Canary Capital advances spot Pepe ETF filing with SEC Canary Capital filed an amended S-1 with the SEC on Oct. 2 for the Canary Pepe ETF, moving ahead with plans to list a spot Pepe fund on Cboe BZX. The trust would hold Pepe directly and track its price using CoinDesk’s Pepe Benchmark Rate 60 Minute New York, with returns reduced by fees and other expenses.
Ohio to treat Kalshi sports contracts as illegal gambling Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said the state will enforce gambling laws against Kalshi’s sports-related event contracts after the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to block state action. The court said Kalshi had not shown the contracts fall exclusively under CFTC oversight and that federal law does not preempt Ohio’s gambling rules. State regulators have told Kalshi to stop offering the contracts or get licensed, and separately moved toward a $5 million penalty.
Philippine advocates ask Supreme Court to bar agency-led platform blocks Five Philippine technology and legal advocates filed a petition with the Supreme Court on Oct. 1 to strike down platform blocking orders and permanently stop executive agencies from shutting down online platforms without judicial oversight. The case follows the late-September nationwide Discord block ordered after the CICC, DICT and NTC moved against the platform over a local resident-agent demand; the petition argues those agencies acted beyond their legal authority.
Blast to shut Ethereum L2 after costs outpace revenue Blast said Friday it is winding down its Ethereum Layer 2 and moving users back to mainnet, saying the cost of running the network has grown larger than its income. DeFiLlama shows about $755,500 in annualized fees versus just $22,700 in annualized chain revenue, while Blast’s DeFi TVL has fallen from more than $2 billion before launch to about $32 million. Users can withdraw via Blast’s interface until October 26.
Fiserv launches digital asset platform with North Dakota stablecoin Fiserv said Oct. 1 that its digital asset platform is now live with financial institution clients, with Bank of North Dakota’s Roughrider Coin as the first product on it. The dollar-backed stablecoin settles on Solana and will let more than 90 North Dakota banks and credit unions move money between each other through Fiserv’s Commercial Center, while VersaBank issues the token and handles custody.
CryptoPunks volume jumps as $3.9M+ in grail sales hit via GONDI CryptoPunks led NFT sales from Sept. 19-26 with about $8.2M in unwrapped volume, up roughly 11.7x from the prior week, after buyers reportedly swept 63 Punks for around $6M and pushed the floor from about 29 ETH to 34 ETH. On Oct. 1, two rare Punks then sold via GONDI for at least $3.875M in USDC, including Punk #8348 for 3M USDC plus an undisclosed amount.
Blast to shut down Layer 2 network by Oct. 26, 2026 Blast said it will wind down its Layer 2 and asked users to move assets, including balances in the Blast PWA, to Ethereum mainnet by Oct. 26, 2026. Withdrawals through the normal interface will be paused for about a week while the team exits Blast’s Lido assets, then resume with a 24-hour delay. After the deadline, funds will still be withdrawable via Blast’s bridge contracts on Ethereum, with instructions to be published before Oct. 26.
Ex-U.K. crime officer ordered to repay $2.38M over stolen Silk Road bitcoin Former National Crime Agency officer Paul Chowles has been ordered to repay about $2.38 million after stealing 50 BTC seized in the Silk Road 2.0 investigation. Chowles, 44, who was jailed for five and a half years in July 2025, moved the bitcoin from a law enforcement wallet in 2017 and tried to hide it through a series of crypto transactions; investigators recovered 30 BTC.
US prosecutors seize nearly $84M tied to Montana payments firm Capstone U.S. prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture case to seize nearly $84 million from bank accounts and crypto wallets tied to Capstone, a Montana money services business allegedly linked to Tether. Prosecutors said Capstone posed as an IT company to open bank accounts while moving money for crypto firms; about $81 million was seized at Wells Fargo, $2 million at JPMorgan, and roughly $1.2 million in USDT. Tether said it had no knowledge of the alleged conduct, and the DOJ did not allege wrongdoing by Tether.
THORChain launches Zcash liquidity pool, with trading still pending THORChain activated its Zcash (ZEC) liquidity pool on Oct. 2 after a network churn, saying all nodes are now monitoring the Zcash chain. User trading has not started yet, with the protocol calling that “the next step,” and it warned that liquidity is still shallow in the opening stage, with no pool-depth figure or trading start time disclosed.
