The incident raises concerns about AI security, potentially affecting OpenAI's market valuation and investor confidence in AI technologies.

The post OpenAI agents obscured hacking activity on US government sites: FT appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

DeFi's expansion into fixed income could bridge traditional finance and blockchain, potentially reshaping global financial markets.

The post Lighter CEO points to fixed income as DeFi’s next big opportunity at Korea Blockchain Week 2026 appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Investor sentiment remains volatile amid economic uncertainties, impacting Bitcoin ETF flows but not indicating systemic issues for Fidelity.

The post Fidelity Bitcoin ETF clients pull $125.58 million as volatile September closes appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The growth of synthetic dollars alongside tokenized assets could reshape financial systems, offering new liquidity and investment opportunities.

The post Dragonfly’s Tom Schmidt sees synthetic dollars growing alongside tokenized assets appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

China's gradual shift towards crypto management could influence global regulatory approaches, balancing innovation with oversight.

The post Solana Co. chairman says China will find a way to manage crypto appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Privacy Breakthrough a Zcash Killer? | Misha Komorov, Alloc Innit

Researchers have proposed a way to make Bitcoin private without changing Bitcoin itself. Misha Komarov, co-founder of alloc/init, explains Shielded Bitcoin: zero-knowledge proofs that hide the sender, receiver, and amount of a Bitcoin transfer, with no soft fork, no custodians, and no bridges. He covers how Bitcoin PIPEs make it possible and what the proposal still needs. It is a research proposal, not a finished product.

Chapters:
0:00 Shielded Bitcoin: Private Bitcoin Transactions With Zero-Knowledge Proofs
0:38 How Bitcoin PIPEs Make Privacy Possible Without a Soft Fork
1:42 Do Indexers and ZK Rollups Require Trust?
3:16 Shielded Bitcoin vs. Monero and Zcash
4:21 What Privacy Shielded Bitcoin Protects
5:59 How Private Are Early Users? The Small Privacy Set Problem
7:37 Is Shielded Bitcoin an Altcoin Killer?
9:12 Fees, Block Space, and Larger Shielded Transactions
10:50 Who Needs Private Bitcoin? Wrench Attacks and Corporate Treasuries
12:20 Dark Pools, Governments, and the Next Wave of Bitcoin Buyers

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this show are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of BTC Inc., Bitcoin Magazine, or any affiliated entities. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice. Nothing contained in this show constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer to buy or sell any securities or financial instruments. Viewers should consult their own advisors before making financial or business decisions.

This post Bitcoin Privacy Breakthrough a Zcash Killer? | Misha Komorov, Alloc Innit first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Patrick Green.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin’s Institutional Era Has Arrived | Robinhood VP of Crypto Institutions Nicola White

Robinhood is bringing crypto perpetual futures to US customers, with up to 10x leverage on Bitcoin and Ether. Nicola White, Robinhood’s vice president of institutional crypto, explains how the CFTC no-action letter, the Bitstamp exchange, and Robinhood Derivatives made it happen, and why the company wants markets to be always on.

Chapters:
0:00 Robinhood’s Hood Summit: 24/7 Stock Trading and US Crypto Perps
0:40 Why Robinhood Wants Markets That Never Close
1:32 Bitstamp Perps and the CFTC No-Action Letter
2:19 Tokenized Stocks, the Basis Trade, and the Path for US Perps
3:20 Bitstamp’s Volume and the Retail–Institutional Merger
4:54 What Institutions Want to Do With Bitcoin
6:00 Institutional Bitcoin Depth and Large Block Trades
6:49 AI Trading Agents and Robinhood’s Sub-Account Controls
8:29 Lessons From the 2022 Meltdown and US Leverage Limits
10:12 How Bitcoin Changes Finance in 10 Years and What’s Next for Tokenized Stocks

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this show are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of BTC Inc., Bitcoin Magazine, or any affiliated entities. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice. Nothing contained in this show constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer to buy or sell any securities or financial instruments. Viewers should consult their own advisors before making financial or business decisions.

This post Bitcoin’s Institutional Era Has Arrived | Robinhood VP of Crypto Institutions Nicola White first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Patrick Green.

Bitcoin Magazine

Mark Moss: The Bitcoin Endgame – BTC to $1 Million by 2030

The Fed just raised rates, yet Bitcoin keeps climbing. Mark Moss, host of the Market Disruptors podcast, explains why he thinks most people are misreading why long-term rates are rising, how a booming economy could be part of the answer, and why he says Bitcoin benefits from both the debasement trade and a bullish technological future.

Chapters:
0:00 Mark Moss on the Fed’s “Token Raise” and an October Pause
1:54 The Flat Yield Curve, Bank Lending, and the 5.1% 10-Year
2:56 Why Bitcoin Is Rising as Rates Rise: “Price Is Truth”
5:40 Bitcoin vs. Gold: The Debasement Trade and a Bullish Future
6:19 Can the US Grow Its Way Out of $40 Trillion in Debt?
10:30 The Monetary Reset Is a Process, Not an Event
13:33 Four Ways Out of the Debt Problem and What Happens in 2029–2030
16:27 Stablecoins, the Genius Act, and Why 6 Billion People Want Dollars
20:14 Institutions Are Buying Bitcoin While Retail Sells
24:29 Bitcoin’s S-Curve, Its CAGR, and a $1 Million Price Target

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this show are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of BTC Inc., Bitcoin Magazine, or any affiliated entities. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice. Nothing contained in this show constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer to buy or sell any securities or financial instruments. Viewers should consult their own advisors before making financial or business decisions.

This post Mark Moss: The Bitcoin Endgame – BTC to $1 Million by 2030 first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Patrick Green.

Bitcoin Magazine

UK Brings Crypto Under Full FCA Oversight for the First Time

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has opened applications for crypto firms to become authorized, bringing the sector under full regulation for the first time.

In a Wednesday announcement, the watchdog said companies can apply so that the crypto industry has “clarity and legitimacy.”

The UK is in the process of drafting a sweeping new crypto bill. The FCA finalized its regulatory framework for cryptoassets in June, and the regime is due to take effect in October 2027.  

“The UK’s new crypto regime will give consumers greater protections and firms a clear framework to operate in. Firms can now apply for authorisation and start preparing for regulation,” Dominic Cashman, director of authorisation at the FCA, said in a statement. 

The statement added that firms will have to demonstrate that they meet requirements covering consumer protection, customer-asset safeguarding, market integrity and financial resilience.

Britain is pushing ahead with digital asset legislation since last year recognizing bitcoin and other digital assets as property. The reform came from a 2023 recommendation by the Law Commission, which argued that digital assets did not fit neatly into existing legal categories.

Despite the FCA’s announcement, the UK currently is trailing behind Brussels and Washington with digital asset regulation. 

The EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation has applied to service providers since 30 December 2024. 

And the U.S. under President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law in July 2025, establishing a federal framework for dollar-backed tokens.

Despite lawmakers blocking landmark legislation the Clarity Act last month, U.S. regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission have pushed ahead with rulemaking regardless. 

This post UK Brings Crypto Under Full FCA Oversight for the First Time first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Surges 40% in Its Best Quarter Since Late 2024

Bitcoin is having one of its best quarters ever — another indication that the biggest cryptocurrency is in a bull market. 

As noted by the The Kobeissi Letter this week, the price of bitcoin is now up close to 30% since August 19, when the U.S. Treasury announced it planned to more than double the size of its government debt repurchases.

Over the past quarter, the bitcoin price has surged by 40% — its best quarterly performance since Q4 2024. 

Bitcoin’s price recently stood at nearly $83,698, unmoved over a 24-hour period but up 6% over a 30-day period. 

The coin has benefited from news that the Treasury would try to lower bond yields — which have soared to highs not seen since the 2000s. 

Bitcoin has done well with lower long-term yields because it reduces the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets like bitcoin and gold, and generally supports risk-on sentiment. 

But despite the Treasury stepping in to try and tame the bond market, yields have continued to stay high. 

Bitcoin investors don’t seem that bothered. The asset is still doing well as the dollar continues to slip. The so-called debasement trade — where investors throw money at an asset to hedge against a currency losing its value — is hot again after total U.S. debt topped $40 trillion for the first time in July.  

The price of Bitcoin had been battered since notching a new all-time high of $126,080 in October, dropping by over 50%. Still, it has experienced the shallowest bear market — so far — in its history. 

CryptoQuant said in a report last week that bitcoin was back in a bull market after crossing above its 365-day moving average — the “definitive technical signal” that has marked the start of Bitcoin’s bull markets in past cycles.

The coin has shrugged off the Federal Reserve raising interest rates and lawmakers blockage of landmark crypto legislation, the Clarity Act. 

This post Bitcoin Surges 40% in Its Best Quarter Since Late 2024 first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin is closing its strongest quarter since 2024 after leaving US stocks and gold far behind despite surging bond yields.

The largest digital asset has gained about 43% in the third quarter, putting it on course for its second-best third-quarter since 2013 and its third-strongest quarterly advance since US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds began trading in January 2024, according to Bitfinex and CoinGlass.

Bitcoin entered July near $58,600 after three consecutive quarterly declines, then accelerated through August and September as institutional demand returned and sellers who had spent much of 2026 underwater were absorbed at progressively higher prices.

Traditional markets barely kept pace. Over roughly the same three-month period through Sept. 29, the Nasdaq Composite gained about 5%, the S&P 500 roughly 4% and gold less than 2%, according to StatMuse data.

Meanwhile, Ethereum was the notable exception, outperforming Bitcoin as the crypto rebound broadened beyond the market leader.

Bitcoin's outperformance accelerated after Aug. 19, even as a Treasury initiative to improve liquidity in longer-dated government debt failed to prevent yields from rising.

The department said it would at least double the maximum size of liquidity-support buybacks for longer maturities to $4 billion per operation, with the increased purchases beginning Sept. 9.

Bitcoin has risen almost 30% since the announcement. However, the 10-year Treasury yield climbed about 81 basis points and long-dated borrowing costs reached multi-decade highs over the quarter, raising the hurdle for assets that produce no yield.

Wall Street money takes over from leverage

US spot Bitcoin ETFs provided a fresh source of capital as financial conditions tightened elsewhere.

The funds moved from roughly $5 billion in year-to-date net outflows at the end of July to about $1 billion in inflows by late September, a swing of about $6 billion in two months.

The reversal culminated last week when the products absorbed $2.39 billion, their largest weekly intake since October 2025. Every session was positive, though daily demand slowed from $999 million on Sept. 21 to about $135 million by Sept. 25.

Analysts at Nexo said Bitcoin enters the fourth quarter with stronger spot demand and an improving market structure, though the outlook still depends on ETF buying persisting, overhead supply being absorbed and inflation remaining contained enough to prevent further Federal Reserve tightening.

At the same time, leveraged traders have been retreating.

Aggregate Bitcoin futures open interest has fallen from more than 700,000 BTC on Sept. 21 to about 644,000, its lowest since early January, according to Bitfinex. The seven-day contraction of roughly 49,000 BTC was the largest since October 2025, while CME open interest dropped 16,075 BTC on Monday alone, its third-biggest daily decline on record.

Futures premiums have also compressed, and implied volatility remains near a one-year low.

The unwind leaves less leverage to accelerate another liquidation-driven selloff, but it also removes speculative buying that can propel sharp advances. That shifts more responsibility onto investors purchasing Bitcoin outright.

Signs of that transition are appearing around current prices. Bitfinex estimates the amount of Bitcoin with a cost basis between $82,500 and $84,000 nearly tripled to 306,000 tokens in three days as buyers absorbed coins sold by both profitable holders below the market and newer investors exiting at losses above it.

A 1.39 million Bitcoin wall waits above $85,000

Bitcoin's improving structure still leaves a substantial concentration of sellers immediately overhead.

Bitfinex estimates investors hold about 1.39 million BTC acquired between $84,000 and $86,500. The group includes long-term holders returning toward breakeven and more recent buyers whose positions slipped underwater after Bitcoin retreated from its Sept. 21 high near $87,400.

That creates potential selling each time prices push back into the range.

