Starknet (STRK) has broken out after more than a week of sideways trading near $0.041. The token pushed through the $0.05 resistance zone and advanced to a five-month high of $0.056. At press time, STRK was changing hands around $0.055, up 28% on the day. The move came with a sharp pickup in activity: trading volume surged 321% to $186 million. Market capitalization rose 30%, moved above $400 million, and lifted STRK back into CoinMarketCap's top 100. Privacy apps draw attention to the ecosystem Traders have been increasingly discussing privacy-related use cases tied to Starknet's ecosystem. STRK is not positioned as a privacy coin, but several privacy-focused applications appear to be gaining visibility. On X, user Blue Clarity pointed to Starknet's privacy pool, arguing that compatibility and composability could make it appealing for builders. Another user, Pumpnomics, highlighted private swaps and perpetuals as potential catalysts for additional interest. The debate has provided a plausible narrative tailwind for STRK's breakout, though whether that translates into sustained token demand remains unclear. Derivatives participation increases Beyond social chatter, derivatives data suggested a broader rise in participation. Open Interest increased 4% to $86.5 million, alongside a 76% jump in derivatives volume, according to CoinGlass. The combination points to more active trading and growth in outstanding positions, without indicating whether positioning is skewed long or short. Spot-flow signals and reported buys Market watchers also flagged reported spot purchases. X user Nazoku said a wallet linked to Quanterty bought 17.4 million STRK worth about $767,000. Pumpnomics separately reported buying $740,000 worth of STRK over the past week. While notable, such reports provide only a partial view of overall market demand. CoinGlass data showed Spot Netflow falling to $731,000 on October 4, indicating net outflows exceeded inflows across tracked exchanges. That pattern can align with accumulation, though exchange withdrawals alone do not confirm new buying. Key levels: $0.05 support, $0.06 resistance Technical momentum has also improved. The MACD printed a bullish crossover and rose to 0.0047, according to TradingView. If buying pressure holds, STRK may attempt a push above the $0.06 resistance. The $0.05 level is now pivotal: sustained closes above the former resistance would reinforce it as support. A break back below $0.05 would weaken the setup and could shift attention to the prior consolidation zone around $0.041. Summary STRK surged 28% as privacy-related discussion, reported purchases, and stronger derivatives activity accompanied a breakout above $0.05. Holding that level keeps $0.06 in view; losing it raises the risk of a pullback toward $0.041.

The International Monetary Fund has approved a disbursement of SDR 101.96 million (about $138 million) for El Salvador after issuing a waiver tied to a program condition on Bitcoin accumulation. The IMF Executive Board concluded the second and third reviews of El Salvador's Extended Fund Facility on October 1. The Fund said economic performance has outpaced expectations, supported by improved security conditions and stronger investor confidence. Progress has also been reported on narrowing fiscal imbalances, with reserve and liquidity buffers strengthening and the fiscal consolidation plan broadly remaining on track. The IMF noted that some program conditions were not met, including a requirement related to the government's Bitcoin accumulation. Waivers were granted on the basis of "corrective measures and renewed commitments" from the authorities. Under the updated commitments, El Salvador is not expected to accumulate additional Bitcoin beyond documented donations. The Fund added that the government is moving to reduce its role in BTC-related activities, including steps to improve transparency around public-sector crypto holdings and to strengthen the rules governing cryptoasset companies. "Efforts will continue to reduce the state's involvement in Bitcoin-related activities, strengthen crypto-asset regulation and governance, and enhance transparency regarding public-sector crypto-asset holdings. No further Bitcoin accumulation is envisaged beyond the documented donations." Separately, the IMF said the government's Chivo digital wallet is shifting toward private control. Majority ownership and control have been transferred to a private operator, while the remaining public-sector exposure is expected to be unwound over time. El Salvador agreed to a 40-month IMF program in February 2025, which provides total access of about $1.4 billion. The new disbursement is part of that broader arrangement. The IMF said further reforms are still needed to bolster public finances, rebuild external reserves and improve financial-sector resilience. It expects pension and civil service reforms to advance after earlier delays. The Fund also called for stronger governance and greater transparency, citing priorities such as public-sector reporting, beneficial ownership disclosures, asset declarations and anti-money laundering rules, which it described as important for maintaining economic stability.

Bitcoin Core has introduced a new safeguard to stop wallets and signers from producing signatures that may fail to lock funds to the recipient a user approved. The change was merged into Bitcoin Core's master development branch on Sept. 25 and was highlighted by Bitcoin Optech on Oct. 2. The issue sits in a narrow corner of partially signed Bitcoin transactions (PSBTs). It does not reveal private keys. Instead, it can create a scenario where a signature remains valid even if the transaction's recipient is altered under specific conditions, creating an authorization gap for users. At the center is SIGHASH_SINGLE, a signing mode intended to bind an input to the output at the same index. If the transaction lacks an output at that position, the protection can fail in different ways depending on the input type. For legacy inputs, the "missing output" condition can lead to a signature over a fixed hash value. Bitcoin Core developers said such a signature could potentially be reused against other unspent outputs controlled by the same key when the same structural conditions exist. SegWit v0 inputs are more constrained because the signature still commits to the specific coin being spent and its amount. Even so, the destination output can remain unbound, meaning software could show one payment destination to a user while generating a signature that does not cryptographically guarantee the approved recipient stays unchanged. Bitcoin Core previously rejected this edge case through its rawtransaction signing interface, but PSBT workflows could still sign it, including via walletprocesspsbt. The new patch moves the check into shared signature-creation logic. That prevents signing affected legacy and SegWit v0 inputs while still allowing other valid inputs in the same PSBT to proceed. PSBTs are widely used to coordinate transactions between software wallets, hardware devices, and offline signers, enabling transaction construction and signing without exposing private keys. The update reinforces a different boundary: signatures should commit to the transaction details the user actually authorized. Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) 174, which defines PSBTs, already advises signers to reject unacceptable signing modes and recommends SIGHASH_ALL when no alternative is specified. Bitcoin Core's change ensures this missing-output configuration is blocked before it reaches the signing stage. A production release containing the safeguard has not yet been confirmed. The patch landed in the development branch on Sept. 25, and as of Oct. 4, Bitcoin Core's release listings had not identified a fixed version or confirmed a backport. In the meantime, wallet providers and hardware-signing integrations face a near-term decision: audit and tighten their own handling of SIGHASH_SINGLE requests rather than waiting for a downstream Bitcoin Core release to enforce the same protection. The original report appeared on CryptoSlate.

