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The broader cryptocurrency market is experiencing a downturn, following a significant liquidation event where over a billion dollars in leveraged positions were closed. Bitcoin's price is reflecting this trend, dropping to test critical support levels around $111,000. Technical indicators for Bitcoin, such as the Average Directional Index (ADX) and Relative Strength Index (RSI), suggest a weakening bullish trend and a market lacking clear direction. The price action indicates a continuation of yesterday's bearish sentiment, with a failed recovery attempt as sellers took control, pushing the price down.
In stark contrast, BNB, the native token of the BNB blockchain, is defying the market trend and has emerged as the top-performing crypto in the top 10. BNB is up significantly over the last week and month, recently trading near its all-time high. This surge is attributed to the rising popularity of Aster, a decentralized perpetual futures exchange on the BNB network. As Aster gains traction and challenges competitors, the demand for BNB as the network's gas token has increased, driving its price higher. Technical analysis of BNB shows a strong uptrend, with indicators pointing to continued gains. Source
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is launching an initiative to allow derivatives traders to use stablecoins and other tokenized assets as collateral, an effort that has received widespread support from major crypto companies. This move, which is part of a broader "crypto sprint" to modernize financial markets, would allow stablecoins like USDC and Tether to function similarly to traditional collateral like cash or US Treasuries in regulated trading. The CFTC is actively seeking public input on this proposal until October 20, with acting chair Caroline Pham stating that tokenized markets are the future and that stablecoins are the "killer app" for collateral management.
This initiative follows the recent passage of the GENIUS Act, which provides a framework for regulating payment stablecoins and is a key step toward integrating stablecoins into mainstream finance. Executives from companies like Circle, Coinbase, and Ripple have voiced their approval, highlighting how using stablecoins as collateral could lower costs, reduce risk, and unlock liquidity around the clock. The CFTC's plan also aligns with a changing US regulatory landscape, as the SEC is also working on a new "innovation exemption" to provide temporary regulatory relief to crypto firms. Source
Tether, the company behind the world's largest stablecoin, USDT, is reportedly in early-stage talks to raise between $15 billion and $20 billion in a private placement. This fundraising round could potentially give the company a valuation of up to $500 billion, placing it among the ranks of highly-valued private companies like OpenAI and SpaceX. The deal would involve issuing new shares for approximately a 3% stake in the company, with investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald serving as the lead adviser. Sources caution that the final numbers could be lower as discussions are still in their preliminary stages, and a deal is expected to close by the end of the year.
This ambitious fundraising effort comes amid a more favourable regulatory environment for stablecoins, particularly with the recent passage of the Genius Act in the United States. Tether, which recorded a significant net profit of $5.7 billion in the first half of the year, has also announced plans to launch a US-specific stablecoin, USAT. However, there is some conflicting information, as Bo Hines, the newly appointed CEO of Tether's USAT, has reportedly stated that the company has no plans to raise money. The strong profitability and market dominance of Tether’s USDT, which has a market cap of $172 billion, are key factors driving the potential valuation. Source
Senator Cynthia Lummis has stated that the upcoming digital asset market structure bill being considered by the Senate could be a means to address the rising issue of cryptocurrency ATM scams. Citing a local report from Cheyenne, Wyoming, Lummis highlighted that dozens of people, primarily senior citizens, had lost over $645,000 to fraud through these machines. The FBI has also reported a significant increase in such scams nationwide, with losses exceeding $246 million in the current year. Lummis’s comments suggest that despite the House of Representatives' version of the bill (the CLARITY Act) not explicitly mentioning crypto ATMs, the Senate's version remains flexible and could incorporate provisions to tackle this specific type of fraud.
The push for federal legislation comes as states and local governments have already begun implementing their own regulations to combat crypto ATM scams. These measures include outright bans in some cities, as well as the imposition of daily transaction limits, mandatory fraud warnings, and requirements for operators to register with state authorities. A separate bill, the "Crypto ATM Fraud Prevention Act," was introduced by Senator Dick Durbin earlier in the year to specifically address these issues, proposing transaction limits and mandatory warnings, but it has not yet advanced. Lummis's remarks indicate that some of the solutions proposed in Durbin's bill, or similar provisions, could be integrated into the broader market structure legislation currently being debated in the Senate Banking Committee. Source
Centralized deepfake detection systems are failing to keep up with the rapid evolution of AI-powered scams in the crypto industry, which have already accounted for hundreds of millions in losses. The article argues that these centralized systems are inherently flawed due to their siloed, vendor-locked nature and slow adaptation. Companies that both create and detect AI-generated content have a conflict of interest, and their static models are easily outsmarted by criminals who are continuously developing new techniques. For example, a study showed that even the best centralized detectors' accuracy dropped significantly when confronted with real-world deepfakes. This vulnerability poses an existential threat to the crypto industry, as scammers use deepfakes to impersonate executives and bypass KYC processes, leading to multi-million dollar thefts.
