Bitcoin News Today: Scaling Tensions: Crypto's Breakthroughs and Blackouts Define the Week

The top crypto news this week highlights developments in airdrops, mainnet launches, and platform updates across key projects. Aster's Genesis Stage 2 airdrop, Portal to Bitcoin's mainnet debut, and Lighter's compensation plan following a system outage are among the most significant updates.

Aster DEX's second airdrop phase (Genesis Stage 2) distributed 320 million ASTER tokens (4% of total supply) to over 153,932 wallets, with claims opening on October 14, 2025. Eligibility prioritized active Pro-mode traders, referral participation, and the use of yield-bearing collateral like asBNB or USDF. The airdrop contributed to a 13% surge in ASTER's price to $1.47, driven by high demand for its features, including 1001x leverage and MEV-resistant trading OKX^[1]. However, the project faced scrutiny over allocation discrepancies, transparency concerns, and allegations of wash trading. Aster delayed the airdrop to October 20, 2025, to audit distributions and address community feedback Blockonomi^[2].

Monad's airdrop claims portal, 98% complete as of October 8, 2025, is expected to launch on October 14. However, traders on prediction markets like Polymarket anticipate delays, with most bets favoring a November 2025 distribution. The project plans to release 100 billion native gas tokens, though past delays have raised skepticism. Monad's co-founder has emphasized ongoing updates, but clarity on the timeline remains limited BeInCrypto^[3].

Portal to Bitcoin (PTB) officially launched its mainnet on October 13, 2025, enabling trustless atomic swaps between Bitcoin assets and major blockchains. The project, backed by $92 million in funding led by Paloma Investments, introduces BitScaler-a trustless channel solution reducing Lightning Network fees by up to 90%. PTB aims to bridge Bitcoin's scalability limitations by enabling interoperability with Ethereum, Solana, and others, supporting decentralized finance (DeFi) applications MEXC^[4].

Ethereum Layer-2 platform Lighter faced a five-hour outage on October 10–11, 2025, due to a database failure during high trading volumes. The incident impacted 2,008 traders, with 38 losing over $100,000. Lighter announced a compensation plan on October 13, including stablecoin and platform token distributions, while scheduling an infrastructure upgrade to prevent future issues. The outage highlighted the challenges of scaling high-performance DeFi platforms under volatile market conditions Cryptotimes.io^[5].

Binance announced a $283 million payout for users affected by the October 11 depegging of stablecoins like USDE and WBETH. The compensation covers liquidated traders and those experiencing delayed transfers during the crisis. CEO Richard Teng apologized for the incident, emphasizing improved risk management measures to prevent future disruptions. The move follows a broader market rebound, with Bitcoin rising 3.74% in 24 hours FXLeaders^[6].