CryptoQuant said Bitcoin reclaimed its 365-day moving average last week for the first time since March 2023. Recoveries above the gauge have accompanied previous transitions into bullish regimes, while sustained moves below it have historically coincided with weaker market phases.

Bitcoin's realized price, which approximates the average cost basis of coins in circulation, has climbed to about $77,000 and held through the latest recovery.

The challenge is whether new demand can clear the supply sitting above spot prices.

Bitfinex's measure of ETF purchases relative to the roughly 450 Bitcoin produced by miners each day fell from 25.6 times issuance during the $999 million inflow session to 1.8 times by Sept. 29. The firm estimates the ratio needs to recover toward five times issuance, equivalent to roughly $190 million of ETF demand a day, to absorb the overhead supply more quickly.

A move above $85,000 would return roughly 760,000 BTC to profit and lift Bitcoin's supply-in-profit measure back toward the 75% threshold Bitfinex associates with stronger bull-market phases. The gauge slipped to 71.3% on Sept. 29 from 78.1% eight days earlier.

Beyond the immediate barrier, Glassnode places another major supply concentration near $88,000 to $90,000, followed by an important level around $96,700.

Options traders are positioned for a break higher nonetheless. Nexo said Bitcoin's put-to-call ratio averaged 0.67 over the past two weeks, while $140,000 calls expiring Dec. 25 represent the largest individual position. Dealer positioning points to the $95,000-to-$97,000 area as another significant test if Bitcoin clears the nearer supply zones.

Bitcoin's best season collides with 5% yields

Seasonality gives bulls another argument heading into October.

The fourth quarter has historically produced Bitcoin's strongest returns, with average gains of roughly 77% to 85% since 2013, depending on the dataset. BloFin Research calculates that matching its 77.07% historical average from current levels would put Bitcoin near $147,000, while its median fourth-quarter return of 47.73% would imply roughly $123,000.

Those are mechanical projections, and successive Bitcoin cycles have delivered progressively smaller advances from their lows.

Monetary policy presents the more immediate constraint.

Markets began this week assigning roughly a 65% probability to another quarter-point Fed increase in October. Softer-than-expected inflation data Wednesday cut those odds to about 38%, showing how rapidly the rate outlook can shift ahead of the central bank's Oct. 27-28 meeting. Another decision follows Dec. 8-9.

Sept. 28 offered an earlier warning about Bitcoin's exposure to broader positioning. The Nasdaq-100, gold and Bitcoin fell together as investors reduced exposure across markets, a pattern Nexo analysts said was more consistent with broad deleveraging than a conventional rotation into safe assets.

For Bitfinex, $81,300 is now an important threshold beneath the recovery. Sustained trading below that level alongside renewed ETF outflows could expose the realized-price region near $77,000.

On the upside, stronger ETF demand and a break through $86,500 would leave Bitcoin approaching its yearly open near $87,700 before the larger supply cluster around $90,000 comes into play.

The Oct. 2 US payrolls report will give traders another read on the economy before the next inflation release and the Fed's October meeting, just as Bitcoin enters its historically strongest quarter with Treasury yields still above 5%.

The post Bitcoin enters its best season after a 43% surge, with $147,000 suddenly on the math appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bitcoin improvement proposal BIP461 could make a hidden route for leaking wallet secrets easier to detect. The draft defines a common signing procedure for ECDSA, an existing Bitcoin signature scheme.

Independent compliant signers should produce identical signatures for the same secret key and message hash, creating a benchmark for detecting departures that could conceal key leakage.

Authored by Liam Gilligan, the proposal was merged into the BIPs repository on Sept. 16 and remains marked Draft. Its signatures work under existing Bitcoin consensus rules, so implementing this signing procedure requires no consensus change.

Comparing signatures for deviations

ECDSA allows a signer choices while creating a valid signature, including the nonce, a temporary value used in signing. Malicious firmware can exploit that freedom to hide key material in signatures that still pass verification, and BIP461 fixes those choices through a specified deterministic procedure.

Bitcoin’s acceptance of a signature cannot establish that its creation kept the key safe. A common specification supplies an expected output against which the signer’s behavior can be checked.

The comparison requires identical inputs and the exact same standard, including access to the secret key on another independent signer. That extra exposure is a practical cost of reproducing the signature. Different results for the same key and message hash show that at least one signer is not following BIP461.

An honest implementation using another valid ECDSA procedure can also disagree. A mismatch warrants investigation into compliance, but its cause remains unresolved. The comparison alone cannot identify a malicious device or demonstrate theft.

The prescribed algorithm also keeps signatures to at most 70 bytes in the standard DER encoding, excluding Bitcoin’s one-byte sighash flag.

The Dark Skippy disclosure pointed out that corrupted firmware can embed seed material in transaction signatures. In their original disclosure, the researchers said they had not seen the technique in the wild.

Dark Skippy’s original demonstration uses Schnorr signing, while BIP461 specifies ECDSA. Taproot uses the separate BIP340 Schnorr scheme, so this draft does not directly standardize a remedy for that demonstration.

The researchers’ mitigation discussion warned that a malicious signer could leak only on a selected transaction, so a device could produce compliant signatures in a test and leak on another transaction.

At the September merge, a reviewer said test vectors and a reference implementation were needed for BIP461 to advance to Complete.

For wallet users, its potential value is a shared benchmark that could make deviations visible. Delivering that value still depends on compliant implementations and comparisons that account for both detection limits and the risks of handling secrets.

The post New Bitcoin upgrade catches hidden key leaks hiding the exact fix appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Petrobras, Brazil's state-controlled energy company, is testing Cardano to track sustainable aviation fuel benefits and prevent double-counting.

The Cardano Foundation said on Sept. 30 that an ongoing research and development collaboration had delivered applications for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and Diesel R, Petrobras' renewable fuel brand.

The SAF project addresses a problem that arises when the buyer of a fuel's environmental benefit is different from the buyer or user of the fuel itself. Its Book-and-Claim model lets an airline, company, or passenger receive that benefit even when the SAF is produced or used elsewhere.

Petrobras developed the SAF platform with PUC-Rio University's Ledger Labs and the Cardano Foundation. According to the Foundation's case study, it represents SAF environmental attributes as standardized CS-SAF tokens on Cardano.

Those tokens can be created, transferred, checked, and retired. Retirement prevents the same attribute from being claimed again, while the digital record traces the allocation back to the original fuel certificate.

The crypto analogy is double spending: preventing reuse of a digital asset, applied here to an environmental claim.

Travelers can enter departure and destination airports, calculate a CS-SAF allocation and receive a certificate showing their route, distance and allocation, the Foundation says. That claim remains linked to the original SAF certificate.

The tokens carry metadata aligned with CORSIA, the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation.

In guidance published June 16, the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials says Book-and-Claim changes neither the physical fuel a buyer uses nor its associated emissions. Airlines should disclose supported reductions separately from operational emissions.

Different value-chain participants can make distinct claims, as long as their disclosures do not misrepresent the overall reduction.

Cardano usage beyond aviation

The Diesel R project, developed with PUC-Rio, proposes checkpoints across production, transportation and use. Its aim is a continuous fuel-lifecycle record that could support Scope 3 reporting, which covers indirect emissions across a company's wider value chain.

That would connect information held by suppliers and logistics providers, giving emissions reporting a more traceable supply-chain history. The Foundation describes this architecture as a proposed model within the R&D work.

The SAF platform illustrates how Cardano can record the allocation and retirement of environmental benefits. Commercial use remains unquantified, as the Foundation's disclosures provide no transaction volumes or revenue figures.

The post Brazil’s largest energy giant tests Cardano to fix carbon double-counting appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Standard Chartered expects Ethena’s ENA token to rise about sevenfold by 2028, provided the protocol can rebuild its shrinking synthetic-dollar business.

The bank initiated coverage of ENA with a $2 year-end 2028 target, up from about $0.28 currently. It forecasts the token reaching $0.42 at the end of 2026 and $1.10 in 2027 before accelerating further the following year.

The projection would leave ENA outperforming Standard Chartered’s expected gains for both Bitcoin and Ethereum over the same period. But reaching it requires Ethena to reverse a contraction that has cut USDe supply by more than half from its peak and expand far beyond the scale it has previously achieved.

The bank’s thesis rests on Ethena finding new sources of yield as returns from its original crypto trading strategy decline, while generating enough revenue from a much larger USDe base to make ENA increasingly valuable to holders.

Ethena first has to rebuild USDe

USDe became one of crypto’s fastest-growing stablecoins after launching in late 2023, exceeding $10 billion as traders piled into a structure that combined long spot crypto positions with short perpetual futures.

That approach allowed Ethena to capture funding payments while keeping its overall market exposure largely delta-neutral. At times, the strategy generated returns above 20%, helping attract deposits into USDe and its yield-bearing counterpart, sUSDe.

However, those conditions have since weakened amid the ensuing market contraction.

As the trade became more crowded and crypto funding rates compressed, USDe supply fell to about $4.9 billion. Standard Chartered estimates Ethena’s blended yield across its strategies is now about 5.2%.

The bank’s forecast assumes contraction can reverse dramatically. It expects USDe supply to reach $40 billion by 2028, meaning Ethena would first have to regain its previous $10 billion-plus peak and then roughly quadruple again.

Ethena has responded to lower crypto basis returns by broadening where it generates yield. Its strategies now include DeFi lending, institutional lending, liquid stablecoins and real-world assets, alongside newer basis trades tied to equities and commodities.

That diversification is central to Standard Chartered’s growth assumptions.

The bank expects tokenized assets, including stablecoins and other real-world assets, to reach about $4 trillion by the end of 2028 from roughly $350 billion currently. It projects real-world assets deployed on blockchains could rise from about $40 billion to $2 trillion over the same period.

A larger tokenized-asset market would give Ethena more collateral and yield opportunities beyond crypto derivatives, potentially allowing USDe to expand without requiring another period of exceptionally high perpetual-futures funding rates.

Ethena is also building businesses outside the core synthetic dollar, including white-label stablecoins and Ethena Pay. Standard Chartered expects those operations to widen the revenue base as the protocol grows.

However, the first hurdle is much closer than $40 billion.

Ethena’s approved fee-switch framework begins at $7.5 billion of USDe supply, leaving the protocol below the first threshold at which the revenue mechanism underlying Standard Chartered’s valuation begins to take effect.

Why the buyback math leads to $2

Once those thresholds are crossed, the ENA valuation increasingly depends on how much of Ethena’s economics can be directed toward token holders.

The approved framework allocates 95% of qualifying net revenue paid to the Ethena Foundation from covered businesses toward ENA buybacks. Ethena does not retain the full yield generated by the assets supporting USDe, making the distinction between gross and net revenue central to the calculation.

Blockworks Advisory’s analysis modeled the protocol’s share of gross revenue increasing with USDe supply, beginning at about 5% around $7.5 billion and reaching 20% by $20 billion. The model used a 6% protocol yield as an illustrative assumption, not a guaranteed return.

At the much larger scale envisioned by Standard Chartered, those economics become substantial.

The bank estimates that if USDe reaches $40 billion, ENA purchases could amount to roughly 23% of the token’s current market value annually if its price remained unchanged.

Standard Chartered does not expect such a percentage to persist. It argues that investors would capitalize the expected stream of purchases into ENA’s valuation, pushing the token higher and reducing annual buybacks as a percentage of its market capitalization.

The bank points to Uniswap as an analog, saying UNI’s annualized buyback percentage has settled around 3% to 4% as the token appreciated after activating its fee switch. Applying a comparable equilibrium to Ethena underpins Standard Chartered’s $2 target.

But the mechanism introduces its own constraint.

Capturing a larger share of Ethena’s revenue for the protocol can reduce what remains available to sUSDe holders. That creates a balancing act: Ethena needs enough margin to support ENA purchases while maintaining sufficiently competitive yields to keep attracting the deposits required for USDe to grow.

The assumptions become more demanding as supply rises. The 6% return used in the framework has not been guaranteed across market cycles, while the higher revenue-capture tiers have yet to be tested at the scale Standard Chartered expects.

