KelpDAO Bridged rsETH (Unichain)

Byron Gilliam

This is a segment from The Breakdown newsletter. To read more editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/brand/the-breakdown">subscribe</a>



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<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
&nbsp;&#8220;It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little.&#8221;



— John Ruskin
</blockquote>



The half-life of a market opportunity is a function of the frictions involved in exploiting it.



A business opportunity like selling GPUs might last forever because GPUs and the proprietary software needed to run them are hard to make.



A financial opportunity like arbitraging a stock across exchanges might last just a fraction of a second because trading on stock exchanges is easy.



Digital asset treasury companies (DATs) are somewhere in between.



There’s currently a mad rush of new DATs seeking to arbitrage the premium that investors are willing to pay for crypto tokens held by an exchange-listed company.



But it takes months for a company to get listed on exchanges, so despite all the new entrants, the window of opportunity has not yet been closed.



Everyone expects it will be soon though, so only those fastest to market are likely to profit.



Getting there via an IPO is out of the question — wrangling all the lawyers and bankers, getting approved by the SEC, and marketing a deal to investors can take a year or more.



A SPAC listing is faster — it might compress the listing process down to six months or so, as several DATs are currently attempting.



They still might not make it in time.



The premium for exchange-listed crypto (as measured by <a href="https://blockworks.co/analytics/treasury-companies/market-data/crypto-treasury-companies-aggregate-mnav-by-asset/">mNAV</a>) is already shrinking — before any of the proposed SPAC deals have even been finalized.&nbsp;



So to get a new company listed on the stock exchange before the DAT opportunity is arbitraged away, the only option may be to acquire a company that’s already on the stock exchange.



This is creating some strange exposures for investors.



Just recently, we’ve had a biotech company become an ETH DAT, a toy maker a TRON DAT, a maker of cleaning products a DOGE DAT, and a wellness company a BONK DAT.



In most cases, the only redeeming feature of this odd assortment of businesses is that they’re already listed on a US stock exchange.



A new Solana DAT, for example, has been created by a de facto takeover of a company that’s developed a new kind of syringe, Sharps Technology.



It’s not a good business.



For the first quarter of this year, Sharps Technology recorded $0 of revenue and an operating loss of $2 million. At the end of last year, the company told the SEC it had “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue as a going concern. In 2023, Sharps’ accounting firm resigned because the company “did not meet [its] internal risk tolerance metrics.”



And yet, the newly crypto-focused company says it will remain in the business of selling syringes.&nbsp;



This commitment to a failing enterprise — wholly unrelated to the company’s new mission to accumulate crypto — seems to defy business logic.&nbsp;



But it does have financial logic.



“If you don’t create an ACTUAL operating business aside from crypto asset accumulation,” <a href="https://www.kbw.com/about-us/our-team/investment-banking/paul-mccaffery/">Paul McCaffery</a> wrote in an email this week, “you’re going to get excluded from Russell indices.”



That may not sound like the worst fate in the world to you, but it could be for a business that’s dependent on its share price trading above NAV.



“Russell inclusion is essential to monetizing the capital markets flywheel,” McCaffery explains. “It forces institutional buying in the order of approximately 17% of the free float of a company…and increases proportionally as companies issue new shares.”



This could prove to be mission-critical: A DAT that’s excluded from indices, McCaffery warns, is almost certain to trade below mNAV.



Trading below mNAV is the DAT equivalent of failing to sell any syringes, so index exclusion is not something they will want to risk.



Those aren’t the only risks in being a pure-play asset company, either.&nbsp;



Without an operating business, a new DAT could fall short of exchange listing requirements and face higher regulatory scrutiny if the SEC deems it an investment company.



As a result, the seed investors that create these new DATs have been taking on some strange business risks.



(And legal risks, too — Andrew Keys <a href="https://youtu.be/KHGEZf0TnzY?si=vPmWiOntMHdlqC9T">warns</a> that reverse-takeover DATs are a “honeypot” for litigation.)



They could, of course, look for higher-quality companies to merge with, but that would be 1) more expensive and 2) slower.



“For now,” McCaffery explains, “these investors have insisted on mNAV (or very close) valuations with the primary focus on speed and the goal of tapping the capital markets flywheel ASAP.”



In other words, they just want the exchange listing and something they can call an operating business — and they don’t want to pay anything for it.



Unfortunately, you do get what you pay for.



And in their rush to catch the DAT opportunity before it’s arbitraged away, what investors are getting is some strange risks.



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<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst. </li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forward-guidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supply-shock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

The Breakdown Newsletter

Reverse-takeover DATs are a grab bag of risks for investors

Ben Strack

This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forward-guidance" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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Buzz around <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/evaluating-crypto-stocks-ipos-on-deck">crypto-linked stocks</a> has proved unrelenting.&nbsp;



As shares of such companies continue to hit major exchanges, a few more could also join one of the best-known indexes.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Shares of American Bitcoin — a self-labeled “bitcoin accumulation platform” backed by the Trump Family — became available on the Nasdaq today after a stock-for-stock merger with Gryphon Digital Mining. ABTC opened at $9.22, shot up to above $14 and was back near its opening price by 1:30 p.m. ET.



The company’s listing comes a day after crypto platform Gemini <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2055592/000110465925085963/tm255912-15_s1a.htm">revealed</a> its expected IPO of ~16.7 million Class A common stock shares (estimated price at $17-19 each). The stock would trade as GEMI on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.



But let’s go back to crypto equities already available, as it seems Robinhood (HOOD) and Strategy (MSTR) getting into the S&amp;P 500 could only be a matter of time.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Since launching crypto trading in 2018, Robinhood has <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/robinhood-l2-staking-us">doubled down on the segment</a> with bigger plans. The trading app also met with the SEC’s crypto task force yesterday: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="blob:https://cms.blockworks.co/aa645a3a-6cc8-4c2f-904d-85642d31d76c" width="624" height="295">



As many investors — rightly or wrongly — compare HOOD to Coinbase, an Aug. 29 <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/research/coin-vs-hood">report</a> by Blockworks Research analyst Marc Arjoon gives us a side-by-side view of both.



HOOD has materially outperformed COIN year to date — with the stock prices up 156% and 18%, respectively, over that span.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“This divergence is likely due to COIN’s equity story remaining tethered to crypto prices and volume, while HOOD has demonstrated resilience by broadening its revenue base across equities, options, crypto, and prediction markets, thereby capturing a wider slice of retail financial activity,” Arjoon wrote.



