U.S. and Iranian negotiators are discussing a phased agreement to end the war, according to a Reuters headline.

The deal would include a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and D.C. lifting its economic blockade of Iran.

The major obstacle in talks, according to Reuters, citing Iranian, regional, and Western sources, is neither side wanting to be the first to surrender its leverage. Thus, the phased approach — Iran reopening the Strait in exchange for the Trump administration to potentially give the Iranian government access to frozen assets.

For the moment, the news has sent oil lower by nearly $2 per barrel, though it’s still up 2% for the day. That’s easing interest rates by a couple of basis points, with the Nasdaq trimming an earlier 0.8% decline to just 0.2%.

Bitcoin has bounced a bit, now trading at $84,600, up 0.5% over the past 24 hours.

The crypto treasury model has largely lost its early advantage, with most digital asset treasury (DAT) companies no longer commanding the premiums that allowed them to raise capital and accumulate more crypto without diluting existing shareholders, according to a new report from DWF Ventures.

The report, published Thursday, found that only four of the 20 largest DATs by assets under management trade above an mNAV of 1, meaning their market value exceeds the value of their crypto holdings. They are Bit Digital, Strive, Hyperliquid Strategies and BitMine.

The widespread discounts suggest investors are no longer willing to pay the same premium for crypto exposure through publicly traded companies.

Since Michael Saylor’s Strategy pioneered the Bitcoin treasury model in 2020, most DAT stocks have underperformed simply holding the underlying crypto asset, according to DWF. Even among the DAT stocks that have outperformed, DWF found that the advantage over simply holding the cryptocurrency has generally been small.

The report comes as Sequans Communications, a French semiconductor company that launched a Bitcoin treasury strategy last year, disclosed that it sold its remaining 314 BTC, completing an exit it began by redeeming its convertible debt in May. Sequans now holds no cryptocurrency on its balance sheet.

According to DWF, the premium investors paid for DAT stocks generally peaked when the strategy was new and attracting investor attention. Strategy, for example, saw its mNAV peak in late 2024 during Bitcoin’s rally, when demand for leveraged BTC exposure was strong.

Related: Strategy unveils $44.1B capital-raising capacity to buy more Bitcoin

DAT warnings predate the latest downturn

DWF isn’t the only firm to warn about falling mNAVs. Standard Chartered raised the issue in September 2025, when Bitcoin and the broader crypto market were booming, warning that an “mNAV collapse” could lead to widespread consolidation among digital asset treasury companies.

Galaxy Digital sounded a similar warning last year, arguing that the DAT model “critically depends on a persistent equity premium to NAV.” 

That premium allows companies to issue shares and use the proceeds to buy more crypto without diluting existing shareholders’ holdings. If shares instead trade below NAV, raising equity to buy more crypto can become dilutive and undermine the strategy’s core financing mechanism.

“If the premium collapses, or worse, flips to a discount, the model begins to break,” Galaxy research analyst Will Owens wrote.

The model has proved harder to sustain this year, with Bitcoin falling from a record high of more than $126,000 last October to below $60,000 before recovering to around $86,000.

Magazine: Bitcoin treasury firms can outperform BTC… but is the risk worth taking?

Litecoin , the cryptocurrency considered silver to bitcoin’s gold, and one that’s often missing from day-to-day crypto discussions, has bucked the broader market weakness over the past 24 hours.

LTC currently ranked 24th largest by market cap, has gained nearly 8% to $66 in 24 hours, the highest since January. Prices are up 37% this month, the best performance since November 2024, according to CoinDesk.

Bitcoin , meanwhile, has dropped 3% in 24 hours and is only up 6% for the month. ETH, XRP, SOL and other top 10 coins show a similar performance profile, lagging well behind LTC.

The exact reason for LTC’s outperformance is unclear as of now. The Litecoin Foundation attributed it to increased economic activity on the network.

The attorney general’s office has also ordered Spektor to forfeit cash, cryptocurrency and personal property with an estimated value of more than half a million dollars and make restitution of almost $16 million.

