, and the gas limit caps how much of that work fits into a single block.

The 200 million figure was scheduled in a commit tied to epoch 353,024, a 6.4-minute time marker in Ethereum's calendar that began at 13:53:36 UTC.

Myriad: Where does Ethereum go next? Click to make your prediction.Blocks used only a fraction of that room. A snapshot of 25 consecutive blocks on Etherscan taken on October 8, numbers 11,872,013 through 11,872,037, shows gas use at roughly 24% to 43% of the limit.

A higher ceiling does not mean three times as many transactions, only that a block can hold more when demand shows up. For everyday users, that headroom is what helps keep fees from spiking when many people use Ethereum at once, because congestion feels like strangers outbidding each other to get into the next block.

Bigger blocks are harder on validators, the computers that put up ETH as collateral to check and confirm each block. Ethereum Foundation researchers had warned that limits above 40 million could "fail to propagate as expected" across the network, so the number has crept up in small steps.

One of those steps was a 52%-to-48% validator vote in February 2025 that moved the limit from 30 million to 32 million. The limit was later raised to 60 million during 2025, double the original 30 million, and the Fusaka upgrade, which went live on December 3, 2025, made that the default.

Two changes on Ethereum's roadmap are meant to help the network handle more load. Block-level access lists record which accounts and data each block touches, so computers can check many transactions at once instead of one by one. Enshrined proposer-builder separation moves the auction that decides who assembles each block, today run through outside middleware, into Ethereum's own rules.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin sketched the longer arc in July, when he described a plan to replace almost every major piece of the protocol over three to four years. Glamsterdam is the nearer-term step, and Ethereum developers describe a possible gas-limit increase toward roughly 200 million after it.

Sepolia is a testnet, a practice network whose tokens carry no real value, so developers can break things without costing anyone money. It also staged the Merge rehearsal on July 6, 2022, when it switched to proof of stake ahead of the main network.

The announcement sets no date for Hoodi, another public testnet, and schedules no mainnet upgrade, so Ethereum's main network keeps its 60 million gas limit for now.

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On 8 October 2026, the Cardano Foundation announced the commercial spinout of Veridian and said the company’s shares had been tokenized on Cardano under CIP-0113. The shares are ledger-based securities under Switzerland’s DLT Act. The Foundation described them as the first asset of this kind deployed on Cardano.

Veridian is a digital identity company led by chief executive Thomas A. Mayfield. It was developed inside the Cardano Foundation for three years before the spinout. The company issues credentials for people, organizations and software agents. Those credentials can be verified or revoked without relying on a central identity database.

The equity deployment gives CIP-0113 a concrete securities use case. The proposal defines programmable tokens as assets that require a script to execute successfully before ownership can change. It remains in proposed status after an update on 29 September 2026.

Ordinary Cardano native tokens can move between addresses without transfer restrictions after minting. The CIP identifies that behavior as a barrier for tokenized securities because issuers may need allowlists, denylists, customer checks or other compliance rules. CIP-0113 adds those controls with existing Cardano primitives rather than a hard fork. From the ledger’s perspective, the assets remain normal Cardano native tokens.

The standard separates shared infrastructure from the rules for each asset. Its first layer is an on-chain registry. Each registered token gets a node with the token policy and the hashes of its configuration scripts. The registry orders those nodes by policy and checks that a new token is configured correctly before accepting it. The proposal also provides deterministic smart-wallet addresses for immediate wallet support.

A second layer supplies common validation infrastructure. Programmable tokens sit at addresses controlled by a base script, while a user’s stake credential identifies ownership. When a holder transfers one of these assets, the base script reads the live protocol configuration and delegates the transaction to the relevant validator. Every transaction spending programmable tokens must include a reference input containing the protocol parameters NFT.

The issuer supplies the third layer. A transfer script decides whether a holder-initiated transfer is allowed. A separate third-party script can define actions taken without the holder’s permission, including seizure or forced transfers. An issuance script sets who can mint or burn the asset and under what conditions. The configuration can also include global state for information such as whether transfers are paused or the token is frozen.

Registration binds those rules to the asset policy. The registry checks that the declared minting credential matches the credential stored in the node, reconstructs the expected issuance policy, and requires the token’s minting logic to run in the registration transaction. Registration may occur before the first mint, a sequence the proposal says is expected for real-world assets and supply-aware designs.

An issuer starts by writing the asset’s transfer and issuance scripts. A third-party action script is optional. The issuer then deploys an issuance policy and adds a node to the registry with the hashes of the relevant scripts. The registry rejects a duplicate policy or an incorrectly constructed issuance policy. Tokens minted during or after registration must go to the common programmable-token script.

Each later transfer carries proof of whether the token policy is registered. If it is registered, the transfer must execute the script recorded for that policy in the same transaction. If the policy is absent, the validator treats the asset as a normal, non-programmable Cardano native token. This proof step is how the shared address distinguishes restricted assets from ordinary tokens.

Holders cannot assume that ownership permits an unrestricted transfer. Each transfer must satisfy the issuer’s transfer script. A permitted third party may also act without holder consent if the asset’s configuration allows it. Wallets and applications need to derive the user’s smart-wallet address, supply registry proofs, and include the validator calls required by the standard.

For issuers, the design puts compliance behavior in token-specific scripts while sharing the registry and validation infrastructure across assets. The standard allows rules for transfers, issuance, seizure and pausing without changing Cardano’s base ledger. It also means the exact rights attached to any programmable asset depend on its registered scripts, not only on the token appearing in a wallet.

What Veridian is taking to market The tokenized equity sits alongside Veridian’s identity product. The company uses KERI and ACDC identity standards, and chief technology officer Fergal O’Connor maintains their core libraries. Veridian Wallet is live on iOS and Android. The company says it has mapped all 142 requirements in Utah’s State-Endorsed Digital Identity implementation guide.

Veridian is already used by Masumi, an AI agent payment and identity network on Cardano. Masumi uses Veridian credentials so a counterparty can check an agent’s identity before payment and revoke that identity if the agent is compromised. This connects the company’s identity product with payment authorization, while the tokenized shares demonstrate the programmable-asset standard on the same network.

The spinout also changes Veridian’s corporate structure. Cardano Foundation chief executive Frederik Gregaard is chair of Veridian. Gregaard and the Foundation’s chief legal officer, Nicolas Jacquemart, joined the board. Mayfield said independence would let the company sell to governments and enterprises after development inside the Foundation.

Veridian plans to seek strategic partners and investors in 2027. It intends to expand work with US state governments, its European enterprise business, its issuer network in Asia-Pacific and identity tools for AI agents. The next technical question is whether CIP-0113 moves beyond proposed status with the deployed Veridian equity as its first announced securities implementation.

2 min read

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick speaks to Bo Hines, a former White House adviser who is CEO of Tether U.S. (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)Summary

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal is continuing to dig into Tether’s financial relationships, sending the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald a letter requesting information on the relationship between the financial firm and the stablecoin issuer. The CEO letter recipient is Brandon Lutnick, the son of U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, who transferred that leadership post at the company when he left to join President Donald Trump’s administration. Cantor holds and manages Tether’s reserves in the U.S., and the two companies share a number of other business interests. The top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Richard Blumenthal, is demanding answers about the ties between Cantor Fitzgerald and the worldwide leader in stablecoins, Tether. If Democratic momentum continues into the November election, he and his colleagues may soon have more authority behind such probes.

Blumenthal sent a letter Thursday to Cantor's CEO, Brandon Lutnick, the son of President Donald Trump's Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, who handed the company reins to his son when he joined the administration. Blumenthal has been scrutinizing Tether's role in Iran's financial system, and he flagged the lucrative business connection between the issuer of USDT and the firm that handles its U.S. reserves, Cantor.

"Just as Tether has made untold millions in interest and investments from the stablecoins used in these illicit activities, so has Cantor Fitzgerald profited from its relationship with Tether," Blumenthal wrote, questioning Lutnick about his company's banking and sanctions safeguards and also his father’s history with Tether there.

"While Tether claims to operate out of El Salvador, the vast majority of its assets reside in the United States under your custodianship," the Connecticut lawmaker wrote. "As Congress considers how to best regulate digital assets, your partnership with Tether will provide important insights into the inner workings of this industry."

One of the letter's many requests: "Please describe all steps Cantor Fitzgerald has taken to investigate allegations that Tether’s stablecoin has been used in illicit finance and money laundering, including within Iran’s shadow banking network and for purposes of Russia sanctions evasion."

Neither Cantor Fitzgerald nor Tether immediately responded to requests for comment sent to their spokespeople.

