Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Formal verification is the software equivalent of a mathematical proof. Instead of testing whether code behaves correctly under a set of conditions, you prove it must behave correctly under all conditions. LayerZero Research just finished doing it for a critical piece of Jolt, their zero-knowledge virtual machine built for RISC-V architecture.

The specific component now verified is bytecode expansion, the process that transforms raw RISC-V instructions into Jolt’s internal representation before any zero-knowledge proving happens. If that transformation is wrong, every proof built on top of it is suspect.

What actually got verified, and how The team used Lean, a formal theorem-proving assistant, to check the correctness of bytecode expansion against a trusted RISC-V reference model called LeanRV64D, which is itself derived from the Sail RISC-V specification.

Advertisement

Out of 67 expandable RISC-V instructions, 60 were fully proven. The remaining seven were not provable due to specific edge cases that the team has documented in a published paper. The whole bytecode expansion verification effort took approximately 2.5 months.

One notable detail about the process: the team used AI tools, including Claude and Codex, to accelerate proof generation. Human engineers wrote the critical definitions and initial proof templates, and AI tools helped generate similar proofs for structurally repetitive instructions.

Why Jolt and why this matters now Jolt originated from research by a16z crypto, which has also done prior formal verification work on related components using ACL2, a separate theorem-proving system. The a16z lineage gives Jolt an unusual pedigree for an open-source zkVM: it was designed with academic rigor from the start, built around lookup arguments via a protocol called Lasso and sumcheck protocols.

LayerZero has taken Jolt further, integrating it into their Zero chain with additions including GPU acceleration and post-quantum safety features marketed under the name Akita and LatticeJolt.

LayerZero describes the broader project as targeting full correctness of the Jolt zkVM, covering both completeness and soundness. Bytecode expansion verification is one stage in that larger program, which the team has structured into sequential phases.

The competitive context for formal zkVM verification The fact that LayerZero’s formal verification program connects to prior a16z work using ACL2 signals continuity of effort rather than a one-time exercise. Multi-institution, multi-tool verification projects build a more robust credibility case than any single audit or proof run.

What to watch next is whether the remaining stages of Jolt’s formal verification program proceed on a similar timeline, and how the seven unverified instructions get handled, whether through future proofs as tooling improves or through architectural workarounds that avoid the problematic edge cases.

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

Glassnode stated that Bitcoin has broken above significant cost floors that have been suppressing its price throughout 2026, and the market is now poised to test higher levels. According to the analytics firm, limited profit-taking, renewed demand for spot Bitcoin ETFs, and a recovery in trading volumes indicate that the current rally is progressing in a healthier manner compared to previous peak periods.

According to Glassnode’s latest assessment, Bitcoin has managed to break above the Real Market Average level, which has acted as resistance for much of 2026, and the high cost zone for long-term investors. In particular, with a significant supply of long-term investors in the $84,000-$85,000 range, maintaining the price above this region is considered critical for a bullish scenario.

The company reported that the next major resistance level in on-chain data is approximately $96,700, corresponding to the average MVRV price. This level also coincides with positioning in the options market. According to Glassnode, market makers’ hedging actions could accelerate movements between the current price and $92,000, while causing price movements to slow down around $95,000.

The report also noted that Bitcoin never closed below its Realized Price level on a daily basis during the last bear market. Although the ratio of coins in profit to total supply fell to levels seen in the 2022 bear market, the fact that the Net Unrealized Profit/Loss indicator remained in positive territory showed that the market remained more resilient compared to previous bear periods.

Glassnode noted that it’s also important for the June low to remain above the Realized Price. If the Bitcoin price holds above $77,000, the current bear market bottom could be recorded as the shallowest pullback since 2017.

On the other hand, although almost all short-term Bitcoin investors have returned to profitability, it has been noted that profit-taking in the market remains significantly below the peak periods of 2024 and 2025. This indicates that investors are not yet aggressive in selling at current levels.

On the institutional side, it was noted that ETF demand has accelerated again. Glassnode reported that spot trading volume has more than doubled since its August low, and unlike previous periods, this volume increase has spread to many exchanges along with the price rise.

While a broad-based uptrend is observed in the altcoin market, it has been noted that investors have not significantly increased their use of leverage. According to Glassnode, this indicates that the current market movement is being supported by spot demand rather than heavy leverage.

The company sees the $95,000-$97,000 region as the main testing ground for Bitcoin in the short term. If the price remains above $84,000, the path towards this region remains open, while a drop below $84,000 and then below $77,000 is considered a development that could call into question the strength of the current recovery.

*This is not investment advice.

Follow our Telegram and Twitter account now for exclusive news, analytics and on-chain data!

Table of contents

Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague announced the launch of a state-backed digital wallet that lets Ohioans pay state agencies with cryptocurrency, framing the program as the first statewide authorization of digital asset payments. The Buckeye Billfold initiative was unveiled with Secretary of State Frank LaRose in a release from the Treasurer’s office. Any cryptocurrency sent through the wallet is converted to US dollars at the moment of the transaction, so the state receives fiat in its normal bank account and never holds the volatile asset on its books. The office positioned the launch as a cost-cutting move that also saves processing time.

How Buckeye Billfold works Payment options under the initiative include credit cards, ACH transfers and cryptocurrency, while cash and check remain available. It is open to residents and businesses for payments owed to state agencies. The instant conversion to dollars is the design’s core safeguard: Ohioans are assured their payment has settled, and the state avoids marking any digital currency to market. The Treasurer’s office said the program will reduce overall transaction costs and save time for both government and Ohioans, describing the wallet as fully legally authorized and carefully developed and tested.

A second attempt after OhioCrypto’s 2019 failure Ohio tried accepting cryptocurrency for business tax payments once before, through a service called OhioCrypto.com. A 2019 opinion from then-Attorney General Dave Yost found that program had not followed the proper process to be authorized as a financial transaction device by the State Board of Deposit. Last year the board authorized cryptocurrency use, and in September Sprague and the board unanimously approved Grant Street Group as the vendor to facilitate crypto acceptance for state fees and services.

Crypto acceptance spreads across Ohio government LaRose cast the rollout as keeping government in step with how Ohioans already transact. “Ohio is leading the way by embracing Bitcoin and cryptocurrency innovation,” he said, adding that he will continue the partnership with Sprague as the two offices implement the payment options. The move lands as governments and merchants elsewhere test crypto payment rails, from Dubai’s government payment claims to merchant-facing Bitcoin cards such as the Wirex-powered Chimera card.

AUTHOR

Kester is an experienced freelance content writer. His focus is primarily on blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. One might even refer to him as a "blockchain enthusiast." He has been following advancements in the crypto and blockchain area for several years, researching and writing his insights in the media. In addition to being a skilled content writer, Mushumir is also knowledgeable in SEO and digital marketing. He aspires to succeed as a content creator in the digital realm, dealing with customers in the finance and tech industries to generate traffic through engaging taglines and content. Mushumir enjoys traveling, reading, and playing cricket when he is not writing. He now works as a news and article writer for BlockchainReporter.

Coinbase has begun designing a post-quantum custody system intended to protect about $250 billion in institutional assets while supporting any new signature scheme adopted by Bitcoin or another blockchain.

Summary

Coinbase is preparing custody infrastructure for several possible post-quantum signature schemes. Hash-based signatures may not work with the MPC systems used by many crypto custodians. Programmable hardware security modules could provide Coinbase with an alternative key-protection method. Bitcoin developers have not selected or activated a post-quantum signature standard. Coinbase prepares custody for several signature schemes MARA Foundation TV hosted Coinbase Chief Cryptographer Yehuda Lindell, who said the exchange wants its custody platform to remain usable regardless of which post-quantum signature schemes blockchains eventually select.

Bitcoin has not chosen a signature scheme for practical post-quantum use, leaving custodians without a single technical standard around which to rebuild their systems. Lindell said different blockchain communities may also reach different decisions instead of adopting one common scheme.

Coinbase is therefore preparing for several possible outcomes rather than building its system around one candidate. Lindell said the company wants to avoid a situation in which a blockchain approves a signature scheme that its custody infrastructure cannot handle.

The work carries added weight because Coinbase holds about $250 billion in assets for institutional customers, according to the figure Lindell gave during the program. Its clients include BlackRock, which uses Coinbase Custody for digital assets connected to its investment products.

An August U.S. custody review placed Coinbase’s institutional assets at approximately $376 billion and said the company safeguards more than 80% of assets held by U.S. spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds. Differences between the two totals may depend on their reporting dates and the services or assets included in each estimate.

Custody systems protect the private keys needed to authorize transactions. Any future change to Bitcoin’s signature method would therefore require large custodians to update the technology used to create, store and operate those keys.

Post-quantum signatures challenge existing MPC custody Many institutional custody platforms use Multi-Party Computation, or MPC, to divide control of a private key among several parties. Under such an arrangement, no participant needs to hold or assemble the full private key while approving a transaction.

Lindell said many post-quantum signature schemes may be “not friendly to MPC” because their mathematical design differs from the signatures now used by major blockchains. Hash-based signatures present a particular problem because they lack the arithmetic structure on which traditional cryptographic key splitting depends.

