XPL Surges 113% to All-Time High Following Launch day Crash

Cryptocurrency

Forex

Summary:

Plasma operates as a stablecoin-focused blockchain platform backed by high-profile investors, including Bitfinex, Framework Ventures, Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, and Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.

Plasma’s XPL token posted a 113% recovery to $1.54 within hours of crashing from $0.93 to $0.7218 following its Sept. 25 mainnet launch.

The initial crash likely resulted from selling pressure as users who received network airdrops liquidated their positions.

Overcoming sell pressure

According to reports on X, users received a minimum of 9,304 XPL tokens through the distribution program, creating immediate supply pressure as recipients converted holdings to other assets.

After the selling subsided, XPL found strength for its recovery rally, supported by strong fundamental metrics across the Plasma ecosystem. The token was trading at $1.26 as of press time.

Plasma operates as a stablecoin-focused blockchain platform backed by high-profile investors, including Bitfinex, Framework Ventures, Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, and Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.

The project raised $500 million through its token offering in June, attracting over 2,900 wallets with deposits totaling $1 billion during its initial funding phases. It also partnered with EtherFi for a $500 million integration of the liquid staking protocol Ethereum vault.

The network enables zero-fee USDT transfers, supports confidential payments, and provides EVM compatibility for Ethereum-style smart contracts.

Network fundamentals back recovery

Plasma’s total value locked reached $3.4 billion within 24 hours of launch, according to DefiLlama data. The rapid TVL accumulation reflects the high yields offered on the network to attract initial liquidity and establish a user base.

DEX volume on Plasma crossed $226 million on Sept. 26, while the stablecoin market cap on the network climbed to nearly $4 billion.

One example of early traction is Aave’s deployment on the Plasma network. According to Blockworks data analyst Jack Mandin, Aave generated $57,000 in interest within 24 hours on the network, outpacing the protocol’s performance on Scroll and Gnosis over a two-week period.

The lending protocol also produced $6,000 in reserve revenue on day one, exceeding what many smaller Aave deployments achieve across weeks or months. These fundamental metrics likely contributed to XPL’s price recovery as traders recognized the network’s early adoption and liquidity attraction capabilities.

The strong rebound, which comes amid a week where the crypto market shed 9% in value, indicates XPL’s strength among crypto investors. Yet, it remains to be seen if the token can maintain its momentum over the following days.

Source: Cryptoslate

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Manuel

Commodity

Political

The White House is moving forward with a deal that would allow the U.S. government to take a small equity stake in a Canadian company that is developing one of the world's largest lithium mines in northern Nevada, an official said.

The Department of Energy and Lithium Americas, developer of the proposed Thacker Pass lithium mine and processing plant about 200 miles north of Reno, have agreed on changes to a $2.3 billion federal loan that could allow the project to move forward to extract the silver-white metal used in electric vehicle batteries. General Motors has pledged more than $900 million to help develop Thacker Pass, which holds enough lithium to build 1 million electric vehicles annually.

The proposed equity stake in Vancouver-based Lithium Americas is the latest example of President Donald Trump's administration intervening directly in private companies. The government is getting a 10% stake in Intel through the conversion of billions in previously granted government funds and pledges. The administration spent $400 million of taxpayer money in July on MP Materials stock to make the U.S government the biggest owner in the Las Vegas rare earths miner. Trump also made a deal with Nvidia and AMD to give the U.S. government a 15% cut of revenue from selling certain chips to China.

A White House official declined to specify the size of the U.S. stake in Lithium Americas, but said it would be “very small” — less than 10% — and serve as “a cash buffer” for the company. Lithium Americas asked the Energy Department to restructure the federal loan, which was approved last year by the Biden administration.

“We support the project moving forward,'' said the White House official, who was granted anonymity in order to talk about a deal that is not yet completed.

“Critical minerals like lithium are very important' to boost the U.S. economy and restore domestic manufacturing," the official said, adding: “We're trying to do this in a way that is fair to the taxpayers. We don't believe in free money.”

A spokesman for Lithium Americas declined to comment, but the company said in a statement that it is in discussions with DOE and General Motors regarding the DOE loan.

“The topics of these discussions include certain conditions precedent to draw on the DOE Loan and associated loan specifics, as well as incremental requests from the DOE for potential further conditions” to gain access to the loan, the statement said.

