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Project Overview
ALEX is an open-source Bitcoin DeFi platform built on the Stacks Blockchain. It enables users to bring Bitcoin to life by allowing them to: launch their own tokens, borrow and lend with fixed rates and terms without the risk of liquidation, access an advanced decentralized exchange, deposit tokens to earn interest, and obtain high returns through yield farming.
AI Startup Arda, Founded by Former OpenAI Research Head, Raises $230 Million and Reaches $1.5 Billion Valuation
According to CNBC, Arda, an AI manufacturing startup founded by former OpenAI research chief and ex-Palantir head of product and engineering Bob McGrew, has announced the completion of a $230 million funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation. The round was led by Altimeter Capital, Accel, and Khosla Ventures. Arda develops AI software and agents for manufacturing engineers, helping them build and adjust assembly lines faster. Its AI models have been deployed at defense technology company Anduril. McGrew noted that when product designs change, it takes just one day to retrain workers, whereas adjusting automated production lines typically requires three to six months. Arda runs its software using a combination of proprietary, open-source, and select frontier models, with robotics set to be included in its next product roadmap. Co-founders include Augustus Odena, Alex Mark, and Jakob Frick. Apoorv Agrawal of Altimeter stated that the global manufacturing industry amounts to $16 trillion, with approximately $3 trillion in the United States. McGrew joined OpenAI in 2017 and departed in 2024.
Stripe, Mastercard, and Circle acquired three stablecoin companies within two years, with total deal value exceeding $3 billion
Odaily News: Venture investor Alex Lazarow wrote that over the past two years, Stripe, Mastercard, and Circle respectively acquired U.S. stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge, UK stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK, and Singapore-based cross-border payment platform Tazapay, with the three deals totaling over $3 billion in value. Stripe announced in 2024 that it would acquire Bridge for slightly more than $1 billion; Mastercard's acquisition of BVNK was valued at up to $1.8 billion, including $1.5 billion in base consideration and $300 million in contingent consideration; Circle agreed to acquire Tazapay for $400 million in stock, with the deal expected to close in 2027. Bridge, BVNK, and Tazapay were founded between 2020 and 2022 and had raised approximately $200 million in cumulative funding. Growing stablecoin adoption, an increasingly clear regulatory framework, and rising demand for real-time cross-border payments are the main factors driving the related M&A activity. In 2025, stablecoin adjusted transaction volume grew 91% year-over-year to $10.9 trillion, approaching Visa's $14.2 trillion; real-world payment volume more than doubled to approximately $390 billion.
Hivemind Digital Group Secures $17 Million Strategic Financing Led by M&G Investments
According to an official announcement from Hivemind, its subsidiary Hivemind Digital Group has completed a $17 million strategic financing round, led by M&G Investments, with participation from CPIC Investment Management (H.K.), ZA Bank, FalconX, and Sonic Boom Ventures, among others. Alex Seddon, Head of Impact and Private Equity at M&G Investments, will join the company's board of directors.
SEC Proposes Reg Crypto, Establishing Legal Pathways for Certain Token Public Offerings and Investment Contract Exits
: Galaxy's Head of Research posted on X, stating that on August 18, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed the "Regulation Crypto Assets," abbreviated as Reg Crypto. The proposal aims to establish a legal pathway for certain tokens to be offered to the U.S. public and to set up a mechanism for terminating investment contracts. Its applicability is limited to crypto assets that are not themselves securities but were previously issued or sold as part of an investment contract; tokenized stocks, bonds, and arrangements bundling tokens with equity or other securities are not covered by the framework.The proposal sets out four stages: offering, disclosure, build-out, and exit. A one-time startup exemption allows issuers to raise up to $5 million over a maximum of four years; a higher-threshold exemption modeled on Regulation A permits raising $20 million or $75 million within 12 months. Such offerings must pass SEC qualification review and involve ongoing disclosure, with non-accredited investors capped at 10% of the higher of their annual income or net worth. Issuers are also required to disclose token supply and unlock schedules, minting and burning mechanisms, governance and smart contract permissions, source code, as well as project construction commitments and progress.Once an issuer completes or permanently ceases the relevant build-out obligations, makes no new construction commitments, and submits a transition report, the related investment contract will be deemed terminated, and the crypto asset will no longer be subject to securities laws under that investment contract. Issuers that did not use the above offering exemptions may also use this safe harbor. The SEC estimates that approximately 475 issuers per year would use the investment contract safe harbor, and about 130 issuers would use the two new exemptions. Offerings that qualify would not be considered restricted securities and could be resold immediately without contractual restrictions.The proposal also excludes covered initial offerings and certain secondary transactions from state registration and qualification requirements, but it does not address exchanges, brokers, dealers, or custody, nor is it a standalone innovative exemption for tokenized securities and on-chain transactions. The comment period is 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda all issued statements of support. The article was written by Alex Thorn.