Llamalend v2 launches svZCHF market for CHF-backed crvUSD borrowing Llamalend v2 has opened a new svZCHF market that lets users borrow crvUSD against Swiss franc savings without giving up the yield on their collateral. The market uses Frankencoin’s yield-bearing svZCHF and Curve’s existing zCHF/crvUSD FXSwap pool for pricing and liquidations. As of Sept. 30, it had about 458,000 crvUSD supplied, 240,000 crvUSD borrowed across eight loans, and 43% utilization.
Drift opens DFX claims at roughly 1 cent per dollar lost Drift Foundation, now called Velocity, has opened claims for victims of its April 1 exploit, but each DFX recovery token launched at about 0.0104 USDT, meaning roughly $1.04 back for every $100 lost. The rate is based on a 3.11 million USDT recovery pool against 299.5 million DFX, and can rise over time as Velocity revenue, pledged partner funds and any recovered assets are added; claims stay open until Jan. 1, 2028.
ECB outlines three models to bring central bank money onchain ECB Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel said the central bank is weighing three ways to use central bank money on distributed ledgers: issuing reserves directly on a programmable platform, linking its existing RTGS system to DLT through an interoperability layer, or tokenizing reserves to back privately issued settlement tokens. She said the goal is to keep central bank money at the core of settlement as tokenized assets and stablecoins move onchain.
Coins.ph pauses inbound peso transfers after BSP directive Coins.ph has temporarily suspended incoming PHP cash-ins via InstaPay, PESONet and inbound QRPh after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas ordered its operating entity, DCPay Philippines Inc., to strengthen internal controls. Outbound transfers, merchant QRPh payments, bill payments and crypto trading remain available, while fresh fiat deposits are blocked until the channels are restored.
Bitnomial certifies Ondo-linked futures contract in CFTC filing Bitnomial’s “Ondo US Dollar Spot” was listed as a certified futures product in the CFTC’s designated contract market database on October 1, adding an ONDO-linked contract to the exchange’s regulated US derivatives lineup. The filing covers the listed product itself: certification is a self-certification status under the Commodity Exchange Act, not a broad CFTC endorsement of ONDO or the Ondo protocol.
Upbit lists Dolphin (POD) on KRW, BTC and USDT markets Upbit said on October 2 it will add trading support for Dolphin (POD) across KRW, BTC and USDT markets, giving the token direct access to South Korea’s closely watched retail liquidity pool. The new KRW pair could quickly change POD’s liquidity and volume profile, though the listing itself does not guarantee a lasting price move.
SEC’s Hester Peirce exits as US crypto rulemaking accelerates SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce will leave the agency on October 2, ending a tenure in which she became one of the SEC’s most visible voices on digital-asset policy and led its Crypto Task Force. Her departure comes as the Commission advances major crypto proposals on custody, token classification and market structure, but SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda said that work will continue.
EU opens consumer-law probe into 9 game companies over virtual currencies European consumer authorities have launched coordinated action against Crytek, InnoGames, King, Mojang, Plarium, PLR Worldwide Sales, Riot Games, Supercell and Ubisoft over in-game currency practices in titles including Minecraft, Candy Crush Saga and Clash of Clans. The CPC Network said it is examining whether players were misled on real-money prices, pushed to buy excess currency, denied clear checkout information or withdrawal rights, and whether safeguards for children were adequate.
FlashLoopAdapter exploit drains about $305,000 from two Safe wallets on Ethereum An access-control flaw in a custom FlashLoopAdapter built on top of Aave v3 let an attacker spoof Safe authentication and drain about $305,000 from two Safe wallets on Ethereum, SlowMist said. The attacker used a Morpho flash loan to repay roughly 1,335 WETH of Aave debt, then withdrew about 1,306 weETH plus 6.4 weETH, ending with around 114.1 ETH. Aave founder Stani Kulechov said the affected contract was a third-party adapter and had zero effect on Aave v3.
South Korea proposes tokenized securities rules ahead of 2027 launch South Korea’s Financial Services Commission has proposed detailed rules for issuing and trading tokenized securities, including a 4 billion won ($2.8 million) minimum equity capital requirement for firms that issue tokens while directly managing customer accounts. The plan would also create a new OTC license for debt securities and cap retail investors at 100 million won ($70,000) in annual net purchases per OTC exchange, with the framework set to take effect on Feb. 4, 2027 after public consultation runs to Nov. 11.
