Crypto

US spot bitcoin ETFs took in $102.7 million on October 1 and $31.7 million on October 2, a $134.4 million start to the month, according to Decrypt's fund tracker. The buying followed a $148.7 million outflow on September 30 that ended a nine-session run of inflows. September as a whole brought in $2.65 billion, per SoSoValue. Decrypt ties the move to Friday's weak payrolls report: after the 29,000-job print, CME FedWatch odds of an October rate hike dropped to 14% from about 70% earlier in the week. Thursday's larger inflow came before that report. Bitcoin reached $87,173 on Friday, just under its September high of $87,354, and traded near $85,000 on Sunday. Other indicators are less upbeat. Year-to-date ETF inflows are under $1 billion, and Myriad traders see a 93% chance of no new all-time high in 2026.

Bottom line (analysis): Two days of inflows ($134.4 million) offset most of one outflow ($148.7 million). Decrypt links the move to falling Fed hike odds, but the larger inflow came before Friday's jobs report, so in our analysis the data fits a macro explanation without proving it. CPI on October 14 is the next chance to test that link.

Job listings on one crypto recruiting site have surged. Data from CryptoJobsList, reported by CoinDesk's Jamie Crawley, shows 1,241 job listings in September, up from 886 in August and 382 in July. That is more than double January's 573, which had been the year's busiest month until August. The number of companies hiring rose to 125, from 107 in July and 77 in August. Applications moved the other way, falling from 25,700 in July and 24,631 in August to just under 20,000 in September. CoinDesk argues the jump isn't only a seasonal return from summer, noting that 2025 showed no similar late-summer surge, and its best month had only 373 listings. Finance, engineering, and trading led demand, and bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana were the most requested skills.

Bottom line (analysis): Listings more than tripled in two months while applications fell by roughly a fifth. By our math, each opening drew about 67 applications in July and about 16 in September. In our analysis, if the trend holds on other platforms, employers will have to compete harder for candidates. One source over three months isn't enough to call an industry turn.

Blast, the Ethereum layer-2 network launched by the team behind the NFT marketplace Blur, is winding down. Its team says the chain now costs more to run than it earns and has no realistic path to breaking even, Decrypt reports. Users have until October 26 to withdraw through Blast's interface. After that, funds can still be reached, but only through its bridge contracts on Ethereum. Withdrawals will first pause for about a week while assets are pulled out of the Lido staking protocol. Blast raised a $20 million seed round co-led by Paradigm and drew more than $1.1 billion in deposits before it went live. Its bridge held over $2.3 billion at its February 2024 mainnet launch. By its June 2024 airdrop, the value locked had already fallen about 30% from that peak.

Bottom line (analysis): Blast drew over $1.1 billion before launch, and money began leaving within months. Blast says it closed because costs exceeded revenue, and in our analysis the size of past deposits didn't change that. If you still have assets on Blast, October 26 is the date that matters.