AI video platform Higgsfield completes $400 million funding round, reaching a valuation of $5.4 billion
Odaily News: AI video generation platform Higgsfield has completed a $400 million funding round at a valuation of $5.4 billion. Investors include DST Global, Goldman Sachs, Liberty Global, Intel, Tribe Capital, Smash Capital, Fifth Wall, Valor Capital, Mirae Asset Capital, and NTT DOCOMO Ventures. The funding will primarily be used for enterprise-grade products, security, and computing power investment.Higgsfield was founded by former Snap executive Alex Mashrabov and currently has over 30 million users across 238 countries and regions. As of August this year, its annualized revenue had reached $700 million. Previously, Higgsfield raised $80 million at a valuation of $1.3 billion. (FT)
Analysis: Strategy Capital Restructuring Alleviates Short-Term Liquidity Pressure, But Structural Risks Remain
Odaily Odaily News, Galaxy Research Head Alex Thorn stated that the capital management reforms recently launched by Michael Saylor's Strategy (MSTR) have effectively eased market concerns over its liquidity and preferred stock system pressure in the short term. However, he noted these measures are more about "buying time" rather than fundamentally resolving structural issues.Over the past few weeks, Strategy has faced pressure on its "Digital Credit" preferred stock system. Its STRC ("Stretch" preferred shares) fell below par value, hitting a low of approximately $71.25, raising market concerns about Bitcoin price declines, shrinking dollar reserves, and the company's ability to pay preferred stock dividends. Subsequently, market discussions focused on three stress scenarios: selling Bitcoin, issuing additional MSTR shares (diluting existing shareholders), or cutting/suspending preferred stock dividends.In response, Strategy announced a comprehensive capital management restructuring on Monday, introducing a "Digital Credit Capital Framework." This includes five key tools: a board-approved dollar reserve policy, an adjustment to the STRC dividend mechanism, a $1 billion preferred stock buyback authorization, a $1 billion MSTR common stock buyback authorization, and a Bitcoin monetization mechanism. Concurrently, the company increased the annualized dividend rate on STRC from 11.5% to 12%.The market reacted positively, with both MSTR and STRC seeing significant gains that day, and Bitcoin also rebounded alongside.Alex Thorn pointed out that this adjustment has improved market sentiment in the short term, extending Strategy's cash coverage cycle to approximately 17 months and enhancing its capital buffer through new financing. However, the company still faces approximately $6.7 billion in convertible bond maturities during 2027-2028, meaning long-term structural risks persist. The core issue is not whether Strategy holds enough Bitcoin (approximately 847,000 BTC), but rather that its dollar liquidity is insufficient to cover preferred stock and capital structure obligations without harming the interests of any party, leading to a squeeze between different classes of shareholders.Nonetheless, the key significance of this adjustment lies in enhancing the "optionality" of the company's capital tools. It shifts Strategy from a single-direction Bitcoin accumulation strategy towards a more proactive asset-liability management model, thereby preventing short-term liquidity issues from evolving into a systemic crisis. Although the current Bitcoin market environment is relatively weak and may not have bottomed out yet, Strategy's new framework has, to some extent, bought the company a window of time to wait for more favorable market conditions.
