Latest Crypto News & Market Updates

El Salvador receives $138 million from IMF after Bitcoin waivers granted

The International Monetary Fund approved the immediate disbursement of about $138 million to El Salvador under the countrys $1.4 billion financing program, despite some performance criteria being missed.　　The IMF‘s Executive Board completed the second and third reviews under El Salvador’s 40-month Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement on Thursday, it said in a press release.　　While certain performance criteria were not met, including on the Bitcoin accumulation front, the IMF granted waivers “based on strong corrective measures and renewed commitments.”　　The agency noted that El Salvador has made progress in financial sector reforms, fiscal transparency, AML/CFT reforms and the transfer of majority ownership and control of the government Chivo Bitcoin wallet to a private operator.　　“Efforts will continue to reduce the states involvement in Bitcoin-related activities, strengthen crypto‑asset regulation and governance, and enhance transparency regarding public-sector crypto‑asset holdings,” the IMF said, adding: “No further Bitcoin accumulation is envisaged beyond the documented donations.”　　Related: El Salvadors post-review Bitcoin accumulation used no public funds: IMF　　Cointelegraph reported on Sept. 4 that El Salvador used no public resources to accumulate Bitcoin after the first review of its IMF financing program in June 2025, according to the lender.　　The IMF said documents supplied by Salvadoran authorities verified that the accumulation came

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CONNECT recap: Arthur Hayes on money printing, Wall Street moves onchain

US policymakers could lift cryptocurrency prices by printing more money to support AI and finance government debt, according to Arthur Hayes, chief investment officer at Maelstrom fund.　　AI companies need trillions of dollars to finance data centers even as the prices of their services fall, Hayes said at a fireside chat at CONNECT by Cointelegraph: Seoul Edition, on Tuesday during Korea Blockchain Week.　　“Theyve not really given themselves a lot of options other than print money and make it less bad,” he said.　　BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes speaking at CONNECT by Cointelegraph: Seoul Edition.　　Hayes also discussed a possible shift in China from what he called an “austerity lite” policy to substantial monetary stimulus, which he said could revive demand for scarce assets.　　Related: AI credit bubble could fuel Bitcoin ‘crack-up boom’ past $1M: Hayes　　In Europe, he said he was monitoring financial stress in France, including credit-default swaps tied to BNP Paribas and French government bond spreads.　　I think the money printing will essentially happen at some point, but thats sort of a slow motion train wreck happening underneath the surface.　　Cointelegraphs CONNECT event in Seoul featured panels on topics ranging from traditional finances shift onchain to stablecoins and corporate crypto treasuries.　　Wall Streets move onchain leaves room

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Vitalik-inspired AI payment system can send expired deposits to its treasury

The Ethereum Foundations Oct. 1 announcement that zkAPI is running on mainnet gives the private AI-payment design coauthored by Davide Crapis and Vitalik Buterin a concrete financial-control test: how does a user get unspent money back when the billing server stops cooperating？　　zkAPI, a billing system for metered APIs, documents an onchain withdrawal route that does not require the servers clearance. But a users ability to recover a balance depends on which spending state they hold and whether they can start an exit in time. The implementations pause powers and expiring notes put boundaries around that control.　　Open Anonymity built the implementation with the Ethereum Foundation. Crapis and Buterin published the underlying design on Feb. 11; the foundations October announcement credits the team that turned it into software and contracts. Etherscan records the announcement-linked vaults creation on Sept. 30, a day before the announcement.　　Related Asset Ethereum ETH · $2,701.66 24-hour change: up 0.77%　　The announcement describes its linked vault as holding USDC credits. The current mainnet manifest identifies that same vault as native ETH, with balances accounted for in whole gwei. Its explorer activity also shows ETH-valued deposits and close payouts.　　Related Company Ethereum Foundation Promotes and supports the Ethereum platform　　CryptoSlates February coverage examined

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Lidos proposed staking route needs over 13 times the default entry bond

