Good morning!
Here are today’s highlights:
- Leading cryptocurrencies experience a drop before recovering; BTC at $82.7k
- Almost $1 billion in crypto long positions liquidated in the last day, with ETH most affected
- ETF outflows persist as October turns negative
- Citrini releases a crypto basket focusing on AI integration; includes DRV, LIT, ETHFI
- Pump.fun launches Custom Pairs feature for token pairing
📉 Crypto Market Faces Setback as Major Coins Decline
Bitcoin fell below $81,000 on Thursday, while Ethereum approached $2,400, leading to a decline across the top ten cryptocurrencies over the week. The anticipated "Uptober" has not started as positively as hoped.
Further down the line, losses were sharper. Zcash dropped 11% in a single day, NEAR plummeted by 16%, and Pump.fun fell 11%, alongside Venice Token's 10% drop. Both Dogecoin and Chainlink also faced significant weekly declines.
On Wednesday, spot Bitcoin funds saw an outflow of $484.9 million, marking the steepest drop since spring, followed by an additional $244 million in outflows the next day. This has resulted in October already showing a negative figure of $400 million. Ethereum funds have now recorded losses for eight consecutive days, totaling $640 million. While prices rose last week, inflows had nearly halted. A market buoyed by rising prices without new capital is vulnerable, leading to rapid declines.
Several factors contributed to this downturn. Tom Lee announced that Bitmine would cease purchasing Ethereum once it reaches 5% of the total supply, approximately 100,000 coins away, thus eliminating a consistent buyer since June 2025. Midweek, Ethereum's funding rates turned negative for the first time in months, indicating that bearish traders outnumbered those betting on price increases, and they intensified their bets as prices fell. Additionally, rising oil prices due to attacks on Iranian tankers have diverted investments from riskier assets. An Ethereum researcher also advised preparing for "Bunker Mode."
Despite these setbacks, major cryptocurrencies have started to recover in the past 12 hours. Bitcoin is back above $82k, Ethereum is nearing $2,500, and Zcash has turned positive for the day. The fundamental case for a macro crypto bull market remains intact, with ongoing trends such as monetary debasement, institutional adoption, and tokenization. This downturn is likely a correction rather than a precursor to a market collapse, potentially allowing for a purge of leverage before the next upward trend in the emerging bull market. Notably, this comes just a day ahead of the anniversary of the significant 10/10 selloff that initiated last year's bear market, raising hopes for a "Reverse 10/10" tomorrow.
🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets
- Crypto leaders are down but showing signs of recovery after Thursday’s decline; BTC -1% at $827k; ETH -3% at $2,495; SOL -5% at $110; HYPE -2% at $86; ZEC stable at $1,230
- Notable altcoin movers include KAIA (+57%), STRK (+25%), PYTH (+11%), and ATOM (+8%)
- Oil decreased by 2% to $91; Gold increased by 1% to $4,200
- Stock futures are showing gains and recovering after recent declines; DOW +0.1%, Nasdaq +0.7%
- Nearly $1 billion in crypto long positions were liquidated in the last 24 hours, with Ethereum longs suffering the most
- Vitalik Buterin warned that AI might breach encryption within two years and cautioned the industry about potentially using ineffective quantum-proofing methods; he suggests focusing on hash-based methods instead of lattice-based cryptography, which he believes AI could crack, while advising against panic
- A government wallet transferred $1.01 billion in Bitcoin from the Bitfinex hack seizure to a new unmarked address on Thursday; there were no subsequent exchange deposits, and an executive order from 2025 prohibits selling coins from the strategic reserve
- A wallet containing 100 Bitcoin mined in July 2010 was moved for the first time in 16 years valued at about $29 when mined; the transaction fee was $1.22 for a transfer worth $8.3 million
- Solana’s largest exchange Orca and lender Loopscale merged into a New York company named Formation to finance AI, energy, robotics, and defense; it plans to operate a tokenized stock platform under the SEC’s new regulations
- Securitize launched tokenized versions of 12 major US stocks on Solana including Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, Amazon, and Microsoft
- Two companies related to market maker DWF Labs are suing custodian BitGo for $141 million in London alleging that it sold tokens that were meant to remain locked
Corporate Treasuries & ETFs
- Bitcoin ETFs reported $244 million in net outflows on Thursday, while ETH ETFs experienced $72 million in outflows
Meme Coin Tracker
- Meme coin leaders were mostly down; DOGE -5%, SHIB -2%, PEPE -4%, PENGU -8%, TRUMP -2%, SPX -6%, BONK -5%
- Robinhood chain leaders continued their downward trend; Pons -12% to $230M; AI -12% at $98M; Cashcat -7% at $113M; Hookr +35%, WTH +27%, and CRH +60x led the top movers
- Top movers in Solana included PQC +1500%, HeeHaw +1800%, JeanPhil +160%, and Baton +40%
💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker
- Decrypt has introduced Money Accounts on Solana, providing a unified balance for all its services; deposits are in USDT, gas fees are covered, and the balance supports earning, swaps, prediction markets, and perpetual futures without needing to bridge networks
- Pump.fun launched Custom Pairs, enabling users to create a coin paired with any other token on the platform, ensuring that every purchase of the new token first routes through the original one
- Citrini Research has published a crypto basket betting on AI agents facilitating onchain transactions featuring Derive, Lighter, and Ether.fi at 10% each, followed by Aave and Ethena at 9%, Solana at 8%, Hyperliquid and Aerodrome at 7%, among others
- Hyperliquid led onchain protocols in revenue today with $2.45M, followed closely by Pump with $2.41M and Polymarket with $472k
🚚 NFT Market Update
- NFT leaders showed mixed results; Punks -5% at 31.3 ETH, BAYC +1% at 6.09 ETH, Pudgy -1% at 2.85 ETH
- Top movers included Quotrons (+12%) and Original Blokyz (+10%)