Tokenized Asset Liquidity Faces Challenges as Stablecoin Market Cap Reaches $306 Billion
Odaily reports: Alex Taaffe, Chief Revenue Officer of digital asset trading firm GSR, stated that the on-chain issuance of real-world assets (RWAs) continues to increase, but investor demand has yet to match, and the growing number of issuers and blockchains has further fragmented liquidity in the tokenized market.Mike Silagadze, founder and CEO of ether.fi, said that stablecoins facilitate cross-border transfers, but broader adoption depends on whether they can be used for everyday spending; Yvonne Chia, Head of Communications at USDD, believes that issuers should prioritize improving user experience.The stablecoin market cap stands at $306 billion, up approximately 2% year-over-year and about 74% over the past 12 months. Ilya Podoynitsyn, co-founder and CEO of FinHarbor, pointed out that service providers still need to address regulatory requirements across different jurisdictions and adjust their infrastructure and compliance systems.Miguel Morel, founder and CEO of blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, said that on-chain data can be used to assess counterparty risk and the source of client deposits. Pulkit Gupta of Nomad Capital noted that crypto market liquidity has been relatively weak over the past three months, making it more difficult to exit altcoin investments. (Cointelegraph)
Stripe, Mastercard, and Circle acquired three stablecoin companies within two years, with total deal value exceeding $3 billion
Odaily News: Venture investor Alex Lazarow wrote that over the past two years, Stripe, Mastercard, and Circle respectively acquired U.S. stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge, UK stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK, and Singapore-based cross-border payment platform Tazapay, with the three deals totaling over $3 billion in value. Stripe announced in 2024 that it would acquire Bridge for slightly more than $1 billion; Mastercard's acquisition of BVNK was valued at up to $1.8 billion, including $1.5 billion in base consideration and $300 million in contingent consideration; Circle agreed to acquire Tazapay for $400 million in stock, with the deal expected to close in 2027. Bridge, BVNK, and Tazapay were founded between 2020 and 2022 and had raised approximately $200 million in cumulative funding. Growing stablecoin adoption, an increasingly clear regulatory framework, and rising demand for real-time cross-border payments are the main factors driving the related M&A activity. In 2025, stablecoin adjusted transaction volume grew 91% year-over-year to $10.9 trillion, approaching Visa's $14.2 trillion; real-world payment volume more than doubled to approximately $390 billion.
New York regulators permanently ban Celsius founder from participating in crypto business
The New York State Department of Financial Services has issued an order permanently banning Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky from participating in cryptocurrency business in the state. This ban is part of a settlement agreement related to his defrauding of investors and aims to completely sever his ties with the cryptocurrency industry.
Celsius former CEO Mashinsky settles with New York State in up to $35 million deal
New York State Attorney General Letitia James has reached a settlement with former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky. In connection with allegations that he defrauded investors, Mashinsky faces a conditional penalty of up to $35 million and has been permanently barred from the securities, commodities, and cryptocurrency industries. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had previously issued similar industry bans against him.
Celsius Former CEO Reaches Settlement with New York Attorney General, Faces Up to $35 Million in Damages and Permanent Industry Ban
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Friday a settlement regarding Celsius former CEO Alex Mashinsky's alleged fraud against investors, securing up to $35 million in contingent damages and requiring his permanent exclusion from the securities, commodities, and cryptocurrency industries.Previously, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had also imposed industry bans on Mashinsky. Mashinsky is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence. Meanwhile, Celsius creditors have received over $3.4 billion in compensation through the company's bankruptcy proceedings.
