Altcoins today: BNB tops $1,300 all-time high, CAKE extends rally, SOL eyes $250

  • Binance Coin has crossed $1,300 for the first time.
  • CAKE maintains its bullish strength after an over 70% weekly surge.
  • Solana eyes short-term surges to the key $250.

Cryptocurrencies displayed stability on Tuesday, with most tokens on the edge of potential breakouts.

Bitcoin trades above $124,500 as the crypto market cap increased by 0.6% the past 24 hours to $4.28 trillion.

Amidst the optimism, this article explores altcoins stealing the show with impressive price actions.

Binance Coin continues to lead the altseason with fresh all-time highs above $1,300 today, while CAKE soared 8% over the past day, extending weekly gains by roughly 70%.

Meanwhile, SOL targets near-term rallies to $250.

Let’s discover more!

Binance Coin sets new ATH above $1,300

Binance’s token hit fresh all-time highs today as it touched $1,325, marking one of the robust performances among top altcoins this month.

The milestone follows weeks of steady momentum fueled by revived investor confidence in the exchange and massive trading volumes.

BNB has surpassed XRP and USDT to rank as the third-largest digital token by value, with $179.93 billion market cap.

Confidence in Binance’s long-term goals has propelled the native token.

Founder Changpeng Zhao has always emphasized focus on building and holding, and the price milestone likely validates that policy.

Binance’s consistent ecosystem growth, massive community engagement, and strategic token burns have helped BNB outperform markets.

Traders are now targeting $1,500 as exchange volumes and on-chain activity indicate momentum for more price gains.

CAKE continues upward streak

PancakeSwap’s CAKE has displayed remarkable performance since turning bullish last week.

It hit the $4.20 target today after gaining more than 15% on its 24-hour timeframe.

The alt is changing hands at $4.21, with a 50% increase in daily trading volume confirming improving trader activity.

The current momentum comes after the DEX revealed CAKE-PAD on October 6, a feature designed for asset burns and utility.

The official announcement indicated:

CAKE.PAD is built with simplicity, inclusivity, and CAKE utility in mind. It’s designed to bring in more users and drive more CAKE usage and burning.

Meanwhile, the price performance has attracted attention as it reflects a resurgence in the broader DeFi space.

Moreover, some interpret it as traders rotating capital from large-cap tokens to undervalued decentralized finance projects.

DeFi assets are regaining traction after months of sideways movement, as investors seek lucrative yield opportunities ahead of possible Q4 rallies.

The momentum comes after PancakeSwap launched innovative user-friendly features and new liquidity incentives to enhance yield farming experiences.

CAKE buyers are targeting $6 to clear the path towards $10 before heading to $19 amid broad-based bull runs.

SOL eyes short-term surge

Solana has been among the hottest ecosystems of this cycle.

Memecoin activity, speed, low fees, and scalability have helped the blockchain maintain its status as a top project.

SOL has soared from around $150 in early August to cross $250 on September 18.

However, broader market weakness and profit-taking triggered reversals to late September lows of $190.

Solana recovered to press time’s $230.

It gained 10% the previous week and a little seems on its way to $250 again.

Meanwhile, institutional interest sets the stage for immense growth as experts forecast massive gains in the fourth quarter.

With analysts perceiving dips as opportunities to add more, the market remains poised for more uptrends.

The post Altcoins today: BNB tops $1,300 all-time high, CAKE extends rally, SOL eyes $250 appeared first on CoinJournal.

Dubai cracks down on unlicensed crypto firms as UAE reinforces global crypto hub status

  • Dubai’s VARA fines 19 crypto firms for operating without proper licenses.
  • Penalties range from AED 100,000 to AED 600,000 with immediate cease orders.
  • VARA and SCA’s partnership ensures unified rules across the country’s digital asset market.

The United Arab Emirates is reinforcing its position as a global crypto hub—but not without rules.

As the country’s virtual asset market expands, regulators are stepping up enforcement to protect investors and ensure transparency.

Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has taken decisive action against unlicensed operators, signalling that the city’s crypto ambitions are rooted in compliance, not chaos.

VARA fines 19 crypto firms for unlicensed activity

VARA recently fined 19 companies for conducting virtual asset activities without proper authorisation or in violation of its marketing regulations.

The penalties, which ranged from AED 100,000 to AED 600,000, were accompanied by cease-and-desist orders, requiring the firms to immediately halt all operations and promotional activities in Dubai.

