ZyCrypto

Chainlink (LINK) is moving deeper into traditional finance after teaming up with SWIFT to help banks connect to its blockchain ledger.
On Monday, Chainlink said its infrastructure will allow financial institutions to connect their systems to the SWIFT ledger.
Notably, SWIFT’s wider network covers more than 11,500 financial institutions and corporates across over 200 markets. However, that does not mean all of these institutions are adopting Chainlink.
Under the proposed setup, banks would use Chainlink’s Runtime Environment (CRE) to connect their systems and transaction-signing infrastructure to the SWIFT ledger. Banks would still control the keys needed to authorize transactions, while CRE would coordinate workflows between their systems and Swift.
The goal is to support 24/7 cross-border payments using tokenized deposits. These deposits would remain on bank-owned ledgers, while Swift’s ledger coordinates the movement of funds between participating institutions before final settlement.
Chainlink Labs CEO Sergey Nazarov said the company is “thrilled to be supporting the SWIFT ledger” as more banks explore tokenized deposits and look for ways to connect to the network.
The SWIFT development also came as Chainlink launched CCIP 2.0, an updated version of its Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol.
The upgrade adds new transaction verification options, compliance controls and customizable transfer settings. Through its Automated Compliance Engine, CCIP 2.0 can also support KYC, AML and sanctions checks.
Chainlink says CCIP now secures more than $84 billion in cross-chain assets, with over $15 billion migrating to the protocol in the past four months.
The Swift announcement comes as LINK gains more attention from institutional investors and crypto traders. LINK-focused ETFs recorded more than $2 million in inflows on Monday, while spot Chainlink ETFs attracted another $6.4 million over the past week, according to data from Sosovalue.
These products now hold roughly $227 million in LINK, about 2.2% of the token’s current supply. The growing institutional interest has also supported LINK’s recent rally, with the token surging roughly 18.7% over the past week.
That said, crypto analytics firm Santiment highlighted a shift among LINK holders following the rally. The analytics firm said on Monday that Chainlink reached a 2026 high of $14.89 while the number of non-empty wallets fell to 912,020.
According to the firm, some smaller holders may have taken profits on the rally. The firm also noted that LINK’s holder base remains near record levels after expanding throughout 2026, a positive sign for LINK.
Elsewhere, popular analyst Javon Marks also sees room for a much bigger move. In a Monday post, Marks pointed to a multi-year descending trendline stretching back to LINK’s 2021 all-time high. The chart connects several lower highs formed through 2022 and 2023 before the recent breakout.
“LINK has turned significantly, and prices look to be entering a new wave with massive upside as the breakout target at $47.154 is still in play!” Marks wrote, adding that another 200% move could take LINK toward that level.
Marks made a similar call in June, saying the $47.154 target remained valid despite market volatility. At the time, he suggested LINK could eventually move more than 500% if an altcoin season developed.
At press time, LINK was trading around $13.59 after gaining roughly 10% in 24 hours.

Strategy has transferred 3,568 Bitcoin (BTC) worth roughly $297 million, just hours after the company added another 1,666 BTC to its massive holdings.
The movement has raised questions about whether Strategy is preparing to sell some of its Bitcoin or simply moving coins between wallets.
Blockchain tracking firm Whale Alert highlighted the transaction in an X post Monday, asking whether Michael Saylor’s Strategy was “dumping BTC again, or just moving funds to new wallets?” The tracker said the company transferred the 3,568 BTC over a nine-hour period.
Notably, while there is no confirmation that Strategy has sold the Bitcoin, the timing of the transfer is interesting.
On September 28, Michael Saylor disclosed that Strategy had purchased 1,666 BTC for approximately $142.7 million at an average price of $85,681 per coin. The purchase pushed its Bitcoin holdings to 847,666 BTC, representing roughly 4% of Bitcoin’s maximum supply.
That followed a 950 BTC purchase announced on September 21 for about $75.7 million. Across three September purchases, Strategy has added roughly 7,200 BTC after selling thousands of coins earlier this year.
Strategy had previously sold 6,948 BTC for approximately $431.8 million in net proceeds, or around $62,150 per Bitcoin. In August, it also sold another 1,690 BTC and used the proceeds to repurchase STRC.
The company has also made it clear that Bitcoin sales remain part of its financial strategy.
Following its second-quarter results, CEO Phong Le said Strategy would no longer automatically put all capital raised through STRC issuance into Bitcoin. Instead, the company would decide how much capital to allocate to BTC and how much to keep in dollars.
That policy gives Strategy room to move or sell Bitcoin when it considers doing so commercially appropriate.
Meanwhile, the company’s buying spree has already attracted criticism from Bitcoin skeptic Peter Schiff. After the September 21 purchase, Schiff pointed to Strategy’s earlier sales and questioned its decision to buy Bitcoin back at significantly higher prices.
“Now he’s buying back some of what he sold for over $80K per Bitcoin,” Schiff had said. “It won’t be long before he’s selling at lower prices again.”
However, analyst BLMihnea offered a different take on the latest transfer, arguing that a sale would make little sense so soon after Strategy’s latest Bitcoin purchase. He also pointed to the company’s roughly $6 billion in cash reserves, suggesting it is not under immediate pressure to sell.
“Why would he sell BTC when he just bought it a few days ago?” BLMihnea told his 56,400 followers on X.
He added that Strategy could potentially use STRC to raise funds and buy Bitcoin again, particularly with the preferred stock trading around $99. In his view, the latest transfer may therefore be part of Strategy’s broader treasury strategy rather than an indication that the company is preparing to dump Bitcoin.
At press time, BTC was trading at $84,485, down 0.61% in the past 24 hours.

