Live Feed

Crypto projects raised about $1.114 billion in September, up 85% from August, according to RootData. The total number of fundraising deals, however, fell to 47, down 4.1% from August and 25.4% from the same month last year. Funding was concentrated in CeFi, DeFi and infrastructure, with disclosed fundraising across those three sectors accounting for about 92% of September’s total. The top three deals alone made up 54.8% of total fundraising, led by Polymarket at $300 million, Félix at $200 million and Jeeves at $110 million. Kraken also raised $100 million from Nasdaq.

An anonymous whale withdrew 2,000 ZEC worth about $2.82 million from Binance through two wallets, Onchain Lens reported. The whale now holds ZEC valued at about $66.19 million.

Aave founder Stani Kulechov said on X he is closely monitoring MetaMask’s security incident. Kulechov added that he is watching the situation with Lido and that Aave’s markets have not been affected, with all functions on the Aave protocol operating normally. CoinNess previously reported that MetaMask is responding to a security incident affecting part of its infrastructure.

CoinMarketCap’s in-house crypto fear and greed index came in at 67, down one point from yesterday, indicating that the market remained in the greed zone. The index signals extreme fear as it approaches zero and extreme optimism as it approaches 100. CoinMarketCap calculates the index based on price movements among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, market volatility, derivatives market indicators such as the put-call ratio, the stablecoin supply ratio, or SSR, and CoinMarketCap’s own search data.

Lido said on X that MetaMask’s staking service, “MetaMask Staking (formerly Consensys Staking),” has begun the process of shutting down its Ethereum validator operations within the Lido protocol as part of its response to an infrastructure security incident. Lido said it is taking precautionary steps to protect customer assets tied to validators operated by MetaMask Staking. The affected validators have started the exit process, and the final validator is scheduled to exit by Oct. 7, according to Lido. Lido added stETH holders do not need to take any action, while ETH from exited validators will gradually be returned to the protocol through withdrawal and re-entry, a process that could take about 45 days. CoinNess previously reported that MetaMask was responding to a security incident affecting part of its infrastructure.

Spot CVD is an order-book analysis chart for the BTC/USDT spot trading pair. The upper panel shows a volume heatmap, while the lower panel represents cumulative volume delta, or CVD. - The upper volume heatmap tracks trading volume at each price level, and the background becomes brighter when the price stays within a specific range for an extended period or moves sharply. Brighter zones may act as support or resistance. - The lower CVD indicator reflects buy and sell orders by capital size, with each colored line rising as buy orders increase for that segment. The yellow line represents orders between $100 and $1,000, while the brown line represents large orders between $1 million and $10 million.

MetaMask said on its official blog that it is responding to a security incident affecting parts of its infrastructure, adding that no immediate threat to MetaMask wallets has been identified so far. The company said it is carrying out internal remediation and recovery measures while working with external partners and security advisers. As a precaution, it is also proactively shutting down affected validators involved in its non-custodial staking operations in coordination with customers and partners. MetaMask added that its staking operations are non-custodial and that it does not manage withdrawal keys for staked assets on behalf of customers.

SBI Holdings said on Sept. 30 it plans to establish a joint venture with digital asset payments network Mesh and fintech firm Money Forward to build digital asset and stablecoin payment infrastructure in Japan. The venture is targeting a fourth-quarter 2026 launch, subject to a final agreement and regulatory approval. The three companies plan to work on account linking and asset transfers between exchanges and wallets, streamlining digital asset purchase and onboarding procedures, building regulated stablecoin infrastructure, and managing tokenized assets for financial institutions and corporations. They are also reviewing cross-border payment infrastructure connecting digital assets, stablecoins and fiat currencies.

Lorenzo Valente, head of digital asset research at crypto investment firm ARK Invest, said institutional adoption, broader tokenization of real-world assets, and stronger regulatory frameworks could act as catalysts for the next four-year Bitcoin bull cycle. Speaking at the European Blockchain Convention in Barcelona on Sept. 30, Valente said it was difficult to pinpoint the exact catalysts for Bitcoin and the broader virtual asset market, but investors appear to be treating November as a turning point in the cycle and preparing accordingly. Valente added that more fund managers, banks, and brokers need to enter the market for the crypto industry to grow, and said RWA, tokenization, and vaults could be the next major sources of products, services, or cash flow.

Moca Chain, developed by blockchain gaming company and investor Animoca Brands, announced the launch of its mainnet through its official channel. The blockchain is designed for privacy-preserving identity verification and aims to provide infrastructure that lets users directly control their own data while supporting the usability and verifiability of identity data. It also plans to support credential issuance and verification, as well as AI agent authorization checks, based on AIR, Animoca Brands’ identity verification and enterprise integration solution. According to CoinMarketCap, MOCA was trading at $0.01057, down 0.13%.

AI agents will prioritize tokenized assets over traditional assets, Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov said at SIBOS 2026 in Miami. Nazarov said a future is coming in which AI makes purchase decisions involving tokenized assets, while the model of humans clicking buttons to buy assets gradually fades. He said AI, by nature, pursues the fastest and most efficient solution, so agents will inevitably favor tokenized assets over traditional ones. Nazarov also said that as AI agents take on more tasks, infrastructure will be needed to handle work tied to tokenized assets, and Chainlink infrastructure will play a key role in connecting traditional industries, AI, and the tokenized asset ecosystem.

