Open USD, a new dollar‑pegged stablecoin, went live on Wednesday across Ethereum, Solana, Coinbase’s Base and Stripe‑backed Tempo blockchains, marking the first public issuance of the Open Standard project. The launch follows a June announcement and positions the token as a payment, banking and institutional trading tool in a market still dominated by USDT and USDC.

Zach Abrams, chief executive of Open Standard, said the initiative aims to make stablecoins as ubiquitous as the U.S. dollar, emphasizing utility over speculation. Open Standard’s founding partners — Coinbase, Mastercard, Visa, Shopify and Stripe — each hold an equal initial equity stake and have collectively pledged more than $1 billion to provide liquidity for OUSD over the coming months. Abrams noted that the majority of the cap table will eventually be distributed to founders and network participants based on contributions to OUSD supply and activity.

The project’s governance model differs from a traditional consortium. While Open Standard has corporate investors, its management operates independently rather than through a large committee of partners. A smaller group of founding partners will hold board seats, while the broader network of more than 200 companies — including recent additions such as UBS, Japan’s SBI Holdings and fintech Jeeves — will earn rewards tied to their role in expanding OUSD supply and transaction volume.

Under Open Standard’s economic model, founding partners do not receive a preferential revenue share. Instead, they earn equity rewards proportional to the amount of OUSD they generate and the transaction activity they drive, meeting thresholds that the company has not disclosed. Abrams indicated that equity will be released over four to five years, incentivizing partners to move the token rather than merely hold it.

The launch comes as stablecoin issuers seek new ways to distribute interest earnings from backing assets. Unlike Tether and Circle, which retain most of the interest from their reserves, Open Standard plans to channel a portion of that income to partners based on their contributions. This approach could lower costs for firms moving large volumes of money, as Open USD eliminates minting and burning fees.

Romero, chief business officer of Tempo, projected that OUSD could reach roughly $1 billion in liquidity on Tempo within months, potentially climbing to $10 billion by 2027 and surpassing $100 billion in the longer term. Open Standard intends to issue OUSD on multiple blockchains, with Tempo competing to become the deepest liquidity pool.

Abrams suggested that demand for stablecoins will eventually extend beyond the U.S. dollar. He cited Bridge, the firm he previously led, which issued a euro‑backed token for Revolut, as evidence of interest in other currencies. The long‑term vision includes scaling OUSD transaction volume to “hundreds of trillions of dollars a year” as stablecoins become part of global money‑movement infrastructure.

A new Bitcoin improvement proposal, BIP461, aims to make hidden routes for leaking wallet secrets more detectable. The draft establishes a standardized signing procedure for the ECDSA signature scheme, requiring independent signers using the same secret key and message hash to generate identical signatures. This creates a reference point for identifying deviations that might conceal key material. Authored by Liam Gilligan, the proposal was merged into the BIPs repository on September 16 and remains marked as Draft. It operates within existing Bitcoin consensus rules, meaning implementation does not require network-wide consensus changes. The standard defines specific deterministic parameters for generating valid signatures, reducing the flexibility signers have in choosing values like the nonce, a temporary number used during signing. Malicious firmware could theoretically embed seed material within signatures that still pass verification, exploiting this flexibility to hide key leakage. BIP461 addresses this by specifying a precise deterministic procedure for nonce generation and other parameters. However, the proposal does not prove that a signature was created safely; it only provides a benchmark against which implementations can be compared. Verification requires identical inputs and access to the secret key on a separate, independent signer, which introduces practical challenges in testing. When signatures for the same key and hash do not match, it indicates non-compliance, but the cause may stem from honest differences in implementation. The comparison alone cannot definitively identify malicious devices or prove theft occurred. The standard limits signatures to 70 bytes in standard DER encoding, excluding Bitcoin's one-byte sighash flag. Related research, such as the Dark Skippy disclosure, previously highlighted risks of corrupted firmware embedding seed material in transaction signatures, though that work focused on Schnorr signing via Taproot's BIP340. BIP461 does not resolve those specific Schnorr-related scenarios. The proposal's mitigation discussion notes that leakage could occur selectively on individual transactions, allowing devices to appear compliant during testing while leaking on production use. At the time of merging, reviewers emphasized the need for test vectors and reference implementations to advance the draft toward Complete status. For wallet users, the primary value lies in creating a shared benchmark to surface deviations from expected behavior. Whether this translates to practical security improvements depends on widespread adoption of compliant implementations and robust comparison methods that account for both detection capabilities and the risks of handling sensitive secrets.