Researchers, including Stanford University cryptographer Dan Boneh, are studying possible ways to apply MPC-style controls to such signatures, Lindell said. The research remains highly experimental, however, and it is not yet clear whether a practical MPC-equivalent system can be created for hash-based signatures.

Coinbase’s existing interest in the field predates the latest custody design. In January, the company established an independent quantum computing and blockchain advisory board that includes Boneh, Lindell, Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake, University of Texas professor Scott Aaronson, EigenLayer founder Sreeram Kannan and distributed-systems specialist Dahlia Malkhi.

According to Coinbase, its post-quantum roadmap includes changes to Bitcoin address handling, updates to internal key-management systems and research into supporting schemes such as ML-DSA within MPC infrastructure. The company tasked the advisory board with assessing quantum developments, publishing recommendations and responding to major technical advances.

Other custodians have started testing one possible route. In June, BitGo tested quantum-safe MPC with Silence Laboratories using an ML-DSA-based protocol integrated into BitGo’s custody platform. The simulation retained distributed key control, policy checks, and separation of duties, according to the companies.

ML-DSA is included in FIPS 204, a post-quantum digital signature standard published by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Lindell’s comments indicate that Coinbase wants an architecture capable of handling schemes beyond ML-DSA if Bitcoin or another network chooses a different design.

Hardware modules could provide a custody fallback To reduce its dependence on MPC compatibility, Coinbase is exploring a backup design built around programmable Hardware Security Modules, according to Lindell.

HSMs are physically protected devices used to store cryptographic material and perform sensitive operations. Under the architecture being considered by Coinbase, private keys would remain encrypted using post-quantum cryptography and would be assembled only inside secure HSMs.

Containing the complete key within the protected device would allow the custodian to work with signature schemes that cannot be divided through conventional MPC. Programmable modules could also give Coinbase room to add support as blockchain developers settle on new standards.

Lindell did not provide a completion date, saying the technical work could take time. Once the system is finished, however, he expects Coinbase to operate without having to predict which post-quantum scheme each network will choose.

“I will be able to say, I can support any scheme,” Lindell said.

Physical security becomes more important under the proposed model because the full key would temporarily exist inside an HSM. Coinbase would therefore need the modules to perform signing without exposing the key to outside software or operators.

The approach would not require Coinbase to abandon MPC for signature schemes that support it. Instead, the HSM architecture would serve as another custody method when a network’s chosen cryptography cannot work with distributed key generation and signing.

Bitcoin has not approved a quantum migration plan Bitcoin currently uses elliptic-curve cryptography, and no publicly demonstrated quantum computer can derive its private keys from exposed public keys. Researchers and industry groups have still called for early preparation because changing Bitcoin’s security model would require software development, testing, wallet upgrades, and network consensus.

Crypto.news reported in June that Coinbase’s advisory board urged Bitcoin developers to begin creating migration tools before a cryptographically relevant quantum computer exists. The board estimated that about 1.7 million BTC sit in older pay-to-public-key addresses with exposed public keys, while address reuse could place as many as 5 million BTC within a future risk category.

The advisory board did not recommend freezing, burning, or leaving vulnerable coins available to a future attacker. It said Bitcoin’s community should decide through its consensus process how to treat coins that remain in older address formats after a migration deadline.

Draft proposals are examining separate parts of the problem. BIP 360, known as Pay-to-Merkle-Root, would remove Taproot’s quantum-vulnerable key-path spending option, while BIP 361 describes a phased retirement of legacy ECDSA and Schnorr signatures after Bitcoin gains a post-quantum output method.

Neither proposal has been activated. A recent migration assessment also found that SHRINCS, an experimental hash-based signature design under discussion, remains an unnumbered draft requiring further review and a completed security proof.

For U.S. investors, Coinbase’s preparations concern assets held through regulated investment products as well as coins stored by direct institutional clients. Spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF investors do not control the private keys behind fund holdings; those keys are managed by custodians selected by the issuers.

Coinbase’s ability to support multiple signature schemes could become relevant if Bitcoin, Ethereum, or another network used by a U.S.-listed fund adopts new cryptography. Any blockchain migration would still depend on network rules and action by users, wallet providers, exchanges, custodians and fund operators rather than a decision by Coinbase alone.

XRP price pulled back to about $1.51 on Sep. 23 after briefly rising above $1.65, leaving $1.60 as the first price level to reclaim while the XRP Ledger’s native lending proposals remain in validator voting.

Summary

XRP price reached $1.6581 during the daily session before retreating to about $1.51. XLS-65 and XLS-66 would add pooled vaults and fixed-term lending directly to the XRP Ledger. Neither lending amendment has activated on mainnet; each needs sustained validator support. XRP remained above its 20-day moving average near $1.40, though money flow was negative. XRPL Commons describes the proposed system as a way to bring pooled lending onto the XRP Ledger without deploying separate smart contracts. The plan depends on two amendments: XLS-65 would create Single Asset Vaults, while XLS-66 would let loan brokers use funds in those vaults for fixed-term credit. Both remain subject to validator approval.

XRP Ledger lending still needs validator approval A Single Asset Vault would hold one type of asset, such as XRP, RLUSD, or another supported token. Depositors would receive shares representing their portion of the vault. Loan brokers could then arrange loans using the pooled funds, with the ledger recording terms, payments, and defaults.

The proposed system would leave borrower checks and lending decisions to the firms operating the loans. It also allows a broker to provide first-loss capital, which could absorb part of a default. Neither feature removes the risk that a borrower fails to repay or that depositors lose money.

A further amendment, LendingProtocolV1_1, would add vaults with set periods for deposits, lending and withdrawals. It would also count interest as income only when a borrower pays it. As crypto.news reported on the XRP Ledger’s 3.4.0 software release, adding those rules to server software did not activate them on mainnet.

The approval process matters more than the software release for timing. XRP Ledger amendments need support from more than 80% of trusted validators for two consecutive weeks before activation. XLS-65 and XLS-66 have yet to complete that process, so native lending has no confirmed mainnet start date.

Would lending create demand for XRP? A lending launch would give developers and financial firms another reason to use the XRP Ledger, but the size of any effect on XRP would depend on which assets they lend. An XRP-funded vault would use XRP as its lending asset. A vault funded with RLUSD or another issued token would use that asset for its loans, while XRP would retain its role in network fees and account reserves.

That distinction is relevant to the planned RLUSD credit product previously covered by crypto.news. The product was being tested for working-capital loans to fintech and payment companies, with RLUSD rather than XRP serving as the credit asset. Its development shows a possible use for the lending rules, but it does not establish how much XRP borrowers or lenders would need to buy.

For U.S. holders watching the proposal, validator approval and actual use of the lending system are separate milestones. A vote could make the feature available; subsequent vault deposits and loans would show whether firms adopt it and whether XRP itself becomes a material lending asset.

XRP price faces another test near $1.60 XRP’s daily trading range shows why $1.60 remains the immediate test. The token opened near $1.57, reached $1.6581, and fell as low as $1.5070 before trading around $1.51 in the Sep. 23 chart snapshot. A move back above $1.60 would put the day’s high near $1.66 in view. The previous September spike near $1.70 marks the next visible area above it.

XRP price daily chart — Sep. 23 | Source: crypto.news On the downside, the 20-day simple moving average near $1.40 sits below the current price. The chart also shows moving averages clustered around $1.28–$1.29. A loss of $1.40 would weaken the recent rebound and bring that lower area back into focus.

The 20-day Chaikin Money Flow reading stood at −0.09, indicating that buying pressure had not strengthened alongside the latest rise. XRP can still retest resistance, but the intraday retreat and negative money-flow reading leave the $1.60 break unconfirmed. The validator vote offers a development to watch; the chart has yet to show that it will carry XRP through resistance.

Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.

The D’CENT app wallet drain has continued into its seventh day, with another XRP community member losing more than $100,000 in XRP and XLM. 

The most recent case follows an earlier report that confirmed the attackers had initially drained 2 million XRP during the Sept. 15 event, with further investigation now uncovering more victims.

The latest victim lost funds on both the Stellar blockchain and the XRP Ledger (XRPL). 

On Stellar, the victim’s address, GDTO…E356, was triggered to create the account GAVT…37GU at 03:38 UTC on Sept. 23 and send 17,244 XLM, worth more than $3,600, to it. Notably, the attackers controlled the newly created account.

About four hours after receiving the XLM, the hackers moved the tokens to Changelly. However, the Stellar transaction made up only a small part of the victim’s total loss, as most of the stolen funds came from his XRP holdings.

More Than 75,000 XRP Drained On the XRPL, the victim’s XRP account, rU6m…Ppcc, was triggered to create the attacker-controlled account rLbQ…SiPc at 04:36 UTC on Sept. 23. The victim’s account then sent 72,521 XRP, worth more than $117,000, to the hacker-controlled wallet.

Around 30 minutes later, the attackers took another 2,488 XRP, worth about $4,000, leaving the victim’s wallet empty. The attackers moved the roughly 75,000 XRP to two different wallets about five hours after receiving the funds.

The stolen XRP later moved through several transactions, with some of the funds eventually reaching Binance. As the latest attack happened only hours before this report, the transactions show that the attackers have continued to actively target and drain wallets.

