BSC News

40 Integrations, 24 Partners in a Single Month
@Chainlink has closed out September 2026 with a notable adoption milestone, disclosing 40 new integrations across 24 enterprises, blockchain networks, and decentralized finance platforms. The announcement, shared on October 7, underlines the pace at which the oracle network is expanding its footprint across both crypto-native and traditional financial institutions.
The September roster is broad by design. According to Crypto Briefing, partners plugging in during the month included @aave, @Coinbase, @Paxos, @bottomlinepay, @Infosys, @monad, and others spanning DeFi lending, major exchanges, stablecoin issuers, payments firms, and IT services companies. Also featured was @Wyostable, Wyoming's state token commission, marking a notable step into government-backed digital asset infrastructure.
The integrations did not arrive all at once. The month built steadily, with 10 integrations reported in early September, 16 more in the week of September 14 to 20, and a further 14 announced around September 27. The month then closed with the launch of CCIP 2.0 on September 28, which added enhanced security features and support for programmable cross-chain messages.
Full Tech Stack in Production
The September integrations span the full Chainlink product suite. The Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) handles the movement of tokens and data between blockchains. Data Streams delivers low-latency market pricing, and Proof of Reserve provides on-chain attestations verifying the collateral backing stablecoins and tokenized assets. The Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE), which enables automated multi-chain workflows, also featured in several of the new deployments.
The breadth of the partner list is part of what makes the September tally stand out. On the crypto-native side, @aave and @Coinbase are established anchors, while @monad represents a newer network requiring data and interoperability infrastructure from day one. On the institutional side, @Infosys and @bottomlinepay are not typical DeFi names, pointing to Chainlink's continued push into enterprise and payments markets. @Paxos, as a regulated stablecoin issuer, sits at the intersection of both worlds.
The scale of Chainlink's broader network continues to grow alongside the monthly integration counts. CCIP has processed significant cross-chain transfer volume in 2026, and the protocol's total value secured spans DeFi, enterprise agreements, and institutional pilots.
Sources:
Crypto Briefing: Chainlink logs 40 new integrations across 24 users in September
Chainlink: Quarterly Review Q1 2026

Bringing India's Grain Economy Onchain
India's agritech firm Arya.ag and fintech infrastructure company Finternet are working together to bring more than $2 billion in grain reserves onto the @Avax blockchain. The initiative, announced in September 2026 at the Global Fintech Festival in Mumbai by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, targets one of the most persistent inefficiencies in Indian agriculture: slow, fragmented, and paper-heavy credit markets.
Arya.ag is one of India's largest agri-logistics and warehousing operators, currently managing over $2 billion in grain inventory across more than 12,000 warehouses nationwide. The company supports approximately $1.26 billion in loans annually, while its lending arm, Arya Dhan, issues around $230 million in loans each year.
Arya.ag is testing a system to tokenize warehouse receipts for stored grain on a dedicated Avalanche layer-1 blockchain. Finternet aggregates multiple types of data, covering the farmer, commodity, warehouse, and insurance details, into what its director Sanmesh Kalyanpur describes as a "composite token" that banks can use to assess collateral risk. Devika Mittal, Ava Labs' head of India, confirmed that testing is underway and that each tokenized receipt represents ownership of the stored commodity.
Tackling Fraud and Credit Delays for Farmers
When a farmer stores grain in a warehouse, they can borrow against it instead of selling immediately, but the records showing what is stored, whether it is already pledged as collateral, and how much is owed often sit in separate systems, making it slower for lenders to confirm details before approving a loan. The Avalanche-based infrastructure addresses this directly.
The shared records are designed to help banks verify that grain used as loan collateral exists and has not been pledged elsewhere. The project includes institutional lenders such as Singularity Credit and Aryadhan, using grain inventory as collateral. Ava Labs' Devika Mittal noted the dedicated L1 is run by Arya and will scale to support other warehouse companies, adding that three major banks are already joining the network.
Arya.ag is setting up its own dedicated layer-1 blockchain built using Avalanche technology, and plans to open it to other warehouse companies in the future. The Finternet concept itself traces back to a 2024 paper by the Bank for International Settlements, co-authored by Nandan Nilekani and then-BIS General Manager Agustín Carstens, proposing an interconnected unified ledger for tokenized assets. No formal launch date or initial deployment scale has been disclosed.
Sources
Cointelegraph: Arya.ag Tests Tokenized Grain Ownership Records on Avalanche
CoinDesk: Indian Agri Warehouse Giant Is Putting $2 Billion in Grain-Backed Loans Onchain
Crypto.news: Arya.ag Puts India's $2B Grain Network Onchain