That leaves investors with several nearer-term checkpoints before the $2 target becomes relevant. USDe must first cross the $7.5 billion fee-switch threshold and reclaim its previous peak.

Beyond that, Ethena will have to show that its newer yield strategies can absorb tens of billions of dollars without materially compressing returns. How quickly those thresholds are crossed will determine whether Standard Chartered’s projected buyback engine begins to resemble the one embedded in its valuation model.

The post Standard Chartered says Ethena’s ENA could crush Bitcoin and Ethereum returns by 2028 appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Hackers behind Bitget’s $387.5 million breach are turning to Zcash's privacy features to hide the stolen funds as crypto firms increasingly block other escape routes.

About 2,746 ZEC worth roughly $3.9 million was transferred Wednesday into Zcash’s Ironwood shielded pool through three transactions, according to on-chain activity flagged by blockchain investigator ZachXBT. The amount represents about 15% of the 18,917 ZEC stolen from the exchange.

The transfers complicate Bitget’s recovery effort because transactions inside Ironwood can conceal senders, recipients, and amounts, breaking the public transaction trail investigators use to follow stolen assets. Deposits into the pool remain visible, but subsequent movements become considerably harder to link to their origin.

The shift toward Zcash's privacy infrastructure follows attempts by the attackers to move substantially larger sums through cross-chain services, some of which have begun refusing the transactions.

NEAR Intents General Manager Alex Shevchenko said wallets connected to the Bitget theft attempted to process more than $50 million through the protocol. Its SHIELD risk system rejected most of those transactions before execution, while roughly $503,000 was frozen after swaps had begun and about $166,000 successfully passed through.

The rejected assets remained under the attackers’ control, leaving them free to seek alternative routes. The latest Zcash transfers show how that contest is shifting as stolen funds encounter tighter screening across parts of the crypto market.

THORChain volume surges as hackers seek other routes

One alternative has been THORChain, the permissionless cross-chain exchange that has resisted Bitget’s requests to block addresses linked to the theft.

Bitget-linked wallets have repeatedly used the protocol to turn stolen assets into native Bitcoin. Bitquery estimated that about 29,088 ETH, worth roughly $79 million at the time of its analysis, had been sent into THORChain and swapped for Bitcoin through Sept. 29.

As a result, activity on the decentralized exchange has exploded since the breach. THORChain has processed more than $1.5 billion in DEX volume in the days following the incident, compared with roughly $146 million during the week before the attack, according to DeFiLlama data reviewed by CryptoSlate.

The increase has coincided with hacker-linked flows, although total THORChain volume cannot be attributed to the attackers.

THORChain's actions, in contrast to NEAR, highlight a widening divide over how decentralized infrastructure should respond when it identifies stolen assets.

NEAR has argued that permissionless access does not require its liquidity providers to execute known illicit transactions. However, THORChain has maintained that selective censorship would undermine the principles governing its network.

That disagreement has practical consequences for Bitget. Blocking one venue does not freeze assets held in self-custodied wallets. Instead, it forces the attacker to find another source of liquidity, potentially pushing funds toward permissionless exchanges or privacy systems that offer investigators fewer opportunities to intervene.

Bitget absorbs withdrawal rush as operations restart

Meanwhile, Bitget is facing a separate test from its customers as it gradually restores access to funds following the four-day withdrawal freeze.

DeFiLlama data reviewed by CryptoSlate shows more than $700 million has moved out of tracked Bitget wallets since withdrawal channels began reopening, highlighting immediate customer demand to move assets off the exchange. DeFiLlama tracks known exchange wallets, meaning the figure reflects on-chain flows rather than Bitget’s complete internal withdrawal ledger.

Bitcoin accounted for a sizable portion of the initial rush. Bitget said it had processed 9,585 withdrawal requests totaling 4,098 BTC by Sept. 28, hours after reopening Bitcoin withdrawals.

The outflows have continued as the exchange progressively restored other assets. Bitcoin withdrawals reopened Sunday, followed by Ethereum and then USDT across Ethereum, BNB Chain, Solana and Tron. Bitget plans to reopen withdrawals for its remaining cryptocurrencies as well as fiat and peer-to-peer services on Friday.

On Sept. 30, Bitget's Chief Executive Officer Gracy Chen said that the exchange's Protection Fund had also been rebuilt to more than $300 million, restoring a threshold the company had promised to reach after drawing on the fund following the breach.

She said BTC, ETH and USDT withdrawals were already operating and described the business as “gradually back to usual.”

The exchange’s latest proof-of-reserves snapshot provides another measure of its ability to withstand the withdrawals. Bitget reported an overall reserve ratio of 131% across 19 covered assets as of Sept. 29, meaning the assets included in its disclosure exceeded corresponding customer balances by 31%.

Those figures will face a broader stress test when Bitget removes the remaining withdrawal restrictions Friday.

The post Bitget’s hackers turn to Zcash after $50 million laundering route gets blocked appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Investing in cryptocurrencies carries a high level of risk.

A stock market game is a contest played with virtual money: everyone starts with the same virtual capital, trades at real prices, and in the end whoever sits at the top of the leaderboard wins. The good news first: all six stock market games in this comparison are free. The more important news comes further down: a leaderboard does not necessarily reward good trading, and often rewards the biggest risk instead. Knowing that, you learn more from a stock market game than just how to place an order. Here are the stock market games of 2026 with their period, target group, starting capital and prizes, plus the answer to where crypto is allowed.

Free stock market games: the key points in brief

• All six stock market games in this comparison are free, as of September 28, 2026. Three of them allow cryptocurrencies.
• Planspiel Börse, run by the German savings banks, starts on October 1, 2026 and runs until January 25, 2027, for school and university students.
• Trader 2026 from Société Générale runs from September 7 to October 30, 2026, with two portfolios of €100,000 in virtual money each.
• Trading Masters begins its first playing round on November 9, with €25,000 per portfolio and prizes worth more than €50,000.
• With crypto: Trading Masters and the training portfolio in Planspiel Börse via BSDEX, plus the crypto stock market game from CryptoTicker with 50 coins.
• No stock market game is played with real money. The prizes, by contrast, are real; at Trader 2026 they go up to a car.

The stock market games of 2026 at a glance

All figures as of September 28, 2026, according to the organizers. Dates and prizes change from round to round.

The six stock market games in detail

Planspiel Börse from the German savings banks

The best-known stock market game in Germany is aimed at school and university students. The 2026 round starts on October 1, registration has been open since September 14 and must be completed by November 11; play ends on January 25, 2027. You can take part via the app or in a browser, which requires a registration code from the savings bank or the teacher. The competition portfolio allows trading in shares from well-known indices, funds, ETFs and fixed-income securities. The training portfolio additionally offers cryptocurrencies via the BSDEX exchange, plus certificates. Alongside the portfolio ranking there is a sustainability score.

Trader 2026 from Société Générale

Trader is aimed at adults aged 18 and over and runs for eight weeks in 2026, from September 7 to October 30. Every participant receives two portfolios with €100,000 in virtual money each. Tradable instruments are shares, certificates and warrants listed on the Stuttgart Stock Exchange or issued by Société Générale. The rules put a brake on gambling: a maximum of 20 purchases a day, no single position above 20 percent of the portfolio, leveraged products capped at 20 percent of portfolio value, and a minimum holding time of five minutes. Once a week, a portfolio can be reset. The main prize is a Range Rover Evoque, and there are weekly prizes on top.

Trading Masters

Trading Masters is organized by excellents GmbH, with UBS as the main sponsor. Adults aged 18 and over who are resident in Germany or Austria can take part. Play runs with one equity portfolio and one leverage portfolio of €25,000 each. Tradable instruments are shares via the Stuttgart Stock Exchange, warrants, knock-out products and factor certificates from UBS, as well as cryptocurrencies via BSDEX. The training camp begins on October 26, the first playing round on November 9, 2026, and the second on January 11, 2027. The prizes are worth more than €50,000 in total, and the winner of a round receives €8,000. Taking part is free.

VR-Börsenspiel

The stock market game of the German cooperative banks comes as a school game and as an apprentice game. The 2026 school game ran from February 11 to May 11, with registration opening in November 2025. The apprentice game runs at different times by region: in Weser-Ems and at Genoverband from January 20 to May 20, in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria from June 23 to October 23, 2026. Schools start with €50,000 in virtual capital; tradable instruments are shares and ETPs, and in the speculative variant leveraged products as well. Cryptocurrencies are not included.

Tradity

Tradity is an educational initiative of WHU, the Otto Beisheim School of Management, and is aimed at school students. The game is free, play starts with 100,000 Tradity coins, and real shares are traded at real-time prices. The season runs once a year; the app announces when the next one begins. There is prize money, and crypto cannot be traded.

The crypto stock market game from CryptoTicker

This one is our own, so here it is in detail and with the caveats: the stock market game in CryptoTicker's Trading Hub is a pure crypto contest. Participation is from age 18. There is €10,000 in virtual money, real prices for 50 coins and two leagues, up to 10x and up to 100x leverage. The first three trades work without an account; after that, one click creates an anonymous account, with no email address and no payment details.

A pre-season runs until the end of 2026: free and without prize money. From January 2027, ranked seasons with a prize pool are planned, and taking part in the ranking is then intended to carry a fee. What is scored is not the highest return but the CT score, the return divided by the largest drawdown. If you only want to practise, you do not need the contest at all: the trading simulator is separate from it, with no sign-up, no credit card and no cap on the number of trades.

Which stock market games are the best?

The best stock market game is the one that fits your situation:

• For school and university students: Planspiel Börse, because it is organized through schools and universities and has a training portfolio that knows crypto. An alternative with real shares and prize money is Tradity.
• For adults who want to win something: Trader 2026 and Trading Masters, both with real prizes and clear trading rules.
• For crypto: Trading Masters or the crypto stock market game from CryptoTicker; anyone under 18 practises crypto in the training portfolio of Planspiel Börse.
• Without a deadline and without a contest: a demo account or a simulator. Which variants exist is set out in our guide to the trading demo account.

Why a leaderboard invites too much risk

A stock market game with a prize for the top places has an uncomfortable property: trade cautiously and you land safely in midfield. Put everything on one card and you usually land far back, but occasionally right at the front. With a thousand participants, what often wins is therefore the biggest lucky hit and not the best strategy. That is a property of the format, and no reproach to the organizers.

Two things work against it. First, rules like those at Trader 2026, which cap single positions and leveraged products at 20 percent of the portfolio. Second, a scoring method that prices in risk, such as the CT score, which divides the return by the largest drawdown. For you as a learner: trade in the stock market game by the rules you intend to keep later with real money, even if that costs you a place in the ranking. One percent of risk per trade means, with €100,000 in virtual money, a loss of at most €1,000 until the stop.

Is the stock market game played with real money?

No. In every stock market game in this comparison you trade with virtual money; no order reaches an exchange, and you cannot lose money of your own. Only the prizes handed out by some organizers are real. If you want to start with real money after the contest, begin small and choose a provider by fees and regulation: for crypto, our exchange comparison helps, and for shares, ETFs and derivatives the comparison of the best crypto brokers.

Stock market game, model portfolio, paper trading: the difference

• Stock market game: a contest with a deadline, a leaderboard and often prizes.
• Model portfolio: a virtual portfolio without a contest, mostly for shares and ETFs, to follow a selection over weeks.
• Paper trading and demo account: practice trading at real prices, any time and without a leaderboard, often with stops, shorts and leverage.

If you do not need the contest, you usually learn faster with a demo account, because no leaderboard invites risk. How to start without money and with real prices is set out in our guide Practise trading without money.

How to get from the game to your own rulebook, with order types, position size and a four-week practice plan, is set out in our Learn Trading pillar. If you then want to put real money to work, you will find regulated providers and their fees in the exchange comparison.

Sources

• Planspiel Börse of the German savings banks: dates for the 2026 round and FAQ, as of September 28, 2026.
• Société Générale: terms of participation and prizes for Trader 2026, as of September 28, 2026.
• excellents GmbH: Trading Masters, the stock market game at a glance, as of September 28, 2026.
• DIGITAL PROJECT: VR-Börsenspiel, dates and playing times 2026, as of September 28, 2026.
• WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management: Tradity, as of September 28, 2026.
• CryptoTicker Trading Hub, home page and terms of participation, as of September 28, 2026.

