Crypto
Trump, Xi Meet on S&P 500's Best Day Since Early August: Will Markets Stay Bullish?
President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping meet in Washington this week for their second summit of the year. The meeting came at a time where Wall Street suddenly turned bullish.
The visit aims to shore up a fragile trade truce as artificial intelligence, tariffs, and Iran sanctions complicate the agenda. The outcome of the meeting is being closely watched by the markets for any more positive signs to bolster the burgeoning rally.
Markets React
Wall Street rallied Monday as AI-linked stocks led gains ahead of the summit.
The S&P 500 climbed 1.5% to post its best day since Aug. 4. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.3% for its first record close since June.
Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, and Qualcomm all posted double-digit percentage gains.
Oil prices fell more than 4%, and Treasury yields eased. Middle East tensions had pushed both higher in prior sessions.
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates last week for the first time in three years. Analysts pointed to persistent energy prices as a key inflation risk.
What’s Happened Between China and US Before?
A one-year truce reached in Busan, South Korea, expires Nov. 10, a week after the US election. Analysts expect a modest extension rather than a breakthrough deal this week.
Tariffs on both sides remain elevated despite last year’s de-escalation.
The effective US tariff rate on Chinese goods sits near 23%. That is among the highest levels charged to any major trading partner, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model.
Under the Busan deal, China agreed to suspend rare earth export controls and buy US farm products. Washington eased some tariffs in return.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday the truce would likely hold. He pointed to progress on a proposed reciprocal tariff cut covering non-critical goods.
Artificial intelligence has emerged as a central flashpoint in the talks. Trump has pushed for unrestrained AI infrastructure growth. He wrote in a Truth Social post that the US is winning the artificial intelligence race.
“WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS! We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so.”
Trump, Truth Social
Bessent said the two countries discussed a dialogue to notify each other of AI-related incidents.
What to Watch
Iran sanctions loom over the talks. Washington has targeted Tehran’s financial enablers, putting China, Iran’s largest trading partner, in the spotlight.
Bessent said the two governments discussed the sanctions program over the weekend. No direct action against Beijing has been announced.
Bank of America Global Research analysts see a full one-year truce extension as the base case. They also flagged potential Chinese purchases of additional Boeing aircraft.
Deeper concessions on semiconductor access or export controls appear unlikely, the same analysts said.
With the truce set to lapse just after the US election, this week’s outcome carries weight. It will help shape market direction into year-end for AI-exposed equities and energy prices.
The post Trump, Xi Meet on S&P 500's Best Day Since Early August: Will Markets Stay Bullish? appeared first on BeInCrypto.
U.S. oil drilling site.
David McNew | Getty Images
Nearly half of the stocks in the S&P 500 are moving against the index with a negative beta, an unusual divergence that is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
About 45% of S&P 500 stocks have a negative three-month beta, according to a recent note from Goldman Sachs. The data closely aligns with CNBC’s finding that nearly 40% of S&P 500 stocks had a negative three-month beta versus the index, while 17% have a negative one-year beta, based on weekly returns.
Beta measures how a stock moves relative to the rest of the market. A negative beta means an individual stock’s returns moved in the opposite direction of the S&P 500 over the measured period.
The surge in stocks with a negative beta dovetails with other unusual market signals. The S&P rallied 1.5% last Monday. The same day 30 stocks touched a 52-week low while just 7 scored a new high. The last time the S&P 500 gained at least 1% while sitting within 1% of a new 52-week high and new lows outnumbered new highs was in December 1999, right before the very top of the dot-com boom, according to Jason Goepfert, founder of SentimenTrader.
The two indicators show that market indexes can remain at or close to records despite wide divergences among individual stocks.
Widening divide
The yawning gap largely reflects how concentrated the S&P 500 has become, according to Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist at LPL Financial.
Mega-cap technology companies carry an outsized weight in the benchmark, meaning a strong performance from a small number of stocks can drive the index even when many others are moving the other way.
“It only takes a few of those mega caps names to work, and a lot of the smaller weighted stocks don’t need to work,” Turnquist told CNBC, pointing to unusually low correlations among S&P 500 stocks.
The same dynamic explains why the broader index can look relatively calm even when individual stocks are making large moves, said Bradley Krom, director of investing strategy at WisdomTree.
“Beta is a function of correlation and volatility,” Krom said. When stocks experience large moves at different times and for different reasons, those moves can largely offset one another at the index level.
In July this year, Alliance Bernstein, using one-year trailing returns, found an unprecedented share of U.S. stocks displaying negative beta as AI winners powered market gains.