A Bitcoin (BTC) wallet dormant for more than 14 years has suddenly become active, moving 600 BTC worth about $51.15 million as Bitcoin surged toward $87,000.
According to a Tuesday tweet by blockchain tracker Whale Alert, the dormant address containing 600 BTC was activated after remaining untouched for 14.2 years. The coins were valued at $51,150,182 at the time of the transaction.
Notably, the wallet movement comes as Bitcoin posted a strong recovery, with BTC rising to as high as $87,341 late Monday for the first time since January.
However, the movement of the 600 BTC does not necessarily mean the holder is preparing to sell. There is currently no indication that the coins were transferred to a cryptocurrency exchange. The Bitcoin could have simply been moved to another wallet controlled by the same holder.
That said, movements involving wallets that have remained inactive for more than a decade often attract attention because they involve coins acquired during Bitcoin’s early years, when the asset traded at a fraction of its current value.
The latest transaction also comes just days after another long-dormant Bitcoin wallet was activated.
On Saturday, Galaxy Research reported that a wallet that had remained untouched since November 2011 moved 100 BTC worth around $8.09 million. The coins had reportedly been acquired at an average cost of about $3 per BTC and remained dormant for nearly 15 years.
Meanwhile, the latest 600 BTC transaction comes amid renewed buying activity across the Bitcoin market.
US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded nearly $1 billion in net inflows on September 21, according to SoSoValue data. The products attracted approximately $999 million, marking their largest inflow in 12 months.
Elsewhere, BlackRock’s IBIT led the inflows with $381.4 million, while ARKB recorded $289.1 million and Fidelity’s FBTC attracted $238.8 million.
Meanwhile, Glassnode reported a shift in Bitcoin taker activity from selling toward buying, alongside rising trading volumes and short liquidations.
“Bitcoin touches $86k, up more than 10% from last Sunday’s close. Spot and perpetual buyers lead while leverage and profit-taking slowly rise with price.” The firm tweeted Monday. “ETF flows are the one reading still pointing the other way.”
Blockchain analysis firm Wintermute also highlighted a major shift in Bitcoin’s technical structure as the cryptocurrency pushed higher. BTC closed last week at $81,159, putting it above its 50-week moving average for the first time since early November. Bitcoin had previously spent 44 consecutive weeks below the key indicator, giving the cryptocurrency room to push higher toward the $87,000 level.
According to the firm, Bitcoin’s ability to hold above the 50-week moving average would be an important confirmation that the June low has held, rather than just another short-term move above resistance.
At press time, Bitcoin was trading at $84,490, up 0.63% in the past 24 hours.

Ethereum has been stalling around a key make-or-break level for the past week or so. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is hovering in a tight range below $2,700, signaling indecisiveness and, to some extent, exhaustion.
Prominent crypto analyst Ted Pillows tweeted:
Image Source: X
According to Ted, the next key price level to watch is $2800. The bulls have an urgent task ahead: break above the key resistance level if they want to keep control of the move. A sustained move above it will allow the bulls to aim for a leg above, and a failure can open the door to a sharp price correction, something that the upward forces need to avoid at all costs.
Ethereum is currently trading around $2620 at press time. The 100-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) hovers around $2780, while the exponential moving average sits around $2560. The spot level sits between these two levels, giving plenty of motivation to move either way.
If the bears score a breakthrough, the next price levels to watch are $2,547, $1,965, and $1,713.
Will it be Uptober or Downtober?
Crypto analysts have long pushed October as a major bullish month. They point out that the month has witnessed net bullish activity in 13 out of the last 10 years. But while bulls may take comfort in this historical trend, last October should be a fresh memory for them, when the cryptocurrency market saw its largest derivatives liquidations in history, forcing an early end to the 2024-2025 bull market worth more than $15 billion.
This year, October isn’t off to a great start; the first week is often the most important, and major cryptocurrencies are either trading sideways or inching down, which isn’t a good sign. There is still enough time for the bulls to make their presence felt, as they are still holding the levels just below multi-month highs.
All eyes are currently on BTC and, to some extent, Ethereum, as they are both the major market makers and set the trend for the rest to follow. With ETH’s market dominance and role in decentralized finance remaining significant, the altcoin market’s overall situation hinges on its positioning, which is starting to look vulnerable, if not weak.