While Blumenthal and other aggressive congressional critics of the crypto industry, such as Senator Elizabeth Warren, have suffered from a limited authority as members of the minority party, securing a Democratic majority for next year would change that. If they win several more seats in that chamber, they could find themselves atop committees with subpoena power to legally compel information and testimony.

As it stands, the prediction markets suggest that Democrats have a better-then-even shot at returning to the majority. Kalshi has it at 61% and Polymarket at 64%. That number was closer to 50-50 several weeks ago. And the picture in the U.S. House of Representatives is even more positive for Democrats, with both platforms showing the likelihood of a majority shift at more than 90%.

12345678910The Definitive Stablecoin Landscape Series: Asia Pacific

The Definitive Stablecoin Landscape Series: Asia Pacific

As stablecoins move into regulated finance, APAC is becoming a key proving ground. This report maps the region’s rules, use cases, and RLUSD’s role.

Sep 15, 2026

As stablecoins move into regulated finance, APAC is becoming a key proving ground. This report maps the region’s rules, use cases, and RLUSD’s role.

Why it matters:

As stablecoins move into regulated finance, APAC is becoming a key proving ground. This report maps the region’s rules, use cases, and RLUSD’s role.

Bitcoin, haftaya 87.000 dolar seviyesinde yeniden durdurularak başladı. Fiyat bir süre 85.600 doların üzerinde tutundu ancak ardından 30 dakikadan kısa sürede yaklaşık 2.000 dolar geriledi. Sert hareket, kripto piyasasında tasfiyeleri de hızla artırdı.

Son 24 saatte tasfiye edilen pozisyonların toplam değeri 550 milyon doları aştı. Bunun yaklaşık 430 milyon doları yalnızca son dört saat içinde gerçekleşti ve tasfiyelerin neredeyse tamamını long pozisyonlar oluşturdu.

Peki satışın arkasında ne vardı? Piyasada özellikle iki ihtimal öne çıktı.

Bitcoin, 87.000 doları yeniden aşamayınca 85.600 doların üzerinde bir süre yatay kaldı. Ardından satış baskısı hızlandı ve fiyat yarım saatten kısa sürede yaklaşık 2.000 dolar geriledi.

Bu hareket kaldıraçlı işlemlerde zincirleme tasfiyeleri tetikledi. CoinGlass verilerine göre son 24 saatte 100.000’den fazla traderın pozisyonu kapandı.

En büyük tekil tasfiye işlemi Binance’te gerçekleşti. 26 milyon dolar değerindeki işlem ETH/USDC paritesinde açılan bir pozisyona aitti.

Bitcoin’deki düşüş altcoinlere de yayıldı. Ethereum yaklaşık %4 değer kaybederek 2.600 doların altına indi. XRP, HYPE, DOGE ve ADA ise son 24 saatte %6’ya varan kayıplar yaşadı.

ABD Hükümeti Bitcoin Satmış Olabilir mi? Düşüşün ardından dikkatler ABD hükümetinin cüzdan hareketlerine çevrildi. Lookonchain, ABD hükümetinin elindeki kripto varlıkların bir bölümünü taşıdığını bildirdi.

Verilere göre toplam 834 BTC, yaklaşık 71,56 milyon dolar değerle Coinbase Prime’a gönderildi. Bunun yanında 40.285 BNB de transfer edildi.

Coinbase Prime’a yapılan BTC transferi, piyasada satış ihtimalini gündeme getirdi. Ancak bu hareket tek başına ABD hükümetinin Bitcoin sattığını kanıtlamıyor.

Dolayısıyla söz konusu transferi doğrudan Bitcoin’deki düşüşün nedeni olarak göstermek için yeterli veri bulunmuyor. Kaynak da bu gelişmeyi yalnızca olası nedenlerden biri olarak ele alıyor.

Bitcoin has dropped below $84,000.

Just before the market dropped, 4 newly created wallets deposited 1M $USDC into #Hyperliquid and opened 40x shorts on 148.49 $BTC ($12.5M).

Insiders?https://t.co/yJgjVH4q7Zhttps://t.co/PbKtqaY21Chttps://t.co/IZFnIbCGaY… pic.twitter.com/gdioFQWHhW

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) October 7, 2026

Düşüşten Önce 40x Short Açan Cüzdanlar Kim? Daha dikkat çekici ikinci gelişme ise yeni oluşturulan dört cüzdanla ilgili.

Lookonchain’in güncellemesine göre dört yeni cüzdan, düşüşten yalnızca birkaç dakika önce Hyperliquid’e toplam 1 milyon USDC yatırdı. Ardından yaklaşık 150 BTC, yani 12,5 milyon dolar değerindeki pozisyon üzerinde 40x short açtılar.

İşlemlerin zamanlaması dikkat çekiyor. Cüzdanların pozisyon açmasının hemen ardından Bitcoin sert biçimde geriledi.

Ancak bu veriler, söz konusu cüzdanların düşüşü önceden bildiğini ya da hareketin arkasında olduğunu kanıtlamıyor. Yalnızca açılan short pozisyonların zamanlamasını gösteriyor.

Bitcoin’de Tasfiye Baskısı Nereye Kadar Sürebilir? Bitcoin’deki yaklaşık 2.000 dolarlık düşüş, yüksek kaldıraç kullanımının piyasadaki etkisini bir kez daha gösterdi. Son dört saatteki 430 milyon dolarlık tasfiye, özellikle long pozisyonların ne kadar hızlı sıkışabileceğini ortaya koydu.

Ethereum tarafındaki yaklaşık %4’lük düşüş de tasfiyeleri büyüten unsurlardan biri oldu. Altcoinlerdeki kayıpların Bitcoin’den daha sert gerçekleşmesi, satış dalgasının yalnızca BTC ile sınırlı kalmadığını gösterdi.

Bu noktada piyasada iki ayrı ihtimal konuşuluyor: ABD hükümetine ait varlıkların Coinbase Prime’a taşınması ve düşüşten hemen önce açılan yüksek kaldıraçlı short pozisyonlar. Ancak mevcut veriler, bu gelişmelerden herhangi birinin tek başına satışın kesin nedeni olduğunu göstermiyor.

Bu içerik genel piyasa verilerine dayanır ve yatırım tavsiyesi değildir. Kendi araştırmanızı yapmanızı öneririz.

Son Dakika kripto para haberleri için hemen tıkla.

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

BNB has dropped approximately 5% from its recent highs, in line with continued weakness across the crypto market as Bitcoin heads toward $81,000. This broader market decline has kept altcoins, including BNB, under selling pressure.

Upcoming BNB Chain token burn draws focusThe pullback comes at a time when market participants are closely watching BNB Chain’s next quarterly token burn. The 37th scheduled burn is expected to take place this quarter, following the 36th event, which was completed on July 15. However, BNB Chain has not provided an official date for the upcoming burn.

BNB Chain is a leading blockchain ecosystem that supports a wide range of decentralized applications and hosts BNB, a top cryptocurrency.

The quarterly burn permanently removes BNB tokens from circulation and is a key part of BNB Chain’s long-term supply reduction strategy.

The previous burn removed 1.616 million BNB, valued at about $932 million at the time, and reduced total supply to roughly 133.17 million tokens.

Mini dictionary: Token burn, a mechanism that permanently removes a set number of tokens from circulation, reducing total supply and aiming to create scarcity.

Price action and technical levelsBNB’s recent decline accelerated after repeated attempts to break through resistance in the $790–$807 zone were unsuccessful. The failure to claim higher levels prompted a move back into the mid-$700s.

Technical analysts have identified the next support level near $750, with additional support around $720 if the selling continues. For any recovery, BNB would first need to reclaim ground near the upper-$700s before a renewed attempt at $800 becomes likely.

LevelSupport/Resistance$720Support$750Support$790–$807Resistance$800ResistanceSupply reduction and market impactBNB’s token burn program uses the coin’s price and the number of blocks produced by BNB Smart Chain to calculate how much supply is removed each quarter. The process will continue until the circulating supply falls to 100 million BNB.

While the burn mechanism can gradually support the token’s long-term supply-and-demand dynamics, current and expected burns are predictable and may already be partly priced in. As a result, the events do not always produce immediate surges in BNB’s value.

Quarterly burns do not guarantee instant upward moves for BNB, with their true effect unfolding over a longer timeframe as available supply is reduced.

After BNB recently climbed above $770, some traders anticipated a push toward the $800–$850 range. The latest pullback has dampened that momentum, with the market now watching for signs of stabilization before any potential recovery.

Arc, the layer-1 blockchain developed by Circle, has rolled out its Earn Kit SDK. The kit lets developers connect USDC sitting in Arc apps directly to curated Morpho Vaults so users can earn interest.

