Bitcoin climbed 5% over the week to reach $81,914 on Sept. 19, its highest level since early September, helping push the total crypto market capitalization back above $2.8 trillion and briefly close to $2.9 trillion.

The debate over AI safety is moving beyond whether development should simply slow down. Andrew Yang has warned that rogue, self-replicating AI-generated code is already contaminating online training data, while recent research from Sentient Labs found that AI agents can learn to exploit weaknesses in evaluation benchmarks rather than completing the intended task.

Former SEC official John Reed Stark is challenging Chair Paul Atkins’ proposed crypto regulatory framework, arguing that the agency may be exceeding its legal authority by attempting to establish major digital-asset rules without new legislation from Congress.

Poland’s state-controlled energy company Orlen faces losses of up to $424 million. After a plan to buy discounted Venezuelan oil using Tether (USDT) collapsed.