The list of penalised companies included UAEC Digital Fintech FZCO, Morpheus Software Technology FZE (operating as FUZE), TON DLT Foundation, GLEEC DMCC, UEEX Technology, LBK Blockchain FZCO, Triple A Technologies, Hatom Labs, Hokk Finance, Mastercoin DMC, and A to Z Globe DMCC, among others.

VARA said these firms had breached regulatory obligations and failed to obtain the required licences for offering crypto-related services.

Each company was ordered to stop marketing unapproved crypto products and services to residents or entities within Dubai.

Dubai steps up enforcement to maintain market integrity

The crackdown marks one of VARA’s strongest enforcement actions since its inception, reinforcing Dubai’s message that virtual asset activities must align with its regulatory framework.

According to VARA, unlicensed operations pose serious financial, legal, and reputational risks—not only to investors but also to the stability of the wider digital asset ecosystem.

In previous cases, VARA had imposed similar penalties on entities found in breach of its licensing rules.

Morpheus Software Technology FZE (FUZE), for instance, was previously fined for anti-money laundering violations and governance failures.

The firm has since accepted the findings, submitted a remediation plan, and allowed VARA to appoint an independent compliance monitor to oversee corrective measures.

These actions demonstrate Dubai’s intention to foster a secure market that supports innovation without compromising investor protection.

UAE aims for unified crypto regulation

Earlier this year, the UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) and VARA signed a strategic partnership to harmonise regulatory frameworks across the country.

The collaboration seeks to eliminate gaps between federal and emirate-level rules, ensuring that all virtual asset service providers operate under consistent oversight.

This unified approach is part of the UAE’s broader effort to attract global crypto firms while maintaining strict standards for transparency and risk management.

The partnership between SCA and VARA also allows both regulators to share data, streamline licensing, and strengthen supervision of the fast-growing digital asset market.

Strong adoption drives regulatory evolution

While the UAE enforces tighter rules, it continues to see one of the highest rates of crypto adoption globally.

Experts recently ranked the UAE among the top countries for digital asset ownership, with 25.3 percent of its population holding cryptocurrencies.

That growth—fuelled by strong investor interest and government support—has turned the UAE into one of the most active markets in the world for blockchain and decentralised finance initiatives.

Between 2019 and 2025, crypto adoption in the UAE reportedly increased by more than 200 percent.

In global rankings, the country scored 99.7 on a composite crypto adoption index, just behind Singapore, which scored 100.

Such widespread adoption has made regulation more urgent.

Authorities are aware that unlicensed operations could undermine investor confidence, and VARA’s latest enforcement drive aims to set clear boundaries for firms entering the market.

The post Dubai cracks down on unlicensed crypto firms as UAE reinforces global crypto hub status appeared first on CoinJournal.

ZKsync introduces Atlas upgrade for one-second finality: what this means for ZK price

  • The ZKsync team has announced the launch of its Atlas upgrade.
  • Atlas is designed to boost transaction finality to one second.
  • ZK price rose 7% amid the news, and bulls look poised for more.

ZKsync has unveiled its Atlas upgrade, promising near-instantaneous zero-knowledge (ZK) finality to enhance enterprise adoption and high-throughput applications.

This milestone arrives amid a robust week for the ZK token.

Per the latest data, ZK has spiked more than 20% in the past week as investor confidence reemerges across the market.

What is ZKsync’s Atlas upgrade?

ZKsync, developed by Matter Labs, has long been at the forefront of ZK rollup technology, enabling secure and efficient scaling of Ethereum.

The Atlas upgrade, rolled out on October 6, 2025, represents a pivotal evolution of its ZK Stack framework.

Specifically, the Atlas upgrade bolsters the ZKsync network as the protocol looks to meet the demands of institutional and enterprise users transitioning operations on-chain.

At its core, Atlas introduces a high-performance sequencer engineered to process between 25,000 and 30,000 transactions per second, a leap that addresses longstanding bottlenecks in blockchain throughput.

ZKsync says central to the upgrade is the integration of Airbender, an innovative proving system that achieves sub-second confirmations for ZK proofs.

“Applications such as onchain order books, perps, exchanges, and AMMs depend on fast finality to reduce risk. Airbender allows systems to verify and settle extremely quickly,” the platform wrote in a blog post.

Per ZKsync, it is proofs, and not intermediaries, that carry trust across domains.

