Odaily reports that Kraken joined X's U.S. Cashtag partner program on September 16. After users click on ticker tags such as BTC on X, in addition to viewing related posts and price charts, they can also follow a trading link to jump to the Kraken app or website, where they can log in or sign up to complete a purchase, with the transaction still executed on Kraken's side. A 2024 experiment by the UK Financial Conduct Authority involving more than 9,000 consumers showed that push notifications increased trading volume by 11%, while points and sweepstakes increased trading volume by 12%.

Odaily News — Ayo Akinyele, RippleX's head of engineering, said that commercial projects such as asset management institutions are preparing to use the XRP Ledger Batch V1.1 feature. This feature can package up to 8 transactions into a single operation and uses an "all-or-nothing" model. It can be used for delivery-versus-payment (DvP) settlement and can also allow exchanges, wallets, and markets to combine service fees with customer payments. Currently, 30 of the 35 tracked validator nodes support the proposal, exceeding the 28 votes required to enter the activation countdown. The countdown began at 14:06:41 UTC on September 15. If the support rate remains no lower than 80% within the 14-day window, activation is expected after the same time on September 29. Batch V1.0 was withdrawn in February this year due to a critical vulnerability in signature verification. It was not activated and caused no loss of funds; the fixed version was released with xrpld 3.3.0 on August 6.

Odaily reports, according to Onchain Lens monitoring, Wintermute (0xecb...2b00) currently holds $160 million worth of perpetual contract shorts, with unrealized losses of $3.57 million. Among these, ETH shorts are worth $53.05 million, BTC shorts are worth $26.66 million, SOL shorts are worth $17.84 million, and HYPE shorts are worth $11.62 million; the 30-day trading volume is $16.91 billion.

Odaily News: Evernorth has signed a note purchase agreement with NH Investment & Securities to issue convertible preferred PIK notes maturing in 2031 with a 4% interest rate. The transaction is contingent upon the completion of its business combination with Armada Acquisition Corp. II, Pathfinder Digital Assets, and Ripple Labs, and is expected to close in the fourth quarter; the combined new entity plans to list on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol XRPN, subject to exchange approval. Evernorth is an XRP treasury company.

Odaily News: The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has announced sanctions against Tehran-based crypto exchange BitBank, alleging that the platform transferred hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). According to OFAC, BitBank is controlled by Iranian financier Babak Zanjani, who was designated in January of this year, and who used the platform to complete transfers between June and July. The designation was made pursuant to Executive Order 13902. The sanctions also cover three executives of BitBank's software developer Pishtaz Simorgh and its parent company Dot One. U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent stated that using cryptocurrency to finance the Iranian regime does not fall outside OFAC's jurisdiction. OFAC also alleged that Hormuz Safe, a Tehran-based institution that sells safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, has been transferring payments it received through BitBank since June; the institution was sanctioned in July. OFAC did not disclose the relevant wallet addresses.

Odaily reports that Solana lowered its target slot time from 300 milliseconds to 250 milliseconds on September 18, marking the third speed increase since August. As the computation and data each slot can carry are proportionally reduced, overall network throughput has not increased; this adjustment is the third phase of the four-phase SIMD-0525 plan, with slot time having been reduced from 400 milliseconds at genesis through 350 milliseconds and 300 milliseconds to 250 milliseconds. The final step down to 200 milliseconds has not yet been scheduled for mainnet activation, contingent on validator skip rates remaining stable.

Odaily: Visa is closing a checkout loophole supported by crypto payment infrastructure company Crossmint. The loophole previously allowed users purchasing Meme coins with credit cards to have transactions classified under a merchant category code intended for digital media such as e-books, movies, and music.

Visa has notified payment processors, including Checkout.com, that it will no longer accept that code for Meme coin transactions, giving processors a grace period to stop the practice, which is expected to end next week. Thereafter, Meme coin purchases must be processed as cryptocurrency transactions and are subject to Visa's corresponding rules.

Chase had disputed a Visa transaction that was not flagged as a cryptocurrency transaction, arguing that its merchant category code was incorrect and that it should not have earned credit card rewards. The New York State Attorney General's Office is also aware of and reviewing the matter. (Decrypt)

Odaily News: The European Commission, in item 66 of its MiCA review document, is asking whether Europe's current staking regulations are adequate; if insufficient, new requirements may be imposed on companies. Analysts believe that overly strict rules could weaken staking yields and impact network security.

Odaily reports: Gemini's stock price has fallen about 80% from its listing-day debut, with its market cap dropping from a peak of approximately $4 billion to $753 million. Its trading volume, revenue, and platform assets have all declined.

There are currently no signs of a takeover offer for Gemini. Its regulatory licenses, customer base, and custody infrastructure may hold acquisition value; Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss hold 94.5% of voting rights, and any sale would require their approval. (CoinDesk)

Odaily News: Cynthia Lummis stated in a post that Democrats previously demanded that crypto projects raising more than $25 million from the public provide audited financial statements, and the relevant requirement was written into the CLARITY Act, but Democrats ultimately voted against advancing the bill. Previously, the Senate held a procedural vote on September 15 to advance the CLARITY Act, but it did not pass.

Odaily News: Changxin Technology (688825.SH) announced that on September 20, 2026, at the World Manufacturing Convention, the company announced that its fifth-generation process technology platform has officially achieved mass production, and simultaneously showcased high-capacity LPDDR5X products built on this platform. The mass production of this platform helps enrich the product matrix and enhance core competitiveness. As of the date of this announcement, the company's mass-produced products based on the fifth-generation process technology platform have not yet formed large-scale sales, and will not have a significant impact on the company's operating performance in the short term.

Odaily News: Federal Reserve's Kashkari: The Fed's job is to bring inflation back down to the 2% target. Inflation is still too high, and it's not just driven by oil prices.

Odaily News: According to Fox News, US President Trump said when discussing the Iran issue that he is "making a decision," and that something very major will happen in the near future. The options include completely annihilating Iran, plunging its economy into decline, or reaching an agreement.

Trump said, "They had better tone it down." Trump also said he "might" be willing to meet with Iranian President Pezeshkian during the United Nations General Assembly. Pezeshkian will travel to New York next week. Despite recent related warnings, Trump still described this weekend as "no different from any other weekend." Trump also said the United States has maintained communication with the Houthis, and they have agreed not to fight the United States.

Odaily News: After falling to $74,913 on September 16, Bitcoin rebounded by approximately $7,000 on September 18-19, reaching a high of $81,914. As of Sunday morning, its price was around $80,438, down about 1% over 24 hours.

Bitcoin failed to hold above the $82,000 level after two attempts to test it, with short-term support in the $80,000-$80,300 range and resistance in the $81,500-$82,300 range. On the daily chart, 13 out of 15 moving average indicators are positive, with Bitcoin's price above the EMA and SMA across all timeframes. (Bitcoin.com News)