What the Earn Kit actually does The Earn Kit SDK is part of Arc’s broader App Kits suite. Its job is narrow and practical: embed USDC and EURC earning features inside applications without forcing builders to become DeFi engineers.

Developers skip several chores that normally come with offering yield. There is no need for custom DeFi protocol integrations, no vault contracts to write and no markets to bootstrap from scratch.

Instead, the SDK takes care of the plumbing. It handles vault discovery, deposits, position tracking and withdrawals on the developer’s behalf.

For builders, the interface is a set of TypeScript methods. Functions such as exploreVaults and deposit stand in for the smart contract code that would otherwise be required.

The setup is non-custodial. Users keep control of their funds through their own wallets, and their USDC sits in vault contracts rather than with the app or Arc.

Early numbers and partners Day-one deposits topped $150 million across USDC and EURC vaults.

Two integrations are already on the board. Pulsar Money Earn and SafePal have both connected to the framework.

On the vault side, curators include Steakhouse Financial and Galaxy. Curators decide how deposited funds are allocated across lending markets, so the quality of curation largely shapes what depositors are actually exposed to.

At launch, the supported opportunities involve lending backed by ETH and BTC collateral. In plain terms, depositors’ stablecoins are lent to borrowers who post Ethereum or Bitcoin as security.

The kit also supports cross-chain deposits facilitated by CCTP, along with gas sponsorship. That means users may not need to hold a separate token just to pay transaction fees.

The SDK went live on testnet shortly after it was announced on approximately September 16, 2026. Full mainnet deployment is expected by late September 2026.

Why Morpho sits at the center Morpho was established as Arc’s primary credit layer on around September 16, 2026. The Earn Kit is essentially the developer-friendly front door to that credit infrastructure.

Morpho’s role on Arc goes beyond passive yield. It provides variable-rate lending and borrowing, which gives the network a native place for stablecoin capital to find borrowers.

Arc’s App Kits are built around a cluster of stablecoin functions: funding, earning and borrowing. The Earn Kit fills in the earning piece of that puzzle.

What this means for builders and users There are risks worth keeping in view. Yield from lending is only as sound as the collateral and the curation behind it, and launch-stage opportunities are concentrated in ETH- and BTC-backed loans.

A sharp drop in either asset would test the liquidation mechanics of these vaults. The non-custodial design protects users from an app misusing funds, but it does not shield them from market risk inside the vault itself.

The things to watch are fairly concrete. First, whether mainnet arrives on the expected late-September timeline. Second, whether more apps follow Pulsar Money Earn and SafePal in plugging in.

Third, whether deposits keep climbing beyond the $150 million opening mark across USDC and EURC vaults. Finally, if Arc expands beyond ETH and BTC backing, the risk profile of these vaults will shift, and developers will need to decide which opportunities they are comfortable putting in front of their users.

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

TLDR: Extended will migrate its settlement network to Circle’s Arc blockchain during the week of October 19. Holders of over $1 in USDT or wBTC must convert to USDC or cirBTC by 12:00 UTC on October 21.  Converting earns a 0.50% premium paid by Extended, with no swap fees and credit within 8 hours.  Deposits and withdrawals pause for about two hours, while trading and sub-account transfers continue.  The Extended Arc migration will move its settlement network to Circle’s Arc blockchain during the week of October 19. Extended operates a perpetual DEX offering contracts on stocks, commodities, indices, and crypto.

Arc is a Layer 1 network built for financial markets, and it launched on September 16. Trading will continue throughout the process.

Users holding more than $1 in USDT or wBTC must convert those assets by 12:00 UTC on October 21. Neither asset exists on Arc.

Extended Arc Migration Plan and User Deadline In a post on X, Extended announced, “ The platform listed three improvements.

On infrastructure, it said trades Extended also expects broader real-world asset coverage and deeper liquidity across spot and perpetual markets.

Accounts, sub-accounts, positions, orders, history, points, and keys will carry across unchanged. However, users with more than $1 of USDT or wBTC in a sub-account must act before the deadline. They can convert in the app to USDC or cirBTC at a 1:1 rate plus a 0.50% premium.

Extended pays the premium and charges no swap fees. The premium will be credited within 8 hours after the migration.

One approval in the app covers both assets and every sub-account. Deposits of both assets were disabled as of 16:00 UTC on the day of the announcement.

ETH balances will convert automatically to wETH on Arc at a 1:1 ratio. USDC will migrate as native USDC. Vault and XVS balances, along with withdrawal rights, will be preserved. Other users need to take no action.

Process Risks and Arc Features Deposits and withdrawals will pause for roughly two hours during the Extended Arc migration. Transfers between sub-accounts will keep working.

Extended advised users to ” Precise timing will be shared closer to the date.

Under the Extended Arc migration rules, users who miss the deadline face account restrictions. Standard liquidation rules still apply, and they cannot add margin or close positions.

Affected sub-account positions close at the mark price with no fee, and open orders are cancelled. Extended returns the assets to the login wallet on Starknet or Ethereum and covers network fees.

Arc mainnet went live on September 16 with four features relevant to a trading venue. These are deterministic sub-second finality, gas paid in USDC, and EVM compatibility. The network also has an institutional validator set. Existing wallets and tooling will continue to work as they do today.

Extended is building a unified platform for trading perpetual contracts across asset classes with varied collateral. That plan requires a settlement layer built for markets and trusted by the institutions that distribute them. Arc launched with BlackRock, DTCC, ICE, Visa, and Mastercard among its founding validators.

Algorand [ALGO] rallied by more than 17% in the past 24 hours, leading gains among the top 100 cryptos by market cap. This surge has brought its total gains to over 41% in the past 30 days.

This rally is irrespective of Bitcoin [BTC] developing weakness as its price trades at $82,600. ALGO’s selective rally was as a result of fundamentals, technical upgrades to its code, and network activity. Here is how:

Why did Algorand crypto rally so hard today? Algorand launched its post-quantum roadmap in June this year, putting the chain on track toward a resilient 2027.

As per the roadmap, PQ multisig and hybrid LogicSig accounts are being executed as planned for Q4. Thus, the chain was ready for any threat, whether it came in a few months or years, with 1.6 million post-quantum transactions already completed.

As a result, Algorand’s network activity also heightened as it supported AI agent payments through Coinbase’s x402. USDC on Algorand led x402 payments at $390.4K, followed by USDC on Base at $378.3K.

Most of Algorand’s volume came last week.

Source: Token Terminal One fundamental reason was the appointment of a new CEO, William Herkelrath, who brought 20 years of experience in blockchain infrastructure. William has previously served as the Chief Revenue Officer at Curv before joining Chainlink [LINK] in another leadership role.

Moreover, ALGO has also been enjoying regulatory clarity since March as the SEC treats it as a digital commodity rather than a security. This ruling applies to many other cryptos, but can ALGO sustain the resurgence?

Is the rebound the start of an ALGO comeback? Following this sudden uptick, Algorand broke above a bull flag, hinting at potential continuation. The correction began on the 28th of September, when most cryptos printed this year’s peaks.

The rebound saw buying pressure, with the CVD showing a maximum of 17.28 million ALGO longed during the day. To keep the altcoin surging, the price needs to stay above the pattern.

Numerically, ALGO should trade above $0.13 to keep it bullish, with the next target at $0.19. However, $0.14 has been a resistance for far too long, that is, since the start of 2026.

Source: ALGO/USDT on TradingView However, overlaying the RSI Divergence, a bearish signal appears, indicating potential profit-taking after the uptick. From that, it could hint that a short-term correction may follow this breakout.

Final Summary Algorand rallies over 17% following a technical upgrade to its code, a new CEO appointment, and a surge in AI payments.  ALGO broke from a bull flag on the 4-hour chart for a continuation but faces this year’s resistance at $0.14. 

Polkadot has introduced its new stablecoin, dotUSD, describing it as an asset with no issuing company behind it. The launch took place on October 8, signaling the network’s effort to address concerns over centralization in the current $250 billion stablecoin market.

Current launch relies fully on USDT reservesDespite Polkadot’s claim of offering a new model, the first phase of dotUSD’s rollout functions as a wrapped version of Tether’s USDT. Users can mint dotUSD on a one-to-one basis with USDT, meaning each dollar of dotUSD is backed directly by a dollar of USDT in reserve. This model currently mirrors the centralized structure that Polkadot said it intended to avoid.

The phased launch follows governance referendum 1944, which details how users may mint dotUSD by depositing USDT, up to a predetermined supply cap. This approach puts Tether’s token at the core of dotUSD’s stability in its initial stage.