Petrobras, Brazil’s state-controlled energy company, is evaluating the Cardano blockchain to verify environmental claims linked to cleaner jet fuel and partially renewable diesel, according to a report shared by the Cardano Foundation with CoinDesk.

The initiative involves two research projects focused on traceability. One project targets sustainable aviation fuel, a lower-carbon alternative to conventional jet fuel that can be used in existing aircraft and airports. The other examines Diesel R, a diesel blend incorporating renewable materials such as vegetable oils and animal fats.

The aviation effort addresses challenges in the book-and-claim system, where airlines purchase environmental benefits tied to sustainable fuel use even when the physical fuel is consumed elsewhere. Cardano would record the origin of each emissions reduction, the recipient, and the timing of claims to prevent double-counting. Under this model, a passenger’s travel emissions could be linked to a specific fuel certificate through a digital record.

The diesel project would create a chronological record of the fuel’s production, transportation, and consumption, forming a verifiable history of its environmental footprint. This could support corporate reporting on Scope 3 emissions, which encompass indirect emissions across supply chains.

Both projects remain in the research phase, with no disclosed timeline for commercial rollout or details on the volume of fuel involved. Petrobras has not indicated plans for broader implementation beyond testing.

Frederik Gregaard, chief executive of the Cardano Foundation, noted Brazil’s longstanding engagement with Cardano technology, citing adoption by government and industrial entities. He described the partnership as part of a broader trend of institutional interest in the blockchain, particularly with recent developments like the x402 payment standard and support for native tokens.

The x402 protocol, which enables automated microtransactions for data or computing services, has been integrated into Cardano’s ecosystem. While initial testing occurred on pre-production networks, commercial deployment on the live blockchain has not yet been demonstrated.

Cardano’s involvement reflects its technical capabilities in on-chain provenance and traceability, particularly in sectors requiring verifiable environmental claims. The projects underscore ongoing experimentation in using blockchain for sustainability accounting, though outcomes remain uncertain.

Independent directors of Metaplanet have defended a stock‑option program that allows CEO Simon Gerovich and four other employees to purchase up to 188 million shares at 10 yen each, a price well below the current market value of roughly 286 yen. The plan, originally approved in 2023 when the company was a struggling hotel operator, was designed to allocate about 20% of the firm’s fully diluted shares to management. After Metaplanet shifted its focus to acquiring bitcoin in April 2024, the scheme meant that each new equity issuance to fund bitcoin purchases would dilute existing shareholders while expanding the pool of shares available to management. The option pool grew from roughly 46 million potential shares to 319 million before the company froze the number of reward shares, with Gerovich’s entitlement covering 113 million of those, 64 million of which he had already exercised. Following shareholder backlash, the pool was reduced by 41% on September 11, cutting more than $220 million in potential warrant value and ending automatic adjustments for equity issued after September 1, 2025. The revised structure adds staggered exercise restrictions that run through 2031 and improves fully diluted bitcoin per share by about 8.8%, according to the directors. Exercised and unexercised rights now represent roughly 12.5% of total shares. The directors emphasized that the original plan was approved by a majority of shareholders at the time and that management purchased the rights with personal funds during a financial crisis, framing the scheme as an early investment rather than a post‑success compensation package. They also noted that comparisons with peers should consider founder ownership and that management’s cash compensation remained restrained. Gerovich did not take part in the review or resolution of the plan. The directors’ letter, however, left several questions unanswered, including the 64 million shares Gerovich acquired before the September 11 reset and the role of MMXX Ventures, a shareholder whose sales and Gerovich’s economic interest have drawn scrutiny. Metaplanet has said the earlier exercises were valid under the terms in force and that the shares will not be returned. The company has not disclosed the extent of its personal economic interest in MMXX’s share sales.