Robinhood’s market cap recently surpassed Coinbase’s, “underscoring how investors are assigning a premium to HOOD’s diversified growth and monetization model over COIN’s more cyclical, crypto-driven profile,” he added.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="745" height="411" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-21.png" alt="" class="wp-image-107106" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-21.png?w=745 745w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-21.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-21.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-21.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-21.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-21.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 745px) 100vw, 745px" /></figure>



Coinbase has sought to diversify its revenue streams in recent years, with some success. Though its Q2 transaction revenue declined 39% quarter over quarter, its stablecoin revenue grew 12% (with average USDC balances held in Coinbase products reaching $13.8 billion).&nbsp;&nbsp;



The company now looks to build what it calls <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-eyes-everything-exchange-q2">an Everything Exchange</a> — enabling many more assets to trade in a “one-stop shop” on crypto rails.



So COIN has the revenue advantage over HOOD, but shows “far greater cyclicality” in that realm, Arjoon notes:



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="746" height="420" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-22.png" alt="" class="wp-image-107105" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-22.png?w=746 746w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-22.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-22.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-22.png?w=464 464w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-22.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-22.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 746px) 100vw, 746px" /></figure>



Let’s also touch on another company <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/microstrategy-eyes-p-500-analyst-201103867.html">some think</a> could soon enter the S&amp;P 500: Strategy. You might recall the largest corporate bitcoin holder (now with 636,505 BTC)&nbsp; joining the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/mstr-and-bitcoin-standard-etf-filing">Nasdaq 100 index</a> in December.&nbsp;



MSTR stock is down ~14% in the past month. Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer attributed that to a compressing market premium to its underlying bitcoin holdings and a choppy macro environment.&nbsp;



You might have seen Strategy take some heat (on Crypto Twitter, at least) for relaxing what Palmer noted is a “self-imposed constraint.” The company told investors in late July that it would only use its common-stock ATM to buy bitcoin when its <a href="https://medium.com/@yves-andre.graf/explaining-the-mnav-as-strategys-main-valuation-method-b0f28f82f65d">mNAV</a> was at least 2.5x — aiming to prevent it from issuing equity when the stock traded too close to the value of its underlying BTC.&nbsp;



But around the time MSTR’s mNAV slid toward 1.6x, Strategy said it may tactically issue shares to meet fixed obligations and “when otherwise deemed advantageous” even if mNAV is below 2.5x. That gives it the option to buy bitcoin with equity even during premium troughs.&nbsp;



“The company’s subsequent decision to adjust course when the guideline itself became counterproductive by starving the program of cheap capital exactly when bitcoin weakness created attractive entry points was an appropriate move,” Palmer argued in a Tuesday note.&nbsp;



Palmer reiterated his buy rating of MSTR and its price target of $705 (it stood at ~$335 this afternoon).



Finally, on the aforementioned Circle and Bullish: CRCL shares were trading for about ~$118 Wednesday afternoon — up 280% from its $31 IPO price. BLSH’s ~$54 stock price was about 50% higher than its $37 IPO price.



More to come here, no doubt.



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Coinbase

Crypto stock digest: Listing updates, COIN vs. HOOD

Macauley Peterson

Lido has launched Earn, a new tab on stake.lido.fi that surfaces curated strategy vaults aimed at making it easier, and comparatively safer, to put staked ether to work.



The first listing, GG Vault (GGV) by Veda Labs, offers one-click access to “blue-chip” DeFi strategies using <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/eth">ETH</a>, WETH, <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/steth">stETH</a>, or wstETH. A second listing, the Decentralised Validator Vault (DVV) implemented by Mellow, is also live, while an additional Core Vaults product is slated to go live in mid-September.



Lido says vaults must clear the same security bar as its core protocol, according to Jakov Buratović at the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/lido">Lido</a> Ecosystem Foundation.



“To appear in Lido Earn…all production contracts must be audited by reputable firms before listing, with any material findings addressed,” Buratović told Blockworks.&nbsp;



Live vaults maintain automated alerts to spot any issues, and “if necessary, onchain pause or kill mechanisms can be triggered to halt the vault operation,” he said. While the foundation works to minimize risk for depositors, Buratović notes, they disclaim any liability for potential losses.



Fees are straightforward at launch. “Specifically for GGV, there is a 1% platform fee split between Veda and the Lido DAO, consistent with rates seen in other DeFi vaults,” Buratović said.



On the UX side, users receive an ERC-20 deposit token which accrues value, similar to wstETH — the non-rebasing form of stETH which is widely used in DeFi. Withdrawals are made in wstETH and, for now, Lido is not optimizing for secondary markets of the vault tokens.



The liquid staking provider currently has about $38 billion in ETH deposits, representing nearly 61% of staked ether, <a href="https://blockworks.com/analytics/ethereum/eth-staking">according to</a> Blockworks Research’s latest data.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="889" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-20.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107098" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-20.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-20.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-20.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-20.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-20.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-20.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-20.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-20.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-20.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/ethereum?dashboard=313">Blockworks Research</a></figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Mellow alternative</h2>



The second strategy listed in Earn, DVV, is built on Mellow’s modular vault architecture and introduces a different approach — this time centered on validator <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/decentralization">decentralization</a>. Each strategy is boxed into an isolated “Subvault,” designed to prevent unintended interactions.



“Each Subvault is an isolated module with its own rules. It can only hold a limited number of shares, accept deposits in a predefined set of assets, and execute a restricted list of calls,” Mellow founder Nick Stoev told Blockworks.



Control over these vaults is initially shared between Mellow and Lido via a 5-of-8 multisig. Price reporting and redemption processes, meanwhile, are structured to resist manipulation.



“If the report is flagged as suspicious, it must be explicitly accepted by an authorized acceptor in a separate transaction before being processed,” Stoev said.



Redemption requests are handled in batches, and everyone in a batch receives the same price.



“Redemption requests are queued and processed in batches at the next oracle update,” Stoev noted, “and all requests in the batch receive the same price.”



That price is fixed at the time of the oracle report, not during the final withdrawal.



“Liquidity settlement occurs in a separate step: It may be immediate after the price report or staged.” The batch price is fixed, but settlement can be configured between 1 day and 2 weeks.



Even for addresses with fast-lane permissions —&nbsp;a whitelisted set of entities that are granted privileged access to faster deposits and withdrawals from Mellow’s vaults — access is constrained by pricing rules.



Additional Core Vaults strategies will go live later this month. Some of these will touch centralized exchanges, in which case asset custody is protected through Copper’s MPC-based ClearLoop integration “or equivalent infrastructure,” Stoev said. Thanks to MPC, “no single party ever controls the private key; transactions require joint cryptographic authorization,” he added, describing a design meant to keep assets segregated and avoid rule out rehypothecation.



For stETH holders, Stoev confirmed the vaults adhere to Lido’s core design guardrails.