Near Intents Recovers $3.8 Million in Stolen Funds, Ends Investigation
Odaily reports: Cross-chain swap service Near Intents announced that the $3.8 million in funds stolen in a previous exploit has been fully returned, and the team has closed its investigation. Near Intents General Manager Alex Shevchenko had previously issued a 48-hour return deadline to the attacker, providing Bitcoin, BNB, Ethereum, and Solana addresses.The attacker acknowledged wrongdoing in an on-chain message, stating that all funds had been returned and urging others to report issues through the bug bounty program. The incident stemmed from a vulnerability in the interaction between its Omni deposit and withdrawal layer and the main smart contract. Near Intents had suspended services and promised full compensation to users. (Decrypt)
Analysis: Bitcoin Fails Third Attempt to Break $87,000, Breakout Requires Stronger Buying Pressure
Odaily News: Bitcoin is facing selling pressure, marking its third rejection near $87,000 since September 23. FxPro analyst Alex Kuptsikevich noted that since early last week, BTC has formed a pattern of "rising local lows," but bulls have yet to gain sufficient upward momentum. The price is now approaching the apex of a triangle formed by horizontal resistance and an ascending support line. A breakout from this pattern could bring greater volatility to the market.The total crypto market capitalization has fallen back to approximately $2.93 trillion. Meanwhile, U.S. equities have shown relative strength, with the Nasdaq 100 hitting a record closing high and the S&P 500 less than 0.5% away from its all-time high. However, U.S. Treasury yields continue to climb, with the 10-year yield rising to 5.32%, near its highest level since 2002.Market observers believe that for BTC to break through $87,000, sufficient buying pressure is needed to absorb the persistent selling near that level. Once it holds above this threshold, it could open further upside toward its near 8-month high. (CoinDesk)
Near Intents Recovers $3.8 Million in Stolen Funds, Ends Investigation
Odaily reports: Cross-chain swap service Near Intents announced that the $3.8 million in funds stolen in a previous exploit has been fully returned, and the team has closed its investigation. Near Intents General Manager Alex Shevchenko had previously issued a 48-hour return deadline to the attacker, providing Bitcoin, BNB, Ethereum, and Solana addresses.The attacker acknowledged wrongdoing in an on-chain message, stating that all funds had been returned and urging others to report issues through the bug bounty program. The incident stemmed from a vulnerability in the interaction between its Omni deposit and withdrawal layer and the main smart contract. Near Intents had suspended services and promised full compensation to users. (Decrypt)
NEAR Intents Claims It Has Confirmed the Hacker's Identity, Demands Return of $3.8 Million in Stolen Funds Within 48 Hours
According to Cointelegraph, Alex Shevchenko, General Manager of NEAR Intents, stated that the team has identified the hackers behind the previous security incident and given them a 48-hour deadline to return the stolen funds through a "responsible disclosure." NEAR Intents previously suspended its services due to a vulnerability in the interaction between the Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure and its smart contracts. Initial investigations revealed that approximately $3.8 million in user funds were stolen in the incident, and the team has committed to fully compensating affected users. On-chain detective ZachXBT stated that the stolen funds were subsequently transferred to KuCoin and cross-chain converted into Bitcoin.
Bitcoin stabilizes around $84,000, with the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield pulling back from its highs.
According to CoinDesk, bitcoin traded above $84,000 on Friday, essentially flat over the past 24 hours after briefly dipping below $84,000 on Wednesday. Most major tokens saw volatility of less than 2%, while ONDO rose 27% to around $0.54 and QNT gained 39% to near $100. Meanwhile, selling pressure in the US bond market has eased slightly, with the 10-year US Treasury yield retreating 2 basis points to 5.17% after climbing more than 20 basis points cumulatively over the previous two trading sessions. Brent crude oil fell about 1% to $105 per barrel as markets focused on reports that the US and Iran may reopen the Strait of Hormuz via a phased agreement. FxPro Chief Market Analyst Alex Kuptsikevich stated that Bitcoin's recent pullback is more of a temporary pause within an uptrend, noting that the current upward momentum has not yet ended. Even if BTC falls further to $70,000, it could exert significant pressure on short-term traders, but he believes it remains insufficient to disrupt the broader bullish trend. Additionally, Bitcoin is approaching Friday's Deribit options expiration. The current price sits below $85,000, which is one of the strike prices with a high concentration of call open interest in this expiry batch.