The investigation into Spektor’s criminal activities revealed he laundered the digital assets by swapping them across multiple crypto exchanges and consolidating them at “cash-out points.” He then converted them into other cryptocurrencies and placed bets, before converting them into cash with which he purchased gift cards or additional digital assets.

“Coinbase and most other companies will never call customers or ask to transfer crypto to a ‘safe wallet’. Don’t trust caller ID, sender names or lookalike domains that can be spoofed,” Gonzalez said, adding that scammers rely on urgency and pressure, so “never move money in a rush.”

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) said it would make AI, tokenization and other emerging technologies relevant to finance a new supervisory priority from 2027.

“Firms are increasingly using AI and tokenized products in day-to-day financial services to gain market share,” the financial watchdog said in a report released Wednesday, explaining why it is focusing on these two areas initially. “Technological innovation brings benefits but also risks,” it added.

Under its new supervisory program, the ESMA and national regulators across the European Union will examine how regulated firms use artificial intelligence and tokenized products in their core activities, rather than only in back-office operations.

The initiative, called “Innovation with investor safeguards,” will focus on building regulators’ ability to supervise new technology and ensuring firms have proper governance, reliable data and client-aligned outcomes.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has also recently announced several moves in the tokenization and stablecoin sectors of cryptocurrency. Earlier this week, the ECB said it plans to invest a small portion of its reserves in tokenized securities, giving it direct exposure to blockchain-based financial markets. T

Ondo Finance has launched three onchain portfolio tokens based on investment strategies developed by BlackRock, giving eligible investors outside the United States access to each portfolio through a single token.

Ondo Finance announced the launch on Sep. 24, naming the products Ondo Intelligent Portfolios. BlackRock developed the three opening strategies for Ondo, while Ondo Global Markets issues the portfolio tokens. Each token gives its holder economic exposure to a basket of underlying assets, according to the companies’ launch statement.

BlackRock strategies cover three investment approaches

Ondo lists BLKHIon as its high-income portfolio, BLKDIGon as its diversified-growth portfolio and BLKGRWon as its high-growth portfolio. The company says each has assets and target weights set at launch, with rebalancing scheduled at fixed intervals. Investors can inspect the portfolios’ holdings, weights, and rebalances onchain.

The income strategy gives investors a way to hold a basket focused on bonds through one token. The two growth strategies use different allocations for investors seeking exposure across multiple assets, according to Ondo’s product descriptions. The portfolios can include exposure tied to stocks, bonds, and Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, depending on the strategy. A buyer receives the Ondo portfolio token rather than direct ownership of every security whose value the basket tracks.

Ondo says the tokens can move between supported wallets and be used in decentralized finance applications. Although transfers can take place around the clock, investors should distinguish the ability to trade a portfolio token from the trading hours of the U.S.-listed securities whose prices feed into it.

Lisa O’Connor, BlackRock’s global head of Model Portfolio Solutions and co-chief investment officer for Global Solutions, described the arrangement as a new way to deliver established portfolio strategies through digital infrastructure. BlackRock developed the strategies for Ondo’s products; Ondo issues the tokens and operates the onchain offering.

The supplied report describes seven model portfolios in Ondo’s rollout, including BlackRock’s three. Ondo’s Sep. 24 announcement specifically identifies the three BlackRock-based portfolios as the first to launch and says it intends to add more portfolios over time.

U.S. investors cannot access the opening portfolios

For American investors, the immediate distinction is access. Ondo says its new portfolio products are for eligible non-U.S. investors in permitted jurisdictions. Its launch materials describe economic exposure through tokens, while eligibility and local restrictions determine who can buy them.

The restriction is consistent with Ondo’s existing stock-token distribution. In coverage of Ondo’s NEAR launch, crypto.news reported on Sep. 22 that U.S. persons could not access Ondo Stocks under its current product terms, even though the tokens track U.S.-listed companies and ETFs. The NEAR integration initially made 20 tokenized assets available to eligible users, including products linked to Tesla, Nvidia, Apple and the Invesco QQQ Trust.

Ondo has also been developing a separate route for U.S. securities activity through Oasis Pro Markets, its registered broker-dealer and alternative trading system. The availability of that U.S. infrastructure does not change the stated non-U.S. eligibility for the newly announced portfolio tokens.