“Subvaults anchored to stETH interact directly with the Lido protocol and comply with the ‘no harm to stETH users’ constraint,” he said.



With GGV and DVV now live and Core Vaults arriving in mid-September, Earn brings Lido users a new way to access <a href="https://blockworks.co/category/defi">DeFi</a> and validator yields, off-loading most of the effort while keeping safety and simplicity top of mind.



Correction Sep. 4, 2025 at 6:57 am ET: Clarified that DVV is live today while Core Vaults is launching later.



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Lido debuts simplified Earn vaults with Veda and Mellow

Donovan Choy

This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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Would you rather invest in the business model of a cinema or Netflix?



A theater needs real estate, seats, projectors and staff. When it’s full, you top out at ~200 paying customers per show.&nbsp;



Netflix beams the same video to its first customer and its millionth customer with basically the same operational cost.



That zero marginal cost is the intuition behind why investing in tech is attractive. Once you’ve built the product, each additional user generates a high gross margin, which produces sky-high multiples.



Now, that mental model — of zero marginal cost + uncapped demand — is being stress-tested.



In AI, for instance, serving the next user is not free. Your “software” rides on someone else’s model (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, etc). Each user interaction burns inference tokens, which in turn costs real compute, power and data center capacity.&nbsp;



Even as unit prices per AI token trend down, token consumption per task rises, so the bill goes up.



For a few years, Anthropic aggressively courted developers with enterprise-friendly pricing mechanics (e.g. prompt caching, batch discounts).&nbsp;



That strategy worked! In enterprise usage share, Anthropic has overtaken OpenAI — 32% vs. OpenAI’s 25% by usage.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1303" height="581" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-19.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107077" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-19.png?w=1303 1303w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-19.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-19.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-19.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-19.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-19.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-19.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-19.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1303px) 100vw, 1303px" /></figure>



OpenAI lately responded by slashing prices. GPT-5’s API recently launched with $1.25/M input and $10/M output tokens, explicitly leaning into coding and agent use cases.



That’s dramatically cheaper than Anthropic’s Claude Opus’ prices at $75/M output tokens ($15/M input)!



With that, AI wrapper companies like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbFtbiR7PrA">Lovable</a>, <a href="https://cursor.com/en/blog/gpt-5">Cursor</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/boltdotnew_we-are-excited-to-launch-gpt-5-into-bolt-activity-7359288231617581056-XVpa/">Bolt</a> and more have quickly moved to integrate GPT-5.



&#8220;For the first time in SaaS history, the marginal cost of adding on a user is not close to zero,&#8221; said Amanda Huang of Bain Capital Ventures, per <a href="https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/how-long-can-ai-agents-like-cursor-keep-burning-cash-investors-are-divided?utm_medium=newsletter&amp;utm_source=daily_pitch&amp;sourceType=NEWSLETTER">Pitchbook</a>.



Crypto often looks like software economics. Once a chain is live, serving the marginal user is close to free.



That is theoretically true, but not necessarily so in practice.&nbsp;



Because while validators (proof-of-stake) incur zero marginal costs to produce the next block, when demand spikes, users want to pay to jump the queue.



That’s why MEV (maximal extractable value) persists. Being first in line is valuable, and blockchain networks explicitly price that preference.&nbsp;



On Ethereum, EIP-1559 formalized congestion pricing via a base fee plus optional tip. On Solana, “priority fees” exist precisely because blockspace is scarce at the margin — even if the average transaction is cheap.



Crypto investors like Multicoin’s Kyle Samani have explicitly <a href="https://x.com/KyleSamani/status/1838718619339100351">argued</a> in favor of valuing blockchains solely on MEV.



In the month of August, Solana did $68 million in MEV.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="686" height="486" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-17.png" alt="" class="wp-image-107075" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-17.png?w=686 686w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-17.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-17.png?w=363 363w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-17.png?w=368 368w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-17.png?w=309 309w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-17.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 686px) 100vw, 686px" /></figure>



Across the same month, Ethereum saw $32.5 million in MEV.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="691" height="524" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-18.png" alt="" class="wp-image-107076" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-18.png?w=691 691w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-18.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-18.png?w=339 339w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-18.png?w=344 344w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-18.png?w=289 289w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-18.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 691px) 100vw, 691px" /></figure>



Classic SaaS multiples assume high, stable gross margins and flat marginal costs.&nbsp;



But in both AI and crypto, that logic can be sometimes inverted. In crypto, even with low nominal fees, blockspace scarcity created pricing power (priority fees, MEV).&nbsp;



And in AI, “wrapper” applications that pass through model costs behave more like usage-metered utilities. Margins compress unless teams negotiate discounted batched rates.



What does this mean for the players involved? I guess you could just raise more venture money to subsidize usage.



Anthropic, for example, yesterday <a href="https://x.com/AnthropicAI/status/1962909472017281518">raised</a> $13 billion at a whopping $183 billion valuation to compete with OpenAI.



L1/L2 chains have also raised hundreds of millions historically, but you don’t need that much money to build a chain. Similarly to Anthropic, the money is merely a competitive weapon to fund subsidies, incentives and liquidity programs.



In both arenas, the bulk of venture dollars flow to subsidies aimed at entrenching network effects.&nbsp;



In the near term, consumers benefit from lower prices and better service. Enjoy it while it lasts.



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<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supply-shock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
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Is zero-marginal-cost tech no more?

US Bancorp has resumed bitcoin custody services for institutional clients, reopening a product it first launched in 2021 but suspended in late 2022 during heightened regulatory scrutiny.



The move, originally <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-03/u-s-bancorp-resumes-crypto-custody-as-regulators-clear-path?embedded-checkout=true">reported</a> by Bloomberg, follows new clarity from federal regulators on how banks can serve as qualified custodians for digital assets. The Minneapolis-based lender, the fifth-largest commercial bank in the United States, will now also provide custody for spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved last year after years of industry pressure.



Data from Blockworks Research <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/crypto-etfs">shows</a> cumulative inflows into crypto ETFs remain dominated by bitcoin products, which account for nearly 70% of total flows. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) leads with $58.4 billion in assets and $72.9 million in recent net inflows, while Fidelity, Ark, and others also saw strong demand.



Bancorp&#8217;s expansion to ETF custody reflects institutional demand for secure handling of bitcoin funds managed by firms like BlackRock and Fidelity, which have drawn billions of dollars in inflows since approval.



The decision highlights a policy recalibration among regulators, including the SEC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), after years of tension over crypto banking.



With the SEC’s <a href="https://dart.deloitte.com/USDART/home/publications/deloitte/heads-up/2025/sec-rescinds-sab-121-issues-sab-122-crypto-cryptocurrency?utm_source=chatgpt.com">rescission</a> of Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 (via SAB 122), banks are no longer required to carry custodial crypto assets on their balance sheets, easing capital burdens.



