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Ethereum price is grinding steadily, but its quiet number masks a much louder signal underneath. BitMine Immersion Technologies, chairman Tom Lee’s crypto treasury vehicle, just made its largest single ETH purchase since June.
BitMine picked up 53,501 ETH worth $131 million, pushing its total stack to 5,901,112 ETH, or valued near $14.8 billion at a $2,511 reference price. That’s 4.9% of Ethereum’s entire circulating supply, putting the firm 98% of the way toward its self-described “Alchemy of 5%” target.
BitMine Adds 53,501 ETH as Holdings Reach 5.90M ETH
BitMine said it acquired 53,501 ETH over the past week, bringing total holdings to 5,901,112 ETH, or about 4.9% of Ethereum’s supply. The company has staked 5,067,309 ETH, roughly 86% of its holdings, with projected annualized… pic.twitter.com/LN80Wu7wLi
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) August 31, 2026 The buy also extends an unbroken streak: BitMine has bought ETH every single week since June 30, 2025, now 65 weeks running. Lee says Ethereum has outpaced the S&P 500 by 5,430 basis points this quarter alone.
This accumulation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. ETH momentum has been building since early August, and the technical picture now hinges on whether that institutional bid is enough to force a breakout.
Discover: The Best Crypto to Diversify Your Portfolio
Can Ethereum Price Hit $3,000 This Week?ETH is consolidating around $2,450, inside a range bounded by a low of $2,444 and a high near $2,485 over the past day, tight action for a coin absorbing a nine-figure institutional purchase. Price is consolidating inside a rising wedge just below the critical $2,550 resistance, a level that has rejected two separate breakout attempts already.
Below, support clusters at the 20-day EMA ($2,293.75), Supertrend ($2,212.19), 200-day EMA ($2,161.32), and 100-day EMA ($2,036.88), with price currently holding above all four, a constructive if imperfect setup.
The best scenario is for it to have a clean break above $2,550, which opens a path toward $2,800. Or it could have a continued chop inside the wedge while BitMine’s weekly buying provides a soft floor.
However, the bear case happens if another rejection at $2,550 sends the price back toward the $2,161 200-day EMA. Worth watching before positioning either way.
Agree with Tom Lee’s take? Trade ETH on Bybit and Get a Chance to Win Our $1,000 USDT Airdrop
LiquidChain Targets Early Mover Upside as Ethereum Tests Key LevelsBitMine’s conviction validates the ETH accumulation thesis, but at a $2,459 price point and a $296 billion-plus market cap, the doubling and tripling that early ETH holders saw years ago isn’t realistically on the table anymore. That math is pushing traders further down the risk curve, toward infrastructure plays still in price discovery.
LiquidChain ($LIQUID) is one of the names picking up that flow. LiquidChain is a Layer 3 infrastructure project fusing Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana liquidity into a single execution environment with a unified layer where developers deploy once and reach all three ecosystems rather than fragmenting liquidity across chains.
The presale is priced at $0.014951 with $960K raised so far. Core features include Single-Step Execution and Verifiable Settlement, aimed at solving the liquidity fragmentation problem that’s dogged cross-chain trading since day one. P
Research LiquidChain before the round progresses further.
Ethereum price remained trapped between $2,400 support and $2,500 resistance on Sept. 1, with weak trend strength and fading momentum raising the risk of another liquidity-driven pullback.
Summary
Ethereum price traded near $2,460 after falling roughly 1% over the past seven days. The 4-hour ADX dropped to 18.58, showing little strength behind the current price trend. Liquidity is concentrated near $2,410 below price and between $2,540 and $2,550 above it. US spot Ethereum ETFs attracted $87.68 million on Aug. 31 despite ETH’s muted performance. According to data from crypto.news, Ethereum (ETH) price was trading near $2,460 at press time, little changed over the previous 24 hours and down about 1% over the past week. The token had retreated from an Aug. 27 high near $2,564 after buyers failed to extend its late-August breakout.
Trading activity has also cooled. CoinGecko data showed that Ethereum’s 24-hour volume had fallen by about 21% to approximately $11.35 billion, indicating lower participation as the price consolidated.
ETH remains caught between support around $2,400 and resistance extending from $2,500 to $2,565. A break from that range could determine whether the August rally resumes or gives way to a deeper correction.
Ethereum price loses momentum below $2,500 The daily chart shows Ethereum consolidating near the upper end of the advance from its June low of $1,515 to the August high of $2,565.
Ethereum price daily chart — Sep. 1 | Source: crypto.news ETH remains above the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement level at $2,340, which now serves as the main higher-timeframe support. Holding above that level would preserve most of the structure created by the August breakout.
However, momentum has weakened considerably. The daily moving average convergence divergence indicator is close to producing a bearish crossover. The MACD line stands at 143.58, only slightly above the signal line at 143.46, while its histogram has narrowed to almost zero.
Bull-bear power remains positive at 151.75, suggesting buyers have not lost full control. Its bars have nevertheless declined since the initial breakout, showing that bullish pressure is fading as ETH struggles to clear $2,500.
A daily close above $2,565 would invalidate the short-term consolidation and open a path toward $2,600. Continued rejection beneath that area would leave $2,340 exposed, followed by the 61.8% Fibonacci level at $2,164.
4-hour indicators point to range-bound trading Ethereum’s 4-hour chart provides a more neutral outlook. ETH is trading almost directly on the Bollinger Bands’ middle line at $2,456.53, reflecting a balance between buyers and sellers.
Ethereum price 4-hour chart — Sep. 1 | Source: crypto.news The upper band sits at $2,497.62, making $2,500 the first resistance that bulls must reclaim. The lower band at $2,415.44 aligns with the broader $2,400 support area.
The bands have narrowed after expanding sharply during the Aug. 20 breakout. Such compression often precedes a larger move, although it does not indicate which direction the price will take.
The average directional index has fallen to 18.58 from above 60 following the rally. An ADX reading below 20 generally signals that the market lacks a strong directional trend, supporting the case for continued consolidation until ETH moves outside the Bollinger Bands.
Crypto trader Daan Crypto Trades said ETH was trading in a tight area between its weekly 200-day simple and exponential moving averages and a horizontal price level.
$ETH Still sitting in this really tight area between its Weekly 200MA/EMA & Horizontal level.
Pretty sure we'll see this move away from this area soon.
$2.4K & $2.5K levels to watch on the daily closes. The past ~11 days have been closing in between those. pic.twitter.com/Dnj59AEiH0
— Daan Crypto Trades (@DaanCrypto) September 1, 2026 The analyst identified $2,400 and $2,500 as the levels to monitor on daily closes, noting that Ethereum has spent roughly 11 days between them. Under that setup, a sustained close above $2,500 would favor buyers, while a loss of $2,400 would weaken the breakout structure.
Liquidation clusters surround Ethereum price CoinGlass’s one-week liquidation heatmap shows leveraged positions building on both sides of Ethereum’s current price.
Ethereum liquidation heatmap | Source: CoinGlass The largest nearby overhead concentration appears between approximately $2,540 and $2,550. A move into that area could force short positions to close, potentially accelerating an upside test of the $2,565 August high.
Additional liquidity rests around $2,495 to $2,505, reinforcing $2,500 as the first barrier.
On the downside, notable clusters appear around $2,420 to $2,410, followed by another concentration close to $2,390. A break below $2,400 could therefore trigger long liquidations and pull ETH toward the lower liquidity zone.
Liquidation maps identify areas where leveraged positions may be forced to close, but they do not guarantee that the price will reach those levels.
Trader Gerla compared Ethereum’s current position with a former support zone that became resistance during the previous market cycle. The analyst said a repeat of that structure could produce more range trading and a sweep toward $1,900–$2,000 before a larger advance.
The comparison represents a long-term scenario rather than a confirmed target. ETH must first lose $2,340 and $2,164 before the $2,000 area becomes a more immediate technical risk.
US Ethereum ETF inflows offer support Demand through regulated US investment products remains a counterweight to the weak price momentum.
US spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $87.68 million in combined net inflows on Aug. 31, according to SoSoValue data. The session reportedly extended its positive flow streak to 11 trading days.
Source: SoSoValue BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust led the daily total with approximately $59.94 million, while the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust added about $13.50 million. The products collectively held approximately $15.61 billion in net assets, equal to 5.23% of Ethereum’s market capitalization.
Persistent ETF inflows suggest US investors are adding exposure despite Ethereum’s failure to move above $2,500. However, price confirmation remains absent while trading volume declines and momentum indicators flatten.
Ethereum’s next directional signal will likely come from a daily close outside the $2,400–$2,500 range. A close above the upper boundary would bring $2,550–$2,565 into focus, while a loss of $2,400 would expose $2,340 and increase the risk of a broader retracement.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
The monthly close for Ethereum (ETH) has marked its first higher high since the downtrend started in August last year.
Ethereum’s latest monthly candle closed above a key resistance level around $2,470 on August 31, prompting analyst Matthew Hyland to declare on X that the downtrend that started in August 2025 is over.
He framed the close as the first confirmation that a new bull market has started, comparing the current chart structure to the setups that preceded ETH’s 2016 and 2020 rallies.
ETH’s Monthly Chart Flips Bullish Hyland’s chart runs from ETH’s 2025 peak, hit in August of that year, through a steady run of lower highs and lower lows that bottomed out near $1,500 to $1,600 in June and July of this year.
“ETH confirms a Monthly Higher_High and ends its downtrend that started in August of 2025,” Hyland posted. “The Bears have been slayed. WELCOME TO THE #CRYPTO BULL MARKET!!”
Other traders have been circling the same zone, including DonAlt, who wrote that ETH has “No real resistance till $4k,” pointing to support around $2,100 and warning that a break below $2,000 could send price toward $1,000.
Fellow market watcher Daan Crypto Trades pointed out that ETH has spent the last 11 days pinned between its weekly 200-period moving average and a horizontal support level.
Another analyst, Quantum Ascend, noted that ETH’s monthly candle closed near its 50-month simple moving average with the RSI still deeply oversold, a setup that last showed up in spring 2025, right before the token rallied 3.5x in five months, and he says he’s “expecting a new all-time high” based on the move.
At the time of writing, the second-largest crypto asset was trading above $2,400, up roughly 31% over the past month and 30% in two weeks, while remaining about 50% below its record price of over $4,900 from August last year.
You may also like: BitMine Buys Another 53,501 ETH as Ethereum Stash Blows Past 5.9M 1.4M ETH Gone From Exchanges Since June as BTC Moves in Reverse $5,000 Ethereum? Analyst Identifies the Levels That Could Decide ETH’s Next Move Network Activity Adds Another Piece ETH’s price recovery is happening alongside increased network activity. As CryptoPotato reported, Ethereum is approaching 1 million active addresses, despite substantial activity taking place across Layer 2 networks.
That gives the price move some additional context, although active addresses alone cannot establish whether ETH has entered a new long-term cycle. Tron, for example, has more than 4 million active addresses, largely linked to payments and stablecoin transfers.
For now, the cleanest test of Hyland’s thesis is whether ETH can hold the $2,470 breakout area. A sustained move above it would leave the $4,000 region as the next major target cited by traders, while a failure below $2,000 would considerably weaken the bullish structure.
More on Ethereum can be found in our market video below:
ARK Invest and Glassnode have released a joint white paper titled “The Decentralization Spectrum: Design Tradeoffs In Digital Assets,” offering what amounts to a report card for the three largest Layer-1 blockchains. The research evaluates Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana across four design features and six measurable dimensions, building a comparative framework that treats decentralization not as a binary quality but as a sliding scale shaped by deliberate architectural choices.
What the framework actually measures The report maps each network against four distinct design features and six quantifiable dimensions to assess decentralization, security, and resilience. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana each make fundamentally different engineering decisions. Bitcoin prioritizes simplicity and security through its proof-of-work consensus. Ethereum balances programmability with decentralization through its proof-of-stake transition. Solana optimizes for speed and throughput, which inherently requires different compromises.
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The white paper’s core argument is that these aren’t accidental differences. They’re deliberate tradeoffs, and understanding them requires looking at verifiable network properties rather than market narratives or token prices. This aligns with the long-running blockchain trilemma discussion, which holds that networks can optimize for at most two of three properties: decentralization, scalability, and security.
A partnership years in the making ARK Invest and Glassnode have been working together since at least 2021, when Cathie Wood’s firm began deepening its reliance on on-chain analytics as part of its broader digital asset research strategy. Earlier joint efforts focused primarily on Bitcoin fundamentals, using Glassnode’s data infrastructure to evaluate network health independent of price action.
Glassnode’s role as a blockchain data and intelligence provider gives the partnership its empirical backbone, supplying metrics and tools designed for institutional-grade stakeholders. Expanding the scope from Bitcoin-only analysis to a three-chain comparative study signals a meaningful evolution, suggesting that ARK views Ethereum and Solana as warranting the same level of fundamental scrutiny it has historically reserved for Bitcoin.
Why institutions care about decentralization metrics Decentralization isn’t just a philosophical preference. It directly affects a network’s censorship resistance, its vulnerability to single points of failure, and its regulatory risk profile. The report’s emphasis on verifiable network properties over price-driven metrics represents a notable shift in how digital assets get evaluated in institutional contexts.
This also feeds into the growing regulatory conversation around what constitutes sufficient decentralization. Regulators in the US and elsewhere have signaled that a network’s degree of decentralization may influence how its associated tokens are classified. Research that quantifies these properties gives both issuers and investors a more defensible basis for those arguments.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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Elon Musk: AI is expected to significantly boost productivity, which could lift the global economy by 20% to 30%.
Elon Musk stated in his speech at the G20 summit that he expects artificial intelligence to significantly boost productivity, noting that AI could lift the global economy by 20% to 30%.
4 minutes ago
Bonk Guy today issued a buy call for USELESS, with the token rallying over 50% in 24 hours and its market cap rising to $104 million.
According to GMGN data, Solana ecosystem meme coin USELESS has rallied over 50% in 24 hours, now trading at $0.1051 with a market cap of $104 million. On the news front, earlier today, the figure known as "Bonk Guy" reflected on his meme coin trading track record, disclosing he once traded BONK with 6x leverage for $16,000 and pocketed over $20 million in profits. Though he later gave back all those accumulated gains on October 10, this isn’t his only high-value trading win. He added that during the last cycle, he also grew funds ranging from low five to six figures to over $5 million to $10 million via trades of meme-related tokens including DOGEGOV, MAGA, and Roaring Kitty. Unipcs also noted that his current bullishness on USELESS is even stronger than when he traded BONK in 2023, pointing out that USELESS previously surged from a market cap of around $4 million to $450 million outside of a bull market, and could see even larger upside if it experiences a genuine bull market for the first time in the future.
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Open-source Agent framework Pi hits 100,000 stars, v2 coming soon.
Beating AI News Brief: Pi’s GitHub Repository Surpasses 100,000 Stars, Official Teases Upcoming Pi v2. Pi is an open-source Agent harness that also provides a terminal Coding Agent. Over the past month and a half, Pi has been rewriting its underlying Agent runtime framework. At the end of July, it first unveiled Harness v2, adding key features including task persistence, crash recovery, and multiple execution lanes. Shortly after this design was integrated into official APIs in early August, the team began work on Harness v3, which involved a full redesign of storage and runtime states. The v3 work was later consolidated into the current unified harness.md. The new Harness is designed to let Agents resume from their last safe state even if the process crashes mid-execution, and support parallel execution of multiple Agent tasks on the same session history. The current dev branch still has hundreds of commits not yet merged into main, with the new Harness under rapid development.
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Token 'Niulai' plunges over 21% in 24 hours, market cap falls to $87 million.
According to GMGN market data, the BSC-based meme coin "Niu Lai" has fallen more than 21% in 24 hours, with its market capitalization dropping to $87 million. BlockBeats reported yesterday that all screenings of the movie "Niu Lai" have been extended to 23:59 on October 4, 2026. As of press time, the film "Niu Lai" has accumulated a box office (including pre-sales) of over 60 million yuan, and AI forecasts its total box office will exceed 69 million yuan.
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US crypto-related concept stocks saw their intraday declines widen, with PURR plunging more than 7%.