Attack Began With 1,682 XRPL Wallets The broader drain campaign started on Sept. 15, 2026, when attackers emptied 1,682 XRP Ledger wallets between 15:35 and 18:55 UTC. The stolen funds went to seven addresses and marked the first wave of six identified in the campaign.

By the evening of Sept. 20, the same operator had continued the attack using the same script and the same by-hand tool. By then, the attackers had emptied 6,678 wallets and taken a total of 11.7 million XRP.

The attackers also deleted 5,001 accounts, most of which had already been emptied. They recovered the reserve held by each deleted account and later swapped 5.6 million XRP for Ethereum. 

D’CENT has responded by telling users of its app wallets to move all their assets out of the wallets. The latest victim’s losses confirm that the campaign has continued well beyond its initial activity on Sept. 15.

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.

Leading U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has disabled trading for IoTeX (IOTX), a nascent blockchain project focused on decentralized physical infrastructure.

Coinbase Markets confirmed that IOTX trading had been switched off after the exchange first announced the suspension in late August.

"We have disabled trading for IoTeX (IOTX). Your funds will remain accessible to you, and you will continue to have the ability to withdraw your funds at any time," Coinbase Markets said.

HOT Stories

The exchange has stressed that customers are not losing access to their tokens and can still withdraw them.

Coinbase had previously said that trading would be suspended on Coinbase.com, including Simple and Advanced Trade, as well as Coinbase Exchange and Coinbase Prime. The decision followed one of its regular token reviews.

You Might Also Like

Coinbase has not publicly identified a specific listing requirement that IoTeX failed to meet.

IOTX was initially added to Coinbase in August 2021 after a major bull run. 

IoTeX has since evolved beyond that original IoT-focused pitch. It started focusing on decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN), artificial intelligence, and machine-to-machine commerce.

That puts it in direct competition with IOTA, another blockchain project that is focused on making the machine economy more efficient. 

IoTeX's response The IoTeX team has attempted to reassure holders after the suspension. 

"For our community: your IOTX remains yours. Coinbase has suspended trading, but your IOTX remains accessible and can still be withdrawn," the project said on X.

IoTeX said that holders of legacy ERC-20 IOTX on Coinbase who want to move to native IOTX will be provided with a 1:1 conversion route by the IoTeX Foundation.

IoTeX activated its v2.4.0 upgrade in June 2026. The mandatory network release brought elements of Ethereum's Pectra upgrade to the IoTeX blockchain. 

Those technological developments, however, have done little to prevent an extraordinary collapse in the market value of IOTX.

The token is down around 85% over the past year. It is down by another 5% today due to the Coinbase announcement. 

Geneva, Switzerland, September 23, 2026 – TRON DAO, the community-governed DAO dedicated to accelerating the decentralization of the internet through blockchain technology and decentralized applications (dApps), announced today that Privy is expanding its support for the TRON blockchain, giving developers and businesses more tools to build and operate financial applications at scale on the network.

With the expanded integration, developers can use Privy to build and manage wallets and financial applications on TRON with enhanced transaction, policy, transfer, and monitoring capabilities. Developers can programmatically construct, sign, and broadcast supported TRON transactions, monitor wallet activity and on-chain events through balance and transaction webhooks, and use policy controls to set spending limits, recipient allowlists, and transaction approval or restriction rules. Transfers APIs also enable supported assets on TRON to be moved programmatically.

Together, these capabilities give businesses the infrastructure to build and operate stablecoin payment solutions, treasury workflows, wallets, and other on-chain financial products on TRON.

“TRON has become an important network for stablecoin activity globally, and we want to make it as easy as possible for developers to build on that foundation,” said Justin Sun, Founder of TRON. “By deepening our integration with Privy, we’re giving teams more of the infrastructure they need to bring payments, treasury, and other financial products on-chain.”

TRON has become a major global rail for stablecoin transfers, with the total transfer volume on the network approaching $30 trillion. Its infrastructure is increasingly being used for payments and treasury operations, as companies including Onafriq and Paystack are already building wallet and treasury use cases with Privy and TRON.

“We’re seeing more companies use TRON to move stablecoins across borders and build new financial products, particularly in markets where USDT is already an important part of how money moves,” said Henri Stern, CEO and co-founder of Privy. “Deepening our support for TRON gives these teams more of the infrastructure they need to build and operate at scale.” 

The expanded integration builds on growing demand for stablecoin infrastructure that can support real-world financial operations. By combining Privy’s wallet and developer infrastructure with TRON’s stablecoin ecosystem, businesses can build applications designed for payments, treasury management, and other on-chain financial workflows.

About TRON DAOTRON DAO is a community-governed DAO dedicated to accelerating the decentralization of the internet via blockchain technology and dApps.

Founded in September 2017, the TRON blockchain has experienced significant growth since its MainNet launch in May 2018. Today, TRON hosts the largest circulating supply of USD Tether (USDT) stablecoin, which currently exceeds $94 billion. As of September 2026, the TRON blockchain has recorded over 405 million in total user accounts, more than 15 billion in total transactions, and over $29 billion in total value locked (TVL), based on TRONSCAN. Recognized as the global settlement layer for stablecoin transactions and everyday purchases with proven success, TRON is “Moving Trillions, Empowering Billions.”

TRONNetwork | TRONDAO | X | YouTube | Telegram | Discord | Reddit | GitHub | Medium | Forum

Media contact

[email protected]

About Privy, a Stripe companyPrivy provides secure, scalable wallet infrastructure for modern financial products built on crypto and stablecoin rails. More than 2,000 developers and businesses, including Ramp, Deel, and Hyperliquid, use Privy to power over 160 million accounts and process billions of dollars in monthly volume. Privy became a Stripe company in 2025.

Media contact

[email protected] 

This publication is provided by the client. The text below is a paid press release that is not part of Cointelegraph independent editorial content. The text has undergone editorial review to ensure quality and relevance, it may not reflect the views and opinions of Cointelegraph. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research before taking any actions related to the company. Disclosure.

Validators stopped the network for nearly 25 hours after a governance vote on Neutron gave an attacker control of Astroport and Drop contracts.

Cosmos Hub restarts, moves stolen tokens out of attacker's wallet

Posted September 23, 2026 at 12:12 pm EST.

The Cosmos Hub resumed producing blocks Wednesday morning after its validators halted the network for nearly 25 hours. In the first block committed after the restart, 1,227,121 ATOM, worth about $2.1 million, moved out of the wallet holding proceeds from a governance attack on Neutron.

The transfer appears in the block’s events without a transaction signed by the wallet’s owner, and it sent the tokens to a newly created address. On Tuesday, the Cosmos Hub account said validators were preparing a network update “intended to address the stolen ATOM currently held on the Hub.” Those posts do not say who controls the receiving address.

Just over a minute after the restart, a THORChain vault that had received two of the attacker’s earlier swaps sent back 168,991 ATOM, the unfilled part of a 200,000-ATOM swap submitted before the halt. Two minutes later, the attacker tried to send 500,000 ATOM to Osmosis, and the transfer failed for insufficient funds. The returned ATOM, worth about $294,000, was still in the wallet at 11:15 a.m. ET.

How the Vote Passed Neutron proposal 9, titled “AIATO: AI Agent Takeover. Phase 1: Agent Admin Registration,” went through Neutron’s expedited track, which allows a three-day vote. It passed when voting closed at 10:24 p.m. ET on Monday, with about 82% of votes cast in favor, according to the on-chain record. Its summary described an experiment in which “Autonomous AI agents will take operational control of a live testnet.” The proposal itself carried 11 messages that handed admin control of Neutron contracts to the proposer’s own address.

Ten of those contracts belonged to the decentralized exchange Astroport and the liquid staking protocol Drop, according to an on-chain analysis that the X user Rarma published Tuesday. Rarma wrote that the account carrying most of the yes vote bought about 31.6 million NTRN with 20,199 USDC and staked it less than 12 minutes before voting closed. The vote “overrode two protocols’ own governance, on contracts the chain did not own,” Rarma wrote. The attacker then swapped the code of 10 of the 11 contracts and emptied them in less than half an hour, taking tokens Rarma valued at about $9.4 million. Rarma wrote that about $1.96 million of it sat on chains that were still running at the time.

Neutron Remains Halted Neutron has not produced a block since 3:43 a.m. ET on Tuesday, according to its public nodes. Spaydh, a former Neutron contributor, posted that the chain “was halted to prevent further harm.” Astroport told users in a post on X to “withdraw your liquidity from Astroport on all chains until further notice.”

Neutron moved into a long-term maintenance phase in June. In August, Cronos stopped its blockchain after an estimated $75 million exploit at lending protocol Tectonic.

In its restart notice Tuesday night, the Cosmos Hub account said the Hub itself “was not exploited and no funds were impacted apart from the assets moved from Neutron.”

Related Listen: How DeFi Remains Secure in a World of Always On AI Hacks: Uneasy Money

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

@arc, Circle's purpose-built stablecoin blockchain, has hit the ground running. Just one week after its public mainnet went live on September 16, the network is already circulating $624M in $USDC and has processed $6.8B in total transfers. The chain uses $USDC to pay transaction fees, removing the need for users to hold a volatile native gas token.

Fast Start for Circle's Layer-1 The numbers reflect a rapid deployment of capital onto a network that only recently opened its doors.

