Crypto Industry News & Market Trends

QNT gets 50x OKX futures after 178% weekly rally

QNT has gained roughly 178% over seven days as OKX launched USDT-margined Quant perpetual futures with leverage of up to 50x following the tokens sharp late-September rally.　　SummaryOKX launched QNT perpetual futures with leverage up to 50x and four-hour funding settlements Thursday.QNT trades near $249 after falling 16% daily while still gaining 178% across seven days.Quant was selected by The Clearing House to power its tokenized deposit settlement network infrastructure.The Clearing House expects participating institutions to access the network during the first half 2027.Seven UK banks completed tokenized sterling deposit transactions using infrastructure built by Quant in September.　　OKX announced that QUANT/USDT perpetual futures opened at 08:00 UTC on Oct. 1 across its web, app and API interfaces, subject to regional availability. The contract settles in USDT and trades around the clock.　　The listing arrived after QNT surged from below $100 on Sept. 25 to above $300 by the end of the month. CoinGecko currently places the token near $248.86, down 16.1% over 24 hours but still up 177.8% for the week.　　You might also like:　　OKX Bitcoin user holdings rise 4% in latest reserve report　　QNT gets up to 50x leverage on OKX　　Under OKXs contract specifications, traders can use leverage ranging from 0.01x to 50x

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Nike Earnings Explained: Why a Profit Beat Cannot Hide Shrinking Sales

Nike earnings beat Wall Street‘s forecast in the fiscal first quarter on lower costs, not sales growth. Yet CEO Elliott Hill’s turnaround plan comes with a guided high-single-digit revenue decline for fiscal 2027.　　Earnings of 48 cents a share topped the 43-cent consensus. Revenue of $11.21 billion, however, missed the $11.32 billion forecast, and net income still fell 2%.　　Sponsored　　Sponsored　　Where Do Nike Earnings Hide the Sales Problem？　　Revenue fell 4% to $11.2 billion, Nike said. Greater China and Europe, the Middle East and Africa led the drop.　　Greater China revenue fell 22% to $1.18 billion, or 26% excluding currency effects. Earnings before interest and taxes in the region dropped 34% to $248 million.　　Elsewhere, Nike told analysts that Sportswear, just under half of revenue, fell by a low double-digit percentage. Planned cuts to the Dunk sneaker, where revenue dropped nearly 50%, explain part of that.　　Similarly, revenue at Jordan Brand, which makes up 13% of Nikes business, slid by a mid-teens percentage.　　Zachary Warring, an equity analyst at CFRA Research, expects Jordan to stabilize in coming quarters, later than CFRA expected.　　“I think Jordan is an operating issue right now.”　　Zachary Warring, Equity Analyst at CFRA Research, speaking on Bloomberg　　Sponsored　　Sponsored　　Can Cost Cuts Substitute for Growth at Nike？　　Nikes Pace restructuring,

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Citi Says Fed May Not Need Aggressive Hikes Markets Are Pricing

Citi Research questions whether the Federal Reserve (Fed) needs the aggressive hikes markets are pricing in. The bank holds that view even as it forecasts global headline inflation of 3.5% this year.　　The Fed raised rates in September, which Citi links to a durable economy and inflation above target. However, a team led by Global Chief Economist Nathan Sheets sees a weaker case for aggressive tightening ahead.　　Sponsored　　Sponsored　　How Does Citi Weigh Inflation Against Fed Hikes？　　Citi says Brent crude remains near $105 a barrel. That has pushed its global inflation forecast nearly a full percentage point above its start-of-year estimate.　　Meanwhile, refined fuels are tighter still. Citi says diesel prices have risen nearly 50% more than crude oil, and gasoline roughly 20% more.　　Core inflation, which strips out food and energy, is also higher. Citi has lifted its forecasts for many major economies by about 50 basis points (0.5 percentage point) since February.　　However, longer-term inflation expectations remain anchored across major economies, according to Citi. The bank reads that as a sign investors still trust central banks.　　US inflation rate over the past 12 months. Image Source: Trading Economics.　　Similarly, J.P. Morgan expects a short cycle, with one more December hike.　　Sponsored　　Sponsored　　What Is Pushing Global Yields Higher？　　Of the 27

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AI Agents and Bots Now Generate Most Web Traffic as Infrastructure Stocks Rally