Bitcoin has entered the final quarter of the year and has been the topic of conversation amongst leading market players. Bullish predictions have been rolling in since September and, more recently, October, suggesting sentiment is largely positive for the apex cryptocurrency.
Veteran trader Peter Brandt raised his Bitcoin cycle-top forecast in late September 2026, projecting a peak between $300,000 and $600,000 by the end of 2029. He described a $500,000 level as having a very good chance of being reached in the next major bull market, while viewing the June 2026 low as the likely cycle bottom even as he flagged risks of a near-term pullback.
Fundstrat’s Tom Lee delivered one of the more aggressive near-term calls on September 30, 2026, during his keynote at Korea Blockchain Week. Lee declared crypto had entered its biggest bull cycle ever and targeted Bitcoin at $200,000 to $250,000 by the end of 2026, citing the reclaim of the 200-day moving average, institutional inflows, and broader adoption drivers; he has also maintained a $150,000 view in related late-September comments.
Arthur Hayes, the BitMEX co-founder and Maelstrom CIO, reiterated his long-term bullish stance across September 2026 updates, including newsletters and essays in early to mid-month. Hayes continues to see a path to $1 million Bitcoin, often framed around 2030 with potential acceleration in late 2027 or early 2028 driven by liquidity from AI-related dynamics and money printing, while keeping a structurally long position without attaching a precise short-term price target in the most recent remarks.
This October, Citi raised its 12-month Bitcoin price target to approximately $113,000–$113,400, marking a roughly 39% upward revision from its prior forecast near $82,000.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
At report time, Bitcoin is trading at $86,304. The asset has remained above the $80,000 mark since September 18th, when it hit a low of $76,228. Over the past 30 days, Bitcoin has gained a little over 14% following the continued crypto market recovery, as total market cap corrects upward.
According to CoinMarketCap data, Bitcoin is still down 31.55% from its all-time high of $126,198, reached on October 6, 2025. A close above the $100,000 price mark this year will require Bitcoin bulls to push the asset up by roughly 15.47%. It remains to be seen whether the asset stays above $80,000, falls below, or even hits and crosses $100,000 by the end of the year.

Bitcoin and other leading altcoins are poised to outperform over the long term in price and market cap, according to a handful of notable market players whose predictions appear largely bullish. However, in order for the big bull to hit new highs, the overall performance of the crypto market must reflect growth, and John Gillen, a former BlackRock VP popularly known on X as “BitcoinJesusETH”, is convinced that said growth could be reflected in the total crypto market capitalization value.
‪In a recent interview on the popular crypto podcast Milk Road, the crypto proponent revealed his near-term expectations for the crypto market, saying that the current cycle could see total market cap hit $10 trillion.
“‪I think you can see between $2 trillion to $10 trillion market cap added to crypto in a pretty short order, and that would be a massive altcoin season, and I do think at some point that is coming.” He asserted.
However, the bullish predictions come with some conditions, one of which includes, the ‪the expectations that a bull market is fully confirmed. If that happens, the crypto proponent sees the market moving directionally from $3 trillion to $10 trillion.
Gillen expanded on his bullish prediction, saying a confirmed bull run and a surge above historic levels could do wonders for the cryptocurrency market.
In his words:
“It could be $3 trillion to $6 trillion; it could be $3 trillion to $12 trillion. I don’t know where that ends up in this bull market, but that would be the expectation. Once we clear those key historical five-year resistance levels, confirm above it, and break out higher, I think you would see a very wild, explosive, and euphoric bull run in crypto.”
His assertions come as the market takes a notable hit, with leading cryptocurrency assets recording losses. Notably, liquidations are up more than 34%, while total market cap is down 1% to $2.89 trillion.

As artificial intelligence (AI) gains steam, Cardano (ADA) is eyeing a piece of this cutting-edge technology through a new route that will enable applications and AI agents to make payments.
Taking on X, formerly Twitter, the Cardano Foundation announced that Cardano has been integrated into the official x402 SDK, allowing apps and AI agents to pay for API calls using Cardano Native Tokens (CNTs) or ADA through a web request.
This development is noteworthy because it expands Cardano’s use cases by eliminating the need for checkout pages, API keys, or traditional accounts. This is happening at a time when autonomous AI agents are creating demand for faster and programmable payments
As a result, services already operating on x402 can enable Cardano as a payment rail, giving ADA a potential role in the emerging agent economy, where AI systems can independently interact with online services and pay for resources.
Cardano’s Bullish Momentum Takes Center Stage
ADA is seeing renewed market momentum, as the 14th-largest cryptocurrency by market cap is up 19.6% over the past seven days to trade at $0.246, according to CoinGecko data.
Market analyst Sssebi offers more insights by noting that Cardano’s breakout from a multi-year resistance area is gaining steam, adding to the bullish technical narrative surrounding the altcoin.
Source: Sssebi
Beyond AI adoption and price action, ADA’s treasury strategy is becoming a vocal point.
As previously reported by ZyCrypto, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson acknowledged that treasury funding decisions have not been quite precise since they have triggered missed opportunities for the network.
Hoskinson pointed out that some proposals that were rejected could have propelled ADA and expanded the broader Cardano ecosystem.