Semiconductor makers, hardware companies and other AI infrastructure beneficiaries have benefited from enormous capital spending, while companies outside the AI trade have struggled to keep up.
“But a narrow market can also distort the signal investors receive from index returns. When a handful of companies dominate performance, many financially sound businesses may lag or even decline, simply because they aren’t tied directly to the most powerful market narrative,” wrote Kurt Feuerman, chief investment officer of Select U.S. Equity Portfolios at AllianceBernstein.
Negative energy
Energy stocks with negative beta are being driven by different forces.
“Another part of the other story is energy. That’s been pronounced this year: higher oil prices, higher energy stocks and then the rest of the market trades lower,” said Turnquist, seeing energy as an important part of the negative-beta story, alongside more defensive sectors.
Earlier this month, Evercore ISI used a six-month measure to call out 115 S&P 500 stocks with negative beta, a list skewed toward energy, utilities and consumer staples. The investment bank called the energy sector a “synthetic S&P 500 put option” because of the way it has reacted to geopolitical pressure.
If market leadership broadens out, Turnquist believes the number of negative-beta stocks could decline. But he expects dispersion to remain elevated as investors become remain selective toward beneficiaries of AI spending and seek returns there.
Krom at WisdomTree expects the recent extreme readings to eventually revert to the mean. Similar spikes appeared around the 1999-2000 dot-com bubble, he said, when market concentration and large moves in a narrow group of stocks also triggered unusual divergences.
Turnquist pushed back on comparing today with the dot-com era, leading tech companies now are more mature businesses with established revenue and products. Krom is on the same page. He said the individual pieces driving returns don’t have the same historical relationship they’ve had in the past.
“It is not the same market environment now versus 2000,” Krom said. The negative betas seen today boil “down to the amount of market concentration.”
Cryptocurrency no longer lives only in trading app screenshots and speculative headlines. A cluster of recent coverage suggests digital assets have settled into three very different corners of everyday life at once: the boardrooms of family offices moving nine-figure sums, the phones of ordinary Britons paying for a night out, and a growing ecosystem of explainer sites trying to make sense of it all for newcomers. Taken together, they paint a picture of an asset class that has stopped trying to prove itself and started simply getting used.
At the top end of the market, the mechanics of moving serious money in crypto increasingly mirror what has long happened on Wall Street. Selling a large position on the open market is a blunt instrument — dump a $20 million order into a standard exchange and the price can slide five to ten percent against you before the trade even completes, as algorithms and bots react to the visible order book.
High-net-worth investors and family offices have borrowed a page from traditional equities to avoid that problem, leaning on block trades negotiated privately between two parties and reported only after execution, dark pools where institutional orders are matched away from public view, and OTC desks that lock in a price before a trade ever touches the open market.
None of these tools are new in spirit — block trading dates back to the 1960s, and banks such as Credit Suisse pioneered dark-pool venues in the mid-2000s — but their extension into crypto shows how thoroughly digital assets have been absorbed into the plumbing of institutional finance, complete with all its discretion and negotiated pricing.
Further down the market, the story is less about avoiding slippage and more about convenience. A growing share of everyday spenders now treat crypto the way they treat a contactless card — something to tap and forget.
Much of that shift traces back to apps like Revolut, which began as a travel card and has since folded budgeting tools, instant transfers and built-in crypto purchases into a single interface. For users already comfortable buying fractions of Bitcoin or Ethereum on their phone, spending a small slice of a holding online no longer feels like a leap. Recent Pew Research figures cited in industry coverage suggest roughly one in five adults have used cryptocurrency in some form, evidence of just how far the technology has travelled from niche forums into ordinary financial habits. Faster networks and pound- or dollar-pegged stablecoins have also softened the volatility fears that once made spending crypto feel reckless.
That spending habit has, in turn, fed into digital entertainment, where a wave of offshore-licensed sites — often based in Malta, Curaçao or Gibraltar — have built their appeal specifically around crypto and app-based payments such as Revolut, alongside larger game libraries and bigger sign-up bonuses.
These platforms sit outside the UK’s domestic licensing system, which is precisely the draw for some users, including those who have self-excluded through Gamstop. The logic mirrors a broader pattern researchers have tracked in crypto adoption more generally: users start on a single centralised platform for convenience, then gradually spread activity across multiple services and self-custodied wallets as they grow more comfortable, seeking flexibility rather than a single gatekeeper. It’s worth being clear-eyed about what this means in practice — these offshore sites operate under lighter regulatory oversight than UK-licensed operators, and readers weighing them should treat player-protection tools and responsible-gambling warnings as essential reading, not fine print to skip.
