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Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson said cryptocurrency’s core purpose is freedom and liberty, not speculation. “Not token go up, token go down. It’s about your freedom of movement, expression, association and commerce,” Hoskinson said, framing crypto as fundamentally about giving people greater control over their own lives.

S&P Global has agreed to acquire OpenZeppelin, the smart contract security firm behind open-source code used to protect major stablecoins, DeFi platforms, and blockchain networks. Founded in 2015, OpenZeppelin has completed over 900 security audits to date. Following the deal, OpenZeppelin will continue operating independently under CEO Demian Brener, while S&P Global gains new tools to extend its risk analysis into onchain markets, a move both companies frame as strengthening trust in tokenized finance as institutional blockchain adoption grows.

While the CLARITY Act appears stalled in the Senate, the House is pushing ahead on crypto legislation today. At 10 AM ET, the Ways and Means Committee will mark up its crypto tax bill, while the Financial Services Committee simultaneously begins marking up several bills, including the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill introduced earlier this year by Rep. Nick Begich.

DeFi took a significant hit in the latest version of the CLARITY Act, with the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act scaled back in the process. One legal scholar called the change a “rug pull,” expressing deep disappointment while still urging lawmakers to pass the broader bill, arguing crypto is better off with it than without. The criticism centers on removed language that would have clarified criminal liability protections for DeFi developers. Critics are now pushing for floor statements and a presidential signing statement making clear that such criminal exposure was never intended under the bill’s original DeFi provisions, and that a specific prosecutorial interpretation from federal prosecutors misreads Congress’s actual intent.

Swiss Bitcoin Pay says it has temporarily shut down its servers after detecting likely unauthorized access to its internal systems. The company believes the intruder may have accessed customer email addresses, Bitcoin addresses, IBANs, transaction history, and hashed passwords, though it’s not yet clear if other data was compromised. Swiss Bitcoin Pay confirmed user funds remain safe and any amounts owed will be fully returned. No reopening date has been set as the company works to secure its infrastructure.

President Trump said Sunday that AI does not need additional regulatory guardrails, arguing the US already holds significant criminal and regulatory power over AI companies. He accused Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei of doing “bad, or potentially bad, things,” and claimed there is a “sick conspiracy” against AI and data centers. Trump said whoever wins the AI race “wins,” and reaffirmed the US intends to stay ahead of China in the sector. On oil, Trump said prices will “drop like a rock” once the military conflict with Iran ends, adding that won’t be long. He said oil is currently flowing through the Strait of Hormuz and warned that countries that haven’t supported the US will be expected to reimburse America once the conflict concludes.

A bipartisan coalition of 18 state attorneys general, led by New York’s Letitia James, is urging Congress to reject the CLARITY Act as currently written, ahead of Tuesday’s key procedural vote. James said the bill “would embolden scammers” in its current form. The coalition argues the legislation could weaken states’ ability to pursue crypto fraud and investor-protection cases, while giving the SEC expanded power to override state registration rules. The group is calling on Congress to preserve existing state enforcement authority and clarify language they warn could trigger legal disputes over regulatory oversight.

President Trump has agreed to allow state attorneys general to sue the Department of Justice and crypto exchanges if he or future presidents violate the CLARITY Act’s restrictions, according to text released Sunday night by Senate Republicans, reported by Eleanor Mueller. A GOP aide called the release the party’s “last, best and final offer” to Democrats ahead of Tuesday’s vote, noting it reflects roughly 80% of the Tillis-Gallego ethics proposal. Trump would still retain the choice to either divest his crypto-related financial interests or place them in a blind trust.

Asked which single asset he’d hold over the next five years, Hyperliquid, Ethereum or Solana, Grayscale’s Head of Research Zach Pandl declined to choose. “I don’t like to choose among my children like this,” he said, calling all three great projects. Pandl said he favors a diversified approach across crypto’s different market segments, currencies, smart contract platforms, financial applications and AI, each led by a category leader like Bitcoin, Ethereum or Hyperliquid. He also pointed to mispriced opportunities, calling privacy-focused Zcash a strong example of market asymmetry, alongside owning sector leaders as the most efficient way to build a portfolio.

A “ghost chain” debate has erupted around the XRP Ledger after Bitquery research found just 793 accounts handled 93.2% of the network’s transactions in August, with 767 of those classified as machine accounts, including bots and spam. Separately, the XRP Ledger Foundation’s CTO suggested users could potentially transfer funds from an X Money account directly into XRP, then use the ledger’s primitives to generate yield, saying he saw nothing wrong with that setup if it became possible.

Bitwise is liquidating its Dogecoin ETF ($BWOW), less than a year after its launch. Trading will end October 14, with remaining shareholders cashed out the following week. The fund marks the 10th ETF liquidation this year, with assets down roughly 40% from launch to $9 billion. Bitwise cited efforts to optimize its product lineup for investor demand. The closure comes as Dogecoin (DOGE) trades at $0.08343, down 2.5% over 24 hours and 4.2% over the past week, reflecting the broader pullback in demand for smaller altcoin exposure through ETF wrappers.