Crypto weekly is authored by maaria and david blumenfeld

PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Crypto Market Cap ($4.33 T): +11% / +27%
- BTC ($124,222): +12% / +33%
- ETH ($4,547): +12% / +36%
- SOL ($229): +11% / +21%
- UNI ($8.10): +6% / -39%
- OP ($0.72): +8% / -59%
- COIN ($380): +22% / +53%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($178B): +2% / +28%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($76B): +2% / +73%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 57% / 13%

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- Bitcoin reached a new all-time high of $125,689 driven by prevailing “Uptober” sentiment where bitcoin has historically outperformed in October. Bitcoin and other risk-off assets like gold also rose over concerns about the dollar’s debasement on the back of the US government shutdown. Link. Link. 

- US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $3.24 billion of net inflows, their second-highest weekly inflows since launch. Link. 

- The White House withdrew former CFTC commissioner and a16z crypto policy head Brian Quintenz from the CFTC chair nomination. A new nominee has not been announced yet. Link.

- The total market capitalization of stablecoins reached a record $300 billion, led by Tether's USDT with a 58% market share. Link. 

- The Senate Finance Committee is making progress on cryptocurrency tax legislation that incorporates nine of Senator Lummis’ proposals, including a provision to exclude transactions under $300 from taxation and declaring that digital asset lending is not a taxable event. Link. 

- Coinbase has originated more than $1 billion in bitcoin-backed onchain loans since January.  Link. 

- CME Group, one of the world's largest derivatives exchanges operating platforms including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and NYMEX, plans to launch 24/7 crypto futures and options trading by early 2026. Link. 

- Perpetual DEX monthly trading volume surpassed $1 trillion for the first time in September 2025, with newcomer Aster leading at $420 billion in volume, followed by Hyperliquid at $282.5 billion, and Lighter at $164.4 billion. Link. Link. 

- Crypto companies raised $3.3 billion in September 2025, bringing the year's total to over $17 billion and outpacing 2024 by $7 billion. Link. 

- Larva Labs, the team behind the Cryptopunks NFT collection, is launching a 500 piece NFT collection called Quine as the final release on Art Blocks Curated. Link.

- Bitwise filed to launch a spot ETF for Hyperliquid, the decentralized perpetuals exchange that is up over 1,200% since its launch last November. Link. 

- The SEC is reportedly developing a framework to allow tokenized stocks to trade on approved blockchain platforms. Link. 

- Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) shares rose after new IRS guidance exempted corporations from paying the 15% alternative minimum tax on unrealized gains from digital asset holdings, eliminating a potential multi-billion dollar tax liability for the bitcoin treasury company beginning in 2026. Link. 

- Fintech company Brex is launching a stablecoin payment platform that allows clients to send and receive Circle's USDC token. Link. 

- The SEC issued a no-action letter for investment advisors and RIAs who want to use state-chartered trust companies as qualified custodians for crypto assets. Link. 

- Polymarket is set to relaunch in the US, ending a four-year ban and enabling the platform to offer sports and election prediction contracts to American users. Link. 

- Stripe announced the launch of Open Issuance, a new platform that allows any business to create and manage their own stablecoin with just a few lines of code. Link. Link. 

- State regulators are concerned that upcoming crypto regulation in the Senate could severely undermine the ability for state regulators to prosecute cryptocurrency fraud. Link. 

- The SEC granted a no-action letter to DePIN project DoubleZero regarding its 2Z token distribution, marking only the fourth such letter issued to a crypto company in the SEC's history and its first since November 2020. Link. 

- Andre Cronje, founder of DeFi protocol Yearn Finance, raised a $200 million seed round for his new project Flying Tulip, an all-in-one DeFi platform. The funding is for a future token launch, with the project planning to raise up to $800 million more through a public sale. Link. 

- Tether is reportedly raising $200 million for a public vehicle that would accumulate Tether’s gold token XAUt. Link. Link. 

- Samsung and Coinbase have partnered to offer 75 million US Galaxy device users the ability to purchase cryptocurrency directly through Samsung Pay. Link. Link.

- Regulators in India ordered 25 crypto exchanges in the country to withdraw their apps and websites from public access in the country, after they were found to have failed to register and comply with AML rules. Link.