IMF approves $138M for El Salvador, waives Bitcoin program breach The IMF approved an immediate disbursement of about $138 million to El Salvador after completing two reviews of its $1.4 billion program and waiving missed conditions, including a Bitcoin accumulation restriction. The Fund said the breached accumulation came from private donations, not public money, but urged El Salvador to keep shrinking the state’s crypto role, unwind remaining public exposure to Chivo, and avoid any further Bitcoin buildup beyond verified donations.
Zano rolls back blockchain after attacker minted 36.9M unauthorized ZANO Zano said an attacker exploited its Gateway Address bug on Aug. 29 and Sept. 25 to create 36.9 million ZANO and some fUSD, forcing the project to roll the chain back by about a month because the coins were indistinguishable from legitimate supply. The team said the exploit cost just 100 ZANO to set up, went unnoticed for nearly a month, and some of the minted coins entered the ecosystem. Zano said it will try to restore affected balances using its developer fund, team members’ personal funds and committed contributions, with recovery mainly handled through exchanges and payment services.
Bitquery links TradeWiz $459K drain to wallet used in 27 prior trades Bitquery said the wallet that collected about $459,000 drained from TradeWiz users had previously funded 27 trades through the same bot, creating a lead for investigators but not proving who controlled it or how keys were exposed. The firm estimated 20,933 wallets were affected; TradeWiz blamed private-key exposure tied to its SOL PVP export feature, paused EVM services, and said it had begun refunds.
US sanctions A7 Network over Russia- and Iran-linked illicit transfers The US Treasury on Oct. 1 sanctioned the A7 Network as a significant transnational criminal organization, saying it helped Russia and Iran evade sanctions and move illicit funds. FinCEN said the network’s sub-agents processed more than $17 billion globally from January 2025 to June 2026, and proposed restricting fund transfers involving them. Treasury also flagged A7A5, a ruble-pegged token issued by Old Vector, as part of the network’s cross-border infrastructure.
Core Lightning urges immediate upgrade for older node versions Core Lightning warned that attackers are targeting unpatched Bitcoin Lightning nodes and told operators running version 26.06.7 or earlier to upgrade immediately. The team did not disclose the specific vulnerabilities, but said version 26.06.8, released Sept. 22, includes fixes for responsibly reported flaws, including bugs that could crash sender nodes, exhaust REST interface memory, or trigger a channel-closing penalty that could cost users funds.
CFTC staff warns exchanges on “mention markets” The CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight told registered exchanges on Sept. 22 that “mention markets” — yes-or-no contracts on whether someone says a word or phrase — are presumptively vulnerable to manipulation, because the speaker or associates may control or know the outcome in advance. The guidance does not ban the contracts, but says exchanges must make a heightened case to list them.
Fiserv launches digital-asset platform with North Dakota bank stablecoin Fiserv has rolled out a digital-asset platform for financial institutions, with Roughrider Coin as its first use case to support interbank fund transfers for the Bank of North Dakota. The stablecoin will run on Solana, be issued and custodied by VersaBank, and use Fireblocks for tokenization infrastructure. Bank of North Dakota plans to deploy it across a state network of more than 90 banks and credit unions via Fiserv’s Commercial Center.
Lloyds settles live Visa payments with USDC in stablecoin pilot Lloyds Banking Group completed a live pilot using USDC to settle $750,000 in real payment obligations to Visa over seven days, with funds arriving within an hour, including on weekends. The bank bought USDC through Archax and sent it via Lloyds Corporate Markets’ Jersey branch, testing stablecoins for inter-institution settlement rather than consumer payments.
Ostium rolls out Gateway after $23.75M vault hack Ostium said Oct. 1 it is rebuilding its trading stack around Gateway, a new system promising sub-100 millisecond execution, unified margin and stronger infrastructure security, about three months after a $23.75 million theft from its OLP liquidity vault. Galaxy Research said the July attacker used a compromised oracle signer key and PriceUpKeep forwarder to push a false price report and repeatedly trade against it.