Lido‘s proposed route for running larger Ethereum validators would require a 32 ETH entry bond, compared with 2.4 ETH for its existing default route. That higher collateral can become more efficient once enough stake is allocated to the validator, but an operator’s profile and place in the funding queue determine how useful the advantage is.　　Related Asset Ethereum #2 ETH · $2,698.50 24-hour change: up 0.66% Loading price history… 24H Up 0.66% 7D Up 0.36% 30D Up 9.91%　　The October 1 deployment plan outlines Community Staking Module 0x02, a separate module for permissionless operators alongside the existing 0x01 route. It would support compounding validators with up to 2,048 ETH of effective stake, compared with 32 ETH for existing-route validators. Each validator is identified by a key.　　The route remains on Hoodi testnet, with mainnet expected in Q4 2026. The deployment post describes preparations for mainnet and puts the modules Staking Router parameters to a later vote. The July 20 approval of the launch proposal and September 1 testnet announcement were earlier milestones, rather than mainnet activation.　　Related Company Lido Liquidity for staked assets　　Measured as operator fees per ETH bonded, the new route reaches parity with a first existing default key near 747 ETH under

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Bitcoin Enters October With 4 Problems That Could Show On Charts

Bitcoin (BTC) enters a historically strong month facing four pressures. Thin liquidity, weaker ETF demand, the Iran war, and a Mt. Gox deadline weigh on it.　　The largest cryptocurrency has closed higher in 10 of the last 13 Octobers, with a median gain of 12.73%, Coinglass data shows. So far this month, BTC is up 1.98%　　Bitcoin (BTC) Monthly Price Returns. Source: Coinglass　　Sponsored　　Sponsored　　Stablecoin Supply Is Refilling But Slowly　　Analyst Darkfost said too little liquidity is reaching the crypto market. The stablecoin market cap has lost $14 billion since May, pointing to sizable outflows.　　Supply has recovered $4 billion since September, lifting the total to about $270 billion. Still, Darkfost called the rebound too timid to push Bitcoin to new highs.　　“Even though the trend now appears to be reversing, it remains too timid, and more will be needed to push Bitcoin toward new highs,” he wrote.　　Stablecoin Market Cap. Source: X/Darkfost　　Large holders are adding capital, though cautiously. Wallets sending over $1 million in stablecoins to Binance lifted their 30-day inflows to $30.5 billion. A little over a month earlier, the figure stood at $21.7 billion.　　That marks a rise of over 40%. However, the same group sent more than $61 billion at its October 2025 peak, nearly

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Top 5 Companies To Watch For Investors in Q4 2026

The biggest IPO in history, a memory-maker up 277% this year, and an Ethereum treasury closing in on 5% of supply are set to define this quarter. These 5 companies across AI and crypto carry the stories investors will follow through December.　　1. Anthropic　　Anthropic, the company behind Claude AI, filed to go public in the US after its last funding round was valued at $965 billion. Recently, its prospectus gave investors a look at the numbers behind the company.　　Sponsored　　SponsoredRevenue increased 12x to nearly $4.6 billion by the end of 2025Net loss also increased to $42 billionThe company is committing $518 billion to computing infrastructure over the next decade.A quarter of its revenue comes from only two unnamed customers.　　Anthropic is likely to be the biggest and most highly anticipated IPO in stock market history. However, the risks are hard to ignore. The companys whole financial bet is based on how AI continues to develop and is perceived over the next decade.　　BREAKING: Anthropic is seeking to IPO as soon as the middle of November, per Bloomberg.　　The company could start formal marketing for its IPO as soon as the week of November 9th, putting it in-line to begin trading before Thanksgiving.　　Anthropics valuation is now

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Crypto poured years into new products. The next challenge is keeping users

The crypto industry has spent years building infrastructure for financial products and putting novel creations on top of those rails. Now comes the harder part: getting people to actually use these products.　　That question is becoming more pressing across the industry as crypto moves closer to mainstream finance. Asset managers have tokenized funds, exchanges are expanding into lending, payments and other financial services and blockchain networks are courting institutions. The challenge is no longer just proving these products can be built, but figuring out what will make consumers and institutions choose to use them.　　For companies like Coinbase (COIN), that has meant thinking less about the technology itself and more about what customers are trying to do with their money.　　“The crypto industry oftentimes in the past was very technology oriented,” said Ben Shen, Coinbases head of financial services and loyalty products. Products could be heavy on jargon or expose users to the technology running underneath them.　　That matters less as crypto starts to overlap with more traditional financial services, he said. Customers want to grow their money, hold it, send it, spend it or borrow against it. Whether a blockchain sits underneath the product isnt necessarily the point.　　Instead, Coinbase is looking for what