Coldcard white hat hacker moves 52.37 BTC to Crypto Recovery Trust
according to Bitcoin News monitoring, this batch of Bitcoin is worth over $4 million, accounting for approximately 2.8% of the total Bitcoin related to the Coldcard vulnerability. Crypto Recovery Trust will verify the ownership of the funds and attempt to return them; Galaxy Digital research director Alex Thorn stated that another 3.0134 BTC was transferred to this address in the same transaction, but its source has not yet been confirmed.
Coldcard Vulnerability-Linked Funds Peak at $130 Million, White Hat Moves 52.37 Bitcoin to Crypto Recovery Trust
Odaily News: On September 21, a white hat actor transferred 40.71 BTC linked to the Coldcard vulnerability in a single transaction valued at approximately $3.31 million. The transaction consolidated funds from 11 addresses and included an OP_RETURN message pointing to the Crypto Recovery Trust.Alex Thorn, head of Galaxy Research, disclosed that the broader consolidation involved a total of 52.37 BTC across multiple clusters of attacker addresses, accounting for approximately 2.8% of the funds tied to the vulnerability. A firmware flaw in Coldcard devices dating back to March 2021 resulted in insufficient mnemonic seed randomness, with the total funds involved peaking at approximately $130 million. (Decrypt)
NEAR Intents releases post-mortem on the October 1 vulnerability incident: $3.8 million in funds fully recovered, deposit notification feature removed
In a postmortem article published by Alex Shevchenko (@AlexAuroraDev), lead of NEAR Intents, a vulnerability was identified in the NEAR Intents contract's deposit notification mechanism when interacting with third-party contracts. The attacker deployed a contract that caused the notification call to fail, triggering the token contract to refund the deposits while the NEAR Intents contract retained the deposit records. Through 23 failed deposit transactions, the attacker generated approximately $3.8 million in "phantom funds," which were subsequently withdrawn to external chains via Omni infrastructure. This vulnerability resided in the NEAR Intents contract rather than in the Omni infrastructure. The timeline indicates the attack occurred between September 29 and October 1. The team detected withdrawal anomalies on October 1 and paused the contract within 29 minutes. Thanks to collaboration between the SHIELD security layer, on-chain tracking efforts, and industry security researchers, the attacker fully returned the funds on October 2, and all affected users have been compensated. The postmortem highlighted that existing monitoring only tracked discrepancies between aggregate token balances on the source chain versus NEAR, failing to monitor the mismatch between total user balances and contract token balances. This oversight allowed the attack to proceed undetected for several days. For remediation, the team has completely disabled the deposit notification functionality and implemented new monitoring for discrepancies between total user balances and contract balances. If this invariant is violated, the contract will automatically pause. On October 7, white hat research
"Bunker Mode" Sparks Crypto Security Debate: Institutional Quantum Risk Response Far Harder Than for Individual Users
Odaily News: As the crypto industry discusses whether users need to enter "bunker mode" before AI or quantum computing technologies expose wallet private keys, custody institutions face a more complex challenge: how to upgrade key management, approval, and audit systems before an emergency migration occurs.Project Eleven CEO Alex Pruden stated that institutions have already begun preparing for post-quantum migration outside of blockchain, and different blockchains may adopt different quantum-resistant signature schemes and migration paths in the future. Institutions holding multiple types of assets will face the challenge of simultaneously adapting to multiple cryptographic systems.Quantus co-founder and CEO Christopher Smith stated that AI is accelerating the development of quantum hardware and software, and the tail risk of quantum attacks should be incorporated into portfolio decisions — this is an institutional fiduciary duty.Currently, the timeline for quantum computers to crack Bitcoin and Ethereum's existing public-key cryptographic systems remains uncertain, but the industry is gradually viewing the coming years as a window for establishing migration plans, rather than waiting for an attack to occur before responding reactively. (CoinDesk)
Near Intents Recovers $3.8 Million in Stolen Funds, Ends Investigation
Odaily reports: Cross-chain swap service Near Intents announced that the $3.8 million in funds stolen in a previous exploit has been fully returned, and the team has closed its investigation. Near Intents General Manager Alex Shevchenko had previously issued a 48-hour return deadline to the attacker, providing Bitcoin, BNB, Ethereum, and Solana addresses.The attacker acknowledged wrongdoing in an on-chain message, stating that all funds had been returned and urging others to report issues through the bug bounty program. The incident stemmed from a vulnerability in the interaction between its Omni deposit and withdrawal layer and the main smart contract. Near Intents had suspended services and promised full compensation to users. (Decrypt)
The $3.8 million in stolen NEAR Intents funds has been fully recovered.
