The crypto market delivered several headline-making moves on September 25, from strong institutional demand for Bitcoin ETFs to legal action against LayerZero and a major exchange exploit. Here is a closer look at the day’s most important stories.
Bitcoin ETF Inflows Reach $191 Million
Spot Bitcoin ETFs posted $191 million in cumulative daily net inflows, according to SoSoValue. BlackRock’s IBIT led the pack with $163 million in single-day net inflows, lifting its all-time net inflow total to $65.18 billion. Fidelity’s FBTC added $12.86 million, bringing its historical total to $11.01 billion. On the other end, WisdomTree’s BTCW saw the largest daily net outflow at $4.016 million.
Combined, spot Bitcoin ETFs now hold about $108.91 billion in total net assets, representing a 6.43% ETF net asset ratio. Cumulative historical net inflows for the category stand at $57.41 billion.
KelpDAO Takes LayerZero to Court
KelpDAO has filed a lawsuit against LayerZero and co-founder Bryan Pellegrino following the April attack that drained 116,500 rsETH worth approximately $292 million from the liquid staking protocol. The incident, which occurred on April 22, has been tied by researchers to a North Korean hacking group. In its complaint, KelpDAO alleges that LayerZero failed to disclose security weaknesses and risks in its technology, and that it did not prevent attackers from compromising its security infrastructure. The lawsuit also claims that LayerZero and Pellegrino shifted blame to KelpDAO rather than accepting responsibility. These allegations remain subject to litigation.
Bitget Loses $350 Million in Hot Wallet Exploit
Crypto exchange Bitget has confirmed an exploit that drained at least $350 million from its hot wallets. CEO Gracy Chen said unauthorized transfers were detected across multiple blockchain networks after assets including ETH, USDT, USDC, AVAX and BNB were moved to an unidentified address. On-chain analysts saw rapid swaps on decentralized exchanges such as UniswapX and 1inch Fusion, with some trades executed at premiums of up to 5% above market prices. Chen said cold wallets are completely intact and that user losses are covered by the Bitget Protection Fund, which has a balance of more than $464 million.
Hyperliquid Strategies Adds $45.8M in HYPE
Hyperliquid Strategies has purchased another 494,200 HYPE worth roughly $45.8 million, according to Lookonchain. The buying activity, linked to wallet 0x6436, took place over a 16-hour period on September 25. With the latest purchase, the address has accumulated 5.51 million HYPE worth approximately $476 million over the past month, averaging 183,574 HYPE or $15.86 million per day. Hyperliquid Strategies now holds about 35.1 million HYPE, valued at roughly $3.2 billion.
Shielded Bitcoin: A New Privacy Proposal
Researchers from Alloc Init have published a September 24 paper proposing private Bitcoin transfers using zero-knowledge proofs without requiring a soft fork. The metaprotocol, called Shielded Bitcoin, would use Bitcoin to publish and order encrypted transaction data while Bitcoin nodes would not need to enforce the privacy rules. The design draws on concepts from Zcash, including encrypted notes, nullifiers and zero-knowledge proofs. It would conceal shielded senders, receivers, amounts and transaction links while leaving Bitcoin’s existing consensus rules unchanged.
These developments highlight how quickly institutional flows, security incidents, legal disputes, and protocol research can shift the crypto landscape in a single day.