Feeding all of this is a parallel boom in explainer content trying to translate crypto’s jargon — DeFi, staking, tokenomics, smart contracts — into plain English. Sites such as RobTheCoins.com have positioned themselves as educational hubs rather than exchanges or wallets, publishing guides on blockchain business models, crypto tax tools and the overlap between gaming and crypto economies.
That distinction matters, because the line between “content that explains crypto” and “a product that handles your money” is not always obvious to a casual reader, and confusing the two is exactly the kind of mistake that has burned newcomers before.
None of this amounts to a single dramatic headline. There is no exchange collapse or regulatory crackdown driving this particular news cycle. Instead, what emerges is a quieter, arguably more consequential trend: crypto is being absorbed into the ordinary architecture of modern finance and leisure, from the trading desks of the ultra-wealthy down to a tap-to-pay night out.
Whether that mainstreaming is entirely healthy is a separate question. Institutional tools like dark pools and OTC desks still lack the transparency of public markets, offshore gambling platforms carry real consumer-protection gaps, and no amount of friendly explainer content changes the fact that crypto remains a volatile, largely unregulated asset in most jurisdictions.
Readers tempted by any part of this ecosystem — whether it’s a block-trading conversation or a crypto-funded casino account — would do well to verify claims independently, check who is actually regulated, and remember that accessibility is not the same thing as same thing as safety.
A 24-year-old convicted cybercriminal was arrested in the Netherlands on September 16 on suspicion of aiding crypto hacking collective ShinyHunters.
Krebsonsecurity reports that Pepijn van der Stap was detained by Dutch authorities for questioning in relation to ShinyHunters.
Police claim he’ll appear in the Rotterdam District Court on September 29, while local news reports the United States is also involved in his case.
Over three years ago, van der Stap carried out multiple acts of data theft and extortion under the moniker “Umbreon.”
Read more: Crypto hacking group ShinyHunters says it stole data of 5,000 FBI agents
Van der Stap was eventually arrested, convicted, and handed a four-year suspended sentence. He was released in December 2025.
While carrying out his criminal activities, he worked at cybersecurity startup Hadrian and volunteered at the nonprofit Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure.
He’s currently the offensive security lead at Neo Security, and described himself to Krebsonsecurity as a reformed convict.
ShinyHunters attacked FBI days after van der Stap’s arrest
Just six days after van der Stap’s arrest, ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for hacking and stealing the data of 5,000 FBI agents.
This attack also manipulated the FBI’s job page to display a picture of the Pokémon Umbreon.
Krebsonsecurity reports that the attack represented a shift in ShinyHunters’ usual attacks while the group is under the leadership of a teenager based in Amman, Jordan, who goes by the nickname “Rey.”
Rey reportedly merged the group with fellow hacking groups Scattered Spider and LAPSUS$ to become ScatteredLapsussHunters.
Read more: Crypto hackers target Hinge and Match Group in data leak
Sources close to the ShinyHunters investigation told the publication that Rey had “ongoing beef” with van der Stap, and that Umbreon’s inclusion was possibly an attempt by Rey to shift blame towards van der Stap.
ShinyHunters has also been linked to the hacking of the Netherlands telecommunications provider Odido last February.
Personal data, including bank account and passport numbers, of six million Odido customers were leaked.
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Strategy has acquired another 1,665 BTC for approximately $142.7 million while spending $151.7 million to repurchase STRC preferred shares during the week ended Sept. 27.
Summary
- Strategy bought 1,665 BTC for $142.7 million, lifting total Bitcoin holdings to 847,666 coins overall.
- Strategy repurchased 1,534,530 STRC shares for $151.7 million during the September 21 to 27 period.
- MSTR sales generated $246.2 million net proceeds, with no preferred shares issued during the week.
- Strategy held $5.02 billion in USD Reserve and $1.00 billion in deployable USD Cash overall.
- Bitcoin holdings cost $63.95 billion in aggregate, averaging $75,437 per coin including fees and expenses.
Strategy disclosed the transactions in a Sept. 28 Form 8-K, showing that the company paid an average of $85,681 per BTC, including fees and expenses, between Sept. 21 and Sept. 27. The purchase lifted its Bitcoin holdings to 847,666 BTC.