Alex Shevchenko, General Manager of NEAR Intents, stated that just hours after issuing a 48-hour return deadline to the identified attacker, the $3.8 million stolen from NEAR Intents has been fully refunded. The team has halted its investigation and is calling on security researchers to report issues through a bug bounty program in the future, rather than disrupting network services.
NEAR Intents Claims It Has Confirmed the Hacker's Identity, Demands Return of $3.8 Million in Stolen Funds Within 48 Hours
According to Cointelegraph, Alex Shevchenko, General Manager of NEAR Intents, stated that the team has identified the hackers behind the previous security incident and given them a 48-hour deadline to return the stolen funds through a "responsible disclosure." NEAR Intents previously suspended its services due to a vulnerability in the interaction between the Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure and its smart contracts. Initial investigations revealed that approximately $3.8 million in user funds were stolen in the incident, and the team has committed to fully compensating affected users. On-chain detective ZachXBT stated that the stolen funds were subsequently transferred to KuCoin and cross-chain converted into Bitcoin.
Coldcard white hat hacker moves 52.37 BTC to Crypto Recovery Trust
according to Bitcoin News monitoring, this batch of Bitcoin is worth over $4 million, accounting for approximately 2.8% of the total Bitcoin related to the Coldcard vulnerability. Crypto Recovery Trust will verify the ownership of the funds and attempt to return them; Galaxy Digital research director Alex Thorn stated that another 3.0134 BTC was transferred to this address in the same transaction, but its source has not yet been confirmed.
Galaxy Research: Bitcoin Bear Market Ended in June, Recommends Buy-and-Hold Strategy
According to The Block, Galaxy Research stated in a report released on October 26 that the Bitcoin bear market ended in June and that the current moment presents an attractive opportunity to buy and hold. The report notes that as of October 18, Bitcoin had closed above its 50-week moving average for five consecutive weeks, breaking a prior streak of 44 consecutive weeks below the level. Meanwhile, the monthly average volume transacted from long-term holding wallets dropped from 67,000 BTC in 2024 to 34,000 BTC in 2026. Galaxy’s head of research, Alex Thorn, cautioned that this bullish thesis would face challenges if Bitcoin records a weekly close below the $76,540 50-week moving average and fails to reclaim it within a month.
AI Startup Arda, Founded by Former OpenAI Research Head, Raises $230 Million and Reaches $1.5 Billion Valuation
According to CNBC, Arda, an AI manufacturing startup founded by former OpenAI research chief and ex-Palantir head of product and engineering Bob McGrew, has announced the completion of a $230 million funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation. The round was led by Altimeter Capital, Accel, and Khosla Ventures. Arda develops AI software and agents for manufacturing engineers, helping them build and adjust assembly lines faster. Its AI models have been deployed at defense technology company Anduril. McGrew noted that when product designs change, it takes just one day to retrain workers, whereas adjusting automated production lines typically requires three to six months. Arda runs its software using a combination of proprietary, open-source, and select frontier models, with robotics set to be included in its next product roadmap. Co-founders include Augustus Odena, Alex Mark, and Jakob Frick. Apoorv Agrawal of Altimeter stated that the global manufacturing industry amounts to $16 trillion, with approximately $3 trillion in the United States. McGrew joined OpenAI in 2017 and departed in 2024.