To kickstart trading, Polkadot’s treasury provides liquidity by funding a DOT-dotUSD pool through its Asset Hub. Early drafts allocated $2.5 million in USDT and $2.5 million in DOT to the pool, totaling $5 million. Subsequent revisions lowered both amounts to $1.5 million each, establishing a $3 million launch pool.

The Polkadot Community Foundation, which submitted the proposal, states it acts in an administrative role only and does not issue, operate, or hold custody of dotUSD, DOT, or USDT.

Mini dictionary: Polkadot Community Foundation, a non-profit organization facilitating governance and development initiatives on the Polkadot blockchain ecosystem.

StablecoinBacking AssetIssuing AuthorityPhase One CapdotUSDUSDTNone (administered, not issued)Defined by proposalUSDTUSD-reserves & equivalentsTether LimitedN/AInitial model contradicts decentralization claimsThe governance proposal behind dotUSD’s launch previously cautioned against reliance on centralized stablecoins such as USDT and USDC. These issuers retain the ability to freeze assets, deny access to wallets, or blacklist addresses—often acting in response to government requests, with limited recourse for users.

Despite this warning, dotUSD’s current phase exposes its users to the same risks. Each dollar of dotUSD is a direct claim on USDT reserves, meaning if Tether freezes the associated wallet, the value and liquidity of dotUSD are equally impacted.

Those concerns outlined in the proposal, especially the ability of centralized issuers to freeze or block user funds, now directly apply to dotUSD’s first stage since it is fully dependent on USDT reserves.

Tether’s freezing activities are well documented. In one 30-day window, Tether reportedly froze $514 million in USDT across 370 Ethereum and Tron addresses. Cumulatively, over $1.26 billion was blacklisted during 2025.

Freezes imposed on wallets are seldom lifted, and Tether’s interventionist powers are currently facing legal challenges. On October 6, payments company Conduit sued Tether in a New York federal court after a $2.76 million freeze allegedly locked its main account for more than a year. Conduit alleges the freeze occurred despite Brazilian police confirming no investigation of the address. Another lawsuit followed from two Thai businessmen regarding $42.4 million in USDT, reportedly frozen on informal law enforcement requests before any warrant was issued. Tether has dismissed these lawsuits as baseless and underscored its cooperation with more than 340 law enforcement agencies.

The decentralized vision for dotUSD remains a future goal. In its next phase, dotUSD aims to transition to a model backed by DOT-collateralized vaults, supported by an oracle, a stability pool, liquidations, and a redemption mechanism. However, a firm date for this upgrade has not been set.

Discussions about a fully DOT-backed stablecoin have circulated within the Polkadot community since July 2025, when co-founder Gavin Wood referenced the project at the Web3 Summit. Until the second phase materializes, dotUSD’s decentralized promise remains unfulfilled.

For now, dotUSD operates as a wrapped USDT token, with users directly exposed to the risks associated with Tether reserves. The transition to a protocol leveraging DOT collateral is still in development, with no announced launch date for phase two.

Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake has urged the crypto industry to start preparing for what he calls “bunker mode,” arguing that rapid advances in AI-driven mathematics could threaten cryptographic systems sooner than the industry expects.

In an October 7 post, Drake recommended a controlled migration of assets to fresh addresses whose public keys remain hidden behind hashes. He specifically urged large holders to consider moving funds to addresses that have never signed transactions and to move remaining funds whenever they sign a transaction.

He warned that the industry should consider the possibility that ECDSA could become breakable within “months, not years,” potentially through classical computing rather than quantum computers.

His argument rests on recent advances in AI for mathematics. Drake pointed to breakthroughs involving problems such as integer multiplication, 3SUM, and the Erdős unit distance conjecture as evidence that AI could uncover mathematical shortcuts that humans have missed.

He argued that elliptic curves deserve particular scrutiny because of their mathematical structure and suggested that the industry should accelerate its move toward hash-based cryptography.

Vitalik Takes the Warning Seriously Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin pushed back against the idea that users should immediately scramble to move their funds, but he agreed that AI-driven advances in mathematics deserve serious attention.

Buterin argued that the industry should consider AI vulnerability alongside quantum vulnerability. He also questioned the assumption that lattice-based cryptography will remain safe simply because elliptic curves face greater scrutiny today.

The programmer still warned users against rushed migrations, warning that he had “lost more money in botched migrations than I have lost in all hacks combined.” He later clarified that multisig users should ideally change signing keys after each operation while continuing to gather signatures offchain where possible.

Not Everyone Sees an Emergency The response from cryptographers has been sharply divided. Yehuda Lindell, head of cryptography at Coinbase, called Drake's argument a bad take, saying that there is currently no evidence that decades-old assumptions behind elliptic curve cryptography have failed.

Lindell argued that AI proving difficult mathematical theorems does not show it can solve problems like elliptic curve discrete logarithms. He also noted that a genuine break of elliptic curve cryptography would create consequences far beyond crypto, affecting bank websites, financial systems, software signing and other internet infrastructure.

Longtime Ethereum developer and researcher Dankrad Feist made an even more direct point. If attackers can immediately compromise any exposed public key, he argued, moving funds into protected addresses wouldn't necessarily save them because the underlying assets could lose all value.

Dragonfly managing partner Haseeb Qureshi took the opposite view, describing Drake's warning as a sober response to rapid mathematical progress and suggesting the industry should temporarily adopt a more defensive approach.

How Much Cryptography Could AI Already Be Hiding? The discussion has also shifted toward a harder question: how many novel attacks on cryptography could already exist but remain undisclosed?

Responding to a question about how many such attacks might emerge, Matthew Green, an associate professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins University, raised an even broader concern, saying he thinks the industry could “lose public key cryptography,” particularly public-key encryption.

Solana cofounder Anatoly Yakovenko pushed back on that premise, arguing that AI will not simply solve discrete logarithms, prime factorization, or the P ≠ NP conjecture, but could instead uncover vulnerabilities in specific curve parameters or groups.

That distinction sits at the heart of the debate. AI could potentially discover weaknesses in how cryptographic systems are implemented without overturning their underlying mathematical assumptions.

Solana Says Its Design Offers “A Defined Path Forward” Solana Foundation VP of Technology Jacob Creech rejected the need for Justin Drake’s proposed “bunker mode” on Solana.

Creech argued that Solana's use of Ed25519 gives users a different recovery path if an attacker eventually breaks the underlying elliptic curve. The signing key derives from a secret seed through hashing, while the seed itself never appears onchain.

According to Creech, a network upgrade could let legitimate owners prove knowledge of their seed with a hash-based proof and migrate their accounts to a safer signature scheme. In the unlikely event of a break in Solana’s cryptography, validators, not users, would be responsible for upgrading infrastructure to ensure continuity. Creech also stated that “a working proof of concept already exists”, pointing to Anza’s Proof of Knowledge Seed protocol.

Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz similarly urged users not to follow Drake's recommendation, arguing that careless fund movements could create a more immediate risk than an overnight cryptographic breakthrough.

A Crypto Problem or an Internet Problem? The debate ultimately extends far beyond Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana. If AI genuinely discovers an efficient way to break widely used public-key cryptography, the consequences would reach banking, brokerage platforms, payment networks, TLS, software updates, and other critical internet infrastructure. 

However, centralized companies and institutions could potentially respond faster to any threat.  Blockchains face a tougher challenge because decentralized networks need coordination and consensus to make fundamental changes. That makes having a contingency plan before such a scenario emerges particularly important.

Solana already has one. Its Ed25519 design allows users to prove control of their underlying seeds and migrate to a safer signature scheme through a network upgrade, with a working proof of concept already available.

There is currently no public evidence that AI has broken ECDSA or another major cryptographic hardness assumption. In a recent tweet, Solana cofounder Anatoly Yakovenko described the panic as “fear based on uncertainty from smart people unable to predict the future,” but urged developers to ship post-quantum cryptography solutions.

For now, the argument centers on how seriously the industry should prepare for a possibility that researchers cannot rule out but also cannot demonstrate.

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Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) briefly processed more trades than the NYSE in September, according to Citrini Research, as tokenized stocks and real-world assets push deeper into traditional finance.

Why Citrini Says Crypto Finally Found Its PurposeCitrini Research wrote in a Thursday note that crypto spent 15 years building programmable financial infrastructure without a clear use case, until AI agents and tokenized assets gave it one. 

The firm argues that as AI agents increasingly manage money and make decisions on behalf of users, financial assets need to become machine-readable and transferable the same way consumer data already has.

The inflection point traces back to March, when the Iran conflict escalated over a weekend and Hyperliquid as measured by Hyperliquid Strategies (NASDAQ:PURR) became one of the only liquid venues where traders could price crude oil in real time. 