Litecoin ($LTC) turns 15 today, October 7, 2026. Creator Charlie Lee mined the Litecoin genesis block at 07:31:05 UTC on October 7, 2011, marking the official start of the network. What began as a leaner, faster alternative to Bitcoin has since grown into one of the most enduring blockchains in the industry.
The genesis block's coinbase carried the text "NY Times 05/Oct/2011 Steve Jobs, Apple's Visionary, Dies at 56", a timestamp embedded by @SatoshiLite to prove the block was created after that date. It was a nod to Bitcoin's own genesis block tradition, and a signal that @Litecoin was built with the same ethos of transparency from day one.
A Network That Has Stood the Test of Time
With nearly 80 million $LTC in circulation and a market capitalization above $5 billion, Litecoin ranks among the top 30 crypto assets today. The network has maintained 100% uptime across 15 consecutive years of operation. That reliability, rare in an industry defined by volatility and disruption, has helped sustain a global ecosystem of miners, developers, businesses, and everyday users.
Launched as a fork of Bitcoin, Litecoin was designed to be a more practical option for everyday transactions. While Bitcoin is often compared to gold, Litecoin has long been likened to silver, offering faster block generation times, a higher maximum coin supply, and a different hashing algorithm. On May 10, 2017, Litecoin became the first major cryptocurrency to activate Segregated Witness (SegWit).
Key Upgrades Along the Way
The network's most significant recent milestone came in 2022. Litecoin activated MimbleWimble Extension Blocks (MWEB), an optional privacy upgrade that uses a separate address space and transaction format to obscure transaction amounts. Users can move $LTC into MWEB addresses for confidential transactions and back to standard addresses when needed, with the privacy features remaining opt-in rather than mandatory.
More recently, Litecoin joined the ranks of Bitcoin and Ethereum with the approval of its first U.S. spot ETF, the NASDAQ-listed LTCC fund announced by Canary Capital Group. That approval marked another landmark moment for the network and added a new layer of institutional accessibility to an asset that has been running without interruption since 2011.
Fifteen years in, $LTC remains one of the oldest and most consistently operational networks in the crypto space. Whether it continues to evolve or simply endures, its track record alone sets it apart.
Sources:
Crypto Times: Litecoin Turns 15 - How Charlie Lee Launched LTC in 2011
Litecoin.com: The Year Litecoin Proved To Be Sound Money
Trezor: Litecoin History and Key Upgrades

A $2 Billion Market Cap Built on $23 a Day
@Polkadot is drawing fresh scrutiny over one of the starkest valuation gaps in crypto. According to data from @chainspect_app, the network's Relay Chain processes roughly 1,400 transactions per day, generating approximately $23 in daily on-chain revenue over the last 30 days. Annualized, that works out to a protocol fee run rate of around $8,400.
Set against a current $DOT market cap of approximately $2 billion, the implied valuation multiple sits at around 240,000 times revenue. For context, even richly valued technology companies rarely trade beyond 50 to 100 times revenue.
Polkadot reached its peak price on November 4, 2021, recording an all-time high of $54.87. At that point, the network commanded a market cap of roughly $52 billion. The difference from that all-time high to today's price represents a decline of approximately 97.8%. Yet despite that collapse, the network's market cap remains in the billions, making the revenue multiple even harder to justify on fundamentals alone.
Why On-Chain Fees Alone Don't Capture the Full Picture
To be fair to $DOT, Polkadot's architecture means that Relay Chain transaction fees are only one narrow slice of network activity. Polkadot's treasury documentation notes that 80% of transaction fees from submitted extrinsics go to the Treasury, while 20% goes to block producers. The Treasury is also funded through inflation, slashing, and other inflows, meaning ecosystem financing is not driven by transaction fees alone.
Polkadot still has a multichain architecture, active governance, staking security, and a roadmap built around resource markets. The network's coretime model, which sells blockspace to parachains rather than relying solely on base-layer fees, is designed to generate value in ways that raw Relay Chain revenue figures do not reflect.
Separately, on March 14, 2026, Polkadot executed a significant economic reset, going from unlimited token issuance to a hard supply cap of 2.1 billion DOT and slashing annual emissions by 53.6%. Supporters argue this shift reframes $DOT as a scarcer asset, independent of near-term fee generation.
Still, the numbers are difficult to ignore. Whatever the structural rationale, a protocol generating under $10,000 a year in fees while carrying a $2 billion market cap invites legitimate questions about where the value is truly anchored, and whether the market is pricing in a future that has not yet arrived.
Sources:
Chainspect: Polkadot TPS, Fees and Network Metrics
Crypto Adventure: Polkadot Revenue Data Reopens Debate Over DOT Network Demand
Coinbase: Polkadot Price and Market Cap

Tether and Kazakhstan Sign Landmark MoU
@Tether has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) and the Alatau City Authority, marking a significant step in the country's push to build a sovereign digital financial infrastructure. The agreement sets up a framework to explore stablecoin use cases, asset tokenization, and decentralized finance.
Under the agreement, the three parties will examine international models for stablecoin issuance, formulate concepts and pilot programs for stablecoins pegged to Kazakhstan's national currency, the tenge, and explore establishing an asset tokenization framework. The deal also carries an educational component: it includes a focus on studying international models for how stablecoins get issued and regulated, as well as workshops and other educational efforts.
Kazakhstan plans to tokenize up to $60 million in projects within Alatau City by the end of 2026. Alatau City is a planned innovation district positioning itself as a fintech and smart-city hub. The collaboration places Kazakhstan among a growing list of nations actively testing blockchain-based financial infrastructure at the sovereign level.
Hadron by Tether Takes Center Stage
Central to the partnership is Hadron by Tether, the firm's dedicated asset tokenization platform. The parties will research priority asset categories for tokenization and consider utilizing Hadron to launch pilot projects. These could span national commodities, credits, and sovereign reserves.
Hadron by Tether is an asset tokenization platform that simplifies the process of converting various assets into digital tokens, allowing users to tokenize stocks, bonds, commodities, funds, and reward points. This opens up new opportunities for individuals, businesses, and even nation-states to raise funds using tokenized collateral, with tools covering asset issuance, KYC compliance, blockchain reporting, capital market management, and regulatory guidance.
Kazakhstan has been building its digital asset credentials steadily. The country has established itself as the regional leader in the development of a central bank digital currency. The Tether partnership adds fresh momentum to that trajectory, bringing a globally recognized stablecoin issuer directly into cooperation with the central bank.
Kazakhstan's broader approach has been described as a "hybrid" financial model in which tokenized assets, stablecoins, payment providers, and banks operate within the same financial system. Tether's involvement, specifically through Hadron's multi-asset tokenization capabilities, appears well aligned with that vision.
Sources:
Crypto Briefing: Tether signs MoU with Kazakhstan's central bank to explore a tenge stablecoin and tokenization
Hadron by Tether: The Future of Commodities Tokenization
The Times of Central Asia: Digital Tenge Receives Official Legal Status in Kazakhstan