HRT's two co-founders founded Chaincode Labs in 2014
Odaily reports: Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang posted a photo with Hyperliquid founder Jeff and Cognition founder Scott Wu, all of whom were once HRT interns. Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley noted that HRT's two co-founders, Alex Morcos and Suhas Daftuar, founded Chaincode Labs in 2014. The organization is located in Midtown Manhattan, New York, and is dedicated to advancing the Bitcoin network and providing resources for independent innovators in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
NEAR Intents releases post-mortem on the October 1 vulnerability incident: $3.8 million in funds fully recovered, deposit notification feature removed
In a postmortem article published by Alex Shevchenko (@AlexAuroraDev), lead of NEAR Intents, a vulnerability was identified in the NEAR Intents contract's deposit notification mechanism when interacting with third-party contracts. The attacker deployed a contract that caused the notification call to fail, triggering the token contract to refund the deposits while the NEAR Intents contract retained the deposit records. Through 23 failed deposit transactions, the attacker generated approximately $3.8 million in "phantom funds," which were subsequently withdrawn to external chains via Omni infrastructure. This vulnerability resided in the NEAR Intents contract rather than in the Omni infrastructure. The timeline indicates the attack occurred between September 29 and October 1. The team detected withdrawal anomalies on October 1 and paused the contract within 29 minutes. Thanks to collaboration between the SHIELD security layer, on-chain tracking efforts, and industry security researchers, the attacker fully returned the funds on October 2, and all affected users have been compensated. The postmortem highlighted that existing monitoring only tracked discrepancies between aggregate token balances on the source chain versus NEAR, failing to monitor the mismatch between total user balances and contract token balances. This oversight allowed the attack to proceed undetected for several days. For remediation, the team has completely disabled the deposit notification functionality and implemented new monitoring for discrepancies between total user balances and contract balances. If this invariant is violated, the contract will automatically pause. On October 7, white hat research
New York regulators permanently ban Celsius founder from participating in crypto business
The New York State Department of Financial Services has issued an order permanently banning Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky from participating in cryptocurrency business in the state. This ban is part of a settlement agreement related to his defrauding of investors and aims to completely sever his ties with the cryptocurrency industry.
"Bunker Mode" Sparks Crypto Security Debate: Institutional Quantum Risk Response Far Harder Than for Individual Users
Odaily News: As the crypto industry discusses whether users need to enter "bunker mode" before AI or quantum computing technologies expose wallet private keys, custody institutions face a more complex challenge: how to upgrade key management, approval, and audit systems before an emergency migration occurs.Project Eleven CEO Alex Pruden stated that institutions have already begun preparing for post-quantum migration outside of blockchain, and different blockchains may adopt different quantum-resistant signature schemes and migration paths in the future. Institutions holding multiple types of assets will face the challenge of simultaneously adapting to multiple cryptographic systems.Quantus co-founder and CEO Christopher Smith stated that AI is accelerating the development of quantum hardware and software, and the tail risk of quantum attacks should be incorporated into portfolio decisions — this is an institutional fiduciary duty.Currently, the timeline for quantum computers to crack Bitcoin and Ethereum's existing public-key cryptographic systems remains uncertain, but the industry is gradually viewing the coming years as a window for establishing migration plans, rather than waiting for an attack to occur before responding reactively. (CoinDesk)
Related news
Galaxy Research Head: Some Long-Term Funds Increased Bitcoin ETF Holdings in Q3, SIGFIG Clients Added $73 Million
Odaily reports: Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy, posted that 13F filings for Bitcoin ETFs are still in the early stages, with most large asset managers and registered investment advisors (RIAs) typically submitting their filings only by the November 16 deadline.However, some long-term funds have already increased their Bitcoin ETF holdings in the third quarter. Wealth management advisory firm SIGFIG Wealth Management submitted its first relevant filing, with its clients adding approximately $73 million worth of Bitcoin ETFs in the third quarter. A significant portion of the firm's assets under management comes from retail client accounts at banks such as Wells Fargo, Citizens, Santander, and UBS.
