Four stories from September 22 to 28, what each one means for someone holding crypto for years rather than trading it, and what none of them change.
US bitcoin ETFs took in US$2.4 billion in a week and are back in the green for 2026, though counts of how far differ. Bitget started restoring withdrawals after a US$388 million theft and says its reserve covers every loss. Bitcoin still ended the week about 2% lower in Canadian dollars, near $117,500.
Not financial advice.
Four stories from September 22 to 28 matter if you hold crypto for years rather than trade it. Money poured back into US bitcoin funds, an exchange that lost US$388 million started paying people out, California put a leash on politicians who launch memecoins, and the week ended with the price slipping anyway. Here is each one, and what it does and does not change for you.
US spot bitcoin ETFs pulled in US$2.4 billion in the week to September 25, their biggest week since October 2025, The Block reported. Monday alone brought in US$999 million. BlackRock's fund took about half of the week's total, and Fidelity's took US$701.7 million. Those inflows pushed the funds back above zero for 2026 after being about US$5.8 billion in the hole in mid-July.
How far above zero depends on who is counting. The Block puts the year at US$934.1 million in net inflows through Friday. Decrypt had US$886.8 million through Thursday and cited a Bloomberg estimate closer to US$320 million. The direction is the same in all three; the size is not settled.
For a holder, fund flows are a thermometer, not a forecast. They tend to follow price rather than lead it. The same funds lost US$450 million on September 15 alone, the day a US crypto bill failed in the Senate, and money that arrives in a rush can leave in one. The more durable number is the total: about US$108 billion now sits in these funds, which means a lot of bitcoin is held by people who will never touch a private key.
On September 24, an attacker drained hot and warm wallets at Bitget, one of the larger offshore exchanges, by abusing a flaw in a third-party security product to send fake withdrawal orders. The Block puts the loss at US$388 million, the largest crypto theft reported this year. Withdrawals are coming back in stages: bitcoin on September 28, ether on the 29th, USDT on the 30th and everything else, including fiat, on October 2. Bitget says its user protection fund, which holds 5,500 BTC, will cover every loss.
The recovery side is messier. Of the stolen funds, close to 103 million XRP were moved on, and CoinDesk tracked about US$83 million of it leaving the attacker's first wallets. Issuers like Circle and Tether can freeze their own tokens, and they froze about US$320,000 of USDC and USDT tied to the breach. Nobody can freeze XRP itself, not even Ripple.
If your coins sat on Bitget, this is the good version of an exchange failure: the company had a reserve big enough to absorb it. Most of the famous collapses did not. We wrote about what happens to your crypto when an exchange fails on Saturday, and this week added one more example of the same lesson. Coins held by a company are a claim on that company.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2409 on September 27, Decrypt reported. It stops California public officers and employees from issuing memecoins, and from 2027 it bars platforms from listing memecoins launched by, or in partnership with, a federal, state or local official. Prosecutors at several levels can sue to enforce it and claw back the money. Newsom's office tied the law directly to President Trump, who has disclosed more than US$635 million from his TRUMP token on Solana.
Nothing here applies in Canada, and it will not stop anyone in Florida or Washington. It is still a useful reminder of what a memecoin is. The law's own definition says the value comes mostly from attention, speculation and community mood. That is a fair description, and it is the reason a memecoin does not belong in a plan you intend to hold for a decade.
Despite the inflows, bitcoin was trading near US$82,800 on Monday morning, down more than 2% in a day, CoinDesk wrote. In Canadian dollars it was about $117,500, roughly 2% lower than a week earlier, according to CoinGecko. Open interest in bitcoin futures has shrunk to 652,000 BTC from about 800,000 early in the year, and funding rates on perpetual futures have turned negative, which means traders betting on a fall are paying to keep those bets open.
Read that as a market with less borrowed money in it, which cuts both ways: fewer forced sellers if prices drop, and fewer forced buyers to fuel a squeeze. The mood gauge disagrees with the traders. The Fear and Greed index sat at 74, "Greed", up from 70 a week ago. Bitcoin still gained about 40% over the third quarter, so a 2% dip on a Monday is noise on that scale.
Not much, and that is the point. Big fund flows, a hack, a law and a soft Monday are all things you could react to, and none of them is a reason to change a plan made for years.
That is the idea behind Fonte. Your vault is your own smart account on Base, Fonte never holds your money, and you can withdraw any time. A written rule decides when to hold bitcoin and ether, so a week like this one does not ask anything of you. Right now vaults are in the cash phase, lending USDC on Aave at about 3.8% (variable, per DefiLlama). The rule's next scheduled entry is around October 19. See how the rule works.
Yes, as of late September 2026. After US$2.4 billion of inflows in the week to September 25, The Block counted US$934.1 million of net inflows for the year and Decrypt US$886.8 million through Thursday. A Bloomberg estimate put it nearer US$320 million. In mid-July the funds were about US$5.8 billion negative.
Bitget says no. The September 24 theft took about US$388 million from its hot and warm wallets, and the exchange says its user protection fund, holding 5,500 BTC, will cover every loss. Withdrawals are returning in stages from September 28 to October 2, 2026.
AB 2409, signed September 27, 2026, bans California public officers and employees from issuing memecoins. From 2027 it also stops platforms from listing memecoins launched by or with public officials. It does not apply in Canada.
About $117,500 CAD on September 28, 2026, according to CoinGecko, roughly 2% lower than a week earlier. In US dollars it traded near US$82,800.
Disclaimer: This article is general information, not financial, investment, legal or tax advice. Crypto assets are volatile and you can lose money, including your entire deposit. Figures quoted from third parties are as reported by those sources on the date shown and can change. Smart contracts can contain flaws.