There’s never a dull moment on the blockchain. Here’s what you need to know this week:

Bitcoin

CA$163,304.84



2.91%

Ethereum

CA$6,284.16



3.77%

XRP

CA$4.26



5.80%

Tether

CA$1.38

淪

0.02%

Solana

CA$267.86



2.87%

USDC

CA$1.38



0.00%

See the latest prices

MARKET BYTES

Crypto markets dipped slightly as Fed holds interest rates steady again

Amid an historic summer surge — including a new all-time high for BTC above $123,000 in mid-July — the crypto market dipped around 5% on Wednesday as markets digested the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold interest rates steady again.

Recent U.S. data has shown a fairly robust economy, according to many experts: Unemployment rates remain relatively low, the economy grew faster than expected in the second quarter of the year, and markets (including stocks and crypto) remain near all-time highs. 

However, inflation has held above the Fed’s 2% target and uncertainty remains about the U.S.’s evolving tariff policy. Noting all of these factors, the Fed kept rates steady for the fifth time since December, despite calls from two Fed officials and President Trump to lower rates. Declining to make a prediction about future policy decisions, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said, “There are many, many uncertainties left to resolve.”

Here are three more headlines you should know about:

Payments giants are doubling down on crypto 

When Satoshi Nakamoto created BTC, the original whitepaper was titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.” In the years since, crypto has evolved into a vast ecosystem of tokens and applications, but the payments use case hasn't always been front-and-center as a crypto narrative. 

That’s changed a lot in recent months, as firms have rolled out technologies designed to make crypto payments easier than ever. This week, PayPal announced a new payments system that will allow vendors to accept more than 100 cryptocurrencies, and still get paid out in a stablecoin or fiat currency. It joins programs like Coinbase Commerce, Stripe’s crypto payments system, and even a pilot platform from Visa, which all use blockchains and stablecoins, and can reduce the fees associated with cross-border payments to a small fraction of what traditional rails often charge. 

“You have globally 650 million users that participate in the $3 trillion market of cryptocurrencies,” Frank Keller, general manager of large enterprise and merchant platform at PayPal, told Bloomberg. “We wanted to give small businesses access to this customer base that is growing.”

• Estate sale… Crypto payments go way beyond day-to-day online shopping. Christie’s has launched a crypto real-estate division (with a portfolio of properties worth around $1 billion) to enable buying and selling of homes via digital payments. “The trend was obvious — crypto is here to stay,” Christie’s exec Aaron Kirman told the New York Times. “It’s only going to get bigger over the next few years.”

Ethereum dominated crypto ETF inflows last week

Since spot crypto ETFs launched in the U.S. last year, bitcoin funds have attracted the majority of capital flowing into the asset class.

But last week, according to CoinShares’ latest report, ETH funds flipped that dynamic in dramatic fashion, with ether ETFs tallying $1.6 billion in inflows, while BTC ETFs saw around $175 million in outflows. 

ETH’s recent run, which included 16 straight days in the green, has helped push the funds’ year-to-date inflows to nearly $8 billion — more than they saw over the entirety of 2024. 

The second-largest crypto by market cap has gotten a boost from a combination of factors: the recent passage of bipartisan stablecoin legislation; the growing trend of publicly traded companies purchasing ETH for their corporate treasuries; and the rapid runup of bitcoin prices this year, which has traders looking for additional opportunities. 

• In the mix… “Ethereum is the second-largest digital asset, and the only other one available in [spot] ETF format, making it very easy to choose it in one’s effort to improve their portfolio’s diversification,” said Ric Edelman, founder of the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals.

Solana treasury company plans to buy as much as $500 million in SOL

A publicly traded company called Upexi announced plans to raise $500 million via an equity line of credit it can use to purchase Solana (SOL).

The Block reports that the firm — which sells consumer goods including “mushroom extracts and dog grooming kits” — already holds 1.9 million SOL worth over $381 million, per its last disclosure. 

Last week, another Solana treasury company, DeFi Development Corp, announced that it holds 999,999 SOL. The companies join a growing number of firms inspired by Strategy, which holds around $43 billion in BTC and has been a blockbuster on Wall Street. 

• SOL system… “The equity line gives Upexi additional means and flexibility to raise capital and increase its Solana position,” said the firm’s CEO. “Upexi now has a multitude of tools to raise capital … to build on its growing Solana treasury.”