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), US-listed cryptocurrency-related stocks saw their intraday declines widen, with MSTR down 6.12%, CRCL down 5.94%, COIN down 4.53%, BMNR down 5.73%, SBET down 5.16%, and PURR down 7.02%.
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Bitunix launches On-Chart Order Preview feature
Bitunix has officially launched the On-Chart Order Preview feature, allowing users to preview entry prices and estimated liquidation prices for long and short positions directly on the K-line chart before placing an order. Users can adjust prices in real time by dragging the preview line, with order details in the order panel updating simultaneously. This feature gives users a clearer view of their positions before executing trades, enabling intuitive understanding of entry points and liquidation risks, and effectively reducing operational errors. This update marks another key step in Bitunix’s ongoing optimization of its chart trading experience, further advancing the platform’s core concepts of Ultra Products and Ultra Experience.
TLDR Ethereum trades at $2,471.16, up 2.25% in the last 24 hours. ETH gained 32.8% over the month of August. Price sits above the $2,247.57 Bollinger Band mid-line, a bullish sign. Whale address 0xF626 moved 102,913 ETH ($248.6M), sending part of it to exchanges. Open interest topped $30 billion as trading volume crossed $90 billion in August. Ethereum is trading at $2,471.16 at press time, up 2.25% over the past 24 hours. The gain follows a strong month for the token.
Over the course of August, ETH rose by 32.8%. That climb has kept traders watching closely for what comes next.
The price is currently holding above the $2,247.57 middle line of its 20-day Bollinger Bands. Staying above this line is generally seen as a sign of underlying strength.
Ethereum Price on CoinGecko Even with some sideways movement in recent days, the August gain has kept the broader setup favorable for buyers. Chart watchers point to $2,084.23 as a key support level below.
Ethereum needs to hold above that support to keep its current setup intact. A drop under it could shift the picture.
On the upper end, the top line of the Bollinger Bands sits at $2,783.71. This level is acting as resistance for any further upward move.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) for ETH is at 69.13. That is just under the traditional overbought threshold of 70.
A high RSI reading like this points to strong buying interest. It also means there is limited room left before the market becomes stretched, which could add volatility if ETH pushes toward $2,783 without fresh buying support.
Whale Moves 100,000 ETH On-chain tracker Lookonchain flagged a large wallet movement tied to address 0xF626. The account received 102,913 ETH, worth about $248.6 million, before sending 2,858 ETH, worth roughly $7 million, to exchanges.
Lookonchain wrote on X, “Whale 0xF626 is selling 102,913 $ETH ($248.6M),” noting the exchange deposit had happened about 20 minutes before the post went out.
After that transfer, the wallet still holds 100,055 ETH, worth close to $241.6 million. There is no confirmation yet that the whale plans to sell the rest of its holdings.
Large transfers like this one can add selling pressure if more ETH follows the same path to exchanges. For now, only a small portion of the total balance has moved.
Derivatives Activity Climbs Data from Coinglass shows open interest for Ethereum has passed $30 billion. Trading volume also crossed $90 billion during the August rally.
Those figures point to heavy activity in ETH derivatives markets alongside the price move. Traders are using this data to gauge whether the rally has more room to run.
A move above $2,783.71 would strengthen the current bullish structure for ETH. A break below $2,247.57 would weaken it instead, and traders are watching both levels closely as the month begins.
A two-month-old Layer 2 built by a stock brokerage is now processing more daily decentralized exchange volume than chains that have existed for years, and the market is only beginning to pay attention.
Summary
Robinhood Chain recorded roughly $945 million in daily decentralized exchange volume on Aug. 25, 2026, a new all-time high for the network and nearly double its previous record of $563 million set on July 8. The chain, which launched its public mainnet on July 1, has processed more than $47 billion in cumulative DEX volume in under two months, placing it fifth among all chains by 30-day volume at $15 billion. Uniswap serves as the dominant trading venue on the chain, and cumulative tokenized stock volume through Uniswap surpassed $1 billion by Aug. 21. Total value locked on Robinhood Chain surged from $4 million in June to roughly $1.4 billion by late August, a trajectory that no Ethereum Layer 2 has matched at this stage of its lifecycle. The 90-day gas subsidy that covers transaction fees through the end of September 2026 raises a central question: whether volume holds once users start paying for their own trades. How Robinhood built a top-five chain in 56 days Robinhood Chain is an Ethereum Layer 2 built on Arbitrum Orbit, the chains-as-a-service framework that runs on the Nitro stack. It settles directly to Ethereum and uses Ethereum blobs for data availability. Block times run at 100 milliseconds, faster than Arbitrum One at 250 milliseconds and Monad at 300 milliseconds. The gas token is ETH.
The mainnet went live on July 1 at Robinhood’s “The World is Flat” keynote at the Old Royal Naval College in London. Within eight days, Uniswap swap volume on the chain had reached $500 million. By July 11, the chain was processing 7.6 million daily transactions and had recorded $3.1 billion in DEX volume in its first week alone.
By the end of July, Robinhood Chain had topped Ethereum in 24-hour application revenue. It had briefly surpassed Base in daily active users, logging 324,000 wallets against Base’s 275,000 on July 21. And it had placed itself in the top five chains globally by 30-day DEX volume, sitting behind Solana, BNB Chain, Ethereum, and Base with roughly $15 billion in monthly throughput.
For context, Arbitrum One’s 30-day DEX volume during the same period was roughly one-quarter of that figure. Robinhood Chain, using the same underlying technology, was running four times the volume of the chain it forked from.
The volume breakdown: what is actually trading The Aug. 25 record was not driven by a single asset class. Three distinct categories of activity converged on the same day.
The first was memecoin speculation. Pons, a token launched through the chain’s launchpad ecosystem, accounted for roughly half of all DEX volume at its peak. CASHCAT, Robinhood Chain’s first breakout memecoin, had previously hit a $156 million market cap before Pons overtook it in late July. On Aug. 30, Pons alone contributed $445 million of the chain’s $874.8 million in volume that day, demonstrating the degree to which a single venue can dominate chain-level metrics.
The second was tokenized equities. Robinhood launched Stock Tokens as a flagship product at mainnet, offering ERC-20 representations of stocks like NVIDIA, Apple, GameStop, and SpaceX that trade around the clock in more than 120 countries. These tokens give holders economic exposure to the underlying stock rather than legal ownership of shares. By Aug. 21, cumulative tokenized stock volume through Uniswap had surpassed $1 billion. A tokenized Nasdaq-100 tracker called QQQB drove 288 percent of July’s tokenized equity volume, suggesting heavy concentration in index products.
The third was leveraged derivatives. Arcus launched pTokens on Aug. 25, wrapping leveraged perpetual accounts into transferable ERC-20 tokens including pBTC3x and pHOOD3x. The platform also began accepting tokenized stock collateral at a 50 percent loan-to-value ratio, creating a direct bridge between equity exposure and leveraged crypto trading that has no equivalent on any other chain.
The timing of the Aug. 25 spike also mattered. Bitcoin had rallied sharply since Aug. 17 on what Bloomberg called a record $2.7 billion wave of short liquidations, the largest since records began in 2021. A White House crypto meeting and a U.S. Treasury move to double long-dated bond buybacks added fuel. Bitcoin reached near $81,500 and Ether gained nearly 29 percent in a single week. That macro tailwind lifted activity across every chain, but Robinhood Chain captured a disproportionate share because its zero-fee environment made it the path of least resistance for traders looking to rotate quickly between assets.
The stablecoin layer underneath the trading activity tells its own story. Stablecoin market capitalization on Robinhood Chain reached $640 million by late August, with USDe from Ethena accounting for the bulk of inflows. Robinhood Earn, a decentralized lending product launched alongside the mainnet, offers an estimated 7 percent yield on USDG, the stablecoin developed in partnership with Paxos. The yield product serves as an anchor for capital that might otherwise leave the chain between trading sessions, giving the ecosystem a retention mechanism that pure trading chains typically lack.
The infrastructure advantage Robinhood brought to the table Most Layer 2 networks launch with a technical thesis and then spend months or years trying to attract users. Robinhood reversed the sequence. The company brought 27 million funded brokerage accounts, an existing mobile wallet, a compliance infrastructure built over a decade of regulatory engagement, and a brand that, whatever crypto natives think of it, is synonymous with retail trading for an entire generation of investors.
CEO Vlad Tenev framed the ambition in a recent interview: “Crypto is becoming the infrastructure that powers financial markets.” On Aug. 7, he described Robinhood Chain as the fastest-growing chain in history, noting that it reached 100 million cumulative transactions faster than any other network. Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee separately called the launch “one of the biggest crypto success stories” of 2026.
The revenue model also differs from most Layer 2 networks. Under the Arbitrum Expansion Program, 8 percent of chain revenue goes to a treasury controlled by governance token holders and 2 percent funds a developer guild. Robinhood keeps the rest. In July alone, the chain generated roughly $3.6 million in transaction fees, making it the top revenue-producing Layer 2 across the entire Ethereum ecosystem at 38 percent of the estimated $6.3 million in total L2 fees collected that month.
The company’s Q2 2026 earnings, reported on July 29, showed total revenue of $1.31 billion, beating Wall Street estimates. Net income rose 48 percent year over year to $573 million. Robinhood is not a startup hoping its chain will subsidize losses. It is a profitable company with a stock trading above $100 that can afford to invest in chain infrastructure without needing the chain itself to be immediately profitable.
The gas subsidy question The single most important variable in Robinhood Chain’s near-term trajectory is the 90-day gas fee subsidy that covers all transaction costs through the Robinhood Wallet. The promotional period, which began at mainnet launch on July 1, runs through approximately Sept. 29, 2026.
In mid-August, Robinhood reduced the subsidy threshold from $5 per transaction to $0.50, a 90 percent cut that suggests the company is already tapering the benefit rather than cutting it off all at once. The move signals a gradual transition rather than a cliff.
But the subsidy has clearly inflated activity metrics. When transactions cost nothing, the friction that normally separates casual browsing from actual trading disappears. The 16,000 new tokens created daily at peak memecoin activity in July were possible in part because launching a token was free. The 5.5 million daily transactions on Aug. 25 included activity that would not have occurred at even minimal gas costs.
The precedent from other chains is mixed. Base launched with heavily subsidized gas and retained strong activity after costs normalized, in part because Coinbase’s distribution kept funneling users to the network. Blast, by contrast, saw activity crater after its incentive programs wound down. The question for Robinhood Chain is whether the brokerage’s 27 million accounts provide a durable demand floor that subsidies merely accelerated, or whether the subsidy itself created demand that will not survive its removal.
There is a middle scenario that the binary framing obscures. Volume could fall significantly from the Aug. 25 peak and still leave Robinhood Chain as a top-ten chain by DEX activity. A 60 percent drop from $945 million would still produce roughly $380 million in daily volume, which would place it ahead of most Layer 2 networks even without subsidies. The relevant question is not whether volume declines after the subsidy ends, because it almost certainly will, but whether the floor is high enough to sustain the ecosystem’s economic model.
The corporate chain land grab Robinhood Chain did not launch into a vacuum. It entered a market where every major financial technology company appears to be building its own chain. Coinbase has Base. Stripe acquired Bridge and is building payment infrastructure on it. Circle launched a new standard for stablecoin interoperability. Robinhood followed with its own Arbitrum-based rollup.
The pattern is clear: consumer fintech companies have concluded that owning the execution layer is more valuable than renting space on someone else’s chain. The economics are straightforward. A chain operator captures sequencer revenue, controls the fee schedule, and can subsidize specific types of activity to drive adoption. A tenant on another chain pays whatever fees the market demands and has no control over the user experience at the infrastructure level.
The comparison to Base is instructive. Base launched in August 2023 and has had three years to build its ecosystem. Its total value locked stands at roughly $5.47 billion as of late August 2026, compared to Robinhood Chain’s roughly $1.4 billion. Base processes more daily transactions on average. But Robinhood Chain closed the gap on several metrics in weeks rather than years, briefly surpassing Base in daily active users and consistently ranking within striking distance on DEX volume.
The difference is maturity versus momentum. Base has accumulated three years of liquidity, developer tooling, and protocol deployments. Robinhood Chain has a brokerage with 27 million accounts and a product, tokenized equities, that no other chain offers at the same scale.
The DEX-to-CEX ratio and what it means Robinhood Chain’s volume spike arrived during a broader structural shift in crypto trading. In July 2026, decentralized exchanges handled spot volume equal to 24.14 percent of centralized exchange volume, the highest ratio since The Block began tracking the metric in 2019. The ratio has roughly tripled in under three years, rising from below 10 percent for most of 2024 to its current level.
The irony is that the shift is being driven in part by centralized companies. Robinhood, a centralized brokerage, is routing volume through a decentralized exchange layer. Coinbase, a centralized exchange, is doing the same through Base. The line between centralized and decentralized finance is blurring in ways that do not fit neatly into the narratives that either side prefers.
For Robinhood specifically, the chain creates a flywheel that its centralized app cannot replicate. Stock Tokens traded on Uniswap generate fees that flow back to the Robinhood Chain ecosystem. Users who start with tokenized equities discover memecoin trading, lending protocols, and leveraged products. The chain becomes a surface area for financial experimentation that a regulated brokerage app cannot legally offer through its primary interface.
This is the strategic logic that the market has largely missed. Robinhood Chain is not a marketing exercise. It is a mechanism for Robinhood to offer products and services that its regulated brokerage cannot provide directly, while still capturing economic value from the activity.
The concentration risk The bull case for Robinhood Chain is compelling, but the data also reveals structural vulnerabilities that the headline volume numbers obscure.
On Aug. 30, a single protocol, Pons, generated 51 percent of the chain’s $874.8 million in daily volume. When one venue does half of all throughput, the chain’s activity metrics become a proxy for that venue’s performance rather than a measure of ecosystem health. If Pons loses momentum, the chain’s volume numbers could drop by half overnight without any change to the underlying infrastructure.
The tokenized equity market, while growing, remains concentrated as well. QQQB, a single Nasdaq-100 tracker, drove the majority of July’s tokenized stock volume. A dozen stocks clear at least $500,000 in daily volume, but the breadth of adoption is still narrow relative to the potential market.
Total value locked tells a similar story. Robinhood Chain’s TVL has surged to $1.4 billion, but this remains roughly one-quarter of Base’s $5.47 billion. The chain’s TVL-to-volume ratio is unusually high, meaning it generates more trading activity per dollar locked than most chains. That can be read as capital efficiency or as evidence that volume is being amplified by zero-cost transactions and speculative turnover rather than deep, sticky liquidity.
Stock Tokens also remain unavailable to U.S. residents, which excludes the majority of Robinhood’s 27 million funded accounts from the chain’s flagship product. The addressable market for tokenized equities is currently limited to users outside the United States, a significant constraint on growth.
The reflexive fee structure on Pons adds another layer of fragility. Eighty percent of the protocol’s fees fund automated token buybacks and burns. By Aug. 29, 29 percent of the original one billion token supply had been retired. That mechanism creates a self-reinforcing loop in rising markets: higher volume generates more fees, which fund more burns, which reduce supply, which pushes prices higher, which attracts more volume. In falling markets, the same loop works in reverse. Volume drops, burns slow, the supply compression narrative weakens, and traders move to the next opportunity. Chains built on reflexive tokenomics tend to experience sharp drawdowns when sentiment shifts.
What Robinhood Chain means for Ethereum Robinhood Chain settles to Ethereum. Every transaction on the chain ultimately posts data to the Ethereum mainnet through blobs. This means that Robinhood Chain’s activity, all $47 billion of it, contributes to Ethereum’s security budget and reinforces the network’s role as a settlement layer.
For Ethereum, the emergence of corporate-backed Layer 2 networks is a double-edged development. On one side, chains like Robinhood and Base bring millions of users into the Ethereum ecosystem who would never interact with the mainnet directly. They generate blob fees, consume blockspace, and create economic gravity around ETH as a gas token.
On the other side, these chains capture most of the value at the execution layer. Robinhood keeps the bulk of sequencer revenue, sharing only 10 percent with the Arbitrum ecosystem. The users on Robinhood Chain may never know or care that Ethereum exists underneath. The settlement layer becomes invisible infrastructure, essential but unrewarded relative to the activity it supports.