Galaxy Research: Bitcoin Bear Market Ended in June, Recommends Buy-and-Hold Strategy
According to The Block, Galaxy Research stated in a report released on October 26 that the Bitcoin bear market ended in June and that the current moment presents an attractive opportunity to buy and hold. The report notes that as of October 18, Bitcoin had closed above its 50-week moving average for five consecutive weeks, breaking a prior streak of 44 consecutive weeks below the level. Meanwhile, the monthly average volume transacted from long-term holding wallets dropped from 67,000 BTC in 2024 to 34,000 BTC in 2026. Galaxy’s head of research, Alex Thorn, cautioned that this bullish thesis would face challenges if Bitcoin records a weekly close below the $76,540 50-week moving average and fails to reclaim it within a month.
BNB treasury company BNB Standard rang the Nasdaq opening bell today, celebrating its rebranding and the appointment of its new CEO
Odaily reports: According to the Nasdaq official website, BNB treasury company BNB Standard Corporation (Nasdaq: BNC) held an opening bell ceremony at the Nasdaq MarketSite from 9:15 to 9:45 a.m. ET, with the opening bell rung by the company's Chief Executive Officer Alex Odagiu.The event was held to celebrate the company's rebranding and the appointment of its new CEO. BNB Standard, formerly known as CEA Industries, officially changed its name on September 29 and currently focuses on managing a BNB corporate treasury.
Galaxy: Approximately 11.1 million Bitcoin cannot be linked to known holders, accounting for 55% of the total mined supply.
According to CoinDesk, Galaxy Research's October snapshot reveals that of the approximately 20.1 million mined bitcoins, around 11.1 million (roughly 55%) reside at addresses that cannot be linked to exchanges, funds, governments, or other known entities. Alex Thorn, head of Galaxy Research, noted that this suggests that despite growing institutionalization, a significant volume of bitcoin likely remains self-custodied by individuals. Xapo Bank, meanwhile, views this as evidence that retail investors have been participating in the market for over a decade. However, not all of these unattributed bitcoins necessarily belong to individuals practicing long-term self-custody. This group may also include coins rendered inaccessible due to lost private keys or deceased holders, holdings from institutions or OTC traders yet to be identified by Galaxy, and custodied assets spread across multiple addresses. The remaining 45% has clear ownership attribution, encompassing exchanges, ETFs issued by issuers such as BlackRock, and the US government; among them, the single largest holder is "Satoshi (Patoshi pattern)", holding 1,123,658 BTC.
AI Startup Arda, Founded by Former OpenAI Research Head, Raises $230 Million and Reaches $1.5 Billion Valuation
According to CNBC, Arda, an AI manufacturing startup founded by former OpenAI research chief and ex-Palantir head of product and engineering Bob McGrew, has announced the completion of a $230 million funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation. The round was led by Altimeter Capital, Accel, and Khosla Ventures. Arda develops AI software and agents for manufacturing engineers, helping them build and adjust assembly lines faster. Its AI models have been deployed at defense technology company Anduril. McGrew noted that when product designs change, it takes just one day to retrain workers, whereas adjusting automated production lines typically requires three to six months. Arda runs its software using a combination of proprietary, open-source, and select frontier models, with robotics set to be included in its next product roadmap. Co-founders include Augustus Odena, Alex Mark, and Jakob Frick. Apoorv Agrawal of Altimeter stated that the global manufacturing industry amounts to $16 trillion, with approximately $3 trillion in the United States. McGrew joined OpenAI in 2017 and departed in 2024.
BNB treasury company BNC appoints former YZi Labs investment partner Alex Odagiu as CEO
BNB Standard Corporation (BNC) has announced the appointment of Alex Odagiu as its new CEO. Alex Odagiu joined YZi Labs in September 2021, was promoted to investment partner in September 2025, was appointed as interim president and director of BNC in June 2026, and officially assumed the role of CEO on October 19, 2026; he has resigned from all positions at YZi Labs.