Bitmine Immersion Technologies Chairman Tom Lee (@fundstrat) turned heads at Token2049 Singapore on Wednesday, formally declaring that the company will stop buying $ETH once its holdings reach 5% of Ethereum's total circulating supply.
A Hard Cap on Ethereum Accumulation
Speaking from the keynote stage, Lee described the threshold as a firm ceiling rather than a moving target. Lee framed the 5% limit as a firm, enforceable strategy. "That's a hard cap. We're not gonna be accumulating past 5%," he said, adding that Bitmine does not intend to own more than that share of Ethereum.
The announcement effectively closes out Bitmine's so-called "Alchemy of 5%" campaign, which began on June 30, 2025. Lee had previously left open the possibility of accumulating more than 5% of Ether's supply depending on Ethereum adoption, and said in an August interview that the company may revisit that possibility in 2027. That door now appears shut, at least for the current strategy cycle.
Bitmine's Ethereum holdings stood at 6,016,414 ETH as of October 4, 2026, valued at approximately $16.4 billion at an ETH price of $2,726. The company said its Ethereum balance represents about 4.9% of the total ETH supply of 122.1 million tokens. Lee noted the company needs roughly 100,000 ETH more to reach the 5% target.
What the Cap Means for Bitmine and the Market
Lee tied the ceiling directly to Bitmine's capital strategy, arguing that locking in a hard stop removes the need to keep raising funds. "We did all this buying in a bear market," Lee said. "We protected the downside for $ETH because we were buying. But now, we're done stacking in front of a 25X move."
The company has staked roughly 5.1 million tokens, about 85% of its holdings, with annualized staking revenues projected at $330 million. That staking income means Bitmine will continue to accumulate small amounts of $ETH passively even after active purchases stop, a nuance Lee acknowledged.
Once Bitmine reaches the cap, Ether stands to lose one of its most reliable buyers, with the remaining amount left to spend roughly equivalent to what Ether ETFs lost in a single day in recent trading.
Sources:
CoinTelegraph: BitMine Sets 5% Ether Supply Hard Cap as Accumulation Target Nears
Bitcoin.com News: Tom Lee's Bitmine Nears 5% of Ether Supply With $41M ETH Buy
CoinGape: Tom Lee's BitMine Adds $41M in ETH as Holdings Reach 6.02M Tokens

SwissBorg Adds $WLD for Retail and Institutional Users
@Swissborg has added the @Worldcoin token $WLD to its platform, opening access for both retail and institutional clients. Users can now deposit, withdraw, and swap $WLD alongside more than 400 other digital assets, with one-touch fiat conversions available across 12 countries. With the integration, SwissBorg users can deposit WLD, withdraw it, and swap it against a catalog of more than 400 other tokens.
Worldcoin, now branded as World, is a digital identity and cryptocurrency project co-founded by Sam Altman, Alex Blania, and Max Novendstern. WLD is associated with World, whose World ID system is designed to provide proof that a person is a unique human, with verification carried out through World's Orb hardware using iris and facial images.
MiCA Compliance and Smart Liquidity Routing
The listing comes on the back of SwissBorg's full transition to operating under the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. SwissBorg secured MiCA approval from the French Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), validating its commitment to secure, transparent, and fully compliant crypto-asset wealth management. The SwissBorg app is brought to you by BlockNodes SAS, authorised in France as a Crypto-Asset Service Provider under the MiCA Regulation (A2026-011).
For users, the practical benefit of the $WLD listing lies in how SwissBorg handles execution. The platform's auto-routing system sources liquidity from more than 45 exchanges, removing the need to manage off-platform wallets, bridges, or gas tokens. SwissBorg offers one-tap swaps and multi-chain functionality, meaning users can move between assets on different blockchains without manually bridging them. The Smart Engine combines sophisticated decentralised exchange routing with liquidity from top centralised exchanges, assessing more markets in real time to raise the possibility of obtaining the best price for each trade.
The addition of $WLD broadens SwissBorg's catalogue and gives the Worldcoin ecosystem a regulated European distribution channel at a time when MiCA compliance is becoming a baseline requirement for platforms serving EU users. SwissBorg is one of the few fully authorised platforms operating under MiCA through BlockNodes SAS via the French AMF, as other platforms without authorisation were required to cease operations in the EEA from 1 July 2026.
Sources:
Crypto Briefing: SwissBorg adds Worldcoin's WLD token with multi-asset swaps
CoinDesk: SwissBorg Secures MiCA Approval from France's Financial Markets Authority
SwissBorg Official Blog: SwissBorg Secures MiCA Authorisation for Crypto-Assets in Europe