Custody services allow banks to securely store cryptographic keys for clients, a critical function for asset managers who must comply with fiduciary standards. US Bancorp’s reentry brings it in line with peers such as BNY Mellon and State Street, both of which also offer regulated digital asset custody.



This is a developing story.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor&nbsp;<a href="mailto:jeffrey@blockworks.co" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jeffrey Albus</a>&nbsp;before publication.



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US Bancorp resumes bitcoin custody with ETF support

Pump.fun has launched a dynamic fee system that ties creator rewards to token market cap, marking its latest strategic shift as it regains ground in Solana’s memecoin sector.



Under the new “Project Ascend” framework, <a href="https://x.com/pumpdotfun/status/1962916227090731353">unveiled</a> yesterday, fees scale from 0.95% for tokens under $300,000 in market capitalization down to 0.05% as projects grow beyond $20 million. The approach replaces a flat 0.05% model introduced in May, which critics said did little to reward small creators.



The update comes as Pump.fun’s broader performance shows decisive recovery from early setbacks. When its PUMP token first launched, the platform quickly lost share to rival Bonk, raising doubts about its long-term prospects.



Blockworks Research analysts <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/research/the-launchpad-wars_pump.fun's-dominance-under-siege">argued</a> Pump.fun had untapped levers, and subsequent data bears this out: Pump has now <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/pumpfun?dashboard=164">generated</a> more than $834 million in total revenue with an annualized run rate of $492 million. Buybacks — central to its token alignment strategy — have <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/pumpfun?dashboard=127">exceeded</a> $68.9 million, with some days directing more than 100% of daily revenues to purchasing PUMP tokens.



Ecosystem activity remains <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/pumpfun?dashboard=120">active</a>, with 200,000 to 300,000 daily traders, more than 12.7 million tokens launched to date, and 20,000 to 30,000 new tokens created each day. Although only a fraction <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/pumpfun?dashboard=121">advances</a> beyond its initial bonding curves, Pump.fun consistently accounts for 10% to 25% of Solana token volume. By contrast, Bonk’s once-promising challenge has faded, with activity collapsing after a brief <a href="https://www.theblock.co/post/361189/letsbonk-dethrones-pump-fun-with-higher-daily-memecoin-volume-token-launches">lead</a> in volumes earlier this year.



This is a developing story.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/author/jeffrey-albus" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jeffrey Albus</a>&nbsp;before publication.



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meme coins

Pump.fun adopts dynamic fee model as market share surges past Bonk

Marc Arjoon

This is a segment from the 0xResearch newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">subscribe</a>.



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Ethereum is having its moment in the spotlight, and while its performance has been attributed to flows from digital asset treasury companies (DATCOs) and ETFs, its price wasn’t the only metric that hit an all-time high. For the second consecutive month, ETH’s price action was accompanied by record levels of perp volume. August saw nearly $2 trillion in volume, 30% more than July’s $1.5 trillion.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="900" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-15.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107052" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-15.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-15.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-15.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-15.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-15.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-15.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-15.png?w=464 464w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-15.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-15.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



August also marked Ethereum’s highest DA usage ever, and its market share increased from ~53% in July to 63% in August. However, since the blob target of six still hasn’t been hit (average of 4.17 in August vs. 4.13 in July), the cost of blobs remains extremely low (near one wei). In the upcoming <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ethereum-devs-fusaka-conflict">Fusaka upgrade</a>, a “floor price” will be implemented to help address this issue.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="900" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-16.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107053" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-16.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-16.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-16.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-16.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-16.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-16.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-16.png?w=464 464w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-16.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-16.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



Thanks to a 50% increase in the gas limit YTD, monthly active addresses (MAAs) also hit an all-time high of 16.8 million (a 12.7% increase from July’s 14.9 million) while transaction count followed suit with ~51.7 million (an 11% increase MoM).&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="900" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-14.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107051" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-14.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-14.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-14.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-14.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-14.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-14.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-14.png?w=464 464w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-14.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-14.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



And just in case you were wondering why Ethereum has the stablecoin narrative — the stablecoin supply on Ethereum reached $163 billion, a new all-time high and the highest among any chain. Stablecoin transfer volume on Ethereum also hit an all-time high in August, rising 17% MoM to $1.43 trillion (vs. $1.23 trillion in July). This marked the second month on record with (filtered) transfer volumes over $1 trillion.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="900" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-13.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107050" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-13.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-13.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-13.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-13.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-13.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-13.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-13.png?w=464 464w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-13.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-13.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



Maybe flows alone aren’t telling the full story?



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0xResearch Newsletter

ETH’s price isn’t the only metric trending up

David Canellis

This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Last week, I <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/polymarket-culture-chasm">wrote about</a> the three killer-est apps of the cycle: Polymarket, Hyperliquid, pump.fun.



Notice that none of them is on Base.



Base has now had two shots at facilitating a potential killer crypto app already this cycle: AI agent launchpad Virtuals Protocol, the “Wall Street for AI Agents,” and now social media platform Zora, with the latter seeing two decent runs in the past 18 months.



Between December 2024 and January 2025 — peak Truth Terminal hype — Virtuals generated almost $11 million in net revenue, according to <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/virtuals">Blockworks Research data</a>, during which time more than 13,000 different AI agents were tokenized.&nbsp;



Last month: $105,000 revenue; 151 agents launched, even after Virtuals expanded beyond Base to Solana earlier this year.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1124" height="624" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-12.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107039" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-12.png?w=1124 1124w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-12.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-12.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-12.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-12.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-12.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-12.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-12.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1124px) 100vw, 1124px" /></figure>



Zora, which supports creator coins and turns every post into a tradable coin, has otherwise arrived at a key inflection point.&nbsp;



On one hand, August was a record month for <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/zora?dashboard=94">Zora protocol revenue</a>, reaching $1.3 million, and number of posts, with 1.1 million pieces of content tokenized. But on the weekly scale, revenue has fallen by more than half and stayed there for the past fortnight running, with only $20,000 per day a regular occurrence right now.



The total number of posting accounts has also dropped to about 8,000 per day, down 60% from an August 14 peak of 21,000.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1124" height="624" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-11.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107038" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-11.png?w=1124 1124w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-11.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-11.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-11.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-11.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-11.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-11.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-11.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1124px) 100vw, 1124px" /></figure>



Of course, it’s too early to call time on Zora, and maybe these ups and downs will become mere blips on the path to mass adoption by content creators and consumers.



It’s more likely that both Zora and Virtuals have simply run headfirst into the same wall: There’s just not enough people in crypto who want to do more than trade on exchanges to consistently drive growth.



