Hyperliquid token gains institutional access with new 21Shares ETP

The current crypto market cycle has shown signs of slowing for the past week or so, with BTC losing roughly $15,000 since its peak.

Despite this, experts anticipate a major rally in fall 2025.Record-Breaking Peak This Fall

Upon analyzing Bitcoin’s long-term holding trends, measured by the percentage held for over a year based on realized market cap, CryptoQuant found that past cycles (phase 1 and 2) experienced sharp surges, which led to pronounced peaks.

On the other hand, the current Phase 3 displays a gradually flattening uptrend and a lengthening cycle. Major factors behind this pattern are the introduction of spot ETFs, growing institutional adoption, and even nation-level engagement with Bitcoin.

An important feature of this cycle is that inflows into altcoins often coincide with pauses in overall market momentum, which has been observed repeatedly. Unlike 2023-2024, when Bitcoin dominated market attention, capital is increasingly shifting toward altcoins, as broader diversification continued.

Looking ahead, a rate cut expected in September, alongside potential approval of spot ETFs for altcoins in October, points to a favorable environment for renewed growth. From a cycle perspective, the current consolidation phase may be a precursor to a stronger uptrend in late 2025.

In fact, CryptoQuant believes that investors could view any additional corrections during this period as potential entry points.Late 2025 Crypto Rally

This aligns with CryptoBirb’s recent observation, whichrevealedthat Bitcoin’s bull market could be approaching its final stage. After briefly surpassing $124K earlier this month, Bitcoin has faced choppy trading, briefly dipping below $109K as momentum turned fragile.

However, historical data indicate that the current cycle is 93% complete, and a potential blow-off top is projected between late October and mid-November 2025. The crypto analyst referenced prior bull runs and noted that the 2010-2011 cycle lasted for 350 days, the 2011-2013 cycle lasted for 746, the 2015-2017 one went on for 1,068 days, and the 2018-2021 cycle lasted for 1,061 days.

The current cycle, which has already spanned around 1,010 days, aligns with expected post-halving peaks, which historically occur 366-548 days after the event. Following the April 2024 halving, the anticipated peak window is October 19-November 20, 2025.

The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Happy Friday! U.S. PCE data came in as expected, but crypto prices still slipped. However, a soft jobs report could give the Fed room to ease — a potential boost for bitcoin, with $150k to $200k still in play this cycle, according to 21Shares' Matt Mena.

In today's newsletter, Eric Trump calls China a "hell of a power" in crypto despite its bans, Ethereum's monthly onchain volume reaches its highest level since 2021, Eliza Labs sues Elon Musk's X, and more.

Meanwhile, Ethereum ETFs are on course for $4 billion in August inflows while Bitcoin funds face outflows.

Let's get started.

P.S. Don't forget to check out The Funding, a biweekly rundown of crypto VC trends. It's a great read — and just like The Daily, it's free to subscribe!

Eric Trump calls China a 'hell of a power' in crypto, sticks to $1 million bitcoin price prediction

The U.S. President's second-oldest son, Eric Trump, praised the impact of Hong Kong and China on the cryptocurrency industry during a fireside chat with David Bailey at Bitcoin Asia on Friday.

• "There is no question that you have made an unbelievable mark on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies," Trump said to the Hong Kong audience, responding to Bailey's suggestion that China is the "other Bitcoin superpower," alongside the U.S. "There's no question that China is a hell of a power when it comes to this world and doing it well," he added.
• Trump also gave credit to crypto adoption in the Middle East and South America, but said the U.S. is "winning the digital revolution."
• His comments come despite mainland China banning institutional crypto trading, exchanges, and bitcoin mining, though peer-to-peer trading and some mining persist in practice.
• Meanwhile, Hong Kong is embracing crypto under a regulated pilot regime, and Chinese officials are increasingly exploring stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets.
• Trump was in Hong Kong to promote his mining venture, American Bitcoin, and also highlighted his roles at World Liberty Financial and Metaplanet.
• Trump said he now spends 90% of his time in the crypto community, reiterating his prediction that bitcoin will hit a price tag of $1 million.
• "I really believe in the next several years bitcoin hits a million dollars," he said. "Buy right now, close your eyes, hold it long term, do not get rid of it. It is the greatest asset in the world. We haven't even scratched the surface of what Bitcoin is gonna be."

Ethereum onchain volume tops $320 billion in August, highest since mid-2021

Ethereum's onchain volume has topped $320 billion in August, hitting its highest monthly level since May 2021 and third-largest overall amid a surge in ecosystem activity as ETH rose to new all-time highs.

• The metric measures economic throughput on the Ethereum blockchain, including transfers, DeFi interactions, and other transactions.
• 30-day transactions also set fresh highs, while monthly active ETH addresses reached their second-highest point ever, and total value locked remains close to peak levels.
• Corporate treasuries tripled their ETH holdings in August, driving demand alongside rising spot ETF volumes and net inflows.
• Transaction fees hit multi-year lows following network upgrades, also boosting usage across Ethereum and its Layer 2s.

IREN run-rate tops $1 billion in annualized bitcoin mining revenue

IREN reported $187.3 million in revenue and $176.9 million in net income for the quarter ending June 30, with annualized bitcoin mining revenue now above $1 billion under current mining economics.

