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Oil prices slipped on Monday after the Group of Seven agreed to release 100 million barrels from emergency reserves. Trading Economics data showed Brent crude fell 0.55% to $101.69. G7 leaders agreed Friday to a four-month release coordinated by the International Energy Agency. French President Emmanuel Macron's office said diesel releases would be concentrated in the first 20 days. Recovering Middle East crude exports added supply relief, but tanker attacks still threaten that recovery.

Apimeds Pharmaceuticals US shares rose 43.48% to $4.62 on Monday after subsidiary MindWave Innovations signed a two-year blockchain agreement with BlockAssure, according to Benzinga Pro price data. MindWave will develop and operate AssureChain for insurance and reinsurance operations. The agreement gives MindWave development fees and 20% of AssureCoin's total supply, conditional on the token being launched. Development is expected to take four quarters, subject to milestones and BlockAssure's acceptance testing.

Stripe expects to expand its stablecoin card programs to more than 100 countries by year-end, according to Henri Stern, who oversees stablecoins and crypto across Stripe. PaymentScan said stablecoin card spending reached about $1.2 billion last month, triple the amount a year earlier. Stripe is pursuing stablecoins as another payment option alongside traditional currencies. Stern said Stripe's approach is to integrate stablecoins into its existing infrastructure.

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson warned that a digital euro could impose spending caps and enable asset and transaction discrimination within a decade. Hoskinson said he does not trust the European Union with a digital euro and demanded binding legal safeguards. However, the EU's draft law already rules out programmable spending rules, although the text remains under negotiation and is not binding. The European Central Bank plans a 12-month pilot from late 2027, with possible issuance in 2029.

Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan fuelled rumors of a token launch by teasing that he may have "a little something to say" at Token2049. Multiple users on X interpreted Coplan's comment as a hint about a crypto token and a potential airdrop. Coplan was responding to analysis showing that Polymarket made almost $10 million in revenue this weekend. Token2049 will take place in Singapore on October 7 and October 8.

The G7 agreed on Oct. 2 to accelerate emergency fuel releases, including a substantial amount of diesel within 20 days. The G7 said the International Energy Agency would make 100 million barrels available over four months, beginning immediately. The plan tests whether cheaper fuel can lower inflation and interest-rate expectations enough to ease pressure on Bitcoin. However, US diesel prices were already falling before the announcement, and the additional supply under the plan remains unclear. The G7 plan alone gives investors little basis to expect a reversal in Federal Reserve policy.

Strategy bought 334 Bitcoin for $28.7 million between October 1 and October 4, according to a Monday 8-K filing. Strive disclosed a purchase of 2,000 BTC for about $169 million between September 28 and October 2. Strategy's total holdings reached 848,000 BTC, while Strive's holdings reached 29,462 BTC. Strive CEO Matt Cole said 61.5% of the purchase funding came from SATA, Strive's preferred stock. Strategy also repurchased 1.77 million STRC preferred shares for $176.3 million between September 28 and October 4.

Cryptocurrency campaign organization Fairshake plans to support 19 Republicans and 13 Democrats in the November House elections. Six candidates will receive $1 million in spending each, and all 32 supported legislation that was a top industry priority. Fairshake separately pledged nearly $30 million against Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown in Ohio after Senate Democrats blocked the CLARITY Act in September. Fairshake and its affiliated political action committees reported about $120 million in cash on hand at the end of August. Fairshake would not say whether the group plans additional House or Senate spending before November. Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego criticized the spending against Brown, saying the decision would make negotiations on crypto legislation harder.

Chainalysis said unique wallets sending peer-to-peer stablecoin transactions in China grew 43-fold between the first quarter of 2024 and the second quarter of 2026. Chainalysis recorded $104.1 billion across 18.1 million transfers involving China's self-custodied stablecoin holdings from July 2025 to June 2026. Chainalysis estimated China's crypto economy at at least $176 billion, with domestic peer-to-peer activity accounting for 59.1% of the total. Chainalysis said the high turnover of stablecoin holdings was consistent with users treating stablecoins as working capital. The growth occurred despite China's longstanding crypto trading restrictions, which authorities reinforced in February.

Strategy estimates a $20.91 billion third-quarter gain on digital assets, according to a filing. The gain carries $1.88 billion in associated deferred tax expense. Strategy bought 334 BTC for $28.7 million last week, increasing its holdings to a record 848,000 BTC. Strategy also repurchased $176.3 million of Stretch (STRC) preferred shares across the last days of September and the first four days of October. Strategy has $547.2 million remaining in its preferred share buyback program.