To be clear: Trading apps are apps too. With that in mind, Base does have a relatively popular app in Aerodrome, the AMM that’s pulling in anywhere from two-thirds to three-quarters of total app revenue on Base, per <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/base?dashboard=62">BWR data</a>.



That’s around $15 million last month, which is decent but less than half the <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/pumpfun">revenue made by pump.fun</a>. It’s enough to place in first place when it comes to Ethereum <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/layer-2-2">layer-2s</a>, with about 40% of all <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/ethereum?dashboard=77">blobs posted to Ethereum</a> mainnet coming from Base right now.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1124" height="624" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-10.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107037" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-10.png?w=1124 1124w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-10.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-10.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-10.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-10.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-10.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-10.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-10.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1124px) 100vw, 1124px" /></figure>



However, to the outside world, DEXs, AMMs, launchpads and so on are not “apps” in the traditional sense. Which, when we’re discussing heady concepts like massive mainstream adoption and widespread tokenization, is about all that really matters.



To the general public, an app needs to serve a purpose other than financial speculation, else it’s just a gaming venue in the minds of many and no different than PokerStars or DraftKings. Think Uber, AirBnB, Spotify, MyFitnessPal, Instagram, TikTok and Tinder, more than Robinhood and Trade Republic.



This dichotomy is why even Polymarket transcending the culture chasm might not be particularly satisfying, at least in a holistic sense.&nbsp;



While there’s certainly room for prediction markets to serve as “truth oracles” in our inevitable hyperfinancialized, media-minimized future, for now Polymarket is just a venue for betting on stuff happening in the culture. Markets related to politics attract about <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/polymarket?dashboard=53">one-third of all open interest</a> right now, followed by markets related to crypto prices (15%) and sports (12%).



Zora and Virtuals are indeed cool in their own ways. Helping creators to monetize their work and build fan bases with crypto is compelling, and has been for the better part of a decade, dating right back to Steemit. And perhaps AI agents will indeed be the eventual gateway for regular humans to interact with blockchain protocols — why not gain exposure to the most popular ones?



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">if someone tells you creator coins on <a href="https://twitter.com/zora?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@zora</a> are &quot;just a memecoin&quot; with no intrinsic value, they are either willfully misleading you or haven&#39;t taken 2 minutes to learn each post is a micromarket that drives value back to the creator coin &#8211; the more viral content, the more value&mdash; jesse.base.eth (@jessepollak) <a href="https://twitter.com/jessepollak/status/1959807771144257925?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Underneath all the branding and presentation, however, Zora and Virtuals are still launchpads, and generously assuming that active addresses translate to active users apparently means there are only at most 20,000 or so people in crypto today willing to experiment with them (and slog through the often tricky EVM user experience, at least).



That’s with the indirect support of Coinbase, the closest thing crypto has to a majorly influential corporate powerhouse.



Maybe next cycle, there will be 50,000 willing participants. But I have a feeling the outside world won’t be convinced.&nbsp;



In the crypto space, tokenization for tokenization’s sake makes sense — everything that can be digitally represented is technically valuable. And depending on how broad your definition of value, intrinsically so.&nbsp;



The real question is thus: to whom, and for how long?



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<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



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<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supply-shock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

Base

Crypto needs more than launchpads for mass adoption

Ondo Finance has launched a new platform offering tokenized versions of US stocks and ETFs on Ethereum.



The initiative, called Ondo Global Markets, went live today with over 100 equities and funds available to qualified investors outside the United States, <a href="https://blog.ondo.finance/global-markets-is-live/">according</a> to announcements from the firm. The company plans to expand the selection to more than 1,000 assets by the end of the year.



The platform allows investors in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Africa and Latin America to gain exposure to major companies like Apple and Tesla, along with popular ETFs from Fidelity and BlackRock.



Trust Wallet, which serves over 200 million users worldwide, has integrated Ondo’s tokenized assets, enabling retail access to equities without the need for brokerage accounts. Users can hold and swap tokenized stocks directly in their wallets, with liquidity supported through the 1inch Swap API.



Trading is initially limited to US market hours, though peer-to-peer transfers are available onchain at any time. US, UK, and EEA residents remain excluded from the offering. Tokens do not provide ownership of underlying assets.



Ondo Global Markets also integrates a range of infrastructure to expand liquidity and interoperability. Pricing data is delivered through Chainlink oracles, while LayerZero enables cross-chain transfers, with future support planned for BNB Chain and Solana.



“It is obvious to anyone paying attention that everything — every single financial asset — is going to be tokenized,” said Bryan Pellegrino, CEO of LayerZero. “Ondo has taken the first steps here with an incredibly compelling offering and real pipeline of every major publicly listed equity.”



Select tokenized assets will be usable as collateral in Morpho lending vaults. Liquidity will be bolstered through a partnership with Block Street, a startup backed by Citadel, Point72, and Jane Street focused on building institutional-grade rails for borrowing, shorting and hedging tokenized securities. The launch follows a wave of tokenization efforts across the industry. Kraken recently <a href="https://blog.kraken.com/product/xstocks/launch-on-ethereum">expanded</a> its xStocks platform to Ethereum, while Robinhood <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/robinhood-l2-staking-us">introduced</a> tokenized equities on Arbitrum for EU customers. Coinbase has also signaled interest in pursuing regulatory approval for similar offerings.



This is a developing story.



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This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/author/jeffrey-albus" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jeffrey Albus</a>&nbsp;before publication.



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Equities

Ondo Finance launches tokenized US stocks on Ethereum

Treasury BV, a new Bitcoin treasury company backed by Winklevoss Capital and Nakamoto Holdings, has raised €126 million (about $147 million). It is now preparing to list on Euronext Amsterdam through a reverse merger with Dutch firm MKB Nedsense.



The rebranded entity, to be called Treasury N.V. with ticker TRSR, aims to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/winklevoss-twins-backed-bitcoin-treasury-firm-list-amsterdam-2025-09-03/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">position</a> itself as Europe’s leading Bitcoin treasury firm. The company already holds more than 1,000 BTC, worth more than $110 million at current prices, and plans to expand its reserves through additional equity and convertible debt offerings.



The initiative places Treasury in direct competition with US firms like MicroStrategy, which pioneered the corporate Bitcoin treasury model.



Treasury’s European strategy could broaden institutional access to Bitcoin exposure, particularly in markets where regulated investment products such as spot Bitcoin ETFs are less developed. The firm has also acquired the Bitcoin Amsterdam conference. 



Backers in the funding round include UTXO Management, Off the Chain Capital, M1 Capital and Mythos Venture Partners. The move follows the January 2024 approval of US spot Bitcoin ETFs and builds on Europe’s evolving crypto investment landscape. If successful, Treasury could become a bellwether for Bitcoin treasury models outside the United States.