DeFi Activity Anchored by Morpho and Aave According to DefiLlama, $385M is currently locked in applications on the chain. @Morpho Blue leads with $211M in TVL, followed by @Aave V4 at $146M. The chain has also recorded $497M in DEX volume over its first week.

The continued growth in lending TVL points to institutional capital settling in rather than short-term speculation. , underlining the chain's singular focus on dollar-denominated activity.

Sources:
Decrypt: What Is Arc? The Stablecoin Blockchain From USDC Issuer Circle
MEXC Crypto Pulse: Circle Launches Arc Mainnet
NullTX: Arc's DEX Volume Dip Meets $628M in Stablecoins and Growing Lending TVL

Today, we are thrilled to announce the acquisition of Crest, a self-custodial private Bitcoin wallet, uniting our teams to make privacy the standard for holding and moving a $1.6T store of value.

Built on Citrea's Bitcoin-secured execution environment, Crest started as an ecosystem project with a bold ambition: to set a new benchmark for mobile, self-custodial Bitcoin privacy. The demand for a frictionless privacy solution was immediate, with Crest quickly attracting over 1,000 privacy enthusiasts to its waitlist. To accelerate this mission, Crest becomes Citrea's flagship privacy product, and Crest's founder Meliksah Gurtemel joins Citrea as Product Lead.

Working on Privacy is a Natural Fit for CitreaBringing privacy to Bitcoin is the natural continuation of a journey our team started years ago. Chainway Labs, a core contributor to Citrea, developed the Proof of Innocence protocol as an open-source framework for privacy-preserving compliance in response to Tornado Cash sanctions in 2022. Proof of Innocence is an open-source cryptographic tool that lets privacy pool users prove their funds are not linked to illicit or blacklisted addresses without revealing their identity. Today, concepts from Proof of Innocence underpin leading privacy protocols including Railgun and Privacy Pools.

“Tackling privacy bottlenecks was where our journey began,” said Ekrem Bal, Co-founder and Chief Scientist at Chainway Labs, a core contributor to Citrea. “In many ways, acquiring Crest is a full-circle moment for us, where we get to bring the privacy work we started to Bitcoin.”As a Bitcoin layer, we see privacy as the most critical value proposition to build. With a market capitalization exceeding $1.6 trillion, Bitcoin’s transparent public ledger has turned user balances, counterparties, and transaction histories into surveillance targets. Bitcoin users seeking privacy must either forfeit self-custody, navigate expert-only technical workflows, or swap into alternative privacy assets. Networks like Zcash already demonstrated the immense demand for simple and intuitive privacy. With this acquisition, Citrea commits its resources to bring that same effortless privacy standard to Bitcoin.

“Solving Bitcoin privacy is the single largest unlock for meeting real user demand on a Bitcoin layer,” said Orkun Mahir Kılıç, Co-founder and CEO of Chainway Labs, a core contributor to Citrea. “Crest is built to be the primary gateway for onboarding users and liquidity from the Bitcoin and privacy ecosystems into Citrea. Acquiring Crest aligns our entire team behind a vision that will generate the most value and adoption for our broader network.”Join the Waitlist: World’s Simplest Private Bitcoin Wallet is ComingThrough Crest, we are building the simplest and most accessible private Bitcoin wallet on the market. In the coming weeks, Crest will launch its Bitcoin mobile wallet with auto-shielding, private BTC transfers, and seamless cross-chain onboarding from Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Crucially, the wallet will enable private cross-chain swaps and exit routes, allowing users to spend shielded BTC to pay EVM addresses in assets like USDC or ETH privately. Over time, the acquisition aims to extend private BTC utility across Citrea’s broader ecosystem.

Privacy is becoming the easiest way to use Bitcoin.

[Join the Crest Waitlist]

Cover image via U.Today 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.

Crypto's next phase could make privacy and post-quantum security increasingly important, according to Zcash cofounder Eli Ben-Sasson.

In a recent X post, Ben-Sasson identified two features he believes could eventually become baseline requirements across the crypto industry: privacy and post-quantum security.

Privacy has become an increasingly important topic as blockchain adoption grows, and researchers and developers are exploring post-quantum cryptography as a way to prepare digital systems for a future in which sufficiently powerful quantum computers could threaten some cryptographic schemes currently in use.

HOT Stories

The Zcash cofounder believes that for these two features to gain traction, "Both will have to be easy to use and at a low cost."

2 features that will become a baseline requirement for crypto:
- Privacy
- Post-quantum security

Both will have to be easy to use and at a low cost.

— Eli Ben-Sasson | Starknet.io (@EliBenSasson) September 23, 2026 Ben-Sasson's discussions in recent times, as seen in his X posts, have focused on these two features—privacy and post-quantum security—following recent advancements in the crypto space.

You Might Also Like

In August, the first quantum-safe Bitcoin transaction was mined, thanks to StarkWare, a startup of which Ben-Sasson is a cofounder. The quantum-safe transaction was mined on the Bitcoin mainnet and was demonstrated to hold up against an adversary running a working quantum computer.

In a separate X post, Ben-Sasson highlighted privacy as being important for DeFi. Preparing for the quantum era remains important: according to the Zcash cofounder, the race to quantum-readiness needs to focus on two things: first, can a chain's cryptography withstand a quantum computer? And second, what will users have to do when a chain migrates to full post-quantum security?

Zcash developmentsIn recent developments, shielded Zcash activity just hit a four-year high: 62,379 transactions were sent in the past week, the highest weekly total since 2022.

You Might Also Like

Zcash developers are targeting Nov. 5 to switch on NU7, the network's next major upgrade. The biggest improvement is set to be block time: the gap between each confirmed batch of transactions drops from 75 seconds to 25. The testnet activation for the upgrade is scheduled for October 6.

The main features included in the NU7 upgrade will be 25-second block spacing (ZIP-218), disabling v4 transactions, and NSM integration (ZIP-234 (alt), ZIP-235), following the poll results: preserving halvings, with reintroduction starting February 2031.

At the time of writing, Zcash was trading up 5.76% in the last 24 hours to $15.96 and up 27% weekly.

@Ledger has added native shielded @Zcash support to Ledger Wallet Desktop, letting users manage private $ZEC balances directly from Ledger's own software with every transaction confirmed on the hardware device itself.

Ironwood Only: What the Private Balance Covers The shielded balance display covers only $ZEC held in the Ironwood pool, the new shielded pool that went live on July 28, 2026, as part of the NU6.3 network upgrade. Ironwood replaced the older Orchard pool after researchers discovered a flaw in Orchard's zero-knowledge proof circuit that could have theoretically allowed counterfeit $ZEC to be created without leaving an on-chain trace. The new pool features formally verified proof circuits and quantum-resilient record-keeping, offering stronger security guarantees than its predecessor.

Zcash uses zero-knowledge proofs to encrypt transaction details, hiding the sender, receiver, and amount while still letting the network confirm a transaction is valid. Prior to recent updates, Ledger's Zcash capabilities were limited to transparent transactions, with only partial deshielding support added later, leaving a meaningful gap for privacy-focused holders who store $ZEC in cold storage.

November 5 Deadline for Zondax App Users The integration comes with an important deadline. Ledger will remove the older Zondax-built Zcash Shielded app from download on November 5, 2026. Holders who currently use that app need to migrate their funds before that date to avoid disruption.

The timing matters given how quickly funds have been moving into Ironwood since its activation. The new pool has already attracted millions of $ZEC from users migrating out of the legacy Orchard pool, which is now restricted to withdrawals only under a turnstile mechanism that caps outflows to verifiable deposits.

Bringing shielded support natively into Ledger's own app removes the reliance on third-party tooling and keeps the signing process within the Ledger device, which is the security model most hardware wallet users expect from the outset.

Sources:
CoinDesk: Zcash Ironwood (NU6.3) upgrade activates
Crypto Briefing: Zcash gains Ledger support for shielded ZEC transactions

Uniswap’s native token UNI has drawn significant attention following a recovery from levels below $7, now trading at $9.64 and testing a key long-term resistance zone near $9.50. This renewed market activity has followed a period of steady gains, attracting both traders and large investors to the decentralized exchange ecosystem.

UNI price action and whale activityOver the past 24 hours, UNI recorded a slight decline of 0.28% but maintained a robust trading volume of $3.42 billion. Its market capitalization reached $5.99 billion, securing a reported market dominance of 0.21% among cryptocurrencies. Recent data from CoinGecko showed UNI rising from $6.69 on September 16 to close at $10.22 on September 22, highlighting the pace of its rally.

Crypto analyst Crypto Patel stated that UNI had broken above its $9.50 long-term resistance. According to the analyst, UNI previously entered an accumulation phase under $2.50 and later touched $10.94, marking an increase of about 372% from its lows. Patel projected a possible long-term trading range between $30 and $50 for UNI but cautioned about the potential for pullbacks to $7 or even $5 in the near future.

Crypto Patel predicted, “after breaking the $9.50 resistance, UNI could eventually reach a range between $30 and $50, though significant retracements to $7 or $5 may occur before any further upward momentum.”

