[Three key Bitcoin themes to watch this week]

Cointelegraph highlighted three key themes to watch for Bitcoin this week:
- the potential for Bitcoin’s third-quarter gain to reach its highest level since 2017
- the U.S. August PCE price index and September nonfarm payrolls data
- whether BTC can hold the key support level at $82,500
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170056

[Chainlink unveils CCIP 2.0 with optional custom bridge security checks]

Chainlink has launched cross-chain interoperability protocol CCIP 2.0, CoinDesk reported. The key change allows companies sending assets and messages across blockchains to add their own security validators or third-party validation providers on top of Chainlink’s default verification network.

Under CCIP 2.0, Chainlink’s base verification network, made up of 16 independent node operators, continues to verify all transfers, while users can add separate validators to strengthen the security layer. Existing CCIP users were automatically migrated to the new version. Chainlink has not disclosed any institutions currently using the new external validators.
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170057

[Bitmine buys 17,362 ETH, nears 5% supply target]

Bitmine added 17,362 ETH last week, bringing its total holdings to 6,001,302 ETH, according to a PR Newswire press release. Of that amount, 5,067,309 ETH is staked, representing 84% of its holdings.

Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee said the company has reached 98% of its “Alchemy of 5%” goal, which targets ETH holdings equal to 5% of total supply.
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170058

[Jeffrey Huang opens 40x BTC long worth $8.31M]

Taiwanese singer Jeffrey Huang, better known as Machi Big Brother, opened a 40x leveraged BTC long position worth $8.31 million for 99.7 BTC at $83,007, according to Onchain Lens.
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170059

[Bitcoin regains 20 ounces of gold for first time since January]

One Bitcoin has regained the value of 20 ounces of gold for the first time since January. The BTC/XAU ratio stood at 20.11591, meaning one BTC could buy about 20.12 ounces of gold.
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170060

[U.S. Senate probe says 84% of Iran-sanctioned wallets used USDT]

A U.S. Senate investigation found 84% of 846 cryptocurrency wallets linked to Iran and sanctioned by the United States and Israel processed all or nearly all transactions in Tether's USDT, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The WSJ said the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations identified USDT as a key payment tool for the Iranian regime and a financing channel for armed groups including Hezbollah. The report also criticized Tether for not freezing sanctioned wallets quickly enough, the newspaper said.
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170061

[US stocks open lower]

The three major U.S. stock indices opened lower today.
- S&P 500: -0.48%
- Nasdaq: -0.52%
- Dow Jones: -0.71%
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170063

[DTCC partners with iCapital on private-market infrastructure, explores tokenization]

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation said it has partnered with alternative investment platform iCapital to upgrade private-market infrastructure and has also made a strategic investment in the company. The two sides plan to deepen integration between DTCC’s Alternative Investment Product system and the iCapital platform to unify trade processing, data exchange, investment access, administration and reporting. They also plan to explore cooperation on new technologies aimed at improving connectivity and efficiency across alternative investments. In that context, iCapital CEO Lawrence Calcano said the companies will also pursue blockchain-based distributed ledger technology, or DLT, and tokenization where needed.
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170064

[Ric Edelman recommends allocating up to 40% to BTC]

Ric Edelman, a U.S. financial expert and founder of the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals (DACFP), recommended raising Bitcoin portfolio allocations to as much as 40% in an interview at the Bitcoin Treasury Conference 2026.
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170065

[Belarus adds first two crypto banks to HTP special economic zone]

Two cryptocurrency banks have been registered for the first time as resident companies in Belarus’ Hi-Tech Park, a special economic zone for tech firms, TASS reported.

If they later receive approval from the central bank, the two companies will be able to conduct token-related business and provide financial services including banking and payments. Authorities said the firms are well-known in the cryptocurrency market, but did not disclose their names.
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170066

[3,000 BTC transferred from an unknown wallet to Bitfinex]

Whale Alert reported that 3,000 BTC has been transferred from an unknown wallet to Bitfinex. The transaction is valued at about $251 million.
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170067

[Bloomberg: Major U.S. exchanges seek longer trading hours amid crypto competition]

Major U.S. exchanges including the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq are pushing to extend trading beyond regular hours, Bloomberg reported. The move comes as competition intensifies from 24-hour cryptocurrency platforms and prediction markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi, while demand is also rising from overseas investors and other global traders seeking to react immediately to major news developments.
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170068

[ESMA says MiCA focus shifts from rulemaking to supervision]

The focus of the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation has shifted from rulemaking to supervision and ensuring regulatory consistency, ESMA Chair Verena Ross said at the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, according to Cointelegraph.