AI agents and other bots now generate about 57% of web requests, according to Cloudflare data. Internet infrastructure stocks, which carry that traffic, are climbing.　　Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince expected bots to pass humans by the end of 2027. Instead, he said, it happened in May.　　Sponsored　　Sponsored　　Who Profits When Bots Send Most Web Traffic？　　These companies run content delivery networks (CDNs), server hubs worldwide that speed up and secure web traffic. More automated requests mean more demand for that capacity, CNBCs Jim Cramer argues.　　Cramer said Cloudflare (NET) is up 121% from its February low. Akamai (AKAM) has gained 51% from its November low, and Fastly (FSLY) is up 159% this year.　　Akamais latest catalyst is Anthropic. The company announced an $11.6 billion, seven-year commitment from the AI lab on September 24, according to its SEC filing.　　The contract covers Anthropic‘s central processing unit (CPU) workloads. It also gives the AI lab a warrant to buy up to about 5% of Akamai’s shares.　　Shares jumped as much as 16% the next day, CNBC reported. Cramer said they have since given back those gains and more.　　Sponsored　　Sponsored　　Akamai expects no change to 2026 revenue guidance. It plans to spend about $1.7 billion more this year on components such as memory.　　Is

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Bonds Now Pay Their Best Real Returns in Decades. Are Stocks Still Worth It？

Jeremy Siegel says 30-year inflation-protected Treasury bonds now deliver real returns of about 3.35%, a level not seen in decades. That yield is squeezing the case for owning stocks.　　Siegel, Wharton School finance professor and chief economist at asset manager WisdomTree, said that stocks still beat bonds. However, that cushion is shrinking as Treasury yields hit levels last seen in 2002.　　Do Stocks Still Beat Bonds on Real Returns？　　During his CNBC interview, Siegel pointed to Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), which pay a fixed return above inflation. He said the 30-year version has not yielded this much in 20 to 30 years.　　Sponsored　　Sponsored　　By his math, a market valued at 20 times earnings returns about 5% above inflation. That leaves roughly 1.65 percentage points of reward for taking stock risk, a gap he said is shrinking.　　Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury yield touched 5.33% on Thursday, according to Bloomberg.　　Why Is Big Tech Shrugging Off Higher Rates？　　Siegel said the Magnificent 7, the seven mega-cap stocks led by tech, earn profit margins of 50% to 70%. In contrast, companies outside tech earn 7% to 10%.　　Higher borrowing costs therefore take a bigger share of those thinner profits. Siegel said that has stalled the rotation into broader stocks seen in the

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Frank Cappelleri Explains 3 Reasons Bitcoin Is Primed for a Bigger Bullish Move

Analyst Frank Cappelleri says Bitcoin (BTC) could still be early in a bigger bullish move. He points to a roughly 20% August gain and two other signals.　　Bitcoin has already rallied from its summer lows, which raises the question of how much upside is left. Cappelleri, founder and president of chart research firm CappThesis, says recent price behavior differs from earlier failed bounces.　　Sponsored　　Sponsored　　Why Did Earlier Breakouts Fail to Spark a Bullish Move？　　His first reason concerns breakouts, which occur when price pushes above a level it struggled to clear. Writing for CNBC Pro on Oct. 1, Cappelleri says Bitcoins are working again.　　A pattern traders read as a sign of higher prices finally delivered this summer, setting up Bitcoins August breakout.　　Bitcoin is up 36% in the last three months. Image Source: CoinGecko　　Three other such patterns fizzled between late 2025 and early 2026. He calls that typical of a downtrend, since healthy uptrends keep climbing after breakouts.　　Sponsored　　Sponsored　　Is Bitcoin Repeating the Start of Its 2023 Rally？　　His second reason is historical. Bitcoins weekly chart this year looks much like the stretch from 2022 into 2023, he says.　　In 2023, weekly price averages that had capped rallies turned upward and began cushioning dips. Cappelleri sees that flip as

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What Are Mention Markets and Why Is the CFTC Targeting Them？

