The crypto landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace, with significant developments spanning from institutional investments to regulatory challenges and technological advancements.
BlackRock's plan to tokenize its Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) and other real-world asset funds is a clear indication of the growing convergence of traditional finance and blockchain technology. This move, if approved, could potentially revolutionize the investment landscape by enabling faster transfers and 24/7 settlements, integrating traditional assets into the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, and increasing the overall crypto market cap. However, it's important to note that this development is still pending regulatory approval, underscoring the critical role of regulatory frameworks in the adoption and growth of blockchain-based financial solutions.
In the mining sector, Bitcoin's hash rate and difficulty reaching new all-time highs suggest a bullish market sentiment, despite potential challenges for smaller miners. This development, coupled with the Federal Reserve rate decision, could further influence Bitcoin's price trajectory.
On the regulatory front, Gemini's IPO, one of the most anticipated in the crypto sector this year, signals growing investor confidence in the digital assets industry despite increasing scrutiny from regulators. However, the company's heavy reliance on trading fees and escalating losses highlight the need for diversified revenue streams and robust risk management strategies.
Meanwhile, the shift in investor sentiment from Ethereum back to Bitcoin, as evidenced by the inflows into Bitcoin ETFs, underscores the dynamic nature of the crypto market and the importance of strategic asset allocation.
In the realm of cybersecurity, the recent phishing exploit that drained $3M in USDC from a multi-sig wallet serves as a stark reminder of the persistent security threats in the crypto space. This incident underscores the need for robust cybersecurity measures and the importance of regulatory compliance in protecting investors' assets.
Finally, Ethereum's record 12 million daily smart contract calls and the surge in XRP Exchange reserves highlight the growing usage and adoption of blockchain technology, while also revealing potential market trends and investment opportunities.
In conclusion, these developments underscore the importance of staying abreast of the rapidly evolving crypto landscape, understanding the regulatory implications, and adopting a strategic approach to navigate the complexities of the crypto market.
The following article summaries have been sourced from Decrypt, CryptoSlate, NewsBTC, and Crypto Briefing. Each summary includes a direct link to the original source.
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, is reportedly planning to tokenize its Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) and other real-world asset (RWA) funds, according to a Bloomberg report. This move, which is still pending regulatory approval, signifies a significant step towards integrating traditional investment vehicles with blockchain technology. BlackRock has previously ventured into tokenization with the launch of BUIDL in partnership with Securitize in 2024, which allowed institutions to gain tokenized exposure to U.S. Treasuries. The firm now aims to extend this model to ETFs and other fund structures, marking the first time a traditional manager has tokenized mainstream funds at a large scale.
Tokenization of ETFs could enable 24/7 settlement and faster transfers, integrate assets from these funds into other areas of decentralized finance (DeFi), and signal that crypto has become "too big to fail" once giants like BlackRock move their entire books on-chain. This move could also significantly increase the overall crypto market cap. While it doesn't necessarily mean that new liquidity will flow to every alternative layer 1 or meme coin, it could potentially flow to the best assets and significantly boost stablecoins and DeFi assets. If these funds are tokenized on Ethereum, where BUIDL is based, ETH could be the biggest beneficiary. The crypto community is eagerly awaiting regulatory approval for this move, as it could set a precedent for other firms to follow.
In other crypto news, major cryptocurrencies are performing well, with SOL leading the pack. Bitcoin ETFs saw $552.7M in net inflows yesterday, and are now at $1.93B in net inflows since September began. Meanwhile, PayPal is considering expanding its network across its 400M accounts, and Coinbase has accused the SEC of deleting Gary Gensler’s text messages during the critical crypto crackdown years. Also, Rex-Osprey’s ETFs for BTC, XRP, DOGE, BONK, and TRUMP have passed the SEC’s 75-day window and are scheduled to launch today.
Bitcoin's hash rate and difficulty have reached new all-time highs, following a recent price surge that saw the cryptocurrency breach a two-week high. The hash rate, a measure of the network's total computational power, hit 1.12 billion TH/s on September 12, while the network's difficulty, a measure of how hard it is for miners to find a new block on the blockchain, also reached a record high of 136.04T. The difficulty in finding a block increases approximately every two weeks or after every 2016 blocks are mined, and it increases if the hash rate increases. The next difficulty adjustment is scheduled for September 18, 2025, with the current estimate predicting a 6.38% increase to 144.72T.