A single rumor is sending the XRP community into a full-blown frenzy. Speculation of a potential alliance between Ripple and SWIFT, the global interbank messaging network, has exploded across social media, fueling fresh excitement over what such a connection could mean for XRP and Ripple’s broader payments ambitions. But before the hype runs too far ahead, one important question remains: what, if anything, has actually been announced?
The Sibos 2026 Connection Fueling the SWIFT-Ripple Rumor
The SWIFT-Ripple speculation is picking up steam across the XRP community, and the timing is hard for crypto watchers to ignore. Sibos 2026 has brought both names into the same industry spotlight, creating fresh intrigue around whether their paths could eventually cross in a more meaningful way.
Ripple Treasury is attending the Sept. 28-Oct. 1 gathering in Miami, while SWIFT is using its flagship banking event to unveil its blockchain-based shared ledger and outline its broader digital-asset ambitions.
That overlap has sparked a bigger XRP theory: could Ripple’s token eventually have a place somewhere inside SWIFT’s evolving blockchain architecture? No confirmed XRP integration exists yet, but the possibility alone has given the community plenty to dissect.
RUMOR: SWIFT plans to announce a massive partnership with Ripple today. Massive if true! Crypto & $XRP holders Invest with the right investment company and earn , DM for more information https://t.co/QKeE33y4jJ pic.twitter.com/lhB217BgzS
— The Bull Q (@TheBull1123) September 28, 2026
The speculation may be unconfirmed, but it isn’t coming from nowhere. Ripple already has an existing connection to the broader SWIFT ecosystem. That connection comes through Ripple Treasury, which inherited treasury-management infrastructure from Ripple’s acquisition of GTreasury. The platform supports SWIFT connectivity and displays SWIFT Compatible Application certification for cash-management services.
In other words, a Ripple-owned business already has technology that connects with the broader SWIFT ecosystem. But that is a very different claim from saying SWIFT has adopted XRP, the XRP Ledger, or Ripple Payments.
For now, the existing relationship remains focused on connecting corporate treasury platforms with banks and SWIFT’s messaging infrastructure. So while the connection is real, an XRP integration remains unconfirmed.
XRP’s SWIFT Opportunity: Could the Token Capture 14% of Global Volume?
Notably, the door remains open for Ripple and SWIFT to announce a future commercial or interoperability deal. Ripple’s expanding footprint across cross-border payments, stablecoins, custody, and treasury services increasingly intersects with the institutional financial infrastructure SWIFT is targeting. Ripple Treasury’s existing SWIFT connectivity also means the two ecosystems already have a technical link.
But as of Sept. 29, Ripple or SWIFT had not publicly unveiled any new deal involving XRP during Sibos 2026.
Meanwhile, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said last August that XRP could play a significant role in the future of cross-border payments, projecting that the token could capture 14% of the volume processed through SWIFT within five years.

Solana’s turning point may be underway, with renowned market analyst Ali Martinez noting strong on-chain support around the psychological $100 level, where at least 40 million coins have changed hands.
Per CoinGecko data, Solana (SOL) is trading at $117.25, representing a 15.9% increase in the past week. Therefore, the $100 support zone could become of the essence if the 7th-largest cryptocurrency attempts another leg higher.
Martinez also acknowledges the formation of a massive cup-and-handle pattern on Solana’s weekly chart with the neckline sitting near $360.
As a result, if the $360 level sees the light of day, Martinez believes this could open the door for the potential long-term target of $1,300, which could represent a 10x jump from current levels.
What’s Cooking Under Solana’s Hood?
Veteran analyst Peter Brandt has also acknowledged the importance of Solana’s long-term structure, thanks to the materialization of a rare macro-lebel cup-and-handle pattern.
Source: Peter Brandt
More notably, Brandt described SOL’s five-year chart as approaching a potential resolution after an extended period of consolidation.
According to his analysis, the top altcoin could first make at least a 100% move toward the upper boundary of the current formation.
On the other hand, Solana is attracting increased attention from U.S. investors through spot ETF products. Recent flows into Solana-related exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have added another layer to the bullish narrative surrounding the network with a price discovery cycle seemingly materializing.

South Korea remains one of the world’s most active crypto markets, as displayed by its shift from retail-dominated trading toward institutional infrastructure, stablecoins, and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, backed by strong holdings, usage, and government support. In line with these developments, a leading Korean firm recently announced a partnership designed to further transform the Korean stock market and widen its global reach.
Kakao Pay Securities, a South Korean digital brokerage firm owned by the leading fintech platform Kakao Pay, is partnering with two major tokenized finance companies to develop a framework that allows Korean stocks to list in a global market.
The announcement, made by Kakao Pay Securities on September 29th, revealed that the firm had come to a mutual agreement with Ondo Finance, a leading decentralized finance platform, and Dinari, a financial technology and infrastructure company that turns traditional public stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) into blockchain-based tokens known as “dShares.” All three firms intend to join forces to investigate and research the sourcing of underlying assets as well as how tokens could be issued and redeemed this year.
The new development comes after Kakao Pay revealed its intentions to expand entry points that allow foreign investors to access Korean equities, with the aim of expanding into stock tokenization.
Following the announcement, Chung In-young, the vice president of Kakao Pay Securities, said the following:
“Starting from trading in underlying shares, we will steadily verify technical feasibility through a proof of concept for stock tokenization, and open a path for shares of Korea’s leading companies to connect with broader markets.”
South Korea already outperforms a handful of countries worldwide in on-chain adoption. Notably, Korea ranks 2nd globally in on-chain cryptocurrency holdings, behind the US. This metric measures the total value of cryptocurrency verifiable on blockchain networks.
Because domestic corporate participation in crypto remains limited, analysts attribute most of these holdings to individual and retail investors. Additionally, Korea ranked 5th in Chainalysis’s 2026 Global Crypto Adoption Index.