The author proposes that the only scalable and effective solution is the adoption of decentralized detection networks. These networks apply core blockchain principles, such as distributing trust and verification, to solve the authenticity problem. By creating a system where independent AI developers are incentivized with crypto-economic rewards for building superior detection models, a competitive framework is established. This decentralized approach has shown to be more accurate on diverse content and can adapt more quickly than its centralized counterparts. The immutability of the blockchain’s ledger provides a transparent and secure foundation to combat the projected surge in AI-driven crypto fraud, offering a crypto-native defence that aligns with the trustless principles of decentralized finance and provides a robust shield against future scams. Source
Markethive, a company with a long history in inbound marketing, is working to establish a comprehensive blockchain ecosystem with its native utility token, Hivecoin (HVC). The article suggests that Markethive's trajectory could mirror the rapid rise of Binance, which successfully leveraged its native token, BNB, to incentivize users and drive growth. Like Binance, Markethive plans to build value for HVC by integrating it into its platform for various services, including advertising, subscriptions, and other marketing tools. This strategy is designed to create a symbiotic relationship where the platform's growth directly fuels the demand and value of the token.
To accelerate its vision, Markethive is launching a significant incentive program to reward its community. The program is a strategic airdrop that will distribute HVC tokens to users based on their total spending on Markethive services over the year. The more a user spends, the higher the conversion rate from dollars to HVC, with tiered bonuses that can multiply a user's reward up to 10 times. This initiative is being compared to an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) but is framed as a non-ICO approach that rewards existing community members and demonstrates faith in the platform's intrinsic value, while also ensuring the secure distribution of tokens directly to users' cold wallets. Source
Researchers have developed a "Swarm Oracle" system of mobile robots that can collectively verify real-world data and provide it to blockchain smart contracts, offering a potential solution to the "oracle problem." The oracle problem refers to the challenge of securely and trustlessly feeding external information, like sensor readings or weather reports, into a decentralized blockchain, as traditional methods often reintroduce centralized points of failure. The Swarm Oracle system, built upon prior research on robot consensus in hostile environments, utilizes a collective of low-cost robots with sensors to gather data and reach a collective agreement through a Byzantine fault-tolerant protocol before publishing the verified information to a blockchain.
The system incorporates a built-in reputation model that penalizes faulty or malicious robots, allowing the swarm to "self-heal" over time by excluding untrustworthy participants. This decentralized, self-correcting approach offers a significant advantage over existing, more centralized oracle solutions. The researchers have tested the concept in both simulations and with physical robots, identifying potential use cases in areas such as disaster insurance verification, climate monitoring, and DePIN networks. While challenges like scalability, communication over long distances, and public trust in AI remain, the study presents a new paradigm for bridging the gap between physical-world data and blockchain smart contracts in a decentralized manner. Source
Zebec Network is positioned to advance stablecoin payrolls beyond the Web3 space and into mainstream enterprises, fueled by a global shift toward regulatory clarity. With the passage of legislation like the GENIUS Act in the US and the implementation of Europe's MiCA regime, a more favorable environment is emerging for compliant blockchain finance. Zebec, which began as a Solana-based protocol for streaming payments, is leveraging this new landscape to expand its real-time payroll services, allowing money to flow continuously instead of in traditional, batched payments. The company is now processing payroll for thousands of US employees and has made strategic investments to serve larger sectors, such as US charter schools.