September saw notable fluctuations in UNI’s price, with the token trading at $6.13 on September 13 and climbing steadily to $10.22 by September 22. These movements have coincided with increased activity among larger wallets. Data from Lookonchain indicated that a newly created wallet, 0xEFC4, purchased 269,477 UNI valued at about $2.84 million, while wallet 0xf415 acquired 138,442 UNI worth roughly $1.23 million. In total, over $4.07 million in UNI was accumulated by major buyers in a short period.

Further highlighting market activity, another wallet purchased 788,000 UNI for approximately $6.26 and later sold the position at $8.85, generating a $2.04 million profit within one week. Such moves underline the volatility experienced by UNI throughout September.

Mini dictionary: Whale, a term used to describe an individual or entity that holds a large amount of cryptocurrency and can significantly influence the market through large transactions.

Ecosystem upgrades and network expansionUniswap Labs recently reported several protocol and ecosystem developments. On September 16, the company stated that Uniswap v2, v3, v4, and UniswapX are now active on Arc, the Layer 1 blockchain created by Circle, a major stablecoin platform. According to the announcement, Uniswap has processed $2.7 trillion in stablecoin volume since 2020, including $2 trillion in USDC transactions.

The latest v4 upgrade introduces new features such as StablePair and a dynamic-fee hook, while Permissioned Pools will allow tokenized fund management to access automated market maker (AMM) liquidity on a selective basis. In addition, Uniswap has expanded to new platforms including Robinhood Chain, Linea, and Tempo, broadening its reach across multiple blockchain networks.

Mini dictionary: Arc, a Layer 1 blockchain built by Circle, aims to offer stablecoin-enabled payments and finance infrastructure for developers and institutions.

Outlook and technical viewUniswap’s ongoing expansion into new product lines and networks could further boost user engagement and trading activity. However, the effect on UNI’s market capitalization remains tied to overall demand, prevailing liquidity, and wider market sentiment.

The immediate outlook centers on whether UNI can maintain momentum above the $9.50 to $10.00 resistance region. If buying pressure persists, further gains may become likely. However, a loss of this support could shift attention back to technical levels at $7 and $5, as suggested by some analysts. The contrasting technical scenarios underscore the need for caution following the recent strong rally.

Uniswap’s strong price rebound in September, along with the participation of major wallets and rapid protocol upgrades, has made it a focus point for traders and investors closely monitoring the decentralized finance sector.

DateUNI Price24h VolumeKey EventSept 13$6.13—Price lowSept 16$6.69—Start of recoverySept 18$8.84—Continued riseSept 22$10.22—Short-term peakCurrent$9.64$3.42BTesting resistance

Metaplex, the protocol famously known for building the token standard for Solana NFTs, has launched Vantage, a fully modular trading terminal designed to give Solana traders greater control over how they research, track, and trade onchain assets. Metaplex already offers tools to “launch onchain assets”, and Vantage now provides a user-defined interface for trading. The terminal is designed to break out of a one-size-fits-all layout: traders can add, remove, resize, and arrange widgets and modules to suit their workflow. In effect, Metaplex is turning the trading dashboard into a toolbox. 

According to the company, Vantage replaces fixed layouts with customizable building blocks for charts, order entry, market data, and portfolio tracking. Users can save multiple dashboards for different strategies. For example, separate views for day trading versus long-term positions. The goal is a “terminal that adapts to the trader instead of making the trader adapt to the terminal.” This shift in interface design aims to give Solana traders complete control over how they see markets.

“Trading is personal. Different traders look at different signals, follow different markets and build completely different workflows.” - Stephen Hess, founder of Metaplex

Metaplex teased the product on Monday with a short post reading, “Information moves markets. Wednesday.” Vantage currently launches in beta, with Metaplex planning to expand access and add functionality based on user feedback.

From Token Infrastructure to Consumer Trading The launch represents another step in Metaplex's expansion beyond its traditional infrastructure business. Metaplex currently generates revenue by charging protocol fees across its onchain programs, including Genesis, Core, Bubblegum, Token Metadata, MPL-Hybrid, and Fusion.

The protocol directs 50% of those fees toward $MPLX for the DAO treasury, while the remaining 50% supports Foundation operations.

Metaplex has averaged more than $40,000 in weekly revenue over the past several weeks, including $41,432 last week.

The DAO's $MPLX buyback program has now repurchased more than 36.5% of the token’s circulating supply over time. 

Vantage could give Metaplex another revenue-generating consumer product while potentially strengthening that buyback mechanism.

Genesis Set the Stage Vantage follows Metaplex's July 2025 expansion into token launches through Genesis. Genesis provides established teams with infrastructure for conducting Onchain Token Offerings, or OTOs, rather than functioning like permissionless memecoin launchpads such as pump.fun and letsBONK.

Its framework supports 3 primary launch mechanisms: Launch Pools, Auctions, and Presales. It also provides infrastructure for token claims, airdrops, tokenomics, and vesting schedules.

That expansion positioned Metaplex closer to the capital formation process. Vantage now moves the company further down the stack, from helping teams create assets to helping users discover and trade them.

A Broader Infrastructure Shift Metaplex is not alone in moving from back-end infrastructure toward user-facing trading apps. For Metaplex, Vantage connects several parts of its existing ecosystem. Genesis can help teams launch assets, while Vantage can provide a destination for traders to discover, research, and trade them.

The strategy could ultimately bring asset creation, discovery, and trading closer together within Metaplex's broader ecosystem.

Read More on SolanaFloor Cryptopunks, Boogles, and zkSnarks Record Millions in Trading Volume as NFT Markets Reawaken
$ZETA Surges 58% After Proposal to Migrate AI Stack to Solana Approved

Video Link

Solana has continued to gain momentum across the real-world asset ecosystem even as it continues to see strong participation among users and DeFi platforms.

Following its continued growth in tokenized assets, the latest onchain data shows that the blockchain's RWA ecosystem has reached a new all-time high.

Solana records 11.47% surge in tokenized assetsAccording to the data, the value of distributed assets on the Solana network has reached a massive $4.49 billion as of September 23.

HOT Stories

While this has driven the total RWA value, which also includes the represented value, to a massive $4.6 billion, it represents an increase of 11.47% over the past 30 days.

You Might Also Like

In addition to the surge in total RWA value, Solana has also recorded strong growth in RWA participation, with the number of RWA holders rising to 685,850, nearly doubling the level recorded over the past 30 days.

This suggests that most of the adoption might have happened in September, signaling a rapid surge in activity around tokenized assets and stablecoins on Solana as more users and capital move through the network.

Circle takes dominance Amid the rapid expansion of tokenization across the broad crypto market, reputable firms appear to be utilizing Solana's infrastructure for its speed and efficiency.

Notably, Circle has emerged as the largest platform by RWA value on the Solana network, accounting for the largest share of value at $7.5 billion.

The leading stablecoin issuer, Tether Holdings, followed next, registering a total RWA value of $3.8 billion, and BitGo at $1.6 billion.

KB Securities Partners with @Optimism and @Securitize on Tokenized SecuritiesSouth Korea's KB Securities has signed a memorandum of understanding with @Optimism and @Securitize to jointly develop a tokenized securities business targeting domestic institutional investors. , marking one of the most significant moves by a major Korean financial institution into on-chain finance.

Under the deal, each party takes a defined role.

, giving KB Securities access to an established institutional tokenization platform with deep industry reach.

Why OP Mainnet?The choice of @Optimism's OP Mainnet as the underlying infrastructure reflects the network's growing appeal for institutional use cases.

For KB Securities, the initiative represents a calculated first step in connecting Korea's established capital markets infrastructure with blockchain-based settlement rails, with room to scale as domestic regulatory frameworks for token securities continue to develop.

Sources
Digital Today: KB Securities joins Securitize, Optimism to pursue STO business for institutions
Seoul Economic Daily: KB Securities Partners With Securitize, Optimism Foundation on Tokenized Securities

Bitwise has launched its first exchange traded product tracking Lighter’s LIT token on Deutsche Börse Xetra, giving European investors access to the asset through conventional brokerage accounts.

Summary

Bitwise has launched its Lighter Staking ETP on Deutsche Börse Xetra, giving European investors access to LIT through regular brokerage accounts. BLIT held roughly $4.74 million in assets backed by 1.01 million LIT at launch, making its current holdings small compared with LIT’s overall market value. LIT traded around $5 on Sept. 23 after gaining close to 9% over 24 hours, though the token was already moving higher before the ETP launch. The ETP could create more demand for LIT if it attracts sustained inflows, but its current size limits the immediate effect on the token’s supply. Staking has not started and will only begin once BLIT reaches sufficient assets under management, with Bitwise yet to disclose the required threshold. According to Bitwise, the Bitwise Lighter Staking ETP began trading under the ticker BLIT on Sept. 23 and tracks the Kaiko Lighter Reference Rate. The product carries an annual total expense ratio of 0.85% and is issued by Bitwise Europe GmbH in Germany.

Bitwise Lighter ETP holds more than 1 million LIT BLIT is physically backed by LIT held in cold storage, meaning the product holds the underlying cryptocurrency instead of providing synthetic exposure to its price.

Bitwise data showed 202,594 ETP units outstanding as of Sept. 23, backed by 1.01 million LIT. Assets under management stood at approximately $4.74 million, with each ETP unit representing just under 5 LIT.

The structure allows investors to gain exposure to LIT using a regular brokerage account without directly holding the cryptocurrency or managing private keys and wallets.