Ondo builds on stock tokens and BlackRock fund launches

The portfolio product follows several moves involving the underlying assets and the systems used to tokenize them. On Sep. 21, Ondo and Alpaca introduced an arrangement under which approved institutions can contribute existing stocks or ETFs and receive corresponding Ondo Stocks tokens. As reported in the conversion coverage, the service operates on Ethereum and BNB Chain, requires accounts with both firms, and grants access case by case.

A portfolio token serves a different purpose: it gives exposure to a basket rather than a single referenced stock or ETF. Ondo says holders can see the basket’s constituents and weights onchain. Its existing stock products provide some of the individual tokenized assets that can be assembled into portfolios.

BlackRock added tokenized money market products in August. One placed tokenized shares of an existing Treasury-based liquidity fund on Ethereum; another was designed for institutional stablecoin reserve management. In reporting on BlackRock’s European rollout, the outlet also covered tokenized share classes for institutional cash funds introduced with JPMorgan’s Kinexys platform. Those fund-share products have a different structure from the new Ondo portfolio tokens, which Ondo issues to provide economic exposure to baskets based on BlackRock’s strategies.

ONDO price rises as the company faces a control dispute

At the time checked, CoinGecko priced ONDO at about $0.497, up approximately 18% over 24 hours and 34% over seven days. The token’s 24-hour range ran from about $0.406 to $0.511. The price move coincided with the portfolio announcement and other recent Ondo developments; the market data alone does not establish which event drove the gain.

Meanwhile, Ondo remains involved in a dispute over its leadership and ownership following founder Nathan Allman’s death in May. Ondo confirmed his death in a June statement, when Ian De Bode said he was taking over as CEO. CoinDesk reported in September that Allman’s mother, other family members and an early investor were involved in court proceedings concerning the estate and control of the company. The competing claims remain allegations in the reported filings.

UK bank Revolut has revealed that its customers data was breached twice this month after the firm’s former third-party US broker, DriveWealth, suffered a social engineering attack.

The breach, revealed today by both Revolut and DriveWealth, happened on September 4 and September 5, and reportedly saw names, emails, ages, genders, citizenship information, postal addresses, and employment details compromised.

Earlier this month, Revolut revealed that hackers used an Italian government email to gain access to the company’s data. 

Read more: Revolut faces $3M ransom demand after data breach, report

The newly-revealed breach does not include data from affected European Economic Area customers past 2023. 

Neither Revolut nor DriveWealth disclosed how many users were impacted or what happened during the social attack.

Revolut stressed that core infrastructure, funds, and accounts weren’t impacted. 

Negotiations with Revolut ‘didn’t go as planned’

Reported ransom demands following the email attack ranged from $760 million in BTC, to just $3 million in XMR days later. 

However, the hacker now claims that “negotiations didn’t go as planned” and has published the so-called “Italy Files,” which include the data of 680 crypto whales.

Journalist Jason Mikula noted that the hacker is selling the data 10x cheaper than their ransom, suggesting “the group is struggling to monetize the data they have exfiltrated.”

They are also supposedly offering impacted users, including Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès, the opportunity to pay to prevent their information from being leaked. 

Got a tip? Send us an email securely via Protos Leaks. For more informed news and investigations, follow us on X, Bluesky, and Google News, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Solana price rebounded to about $116 on Sep. 24 after falling from a recent high near $120. The recovery put SOL back above a key 4-hour trend indicator, but the daily chart shows price approaching resistance where the latest rally stalled.

Solana price recovers from $112.52 low

Solana daily chart showed SOL price at $116.05 on Sep. 24, up 0.92% from its daily open of $114.99. Price had reached $116.63 after touching $112.52 earlier in the session. The move followed a retreat from the roughly $120 high reached during the preceding rally.

The latest decline interrupted a sharp advance from below $100 in mid-September. SOL remains above the daily Bollinger Band midpoint at $106.19, though it has pulled back from the upper band at $119.90. The space between price and the midpoint shows how far the recent rally carried SOL; it does not establish whether the next move will be a deeper correction or another test of $120.