During the same period, Strategy sold 1,469,165 MSTR shares through its at-the-market program, generating $246.2 million in net proceeds. Of that amount, $142.7 million funded the Bitcoin purchases and $103.5 million went toward STRC repurchases.
The company issued no STRF, STRC, STRK or STRD preferred shares through its ATM programs during the week.
Strategy Bitcoin holdings reach 847,666 BTC
Following the latest purchase, Strategy held 847,666 BTC acquired for an aggregate $63.95 billion. Its average acquisition cost stood at $75,437 per BTC, including fees and expenses.
The latest addition follows Strategy’s 950 BTC purchase after a two-week buying pause reported for the previous week. The company spent $75.7 million on that acquisition at an average price of $79,670 per BTC, increasing holdings at the time to 846,000 BTC.
Strategy’s new $85,681 average purchase price for the Sept. 21-27 period was above Bitcoin’s latest market price. CoinGecko shows BTC trading near $83,401 at the latest reading, around 2.7% below Strategy’s average price for the latest purchase.
At that market price, Strategy’s 847,666 BTC position would be worth roughly $70.7 billion. The calculation uses a live market price and therefore differs from the company’s recorded acquisition cost.
STRC repurchases reach another $151.7 million
Alongside the Bitcoin acquisition, Strategy repurchased 1,534,530 shares of its Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock, or STRC, for approximately $151.7 million.
The latest transaction continues a repurchase program that Strategy began earlier in 2026. After the latest week, $723.5 million of authorization remained under its digital credit securities repurchase program, according to the filing.
Strategy’s previous $174 million STRC repurchase came during the Sept. 14-20 period, when the company spent more on preferred-stock repurchases than on its $75.7 million Bitcoin purchase.
Earlier in September, Strategy doubled its digital credit securities repurchase authorization to $2 billion after spending $176.3 million on STRC during a week when it bought no Bitcoin.
Strategy said in July that it intends to repurchase STRC while the preferred stock trades below its $100 stated amount, subject to market conditions, liquidity and other capital priorities.
MSTR sales funded both transactions
Strategy financed the latest Bitcoin purchase and part of the STRC repurchase through MSTR common-stock sales.
The company raised $246.2 million in net proceeds by selling 1,469,165 MSTR shares between Sept. 21 and Sept. 27. The filing assigns $142.7 million of those proceeds to Bitcoin purchases and $103.5 million to STRC buybacks.
A further $48.1 million of the STRC repurchase came from Strategy’s USD Cash balance. Over the same period, the company used $22.1 million from its separate USD Reserve to pay preferred-stock dividends.
Strategy reported $18.84 billion of additional MSTR issuance capacity under its ATM program as of Sept. 27. No preferred shares were sold during the latest reporting period.
The latest funding structure differs from the previous week, when Strategy made no ATM stock sales and used existing cash to fund its Bitcoin purchase and STRC repurchases.
Strategy keeps $6.02 billion in dollar assets
Strategy ended Sept. 27 with a $5.02 billion USD Reserve and $1.00 billion in USD Cash, giving the company a combined $6.02 billion across the two balances.
The company defines the USD Reserve as capital designated to support preferred-stock dividends and interest payments on outstanding debt. USD Cash is maintained separately for Bitcoin purchases, reserve additions, capital management and other treasury uses.
The cash framework has changed materially since July, when Strategy built a $3.75 billion reserve while Bitcoin buying remained paused.
Strategy’s board expanded its STRC repurchase program during September while continuing to manage Bitcoin purchases, common-stock issuance and preferred-stock obligations through separate pools of capital.
As of Sept. 27, the company still had $723.5 million available under its digital credit securities repurchase authorization and $1 billion available under its separate MSTR common-stock repurchase program.
Tether has said it helped freeze nearly $550 million in Iran-linked USDT this year as U.S. authorities targeted wallets tied to the Central Bank of Iran and other sanctioned networks.
Summary
- Tether said more than $344 million was frozen across two addresses in April.
- A July action froze more than $130 million across four additional TRON wallets.
- The U.S. Treasury has named digital assets among five sectors covered by expanded Iran sanctions.
- Tether said its law enforcement work has helped freeze more than $4.9 billion globally.
Tether said on Sep. 28 that it acted on information from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and U.S. law enforcement when more than $344 million in USDT was frozen across two addresses in April. OFAC added the same addresses to the Central Bank of Iran’s sanctions entry the following day. The entry also identifies links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and Hezbollah.
In July, more than $130 million was frozen across four other wallets as Treasury added four TRON addresses to the central bank’s designation. Tether put its total for Iran-linked USDT freezes in 2026 at approximately $550 million. Its announcement gave the amounts for the April and July actions but did not itemize every freeze included in that total.
