Cryptoccino — Thursday 01 October 2026

Lighter token drops 17% on Robinhood perps announcement. Robinhood confirmed it is launching perpetual futures for crypto, a direct threat to on-chain perp venues. Lighter, which competes in that space, shed 17% on the news. Robinhood also unveiled an AI agent that executes trades autonomously on clients’ behalf, with all risk sitting with the customer. coindesk coindesk decrypt

Standard Chartered puts a $2 ENA target on the board for 2028. The bank’s research desk forecasts USDe scaling from roughly $5 billion to $40 billion by end-2028, with ENA buybacks compressing supply enough to justify a 600%-plus price appreciation. The call assumes Ethena sustains its funding-rate arbitrage through a full rate cycle, which remains the core risk to the thesis. theblock

Metaplanet board defends controversial executive bonus scheme against shareholder revolt. Directors at the Japan-listed Bitcoin holding company pushed back publicly against shareholders angry over an executive compensation plan, arguing it aligns incentives with BTC accumulation strategy. The dispute follows Metaplanet’s aggressive treasury expansion and highlights governance friction inside the cohort of MicroStrategy-model copycat firms. coindesk

Kalshi winds down its liquidity-incentive programme amid wash-trading scrutiny. The prediction-market operator is ending trader reward schemes even as its September volume hit an all-time high of nearly $53 billion. The timing sits awkwardly alongside a separate CFTC investigation into a former congressman who allegedly bet on Kalshi markets tied to his own presidential pardon prospects. theblock decrypt

Base launches Cobalt upgrade with conditional transaction logic and new B20 asset functions. Coinbase’s L2 shipped the Cobalt upgrade, enabling transactions that execute only when specified on-chain conditions are met — a building block for more complex DeFi automation. The release also extends the B20 standard with additional programmable asset functions, positioning Base to compete on expressiveness rather than just throughput. theblock

Kalshi nears a $1 billion raise at a $40 billion valuation ahead of a possible IPO. The prediction-market platform is in advanced talks for a funding round that would make it one of the most valuable fintech names in the US, according to reports. The raise arrives as the CFTC moves to assert exclusive federal jurisdiction over event contracts, which could insulate Kalshi from state-level gambling regulators. cryptobriefing

DogeOS opens public testnet for a ZK rollup bringing EVM contracts to Dogecoin. The team behind the MyDoge wallet launched a public test environment for DogeOS, a zero-knowledge rollup layer that lets developers deploy EVM-compatible smart contracts using DOGE as gas. Lending protocols and games are the initial target verticals, a meaningful pivot for a chain historically treated purely as a transfer layer. theblock decrypt

MetaMask Staking exits Lido validators after a security incident triggers Morpho vault outflows. MetaMask’s staking product pulled its stake from Lido validators following an undisclosed security incident, and the knock-on effect hit Sentora’s Morpho vaults with measurable depositor outflows. The sequence is a live example of how a single custody-layer incident propagates across composable DeFi stacks. cryptobriefing cryptobriefing

Bitget hacker routes $4M into Zcash’s Ironwood privacy pool after Near Intents blocks swaps. The attacker behind March’s $387.5 million Bitget exploit has begun converting roughly $3.8 million into ZEC and depositing into Zcash’s shielded pool after Near Intents refused to process their swap requests. Gemini separately updated its Zcash node software ahead of the network’s 25-second block-time upgrade, an unrelated but notable timing coincidence for exchanges monitoring the privacy chain. coindesk decrypt

SEAL Radar documents a rising Gmail-to-fake-support-call social engineering pattern. The Security Alliance published a pattern analysis drawn from victims who reported thefts within hours of the attack, describing a sequence that begins with a Gmail account compromise and escalates to impersonation of exchange or wallet support agents by phone. The advisory is aimed at helping targets recognise the chain before funds move. seal_radar

OFAC sanctions ten Tren de Aragua-linked individuals over a $40 million ATM jackpotting scheme laundered through crypto. The Treasury designated a fugitive and nine associates connected to the Venezuelan gang’s ATM skimming and jackpotting operations, with crypto used at the laundering stage. Chainalysis provided the on-chain tracing underpinning the designations. chainalysis

CFTC and SEC both secured fraud judgements totalling over $60 million in separate enforcement actions. A Florida court ordered two Fundsz promoters to pay over $31 million in a crypto fraud case brought by the CFTC, while the SEC separately charged Meyer Global Management and its CEO over a pre-IPO fund scheme involving SpaceX interests. The SEC also charged two individuals who raised $8.7 million targeting veterans through a fraudulent investment fund. theblock cryptobriefing cftc_enforcement sec_press sec_press

Stand With Crypto pivots from legislation to elections, issuing its first Senate endorsements. Two weeks after the Clarity Act stalled in the Senate, the Coinbase-backed advocacy group named its preferred candidates for the 2027 midterms: Republicans Jon Husted and Ashley Hinson, and Democrat Chris Pappas. The shift signals the industry has accepted a legislative pause and is now playing a longer electoral game, having spent $8 million on Clarity Act lobbying that did not close. theblock cointelegraph_regulation decrypt coindesk

CFTC sends White House two rule proposals designed to cement its grip on prediction markets. The agency is seeking to classify event contracts as swaps while carving out casino-style products, a legal architecture intended to pre-empt state gambling regulators who are suing prediction-market operators. The White House is reviewing both proposals, and the outcome will determine whether Kalshi and its peers operate under a single federal framework or a patchwork of state rules. decrypt cointelegraph_regulation theblock coindesk

FCA opens its crypto authorisation window with a 28 February 2027 deadline. UK firms that want to operate legally under the incoming 2027 regime must apply by end of February; existing anti-money-laundering registrations will not automatically convert to full authorisation. The window opening formalises a compliance clock that has been ticking informally for months. theblock cointelegraph_regulation coindesk

US Senator Blumenthal labels Tether a sanctions-evasion corridor for Iran. A Senate subcommittee report described USDT as a primary conduit for Iranian entities to sidestep sanctions, with findings referred to Treasury and the Justice Department. The framing adds legislative weight to what has previously been a law-enforcement-level argument against Tether, and lands as stablecoin legislation remains stalled. decrypt

What else is grinding?

• Illinois published draft rules detailing how its 0.2% digital asset transaction tax would treat DeFi platforms, stablecoins, bridges and self-custody transfers. cointelegraph_regulation
• Binance appears to be shifting stablecoin value transfers toward Solana and away from Tron and Ethereum, according to on-chain analysis. cryptobriefing
• XRP Ledger is now carrying fund records for a Brazilian financial operator overseeing $4 trillion in assets under custody. coindesk
• An ex-UK National Crime Agency officer has been ordered to repay $2.4 million for 50 BTC stolen from a Silk Road 2.0 seizure in 2017, when the coins were worth roughly $77,000. decrypt
• ESMA is pushing for expanded enforcement powers over EU crypto markets as the European Commission’s MiCA review consultation closes. cryptobriefing
• The SEC voted to propose rule amendments that would expand retail investor access to private markets, including regulated fund structures holding private assets. sec_press

Last sip. The Clarity Act is dead, $8 million lighter, and the midterms are thirteen months away.