Iran reaffirmed that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed, and stated that it will soon block "illegal" shipping lanes.

Investors who bought Bitcoin in 2025 are the only annual buying cohort still holding an overall unrealized loss, with an average cost of roughly $88,000. Bitcoin hit $87,500 in September, then consolidated before falling back below $84,000 on Wednesday. As some more recent buyers may choose to sell once they break even, $88,000 could act as a key resistance level. Annual volume-weighted average cost (VWAP) has repeatedly functioned as either support or resistance in this cycle. Bitcoin rose to around $82,100 in May, hitting the average cost of the 2024 buying cohort and stalling, before dropping to $60,000 and only breaking that level in August. The 2023 buying cohort currently has an average cost of roughly $65,000, which largely acted as support during the 2026 bear market, though prices briefly dipped below it. The 2026 buying cohort’s average cost is around $73,500; since Bitcoin broke above that level in late August, most investors in this group have been in profit. The average cost of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF holdings is roughly $82,300, with investors in these products only recently returning to overall profitability for the first time this year, and this level could serve as support during any further price pullbacks.

NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin said at the 2026 Digital Assets Summit in Singapore that as on-chain tools expand, users no longer need centralized exchanges for many crypto activities. near.com has integrated cross-chain spot trading, tokenized stocks, yield products, and perpetual contracts into a single interface, and is advancing features including bank withdrawals, tax transaction records, and selective disclosure for confidential transactions. Polosukhin noted the platform will add more fiat-related functions. NEAR has partnered with Monerium to support users converting between euros in their bank accounts and EURe via IBAN, with the ultimate goal of enabling NEAR Intents to facilitate "any asset to any asset" swaps. After integrating Ondo Finance in September, near.com now offers tokenized stocks and plans to add equities from more global markets. He also stated: "AI is the front end, blockchain is the back end." NEAR's Agent Market extends intent models to natural language tasks, allowing users to describe their needs, and the platform will source agents capable of executing the tasks. Funds are held via a custodial mechanism and released after tasks are completed and verified.

Multichain decentralized exchange (DEX) Jumper has unveiled the JUMP token sale allocation plan. The sale received subscription commitments totaling approximately $48.614 million from 9,690 participants—24 times the initial $2 million target—with the final accepted amount set at $3 million. The subscription commitments hit the $3 million hard cap just 18 minutes after the sale launched. Of the final allocation, $1.64 million (around 55% of total sales) is allocated to the community wallet, with weights primarily based on Jumper Loyalty Pass (JLP) tier and ranking, giving higher priority to long-term, deeply engaged users. The second-largest allocation category goes to strategic contributors, including angel investors, developers, traders, and content creators; an additional 5% of the allocation is reserved for Republic participants. The waitlist category covers the top 500 ranked participants, with rankings determined by a combination of Legion Score and referrals, with greater weight placed on the Legion Score. Existing Jumper users can boost their priority via waitlist ranking, but different weights are not additive—only the highest eligible tier applies. Jumper noted that it has combined long-term loyalty data and wallet linkage signals from Legion to filter out suspected Sybil participants.

Solana Accelerate China, a high-profile tech innovation exchange gathering, will kick off in four Chinese cities starting October 16: Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, and Beijing. The event centers on cutting-edge technology infrastructure, AI and digital applications, and global product expertise, aiming to connect talent, technology, and capital between East and West, while driving the implementation and development of next-generation innovative applications. It will bring together outstanding developers and innovative teams from home and abroad, fostering deep integration between local innovation strengths and the international frontier ecosystem through cutting-edge sharing sessions and technical demos. Event website and registration link: https://solana.com/nl/accelerate/china

On Wednesday, the U.S. dollar and U.S. Treasury yields rose again, putting pressure on gold prices. The U.S. Dollar Index is currently trading around 102.30, hovering near its highest level since April 2025. Meanwhile, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note climbed to around 5.324%, near the 5.349% high it hit on Monday, marking its highest level since 2002. The Middle East conflict has pushed up oil prices and heightened inflation risks, coupled with rising government debt and fiscal deficits, and the resilience of the U.S. economy, all of which have driven higher financing costs. Traders will closely monitor the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting for fresh clues on whether the Federal Reserve may further tighten its policy. Since the outbreak of the Middle East conflict at the end of February, market expectations of the Fed’s hawkish policy outlook have continued to weigh on gold prices, which are now more than 25% lower than their near-$5,600 all-time high in January. However, long-term demand still provides fundamental support for gold. (Jin10)

Gate Founder and CEO Dr. Han attended Singapore’s TOKEN2049 conference and delivered a keynote speech on the main stage. During the speech, Dr. Han formally announced the launch of Gate Money, stating: “Accounts should not be boundaries for funds. Gate Money supports one-click opening of global bank accounts under the same name, breaking down barriers between assets, funds and payments to enable free capital flow.” Dr. Han noted that the development of stablecoins, real-world assets (RWA) and blockchain payment infrastructure has empowered more assets with digital liquidity and instant settlement capabilities, making asset holding, transfer and use increasingly integrated. Based on this shift, Gate Money connects bank accounts with digital assets, fiat currencies, stocks, ETFs, gold and payment services. Eligible users can open their own global bank e-accounts with one click, supporting receipt of over 60 local currencies. They can complete fund transfers, asset conversion and management within the Gate App, and use the Gate Card for online and offline payments with fiat or digital assets. The launch of Gate Money marks Gate’s financial services expanding beyond trading and asset management to cover capital flow and daily consumption, unifying different assets, funds and payment scenarios into a single ecosystem. Users can now activate Gate Money with one click by updating the Gate App to version 8.39.0. Going forward, Gate will further expand asset categories, payment methods and financial service capabilities, and continue building a comprehensive financial service system connecting assets to real-world consumption.