The July action was previously covered by crypto.news, which reported that the four TRON wallets held about $131 million in USDT. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at the time that OFAC had sanctioned multiple wallets tied to Iran’s central bank.
Tether froze two wallets before OFAC listed them
The order of the April steps is central to Tether’s account. According to the company, it supported the freeze after U.S. authorities supplied information about the two addresses; OFAC then formally listed those addresses as digital currency identifiers for the Central Bank of Iran.
Earlier reporting on the April $344 million freeze identified roughly $213 million in one TRON wallet and $131 million in another. The restrictions applied to the USDT held at the addresses. They did not require the TRON network itself to stop processing transactions.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said public blockchains let authorities follow fund movements and that the company can act when law enforcement provides credible information. He described USDT as “not a haven for sanctioned actors, terrorist organizations or criminal networks.” His statement sets out the company’s position; the wallet designations and freeze amounts are separate actions reported by OFAC and Tether.
The issuer said it has aligned its freezing policy with OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals list, including listed wallets that hold USDT after its initial issuance. A freeze prevents tokens at a blocked address from moving. It is distinct from a government seizure or a court order transferring ownership of the assets.
Treasury has expanded Iran sanctions to digital assets
Treasury launched Operation Economic Outcast on Aug. 24 and named digital assets alongside technology, gold, aviation and shipping in five new sectoral sanctions determinations. The department said the measures expanded its authority to target foreign people and companies operating in or supporting those sectors of Iran’s economy.
For U.S. businesses and individuals, OFAC designations carry direct transaction restrictions when a listed party or its blocked property is involved, unless an exemption or license applies. Treasury has also warned foreign firms about possible sanctions exposure for facilitating Iranian sanctions evasion. Those are Treasury’s stated rules and warnings, rather than a new restriction created by Tether’s announcement.
On Sep. 17, OFAC designated Iranian digital asset venture BitBank, its software developer, and three associates of financier Babak Zanjani under the campaign. Treasury alleged that Zanjani’s network used digital asset businesses to move funds for the IRGC, including hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin. The BitBank sanctions action also placed the developer, Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, on OFAC’s list.
A separate U.S. civil case shows how a wallet freeze can precede an effort to take custody of tokens. In September, prosecutors sought forfeiture of $61.2 million in USDT held across ten TRON addresses that court filings said Tether had frozen in 2025. A Sep. 14 warrant authorized the FBI to take custody of the targeted assets; the forfeiture complaint asks a court to award ownership to the government. That case concerns alleged Iranian oil proceeds and is separate from Tether’s stated 2026 freeze total.
Earlier Iran-linked wallets and U.S. cases add context
Tether also cited work with Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing. It said the bureau has referred more than 40 cases involving over 640 addresses, resulting in freezes of more than 22 million USDT. In 2023, the company disclosed a freeze of 32 addresses holding $873,118.34 in a case involving illicit activity affecting Israel and Ukraine.
After the Israeli bureau published a list of 187 addresses it associated with the IRGC in September 2025, blockchain analytics firm Elliptic reported that Tether had blacklisted 39 of them. Approximately $1.5 million in USDT remained in those wallets when they were frozen, according to Tether’s account of Elliptic’s findings.
Across its law enforcement work, Tether said it cooperates with more than 340 agencies in 67 countries and that the efforts have helped freeze over $4.9 billion in assets, including more than $2.4 billion connected to U.S. authorities. The body of its announcement states more than 2,800 investigations globally and more than 1,500 involving U.S. law enforcement, while its page subtitle gives higher figures of more than 2,900 and more than 1,600, respectively.
Among the U.S. cases the company cited was a September Justice Department operation against a marketplace serving scam centers. Tether said authorities restrained more than $52 million in one day and that the department acknowledged its assistance. It also cited a February seizure of more than $61 million in USDT tied to an alleged investment fraud operation, in which the Justice Department and Homeland Security Investigations acknowledged its help transferring the assets.
Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said the crypto exchange’s recent $388 million exploit stemmed from a vulnerability in a third-party security product that allowed the attacker to obtain “high-level internal credentials.”
In comments to Cointelegraph, Chen said the attacker used those credentials to issue fraudulent withdrawal commands. Bitget’s private keys were not compromised, and its cold wallets were not affected, she said.
Bitget said it has since addressed the security flaw and tightened its withdrawal controls, including restricting internal access, adding independent verification for withdrawals and increasing monitoring for unusual activity.
