Bitcoin tests $86,500, Bitget resumes withdrawals, Swift integrates with Chainlink | Weekly Review
In this week's review, Bitcoin struggled to maintain its rebound despite the return of buying interest in the US at ETF; Bitget resumed major asset withdrawals after encountering an unauthorized transfer of $387.5 million; Chainlink announced a framework that allows banks to access the Swift blockchain ledger through existing systems.
- Bitcoin has fallen back to around $84,000. Bitfinex believes that maintaining a level above $86,500 is a key test.
- After reporting an unauthorized transfer of $387.5 million, Bitget restored withdrawals for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT.
- Chainlink announces the launch of a framework that connects banks' existing systems with the blockchain ledger of Swift.
- Coinbase has obtained approval from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to establish a clearinghouse that supports fully collateralized derivatives and USDC settlement.
- After purchasing an additional 17,362 ETH, the Ethereum treasury of BitMine has exceeded 6 million ETH.
Bitcoin falls back as buying interest surges on ETF
Bitcoin touched $87,220 on October 2 before falling back to around $84,000. Analysts at Bitfinex stated in comments provided directly to crypto.news that $86,500 is a level that Bitcoin needs to hold onto with sustained spot buying support. Their data shows that as of September 30, there were 1.39 million BTC coins in the buying range of $84,000 to $86,500.
According to Bitfinex, on October 1st, the US spot Bitcoin ETF attracted $170.2 million in capital inflows, while on the previous trading day, there was approximately $149 million in capital outflows. Analysts warn that if Bitcoin continues to remain below $81,300 and at the same time ETF continues to experience capital outflows, the market structure will weaken.
Bitget resumes major asset withdrawals after a $387.5 million security incident
After being attacked on September 24, Bitget resumed the withdrawal of major assets in stages: Bitcoin services were restored on September 28, Ethereum on September 29, and USDT on September 30. CEO Gracy Chen arranged for the remaining tokens, fiat currency, and P2P services to be restored by 08:00 on October 2. The exchange stated that the total amount of unauthorized transfers from its hot wallets and warm wallets amounted to 387.5 million US dollars.
Chen indicates that the protection fund of Bitget has rebounded to over $300 million, and the latest reserve snapshot shows that the coverage rate for its 19 types of assets is 131%. THORChain rejected the exchange's request to block the attacker's address, on the grounds that its design does not require permission.
Chainlink integrates the banking system into the Swift ledger.
Chainlink announced a framework on September 28 that allows financial institutions to connect to the blockchain ledger of Swift through their existing systems. Banks retain their own transaction signature keys, while the platform of Chainlink is responsible for coordinating the work between institutional infrastructure and the shared ledger.
Swift indicates that 17 banks from six continents are preparing to conduct real-time pilots using tokenized deposits. Their ledgers support 24/7 payment instructions, but the final settlement is still completed through agreed mechanisms. This plan involves bank deposits represented on the ledger, rather than a new public cryptocurrency aimed at retail buyers.
Coinbase Approved by US Clearing Institution
Coinbase received approval from CFTC as a clearing institution for Coinbase Clearing LLC on September 28th. The registration scope covers fully collateralized futures, futures options, and swaps. Coinbase stated that this business will use USDC as collateral and supports 24/7 settlement, thereby completing its infrastructure for trading on US exchanges, brokerage services, and clearing. The company will continue to retain external partners for margin derivatives and the planned single-share perpetual products.
BitMine Ethereum holdings exceed 6 million coins
BitMine has purchased another 17,362 ETH, bringing its treasury size to 6,001,302 ETH as of September 27th. The company stated that this represents approximately 4.9% of the 122.1 million tokens in their supply. The company disclosed that it has pledged 5,067,309 ETH, which is about 84% of its holdings, and valued its crypto assets, cash, securities, and other investments at a total of 17.2 billion US dollars.