Since then, Citrini says tokenized real-world asset adoption has moved into a much higher gear.

How Robinhood, Coinbase and US Regulation Are Shaping Tokenized Stock TradingCitrini pointed to two forces accelerating the move on-chain:

Composable tokenized equities: Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) Chain’s stock tokens let tokenized shares move freely between apps and blockchain rails, rather than staying locked inside a single issuer’s platform, and that model has since spread to more chains Regulatory momentum: two days after the CLARITY Act failed in the Senate, the SEC issued an innovation exemption opening a path for tokenized stock trading, while Coinbase’s (NASDAQ:COIN) proposed US stock perpetual futures product sits with “approval pending” status at the CFTC Which US Stocks Is Securitize Bringing to Solana?Securitize announced Thursday, according to WSJ, that it’s bringing 12 major US stocks onto Solana through a new product called Securitize Stocks. The initial lineup includes:

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading starts on Securitize’s existing Solana platform, with Jump Trading providing liquidity and settlement happening in USDC (CRYPTO: USDC). 

Securitize plans to expand the stocks to NYSE’s planned 24/7 digital trading platform and the upcoming OKX-ICE Tokenized Securities Venue, a joint venture between NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange and OKX.

Each token stays backed one-for-one by an actual share and preserves shareholder benefits like dividends and voting rights, according to Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo.

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Bitwise Asset Management announced that it will close its Dogecoin ETF, citing weak investor demand for the product. Trading of the Bitwise Dogecoin ETF (BWOW) will cease on October 14, and shareholders will receive cash distributions around October 22. The fund, which started trading on NYSE Arca in November 2025, held approximately $725,870 in assets as of October 7, with a recorded trading volume of about $51,480 in September.

Dogecoin ETF fails to draw fund investorsHunter Horsley, CEO of Bitwise, described the ETF’s performance as disappointing, despite his own personal interest in Dogecoin. Horsley emphasized that although Dogecoin has developed a recognizable identity within the digital asset sector, this did not translate into significant demand among traditional ETF buyers.

Addressing the closure at the Digital Asset Summit 2026 Asia, Horsley stated that investor interest in Dogecoin differs between users of crypto trading apps and buyers of traditional exchange-traded funds. He rejected the suggestion that Bitwise targeted the wrong market, noting that the two groups have distinct preferences and behaviors.

Horsley pointed out that traditional ETF investors are fundamentally different from those who engage with cryptocurrencies directly through digital platforms, underscoring that reaching busy professional investors remains a challenge in driving broad adoption.

Strong demand for Solana and NEAR fundsWhile the Dogecoin ETF saw limited uptake, Bitwise’s other products experienced more robust interest. The Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (BSOL) currently manages about $1.3 billion in assets. According to Horsley, the success of the Solana fund stems from investor appetite for Solana exposure, driven not only by staking rewards but by the broader ecosystem involving stablecoins, tokenized assets, and on-chain services.

Bitwise also recently launched an ETF tied to NEAR Protocol, a blockchain focused on interoperability across different networks. The NEAR ETF attracted $58 million in inflows during its first week, suggesting stronger market appetite for newer blockchain projects that facilitate asset transfers between chains.

Mini dictionary: NEAR Protocol is a proof-of-stake, layer-1 blockchain known for emphasizing cross-chain compatibility, which allows users and dApps to transfer tokens and data between different blockchain networks efficiently.

ETF NameAsset SizeLaunch DateDogecoin ETF (BWOW)$725,870November 2025Solana Staking ETF (BSOL)$1.3 billion2024NEAR ETF (NRR)$58 million (first week)September 2026Investor interest in the Solana and NEAR funds far outpaced that of the Dogecoin ETF, reflecting broader confidence in projects with cross-chain services and rapidly expanding ecosystems.

Bitwise eyes AI investment productsLooking ahead, Bitwise is intensifying its focus on artificial intelligence investment products. In August, the firm filed for an AI Cyber Defense ETF, and in September, it submitted a request for an AI Bond ETF. However, regulatory filings do not ensure that these products will launch.

Bitwise believes that growing use of automated software agents, sometimes leveraging AI, will increase demand for cross-chain asset management and transfer services, especially for networks like NEAR Protocol that prioritize interoperability.

The broader cryptocurrency sector is also embracing AI-powered solutions. Binance, a major global exchange, debuted new AI-driven features geared toward delivering market information and automating trading strategies for users and developers.

For longer-term investors, Horsley highlighted Bitwise’s BITW and BITQ index funds, which offer diversified exposure across the digital asset market for those looking to avoid managing individual cryptocurrencies or platforms.

North Korea-linked operators use cross-chain swaps, decentralized exchanges and professional intermediaries to move stolen cryptocurrency. THORChain played a documented role in processing assets associated with the 2025 Bybit theft, illustrating how legitimate liquidity infrastructure can be exploited. OTC brokers and informal settlement networks create financial relationships that are not fully visible through blockchain transaction records. North Korean hacking groups have turned cryptocurrency theft into a sophisticated financial operation, relying on cross-chain infrastructure, professional money launderers and informal payment networks to move assets beyond the reach of exchanges and law enforcement.

The scale of the problem became particularly visible after the $1.46 billion Bybit theft in February 2025. The FBI attributed the attack to North Korea’s TraderTraitor activity, while subsequent blockchain investigations documented the rapid movement of stolen Ether through thousands of transactions.

More recent reporting by Wu Blockchain has drawn attention to the intermediaries operating between the initial theft and the eventual use of stolen funds. These networks can exchange assets, supply liquidity and arrange settlement without requiring the original attackers to manage every transaction.

The result is a laundering ecosystem in which the technical compromise of a cryptocurrency platform and the financial processing of stolen assets may be handled by different participants.

How the Bybit Hack Exposed Cross-Chain Laundering The Bybit incident began with a compromise of the exchange’s Ethereum cold-wallet signing process. Attackers manipulated the transaction approval workflow, allowing assets to be transferred to unauthorized addresses.

After the theft, the attackers moved large quantities of Ether through intermediary wallets and cross-chain services.

One of the most closely examined services was THORChain, a decentralized liquidity protocol that enables native cryptocurrency swaps between supported blockchains.

Unlike a centralized exchange, a cross-chain liquidity protocol can facilitate asset conversion without relying on a conventional customer account.

In the Bybit case, blockchain investigators reported substantial flows through THORChain as stolen Ether was converted into Bitcoin and other assets.

The mechanism matters because a conversion from ETH to BTC changes the environment in which investigators must follow the funds.

Ethereum’s account-based transaction model and Bitcoin’s unspent transaction output model record transfers differently. Following a cross-chain swap therefore requires investigators to associate an incoming transaction on one network with an outgoing transaction on another.

That association may be possible using transaction timing, amounts, protocol events and other observable evidence, but it is more complicated than tracing transfers between addresses on the same blockchain.

Cross-chain services are not inherently illicit. They also support legitimate trading and liquidity management. Their relevance to money laundering comes from the ability to exchange assets across networks, particularly when access does not involve conventional identity verification.

The Bybit investigation demonstrated that stolen cryptocurrency can be moved through widely used decentralized infrastructure without compromising that infrastructure itself.

The Professional Launderers Behind the Transactions Blockchain movements reveal where assets travel. They provide a less complete picture of the commercial relationships behind those transfers.

North Korea-linked operations have been associated with intermediaries that exchange suspicious cryptocurrency for other assets, arrange transfers through OTC channels or facilitate payments through networks outside conventional banking.

Some laundering services operate as brokers rather than simple exchange platforms.

An intermediary may accept cryptocurrency associated with a theft and arrange to provide the client with different assets or value through another settlement channel, retaining a fee or discount.

That arrangement can transfer part of the operational risk from the original thief to a separate financial facilitator.

It also complicates efforts to establish the amount ultimately available to the attackers.

For example, Elliptic reported that approximately $200 million connected to the Bybit theft moved through the eXch cryptocurrency exchange service. The figure describes activity attributed to that service, not a verified cash payment to the attackers.

Investigators therefore distinguish between three measures: the value originally stolen, the volume processed through laundering services and the proceeds ultimately obtained by the perpetrators.

Only the first two can sometimes be estimated directly from publicly observable blockchain activity.

A broader investigation by 38 North has examined the role of financial facilitators and OTC brokers in helping North Korean actors convert cryptocurrency into usable resources.

Those intermediaries are significant because they can connect digital-asset transactions to commercial payments, local-currency liquidity or other financial arrangements that blockchain records alone cannot fully reveal.

From Stolen Tokens to Usable Value The laundering process does not follow a single fixed route. Assets may pass through different services, return to earlier networks or remain in cryptocurrency rather than being converted into fiat.