The attack occurred on Sept. 24, when Bitget detected unauthorized transfers from several of its hot wallets and temporarily suspended withdrawals. The exchange initially estimated that about $352 million in assets had been affected.
Related: Bitget resumes Bitcoin withdrawals as hacker swaps ETH via THORChain
Bitget has yet to disclose recovery figures
The exchange has not disclosed how much of the stolen crypto has been recovered or frozen. Chen said some assets have been frozen with help from other industry participants, but Bitget would release a total only after verifying the amounts.
Bitget had previously called on THORChain, a protocol for swapping assets between blockchains, to refuse services to addresses linked to the attack.
The exchange said it is not asking THORChain to halt its network as it attempts to prevent the stolen assets from being moved. THORChain has said it cannot selectively blacklist individual addresses.
“We understand that THORChain operates as a decentralized protocol and has said that it cannot selectively blacklist individual addresses. We respect the technical constraints of different networks and are not asking any protocol to take actions that are not technically possible,” Chen said.
Chen also addressed Bitget’s earlier suspicion that North Korea may have been behind the attack.
“What was shared previously was based on preliminary indicators identified during the investigation,” Chen said.
“Those indicators are still being assessed. Mandiant and SlowMist are supporting the independent forensic investigation, and that work is ongoing. We will share further findings as they are verified,” she added.
Additional reporting by Helen Partz.
Magazine: THORChain under fire over Bitget, ETH evolves beyond blockchain: Hodler’s Digest
What’s your personality like? There are scientifically validated ways to learn more about yours (though they’re not perfect). But there are also plenty of descriptors that can lead people astray.
One of these is the notion of an “addictive personality,” meaning a single profile of a person who’s at risk for developing an addiction. People often use this term to explain why someone overdoes it with alcohol or other substances, or with habits like shopping or gambling. Likewise, people sometimes claim they don’t have an addictive personality to justify why they feel they can imbibe, consume, or participate in certain acts without restraint..
But experts say there’s actually no such thing as an addictive personality. “The idea that people can have a specific personality type that makes them prone to addiction has been around for a long time, but it’s not scientifically supported,” says Ryan Carpenter, a substance-use researcher and assistant professor of psychology at the University of Notre Dame.
Despite decades of research on this issue, scientists haven’t been able to identify a personality type that reliably predicts whether someone will have problems with excessive use of alcohol or other substances. “The story is way more complicated than the label [‘addictive personality’] suggests,” says Dr. Manassa Hany, division director of addiction psychiatry at Northwell’s Zucker Hillside and South Oaks Hospitals.
And there are risks to putting stock in the concept of an addictive personality, according to experts. It might give someone a false sense of security if they believe they don’t have an addictive temperament, or it may make someone reluctant to seek help if they’re overdoing it with a particular substance or behavior because they believe they’re not predisposed to having an issue, says Hany.
On the other hand, “if we label people as having an addictive personality, that can be harmful,” Hany adds. “It can cause even more stigma and judgment for those who fit the stereotype.”
“Addiction is something that can happen to anyone,” says Dr. Ryan Marino, an associate professor of emergency medicine and psychiatry at the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland. “It’s a complex interplay between genetics, our internal biology, physiology, and psychology, and external factors. None of those individual things is the determining factor. It can be a combination of any of those factors.”
Who is at risk for addiction, and why?
While the concept of an addictive personality is not backed by scientific evidence, some research suggests that certain individual traits—but not a single personality “type”—are linked to a higher risk of developing an addiction. Research has found, for example, that impulsivity plays a role in all types of addictive disorders, and drug and alcohol-use disorders tend to be more common among people who score lower on measures of agreeableness and extraversion. People who are sensation-seekers or novelty-seekers also have a higher risk of developing an addiction, according to research.
Other studies have revealed a link between neuroticism and a higher risk of developing different addictions, and there appears to be a connection between compulsivity and a greater risk of behavioral addictions (such as gambling).
In addition, having depression, anxiety, loneliness, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can increase the risk of developing an addiction, says Carpenter. So can having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Experiencing trauma during childhood also can increase the risk, adds Hany.
People with borderline personality disorder have an increased risk of developing a substance-related disorder or addiction at some point in their lives, and the same is true of those with anti-social behavior, Carpenter says.
None of these risk factors adds up to a single personality type. And one of the things that makes these connections tricky is there’s a two-way street between personality elements and addiction, notes Carpenter. “Somebody who is using a substance is caught in a cycle that can impact behavior and how they interact with people.”
