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Crypto investor and blockchain researcher
Welcome to our latest crypto weekly recap, where we break down the biggest stories shaping the market over the past week. From Strategy expanding its Bitcoin holdings and U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs returning to positive 2026 flows to major tokenization moves from ARK Invest, BlackRock, the ECB and global banks, there was plenty to follow. Security incidents at Bitget and Neutron also made headlines, while Vitalik Buterin outlined how Ethereum could evolve after its next major upgrades. Read the full recap below for the key developments, figures and industry updates you may have missed.
Strategy Adds 950 Bitcoin While Spending $174 Million on STRC Buyback
Strategy purchased 950 Bitcoin for $75.7 million while allocating an even larger amount to a repurchase of its STRC preferred shares. The transactions took place between September 14 and September 20, with Strategy’s disclosure putting the average Bitcoin acquisition price at $79,670 per BTC, including fees and expenses.
The purchase lifted Strategy’s total holdings to 846,000 BTC. The company had spent $63.80 billion acquiring that position, giving it an overall average cost of $75,416 per Bitcoin. During the same period, Strategy repurchased 1,771,238 STRC shares for $174 million, more than twice the $75.7 million spent on Bitcoin.
Both transactions were funded with USD Cash. Strategy reported $1.05 billion in USD Cash and a separate $5.04 billion USD Reserve as of September 20. It did not repurchase STRF, STRK, STRD or MSTR shares during the week. After the transaction, about $875.1 million remained under its preferred-stock repurchase authorization.
U.S. Spot Bitcoin ETFs Turn Positive for 2026 After $4.6 Billion Inflow Rebound
U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs moved back into positive territory for 2026 after attracting roughly $4.6 billion since August 19. By September 23, their combined year-to-date net inflow stood at about $320 million, reversing the effect of persistent redemptions earlier in the year. The ETF flow data showed the reversal coincided with a major Bitcoin recovery.
Bitcoin gained about 35% from August 19 through September 23 and traded above $86,000. The estimated average Bitcoin acquisition cost for U.S. spot ETF holders was around $82,000, putting the average position back into unrealized profit at that price level.
Activity strengthened across the wider digital-asset market as well. Total cryptocurrency market value returned to $3 trillion for the first time since January, while perpetual futures open interest across cryptocurrencies reached approximately $160 billion, its highest level since late October 2025.
The renewed ETF demand therefore accompanied higher Bitcoin prices and stronger derivatives activity after months in which earlier outflows had kept the funds’ 2026 cumulative flows negative.
ARK Invest Tokenizes $1.3 Billion Venture Fund on Ethereum
ARK Invest has brought the ARK Venture Fund, or ARKVX, onchain through Securitize, making tokenized shares available to eligible investors on Ethereum. The September 24 launch makes the approximately $1.3 billion fund ARK Invest’s first investment fund to use blockchain-based ownership infrastructure.
Securitize is handling issuance and investor infrastructure. The tokenization does not change ARKVX’s investment strategy: it remains an actively managed, closed-end interval fund investing in private and public technology companies. Its portfolio includes OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe and Databricks.
The launch followed an amended U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission order issued on September 21. The order permits ARKVX shares to have ownership recorded through distributed-ledger technology and allows trading through regulated alternative trading systems and other quotation venues.
Access remains limited to eligible investors rather than representing an unrestricted public token offering. ARK Invest had previously made a strategic investment in Securitize in October 2025, establishing the relationship now being used to operate its first Ethereum-based tokenized fund structure.
NYSE and Blockchain.com Explore Round-the-Clock Tokenized Stock Trading
NYSE Group and Blockchain.com are exploring 24/7/365 access to tokenized U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs through NYSE’s planned digital alternative trading system. The companies announced the collaboration on September 23, although the proposed tokenized-securities trading service has not launched and remains subject to regulatory approval.
The partnership also includes a separate market-data arrangement. ICE Data Services may distribute Blockchain.com crypto data to clients, while Blockchain.com plans to integrate ICE and NYSE exchange feeds into its own application.
Blockchain.com said NYSE data could potentially reach more than 44 million confirmed accounts. That figure refers to the potential audience for market information rather than the number of customers eligible to trade tokenized securities.
The proposed ATS would provide continuous access to tokenized versions of U.S.-listed equities and ETFs if the project receives the required approvals. In the nearer term, the collaboration centers on expanding the distribution of Blockchain.com crypto information alongside ICE and NYSE market data between the companies’ respective platforms and clients.
U.S. Prosecutors Investigate Binance Over Potential Iran Sanctions Violations
U.S. federal prosecutors are investigating whether Binance knowingly allowed trading activity that violated sanctions against Iran. The reported investigation involves the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and focuses partly on what Binance knew about the transactions under scrutiny.
The investigation has not resulted in announced charges against Binance. The exchange told Reuters that it maintains zero tolerance for sanctions violations, cooperates with law enforcement and works to remove bad actors from its platform.