@Algorand's consensus layer grew more decentralized on October 6, 2026, as active validator nodes reached 1,562, marking a new seven-day high. Network telemetry tracked by @Chainspect put the week-on-week increase at 0.39%, up from the prior weekly peak of 1,556 recorded on September 29.
A Steady Climb in Validator Participation
The incremental gain continues a broader trend of expanding participation on the network. According to a report released in December 2025 by the Algorand Foundation, the number of validators increased from 897 to 1,726 across 2025. The October 6 figure of 1,562 reflects a consolidation within that range, with the network sustaining a materially larger validator base than it held just two years prior.
Stake distribution has also shifted meaningfully toward the community. As of July 2026, Algorand continued progress on decentralization and network security, with total $ALGO staked at over 2.07 billion, and the community accounting for 81.1% of the stake while the Foundation's share stood at 18.9%.
Why Validator Count Matters for Pure Proof of Stake
Algorand's blockchain uses a decentralized Byzantine Agreement protocol that leverages pure proof of stake (PPoS), meaning it can tolerate malicious users and achieve consensus without a central authority, as long as a supermajority of the stake is in non-malicious hands. The protocol requires minimal computational power per node, giving it the ability to finalize transactions efficiently.
Users stake their $ALGO into consensus through nodes run by independent operators across the globe, and the more $ALGO that is staked, the stronger the security of the network becomes. Adding more independent operators therefore reinforces both the security and the censorship-resistance of the chain without requiring changes to its core architecture.
Algorand's permissionless participation model and accessible tooling encourage a broad set of independent operators, with node software, SDKs, and infrastructure scripts available as open source, and anyone able to run a high-bandwidth Repeater that is auto-discoverable on the P2P mesh.
The latest validator milestone is a small but consistent data point in Algorand's ongoing effort to distribute control of its consensus layer more widely across the global operator community.
Sources:
Algorand Foundation: July 2026 Algo Insights Report
Algorand Foundation: Algorand Goes Peer-to-Peer
Algorand Developer Portal: Algorand Consensus

@SuiNetwork has set a new benchmark in blockchain throughput, recording 40,614,180 transactions per second during a live stress test held at Sui Basecamp in Singapore on October 7. The result was independently verified by @CertiK, which served as auditor for the event, examining all associated data including proofs, execution logs, and journals before publishing a full report.
A Record That Dwarfs Its Predecessor
The Basecamp result is more than six times the 6,086,766 TPS record $SUI set on July 4, with both figures measured inside Sui tunnels. That earlier mark was itself a landmark, achieved during a public livestream involving AI agents. The October figure also more than doubles the engineering team's internal target of 20 million transactions per second.
The test was conducted on the Summit Stage at Sui Basecamp, the network's annual flagship conference, held this year alongside Token2049 Singapore, and was designed to prove the network's resilience and speed under the extreme capacity demands of AI agents and machine commerce. The test was run by Adeniyi Abiodun, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder at Mysten Labs, the original contributor to Sui.
How Sui Tunnels Work
The headline number is driven by a feature called Sui tunnels. The 40,614,180 TPS was achieved via Sui tunnels, which were introduced during the previous record-setting livestream on July 4. Similar to Lightning Network's off-chain payment channels, Sui tunnels settle to Sui mainnet when closed, and every closed tunnel is mutually cosigned and independently verifiable on-chain, combining high throughput with cryptographic proof that no transaction can be tampered with.
The 40 million figure reflects what the tunnel architecture can handle with on-chain settlement behind it, not a claim that every one of those transactions was individually written to the base layer as it occurred. More than 10,000 tunnels were opened on Sui mainnet within seconds during the test.
The broader ambition behind the demonstration is positioning $SUI as infrastructure for what the team calls agentic finance. Abiodun said: "In an agentic economy, Sui doesn't need to process every interaction. It needs to be the trust layer for all of them," adding that "no market in the world needs 6 million transactions per second, let alone 40 million: people just don't move that fast. Agents do."
Sources
Finbold: Sui Sets Record for Highest Verified Throughput Settled to a Blockchain
Crypto Briefing: Sui hits 40 million transactions per second in live Basecamp test
Token Post: Sui Reports 40.6 Million TPS in Offchain Tunnel Stress Test

The Cardano Foundation has launched CIP-0113, a new programmable token standard, on the @Cardano mainnet. The announcement was made on October 7, 2026, at the TOKEN2049 conference in Singapore, following extensive community development and multiple independent security audits.
Compliance Built Into the Token Itself
CIP-0113 allows issuers of regulated assets to embed compliance logic directly into native Cardano tokens. That includes KYC verification, anti-money laundering controls, sanctions screening, transfer restrictions, and asset freeze and seizure capabilities. Critically, the Cardano ledger enforces those rules on every transfer, mint, and burn, meaning compliance is not dependent on an external server or issuer dashboard.
The standard is designed for regulated stablecoins, tokenized funds, bonds, and similar financial assets. Issuers can select from modular rule sets or write their own, and can update those modules as regulations evolve, without needing to alter the core standard or trigger a hard fork. Tokens issued under CIP-0113 remain native Cardano assets and operate under the chain's extended UTXO model.
It is worth noting that CIP-0113 does not give anyone the ability to freeze $ADA or take control of existing Cardano native tokens. The controls apply only to tokens whose issuers specifically choose to use the standard.
Institutional Recognition and Ecosystem Support
The Swiss Capital Markets and Technology Association (CMTA) has recognized CIP-0113 as comparable to its own CMTAT framework for tokenized equity issuance, a signal of institutional credibility for the standard. Wallet providers Eternl and GeroWallet, block explorer CardanoScan, and developer tooling provider BloxBean have all integrated support for the framework at launch.
Cardano Foundation CEO Frederik Gregaard framed the design around regulatory persistence. Regulated assets, he said, need rules that "travel with the asset and be enforced every time it moves." The proposal itself had a lengthy journey, accumulating 90 commits before being formally merged into the official Cardano Improvement Proposals repository on September 29, 2026.
The mainnet launch establishes the infrastructure for compliant tokenized finance on Cardano. Whether issuers move to build under the standard will determine its real-world impact on the network's adoption.
Sources:
Cardano Foundation official press release via Crypto Reporter
Crypto News: Cardano CIP-0113 token controls
Crypto Briefing: Cardano Foundation launches CIP-0113