This dynamic is already visible in the fee data. Robinhood Chain surpassed both Ethereum and Base in 24-hour application revenue on Aug. 31, recording $2.66 million. The chain built on Ethereum is generating more application-level revenue than Ethereum itself on certain days.
The tension between Layer 2 growth and Layer 1 value capture is not unique to Robinhood Chain, but the scale makes it unusually visible. Ethereum’s blob fee revenue from all Layer 2 networks remains a small fraction of what those networks generate in sequencer revenue. The argument that Layer 2 activity is inherently good for Ethereum depends on the assumption that demand for blob space will eventually drive meaningful fee revenue back to the mainnet. At current utilization levels, that assumption remains unproven. Robinhood Chain’s success makes the question more urgent without answering it.
The September test The gas subsidy expires at the end of September. Between now and then, several developments will clarify whether Robinhood Chain’s trajectory is sustainable.
Arcus is expanding its leveraged product suite, adding new pToken pairs and increasing collateral types. If leveraged trading generates durable volume independent of the gas subsidy, it would suggest that the chain has found a product-market fit that goes beyond free transactions.
The DTCC is scheduled to launch tokenized securities infrastructure in October, which could either validate or undermine Robinhood’s first-mover advantage in tokenized equities. If institutional players enter the market with competing infrastructure, the value proposition of Stock Tokens may shift.
And Robinhood itself will face a decision about whether to extend, modify, or eliminate the gas subsidy. The company’s financial position gives it the flexibility to continue subsidizing transactions if it believes the long-term economics justify the cost. With $573 million in quarterly net income, a few million dollars in gas subsidies is a rounding error on the income statement.
What to watch What is Robinhood Chain? Robinhood Chain is an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain built on Arbitrum Orbit technology. It launched its public mainnet on July 1, 2026, and uses ETH as its native gas token. The chain settles directly to Ethereum and features 100-millisecond block times. Its flagship products include tokenized Stock Tokens, decentralized exchange trading through Uniswap, and lending through protocols like Morpho.
How much DEX volume does Robinhood Chain process? On Aug. 25, 2026, Robinhood Chain recorded roughly $945 million in daily decentralized exchange volume, a new all-time high. The chain has processed more than $47 billion in cumulative DEX volume since launching on July 1. Its 30-day volume of approximately $15 billion places it fifth among all blockchain networks, behind Solana, BNB Chain, Ethereum, and Base.
What are Stock Tokens on Robinhood Chain? Stock Tokens are ERC-20 tokens that track the price of publicly traded equities like NVIDIA, Apple, GameStop, and SpaceX. They give holders economic exposure to the underlying stock rather than legal ownership of shares. Stock Tokens trade around the clock in more than 120 countries through decentralized exchanges like Uniswap on Robinhood Chain. They are currently unavailable to U.S. residents.
Is there a Robinhood Chain token? No. Robinhood has not issued a native governance or utility token for Robinhood Chain. The network uses ETH for gas fees. While several community-created tokens like CASHCAT and PONS trade on the chain, none of these are officially affiliated with Robinhood.
How does Robinhood Chain compare to Base? Base, built by Coinbase, launched in August 2023 and has roughly $5.47 billion in total value locked compared to Robinhood Chain’s $1.4 billion. Base processes more daily transactions on average and has a more mature ecosystem of developer tools and protocols. However, Robinhood Chain closed the gap on several metrics within weeks, briefly surpassing Base in daily active users and ranking within striking distance on daily DEX volume.
What is the gas subsidy on Robinhood Chain? Robinhood covers transaction fees for users trading through the Robinhood Wallet on Robinhood Chain. This 90-day promotional period began at mainnet launch on July 1 and runs through approximately Sept. 29, 2026. In mid-August, Robinhood reduced the subsidy threshold from $5 to $0.50 per transaction, signaling a gradual taper rather than an abrupt cutoff.
Who can use Robinhood Chain? Robinhood Chain is a permissionless Ethereum Layer 2, meaning anyone with a compatible wallet can interact with it. However, the tokenized Stock Tokens product is available in more than 120 countries but is not available to U.S. residents. Other DeFi products on the chain, including decentralized exchange trading and lending, are accessible to users globally through wallets like Robinhood Wallet, MetaMask, and others.
How does Robinhood make money from the chain? Robinhood captures sequencer revenue from transactions processed on the chain. Under the Arbitrum Expansion Program, 8 percent of chain revenue goes to a treasury controlled by Arbitrum governance token holders and 2 percent funds a developer guild. Robinhood retains the remaining 90 percent. In July 2026, the chain generated roughly $3.6 million in transaction fees, making it the top revenue-producing Layer 2 in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Always do your own research before making investment decisions. Information is accurate as of Aug. 31, 2026.
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Pre-Market News Roundup for US Stocks: Morgan Stanley Upgrades Robinhood’s Rating; Apple Officially Announces New CEO; Meta Calls Off Manus Acquisition
Pre-market key news for US stocks on Tuesday: 1. Morgan Stanley upgrades Robinhood, noting the market has undervalued the monetization potential of Robinhood’s existing user base. 2. Hut 8’s Texas data center is reportedly included in Anthropic’s $35 billion AI computing power deal. 3. Meta Platforms (META.O)’ acquisition of Manus has been called off, with the founding team regaining full control, according to reports. 4. Apple (AAPL.O)’ official website updated that John Ternus has officially assumed the role of Apple CEO. 5. Anthropic and Lambda, a cloud service provider backed by NVIDIA, have struck a $35 billion cloud computing deal, with data center leasing rights held by NVIDIA. 6. OpenAI’s advertising business is growing rapidly, with annualized revenue exceeding $1 billion. 7. Per relevant legal documents: Apple (AAPL.O) alleges in its trade secret lawsuit against OpenAI that the defendant used Apple’s proprietary information to train AI agents. 8. U.S. Department of Commerce: Meta Platforms (META.O) CEO Mark Zuckerberg will attend the tech-focused G20 meeting via video conference.
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Against the backdrop of escalating US-Canada trade tensions and rising energy prices, markets widely expect the Bank of Canada (BoC) to hold its benchmark interest rate steady at 2.25% this Wednesday, marking the central bank’s seventh consecutive hold. The US has already imposed a 50% tariff on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, while Canada plans to levy retaliatory tariffs on certain US products starting September 8. Meanwhile, driven by rising oil prices, Canada’s overall inflation rate has climbed to 3%, hitting its highest level since 2023, leaving the BoC facing a stagflation dilemma: tariffs weighing on economic growth while energy costs fuel inflation. While Canada’s annualized second-quarter GDP growth rebounded to 3.3% and over 180,000 jobs were added between May and July, roughly two-thirds of surveyed economists have cut their corporate investment forecasts due to the trade war. Markets now widely anticipate that the BoC’s next rate hike may not come until the first half of 2027.
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Wall Street made a flurry of rating adjustments on Tuesday, with Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, SpaceX and other firms being favored by institutions.
Multiple Wall Street institutions have recently released their latest stock ratings, issuing positive assessments for firms including Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, SpaceX, Cisco, Airbnb, and Uber. Baird reaffirmed its "Outperform the Market" rating for Nvidia, noting the chipmaker remains a top large-cap pick thanks to its leading market share and sustained growth in its inference business. Bank of America reiterated a "Buy" rating for Microsoft, raising its target price from $500 to $600, citing accelerated Azure growth as further validation of its AI strategy. JPMorgan reaffirmed an "Overweight" rating for Apple, arguing that despite an expected decline in global smartphone shipments in 2026, the tech giant will benefit from rising market share in the premium device segment. Bernstein reaffirmed an "Outperform the Market" rating for SpaceX, stating that the new launch facility at its Louisiana Starbase site will provide critical infrastructure for future Starship launches and orbital data center construction. Separately, Deutsche Bank initiated coverage on Cisco with a "Buy" rating; Rosenblatt initiated coverage on Uber and Airbnb, assigning "Buy" ratings with target prices of $100 and $220 respectively; KeyBanc initiated coverage on eToro with an "Overweight" rating; Piper Sandler upgraded Tempus AI’s rating to "Overweight", lifting its target price from $56 to $76; Evercore ISI upgraded Duolingo’s rating to "Outperform the Market". Other rating actions include: UBS downgrading Interactive Brokers from "Buy" to "Neutral"; Bank of America upgrading Timken to "Buy"; Citigroup initiating positive catalyst coverage on Howmet Aerospace; and BMO upgrading Park Hotels & Resorts to "Outperform the Market".
Solana-based automated market maker Aquifer has lost roughly $2.5 million in an exploit involving wallets on Solana and Ethereum, with the protocol offering the attacker a 20% bounty for returning most of the funds.
Summary
Solana based AMM Aquifer lost roughly $2.5 million in an exploit involving attacker addresses on Solana and Ethereum. Aquifer offered the attacker a 20% whitehat bounty if at least 80% of the assets are returned by Sept. 3. The exact point of compromise remains unclear, with no technical post mortem yet establishing how access to the affected wallets was obtained. Available information has not established that Aquifer’s smart contracts were exploited, leaving compromised wallet access as the main focus of the incident so far. Blockchain security monitoring service Defimon reported the attack on Aug. 31, identifying separate Solana and Ethereum addresses controlled by the suspected exploiter. Aquifer later sent an on-chain whitehat offer seeking the return of at least 80% of the assets linked to the incident.
The offer gives the attacker until Sept. 3 at 14:00 UTC to transfer the assets, or their equivalent value, to recovery addresses provided by Aquifer. The person controlling the wallets may retain up to 20% of the funds as a whitehat bounty if the conditions are met.
Aquifer said it would not pursue civil claims arising from the exploit if the attacker complies with the terms, subject to applicable law. The agreement would not bind law enforcement agencies, regulators, sanctions authorities or other government bodies.
Aquifer exploit involves wallets on two chains Aquifer operates as a proprietary automated market maker on Solana, where its liquidity is used to facilitate token swaps. DefiLlama describes the protocol as a prop AMM and currently lists its total value locked at around $2.8 million.
The addresses identified after the exploit show activity spanning Solana and Ethereum. Defimon linked the Solana address 7fTe9pvrwXJRBHq9MaSyVPR4PgEuhqLiA93Dxf4gRk7J and Ethereum address 0x2Dfe9e969796e2797278b02761dd9Ad6aE922746 to the attacker.
Aquifer’s whitehat message was authorized through the protocol’s Solana upgrade authority and published on-chain. The project supplied separate recovery addresses for Solana and Ethereum, allowing assets associated with the attack to be returned on either network.
Public information has not yet established exactly how the wallets were compromised. No technical post-mortem has been released explaining whether private keys, administrator credentials or another part of Aquifer’s operational infrastructure was exposed.
Available information similarly does not establish that Aquifer’s smart contract code was exploited. The use of addresses across Ethereum and Solana provides a trail for investigators tracking the assets, but does not by itself identify how access to the affected funds was obtained.
The incident follows several Solana-related attacks this year where the point of compromise was outside the underlying blockchain.
Solana protocols have faced different attack methods In June, crypto.news previously reported that five legacy liquidity pools belonging to Raydium lost roughly $1.3 million after an attacker targeted retired AMM infrastructure.
On-chain investigator Specter said the Raydium attacker used a fake mint address to bypass validation checks in an older AMM program. The stolen assets included roughly 150,177 RAY, 5,603 SOL and 893,700 USDC.
Raydium said its active pools and current users were unaffected because the vulnerable infrastructure had already been phased out. The protocol committed to reimbursing the affected assets from its treasury.
A separate July incident involving Across Protocol produced losses of less than $4 million after an attacker fabricated Solana deposit events. The attacker created 1,627 fake deposits with a combined stated value of $41.7 million and requested payouts across 18 destination chains.
Risk Labs’ relayer processed 581 of the fraudulent requests before Solana operations were suspended, advancing approximately $4.5 million of its own capital. Around $500,000 belonging to the attacker remained trapped, bringing the net loss below $4 million.
Across later said the Solana attack stemmed from a flaw in Risk Labs’ off-chain event-reading software and not a vulnerability in its smart contracts or the Solana network. Legitimate user transfers were completed or refunded.
Operational security failures have produced losses elsewhere without attackers needing to exploit smart contract logic.
Wallet access has become a major attack route Stablecoin payments company Triple-A confirmed in July that unauthorized access to its treasury wallets resulted in the theft of company-owned digital assets. On-chain researchers initially tracked suspicious withdrawals across Ethereum, Solana, TRON and TON, with some reports identifying activity on Polygon and Arbitrum.
Triple-A later said client funds remained unaffected because customer assets were segregated from the compromised treasury infrastructure. Researchers had estimated the loss at roughly $11.8 million before the company confirmed the breach.
The company did not disclose whether the attacker obtained private keys, credentials or another form of access. Triple-A said cybersecurity specialists and Singapore police were working on the investigation and asset tracing.
Private key and wallet compromises have accounted for a substantial portion of crypto thefts in 2026. CertiK reported in July that digital asset losses reached $1.32 billion during the first half of the year, down 46.8% from the same period in 2025.
Despite the lower total, the security firm said wallet compromises became the largest attack method during the second quarter, replacing phishing as the main source of losses.
Another Solana project, Step Finance, ultimately shut down its operations after an attack earlier this year targeted devices used by members of its executive team. Attackers gained access to treasury and fee wallets and moved approximately 261,854 SOL, while later estimates placed total losses across affected assets near $40 million.
Investigators determined that Step Finance’s smart contracts were not the point of entry. Compromised endpoints allowed the attackers to access wallets used by the project, and the financial damage later contributed to the decision to wind down the platform.
A similar distinction will depend on Aquifer publishing more details about its own breach. The protocol has not released a post-mortem identifying the initial point of access, the specific credentials involved or whether one compromised account provided control over multiple wallets.
For now, Aquifer’s recovery process centers on its whitehat proposal. The attacker has been offered the right to retain up to 20% of the assets associated with the exploit if at least 80% is returned to the designated recovery addresses by Sept. 3 at 14:00 UTC.
Institutional appetite for crypto exchange-traded funds is widening well beyond Bitcoin, with capital flowing back into BTC funds and significant inflows continuing for both Ethereum and Solana ETF products.
Bitcoin ETF Inflows Rebound Amid Market CautionSpot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States attracted approximately $217 million in net inflows on August 31, reversing the prior session’s $202 million outflow, according to data compiled by Farside Investors and SoSoValue. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) contributed $205.9 million of that day’s inflows, signaling ongoing interest from major institutions.
Last week, a streak of nine consecutive sessions brought nearly $3 billion into Bitcoin ETFs, marking one of the strongest periods of institutional demand for the asset so far in 2026. That buying run was briefly interrupted by Friday’s withdrawals, but Monday’s inflow pointed to continued resilience in BTC-focused products.
Despite these inflows, Bitcoin’s price traded between $78,000 and $79,000 Tuesday, remaining below the $80,000 mark after a brief breakout earlier in August. The combination of higher Treasury yields and market expectations for another Federal Reserve interest rate increase is adding pressure to risk assets, including digital currencies, as investors weigh broader macroeconomic risks.
Solana ETFs Reach $1 Billion MilestoneSolana is emerging as a clear indicator that institutional interest in regulated crypto funds is broadening. The Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (BSOL) reached $1 billion in assets under management on August 28—just ten months after its introduction—making it the first US-listed Solana ETF to cross this threshold.
This milestone comes as Solana’s native token, SOL, continues to trade well below its January 2025 all-time high. On Tuesday, SOL was near $102, roughly 65% under its peak, and saw a slight decrease over 24 hours. Despite this, institutional allocations have grown steadily, with BSOL accumulating over $1 billion from a total of $1.30 billion net flows into US Solana ETFs by August 28, based on Farside data. Other issuers such as Fidelity and Grayscale have seen smaller but notable inflows.
Mini dictionary: Bitwise Asset Management is a US-based investment firm specializing in cryptocurrency index and strategy funds. The Bitwise Solana Staking ETF gives institutional investors exposure to SOL and its staking rewards via a regulated vehicle, helping to broaden access to Solana’s blockchain ecosystem.