The scrutiny follows a separate September 14 civil forfeiture action involving about $61 million in cryptocurrency. Federal prosecutors alleged that those assets represented proceeds from Iranian oil sales conducted through black-market channels associated with Iran’s military.
The Justice Department alleged that two Chinese companies used Binance trading accounts to launder the proceeds. Transaction records cited in the forfeiture complaint included crypto addresses, execution times and transaction amounts that investigators used to trace the funds. The civil forfeiture proceeding and the separately reported Binance sanctions investigation have been presented as distinct matters.
Seven UK Banks Complete Live Tokenized Sterling Deposit Transactions
Seven major UK banks have completed live customer transactions using tokenized sterling deposits through the Great British Tokenised Deposit initiative. The September 24 development involved Barclays, HSBC UK, Lloyds Banking Group, Monzo, Nationwide, NatWest and Santander, using shared infrastructure developed by Quant. The live transactions included both property-related payments and a programmable consumer purchase.
Two remortgage transactions were completed by locking funds and releasing them automatically when the property transactions reached completion. The banks also carried out a programmable consumer marketplace payment.
The transactions involved actual customers and interbank execution rather than only a technical simulation. Payment timing and release conditions were programmed into the transaction process.
The participating banks operate through a common infrastructure layer created by Quant, allowing tokenized-deposit payments to move between institutions on shared technology instead of requiring independent systems for every bank.
The tests demonstrate how tokenized commercial-bank deposits can support programmable payments while maintaining an interbank banking structure, with automatic fund release used in completed live transactions.
Hana Bank Issues $100 Million Digital Bond With Same-Day Settlement
South Korea’s Hana Bank issued a $100 million five-year foreign-currency digital bond through Euroclear’s Digital Financial Market Infrastructure on September 18. The digital bond transaction completed on the same day, which Hana described as South Korea’s first T+0 settlement in the foreign-currency bond market.
The transaction used Euroclear’s distributed-ledger infrastructure for issuance, registration, allocation and payment settlement. Moving those functions onto a shared system reduced a process that conventionally takes three to five business days to same-day settlement.
Hana also described the deal as the first direct use of Euroclear’s D-FMI blockchain infrastructure by a South Korean financial institution.
Standard Chartered acted as the transaction’s sole bookrunner, covering structuring, issuance and distribution. Investors could continue using existing Euroclear accounts and trading systems because D-FMI connects with Euroclear’s traditional settlement network.
The structure therefore combined blockchain-based processing with existing institutional-market access, allowing Hana’s five-year bond to retain familiar Euroclear connectivity while completing issuance and settlement on the transaction date itself.
IBM Connects Digital Asset Haven to Swift’s Tokenized-Deposit Ledger
IBM has introduced a beta ISO 20022 Messaging Adapter linking its Digital Asset Haven platform with Swift’s blockchain-based shared ledger for tokenized deposits. IBM announced the integration on September 24, allowing participating financial institutions to use standard banking payment messages to initiate tokenized-deposit transactions.
Swift’s shared ledger supports continuous digital-asset movement before final settlement through existing financial infrastructure. IBM said financial institutions have already tested tokenized deposits through Digital Asset Haven. More than 40 institutions participated in designing Swift’s ledger, while 17 first-mover institutions are involved in its pilot phase.
IBM also introduced a beta on-premises version of Digital Asset Haven for IBM Z and LinuxONE. The setup allows institutions to manage stablecoins and tokenized deposits without depending on public-cloud infrastructure. Cryptographic keys remain inside the client environment and use IBM Crypto Express hardware-security modules.
Together, the products allow institutions to test blockchain-based tokenized deposits through familiar ISO 20022 payment instructions while maintaining existing settlement connections and, where desired, keeping digital-asset management infrastructure on premises.
ECB Launches Pontes for Tokenized Assets Settled in Central Bank Money
The Eurosystem launched Pontes on September 21, creating an operational mechanism for wholesale tokenized-asset transactions to settle using central bank money. The ECB’s new settlement framework connects distributed-ledger platforms with the Eurosystem’s TARGET Services instead of requiring tokenized transactions to settle entirely within private financial networks.
The European Central Bank has also begun preparing to invest a small portion of its own funds in tokenized securities. Initial targets include euro-denominated public-sector and supranational securities, with transactions planned to settle through Pontes.
The ECB has not specified the size of the planned allocation or a purchase schedule. The initiative nonetheless positions the central bank as a planned user of the same infrastructure it has introduced to the wholesale market.
Pontes launched with a core set of functions and will receive additional capabilities and longer operating hours during a phased rollout. The Eurosystem expects full implementation by 2028.
For institutions working with tokenized securities, the system establishes a direct route between distributed-ledger markets and central-bank-money settlement infrastructure.
Bitget Suspends Withdrawals After $351.6 Million Hot-Wallet Breach
Bitget temporarily suspended withdrawals after detecting unauthorized transfers from several hot wallets at 18:31 UTC on September 24. The exchange later estimated that approximately $351.6 million in assets were affected by the security incident. Deposits and trading continued operating during the withdrawal pause.