Family history and genetic factors can play a part, as well, says Robert Leeman, a psychologist and addiction researcher and a professor in the department of public health and health sciences at Northeastern University. “Fifty percent of one’s risk has to do with family history,” he estimates.
There isn’t a single known gene that predisposes people to developing an addiction. And if substance-use disorders or other addictions run in your family, that doesn’t mean you’re destined to develop one. But it is something to be aware of. “If you have addiction in the family, you’ve got to be a bit more careful,” says Hany.
On the other hand, certain factors seem to protect people from developing an addiction. These include having stable housing and economic security, a sense of meaning and purpose in life, and strong social connections, Hany says. But these aren’t a guarantee, either—and they’re not limited to one type of personality.
How to spot the warning signs of addiction
“The issue with addiction is it creeps in,” says Hany. “It’s a very gradual process.” That’s why it’s important to be alert to signs that a problem may be developing. For a substance-use disorder, these criteria include having impaired control over substance use; an impaired ability to fulfill obligations at work, home, or school; persistent use despite negative consequences from it; or having cravings or a pressing desire to use the substance.
“The more substance use starts to take up more of your time or take over all aspects of your life, the more likely you are to have problems with it,” says Carpenter.
Your individual response to consuming alcohol, for example—which has nothing to do with personality—can also affect your risk. “People who are at risk for problems with alcohol have a greater than average level of stimulation from alcohol and a dampened sedative response,” says Leeman. “They get more of the good and less of the bad effects.”
If you suspect you could be developing a problem with substance use or a behavior, seek help early, advises Hany. And if you have a mental-health condition or chronic pain—either of which could increase your risk of developing a substance use-disorder—seek treatment for them, he urges. With interventions, “the majority of people with addiction recover,” says Hany.
Ethereum is consolidating below $2.7K after a sharp recovery from the June lows. The charts show a constructive medium-term structure, although momentum has cooled after ETH failed to sustain its move into the $2.7K resistance area. The key question now is whether the price can hold above the rising trendline and the nearby demand zone around $2.4K.
Ethereum Price Analysis: The Daily Chart
On the daily timeframe, ETH has undergone a significant structural improvement since the June low near $1.5K. The asset has formed a sequence of higher lows along the ascending trendline and recently broke above the $2.4K area, which had previously acted as resistance.
The breakout accelerated ETH toward the $2.7K region, where the market encountered a clearly defined resistance zone. The price briefly pushed toward $2.8K before retreating, and the latest candles show a modest pullback around $2.68K. This suggests that buyers have yet to establish a sustained breakout above the upper resistance band.
The most immediate support is around $2.4K, where the latest consolidation occurred. The moving averages also provide an important structural reference. The 100-day and 200-day moving averages are converging around the $2.1K region and are likely to form a bullish crossover soon, which could indicate a long-term bullish shift in market structure after months of bearish price action.
ETH/USDT 4-Hour Chart
The 4-hour chart provides a more neutral short-term picture. ETH rallied sharply from roughly $2.4K and established a new local high near $2.8K, but the price has subsequently entered consolidation beneath the $2.7K resistance zone.
The current price around $2.65K is therefore positioned between resistance near $2.7K and the short-term bullish order block around $2.5K. The latter is particularly important because it represents the area from which the latest impulsive move higher began.
The rising white trendline remains another structural reference. It has supported the sequence of higher lows and currently points toward the $2.3K-$2.4K area. A decisive break below this trendline would signal a more meaningful deterioration in the short-term structure.
The 4-hour RSI has fallen back below the mid-range after reaching overbought territory during the September rally. This cooling-off period is consistent with the current consolidation rather than an outright trend reversal.
Therefore, the immediate structure can be viewed as a range between approximately $2.5K and $2.7K. A breakout from either side should provide greater clarity on the next directional move. Above resistance, the $3K psychological level becomes the main reference, while below support, the $2.2K-$2.3K area becomes increasingly relevant.
On-Chain Analysis
The Ethereum transaction-count chart shows an interesting divergence between network activity and price. The total transaction count has recovered significantly from the lows seen around early 2026. The metric recently jumped from roughly 1.6M transactions to above 2M, indicating a renewed increase in network activity.
However, the latest price recovery toward $2.6K coincides with a drop in transaction activity, which provides some key insights about market participation. This divergence could indicate that the rise in price has led to more holding by investors rather than engaging in short-term trading and profit-taking.