Strategy Increases Holdings in Bitcoin and Repurchases Preferred Stocks
Strategy purchased an additional 1,665 units of BTC from September 21 to 27, spending $142.7 million in the process, which increased its holdings to 847,666 units of BTC. A document submitted by the company on September 28 also revealed that it repurchased $151.7 million worth of STRC preferred stocks. The sale of common stocks generated a net profit of $246.2 million, of which $142.7 million was used to buy Bitcoin, and $103.5 million was used for the repurchase of preferred stocks.
Senate investigators question the sanctions compliance controls of Tether
Democratic staff from the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations reviewed the use of USDT in relation to Iran. Their preliminary report on September 28 stated that among 846 sanctioned or confiscated target wallets, 84% used only USDT or nearly exclusively USDT. Senator Richard Blumenthal called for a federal-level review of the compliance with Tether. Tether objected to this statement, stating that they had assisted in freezing nearly $550 million in assets related to Iran in 2026.
CFTC Event Contract Measures Enter White House Review
According to the OIRA file, two actions related to CFTC were submitted to the White House for review on September 28th. One proposal aims to extend the definition of swaps to event contracts; the other is a temporary final rule that excludes casino-style gambling products. As of October 1st, neither of these measures has taken effect yet. The submissions were made following a ruling by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which allowed Ohio and Tennessee to proceed with their gambling law cases related to Kalshi without being restricted by the injunction sought by Kalshi.
California restricts officials from issuing meme coins
Governor Gavin Newsom signed a meme coin restriction bill on September 27th. AB prohibits covered California officials and certain government employees from issuing meme coins. Starting from January 1, 2027, platforms that provide services to California residents will be restricted from offering new tokens issued by these covered officials or related to them. The bill allows for civil enforcement through bans and the return of illegal gains, but it does not impose a general ban on meme coin transactions.
Robinhood Plans to Launch Crypto Perpetual Contracts in the United States
Robinhood announced that it will launch US crypto perpetual contracts to eligible customers in the coming months. Its announcement on September 29 listed 8 assets, among which Bitcoin and Ethereum allow for up to 10x leverage, while the other 6 assets have a maximum of 3x leverage. Robinhood Derivatives will provide these contracts through the Bitstamp infrastructure. The company also outlined some weekend trading arrangements for certain stocks and ETF, but these still need to be reviewed by regulators.
Fiserv will put bank payments based on Solana into production.
Fiserv launched its banking platform, using Roughrider Coin as the first actual application case. An announcement on October 1st stated that the platform is open to over 90 banks and credit cooperatives in North Dakota. VersaBank USA issued this dollar-backed token, Solana is responsible for processing transactions, and Fireblocks provides the wallet infrastructure. Banks in North Dakota have indicated that this token is intended for use only by financial institutions and is not available to individual investors.
MetaMask exits from the validator after an infrastructure event.
After disclosing a security incident in its infrastructure on September 30, MetaMask began to remove the affected validators from its network. The company stated that no direct threat was found to its wallets, and that it does not have control over the customers' staking withdrawal keys. Lido expects that the last batch of affected validators will be removed by October 7, depending on network conditions, and noted that holders of stETH do not need to take any action.
SEC Staff Explain the Classification of Pledge Receipts
SEC Staff clarified the handling of pledge receipts in a frequently asked questions document released on September 26. Receipts that prove ownership of qualified digital goods may be considered digital tools, and certain pledge receipts based on the nature of protocol-based liquidity may fit the definition of digital goods. The Q&A also covered repurchases on packaging tokens and functional networks. SEC stated that these staff opinions do not have legal effect and will not create any new obligations.
Blast Announces Closure and Sets a Deadline for Withdrawals
Blast announced on October 2nd that it would shut down its network, stating that maintenance costs exceeded its Layer revenue. Users were able to withdraw funds through the regular interface before October 26th. The team anticipated that withdrawals would be suspended for about a week during the process of handling Lido assets, after which they would be resumed with a 24-hour delay. According to Blast, assets could still be withdrawn through Ethereum bridge contracts thereafter.