The following sequence illustrates the principal stages investigators examine. It is a generalized model, not a verified transaction path for every North Korean theft.

CRYPTO CRIME / MONEY FLOW

How Stolen Crypto Moves Through Laundering Networks

A simplified view of the financial infrastructure used to process stolen digital assets.

01

The Initial Theft

Attackers compromise an exchange or wallet and transfer cryptocurrency to addresses under their control.

ENTRY POINT

↓

02

Swaps and Chain-Hopping

Assets move between wallets, liquidity protocols and blockchains, changing their form and complicating transaction tracing.

ONCHAIN MOVEMENT

↓

03

Professional Intermediaries

OTC brokers and financial facilitators exchange assets or arrange settlement through separate financial channels.

LIQUIDITY & SETTLEMENT

↓

04

Usable Financial Value

Proceeds may emerge as fiat currency, commercial payments or cryptocurrency retained for later use.

FINAL ECONOMIC USE

Methodology: Illustrative sequence based on laundering patterns documented in investigations by the FBI, Elliptic and 38 North. Individual cases may involve different routes, additional intermediaries or repeated stages.

Where Investigators Can Interrupt the Flow The earliest stages of laundering offer opportunities for exchanges and blockchain analytics firms to identify suspicious movements before assets reach intermediaries.

The FBI’s February 2025 advisory on the Bybit theft provided addresses associated with TraderTraitor and urged exchanges, bridges, decentralized finance services and other virtual-asset providers to block transactions involving identified stolen funds.

For compliance teams, that requires more than screening a recipient address against a static sanctions list.

Transaction monitoring should incorporate exposure to known thefts across multiple blockchains. A newly created wallet may have no direct sanctions designation but could receive assets shortly after they pass through a cross-chain swap associated with a confirmed exploit.

Such connections require careful interpretation. Indirect exposure alone does not establish that the recipient knowingly participated in money laundering.

Liquidity providers and exchanges can also monitor unusual transaction patterns, including rapid conversions, fragmented transfers and activity involving addresses recently associated with a security incident.

When suspicious assets reach a centralized platform, investigators may have an opportunity to preserve records, identify account holders and request restrictions through appropriate legal procedures.

The Bybit response provides a documented example. According to the exchange’s incident timeline, industry participants helped freeze approximately $42.89 million in exploited funds by February 23, 2025.

For stablecoins with issuer-controlled freezing functionality, timely coordination with issuers may provide another intervention point. Native Bitcoin and Ether do not offer an equivalent centralized freezing mechanism.

The final stage requires a different investigative approach.

OTC brokers and informal financial facilitators may connect cryptocurrency transfers to bank accounts, cash movements or trade settlements. Detecting those relationships can require suspicious activity reports, financial intelligence, customer records and cooperation across jurisdictions.

Research published by 38 North in March 2026 identified examples involving facilitators operating across several countries and argued that authorities should devote greater attention to cash-out networks, not only the hackers responsible for the initial theft.

Why Cash-Out Networks Matter More Than Another Wallet Address North Korea’s cryptocurrency operations expose a limitation of blockchain transparency: public transaction records can document the movement of assets without identifying every financial relationship behind them.

The distinction becomes especially consequential when professional intermediaries purchase stolen cryptocurrency at a discount or arrange settlement through separate payment networks.

Investigators may know which service received the assets while lacking evidence of the final payment or its recipient.

In some cases, conversion into conventional currency may not be necessary. Research on North Korean sanctions evasion has documented efforts to use cryptocurrency directly in commercial transactions, potentially reducing dependence on conventional cash-out channels.

This shifts part of the investigative focus from cryptocurrency exchanges to the wider financial and commercial networks through which illicit proceeds acquire economic value.

The latest Bitget case remains relevant to that work. Wu Blockchain reported that the exchange revised the assets involved in its September incident to approximately $387.5 million, while North Korean attribution had not been conclusively established in a published technical investigation.

Until additional evidence becomes available, conclusions about the precise perpetrators and their eventual proceeds should remain qualified.

The Bybit case provides stronger attribution, supported by the FBI, and a more developed public record of subsequent laundering activity.

Together, the investigations illustrate why stopping cryptocurrency theft proceeds requires two distinct capabilities: following assets across networks and identifying the people or institutions willing to convert those assets into usable value.

The first is increasingly supported by blockchain analytics. The second depends on financial intelligence, enforceable compliance controls and international cooperation.

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.

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Raydium [RAY] spent most of the summer going nowhere. Then in early September, it finally woke up.

Why does that matter today? Here’s the rundown.

Raydium crypto jumps 14% in a day! Most of the market had a bad week, but Raydium clearly did not get the memo.

RAY traded around $0.90 before its September breakout and climbed as high as $2.56 on 7 October, an increase of roughly 184%. Even after retreating to $2.31, the token remained more than 150% above its early-September level.

Source: TradingView That hardly makes a difference if you think of the bigger picture. Before its breakout on September 5, RAY was around $0.90.

It has more than doubled in the past month alone.

The pace is still there, but the tiredness is obvious. RSI was at 66; back in September, it was running above 80.

Chaikin Money Flow is positive at 0.06, but well off its September highs.

But here’s where it gets interesting.

Source: Coinalyze OI went from about $13 million to over $20 million during today’s rally. At the same time, funding went deep into the red, close to -0.20%.

A lot of traders opened short positions, betting the pump wouldn’t last. OI has since dropped to about $16.3 million, and funding is still negative at -0.08%.

The bears are still here, but in fewer numbers.

Why is RAY running when everything else isn’t? Token Terminal data shows $12.4 billion in DEX volume for tokenized stocks on Solana this year. About $6.1 billion of it went through Raydium’s pools.

Source: Token Terminal Meteora handled $2.3 billion, and Orca $1.2 billion. Those two together still don’t match Raydium.

September is when things really picked up. According to Blockworks, Raydium’s tokenized equity volume hit about $260 million last month. In August, it was under $40 million.

Source: X The most traded ticker? NVDAx, the tokenized version of NVIDIA. There were 115 others, but AI names were clearly what people came for.

So while most of the market sat this week out, RAY had actual trading volume behind it.

Final Summary Raydium (RAY) jumped 14% in a day; more than doubled in the past month. Raydium handled about $6.1 billion of Solana’s $12.4 billion tokenized stock DEX volume this year.

Shelby, the decentralized storage platform built by Aptos Labs with Jump, has moved into private beta. It is now handling real customer workloads.

Shelby entered private beta in October 2026. That came after its testnet shut down on August 3, 2026.

Three early enterprise customers are on board. Each one stresses the system in a different way.

Teepin represents the enterprise AI side. AI pipelines read huge amounts of data repeatedly, so storage speed directly shapes how fast models train and serve.

Pictor Network works on distributed 3D rendering. Rendering jobs split heavy scene files across many machines, then reassemble the results.

PathPulse focuses on spatial intelligence. That generally means working with location and mapping data, which tends to be large and constantly updated.

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Shelby is pitched as a verifiable global object storage system tuned for AI workloads. It targets sub-second read performance.

Shelby is S3-compatible. S3 is the storage interface popularized by Amazon Web Services, and many developer tools already expect it.

The blockchain part sits underneath. Aptos smart contracts coordinate the network and verify data integrity.

Every write produces a sequenced cryptographic record on-chain.

Shelby also uses erasure coding. This technique splits data into fragments with added redundancy, so files can be rebuilt even if some pieces disappear.

The design also aims to cut the number of data copies made during computation.

Shelby is specifically going after “hot” storage. That means data needing frequent, fast access, as opposed to cold archives that sit untouched for months.

Aptos Labs first announced Shelby in mid-2025. The testnet phase focused heavily on AI and distributed computing use cases.

Core performance during that period held up well. Testers came away confident that the underlying system worked.

Feedback flagged a need for better developer tooling and stronger API compatibility.

So the team chose to polish the developer experience and operational compatibility rather than keep expanding network capabilities.

Aptos is trying to compete on cloud-like performance while adding something conventional clouds do not offer by default: on-chain proof of data provenance.

For the APT token, the link is indirect but real. APT is used for transaction fees and coordination within the Shelby framework.

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

BTC price remains under pressure as fresh Bitcoin news points to another large movement of crypto linked to the U.S. government. Arkham data shows that government wallets have moved more than 12,260 BTC, worth roughly $1.1 billion. The transfers have raised fresh concerns about possible selling pressure across the market.

Bitcoin News: US Government Moves Over 12K BTC In the latest Bitcoin news, the latest US government activity has caught the attention of crypto market traders. Arkham data indicates that government-linked wallets have moved more than 12,260 BTC in total. At current valuations, the stash is worth about $1.1 billion.