Blockworks <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/gemini-nasdaq-ipo-filing">reported</a> yesterday that Gemini filed for a Nasdaq IPO targeting a $2.2 billion valuation, underscoring the broader momentum in digital-asset finance. Meanwhile, corporate crypto treasuries <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-treasuries-surge-amid-ipo-filings">continue</a> to creep upward toward $100 billion in assets.



This is a developing story.



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This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor&nbsp;<a href="mailto:jeffrey@blockworks.co" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jeffrey Albus</a>&nbsp;before publication.



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Bitcoin

Winklevoss Capital and Nakamoto Holdings back $147M bitcoin treasury

Galaxy Digital has partnered with financial technology firm Superstate to launch tokenized versions of its Class A common stock on the Solana blockchain. This marks the first time SEC-registered public equity has been issued directly on a major public chain.



<a href="https://investor.galaxy.com/news/news-details/2025/Galaxy-and-Superstate-Launch-GLXY-Tokenized-Public-Shares-on-Solana/default.aspx">Announced</a> on Sept 3, the rollout uses Superstate’s Opening Bell platform, where the firm acts as the SEC-registered transfer agent to record ownership updates onchain in real time as tokens move between wallets.



Unlike synthetic products or wrapped securities, Galaxy’s tokenized shares are legally equivalent to traditional stock, carrying full shareholder rights. Initial availability is limited to approved, KYC-verified investors, who can hold and transfer shares within self-custodied wallets.



According to Barron’s, as of early September, 21 investors had <a href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/galaxy-digital-tokenize-stock-fa4051d5">tokenized</a> 32,374 shares on Solana, underscoring measured but notable uptake.



Galaxy’s chief executive Mike Novogratz said the initiative aims to combine the transparency and composability of crypto markets with the protections of regulated equity. By leveraging Solana’s fast settlement, Galaxy shares can be transferred around the clock, a shift from traditional market hours.



The firms are also studying how automated market makers (AMMs) could support tokenized equity trading within the SEC’s Project Crypto framework.



Blockworks previously <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-treasuries-surge-amid-ipo-filings">reported</a> that corporate treasuries and IPO activity in the digital asset sector have accelerated alongside regulatory shifts, while the SEC and CFTC recently <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-cftc-crypto-coordination">announced</a> a joint initiative to harmonize oversight under Project Crypto and the Crypto Sprint.&nbsp;



Galaxy’s tokenization effort fit squarely within this broader backdrop of companies and regulators experimenting with ways to bring traditional finance structures onchain.



This is a developing story.



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This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor&nbsp;<a href="mailto:jeffrey@blockworks.co" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jeffrey Albus</a>&nbsp;before publication.



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Galaxy tokenizes SEC-registered shares on Solana

Etherealize has raised $40 million to expand the use of Ethereum by Wall Street institutions.



The round was led by venture firms Paradigm and Electric Capital, with early support from Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation, which provided an initial grant. The funding included both equity and token warrants, Fortune <a href="https://fortune.com/crypto/2025/09/03/etherealize-vivek-raman-ethereum-40-million-paradigm-electric-capital/">reported</a>.



The company’s goal is to tokenize financial assets such as mortgages, credit products, and other fixed-income instruments, moving them away from legacy systems like phone-based trading and faxed settlements.



CEO Vivek Raman, who previously held roles at Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Deutsche Bank, said Etherealize intends to tackle inefficiencies in institutional finance with blockchain infrastructure.&nbsp;



“If you digitize and put [assets] on a blockchain, it’s a step function of improvement,” he said.



The launch comes amid a regulatory environment under the Trump administration that has opened the door to wider crypto adoption by major banks and asset managers.



Institutions are increasingly exploring blockchain for stablecoins and financial product issuance. Still, Ethereum cofounder Danny Ryan, also a cofounder of Etherealize, noted that today’s permissive regulatory conditions may not last, pushing the team to accelerate adoption while the opportunity remains.



Etherealize’s founding team combines crypto-native expertise and traditional finance experience. Alongside Raman and Ryan, cofounders include Grant Hummer, another Wall Street veteran, and Zach Obront, an Ethereum security engineer.



This is a developing story.



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This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor&nbsp;<a href="mailto:jeffrey@blockworks.co" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jeffrey Albus</a>&nbsp;before publication.



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Etherealize secures $40M to bring Ethereum to Wall Street

This is a segment from The Breakdown newsletter. To read more editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/brand/the-breakdown">subscribe</a>



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<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“People who are smart love my licensing deals because you don’t have any risk [and] you make tremendous amounts of cash.”&nbsp;



— Donald Trump
</blockquote>



World Liberty Financial’s WLFI token became transferable for the first time on Monday, making the Trump family roughly $5 billion wealthier.&nbsp;



On paper, at least.&nbsp;



The 22.5 billion tokens that World Liberty granted to the Trump family’s DT Marks DEFI LLC are restricted, so they can’t be sold for the time being.&nbsp;



But the Trumps don’t need to: When World Liberty sells the WLFI tokens it created, 75% of the proceeds go to DT Marks DEFI LLC.



This is…unusual.&nbsp;



WLFI is the governance token for World Liberty Financial, which makes it a kind of pseudo-equity in the DeFi project.&nbsp;



If so, the arrangement between World Liberty and the Trump family is not just unusual, but a historic first — as if Steve Jobs personally pocketed 75% of the proceeds when Apple sold shares to investors.



In another sense, however, it’s only the scale of the profit-sharing that’s historic — because the arrangement between World Liberty and the Trump family is perhaps best understood as a licensing deal.



WLFI tokens have no claim on revenue or assets, which makes them look less like equity in World Liberty and more like a product World Liberty sells.



From that perspective, it looks like World Liberty is paying a 75% licensing fee to sell Trump-branded crypto tokens.&nbsp;



This has been the Trump family’s primary business strategy for some time now.



Long gone are the days when private citizen Donald Trump was in the business of developing real estate projects himself, like the Grand Hyatt in 1978 and Trump Tower in 1983.



After his Atlantic City casinos had failed and the Plaza Hotel had been surrendered to his lenders, Trump no longer had access to the capital required to build and then sell or operate large-scale developments.



So he pivoted to building and selling his brand instead.



In the 2000s, the Trump Organization became a global licensing empire, with the then not-yet president lending his name to projects like Trump SoHo (NYC), Trump Ocean Club (Panama) and Trump Tower Manila — all of which were financed and built by others.



This is a much better business than building things: No capital is required, there are no bank loans to worry about, there’s no operational risk and the profit margins are near 100%.