Therefore, with the price chart being the most constructive seen in months, and the divergence in network activity pointing to holding behavior, investors can be optimistic that ETH will likely reach higher prices in the coming weeks. Unless a catastrophic event in geopolitics or the macroeconomy overpowers the positive sentiment in the crypto market.
The post Ethereum Price Analysis: Is a Drop to $2.4K Next After ETH’s Latest Rejection? appeared first on CryptoPotato.
![MicroStrategy Bitcoin holdings chart showing 847,666 BTC, Source: Strategy]](https://wordupnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/a9c752ccc492482daf7f15df1b39143f.webp)
Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, bought 1,666 Bitcoin (BTC) in its latest weekly purchase. The company now holds 847,666 BTC, more than any other public company.
Strategy is a Nasdaq-listed software firm that turned itself into a Bitcoin holding company. It reports its purchases to US regulators, usually on Mondays.
![MicroStrategy Bitcoin holdings chart showing 847,666 BTC, Source: Strategy]](https://assets.beincrypto.com/img/QtxBgLGUYXVc9E0iVnHdZz7QymA=/smart/a9c752ccc492482daf7f15df1b39143f)
MicroStrategy Bitcoin Buying Grows 75% From Last Week
The new purchase is about 75% larger than the previous one. Last Monday, Strategy disclosed a 950 BTC buy worth about $76 million, which took its holdings to 846,000 BTC.
Before that, the company ended a 10-week pause on August 31 with 4,603 BTC. The week in between showed no buying at all.
Bitcoin trades near $83,251, down 2.3% over 24 hours, according to BeInCrypto data. At that price, the 1,666 coins are worth roughly $138.7 million.
Saylor’s “Even More Orange” Post Came a Day Earlier
Executive Chairman Michael Saylor hinted at the buy on Sunday. He posted a chart of Strategy’s purchases, where each orange dot marks a buy, with the caption “Even more orange.”
BeInCrypto reported Saylor’s latest signal that evening and said Monday’s filing would confirm any new purchase. The week before, his “A little more orange” post also came a day before the 950 BTC buy.
Strategy’s buying has been uneven this year. Its ledger lists four sales between June 30 and August 10, totaling 6,916 BTC. Last week, it also spent $174 million buying back its own preferred shares, more than twice its Bitcoin spend.
As of last week, Strategy’s average cost stood at roughly $75,400 per coin. Today’s price sits about 10% above that level.
Next Monday’s filing will show whether this week’s larger buy marks a steadier pace or another one-off.
The post MicroStrategy Buys More Bitcoin, Up 75% From Last Week: Is the Buying Picking Up? appeared first on BeInCrypto.
People allegedly laundering money from the $387 million Bitget hack have been asking for customer support in public chat rooms, according to blockchain investigator ZachXBT.
He said the group are Chinese money launderers working for the suspected North Korean attackers. They posted openly in the Discord servers and Telegram channels of services they use to move the funds.
What the Bitget Hack Suspects Posted
Bitget lost $387.5 million on September 24. CEO Gracy Chen said attackers tricked the exchange’s internal approval system into signing the transfers, and that North Korea was “very likely” behind it. BeInCrypto’s Bitget hack timeline lays out how it happened.
ZachXBT named five accounts and matched each one to a transaction. His screenshots show them complaining to staff at THORChain, a network that swaps coins between blockchains without an account, that XRP-to-Bitcoin swaps never arrived.
One user, “Cc,” wrote that 277,724 XRP went in but only 431 came back. Another, “jack,” said losing the assets “would cause a lot of trouble in my life.” A moderator for the swap service SwapKit answered with a photo of Kim Jong Un.
Kelp DAO Link and the North Korean Pattern
ZachXBT said one account, “lolo,” also laundered money from the $292 million Kelp DAO exploit in April. In the chat, lolo confirmed going by “Marin” on Telegram.
“I’ve observed the same pattern after multiple TraderTraitor attributed exploits, and I’ve closely tracked these groups,” the on-chain sleuth wrote.
TraderTraitor is the FBI‘s name for a North Korean hacking group. The bureau blamed it for the $308 million theft from Japanese exchange DMM Bitcoin in 2024.
The funds are now hopping between blockchains through bridges and landing in mixers such as Wasabi, a wallet that blends coins to hide their trail, he said.
THORChain has refused to block wallets tied to the attackers. Bitget said withdrawals reopen Monday. ZachXBT plans to release more data on the groups in the coming weeks.
The post Investigator Finds $387M Bitget Hack Suspects Asking for Help in Public Chats appeared first on BeInCrypto.
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