Bitcoin concluded its strongest third quarter since 2017, recording a 42.71% price increase. Throughout the week, the asset maintained a range between $82,500 and $85,700, eventually breaking through a major sell wall on Binance to reach $86,913. Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw a quarterly net inflow of $6.34 billion, despite a temporary outflow of $149 million on September 30.
MetaMask initiated a precautionary exit of validators from its staking infrastructure following a security incident. Independent researchers identified that approximately 17,000 validators were affected, with attackers redirecting roughly 0.36 ETH in rewards. Lido confirmed that MetaMask Staking is withdrawing its validators, a process expected to conclude by October 7, while noting that user funds remain secure.
In the decentralized finance sector, Balancer holders voted to phase out the protocol, with operations set to cease by October 30. Meanwhile, the L2 network Blast announced its closure due to high maintenance costs, causing its native token BLAST to drop by 68% over the week. Additionally, the exchange BitMart acknowledged a funding shortfall following a 2021 hack that depleted reserves by $319.5 million.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new custody rules for investment advisors, allowing them to hold crypto assets under specific conditions if no qualified custodian is available. Public comment on the proposal will remain open for 60 days. Meanwhile, OpenAI is reportedly in talks to raise at least $30 billion at a valuation of approximately $1.4 trillion.
Anthropic's IPO prospectus revealed a revenue of $4.6 billion in 2025, alongside a net loss of $42 billion. The company secured a $42 billion credit line from Broadcom to support its infrastructure obligations. Furthermore, major tech leaders signed the White House Accord on Super Intelligence, committing to internal safety checks and independent audits for advanced AI models.
