Muneeb Ali has returned as CEO of Stacks Labs after 5 years, replacing interim CEO Alex Miller. The announcement triggered a 28.8% surge in STX token price as the network refocuses on institutional Bitcoin infrastructure expansion, Bitcoin staking partnerships, and scaling initiatives.
OpenUSD (OUSD) launched on September 30th across multiple blockchains with backing from Coinbase, Stripe, Mastercard, and Visa, challenging the dominance of USDT and USDC in the stablecoin market. The new dollar-backed token shares yield with partners and will be integrated into Stripe's core products, potentially threatening USDC's 54% market share in regulated payment rails.
Strategy maintains STRC near $100 through dividend mechanics, buyback programs, and separate cash reserves, allowing the preferred stock to offer stable returns while MSTR common stock absorbs Bitcoin's volatility. MSTR has declined 9% to $154, demonstrating the intended separation between the two share classes.
Monthly stablecoin card spending reached a record $788.9 million in September, growing nearly 49x since early 2025. USDC dominates the stablecoin cards segment with 57% market share, while USDT leads overall stablecoin activity globally. The growth reflects stablecoins expanding beyond trading into everyday payments, though concentration risks exist around infrastructure providers like Rain.
Congress expanded its insider trading investigation into prediction markets, sending inquiries to Hyperliquid, Crypto.com, and Aristotle Exchange after initial probes of Kalshi and Polymarket. The committee highlighted rampant insider trading activity, including a $1.1B position timed to a tariff announcement, and noted that decentralized platforms like Hyperliquid lack identity verification mechanisms to prevent such abuse.