Meanwhile, the development comes after another major transfer on October 7, 2026. On-chain data showed the government moved around $103 million in seized crypto assets that day, and the transaction involved 833.6 BTC worth nearly $71.56 million.

The same movement also included 40,285 BNB, while that portion was valued at approximately $31.63 million. According to Bitcoin news, the size of these transfers has intensified discussions about the government’s intentions.

Notably, large wallet movements often attract attention because they can precede changes in market liquidity. However, moving coins does not automatically mean that the assets have entered the open market.

Can This Impact BTC Price? According to Bitcoin news, traders are now assessing whether the latest transfers could eventually translate into selling activity. A direct sale could increase available supply and potentially add short-term pressure on BTC.

On the other hand, the BTC price has continued to stay in the red, falling around 2% in the last seven days to around $82.5k. Still, the Bitcoin news transfer itself does not confirm an immediate selloff.

Government-held crypto can move between wallets for custody, administrative, or liquidation-related reasons. Investors therefore need to distinguish wallet activity from confirmed exchange deposits or executed sales.

Despite that, investors should exercise due diligence, given the ongoing topsy-turvy scenario in the market. In addition, the ongoing Fed rate hike concerns, after the latest US FOMC, could further impact the sentiment of the broader financial sector, let alone the crypto market.

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TL;DR: US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $484.9 million in net outflows on October 7, according to Farside Investors. BlackRock’s IBIT led the withdrawals with $207.7 million leaving the fund, while Fidelity and ARK also posted nine-figure outflows.

A day after Bitcoin ETF inflows appeared to recover, institutional money moved sharply in the other direction.

US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded $484.9 million in combined net outflows on October 7, according to updated data from Farside Investors.

The redemptions were broad rather than concentrated in one legacy product.

BlackRock‘s IBIT, normally the strongest source of positive flow in the group, lost $207.7 million.

Fidelity’s FBTC recorded another $105.1 million of net outflows, while ARK’s ARKB lost $101.7 million.

Bitwise’s BITB posted $27.6 million of outflows, Grayscale‘s GBTC lost $39.3 million and VanEck’s HODL shed $3.5 million.

The scale of the reversal stands out because the group had recorded $118.8 million of net inflows just one session earlier.

BlackRock itself had taken in $122 million on October 6 before becoming the biggest source of redemptions the following day.

That is a useful reminder of how quickly ETF flows can change.

Large creations and redemptions do not necessarily represent a permanent institutional view on Bitcoin. Funds are used for tactical trades, portfolio rebalancing, arbitrage and longer-term exposure, all of which can produce significant daily swings.

Still, nearly half a billion dollars leaving the products in one session is difficult to ignore.

The composition matters.

GBTC was once routinely responsible for most of the sector’s negative flow as investors exited the higher-fee legacy trust after its conversion to an ETF.

October 7 looked different.

The largest withdrawals came from products run by BlackRock, Fidelity and ARK, indicating that the selling pressure reached funds that have historically attracted substantial new capital.

Bitcoin was trading in a more difficult macro environment at the same time, with risk assets under pressure and investors watching interest rates, energy prices and geopolitical developments.

ETF flows cannot prove why a market moved, but they offer a direct view into how one of Bitcoin’s largest regulated investment channels is behaving.

That channel has become increasingly important since spot products opened the market to investors who do not want to hold BTC directly.

One bad session does not break that structural story.

But October 7 was not a marginal pullback either.

For the first time in several sessions, the strongest message from the ETF market was not accumulation.

It was risk coming off.

The network says it is actively considering becoming an L1, with 2027 as the target for becoming the first fully quantum-resistant chain.

Starknet weighs becoming a Layer 1 to chase quantum resistance by 2027

Posted October 8, 2026 at 6:44 am ET.

Starknet is “actively considering becoming an L1,” the network said in a post on X on Thursday. The move would let Starknet become “the first fully quantum-resistant network,” according to the post, which set 2027 as the target.

Starknet is currently a layer-2 network that publishes its state data to Ethereum as blobs, according to its own post-quantum roadmap.

This story is an excerpt from the Unchained Daily newsletter.

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Ben-Sasson Frames the Question Eli Ben-Sasson, co-founder and CEO of StarkWare, put the idea to his followers minutes earlier. He asked whether “Starknet becoming an L1 for post-quantum agility” is a good idea or a bad one.

He pointed to two pressures. The first is the quantum threat, which he said “may be MUCH closer than we think.” The second is AI, which he said is “becoming more powerful than we can process.” Together, he wrote, they call for “bunker mode.”

Ben-Sasson listed three requirements for a chain to be future-proofed: the right cryptography, crypto agility and becoming an L1. He said the post connects to a talk he gave at Token2049 on Thursday.

The Existing Quantum Roadmap StarkWare published a three-phase post-quantum roadmap for Starknet on June 30. The first phase replaces Pedersen hashing with BLAKE2 across the state, chain environment and consensus layers, and plans consensus signatures built on post-quantum schemes such as Falcon-512. The second phase covers migrating existing contracts.

The third phase covers two dependencies on Ethereum, the bridge’s messaging layer and blob data availability. StarkWare said in the roadmap that those “will be resolved as Ethereum’s migration progresses.” The roadmap did not mention becoming an L1.

The roadmap also said that all protocol-level changes to Starknet are subject to approval through its governance process. Neither Thursday post said whether or when a decision on the L1 idea would be taken.

Related Listen: How Zcash and NEAR Are Driving This Crypto Bull Run

AI-assisted content: This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and was reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by a member of the Unchained editorial team before publication.

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Hyperliquid founder Jeff Yan, during an interview on the Empire Podcast at DAS 2026 Asia, was asked: "If you were a builder and no longer allowed to work on infrastructure, what would you build?" Yan responded: "I’d look around to identify unbuilt projects with real potential, depending on what other builders are working on. Right now, I might explore options, since many people I’ve spoken with want to trade them. Perpetual contracts largely meet the needs of most users, but some traders note they can’t fully express all their market views using perpetuals. I believe HIP-4 offers a very clear framework for building an options protocol: it can inherit spot markets, order books, and portfolio margin; for market makers, perpetual contracts are available to hedge option delta. The key is turning that component into something widely appealing. I don’t think any option or convexity yield-style product in crypto has truly reached escape velocity, though it’s clearly achieved that in traditional finance."

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More than 6 million bitcoin are now held behind public keys visible on the blockchain, raising concerns about exposure as experts warn that artificial intelligence or quantum computing advances could threaten the security of digital assets.

Growing public-key exposure on the Bitcoin networkData from Glassnode, a leading blockchain analytics firm, shows that this exposed supply represents 31.2% of Bitcoin’s circulating supply. This figure is 5 to 6 percentage points above the lowest level recorded in 2023.

Between May and the latest update, exposed bitcoin holdings increased by 222,000 BTC, now valued at $18.2 billion. In contrast, the total bitcoin supply grew by just 64,000 BTC during the same period, according to Rafael Schultze-Kraft, co-founder of Glassnode.

Exchanges have contributed significantly to this rise, accounting for 123,000 BTC of the newly exposed balance. Presently, exchanges hold 1.79 million BTC behind public keys that are viewable on-chain.

The degree of exposure varies across exchanges. Coinbase, a prominent U.S.-based crypto exchange, has 10% of its bitcoin exposed, while Binance’s share stands much higher at 83%.

EntityBTC Exposed (%)Approximate Exposed BTCBinance83%Not specifiedCoinbase10%Not specifiedFidelity2%375,000 total BTC heldGrayscale49%Not specifiedRevolut99%Not specifiedRobinhood100%Not specifiedInstitutional holders show differing levels of exposure. Fidelity, the global financial services corporation, holds 375,000 BTC, of which only 2% are publicly exposed. Grayscale, an investment management firm specializing in digital currencies, has 49% of its holdings exposed, while digital platforms Revolut and Robinhood show exposure levels of 99% and 100% respectively. Holdings by the U.S., U.K., and El Salvador governments reportedly have no exposure under this analysis.

Mini dictionary: Glassnode is a blockchain analytics company that provides data insights and metrics related to on-chain activity, helping traders, investors, and institutions analyze cryptocurrency networks.

Security implications and technical outlookPublic keys become visible on the blockchain for several reasons, including address reuse or their appearance in special bitcoin output types like early pay-to-public-key transactions or Taproot-enabled outputs. If an attacker could exploit a future breakthrough in quantum computing or cryptanalysis, they might potentially derive private keys from these public keys, threatening the security of assets held in such wallets.