Price Drop Does Not Dent Activity
The Solana meme coin category fell roughly 6% on October 7, 2026, yet the session told a more complicated story beneath the headline loss. According to CoinGecko data cited by @BSCNews, the category still recorded more than $7.2 billion in 24-hour trading volume, a figure that underscores how much speculative appetite remains even during broad price declines. The category-wide correction brought the total market cap to approximately $3.59 billion, yet high trading volume across top assets held firm.
Among the heaviest traded tokens on the day were solana:2zMMhcVQEXDtdE6vsFS7S7D5oUodfJHE8vd1gnBouauv and solana:6p6xgHyF7AeE6TZkSmFsko444wqoP15icUSqi2jfGiPN, both of which retained meaningful liquidity despite the market-wide pullback. Major assets like PENGU and TRUMP led the volume charts despite significant price retreats across the board.
Pumpfun Token Extends Recovery
The standout performer in the session context was solana:pumpCmXqMfrsAkQ5r49WcJnRayYRqmXz6ae8H7H9Dfn, the native token of the Pumpfun launchpad, which has gained roughly 60% over the past 30 days from its mid-year lows. PUMP has managed to reverse its 2026 losses and booked a significant gain after a surge in the last 30 days, with the Solana-based launchpad continuing to capture significant volumes as traders return to speculate on meme coins.
Pumpfun reclaimed its launchpad crown and became the first application in Solana's history to cross $1 billion in lifetime revenue, a milestone that has supported sentiment around the token. When launchpad share climbs, buyback capacity climbs with it, because Pumpfun funds its PUMP purchases directly from fee income, and during its last recovery push the platform ran daily buybacks of at least $1 million.
Despite the positive momentum, risks are building. Reports point to rising liquidation pressure as broader meme coin sentiment faces headwinds. Pumpfun faces launchpad competition, volatile meme coin demand, execution risks, and regulatory scrutiny. The token's rally also faces a looming threat from expired vesting schedules for both the development team and existing investors, which could introduce fresh selling pressure if holders choose to exit. Traders watching the space should weigh strong on-chain volume against these structural overhangs before drawing conclusions about the durability of the current bounce.
Sources:
CoinGecko: Solana Meme Coins Category
Yahoo Finance: Pump.fun PUMP Reverses Downtrend After 200-Day EMA Breakout
Phemex: Why PUMP Token Is Rallying as Pumpfun Reclaims Solana

What Is Monad Private Settlement?
Category Labs, the developer behind the Monad blockchain (@monad), is introducing Monad Private Settlement: a framework that lets businesses run confidential execution environments directly on Monad's public Layer 1 network. The move marks a meaningful step for a chain that has built its reputation on high throughput and EVM compatibility rather than privacy features.
Monad is an EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain capable of processing up to 10,000 transactions per second with sub-second finality, making it one of the higher-performance public chains available to institutional users today. Category Labs focuses on low-latency, high-throughput infrastructure, drawing on principles from high-frequency trading environments.
How the Privacy Layer Works
Under the Private Settlement design, each private domain can control its own validators, access policies, supported assets, and jurisdictional requirements. Transaction data and smart contract state remain encrypted, shielded even from the broader public Monad network itself.
Despite operating in a confidential environment, these private domains retain access to Monad's pooled liquidity and can interact with the wider network through standard EVM flows. The design also supports atomic settlement, meaning both sides of a transaction can settle simultaneously, reducing counterparty risk.
The system is aimed squarely at institutional users. Banks, asset managers, and trading firms could use Private Settlement for payments, fund operations, and confidential trading activity, all without leaving Monad's shared liquidity base.
This announcement builds on earlier privacy work at Monad. The network already hosts Unlink, a zero-knowledge privacy layer that deploys as a smart contract and allows users to hold encrypted balances and transfer value privately while still participating in Monad's DeFi ecosystem, including protocols such as Aave, Morpho, Uniswap, and Curve. Private Settlement appears to extend that foundation into a more structured, enterprise-grade offering with granular access controls and validator customisation.
Whether a full technical specification and launch timeline follow soon remains to be seen, but the direction is clear: Category Labs is building toward a network where open settlement and confidential execution can coexist on the same base layer.
Sources:
Monad: Privacy comes to Monad with Unlink
CoinGecko: What Is Monad? The High-Performance EVM-Compatible Blockchain