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Michael Saylors Strategy hints at another big Bitcoin buy

Michael Saylor has renewed speculation on Oct. 4 that Strategy may have bought more Bitcoin after posting a new accumulation chart, with the companys last confirmed holdings at 847,666 BTC.　　SummaryStrategy holds 847,666 BTC after buying 1,665 coins for $142.7 million during the latest week.Saylors October 4 post hinted at further buying but did not confirm another Bitcoin purchase.Strategys latest SEC filing shows $18.84 billion of MSTR shares remained available for future issuance.U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF holdings have increased by roughly 88,000 BTC since July, CryptoQuant reports.Bitcoin trades near $85,250, leaving Strategys $75,437 average acquisition cost below the current market price.　　Strategys Sept. 28 SEC filing shows that its latest confirmed purchase covered 1,665 BTC acquired for $142.7 million between Sept. 21 and Sept. 27. The company paid an average of $85,681 per coin, taking its total holdings to 847,666 BTC acquired for $63.95 billion.　　Saylor posted the words “More orange than ever” alongside Strategys Bitcoin purchase chart on Sunday. The message did not disclose a purchase amount, transaction date or price, meaning it does not by itself confirm another acquisition.　　More orange than ever. pic.twitter.com/on52TtcFO1　　— Michael Saylor (@saylor) October 4, 2026　　You might also like:　　Michael Saylor says Strategy and Strive can grow together　　Strategys latest

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3x Bitcoin and Ether futures funds clear SEC listing hurdle

On Oct. 2, the SEC approved the Cboe BZX exchange‘s listing proposal for VS Trust’s 3x Bitcoin ETF and 3x Ether ETF. The decision clears an exchange-rule hurdle for products sponsored by Volatility Shares that seek amplified daily crypto futures exposure.　　Related Asset Bitcoin #1 BTC · $85,330.77 24-hour change: up 0.59% Loading price history… 24H Up 0.59% 7D Up 1.01% 30D Up 7.38%　　The order covers six funds, including products tied to gold, silver, crude oil and natural gas. It advances the proposal CryptoSlate covered in August, when the exchange was still seeking permission.　　For brokerage investors, the change opens a listing path for a higher daily leverage target. Cboes generic commodity-trust standards exclude products that seek specified multiples of a benchmark, so these funds needed individual approval. Their other initial and continuing listing requirements still apply.　　Related Company Volatility Shares Leveraged crypto ETF issuer　　VS Trusts Aug. 17 preliminary prospectus lists BITH for the Bitcoin product and ETHK for the Ether product. Those are proposed symbols in a filing marked subject to completion. The prospectus says securities cannot be sold until registration becomes effective.　　The October order approves the exchanges rule change; it does not establish that registration is effective or that trading has

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XRP price prediction: Will October upgrades lift XRP past $1.55？

XRP has recovered to around $1.50 on Oct. 4 as buyers defend $1.45 support and the XRP Ledger approaches two possible protocol activations on Oct. 8 and Oct. 9.　　SummaryXRP trades near $1.50, while 1.52–1.53 remains the first breakout zone traders are watching closely.Binance XRP open interest has recovered to 516.6 million but remains far below year-ago levels.PermissionDelegationV1_1 could activate on October 8 if validator support remains above the required threshold continuously.BatchV1_1 and fixBatchV1_2 are lined up for October 9 if supermajority support remains intact network-wide.Daily RSI sits near 55, while MACD remains neutral and Bollinger resistance currently approaches $1.63.　　CoinGecko shows XRP trading near $1.50, up roughly 1% over 24 hours but down about 2.5% during the past seven days. Its market capitalization stands near $94.7 billion, while 24-hour trading volume is close to $1.02 billion.　　The token has struggled to extend its late-September recovery. CoinGecko historical data put XRP at $1.57 on Sept. 25 before it slipped to $1.48 on Oct. 2 and $1.49 on Oct. 3.　　October now brings several events that could affect trading interest, including two XRPL amendment deadlines, rising AI-related payment activity on the ledger and Evernorths planned Nasdaq debut. None of the events guarantees additional demand for

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