“Anyone (chain operators, exchanges, even a user’s mobile device) can quickly verify a succinct proof and act with confidence. This is also how private chains can keep user data private while still composing with public liquidity, revealing only the ZK proof of correctness.”

ZK price forecast

The ZK token, native to the ZKsync ecosystem, has shown promising momentum amid the past week’s crypto market bounce.

ZKsync looks poised to continue higher as the Atlas upgrade goes live.

Notably, bulls have retested the critical resistance level at $0.06.

Intraday highs of $0.062 saw buyers come close to breaching a supply wall at $0.065, in place since Sept. 13.

Gains of 7% in the past 24 hours and 20% over the past week show bullish momentum.

With on-chain activity higher and the upgrade’s implications for scalability apparent, an influx of liquidity into the ecosystem will likely catalyse a ZK price uptick to $0.1.

Bulls will target the psychological $1 mark.

However, downside risks persist if the broader market sentiment flips amid profit-taking.

Conditions across the risk assets market will be critical to traders.

The post ZKsync introduces Atlas upgrade for one-second finality: what this means for ZK price appeared first on CoinJournal.

BNY Mellon explores tokenized deposits to modernize payments infrastructure

  • BNY Mellon explores blockchain-based tokenized deposits to modernize payment infrastructure.
  • JPMorgan and HSBC have launched tokenized deposit pilots for faster, cheaper cross-border transfers.
  • Global banks embrace blockchain as new regulations boost confidence in digital asset innovation.

The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BNY Mellon) is exploring the use of tokenized deposits as part of its ongoing efforts to modernize its payments infrastructure.

The initiative aims to enable clients to make payments using blockchain technology, reflecting a broader shift among global financial institutions toward the adoption of digital asset frameworks.

According to Carl Slabicki, Executive Platform Owner for Treasury Services at BNY Mellon, the project aligns with the bank’s work to enhance real-time, instant, and cross-border payments.

Tokenized deposits, he said, could allow banks to “overcome legacy technology constraints,” streamlining the movement of deposits and payments both within their own ecosystems and, eventually, across the wider financial market as industry standards mature.

BNY Mellon’s treasury services business processes approximately $2.5 trillion in payments daily, underscoring the potential scale and impact of this innovation.

The bank views blockchain as a tool for making transactions faster, more efficient, and more secure — a vision shared by several leading players in the global banking sector.

Banks advance toward blockchain-based payments

Tokenized deposits are essentially digital representations of customer deposits, offering a claim against a commercial bank.

Unlike traditional transfers that may take days to settle, transactions using tokenized deposits are processed on blockchain rails, enabling instantaneous settlement.

Advocates say this model could lower costs and allow transactions to occur 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

BNY Mellon’s move follows similar experiments by other major institutions.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. launched a pilot program in June for its own token, JPMD, which represents US dollar deposits at the bank.

Meanwhile, HSBC Holdings Plc rolled out a tokenized deposit service in September, giving corporate clients the ability to transfer currencies across borders more efficiently and securely.

In Europe, the momentum has extended to collaborative efforts among banks.

A consortium of nine financial institutions — including UniCredit SpA, ING Groep NV, and DekaBank — announced plans to jointly develop a stablecoin, a blockchain-based token pegged to fiat currency and backed by liquid assets such as government securities.

Industry momentum and regulatory clarity

The banking industry’s renewed focus on blockchain comes amid increasing regulatory clarity around digital assets.

The United States recently introduced regulations for stablecoins, while the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework is now being implemented.

These developments are providing traditional financial institutions with greater confidence to experiment with blockchain-based payment solutions.

BNY Mellon, one of the world’s largest custodians with $55.8 trillion in assets under custody or administration, has been a consistent participant in blockchain initiatives.

In July, the bank announced a collaboration with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to use blockchain to maintain ownership records of money market funds.

Additionally, BNY Mellon is among over 30 global financial institutions working with Swift to develop a blockchain-based shared ledger for real-time cross-border payments.

The exploration of tokenized deposits represents another step in BNY Mellon’s broader digital transformation strategy.

As the financial system continues its gradual evolution toward tokenized and blockchain-enabled assets, BNY Mellon’s initiatives highlight how legacy institutions are adapting to a decentralized future — one where efficiency, transparency, and interoperability could redefine global finance.

The post BNY Mellon explores tokenized deposits to modernize payments infrastructure appeared first on CoinJournal.