Crypto news

The first staked exchange-traded fund tied to Tron will debut on US markets Wednesday under the ticker TRXS, offering investors exposure to the TRX token through traditional markets. The Canary Staked TRX ETF will include staking rewards, which will be reflected in the fund's net asset value. Tron founder Justin Sun said the launch highlights the network's role as critical infrastructure for the global digital economy and gives institutional investors a new access point. TRX is the eighth-largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of $32.1 billion, and Tron is widely used for stablecoin transfers due to its cost and efficiency. Canary Capital CEO Steven McClurg noted that as stablecoin adoption grows, Tron has become key to digital asset payments and settlement. The company has launched several crypto ETFs over the past year, including ones for HBAR, Litecoin, and XRP.

On September 6, 2026, a vulnerability in Elements software, which underpins the Liquid Network, allowed actors to drain roughly 4,000 BTC (about $320 million at the time) from the federation wallet. The flaw enabled the creation of unbacked L-BTC tokens without compromising private keys. The actors, identifying as white-hat hackers, communicated via Bitcoin's OP_RETURN field. Blockstream patched affected bridge nodes on September 7, after which 3,400 BTC were returned. However, 598.5 BTC (about $47 million) remain unrecovered, with negotiations ongoing. Ledger's CTO questioned the white-hat framing given the retained amount. The Liquid Network remains paused, with exchanges halting L-BTC deposits and withdrawals, and no timeline for resumption has been provided.

Canary Capital launched the first staked TRON exchange-traded fund in the U.S., trading as TRXS on Cboe. The fund holds TRX and stakes substantially all of its holdings, with rewards included in the net asset value. This provides investors brokerage-based access to TRON without directly managing staking, with a 1.10% annual sponsor fee and BitGo as custodian. TRON founder Justin Sun and Canary CEO Steven McClurg highlighted the network's role in stablecoin payments and settlement. TRON processed $2.1 trillion in USDT transfers in Q2 2026, with stablecoin market cap reaching $89.2 billion. The launch follows expanding U.S. access for TRX, including Binance.US trading and Bitnomial futures, and adds to Canary's crypto ETF lineup that includes XRP, Litecoin, and HBAR products.

An unknown attacker exploited a range-proof cache bug in the Elements codebase on Sept. 6, 2026, minting approximately 4,000 unbacked L-BTC on the Liquid Network. The attacker used the SideSwap peg-out service to drain 95% of the federation's reserve, roughly 3,996 BTC ($320 million), in a single transaction within 35 minutes. Following the exploit, the attacker communicated with Blockstream via OP_RETURN messages, identified as white hats, and returned 3,400 BTC after bridge nodes were patched. The attacker retained 598.5 BTC ($47 million) as a self-declared bounty. Liquid's block production was halted, and the network remains frozen. Blockstream confirmed no federation keys were compromised, attributing the exploit to a cache-key collision in verification logic that was fixed in the master branch but not yet deployed to production nodes. The incident has sparked debate over federated sidechain trust models, drawing comparisons to the 2016 DAO hack. Legal questions remain over whether retaining funds without a prior bounty agreement constitutes theft. The vulnerability's fix was merged four days before the exploit, but federation nodes ran software predating the patch by nearly five months.

Researchers investigating the $320 million Liquid Network incident have identified a potential flaw in the sidechain’s transaction-validation cache. According to their accounts, an attacker may have exploited a cache-key collision to bypass range-proof checks, allowing unbacked L-BTC tokens to be created and redeemed for approximately 3,996 BTC from the federation’s reserves. The emerging technical analysis suggests federation functionaries accepted the exploit transactions while other nodes rejected them, pointing to a possible software deployment issue. The withdrawn Bitcoin remains in the hands of a self-described whitehat who has conditioned its return on a confirmed patch across affected nodes. Blockstream has yet to confirm the deployment account or announce a completed fix.

Blockchain security firm Hacken found that about $91.3 billion in USDT on the Tron network is controlled by a 2-of-3 multisig wallet with no built-in delays or timelocks, meaning an attacker with two signing keys could seize control of the contract to mint tokens, freeze addresses, or reassign ownership. Hacken found no evidence of compromised keys or prior incidents but warned that reused signing keys could extend risks across Ethereum, Avalanche, and Celo. Despite this low technical security score of 3.3 out of 10, rating agency Bluechip upgraded Tether's corporate grade to C from D after a KPMG audit showed reserves exceeded liabilities by $6.8 billion. This is the first rating under Bluechip's new SMIDGE methodology, which combines financial audits with Hacken's on-chain technical review. The audit addresses a key condition for the upgrade, though analysts note the underlying architecture risks remain.

Liquid Network, a Bitcoin sidechain used by exchanges for faster settlements, suspended all transactions after an exploit drained approximately $320 million worth of bitcoin from its federation wallet. The network halted operations after purported white-hat hackers withdrew roughly 4,000 of its 4,200 bitcoin reserves, prompting an apology and a warning of wallet disruptions while federation members work to restore service. Blockstream attributed the theft to a software bug in its Elements system, not compromised keys. The stolen funds moved through the approved SideSwap platform, which could not distinguish between legitimate coins and those created by the bug. The incident raises doubts about the security of Liquid's model, which locks bitcoin in reserve to issue L-BTC for faster trades, and follows other recent crypto breaches this year.

Zcash (ZEC) has surged over 6,300% from its 2024 lows, climbing from roughly $16 to above $1,000 in early September 2026, briefly pushing its market cap to nearly $17 billion and surpassing Dogecoin. The primary catalyst was the launch of ZCSH, the first US spot Zcash ETF by Grayscale, on August 25, 2026, which provided a regulated avenue for institutional investment. The token reached an all-time high range between $1,025 and $1,046 following the ETF's debut. The rally highlights a renewed focus on privacy, with about 30% of ZEC's supply now in its shielded pool and shielded transactions making up the majority of network activity. Analysts draw parallels to Bitcoin's 2013 rise, and note the fixed 21 million coin supply cap. Recent network upgrades have also addressed prior criticisms regarding its development fund, helping to bolster the investment case, though ZEC's market cap still ranks outside the top ten.

Canary Capital's staked Tron (TRX) ETF, trading under the ticker TRXS, will begin trading on the Cboe BZX Exchange on September 9. The fund, the first US ETF to combine spot TRX exposure with built-in staking rewards, will stake at least 90% of its holdings under normal conditions, with 80% of net staking income accruing to the fund's net asset value. Canary will charge a 1.10% annual sponsor fee, with US Bank handling cash custody and BitGo Bank & Trust managing the TRX holdings. The S-1 amendment filed on August 19 outlined the fund's structure, and Tron founder Justin Sun confirmed the listing details on September 8, when TRX traded near $0.34. While several asset managers have filed for altcoin ETFs and Ethereum issuers have sought to add staking, TRXS could set a precedent for staking across the US crypto ETF market.

On September 6, approximately 4,200 BTC (worth about $320 million) was moved from Blockstream's Liquid Network to the Bitcoin mainchain in a single peg-out transaction. An OP_RETURN message in the transaction identified the movers as "white hats" and invited contact. The nature of the move is unconfirmed, and neither Liquid Network nor Blockstream has issued a statement. The Liquid Network operates under a Strong Federation model requiring 11-of-15 multisig and Peg-out Authorization Keys for withdrawals. The large funds movement either bypassed this layered security or was legitimately authorized, raising questions about the sidechain's security assumptions. The lack of official response leaves the safety of remaining reserves uncertain.