ETFAssets Under ManagementNet Flows (Cumulative)Token PriceBSOL (Solana)$1 billion$1.0+ billion$102US Solana ETFs (Total)–$1.3 billion$102Spot Bitcoin ETFs–$3 billion (9-day streak)$78,000-$79,000Institutional allocations to Solana ETFs are reaching new highs, with the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF surpassing $1 billion in under a year—even while SOL trades far below its previous peak.
Ethereum ETF Inflows Continue UnabatedEthereum has also experienced a strong wave of institutional support. Spot Ether ETFs in the US received nearly $88 million in net inflows on Monday, representing the eleventh consecutive day of positive flows, according to SoSoValue. The recent run has now attracted about $1.6 billion, marking the longest stretch of inflows since Ether ETFs posted a 20-day streak that ended in July 2025.
Coinpaper reported that strong inflows for Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs often align during periods of market optimism for BTC, but Solana’s recent progress indicates a new phase where multiple alternative assets capture sustained attention from institutional investors.
The latest inflows for US spot Ether ETFs push the consecutive streak to 11 days with $1.6 billion raised, signaling persistent demand beyond Bitcoin.
While Bitcoin continues to dominate the institutional landscape, these developments highlight that investor interest in regulated crypto investment vehicles is no longer limited to BTC.
If the current trends persist, September could serve as a pivotal period to assess whether ETF-driven demand remains tied to Bitcoin price movements or signals a broader reshaping of capital flows across the digital asset market.
Bitcoin traded around $79,000 on Monday after Strategy announced its first Bitcoin purchase in months.
Notable Statistics:
Coinglass data shows 104,578 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours for $378.71 million. SoSoValue data shows net outflows of $201.8 million from spot Bitcoin ETFs on Friday. Spot Ethereum ETFs saw net inflows of $102.2 million. In the past 24 hours, top gainers include XRP, Hyperliquid and Pepe. Notable Developments:
Bitcoin Stalls Around $78,000: Here’s the Key Level to WatchTom Lee Says Markets Could ‘Rally Very Strongly’ in September, Touts Fed SurpriseBitmine Buys 53,501 ETH: What Does It Mean for BMNR?Bill Gates Won’t Pick Crypto to Diversify Away From the Dollar, Calls It ‘Pure Mania-Driven Asset’ — Here’s What the Billionaire Would Choose InsteadBitcoin, Ethereum Trade Sideways but Analysts Warn Against Switching to Meme CoinsBTC, ETH, SOL Pull Back After Explosive Rally but ‘Nothing’s Broken Yet,’ Top Trader SaysHyperliquid In Talks To Enter US Via Kraken’s Parent CompanyTrader Notes:
Crypto trader Kevin says Bitcoin and Ethereum are heading for strong monthly closes, with daily trend reversals and improving higher-timeframe momentum, strength and money flows suggesting the bear market bottom is already in.
While BTC remains below the 2-day 200 EMA/SMA and 50-week SMA, a break and hold above $85,000 would provide stronger confirmation.
The analyst remains bullish on BTC and ETH, viewing any year-end dips as potentially the last major accumulation opportunity before Bitcoin moves toward $100,000 and higher next year.
Trending
Trader Jelle sees Bitcoin at a decision point near key weekly resistance. A breakout could confirm the start of a new bull market, but until that happens, taking some profits after the past two weeks’ rally may be prudent.
Image: Shutterstock
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Speaking to CNBC, Tom Lee, Head of Research and Chief Investment Officer at Fundstrat, shared his latest expectations regarding the Fed’s September policies and global markets.
Noting that September has historically been a weak month for markets and highlighting uncertainties regarding interest rate scenarios, Lee argued that, contrary to general expectations, markets could spring an upside surprise.
The renowned analyst stated that the FED meeting on September 15th is a critical turning point, and that if the central bank does not make any changes to interest rates, the stock markets could trigger a very strong rally.
He suggested that a major correction might be postponed until October, or that stocks could experience a limited pullback after rising above the 8,000-point level in the S&P 500 index.
Lee argued that the periodic slowdown in the cryptocurrency market (“crypto winter”) was quite shallow and is nearing its end, reminding that crypto assets became the best-performing macro asset class in the third quarter of the year.
Lee, pointing to institutional investors turning to crypto stocks, argued that investor interest would quickly return as the 4-year crypto cycle comes to an end in the coming days.
The analyst pointed out that regulatory changes could be the biggest catalyst for the sector, stating the following:
“If the CLARITY Bill passes Congress this year, Bitcoin and Ethereum will have an extremely strong and massive fourth quarter.”
*This is not investment advice.
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Ethereum price today: $2,470BitMine acquired 53,501 ETH last week, its largest purchase since June, extending its buying streak.Chairman Thomas Lee predicts increased institutional crypto accumulation in Q3.ETH retests $2,431 support as consolidation continues after the recent rally.Ethereum (ETH) treasury firm BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) extended its ETH buying run following another round of weekly acquisitions.
The firm purchased 53,501 ETH last week, its largest weekly purchase since June and marking 65 consecutive weeks of ETH acquisitions. The move has lifted BitMine's stack to 5.901 million ETH worth $14.63 billion at the time of writing.
ETH has been one of the best-performing assets in Q3, outperforming the S&P 500 by 5,430 basis points, according to BitMine Chairman Thomas Lee.
"We believe this sets the stage for institutions to add to their crypto holdings given the substantial outperformance of crypto versus other macro assets in Q3 so far," wrote Lee in a Monday statement.
He cited multiple catalysts, including the upcoming Senate procedural vote for the crypto market CLARITY Act scheduled for mid-September, Korean investors rotating from AI stocks toward crypto and a potential bottoming of the four-year crypto market cycle.
"This sets the stage for what we expect to be sizable institutional participation in buying crypto in the final months of 2026, especially given the tailwinds of tokenization and Agentic-AI," noted Lee.
BitMine also maintained a 5.067 million ETH stake through its Made in America Validator Network (MAVAN), potentially generating annualized staking revenue of $335 million.
The company also reported holdings of 211 Bitcoin (BTC), a $180 million stake in Beast Industries, $81 million worth of Eightco Holdings shares (ORBS) and total cash and marketable securities of $541 million.
The increased cash balance and acquisitions follow rising trading volume in BMNR shares, which averaged $1.36 billion over five days, ranking #62 in the US behind Texas Instruments.
BMNR shares are trading at $25, up 6% at the time of writing.
Meanwhile, ETH exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded a second consecutive week of net inflows worth $824.42 million, its largest since October, per SoSoValue data.
Ethereum technical outlook: ETH consolidates above $2,400Ethereum has seen $103.3 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, led by $71 million in long liquidations, according to Coinglass data.
On the daily chart, ETH is extending its bullish near-term bias as price holds above the 20-, 50-, 100- and 200-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs), which fan out below spot price and reinforce a constructive trend structure.
The top altcoin is pressing into fresh local highs with the 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) around 71 and the Stochastic Oscillator (Stoch) near 87, suggesting overbought but still strong upside momentum that keeps any corrective pullbacks framed as consolidation within the prevailing uptrend.
On the downside, initial support is seen at the recent horizontal level near $2,431, followed by the 20-day EMA and the $2,172 area, where underlying demand is backed by the 50-, 100- and 200-day EMAs clustered between roughly $2,160 and $2,090.
ETH/USDT daily chartDeeper declines would test $1,961, then $1,809. On the topside, immediate resistance emerges at $2,680, ahead of a higher barrier at $2,879, where a break would open the way for a continuation of the broader bullish leg.
(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)
As Ethereum [ETH] advanced toward $2500, traders went all-in, adding massive amounts of leverage on both Binance and Bybit.
The combined Open Interest (OI) on these two exchanges grew by $1.12 billion over the seven days ending on the 22nd of August, after traders began to chase Ethereum’s breakout.
Recently, that momentum has dramatically fallen off. As of the 30th of August, the leverage collapsed 90.9% to just $102 million. Binance fell from $843 million to $94 million, while Bybit plunged from $277 million to $8 million.
Source: CryptoQuant However, ETH is still trading near $2500, even though derivatives are being added by much smaller margins. In other words, this means that the rally is now relying less on rapid expansion of derivatives in order to continue supporting the price.
Ultimately, if Ethereum holds $2500 while leverage decreases, then this would likely indicate a rally based on growing demand.
With leveraged trading cooling, Ethereum’s support is increasingly coming from spot ETFs.
The volume of ETH being bought by institutions through spot ETFs has grown with each session since the 15th of August. Since then, U.S.-based Ethereum ETFs have had approximately $1.5 billion in investment over 10 days.
Source: Farside Over this same period BlackRock’s ETHA accounted for 71.9%, or approximately $1.02 billion, of total investment in all U.S.-based Ethereum ETFs. At an ETH price level of $2,400-$2,500, these investments would represent approximately 570,000-630,000 ETH worth of net purchases.
More importantly, ETF inflows matter because they create direct demand for ETH in the spot market without adding leverage through futures. All in all, it is likely that continued ETF inflows will support ETH’s stabilization even if derivative positions continue to be reduced.
Whale selling tests ETH demand That institutional demand now faces a direct supply test, as whale 0x2Ea2 has moved substantial ETH onto major exchanges. Over two days, the wallet deposited 40,881 ETH worth $100.67 million, spreading transfers across Binance, OKX, Bybit, Kraken, and Gate.
Source: Arkham Several deposits reached thousands of ETH, including 8,629 ETH sent to Binance within one day. This does not necessarily mean that whale 0x2Ea2 sold this amount of ETH.
However, placing ETH directly on an exchange makes it immediately available to be traded. This is important since continued sales of ETH could potentially absorb some of the spot demand for ETH currently at around $2,500.
Meanwhile, the whale still possesses 10,506 ETH worth roughly $25.52 million, and thus there are additional potential supplies. If that balance follows, ETF demand must absorb heavier selling to maintain price stability.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Meme coin MOO, paired with Micron stock on Long.xyz, has broken through the $18 million market cap mark, surging over 330% in a single day.
According to GMGN market data, the meme coin MOO, paired with Micron stock on Long.xyz, has exceeded $18 million in market capitalization, currently trading at $18.27 million, with a daily gain of over 330%. BlockBeats Note: Stock Meme is an emerging concept merging traditional meme coins with tokenized U.S. equities: instead of pairing with USDT or ETH, meme coins are directly paired with on-chain U.S. stock tokens (e.g., NVDA, TSLA, AAPL, etc.). This model preserves meme coins’ high volatility and community-driven speculative traits, while tapping into the popularity and narratives of real stocks. A portion of transaction fees is often redirected to the community treasury to accumulate the corresponding U.S. stock tokens, forming a dual-driven model of "sentiment-fueled speculation + real asset anchoring".
9 minutes ago
Robinhood Chain’s DEX 24-hour trading volume exceeds $900 million for the first time.
Crypto analyst Adam’s data shows that the 24-hour trading volume of decentralized exchanges (DEX) on Robinhood Chain has topped $900 million for the first time. The meme token launchpad recorded a record-high trading volume of $438 million yesterday, while real-world asset (RWA) trading volume also exceeded $200 million for the first time.
9 minutes ago
Tensions between the US and Iran remain elevated, with the two major global crude oil benchmarks rising nearly 1% intraday.
According to Bitget market data, WTI crude oil has climbed above $86 per barrel, with an intraday increase of 0.73%. Brent crude oil touched $91 per barrel, up 0.75% on the day.
9 minutes ago
FOMO Co-founder: The platform is growing rapidly, adding 30 new users every minute.
Fomo co-founder @seyong announced on X that the platform has seen rapid growth recently, adding 30 new users every minute. Additional data shows that in the week ending August 24, the weekly trading volume of the social trading app neared $1.3 billion. The daily active user counts of Fomo and Pump are close to those of Polymarket, Hyperliquid, and Phantom, ranging from 60,000 to 100,000 respectively.
9 minutes ago
1.5TB reduced to 214GB: Tencent releases extreme quantized version of Hy4 preview
Beating AI News: Just after the Hy4 preview went open-source, Tencent has released an extreme quantized version of its Hunyuan model. The original model weights are nearly 1.5TB, while the new GGUF version is only around 214GB, drastically lowering the local deployment barrier for this 770B MoE model. Tencent did not uniformly quantize the entire model to 1.25-bit; instead, it applied different quantization levels based on each layer’s sensitivity to precision: non-critical layers are compressed to as low as ~1.31-bit, while sensitive layers retain 2-bit or higher precision, resulting in an average of ~2.38 bits per weight (bpw). In four benchmarks provided by Tencent, the quantized version only dropped 0.2 to 1.6 points compared to the BF16 original. After compression, Tencent also tested heterogeneous device joint inference with prima.cpp. A setup consisting of an RTX 4090 laptop and a 4-A4000 server, with only 80GB of total VRAM and 64GB of RAM, achieved an inference speed of 1.02 tokens per second—roughly 6 times faster than running the model offloaded on the laptop alone. Multiple devices with different configurations can also jointly share the model inference workload.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Meme coin MOO, paired with Micron stock on Long.xyz, has broken through the $18 million market cap mark, surging over 330% in a single day.
According to GMGN market data, the meme coin MOO, paired with Micron stock on Long.xyz, has exceeded $18 million in market capitalization, currently trading at $18.27 million, with a daily gain of over 330%. BlockBeats Note: Stock Meme is an emerging concept merging traditional meme coins with tokenized U.S. equities: instead of pairing with USDT or ETH, meme coins are directly paired with on-chain U.S. stock tokens (e.g., NVDA, TSLA, AAPL, etc.). This model preserves meme coins’ high volatility and community-driven speculative traits, while tapping into the popularity and narratives of real stocks. A portion of transaction fees is often redirected to the community treasury to accumulate the corresponding U.S. stock tokens, forming a dual-driven model of "sentiment-fueled speculation + real asset anchoring".
9 minutes ago
Robinhood Chain’s DEX 24-hour trading volume exceeds $900 million for the first time.
Crypto analyst Adam’s data shows that the 24-hour trading volume of decentralized exchanges (DEX) on Robinhood Chain has topped $900 million for the first time. The meme token launchpad recorded a record-high trading volume of $438 million yesterday, while real-world asset (RWA) trading volume also exceeded $200 million for the first time.
9 minutes ago
Tensions between the US and Iran remain elevated, with the two major global crude oil benchmarks rising nearly 1% intraday.
According to Bitget market data, WTI crude oil has climbed above $86 per barrel, with an intraday increase of 0.73%. Brent crude oil touched $91 per barrel, up 0.75% on the day.
9 minutes ago
FOMO Co-founder: The platform is growing rapidly, adding 30 new users every minute.
Fomo co-founder @seyong announced on X that the platform has seen rapid growth recently, adding 30 new users every minute. Additional data shows that in the week ending August 24, the weekly trading volume of the social trading app neared $1.3 billion. The daily active user counts of Fomo and Pump are close to those of Polymarket, Hyperliquid, and Phantom, ranging from 60,000 to 100,000 respectively.
9 minutes ago
1.5TB reduced to 214GB: Tencent releases extreme quantized version of Hy4 preview
Beating AI News: Just after the Hy4 preview went open-source, Tencent has released an extreme quantized version of its Hunyuan model. The original model weights are nearly 1.5TB, while the new GGUF version is only around 214GB, drastically lowering the local deployment barrier for this 770B MoE model. Tencent did not uniformly quantize the entire model to 1.25-bit; instead, it applied different quantization levels based on each layer’s sensitivity to precision: non-critical layers are compressed to as low as ~1.31-bit, while sensitive layers retain 2-bit or higher precision, resulting in an average of ~2.38 bits per weight (bpw). In four benchmarks provided by Tencent, the quantized version only dropped 0.2 to 1.6 points compared to the BF16 original. After compression, Tencent also tested heterogeneous device joint inference with prima.cpp. A setup consisting of an RTX 4090 laptop and a 4-A4000 server, with only 80GB of total VRAM and 64GB of RAM, achieved an inference speed of 1.02 tokens per second—roughly 6 times faster than running the model offloaded on the laptop alone. Multiple devices with different configurations can also jointly share the model inference workload.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Meme coin MOO, paired with Micron stock on Long.xyz, has broken through the $18 million market cap mark, surging over 330% in a single day.