LIT serves as the native token of Lighter, an Ethereum layer 2 decentralized exchange focused on perpetual futures and other onchain markets. The platform uses zero knowledge proofs to verify order matching and liquidations while processing transactions away from Ethereum before submitting proofs to the network.

Lighter has expanded beyond crypto perpetuals by offering markets tied to assets such as Apple, Amazon and Tesla shares. Users gain price exposure through perpetual contracts instead of owning the underlying stocks.

The exchange generates revenue from professional market makers, liquidations and treasury income while charging retail traders no trading fees.

Lighter has become one of the more active platforms in the decentralized perpetual futures market. During a major crypto market selloff in February, the exchange processed roughly $7.5 billion in perpetual futures volume over 24 hours, accounting for close to 9.5% of activity tracked across the sector.

Could the Bitwise ETP impact Lighter price? The launch gives LIT another potential source of demand because BLIT is backed by the underlying token, but the size of the product remains small compared with LIT’s overall market value.

Bitwise held 1.01 million LIT worth $4.74 million for BLIT as of Sept. 23. CoinGecko placed LIT’s market capitalization at roughly $1.27 billion on the same day, while trading volume stood near $84.7 million.

BLIT therefore represents a small portion of the existing LIT market at launch. Its effect on supply could become more noticeable if the ETP attracts sustained inflows that require more tokens to back newly created units.

LIT was already trading higher around the launch. CoinGecko data showed the token at roughly $5 on Sept. 23, with its value in several currency pairs up close to 9% over the previous 24 hours. LIT had closed Sept. 21 near $4.74 before moving to $5.07 on Sept. 22.

The timing means the ETP listing has arrived during an existing move in LIT, making it difficult to attribute the token’s gains solely to Bitwise’s product.

Previous developments have shown that new distribution channels can coincide with LIT price moves. When Lighter added Robinhood Chain collateral support, LIT gained roughly 15%, while the integration gave eligible Robinhood Wallet users direct access to Lighter perpetual futures.

A similar access point opened in August when Upbit added a LIT won market, allowing customers to buy the token directly against South Korea’s currency.

Supply remains another factor. LIT launched with 25% of its total supply distributed through a community airdrop. Half of the overall token supply was allocated to the ecosystem, while 26% went to the team and 24% to investors. Team and investor allocations were placed under a one year lockup followed by three years of linear vesting.

Bitwise’s current holdings are therefore small compared with the amount of LIT that could enter circulation under the token’s longer term distribution schedule.

Staking has not started for BLIT Despite its name, the Bitwise Lighter Staking ETP is not currently staking the LIT backing the product.

Bitwise said staking will begin only after BLIT reaches sufficient assets under management to make staking operations efficient. The company has not disclosed the required asset level or a date for activation.

Until then, BLIT provides exposure only to LIT’s price, while investors continue to pay the product’s 0.85% annual fee.

If staking begins, rewards earned by the ETP are expected to accrue daily and be reflected in the amount of cryptocurrency represented by each unit. Bitwise said it will announce the start of staking separately.

LIT already has staking functions within the Lighter ecosystem. Staking can provide access to the Lighter Liquidity Pool, with each staked LIT allowing users to deposit up to 10 USDC into the pool. Unstaking carries a three day lockup period.

Lighter has tied its token economics to protocol activity as well. The project launched LIT in December with plans to direct protocol revenue between ecosystem growth and token purchases depending on market conditions.

The buyback mechanism has previously coincided with price moves. LIT climbed around 16% when Lighter’s treasury began token buybacks in January, when protocol fees began flowing toward market purchases.

Bitwise expands its onchain trading products BLIT follows Bitwise’s move into investment products tracking tokens connected to decentralized perpetual futures platforms.

The asset manager launched the Bitwise Hyperliquid Staking ETP in Europe in April, giving investors exchange traded exposure to HYPE. Bitwise later introduced a U.S. Hyperliquid ETF in May.

The U.S. product recorded 16 consecutive days of inflows following its launch before posting its first daily outflow in June, showing how flows into exchange traded crypto products can change after their initial trading period. Crypto.news previously reported that the Bitwise ETF created another regulated demand channel for HYPE while exposing the token to changes in ETF flows.

Lighter and Hyperliquid have competed for activity in the decentralized perpetual futures market. Lighter recorded close to $198 billion in 30 day perpetuals volume toward the end of 2025, compared with roughly $166 billion for Hyperliquid at the time.

Bitwise Managing Director and Head of Europe Bradley Duke said the new ETP expands the firm’s European staking products into a platform bringing assets such as U.S. stocks onto blockchain infrastructure.

“As on-chain trading platforms increasingly bridge crypto and mainstream markets, we expect this kind of infrastructure to become more relevant to a broader range of investors,” Duke said.

Lighter founder and CEO Vladimir Novakovski said the platform was built to provide institutional grade perpetuals trading onchain using zero knowledge proofs for verifiable execution.

“We’re excited to bring LIT to European investors who don’t yet have a direct way into on-chain markets,” Novakovski said.

BLIT is domiciled in Germany and listed on Deutsche Börse Xetra under ISIN DE000A4AV9T5. Bitwise lists the product as a secured debt security with physical replication, no leverage and no asset lending.

Hyperliquid’s HYPE token has rallied after bouncing off a key support level, drawing renewed interest from traders and investors. The protocol, a decentralized exchange platform designed to deliver high throughput and fast transaction speeds for crypto users, continues to strengthen its position through strategic token burns and heightened user activity.

Price recovery and technical momentumHYPE regained positive momentum following a successful retest at the $75 support level, leading to an approximately 27% gain as the token advanced toward $96.13. This move highlighted a strong willingness among market participants to defend crucial levels, which prevented a deeper correction and fueled optimism for further recovery.

According to crypto analyst Einstein, the token’s ability to rebound from expected technical patterns suggests further targets are possible. Einstein identified potential upside levels for HYPE at $120, $140, and $160, though these are seen as resistance areas rather than assured price destinations.

Einstein pointed out that HYPE’s next hurdle would be holding gains despite potential selling near the $100 mark, and noted continued volatility is likely as the price approaches higher resistance levels.

Despite the optimism, a significant gap remains between current prices and these upper targets. Analysts expect that volatility will persist, and traders are closely monitoring whether HYPE can maintain momentum above the recent bounce zone or if a pullback toward $75 will reemerge.

Accelerating token burns and protocol growthOnchain Lens, a blockchain analytics firm, reported that Hyperliquid conducted a token buyback and burn of 39,980 HYPE tokens on September 22 at an average price of $94.18 per token, removing $3.76 million in supply. The cumulative burn now totals approximately 48.84 million HYPE—about 4.88% of the token’s maximum potential supply. At prevailing market values, the burned tokens represent around $4.64 billion in value.

The protocol’s cumulative revenue stands at about $1.27 billion, further highlighting its continued growth and level of on-chain activity.

Mini dictionary: Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange protocol built for high-throughput trading, aims to provide low-latency order execution, supporting both spot and perpetual futures trading across a wide range of digital assets.

MetricValueRecent token burn39,980 HYPE ($3.76 million)Total tokens burned48.84 million HYPE (4.88% of supply)Value of burned tokens$4.64 billionTotal protocol revenue$1.27 billionRising user engagement and increased throughputHyperliquid’s network activity has reached new peaks, with the number of monthly active addresses climbing to an all-time high of 291,900, according to analyst Crypto Patel. This uptick in engagement reflects expanding participation within the ecosystem as renewed price action draws more users to the protocol.

Growth in unique addresses is being closely monitored as a barometer for long-term health, though increased usage does not automatically guarantee future price rises. Higher participation may support trading volume, liquidity, and protocol fee generation, driving further platform development.

Network performance has also improved significantly. Data from Hyperliquid Daily shows sustained throughput at 8,000–10,000 transactions per second (TPS), with recent spikes around 19,000 TPS. Robust throughput is regarded as vital for trading-focused blockchains, as it enables efficient order execution, liquidations, and overall network stability during periods of high market activity.

Hyperliquid continues to emphasize scaling and reliability, underpinning its ambitions to offer advanced trading infrastructure for crypto users worldwide.

Outlook and resistance levelsMarket sentiment around HYPE has benefited from a sharp rebound, ongoing token burns, rising wallet activity, and network scaling improvements. Immediate attention now centers on whether the token can consolidate in the $95-$100 range and build toward resistance targets at $120, $140, and $160. However, analysts caution that renewed selling or increased volatility may trigger a retracement to the $75 support level.

If HYPE establishes stability above $95, continued bullish momentum and higher targets may be achievable, but the road ahead remains sensitive to broader market dynamics and profit-taking by traders.

Zest Protocol, the firm operating Bitcoin’s largest DeFi lending market on Stacks, is in the news today after announcing the launch of a capped mainnet demonstration for its Bitcoin Collateral Vaults. Bitcoin users can now deposit real BTC into a self-custodial vault on Bitcoin L1 and borrow real USDC against it, without wrapping or bridging.

Zest Protocol has opened a capped public demo of its Bitcoin Collateral Vaults on mainnet. This marks the first full public-mainnet deployment of its native-Bitcoin collateral vault infrastructure. It will allow users to deposit native BTC and borrow against it using real assets.

