☕️ Crypto VC Funding Rebounds, Tether Expands to RWA and Kazakhstan Venture funding increased 31% to $5.6 billion in the second quarter, while Tether launched a real-world asset platform and partnered with Kazakhstan's central bank.
1. Crypto VC Funding Rebounded to $5.6B in Q2 2026 Led by Later-Stage Deals — Crypto venture funding climbed 31% quarter-over-quarter to $5.683 billion across 384 deals in Q2 2026 [1]. Later-stage rounds captured approximately 78% of the capital invested, pushing the median deal size to a record $4.9 million [1]. 2. Tether Launches Hadron Platform to Expand Into Real-World Asset Tokenization — Tether introduced Hadron, a platform designed to tokenize stocks, bonds, commodities, funds, and loyalty rewards [8]. The service provides issuance, lifecycle management, and compliance toolsets, and supports multiple blockchains [8]. 3. Tether Signs Pact with National Bank of Kazakhstan to Study Tenge Stablecoin and Tokenization — Tether partnered with Kazakhstan's central bank and the Alatau City Authority on Oct. 7, 2026, to assess stablecoins, asset tokenization, and decentralized finance [9]. The collaboration includes planning a pilot for a tenge-backed stablecoin [9]. 4. ESMA Directs EU Crypto Firms to Halt Unauthorized Stablecoin Services — ESMA instructed crypto service providers authorized under MiCA to halt all services involving unauthorized stablecoins for European Union clients [6]. National authorities must enforce remediation of existing client exposures within three months [6]. 5. Attacker Drains 200 ETH From Dormant MakerDAO Auction Keeper — An attacker drained 200 $ETH from a legacy MakerDAO auction-keeper contract on Oct. 6, 2026 [5]. Missing access controls let the attacker settle 2020 auction lots and route the $542,982 to Tornado Cash, though active MakerDAO reserves were unaffected [5].
📊 Bitcoin is trading at $82,694, ether at $2,550, and the total market cap stands at $2.77 trillion.
