The Cointelegraph Research Investor Insights Report is a premium report published monthly that highlights the most recent and significant blockchain industry insights. Find exclusive insights about Bitcoin, DeFi, NFT, GameFi, Venture Capital, Security Tokens, Mining, Crypto Stocks, Regulations, and Derivatives from our subject matter experts.

Report Highlights

• Bitcoin closed out September at $19,431, a 3% drop from its September opening price of $20,050. Bitcoin continues to trade below its 50, 100, and 200 day moving averages, but the MACD indicator signals potential upside price action.
• The Ethereum Merge went as planned, with the blockchain switching to proof-ofstake. Multiple market participants are becoming concerned about the network’s lack of censorship resistance.
• The Merge ended the era of Ethereum mining on Sept. 15 and sent most GPU and Ethash hardware into retirement. Ethereum Classic, Ravecoin and EthPoW have absorbed only a fraction of the freed up hash rate.
• Former SEC Finance Director William Hinman’s assertion that Ether is not a security is now being allowed into evidence in the ongoing Ripple lawsuit.
• Facilitating 88% of open interest in Bitcoin derivatives, Deribit raised $40 million at a valuation of 81% lower than last year.
• September saw a 20.6% increase from the previous month in funds from VC investment, totaling over $1.64 billion.
• Mastercard launched a new debit card that offers NFT avatar customization in collaboration with crypto app hi. It’s already available in 25+ EEA countries and the United Kingdom.
• Security token market capitalization and volume grew up by 6.27% and 19.76% respectively but tokenized stocks average volume faced a second month in a row decrease — this time, by 7.3%.