Cronos (CRO), the token of the Cronos blockchain, cost 0.0590 euros on Thursday, October 1, according to CoinGecko. That is 9.6 percent more than seven days ago and 17.6 percent more than a month ago. With a market capitalization of around 2.94 billion euros, CRO ranks 38th on CoinGecko.

The reason to look at Cronos now is a deadline. On Saturday, October 3, at around 02:00 UTC, voting closes on two proposals meant to change the supply of CRO. One would burn 228 million CRO; the other would commit developer firm Cronos Labs to putting all revenue from two products into buybacks. Both votes have been running on-chain since September 19 and can be counted publicly.

The CRO price this week: a 9.6 percent gain with a pullback

The weekly low was 0.0532 euros on Wednesday, September 24, at around 12:00, according to CoinGecko's hourly data. On Tuesday, September 29, CRO hit its weekly high of 0.0632 euros at around 14:00 and then eased again. From that high to the current level there is a discount of roughly 6.6 percent.

A longer view helps place that. The all-time high of 0.793 euros dates from November 2021. Today's price sits more than 90 percent below it. This week's move is therefore a recovery inside a long downtrend, and not yet a trend reversal that could be documented.

Proposal 36: 228 million CRO from the community pool

The first proposal is the simpler one technically. Part of the newly created CRO flows regularly into a community pool on the Cronos POS Chain, and that stock is burned from time to time. It has happened four times so far, through proposals 18, 26, 28 and 30, each with 50 million CRO. Proposal 36 would now destroy 228 million CRO at once; the pool held around 234.7 million CRO on Thursday morning. In total, 428 million CRO would then have been burned.

The proposal contains an executable instruction: if it passes, the chain automatically transfers the amount to an address from which nobody can move the tokens again. That can be followed in the Mintscan governance explorer.

Proposal 37: all revenue from Ult and Cronos Launch into buybacks

The second proposal reaches further, but it executes nothing automatically. It is a signalling proposal with which stakers are asked to confirm two commitments by Cronos Labs. Part A: all revenue from the trading app Ult and the platform Cronos Launch buys CRO on the open market and burns it, monthly and on-chain, with a published hash for every transaction. Operations and growth are funded from existing capital, according to Cronos Labs.

Part B concerns stakers directly. Because revenue goes entirely into the burn, staking rewards are to come from the Strategic Reserve as the issuance of new CRO gradually falls. This reserve of 70 billion CRO was created by the contested reissuance decided in March 2025. According to the proposal, nothing changes about the reward rate, the tiers or the lock-up periods.

Two points stand in the proposal itself and deserve attention. The contract meant to execute the buybacks automatically is still in development by its own account. And the text contains no forecast of how high the revenue from Ult and Cronos Launch will be. How much CRO is actually burned each month can therefore only be read off the first transactions.

The state of the vote: quorum reached, no votes against

In the early hours of Thursday, proposal 36 stood at around 5.18 billion CRO in favour, 2.2 million abstaining and not a single vote against or vetoing. Proposal 37 looked almost the same with 5.16 billion yes votes. Bonded, meaning staked, were around 14.47 billion CRO at that point. Participation was therefore 35.8 and 35.7 percent, above the required quorum of 33.4 percent.

The proposals could now fail only if a large block votes no or veto in the final hours. For a veto, a third of the votes cast is enough; the proposal then counts as rejected and the deposit is burned. For proposal 37, Cronos Labs has stated that in the event of a no it will neither implement the revenue rule nor release the reserve for staking.

What 228 million CRO mean in proportion

The figure sounds large, but the supply is larger. CoinGecko lists a total supply of around 98.95 billion CRO, of which around 49.75 billion are in circulation. The burn from proposal 36 therefore equals 0.23 percent of total supply or 0.46 percent of the circulating amount. It is a signal, yet not a cut that tightens supply noticeably.

Proposal 37 matters more for the direction. Whether it supports the price depends entirely on how much revenue Ult and Cronos Launch generate, and that figure does not exist yet. At the same time the reserve of 70 billion CRO remains in place and becomes the source of staking rewards. Anyone assessing the proposal should lay both sides side by side: tokens burned from revenue, and tokens newly distributed from the reserve.

These levels frame the week

To the downside, the round level of 0.06 euros sits right at the current price, below it the weekly low at 0.0532 euros and the round threshold of 0.05 euros. To the upside, Tuesday's weekly high at 0.0632 euros is the first level. These values describe where the price turned over the past week. They are not price targets, and the outcome of Saturday's vote can shift the course in either direction.

Buying, staking and taxing CRO in Germany

CRO is listed on large exchanges that operate in the EU with authorization under the MiCA regulation, among them Crypto.com, Coinbase, Kraken, Bitvavo and OKX, according to CoinGecko's list of trading venues. Which providers hold that authorization and what they charge is shown in our comparison of crypto exchanges with a MiCA license.

Only those who have staked CRO on the Cronos POS Chain can vote, either directly or through a validator. Anyone holding CRO at an exchange usually does not take part. Staking rewards differ considerably between providers; our comparison of staking providers gives an overview.

On tax in Germany: gains from selling CRO are tax-free after a holding period of one year, and staking does not extend that period. The rewards themselves are taxable on receipt as other income if, together with other such income in the year, they reach 256 euros. Anyone planning to stake should therefore record the date and value of every payout.

Perpetual futures on CRO are available on several exchanges. Around a voting deadline, leverage is risky, because an unexpected result can move the price within minutes. At five times leverage, a 20 percent move against you uses up the margin.

The risk behind the burn

A burn from the community pool is a one-off reduction, while the monthly buybacks are a promise whose scale nobody knows. On top of that, the Strategic Reserve of 70 billion CRO brings new tokens to the market as soon as it funds staking rewards. The ratio between the two flows decides whether supply actually falls.

Seen the other way, the procedure is open: every vote, every burn and later every monthly buyback transaction stands on-chain. Anyone holding CRO can check month by month after Saturday whether the commitment is being honoured.

Cronos: Your next three steps

1. Check whether your exchange holds a MiCA authorization and lists CRO, in the comparison of regulated crypto exchanges.
2. If you want to stake or vote, compare yields and lock-up periods in the staking comparison.
3. Record purchase dates and staking inflows so that the holding period and the threshold can be documented. The programs in the comparison of crypto tax tools help with that.

(As of October 1, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)

The perpetuals venue Drift on Solana has been called Velocity since its relaunch, and since September 29, 2026 a different team has been running it. Co-founder Cindy Leow has stepped back from her role, five months after attackers pulled around 285 million dollars out of the exchange's vaults on April 1. For you this is more than a change of name: trading is now settled in USDT instead of USDC, several functions have disappeared, and there is still no MiCA authorization for the German market.

A perp DEX is a decentralized exchange for open-ended futures contracts where you bet on price moves with leverage without owning the coin itself. The money does not sit with a bank; it sits in smart contracts, the so-called vaults. Those vaults were exactly what the April attack went after.

Velocity replaces Drift: the relaunch in numbers

The way back came in stages. On September 17, 2026 the project opened up its source code. On September 21 the whitelist fell, which until then had let only selected accounts trade, and the public beta was open to everyone. On September 29 the change at the top followed.

Leow explained her departure on X by pointing to the phase the project is now in. Her strength, she said in substance, lies in building from zero to one, and Velocity now needs people who take it from one to ten; she trusts this team to do that. Five names are taking over: a lead for fund recovery and law enforcement, a protocol engineer who previously headed the Helium Network, a product chief with a Binance background, a partnerships lead and a growth lead who comes from Binance and Trust Wallet.

The scale involved can be read off the back story. Before the attack, Drift had handled more than 150 billion dollars in trading volume, according to figures from around the project. Solana's perp platforms together reached 1.08 trillion dollars in cumulative volume by August 2026. Its own token, DRIFT, trades at around 0.019 dollars at the turn of the month, far below the big names; on the market-value ranking it sits around position 1,080.

The April 1 attack: 285 million dollars out of the vaults

On April 1, 2026 around 285 million dollars flowed out of the vaults. Before the attack more than 550 million dollars were locked in the protocol, so the outflow amounted to roughly half of the total value deposited. TVL, short for total value locked, describes the sum of all deposits sitting in a protocol's contracts.

That figure puts the case in order of magnitude. In September 2026, losses from crypto attacks across the industry added up to 766 million dollars. A single incident of 285 million dollars therefore belongs in the top category of what has happened this year, and the venue it hit was among the most active in the Solana ecosystem.

Fake collateral token: the attack path in detail

The technical lever was a forged collateral token. Collateral is the security you post so the exchange allows you a leveraged position; the contract weighs its value against your risk. If a worthless token can be made to count as valuable security, a real payout can be drawn against thin air.

What came before that was social engineering rather than a technical break-in. According to the project's account, the attackers obtained administration rights by building trust over months and manipulating people. Leow spoke of an infiltration prepared over six months. This is the part that code alone cannot catch: where a human grants the permission, the human is the point of attack.

For you as a user of a trading venue, that leads to an uncomfortable insight. A protocol can be cleanly written and audited several times and still fall because someone with elevated rights was deceived. Anyone who leaves a balance sitting on an exchange permanently carries that risk too. An overview of which venues come into question for perpetuals at all, and how they are set up on custody and safeguards, is in our comparison of perp DEXs.

North Korea attribution: what Mandiant and TRM Labs record

The forensics firms Mandiant and TRM Labs trace the attack to an actor with links to North Korea. Leow herself called it a state-level attack. The difference between attribution and proof matters here: such analyses rest on traces in transaction chains, on recurring tools and on patterns in how the perpetrators work. No court has ruled on it, and the firms frame their results as an assessment.

For judging the case, the attribution remains significant all the same. State-backed groups work with longer lead times and larger means than opportunists. Anyone using a venue that comes into the sights of such groups cannot assume that an audit alone is enough.

Tether puts up 127.5 million dollars: how the rescue package was built

Two weeks after the attack, on April 16, 2026, the funding for the return was in place. Tether committed up to 127.5 million dollars, and further partners contributed 20 million dollars. In total, up to 147.5 million dollars were available, so just under 150 million and about half of the outflow.

That calculation is the reason the relaunch was possible at all, and at the same time the point where you should look closely. A package of around 147 million dollars does not cover 285 million dollars. How the funds were allocated to deposits in detail, and which claims have been met and to what extent, cannot be derived from the public statements. Anyone who held a balance on the platform at the time should therefore check their own position directly in their account and not through third-party summaries.

It is also worth noting who steps in here. A stablecoin issuer and a number of private partners carried the case. No deposit guarantee fund set up by law was involved, and no legal obligation required anyone to step in. Precisely this difference from the regulated world is the core of what counts for you in Germany.

USDT instead of USDC: the change in settlement

Velocity settles differently from Drift. Settlement, meaning the currency in which gains, losses and collateral are booked, now runs through Tether's USDT rather than Circle's USDC. Spot markets remain only for collateral, for securing loans and for lending; trading itself concentrates on perpetuals.

The change has practical consequences. If you hold USDC, you need a conversion step before you can trade, and every swap costs a fee and time. On top of that, issuer risk shifts: in settlement you depend on the creditworthiness and the reserve policy of a different issuer. Both stablecoins are large, USDT leads the stablecoin ranking by market value and trades steadily at around one dollar, but it is a different promise from a different company.

The narrower range of functions is a deliberate choice. Fewer products mean fewer interfaces at which something can go wrong. Anyone who was looking for isolated markets or leveraged products outside perpetuals will no longer find them here and has to use another venue.

OtterSec and Asymmetric Research: 154 findings in the audit

Before the relaunch, the team had the code reviewed. OtterSec carried out the security audit and noted 154 findings, none of which the report classes as critical. Asymmetric Research took on operational security, meaning processes, rights management and the handling of keys. Since September 17 the code has been open, so third parties can look for themselves.

