Former Treasury Secretary Downplays Economic Recession Concerns, Calls Stock Market Pullback a Natural Phenomenon

Apollo Chief Economist Torsten Slok warns that as AI agents begin managing users’ funds—automatically shifting household cash from low-yield demand deposit accounts to high-yield alternatives—it could trigger a “slow-motion bank run.” Slok notes the average annual interest rate on U.S. demand deposits is just ~0.1%, while providers including Revolut, SoFi, Varo, LendingClub, and Wealthfront offer rates between 3.3% and 5%. For a $10,000 deposit, this translates to roughly $10 in annual interest from traditional accounts, versus $330 to $500 from high-yield options. Slok contends that widespread adoption of such AI agents to optimize household cash returns could erode banks’ low-cost deposit base—their key funding source for lending—posing potential risks to the financial system. These AI agents can monitor account balances in real time, compare yields across financial institutions, automatically transfer idle funds, and repatriate money before bill due dates. Additionally, the report highlights that the crypto sector has started building payment infrastructure for AI agents: Coinbase’s x402 protocol enables AI agents to make fast online payments using stablecoins, with cumulative transactions totaling approximately 188 million to 205 million and around 69,000 active agents.

SpaceX announced that its Starship rocket launched from Texas on its first orbital mission, carrying the company’s first operational Starlink satellites. Despite an engine shutdown during the flight, Starship was cleared to attempt orbital insertion. As of press time, SpaceX has confirmed that Starship has achieved its first orbital entry. Currently, SpaceX is trading 0.34% higher in pre-market hours, after earlier falling more than 2%.

Tether said that since 2026, the company has assisted U.S. and international law enforcement agencies in freezing approximately $550 million worth of USDT linked to Iran’s central bank and Iranian sanction networks. In April this year, Tether froze over $344 million worth of USDT in two addresses based on information from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and U.S. law enforcement; in July, as the U.S. Treasury expanded sanctions against Iran’s central bank, the company froze an additional $130 million worth of USDT in four TRON addresses, bringing the total of the two actions to roughly $550 million. To date, Tether has collaborated with more than 340 law enforcement agencies across 67 countries and regions, supporting over 2,900 investigations—more than 1,600 of which involve U.S. law enforcement. The company has cumulatively frozen over $4.9 billion in assets, with more than $2.4 billion linked to U.S. law enforcement. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino noted that public blockchains allow law enforcement to trace fund flows, adding that Tether can implement freezing measures upon receiving credible information from law enforcement and will continue to assist in combating sanction evasion, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes.

CoinMarketCap CEO Rush announced he will step down after five years leading the company to pursue new business ventures. David Salamon, the firm’s Chief Product Officer, will be promoted to CEO effective immediately. Rush noted that over the past years, Salamon has been involved in nearly all major decisions at CoinMarketCap, built one of the industry’s top-tier product teams, and is deeply familiar with the company’s products, operations and team. Rush said he is pleased to hand CoinMarketCap over to Salamon and congratulated him on assuming the CEO post. BlockBeats previously reported that on September 25, CoinMarketCap completed the acquisition of crypto derivatives data platform Coinglass, with the transaction amount undisclosed.

According to market data from BIT (bit.com), shares of general database platform company MongoDB fell more than 22% in pre-market trading after its CEO resigned to join Meta. Meta is building a new business line that sells AI tools directly to enterprises, integrating its Muse coding tool, access to top-tier AI models, and business agents across WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger. Former MongoDB CEO CJ Desai will lead this division and report directly to Mark Zuckerberg. MongoDB’s market capitalization closed at $33.064 billion in the last trading session.

According to Lookonchain monitoring, Bonk Guy’s SI position currently has an unrealized profit of over $272,000. He previously invested $164,000 to purchase approximately 18.8 million SI tokens, and the position is now valued at around $436,000, generating an unrealized gain of roughly $272,000.