Japan's Finance Minister plans to advance lifting the ban on cryptocurrency ETFs in Japan.

Digital asset investment firm RockawayX, which manages roughly $2 billion in assets, is targeting a $150 million raise for a new liquidity opportunities fund. The firm previously acquired crypto hedge fund Relayer Capital. According to sources familiar with the matter, Austin Barack—founder of Relayer and ex-CoinFund partner—will stay on at RockawayX to manage the new fund, which will focus on investing in "undervalued tokens and crypto-related stocks". The development comes amid a recent strong rally in the crypto market, with Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana all rising more than 20% over the past week. Meanwhile, top crypto venture capital firms like Paradigm and Framework Ventures are broadening their investment horizons to include sectors such as AI and robotics. By contrast, RockawayX is doubling down on the liquid crypto asset market.

According to Axios, the U.S. Navy has cleared the main shipping lane in the Strait of Hormuz — specifically the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) channel between Iran and Oman — allowing more oil tankers to pass through. U.S. officials revealed that over the past several months, U.S. Navy underwater drones conducted systematic scans of the region, uncovering more than 100 suspected mine-like objects, after which the U.S. military partnered with private companies to remove or detonate the mines. Over the past 30 days, more than 500 vessels have transited the strait’s southern lane, with only roughly 2% coming under attack by Iranian drones or missiles. Trump stated that any vessel or ship that lays new mines will be "immediately and systematically destroyed." U.S. officials said that with the main lane back in operation, vessels can transit the Strait of Hormuz in both directions under U.S. protection, facilitating more oil to reach global markets.

Arthur Hayes announced in a post that the tokenomics infographic for FLOP, the token under Flop Labs, will be released this week. Hayes also stated that he plans to host an online AMA next week via X Spaces and YouTube, during which the community can ask questions and offer constructive feedback on FLOP’s tokenomics to assist the team in finalizing the tokenomics design.

Beating AI News Flash: According to a Financial Times report, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva stated that the AI investment boom is spreading from the United States to the rest of the world. As countries scale up construction of data centers and related infrastructure, AI is shifting from a U.S.-specific phenomenon to a global engine of economic growth. Georgieva noted that the global economy has been impacted by energy shocks triggered by the Iran war and potential closure of the Strait of Hormuz, yet its actual performance has outperformed earlier expectations. The energy crisis’s impact has been buffered by falling energy demand, releases of emergency oil and gas reserves, increased energy supplies from regions outside the Gulf, and growth in renewable energy and coal supplies. She pointed out that the global economy is currently in a "tug-of-war" between the AI boom and the economic shocks from the Iran war. While AI investment remains concentrated in the U.S., countries participating in the AI hardware supply chain and exporting related products globally are also benefiting. However, Georgieva warned that energy shocks are not over. As oil and gas reserves continue to decline and winter approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, a renewed rise in oil prices could push up inflation, force global central banks to raise interest rates, further increasing government financing costs and dragging down economic growth.

The first revenue from Hyperliquid’s AQAv2 mechanism is expected to flow into the Hyperliquid Aid Fund on October 3, with market projections putting the initial funding at around $20 million, which will be used to repurchase HYPE tokens. AQAv2 (Aligned Quote Asset v2) is a stablecoin mechanism announced by Hyperliquid in May this year, allowing stablecoins not exclusively issued by Hyperliquid—including USDC—to obtain the "Aligned" qualification. Per public details, AQAv2 returns the majority of stablecoin revenues to the Hyperliquid ecosystem: 90% of these revenues are allocated to relevant mechanisms, and 100% of that sum is subsequently used to repurchase and burn HYPE tokens. Coinbase has been named the fund deployment partner, while Circle handles technical deployment; both firms will also stake HYPE to participate in the mechanism. Analysts forecast the mechanism will generate an additional $135 million to $160 million in annual HYPE repurchase pressure.

SpaceX plans to build a $100 billion Starship launch base on the southern coast of Louisiana, adding its third Starship launch site. Located on Pecan Island, the facility covers roughly 125,000 acres, with planned construction of 5 launch complexes, 10 launch pads, plus facilities for propellant production, power generation, spacecraft processing, and employee housing. The base will help SpaceX boost Starship launch frequency and support its future plan to deploy up to 1 million data center satellites. Starship will also be used to launch upgraded Starlink satellites: its first orbital data center mission is targeted for as early as 2027, and it is scheduled to carry NASA astronauts on a lunar mission as early as 2028.