154 findings sound like a lot and are not. An audit report lists every observation, from the stylistic note to the genuine bug, and the classification into severity levels carries the information. The second part of the finding is what counts: that no finding is rated critical covers the program code. What a code audit does not cover is the April attack path, which ran through deceived people and granted rights. Operational security review stands for that, and its results are harder to judge from outside than a list of code findings.

How resilient a venue is shows up for you in three verifiable things: whether audit reports are public and dated, whether the code is open, and whether anyone is liable for failures. Velocity meets the first two points. On the third it gets thin, and here it helps to look at regulated crypto exchanges, whose duties are written into law.

Perp DEX without MiCA authorization: the legal position for German users

MiCA, the EU regulation on markets in crypto-assets, has governed step by step since 2024 who may offer crypto services in the European Union. A provider with authorization is subject to requirements on own funds, separation of client money, complaints procedures and supervision by an authority; in Germany that is BaFin. Which duties this brings for companies is something we have set out in our overview of the MiCA license and its obligations.

Velocity does not operate as an authorized provider in the EU. MiCA's protections therefore do not apply to you. There is no authority you can turn to in a dispute, no legal duty to separate client money and no deposit guarantee. The fact that private funds were collected in April shows the difference clearly: there, companies decided voluntarily; here, an authority would have set requirements.

At decentralized futures venues this is the rule. The same position applies at Hyperliquid, which is also reachable from Germany without MiCA authorization. Technically usable and legally protected are two different things.

Leverage and liquidation: the risk is unchanged

The relaunch has changed nothing about the product itself. A perpetual runs without an expiry date, and the funding rate balances the difference from the spot price at regular intervals; depending on market conditions you pay it or receive it. Liquidation means the exchange closes your position automatically as soon as your collateral no longer covers the losses. At high leverage, a price move of a few percent is enough for that.

The market around it is calm at the moment, and that is easy to misread. Solana trades at around 118 dollars at the turn of the month and has gained roughly 63 percent in two months, up from about 73 dollars. DeFi deposits on Solana stand at 6.5 billion dollars again, a gain of 38 percent in two months. Count the recovery in SOL rather than in dollars, however, and it looks smaller: with a 63 percent price gain and a 38 percent rise in dollar value, there is on balance rather less SOL in the protocols than before. A rising dollar figure is no proof that confidence has returned.

Tax on perp gains: the holding period does not apply here

With crypto-assets you hold directly, a gain is tax-free in Germany after a holding period of one year; within the year the threshold for private disposals applies. This logic comes from section 23 of the German Income Tax Act and assumes that you bought and sold an asset.

With a perpetual you do not buy the coin. You hold a futures contract, and gains from it are regularly treated as investment income under section 20 of the German Income Tax Act, with the flat-rate withholding tax and the offsetting restrictions that apply there for losses from futures transactions. There is no holding period after which something becomes tax-free. How an individual case is classified depends on your overall situation, and the legal position on futures transactions is in flux; this text does not replace tax advice. What you need regardless is a complete record of every position, and that calls for clean documentation of every position.

Velocity and Drift: Your next three steps

1. Clarify your old account balance. If you held a balance on Drift in April, call up your position in the account yourself and note what of your claims has been met. The rescue package of up to 147.5 million dollars does not fully cover the outflow of 285 million dollars, and outside summaries are no substitute for your own look; to document your positions, use tax tools and portfolio trackers.
2. Plan for the settlement switch. Work out what converting USDC into USDT costs you in fees, and decide how much balance you want to leave permanently on an exchange without MiCA authorization. Alternatives under statutory supervision are in the comparison of regulated crypto exchanges.
3. Separate holdings from the exchange. What you hold long term belongs in your own custody; only the funds for open positions stay on the venue. Which devices are suitable is shown by the hardware wallet comparison.

The primary source on the relaunch is the exchange's own site, Velocity. The figures on the outflow and on the recovery of deposits on Solana were compiled by Crypto Briefing.

(As of October 1, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)

The token of launchpad platform Pump.fun traded at 0.00526 euros on Thursday, October 1, at 01:04, according to CoinGecko. Seven days earlier it stood at 0.00352 euros. That is a gain of 49.6 percent in one week. With a market capitalization of around 2.45 billion euros, PUMP ranks 40th on CoinGecko.

Three developments sit behind the move, and all three can be documented. The buybacks funded from part of the platform's revenue have been running for more than a year and have by now destroyed a sixth of the maximum supply. Revenue picked up noticeably from September 26. And on September 25 the US Securities and Exchange Commission set out how it views buyback programs run by crypto projects. That statement is being read more broadly in many reports than its wording supports.

The PUMP price this week: from 0.0033 to 0.0053 euros

The weekly low was 0.00333 euros on Wednesday, September 24, at around 14:00, according to CoinGecko's hourly data. From there the price climbed almost without a setback. The weekly high coincided with the final data point, that is with the level in the early hours of Thursday. Over the preceding 24 hours PUMP barely moved at all, with a gain of 0.3 percent.

A look back helps put that in context. PUMP reached its previous all-time high of 0.00754 euros on September 14, 2025, roughly two months after the token went on sale. The current price therefore sits around 30 percent below it. A new record would still be a long way off, but the gap is as small as it has been in a long time.

Buybacks: between 371 million and more than 466 million dollars

Pump.fun uses part of its revenue to buy PUMP back on the open market. How large the total is by now depends on who is counting. Data provider DefiLlama lists revenue of 371 million dollars in total for the Pump group that has flowed to token holders, which means into buybacks. Reports dated September 29 cite cumulative buybacks of more than 466 million dollars. The gap of around 95 million dollars is likely down to definitions, such as which of the group's products and which periods are counted. Only the range is reliable.

The pace over the past week stands out. On September 22, around 842,000 dollars flowed to token holders according to DefiLlama; on September 26 it was 1.41 million dollars, the highest daily figure of the week. Through September 29 the figure stayed above one million dollars a day. Over seven days it added up to 7.3 million dollars, over 30 days to 23.6 million dollars.

A sixth of the PUMP supply has been burned

Pump.fun does not keep the tokens it buys back in a treasury; they are destroyed. How far that has gone can be calculated from CoinGecko's own supply figures: maximum supply is one trillion PUMP, while total supply stands at around 830.7 billion today. Around 169.3 billion tokens therefore no longer exist, which is 16.9 percent of the original stock.

Circulating supply, according to the same source, is around 465.2 billion PUMP. The difference from total supply, some 365 billion tokens or 44 percent, still sits with the team, with investors and in reserves. That figure belongs next to every buyback calculation: if such holdings are released step by step, additional supply meets the daily demand coming from the buybacks.

The SEC clarification of September 25 and where it stops

The SEC's Division of Corporation Finance published a set of questions and answers on crypto assets on September 25 and updated it on September 28. Question 2.5 addresses exactly the Pump.fun model: whether announcing a buyback program amounts to a promise of entrepreneurial effort, as would be typical for a security under US law. The answer in the SEC's FAQ is no, but only where a crypto system is functional and has no central party.

That condition is far from a given at Pump.fun. The buybacks are decided and carried out by a company that operates the platform. For systems that are not functional in this sense, the SEC expressly notes that such an announcement could indeed constitute a promise. On top of that, the answers represent the staff's view. They are not a rule of the Commission and not a verdict on any single token. Anyone who reads this as the SEC clearing the way for PUMP is reading more into it than is there.

The clarification matters nonetheless. It takes the edge off a widespread objection to buyback models, namely that the buyback alone turns a token into a security. For investors in Germany it changes nothing in legal terms, because the European MiCA regulation applies here.

Revenue this week: 16 million dollars in seven days

The buybacks hang on revenue, and that comes mainly from fees charged when new tokens launch and trade. According to DefiLlama, the Pump group took in around 16.1 million dollars in the seven days to September 29, of which 10.2 million dollars came through the launchpad itself. Over 30 days the figure was 52.9 million dollars. The highest daily figure of the week fell on September 26 at 3.1 million dollars. After that, daily figures ranged between 2.3 and 2.5 million dollars, above the level at the start of the week.

This dependency is the point at which the model is vulnerable. Revenue follows interest in new memecoins on Solana. If that interest cools, fees and buybacks fall together, without anything changing at the platform itself.

These levels frame the week

The first level sits just below the current price: 0.0050 euros is a round threshold that PUMP crossed only in the final days of the week. Below it comes the weekly low at 0.00333 euros, the starting point of the move. To the upside, 0.0060 euros is the next round level and the all-time high at 0.00754 euros the distant one. These values describe where the price has turned recently. They are not price targets.

Buying and storing PUMP in Germany

PUMP is listed on large exchanges that operate in the EU with authorization under the MiCA regulation, among them Coinbase, Kraken, Bitvavo and Bybit EU, according to CoinGecko's list of trading venues. Which providers hold that authorization and what they charge is set out in our comparison of crypto exchanges with a MiCA license. For a token that swings sharply anyway, an exchange without EU authorization is an extra risk that can be avoided.

PUMP is a token on Solana. If you would rather not leave it sitting at the exchange, you need a wallet that supports Solana tokens. For larger amounts a hardware wallet is worth it, because the key never leaves the device there.

On tax, the same rules apply in Germany as for other cryptocurrencies: gains from a sale are tax-free after a holding period of one year. Sell earlier and you pay tax on the gain at your personal rate, provided all private disposal gains for the year together reach the threshold of 1,000 euros. After a week with a gain of almost 50 percent, that is a concrete question. How a sale at a loss and an immediate buyback relate to the holding period is explained in our article on loss sales and the holding period.

Perpetual futures on PUMP are available on several exchanges and decentralized trading venues. For a token that rises by half in seven days, leverage is a sharp blade: at five times leverage, a 20 percent move against you uses up the margin, and the exchange usually closes the position earlier than that.

The risk behind the buybacks

A buyback program supports the price only as long as money keeps coming in. Pump.fun's revenue is high, but it stems from a single business, the launch and trading of new tokens, and that business is cyclical. On top of it sits the holding of around 365 billion PUMP that is not yet in circulation, plus the fact that a company decides on the scale and pace of the buybacks. That is also where the SEC clarification reaches its limit.

Seen from the other side, the model is transparent: revenue and buybacks can be followed daily at DefiLlama, and the burned supply can be read off the supply figures. Anyone holding PUMP can therefore keep checking whether the basis of the price move still holds.

Pump.fun: Your next three steps

1. Check whether your exchange holds a MiCA authorization and lists PUMP, in the comparison of regulated crypto exchanges.
2. Decide where the tokens should sit. For larger amounts, compare suitable devices in the hardware wallet comparison.
3. Record the purchase date and the purchase price so you can document the one-year holding period. The programs in the comparison of crypto tax tools help with that.

(As of October 1, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)

A price target of one cent is not a question of sentiment at Shiba Inu but an arithmetic problem with a very large number in it. With 589.24 trillion units in circulation, one cent per token corresponds to a market capitalisation of around 5.89 trillion dollars. That is roughly three and a half times what Bitcoin was worth in total on Wednesday evening. Anyone who wants to set up a forecast for SHIB seriously therefore calculates in market values and not in price targets.

This article first lays out the figures that every price target has to carry. After that it turns to a decision that faces investors in Germany before the turn of the year. Because while the price question stays open, a deadline that cannot be postponed is running in the background.

Shiba Inu price on September 30, 2026: 5.74 millionths of a dollar and 589.24 trillion tokens in circulation

On Wednesday evening SHIB traded at 5.74 millionths of a dollar, equivalent to 5.06 millionths of a euro. Market capitalisation stood at 3.38 billion dollars, which corresponds to rank 36 in the overall market. Within the preceding 24 hours the price moved between 5.71 and 5.99 millionths of a dollar, so the evening reading was around 4.2 percent below the daily high. The market data come from CoinGecko.

The view across longer windows is mixed. Over seven days there is a gain of 2.5 percent, over 14 days it is 19.1 percent and over 30 days 13.1 percent. Over twelve months, by contrast, there is a loss of 50.9 percent. The upward push of the past two weeks has therefore not made up the yearly loss; it has softened it.

