News and analysis
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Stablecoin issuers have filled 40% of the US Treasury demand that China wrote off
According to researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle have increased their holdings of US Treasuries and repo operations by roughly 200 billion USD over the past five years. That matches more than 40% of the decline in Chinese holdings of US Treasuries over the same period. It is reshaping the investor mix in the world's largest government bond market.
Leo· NewsHyperliquid to Direct $14.6 Million in USDC Yield Toward HYPE Buybacks
According to The Defiant, a first payment of $14.6 million from reserve yield is awaiting transfer to the Assistance Fund. For the first time, funding for HYPE token buybacks is tied to USDC balances rather than just trading volume. We break down exactly what this means and what we still don't know below.
Leo· NewsNew SEC Rules for Crypto Custody: Big Firms Win, Smaller Advisers May Bow Out
On October 1, 2025, the US SEC approved a proposal that would let investment advisers and funds hold client crypto themselves, or through state trust companies, under certain conditions. But the agency's own economic analysis models annual costs of around 433,833 USD per adviser for this option, which the SEC says could discourage smaller firms from offering the service.
Leo· NewsBanking Lobby Sues US Regulator OCC Over Crypto Trust Charters
The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) has filed a lawsuit against the US regulator OCC. It accuses the agency of exceeding its legal authority by granting so-called trust charters to crypto firms. This is one of the first major legal clashes over who in the US is allowed to operate as a bank for the crypto world.
Leo· NewsTrump Plans Third "Memecoin Dinner" for the Biggest TRUMP Holders. What We Know and What We Don't
According to the announcement, Donald Trump will attend a gala dinner on November 22 for the 185 largest holders of the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin at Trump National near Washington, D.C. It is the third event of its kind. After the announcement, the token briefly gained roughly 9%, but soon gave back most of that rise.
Hugo· Local sceneThe CLARITY Act Failed, but the Rules Arrived Anyway: What the Data and Bitwise Say
The US crypto market structure bill (the CLARITY Act) has stalled with no new vote date. Even so, according to Bitwise data as of September 30, bitcoin has gained 8% and ethereum 7% since the vote. Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan ties this to faster regulatory steps that came even without the law. But this is his interpretation, not a proven cause.
Leo· NewsMiCA Consultation Closes. Reports to the European Commission Due by June 2027
The European Commission's public consultation on how the MiCA framework works ran from 20 May 2026 to 30 September 2026. Its outputs are meant to feed into reports the Commission must submit by June 2027. The consultation drew submissions from firms such as Circle and Hyperliquid, European regulators including ESMA, and, according to campaigns, tens of thousands of citizens.
Leo· NewsMetaMask Tackles Security Incident, Ethereum Validator Withdrawals Jump to Nine-Month High
MetaMask has disclosed a security incident in its infrastructure and preemptively started pulling Ethereum validators out of Lido. According to an on-chain researcher, this involved roughly 17,000 validators holding about 523,000 ETH, which clogged the exit queue. The firm says user wallets are not directly at risk, but returning the ETH can take up to 45 days.
Leo· NewsEU Puts Pressure on Binance Over the 'Reverse Solicitation' Exemption: How the Exchange Keeps Serving European Clients
According to a Decrypt report, European regulators are examining how Binance continues to serve EU customers from Abu Dhabi, months after losing its MiCA registrations. The exchange appears to be leaning on the 'reverse solicitation' exemption. Here is what is proven and what is not yet.
Leo· NewsWeekly Breakdown 2026-W40: Why You'll Learn About the Bitget Hack From the Chain Before the Press Release
Lesson of the week: in an exchange hack worth roughly 350 to 387 million dollars, the first thing to move was the on-chain outflows from hot wallets, not the official announcement. And because some protocols don't block addresses, the stolen funds could keep moving even after the world knew about them. We show which number moved first and what that means for reading the data.
Ada· On-chain & dataFCA Opens Licensing Window for Crypto Firms. New UK Regime Starts October 2027
UK regulator FCA began accepting crypto firm license applications on 30 September 2026. Companies wanting to keep operating in the country should apply by 28 February 2027. The full regime takes effect on 25 October 2027, and existing anti money laundering registrations will not automatically roll over into the new license.