ESMA plans in 2027 to prioritize oversight of crypto asset service providers’ operational resilience, outsourcing risks and liquidity. The regulator also plans to standardize reporting criteria across countries and launch the first phase of a market abuse surveillance system for the crypto market.
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170069

[Backtest shows 5% BTC allocation lifted annual returns in retirement portfolio]

A Cointelegraph Research backtest using 2015-2025 data found that a traditional 60/40 stock-and-bond portfolio posted an annual return of 8.96%, while a portfolio with a 5% BTC allocation delivered 16.39% annually.
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170070

[Circle partners with Volante to integrate USDC into bank payment systems]

Circle said it is partnering with Volante Technologies to expand support for stablecoin payments and settlement at financial institutions. Volante plans to add USDC issuance and redemption, recipient wallet registration, funding, and wallet-to-wallet payments to its AI-based payments platform, allowing banks to test USDC-based payments within their existing payment infrastructure without building separate digital-asset systems.
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170071

[Anchorage Digital adds conditional controls to institutional custody security]

Anchorage Digital has introduced conditional rule features for vault policies used by institutional clients, allowing administrators to set detailed conditions for asset movements, Crypto Briefing reported. Administrators can block withdrawals by default and permit transfers only to preapproved addresses, while similar conditions can also be applied to staking and governance activities. Policy changes require approval from multiple authorized parties and iOS biometric authentication.
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170072

[Blackboard, Aster to hold Oct. 1 reception on Web3-TCG convergence]

On-chain trading platform Blackboard said it will hold a launch reception with Aster on Oct. 1 and host a session on why Web3 is drawing strong interest in trading card games, or TCGs. Panelists will include Web3 community leader Dojin Lee, Web3Stat DAO founder Moon Yoo and Arkstar Bluenode Society Chairman, who will discuss the collectible card game boom and its potential convergence with Web3.

Blackboard also plans to unveil an implementation case for a TCG on-chain gacha trading service integrated with the Collector Crypt protocol, along with its longer-term vision for the service.
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170073

[UK FCA wins court order for crypto fraudsters to repay $1.1M to victims]

The UK Financial Conduct Authority has secured a court order requiring two men behind a fake cryptocurrency investment scheme to return a total of 851,402 pounds ($1.13 million) to victims, The Block reported. At least 65 investors lost a combined 1.54 million pounds ($2.04 million) in the scam, and the repayment amount is about half of the total losses.
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170074

[Senator urges immediate Tether probe over alleged Iran sanctions violations]

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, urged an immediate investigation into Tether and accountability for potential sanctions violations involving Iran after 84% of crypto wallets tied to Iran and sanctioned by the U.S. and Israel were found to have handled all or nearly all transactions in Tether’s USDT.

Blumenthal said Tether and USDT had become central to Iran’s shadow financial system and argued the Trump administration’s apparent failure to properly oversee crypto issuers had undermined U.S. national security interests. For that reason, Blumenthal said the Treasury Department and Justice Department should immediately investigate Tether and pursue accountability over potential Iran-related sanctions violations.
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170075

[Ledger CTO says estimate that only 30% of BTC faces quantum risk is inaccurate]

Ledger CTO Charles Guillemet challenged an analysis suggesting only about 30% of Bitcoin is exposed to quantum-computing attack risk, stressing that public keys can be exposed through xpubs, devices, PSBTs, logs and backups, not just through spent on-chain outputs. Citing Glassnode data, Guillemet said about 30.2% of BTC has exposed spent public keys on-chain, but added that public keys are also revealed during BTC transfers before transactions are confirmed. Guillemet emphasized that if sufficiently fast quantum computers emerge, hiding public keys alone would not be enough and Bitcoin would ultimately need to transition to a quantum-resistant cryptographic system.
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170076

[Tether says it froze $550M in Iran-linked USDT this year, citing law enforcement cooperation]

After the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said 84% of crypto wallets tied to Iran and sanctioned by the U.S. and Israel processed all or nearly all transactions in Tether, Tether pushed back, saying it froze about $550 million worth of Iran-linked USDT in 2026. Tether said it has worked with U.S. and international law enforcement authorities to comply with relevant regulations and also cooperated with the economic sanctions Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently imposed on Iran. Tether added it has consistently shown USDT is not a safe haven for sanctioned actors, terrorist groups, or criminal networks, and stressed that U.S. authorities including the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Secret Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control have repeatedly acknowledged its role in major law enforcement operations.
https://coinness.com/en/news/1170077