Live updates: Bitcoin remains under pressure as Iran denies report of peace progress

The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield is sharply higher again, rising to a new cycle high above 5.27%.

AMD in $8.2 billion deal for AI lab World Labs

Chipmaker and Nvidia competitor Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has agreed to acquire World Labs, led by Fei-Fei Li, in an $8.2 billion all-stock deal.

“Building the compute platforms for the next generation of AI requires a deep understanding of how models are evolving,” said AMD CEO Lisa Su. “Fei-Fei and the World Labs team bring exceptional research leadership and model expertise. Together, we can use that insight to develop the hardware, software and systems that will power the next generation of AI and strengthen the open AI ecosystem.”

The purchase is expected to close before the end of the year.

Shares are little changed in after-hours trading.

Iran denies report about flexibility on nuclear program

It took a couple of hours, but as sure as night follows day, an earlier report of progress on stopping the war against Iran has been denied.

“An informed Iranian official has told Press TV that reports published by some news outlets about Iran showing flexibility over its nuclear position are false,” posted Press TV minutes ago.

“The official said the US government is ‘stuck’ in the Strait of Hormuz and is raising the nuclear issue to deflect attention from the problem.”

Oil and interest rates are back on the rise, with stocks sinking into the close and bitcoin slumping back to $83,000.

Strategy’s STRC is nearing par value

Michael Saylor’s Strategy’s MSTR$160.00·Market Closed high-yielding (12% currently) perpetual preferred stock STRC continues to edge higher, hitting $99.30 on Monday, its strongest level in about four months.

The price had plunged nearly all the way to $70 during the June panic and has been on a steady climb since, aided by the recovery in the price of bitcoin and Strategy’s repurchases.

The $100 level is important not just psychologically; it would also mean that Saylor and team can restart issuing STRC rather than repurchasing it, with proceeds used to buy additional bitcoin.

The preferred stock of Strategy’s far-smaller peer Strive ASST$30.02·Market Closed, SATA (yielding 13%), has been trading at or above $100 for several weeks, allowing that company to raise funds with issuance and make aggressive buys of bitcoin.

Hot-handed AI assistant builder Instinct worth $10 billion in latest funding round

AI startup Instinct has raised $1 billion at a $10 billion valuation, reported the New York Times earlier today.

Led by Noah Shinn, the company — with just 14 employees — is building a personal AI assistant. It has spent nothing on marketing its product, and growth is currently exponential.

One month ago, Instinct raised $250 million at a $2.5 billion valuation.

Crypto heads into historically strong fourth quarter as bitcoin eyes leadership

Crypto markets could have history on their side heading into the final quarter of the year.

Jim Ferraioli, head of crypto research at the Schwab Center for Financial Research, noted that the fourth quarter has historically been crypto’s strongest, following a September that tends to be weak.

Bitcoin’s rally has also come with rising futures open interest and leverage, though positioning remains below levels seen at some previous cycle peaks.

Altcoins have led much of the recent move, with more than 90% of the 25 largest cryptocurrencies beating bitcoin over the past 12 weeks. But cooling momentum and blockchain activity could set the stage for bitcoin to regain market leadership.

Oil quickly gives up day’s large gains on Al Jazeera report

President Trump is ready to ease sanctions on Iran and release its frozen assets in exchange for progress on the nuclear issue, according to an X post from Al Jazeera.

Axios and CNN are reporting similarly.

While we await denials regarding the above claims, the price of oil has plunged about $3 per barrel on the news, now just barely higher for the day.

Bitcoin has risen a few dollars, but remains lower by 1% over the past 24 hours at $83,600.

Bond yields rise to new cycle highs, with bitcoin slipping back below $83,000

The relentless surge in Western bond yields is continuing in force on Monday, putting pressure on risk assets, crypto among them.

The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield is up 6.6 basis points mid-morning to 5.255%, a new near-20-year high. The 30-year yield is up 6.3 basis points to 5.565.

On the shorter end of the curve, the two-year yield is higher by 6.9 basis points to 4.933%, with traders now having priced in a 68.1% chance of a Fed rate hike at the next meeting on Oct. 28.

Yields are also higher across Europe, as well as in Japan and Australia.

U.S. stocks are at session lows, the Nasdaq down 1% and S&P 500 off 0.7%. Bitcoin has slipped back below $83,000, down more than 2% over the past 24 hours.

SpaceX Starship reaches orbit, begins deploying Starlink satellites

SpaceX SPCX$158.76·Market Closed has its first revenue-producing flight.

The company’s Starship has entered Earth’s orbit for the first time, according to the company, which is posting the flight live, and has begun deploying ts 26 V3 Starlink satellites into orbit.

Shares are higher by 1.2% early Monday.

Bitmine bought another 17,362 ETH, pushing holdings above 6 million tokens

Bitmine Immersion Technologies BMNR$26.26·Market Closed bought another 17,362 ETH over the past week, worth about $46.6 million pushing its total holdings above the 6 million token mark.

The Ethereum-focused treasury firm sid Monday it held 6,001,302 ETH, equal to about 4.9% of the 122.1 million ETH in circulation, according to a Monday release. At current prices, the stash is worth roughly $16.1 billion. More than 5 million ETH are currently staked.

The firm reported $17.2 billion in total crypto, cash and marketable securities, including 213 bitcoin, $672 million in cash and marketable securities and stakes in Beast Industries and Eightco (ORBS).

Strategy purchased 1,665 bitcoin for $142.7 million

Strategy MSTR$160.00·Market Closed bought 1,665 bitcoin for $142.7 million between Sept. 21 and 27, at an average price of $85,681. It now holds 847,666 BTC, acquired for a total of $63.95 billion.

