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Tether Expands Self-Custodial Finance Across Africa With Shiga Partnership

By
Paul Ugbede Godwin
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0

The collaboration between Tether and Shiga to develop self-custodial financial products for individuals, businesses and institutions across Africa and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) reflects a broader shift in how digital assets could reshape access to financial services.

Built with Tether’s Wallet Development Kit (WDK), the initiative is designed to give users direct control over USD?, Bitcoin and Tether Gold (XAU?), rather than requiring them to depend entirely on third-party custodial wallets.

The significance of self-custody becomes clearer in regions where currency volatility, limited access to international financial infrastructure and expensive cross-border transfers continue to affect consumers and businesses.

For many households, preserving purchasing power can be difficult when local currencies weaken against the dollar. Digital assets linked to the dollar, alongside Bitcoin and gold-backed tokens, can provide additional instruments for individuals seeking alternatives within the digital financial ecosystem.

Remittances are another important part of the equation. According to the figures cited in the announcement, the average cost of sending remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa reached 8.46% in 2025.

Such costs can materially reduce the amount received by families, particularly for lower-income workers sending money across borders.

A technology stack that enables users to hold and transfer digital assets directly could potentially reduce dependence on traditional intermediaries, although actual savings will depend on network fees, local conversion costs, regulatory requirements and the infrastructure available to users.

The WDK is central to the initiative because it provides developers with tools for embedding self-custodial wallets into financial applications. Instead of building every wallet component from scratch, businesses can use the development framework to create products that allow users to maintain control over their assets and transactions.

This architecture could make digital-dollar and Bitcoin functionality more accessible to fintech companies operating in markets where conventional banking infrastructure does not always meet demand.

For Africa, the opportunity is particularly relevant because the continent has a large and increasingly digital population, alongside substantial cross-border commerce and remittance flows.

Small businesses may require faster methods of receiving international payments, while individuals may want greater flexibility when saving or transferring value. Institutions could explore digital assets for treasury management, settlement and other financial applications, subject to local regulations.

The GCC presents a different but complementary opportunity. The region is home to sophisticated financial centres, substantial international trade and significant migrant-worker populations.

Connecting self-custodial digital-asset infrastructure across Africa and the Gulf could therefore support financial activity between two regions with strong economic and demographic links. However, self-custody also transfers responsibility to users.

Private-key management, cybersecurity, fraud prevention and transaction errors become critical considerations when individuals control their own assets. Regulation will also determine which products can operate, how they can be accessed and what compliance requirements businesses must satisfy.

The Tether-Shiga collaboration represents more than another crypto-wallet initiative. It points toward a financial model in which users can interact directly with digital representations of dollars, Bitcoin and gold while reducing their dependence on centralized custodians.

Its long-term impact will depend on usability, security, affordability and regulatory clarity. If those elements develop together, self-custodial infrastructure could become an important component of Africa-GCC digital finance.

Bitcoin Clears $76K–$81K Supply Wall as $88K–$90K Resistance Comes Into Focus

By
Paul Ugbede Godwin
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0

Bitcoin has entered a new phase of its recovery, moving through one of the most closely watched areas of overhead supply as the cryptocurrency trades in the $82,000 range.

The breakout matters because the $76,000–$81,000 region had previously represented a significant concentration of selling from long-term holders and so-called OG wallets whose coins had remained dormant for seven years or more.

CryptoQuant analysis identified this zone as a major source of supply earlier in September, making the move above it an important change in Bitcoin’s market structure. The significance of the breakout is not simply that Bitcoin has crossed another round-number threshold.

It suggests that the market has absorbed a substantial amount of previously available supply. When long-term holders distribute coins into strength, the process can create persistent resistance because buyers must absorb those tokens before price can advance.

Once that supply is cleared, the market can become more sensitive to momentum because fewer sellers remain immediately overhead. That dynamic has been visible in Bitcoin’s recent advance.

The cryptocurrency recently climbed above $85,000 and reached an eight-month high before pulling back, while broader digital assets have also shown renewed activity. Market reports have linked the move to stronger institutional demand, ETF activity, derivatives positioning and improving regulatory expectations.

Ether has added another dimension to the recovery. Reuters reported that Ethereum broke out of a bull-flag pattern after clearing $2,661.52, with technical momentum strengthening above several important trend indicators.

That performance suggests the recent move is not limited to Bitcoin alone; capital and risk appetite have been spreading across parts of the broader crypto market. The next major technical area is now around $88,000–$90,000.

CryptoQuant has identified approximately $88,700 as an important resistance point because it corresponds with the upper band of its trader realized-price model. Historically, that area can become a zone where profitable traders begin taking some gains.

Other market calculations similarly place the upper edge of current technical resistance around the high-$80,000s. That does not mean Bitcoin will move directly toward $90,000. The latest price action demonstrates that resistance remains active.

Bitcoin has recently encountered selling pressure after approaching $85,000, with short-term analysts watching the $82,000–$83,000 area for evidence of whether the breakout can hold.

