Government and Crypto Leadership
President Donald Trump has named Jay Clayton, the U.S. director of national intelligence, to lead the country's new Super Intelligence Force. Clayton previously served as Securities and Exchange Commission chair during Trump's first term and led a prosecution against Ripple.
Trump described the Super Intelligence Force as tasked with coordinating federal efforts to ensure America leads in what he termed "Super Intelligence."
Bitcoin Price Outlook
Veteran trader Peter Brandt has shifted to a bullish stance on Bitcoin after previously warning of potential declines to the high $40,000 range. Brandt told Cointelegraph he believes Bitcoin may have established a market low and is entering a new bull cycle.
Brandt raised his price target for Bitcoin's next peak to between $300,000 and $600,000 by late 2029, up from his earlier $250,000–$300,000 forecast.
Ethereum and Network Updates
Ethereum developers have scheduled the Glamsterdam upgrade to activate on the Sepolia testnet on October 6. The upgrade will introduce enshrined proposer-builder separation, moving the handoff between block builders and validators into the protocol, and will add block-level access lists to enable parallel processing.
Layer 2 Challenges
Ethereum layer-2 network Blast announced it is shutting down after operating costs exceeded generated revenue. The team said it sees no credible path to making the network economically sustainable and asked users to withdraw assets to Ethereum mainnet. Blast, which launched in November 2023, had attracted over $2 billion in deposits before its February 2024 mainnet launch but saw its DeFi total value locked fall more than 98% from its June 2024 peak.
Security Incidents Surge
September 2024 marked the worst month of the year for cryptocurrency hacks and exploits. PeckShield counted 55 major incidents resulting in $766.5 million in stolen funds, while CertiK recorded 97 incidents with estimated losses of $768.4 million. Major incidents included the $388 million Bitget hack and a $320 million Liquid Network hack.
NEAR's SHIELD AI system blocked Bitget's hacked funds from its INTENTS platform and also halted a $3.8 million exploit of NEAR Intents. After a 48-hour ultimatum, the stolen funds were returned.
Market Movement
Bitcoin closed the week up 1.4% at $85,821, Ethereum up 0.6% at $2,701, and XRP down 0.8% at $1.50. The total cryptocurrency market cap reached $2.92 trillion. Among the top 100 altcoins, Midnight gained 60.6%, Pump.fun rose 26.3%, and StarkNet advanced 14.5%.