BY THE NUMBERS

7 key stats to know as Ethereum turns 10 years old

This Wednesday marks the 10th anniversary of the first block ever mined on the Ethereum blockchain. Back in 2015, ETH cost around 40 cents per token and had a total market cap under $50 million. In the decade since, ETH has evolved into the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap (with a total value of around $450 billion, it dwarfs all but a handful of the very biggest companies), a network that processes more than a million transactions daily, and the go-to blockchain for many of crypto’s most popular use cases. 

Ethereum has also been the platform that drove some of the biggest developments in crypto: from 2020’s DeFi summer; to the 2021 NFT boom; to the current momentum behind stablecoins. It is also increasingly becoming the go-to blockchain for institutional crypto usage. 

What has this decade of growth looked like? Here are some numbers that help put ETH’s 10th birthday into perspective. 

$0.66

The average transaction fee on Ethereum, as of Monday. 

During 2021 and 2022, Ethereum users were plagued by high fees during times of heavy activity. Transaction fees sometimes averaged $40 or higher during that period, peaking at a daily high of $200 in May of 2022. In the years since, however, Ethereum's developers have prioritized the network’s scalability, implementing major network upgrades and encouraging the proliferation of layer-2 networks, which have helped significantly reduce transaction costs.

1.21%

The share of Ethereum’s total market cap that is owned by publicly traded companies, up from nearly 0% at the start of May.

In an effort to replicate the success of Michael Saylor’s bitcoin treasury strategy, public companies have started rushing to buy ETH to boost their corporate balance sheets. An announcement on May 27 from SharpLink Gaming – then a little-known company – that they aimed to become the largest corporate holder of ETH, kicked off a trend that has seen nearly a dozen firms buy around $5 billion in ETH since. “ETH treasury companies are just getting started; they will likely 10x from here,” said Standard Chartered's global head of digital assets research, Geoffrey Kendrick.

30% 

The share of ETH’s supply that is currently being staked. 

Staking is a way that traders can earn rewards for putting their crypto to work and helping to secure a blockchain. It came to Ethereum in 2022, when ETH completed “the Merge,” its transition from a proof-of-work network like BTC into a much speedier proof-of-stake blockchain. 

ETH’s staking system is also one reason that Ethereum treasury companies have emerged recently. Besides simply holding ETH, firms can also stake their holdings and generate rewards. 

Currently, spot ether ETFs aren’t able to offer staking, but that could change as crypto regulations in the U.S. continue to evolve. A number of applications for staking ETFs are currently being reviewed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

79.5 million

The total number of smart contracts that have been launched on Ethereum, which was the first major smart-contract compatible blockchain.

A smart contract, like any contract, establishes the terms of an agreement. But unlike a traditional contract, a smart contract’s terms are executed as code running on a blockchain like Ethereum. Smart contracts allow developers to build apps that take advantage of blockchain security, reliability, and accessibility while offering sophisticated peer-to-peer functionality, and they can power everything from loans to prediction markets. 

$7 billion

The approximate value of tokenized assets on the Ethereum blockchain. 

Tokenization is the process of creating digital, blockchain-based tokens to represent real-world assets like stocks, bonds, real estate, royalties, art, and more. Ethereum, which has become the blockchain of choice for tokenization, holds around 55% of all tokenized assets. 

Compared to traditional assets, tokenized versions can be traded more quickly, more cheaply, and without intermediaries. Many of the biggest players in finance are moving quickly toward tokenization. 

Citi predicts tokenization will become a multi-trillion dollar market within five years, and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in his 2025 annual letter that he believes “every stock, every bond, every fund, every asset can be tokenized.”

$84 billion

The approximate value of assets currently held on decentralized finance apps on Ethereum. 

One of the major differences between Ethereum and Bitcoin is that Ethereum was designed to run smart contracts, allowing it to function as a decentralized computer that can host a wide variety of applications, including decentralized finance apps (or DeFi). DeFi apps allow for financial services — including borrowing, lending, and trading — without any need for a financial institution in the middle.

Currently around 60% of all funds in DeFi are held on the Ethereum blockchain, and that number could grow in the future as major firms like BlackRock, Deutsche Bank, and UBS explore DeFi projects.

$144 billion

The total value of stablecoins that have been minted on ETH, more than 50% of the entire stablecoin market cap. Stablecoins are tokens that have their value pegged to another asset, typically the U.S. dollar.

Since the first stablecoin was minted on Ethereum in 2017, the tokens have become one of the biggest Ethereum use cases. Major payments firms like Stripe and PayPal have already integrated Ethereum-based stablecoins; global banks are considering launching stablecoins of their own; and the U.S. just passed landmark stablecoin legislation that could turn stablecoins “from the money rail of crypto to the money rail of the internet,” according to the research firm Bernstein.

TOKEN TRIVIA

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