Summary
gm, The SEC issued a statement clarifying that liquid staking activities, including major protocols like Ethereum's Lido and Solana's Jito, do not fall under securities laws. This regulatory clarity triggered a positive market response, with Bitcoin rebounding above $115,000 and Ethereum rising by 2.8% amid improving market sentiment. Meanwhile, institutional interest continues to evolve, with Michigan's state pension fund tripling its Bitcoin ETF holdings to approximately $11 million, despite Bitcoin ETFs experiencing a fourth consecutive day of outflows totaling $196 million. In a concerning legal precedent for crypto developers, Roman Storm, co-founder of Tornado Cash, was found guilty on one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitter business, potentially facing up to five years in prison.

News Headlines
💰 Strategy, Trump Media Helped Absorb Galaxy's $9 Billion Bitcoin Sale

  • Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz revealed that a massive 80,000 Bitcoin sale (worth $9 billion) on behalf of a client was quickly absorbed by institutional buyers including Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) and Trump Media.
  • Strategy purchased 21,000 Bitcoin worth $2.3 billion while Trump Media acquired 18,400 Bitcoin worth $2 billion, demonstrating significant institutional demand that has helped maintain price stability despite the large sell order.

🌊 Switchboard Launches "Surge," Claiming Fastest Oracle on Solana

  • Switchboard has launched "Surge," a new oracle network on Solana that delivers price data with under 100ms latency, approximately eight times faster and costing about one-hundredth of existing oracle solutions.
  • The architecture replaces traditional polling methods with a direct WebSocket stream from data sources to applications, eliminating delays from consensus steps and targeting high-frequency DeFi applications that require near-instantaneous data.

💰 Crypto Exec to Pay $10M to Settle SEC Claims Over TerraUSD Bet

  • Huynh Tran Quang Duy, founder of lending firm MyConstant, will pay over $10.5 million to settle SEC claims alleging he misappropriated investor funds to purchase TerraUSD.
  • The settlement includes $8.3 million plus $1.5 million in interest to affected customers and a separate $750,000 civil penalty, marking the first restitution for MyConstant clients.

🤝 Ripple-BDACS Partnership Brings XRP Custody to South Korean Institutions

  • South Korea's BDACS has launched institutional custody support for XRP following its partnership with Ripple, enabling secure storage and management for one of the most actively traded digital assets in the region.
  • The service integrates with major South Korean exchanges including Upbit, Coinone, and Korbit, aligning with the country's regulatory roadmap and supporting growing institutional interest in XRP across Asia.

Market Metrics

Fundraising & VC
1. Satsuma (Undisclosed, $217.6M) - UK-listed AI infrastructure and subnet deployment company
2. SuperGaming (Series B, $15M) - India-based mobile gaming studio
3. AIxBlock (Grant, $1.74M) - Decentralized, open-source AI infrastructure platform

Regulatory
💰 Indonesia Explores National Bitcoin Reserve Strategy

  • Indonesian government officials are considering Bitcoin as a reserve asset after a presentation by Bitcoin Indonesia to the Vice President's office.
  • The proposal leverages Indonesia's abundant hydroelectric and geothermal resources for Bitcoin mining as a national strategy to drive economic growth in the world's 16th largest economy.

💼 SBI Files for Bitcoin-XRP Dual ETF in Japan

  • SBI Holdings has filed an application for Japan's first dual-asset cryptocurrency ETF, providing exposure to both Bitcoin and XRP in a regulated investment vehicle.
  • The proposal includes a gold-crypto ETF combining 51% gold ETFs with 49% crypto asset ETFs, pending approval from Japan's Financial Services Agency.

🌐 China Warns Against Worldcoin-Style Iris Scanning

  • China's Ministry of State Security has issued a warning about the national security risks posed by foreign companies collecting biometric data, particularly those offering cryptocurrency for iris scans.
  • The advisory specifically targets projects like Worldcoin, citing concerns that collected biometric data could be used by foreign intelligence services for deepfakes and unauthorized access.

🏦 Nomura's Laser Digital Gets Dubai Crypto Derivatives License

  • Laser Digital, backed by Japanese financial giant Nomura, has received regulatory approval to offer cryptocurrency derivatives in Dubai under VARA's pilot framework.
  • This makes Laser Digital the first company licensed to provide regulated over-the-counter (OTC) crypto options in Dubai, strengthening the UAE's position in the global derivatives market.

🏛️ UK Reverses Ban on Crypto ETNs for Retail Investors

  • The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will lift its ban on crypto exchange-traded notes (cETNs) for retail investors on October 8, signaling a major policy reversal.
  • This regulatory shift comes as the UK aims to strengthen its position as a competitive global crypto hub, though the ban on crypto derivatives remains in effect.

Technical Analysis
Bitcoin - Investors have paid higher prices over time to buy Bitcoin and the currency is in a rising trend channel in the short term. Rising trends indicate that the currency experiences positive development and that buy interest among investors is increasing. The currency is moving within a rectangle formation between support at 113364 and resistance at 118288. A decisive break through one of these levels indicates the new direction for the currency. The currency has support at points 110000 and resistance at points 120800. Volume tops and volume bottoms correspond badly with tops and bottoms in the price. Volume balance is also negative, which weakens the rising trend and could be an early signal of a coming trend break. The currency is overall assessed as technically slightly positive for the short term.

Ethereum - Ethereum has broken through the floor of a rising trend channel in the short term. This indicates a slower rising rate at first, or the start of a more horizontal development. The currency is between support at points 3440 and resistance at points 3870. A definitive break through of one of these levels predicts the new direction. The currency is assessed as technically neutral for the short term.