Varun Satyam, co-founder of DeFi platform Davos Protocol, explained that these increases often cause smaller or inefficient miners to scale back, while larger, efficient operators hold or even accumulate, positioning for a rally to recover their capital expenditure. With the Federal Reserve rate decision due on September 17 and risk-on markets primed for a 25 basis point rate cut, investors are bullish, expecting Bitcoin's price to push higher. This outlook is supported by an uptick in miners' reserves, which bounced to a 50-day high of 1.808 million BTC on September 9, indicating that miners are not looking to sell their stack. Satyam suggested that we may be entering a phase similar to post-halving surges, which have historically preceded price rallies.
Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange founded by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, has set the price for its initial public offering (IPO) at $28 per share, exceeding expectations. The exchange will begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol "GEMI". This IPO is one of the most anticipated in the crypto sector this year, with strong investor demand pushing the IPO well above its original $17 to $19 price per stock range. The company and its selling stockholders have also granted underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 758,929 shares to cover over-allotments, though Gemini will not receive proceeds from these secondary sales. The offering is expected to close on September 15.
Gemini, founded in 2014, has been a prominent player in the digital assets industry. The Winklevoss twins first gained fame through their legal dispute with Mark Zuckerberg over the creation of Facebook, and later became early Bitcoin evangelists. They were also vocal supporters of Donald Trump in his successful 2024 U.S. presidential campaign. Despite its user growth, Gemini's losses have increased, with a net loss of $158.5 million in 2024 and $282.5 million in the first half of 2025. The company remains heavily reliant on trading fees, which accounted for nearly 70% of its $142.2 million revenue last year. In its IPO filing, Gemini expressed confidence in its future, citing its focus on innovation and a history of firsts in the crypto industry.
In September, US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have seen a significant reversal in fortunes, attracting nearly $2 billion in new inflows after a challenging August marked by substantial redemptions. According to data from SoSoValue, 12 Bitcoin ETF products have seen inflows in six of the first eight trading sessions of September. Over the past four sessions alone, they've drawn approximately $1.7 billion, indicating a strong resurgence in investor interest. This is a stark contrast to August, when these funds experienced $751 million in outflows.
This trend has also widened the gap between Bitcoin and Ethereum, the second-largest crypto by market capitalization. While Bitcoin products have attracted significant new capital this month, Ethereum investment vehicles have recorded over $550 million in outflows over the same period. Nick Forster, founder of the on-chain options platform Derive, suggests this divergence highlights a shift in sentiment from Ethereum back to Bitcoin. Furthermore, André Dragosch, head of research at Bitwise Europe, has noted that daily net ETF flows have become the strongest determinant of Bitcoin’s market direction since US regulators approved the first spot products earlier this year. This is evident in Bitcoin’s recent price performance, with this month’s inflows coinciding with Bitcoin’s price consolidating near $114,000.
An unidentified cryptocurrency investor has lost over $3 million in a sophisticated phishing attack, according to blockchain investigator ZachXBT. The victim's wallet was drained of $3.047 million in USDC, which the attacker quickly converted into Ethereum and transferred into Tornado Cash, a privacy protocol often used to hide the movement of stolen funds. The compromised wallet was a 2-of-4 Safe multi-signature wallet, and the breach occurred through two consecutive transactions where the victim approved transfers to an address that mimicked their intended recipient.
The attacker had prepared for the exploit by deploying a fake but Etherscan-verified contract nearly two weeks prior to the attack. The contract was programmed with multiple "batch payment" functions to appear legitimate. On the day of the attack, the malicious approval was executed through the Request Finance app interface, which allowed the attacker to access the victim's funds. In response to the incident, Request Finance confirmed that a malicious actor had deployed a counterfeit version of its Batch Payment contract and that the vulnerability has since been patched. However, the blockchain security firm Scam Sniffer warned that similar exploits could occur due to several factors, including app vulnerabilities, malware, compromised front-ends, or DNS hijacking.