The daily Aroon readings were 78.57% and 35.71% on the TradingView chart, reflecting a strong recent upside move alongside the pullback. Buyers would need to clear the recent high to extend that move. A further retreat would bring the $110 area into view before the Bollinger midpoint near $106.

The price dip came after the rally met resistance near $120, but the charts alone cannot establish how much of the selling came from profit-taking or forced closures of leveraged positions. The distinction matters because a liquidation heatmap maps estimated positions at risk; it does not measure how much was actually liquidated.

The 4-hour chart keeps $112.38 in focus

On TradingView’s 4-hour chart, SOL recovered to $116.07 after briefly trading near $113. The Supertrend line stood at $112.38 beneath price, leaving the short-term signal bullish despite the drop from $120. A sustained move below that line would weaken the current 4-hour setup.

The 4-hour relative strength index stood at 55.58, below its moving average of 60.39. RSI had eased from its recent highs, indicating that upside momentum cooled during the pullback even as the indicator stayed above the neutral 50 mark.

A return toward $119.90–$120 would test both the daily upper Bollinger Band and the area where sellers halted the latest advance. If SOL fails to hold $112.38, traders may look next to $110, a level identified by market analyst AltCryptoGems as important to the bullish structure. The analyst warned that a break below it could expose a gap toward $96; that is a scenario, not a confirmed price target.

Crypto Patel offered a wider view of the trend, placing a higher-timeframe resistance zone at $138–$149 and a structural level at $148.73. Those levels remain well above the immediate $120 test and would become more relevant only if SOL first extends its current recovery.

CoinGlass heatmap places the largest nearby cluster at $120

CoinGlass’s three-day SOL liquidation heatmap showed a bright band of estimated leveraged positions around $120, above the roughly $116 price shown at the chart’s right edge. Smaller bands appeared around $117–$118, while estimated positions also clustered below price near $112–$113.

A move into any of those bands could trigger position closures, but the heatmap cannot show that price will reach them. The recent slide through $114 and rebound toward $116 demonstrate why both sides of the market remain exposed to quick moves around nearby levels.

The heatmap also shows SOL trading near $119 on Sep. 22 and 23 before falling toward $112–$113 on Sep. 24. Price then recovered by the end of the displayed period. The separate daily chart was captured later and put SOL near $116, so its session gain should not be confused with the decline from the earlier $120 high.

US policy remains a backdrop, not a confirmed cause

The US Senate failed to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act on Sep. 15 in a 49–50 procedural vote. The bill would have set a statutory framework for oversight of digital assets. Its failure remains relevant to US crypto investors, although the vote occurred more than a week before SOL’s latest retreat and does not by itself explain the Sep. 24 move.

The Federal Reserve raised its target interest-rate range by a quarter point to 3.75%–4% on Sep. 16. The decision is another part of the US market backdrop, but the available price and liquidation charts do not establish a direct link between that decision and Thursday’s Solana pullback.

For now, the nearer signals are on the charts: SOL held the $112 area after its intraday drop, while $119.90–$120 remains the first resistance to clear. A break on either side would give traders a clearer test of whether the rebound can continue.

Qivalis, the independent euro-pegged stablecoin builder with a growing number of banks as shareholders in the project, has also been undergoing a transformation. Sell notes that one year ago he was the only employee; now Qivalis has grown to about 40 staffers and is close to securing an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license in the Netherlands. The aim is to go live with a regulated euro stablecoin by the end of this year.

In the past, business blockchain firms like R3 and Hyperledger were working on streamlining the paper-based side of transactions, instruments like letters of credit, for instance. But they didn’t have the cash leg and payment side onchain, Sell pointed out.

“Now there are stablecoins with liquidity, so you’ve got the payment side as well, which was the piece that was missing. So, it’s really interesting to hear from people who are at the coal face about how much it’s changing their business,” he said.

The stablecoin market is dominated by USD-pegged tokens, particularly the ones issued by the two stablecoin giants, Tether and Circle. But in the end, Europeans are not going to live in dollars, Sell said. That might be fine for some places like Africa and South America, where the local currency is volatile, but not for the EU.