On the downside, the structure remains considerably broader than the immediate trading range. The 200-day moving average is around $70,600–$71,000 in CryptoQuant’s analysis, creating a much deeper reference point for the long-term trend.

Above that level, the former $76,000–$81,000 supply zone could increasingly become a test of whether previous resistance has transformed into support. The larger story, therefore, is one of changing market structure.

Bitcoin has absorbed a major supply wall, reclaimed important long-term trend measures and attracted renewed momentum across parts of the crypto complex. Yet the next stage requires the market to prove that the breakout can survive profit-taking and macroeconomic volatility.

For traders and investors, the $88,000–$90,000 region represents the next major test, while the $70,000 area remains a distant but important structural support. Between those levels, Bitcoin’s trajectory will be determined not only by technicals, but also by liquidity, institutional flows, derivatives positioning and the willingness of long-term holders to keep distributing their coins.

Meta’s Muse AI App Tops the Charts as Ex-Anthropic Staffers Pursue Self-Improving AI

By
Paul Ugbede Godwin
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0

The artificial intelligence industry is entering a new phase in which the contest is no longer simply about building larger models. It is increasingly about creating AI systems that can act independently, learn from experience and potentially contribute to the development of their successors.

Two recent developments capture this transition: Meta’s rapid consumer success with Muse and the emergence of Mirendil, a startup founded by former Anthropic researchers that is pursuing self-improving AI.

Meta introduced Muse on September 8 as a personal AI agent designed to do more than answer questions. Running through a dedicated secure virtual machine, Muse can perform tasks on a user’s behalf, including researching and booking travel, sending emails and organizing projects.

Meta describes the system as an agent capable of learning from conversations and becoming more useful over time. Its early adoption has been striking. By September 25, Sensor Tower estimated that Muse had surpassed 3.4 million downloads.

While other analytics companies reported figures ranging from roughly 2.3 million to 4.3 million. Muse also reached the top position on both the U.S. App Store and Google Play Store during the month. The significance extends beyond download numbers.

Muse represents Meta’s attempt to turn artificial intelligence into a consumer interface for action. Instead of opening separate applications, searching websites and completing individual tasks, users can increasingly delegate portions of that process to an AI agent.

Goldman Sachs analysts have described this movement as a shift from AI as backend infrastructure toward AI as a consumer-facing platform. That transition creates an enormous commercial opportunity, but also introduces a different category of risk.

An AI that merely generates text can be checked before its output is used. An agent that can browse, communicate, purchase, schedule or manipulate digital environments has greater operational consequences when it makes a mistake.

Muse’s rapid expansion therefore makes questions around permissions, privacy, cybersecurity and human oversight increasingly important. At the same time, the frontier is moving toward AI systems that participate in their own development.

Mirendil, founded by former Anthropic researchers, is reportedly in discussions to raise as much as $1 billion at a potential $5 billion valuation. The company previously raised a $200 million seed round at a $1 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg.

The idea of self-improving AI is no longer purely theoretical. Anthropic recently disclosed that Claude is involved in approximately 90% of its research and development work, with the model leading about 26% of that work.

Anthropic says these activities remain under human supervision, meaning the company has not handed over autonomous control of model development. Nevertheless, the trajectory matters.

If AI can increasingly write code, conduct experiments, evaluate results and contribute to the design of subsequent models, the economics of AI research could change dramatically. Development cycles could accelerate while the distinction between the tool and the researcher becomes increasingly blurred.

The combination of Muse’s consumer momentum and investment in self-improving AI illustrates the industry’s broader transformation. The next competitive advantage may not simply belong to whoever has the biggest model, but to whoever builds the most capable agentic system—and establishes the strongest mechanisms for controlling what that system can do.

Europe Raises €1.6B in New VC Funds as Defence Tech Leads Startup Investment Boom

By
Paul Ugbede Godwin
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0

Europe’s venture capital market is entering a new phase, marked by a surge of fresh capital, a growing number of specialized funds and an increasingly important role for defence technology.

More than €1.6 billion has been raised through 11 new European venture funds, while companies across the continent have secured roughly €5 billion through 58 funding rounds.

Those figures point to a European startup ecosystem that is becoming deeper, more specialized and increasingly connected to strategic industries. The most notable feature of the new funding landscape is its range.

New funds stretch from approximately €10 million vehicles designed to back pre-seed startups to growth-stage funds approaching €575 million. That spectrum matters because Europe’s technology economy requires capital at every stage of development.

A promising founder may need a relatively small initial cheque to build a prototype, while an established company entering international markets may require hundreds of millions of euros to scale manufacturing, research and distribution.

Defence technology is emerging as one of the strongest magnets for this capital. Europe’s changing security environment has encouraged governments, investors and entrepreneurs to reconsider the economic importance of technologies such as drones, autonomous systems, cybersecurity, satellite infrastructure and artificial intelligence.