SEC proposes new crypto custody rules for advisers and funds SEC Chair Paul Atkins said federal securities rules have not kept pace with Bitcoin and unveiled a proposal to update crypto custody under the Investment Advisers Act and Investment Company Act. The plan would let registered advisers and regulated funds hold digital assets under a clearer framework, permit client self-custody in some cases, and allow state-chartered trust companies to serve as custodians. Public comment will be open for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
Illinois delays crypto transaction tax to July 2027 Illinois has agreed to push back its 0.2% tax on digital-asset transactions by six months, moving the start date to July 1, 2027 from January 1, 2027, while lawsuits from crypto industry groups continue. The tax, included in the state’s fiscal 2027 budget signed by Governor JB Pritzker in June, applies to crypto brokers and allows fines or prison terms for violations.
New York and Wyoming sign crypto oversight pact with 6-month review target New York’s DFS and the Wyoming Division of Banking signed an MOU to coordinate crypto oversight and speed some interstate licensing reviews, with qualifying firms eligible for a final decision within six months. To use the fast track, companies must have operated for at least three years under their current regulator, face no active enforcement action, and propose a substantially similar business model.
MetaMask starts validator exits after staking infrastructure compromise MetaMask began exiting Ethereum validators on Sept. 30 after a compromise apparently diverted about 0.36 ETH in block tips, while outside researchers estimated roughly 17,000 validators with about 523,000 ETH were pushed toward exit queues. MetaMask said wallets and customer funds show no signs of impact, but Lido expects the affected validators to finish exiting by Oct. 7 and says re-entry could take up to 45 days, leaving stake offline and not earning rewards.
Drift opens DFX claims for April exploit victims Drift Foundation has opened DFX recovery claims and redemptions for wallets hit by its April 1 exploit, with about 3.11 million USDT currently in the pool. Eligible users receive 1 DFX per 1 USDT of verified losses, but the initial redemption rate is only about 0.0104 USDT per token, or roughly 1% of losses; redeemed DFX is burned. Claims close on Jan. 1, 2028.
Derive set to migrate options exchange to Ethereum in V3 overhaul Derive’s V3 upgrade is on track for Tuesday, Oct. 6 after a Snapshot vote showed 79.5M DRV, or 99.18%, in favor as of Oct. 1. The rebuild would retire Derive Chain and move the options venue onto Ethereum using zk proofs, with user funds held in L1 contracts, while positioning Derive as a backend for other apps to plug into rather than just a standalone trading venue.
Alabama crypto ATM law takes effect with mandatory scam refunds Alabama’s Cryptocurrency Kiosk Fraud Prevention Act took effect Oct. 1, requiring crypto ATM operators to reimburse qualifying scam victims: new customers can get full refunds plus fees, while existing customers can recover half the payment plus fees. To qualify, victims must notify the operator, law enforcement, and the Alabama Securities Commission within 60 days; the law also imposes transaction caps and fraud disclosure rules.
Curve proposal would end CRV rewards for two legacy gauges Curve’s ownership vote 1499 would stop future CRV emissions to the old CRV/cvxCRV pool and the old sfrxUSD/crvUSD v1 vault, cutting incentives for existing users without closing the pool or loans. The update comes as this week’s selected yields were led by sUSDx/USDx at 11.0% modeled APR and frxUSD/USG at 8.5%, while crvUSD mint-market debt fell 4.4% to $74.0 million.
Zano reveals bug behind 30-day chain rewind after $200M+ illicit mint Zano said a missing verification in its new Gateway Addresses let an attacker mint about 18.4 million ZANO in one transaction, repeat it, and do the same with fUSD, creating more than $200 million in illicit tokens. Because the first exploit went unnoticed for nearly a month and the coins blended into Zano’s privacy system, the project rolled the chain back to block 3,833,000 via Hard Fork 7 and disabled Gateway Addresses.
New York and Wyoming sign crypto oversight pact New York and Wyoming financial regulators signed an MOU to coordinate oversight of crypto firms operating in both states, including licensing reviews, exams and potential enforcement actions. The deal lets the agencies share supervisory and examination data, pursue joint or coordinated probes, and offers some firms already licensed or chartered in one state an expedited path in the other, with a target decision within six months for companies with at least three years of clean operating history.
Illinois officials and crypto groups seek 6-month delay for state digital asset tax Illinois state officials and two crypto industry groups jointly asked a Sangamon County court to push the Digital Asset Tax Act’s start date from Jan. 1, 2027 to July 1, 2027 while a constitutional challenge proceeds. The agreed motion would pause rollout of the 0.2% tax to preserve the status quo as the sides dispute claims that the law is vague, could cause double taxation, and may violate state and federal law.