Pulsar Targets Seamless Cross-Currency Spending on Arc
Pulsar Money is building a stablecoin-native money app on Arc, aiming to make multi-currency payments as straightforward as using a conventional banking app. The goal is to help people hold, convert, transfer, and spend across currencies from one unified experience without requiring them to manage chains, bridges, gas, or routing.
Circle launched Arc, opening the public mainnet on September 16, 2026. Pulsar Money has announced it will launch exclusively on Arc, becoming one of the first consumer-focused financial applications to operate on the network. The company aims to simplify the use of stablecoins by offering a mobile experience similar to a traditional banking application, while supporting regulated digital assets and payment infrastructure.
Pulsar Money is a Europe-focused, multi-currency stablecoin app launching as a consumer product on Arc. Designed for the European market, Pulsar allows users to hold, spend, and instantly swap multiple fiat-backed stablecoins from a single app while accessing regulated payment infrastructure. The app is building multiple funding routes, including bank transfer, card, Apple Pay, and 1:1 stablecoin deposits, with ACH and SEPA support planned, all converging into one balance.
Arc's Infrastructure Powers the Experience Behind the Scenes
Under the hood, Arc gives Pulsar Money the infrastructure for USDC-based fees, deterministic finality, USDC and EURC flows, StableFX for currency conversion, and Circle infrastructure for crosschain stablecoin movement. The design philosophy is deliberate: stablecoins power the experience without becoming the interface.
Currency conversions between USDC and EURC, both issued by Circle's regulated affiliates, will be powered by StableFX, Circle's institutional-grade foreign exchange engine for stablecoins. Arc itself is an open Layer-1 blockchain built by Circle, purpose-built for stablecoin finance, using USDC as its native gas token, with sub-second finality and EVM compatibility.
The network supports more than 20 fiat stablecoins, including USDC, EURC, JPYC, KRW1, and TRYB, while tokenized assets including BlackRock's BUIDL and Circle's USYC are available natively on Arc. For Pulsar Money, that breadth of infrastructure provides a foundation to expand currency support over time as the ecosystem grows.
The app turns supported stablecoins into spendable USD or EUR balances through a virtual Visa card, with an optional DeFi yield feature. Pulsar Money uses regulated partner infrastructure and MiCA-compliant stablecoins to manage USD and EUR balances.
Sources:
Pulsar Money Launches on Arc to Bring Multi-Currency Stablecoin Banking to Europe — Cryptowisser
What Is Arc? The Stablecoin Blockchain From USDC Issuer Circle — Decrypt
Circle Launches Arc Mainnet With USDC as Native Gas Token — TradingView

FNB Brings Crypto to Nearly 9 Million Customers
First National Bank (FNB), the retail banking arm of South Africa's second-largest banking group by assets, has launched a crypto investing service for its customers. The new feature, called "Crypto Investing", opens digital asset trading to nearly 9 million clients. The bank built the service in partnership with VALR, a South African crypto asset service provider license holder.
Customers can access five digital assets: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple (XRP), Solana and USDT, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. The offering is available across FNB's existing Share Saver, Share Builder, Share Investor and Share Zero products, with customers able to trade from as little as R10, around the clock, seven days a week.
A Walled Garden Approach to Compliance
Trading is "ringfenced within the FNB ecosystem", and crypto assets cannot be transferred in or out, with FNB citing platform security and "a more conservative approach to compliance and exchange control laws". Customers fund their crypto purchases directly from their bank accounts, removing the need to open a separate exchange account or transfer money to an external trading platform.
Sizwe Nxedlana, CEO of FNB and RMB Private Banking and Wealth Management, said the bank had responded to client requests for alternative investments. Bheki Mkhize, CEO of FNB Wealth and Asset Management, said the bank had observed increased interest in cryptocurrencies among its clients, adding that the offering would give customers access to alternative assets that could help diversify their investments.
FNB said it plans to expand the range of cryptocurrencies available through the service and introduce educational resources covering the risks associated with digital-asset investing. The move comes as South Africa develops a more formal regulatory framework for crypto assets and as banks increasingly seek to serve customers already participating in the market.
Sources:
TechCentral: FNB launches crypto trading
Crypto.news: FNB lets South Africans buy Bitcoin, crypto from R10
FNB Official Release via Novus Press Bulletin: FNB expands its alternative investments solutions by introducing crypto assets

Circle has added Solana to its USDC Bridge, giving users a direct route to move native $USDC between Solana and 18 other blockchain ecosystems from a single, first-party interface.
What the Integration Does
Circle's USDC Bridge at bridge(.)usdc(.)com now supports Solana, letting users move native USDC between Solana and 18 other chains through Circle's own interface. The key word is native: CCTP burns USDC on the chain it leaves and mints the same amount on the chain it arrives at, one for one, so the user receives native USDC and never holds a wrapped copy.
That matters because wrapped tokens carry their own risks and add complexity for traders and developers. The bridge allows users to move USDC between supported blockchains without relying on wrapped tokens, liquidity pools, or third-party protocols.
Solana's addition is notable because at launch the bridge covered only EVM chains. Solana was left out even though CCTP already supported it. Circle announced the change on 6 October 2026, and the live bridge at bridge(.)usdc(.)com now lists Solana with a "New" tag among 19 supported chains.
Why It Matters for Solana's Ecosystem
The update removes a meaningful gap in Circle's own product suite. Previously, Solana users who wanted to move USDC cross-chain through CCTP had to rely on third-party apps built on top of the protocol. Now they can do it directly through Circle's interface, reducing friction and counterparty steps.
The timing reflects Solana's growing weight in the stablecoin market. Circle minted $3.25 billion in USDC on Solana in a single week earlier this year, the largest weekly issuance of 2026. USDC's market capitalization now exceeds $78 billion, and the stablecoin captured 64% of total stablecoin transaction volume as of March 2026.
For developers, the update also means Solana apps and markets are now reachable through a unified bridge, simplifying the user journey for anyone moving liquidity into the ecosystem from Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, or other supported networks.
Sources:
Solana Compass: Circle's USDC Bridge Adds Solana, Linking It to 18 Other Chains
Genfinity: Circle Launches USDC Bridge for Native Cross-Chain Stablecoin Transfers
The Block: Circle Rolls Out USDC Bridge for Native Cross-Chain Stablecoin Transfers