Why the circulating supply is the decisive quantity

Market capitalisation is the product of price and circulating supply. With Bitcoin and its not quite 20 million units, one dollar more or less shifts the market value by around 20 million dollars. With Shiba Inu, every price move is multiplied by 589.24 trillion. That is precisely why price targets that sound unspectacular for other coins look here like a reordering of the entire crypto market.

One cent per SHIB demands a market capitalisation of 5.89 trillion dollars

Let us work through the common price targets once. With 589.24 trillion tokens in circulation, this is the picture:

• 10 millionths of a dollar, a gain of 74 percent: market capitalisation around 5.89 billion dollars.
• All-time high at 86.16 millionths of a dollar, a factor of 15: market capitalisation around 50.8 billion dollars.
• One tenth of a cent, a factor of 174: market capitalisation around 589 billion dollars.
• One cent, a factor of 1,742: market capitalisation around 5.89 trillion dollars.

To place the order of magnitude: on Wednesday evening Bitcoin came to 1.68 trillion dollars and Ethereum to 327 billion dollars. One cent per SHIB would therefore mean that a single memecoin gathers three and a half times the entire Bitcoin capitalisation to itself. The jump to one tenth of a cent, at 589 billion dollars, still lies well above the present market value of Ethereum.

None of this argues against the price being able to rise. It is a yardstick for which targets play in which league. The return to the all-time high of October 2021 demands a market value of 50.8 billion dollars and therefore lies in an order of magnitude that individual coins have already reached in earlier upward phases. One cent demands an order of magnitude that no crypto asset has reached so far.

The road to the 2021 all-time high: a factor of 15 and 50.8 billion dollars in market value

The all-time high dates from October 27, 2021 and stands at 86.16 millionths of a dollar. Counted from that high, 93.3 percent are missing to get there; from today's level it is a factor of 15 upwards. Anyone writing that target into a forecast is at the same time saying that market capitalisation has to grow from 3.38 to 50.8 billion dollars.

A look at trading activity puts into context how much capital is actually being moved at present. Over 24 hours, SHIB worth 93.2 million dollars changed hands, which corresponds to 2.8 percent of market capitalisation. That turnover rate is unremarkable for a memecoin, but it will not carry a move by a factor of 15 within a short time.

Circulating supply and burning: around 41 percent of the original supply has been destroyed

The supply is shrinking, but slowly. Of the originally created stock of one quadrillion tokens, 410.84 trillion have been moved into inaccessible addresses according to the tracker Shibburn, which is 41.08 percent. On that count, 589.16 trillion tokens remain; CoinGecko reports 589.24 trillion as the circulating supply. The gap between the two sources is below one tenth of a percent and changes nothing about the order of magnitude.

Important for placing any forecast: the large burns lie in the project's early days. The ongoing burns move in the range of a few million to a few dozen million tokens a day. With 589 trillion in circulation, a daily burn of 70 million tokens changes the circulating supply by about 0.000012 percent. Anyone citing burning as a driver for a price jump would have to explain how that turns into a noticeable scarcity within any foreseeable time.

Levels up and down: 5.71 millionths as the daily low, 5.99 millionths as the daily high

For the short term, the ranges of recent days are the soberest point of reference. On the downside, the daily low at 5.71 millionths of a dollar marks the nearest zone, a mere 0.5 percent or so below Wednesday evening's level. As solid support this value is therefore of no use; it marks the lower edge of the day's activity.

On the upside the daily high lies at 5.99 millionths of a dollar, around 4.4 percent away. Above that begins the area in which the price traded over the course of the past two weeks, because the 19.1 percent of the 14-day balance largely arose within that window. Anyone setting levels here sensibly works with percentage distances, because absolute figures in the sixth decimal place are hard to read.

Holding period under Section 23 of the Income Tax Act: one year separates taxable from tax free

At this point the price question turns into a decision with a date. In Germany crypto assets count as other assets within the meaning of Section 23 of the Income Tax Act. A private disposal transaction only exists if no more than one year lies between acquisition and sale. The updated circular of the Federal Ministry of Finance of March 6, 2025 (BStBl 2025 I p. 658) sets out the administrative view on this in more detail.

The familiar side of this rule: anyone holding for longer than a year sells the gain tax free, regardless of its size. The less familiar side is currently the more important one for SHIB holders. If a sale falls outside the one-year window, it is no longer relevant for tax. A loss realised after the holding period has expired therefore cannot be offset either.

What that means concretely: anyone who bought SHIB more than twelve months ago and is now down around half of the amount staked is holding a loss that the tax office no longer recognises. Anyone who bought within the past twelve months, by contrast, holds a loss that is usable for tax, but only until their personal one-year deadline expires.

The deadline runs per purchase, not per account

The one-year period begins on the day after acquisition and runs separately for every single acquisition. Anyone who bought in tranches over months has correspondingly many deadlines running alongside each other. For matching purchases and sales, the first-in, first-out method applies in practice, meaning the assumption that the units bought first are sold first. A tax tool or portfolio tracker resolves that matching automatically and is hard to replace where there are many small purchases.

Exemption limit of 1,000 euros: from the first euro above it, the entire gain becomes taxable

If the total gain from all private disposal transactions in a calendar year stays below 1,000 euros, it remains tax free. That amount has applied since 2024 and replaced the earlier 600 euros. The construction of the rule is what matters: the legislator grants an exemption limit here and not an allowance. Anyone reaching 1,000 euros or more in the calendar year pays tax on the full amount and not only on the part above the threshold.

All private disposal transactions of the year flow into that total, so gains from other coins and from sales outside the crypto sphere count too, as far as they fall under Section 23. Anyone down on SHIB but up on another coin sets both off against each other in the same pot.

Offsetting losses on SHIB: losses reduce gains from private disposal transactions alone

The wording of the law is tight at this point. Losses from private disposal transactions may only be offset up to the amount of the gain you have made from private disposal transactions in the same calendar year. A deduction from other income, for instance from wages or from capital income on shares, is excluded.

An excess loss is not lost because of that. In accordance with Section 10d it reduces income from private disposal transactions of the immediately preceding year or of the following years. A one-year carry-back and a carry-forward unlimited in time are therefore possible, but both always within the same category of income.

For a loss to enter the assessment at all, it has to be declared in the tax return, even if there are no gains to set against it in the same year. Anyone who does not declare it has nothing to carry forward later.

Purchase route and custody under MiCA: authorised providers and your own wallet

Since the European regulation on markets in crypto assets became fully applicable, crypto service providers in the EU may only operate with authorisation. For you as an investor in Germany that mainly means you can check when buying whether a provider holds such authorisation and whether it offers trading in SHIB at all. You will find an overview of the trading venues authorised here in the comparison of crypto exchanges.

On custody, the same applies to a memecoin as to larger assets. Anyone wanting to hold a position for longer, for instance to sit out the one-year period, takes the trading platform's default risk out of play by transferring the tokens to their own wallet. One point matters for tax here: a transfer between your own wallets is not a sale and does not interrupt the holding period. What counts is the time of acquisition, and you have to be able to document it.

Records you will need later

For every acquisition you need the date, the quantity and the value in euros, and the same for every sale. At exchanges that stop trading or close a market, the statements are not always retrievable later. An annual export of the transaction history costs a few minutes and is the basis for every later loss assessment.

What makes a forecast for Shiba Inu robust

A solid expectation for SHIB starts at three points, and the price alone is not one of them. First at market capitalisation, because it translates every price target into a comparable quantity: 5.89 billion dollars for 10 millionths, 50.8 billion for the all-time high, 5.89 trillion for one cent. Second at the circulating supply, which moves through the ongoing burns in the order of ten-thousandths of a percent a day and therefore drops out as a price driver in the short term. Third at liquidity, which at 2.8 percent turnover in 24 hours describes how much capital is actually working in the market at present.

The bull case can be formulated cleanly with these figures. Where risk appetite across the market is broad, double-digit percentage moves are the rule for memecoins, and the 19.1 percent of the past 14 days show that the asset is capable of that at any time. The bear case stands alongside it: over twelve months there is a loss of 50.9 percent, and a fall back below the range of recent days would have little in the thin turnover rate to slow it down.

What cannot be formulated seriously, by contrast, is one cent as a target within any manageable period. That figure demands a market value no crypto asset has reached so far, and it demands it on top of everything standing in the market today.

Shiba Inu forecast: your next three steps

1. Convert your price target into market capitalisation. Multiply the target price by 589.24 trillion. If the result is a figure above today's Bitcoin capitalisation of 1.68 trillion dollars, the target is no longer a forecast but a bet on a completely different market order.
2. Check the acquisition date of every single tranche. If a purchase lies less than twelve months back and is down, the loss is still usable for tax; after that it is not. A tax tool or portfolio tracker matches purchases and sales on a first-in, first-out basis and shows which deadline expires when. The tax assessment of your individual case belongs in the hands of a tax adviser.
3. Separate your trading holdings from your long-term holdings. Whatever you want to hold beyond the one-year period belongs in your own custody rather than on the trading venue, and a transfer between your own wallets does not interrupt the holding period. Which devices are suitable for that is shown by the comparison of hardware wallets, and where you trade with authorisation by the comparison of crypto exchanges.

(As of September 30, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)

Gemini 4 Argon tops 12 of 18 benchmarks in Google's own table, writes a million tokens per reply and resists hijacking best. Cyber defenders get it first, with the guardrails off.

The team behind the MyDoge wallet opened a public test of DogeOS, a layer that lets developers build lending platforms and games on top of the meme coin network.

An internal memo warned FBI staff that ShinyHunters, the group claiming it hacked the bureau's jobs site, may hold their private details.

The Coinbase-backed group's first Senate endorsements—Republicans Jon Husted and Ashley Hinson and Democrat Chris Pappas—come two weeks after the Clarity Act's collapse, as the industry's fight shifts to the campaign trail.

The attacker behind the $387.5 million Bitget heist has started hiding about $3.8 million in ZEC inside Zcash's Ironwood pool, after Near Intents turned their swaps away.

The crypto market remains broadly bullish, although momentum is becoming increasingly uneven as some assets consolidate or correct after September’s strong gains.

The XRP Ledger has moved closer to launching its native lending infrastructure, with the LendingProtocolV1_1 amendment now open for validator voting.

Brazilian oil giant Petrobras is expanding its use of Cardano technology, with two new blockchain applications focused on sustainable aviation fuel and renewable Diesel R.

DogeOS deploys a ZK-Rollup layer on Dogecoin, bringing EVM smart contracts and DeFi apps to native DOGE holders.

Hyperliquid is set for a massive token unlock next month, with already about $856 million worth of HYPE in line to be unlocked in six days.

TLDR

• HPE stock gained 5.14% after announcing Vultr’s $1.2 billion order
• Vultr will deploy AMD Helios AI Rack systems across US data centers
• HPE expands AI infrastructure with AMD computing and networking solutions
• The deal strengthens HPE’s position in large-scale enterprise technology
• AMD Helios supports advanced workloads with high-performance infrastructure designs

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE) stock advanced after the company secured a $1.2 billion order from Vultr for AI infrastructure systems. The deal strengthens HPE’s position in large-scale computing solutions for advanced workloads. The company will deploy AMD Helios AI Rack by HPE systems across Vultr’s United States data centers.

The stock climbed to $64.65, gaining 5.14%, after breaking above the $61.49 support zone. However, shares moved toward the $65 resistance level and remained near session highs. The market reaction followed news of expanded demand for HPE’s infrastructure products.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, HPE

The agreement marks HPE’s first order involving the AMD Helios system. It combines HPE networking technology with AMD computing solutions. The deployment will support model training and inference workloads for cloud customers.

HPE Expands AI Infrastructure With Vultr Partnership

HPE will provide AMD Helios AI Rack systems through its AI Data Center Solutions portfolio. The platform integrates computing, networking, software, and cooling technologies. It targets organizations requiring high-performance infrastructure.

The AMD Helios system supports large-scale model development and high-volume computing tasks. Each rack includes AMD Instinct MI455X GPUs and AMD EPYC Venice CPUs. It also features AMD Pensando Vulcano AI NICs and AMD ROCm software.

HPE Networking will provide scale-up Ethernet technology for the systems. The solution uses HPE Juniper Networking QFX5252 switch trays within each rack. This design connects GPUs with high bandwidth and low latency.

