Theme Altcoins

Open interest on NEAR-related futures contracts hit a record $1.92 billion on October 12, while the token benefited from a rotation into cryptos associated with artificial intelligence. This peak reflects strong speculative activity, but not the arrival of $1.92 billion in fresh capital.

Tom Lee, one of Ethereum's most well-known advocates, foresees a difficult short-term period for ETH. His warning does not question his long-term bullish thesis: it concerns a possible contagion effect coming from the South Korean stock market.

The founder of Avalanche believes that the crypto industry is too focused on a potential break of cryptography. According to him, artificial intelligence could first exploit the vulnerabilities already present in software and wallets.

BitMine purchased 12,532 ETH in the week ending October 11, 2026. Despite this Ethereum accumulation, the total value of its crypto assets, cash, and holdings decreased from $17.4 billion to $16.2 billion in one week.

The ranking of the top ten largest cryptos, excluding stablecoins, is evolving. Zcash, Monero and Hyperliquid are now entering the list, while Cardano and Chainlink are falling back. This reshuffle reflects a capital rotation towards more volatile assets, as several major cryptos go through a difficult period.

The Ledger case takes a new turn. The crypto wallet manufacturer confirms having discovered an unauthorized hardware implant in the device of a user affected by recent thefts in Southeast Asia. The theory of physical tampering before delivery is gaining strength. The suspected losses now approach 93 million dollars, but this amount has not been validated by Ledger.

Adam Back claims to have warned Ethereum's early developers against an architecture he considered flawed. However, no easily verifiable public evidence establishes that he sent them a specific warning about the now criticized account model before the network's launch.

Spot ETFs backed by ether recorded $542.1 million in net outflows last week. This is their worst weekly performance since January. The trend is also continuing on Solana, whose ETFs have just ended fourteen consecutive weeks of net inflows.

An Ethereum whale suffered the liquidation of 28716 ETH, valued at 69.69 million dollars, during the market crash on October 9. This amount represents the value of the closed position, while its realized loss would be close to 4.48 million dollars.

Solana is about to complete an acceleration that began in August. The crypto network must reduce its target time between two blocks from 250 to 200 milliseconds during epoch 1053, expected on October 9. At this pace, five block production opportunities can appear each second, compared to 2.5 when Solana still operated at 400 ms. The blockchain is faster, but its overall theoretical capacity does not double.

Algorand (ALGO) was worth about $0.133 on September 29, 2026. That is 16% more than the day before, and 72% more than six weeks ago. Two pieces of news explain the sudden interest. In late August, the network switched on an upgrade that protects its users' accounts against future quantum computers. Then, on August 31, a new boss arrived: William Herkelrath, a Chainlink veteran, tasked with winning over banks and asset managers. Usage is following: 677,000 active wallets in August, 29.6% more than in July. One question remains: is the market really buying Algorand, or simply riding a broad crypto rally?

NEAR has just gained about 138% in only 30 days and now joins the top 20 of the crypto market by capitalization. The token is trading around 5.50 dollars, for a valuation close to 7.2 billion. Behind this rise, NEAR Intents now exceeds 31 billion dollars in cumulative volume, while a first American spot product dedicated to NEAR has just arrived on Wall Street.

On October 6, the five XRP ETFs tracked by major databases held nearly 1.7 billion dollars in assets. However, their net inflows were only around 4 million dollars over one week, a sign of slowing demand.

Pi Network is entering the final stretch of its 2026 roadmap. Protocol 28 is set to launch on the mainnet on October 16, following a node migration scheduled by the 13th. However, on the market side, PI still struggles to bounce back. The token is worth 0.0824 dollars, 97.2% below its all-time high.

Polymarket changes an essential part of its crypto infrastructure. The platform deploys Protocol V2, a new smart contract architecture intended to gradually replace a system based on code dating back to 2019. pUSD becomes the sole collateral, several types of markets can operate on the same exchange, and a future expansion beyond Polygon is already planned. Initial tests are underway.

AI-linked cryptocurrencies have significantly outperformed the crypto market in September. According to Grayscale, this sector grew by 54% over the month, compared to 24% for the overall market. Despite its still modest size, with a capitalization of around 15 billion dollars, the segment could produce several "big winners" over the next five years.

On October 2, American XRP ETFs recorded net outflows of 3.28 million dollars, exclusively concentrated on the Bitwise fund. However, their assets experienced a decline of 37 million dollars during the session, a gap notably triggered by the drop in the price of Ripple's cryptocurrency.

BNB Chain has just reached a milestone in the crypto market for tokenized stocks. The network now hosts about 1.1 billion dollars worth of tokenized stocks and ETFs, nearly 30% of a market valued at around 3.7 billion. Ethereum follows with 828 million dollars, ahead of Solana at 738 million. In January, BNB Chain only represented 13% of the sector.

Cardano ended September with an increase of about 23%, but some large crypto investors are beginning to lighten their positions. Since September 20, whales have reportedly sold nearly 90 million ADA, about 22.5 million dollars. At the same time, open interest on futures contracts has declined by 9%. After the rally, the market is therefore much more cautious.

Ethereum is preparing a new massive increase in its capacity. Crypto network developers now consider a limit of 200 million gas per block a credible goal after Glamsterdam. The mainnet currently operates around 60 million. If this step is passed, Ethereum could therefore more than triple the available space to execute transactions and smart contracts.

According to a CryptoQuant indicator that fell to its lowest level since January 2025, the amount of XRP available for trading on the Binance exchange platform is increasing. This signal increases the risk of selling pressure, however it does not prove that holders have started to massively sell their tokens.

Hedera's token surged nearly 30% on Monday and Tuesday, hitting its highest point since January, before retreating on Wednesday. The momentum owes much to the arrival of an identity solution for AI agents on IBM Cloud. Another catalyst attributed to the network, a tokenization signed by BlackRock, remains to be confirmed.

Bitwise launched on Tuesday the first US ETF backed by the NEAR token. Listed on the NYSE Arca under the ticker NRR, it has 0.75% annual fees and places its tokens in staking, modeled after its Solana ETF. The token, booming since summer, becomes accessible without a crypto wallet.

Ethereum has set the date: Glamsterdam, its next major update, will activate on the Sepolia testnet on October 6 at 13:53 UTC. Operators have one week to update their clients or face exclusion from the network. This is the final rehearsal before the mainnet, targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026.

Despite spectacular increases in several launched tokens, the memecoin market falls to around 35.4 billion dollars. These performances usually rely on low liquidity, while the sector's main assets remain stable or decline.

BitMine is not slowing down: 17,362 more ETH in seven days, 6 million now held in its Ethereum crypto treasury. But the most surprising may still be to come with the 5%.

The crypto market has not yet entered a confirmed altseason period, however many altcoins strongly outperform bitcoin. Unlike previous cycles, various capital focuses on a limited number of projects, essentially those generating revenue or meeting specific uses.

Peter Brandt finds the XRP chart interesting enough to consider a bet on the token. However, the trading veteran does not confirm any purchase and does not renew his previous target of 5.40 dollars in his latest post.