Ethereum's recent uptrend, which saw the cryptocurrency rise from about $1,400 in April to nearly $5,000, has been accompanied by increased allocations in funds and whale accumulation, a decrease in exchange deposits, and a surge in transactions, addresses, and smart-contract calls, according to CryptoQuant’s second September weekly report. Ethereum is currently trading below a realized price band of $5,200, while fund holdings and on-chain usage have reached record levels. The report suggests that the next phase will be determined by whether the price can surpass the upper band that has previously limited advances.
Ethereum fund holdings, largely driven by U.S. spot ETFs, have reached 6.7 million ETH, nearly double since April. Addresses holding between 10,000 and 100,000 ETH added approximately 6 million ETH over the same period, bringing the total to a new high of 20.6 million ETH. The report indicates that the "smart money" share in these balances means a significant portion of demand is already in place, limiting the room for momentum without fresh inflows. Staking has also risen in parallel, with the total ETH staked now standing at around 36.2 million, up by about 2.5 million ETH since May. This increase in staking reduces circulating supply and supports a tighter float, but also ties up capital that could otherwise meet new demand.
On-chain throughput has expanded, with total daily transactions peaking at about 1.7 million on August 16, and active addresses reaching approximately 800,000 on August 5, both new highs. Smart-contract calls surpassed 12 million daily for the first time, marking the heaviest programmatic use of the base layer to date. Increased usage across DeFi, stablecoin transfers, and token activity generates fee revenue and reinforces the settlement-layer role that supports ETH’s cash-flow and utility narratives. Meanwhile, supply pressure on the spot side has eased, with deposits to centralized venues falling from about 1.8 million ETH in mid-August to around 750,000 ETH per day after the early-September price high. The report suggests that the key technical level to watch is the realized price upper band near $5,200, which has previously repelled advances.
XRP Exchange reserves have seen a significant increase of 1.2 billion in a single day, a development that could potentially have a bearish impact on the XRP price. This surge in reserves was observed across four major crypto exchanges, with Binance leading the pack. Other exchanges like Bithumb, Bybit, and OKX also saw a substantial increase in their reserves. This sudden influx of XRP into exchange reserves could suggest that investors are moving their coins off their personal wallets, which may explain why XRP has been underperforming recently, struggling to maintain a price above the $3 mark.
However, CryptoOnchain, the analyst who reported this development, suggests that this increase in XRP Exchange reserves might be more about accumulation than sell-offs. The analysis indicates that this heavy accumulation happened around the key support level of $2.73, a price point that has previously stopped the altcoin from experiencing significant declines. The analyst also pointed out that the RSI and MACD indicators show a decrease in selling pressure a day after the surge in reserves, suggesting that the exchanges' heavy buying might be aimed at accumulation rather than immediate market injection. This pattern of large accumulations at a critical support level could indicate institutional coordination or an upcoming event, such as the potential launch of XRP ETFs next month. If the current support holds and buying volumes persist, the XRP price could rally to higher resistances at $3.34 and $3.58. However, if the support is broken, the increase in XRP Exchange reserves could turn into an opportunity for a massive supply.
In a recent episode of "Journey Man," Raoul Pal and Michael Howell, CEO of CrossBorder Capital, discussed the current liquidity landscape that has been driving risk assets like cryptocurrencies for nearly three years. They agreed that the global liquidity cycle is in its late stages, with its peak likely pushed to 2026 due to policy engineering, heavy bill issuance, and increased use of private-sector conduits. The conversation highlighted that long-duration assets, such as crypto and tech equities, remain the primary beneficiaries of ongoing currency debasement. However, the endgame is now visible as a wall of debt refinancing and inflation risk approaches.
Howell and Pal also discussed the structural transition from Federal Reserve Quantitative Easing (QE) to Treasury QE. The US Treasury's shift towards short-dated bills over coupons lowers the average duration of paper held by the private sector, which in turn boosts system liquidity. This issuance profile also controls volatility and creates powerful bid auras. Howell noted that if any credit provider buys government debt, particularly short-dated ones, it's monetization. Pal summarized that policymakers have shifted from balance-sheet expansion to a more complex "total liquidity" regime, where banks, money funds, and even crypto-native entities become the delivery rails of debasement.
