Catch up on the biggest crypto news from October 1, 2026, covering major industry developments, company updates, regulation, partnerships, and market-moving announcements.
Illinois postponed its crypto transaction tax. The state agreed to delay a 0.2% tax on crypto buys, sales, and transfers, including trades with no profit, until 1 July 2027, subject to court approval. Industry groups are already suing over the tax.
Latvia issued a MiCA license. The Latvian central bank granted a MiCA crypto license to a UK-backed firm. Posts say 13 payment licenses were issued, valid across the EU, with Paybis and Backpack among named licensees.
Philippine central bank restricted bank deposits into Coins.ph. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas partially suspended inbound InstaPay and PESONet transfers to DCPay Philippines, the e-money operator behind Coins.ph. Outbound transfers remain available. The separately licensed trading entity, Betur Inc., is not directly covered.
CLARITY Act aftermath. Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said crypto rallied after the CLARITY Act failed because the industry “sacrificed long-term certainty and got better rules, faster,” as the SEC and CFTC moved ahead of the bill.
MetaMask disclosed a security incident late on 30 September, centered on its staking operation, not user wallets. MetaMask’s statement: it is responding to an incident affecting part of its infrastructure. It said it has found no immediate threat to MetaMask wallets. As a precaution, it is exiting affected validators in its non-custodial staking business (formerly Consensys Staking). A later update said there is still no sign that wallets or customer funds were hit, and warned users not to share recovery phrases. Lido’s statement: MetaMask Staking is exiting its Ethereum validators in the Lido protocol after an infrastructure compromise. Final validators are expected to be in the exit process by 7 October 2026. Lido said stETH holders do not need to do anything. Exited ETH should return to the protocol over up to about 45 days because of the entry queue. MetaMask does not hold withdrawal keys. Lido also pointed to its reserve fund of more than 6,750 stETH. What analysts on X are adding: the apparent theft was small, about 0.36 ETH in block rewards, roughly $960 sent from validators that earned rewards to an address funded via Tornado Cash. Stake and withdrawal keys were not touched. The large response is the precautionary exit of roughly 17,000 validators, on the order of 523,000 ETH, because if reward addresses can be changed, signing keys might also be at risk, and a bad signature can get a validator slashed. Missed staking rewards during the exit and re-entry are the main cost being discussed, not a wallet drain.
NEAR Intents was exploited for about $3.8 million. The team said a bug in the Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure interacting with the NEAR Intents contract caused the loss. Services were paused, the contract bug was patched, and NEAR pledged full reimbursement. Some chain deposits and withdrawals stay down for about 12 hours while Omni fixes are finished. The incident was reported to law enforcement.
Zcash community approved about $8.4 million in retroactive grants after the Orchard bug. Zooko Wilcox said the vote funded developers and researchers who found and fixed the vulnerability, audited the code, and delivered the Ironwood upgrade.
Litecoin is headed to Canton. The Litecoin Foundation signed an MOU with Greywick Digital to bring LTC to Canton Network as cLTC. CoinDesk says no launch date is set. Other posts say the target is by the end of 2026, with on-chain reserve checks and compliance features.
TRUMP team outlined new products. Co-founder Bill Zanker, at Korea Blockchain Week, said the team plans a Trump mobile game, a Shark Tank-style show that pays winners in the coin, and possibly a Trump amusement park.