According to GMGN market data, the meme coin MOO, paired with Micron stock on Long.xyz, has exceeded $18 million in market capitalization, currently trading at $18.27 million, with a daily gain of over 330%. BlockBeats Note: Stock Meme is an emerging concept merging traditional meme coins with tokenized U.S. equities: instead of pairing with USDT or ETH, meme coins are directly paired with on-chain U.S. stock tokens (e.g., NVDA, TSLA, AAPL, etc.). This model preserves meme coins’ high volatility and community-driven speculative traits, while tapping into the popularity and narratives of real stocks. A portion of transaction fees is often redirected to the community treasury to accumulate the corresponding U.S. stock tokens, forming a dual-driven model of "sentiment-fueled speculation + real asset anchoring".
9 minutes ago
Robinhood Chain’s DEX 24-hour trading volume exceeds $900 million for the first time.
Crypto analyst Adam’s data shows that the 24-hour trading volume of decentralized exchanges (DEX) on Robinhood Chain has topped $900 million for the first time. The meme token launchpad recorded a record-high trading volume of $438 million yesterday, while real-world asset (RWA) trading volume also exceeded $200 million for the first time.
9 minutes ago
Tensions between the US and Iran remain elevated, with the two major global crude oil benchmarks rising nearly 1% intraday.
According to Bitget market data, WTI crude oil has climbed above $86 per barrel, with an intraday increase of 0.73%. Brent crude oil touched $91 per barrel, up 0.75% on the day.
9 minutes ago
FOMO Co-founder: The platform is growing rapidly, adding 30 new users every minute.
Fomo co-founder @seyong announced on X that the platform has seen rapid growth recently, adding 30 new users every minute. Additional data shows that in the week ending August 24, the weekly trading volume of the social trading app neared $1.3 billion. The daily active user counts of Fomo and Pump are close to those of Polymarket, Hyperliquid, and Phantom, ranging from 60,000 to 100,000 respectively.
9 minutes ago
1.5TB reduced to 214GB: Tencent releases extreme quantized version of Hy4 preview
Beating AI News: Just after the Hy4 preview went open-source, Tencent has released an extreme quantized version of its Hunyuan model. The original model weights are nearly 1.5TB, while the new GGUF version is only around 214GB, drastically lowering the local deployment barrier for this 770B MoE model. Tencent did not uniformly quantize the entire model to 1.25-bit; instead, it applied different quantization levels based on each layer’s sensitivity to precision: non-critical layers are compressed to as low as ~1.31-bit, while sensitive layers retain 2-bit or higher precision, resulting in an average of ~2.38 bits per weight (bpw). In four benchmarks provided by Tencent, the quantized version only dropped 0.2 to 1.6 points compared to the BF16 original. After compression, Tencent also tested heterogeneous device joint inference with prima.cpp. A setup consisting of an RTX 4090 laptop and a 4-A4000 server, with only 80GB of total VRAM and 64GB of RAM, achieved an inference speed of 1.02 tokens per second—roughly 6 times faster than running the model offloaded on the laptop alone. Multiple devices with different configurations can also jointly share the model inference workload.
Ethereum continues to trade strongly above $2,470 following substantial gains throughout August, with derivatives activity and large-scale whale transactions supporting bullish sentiment in the market.
August rally and technical landscapeEthereum is currently priced at $2,471.16, marking a 2.25% increase in the past 24 hours. Over the month of August, ETH has surged by 32.8%, reflecting increased optimism among traders and investors. This upward trajectory is underpinned by consistently high trading activity and aggressive moves in the derivatives market.
Trading analysis highlights that Ethereum remains well above $2,247.57, the midline of its 20-day Bollinger Bands, which analysts regard as a vital support level. Maintaining this position is seen as essential for preserving the ongoing bullish structure.
Resistance is appearing at $2,783.71, representing the upper boundary of the current Bollinger Bands. Analysts believe a decisive push beyond this threshold could pave the way for further upside moves, while a decline under $2,247.57 might signal fading momentum and risk triggering a deeper correction.
The relative strength index (RSI) currently stands at 69.13, just beneath the traditional overbought threshold of 70. This suggests that while buyers still have control, the market could become overheated if the rally carries on without a period of consolidation.
Open interest in Ethereum derivatives has surpassed $30 billion, with total trading volume exceeding $90 billion in August. Analysts note that this level of activity indicates robust market participation and reinforces the bullish setup established throughout the month.
Whale activity draws attentionBlockchain analytics platform Lookonchain flagged a significant transaction from a major Ethereum holder—whale 0xF626. This entity received 102,913 ETH (worth approximately $248.6 million) before transferring 2,858 ETH (valued around $7 million) to exchanges within a short timeframe. The address continues to hold about 100,055 ETH, equating to roughly $241.6 million.
Market observers often scrutinize such large transfers for potential selling pressure, especially when substantial volumes are sent to exchanges. However, there is no evidence that the whale intends to liquidate its entire holdings at present.
Lookonchain detailed, “Whale 0xF626 is selling 102,913 $ETH ($248.6M),” adding that the transfer to exchanges occurred soon after amassing funds from multiple wallets. The remaining balance indicates that only a portion was moved for possible selling.
Market tools become essential for tradersAs Ethereum consolidates near its resistance and support levels, volatility remains a risk for those seeking to capitalize on recent gains. With market sentiment swinging rapidly, driven by whale actions or institutional developments, traders are increasingly turning to advanced tracking technologies to streamline decision making.
In a market where a single Fed decision or a sudden altcoin listing can change everything in seconds, jumping between different apps for charts, news, and portfolio tracking is costing investors money. Smart traders are now utilizing privacy-first tools like CryptoAppsy to consolidate everything. Without even the hassle of creating an account, you get real-time charts, smart price alerts, coin-specific news, and critical macro data all on one screen.
The crypto community is now focused on whether Ethereum can sustain its momentum above support at $2,247.57 and challenge the next resistance at $2,783.71. Breaking beyond these levels could confirm the bullish bias seen throughout August, while any pullback may prompt reevaluation of short-term price targets.
Robinhood Chain recorded its busiest day since launch, with applications on the network earning about $2.66 million over 24 hours and pushing the two-month-old blockchain ahead of Ethereum in daily app revenue, according to CoinDesk reporting published August 31, 2026. The milestone came from an unusual source: memecoin trading tools rather than the tokenized stocks the network was built to host.
Apps on the chain earned the $2.66 million total in a single day, second only to Solana’s $5.07 million and ahead of every other network, according to DefiLlama data cited in the report. That was roughly twice what applications on Ethereum brought in over the same period and six times the figure for Base.
Record Activity Driven by Memecoin Launchpads The network processed 5.52 million transactions on August 30, an all-time high, while decentralized exchange trading reached about $875 million, according to on-chain data. Pons, an application that lets users create and trade tokens on Robinhood Chain, saw about 22,600 new tokens launched in a single day, up more than 40 percent from the day before. The memecoin tools GMGN and Pons together generated about $2 million of the chain’s app revenue, while Uniswap contributed roughly $307,000 more, meaning the three applications accounted for about 88 percent of the total.
Most of those tokens are speculative coins built around jokes, animals or internet trends rather than businesses moving stocks or other traditional assets on-chain, echoing the launchpad-driven memecoin trading that has spread across other networks. The rush has coincided with a broader crypto rally, with Robinhood-themed memecoins such as Cash Cat more than doubling in the week through August 25.
A Tokenized-Stocks Network Running on Speculation The activity complicates the narrative Robinhood set out when it launched the Ethereum-compatible network on July 1 with tokenized stocks as its flagship use case. Within two weeks, CoinDesk found, memecoins had already overtaken much of the trading, even as Robinhood Chain’s tokenized-stocks and real-world-asset volume began to climb.
Chief Executive Vlad Tenev has signaled comfort with the outcome, telling observers in July that the network works well for memes even as real-world assets remain the company’s longer-term focus. The company has not disclosed how much revenue the chain itself generates, though executives said on a July earnings call that Robinhood collects only a few basis points on each transaction, and the tokenized-stocks market the network was designed to lead remains in its early stages.
What the Surge Means for Ethereum and Solana The revenue ranking shifts the competitive picture for Ethereum-aligned networks. Robinhood Chain is an Ethereum-compatible layer now generating more application revenue than Ethereum itself, a reminder that memecoin activity can shift fee flows between chains quickly.
What remains unsettled is whether Robinhood can convert speculative traffic into durable use of its tokenized-stocks products. The company has not commented on whether it views the memecoin surge as positive and has yet to disclose the chain’s own revenue. For now, the busiest application on a network pitched around real-world assets is a launchpad that produced 22,600 tokens in a day. Robinhood Chain’s daily transaction count has climbed from well below one million in early July to more than five million, underscoring how quickly the speculative activity has scaled.
AUTHOR
A freelance writer with a passion for crypto, delivering insightful and accurate content on blockchain and fintech. With a knack for translating complex concepts into accessible content, Eric produces well-researched articles, blog posts, and thought leadership pieces that cover the latest trends and developments in the digital finance space. His writing is aimed at educating and engaging both newcomers and industry experts, offering fresh insights into the world of cryptocurrencies, decentralized finance (DeFi), and blockchain innovations. Eric’s dedication to quality and accuracy makes him a trusted voice in the fintech and crypto communities
Japan's 10-year government bond yield rises to 3% for the first time in 30 years.
Japan’s 10-year government bond yield climbed to the 3% level for the first time since September 1996.
10 minutes ago
The X-Agent AI MCP Hackathon 2026 will kick off on September 2, featuring two tracks competing for USDT and X-Points prizes.
X-Agent has announced that the X-Agent AI MCP Hackathon 2026 will officially launch on September 2, inviting global developers and teams to submit practical, verifiable Agent and MCP applications. The online global event is supported by OlaXBT and features two tracks: 1. The Open Innovation Track encourages participants to build any practical API-driven Agent or MCP capabilities, focusing on areas including AI, crypto assets, data, automation, and Agent infrastructure. 2. The OlaXBT × X-Agent Trading Challenge grants participating teams access to OlaXBT Nexus MCP, enabling them to develop trading strategies, run backtests, analyze performance, and utilize market data to validate strategies and build related Agent or MCP applications. Total rewards consist of USDT and X-Points. Each track’s first-place team will receive 500 USDT, while the top five teams in each track will split X-Points—tokens eligible for participating in the airdrop of X-Agent’s $XAGT. Winning and selected projects will also gain access to support such as MCP standardization, ecosystem exposure, market integration, and paid call commercialization. The registration and development period runs from September 2 to September 19. Technical review and judging will take place between September 20 and October 1, with the winner list expected to be announced from October 2 to 4. Participants must submit projects via the official GitHub repository. For registration and event details, please refer to the original link.
10 minutes ago
Trader 'CBB' bought $10.5 million worth of HYPE spot, completing a 1:1 spot-futures hedge by shorting an equal amount.
According to TradingBeats monitoring, trader "CBB"-linked sub-accounts have cumulatively purchased 125,492.4 HYPE spot tokens since 00:45 today, for approximately $10.5506 million at a weighted average price of $84.073. Meanwhile, alongside these spot buys, the account added a short position of 125,458.02 HYPE perpetual contracts on 10x cross margin, with a position size of around $10.5524 million and an average entry price of $84.111. The quantity and value of both trade legs almost perfectly align, forming a nearly 1:1 spot-perpetual hedge. Currently, HYPE’s funding rate remains positive, meaning long positions pay funding fees to shorts. The account has received roughly $1,818.6 in funding fees today via its short perpetual position. This strategy also uses borrowing to boost capital efficiency: the account has enabled portfolio margin, holding approximately 190,538 HYPE as assets while borrowing around 7.56 million USDC, resulting in a USDC balance of roughly -$5.96 million. The main account has seen a net inflow of around $10 million this cycle, with the remaining spot exposure primarily funded through USDC borrowing. This address is a sub-account named "2 HYPE DN" under the main wallet 0x49e9. The main account currently holds an additional ~15.696 million USDC and controls multiple related sub-accounts. Main account: 0x49e96e255ba418d08e66c35b588e2f2f3766e1d0; Trading sub-account: 0x642ed9529b2c4fc33da54d1005b6aa12aefdf814 On-chain perpetual and address analysis tool TradingBeats is now live, supporting real-time Hyperliquid data viewing, address-based tracing of whale operations, and comprehensive in-depth analysis.
10 minutes ago
Monetary Authority of Singapore launches public consultation on stablecoin regulation.
Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is soliciting public comments on proposed legislative amendments to the Payment Services Act 2019, aiming to establish a stablecoin regulatory framework in Singapore. The regulator is also seeking public feedback on related proposals for additional regulatory requirements, which draw on developments in the stablecoin industry since 2023. The consultation additionally collects input on policy stances including recognition of cross-jurisdictional and offshore-issued stablecoins. The comment deadline is October 16.
10 minutes ago
Robinhood CEO: Robinhood Banking's assets have topped $4 billion.
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev stated in a post on X that Robinhood Banking’s assets have exceeded $4 billion, adding that this growth reflects users’ trust in Robinhood’s fund management. Tenev also noted that Robinhood is developing "Trump Accounts", which it aims to make the default tool for charitable donations in the U.S. Traditional charitable giving involves complex rules and regulations, requiring donors to evaluate charities, confirm that funds are used as advertised, and assess their efficiency. Trump Accounts allow donors to directly invest funds into investment accounts held by U.S. children, reducing intermediary steps in the donation process. Donors can clearly track their funds’ destination, children own the related assets, no fees are charged, and account assets grow long-term via compounding at market rates—a model expected to bring positive changes to U.S. philanthropy.
10 minutes ago
Manus officially regains independence, completing its split from Meta.
Beating AI Flash News: Manus announced it has officially resumed independent operations, with its founding team continuing to lead the company. Data migration for users in previously affected regions has been completed, and services have returned to normal.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Ethereum is consolidating after a sharp breakout from the $1.9K area, with ETH currently trading below $2.5K. The technical structure has improved considerably, while the continued decline in exchange reserves provides a supportive backdrop.
However, ETH’s $2.5K resistance zone is a meaningful one, and a breakout or rejection from this level is key to determining whether the recovery can extend or the recent price surge was just a bull trap.
Ethereum Price Analysis: The Daily Chart The daily chart shows a significant structural improvement over the past several weeks. ETH broke above the descending channel that had contained the price throughout the past few months, subsequently reclaiming the $1.9K region and then accelerating sharply higher.
The breakout also pushed ETH through the $2.1K resistance zone before the asset surged toward the current $2.5K area. The move also brought ETH above both the 100-day (~$1.9K) and 200-day (~$2.05K) major moving averages. These moving averages are also now sloping upward, which suggests that the broader bearish structure is losing momentum and a structural bullish shift might be occurring.
As already mentioned, ETH is now trading inside a resistance zone around $2.45K-$2.55K. This area has repeatedly attracted selling pressure in recent sessions, with several candles failing to establish a decisive breakout above $2.5K. A daily close above this region would strengthen the bullish continuation scenario and could expose the next major resistance around $3K and potentially higher.
On the downside, the first important support is around $2.1K. This zone is particularly significant because it previously acted as resistance and was decisively reclaimed during the latest rally. A pullback that holds this area would therefore keep the bullish breakout structure intact.
Below it, the $1.9K zone represents another important support region and serves as the initial point of the breakout. Therefore, a sustained move back below it would weaken the current bullish structure and raise the risk that the recent breakout was just a failed recovery preceding a deeper decline.
ETH/USDT 4-Hour Chart The 4-hour chart provides a clearer view of August’s price action and the current consolidation. Following the vertical breakout from $1.9K, ETH initially pushed above $2.3K and continued toward $2.5K. Since then, the price has been moving sideways within a relatively tight range, with the $2.5K level acting as the upper boundary.
This consolidation can be interpreted constructively as long as ETH continues to hold the higher levels established during the breakout. The market is effectively digesting a very aggressive upward move rather than immediately giving back the entire rally.
Therefore, the immediate resistance remains around $2.5K. A decisive 4-hour breakout and sustained trading above this zone would provide confirmation that buyers are regaining control and could open the way toward higher daily-chart resistance.