Bitcoin's recent retreat from a peak above $87,400 has placed the $82,000 price zone under intense scrutiny, with analysts warning that a sustained breach could trigger a deeper correction toward the high $70,000s. Holding the $81,500 to $83,000 range is seen as critical to maintaining bullish momentum and enabling a potential rally toward $90,000 or beyond. The cryptocurrency briefly reached $87,400 on September 21, 2026, but has since pulled back, retesting a level that previously acted as resistance in May and early September. That area, which once capped gains before a drop to $57,000 in June, now serves as a key support floor where buying pressure is expected to emerge. Traders view $82,000 as a psychological and technical inflection point, with a breakdown likely to accelerate losses. Jeff Anderson, head of U.S. at crypto firm STS Digital, noted that the double-top pattern at this level suggests bearish vulnerability, though he stopped short of predicting a sustained downturn. He attributed the current weakness to rising U.S. Treasury yields and outflows from spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, rather than fundamental flaws in Bitcoin itself. 'The recent softness stems from volatility in fixed income markets, not crypto-specific issues,' Anderson said. Lacie Zhang, a research analyst at Bitget Wallet, emphasized that preserving the $81,500 to $83,000 zone would signal market resilience, but warned that a confluence of factors—including negative ETF flows, rising 10-year Treasury yields, and a failure to hold support—could accelerate a correction. Iliya Kalchev of Nexo Dispatch placed the critical threshold slightly lower, suggesting that a sustained drop below $80,000 would undermine the bullish narrative. Despite the risks, some analysts see upside potential: a rebound from current levels could carry Bitcoin above $90,000, particularly if inflation data and monetary policy shifts favor risk assets. The Personal Consumption Expenditures index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, is expected to influence market direction in the coming weeks, potentially determining whether the rally resumes or gives way to further declines.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has submitted a proposal to broaden the legal definition of a "swap" to include event contracts traded on regulated prediction platforms. The move, detailed in a docket filed with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, would grant the agency authority over markets that currently operate under a narrower interpretation of federal law.

Under the draft rule, contracts that settle on the outcome of future events — such as elections, sports results or commodity price movements — would be treated as swaps when offered on exchanges registered with the CFTC. The agency also released an interim final rule that would carve out traditional casino-style gambling products from the definition. Both measures are now undergoing internal review.

The agency argues that extending the swap definition is necessary to preserve its jurisdiction over platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi, which have offered event contracts that attract significant speculative volume. State gambling regulators have contested this view, asserting that such contracts fall under state jurisdiction and should be subject to local licensing and tax regimes.

Legal scholars note that the proposal could set the stage for a broader confrontation between federal and state authorities over the regulation of prediction markets. If adopted, the rule would likely prompt challenges in the courts, particularly as states seek to enforce their own gambling statutes against platforms that operate across state lines.

The development comes amid heightened scrutiny of prediction markets following recent controversies involving election‑related contracts and high‑profile betting on sports outcomes. Regulators on both sides say the clarification is intended to ensure consumer protection and market integrity while preserving the innovative aspects of these emerging financial instruments.