What is Zest Protocol actually doing? Bitcoin Collateral Vaults are self-custodial vaults on Bitcoin L1, enforced by Bitcoin’s own rules and built for BitVM proof verification. Ordinary DeFi approaches require users to wrap BTC into a token such as wBTC or bridge it to another chain. However, Zest Protocol keeps the BTC on Bitcoin, in the user’s own vault, never pooled with other users’ coins.

Proofs of the vault’s state travel to EVM chains, where users borrow stablecoins against it, and proofs of repayment or liquidation on the destination chain govern what happens to the BTC on Bitcoin. In the mainnet demo, users lock real BTC and borrow real USDC, with collateral capped per wallet while the system is proven at scale.

Watch the Bitcoin Collateral Vault process in action – Here

The demonstration runs on mainnet with real BTC and real USDC, capped per wallet. Owing to the same, users can test the full flow at small size: deposit BTC into an individual Bitcoin Collateral Vault and borrow USDC on Ethereum. Each vault holds one user’s coins only, and the same coins come back on repayment. Caps stay in place until the protocol completes extensive external audits, after which Zest Protocol moves to production launch with institutional partner activations in the lead-up.

Proof of the mainnet demo’s functionality, including Bitcoin transaction hashes, vault addresses, and EVM contract interactions, is available for independent verification on public block explorers here.

Community reactions According to Tycho Onnasch, Founder of Zest Protocol,

We’ve spent five years on programmable Bitcoin, first on Stacks and now on Bitcoin itself. Today you can put real BTC in a vault on Bitcoin and borrow against it on mainnet. That’s why Zest Protocol exists: turning Bitcoin from an idle asset into productive capital. We’re very excited to put this in people’s hands.

Here, it’s worth noting that the mainnet demo also carries key lessons from two years of running the Zest Protocol Stacks Market, the largest lending market on Bitcoin L2s, which reached over $100 million in peak TVL with zero bad debt and no BTC lost.

Bitcoin Collateral Vault borrowers get partial liquidations instead of all-or-nothing, partial withdrawals, and a vault. This will be controlled by one ordinary Bitcoin key, with nothing else to manage.

Tim Draper, Founder of Draper Associates, chipped in too and stated,

I backed Zest Protocol because this team has been building on Bitcoin longer than almost anyone, and they know how to ship great products with amazing user experience. Seeing real Bitcoin collateral working on mainnet, with the coins never leaving Bitcoin, is something I’m incredibly excited about.

All about Zest Protocol and its latest approach Zest Protocol was founded by core contributors to the Stacks blockchain, including co-architects of the sBTC and Nakamoto upgrades. Prominent investors included Draper Associates (led by Tim Draper), YZi Labs, Trust Machines, Flow Traders, and Asymmetric.

The protocol’s native token, ZEST, was launched in May 2026 via Binance Alpha. It is currently traded on major exchanges including KuCoin, Gate, MEXC, and HTX.

The native self-custodial approach adopted by Zest Protocol tries to remove third-party counterparty risk. Now, while there are hybrid options such as those adopted by Kraken to bypass these native code breaches, they also elevate centralization risk.

To overcome these two limitations, there are some proposing a new institutional approach. Under the same, users’ physical BTC will be untouched with regulated custody. Instead, deposits are mirrored and tracked by receipt tokens and used for lending purposes across DeFi.

Even so, Zest Protocol’s latest update remains a step in the right direction.

Table of contents

Quick Take 1. XRP trades at $1.5358, up 4.40% on the day and 11.07% on the week, roughly 54% above the $1.00 level this site covered on August 11 as the only support its buyers had defended all year.

2. Analyst Egrag Crypto identifies $1.49 to $1.54 as the decisive resistance band, with specific levels at $1.4923, $1.5114 and $1.5436, meaning price is inside the zone that decides the next move.

3. The structural headwind is unchanged: Ripple releases 1 billion XRP from escrow monthly and re-escrows 600 to 800 million, putting 200 to 400 million into circulation against ETF absorption of roughly 109 million.

XRP has recovered more than half its value since August. It trades at $1.5358, up 4.40% over 24 hours and 11.07% on the week, with the broader market also higher and 60 of the QC 100 constituents advancing.

Live price data via CoinGecko.

Did the $1 level hold? Yes, and it was the level this site said would decide everything.

On August 11 we published an article with XRP sitting at exactly $1.00, noting it was the single level buyers had successfully defended all year while everything above it had broken, including the $1.11 line we mapped on July 7 and watched fail the next day. The argument then was that when a market has one line left that has never failed, the line stops being support and becomes a referendum.

The referendum went to the buyers. XRP is now roughly 54% above that price and 38% above the $1.11 level that broke in July.

Two things from that article deserve revisiting because they were caveats rather than calls. We flagged that XRP had closed August red four years running, its longest active monthly losing streak, and attributed the midterm-year pattern to analyst ChartNerd while stating plainly that three observations is an anecdote with a spreadsheet rather than a data set. August 2026 broke the streak. The seasonality caveat was correct to include and correct to doubt.

Why is XRP rising? ETF demand that finally reached scale, corporate treasuries, and a market-wide rally.

US spot XRP ETFs recorded $110.49 million in net inflows in the week ending August 28, crossing $100 million weekly for the first time since the week ending December 5, 2025, with roughly $150 million across August and about $170 million over eleven days. Daily flow tables are published at Farside Investors and SoSoValue.

Composition matters here. Retail accounts for close to 84% of XRP ETF inflows, meaning the institutional capital that would produce far larger numbers has largely stayed on the sidelines pending regulatory clarity. Goldman Sachs was the largest holder among reporting firms in Q2 filings with about $87.45 million in XRP ETF exposure, which is a real position and a small one.

On the corporate side, Evernorth and other public companies are building XRP treasury strategies. This site first noted Evernorth’s Nasdaq-listed SPAC merger progress in August, when a mundane filing showed the deal had not collapsed.

What is the escrow problem? Ripple puts more XRP into circulation each month than the entire ETF complex absorbs, and that has not changed with the price.

Ripple releases 1 billion XRP from escrow monthly and re-escrows between 600 and 800 million, so 200 to 400 million enters circulation. Escrow transactions are verifiable on the XRP Ledger explorer. ETF absorption has run near 109 million XRP per month. That is between 1.8 and 3.7 times more new supply than institutional demand removes.

Escrow is a mechanism that locks tokens under a scheduled release, with unreleased amounts returned to lock-up, so the net figure rather than the headline release determines how much supply actually reaches the market.

This site covered the same structure on July 7, when we described the gap between XRP’s fully diluted valuation and market cap as a supply overhang worth tens of billions of dollars standing behind every rally. The rally has since happened anyway, which shows the overhang is a headwind rather than a ceiling. It also means the demand side has to keep growing simply to hold this level.

What are the risks? Seasonality, the resistance band, and who sold into the last leg.

September has historically moved opposite to August for XRP in seven of the last eight years. Both times August rose, September fell, by 14% in 2020 and 19.6% in 2021. That pattern is working against the token this month, and it is still an eight-year sample.

Santiment’s HODL Waves data showed wallets holding XRP for three to six months cutting their share of supply during the August rally, meaning buyers from around March took the opportunity to exit at break-even after months underwater. Whale data is mixed: large holders added 1.54 billion tokens worth about $2.2 billion, though conflicting readings suggest some moved to exchanges.

The boundary on the whale figure: tokens moving to exchanges are not proof of selling, and accumulation data from different trackers frequently disagrees. Treat it as contested rather than settled.

What levels matter now? $1.4923 to $1.5436 as the band being tested, with $1.69 as the level that would change the picture.

Analysts have flagged $1.49 to $1.54 as the decisive resistance zone and have said nothing improves structurally until a two-day close above $1.69, the August high. Below, $1.35 to $1.38 has been identified as the significant demand zone.

For longer horizons: XRP’s all-time high of $3.65, set on July 17, 2025, sits about 58% above the current price and would require a gain of roughly 138% to reach.

Bottom line XRP trades at $1.5358, roughly 54% above the $1.00 level it defended in August, with ETF inflows crossing $100 million weekly for the first time since December while monthly escrow releases still add two to four times more supply than ETFs absorb.

The dollar held, which settled the question this site raised in August. What it did not settle is the arithmetic underneath: demand has improved but still has not overtaken supply, and the rally has been funded by a retail-dominated ETF base rather than the institutional money waiting on regulation. That is a thinner foundation than the price suggests.

XRP’s use case already extends past ETF wrappers and spot trading, casinos included. It’s one of the more widely accepted deposit currencies among online crypto casinos, and BlockchainReporter’s crypto casino leaderboard ranks more than 20 of these platforms on licensing, bonuses, and payout speed.

This article is for information only and is not investment advice. Crypto assets are extremely volatile and you can lose your entire stake. Always do your own research.

Cayman Islands, Cayman Islands, September 23rd, 2026, Chainwire

Google Cloud joins as a key infrastructure partner for Puffer UniFi, operating a gateway through Puffer Preconf to deliver sub-second execution backed by Ethereum

Puffer Finance has announced that Google Cloud has joined as a gateway operator in Puffer Preconf, a preconfirmation (preconf) service that delivers sub-second transaction preconfs for Ethereum rollups. Puffer UniFi will be the first rollup to use Google Cloud’s gateway for transaction processing and preconfirmations. 