Firelight Goes Live With XRP-Backed Cover on Flare
Firelight, a DeFi cover protocol incubated by Sentora, has launched onchain DeFi insurance coverage backed by 50.2 million staked $XRP on Flare Network, opening a new utility frontier for one of crypto's largest assets by market capitalisation.
The protocol targets risks that have historically caused significant losses across decentralised finance. Staked XRP is used to back coverage for risks such as smart contract exploits and oracle failures. Users can bridge XRP to Flare through the FAssets system, deposit FXRP (Flare's wrapped version of XRP) into Firelight, and receive stXRP on a 1:1 basis. By leveraging XRP bridged as FXRP, Firelight adds an onchain protection market to Flare, providing coverage for vaults like Sentora's USD Protected Vault. The total aggregate cap for staked XRP positions is set at $115 million.
Claims Process and Coverage Scope
Onchain updates reveal initial coverage for two Sentora vaults. Claims will be decided by a five-institution consortium requiring a three-out-of-five majority vote. A network upgrade is anticipated as the audit report for the coverage contracts remains pending.
The launch builds on growing momentum for XRP within Flare's DeFi ecosystem. Nearly 100 million XRP has been bridged to the network as FXRP, with close to 70% of that capital actively deployed in DeFi rather than sitting idle. FXRP is the first live deployment of Flare's FAssets system, which turns non-smart contract tokens like XRP into overcollateralised assets that can interact with DeFi protocols.
For XRP holders, the Firelight launch represents a concrete expansion of what the asset can do onchain, moving beyond simple transfers into capital-efficient risk underwriting.
Sources:
The Block: Firelight launches XRP staking protocol on Flare
TradingView/Chainwire: Firelight Is Live, Backed by Staked FXRP on Flare
Flare Network: Stake your FXRP on Firelight, Now Live

Ethereum's most consequential 2026 upgrade is now live on a major public test network. The Glamsterdam upgrade activated on the Sepolia testnet on Oct. 6, putting a broad package of protocol changes through one of their final rehearsals before a planned mainnet deployment.
A Significant Jump in Gas Capacity
The most immediate change in the Sepolia deployment is a dramatic increase in the network's gas limit. The upgrade raises the gas limit from 60 million to 200 million on the testnet. That matters because increasing the gas limit can allow more transactions per block, which could lead to lower fees when network activity is high. Developers will use the Sepolia run to monitor whether validators and clients can safely handle the larger blocks that come with it.
The Glamsterdam upgrade brings 25 proposed Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) into public testing, including 18 core EIPs and seven others. The Sepolia deployment allows developers, projects, and infrastructure providers to test their applications and systems against the proposed changes and identify compatibility issues before any mainnet rollout.
What Glamsterdam Actually Changes
The upgrade's headline changes are enshrined proposer-builder separation (ePBS) and block-level access lists (BALs), which change how blocks are produced and validated to support greater throughput on the Ethereum mainnet. Under EIP-7732's proposer-builder design, a proposer places a builder's commitment to an execution payload in the consensus block, and the builder subsequently reveals the payload, with the protocol handling payment to the proposer and reducing reliance on trusted middleware.
Glamsterdam combines Amsterdam's execution-layer changes with Gloas' consensus-layer upgrade, targeting higher Layer 1 throughput. According to Ethereum community contributor Pooja Ranjan, the upgrade activated on Sepolia on Oct. 6 at 1:53 p.m. UTC, putting changes to block production, parallel processing, and gas pricing through a public network test.
Following the testnet launch, developers will determine Glamsterdam's activation date on the Hoodi testnet before setting a final mainnet launch date. Sepolia marks one of the final major rehearsals before the full activation of Glamsterdam, aimed at bringing more efficiency and scalability to the Ethereum mainnet.
Sources:
CoinTelegraph: Ethereum's Glamsterdam upgrade launches on Sepolia testnet
Crypto.news: Ethereum Glamsterdam hits Sepolia with 200 million gas limit test
The Crypto Times: Ethereum Activates Glamsterdam Upgrade on Sepolia for Testing

