₿ Tether CEO Reveals $11.5 Billion in Bitcoin Holdings Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino says the company holds approximately 150,000 bitcoin:native, valued at $11.5 billion. However, its latest USDT reserve report accounts for roughly 100,060 BTC, leaving around 50,000 BTC outside the disclosed reserve breakdown. The company has not detailed where those additional holdings are kept or when they were acquired. Tether's growing Bitcoin exposure highlights its investment strategy beyond stablecoins.
🇺🇸 Could Bitcoin's Strategic Reserve Gain Momentum in 2027? @StandWithCrypto Executive Director Mason Lynaugh believes crypto voters could play a significant role in shaping U.S. digital asset policy during the next congressional session. The U.S. established its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve in March 2025 using government-held bitcoin:native obtained through forfeitures. However, questions remain about its implementation and potential expansion. No additional government Bitcoin purchases for 2027 have been confirmed. Could a more crypto-friendly Congress push the reserve back into the spotlight?
🔗 Chainlink and S&P Global Bring DeFi Risk Assessments On-Chain @Chainlink and S&P Global Ratings have expanded their partnership with a live integration that brings DeFi Vault Risk Assessments directly on-chain, starting with Base. Powered by Chainlink DataLink and CRE, the service provides access to independent assessments covering liquidity, credit, security and governance risks. ethereum:0x514910771af9ca656af840dff83e8264ecf986ca The initiative targets a DeFi vault market with approximately $10 billion in deposits, helping institutions and users better understand potential risks. These assessments measure relative risk, not investment returns, and do not guarantee vault safety.
⏩ Solflare Says Staking Rewards Are Paused After Validator Key Security Incident https://t.co/sgLHEMogpt https://t.co/GRcsj4B0gq
🏔️ Avalanche Powers Ethena Pay's New Earn+ Feature @avax has announced that @Ethena Pay's new Earn+ feature will run on its network, bringing higher target yields to the app for the first time. Eligible users can deposit funds into a vault managed by Upshift and Steakhouse, with the strategy operating through Aave V4 on Avalanche. The integration expands Ethena Pay's DeFi capabilities, although target yields are not guaranteed returns. avalanche-2:native
🔐 Missouri Man Pleads Guilty in Bitcoin Robbery Plot Martel Williams, 27, pleaded guilty to conspiring to rob a Connecticut resident of cryptocurrency, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. In August 2024, Williams and two accomplices allegedly surveilled the target and his family, planning to force the transfer of digital assets. The group abandoned the operation before carrying out the robbery, reportedly fearing they had been recorded by security cameras. Williams faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. His actual sentence has not yet been determined. bitcoin:native
🔎 Wallet Suspected of UXLINK Hack Link Shows $6.54M in ETH Gains A wallet potentially connected to the $40 million UXLINK hack reportedly holds a 30,282 ethereum:native long position on Hyperliquid, valued at approximately $71.17 million. On-chain data shows $6.54 million in unrealized profits, with an average entry price of $2,134.45. The suspected connection comes from transaction patterns involving an address associated with the position and a known UXLINK hacker address. However, these on-chain links do not conclusively establish who controls the trading wallet.
🚨 Cosmos recovered $2.2M in stolen ATOM after a 25-hour halt. But the attacker still got away with more. At restart, validators seized 1.227M cosmos:native from the attacker-linked address and moved the funds into a recovery multisig. Seven blocks later, a THORChain refund sent another 168,990 ATOM to that same address. Those tokens escaped the sweep, moved to Osmosis and were sold for roughly $266K in USDC before much of it was converted into ETH. The recovery worked. The timing window didn’t.
🎯 Zcash at $5,000 by year-end? Eli Ben-Sasson, @Zcash co-founder and StarkWare CEO, says he still feels “on track” with his $5K ZEC prediction for the end of 2026. He originally made the call on September 9, after previously predicting ZEC would break $1,200 by September 25. zcash:native is now trading around $1,450–$1,550 after briefly topping $1,600. Getting to $5,000 from here would still require roughly another 3.3x. And when asked what’s driving the rally? Ben-Sasson’s answer was simple: he has no idea.
⛓️ The CFTC is updating its crypto guidance as tokenization moves deeper into regulated markets. CFTC staff revised its crypto FAQs to address two areas: Customer funds invested in tokenized assets Using blockchain technology to meet recordkeeping requirements Chairman Michael Selig says the changes are part of the agency’s push to provide greater “regulatory clarity for the crypto industry.” bitcoin:native The focus is increasingly shifting from whether blockchain can fit into existing financial rules to how regulated firms can actually use it.
