Apple’s new smart home products are set to launch soon, driving AAPL’s US stock up roughly 1.3% in intraday trading.

Venture capitalist Alex Lazarow noted in an article that over the past two years, Stripe, Mastercard, and Circle have each acquired U.S. stablecoin infrastructure firm Bridge, U.K.-based BVNK, and Singaporean cross-border payment platform Tazapay respectively. The combined value of the three deals exceeds $3 billion. The three targets were founded between 2020 and 2022, with total combined funding of around $200 million, highlighting that stablecoin payment infrastructure has become a key area for traditional payment giants and crypto firms to compete for a foothold. Specifically, Stripe announced in 2024 it would acquire Bridge for just over $1 billion; Mastercard’s BVNK transaction is valued at up to $1.8 billion total, including $1.5 billion in base consideration and $300 million in contingent consideration; Circle agreed to buy Tazapay for $400 million in stock, with the deal expected to close in 2027. Growth in stablecoin adoption, a gradually clarified regulatory framework, and surging demand for cross-border real-time payments are the primary drivers of these mergers and acquisitions. Data shows that in 2025, adjusted stablecoin transaction volume rose 91% year-over-year to $10.9 trillion, approaching Visa’s $14.2 trillion; real-world payment volume more than doubled to roughly $390 billion. These deals reflect that acquirers prioritize not only stablecoin technology, but also proven business scale, payment networks, and compliance qualifications. As stablecoin payment infrastructure matures, applications such as dollar accounts, stablecoin payment cards, and cross-border remittances are also emerging. More local infrastructure firms similar to Bridge and BVNK may be acquired across global regions in the future.

According to Lookonchain’s monitoring, last week’s total stablecoin market capitalization decreased by $856 million, decentralized exchange (DEX) spot trading volume fell 19.34% week-over-week, while perpetual contract trading volume rebounded 8.20%. In the same period, protocol revenue rose 4.44% week-over-week, with Base App’s weekly revenue surging 519%. For listed companies’ BTC holdings, one firm added to its BTC reserves last week, while three others reduced theirs, leading to a net reduction of 89 BTC, valued at roughly $7.37 million. In terms of institutional and whale activity, Strategy acquired 250 BTC last week, worth approximately $20.69 million; Bitmine purchased 12,532 ETH, valued at around $31.75 million.

Multiple Wall Street firms forecast that the month-on-month growth rate of the U.S. core CPI in September will slow from 0.29% in August to 0.21%, while the month-on-month growth rate of headline CPI is expected to rise to 0.58% driven by higher energy prices, with the year-on-year growth rate likely approaching 3.7%. The median forecast among the institutions shows that U.S. headline CPI rose 0.58% month-on-month and 3.64% year-on-year in September, while core CPI rose 0.21% month-on-month and 2.40% year-on-year. Additionally, the median forecast for core PCE’s month-on-month growth rate is 0.21%. Specifically, Deutsche Bank forecasts core CPI to rise 0.16% month-on-month, the lowest among surveyed institutions, while Morgan Stanley projects headline CPI to rise 0.62% month-on-month, the highest forecast. Overall, the market expects core inflationary pressures to ease, but rising energy prices may keep headline inflation trending higher.

Oct 5–Oct 11, 2026 #LookonchainWeeklyReport ?? Overview Stablecoin supply fell by $855.94M last week, DEX spot volume fell and perp volume rebounded, while public companies shed 89 BTC. ?? Stablecoin Market The total stablecoin market cap decreased by $855.94M. ?? Spot & Perps

According to market data from BIT (Bit.com), Evernorth Holdings (XRPN), a firm focused on XRP treasury, officially listed on the Nasdaq today. On its first trading day, its stock price surged as much as 13.43% before paring back gains, and is now up 1.49%. The company holds an estimated 473 million XRP, worth approximately $657 million at current prices, and claims it will become the world’s largest publicly traded XRP treasury company. On the same day, Evernorth announced the appointment of Hugo Jeandesboz, former co-chief investment officer of Coinbase Asset Management, as its chief investment officer, responsible for treasury strategy, liquidity management, and active management of its XRP holdings. Evernorth also plans to generate additional returns from its XRP holdings via decentralized finance (DeFi) yield strategies. XRP is currently trading at around $1.371, with a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $1.48 billion and a market capitalization of about $87.3 billion, ranking fifth among cryptocurrencies by market cap.

Over the past three weeks, investors have pulled capital from US mortgage-backed bond funds at an historically unprecedented pace, with outflows ranking among the seven largest since early 2021. Driven by surging interest rates, investors are rushing to hedge against market volatility. The US Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) index posted its second-worst monthly performance on record in September. Earlier, US Treasury yields rose to multi-decade highs amid surging oil prices, intensifying inflation concerns, and market expectations of Federal Reserve rate hikes, triggering sell-offs in mortgage bonds. Mortgage-backed securities (MBS) are highly sensitive to sudden fluctuations in bond yields, as yields serve as the pricing benchmark for borrowing costs across the entire economy. When rates rise, homeowners typically refinance their mortgages less, leaving investors holding lower-yielding securities for longer than anticipated. Strategist Erica Adelberg noted: "The Federal Reserve’s tightening monetary policy and flattening yield curve may weaken demand from banks, a key buyer of MBS. On the positive side, as mortgage rates hit their highest level since 2023, refinancing and homebuying demand are being suppressed, which could slow growth in home prices and loan volumes. As a result, MBS supply is expected to decline by year-end." (Jin10)