Ethereum engineering firm Nethermind has ended its verifier role in LayerZero’s DVN network and moved its cross-chain operations to Chainlink, joining as a node operator and strategic technology provider.

Nethermind said the decision followed an extensive review, but did not publish the findings or the technical factors behind it. It joins a growing group of firms that have shifted cross-chain work from LayerZero to Chainlink since April's Kelp DAO bridge exploit, which drained 116,500 rsETH worth about $292 million from a LayerZero-powered bridge.

For Chainlink, it is another endorsement of its CCIP cross-chain stack. For LayerZero, it is a steady drain of infrastructure partners the network will be keen to stem.

Partner Offers | Get Your Instant BTC Cashback | Your Gateway To Crypto | Arcus Private Whitelist

Speaking at a White House event with crypto and tech leaders, President Trump said CFTC Chair Michael Selig is working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States "in a fully compliant fashion." HYPE jumped about 17% in 24 hours on the remarks.

"I understand Mike is also working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a fully compliant fashion," Trump said, naming the perpetuals exchange alongside executives from Coinbase, Ripple, Robinhood, Kraken, Nasdaq and ICE, with SEC Chair Paul Atkins also in the room.

Selig has framed the goal as creating "a path to bring these onchain markets into the United States" under some form of regulation. The comments are not an approval: Trump gave no detail on what an onshore Hyperliquid would look like or which registrations it would need. Traditional venues such as CME and ICE have pushed for platforms like Hyperliquid to register with the CFTC.

For crypto's largest onchain perps venue, a compliant US on-ramp would be a watershed, turning a mostly offshore market into a regulated one, if the CFTC path actually materializes.

Partner Offers | Get Your Instant BTC Cashback | Your Gateway To Crypto | Arcus Private Whitelist

In the past 24 hours, 171,626 traders were liquidated. The largest liquidation happened on Hyperliquid - BTC/USDT valued at $48.8M.

Data source: coinglass.com

Meridian (formerly Ethereal) has launched its testnet on Robinhood Chain as a day-one launch partner, introducing its upcoming perpetual futures product, mPerps.

Meridian’s mPerps are designed to bring 24/7 trading and capital-efficient perpetuals to traditional assets whose underlying markets may close, using external market prices and a mutualized insurance model to manage risk.

The platform’s first mPerp markets are expected to go live in the coming weeks, with the design using frozen external marks during market closures while internal order books continue trading.

Alongside the upcoming launch, Meridian has opened Meridian Liquidity Provider (MLP) pre-deposits in partnership with Neutral Trade, Accountable, and Kappa Lab.

Depositors providing USDe can earn USDe rewards, 30x ENA rewards, and 20% of Meridian Points distributed to perps users. Deposits are currently capped at $1 million.

Users can also access the Meridian testnet and request test tokens from the available faucets to start trading.

Get Your Instant BTC Cashback | Your Gateway To Crypto | Arcus Private Whitelist

TikTok is exploring a feature that would allow users to send money directly through DMs, expanding the platform’s push into financial services.

The in-development feature would use TikTok Pay, which is currently available in Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand for TikTok Shop purchases. Code found in TikTok’s US iPhone app suggests recipients could “tap to accept” payments, while senders would receive transaction status updates via push notifications or their inbox.

Users may also be able to attach messages to payments, similar to Venmo.

TikTok said the feature is not currently being tested in any market, meaning it remains in early development and may not ultimately launch.

The move would allow TikTok to keep more transactions within its ecosystem, alongside TikTok Shop purchases and virtual gifts, while potentially capturing additional spending and user engagement.

Get Your Instant BTC Cashback | Your Gateway To Crypto | Arcus Private Whitelist

Telegram has applied for the .gram top-level domain, potentially giving its 1B+ users personal web addresses such as yourname.gram if approved by ICANN.

Under the proposed system, Telegram users could turn their existing usernames into interactive websites hosted directly by Telegram, with pages potentially generated through a single AI prompt.

The application was submitted during ICANN’s 2026 application round, which closed on August 12 with more than 1,600 primary applications. ICANN is expected to publish the list of cleared domain strings by mid-October, followed by evaluation and potential contention resolution.

If approved, .gram could extend Telegram’s ecosystem beyond messaging and payments into decentralized identity and web publishing, giving users a personal web presence tied to their Telegram username.

A working .gram domain is unlikely before 2027, as ICANN has not yet approved the application.

Get Your Instant BTC Cashback | Your Gateway To Crypto | Arcus Private Whitelist

Aligned has announced details of its Genesis Drop, allocating 8.74% of the total ALIGN supply of 10 billion tokens to the community supporting Ethereum, crypto, and ZK.

At TGE, 44.36% of the airdrop will unlock, equivalent to approximately 3.88% of total ALIGN supply.

The main community allocation accounts for 6.54% of total supply. Users receiving 10,000 ALIGN or less will have their entire allocation unlocked at TGE, while larger allocations will receive 10,000 ALIGN at TGE, with the remainder vesting linearly over 12 months.

Another 2.10% is reserved for Distinguished Contributors, including Protocol Guild, L2BEAT, ZachXBT, and ZK Podcast, with the allocation subject to a 47-month linear vesting schedule.

The remaining 0.10% is allocated to ZK Arcade and will be fully unlocked at TGE.

Claims will take place on Base or Ethereum L1 depending on allocation size. Allocations of 10,000 ALIGN or less can be claimed on Base, while larger allocations will be claimed directly on Ethereum L1. Eligible users can check their allocation through Aligned’s Airdrop Checker.

Get Your Instant BTC Cashback | Your Gateway To Crypto | Arcus Private Whitelist

Ethos has announced the launch of its Foundation, marking the next phase of the decentralized reputation platform following the end of Season 2.

The Foundation comes as Ethos transitions to Ethos 1.0, with XP generation ending, delegated XP being returned, and Season 2 NFT holders receiving their transferable Ethos Meow Meow NFTs.

The NFTs were dynamically generated based on what other users said about each holder, designed to serve as personalized PFPs representing alignment with the Ethos ecosystem.

Ethos also recently concluded its Trade Beta competition, distributing XP rewards to top traders based on realized and percentage PNL.

The platform is positioning its next phase around credible human identity, reputation, and exclusive access to onchain products and experiences.

Get Your Instant BTC Cashback | Your Gateway To Crypto | Arcus Private Whitelist

Visa, Mastercard, Fiserv, Circle, Solana, Avalanche, Uniswap Labs and 19 others, 26 in total, from card networks to stablecoins to L1s, all sitting at one table. TradFi and crypto rarely agree on anything. They just agreed on how AI agents will pay.

The alliance is a working coalition owned by no single company, set up to write the rules for agent-driven commerce: how an agent proves its identity, gets authorized to spend, and stays protected from fraud. The timing is not random.

McKinsey projects $3 to $5 trillion in agentic commerce by 2030, and everyone wants to own the rails before the agents arrive.

In a market where BTC fell 28%, these coins moved up the most. But climbing the ranks does not always mean growing.

Hyperliquid and Rain each added $6+B in market cap. JUST and Morpho more than doubled. Meanwhile Render, Sky and Pump fun rose in rank while losing value. They just fell slower than everyone else.