Leo· NewsCould THORChain Face Criminal Charges Over Stolen Bitget Funds?
According to a lawyer, THORChain is refusing (or is unable) to block addresses tied to the $387.5 million Bitget hack. Whether its developers could be prosecuted for money laundering has no clear answer yet. Meanwhile, NEAR Intents says it froze $503,000, and some of the stolen ZEC has already vanished into a private Zcash pool.
Leo· NewsAztec Relaunches the zk.money Private Wallet. What We Know and What We Don't
After more than three years, Aztec Labs has revived its self-custodial zk.money wallet, this time on the privacy-focused Ethereum L2, Aztec Network. According to the developers, the wallet hides balances and payment amounts inside the network, while deposits coming in from Ethereum remain publicly visible.
Leo· NewsBitcoin ETF Inflows Slow, Ethereum Preps Glamsterdam, and the First Spot NEAR ETF Hits the Market
According to Kryptonovinky.sk, Bitcoin is holding around $83,400 and ETF inflows have noticeably slowed. CryptoQuant is also warning of a possible short-term correction. Meanwhile, per Decrypt and Cointelegraph, Bitwise has launched the first US spot ETF for the NEAR token on NYSE Arca.
Leo· NewsChainlink CCIP 2.0: New Verifier Gates Give Issuers Power to Pause Cross-Chain Transfers
Chainlink launched CCIP 2.0 on September 28. The update lets a token issuer require an additional verifier (CCV) before a cross-chain transfer completes. According to CryptoSlate, this means the sending pool may already have tokens locked or burned, but the receiving chain will not release them without the verifier's confirmation. Whoever runs such a verifier can, through its rules and availability, influence when a holder gets access to their tokens.
Leo· NewsCoinbase Wins CFTC Approval for Clearinghouse. Now It Controls the Entire Chain of Its Derivatives
Coinbase has received approval from the US CFTC for its own derivatives clearinghouse. According to Decrypt and Cointelegraph, the company is bringing the last missing layer of the derivatives stack under its own roof. Coinbase Clearing is set to accept USDC as collateral and settle around the clock, but margined products remain with partners.
Leo· NewsSenate Report Puts Tether and USDT at the Heart of Iran's "Shadow Banking"
On September 28, the minority (Democratic) staff of the U.S. Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a report finding that Tether's USDT stablecoin has become a key tool for the Iranian regime to circumvent sanctions. According to data cited in the report, of 846 wallets linked to Iran and to U.S. and Israeli sanctions, 84% used USDT for all or most of their transactions. The same day, Tether said it had helped U.S. authorities freeze roughly $550 million in USDT tied to Iran in 2026.
Leo· NewsBlockchain and Automation: Why AI Agents Are Running Into a Network That Even Scammers Can Fool
When AI agents get control over crypto wallets, they rely on the assumption that a blockchain can be securely verified. But three recent cases (a warning about AI agents, a fake GIWA blockchain that cost users more than 2 million dollars, and a forced rollback of the Zano network) show that the trust layer automation would depend on is failing even for humans today.
Hugo· Local sceneScammers Drained $2 Million in ETH via Fake GIWA Network, Victim Was DEX DYORSWAP
According to Cointelegraph, the decentralized exchange protocol DYORSWAP lost roughly $2 million worth of ETH after falling for a fake blockchain network impersonating GIWA. DYORSWAP said it paid out more than 200 ETH in compensation, while the operator of the real GIWA project (Dunamu, the company behind the Upbit exchange) pointed out that it had not launched its mainnet at all yet.
Leo· NewsVitalik Buterin: Hegota Could Be Ethereum's Last "Normal" Fork
In his September 27, 2026 essay "The Cryptographic World Computer," Vitalik Buterin described how, after the Hegota fork, Ethereum should shift away from a classic blockchain toward a cryptographic "world computer" built on mathematical proofs and distributed offchain work. The specific timing of future upgrades remains unknown.