Bitget said its cold wallets remained secure and activated emergency-response procedures after identifying the transfers. The exchange also flagged addresses associated with the activity and contacted law-enforcement agencies and onchain security firms.
The $351.6 million estimate exceeded initial blockchain-based assessments made while the transfers were still being identified. Bitget described the figure as an estimate covering assets affected by the incident.
The exchange said the losses were fully covered by its User Protection Fund. The fund held more than $464 million, exceeding the estimated amount involved in the breach.
The investigation continued alongside cooperation with law enforcement and blockchain-security specialists, while users could still deposit funds and trade on the platform despite withdrawals being temporarily unavailable following the incident.
Cosmos Hub Restarts After Neutron Attack and Transfers 1.23 Million ATOM
Cosmos Hub validators restarted the network at 12:00 UTC on September 23 following a roughly 24-hour and 48-minute halt connected to a governance attack involving Neutron. The network restart restored block production, while the first block transferred 1,227,121.374688 ATOM from a wallet linked to the attacker into a newly created address.
The reported transfer occurred without a transaction signature from the wallet owner. Cosmos Hub said its own network had not been exploited.
The incident originated from an expedited Neutron governance proposal that gave an attacker control over 11 contracts associated with Astroport and Drop. Approximately $9.4 million in assets were exposed or drained through the attack.
Cosmos Hub validators halted the network during the response before bringing it back online. The affected assets were associated with the Neutron incident rather than a compromise of Cosmos Hub itself.
The first post-restart block’s movement of approximately 1.23 million ATOM demonstrated that the response extended beyond restoring normal block production to handling assets tied to the Neutron attacker.
BlackRock-Designed Portfolio Strategies Launch as Single Onchain Tokens
Ondo Finance has launched three tokenized investment strategies built around BlackRock-designed portfolios, packaging diversified allocations into individual blockchain tokens. The September 25 launch introduced Ondo High Income Powered by BlackRock, Ondo Diversified Growth Powered by BlackRock and Ondo High Growth Powered by BlackRock.
The tokens are available to eligible holders outside the United States in permitted jurisdictions. Instead of separately purchasing and maintaining multiple securities, investors can hold one token representing a preset portfolio of digital-asset-linked exchange-traded funds.
Ondo Stocks serve as the underlying assets for the structures, while dividends are automatically reinvested.
One disclosed model allocation assigns 32% to aggregate bonds, 30% to high-yield exposure, 24% to credit and 14% to other fixed-income exposure. The two largest individual allocations are 18% each to the iShares High Yield Systematic Bond ETF and the iShares Investment Grade Systematic Bond ETF.
The products extend institutional tokenization from single securities toward packaged investment portfolios whose allocations and rebalancing can be accessed through one blockchain-based instrument.
Vitalik Buterin Says Hegotá May Be Ethereum’s Last Familiar Major Upgrade
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has suggested that Hegotá, planned for 2027, could become Ethereum’s final major upgrade that resembles the network’s traditional fork cycle. Buterin’s comments on Ethereum’s roadmap point toward a future built around more advanced cryptographic and consensus technologies.
Buterin identified recursive STARKs, automated formal verification, optimized consensus mechanisms and quantum-resistant cryptography as technologies likely to shape Ethereum’s next phase. PeerDAS, which lets nodes verify sampled portions of data instead of downloading full datasets, represents an early step in that transition.
More computation could eventually move offchain while Ethereum’s base layer concentrates on verifying proofs, settling transactions and maintaining shared onchain state.
The direction has triggered debate among Ethereum researchers. Barnabé Monnot argued that offchain computation could reduce network strain and support lighter nodes, while emphasizing the importance of keeping essential records onchain.
Buterin’s remarks frame Hegotá as a transition point between Ethereum’s recognizable historical architecture and a more proof-intensive protocol design.
Bitcoin Gains 43.5% and Ethereum 71% as Q3 2026 Nears Its End
Bitcoin and Ethereum were heading toward exceptional third-quarter performances in the final days of September, with Bitcoin up 43.5% and Ethereum gaining 71%. The Q3 market figures showed Bitcoin rising from roughly $58,500 to almost $84,000 during the quarter.
The 43.5% rise represented Bitcoin’s second-best third-quarter performance, behind the 80.4% gain recorded in 2017. Ethereum’s 71% increase exceeded its previous Q3 record of 66.5%, set in 2025.
The gains coincided with stronger ETF-related demand, increased spot-market volume and limited profit-taking. Ethereum also benefited from increased spot and ETF demand during the period.
Bitcoin remained stable through the September 25 quarterly options expiry without a sharp price decline or cascade of liquidations. The coverage identified an important onchain resistance area around $96,700, beyond the quarter’s roughly $84,000 level.
With several trading days still remaining before September ended, both assets had already established one of their strongest Q3 performances on record.
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