Ripple-linked XRP may be gearing up for another parabolic move, at least according to a trader who called XRP’s breakout from a seven-year pennant in 2024 ahead of the token’s eventual breakout above $3 later that year.
Crypto Michael is once again sounding the alarm for bulls, telling his followers to “get ready for green. A lot of green.” This time, however, there is a catch: the analyst has kept his latest chart setup private, meaning he has not disclosed a specific price target, resistance level, or timeframe for the potential move.
Trader Is Suddenly Seeing “A Lot of Green” for XRP
In a Sept. 29 post on X, Crypto Michael revealed that he had a fresh XRP chart setup he wanted to share publicly, but said he had agreed to keep the details exclusive to members of his group.
He offered little in the way of specifics, but his message to XRP traders was unmistakably bullish:
“Let’s just say… get ready for green. A lot of green.”
The teaser leaves plenty of room for speculation, however, because Michael did not reveal the price levels, breakout targets, or timeframe behind his bullish outlook. For now, his “a lot of green” call offers more intrigue than concrete details, leaving XRP traders watching closely for the chart setup he has kept behind the group’s paywall.
Michael turned up the bullish rhetoric even further in a follow-up post, describing the current XRP rally as something that was supposedly “foretold in ancient scriptures dating back to the Egyptian times.”
He then compared the potential move to a parabolic rally, claiming the surge could be so dramatic that millions of people could eventually escape traditional 9-to-5 jobs. Michael described the potential move as a “historical event” and a “lifeboat to financial freedom,” underscoring just how extreme his expectations for XRP are.
Crypto Michael’s Track Record
Michael’s bullish stance on XRP did not begin with his latest posts. His current outlook dates back to the token’s lengthy consolidation in 2024, when XRP was still trading below $1.
In July 2024, he highlighted what he viewed as a seven-year bull pennant, arguing that the formation could set the stage for one of the cryptocurrency market’s most significant breakouts.
The pattern eventually broke higher during the November 2024 rally, and Michael later pointed back to his earlier analysis as XRP pushed through $1 and ultimately climbed above $3.
He also revealed in July 2024 that he bought XRP after years of sideways price action, arguing that widespread selling and investor capitulation had created the kind of setup he had been waiting for.
With XRP now trading above $1.50, the question is whether Michael’s latest update is pointing to another explosive move or simply another round of crypto-market hype.

Major stablecoin issuer has minted around $495 million in tokens, but not USDT. On-chain analytics firm Arkham shows that this time, the company minted its XAUt tokens, its flagship gold-backed digital currency. The move quickly drew significant attention in crypto circles, as it is the largest minting of gold-backed coins in recent memory.
Arkham tweeted:
USDT vs XAUt
Also known as Tether Gold, XAUt differs from the more familiar USD Tether, which has a supply of hundreds of billions of dollars. The latter is pegged to the Dollar but backed by a mixture of cash, Treasury bonds, and other assets. But with XAUt, the coin is backed by one ounce of pure 24-karat gold, locked away in a Swiss bank. The precious metal meets London Good Delivery standards.
To make the transaction more transparent, holders can track and verify gold using specific bar serial numbers. This helps resolve one of the most pressing issues of precious metal stablecoins. They have a direct claim on the physical gold, not just a promise or a guarantee from an authority.
The Size of the Transaction
The size of the transaction has highlighted the new XAUt push by Tether. According to analysts, the move created 119,670 XAUt tokens for $495 million.
It extends Tether Gold’s total market capitalization by more than 17%, from $2.5 billion before the transaction.
Why Gold-backed Tokens are Gaining Traction?
The activity marks an important milestone in gold-backed stablecoins. Fiat is under massive pressure, and investors are looking for an effective hedge. Gold has been a historic hedge against inflation ever since its abolition as a standard in 1971. However, investing in Gold is often considered a major hassle due to regulatory and geographical constraints.
Unlike conventional Gold investment methods, gold-backed stablecoins can move globally in minutes and can be fractionally owned, allowing investors with smaller capital to enter the fray. Additionally, institutional involvement in these gold coins is also increasing because of their tokenized nature and improving transparency standards.
Tokenized real-world assets continue to mature, stretching far beyond Gold and other metals. Stocks, bonds, and other commodities are increasingly being digitized at a fast pace, allowing new players to enter conventional yet proven asset classes.