Tokenized real-world asset platform Superstate announced on Sept. 30 that it has expanded its tokenized short-term U.S. Treasury fund USTB to Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-two network. The expansion is part of a broader push to widen its services across the digital asset ecosystem and build digital asset infrastructure for institutional investors.

Two out of three users with real-name accounts at South Korea’s five major won-based virtual asset exchanges were not actively trading, SBS Biz reported. According to the office of Rep. Park Seong-hoon of the People Power Party, 3.8 million, or 32.6%, of the 11.63 million users holding real-name accounts at won-based virtual asset exchanges were actively trading as of the end of July. By contrast, about 7.83 million users, or 67.4% of the total, held real-name accounts but were not using them.

Bitcoin’s inflation rate has fallen below 1%, while the U.S. M2 money supply rose about 78% over the past decade to $23.342 trillion from $13.1 trillion, according to an analysis by Bitcoin data platform Bitview. Bitview added that only about 900,000 BTC remain unmined out of Bitcoin’s total supply, and said Bitcoin’s inflation rate is gradually converging toward 0% through successive halving cycles while U.S. dollars continue to be issued. Bitview included the English phrase "Which one you choose is up to you."

Crypto investment firm Multicoin Capital deposited 92,400 HYPE, worth about $8.34 million, to Coinbase Prime, according to Onchain Lens. Exchange deposits are typically interpreted as intended for selling.

A U.S. court has ordered the operators of Fundsz to pay more than $30 million in restitution after the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission charged them in 2023 with soliciting investors by touting purported algorithm-based returns in cryptocurrencies and commodities, The Block reported. According to the court, the operators spread false claims about Fundsz’s expected returns, past trading performance and loss risks, and falsely said investor funds could be traded using a proprietary algorithm and later withdrawn with interest.

The U.S. SEC has charged two investment advisers over a $15 million WhatsApp cryptocurrency fraud case, according to Bitcoinist. The two allegedly used WhatsApp to lure victims into a crypto investment scam and falsely promoted the platform as a safe venue overseen by regulators, including the SEC.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a man identified as one of the FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives and a member of the Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua. He is accused of using malware to steal millions of dollars from ATMs in the U.S. and then laundering the proceeds through cryptocurrency.

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said the crypto market rose after the Clarity Act failed, reflecting expectations that the industry could get a more favorable regulatory environment in the near term instead of long-term legislative certainty, according to Crypto Briefing. Hougan said some compromises included in the bill may have been less favorable to parts of the crypto industry than steps later taken by federal regulators. He pointed to stablecoins as a key example, saying talks during Clarity Act negotiations included efforts to close regulatory gaps around compensation as banks worried about intensifying deposit competition. The bill’s failure could instead benefit platforms such as Coinbase that use stablecoin rewards to attract customers, he said. Hougan added the Clarity Act aimed to create a broader federal market structure for digital assets, and if passed, it could have lowered some regulatory barriers for new entrants while creating new burdens for existing operators.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has asked the White House Office of Management and Budget to review two proposed rules on event contracts, according to Crypto Briefing. The proposals would include event contracts in the definition of swaps while separately distinguishing casino-style gambling products. Crypto Briefing said the CFTC argues it has exclusive jurisdiction over event contracts under the Commodity Exchange Act and maintains prediction markets fall under federal, not state, oversight, with the proposed rules set to reinforce that position.

Twenty One Capital (XXI) plans to expand its Bitcoin treasury of more than 43,500 BTC through a Berkshire Hathaway-style M&A strategy, CEO Raphael Zagury said in an interview with CoinDesk. Zagury said the company aims to acquire businesses and hold them over the long term while continuing to accumulate the value they generate in a way that contributes to growing its Bitcoin treasury. Twenty One Capital currently holds about 43,514 BTC, making it the world’s second-largest corporate Bitcoin holder.

The three major U.S. stock indices closed mixed today. - S&P 500: -0.25% - Nasdaq: +0.24% - Dow Jones: -0.86%

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines has formally introduced the Advancing Digital Asset Policy Through Taxation Act, or ADAPT Act, a 56-page bill aimed at clarifying tax standards for digital asset transactions including stablecoin payments, network fees, staking, and lending, The Defiant reported. The bill would also apply existing wash sale and constructive sale rules under the tax code to digital assets. A key provision would generally exclude capital gains and losses from taxation when taxpayers use qualifying U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins to buy goods and services. It would also exempt qualifying consumer transactions from broker reporting requirements, although the exemption would not apply to professional traders or market makers. Most provisions are set to take effect for tax years beginning after Dec. 31, 2026, or for transactions occurring after that date, according to The Defiant.

CBS News, the news division of U.S. broadcaster CBS, has partnered with Kalshi, which will provide real-time event contract pricing data for the outlet’s 2026 midterm election coverage, according to Crypto Briefing.

Circle has launched a new toolkit on the public blockchain Arc to support stablecoin purchases and lending, according to Crypto Briefing. Developers can add USDC purchases, Morpho-based yield, and Bitcoin-backed lending without building their own smart contracts, Crypto Briefing reported.