Puffer UniFi is Puffer’s high-performance Ethereum execution stack, built to deliver real-time execution while remaining synchronously composable with Ethereum.

The integration makes Google Cloud one of the first major cloud infrastructure providers to actively operate within Ethereum’s preconf and rollup ecosystem.

Google Cloud brings enterprise-grade reliability and geographic diversity. Rollups and appchains can select either gateway individually or combine them for added resilience. Starting with Puffer UniFi, this gives rollups access to Google Cloud’s infrastructure for transaction processing and sub-second preconfirmations.

Puffer Preconf addresses a core limitation of based rollups, a new class of Ethereum rollups that use Ethereum validators for transaction sequencing instead of centralized sequencers. While based rollups inherit Ethereum’s security and decentralization, they are constrained to Ethereum’s 12-second block times. Puffer Preconf’s gateway layer provides near-instant execution preconfirmations, backed by restaked ETH and economic security. If any gateway fails to honor a preconfirmation commitment, a slashing mechanism compensates affected parties, providing credible downside protection.

With sub-second confirmations from multiple gateway providers, Puffer Preconf makes it practical for developers to build applications, AI agents, and rollups that compose across the Ethereum ecosystem with near-instant finality. Puffer UniFi will be the first rollup to put Google Cloud’s gateway infrastructure into use, combining high-performance execution with fast preconfirmations before final settlement on Ethereum. This composability is particularly relevant as agentic commerce accelerates. AI agents executing high-frequency, time-sensitive transactions onchain need the speed and finality guarantees that Puffer Preconf’s gateway layer provides.

“Preconfirmations are how Ethereum rollups deliver speed without giving up decentralization. Google Cloud joining the Gateway Registry brings geographic and operational resilience to Puffer’s infrastructure and, by extension, the broader Ethereum ecosystem. With Puffer UniFi as the first rollup to use Google Cloud’s gateway, we’re bringing that infrastructure directly into Puffer UniFi’s execution stack, giving institutions, applications, and AI agents the speed and reliability they need to operate on Ethereum in synchrony,” said Amir Forouzani, Co-Founder and CEO of Puffer Labs. 

“AI and agents are moving towards onchain payment operations. This creates demands on infrastructure that can enable speed and scalability. We’re excited to contribute to this infrastructure as a gateway operator,” said Pranav Mehrotra, APAC Technology Leader – New Frontiers, Google Cloud.

About Puffer Finance

Puffer is building the next-generation settlement layer for Agentic Commerce. Through Puffer UniFi, AI agents, institutions, and trading platforms can transact and settle instantly on Ethereum, enabling synchronous composability with Ethereum for the first time.

About Google Cloud 

Google Cloud accelerates every organization’s ability to digitally transform its business. We deliver enterprise-grade solutions that leverage Google’s cutting-edge technology – all on the cleanest cloud in the industry. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted partner to enable growth and solve their most critical business problems.

TLDR Russia estimates about 20 million residents hold 3.7 trillion rubles, or roughly $44 billion, in crypto and related products. Daily crypto transactions in Russia total about 50 billion rubles, according to Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov. Investors may have to absorb losses if foreign stablecoin issuers like Tether or Circle freeze their assets. Starting May 2, 2027, residents must report crypto activity on addresses outside Russia’s regulated system to tax authorities. Nonqualified investors face a 300,000-ruble yearly purchase cap through each intermediary after passing a test. Russia has set out new crypto reporting rules as officials estimate that residents hold about 3.7 trillion rubles, or roughly $44 billion, in digital assets. The figures come from Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov.

In an interview published by TASS on Sept. 22, Chebeskov said about 20 million people in Russia use cryptocurrency. He put daily transaction volume at around 50 billion rubles.

The holdings figure includes crypto owned directly and some financial products linked to digital assets. The Finance Ministry says these are expert estimates, not a full count of every wallet or transaction.

Foreign Stablecoin Freezes Could Leave Investors With Losses Chebeskov warned that investors may have to absorb losses if a foreign stablecoin issuer freezes their assets. He named USDT and USDC as examples.

“The risk of assets being blocked by a foreign issuer does exist,” he said.

Under Federal Law No. 282-FZ, a Russian digital depository is still responsible for failures in its own custody, accounting and transfer duties. However, Article 20 allows contracts to state that operators are not liable for losses caused by foreign parties that seize assets or restrict transactions.

This means a freeze by a foreign issuer would not automatically require a Russian depository to repay the customer.

The risk has already hit Russia’s market. In March 2025, Tether said it helped the U.S. Secret Service freeze $23 million in USDT tied to the sanctioned Russian exchange Garantex. The freeze forced Garantex to suspend operations.

Circle’s terms also allow it to block USDC addresses linked to prohibited activity or when required by a valid government order.

New Reporting Rules and Trading Limits Russia’s main cryptocurrency law took effect on Sept. 1. Both qualified and nonqualified investors can now trade crypto through regulated intermediaries. Using crypto to pay for goods and services inside Russia remains banned.

Nonqualified investors must pass a test and can buy up to 300,000 rubles of eligible crypto per year through each intermediary. Qualified investors must also pass testing but face no such cap.

Residents can still use crypto addresses outside the domestic system. Starting May 2, 2027, they must report operations involving those addresses to the Federal Tax Service.

The rule does not ban self-custody. Reporting rules differ for some residents who spend more than 183 days outside Russia.

The Bank of Russia has published rules requiring depositories to hold capital of 50 million to 250 million rubles, depending on their services. Independent crypto exchanges need at least 15 million rubles in their own funds.

Market participants have until July 1, 2027, to obtain approvals and comply with the framework.

Officials are also studying whether Russia should create its own stablecoin. Chebeskov said it is “too early to talk about a specific model or a final bill.”

Enforcement rules are still being built. Starting July 1, 2027, Article 21 of the law will require banks to restrict payments to entities suspected of illegally running crypto operations.

A separate bill would make unlicensed crypto operations that cause large losses a criminal offense, with prison terms of up to seven years. The State Duma passed it in first reading, but it has not yet become law.

The Hashgraph Group (THG), a Hedera-focused technology, venture-building and investment company, has signed a global partnership with IBM to bring its IDTrust identity platform to the IBM Cloud Catalog, the company said Wednesday.

The IBM Cloud Catalog is an enterprise cloud marketplace that gives IBM customers access to a wide range of IBM and third-party products, including AI, data, security, compute, networking, developer tools and deployable cloud architectures.

The listing gives IDTrust a distribution channel within IBM Cloud, allowing IBM customers to discover the product alongside other enterprise cloud services and solutions. For THG, this can make the Hedera-based solution easier for businesses to evaluate and potentially adopt, especially those already operating within the IBM Cloud ecosystem.

“Our partner ecosystem is central to how we help clients turn emerging technology into practical business value. IBM has recognized the enterprise potential of web3 solutions, and THG’s work building agent-redy identity infrastructure on Hedera made this a natural fit,” Naemi Benz, Vice President IBM Partner Ecosystem DACH, commented on the partnership.

THG said IDTrust is the first commercial Hedera-based enterprise application listed on a major cloud marketplace.

“Enterprises are deploying AI agents at scale that can negotiate contracts, process sensitive data, and execute financial transactions autonomously. The question everyone is now asking and worried about is: how do I know this agent is authorised to act on my behalf? We have solved that problem with our IDTrust solution,” Stefan Deiss, co-founder and CEO of THG, stated.

According to the company, IDTrust uses decentralized identifiers and verifiable credentials to give AI agents, devices and humans verifiable identities and permissions. The platform also includes MCP servers for AI agents connected to IBM watsonx Orchestrate, while credentials are anchored on Hedera to provide auditable records of agent identities and actions.

The deal also gives THG IBM Silver Partner status and access to IBM technology through a global Embedded Solution Agreement.

THG said the partnership comes as “Know Your Agent” becomes a growing enterprise requirement for organizations seeking to verify that autonomous AI systems are authorized to perform specific actions.

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

Zcash users holding ZEC in the network’s legacy Sprout shielded pool should move it before the planned NU7 upgrade or risk losing the ability to spend it.

Under Zcash Improvement Proposal-2003, NU7 would stop accepting the older transaction format that allows users to spend Sprout funds. ZEC left in the pool would become unspendable after the upgrade.

The proposal would not burn Sprout funds and leaves open the possibility of restoring access later. However, it warns that holders may never be able to spend funds left in the pool.

A user posting as “vaspholdings” on the Zcash Community Forum urged ZEC holders on Sunday to check old wallets before the upgrade. Those wallets may contain Sprout ZEC, transparent ZEC or both, the user wrote. Only funds in the Sprout pool face the proposed restriction.

Zcash co-founder Zooko Wilcox also shared the warning on X.

NU7 is scheduled to activate on testnet Oct. 6. Zcash expects to decide on Oct. 20 whether to proceed with the targeted Nov. 5 mainnet activation.

The upgrade would also cut Zcash’s target block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. Its planned changes to issuance would preserve the network’s halving schedule.

ZEC traded at $1,627.82 at the time of writing, up 8% in the past 24 hours and almost 40% over the past week, according to CoinGecko.

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.