Cardano’s ADA may be approaching a pivotal moment after spending nearly nine years trapped in a broader cycle of price compression.
As the token’s long-term trading range tightens, analysts are watching closely for signs the prolonged squeeze could finally give way to a powerful breakout, potentially setting the stage for a dramatic new chapter in ADA’s price action.
ADA’s 9-Year Compression Structure Could Be Ready to Break
Cardano’s nine-year price battle is entering a potentially pivotal stage. In a recent X post, market commentator Van Tassel pointed to a long-term chart showing ADA repeatedly bouncing along a rising macro support line, except for the extreme dislocation during the COVID-19 crash.
Above that support, however, ADA has faced a stubborn ceiling. A descending trendline drawn from the token’s 2021 peak has repeatedly capped its advances, creating a wedge-like compression pattern as the rising floor and falling ceiling steadily close in.
With ADA hovering around $0.25, those trendlines are now approaching their long-term meeting point. Van Tassel divides the pattern into four major chapters:
2018–2021: Explosive expansion
2021–2026: Years of relentless compression
2025: Breakout above resistance, followed by failure
2026: Support holds as ADA makes another run at resistance
The 2025 move is particularly important. ADA punched through the descending trendline and surged above $1, only for the breakout to unravel and send the token back into the long-term range.
Now, Cardano is testing that same ceiling again. Van Tassel sees the setup as significant, but he is not calling victory yet. The pundit is looking for confirmation through a weekly close above resistance followed by a successful retest. If the former ceiling turns into a new floor, it would provide considerably stronger evidence that ADA has finally escaped its long-running compression pattern.
Why Van Tassel Isn’t Buying the “Dead Coin” Story
One detail on Van Tassel’s chart is becoming harder to ignore: trading activity is picking up as ADA moves deeper into the critical end of its long-term pattern. The volume indicator on the chart shows roughly $307 million, suggesting a noticeable increase in market participation as Cardano once again tests major macro resistance.
For Van Tassel, ADA’s years of sluggish price action do not automatically make it a “dead coin.” Instead, he sees the extended consolidation as part of a much larger market structure that is also appearing across other crypto assets.
That similarity is central to his broader argument. If multiple altcoins are simultaneously forming comparable multi-year patterns, Van Tassel believes it could signal that the wider altcoin market is approaching a period of renewed activity.
He ties that potential shift to the expanding role of blockchain technology and decentralized finance. In his view, as adoption grows, blockchain networks could take on a broader range of financial functions, while Bitcoin continues to serve primarily as a store-of-value asset.
ADA was trading at $0.2478 at press time, according to CoinGecko data. Yet despite renewed attention, Cardano remains far from its former peak, sitting 92.1% below its $3.09 all-time high set in September 2021.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong believes Bitcoin (BTC) could reach between $300,000 and $400,000 by 2030 if the cryptocurrency continues to follow the market cycles seen in previous years.
Armstrong made the comments during an interview on “The Wolf of All Streets” channel Sunday, where he discussed Bitcoin’s previous market cycles, the recent downturn, and the broader expansion of the crypto industry.
“My hope is that by 2030 we could see a $300,000 $400,000 Bitcoin,” Armstrong told host Scott Melker.
Notably, the Coinbase chief based his outlook partly on Bitcoin’s recurring four-year market cycles. He noted that the cryptocurrency has historically recorded major advances around its halving events, when the number of new BTC entering circulation is cut in half, followed by periods of significant corrections.
“We’ve just gone through one of those recently, and so nobody knows for sure, but if it follows similar patterns to the past, hopefully we’ve seen the bottom of this cycle around $60,000 or so on Bitcoin,” he added.
Last week Armstrong also expressed a similar view, telling Bloomberg he believed Bitcoin’s latest downcycle had reached its bottom after the cryptocurrency spent roughly a year in a decline.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s recent price action has supported the broader recovery narrative. The cryptocurrency fell toward $75,000 earlier in the week after the US Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act. The Federal Reserve also raised interest rates by 25 basis points, adding another potential pressure point for risk assets.
Despite those developments, Bitcoin staged a sharp rebound late in the week. On Friday, September 18, BTC climbed more than 5% from the previous session, breaking above $80,000 and reaching above $81,000.
The move was accompanied by heavy liquidations among traders betting on further declines. More than $500 million in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated over 24 hours, with short positions accounting for most forced closures. Bitcoin itself accounted for more than $240 million of those liquidations, according to CoinGlass data.
Moreover, Bitcoin benefited from renewed demand for US spot ETFs. Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded roughly $160 million in inflows on Thursday, followed by about $434 million on Friday.
That said, for Armstrong, however, Bitcoin is only one part of a much larger crypto expansion. He pointed to stablecoins, perpetual futures, tokenized stocks and AI-related financial applications as areas that could continue developing regardless of Bitcoin’s short-term price.
“Stablecoins and perpetual futures and prediction markets and Agentic Finance are just growing really nicely regardless of what the price of Bitcoin is doing,” Armstrong said.
At press time, Bitcoin was trading at $83,525, down 0.86% in the past 24 hours.

XRP has recovered more than 50% in value during the last month and is extending its technical rebound, analysts report. The cryptocurrency is trading around $1.51 at press time, and technical indicators like open interest suggest the rally may be far from over.
“With an average monthly growth of almost 1.3% on Binance, XRP’s Open Interest has just recorded its strongest increase since August 2025. Two phenomena, often linked, explain this.“, tweeted popular analyst Dark Fost regarding the development.
Open interest measures the value of unsettled derivative contracts. Its rising value often indicates growing speculative interest in the underlying asset.
“On one hand, the bullish momentum has attracted more investors, who have taken both long and short positions on XRP. On the other, the price increase has mechanically raised the value of open positions”, the analyst continued.
Two Factors Fueling the Current Rally
Two major reasons behind the rise in open interest include a sudden influx of new contracts and the ballooning value of these contracts.
The third quarter of 2026 has seen a major renewal of investor interest in the crypto scene, much of which had been devastated by losses in Q4 2025 and Q1 2026. Now, open interest is at the highest level in over a year.
Is a Bull Rally Extension Confirmed?
While analysts like Dark Fost are quick to call it a convincing bullish indicator, traders should exercise caution, as the same situation unfolded last August when traders expected a major end to the fiscal year, only to be hit by the largest liquidations in crypto history in October and November.
The market already shows plenty of concerning indicators. The sellers have dominated the last few days, with Net Taker Volume on Binance now at negative $115 million, the lowest since December 2025. This suggests waning demand for XRP, especially at current relatively inflated prices.
The Future
The current environment is therefore incredibly complex, and investors are looking for a clear market signal. Bitcoin’s resistance around $90k and then $100k is likely to come into play in the coming weeks and determine the outcome. If the bulls can’t push the index past it, the market is likely to head toward a short-term decline again, with cryptocurrencies like XRP following.

