Plus: Why October could be Bitcoin's comeback month

GM. Crypto news can feel like a blender without a lid - loud, messy, and all over the place.

We cleaned it up and poured you the good part:

⚖️ Crypto scammer pleads guilty.

🍍 Is the market resetting?

🍋 Ledger Recovery Key explained, QNB uses JPMorgan's blockchain + more

⚖️ Crypto scammer pleads guilty

True crime geeks, you're gonna like this one 👀

Yesterday in London, a 47-year-old woman named Zhimin Qian, aka Yadi Zhang, aka "the goddess of wealth", stood up in court and admitted she'd laundered billions of pounds worth of Bitcoin.

She pleaded guilty to two charges: possessing criminal property and transferring criminal property.

But how did we get here? Let's dig in 👇

Between 2014 and 2017, Qian ran a company in China that sold itself as the future of finance and tech.

It sounded like kind of a big deal, and the kicker was just irresistible: investors were promised daily dividends and guaranteed ridiculous returns.

Sweet opportunity, amirite?

About 128K people thought so, too. They invested.

... Little did they know it was actually a Ponzi scheme - the good ole scam where new investors' money is used to pay off old investors until the whole thing collapses.

And collapse it did.

After that, Qian moved from China to the UK under a fake identity.

She rented a mansion in Hampstead (a very posh neighborhood in London) and started... just living life, presenting herself as a wealthy businesswoman while trying to launder the stolen money by buying property.

Is this what girlbossing is like?.. Idk.

Anyways. In 2018, police raided that mansion - and oh boy did they strike gold there.

Or should I say, digital gold - they found devices holding the keys to 61K BTC linked to her company. At today's prices, that's worth nearly $7 BILLION, which makes it the biggest single crypto seizure in history.

So yeah, her guilty plea marks the end of years of work by UK police alongside Chinese authorities.

She's now being held in custody while the court decides her sentence.

And what's gonna happen to the 61K BTC in the UK government's hands? Well, the coins could be sold off, held by the government, or used to repay victims. Right now, no one knows which way it'll go.

Finally, if there's one lesson to take home, it's this: if someone promises you guaranteed, no-risk, high-return investments - especially in crypto - run. That's a big red flag.

Always do your own research, stick to platforms you trust, and don't let your crypto end up as courtroom evidence.

🥝 Memecoin harvest

Behold, the sh*tcoin gang that made it rain gains today 🌧️

Data as of 10:00 AM EST.

Check out these memecoins and plenty more here.

🍍 Market flavor today

Yeeaah... 'twas a rough month. Leverage got flushed, altcoins got smacked around, and for a while, the whole market felt drained of energy.

Now that September's closing, tho', things look a bit better: total market cap has increased, Bitcoin's back above $113K, and Ethereum's holding over $4.1K.

Nothing dramatic, but at least the bleeding stopped.

Basically, the market seems to be resetting, which is important because that prepares it for what comes next.

A lot of the weak hands are now gone, so what's left are people with stronger convictions.

And you can see it in the numbers: despite all the mess, Bitcoin's actually ending September ~4% higher. It's not huge, but it shows the market's got more backbone than it looked like during the worst of the sell-off.

Now, everyone's looking at October - or Uptober, if you're crazy like that - which has been one of Bitcoin's stronger months.

Traders are hoping that history's gonna repeat itself again. But QCP analysts point out that for Bitcoin to really prove it's back on track, it needs to clear $115K.

And it might not be an easy one, because of macro stuff being a mess in the background.

Hopes of Fed rate cuts have been a big driver of crypto's rallies this year, and traders watch every scrap of economic data to guess how far and how fast the Fed might actually go.

Normally, the big thing everyone would be watching this week is Friday's jobs report.

But there's a complication: the US government is at risk of shutting down tonight if lawmakers can't pass a funding deal.

If that happens, agencies like the Labor Department stop publishing data, meaning the jobs report wouldn't come out.

And no jobs data = harder to update expectations for Fed policy = the outlook becomes less clear = volatility could rise.

So, where does that leave us?

The market has stabilized after September's losses, but it isn't showing clear bullish momentum yet.

The next move might depend on whether Bitcoin can clear $115K, and how macro conditions evolve in the weeks ahead.

🍋 News drops you can't miss

🔑 Heard about Ledger Recovery Key but not sure how it actually works? Our guide takes you through it step by step so you know exactly what to expect.

💵 Qatar National Bank Group (QNB) started using Kinexys, JPMorgan's blockchain network. It's handling USD payments for companies.

🔒 Aster's thinking about whether their upcoming airdrop should include lockup periods. CEO Leonard explained this could help reduce big sell-offs once the tokens get distributed.

📡 The US SEC said it's not going after tokens connected to DePIN projects. It also won't be taking action against DoubleZero's 2Z token.

🇵🇱 Poland's parliament passed a new crypto law. It outlines crypto licensing and names a financial regulator that will oversee the industry.

🍌 Juicy memes

Hey, look at us meeting at the very end again 😏

If you were here last week, you know I said that BitDegree's up to something big. If you didn't see that teaser, well… now you know too.

And so, the big announcement is...

... actually, no. Let's save the details for tomorrow.

Stay tuned 👀