The partnership builds on nearly three years of collaboration between Vultr and Juniper Networks. HPE expanded its networking capabilities after acquiring Juniper Networks. As a result, the company continues integrating networking solutions into its infrastructure offerings.

Vultr operates cloud infrastructure services for businesses requiring scalable computing resources. The company has increased its focus on supporting artificial intelligence workloads. The HPE agreement supports its expansion into advanced data center services.

HPE and AMD Target Growing Data Center Demand

The AMD Helios AI Rack by HPE represents a broader push toward open infrastructure solutions. HPE designed the system to support large AI workloads through integrated hardware and software. The platform also focuses on efficiency, deployment speed, and operational management.

HPE will provide deployment support through its global services network. The company offers expertise in infrastructure installation and liquid cooling systems. This approach helps organizations manage complex computing environments.

AMD continues expanding its role in enterprise computing markets. The company provides processors, accelerators, and networking technologies for demanding workloads. HPE’s collaboration with AMD combines these technologies into a complete infrastructure solution.

The Vultr order highlights rising demand for advanced computing capacity. Cloud providers continue expanding infrastructure to support new applications. Therefore, HPE aims to capture additional opportunities through integrated data center systems.

HPE operates across enterprise technology markets, including networking, cloud, and computing solutions. The company helps organizations improve operations and manage growing data requirements. The Vultr agreement adds another major deployment to its infrastructure portfolio.

The post HPE (HPE) Stock: Surges After $1.2 Billion Vultr AI Infrastructure Deal appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• Synopsys stock rises after OpenAI partnership targets faster chip design workflows.
• OpenAI and Synopsys develop GPT-Synopsys for advanced semiconductor engineering.
• New AI tools aim to improve chip performance, verification, and design efficiency.
• Synopsys integrates AI capabilities into its existing semiconductor design platforms.
• Partnership strengthens Synopsys role in the evolving global chip industry.

Synopsys, Inc. (SNPS) stock traded at $425.06, up 2.40%, after recovering from an intraday low near $410. The shares moved toward the $440 resistance level before settling above the $425 support zone. The move followed news of a strategic partnership with OpenAI to advance semiconductor design workflows.

Synopsys, Inc., SNPS

Synopsys Expands Semiconductor Design Capabilities

Synopsys and OpenAI announced a multi-year partnership focused on improving chip design processes. The collaboration combines advanced artificial intelligence models with Synopsys electronic design automation tools. The companies aim to create faster and more efficient semiconductor development workflows.

The partnership will allow engineers to use automated systems for complex design tasks. These systems can analyze results, adjust designs, and improve performance targets. The process focuses on power efficiency, performance levels, and area optimization.

Synopsys will integrate the new capabilities into its Synopsys.ai platform and Autopilot environment. The company will provide access through enterprise infrastructure with security controls. Customer design information will remain protected through encryption and permission management features.

OpenAI Partnership Targets AI Native Chip Development

The agreement introduces a new approach to semiconductor engineering through automated design assistance. The technology will help engineers explore more design options during development cycles. It will also support verification tasks before chip production begins.

Synopsys stated that the partnership expands access to advanced design tools for semiconductor companies. The collaboration supports growing demand for more powerful chips across technology industries. Semiconductor complexity continues increasing as companies develop advanced computing systems.

The joint service will combine computing resources, specialized models, and Synopsys licenses. The offering will support customer systems while maintaining data protection standards. Early technology programs are already underway with semiconductor companies.

Synopsys Builds Position in Growing Chip Market

Synopsys provides electronic design automation software used across the semiconductor industry. Its tools help companies create, test, and verify chip designs before manufacturing. The company has maintained a major role in supporting global semiconductor development.

The OpenAI partnership strengthens Synopsys’ focus on automated engineering solutions. The agreement connects advanced computing models with established chip design expertise. Therefore, engineers can access additional support during complex development stages.

The collaboration arrives as demand rises for advanced semiconductor technology. Companies require faster design methods to support expanding computing applications. Synopsys continues developing solutions that address changing needs across the chip industry.

The post Synopsys, Inc. (SNPS) Stock: Surge as OpenAI Partnership Sparks AI Chip Design Revolution appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• Robinhood stock falls as HOOD Summit reveals major platform upgrades
• Company adds AI agents to improve research and trading experiences
• New perpetual contracts expand Robinhood’s market access strategy
• Social investing features aim to improve user engagement levels
• Weekend trading and options updates broaden platform capabilities

Robinhood Markets, Inc. traded at $112.82, down 2.93%, after the company unveiled new platform features at its HOOD Summit. The announcements included automated research tools, expanded trading options, and social investing updates. The company continues to expand beyond its traditional retail trading services.

Robinhood Markets, Inc., HOOD

Robinhood introduced several upgrades designed to cover more parts of the investment process. The platform added features for research, strategy development, and trade execution. The company increased its focus on automation and broader market access.

The HOOD Summit highlighted three major areas, including agents, perpetual contracts, and social trading. These developments show Robinhood’s plan to build a wider financial platform. The company also introduced weekend stock trading and expanded margin capabilities.

Robinhood Expands Trading Platform With Automated Tools

Robinhood has integrated automated agents directly into its application to support users. The tools aim to help customers process market information and research more efficiently. The company is moving toward a more connected trading experience.

Previously, Robinhood focused on allowing external automated tools through its Trading MCP system.The latest update places these capabilities inside the platform. This change gives users direct access to automated assistance during their investment activities.

The company sees automated systems as a way to connect users with financial information. As a result, Robinhood can provide more support throughout the trading process. The development reflects wider changes across financial technology platforms.

Robinhood’s automated features focus on improving how users discover and evaluate market opportunities. The company has not provided detailed financial projections from these updates. The long-term impact will depend on adoption and usage across its customer base.

Robinhood Adds Perpetuals and Broader Market Access

Robinhood also highlighted perpetual contracts as part of its platform expansion. The feature adds another trading product alongside existing stocks, options, and other financial services. The company continues developing tools for active market participants.

The expansion of trading products follows Robinhood’s efforts to increase engagement among users. The company has gradually added advanced features while maintaining its retail-focused approach. These changes aim to create a broader ecosystem within the platform.

Weekend stock trading and longer options hours also formed part of the HOOD Summit announcements. These updates increase the periods when users can access certain market activities. Expanded margin options provide additional flexibility for eligible customers.

Robinhood’s latest additions represent a shift toward a wider investment platform. The company continues adding services that cover different stages of the trading journey. The company’s future growth depends on successful execution of these features.

Robinhood Strengthens Social Investing and Platform Vision

Social investing remained another key focus during the event. Robinhood is developing features that allow users to interact more within the investment environment. The approach combines community elements with financial tools.

The company’s strategy connects research, decision-making, and execution within one platform. Robinhood aims to reduce the separation between information sources and trading actions. This approach could reshape how retail users manage investment activities.

Robinhood Chain and tokenization received less attention during the summit. The company continues exploring digital asset technology as part of its broader strategy. The latest announcements focused more on trading automation and user experience.

The HOOD Summit demonstrated Robinhood’s continued expansion across financial services. The company is building a platform that combines traditional trading with new digital tools. The stock market response reflected short-term pressure after the feature announcements.

The post Robinhood Markets, Inc. (HOOD) Stock: Platform Pushes Into AI Trading and Social Investing appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• Amazon introduces new shipping tools designed to reduce bulky item delivery costs
• AMZN expands logistics support with new options for heavy product sellers
• Amazon Buy Shipping adds less-than-truckload labels starting in October
• Sellers will access regional pricing and faster delivery options through Amazon
• Amazon strengthens bulky product fulfillment with Seller Flex expansion plans

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) stock traded at 251.72, up 2.05%, after the company introduced new shipping tools aimed at reducing costs for sellers handling heavy and bulky products. The stock recovered from the $246.70 support area and moved above the $251 level during the trading session. The company announced the updates during the Amazon Accelerate 2026 conference as it expands logistics support for merchants.

Amazon.com, Inc., AMZN

The new features will allow sellers to access less-than-truckload shipping labels for large shipments through Amazon Buy Shipping. The service will become available in October through Seller Central and supported third-party shipping software. Amazon designed the option to help merchants manage bulky deliveries through its existing shipping network.

The shipping upgrades focus on improving delivery options for large items such as furniture, appliances, and other heavy products. Amazon Supply Chain Services Vice President of Product and Software Development Ripley MacDonald presented the changes during the conference. The company said the tools will provide sellers with more shipping flexibility and additional delivery support.

Amazon Adds Regional Pricing and Local Delivery Support

Amazon plans to introduce regional delivery pricing for heavy and bulky items starting in early 2027. The feature will allow sellers to set different shipping fees based on delivery regions. Therefore, merchants can adjust prices according to their delivery locations and shipping needs.

The company will also connect large product sellers with local carriers that support same-day and next-day delivery within nearby areas. This service will focus on sellers operating warehouses that can support faster regional fulfillment. Amazon said the approach will expand delivery options for bulky product categories.

Additionally, Amazon will include heavy and bulky orders in its invite-only Seller Flex program. The program allows approved sellers to fulfill orders directly from their own warehouses. After sellers prepare orders, Amazon manages pickup, delivery, installation, customer service, and returns.

Amazon Expands Seller Flex for Heavy Product Orders

The Seller Flex expansion will provide sellers with more control over warehouse operations while using Amazon logistics services. The program supports products that require special handling because of their size and weight. Amazon said the service aims to improve delivery accuracy for customers.

Amazon reported that heavy and bulky products represent one of its fastest-growing merchant categories. The company continues to develop logistics solutions as demand increases for large household items. The updates follow broader efforts across the retail sector to improve bulky item delivery networks.

Other retailers have also expanded large-item delivery services as online demand grows. Costco expanded its Costco Logistics service for appliances and furniture deliveries in 2024. Wayfair also developed its CastleGate logistics network in 2025 to support large home goods shipments.

The Home Depot introduced real-time delivery tracking for large products, including lumber and appliances. The retailer uses delivery devices to provide customers with shipment updates. Amazon’s new shipping tools add another layer to the growing competition in large-item logistics.

The company’s latest updates strengthen its marketplace infrastructure for sellers handling complex deliveries. Amazon continues to build logistics services that support merchants across different product categories. The new features will roll out through 2026 and 2027 as part of its seller support expansion.

The post Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) Stock: Launches New Shipping Tools to Cut Seller Costs appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• JPMorgan Chase stock trades lower as AI safety project gains attention
• Bank joins Nvidia collaboration focused on controlling AI agent actions
• OpenShell and Sentry tools aim to improve agent security measures
• JPMorgan and Citi explore shared technologies for banking workflows
• Valuation concerns remain as JPM stock trades above GF Value estimate

JPMorgan Chase  traded at $332.76, down 0.66%, as the bank joined Nvidia’s open agent-safety collaboration. The move placed JPMorgan among financial firms exploring stronger controls for autonomous systems. Market pressure continued as shares faced valuation concerns after recent movements.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., JPM

The banking giant joined the project alongside other financial institutions to develop safer frameworks for advanced software agents. The collaboration focuses on setting limits around automated actions in sensitive banking operations. The initiative highlights the growing need for security standards in financial technology.

JPMorgan’s participation follows increasing adoption of automated tools across the financial sector. The partnership alone does not confirm immediate financial benefits for the company. The impact will depend on future use cases, cost reductions, and wider operational deployment.

JPMorgan Joins Nvidia Safety Project for Banking Automation

JPMorgan joined Nvidia’s open-source agent-safety project announced on September 28. The initiative focuses on creating systems that control how automated agents operate. The project addresses concerns around granting software access to important financial processes.

The collaboration introduces tools designed to manage agent permissions and restrict unwanted actions. OpenShell establishes boundaries for automated systems before they perform assigned tasks. Sentry can isolate an agent quickly when it moves beyond approved limits.

JPMorgan and Citi are developing shared safety technologies through the collaboration. The companies have not disclosed the project’s full scope or expected production timeline. The development shows how banks are building safeguards before expanding automated financial services.