Although no practical attack on bitcoin’s or ether’s cryptographic security has been demonstrated to date, experts continue to monitor the situation closely, with a particular focus on developments in quantum computing and machine learning fields.

Ethereum researcher Justin Drake recently cautioned that the crypto industry should prepare for a scenario he called “bunker mode.” He warned of a theoretical possibility that advances in AI could rapidly enable shortcuts to breaking wallet cryptography.

Justin Drake has highlighted the urgent need for market participants to be prepared for worst-case scenarios, noting that AI could discover vulnerabilities in wallet encryption methods far faster than expected.

Drake also argued that institutions may face greater challenges adapting to emergency security measures than individual crypto holders, should an accelerated threat materialize.

Despite rising exposure figures, analysts specify that these metrics reflect addresses and not immediate risks, as no security compromises have been observed at this stage.

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

The XRP payment volume spiked to an unprecedented 858 million in a single day, raising doubts about whether the XRP Ledger can maintain such high daily transaction volumes. A significant jump from recent baseline activity has occurred, reigniting discussions about the network's payment capacity and its future adoption path.

XRP volume picked upThe latest data indicates that XRP payment volume currently stands at 693.6 million, which is a 19.2% decrease from the recent peak of 858 million. The 30-day average for XRP payment volume is 674.5 million, suggesting that daily transfers in the 700 million range have set a new standard. 

Source: XRP LedgerThe network achieved a peak all-time high of 7 billion during its most active market period, indicating it has the technical capacity to support even higher throughput.

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Can it reach high? Achieving consistent billion daily volumes would mark a significant milestone in XRP's adoption journey. Although the network has reached 858 million, which shows it is getting close, sustaining this level of activity requires more than isolated spikes. Major volume surges typically follow regulatory clarity, exchange listings, or institutional adoption announcements, as historical patterns reveal. The distance to the billion mark is shrinking as current averages draw closer to that milestone.

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Only 48% remains to reach the next major milestone, as the daily average currently stands at 674.5 million. The expansion of payment corridors and institutional partnerships are likely to be the catalysts that push volume over this barrier, according to industry observers.

The XRP Ledger dashboard displays 20,500 ledgers closed with an interval of 3.86 seconds, showing stable network performance at current volumes. With 17,900 active accounts, the network demonstrates a healthy level of user engagement.

Real-world payment adoption, rather than speculation, is what's really important for reaching sustainable billion daily volumes. The establishment of ongoing remittance corridors in key regions such as Southeast Asia and Latin America might provide the foundation for this jump. Volume spikes often accompany each new institutional partnership or regulatory approval.

Ripple, the cryptocurrency company behind XRP, is emerging as a new player in the leveraged ETF funding market, which has long been dominated by Wall Street banks.

Ripple is expanding its operations into traditional financial markets.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Ripple is now making its way onto Wall Street. Ripple is emerging as a new player in the leveraged ETF funding market, which has long been dominated by Wall Street banks.

Ripple Prime is Now Active! The news report stated that Ripple Prime provides funding for leveraged ETFs that track the daily returns of individual stocks and major indices multiples of their respective value.

At this point, Ripple Prime generates revenue by providing financial contracts to ETF managers who can track stock returns in multiples, and charging them fees in return.

The WSJ article cited Ripple’s funding of the Tradr 2X Long SNDK Daily ETF as an example. It noted that the SanDisk 2x leveraged ETF paid Ripple approximately 8% annually. However, Ripple has not yet disclosed the amount of revenue it receives from leveraged ETF funding or the extent to which XRP and XRP Ledger are used in these transactions.

Competition Heats Up on Wall Street! The size of the leveraged ETF market in the US also reveals why Ripple is focusing on this area. According to Morningstar Direct data, which the WSJ report cites, 593 leveraged ETFs in the country manage over $256 billion in assets.

It was also noted that banks’ limited scope for action in certain areas due to capital and risk regulations has created new opportunities for financial companies like Ripple Prime.

Ripple has also expanded its relationship with hedge fund Brevan Howard, beginning to offer prime brokerage, clearing, and financing services across multiple asset classes. These moves are interpreted as Ripple preparing to take on a larger role in the institutional infrastructure of traditional finance, extending beyond the crypto market.

*This is not investment advice.

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XRP Ledger (XRPL) Permission Delegation Nears Activation as Validator Support Holds.

The XRP Ledger is approaching activation of PermissionDelegationV1_1, an upgrade that will let accounts hand specific permissions to another account without giving away control of their main keys.

The amendment’s 14-day approval window reaches its earliest activation point at approximately 21:25 UTC today, Oct. 8.

At the latest check, it was about 14:46 UTC, leaving roughly 6 hours and 34 minutes until that threshold.

The amendment still depends on validator support remaining above the required level through the full window.

XRPL’s PermissionDelegationV1_1 amendment reached majority support on Sept. 24 and is approaching its earliest activation window on Oct. 8 at 21:25 UTC, subject to validator support remaining above the required threshold. Permission Delegation Has 30 of 35 Validator Votes The live XRPL amendment tracker showed 30 of 35 trusted validators voting yes at its latest roll call, while 29 votes are needed to keep the activation countdown running.

The current majority began on Sept. 24 at 21:25 UTC after an earlier approval period was interrupted. XRPL amendments need support from more than 80% of trusted validators for 14 consecutive days.

If support falls back to 80% or below before the timer completes, the countdown resets again.

That explains why earlier reports pointing to an Oct. 5 activation did not materialize.

The Oct. 8, 21:25 UTC mark is also not necessarily the exact second the feature turns on. Amendment votes are processed at flag ledgers, which arrive roughly every 16.5 minutes.

Based on the current ledger schedule, actual activation could occur around 21:42 UTC, provided the majority remains intact.

What Permission Delegation Changes on XRPL PermissionDelegationV1_1 introduces a DelegateSet transaction and a corresponding Delegate ledger object.

An XRPL account will be able to authorize another account to carry out selected operations on its behalf. The delegating account keeps control of its keys while choosing exactly which functions the other account can perform.

The system supports up to 10 permissions per delegation entry, and those permissions can later be changed or revoked. Examples include allowing another account to send certain transaction types or handle narrowly defined tasks such as trust-line authorization.

This gives businesses and institutions a way to separate responsibilities. A company, for example, could let an operations account handle one type of transaction without giving it unrestricted authority over the treasury account.

This Is the Revised Version of Permission Delegation The amendment scheduled for activation is PermissionDelegationV1_1, introduced with XRPL server version 3.3.0.

It replaces the original PermissionDelegation amendment, which was disabled after a critical bug was found. The revised version fixes that implementation while retaining the underlying XLS-75 model.

There is still one technical caution. XRPL documentation currently recommends avoiding delegation of the PaymentBurn granular permission until the separate fixCleanup3_4_0 amendment is enabled. Other granular permissions are not affected by that warning.

If validator support holds, the next milestone comes tonight: the 14-day threshold at 21:25 UTC, followed by activation at the next eligible flag-ledger sequence shortly afterward.

The XRP lending race is already underway, even though the XRP Ledger’s native lending feature hasn’t launched. Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz and Flare CEO Hugo Philion have sparked a friendly debate over just how big the opportunity could become.

The disagreement highlights a bigger question: should developers wait for native tools, or build lending infrastructure around the ledger now?

XRP Lending Could Unlock A Bigger Financial MarketNative XRP Ledger lending would let users lend and borrow assets directly on the blockchain. Validators are still voting on XLS-66, the proposal behind the feature, while XRPL Commons says lending is about to go live and has promoted a New York hackathon with lending and borrowing tracks.

source: xSchwartz says nobody has built anything with the feature yet, leaving early developers plenty of room. He’s long viewed extending credit on the XRP Ledger as important, arguing lending is one of the biggest needs in any financial system.

Flare Wants To Build Before XRPL UpgradesPhilion praised Schwartz’s intelligence but argued he may underestimate lending’s potential. He also pointed to outside infrastructure that can connect to the XRP Ledger.

Flare plans to deploy lending logic on its own side rather than wait for major XRPL upgrades. Its approach combines Protocol Managed Wallets with the Flare Confidential Compute stack, aiming to deliver near-full smart-contract capabilities.

Native Wallet Access Could Avoid Bridge RisksThe proposed setup could let holders lend coins from native XRPL wallets without relying on traditional cross-chain bridges. That would keep assets closer to their native environment, while fees would flow to the Flare ecosystem.

For the XRP lending market, the competition is taking shape before native tools arrive. Schwartz sees room for developers to use the ledger’s existing capabilities; Philion is betting external infrastructure can expand what’s possible. The real test will be whether either approach turns the opportunity into usable lending products.

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