Looking below, the first notable support lies around $2.2K-$2.3K. This zone coincides with a bullish order block, where the latest acceleration higher began, and could therefore attract buyers if ETH undergoes a deeper retracement.
The next support is around $2.05K-$2.1K, and holding this area would be particularly important, as a drop below it would also lead to a decline below the $2K psychological level and could quickly damage market sentiment.
Meanwhile, the 4-hour RSI has pulled back from overbought territory and is hovering around 50. This is consistent with a cooling-off phase following the breakout rather than an outright momentum breakdown. A renewed move above the $2.5K area while RSI expands again would strengthen the continuation setup, but this scenario will likely materialize after further consolidation or correction, as the market seems over-extended in the short-term.
Sentiment Analysis The exchange-reserve chart provides a notably constructive signal for Ethereum. ETH held on exchanges has declined steadily from above 21M ETH in 2025 to approximately 14.9M ETH at the latest reading shown on the chart. The decline has even become steeper over the past couple of months.
At the same time, ETH’s price has recovered from $1.5K to approximately $2.4K. The divergence is important because the declining exchange reserve suggests that a smaller quantity of ETH is sitting on exchanges and potentially immediately available for selling. While exchange reserves alone cannot determine future price direction, sustained withdrawals can reduce readily available sell-side supply if the trend reflects longer-term accumulation or movement into self-custody and other non-exchange venues.
The chart also shows that the decline in exchange reserves has persisted even through periods of significant price volatility. This makes the current supply-side backdrop more constructive than if reserves were rising alongside the latest rally.
As a result, the technical and on-chain pictures are currently aligned. ETH has broken its longer-term descending trend, reclaimed the key $2K area, and is consolidating near the next resistance while exchange reserves continue to fall. This shrinking supply might just need a slight demand push from the spot or the futures market to result in a breakout and a further rally.
Disclaimer: Information found on CryptoPotato is those of writers quoted. It does not represent the opinions of CryptoPotato on whether to buy, sell, or hold any investments. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use provided information at your own risk. See Disclaimer for more information.
In brief Bitmine bought 53,501 ETH (~$131 million), its largest weekly purchase since June, raising its holdings to 5,901,112 ETH—4.9% of supply and 98% of the way to its "Alchemy of 5%" goal. The buy extends a 65-week streak since the treasury strategy launched in June 2025; total holdings, including cash and other assets, hit $15.6 billion. Bitmine remains the largest ETH treasury and No. 2 crypto treasury behind Strategy, with 86% of its ETH staked via MAVAN for ~$335 million in projected annual revenue. Bitmine Immersion Technologies picked up the pace of its Ethereum buying last week, acquiring 53,501 ETH worth roughly $131 million as chairman Tom Lee touts crypto's strong third quarter.
The NYSE-listed company said Monday its Ethereum stash now stands at 5,901,112 ETH, valued at about $14.8 billion using a reference price of $2,511 per coin. That represents 4.9% of Ethereum's total supply of 120.7 million tokens, leaving Bitmine, in its words, 98% of the way toward its goal of controlling 5% of the network, a target it calls the "Alchemy of 5%."
Myriad: Ethereum next price move? Click to make your prediction.The purchase extends an unbroken run of accumulation. Bitmine has bought Ethereum every week since launching its treasury strategy on June 30, 2025, a streak that now spans 65 weeks even as some recent buys had slowed to smaller sums.
Lee said the top three performing assets since June 30 were Ethereum, Bitcoin and Solana, with Ethereum outpacing the S&P 500 by 5,430 basis points so far this quarter, and he argued that outperformance sets the stage for institutions to add crypto exposure. (Disclosure: Tom Lee is one of several investors in Decrypt’s parent company Dastan.)
Counting cash, other tokens and what it calls "moonshot" investments, Bitmine's total holdings reached $15.6 billion as of Saturday. That includes 211 Bitcoin, $541 million in cash and marketable securities, a $180 million stake in Beast Industries and an $81 million position in Eightco Holdings.
Bitmine remains the world's largest Ethereum treasury and the second-largest crypto treasury overall, trailing only Michael Saylor's Strategy.
Ethereum ETF Net Flows. Image: DecryptThe Bitcoin giant broke its own two-month buying pause this week, snapping up about $370 million in Bitcoin in its first purchase since June. The move followed a rally that flipped Strategy's 840,447 BTC to a roughly $2.8 billion paper profit, after the position had spent much of the summer underwater. Saylor's firm holds around $66 billion in Bitcoin, dwarfing Bitmine's crypto stack.
Bitmine also continues to generate staking income, with 5,067,309 ETH, about 86% of its holdings, staked through its MAVAN platform for projected annualized revenue of roughly $335 million.
Lee pointed to the mid-September Clarity Act vote as one of several potential catalysts heading into year-end.
Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
In brief Bitmine bought 53,501 ETH (~$131 million), its largest weekly purchase since June, raising its holdings to 5,901,112 ETH—4.9% of supply and 98% of the way to its "Alchemy of 5%" goal. The buy extends a 65-week streak since the treasury strategy launched in June 2025; total holdings, including cash and other assets, hit $15.6 billion. Bitmine remains the largest ETH treasury and No. 2 crypto treasury behind Strategy, with 86% of its ETH staked via MAVAN for ~$335 million in projected annual revenue. Bitmine Immersion Technologies picked up the pace of its Ethereum buying last week, acquiring 53,501 ETH worth roughly $131 million as chairman Tom Lee touts crypto's strong third quarter.
The NYSE-listed company said Monday its Ethereum stash now stands at 5,901,112 ETH, valued at about $14.8 billion using a reference price of $2,511 per coin. That represents 4.9% of Ethereum's total supply of 120.7 million tokens, leaving Bitmine, in its words, 98% of the way toward its goal of controlling 5% of the network, a target it calls the "Alchemy of 5%."
Myriad: Ethereum next price move? Click to make your prediction.The purchase extends an unbroken run of accumulation. Bitmine has bought Ethereum every week since launching its treasury strategy on June 30, 2025, a streak that now spans 65 weeks even as some recent buys had slowed to smaller sums.
Lee said the top three performing assets since June 30 were Ethereum, Bitcoin and Solana, with Ethereum outpacing the S&P 500 by 5,430 basis points so far this quarter, and he argued that outperformance sets the stage for institutions to add crypto exposure. (Disclosure: Tom Lee is one of several investors in Decrypt’s parent company Dastan.)
Counting cash, other tokens and what it calls "moonshot" investments, Bitmine's total holdings reached $15.6 billion as of Saturday. That includes 211 Bitcoin, $541 million in cash and marketable securities, a $180 million stake in Beast Industries and an $81 million position in Eightco Holdings.
Bitmine remains the world's largest Ethereum treasury and the second-largest crypto treasury overall, trailing only Michael Saylor's Strategy.
Ethereum ETF Net Flows. Image: DecryptThe Bitcoin giant broke its own two-month buying pause this week, snapping up about $370 million in Bitcoin in its first purchase since June. The move followed a rally that flipped Strategy's 840,447 BTC to a roughly $2.8 billion paper profit, after the position had spent much of the summer underwater. Saylor's firm holds around $66 billion in Bitcoin, dwarfing Bitmine's crypto stack.
Bitmine also continues to generate staking income, with 5,067,309 ETH, about 86% of its holdings, staked through its MAVAN platform for projected annualized revenue of roughly $335 million.
Lee pointed to the mid-September Clarity Act vote as one of several potential catalysts heading into year-end.
Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE:BMNR) bought 53,501 Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) last week for approximately $131 million, its largest weekly purchase since June.
What the Latest Purchase ShowsAccording to a Bitmine press release Monday, the company now holds 5,901,112 ETH worth approximately $14.5 billion at current prices, representing 4.9% of Ethereum’s total supply of 120.7 million tokens.
The company needs approximately 134,000 additional ETH to reach its 5% ownership target.
Bitmine has purchased Ethereum for 65 consecutive weeks since launching its treasury strategy in June 2025.
Its latest acquisition followed a 32,447 ETH purchase the previous week and marked its largest weekly addition since June.
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The company had slowed its buying during July and August, when several weekly purchases fell below 10,000 ETH.
Meanwhile, Bitmine has also staked 5.07 million ETH, or approximately 86% of its holdings. Based on a seven-day staking yield of 2.63%, the company projects $335 million in annual staking revenue.
Why Lee Thinks Institutions Are About to Move?Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee noted in the release that ETH is the best-performing macro asset in Q3, outperforming the S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) by 5,430 basis points through last Friday.
Ethereum gained 55% in August, compared with Bitcoin’s 34% advance. Lee argued that the gap could encourage institutions to increase their crypto allocations.
He also identified the expected CLARITY Act vote in September, renewed crypto demand from South Korean investors and a possible four-year cycle bottom as potential market drivers.
Additionally, Lee expects tokenization and blockchain-based AI activity to support the ETH-to-Bitcoin ratio, similar to how initial coin offerings, NFTs and stablecoins influenced earlier market cycles.
Where BMNR Stands Technically?BMNR traded nearly flat Monday after reaching $26.72 last week. The stock now tests horizontal support near $23, which acted as resistance between January and March.
The 200-day EMA at $22.18 sits just below as the next level to watch if the pullback deepens.
Key levels for BMNR: $26.72 — spike high, resistance above $22 — 200-day EMA, next support below Image: Shutterstock
BitMine Immersion Technologies added another 53,501 Ethereum [ETH] to its treasury last week, bringing its total holdings to 5.90 million ETH.
The company now controls approximately 4.9% of Ethereum’s supply, and it needs about 133,900 more to reach its long-standing target of owning 5%.
BitMine closes in on 5% target BitMine held 5,901,112 ETH as of August 30, according to the latest weekly update it made available.
BitMine said it has reached 98% of the way towards the goal of owning 5%. The company has purchased ETH during each of the 65 weeks since launching its treasury strategy in June 2025.
With the latest buy, and at the latest weekly pace, the remaining gap represents about two and a half weeks of purchases. But BitMine has not provided a date for reaching the target, and future acquisitions may vary.
Its ETH was worth approximately $14.8 billion according to the company’s stated price of $2,511.
BitMine also has 211 Bitcoin, $541 million in cash and marketable securities, and investments in Beast Industries and Eightco, bringing all its holdings to $15.6 billion, up from $14.9 billion one week earlier.
The additional ETH accounts for only about $134 million of that increase because Ethereum’s higher price and a $233 million rise in cash and marketable securities supplied much of the remaining growth.
Most of BitMine’s ETH is earning rewards BitMine has placed 5.07 million ETH, around 86% of its treasury, in staking programmes, and it estimates that this could generate approximately $335 million in annualized revenue.
The amount staked changed little from the previous week, and the estimated revenue increased slightly because of changes in the stated yield and ETH price.
BitMine Chairman Tom Lee expects institutional demand for crypto to strengthen during the final months of 2026. He also predicted that tokenization and artificial-intelligence applications would increase Ethereum’s use.
Final Summary BitMine added 53,501 ETH, taking its treasury to 5,901,112 ETH. The company needs approximately 133,900 more ETH to reach its 5% ownership target.
Japan’s two-year government bond yield climbed to 1.746% on Monday, its highest level in more than 31 years. The move raises the cost of the yen carry trade that has helped fund global risk assets, including Bitcoin (BTC).
Two-year yields track what traders expect from the Bank of Japan (BOJ). Swap markets now price roughly 88% odds of a rate increase in September.
Japan’s 2-Year Yield / Source: CNBCJapan Spent $97 Billion And The Yen Still FellThe BOJ lifted its policy rate to 1% in June, the highest since 1995. Longer maturities followed. The 10-year Japanese government bond (JGB) yield now sits near 2.93%.
Higher rates would normally support a currency. Instead, the yen weakened. It traded at 160.16 per dollar on Friday and touched 160.20 again on Monday.
USD/JPY daily chart / Source: TradingviewTokyo deployed 15.4 trillion yen, close to $97 billion, between July 30 and August 26. That included a rare joint intervention with the United States on July 31. However, the currency has already surrendered more than half of those gains.
The Rate Gap Is Shrinking, Yet The Yen Keeps SlidingThe spread between US and Japanese two-year yields has narrowed to 2.64%. At its 2023 and 2024 peak, that gap ran close to 5%. Half the carry incentive has vanished.
For four decades, the yen tracked that spread closely. Now the two have separated. The currency keeps weakening while the reward for borrowing yen shrinks.
US/Japan 2Y Bond Yield Spread / Source: MacroMicroThat divergence points away from interest rates as the main driver. Mounting Japanese bond losses and heavy debt issuance suggest a confidence problem that higher rates alone cannot solve.
What The Yen Carry Trade Means For Bitcoin NowInvestors borrow yen cheaply, then buy higher-yielding assets abroad. Sharp yen appreciation makes those loans costlier to repay. Forced selling can follow.
August 2024 demonstrated the mechanism. Bitcoin and Ethereum lost as much as 20% as yen-funded positions closed.
Bitcoin trades at $79,087, up 1.3% over 24 hours. The token slipped below $77,000 last week on hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh.
Therefore, the September BOJ decision matters less as a shock than as a marker. A move priced at 88% odds is largely absorbed. Meanwhile, the position that has yet to unwind keeps building.
BitMine Immersion Technologies has purchased another 53,501 ETH, lifting its Ethereum treasury to 5,901,112 tokens worth about $14.54 billion at the time of writing.
Summary
BitMine has bought Ethereum for 65 consecutive weeks since launching its treasury strategy. The company now controls about 4.9% of Ethereum’s reported 120.7 million-token supply. More than 5.06 million ETH is staked, producing an estimated $335 million in annual revenue. ETH trades near $2,464 as resistance around $2,540–$2,550 continues to limit its recovery. BitMine’s Ethereum holdings have reached 5.9 million ETH BitMine Immersion Technologies said in its latest treasury update that it held 5,901,112 ETH as of Aug. 30, after buying 53,501 tokens during the preceding week.
“Over the past week, we acquired 53,501 ETH,” Chairman Tom Lee said.
Using the company’s reference price of $2,511, the Ethereum position was valued at approximately $14.82 billion when BitMine recorded the snapshot at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. Management said its ETH balance accounted for about 4.9% of Ethereum’s reported supply of 120.7 million tokens.
At the time of writing, CoinGecko data showed Ethereum trading near $2,464, down about 0.4% over 24 hours and 1.1% across seven days. Applying that updated price places BitMine’s ETH holdings at approximately $14.54 billion, although the value will move with the token’s market price.
The latest acquisition extended BitMine’s buying run to 65 consecutive weeks. According to Lee, the company has added ETH every week since it adopted the treasury strategy on June 30, 2025.
Buying accelerated compared with several earlier updates. Earlier crypto.news coverage showed BitMine adding 9,946 ETH in late July, taking its holdings to 5,787,414 tokens. Another 9,926 ETH entered the treasury during the week ending Aug. 16, followed by 32,447 ETH in the next reporting period.
BitMine previously identified ownership of 5% of Ethereum’s supply as its treasury target. Based on the company’s supply figure, 5% would equal about 6.04 million ETH, leaving the current balance roughly 134,000 tokens below that threshold.
In June, Lee indicated that buying could slow once the company approached its target. A previous treasury report placed the balance at approximately 5.54 million ETH, or 4.6% of supply, after BitMine acquired 25,000 ETH from BitGo.
Staked Ethereum could produce $335 million annually Alongside the treasury expansion, BitMine reported that 5,067,309 ETH had been staked through its own infrastructure and outside validator partners. The position accounts for approximately 85.9% of its entire Ethereum balance.
At CoinGecko’s latest price, the staked tokens are worth about $12.49 billion. BitMine valued the same position at close to $12.73 billion using its Aug. 30 reference price of $2,511.
Management estimated that the deployed ETH could generate $335 million in annualized staking revenue. The calculation used a seven-day annualized staking yield of 2.63%, meaning the actual return can change with Ethereum’s validator participation rate, network rewards, operational performance and protocol conditions.
Once more of its ETH is deployed, Lee said annual staking revenue could reach $390 million under similar yield conditions. Around 833,803 ETH remains outside the reported staked balance.