Strategy bought 334 Bitcoin for $28.7 million last week, bringing its holdings to exactly 848,000 BTC, according to a Monday SEC filing. Strategy also repurchased about 1.77 million STRC preferred shares for $176.3 million over the same period. Strategy is seeking shareholder approval to pay dividends on STRC, STRF, STRK and STRD every business day. Shareholders will vote on Oct. 28. Strategy said the proposal would not change dividend rates or overall payment obligations.

Cardano surged about 11% on Monday, while Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP posted much smaller gains. CoinDesk reported that ADA rose above 27 cents, its highest price since May. CoinDesk identified the RealFi product and Dijkstra upgrade as possible drivers, but said the exact trigger was hard to determine. However, trading volume on Cardano's decentralized exchanges fell from nearly $12 million to roughly $3 million over 24 hours. The decline suggests the rally reflected price speculation rather than new network activity.

Calls to slow development of the most powerful AI models are colliding with an expected $800 billion investment boom this year. Goldman Sachs expects five major US-based AI hyperscalers to invest that amount in AI infrastructure. A January St. Louis Fed analysis estimated that broad AI-related investment accounted for 39% of real GDP growth during the first nine months of 2025. An AI slowdown would not automatically cause economic disaster, but could prompt infrastructure cancellations, asset repricing and financing withdrawals. President Donald Trump opposes a coordinated slowdown, while leading AI executives support pacing advances in the most powerful models. Industry executives argue that adoption of existing models could continue delivering productivity gains even if new model training stopped.

Metaplanet revealed a revised capital allocation framework proposing to allocate up to 15% of total assets to strategic investments to fund Bitcoin accumulation. Metaplanet introduced a strategy on Monday to use net interest from income-generating assets for Bitcoin purchases and dividend payments. Metaplanet's Monday notice said Bitcoin remains its core treasury reserve asset, accounting for 85% to 90% of total assets. The announcement followed shareholder concerns about governance and dilution from executive stock options. Metaplanet traded at 0.80 times its Bitcoin net asset value at Monday's Tokyo close, according to Mnav.com.

Armada Acquisition Corp. II shares rose about 273% last week ahead of its merger with XRP treasury firm Evernorth. Armada closed at $39.42 on Friday, up 68% that day, according to StockAnalysis data. Evernorth said it expects the merger to close on Wednesday, Oct. 7, subject to remaining conditions. About 80% of Armada's trust funds appear set to be returned to shareholders, potentially reducing publicly traded shares and contributing to sharp price swings.

Strategy Inc. returned to profitability after recording a $21 billion unrealized gain on its Bitcoin holdings. The return to profitability was the first in four quarters. The gain reflected an increase in the value of Strategy's Bitcoin holdings during the cryptocurrency's late-summer rally.

Jeff John Roberts argues that the AI industry should not dismiss blockchain developers because decentralized technology may help control rogue AI agents. Tricia Wang, who leads the Advanced AI Society, says AI workers strongly dislike crypto but argues that machine-to-machine monitoring is the only viable option at scale. The society proposes decentralized tools that require AI agents to verify their authorization and prevent agents from falsifying their logs. The Linux Foundation is hosting the first version of the society's proof-of-control standard.

Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana are showing short-term sell signals on their four-hour charts. Crypto chart analyst Ali Martinez noted on Monday that Bitcoin's Sunday rallies were followed by Monday pullbacks, while Sunday declines were followed by rebounds. However, Martinez's longer-term technical outlook remains bullish for all three cryptocurrencies despite near-term correction risk. Bitcoin could reach a potential cycle target near $190,000 after a decisive breakout, Martinez highlighted on Sunday. CryptoQuant data shows Bitcoin outperformed during October's historically weakest three-day stretch.

Strategy acquired 334 BTC for approximately $28.7 million between September 28 and October 4, according to a Monday 8-K filing. Strategy paid an average of $85,838.80 per bitcoin. Michael Saylor, Strategy's co-founder and executive chairman, said total holdings reached a record 848,000 BTC, worth around $73 billion. Strategy funded the purchase with approximately $15.7 million from MSTR share sales and $13 million from its USD Cash holdings. Strategy also repurchased 1.77 million STRC preferred shares last week for around $176.3 million.

Circle's European redemption policy allows temporary delays if USDC reserves cannot move between its French and U.S. issuers, while preserving redemption at par. Authorized crypto-asset service providers may face caps based on previously reported holdings. Other European Economic Area holders may face checks establishing that their holdings originated within the EEA before the stress began. Public documents reviewed establish neither an active reserve-transfer failure nor an imposed reserve-stress redemption restriction as of Oct. 4. An immediate secondary-market exit would depend on a willing buyer supplying cash. Circle argues for preserving cross-border co-issuance, while the European Systemic Risk Board has recommended interpreting MiCA as not permitting third-country multi-issuer schemes.