JPMorgan Stock Faces Valuation Pressure After AI Move

JPMorgan stock remains under attention as the company advances its technology strategy. The bank has invested heavily in digital infrastructure and automation across financial services. Valuation remains a key factor influencing market sentiment around the shares.

The company’s stock trades above the GF Value estimate of $308.63. The valuation measure places JPMorgan shares at a premium compared with that estimate. Future performance may depend on whether new technology investments create measurable returns.

The AI safety collaboration could support JPMorgan’s long-term technology goals. The project must demonstrate practical benefits through improved efficiency or reduced operational risks. Market participants continue to assess whether these developments can translate into stronger business outcomes.

Banking Sector Expands Focus on Safer AI Systems

Financial institutions are increasing efforts to adopt automated solutions while maintaining strict controls. Banks require secure systems because automated tools may handle sensitive customer and financial information. As a result, safety frameworks have become an important part of technology development.

JPMorgan’s latest move reflects the wider banking industry’s approach toward controlled automation. Companies are seeking systems that provide efficiency while limiting operational risks. Technology partnerships are becoming a common method for developing these solutions.

The collaboration with Nvidia adds another step in JPMorgan’s technology expansion. The company will need successful implementation before the initiative affects earnings performance. The stock’s future direction may depend on both financial results and progress in digital transformation.

The post JPMorgan Chase (JPM) Stock: AI Collaboration Gains Attention Amid Market Pressure appeared first on Blockonomi.

Ripple’s native token just ended September well in the green, extending its streak that began with a minor increase in July. All eyes are now on October on several fronts. The question is: can XRP continue its run, or will the last two October editions take their toll?

XRP Went Hard in September

Recall that August was the cross-border token’s most successful month in over a year, when it skyrocketed by 30% from start to finish. Moreover, it had dipped to just under $1.00 mid-month, which makes its close even more impressive. XRP entered September on a high note, not only because of the spectacular August but because it had closed all four previous Septembers in the green.

The ninth month of the year was indeed positive on a few fronts. First, the price gained just under 10%, and XRP ended it at over $1.50. It tried to take down the $1.60 resistance on several occasions but to no avail. In addition, the spot ETFs tracking its performance marked some major wins.

Only three days were slightly in the red: September 2, 17, and 18. On a broader scale, though, the funds have not seen a single red week since early July. Data from SoSoValue shows that the ETFs closed September well in the green, adding over $120 million. Moreover, the cumulative net inflows reached a new all-time high of nearly $1.8 billion.

What Does October Hold?

October, as a month, holds particular significance in the hearts of the cryptocurrency community. Major gains over the years earned it a well-deserved nickname, “Uptober.” However, there have been major exceptions over the years at the broader market level, while Ripple’s XRP has not always benefited during the month.

For example, the past two editions delivered double-digit losses for the cross-border altcoin. It plunged by 16.7% in 2024 and experienced a mind-blowing correction, alongside the rest of the market, last year, after the notorious October 10 massacre.

Data from CryptoRank shows that only five out of the last 13 Octobers have been in the green for XRP. The last one was in 2023, when the asset jumped by an impressive 16.5%. As such, XRP enters the new month at a crossroads, given its notable three-month green streak but also its controversial October history.

The post XRP in October: Will Ripple’s Streak Continue After 3 Consecutive Green Months? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Robinhood plans to launch perpetual futures for eligible US customers in the coming months.

CEO Vlad Tenev said the company is bringing America “its first true perps” in a post on X, adding that profit and loss will settle every 15 minutes.

Eight Crypto Assets, Up to 10x Leverage

The company announced the product on Tuesday at its HOOD Summit in Houston. Customers will be able to go long or short on BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, DOGE, ADA, LINK, and HYPE.

A perpetual future is a leveraged contract that tracks an asset’s price with no settlement date, so a trader can hold a position as long as they can cover it. Bitcoin and Ethereum contracts allow up to 10x leverage, while the other six are capped at 3x, and Robinhood Derivatives will provide the contracts through Bitstamp.

Trading costs one basis point (0.01%) per trade through the end of the year, which Robinhood describes as some of the lowest fees in the industry. Furthermore, users can set stop-loss and take-profit orders, watch their liquidation price in real time, and get alerts when a position is at risk.

“Ownership doesn’t work without markets, and markets don’t work without traders,” Tenev said. The CEO added that Robinhood wants to be “the best place in the world for active traders” by delivering tools once reserved for hedge funds, big banks and quant firms.

The trading platform also introduced an in-app AI tool called Robinhood Agents that will help customers create strategies, research markets and trade within preset limits, while manual trade approval is turned on by default. According to the firm, more than 15,000 users have opened agentic trading accounts since its May launch, with agents using Robinhood tools almost 30 million times a day.

In addition, the firm is bringing earnings contracts tied to company metrics such as revenue targets and earnings results. Those binary options contracts will be offered through Cboe and require options approval.

Where Robinhood Sits Among Rivals

The broader derivatives push is not limited to Robinhood. As CryptoPotato reported on September 4, Coinbase filed registrations with the SEC to offer single-stock perpetual futures to US investors, although those filings did not guarantee a launch on any set timeline.

Bybit went a different direction on leverage. Its new forex perpetuals, introduced September 8, allow up to 100x and trade around the clock, against Robinhood’s 10x ceiling.

Remember, perpetuals still carry funding costs and liquidation risks, since a position can be closed out when losses grow too large, and Robinhood has also not given an exact launch date beyond “the coming months.”

The post Robinhood to Launch Crypto Perpetual Futures in the US appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Bitcoin (BTC) remains in a bull market after closing above its 365-day moving average last week, but recent on-chain data suggests momentum is slowing. CryptoQuant said in a recent research note that several indicators now point to higher selling pressure and weaker demand.

Despite these concerns, CryptoQuant’s Bitcoin Bull Score Index remains at 90, showing that most tracked indicators still support a bullish structure. BTC recently reached about $87,400, its highest level in eight months, before pulling back toward the low $83,000 range.

Profit-Taking Picks Up

One concern comes from short-term holders, whose unrealized profit margin has risen to 33%. The analytics firm said this is the highest level since December 2024 and that similar levels have preceded profit-taking.

That profit-taking is already showing up in realized gains, with Bitcoin holders cashing out about 25,700 BTC in profit on September 22. It was the largest single-day realized profit figure recorded in 2026, adding to evidence that some holders are selling after the recent price gains.

Selling signals are also appearing beyond Bitcoin, particularly in the altcoin market. Seven-day cumulative altcoin exchange inflows reached 76,000 transactions involving about 51,000 depositors, the highest levels recorded since October 17, 2025.

At the same time, demand is weakening in both the spot and futures markets. Apparent spot demand fell by roughly 170,000 BTC over the past 30 days. Speculative futures demand growth also slowed, dropping from about 164,000 BTC on September 14 to roughly 16,000 BTC more recently.

Key Support Levels Remain

Despite these signals, Bitcoin remains above several important on-chain support levels. CryptoQuant identified the 365-day moving average near $80,000 and the 200-day moving average around $71,000. The firm also identified the trader-realized price near $67,000 as a key level to watch.

According to the analytics firm, a decline toward these levels could signal consolidation. This would not necessarily mean a broader market reversal if support holds. However, continued weakness in demand alongside increased profit-taking could increase the risk of a deeper correction in the near term.

CryptoQuant described the market as still bullish but showing signs of fatigue. The next test will be whether buying demand returns to absorb selling pressure or whether Bitcoin moves closer to those support levels.

The post Bitcoin Bull Market Shows Signs of Cooling: CryptoQuant appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Bitcoin climbed above $87,400 last week, but the rally has since lost momentum. The world’s largest cryptocurrency then tested the $83,000 range before it surged past the upper boundary of its weekly range at $85,000.

Amidst the stagnation, larger holders are increasing their holdings again.

Whale Accumulation Returns

According to blockchain analytics platform Santiment, wallets holding between 10 and 10,000 BTC added 41,025 units over the past 10 days. Their total balance has now reached 13.64 million BTC, equal to about 67.93% of Bitcoin’s total supply. Santiment explained that these whale and shark wallets are now at their highest holdings since the market rally in mid-August.

There is a clear difference between large and small holders. Wallets holding less than 0.01 BTC have remained mostly unchanged during the same period. Santiment revealed that stronger market conditions have historically appeared when larger holders accumulate while smaller traders sell.

However, the analytics firm said the current pattern is not a guaranteed signal for Bitcoin’s price. Market watchers will likely focus on whether large holders continue adding BTC and whether retail investors begin reducing their positions. The trend could provide another indicator of changing market sentiment in the coming days.

Adding to the bullish picture, BIT Research said Bitcoin’s bear market may have already ended. The firm identified the cycle low in late July after the asset held above $62,900 and showed signs of weakening downside momentum. Since then, BTC has reclaimed key levels, including its 21-week moving average at $69,272, and moved above its March 2024 high of $73,084.

The report also highlighted Bitcoin’s cost basis. The True Market Mean currently stands at $76,897, which essentially means that the typical holder is back in profit. This could reduce selling pressure from investors looking to exit at break-even. The firm expects an upside range of $185,000 to $215,000 in its bullish scenario.

However, crypto analyst Doctor Profit speculated a short-term pullback before BTC’s next move higher. He pointed to bearish signals across several indicators, including RSI, MACD/PPO, and MFI, while also noting weaker trend strength on the ADX indicator.

ETF Inflows and Corporate Buying

Even as the market moves through a quieter stretch, institutional demand is still showing up. US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs, for instance, attracted a whopping $2.4 billion last week. This week started at a slower pace, but the flow has remained positive. The funds raked in just over $31 million on Monday and another $66 million on Tuesday.

Corporate buyers have also stayed active. Strategy added another 1,665 BTC over the past week. The company paid an average of $85,681 per coin, taking its total holdings to 847,666 units. Strive has added to the buying activity as well. CEO Matt Cole said the company spent $94.5 million on 1,107 BTC at an average price of $85,400. Its total holdings have now reached 27,462.

The post Bitcoin’s Biggest Holders Ramp Up Buying While Retail Traders Remain Flat appeared first on CryptoPotato.

US midterm elections have a history of making investors nervous and markets more volatile. According to Ali Martinez, Bitcoin could face more volatility after this year’s highly anticipated event.

In a recent post, the analyst noted that BTC fell 72% after the 2010 midterms, 65% after 2014, 52% after 2018, and 27% after 2022. While this pattern does not prove the elections caused the declines,  the historical moves are worth watching ahead of November 3, 2026.

Four Midterms, Four Drops

Martinez also highlighted Bitcoin’s fourth-quarter performance in previous midterm years. BTC gained 391% in Q4 2010 but fell 16.7% in 2014, 42.16% in 2018, and 14.75% in 2022. This data indicates the possibility of increased volatility as the fourth quarter begins.

$73,000 area was flagged as an important level to watch. According to his analysis, this zone represents Bitcoin’s short-term holder cost basis and could act as support if the market sees a post-election decline.

Prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket show Democrats maintaining an advantage over Republicans. The latter’s loss in the 2026 midterms could create fresh uncertainty for the crypto market. Democrats could gain control of the House, Senate, or both, which would make crypto-friendly regulation harder to advance. The CLARITY Act, which aimed to create clearer and lighter rules for digital assets, already failed to clear the Senate in September.

Reset Soon?

Amid all the midterm uncertainty, a Bitcoin pullback appears to be on the cards. For instance, pseudonymous trader “bee” believes the crypto asset may be setting up for a larger move, but sees a possible pullback before the next major rally.

BTC is currently trading between the 50-week moving average near $77,600 and the 100-week moving average around $89,700. The 200-week moving average sits lower, near $66,000. Bitcoin could first hold its current range and climb toward $90,000. A break above the 100-week moving average may attract more liquidity and push BTC higher. However, the trader expects momentum could weaken around the $90,000-$95,000 area.

From there, BTC risks rotating back toward $75,000-$77,000. “bee” isn’t the only one anticipating a correction. Doctor Profit also expects the asset to retest $79,000 before continuing higher.

The post Bitcoin Fell After Four US Midterms: Could 2026 Break the Pattern? appeared first on CryptoPotato.