BitMine launched MAVAN, short for Made in America Validator Network, in 2026 as its institutional Ethereum staking operation. Part of the company’s balance is already deployed through MAVAN, while partner validators handle another portion.
Staking has developed into a central revenue source for the company. A July treasury report said BitMine generated $45.7 million from staking and validation during the three months ended May 31, equal to about 98% of its $46.5 million in quarterly revenue.
The income also supports BitMine’s preferred-stock strategy. In June, the company declared a $0.1056 dividend on each share of its 9.50% Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock, traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BMNP. Lee previously said staking income could help finance payments on the preferred shares.
BitMine’s combined holdings stood at $15.6 billion Beyond Ethereum, BitMine’s Aug. 30 disclosure listed 211 Bitcoin, a $180 million investment in Beast Industries and an $81 million stake in Eightco Holdings. Cash and marketable securities totaled $541 million.
Using the prices and valuations captured for the company’s update, BitMine placed the combined value of its crypto assets, cash, securities and strategic investments at $15.6 billion. The figure represents a dated company snapshot rather than a fixed balance because cryptocurrency prices and listed investments continue to fluctuate.
BitMine described itself as the largest reported corporate Ethereum treasury. Strategy, led by Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, remains the largest digital-asset treasury company by total asset value because of its Bitcoin holdings.
For U.S. investors, exposure is available through BitMine’s NYSE-listed common stock under the ticker BMNR, as well as its BMNP preferred shares. BMNR traded near $24.27 at the time of writing, up about 2% during the session, with an intraday range between $23.72 and $24.46.
Fundstrat previously found that BMNR had an 80% correlation with ETH in a study of 17 large-cap stocks, compared with 74% for Coinbase. The research did not disclose the period or return interval used for the calculation, and correlation can change as stock and cryptocurrency prices move.
BitMine’s latest five-session average daily dollar trading volume reached approximately $1.36 billion through Aug. 29, according to the company. Management said the figure placed BMNR among the most heavily traded U.S. stocks by dollar volume.
Concentrating much of the company’s reported value in Ethereum also creates risks for shareholders. BitMine’s quarterly SEC filing identifies ETH price volatility, liquidity constraints, unrealized losses, custody arrangements, counterparty exposure and changes to U.S. rules governing digital assets and staking as factors that could affect its results.
Ethereum price remains below the $2,550 resistance zone Ethereum was trading near $2,464 at the time of writing, giving the token a market capitalization of approximately $297.3 billion, according to CoinGecko. Trading volume stood near $15.45 billion over 24 hours.
Price has remained below the $2,540–$2,550 resistance area after several failed attempts to sustain a breakout. A recent Ethereum technical analysis identified resistance near $2,533, where an ascending triangle and a concentration of leveraged positions created another test for buyers.
On the weekly chart cited in the supplied analysis, ETH sat between its 50-week exponential moving average near $2,374 and its 50-week simple moving average around $2,542. The two averages define the immediate consolidation range while the price remains below the upper boundary.
Crypto analyst Ted said a weekly close above $2,550 could clear a path toward resistance near $2,800. Under his downside scenario, losing the $2,370 area could expose the $2,180–$2,220 support zone.
BitMine Immersion Technologies, the Nasdaq-listed Ethereum treasury company, acquired 53,501 ETH over the past week, lifting its total holdings to 5,901,112 ether and bringing its combined crypto, cash and securities position to $15.6 billion, according to a company announcement published August 31, 2026. The purchase extends a buying streak that has now run for 65 consecutive weeks, and it leaves BitMine holding 4.9% of Ethereum’s 120.7 million ETH supply as it closes in on the 5% threshold the company has made a stated goal.
As of August 30 at 3:00 p.m. ET, the company said its holdings consisted of 5,901,112 ETH valued at $2,511 per coin using Coinbase pricing, along with 211 bitcoin, a $180 million stake in Beast Industries, an $81 million stake in Eightco Holdings and $541 million in cash and marketable securities. The $15.6 billion aggregate makes BitMine the largest Ethereum treasury in the world and the second-largest corporate crypto treasury overall, behind only Strategy, which holds 840,447 bitcoin valued at about $66 billion.
Closing In on a 5% Supply Target The company has framed its accumulation around an initiative it calls the “Alchemy of 5%,” the goal of acquiring 5% of all ETH. BitMine said it has reached 98% of that target in roughly 15 months, a pace that has drawn attention because of the concentration it represents for Ethereum’s circulating supply. The firm was added to the Russell 1000 large-cap index on June 26, 2026, and its Series A preferred stock began trading on the NYSE under the symbol BMNP, developments management has used to argue that institutional investors are treating the ETH treasury as a mainstream public-market vehicle.
Staking Most of the Treasury Most of the position is now earning yield rather than sitting idle. BitMine reported that 5,067,309 ETH, or about 86% of its holdings, is staked through its institutional-grade platform MAVAN, the Made in America Validator Network, a stake worth roughly $12.7 billion at current prices. The company said its staking operations generated a 7-day yield of 2.63% on an annualized basis and projected annualized staking revenue of about $335 million, rising toward $390 million if the full position is eventually staked through MAVAN and its partners. Those figures are company projections tied to current prices and yields rather than realized results. MAVAN was originally built to support BitMine’s own treasury but is intended to expand to serve outside institutional investors, custodians and ecosystem partners, according to the release. The expansion builds on a staking push that has already carried BitMine’s staking balance past five million ETH.
What the Buying Streak Signals — and What Remains Unsettled Chairman Thomas Lee attributed the continued accumulation to Ethereum’s relative performance, saying in the release that ETH is the best-performing macro asset so far in the third quarter, outperforming the S&P 500 by 5,430 basis points through last Friday, and that ETH, bitcoin and solana are the top three performing assets since June 30. Lee framed the purchases as a bet that institutions will add crypto exposure late in 2026, citing the CLARITY Act vote scheduled for mid-September and what he described as renewed buying by Korean investors. Those are forward-looking views expressed by the company rather than established market outcomes, and the pattern of weekly purchases has been a recurring story since BitMine stepped up its buying earlier this month.
The update also sharpens the question of how much of Ethereum’s supply a single corporate treasury should control. BitMine’s prior disclosure of a 32,447 ETH purchase crossed the 4.8% supply threshold, and each additional tranche deepens the debate over whether one holder accumulating nearly one in twenty ETH tokens reflects institutional conviction or a centralization risk for the network. The disclosure also reflects a broader pattern in which publicly traded companies have begun treating digital assets as a balance-sheet strategy, with BitMine and Strategy now ranking among the largest holders of their respective networks’ native tokens. The release’s figures reflect prices as of August 30 and will move with the market, and the 5% milestone remains a target rather than an accomplished fact.
AUTHOR
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Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) remains in a narrow range around $78,000, with analysts pointing out that only a select few cryptocurrencies can expect meaningful gains in the future.
What Technical Analysts ForecastProminent technical analyst Doctor Profit posted his weekly update on X Sunday, noting that $71,000 remains extremely strong support, $78,500 the next major resistance and $82,000 as the level that confirms a full bull market.
He called the daily RSI hot but noted weekly and monthly readings remain neutral, arguing the move was driven by a short squeeze rather than heavy spot buying or new leveraged longs piling in.
Crypto Rover posted on X that Bitcoin is pushing higher over the weekend while spot cumulative volume delta remains nearly flat, meaning leverage rather than real buyers is driving the move.
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He flagged that the last time this exact setup appeared, Bitcoin dropped from $81,000 to $77,000. Without spot buyers stepping in to validate the move, the pump risks a sharp reversal.
Widely-followed trader Smiley Capital on Sunday pointed out that the market is showing a clear three-tier structure:
Majors like Bitcoin and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) lead and can be considereds core long-term positions. Revenue-generating protocols like Hyperliquid as measured by Hyperliquid Strategies (NASDAQ:PURR) and Pump.fun (CRYPTO: PUMP) are worth owning rather than just trading. Other altcoins and meme coins that “you play but do not hold.” What the ETF Data ShowsAccording to SoSoValue, ETH ETFs pulled in $824.42 million for the week ending Aug. 28, the strongest weekly total of 2026 and above the prior week’s record of $697.18 million.
August 28 alone brought in $102.18 million, led by BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (NASDAQ:ETHA) with $83.79 million.
However, Bitcoin ETFs told a different story, recording a $201.81 million outflow on Aug. 28 and ending a nine-day inflow streak that had pulled in roughly $2.8 billion.
Image: Shutterstock
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Bitmine now controls 4.9% of Ethereum supply after adding 53.5K ETHLatest NewsPublishedAug 31, 2026
Bitmine has bought Ether for 65 consecutive weeks, maintaining its accumulation strategy through a prolonged crypto downturn and $5.1 billion in paper losses.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies extended its Ether buying streak to 65 consecutive weeks, adding 53,501 ETH last week as a broader crypto market recovery lifted the value of its burgeoning digital asset portfolio despite sizable unrealized losses.
The latest purchase brought Bitmine’s holdings to more than 5.9 million ETH, valued at roughly $14.8 billion based on an Ether price of $2,511 as of Sunday. The company now owns 4.9% of Ethereum’s 120.7 million circulating supply, putting it within striking distance of its stated goal of owning 5%.
Bitmine’s chairman, Tom Lee, said Ether, Bitcoin (BTC) and Solana (SOL) have been the three best-performing major assets since June 30, with ETH leading the gains.
“We believe this sets the stage for institutions to add to their crypto holdings given the substantial outperformance of crypto versus other macro assets in 3Q so far,” Lee said.
Following the latest purchase, Bitmine is sitting on roughly $5.1 billion in unrealized losses on its Ether holdings, according to DropsTab data. The paper losses reflect sustained accumulation through the downturn, which began in the fourth quarter of last year and sent Ether and the broader crypto market sharply lower.
The company’s NYSE-traded BMNR shares were up 1.3% on Monday morning, at $24.09 apiece, poised to end the month with an almost-40% increase, according to Yahoo Finance data.
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
Bitmine now controls 4.9% of Ethereum supply after adding 53.5K ETHLatest NewsPublishedAug 31, 2026
Bitmine has bought Ether for 65 consecutive weeks, maintaining its accumulation strategy through a prolonged crypto downturn and $5.1 billion in paper losses.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies extended its Ether buying streak to 65 consecutive weeks, adding 53,501 ETH last week as a broader crypto market recovery lifted the value of its burgeoning digital asset portfolio despite sizable unrealized losses.
The latest purchase brought Bitmine’s holdings to more than 5.9 million ETH, valued at roughly $14.8 billion based on an Ether price of $2,511 as of Sunday. The company now owns 4.9% of Ethereum’s 120.7 million circulating supply, putting it within striking distance of its stated goal of owning 5%.
Bitmine’s chairman, Tom Lee, said Ether, Bitcoin (BTC) and Solana (SOL) have been the three best-performing major assets since June 30, with ETH leading the gains.
“We believe this sets the stage for institutions to add to their crypto holdings given the substantial outperformance of crypto versus other macro assets in 3Q so far,” Lee said.
Following the latest purchase, Bitmine is sitting on roughly $5.1 billion in unrealized losses on its Ether holdings, according to DropsTab data. The paper losses reflect sustained accumulation through the downturn, which began in the fourth quarter of last year and sent Ether and the broader crypto market sharply lower.
The company’s NYSE-traded BMNR shares were up 1.3% on Monday morning, at $24.09 apiece, poised to end the month with an almost-40% increase, according to Yahoo Finance data.
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
Russia’s regulated cryptocurrency trading volume may reach between 3.5 trillion and 4 trillion rubles, or $46.43 billion, during its first year following legalization, according to Anatoly Popov, Deputy Chairman of Sberbank, one of Russia’s largest state-owned banks.
Regulated trading begins with conservative estimatesPopov presented these figures prior to the Eastern Economic Forum, describing the estimates as conservative. Sberbank relied on data from the Ministry of Finance, which observed that crypto transactions within Russia amount to around 50 billion rubles daily, totaling approximately 18 trillion rubles annually.
SberCIB Investment Research, a division within Sberbank specializing in market analysis, projected that about 20% of this total—equivalent to 3.5 to 4 trillion rubles—could initially transition to regulated platforms once the appropriate legal framework is in place.
Sberbank, referencing Finance Ministry statistics, indicated that only a fraction of Russia’s existing crypto transaction volume is likely to enter the official market soon after new regulations take effect.
Most current crypto trading activity in Russia is expected to remain outside formally regulated exchanges in the near term, given patterns of behavior and the nature of the transition process.
Market growth potential and regulatory timelineSberbank believes that Russia’s regulated crypto market will expand in the coming years as domestic infrastructure matures. Popov stated that annual regulated trading volumes may reach between 4.75 and 5.25 trillion rubles by 2028, rising further to about 7.5 trillion rubles ($87.06 billion) by 2029.
This growth projection signals a gradual migration of crypto activity from unofficial channels toward licensed financial institutions.
YearRegulated Crypto Trading Volume (Trillion Rubles)USD Equivalent (Billion)First year after legalization3.5–4$46.4320284.75–5.25–20297.5$87.06Russia’s legal framework for crypto exchanges is set to take effect on September 1. The law gives professional market participants until July 1, 2027, to obtain the necessary licenses. As a result, full-scale adoption of regulated crypto trading is unlikely until after this transition deadline, keeping the initial volume modest by comparison.
The regulatory structure is designed to encourage a staged rollout, potentially reducing risks for both investors and the wider financial system.
Mini dictionary: Sberbank – Russia’s largest state-owned financial institution, actively involved in digital asset market development, banking, and investment services.
Retail restrictions and asset limitationsPopulation-wide adoption will be influenced by limitations on retail investment. Reports indicate that non-qualified investors are restricted to a maximum investment of 300,000 rubles, approximately $3,800, in crypto per year, provided they complete a financial risk-awareness test. Qualified investors have higher thresholds, but both groups will remain bound by regulatory limits.
Another factor shaping the market’s early phase is the list of approved digital assets. Currently, only Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether’s USDT are sanctioned for trading on Russian-regulated exchanges. Many other cryptocurrencies remain outside the legal perimeter for now.
This may encourage some investors to continue using unlicensed exchanges to access a wider selection of digital assets, limiting the initial share of total crypto activity conducted on regulated platforms.
Access to only Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT through official exchanges could drive demand for alternative assets elsewhere, affecting the pace at which overall activity shifts into regulated channels.
While total crypto activity in Russia could reach 18 trillion rubles per year, Sberbank anticipates that only a modest fraction will move to the regulated sector during the first phase after legalization.
For banks, brokers, and regulated exchanges, the introduction of a legal framework for crypto trading presents significant business opportunities alongside increased state oversight. For investors, the current framework does not equate to unrestricted trading rights.
Future market expansion depends on how licensing procedures evolve, investor demand develops, regulations are updated, and whether authorities choose to broaden the list of approved digital assets. Based on current forecasts, Russia’s regulated crypto market could grow to $87 billion a year by 2029 if these elements progress as expected.
Fundstrat’s Tom Lee said Bitcoin and Ethereum are positioned for a major fourth quarter if the CLARITY Act passes this year, calling it one of four catalysts he expects to drive crypto higher into year-end.
Lee’s Four Catalysts for a Crypto Comeback
Speaking in a CNBC interview, Lee laid out a multi-part case for strength in digital assets. First, he pointed to crypto’s performance relative to other asset classes, explaining it has been the best-performing macro asset in the third quarter so far, a track record he expects to draw fresh institutional allocation in September and the fourth quarter.
Second, Lee said the crypto market’s traditional four-year cycle is set to end next month, which he expects to bring back investors who had stepped away from the space. He specifically cited South Korean investors, historically a major force in crypto trading, who rotated into AI stocks earlier this year but are now showing renewed trading volume in crypto markets.
Third, Lee opened up about strengthening fundamentals building throughout the year, including strong momentum in tokenization and what he described as a breakout product launch from Robinhood, alongside broader tailwinds from generative AI adoption benefiting the sector.
The fourth catalyst, Lee said, is the CLARITY Act itself. “If Clarity Act passes, which could happen this year, and if it does, I think Bitcoin and Ethereum have a huge fourth quarter,” Lee said.
Is Crypto Winter Over?