• The company also expects $200 million to $250 million in annualized AI cloud revenue by December as it scales to more than 10,000 Nvidia GPUs.
• "FY25 was a breakout year financially and operationally, with record results that included strong net income and more than 10x EBITDA growth," IREN co-founder and co-CEO Daniel Roberts said.
• IREN's stock is up 16.3% on Friday following the results at $26.80, with a market capitalization of $6.5 billion — placing it ahead of MARA and Riot as the largest publicly-listed bitcoin miner.

Eliza Labs sues Elon Musk's X over alleged anticompetitive actions

Crypto AI software company Eliza Labs and its founder, Shaw Walters, sued Elon Musk's X, accusing it of stealing technical intel to build rival AI products before banning Eliza from the social media platform.

• The startup claims X demanded a $600,000-per-year enterprise license, then suspended its accounts when it refused to pay the "exorbitantly expensive" fee.
• Eliza alleges X "wielded its incredible monopoly power" to suppress competition in the AI agent space through deplatforming and coercion.
• Eliza Labs and X did not return a request for comment from The Block.

NFT brand Pudgy Penguins waddles into mobile gaming with launch of Pudgy Party

Pudgy Penguins has teamed up with Mythical Games to launch Pudgy Party, a fast-paced, lighthearted web3 mobile title packed with mini-games, digital collectibles, and customizable penguins.

• The party-royale game skips token integration at launch but hints at future use of PENGU, MYTH, and other tokens for added utility and gameplay layers.
• Pudgy Party follows Pudgy Penguins' launch of its desktop-based Pudgy Worlds game, Solana-based PENGU token, and the rollout of its penguin plushies and other collectibles in Walmart stores last year.

Looking ahead to next week

• U.S. markets are closed on Monday for Labor Day. Eurozone CPI figures are due on Tuesday. U.S. jobless claims data are out on Thursday, followed by nonfarm payrolls on Friday.
• ECB President Christine Lagarde and U.S. FOMC member Neel Kashkari will speak on Wednesday. FOMC member John Williams speaks on Thursday.
• Optimism, Sui, dYdX, Ethena, IOTA, and Moca Network are among the crypto projects set for token unlocks.
• Taipei Blockchain Week, ETHWarsaw, and Bitcoin Indonesia all get underway.

Never miss a beat with The Block's daily digest of the most influential events happening across the digital asset ecosystem.

Disclaimer: This article was produced with the assistance of OpenAI’s ChatGPT 3.5/4 and reviewed and edited by our editorial team.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

© 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.

The Ethereum Foundation is pausing its grants programs, initially launched in 2018, as it rethinks its strategy. According to an announcement on Friday, the so-called Ecosystem Support Program awarded over $3 million across over 100 projects in grants alone.

"Our mission is to enable work that strengthens Ethereum’s foundations and empowers future builders, in domains such as developer tooling, research, community building, infrastructure, and open standards," the foundation wrote in a blog post signed by the Ecosystem Support Program.

Much of the funding the EF supported through grants involved finding technical and scalable problems to the world's most used chain, including developer tools like Commit-Boost, an analytics program called BundleBear, and cutting-edge cryptographic research like ZK Playbook.

The program also funded the semi-official Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress, a collection of Ethereum cultural, academic, and technical leaders that worked to spread information about Ethereum and the foundation.

While it is difficult to determine how much worth of grants that EF supplied over the years — largely due to discrepancies in naming conventions, like community outreach, education, and technical research — one recent report shows that in 2023, EF's largest expenditure was on “new institutions,” totaling $47.4 million compared to $28.6 million in 2022.

An even more recent financial report indicated the organization intended to spend approximately 15% of the treasury funds while also aiming to maintain a 2.5-year spending buffer in fiat terms, gradually reducing the spending ratio thereafter towards a sustainable level of around 5% per year.

Overall, the grants program overhaul appears to be part and parcel of the Ethereum Foundation's recommitment to running a leaner and more focused organization. Perhaps most notably, the organization hired co-executive directors Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz K. Stańczak to lead the organization.

Over the coming months, Stańczak and Hsiao-Wei will focus on scaling the Ethereum mainnet and blobs, the transaction storage system, as well as pushing UX improvements, including at the Layer 2 interoperability and application layers.

"[A]s an open grants program with a lean team and broad scope, the high volume of inbound applications has consumed most of our time and resources, leaving limited capacity to pursue new strategic opportunities," Friday's blog reads.

"We remain deeply committed to supporting the Ethereum ecosystem and the public goods that sustain it. While these changes mark a new chapter for ESP, we are energized by the opportunities ahead to better support the incredible builders, researchers, and contributors driving Ethereum’s growth," the blog added.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

© 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.

Ether spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have seen steady growth since their US debut in July 2024, while corporate treasuries tied to the token are also on the rise.

Inflows into Ether (ETH) funds climbed 44% this month, rising from $9.5 billion on Aug. 1 to $13.7 billion on Aug. 28, according to cryptocurrency research platform SoSoValue. Market participants say renewed institutional demand is fueling the momentum.

“After an extended period of underperformance relative to Bitcoin and a souring investor sentiment, Ethereum has recently experienced a significant revival in the recognition of both its adoption rate and value proposition,” Sygnum Chief Investment Officer Fabian Dori told Cointelegraph.