The conversation also touched on the global liquidity situation. Europe and Japan are net-adding liquidity, while China has moved decisively to ease via the People's Bank of China's toolkit. Howell and Pal agreed that the administration wants a weaker dollar cyclically to ease the refinancing of the roughly half of global debt that is dollar-denominated, even if the dollar remains "fundamentally strong" as the world's primary collateral system. In this debasement regime, long-duration, liquidity-sensitive assets lead. Howell and Pal identified technology and crypto as the winners in this scenario. They also discussed the pivotal role of crypto stablecoins in the architecture, calling them a "conduit" for public-sector credit creation. The risks now crowd the 2026–2027 window, with the COVID-era terming-out of corporate and sovereign debt needing to be rolled in size at significantly higher coupons.
Dogecoin has seen a significant rally, with its value increasing by nearly 20% to approximately $0.25. This surge is largely attributed to a substantial purchase by CleanCore Solutions, which added over 500M DOGE (equivalent to $125M) to its holdings. This move not only boosts the use of the token but also cements its status as a reserve asset. Concurrently, there is growing anticipation for the launch of the first U.S. exchange-traded fund (ETF) for Dogecoin. The ETF, expected to launch next week, will offer traditional investors an indirect way to buy DOGE, potentially pushing its price towards $0.30.
The ETF, dubbed DOJE, is also expected to increase mainstream adoption of Dogecoin by providing a more regulated access to Dogecoin-based projects. This will likely enhance liquidity and trading volume. The rise in institutional inflows and the upcoming launch of the DOGE ETF have positively influenced the overall meme coin market sentiment, setting the stage for the presale success of Maxi Doge ($MAXI). These large-scale purchases validate Dogecoin as a legitimate asset, suggesting that investors see DOGE as more than just a meme.
The steady rise in Dogecoin prices has also sparked a surge in the entire meme coin sector, including Dogecoin-based tokens such as Shiba Inu, Bonk, Floki, Dogewhat, and Baby Doge Coin. These tokens have seen strong performance over the past week, with gains ranging from 6% to 30%. Meanwhile, Maxi Doge ($MAXI), the newest meme coin, is becoming one of the most anticipated meme coin presales. It has already raised $2M, with the next price increase expected at $2.3M. The project offers leverage up to 1,000x, catering to traders seeking substantial gains, albeit with heightened risk. Early participants can buy tokens at $0.000257 each and earn substantial returns once $MAXI is listed on major CEX and DEX.
Polymarket, a decentralized platform for trading shares on real-world events, is integrating Chainlink's data services to enhance its real-time asset pricing prediction markets. The collaboration aims to support automated, tamper-proof market settlements on Polygon using Chainlink oracles and automation. The integration, which is now live on the Polygon mainnet, allows for the creation of real-time prediction markets around asset pricing, including hundreds of live crypto trading pairs.
The partnership leverages Chainlink Data Streams and Chainlink Automation to provide low-latency, timestamped oracle reports and automated on-chain settlement of markets. Chainlink's data infrastructure, which has secured nearly $100 billion in DeFi total value and enabled tens of trillions in transaction value, is now also powering a US government initiative to publish official economic data on multiple blockchains. Polymarket's recent acquisition of QCEX, a CFTC-licensed exchange and clearinghouse, for $112 million, has paved the way for a return to the US market. The company has also partnered with Elon Musk’s X to provide an integrated product with data-driven insights and personalized recommendations.
In the past week, Tesla (TSLA) shares have seen a significant increase of over 10%. This surge indicates a renewed momentum for the company's equity. The strong performance of the electric vehicle maker's stock is a positive sign for investors who have been closely monitoring the company's price movements.
The recent surge in Tesla's stock, which trades under the ticker TSLA, represents a notable uptick for investors. This rally brings a sense of renewed vigor to Tesla’s equity, demonstrating a promising outlook for those invested in the company. The past week's performance marks a strong period for Tesla, and it will be interesting to see if this upward trend continues.
The decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem of Solana has reached a significant milestone, with the total value locked (TVL) surpassing $13 billion for the first time. This achievement underscores Solana's growing prominence as a leading blockchain for decentralized applications and protocols. The TVL metric, which measures the dollar amount of crypto assets deposited in DeFi protocols, is a crucial indicator of ecosystem activity.
Solana's high transaction speeds and lower fees, compared to other major blockchain networks, have attracted developers and users alike. The network hosts a variety of DeFi protocols, including decentralized exchanges, lending platforms, and yield farming applications. The recent growth in DeFi activity on Solana highlights its expanding role in the blockchain space.