Bitcoin has risen about 42.5% so far in the third quarter, but Bitfinex analysts say further gains will depend on stronger buying from spot market participants as leverage declines and inflows into U.S. exchange‑traded funds slow. The firm notes that reduced leverage lowers the risk of liquidations but does not generate new demand. A sustained move above $85,000 could return roughly 760,000 BTC to profit, according to the team. U.S. ETF purchases have decelerated despite recording nine consecutive days of net inflows totaling $3.08 billion. Bitfinex Alpha reported on September 30 that the quarterly gain would rank as the second‑strongest Q3 performance since 2013, while cautioning that futures positioning and fund purchases now provide less support for another advance. Options volatility is near a one‑year low and speculative positions have been trimmed, the analysts said, adding that the market needs buyers willing to acquire Bitcoin directly. They argue that removing borrowed positions can reduce the chance of a sharp decline driven by liquidations without supplying the demand needed to lift prices. “Low leverage limits the scope for a price decline to accelerate through liquidations, but it does not create a buyer. That buyer must come from the spot market,” the team wrote. Futures open interest has fallen alongside the price rally, suggesting traders have reduced leveraged exposure rather than built new positions. The analysts warned against assuming a market with fewer leveraged contracts is automatically bullish. In a separate September 24 report, crypto.news cited strategy adviser Wojciech Kaszycki of BTCS S.A., who said ETF inflows had initially supported the rally before futures exposure began to accumulate. Kaszycki estimated that open interest had risen about 7% over a month, with funding near 8% on an annualized basis, and noted that risk could increase if borrowed positions grew faster than cash demand. He said he looks for ETF inflows to persist over weeks and compares growth in outstanding futures contracts with Bitcoin’s price to gauge buying strength. Weekly ETF inflow data from September 21–25 showed purchases of $2.39 billion, with daily inflows dropping from $999 million on Monday to $134.5 million on Friday. BlackRock’s IBIT led with $1.16 billion in weekly inflows, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC at $701.6 million, ARK 21Shares’ ARKB at $294.7 million and Morgan Stanley’s MSBT with $203.3 million. A smaller net inflow of about $6.1 million was recorded the prior week after withdrawals on September 15 and 16. Analysts said a recovery above $85,000 would absorb coins sold by holders looking to exit near their purchase prices, with roughly 1.39 million BTC changing hands between $84,000 and $86,500. Immediate support appears in the $82,500–$84,000 band, where holdings rose from about 110,000 BTC on September 27 to 306,000 BTC on September 30. A move past $85,000 would return 760,000 BTC bought in that range to profit and could push the share of supply in profit above 75%, a threshold some analysts use to signal a new bull phase. Lacie Zhang, research lead at Bitget Wallet, identified $81,500–$83,000 as a key support zone for the September breakout, attributing the pullback to profit‑taking, reduced leveraged longs, higher U.S. Treasury yields and a stronger dollar. She said continued ETF buying and limited liquidations could allow consolidation within that area, while further ETF withdrawals, a rise in the 10‑year Treasury yield or a break below $82,000 would increase the risk of a deeper decline. In futures markets, Bitfinex linked the reduction in positions to shrinking premiums, which diminish the incentive to maintain trades based on the spot‑futures price spread. The October contract’s annualized premium stood at 5.1%, and open interest fell by 16,075 BTC on September 28 as September contracts expired. Historical patterns suggest that when futures premiums remain at current levels and open interest stays flat, Bitcoin has tended to appreciate over the following 30 days, with a median gain of 8.9% since 2022. Read more: Petrobras tests Cardano to track low‑carbon aviation fuel and diesel

XRP climbed above $1.50 on September 30 after a shareholder vote approved Evernorth’s merger with Armada Acquisition Corp. II, moving the Ripple-backed firm closer to a Nasdaq listing. The vote, confirmed by XRPL collaborator Bear Champ in a post on X, cleared a key hurdle for the transaction, which also includes a $30 million financing agreement and a separate listing condition. Evernorth projects a treasury of at least 473.3 million XRP at closing, combining purchases and commitments rather than a planned sale. The company’s SEC filing states that neither the SEC nor any state regulator has approved or rejected the merger. XRP traded near $1.51, up about 1.89%, after dipping below $1.47 earlier in the session. The price had briefly reached $1.54 before retreating. Evernorth’s registration materials outline plans to allocate capital toward XRP infrastructure and treasury strategies, including yield generation and ecosystem participation. A conditional debt facility of $30 million in convertible senior notes bearing 4% interest maturing in 2031 was signed on September 11, with proceeds earmarked for general corporate purposes, including XRP acquisitions. Earlier disclosures show Evernorth purchased roughly 84.37 million XRP for $214 million in November 2025 at an average price of $2.5366 per token, and received a contribution of 126,791,458 XRP from Ripple. Executive compensation amendments filed in July detail bonus eligibility and equity awards for three officers, contingent on shareholder approval and the transaction’s completion. The merger remains subject to closing conditions, including financing and regulatory requirements.