After decades of navigating market booms and busts, veteran trader Peter Brandt has turned his attention to an unexpected crypto contender.
Brandt recently highlighted Stellar (XLM), a long-standing XRP rival, as a potential long-term dark horse, putting the token back in the spotlight as investors search for crypto assets with room to surprise.
Peter Brandt Spots Potential in Stellar’s XLM
Peter Brandt has singled out Stellar (XLM) as a crypto asset worth watching over the long haul, suggesting the token could emerge as an intriguing “long shot” opportunity over the coming years.
Brandt made his long-term XLM outlook clear in a recent post on X, writing, “If you want to bet on a long shot (next few years), $XLM is a good pick.”
Brandt accompanied his bullish XLM comment with a long-term monthly chart.
The chart tracks XLM’s price action back to the 2017–2018 crypto boom and highlights a massive descending trendline connecting major historical peaks across multiple market cycles, including the 2021 rally. Beneath the price, Brandt has drawn an upward-sloping support line, creating a huge contracting structure that has been developing for years.
For now, XLM remains well below the pattern’s descending upper boundary, leaving plenty of room between its current price action and the key resistance line.
Brandt’s chart also features a green horizontal level near $1.17605 on the right-hand side. He did not explicitly identify that level as a price target, so it should not be treated as a formal forecast. Still, its appearance on the chart suggests that significantly higher price levels are part of the multi-year setup he is monitoring. From around $0.23, a move to $1.176 would represent roughly 411% upside, taking XLM more than five times higher from its current level.
XLM Explodes Higher
Brandt’s comment comes as XLM notches solid gains on Tuesday, adding fresh momentum to his long-term “long shot” call.
The token is trading around $0.2313, up roughly 10.6% over the past 24 hours, CoinGecko data shows. That means the token surged roughly 11.3% from its session low of $0.2106 to its intraday peak near $0.2343, underscoring the sharp burst of buying momentum behind the move.
The rally has also coincided with several bullish developments across the Stellar ecosystem. On Sept. 22, stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK revealed that Stellar had been added to its payments platform.

Brad Garlinghouse has admitted that he’s not an XRP maximalist. On a podcast, the Ripple CEO denounced the portrayal of him as an XRP maximalist. He said he is a crypto pro who believes in the capabilities of several other digital currencies.
A crypto maximalist believes a particular cryptocurrency is superior to all other digital assets and protocols. For example, with Bitcoin, BTC maximalists (including Michael Saylor and others) invest exclusively in Bitcoin and reject diversification across other crypto assets.
I’m not an XRP maximalist, Garlinghouse said
Based on the podcast, the public generally sees Garlinghouse as an XRP maximalist who focuses on the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization and tries to convert new people into the XRP community. However, in his conversation, the CEO distanced himself from such extremist enthusiasm. He said he doesn’t consider himself an ‘XRP maximalist’, as he believes in the potential of different cryptocurrencies across the broader digital asset landscape.
Garlinghouse is the CEO of Ripple Network, a blockchain company that specializes in fast, low-cost, efficient global financial transactions, with XRP functioning as a bridge between currencies that enables real-time cross-border settlements and payments.
While XRP and stablecoins address different parts of cross-border payments, their battle for supremacy emerged in Garlinghouse’s speech. The CEO admitted that XRP and stablecoins offer different ways to meet different payment needs, with user preferences determining which approach resonates most. The executive also suggested that XRP may be preferable for certain digital transactions, citing its strong growth in the financial industry. On the other hand, he hailed the role of stablecoins in some payment use cases.
Garlinghouse revealed top assets to watch
While speaking to the congregants, Garlinghouse urged crypto users to focus on some major crypto assets, including Bitcoin, Ether, BNB, XRP, and Solana, showing confidence in their performance and capabilities. However, the CEO rejected the notion that Solana is the key rival to XRP, emphasizing that various digital assets are designed to serve different market roles and therefore have different strengths (capabilities).
Despite the growth of the crypto market, these five assets remain at the center of attention in the wider digital asset landscape. With thousands of listed cryptocurrencies, the five tokens are the most traded assets in the market, each offering different opportunities and risks.

Recent on-chain data shows a remarkable milestone: Stellar (XLM) has now secured the third spot among top cryptocurrencies by AUM in tokenized RWAs. According to data shared today by market analyst BSCN, Stellar has significantly increased asset holdings in the tokenization space. A massive $2.75 billion in real-world assets is currently tokenized on the network, making it the blockchain with the third-largest tokenized assets by AUM.
Currently, the total value of tokenized RWAs on public blockchains stands at $28.67 billion, up 79.8% since the beginning of the year, according to DeFiLlama metrics. This record highlights how fast tokenization is growing in the crypto industry – the process of converting traditional assets (like real estate, treasury bonds, gold, commodities, and several others) into digital tokens on a blockchain.
Stellar is becoming a hub for tokenization
Data shared today shows a unique narrative that is quietly developing around the Stellar network, becoming much bigger than the ordinary crypto craze. Based on the data, RWAs are significantly growing on the Stellar chain. Tokenized RWAs on the network have reached a staggering $2.75 billion in AUM, securing third place in the tokenization sector, surpassing Solana and Avalanche, and are even ahead of Aptos.
As the data shows, RWAs (from stablecoins, tokenized U.S. treasuries, equities, private credit, commodities, institutional-grade assets, and more) are moving massively on-chain, and Stellar is becoming a major hub for them. The network now holds the third-largest share of tokenized RWAs, behind BNB Chain and Ethereum, which hold the second and first positions, respectively.
Why Stellar is standing out among rivals
Stellar’s RWA market has grown more than four times since the start of the year, reaching $2.75 billion in value, according to the data. This growth shows rising activity across tokenized private credit, money-market funds, U.S. treasuries, and other traditional assets on the chain. This means the network is increasingly becoming a preferred ecosystem for powering regulated on-chain financial products.
The expansion is driven by the rising RWA trend, as financial institutions assess the capability of on-chain-based settlements and tokenized forms of traditional assets. As a result, Stellar is increasingly becoming a preferred platform because of its low-cost transactions, rapid settlements, and multichain interoperability. Its network, which specializes in financial services, cross-border payments, and asset issuance, has also set it apart from rivals and attracted real-world asset issuers and customers.

