The market this morning

Chainalysis ties $387M Bitget breach to North Korea, pushing its 2026 crypto haul past $1 billion

By Crypto Info News

Good morning. The most consequential item of 3 October was a claim about where stolen money went. Decrypt reported that Chainalysis attributed the Sept. 24 Bitget breach to North Korea and said the firm used in-house AI to trace the funds across four blockchains in what it described as a race against the attackers. According to the same report, Chainalysis said the breach pushed North Korea's 2026 crypto haul past $1 billion. The reported figure for the hack was $387 million.

There was also a recovery. Cointelegraph reported that NEAR Intents got back the entire stolen $3.8 million after the exploiter was identified and given 48 hours to respond, returning the full sum.

Policy dominated the rest of the day. Decrypt reported that the TRUMP meme coin project is inviting its top 185 holders to a Nov. 22 gala dinner with President Trump, two weeks after ethics disputes over his crypto interests helped stall the Clarity Act in the Senate. Writing for CoinDesk, the Cato Institute's Ryan Chan-Wei argued that progress on the bill will effectively reset when the new Congress is sworn in, because key senators who steered it will not be on the ballot again.

Regulators drew a lawsuit. CoinDesk and Cointelegraph both reported that the Independent Community Bankers of America sued the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, accusing the regulator of overstepping its legal authority in granting crypto firms trust bank charters.

Europe produced competing signals. Cointelegraph reported that Bitpanda co-CEO Christian Trummer said MiCA has increased trust in regulated platforms and called for stricter enforcement against noncompliant firms. Decrypt reported that Circle told the European Commission that MiCA's reserve mandates and concentration caps keep the largest global stablecoins outside Europe, siding with the ECB in calling for more flexible rules.

On industry and markets: CoinDesk reported crypto job postings tripled to over 1,200 in September while applications fell, with Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana the most-requested skills. Cointelegraph reported, citing a report, that Anchorage Digital cut 17% of its workforce. CoinDesk also covered BlackRock's view on tokenised portfolios, OpenPayd's Nasdaq-listing plans, and Decrypt covered Ethereum's new zkAPI. Glassnode wrote on traders pricing out an October rate hike. Bitcoin held just above $84,742, BNB led majors up about 2.44%, and USDT and USDC stayed near $1.

What to watch: whether the Chainalysis attribution draws an official response, the OCC suit's early filings, and the Nov. 22 dinner's bearing on the Clarity Act.