Bitcoin briefly climbed above $85,000 on Sept. 30 before slipping back below $84,000 following the release of August personal consumption expenditures inflation figures. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported headline PCE inflation at 0.3% month over month and 3.4% year over year, with core PCE — excluding food and energy — up 0.2% month over month and 3.0% year over year. The data arrived alongside an annual update to national economic accounts that revised earlier estimates, requiring careful comparison across time periods. While headline inflation remained above the Federal Reserve's 2% target, the figures added context to monetary policy discussions without dictating the central bank's next move. At 3:28 p.m. UTC, Bitcoin traded near $84,000, marking a modest 0.56% gain over the prior 24 hours but failing to sustain the earlier rally. The move coincided with a rebound in U.S. Treasury yields, which rose to about 5.276% for the 10-year note, and a corresponding uptick in the UK 30-year government bond yield near 5.939%. Stocks and crude oil prices also recovered during the session, with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust trading around $766.82 and Brent spot crude climbing toward $102.20 per barrel. Gold, tracked via a contract for difference, settled near $4,163.92 an ounce, below its earlier peak above $4,200. The U.S. Dollar Index hovered near 101.39 after retreating from earlier highs. Analysts noted that the August PCE report reflects price changes from that month, while subsequent manufacturing and employment data cover September, leaving the broader inflation and growth narrative still evolving. For Bitcoin, the session ended with a failed test of the $85,000 level and a retreat to below $84,000, leaving traders to assess whether momentum could extend beyond the initial buying surge.

Base activated its Cobalt upgrade on Wednesday, introducing conditional transactions and enhanced issuer controls for tokenized assets on the Ethereum layer-2 network. The third major upgrade expands the B20 token standard, enabling issuers to apply multiple compliance checks to a single asset. For instance, an issuer could require recipients to pass identity verification, confirm accredited investor status and avoid sanctioned lists. Issuers may also schedule adjustments for corporate events like stock splits, modifying share counts in wallets and applications without minting or burning tokens. The update permits authorized administrators to transfer tokens from a holder’s wallet without the holder’s consent and to attach public notes to transfers. Base clarified that issuers determine which features to enable and who may access them, with the network itself unable to initiate such actions. These additions provide the compliance and administrative infrastructure necessary for integrating traditional financial products onto the blockchain. Cobalt also incorporates Validity Transactions, allowing users to submit transactions that become eligible only when predefined onchain conditions are satisfied, such as an asset reaching a target price before a block deadline. Submitted transactions remain private until inclusion in a block. The upgrade follows Base’s recent focus on tokenized finance, including the July 8 activation of B20 as a native standard for stablecoins and real-world assets. On July 16, Base creator Jesse Pollak acknowledged a prior strategic misstep in prioritizing creator and messaging applications over financial use cases, citing lagging development in prediction markets and perpetual futures. Coinbase launched tokenized US equities on Base on August 25, issuing B20 tokens representing shares in Apple, Nvidia, Meta and Alphabet. Base plans to reduce block times from two seconds to 200 milliseconds, implement protocol-level support for sponsored transaction fees and bundled transactions, and adopt technical changes from Ethereum’s Glamsterdam upgrade in the coming months.

An onchain analysis by security firm SlowMist identified the first malicious activity tied to the Bitget breach as occurring on August 31, when an attacker leveraged a zero-day vulnerability in a third-party security product.

The stolen assets were taken from Bitget’s hot wallets on September 24 (UTC), then moved across multiple blockchains to addresses controlled by the attacker. SlowMist’s investigation uncovered two additional third-party security tools and a wallet application that were compromised.

According to the firm’s report, the intruder accessed the database of what it labeled “Product A” after extracting a password from an environment variable. Similar access was later observed on two other nodes on September 23 and September 25. All timestamps are recorded in UTC+8.

On September 25, the attacker gained entry to the management interface of a second security product, which SlowMist called “Product B,” using credentials belonging to an internal employee. The intruder then attempted to run system commands, modify server settings and upload malicious files.