Venture capital is increasingly moving toward companies whose products can serve both commercial and defence applications, creating a broader investment thesis around technological sovereignty and strategic resilience.

The €5 billion raised across 58 European rounds also illustrates how capital is being distributed among different stages and sectors.

Funding rounds can range from early investments in young technology companies to much larger transactions involving businesses that have already demonstrated commercial traction.

For founders, this creates more potential routes to financing, but it also means that investors are becoming more selective about technology, market size, revenue potential and the ability of management teams to execute.

The geography of European venture capital is equally important. While established hubs such as London, Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam continue to attract substantial investment, capital is increasingly looking beyond traditional centres.

Emerging ecosystems across Southern, Northern and Eastern Europe are building specialized expertise in areas including fintech, artificial intelligence, climate technology, defence and industrial software.

For entrepreneurs, the growing number of funds creates an opportunity to approach investors according to the company’s stage rather than simply its location. A pre-seed founder might target a specialist €10 million fund, while a rapidly expanding technology company may need a growth investor capable of deploying substantially larger amounts.

Understanding the mandate, geography and preferred investment stage of each fund can therefore be as important as preparing the pitch itself. For investors, Europe’s expanding fund ecosystem offers greater specialization but also introduces new questions about competition and valuations.

More capital can accelerate innovation, yet companies receiving funding must ultimately translate investment into sustainable businesses. The European venture capital story is therefore no longer simply about raising more money.

It is increasingly about where that money is going, which technologies investors consider strategically important and how startups move from small experimental teams into globally competitive companies.

With more than €1.6 billion entering new funds and €5 billion flowing through 58 rounds, Europe’s next technology cycle is being shaped not only by the amount of capital available, but by the sectors and stages that capital is prepared to support.

Bitget’s $380 Million Security Breach Tests the Resilience of Centralized Crypto Exchanges

By
Paul Ugbede Godwin
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0

The latest security incident at Bitget has once again exposed one of the cryptocurrency industry’s most persistent challenges: even sophisticated exchanges can become vulnerable when weaknesses emerge somewhere in the technology stack.

Attackers exploited a vulnerability in a third-party security product, according to Bitget CEO Gracy Chen, allowing them to obtain internal network credentials, forge withdrawal instructions and bypass risk controls. The resulting loss has been estimated at roughly $387.5 million, up from an initial estimate of $351.6 million.

The incident was detected on September 24, when Bitget identified unauthorized transfers involving parts of its hot and warm wallet infrastructure. The exchange says its cold wallets were not affected and that customer account balances remained intact.

Bitget also says the incident was contained, with no further unauthorized transfers identified after the attack path was addressed. The significance of the breach extends beyond the amount stolen.

The reported attack demonstrates how crypto security increasingly depends on interconnected systems rather than simply protecting private keys. In this case, Bitget says the attackers exploited a third-party vulnerability to compromise internal credentials and manipulate the withdrawal authorization process.

That distinction matters because it shows how an exchange can face systemic risk even when its core cold-storage infrastructure remains secure. Bitget has since identified and remediated the underlying vulnerability.

The exchange has brought in cybersecurity specialists Mandiant and SlowMist to assist with forensic investigation, fund tracing and additional security checks. Trading and deposits have continued, while withdrawals were temporarily suspended as the company reviewed the withdrawal infrastructure.

The restoration of withdrawals is being handled in stages rather than through an immediate reopening. Bitcoin withdrawals are scheduled to resume on September 28 at 08:00 UTC. Ethereum follows on September 29 across Ethereum, BNB Chain, Arbitrum, Base and Optimism.

USDT withdrawals are scheduled for September 30 across Ethereum, Solana, TRON and other supported networks, while other tokens, fiat and P2P services are scheduled to return on October 2. The phased approach reflects the security priorities following a major breach.

Reopening withdrawals too quickly could create additional vulnerabilities if the underlying systems had not been fully validated. By restoring assets and networks progressively, Bitget can conduct further checks while monitoring the system for abnormal activity.

At the same time, the exchange has shifted attention toward recovering the stolen assets. Bitget launched a Recovery Bounty Program offering eligible participants a bounty equivalent to 5% of funds successfully frozen through their voluntary efforts and another 5% of funds successfully recovered.

The programme is designed to encourage exchanges, blockchain projects, security researchers and on-chain investigators to cooperate in tracing the stolen assets. The incident therefore illustrates both the vulnerability and resilience of modern crypto infrastructure.

Blockchain transactions may be transparent and traceable, but the surrounding systems that authorize transactions, manage credentials and connect multiple networks remain critical attack surfaces.

For Bitget, the immediate priorities are restoring withdrawals safely, recovering assets and demonstrating that the vulnerability has been permanently addressed. For the wider industry, the episode reinforces a broader lesson.

Exchange security is no longer only about protecting wallets. It is about securing every layer of the infrastructure that connects users, software, custodians, networks and financial assets.

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