Asked whether crypto’s recent strength offsets the declines seen over the past year, Lee said the downturn had actually been shallower than widely believed, despite significant deleveraging events, including a sharp pullback in October and two additional drawdowns earlier this year.
“I think it’s been a very shallow crypto winter,” Lee said, adding that relatively few investors currently hold crypto positions, a dynamic he believes leaves room for Bitcoin to potentially reach six-figure territory.
Bitcoin’s Rally Already Underway
Lee’s comments come as Bitcoin has already staged a recovery. Cryptocurrency markets experienced their largest weekly rally in three years during late August 2026, pushing Bitcoin back above $80,000 after months spent trading in a lower range. Altcoins also posted gains between 30-50%.
Story Ends Here
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Ethereum’s institutional moment is no longer a theory. US spot Ethereum ETFs recorded net inflows of $60.86 million on August 5, 2026, adding another data point to what has become one of the more compelling demand stories in digital assets this year.
For context, that single-day figure is not the headline number. The headline is what’s underneath it: cumulative net inflows into US spot Ethereum ETFs have now reached somewhere between $12 billion and $13 billion since the products launched in July 2024, with total assets under management estimated between $12 billion and $15 billion.
BlackRock is running away with this market If you want to understand who is winning the Ethereum ETF race, look at BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust, ticker ETHA.
The fund accounts for an estimated 47% to 72% of recent category inflows, with assets under management between $6.5 billion and $8 billion. Fidelity’s FETH, Grayscale’s ETHE and ETH mini trust, Bitwise’s ETHW, and VanEck’s ETHV have all contributed to the overall picture, but the gap between BlackRock and the rest of the field remains wide.
August 2026 turned into something of a breakout month The $60.86 million day on August 5 was actually a relatively quiet moment compared to what followed later in the month.
From August 17 onwards, Ethereum ETFs went on a nine-to-ten day streak of consecutive net buying that totaled over $1.42 billion. Single-day inflow peaks exceeded $225 million during that run, making August 2026 the strongest month for Ethereum ETF inflows since August 2025.
On several trading sessions during August’s inflow streak, the gap between Ethereum ETF inflows and Bitcoin ETF inflows narrowed meaningfully.
What this means for Ethereum’s market structure Crossing $12 billion in cumulative net inflows in roughly 13 months is a milestone worth pausing on. These are not paper numbers or theoretical demand. Net inflows represent actual capital entering the wrapper after accounting for redemptions, meaning real money from real institutional accounts is sitting in these products right now.
There is also a product development dimension here. BlackRock has already filed for a second Ethereum product, ETHB, alongside its existing ETHA. Grayscale, which converted its existing Ethereum trust into a spot ETF, continues to offer both a higher-fee flagship product and a lower-cost mini trust variant.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
In brief Sberbank's Anatoly Popov told TASS that Russian crypto trading could reach about 4 trillion rubles (~$46.43 billion) in the first year under new rules and roughly 7.5 trillion rubles (~$87 billion) by 2029. The bank plans to accept Ethereum and USDT as loan collateral alongside Bitcoin—"after the Central Bank, of course, allows them for public circulation.” The plans come as Russia's crypto law takes effect September 1. Russia's largest bank expects crypto trading to take off once the country's new digital asset rules take effect, and it's preparing to accept Ethereum and Tether's USDT as collateral for loans.
Sberbank Deputy Chairman Anatoly Popov told state news agency TASS that cryptocurrency trading volumes in Russia could reach as much as 4 trillion rubles, or about $46.43 billion, in the first year, and climb to roughly 7.5 trillion rubles, around $87 billion, by 2029.
Myriad: Bitcoin's next price move? Click to make your prediction.Popov described the projection as conservative, noting that a large share of transactions will keep flowing through crypto exchange services that bypass formal exchange trading, and that the market won't fully mature within a year since professional participants have until July 1, 2027, to obtain licenses.
Popov also laid out plans to broaden Sberbank's crypto-backed lending. "We plan to accept not only Bitcoin but also Ethereum and the stablecoin Tether as collateral," he told TASS, adding that the expansion would come only after the central bank permits those assets for public circulation.
The bank said it prepared early for the rule change and already has hands-on experience with digital assets, having run a Bitcoin-backed loan pilot with mining firm Intelion in December 2025.
The comments come as Russia's crypto framework takes effect September 1. In early August, President Vladimir Putin signed the law establishing rules for crypto trading, custody, and cross-border payments, while keeping a ban on using crypto to pay for goods and services domestically.
The Bank of Russia subsequently published a draft list of assets eligible for public trading, selected by market capitalization, trading volume, and at least five years of price history. Only Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT made the cut, with tokens like XRP left off.
Myriad: Ethereum next price move? Click to make your prediction.The lending push reflects clear demand in a high-rate environment, where Russia's key interest rate stood at 14%. A crypto miner, for instance, that sells its coins gives up potential upside, while pledging them for credit keeps that exposure intact.
Sberbank has not disclosed loan-to-value ratios, interest rates, or a launch date, tying everything to approvals the central bank has yet to grant.
Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
In brief Sberbank's Anatoly Popov told TASS that Russian crypto trading could reach about 4 trillion rubles (~$46.43 billion) in the first year under new rules and roughly 7.5 trillion rubles (~$87 billion) by 2029. The bank plans to accept Ethereum and USDT as loan collateral alongside Bitcoin—"after the Central Bank, of course, allows them for public circulation.” The plans come as Russia's crypto law takes effect September 1. Russia's largest bank expects crypto trading to take off once the country's new digital asset rules take effect, and it's preparing to accept Ethereum and Tether's USDT as collateral for loans.
Sberbank Deputy Chairman Anatoly Popov told state news agency TASS that cryptocurrency trading volumes in Russia could reach as much as 4 trillion rubles, or about $46.43 billion, in the first year, and climb to roughly 7.5 trillion rubles, around $87 billion, by 2029.
Myriad: Bitcoin's next price move? Click to make your prediction.Popov described the projection as conservative, noting that a large share of transactions will keep flowing through crypto exchange services that bypass formal exchange trading, and that the market won't fully mature within a year since professional participants have until July 1, 2027, to obtain licenses.
Popov also laid out plans to broaden Sberbank's crypto-backed lending. "We plan to accept not only Bitcoin but also Ethereum and the stablecoin Tether as collateral," he told TASS, adding that the expansion would come only after the central bank permits those assets for public circulation.
The bank said it prepared early for the rule change and already has hands-on experience with digital assets, having run a Bitcoin-backed loan pilot with mining firm Intelion in December 2025.
The comments come as Russia's crypto framework takes effect September 1. In early August, President Vladimir Putin signed the law establishing rules for crypto trading, custody, and cross-border payments, while keeping a ban on using crypto to pay for goods and services domestically.
The Bank of Russia subsequently published a draft list of assets eligible for public trading, selected by market capitalization, trading volume, and at least five years of price history. Only Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT made the cut, with tokens like XRP left off.
Myriad: Ethereum next price move? Click to make your prediction.The lending push reflects clear demand in a high-rate environment, where Russia's key interest rate stood at 14%. A crypto miner, for instance, that sells its coins gives up potential upside, while pledging them for credit keeps that exposure intact.
Sberbank has not disclosed loan-to-value ratios, interest rates, or a launch date, tying everything to approvals the central bank has yet to grant.
Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
The crypto market has posted sharp gains across Bitcoin and several major altcoins, but Cryptex Finance data covering 36 assets and roughly 92% of the digital asset market shows that capital remains heavily concentrated in Bitcoin and Ethereum despite prices rising across the market.
Summary
Cryptex’s 36-asset index gained just 1.92% over the trailing seven days, even as several major cryptocurrencies posted much larger gains from their recent lows. Joe Sticco said low price dispersion suggests cryptocurrencies are moving together rather than investors rotating capital between assets and sectors. Sticco said roughly nine out of every ten dollars entering regulated crypto products during one recent session went to Bitcoin and Ethereum. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF inflows provide evidence of institutional demand, although Sticco said rising asset values should not be confused with fresh capital entering the funds. Cryptex Finance co-founder Joe Sticco told crypto.news that participation in the recent rally had spread across the market, but the allocation of capital had not followed at the same pace, leaving cryptocurrencies trading more like a single group than a market in which investors are selecting individual winners.
Cryptex’s market index stood at 1,199.69, almost 20% above the base level of 1,000 set on Feb. 20. The index tracks 36 assets across five sectors using Coinbase pricing, giving Sticco a larger sample than Bitcoin or a handful of major altcoins alone.
Over the trailing seven days, however, the index had risen only 1.92%. Sticco said the figure matters because much of the rally that produced large percentage gains from recent lows took place within roughly 72 hours between Aug. 19 and Aug. 21, followed by several days of relatively flat trading.
“Measure from the low, and you get a rally. Measure the trailing week, which is what most readers think they’re being told, and you get almost nothing,” Sticco said.
Bitcoin’s acceleration during that period followed a major derivatives flush alongside renewed spot demand. Earlier market coverage showed BTC jumping from below $65,000 to around $69,500 on Aug. 19 as more than $1 billion in crypto short positions were liquidated within an hour.
Crypto market gains show little separation between assets Price dispersion within Cryptex’s index provides another reason Sticco is reluctant to describe the rally as a full capital rotation.
On the day measured by Cryptex, the strongest constituent gained 6.71%, while the weakest declined 1.49%. Despite covering 36 cryptocurrencies from five sectors, the entire range between the best and worst performers amounted to roughly eight percentage points.
“That is not a market sorting winners from losers. That’s a market moving as one block,” Sticco said.
According to Sticco, such low dispersion indicates that a common market factor is lifting cryptocurrencies together instead of investors moving money between assets based on individual fundamentals.
Major tokens nevertheless produced very different headline returns when measured across the rally. Sticco put Bitcoin’s seven-day increase at roughly 14%, XRP’s at 28%, and Solana’s at about 19%.
Capital allocation did not match the apparent spread in price performance. Bitcoin dominance remained around 57% to 60%, depending on the market universe used, while Sticco cited an Altcoin Season Index reading below 40, far under the 75 level generally used by the index to signal an altcoin season.
Solana also remained more than 50% below its October 2025 level despite gaining about 19% during the week, according to Sticco.
“Participation broadened. Allocation didn’t,” he said.
Institutional flows remain concentrated in Bitcoin and Ethereum Regulated investment products give Sticco another way to separate rising cryptocurrency prices from the destination of new capital.
During one recent Wednesday session, Sticco said U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs received about $232 million, while Ether ETFs attracted roughly $192 million. XRP products brought in around $28 million, compared with approximately $15 million for HYPE products and $9 million for Solana.
By his calculation, close to nine dollars out of every ten went into Bitcoin and Ethereum. Weekly figures showed a similar concentration, with Bitcoin receiving about 71% of flows and Ethereum another 26%.
The concentration comes even as U.S. spot products have helped support Bitcoin’s recovery. A previous report on ETF demand found that U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs had taken in approximately $1.9 billion across five consecutive inflow sessions by Aug. 24, while analysts said continued spot buying would be needed after forced short covering helped accelerate the initial breakout.
Sticco said the subsequent streak had reached eight consecutive sessions of net Bitcoin ETF inflows totaling about $2.8 billion, while Ether ETFs had also recorded eight positive sessions and more than $1 billion in inflows.
August Bitcoin ETF inflows had exceeded $3 billion by the time of his comments, making it the strongest month of 2026, according to Sticco. He said BlackRock had absorbed a large portion of the demand, including around $1.3 billion during the previous week.
“Eight straight sessions of regulated spot creations is not what a short squeeze produces,” he said.
The ETF numbers, however, require another distinction when assessing how much new institutional money has entered Bitcoin.
Sticco said net assets held by the funds had climbed from roughly $77 billion in mid-August to just above $99 billion by Tuesday, an increase of about $22 billion. Actual net inflows during the eight-session streak totaled only around $2.8 billion.
Much of the difference came from Bitcoin’s rising price increasing the value of assets already held by the funds, he said, rather than investors supplying another $22 billion in fresh capital.
Earlier in August, five consecutive inflow sessions had brought approximately $853.5 million into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs between Aug. 3 and Aug. 7, reversing withdrawals recorded during the preceding week.
Sticco also cautioned against viewing August in isolation. He said spot Bitcoin ETFs lost roughly $5.4 billion during the first half of 2026 and remained about $2.5 billion in negative territory for the year despite the latest inflows.
ETF demand is clearer than derivatives positioning Separating institutional buying from leverage requires looking at different parts of the market, according to Sticco.
ETF flows and market depth measure demand, while funding rates, futures basis, and open interest give more information about trader positioning. Sticco said falling open interest alongside rising prices can indicate shorts are closing rather than new buyers entering.
He declined to characterize current open interest as either bullish or bearish because publicly available readings differed. Some datasets quote open interest in Bitcoin while others measure its dollar value, which can produce different trends when BTC itself moves sharply.
Market depth presents a similar problem. Sticco described depth as one of the most useful measures for institutional participation because it shows how much capital can enter or exit without materially moving the market.
“Price tells you what the last trade cleared at. Depth tells you what the next big one will cost.”
Available public depth figures were not current enough for Sticco to say confidently how much liquidity had recovered. He pointed instead to the damage following the October 2025 deleveraging event, when he said an estimated $10 billion to $20 billion in leveraged positions were erased and Bitcoin’s top-of-book depth on major venues fell more than 90% intraday.
Market makers subsequently reduced resting liquidity after getting caught with inventory while hedges were force-closed, according to Sticco, leaving order books at their thinnest since 2022.
For Sticco, the institutional side of crypto has therefore developed faster than the liquidity supporting the underlying market.
U.S. policy and Treasury conditions remain part of the rally Macroeconomic conditions have also played an important role in the latest advance, according to Sticco, who pointed to the U.S. Treasury’s Aug. 19 decision to increase long-dated debt buybacks as an important catalyst.
The Treasury doubled the maximum size of certain long-end liquidity support buybacks from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation. The Treasury announcement was followed by falling long-term yields and an 8.2% Bitcoin advance from an intraday low around $64,100 to approximately $69,500 in less than 12 hours.
Sticco said Bitcoin’s close relationship with software stocks during the move shows how crypto has become more connected to U.S. macro conditions. As interest-rate expectations later changed and short-term yields rose, Bitcoin surrendered some of the gains even though the legislative situation in Washington had not materially changed.
Congress presents another variable for U.S. investors. Sticco pointed to the CLARITY Act, which would establish a statutory division of responsibilities between the SEC and CFTC for parts of the digital asset market and create a federal framework affecting exchanges, brokers, dealers, and custody.
The Senate Banking Committee advanced the legislation 15-9 in May, with Democratic Sens. Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks joining Republicans. Sticco, who attended the markup as part of Cryptex’s policy work, said both Democrats made clear at the time that their committee votes did not guarantee support on the Senate floor without progress on unresolved provisions.
A Sept. 15 cloture vote requires 60 votes to move the legislation forward. Previous coverage of the negotiations identified ethics rules, stablecoin rewards, and financial-crime provisions among the issues still unresolved ahead of the procedural vote.
For regulated index products, Sticco pointed in particular to provisions covering CFTC registration of digital commodity exchanges, brokers, and dealers. Capital, asset-segregation, surveillance, and customer-protection requirements could increase the number of regulated venues capable of supporting assets used in exchange-traded products, he said.
Sticco also cited custody provisions and changes affecting financial holding companies as potentially important for institutions, while arguing that statutory classification of digital assets would give index providers more certainty than relying on agency interpretations that future regulators could change.
Policy expectations, however, have weakened even as cryptocurrency prices have risen. Sticco said Polymarket odds for the CLARITY Act becoming law in 2026 had fallen from roughly 82% in February to around 25% in late August, while Galaxy Research placed the probability closer to 10%.
The Sept. 15 vote will also fall on the first day of the Federal Reserve’s Sept. 15-16 meeting, leaving two major U.S. policy events scheduled within the same period.
Unresolved Senate negotiations include ethics and conflict-of-interest rules involving government officials, possible secondary enforcement authority for state attorneys general, illicit-finance provisions and banking-industry objections to crypto exchanges paying yield on stablecoin balances, according to Sticco.
