📈 Markets in the Past 24 Hours

TICKER	VALUE	24H
Bitcoin	$122,729	1.72 %
Ethereum	$4,521.57	0.61 %
XRP	$3.04	-1.92 %
BNB	$1,170.91	8.99 %
Solana	$233.65	0.32 %

Today’s Big Story

Bitcoin Sets Its Sights on New Highs

Happy Friday!

It’s been an interesting week for crypto as the market wrestled with uncertainty over the U.S. government shutdown. Early in the week, as the shutdown loomed, prices slipped. But once it began on Wednesday, major digital assets shrugged it off, with experts saying the impact would likely be short-lived.

Bitcoin (BTC) surged 10% over the week, breaking past $120,000 – a level not seen since August – and is now trading around $122,500.

BTC Chart

Other major assets followed suit: Ethereum (ETH) rose 14% over the past seven days, hovering around the $4,500 mark, while Binance Coin (BNB) climbed nearly 20% on the week to $1,132. Solana (SOL) is up 18% to $232.

XRP increased by 10% to $3.03, though this was partly attributable to news that Ripple’s longtime chief technology officer, David Schwartz, will be stepping back from his role at the company.

The week’s biggest gainer was Zcash (ZEC), soaring 175% to $148. Experts attribute the surge to growing interest in privacy-focused projects within DeFi. The token continued its rally on Friday morning on news that it can now be traded with up to 5x leverage on Lighter. Pumpfun (PUMP) also recorded strong gains this week, rising 40% to $0.007.

On the other hand, Plasma’s XPL was crowned the week’s biggest loser, dropping 25% to $0.80 following its launch and rumors of insider selling. Plasma CEO Paul Faecks has since addressed the concerns, stating that no tokens have been sold and all allocations remain locked for three years – though this has seemingly done little to quell concerns.

In the ETF space, both spot Bitcoin and Ethereum funds experienced strong inflows this week.

Bitcoin ETFs attracted over $2.2 billion in inflows this week, while Ethereum ETFs recorded $1.06 billion, marking their largest weekly haul since late August.

The total crypto market capitalization reached $4.24 trillion on Friday, up over 10% on the week, per CoinGecko data.

Despite the market rally, the U.S. shutdown has created macroeconomic uncertainty. It was revealed this morning that September’s jobs report has been delayed, leaving traders to rely on alternative data like ADP, which showed a loss of 32,000 private-sector jobs, fueling concerns about a slowing economy.

The delay also comes at a tricky time for the Federal Reserve, which might have to make interest rate decisions without the usual jobs data.

Stay tuned, readers, as we’ll be keeping an eye on how this plays out for the crypto market.

Xx Jona, staff reporter at The Defiant

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🎬WATCH

StarkWare Bets on Becoming Bitcoin's Execution Layer, Not on Attracting Corporate Chains

On the latest episode of The Defiant Podcast, Cami sat down with Eli Ben-Sasson, co-founder and CEO of StarkWare. Ben-Sasson details StarkWare's latest bet on Bitcoin: Adding BTC staking and lending/borrowing to the Ethereum Layer 2 (coupled with 100M in STRK incentives) in its bid to become Bitcoin's execution layer.

StarkWare is focusing on BTC while much of competitors' attention has gone to lure large fintech and TradFi names on-chain. Ben Sasson says he couldn't care less because "corporate chain and decentralized chain is a contradiction."

Top News in the Past 24 Hours

Bitcoin Hits $124,000 Despite U.S. Shutdown and Geopolitical Tensions The cryptocurrency market extended its rally for a third straight day on Friday despite a U.S. government shutdown and ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Why it matters: Bitcoin climbed to around $124,000 – its highest level since mid-August and just shy of its all-time high.
Perpetual DEX Trading Volume Tops $1 Trillion in September Trading volumes on decentralized perpetual exchanges reached a record high in September, surpassing $1 trillion for the first time. Why it matters: Users are flocking to exchanges like Aster and Lighter in the hopes of securing lucrative airdrops following the success of Hyperliquid.
Avalanche Treasury Co. Plans $675 Million Merger With Mountain Lake Acquisition The deal includes roughly $460 million in assets and is expected to close in early 2026. AVAT will purchase $200 million worth of AVAX tokens at a discount from the Avalanche Foundation. Why it matters: Despite the relatively large size of the deal, only a small portion is allocated to open market purchases of AVAX.
ZEC Price Soars 150% in a Week amid Renewed Calls for Privacy Privacy-focused cryptocurrency Zcash (ZEC) has staged one of crypto’s sharpest rallies in recent weeks, climbing more than 150% in the past seven days.