Leo· NewsWhy Trading in Your Tokenized Stock Could Freeze for Three Months
In its September 17 framework for so-called Tokenized Securities Venues (TSV), the SEC anticipates that repeated rule violations could lead to a trading pause of up to three months for a given asset. While the regulation is still taking shape, the number of tokenized stock holders has jumped to roughly 4.3 million, according to Token Terminal.
Leo· NewsFed proposes emergency countdown for stablecoin issuers. Winding down would have to start within 48 hours
The US Fed's proposed rules for payment stablecoin issuers include a countdown measured in hours: if reserves fall below the value of issued tokens, the issuer has 24 hours to notify and submit a plan, and if it fails to close the gap, it must begin liquidating reserves and redeeming tokens by 5:00 p.m. the next business day, which in many cases is less than 48 hours, according to CryptoSlate.
Leo· NewsBlock Adds Bitcoin Lightning to the x402 Standard. AI Agents Can Now Pay in Bitcoin
Block (the company behind Cash App and Square) has joined the x402 Foundation and contributed a specification for payments over Bitcoin Lightning. According to The Defiant, the specification was merged into the x402 repository on September 23, 2025, with the announcement following on September 24. The goal is to let AI agents pay for data, computing power, and digital services directly in bitcoin on their own.
Hugo· Local sceneHester Peirce, Known as Crypto Mom, Leaves the SEC on October 2
Hester Peirce, a commissioner at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) whom the crypto community knows as Crypto Mom, will leave the agency on October 2 after roughly eight years. In one of her final speeches, she warned against the accumulation of personal data under KYC rules.
Leo· NewsDuelbits Reports $7 Million Hack, Casino Remains Offline
On September 25, the co-founder of crypto casino Duelbits announced a hack of roughly $7 million. The platform stayed offline while customers waited for withdrawals to resume. The case came in the same week as a much larger attack on the Bitget exchange.
Leo· NewsFed Proposes Capital Requirements and Approval Process for Stablecoins Under the GENIUS Act
On September 24, the US Fed unveiled a rule proposal that would require payment stablecoin issuers under its supervision to hold full reserve backing and capital against operational and certain credit risks, plus an approval process for bank subsidiaries. It marks a step toward implementing the GENIUS Act.
Leo· NewsUS Treasury Yields Hit Highest Since 2007: Bitcoin Holds Near $84,000, ONDO Climbs, DOGE Slides
On Thursday, September 24, 2026, US Treasury yields jumped to a 19-year high, putting pressure on risk assets. Bitcoin held near $84,000, Dogecoin led losses among altcoins (roughly -8%), while ONDO was, according to Cointelegraph, the strongest token of the day.
Leo· NewsHackers Drain Bitget Exchange of Roughly $352 Million, Bitcoin Holds Above $84,000
The Bitget exchange has confirmed unauthorized transfers from part of its hot and warm wallets totaling approximately $351.6 million. Withdrawals have been suspended, and cold wallets remained untouched according to the exchange. Bitcoin did not react significantly to the incident and is trading around $84,300. CEO Gracy Chen hints at a trail leading to a North Korean group, but that is not yet proven.
Hugo· Local sceneMoonPay Eyes a Trading Platform With an $8.7 Billion Figure, but Details Are Missing
On September 23, MoonPay announced a binding agreement to acquire North Capital Investment Technology, the operator of a platform for trading private securities. Nothing changes for customers yet: there is no launch date, no eligibility rules, and no product shape. The $8.7 billion figure is tied to the platform, but its exact definition is unverified.
Leo· NewsTrump and Strategy: What We Know About the Stock Purchase as Bitcoin Corrects Toward $84,000
Bitcoin fell roughly 3% over 24 hours to around $83,800 after topping $86,500 the previous day. According to Kryptonovinky.cz and Kryptonovinky.sk, Donald Trump bought shares of Strategy. In parallel, Bloomberg (via CoinDesk and The Defiant) reports that the Trump administration is considering global support for dollar-backed stablecoins. But exactly how much Trump invested and where the figure comes from does not emerge from the available sources.
Hugo· Local scene