Strategic Backers Join at $25 Billion Valuation
Crypto exchange OKX has closed a new strategic investment round backed by Ripple, Circle, quantitative investment manager Qube Research and Technologies (QRT), and Standard Chartered's SC Ventures. The round is an extension of a March financing in which NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) invested roughly $200 million into OKX at the same $25 billion valuation. The latest participants did not disclose the size of their individual contributions.
All four new investors already work with OKX across key parts of its infrastructure, including USDC and RLUSD stablecoins, institutional liquidity, and custody. Ripple brings payments, liquidity, and stablecoin infrastructure expertise, with its RLUSD stablecoin available across OKX's unified order book. Circle is the issuer of USDC, the world's largest regulated stablecoin. Standard Chartered acts as custodian for BUIDL, the tokenized Treasury fund at the center of the collateral framework launched in partnership with OKX and BlackRock. QRT, a London-based quantitative trading firm and spinout of Credit Suisse, also joined the cap table and runs a crypto fund with around $1 billion in assets.
Beyond the Exchange: OKX's Broader Ambitions
OKX CEO and founder Star Xu has been clear that capital was not the primary motivation. "The exchange was our starting point, and we are evolving into a broader global financial technology platform," Xu said, adding that the capital will support tokenizing real-world assets. Rather than seeking funds, OKX wanted investors already embedded in its infrastructure and aligned with its long-term financial strategy.
ICE and OKX have been building together since March, and their joint venture, OKXICE LLC, is now seeking approval to sell tokenized stock in 63 U.S. public companies, including Nvidia, Apple, and Coca-Cola. The initiative would operate under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's innovation exemption framework. The agreement gives OKX's more than 120 million registered users a pathway to traditional markets through a familiar crypto interface, once U.S. regulatory approvals arrive.
The new investor lineup reflects a deliberate effort to bring together the key builders of stablecoin, payments, liquidity, and custody infrastructure under one strategic umbrella, as OKX positions itself as a next-generation financial technology platform rather than a pure crypto trading venue.
Sources:
Bloomberg: OKX Raises Funds at $25 Billion Valuation With Backing From StanChart, Circle
OKX Official Announcement: Strategic Investment From Circle, QRT, Ripple and SC Ventures
Decrypt: Circle, Ripple and Standard Chartered Back OKX at Flat $25B Valuation

Cardano (@Cardano) founder Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) has renewed his long-running campaign to get $ADA listed on Gemini, seizing on the exchange's milestone anniversary to make his point publicly.
A Two-Word Response to an Anniversary Post
Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss recently marked the exchange's 11th anniversary by sharing a celebratory message on X, and Hoskinson responded with a pointed two-word comment: "List ADA." The remark was brief, but it carried the weight of a dispute that has dragged on for years.
The exchange has expanded the assets it supports over the years and currently lists major proof-of-stake cryptocurrencies including Solana, Avalanche, Polkadot, Cosmos, and Tezos. Yet ADA is not among them.
In its official listing policy, Gemini says it considers maturity, liquidity, market demand, utility, regulatory considerations, cybersecurity risks, and control concentration when evaluating assets. However, the exchange has not shared specific reasons for omitting ADA from its platform.
A Dispute That Goes Back to 2022
This is not Hoskinson's first public push. In December 2022, during a period when Gemini was facing challenges involving crypto lender Genesis, Hoskinson remarked that the failure to list ADA appeared "pretty tightly correlated" with bankruptcy and reckless risk-taking. At the time, FTX's collapse also drew attention, as that exchange had never launched an ADA spot market either.
In a 2025 interview with Blockchain Daily, Hoskinson took a sharper tone and identified Gemini as the last major US exchange still excluding ADA, estimating the platform may have lost $70 million in revenue over five years by not enabling ADA trading.
Hoskinson has repeatedly questioned Gemini's ADA policy since 2022 and raised the issue again in 2024 and 2025. Gemini has not announced any change to its listing policy or confirmed plans to add ADA. For now, the exchange's silence on the matter continues to frustrate the Cardano community, which points out that ADA is among the most established proof-of-stake assets in the market.
Sources:
U.Today: Cardano Founder Has These Two Words for Gemini
CoinTurk: Cardano Founder Pushes Gemini to List ADA, Claims $70 Million Missed Revenue
Gemini: Asset Listing Hub

Debut Pushed Back by Administrative Delay
Evernorth, the Ripple-backed XRP treasury firm, has pushed back its planned public market debut after an administrative delay disrupted its original schedule. The company now expects to complete its merger with Armada Acquisition Corp. II on October 9, with its shares set to begin trading on Nasdaq under the ticker $XRPN on October 12. Both dates remain subject to customary closing conditions and Nasdaq requirements.
The revised timeline replaces the earlier targets of an October 7 closing and an October 8 trading start. Armada II shareholders had approved the business combination with Evernorth at an extraordinary general meeting on September 30, 2026, and the deal had been widely expected to proceed on the original schedule.
What Evernorth Brings to Nasdaq
The stakes around this listing are significant. At closing, Evernorth is expected to hold approximately 473 million XRP, which would make it the largest publicly traded pure-play XRP treasury company. The transaction is expected to generate about $300 million in gross cash proceeds before expenses, broken down into $225 million from private placements, $30 million in convertible note financing, and roughly $48 million from Armada II's trust account.
Evernorth was incorporated in Nevada in August 2025 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ripple Labs, formed as a purpose-built vehicle for investment in XRP through public equity markets. The company launched in October 2025 with the Armada II merger already signed, pitching itself as an alternative to a passive ETF that would seek to grow its XRP per share through lending, market liquidity and DeFi yield.
Evernorth's investors include Arrington Capital, SBI Group, Ripple, Pantera Capital, Kraken and GSR, among others. The company is led by founder and CEO Asheesh Birla, formerly an executive at Ripple.
The short delay is not expected to affect the broader deal structure. Once the merger closes and trading opens, Evernorth will represent one of the most prominent XRP-focused vehicles available to public market investors.
Sources:
Evernorth Holdings Press Release via PR Newswire: Shareholders Approve Evernorth Business Combination
Unchained Crypto: Ripple-Backed XRP Treasury Evernorth Wins Shareholder Vote
SEC Filing: Armada Acquisition Corp. II Form DEFM14A