SlowMist noted that its inquiry is ongoing and that it continues to trace how the attacker navigated between compromised systems. The firm also recovered a deleted, highly customized withdrawal tool that was used to manipulate the wallet system’s exit process. The tool altered risk-control parameters, crafted withdrawal requests and triggered the withdrawal function.

Onchain verification showed the earliest confirmed transfer at 2:31 am UTC+8 on September 25, when an address linked to the attacker received 93 TRX, followed 11 seconds later by 0.84 ether on Ethereum. Over the next two hours and 52 minutes, a series of transfers moved funds across several networks, with the final recorded movement at 5:23 am that day.

The attacker also attempted to edit withdrawal records directly in the wallet database and initiate additional Bitcoin withdrawals. Two fabricated Bitcoin withdrawal orders entered processing but returned errors; after reviewing logs and checking order status, the attacker made further attempts.

Bitget’s chief executive, Gracy Chen, told Cointelegraph that the breach originated from a vulnerability in a third-party security product that allowed the attacker to obtain “high-level internal credentials” and issue fraudulent withdrawal commands. She emphasized that Bitget’s private keys and cold‑wallet holdings were not compromised.

Chen added that the exchange is still working to recover the stolen funds and that she is “not very optimistic” about a full recovery, citing the limited restitution achieved after the Bybit hack of 2025 as a cautionary example.

The incident underscores the risks associated with reliance on third‑party security solutions and highlights the need for rigorous audit practices when integrating external products into cryptocurrency exchange infrastructure.

DogeOS opened its public testnet on September 30, offering developers an EVM-compatible layer for Dogecoin that uses DOGE to pay transaction fees. The rollout follows a $6.9 million funding round announced in May 2025. The platform enables testing of trading, lending, stablecoin, prediction-market and gaming applications. Current validation relies on a set of validators, a trusted execution environment and a permissioned sequencer. A proposed upgrade to Dogecoin Core would add native ZK-proof verification, but the change has not yet been implemented. CEO Jordan Jefferson said the team will announce a mainnet timeline after reaching additional development milestones. Under the current design, state transitions require valid proofs, signatures from a majority of validators and a signer operating within a trusted execution environment. The network does not yet verify ZK proofs directly on Dogecoin, according to the CEO’s remarks. Developers can use the testnet to build and test products before the mainnet launch. The company highlighted projects such as Barkswap, which is creating a liquidity engine, Superposition Finance, developing a lending protocol, and Derps, working on a perpetual exchange. It also listed Split Markets, building non-liquidatable options, and USDoge, a collateralized debt position stablecoin. Additional applications mentioned include Snag, a prediction-market aggregator, and launchpads from Anoncoin and Starbase, as well as games and consumer products from Doge Escape, PlaysOut and DogeFundMe. Availability of features will depend on each project’s development schedule. Jefferson told The Block that network validation and developer testing are the immediate priorities, with the mainnet timeline to be shared as milestones are reached. Native proof verification still depends on a future Dogecoin upgrade. The proposed change, submitted in July 2025, would allow Dogecoin miners to verify execution proofs directly, but it remains unimplemented. Dogecoin Foundation director Timothy Stebbing voiced support for developers building on the network, describing an ambition for startup activity rather than a count of existing companies. He said he hopes DogeOS will become a springboard for new utility engineering and attract the next wave of startups. The project’s funding comes from the team behind the MyDoge wallet, which raised the $6.9 million round led by Polychain Capital in May 2025. Earlier coverage noted that the funds would support platform launch, developer tools and partnerships, with a focus on gaming, artificial intelligence and decentralized finance. In a separate development, Bitwise scheduled the closure of its Dogecoin ETF (BWOW) for U.S. investors, with the final trading day set for October 14, 2025, and cash distributions expected around October 22 based on the fund’s October 21 net asset value. The SEC filing describes the distributions as taxable events and advises shareholders to consult tax advisers. A different bridge project, Psy, is building a Dogecoin-to-Solana bridge that verifies Dogecoin block headers and proof-of-work data on Solana, aiming to let DOGE holders access DeFi, NFTs and gaming applications on Solana without selling their tokens.