Investors love these kinds of asset-light businesses. It’s why Marriott International (which mostly licenses its brand) trades on 30x P/E, and Host Hotels &amp; Resorts (which owns Marriott-branded hotels) trades on 17x P/E.



The president loves them, too. In 2016, Trump told <a href="https://fortune.com/2016/04/21/donald-trump-q-and-a/">Fortune</a> he had “over 121 deals worldwide for licensing,” with “no investment” required.



I’m guessing that most of these, like Trump Steaks and Trump bottled water, probably did not work out.



(Trump-branded <a href="https://godblesstheusabible.com/products/god-bless-the-usa-bible-inauguration-day-edition">bibles</a> appear to be a winner, though.)



But licensing deals don’t even have to work to be profitable.&nbsp;



In 2012, for example, Trump collected $2.5 million in licensing fees for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-a-president-trump-global-real-estate-deals-present-unprecedented-gray-areas/2016/05/30/beac0038-15fa-11e6-aa55-670cabef46e0_story.html">a real-estate development in Azerbaijan</a> that was never completed.



In 2017, <a href="https://www.pacermonitor.com/pricing">The Washington Post</a> tallied up his licensing deals and estimated the president had earned at least $59 million by monetizing his name — while noting that it raised “ethical questions around Trump’s involvement with his businesses while in office.”



(Such innocent times, the 2010s, when just $59 million could prompt questions about ethics.)



But nothing has monetized the Trump name quite like crypto: The family has made roughly $500 million from its licensing deal with World Liberty Financial.



“It’s one of the more successful things we’ve ever done,” Eric Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/us/politics/trump-crypto-world-liberty-financial.html">told</a> The New York Times.



It’s easy to see why: The licensing fee the family receives on Trump-branded tokens is multiples greater than what they receive on Trump-branded real estate.



In return for lending their name to the never-completed Trump Tower in Batumi, Georgia, for example, the Trump Organization would have received 12% of condo sales — far below the 75% they receive when World Liberty sells its WLFI token.



Similarly, in return for lending his name to the Trump SoHo hotel, Trump received an 18% ownership share — less than half the 40% share of World Liberty Financial the Trump family was granted for its participation.



And the 22.5 billion WLFI tokens the Trumps additionally received have no equivalent outside of crypto.



Why so much?



I suspect even President Trump would say it’s because he’s president.&nbsp;



Before becoming president, Trump explained that foreign developers paid for his name in part because it helped get their projects approved: “I help them a lot,” he told <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/06/the-great-trump-tax-mysteries?utm_source=chatgpt.com">Vanity Fair</a>. “If they need zoning, and they say they are doing a Trump job, every single time they get their zoning because the government wants Trump.”



This presumably works on the SEC, as well — and maybe even the DOJ.



As of today, WLFI has a fully diluted value of $23 billion, and a cynic might say that is a measure of the value of being in the good graces of the president of the United States.



World Liberty would dispute that, of course — I’m sure it’d <a href="https://worldlibertyfinancial.com/about">say</a> instead it’s because it’s “upgrading finance for the digital era.”



But a business that gives up 75% of the money it raises just to license a name can’t think very highly of its own abilities.



Either way, WLFI’s immense valuation suggests it’s been money well spent.



When the president said during his 2016 campaign that the Trump brand was worth $3.3 billion, no one took it seriously.



But licensing it to crypto has made it worth much, much more.



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WLFI: The token is the product

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced a cross-agency initiative on Tuesday, carried out in furtherance of the SEC’s Project Crypto and the CFTC’s Crypto Sprint.



The effort stems from the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets report, Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology, which urged the two agencies to coordinate oversight in order to promote regulatory clarity and keep blockchain innovation within the United States.



As part of this mandate, the SEC and CFTC divisions said they will issue guidance on the listing of leveraged, margined or financed spot retail commodity transactions involving digital assets.



According to the joint <a href="https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/sec-cftc-project-crypto-090225?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=govdelivery">statement</a>, the divisions will work together to provide regulatory clarity while reducing jurisdictional overlap. The statement emphasized that current law does not prohibit SEC- or CFTC-registered exchanges from facilitating trading of certain spot crypto asset products, and invited market participants to engage directly with staff through filings, registrations or requests for relief.



The coordination builds on prior guidance, including the SEC’s digital asset framework and the CFTC’s market advisories, but differs by focusing on harmonization of regulatory approaches rather than enforcement actions alone. The statement also highlighted clearing and settlement, market surveillance, and public dissemination of trading data as priorities for joint attention.



The move comes after several years in which the SEC pursued high-profile enforcement cases against platforms such as Coinbase and Binance. By working jointly, the agencies signaled a desire to provide clearer compliance pathways.



In recent weeks, Blockworks has covered how lawmakers are weighing broader frameworks, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/senate-september-market-structure-bill">including</a> a Senate market structure bill and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-investors-hopeful-regulatory-orders">ongoing</a> investor hopes for clear regulatory orders, placing this joint initiative within a wider context of pending US reforms.



This is a developing story.



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This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/author/jeffrey-albus" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jeffrey Albus</a>&nbsp;before publication.



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<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supply-shock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

CFTC

SEC and CFTC to coordinate crypto efforts

This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forward-guidance" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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September is here, marking the non-technical end of summer, back to school and — oh yeah — the worst month (historically) for bitcoin.&nbsp;



Some have attributed lower market returns in the year’s ninth month (not just for BTC, but for the S&amp;P 500, too) to post-summer rebalancing. Investors — inside and outside the crypto segment — return from vacations, re-evaluate portfolios and, perhaps, choose to lock in gains/cut losses, putting downward pressure on prices.



I looked back at <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/september-events-that-could-move-markets">a piece I wrote</a> exactly one year ago about the September events that could move markets. It discussed a possible mid-month Federal Reserve rate cut (<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/fed-interest-rate-cut-50-bps#">which happened</a>, sized at 50bps) and a then-upcoming SEC decision on allowing bitcoin ETF options (<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/on-the-margin-newsletter-btc-etf-options">indeed finally approved</a>).



The current odds for the Fed lowering rates in a couple weeks (albeit with a 25bps cut) are ~92%, according to CME Group’s FedWatch <a href="https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/interest-rates/cme-fedwatch-tool.html">tool</a>. While an interest rate cut is generally good for risk assets, the impact could <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-markets-post-jackson-hole">be more nuanced</a>.



Rather than the SEC approving options on BTC funds a year ago, the regulator could soon clarify the fate of many more crypto ETP proposals. But it’s not all that different.&nbsp;



To remind you, though, how much has changed since Sept. 2, 2024, that story featured a photo of Kamala Harris and questioned the fate of then-SEC Chair Gary Gensler. Also, bitcoin and ether have risen 94% and 78%, respectively, in the past 12 months.