Dutch lower house backs tax on unrealized crypto gains from 2028 The Dutch House of Representatives has passed the Box 3 Actual Return Tax Act, which would tax cryptocurrencies on annual value changes even if investors do not sell. The bill still needs Senate approval; if adopted, it would take effect in 2028 and let losses be carried forward to offset future gains.
NEAR Intents loses $3.8M in exploit, pauses deposits and withdrawals NEAR Intents said a bug in its Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure interaction with its smart contract led to about $3.8 million in losses, prompting a halt to deposits and withdrawals for about 12 more hours across 11 networks including BNB Chain, Polygon and Optimism. The team said it has patched the flaw, will fully reimburse affected users, and reported the incident to law enforcement.
EU consumer authorities target game studios over virtual currency sales European consumer authorities have launched 11 coordinated actions against 10 video game companies over how they sell and price in-game virtual currencies, targeting titles including Minecraft, Candy Crush Saga, Clash of Clans and Valorant. The new guidance says real-world prices must be shown clearly, cost-obscuring currency exchanges and leftover-balance bundles should be avoided, and players must be able to withdraw within 14 days for bought but unspent currency. It excludes cryptocurrencies and currencies earned only through gameplay.
SEC bars synthetic tokenized stocks under new innovation exemption The SEC’s Sept. 17 “innovation exemption” would allow blockchain venues to list tokenized securities only if they represent actual ownership and give holders the same rights as traditional shares, including dividends and voting. The framework excludes synthetic stock tokens like Robinhood’s offshore AMC-linked product and requires issuers to get notice and a chance to object before a third party tokenizes their shares.
Aave V4 stewards implement Round 18 cap changes after Security Council executes Round 17 Aave said Round 17 Add Cap and Draw Cap adjustments for V4 were executed by the Security Council on Ethereum, Avalanche and Arc, and after the Risk Stewards activation, Round 18 was also implemented by the stewards. LlamaRisk is now recommending another round of changes, targeting about $100M in extra Add Cap capacity after deposits across five hubs on two chains rose 15% to $396.1M and some lines hit full or heavy utilization.
Stacks jumps 20% as Muneeb Ali becomes Stacks Labs CEO STX rose more than 20% in 24 hours to about $0.38 after Stacks Labs named founder Muneeb Ali CEO on Sept. 30, replacing interim CEO Alex Miller, who will move to an advisory role. The move comes as Stacks opens Bonding Period 2 on Oct. 10, lifting Bitcoin staking capacity to 500 BTC, while Anchorage Digital builds custody support for institutions and HashKey Cloud joins the Genesis cohort.
September sets 2026 crypto hack record at $766.5M Crypto hacks hit a 2026 monthly high in September, with $766.49 million stolen, up 462% from August, based on DeFi Llama data. The surge was driven mainly by the $387.5 million Bitget exploit and a $320 million Liquid Network hack, though about $285 million from Liquid was returned. CertiK counted 99 security incidents in the month, making September the peak of Q3.
Aave Institutional funding proposal moves to Snapshot vote Aave’s ARFC to launch Aave Institutional has moved to Snapshot, with voting set to start in less than 12 hours. Aave Labs is asking the DAO to approve two parallel funding lines: a new 25M GHO facilitator and up to $25M of USDC or USDT borrowed against DAO balance-sheet assets, to fund over-collateralized institutional loans backed by BTC and ETH held with qualified custodians. Borrower rates are set at 6% to 8% APR, with a 1.5% to 3.5% net margin accruing to the DAO.
HSBC names Hong Kong dollar stablecoin Redcoin ahead of 2026 launch HSBC said its planned Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, HSBC Redcoin, will debut with person-to-person transfers and merchant payments in Hong Kong before expanding to corporate and institutional use cases. The bank is targeting a second-half 2026 launch through PayMe and the HSBC HK Mobile App, after receiving a Hong Kong Monetary Authority stablecoin issuer license on April 10.
India tops CSAO in crypto exchange inflows despite market contraction India received $88.4 billion through centralized crypto exchanges between July 2025 and June 2026, the highest in Central and Southeast Asia and Oceania, ahead of Singapore’s $82.3 billion and Australia’s $79.3 billion, Chainalysis said. That came even as India’s overall crypto economy fell 14.7% to $135 billion, while domestic exchanges handled just 0.7% of local exchange volume.