A major privacy blockchain shake-up could be brewing, and Input Output Global (IOG) founder Charles Hoskinson thinks Midnight could be at the center.
In a striking forecast, Hoskinson says Midnight, the privacy-focused blockchain that operates as a Cardano partner chain, could eventually outgrow Zcash. If that prediction plays out, Midnight could emerge as a major contender in the privacy-crypto space and reshape the competitive landscape for blockchain privacy.
Why Hoskinson Thinks Midnight Will Surpass Zcash
NIGHT is starting to turn heads. The native token powering Cardano’s privacy-focused Midnight sidechain has jumped from roughly $0.023 to $0.028 in just one week, delivering a gain of about 21%.
The sharp move has also caught the attention of Weiss Crypto, which suggested that NIGHT could rank among the strongest-performing crypto investments over the next 24 months, adding another layer of intrigue to the token’s recent rally.
Hoskinson welcomed Weiss Crypto’s bullish assessment, then highlighted several features he believes could give Midnight an edge over established privacy networks.
The Cardano founder posited that Midnight could eventually surpass Zcash, citing a range of potential growth catalysts. These include private agents, a decentralized finance (DeFi) kernel built to support major blockchains, selective disclosure, and a technology stack combining zero-knowledge proofs (ZK), trusted execution environments (TEEs), and multiparty computation (MPC). Together, these features could give Midnight a broader privacy toolkit and expand its potential use cases across the wider blockchain ecosystem.
Weiss has stepped up its game lately. Midnight will be bigger than ZCash: selective disclosure, Private Agents, Abstraction with a DeFi Kernel for all major chains, ZK + TEE + MPC, and Cardano's 24/7 uptime combined with the magic of Leios. LFG 2027 https://t.co/VbRHi6PrvG
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) September 28, 2026
His latest comments come as he continues to make the case for Midnight, highlighting why he believes the project could take a very different path from privacy heavyweights such as Zcash.
During a livestream earlier this year, the Cardano founder singled out the privacy-focused blockchain as one of Input Output’s most exciting projects of 2026, fueling speculation over just how big its ambitions could become.
He also pointed to the project’s unusually rapid rollout, arguing that Midnight is moving through the hurdles that typically slow down new crypto projects at a much faster pace.
“Usually it takes about two to three years for a token to go through all these trials and tribulations, but Midnight lives in fast mode,” he opined at the time.
Zcash’s Breakout Run Puts NIGHT’s Ambitions to the Test
Hoskinson did not clarify what he meant by “bigger,” leaving it open whether he meant market value, adoption, utility, or something else. For now, the numbers show a substantial gap. NIGHT has a market capitalization of roughly $432 million, ranking it around 122nd among cryptocurrencies, according to CoinGecko data.
Zcash, meanwhile, sits in a completely different league. ZEC’s market cap stands at approximately $26.50 billion, placing it among the top 10 crypto assets.
ZEC has delivered a staggering run. The privacy coin started 2025 at roughly $56 before exploding to around $750 later that year. The rally has only accelerated in 2026, with ZEC gaining more than 100% and smashing through $1,600 over the weekend to hit $1,674.
The contrast underscores just how ambitious Hoskinson’s prediction is, with Midnight currently representing only a fraction of Zcash’s market value.
Despite Zcash’s explosive market performance, Hoskinson remains bullish on Midnight’s long-term potential. His case rests on Midnight’s combination of privacy technology, programmable smart contracts, cross-chain DeFi functionality, and Cardano’s underlying infrastructure, which he believes could give the project a major advantage as it scales.

The Ethereum blockchain is evolving from a traditional blockchain into a qualitatively different cryptographic world computer. In a recent piece that has since kept the cryptocurrency community on X debating Ethereum’s future, its founder, Vitalik Buterin, asserted that while it retains some core blockchain traits, by the year 2030 Ethereum will differ fundamentally from Bitcoin-style systems, or even early Ethereum, due to advances in cryptography, consensus, and architecture.
Essentially, Ethereum is transforming from a conventional blockchain into what Vitalik Buterin calls a “cryptographic world computer,” a system that blends on-chain security with advanced cryptography, privacy protections, and decentralized off-chain computing.
According to Buterin, the network is shifting away from traditional blockchain designs through upgrades that include SNARK-based verification, PeerDAS, refined proof-of-stake mechanics, multi-party block building, parallel processing, and enhanced privacy features.
Buterin suggested that the Hegota upgrade, expected next year, could mark the final “normal” hard fork that would still look familiar to someone familiar with Ethereum in 2015. Future changes, he said, will focus on recursive STARKs, automated formal verification and defenses against quantum computing threats.
The ultimate vision, Buterin explained, is a platform that retains blockchain-level security while incorporating cryptographic proofs, stronger privacy and the ability to perform computation off-chain in a decentralized manner.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
As he puts it, “The final outcome of this: much cheaper, scalable, and private high-security computation than anything that could be done with the previous era’s technology alone. The cryptographic world computer.”
Since publishing the article, Buterin has garnered massive support from leading cryptocurrency players, one such being Stani Kulechov, the founder and CEO of AAVE, who is quoted as saying the following:
“There are countless use cases where Ethereum verifiability would be useful beyond smart contract execution environments for finance to expand what we can actually do in DeFi while minimizing trust. Quite excited for the potential here.”