Good Afternoon,

From OpenAI’s benchmark breakthrough and Ripple’s bold uncollateralized lending plans, to Vanguard’s crypto ETF shift, SWIFT’s blockchain play with Consensys, and growing fears of a U.S. government shutdown stalling crypto regulation. Plus: brain-computer tech heats up, and 18 of 30 Bitcoin bull market top indicators are flashing caution.

Let’s unpack this and more!

News Roundup

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • OpenAI Benchmark Shows AI Nearing Human-Level Job Performance (Decrypt)

  • Gemini Robotics 1.5 and Gemini-ER 1.5 Bring AI-Powered Reasoning to Real-World Robots (Google DeepMind)

  • LLM Agents Display Unexpected Self-Directed Behaviors in Autonomous Settings (arXiv)

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

  • Plasma Hits $4B in DeFi Deposits on Day One With XPL Rewards (DLNews)

  • Hyperliquid Launched Permissionless Spot Quote Assets on Mainnet (X)

  • Ripple Plans Uncollateralized Lending Market for XRP Holders, Raising Risk-Reward Debate (DLNews)

  • Record $18B Bitcoin Options Expiry Raises Concerns of Delayed Volatility (Decrypt)

  • UK Banks Launch Pilot for Tokenized Sterling Deposits (UK Finance)

  • Circle Introduces On-Chain Refunds on Arc Blockchain to Woo Institutions (FinanceFeeds)

  • Hyperdrive Suffers $782K Exploit in Third Major Hyperliquid Security Breach (X)

  • Aster Climbs to Second of Global Fee Rankings in the Past 24 Hours, per DeFiLlama (DeFiLlama)

  • HumidiFi Becomes Largest DEX on Solana With $8.5B Weekly Volume (DeFiLlama)

  • Qatar’s QNB Group Taps JPMorgan’s Blockchain for Faster Dollar Payments (Bloomberg)

  • Binance to List Swarm Network (TRUTH) on Alpha and Futures With 50x Leverage (Binance)

  • FalconX Launches 24/7 OTC Crypto Options Platform With BTC, ETH, SOL, and HYPE (The Block)

  • Yearn Finance Plans Major Revamp, Proposes 90% Revenue Share for YFI Stakers (DL News)

Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)

  • Major Asset Managers File Updated Solana ETF Applications with Staking Features (X)

  • On September 26, all 12 U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $418 million in net outflows, while U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs saw $248 million in outflows for the fifth consecutive day.

  • Vanguard May Allow Crypto ETF Access Amid Client Demand (The Block)

  • Bitcoin ETFs Record $902M Outflows as Quarter-End Rebalancing Halts Winning Streak (Decrypt)

  • October Dubbed ā€˜ETF Month’ as SEC Faces 16 Crypto Fund Deadlines (Cointelegraph)

Infrastructure

  • Jump’s Firedancer Team Pushes for Uncapped Solana Blocks Post-Alpenglow (The Block)

  • Swift Partners With Consensys to Build Blockchain Ledger for Cross-Border Payments (Business Wire)

  • Binance Unveils Crypto-as-a-Service for Financial Institutions (PR Newswire)

Meme Coins

  • Meme Coin Based on Baby Shark IP Crashes After Legal Threats (X)

  • ā€˜Trillions’ Meme Coin Rockets on Plasma, Hits $60M Before Sharp Drop (Decrypt)

  • Meme Coin Launchpad Volumes Dip Below $1B as Traders Flock to Perps (Decrypt)

Mining

  • Bitcoin miner TeraWulf Seeks $3B in Google-Backed Data Center Funding via Morgan Stanley (Cointelegraph)

  • Five Solo Bitcoin Miners Defy Odds, Each Earning Over $350K in 2025 (Cointelegraph)

Politics

  • NYC Mayor Eric Adams Ends Reelection Bid Amid Funding Struggles (X)

  • US Government Shutdown Threatens to Delay Crypto Legislation (Coin Desk)

  • NY’s Top Crypto Regulator Adrienne Harris Steps Down After 4 Years (The Block)

  • Poland Pushes Strict Crypto Bill Despite Backlash (Cointelegraph)

  • Telegram’s Durov Accuses France of Pushing Election Censorship in Moldova (Decrypt)

Treasuries

  • Strategy Boosts Bitcoin Holdings to 640,031 BTC With $22.1M Purchase (Strategy)

  • BitMine Becomes Largest Corporate Ethereum Holder With 2.65 million ETH (The Block)

Venture Capital (VC)

  • Theta Capital Seeks $200M for Blockchain Fund-of-Funds (Bloomberg)

  • Kraken Eyes $20B Valuation Ahead of IPO with Strategic Funding Round (Bloomberg)

  • Billionaires Eye Brain-Computer Interfaces as the Next Tech Battleground (Decrypt)

Other News

  • Tennessee Couple Fined $6.8M for Crypto Scam Disguised as ā€˜Blessings of God’ (Decrypt)

  • $28K Crypto Offer for Breaking Kickflip World Record (X)

  • Bitcoin Losing Its Spot as Retail’s First Crypto Stop (CoinGecko)

  • Caltech Unveils Record-Breaking 6,100-Qubit Neutral-Atom Quantum Computer (Caltech)

  • Researchers Create Light-Powered Microscopic Gear Systems in Nano-Engineering Breakthrough (Nature)

  • More than $773M in Token Unlocks Set to Hit Markets This Week (Tokenomist)

  • Singapore and UAE Crowned World’s Most Crypto-Obsessed Nations, per ApeX report (Cointelegraph)

  • Sonic Labs Appoints Mitchell Demeter as CEO to Lead Institutional Expansion (Sonic Labs)

  • Judge Allows PleasrDAO to Sue Shkreli Over Wu-Tang Album Copies (Court Listener)

  • Binance Launches OpenEden (EDEN) as 47th HODLer Airdrops Project (Binance)

  • Upbit Lists Falcon Finance (FF) With KRW and USDT Trading Pairs (Upbit)

  • 18 of 30 Bitcoin bull market top indicators are past 50% toward sell levels (The Defiant)

  • Hyper Foundation Launches Hypurr NFTs on HyperEVM (The Block)

Check This Out

Notable Web3 wallets have announced potential plans to issue tokens and CryptoRank compares them:

Source: CryptoRank

Source: CryptoRank

Meme of the Day

Source: TBAN_Bears_near

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