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) staff told exchanges on September 22 that mention markets may be presumptively open to manipulation. Exchanges are expected to address four factors to list them, but no ban followed.　　Mention markets are yes-or-no contracts on whether a person says a word during a speech, earnings call, or social post. Consequently, the outcome can rest in the speakers hands.　　Sponsored　　Sponsored　　Why Does the CFTC Presume Mention Markets Can Be Manipulated？　　The agencys Division of Market Oversight (DMO) addressed the advisory to designated contract markets (DCMs), which are CFTC-registered exchanges.　　Core Principle 3 of the Commodity Exchange Act bars exchanges from listing contracts readily susceptible to manipulation.　　A CFTC release on Mention Markets: Image Source: CFTC　　Most prediction market event contracts settle on outcomes no single person controls, such as election results or economic data releases.　　A mention contract, by contrast, settles on one persons conduct. That person, or someone close to them, may sway the result or learn it early.　　The CFTCs label also covers contracts on event attendance and interactions such as handshakes.　　Sponsored　　Sponsored　　For example, the advisory cites a livestreamed podcast host and a catchphrase. A trader could tilt the outcome by paying for a shout-out.　　In practice, the risk has materialized once already. On August

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Stablecoins can drain from banks and nations at lightning speed

Anyone whos ever sent a bank transfer overseas is familiar with the painful process of waiting for things like working hours, correspondent banks and settlement times.　　In many cases, it would be faster, cheaper and just more efficient to strap the physical cash to a homing pigeon, or slap it in an envelope and send it via DHL.　　Stablecoins can move money across borders around the clock, without waiting for the legacy system to fire up its steam engines.　　They can settle transactions 24/7, cut out layers of intermediaries and give people access to digital dollars without even needing a traditional bank account.　　So do we even need banks any more？ And what are the ramifications of stablecoins offering a faster, cheaper and easier way to move money？　　The two clocks　　Anthony Vassallo, director of crypto at Silicon Valley Bank, which failed in March 2023 and now operates as a division of First Citizens Bank, tells Magazine competition from stablecoins will show up across two time frames:　　“Two clocks matter. One is slow: currency substitution, deposit erosion, and weakening policy transmission building over months or years. One is fast: a depeg, issuer shock, or banking event that can move capital at software speed within hours.”　　The European Central

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Ethereums zkAPI brings privacy-preserving API payments to mainnet

The Ethereum Foundation announced on Thursday that zkAPI, a system built with the Open Anonymity Project to let users pay for AI and other API services without revealing their billing identities, has gone live on Ethereum mainnet.　　Users deposit funds into an Ethereum vault, then use zero-knowledge proofs to prove they have enough credit to pay for API requests without revealing which deposits are theirs, according to a post from Vittorio Rivabella, AI coordinator at the Ethereum Foundations dAI team.　　One of the immediate use cases of the system is paying for the use of AI without linking the payment to a user. zkAPI issues short-lived API keys with predefined spending limits. Prompts are sent directly to the AI provider, while usage is settled separately through the payment layer. The project has also released a local client and software development kit, along with a browser-based AI chat implementation.　　The launch follows a February proposal by Ethereum Foundation researcher Davide Crapis and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin for ZK-based API usage credits. The new release turns that design into a working mainnet implementation.　　The concept was presented as a way to give users private, prepaid access to AI and other metered APIs. However, zkAPI does not

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PropAMMs lower Solana trade costs, and public pool returns crash

A trader can get a better Solana (SOL) swap price while a passive pool depositor remains exposed to traders picking off stale quotes, and a Sept. 29 preprint measures that divide.　　Related Asset Solana #7 SOL · $120.25 24-hour change: up 1.65% Loading price history… 24H Up 1.65% 7D Up 3.05% 30D Up 19.93%　　For quiet-market SOL/USDC fills, propAMMs, pools controlled by professional operators, had a reference-relative execution cost proxy of 0.26 basis points versus 2.59 for public automated market makers (AMMs).　　The study covers Sept. 1, 2025, through Aug. 31, 2026, with shorter Base and Monad samples. It weights fills by notional against Bybits size-weighted top-of-book USDT microprice, converted with its USDC/USDT midpoint. Its authors list ETH Zurich and Category Labs affiliations.　　Related Asset USDC USDC · Stablecoin　　A swapper wants more tokens for the same input, while a depositor supplies the inventory others trade against and needs compensation for the risks that inventory carries. Low execution cost can attract the first participant without being a sufficient investment case for the second.　　Related Company Bybit Cryptocurrency derivatives exchange　　Swap prices and depositor returns on Solana　　Across its Solana sample, the paper reports two-second gross maker markouts of +0.37 basis points for propAMMs and −0.22 for public AMMs.

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