The Purge is Upon Us

Welcome back to The Epicenter, where the economy’s shedding jobs faster than Solana sheds validators.

It’s layoff season in tech and fintech, which means LinkedIn’s gone quiet, Slack’s gone dark, and everyone’s pretending to “catch up on deep work” instead of crying into their oat milk lattes. Meanwhile, Washington’s trying to reopen the government before the SEC forgets what tokenized assets are, the Senate finally remembered that the CFTC exists, and Ripple’s apparently bored of crypto and wants to play banker now.

Add in China accusing the US of pulling off a state-sponsored Bitcoin heist, institutional inflows vanishing into the abyss, and SoFi deciding it’s time for banks to trade crypto like it’s 2021 again, and you’ve got yourself a week that feels like a bear market fever dream. There’s not that many good things happening, but at least the meme games are going strong 🤷‍♂️

Now let’s get into it 👇

⛓️ The Onchain Pulse: What’s Happening on the Front Lines of Finance

This week’s biggest news in crypto and all things digital assets

• As the shutdown nears its end, crypto is getting ready to go from ghost town to gridlock: once the SEC and CFTC clock back in, pending ETF filings, enforcement actions, and rulemakings will all unfreeze—just in time to ruin everyone’s week

• The Senate dropped its long-awaited crypto market structure bill, giving the CFTC sweeping new power over Bitcoin and Ether (but it still left major gaps around DeFi, privacy tokens, and institutional adoption)

• The IRS just gave crypto ETPs a tax-free green light to earn yield, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calling it a “clear path” for trusts to stake digital assets without getting wrecked by the taxman

• Ripple’s done playing in the crypto sandbox; Garlinghouse says it’s now gunning for Wall Street, aiming to bridge the DeFi world with the same TradFi giants it once tried to disrupt

• Crypto treasury firms are ditching blue chips for fringe tokens, raising $15B in private sales this year and stoking fears that their new playground could turn market “diversification” into full-blown volatility

• Gemini’s empire took another hit this quarter: losses came in wider than expected, reminding everyone that not even a decade of HODL culture can make the Winklevii’s exchange immune to gravity

• Lighter just raised $68M at a $1.5B valuation to take on DeFi’s derivatives giants—backed by Founders Fund, Haun Ventures, and Robinhood, it’s betting zk-rollups and institutional swagger can outshine its onchain rivals

• Institutional appetite is vanishing faster than altcoin liquidity: DAT inflows cratered 95% from $5.5B in July to just $259M, as Bitcoin slid 10% and funds faced the choice between bleeding out or borrowing badly to stay alive

• China just accused the US of pulling off a state-level heist, claiming Washington stole 127,000 BTC in a massive crypto hack; CVERC says the “seizure” was actually part of a broader US cyber op disguised as law enforcement

• SoFi just became the first US bank to roll out crypto trading, joining the lender gold rush as Trump-era regulators clear the path; analysts say it’s a sign that even TradFi wants a piece of the digital asset pie

🗣️ Word on the Street: What the Experts are Saying

Stuff you should repost (or maybe even cough reword and take credit for)

• Litquidity references the mass layoffs and reminds us that Kendall Roy would have fired everyone on the spot

• Boring Business recapped Warren Buffett’s final shareholder letter so you don’t have to—and somehow made mortality sound like a masterclass in portfolio management. Here are the highlights: luck is underrated, time catches up to everyone, pick your heroes wisely, and remember—it’s never too late to compound your character

• Infinity Ventures’ Kamran Ansari says the fintech party’s officially over—cheap money is gone, exits are rare, and only founders who can actually execute (not just vibe) will survive this “adapt or die” era

• Joe Fenti tries to bring some levity to the layoffs with his most recent video (10/10 recommend)

• Oren John reminds marketers that no one’s watching unless you make them: the internet rewards loud confidence—not quiet talent

Meme of the Week

🏦 Kiss my SaaS: What’s Changing the Game for Fintech

Things you should care about if you want to impress your coworkers

• Forbes just dropped the 7 fintech and banking trends set to define 2026—now the qustion is: are you set up to win next year?

• Saudi fintech Lean Technologies is weighing fresh investments and partnerships ahead of a potential IPO, signaling the Gulf’s fintech boom is officially moving from “startup hustle” vibes to “ring the bell” energy

• Affirm popped while Block flopped— it looks like investors are split between betting on buy now, pay later euphoria or worrying Jack Dorsey’s empire is bleeding efficiency

• AI may dominate every boardroom buzzword bingo, but Regpack’s Asaf Darash says the real play is pairing it with embedded fintech—turning SaaS platforms from passive tools into proactive partners (if founders can resist the urge to “just add ChatGPT” and call it innovation)

• According to Forbes, stablecoins have officially gone from crypto side quest to fintech main character, and 2026 could be the year banks, startups, and payment networks all start treating digital dollars like actual money, not speculative fan fiction

Closing Thoughts

Between mass layoffs and crypto dips, this week felt like watching capitalism speed-run burnout. Stay sharp, stay solvent, and remember: whether it’s regulators, recessions, or rug pulls—something’s always going to getting cut.

— The Epicenter, powered by Pyth Network