The project's product suite is centered on stablecoins, including USDC, Ondo's USDY, and PayPal's PYUSD, and is expanding to serve a multinational workforce with stablecoins like AllUnity's EURAU. Zebec's growth is supported by a series of strategic partnerships with key players in fintech and blockchain, such as Algorand and World Mobile, which enhance its multichain capabilities and reach into underserved regions. To solidify its competitive edge, Zebec has acquired a compliance company to bring tools in-house and has achieved SOC 2 certification, demonstrating its commitment to enterprise-grade security and alignment with evolving regulatory frameworks. Source
The performance of Bitcoin and gold has recently diverged, with Bitcoin's price dropping while gold has surged to a new record high. This growing gap is attributed to ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, which is causing investors to prioritize traditional safe-haven assets. Gold's strength is being driven by strong demand from sovereign and central banks, particularly from nations like China and Russia, who are using it as a hedge against geopolitical tensions and the dominance of the U.S. dollar. In contrast, Bitcoin is still in the early stages of institutional adoption, leading to skepticism among some investors about its "digital gold" narrative.
Despite this divergence, some experts believe that Bitcoin is poised to outperform gold in the future. Historically, gold tends to move first during periods of uncertainty, with Bitcoin following suit a month or two later, especially after the Federal Reserve begins to cut interest rates. In such a scenario, capital tends to rotate from less risky assets like gold into more risk-tolerant ones, benefiting Bitcoin due to its smaller market capitalization and greater potential for growth. Therefore, while gold may be the preferred safe haven for institutional capital at the moment, the long-term outlook suggests that Bitcoin could eventually play catch-up and surpass its traditional counterpart. Source
SEC Chair Paul Atkins has announced his intention to introduce an “innovation exemption” by the end of the year, which would allow crypto companies to bypass outdated regulatory hurdles and more quickly bring new products to market. This exemption would act as a temporary regulatory relief measure, providing a lighter oversight framework for digital asset products while the SEC works on developing more specific regulations. Atkins emphasized that this is a deliberate move away from an ad hoc regulatory approach, aiming instead to create a more stable platform for innovation within the digital asset space.
This new direction is a sharp contrast to the previous SEC administration and is part of a broader effort by Atkins to advocate for crypto innovation. Since being sworn in as chair, he has launched “Project Crypto” to modernize securities rules and regulations for digital assets and has stated his belief that very few tokens should be considered securities. The new exemption and other initiatives, such as the recently announced generic listing standards for exchange-traded products, are intended to encourage innovation within the US and position the country as a leader in the digital finance sector. Source
Kraken has announced a significant $2 million in political donations, with $1 million going to the Digital Freedom Fund PAC and an additional $1 million commitment to the pro-Trump group America First Digital. According to Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi, this action is a mobilization for the "core rights of individuals in a digital age," citing threats to crypto's principles from regulatory uncertainty, criminalization of infrastructure, and bans on privacy tools. This move aligns the crypto exchange with the political advocacy of financial freedom, with Sethi drawing a connection between the foundational ideals of Bitcoin and extensions of the Bill of Rights.
The donation is part of a growing trend of crypto leaders moving into political territory, with the explicitly pro-Republican Digital Freedom Fund PAC having been launched previously by the Winklevoss twins with a $21 million Bitcoin contribution. This contrasts with other large crypto super PACs like Fairshake, which has spent money on both sides of the political aisle to prevent digital assets from becoming a partisan issue. The donations come as federal authorities have taken action against the developers of privacy-focused crypto tools, making the right to self-custody assets and build decentralized systems a key point of political contention for the industry. Source
According to Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz, the recent passage of two significant crypto-related bills in the United States could lead to a massive influx of new investors, potentially disrupting the traditional four-year market cycle. Novogratz specifically cited the GENIUS Act, which regulates stablecoins, and the CLARITY Act, which clarifies regulatory jurisdiction over digital assets, as the "two bookends of legislation" that will unleash a new wave of market participation. He believes this new wave of investors, who will now have legal means to use stablecoins in everyday applications, will change the market's dynamics, meaning the usual cycle pattern may not hold.
Novogratz's outlook suggests that unlike previous cycles, investors may not sell off their holdings at the peak of the bull run at the end of the year. He also addressed other market factors, including a recent price drop, which he attributed to Chinese miners selling off assets and bearish commentary from a prominent crypto figure. Novogratz is confident that the new legislation, which has support from enough Democrats and Republicans to pass, will create a stable regulatory environment and foster a new era of growth and participation that breaks from historical precedents. Source
Disclaimer: These articles are provided for informational purposes only. They are not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or any other advice.
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