Bitcoin climbed to $86,000 to open October, with cooler inflation data and dovish commentary from two Federal Reserve speakers shifting market expectations toward a rate hold.
The macro backdrop has turned supportive for risk assets: Fed officials signaled caution on further tightening, while traders now await the next payrolls report and the October 14 CPI print for further direction on monetary policy.
🔐 Spanish Police Arrest Teen Accused of Leading KillSec Ransomware Group
Spanish authorities have arrested a 16-year-old suspected of running KillSec, a ransomware operation that extorted victims and demanded payments in cryptocurrency.
A second suspect faces extradition to Puerto Rico. Investigators are actively tracing the crypto proceeds from ransoms the group collected, making the case a cross-border law enforcement effort targeting both the operators and their financial trail.
💵 50,000 Europeans Push Back Against Central Bank Stablecoin Bans
Crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto EU says more than 50,000 people emailed the European Commission urging it to allow stablecoin features that European central banks last week requested remain prohibited.
The emails were sent during the European Commission's active review period. Stand With Crypto EU is positioning the campaign as a direct counter to central bank pressure on the EC's stablecoin policy stance.
The clash highlights growing tension between retail crypto users and European monetary authorities over the future of stablecoin regulation under the EU's MiCA framework.
⚖️ ESMA sets criteria for "genuinely decentralized" DeFi
Europe's securities regulator ESMA has moved to define what qualifies as "genuinely decentralized" under EU crypto rules — a key distinction that determines whether DeFi protocols fall under MiCA's regulatory scope.
The development comes as tokenized securities are projected to grow 79x, reaching $349 billion over the next four years, amplifying the urgency for regulators to draw clear lines between decentralized and centralized crypto infrastructure.
ESMA's definition is expected to shape how DeFi protocols structure governance and operations to remain outside — or comply with — EU regulatory requirements.
Citigroup has lifted its 12-month Bitcoin price target to $113,000, citing a resumption of ETF inflows as a key driver behind the revision.
The bank also raised its 12-month Ethereum target from $2,240 to $3,028. Both upgrades reflect Citi's view that renewed institutional demand, channeled through spot ETF products, is supporting the outlook for the two largest crypto assets by market cap.
Brazilian market infrastructure operator CSD BR has announced a first phase that mirrors ownership data for selected BTG Pactual funds on the public XRP Ledger. The entries use the network’s Multi-Purpose Token standard and are intended as a secondary, publicly verifiable record. CSD BR’s own database remains legally authoritative for registration, custody and settlement, with controls to approve holders and freeze or reverse assets when required. The project reportedly uses live fund records, although it has not been independently confirmed that specific entries were already written on-chain by September 30. CSD BR oversees more than BRL 22 trillion in registered assets. Direct blockchain…