CoinShares withdraws US spot ETF filings for XRP, Solana and Litecoin ahead of Nasdaq listing

The Cocoon decentralized AI network, a privacy-preserving distributed computing platform built on The Open Network (TON) — an independent layer-1 blockchain associated with the Telegram messaging application — went live on Sunday.

Cocoon allows owners of graphics processing units (GPUs) to rent their computing power to the network, processing user queries and requests in return for Toncoin , the native token of the TON blockchain. 

The decentralized AI network has processed its first requests from users, and GPU owners are already profiting from renting out their hardware, according to Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov. He said:

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino and market analysts pushed back against S&P Global’s downgraded rating of USDt’s ability to maintain its US dollar peg, saying that the ratings agency did not account for all of Tether’s assets and revenues.

The Tether Group’s total assets at the end of Q3 2025 totaled about $215 billion, while its total stablecoin liabilities were about $184.5 billion, according to Ardoino, who referenced Tether’s Q3 attestation report. He added:

S&P made the same mistake of not considering the additional Group Equity, nor the roughly $500 million in monthly base profits generated by US Treasury yields alone,” Ardoino continued.

Terminal Finance, a spot decentralized exchange incubated by Ethena Labs, has scrapped its launch plans after the Converge blockchain—the ecosystem Terminal was built to serve—failed to launch as scheduled, the project announced on social media.

The announcement marks a rare instance of a well-funded DeFi project voluntarily winding down before launch while ensuring all depositors can withdraw their principal in full. Terminal's pre-deposit vaults had reached capacity with 225 million USDe, 10,000 ether, and 100 bitcoin, representing approximately $280 million in total value locked across more than 10,000 participating wallets, according to DefiLlama data.

"Launching a project just to launch a project goes against our principles," the Terminal team wrote in its announcement on X. "Preserving integrity is paramount."

Converge, the Ethereum-compatible blockchain built by Ethena Labs and Securitize, was expected to launch in the second quarter of 2025 as a settlement layer designed to merge traditional finance with DeFi, centered on Ethena's USDe and USDtb stablecoins. Ethena and Securitize had tapped Arbitrum and Celestia technologies for the Converge network, The Block previously reported. 

However, Converge's launch, which was originally scheduled for the second quarter of 2025, "doesn’t appear to be planned for the near future," according to Terminal's announcement. "We explored multiple pivots but none were compelling enough," Terminal wrote. "Each option came with material blockers: limited support, low asset-onboarding potential, weak long-term perspective among others."

The Converge X account last posted in August, writing, "Global finance, unified onchain." Converge or Ethena Labs apparently have not addressed the delay in launching the blockchain network. Ethena Labs did not immediately respond to a request from The Block for more information on Converge's delay. 

Terminal emphasized that user funds remain unaffected. All principal deposits are backed 1:1 and available for immediate withdrawal, the team said. Holders of Pendle positions through Terminal will continue to receive their entitled Ethena Sats rewards, associated sUSDe yield, and EtherFi points. 

Terminal also committed to open-sourcing its fully audited protocol codebase, potentially allowing other developers or community projects to build on the technology. The protocol was designed as a "MetaDEX" with a novel mechanism intended to address yield-derived impermanent loss and reinject yield into bribe markets. Terminal did not immediately respond to a request for further comment from The Block. 

The Ethena Foundation announced in February it had raised $100 million via a private sale of ENA tokens from investors including Franklin Templeton, Polychain, Pantera, Dragonfly, and Fidelity's F-Prime, with funds earmarked for building out its new chain and supporting institutional products. 

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© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

On December 1, 2025, the Federal Reserve (Fed) will officially end Quantitative Tightening (QT), freezing its balance sheet at $6.57 trillion after draining $2.39 trillion from the system.

Analysts point to parallels with 2019, when the last QT pause coincided with a major bottom in altcoins and a surge in Bitcoin. With liquidity returning and interest rates already cut to 3.75–4.00%, crypto markets are bracing for a potentially bullish shift.

Fed Ends QT Tomorrow — Crypto Eyes 2019-Style Liquidity Boost

The Fed’s halt of its balance sheet runoff comes amid strained bank reserves, now roughly $3 trillion, or about 10% of US GDP. The Overnight Reverse Repo facility, which previously absorbed $2.5 trillion in excess cash, has dropped to near zero, removing a key liquidity buffer.

October 2025 saw the Secured Overnight Financing Rate spike to 4.25%, exceeding the Fed’s target range. The Standing Repo Facility recorded a single-day activation of $18.5 billion, reflecting persistent demand for liquidity.