Early into September 2025, we see bitcoin roughly 11% off its high of ~$124,000 hit last month. The asset’s performance in August (-6.5%) was its worst since February (-17.4%).



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="961" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-8.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107008" style="width:755px;height:auto" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-8.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-8.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-8.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-8.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-8.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-8.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-8.png?w=435 435w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-8.png?w=365 365w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-8.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



BTC dipped to ~$107,000 this weekend and hovered around $111,000 Tuesday afternoon. Compass Point analysts Ed Engel and Abdullah Dilawar noted the average cost basis for short-term holders (those who bought less than six months ago) is around $109,000. Of BTC supply bought in the past six months, they added, 30% was acquired above $115,000.



“This points to a top-heavy market, where short-term holders often accelerate selling when unrealized losses become too high,” Engel and Dilawar wrote. “While BTC has rebounded back above $109,000, we would like to see negative funding rates and/or more short-term holder capitulation before buying any dips.”



So they gave us a couple price points to keep in mind. Want another one? Bitfinex analysts have you covered.



“While this [BTC] breakdown carries technical weight, historical drawdown patterns and seasonality suggest the market is actually in the later stages of its corrective phase, with [$93,000 to $95,000] emerging as the most probable zone for a cyclical floor.”



Ether also dipped this weekend — about a week after hitting an all-time high. But it’s been more resilient than BTC of late, given <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/record-crypto-product-inflows-july-eth">ETH ETF inflows</a> and institutional buying (NYSE American-listed BitMine Immersion held 1,866,974 ETH, as of Aug. 31). ETH, as of an hour ago, was trading around $4,300.



Spot ether ETFs had a big August, notching nearly $4 billion of net inflows. About $300 million, meanwhile, trickled out of bitcoin products, CoinShares data shows:&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1468" height="674" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-7.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107007" style="width:769px;height:auto" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-7.png?w=1468 1468w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-7.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-7.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-7.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-7.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-7.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-7.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-7.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1468px) 100vw, 1468px" /></figure>



You can see, too, last month’s flows into solana and XRP products — in part reflecting optimism around potential US ETF launches.&nbsp;



SEC approval of such products, which <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-etf-launch-timelines-sec">I expect next month</a>, would contribute to the potential <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/altcoin-autumn">“altcoin autumn”</a> I wrote about last week. Particularly if we see the SEC unveil general listing standards for crypto ETPs.



And the growing number of <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/issuers-filing-crypto-etf-frenzy">crypto ETF filings</a> continue to, well, keep growing. Grayscale Investments submitted S-1s for ETFs that would hold cardano (ADA) and polkadot (DOT) late last week — following up on previous 19b-4s linked to those proposed products.&nbsp;



The likely crypto investment product boom might have to wait for next month’s “Uptober” outlook. But it’s just another thing to be mindful of as various market narratives simultaneously play out.



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Where crypto markets stand heading into historically-notorious September

Today marked one of the busiest days yet for corporate crypto finance, as companies from New York to Hong Kong unveiled major treasury allocations, IPO filings and strategic acquisitions.



SharpLink <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sharplink-adds-177m-eth">disclosed</a> it had acquired 39,008 ether, worth roughly $177 million at the end of August, through an at-the-market equity program. The company framed the move as a diversification strategy and left open the option of staking its holdings.



Ether Machine <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ether-machine-secures-654m">announced</a> a $654 million raise, including a 150,000 ETH contribution from Ethereum supporter Jeffrey Berns, bringing its holdings to nearly half a million ETH. The firm will merge with Dynamix Corporation to list on Nasdaq under the ticker ETHM, with plans to deploy its assets actively across staking and decentralized finance.



Meanwhile, Strategy Inc. <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/strategy-46b-bitcoin">added</a> 4,048 bitcoin worth $449.3 million, pushing its reserves to 636,505 BTC. Gemini <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/gemini-nasdaq-ipo-filing">filed</a> for a Nasdaq listing under the ticker GEMI, seeking to raise $316.7 million despite reporting a $282.5 million net loss in the first half of the year.&nbsp;



Blockchain lender Figure also <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/blockchain-lender-figure-seeks-up-41-billion-valuation-us-ipo-2025-09-02/">set terms</a> for its own $526 million IPO, one of the few profitable crypto-adjacent firms heading into the markets. Yunfeng Financial <a href="https://doc.irasia.com/listco/hk/yunfeng/announcement/a250902.pdf?utm_">bought</a> 10,000 ETH, BitMine Immersion <a href="https://x.com/BitMNR/status/1962887335156351115?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1962887335156351115%7Ctwgr%5E7e5cd951f98266694e2b140fa6f0bfc60b2e541d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcoinlaw.io%2Fbitmine-eth-holdings-near-2-million%2F">disclosed</a> 1.87 million ETH holdings, and House of Doge Inc. <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/09/02/3142711/0/en/House-of-Doge-the-Commercial-Arm-of-the-Dogecoin-Foundation-Partners-with-CleanCore-Solutions-NYSEAM-ZONE-to-Establish-the-Official-Dogecoin-Treasury-Through-175-000-420-Private-Pl.html">unveiled</a> the first formal Dogecoin treasury in partnership with CleanCore and 21Shares.



The surge in activity comes after pivotal regulatory and accounting shifts that lowered barriers for companies to hold crypto directly. In 2024, the SEC approved spot bitcoin and ether ETFs, providing registered market exposure that helped legitimize corporate adoption.



Around the same time, US accounting rules were updated to allow fair-value treatment of crypto assets, meaning firms can now reflect gains as well as losses on their balance sheets. The <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/hester-peirce-reveals-sab-121-rescission">rescission</a> of SAB 121, which had previously restricted custodians’ ability to safeguard crypto, further eased institutional participation.



These changes coincided with a friendlier political climate under the Trump administration, which has emphasized capital formation and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/trump-signs-genius-law">signed</a> new stablecoin legislation into law. The result is a markedly different landscape from the enforcement-heavy years of 2022-2023. <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/treasury-companies?dashboard=362">According</a> to Blockworks Research, corporate crypto treasuries are now approaching $100 billion in net asset value, up from roughly $60 billion in early May. Aggregate daily trading volume has consistently topped $10 billion through the summer, driven largely by bitcoin and ether. Strategy Inc. remains the largest single holder, with more than 632,000 BTC representing about 3.4% of supply. On the Ethereum side, BitMine and Ether Machine together control over 2.5% of total supply.



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This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/author/jeffrey-albus" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jeffrey Albus</a>&nbsp;before publication.



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<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forward-guidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supply-shock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
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