Investors have been piling into Chainlink exposure. Spot Chainlink ($LINK) ETFs just logged their strongest week since August, attracting $8.3M of net inflows over the past five trading days. Since launching last year, the funds have recorded net outflows on only two individual days and just one week overall. Momentum across the Chainlink ecosystem has stayed strong, with the platform recently unveiling CCIP 2.0—marking another standout year for co-founder Sergey Nazarov.

Zcash (ZEC) has retreated about 23% from its Sept. 27 high of $1,697, recently trading around $1,335. The pullback follows a sharp rally in September, with selling pressure emerging as momentum cooled. Grayscale's Zcash ETF posted net outflows in its first week, with roughly $93 million leaving the product, signaling softer near-term institutional demand for ZEC. In derivatives markets, a sizable wipeout of leveraged long positions added to downside pressure. The move has erased part of the recent advance, leaving traders focused on upcoming fund flows and key support levels.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved Cboe BZX Exchange rule changes allowing Volatility Shares LLC to list a 3x Bitcoin futures ETF along with five additional leveraged commodity products, according to Odaily Planet Daily. The lineup also includes a 3x Ethereum ETF and leveraged exposure tied to gold, silver, crude oil, and natural gas. Volatility Shares' Bitcoin strategy is designed to deliver three times the daily performance of its futures benchmark before fees: a 1% move in the benchmark targets a 3% move in the ETF in the same direction. The funds will gain exposure through futures contracts rather than holding Bitcoin directly. The disclosure notes that daily compounding can cause returns over longer periods to diverge from the benchmark's cumulative price change. Trading can begin once each product's registration statement becomes effective. At launch, at least 100,000 shares must be issued for each product, and net asset value per share will be calculated daily. (Bitcoin.com News)

Andrew Tate appears to be reducing his $HYPE position. Lookonchain data shows @Cobratate sent 20,950 $HYPE, valued at nearly $1.9M, to the @Binance exchange. About two years ago, Tate bought 122,827 @HyperliquidX for roughly $0.55M. Based on current figures, he is sitting on an estimated $7.24M profit.

Canary Capital Group LLC advanced its proposed PEPE exchange-traded fund on Oct. 2 by submitting a pre-effective amendment to the fund's Form S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The revised filing details how the Canary PEPE ETF would hold PEPE Coin, the token associated with the Pepe the Frog meme, and states that the shares are expected to be listed on the Cboe BZX Exchange. The registration amendment leaves the ticker symbol blank, indicating it has not yet been assigned. According to the filing, the trust's investment objective is to track the price of PEPE Coin held by the fund, net of operating expenses. Net asset value would be calculated using the CoinDesk PEPE Benchmark Rate 60m NY Rate, a benchmark administered by CoinDesk Indices. Canary Capital Group LLC is named as sponsor. BitGo Bank & Trust, N.A. is designated to custody the fund's PEPE. CSC Delaware Trust Company would serve as trustee, U.S. Bancorp Fund Services as transfer agent, and U.S. Bank N.A. as cash custodian. Shares would be created and redeemed in baskets of 10,000. The fund is structured as a Delaware statutory trust, and the amendment was signed by Canary Chief Executive Steven McClurg. The PEPE filing extends Canary's ETF push beyond bitcoin and ether. The firm has previously filed for a Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) ETF and separately submitted a final prospectus for a staked TRON (TRX) ETF. The amendment comes as issuers continue exploring exchange-traded products tied to altcoins and memecoins after the SEC cleared the first group of leveraged bitcoin and ether ETPs. Outside the ETP market, PEPE has also been adopted in niche use cases, including acceptance for deposits at a small number of online crypto casinos. BlockchainReporter's coin-based crypto casino lists include a dedicated PEPE page identifying platforms that support the token. The filing includes prominent risk disclosures, describing the shares as speculative securities and warning that an investment in the trust involves significant risk. Because the trust is not registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, investors would not receive the protections provided under that law. Canary's amendment is a step toward the SEC declaring the registration statement effective, not a signal of approval. The fund cannot offer or sell shares until effectiveness is granted. The prospectus also highlights PEPE's potential for sharp price swings and cites risks including volatility, concentrated ownership and dependence on community sentiment.

A total of 4,500 BTC, valued at $383,961,630, was transferred from an unidentified wallet to a newly created, unidentified wallet.