FOMC minutes from October 29 detail operational adjustments designed to improve policy transmission.

This means that QT officially ends on December 1, and the Fed will stop letting its securities mature without reinvestment. From that day forward, the balance sheet will no longer shrink.

The Committee noted that downside risks to employment have risen, even though unemployment remains low, and inflation is “somewhat elevated.”

Analysts note that this marks a long-term shift: the Standing Repo Facility, initially an emergency tool, now functions as a permanent daily liquidity provider, effectively embedding the Fed in Treasury market operations.

Researcher Shanaka Anslem describes this as the “Standing Repo Era,” a structural transformation with lasting implications for global finance.

Historical Parallels and Crypto Market Implications

Crypto analysts are drawing direct comparisons to August 2019, when the Fed ended QT, and altcoins bottomed.

While past performance is not a guarantee, key indicators support cautious optimism:

• Bitcoin dominance is below 60%,
• The global M2 money supply is rising, and historically leads BTC by 10–12 weeks.

The end of QT could inject up to $95 billion per month in liquidity, supporting large-cap cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and BNB.

Gold’s recent all-time highs provide additional correlation, as BTC often lags gold price moves by roughly 12 weeks.

Meanwhile,the Fed’s December 10 FOMC meeting occurs amid unusual conditions:

• A 43-day government shutdown erased two months of CPI data, leaving policymakers without fresh inflation figures.
• CPI currently sits at 3%, above the Fed’s 2% target.
• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed the Fed is considering additional rate cuts after October’s 25-bps reduction.

The US federal debt exceeds $36 trillion, with annual interest costs above $1 trillion. The Standing Repo Facility now enables rapid monetization of Treasury collateral, representing a structural shift with long-term market implications.

Some crypto analysts anticipate an immediate rally following QT’s end, while others see a smaller altseason within 2–3 months and a larger market cycle in 2027–2028.

Consensus holds that liquidity, rather than hype or Bitcoin halvings, has historically driven crypto cycles.

December 1 marks a critical turning point as the Fed’s liquidity pivot could remove one major obstacle for risk assets. The move could set the stage for crypto markets to respond, whether through a mini rally or the early stages of a broader Supercycle.

While QT ends on December 1, the Fed emphasized that future adjustments to the federal funds rate will depend on incoming data and changing economic risks.

This signals that the Fed is keeping monetary policy flexible, prepared to adjust rates or other measures if necessary.

Investors should watch interest rate guidance, Treasury liquidity operations, and M2 money supply trends in the coming weeks.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs (exchange-traded funds) are one of the biggest narratives and have been a game-changer in the cryptocurrency space in the past two years. With these investment products, people get to participate in the cryptocurrency market without having to directly own the digital assets.

Interestingly, one of the biggest winners—that often gets overlooked—has been the issuers, especially as the crypto industry has seen increased institutional adoption since the Bitcoin ETFs launched. According to the firm’s executive, the BTC exchange-traded funds becoming the major source of revenue for BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, was not envisioned.

BlackRock’s Bitcoin Funds Outweighing Expectations 

At the Blockchain Conference 2025 in São Paulo on Friday, November 28, BlackRock’s business development director in Brazil, Cristiano Castro, told reporters that the Bitcoin ETFs are the largest revenue source for their company. According to the executive, this development came as a “big surprise” to the asset management firm.

Castro said in a statement:

This feat is notable for the Bitcoin ETFs, especially considering that BlackRock offers more than 1,400 exchange-traded products globally and has a whopping $13.4 trillion in assets under management. The US-based Bitcoin fund (with the IBIT ticker) has over $70.7 billion in net assets, becoming the first ETF to reach the $70-billion mark (doing so in June 2025).

While the US Bitcoin ETF market has somewhat slowed down, BlackRock’s IBIT still continues to outpace other ETFs launched in recent years. As earlier reports suggested, IBIT had managed to generate roughly $245 million in annual fees as of October 2025.

Bitcoin ETF Outflows ‘Perfectly Normal’ – Castro

When asked about the recent outflows from BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF as the market leader’s value fell, the director stated that there are zero surprises in that trend. “ETFs are very liquid and powerful instruments, and they serve precisely to allow people to allocate their capital and manage their cash flow,” Castro noted.

The BlackRock director said that the withdrawals are expected, considering that the product is heavily owned by retail investors, who are reactionary in nature to price corrections. On Friday, the iShares Bitcoin Trust saw a net outflow of $113.72 million, bringing the weekly record to a negative $137.01 million and the fund to its fifth-consecutive week of withdrawals.

Featured image from Getty Images, chart from TradingView