Bitcoin traded around $84,600 on October 3, 2026, but the biggest percentage gains were seen across the altcoin market. Quant (QNT) topped the charts as the crypto asset with the strongest seven-day price performance. Its price surged 158.3% to reach $261.42 per token, cooling slightly from a 178% peak earlier in the week, according to price tracking by CoinGecko.
The primary catalyst for QNT’s rally came from traditional US banking. On September 24, The Clearing House selected the Quant network as the core infrastructure for its On-Chain Money Initiative. The joint venture is a dedicated network designed to handle the clearing and settlement of commercial bank deposit transactions in digital token format.
The Clearing House plans to connect the new deposit-bearing network directly to established domestic payment rails such as RTP and CHIPS. Commercial financial institutions are expected to gain access to this cross-bank facility starting in the first half of 2027.
Mainnet Smart Contracts Drive Midnight Rally
The top gainers also included crypto assets that recently completed ecosystem technical roadmap milestones. Midnight (NIGHT) jumped 96.5% to $0.04988, with trading volume reaching $124.9 million this week. Platform developers confirmed that permissionless smart contract deployment is now fully operational on mainnet.
Gero Wallet responded to the mainnet rollout by providing direct system support for its users. The independent crypto wallet now supports holding shielded balances and has begun covering transaction processing fees for Midnight token holders.
Two other altcoins advanced on supply reductions and exchange reward campaigns. Bitway gained 66.7% to $1.44 amid a surge in activity ahead of the closing date for the Binance Wallet Booster Season 5 program on October 2. Pump.fun followed with a 19.5% gain to $0.005462 after the platform conducted routine buybacks and burned PUMP tokens from the open market.
Token Unlock Schedules Weigh on Mid-Cap Altcoins
Lighter topped this week’s losers list after plunging 28.7% to $3.49. Lighter’s decline followed competitive pressure as trading platform Robinhood announced the launch of perpetual futures services in the US through its Bitstamp partnership.
Upcoming and ongoing token releases into the open market were a primary driver of selling pressure this week. MemeCore dropped 16.7% to $1.03 after an October 2 token unlock event added 56.11 million M tokens to circulating supply - representing 2.46% of total circulation.
Ethena also faced downward price pressure, dropping 14.7% to $0.232. The token fell just ahead of a scheduled restructuring of asset allocations for early backers. The Ethena Foundation and key investor groups agreed to release all remaining early investor tokens to exchanges starting October 5. Zcash rounded out the week’s top losers, sliding 14.4% to $1,313.37 on $726.7 million in trading volume.
Capital consistently flows toward assets with measurable utility. Quant’s selection as the backbone for a domestic interbank settlement system drove institutional buying interest, while the influx of millions of newly released tokens prompted Ethena holders to offload their holdings ahead of time.
Reported by crypto.news.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