The company also repurchased 1.53 million STRC preferred shares for $151.7 million, funded with proceeds from selling MSTR shares and existing cash.

In total, Strategy raised $246.2 million by selling 1.47 million MSTR shares during the week. As of Sept. 27, the company held $6.02 billion.

Oil gives back some gains, bitcoin edges higher on Iran headlines

Oil remains sharply higher after President Trump continued banging the war drums over the weekend, but it’s giving back some gains after some headlines hit the tape moments ago.

According to a Reuters source, mediators expect to hold separate talks with the U.S and Iran early this week. Said talks will focus on an amended version of the seven-day ceasefire proposal that Iran presented at the UN last week.

WTI crude oil has trimmed a 4% gain to about 3%, trading at $95.15 per barrel. Bitcoin has edged up from its lows, now at $83,300, down 1.8% over the past 24 hours.

Strive acquired 1,107 bitcoin for $94.5 million

Strive ASST$30.02·Market Closed acquired 1,107 bitcoin for $94.5 million at an average price of $85,396 per coin, lifting its holdings to 27,462 BTC. Warrant exercises generated another $12.4 million. Including those proceeds, the company’s perpetual preferred SATA accounted for 85% of the capital Strive raised.

ASST is down 1% pre-market on Monday as bitcoin trades above $83,000

Bitget hack launderers are taking orders in public Discord channels, ZachXBT says

Money launderers handling funds from the roughly $388 million Bitget exploit are coordinating in the open, according to onchain investigator ZachXBT.

In a post on X, he said Chinese laundering groups working for the alleged North Korean attackers were “openly asking for support with orders in public Discord servers and Telegram channels” belonging to the services they use. He published handles and transaction records for five of the accounts.

The stolen funds are being hopped across blockchains through bridges, which move assets from one network to another, and deposited into mixers such as Wasabi, a bitcoin wallet that pools users’ coins together to hide where they came from, he said.

ZachXBT said he has watched this laundering pattern after several exploits attributed to TraderTraitor, the name U.S. authorities use for a North Korea-linked hacking group. One of the five accounts also laundered funds from the $292 million Kelp DAO exploit earlier this year, he said, and he plans to publish more of his data on the groups in the coming weeks.

CoinDesk separately found that a wallet linked to the attacker swapped about $6.3 million of ether into bitcoin through THORChain on Monday.

Nvidia announces record $150 billion share buyback expansion

Nvidia NVDA$234.00·Market Closed, the world’s most valuable company with a market cap of nearly $5.5 trillion, has announced a $150 billion increase to its share buyback program, bringing its total remaining authorization to $235 billion, according to a Monday morning press release.

The firm expects to complete the buybacks by the end of its fiscal 2028.

The increase is the largest ever announced by a US company, surpassing Apple’s $110 billion buyback authorization in 2024.

“NVIDIA’s growth is being driven by a once-in-a-generation platform shift to AI and accelerated computing,” said CEO Jensen Huang. “Our cash generation gives us the capacity to invest in the technologies that advance this transformation and return capital to shareholders. This authorization reflects our confidence in the long-term opportunity ahead.”

Nvidia shares were up about 1% in premarket trading as Nasdaq 100 futures sink 1%.

U.S. jobs report looms as Treasury yields climb and the dollar strengthens

A packed week of U.S. economic data comes as Treasury yields push to new highs. The 10-year yield is at 5.230%, while the DXY dollar index is around 101. The releases will test whether the U.S. economy remains strong enough to keep upward pressure on yields.

Friday’s September jobs report is the main event. Nonfarm payrolls are expected to rise by 84,000, down from 162,000 in August, while the unemployment rate is forecast to hold at 4.1%.

Before then, Tuesday’s JOLTS report is expected to show 7.24 million job openings. Wednesday brings August core PCE inflation, forecast to rise 0.3% month over month, alongside the final estimate of second-quarter GDP growth, currently at an annualised 1.5%. On Thursday, the ISM manufacturing PMI is expected at 54.9 and the final S&P Global manufacturing PMI at 57.

ZEC and DOGE lead crypto losses as oil nears $108

Bitcoin traded near $82,600 on Monday, down 2% over 24 hours, CoinDesk data show. ZEC fell 7% to just above $1,540 and DOGE 5% to about 9 cents, while SOL and HYPE each lost more than 4%. Ether, BNB and XRP dropped between 2% and 4%. TRX held flat.

Brent climbed toward $108 a barrel after Tehran refused to soften its demands for reopening the Strait of Hormuz and President Donald Trump sent mixed signals on further talks.

Treasuries fell across the curve, with the five-year yield up seven basis points to 5.06%, as traders added to bets on U.S. rate hikes ahead of Wednesday’s reading of PCE, the inflation gauge the Federal Reserve watches most closely. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 1%, chipmakers led declines in Asia and gold fell by the most in a month.

“Bitcoin’s pullback from last week’s highs is more likely a risk-off squeeze following a sharp four-day rally, profit-taking, and a $500 million-plus liquidation wave. This clashed with 10-year Treasury yields at their highest since 2007 and still-elevated oil prices, which together keep inflation sticky and another Fed hike in play,” Dan Khus, chief analyst at LVRG Research, said in an email to CoinDesk.

“Key events traders are watching this week include Wednesday’s PCE and Friday’s payrolls, which can push BTC to reclaim the mid-$80,000s or determine whether yields and energy keep risk assets on the backfoot,” he added.