Bitcoin kicked off October with strength, rallying to $86,500 on Sunday — up 2.07% on the day and 8.57% over the past month — while Ethereum sat at $2,720, up 11.05% over thirty days. Nearly every asset in the top ten was in the green, and the month is already living up to its market nickname, "Uptober" — a term that reflects October's historical reputation as a seasonally strong stretch for Bitcoin.

The observations come from "Morning Minute," Decrypt's daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed in the newsletter are own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt.

Exchange-traded funds joined the move. Spot Bitcoin funds took in $31.7 million in a single day and $102.7 million on Thursday, bringing the month's total to $134.4 million. That marks a two-day inflow streak after September closed with a $148.7 million outflow.

The altcoin board showed even more activity. Pump.fun led notable altcoins with a 26.2% gain, LayerZero rose 19.8%, and Sky and Aave both posted double-digit weekly gains. These are not meme coins but protocols that generate revenue, most of which run buyback programs. The SEC said eight days ago that buying back one's own token does not make it a security as long as the network works, a stance that makes it easier than ever for investors to buy into revenue-generating protocols.

In Warner's assessment, the gains are real and spreading beyond Bitcoin. The quietest week for ETF flows in a month coincided with nearly everything going up, which suggests crypto-native funds, rather than institutions, have been driving recent price action.

He also flagged the timing of a historical pattern: based on the Oct. 6, 2025 all-time high and a 364-day top-to-bottom timeline that played out exactly in each of the past two cycles, the four-year cycle pattern would bottom on Monday, Oct. 5. In his view, if no massively negative events occur Monday or through the week, the last remaining bears will be forced to capitulate and the bull market will be "officially on."

Macro and Markets

Crypto majors were mostly green, up 1–2%: BTC +1% at $86,100; ETH +1% at $2,720; SOL -1% at $121; HYPE +3% at $93; and ZEC -1% at $1,320. Top altcoin movers included ADA (+11%), FET (+12%), ENA (+10%) and LIT (+8%).

Oil slipped 1% to $90, while gold added 0.6% to $4,190. Stock futures were slightly red, with the Dow down 0.14% and the Nasdaq down 0.2%.

Protocols, Regulation and Business

The Ethereum Foundation launched zkAPI, a way to pay for AI without the provider knowing who the payer is. Users deposit ETH or USDC once and prove they have the funds without revealing which deposit is theirs; the tool is live on Ethereum.

Community banks sued the OCC on Friday to stop it granting crypto firms national trust charters. The Independent Community Bankers of America called the charters a side door into banking that skips FDIC insurance and capital rules, and wants Protego's charter thrown out. The case puts a spotlight on the question of how crypto firms gain access to the US banking system.

NEAR Intents recovered all $3.8 million, one day after telling the hacker he had been identified and had 48 hours to return the funds. The team dropped its investigation and asked future researchers to use the bug bounty instead.

Chainalysis attributed the $387 million Bitget hack to North Korea and used its own AI to trace the money. The funds left in 23 transfers over three hours onto Ethereum, XRP, Zcash and Tron, pushing the year's North Korean total past $1 billion — a figure that underscores the scale of state-linked theft in the industry.

Bank of America raised its Coinbase price target to $203 from $174 and kept a Buy rating, lifting its 2027 and 2028 earnings forecasts on stronger stablecoin revenue after September's Fed hike.

Plume launched nBND, a token backed by Fidelity's $28 billion Total Bond ETF, giving onchain investors access to a managed bond fund — part of a broader tokenization trend bringing traditional financial products onchain.

OKX and the NYSE's parent company told the SEC they are launching a tokenized stock venue starting with 63 NYSE-listed companies. Their joint venture, OKXICE, filed on Sunday under the SEC's new framework — a sign of how traditional exchanges and crypto platforms are converging on tokenized markets.

Corporate Treasuries and ETFs

Bitcoin ETFs saw $32 million in net inflows on Friday, while Ethereum ETFs recorded $17 million in outflows and Solana products took in $1.3 million.

Meme Coin Tracker

Meme coin leaders were green, up 2–5%: DOGE +3%, SHIB +5%, PEPE +6%, PENGU +5%, TRUMP +2%, SPX +3% and BONK +5%.

Robinhood chain leaders were red and continued their downturn: Pons fell 5% to $270 million, AI dropped 5% to $110 million and Cashcat slipped 2% to $159 million. Boner gained 31% to $75 million, Programmable rose 140% and SIMD jumped 100x to $9 million to lead the top movers.

Solana's top movers included Baton (+90%), Human (+240x), Higgs (+250x) and Swordcat (+240%).

Tokens, Airdrops and Protocol Tracker

Blast is officially shutting down on Friday after deciding it costs more to run than it earns — an unusual exit for an Ethereum layer-2. The network, which once held $2.3 billion in total value locked at its peak, is telling users to move their funds to Ethereum before October 26.

Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan teased a potential Polymarket token announcement coming soon at Token 2049.\nPump led onchain protocols in revenue for the week with $17.86 million, followed by Hyperliquid at $14.64 million and Stonk at $4.46 million.

Hyperliquid received its first $14.58 million payment from USDC sitting on the exchange — money it can now use to buy back HYPE via AQAV2. The 30-day payment works out to roughly $193 million a year at the current size.

NFTs

NFT leaders were slightly red: Punks were flat at 33 ETH, BAYC fell 4% to 5.95 ETH and Pudgy gained 1% to 3.02 ETH. Identity MD (+52%) and Quotrons (+21%) led the top movers.