Crypto weekly is authored by maaria and david blumenfeld
PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Crypto Market Cap ($3.93T): +4% / +15%
- BTC ($113,585): +5% / +21%
- ETH ($4,066): +2% / +22%
- SOL ($199): +4% / +5%
- UNI ($6.53): +4% / -51%
- OP ($0.46): +5% / -74%
- COIN ($354): +5% / +43%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($183B): +1% / +32%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($76B): 0% / +74%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 58% / 13%
THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- President Donald Trump plans to nominate Michael Selig, the current chief counsel for the SEC's crypto task force, as the new chair of the CFTC. Link.
- Stablecoin payments have increased 70% since the passing of the GENIUS Act in July, with $10 billion in payments in August. Two-thirds of stablecoin volumes have come from business-to-business payments. Link.
- Crypto hardware startup Ledger drew criticism from users after its new native multisig feature introduced $10 fees on standard transfers + 0.05% transaction fee on ERC-20 transactions. Link.
- Retail investors overpaid for Bitcoin exposure by an estimated $20 billion by investing in digital asset treasury firms that sold overpriced shares to buy Bitcoin. Link.
- President Donald Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, who had previously served four months in prison and paid a $4.3 billion settlement for failing to implement adequate anti-money laundering measures at the cryptocurrency exchange. Link.
- JPMorgan plans to allow institutional clients to use Bitcoin and Ether as collateral for loans by the end of 2025, marking a significant shift in Wall Street's crypto integration despite CEO Jamie Dimon's previous skepticism about cryptocurrencies. Link.
- Argentines are increasingly turning to US-dollar backed stablecoins and cryptocurrency transactions to protect their savings and profit from exchange rate differences as President Milei struggles to stabilize the peso ahead of midterm elections amid tight currency controls and high inflation. Link.
- Aave is the dominant decentralized lending protocol on Ethereum, with over 82% of market share and $25 billion of loans. Link.
- Payments processor Zelle plans to incorporate stablecoins for international money transfers to provide faster and more reliable cross-border transactions. Link.
- USDT stablecoin issuer Tether expects to generate nearly $15 billion in profit this year and is in talks to raise $20 billion for a 3% stake that would value the company at around $500 billion. Link.
- Coinbase acquired crypto investment platform Echo for $375 million, aiming to expand its private markets presence through Echo's Sonar platform, which facilitates both public and private token sales for early-stage crypto companies. Link. Link.
- Bitcoin mining companies are increasingly pivoting to AI and high-performance computing due to better profit margins and long-term contracts. Link.
- Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego warned crypto industry executives during a closed-door roundtable that Republicans had used them as political tools, highlighting the growing partisan divide in recent crypto policy negotiations. Link.
- Crypto M&A activity has surged to record levels of $10 billion in Q3 2025, marking a thirty-fold increase from the previous year. Link.
- Tether, the world's largest stablecoin issuer, has reached 500 million users while its USDT stablecoin supply approaches $182 billion. Link.
- Decentralized prediction marketplace Polymarket is seeking new funding at a valuation of up to $15 billion, up from its $1 billion valuation just four months ago. Polymarket said it also plans to launch a native POLY token, which would include an airdrop for community members. Link.Link.
- Coinbase launched a new Model Context Protocol (MCP) tool that enables AI agents to autonomously hold crypto wallets and make stablecoin payments, marking a significant step toward machine-to-machine commerce through their x402 protocol. Link.
- Newsmax plans to establish a $5 million cryptocurrency reserve that will include both Bitcoin and Trump Coin, making it the first NYSE-listed company to purchase Trump Coin. Link.