Jim Cain, a GM spokesman, said Friday the company remains “confident in the project” but declined to comment on ongoing negotiations.

Thacker Pass is considered crucial to building a domestic supply chain to make batteries for electric vehicles and other electronics. It also represents a rare point of agreement between Trump and former President Joe Biden. Both Republicans and Democrats support the mine project as a way to boost American critical minerals production and cut reliance on China, the world’s largest lithium processor.

Thacker Pass is expected to produce 40,000 metric tons of battery-quality lithium carbonate per year in its first phase, enough to help power 800,000 EVs.

Environmental groups and leaders of three tribes spent years fighting the mine, which they say borders the sacred site of a massacre of more than two dozen Native Americans in 1865.

The DOE under Biden backed the project as a way to help mitigate climate change by speeding the shift away from fossil fuels.

Trump has aggressively moved away from confronting climate change, labeling it “ the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world ” in a speech this week at the United Nations. “If you don’t get away from the green energy scam, your country is going to fail," Trump told world leaders on Tuesday.

The bid to boost the lithium project comes as the pace of U.S. electric vehicle sales has slowed as the industry struggles to attract mainstream buyers who remain concerned about charging infrastructure and affordability.

A law approved by congressional Republicans and signed by Trump is likely to deal another blow to EV adoption. The massive tax law approved this summer phases out federal incentives for new and used EV purchases, effective at the end of the month.

Consumers rushed to dealer lots this quarter to take advantage of the credits before the phase-out takes effect. The credits have saved car buyers up to $7,500 off the cost of their EV.

Without the incentives, many automakers will struggle to make sales.

Besides batteries for cars, cell phones and other electronics, lithium is also used in the manufacture of glass, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Lithium batteries are also used to store wind and solar power.

Source: AP

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Manuel

Commodity

Oil notched its biggest weekly gain in more than three months as mounting pressure on Russia to end its war in Ukraine muddies the outlook for exports from the OPEC+ member, with algorithmic traders adding momentum to the rally.

Global benchmark Brent advanced to settle above $70 a barrel for the first time since late July, and was up roughly 5.2% this week, while West Texas Intermediate closed near $66.

The commodity followed broader markets higher on Friday amid stronger-than-expected US economic data, which allayed fears of near-term demand deterioration. The dollar weakened, making commodities priced in the currency more attractive.

The equities move compounded earlier gains on a confluence of bullish geopolitical developments. Trump pressed Turkey to stop buying oil from Russia, said he would ask Hungary to do the same and earlier in the week rebuked NATO members for buying fuel from the OPEC+ producer.

The mounting pressure comes as Ukraine has stepped up drone strikes against Russian energy infrastructure. Meanwhile, European diplomats warned the Kremlin this week that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is ready to respond to further violations of its airspace with full force, including by shooting down Russian planes, according to officials familiar with the exchange.

The United Nations, meanwhile, will reimpose broad sanctions on Iran after days of diplomacy in New York failed to ease a standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program.

“It’s a risky market in which to be short at the moment, made ever more risky by the still elevated speculative shorts that have been accumulated across the crude complex,” said Rory Johnston, oil market researcher and founder of Commodity Context.

In another sign of heightened bullishness, commodity trading advisers, which tend to amplify price swings, flipped to net-long on Friday for the first time since early August, according to data from Bridgeton Research Group. Algorithmic traders are now sitting 27% long in Brent compared with 27% short just a day earlier, Bridgeton said. US benchmark WTI turned flat, the firm said.

This week’s gain stands to lift oil out of the tight trading band it’s been in since early August, as investors weigh a loose market balance against rising geopolitical tensions. Forecasters including the International Energy Agency anticipate a surplus later this year, driven by increased output from OPEC and its partners, as well as from producers outside the group, especially in the Americas.

Global supplies are set to increase further as exports from the Kurdistan region in Iraq through a pipeline to Turkey’s Ceyhan port are set to resume Saturday. Following a halt of more than two years, the resumption of shipments will initially bring 230,000 barrels a day to international markets, rising to as much as half a million barrels a day in future.

Source: Bloomberg

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Manuel

Central Bank

Economic

An economist whose research provided a foundation for Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran's argument that President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown will slow inflation by cutting demand for housing says the new central banker is overstating the impact.

After Reuters queried the Fed about Miran's numbers, it updated his speech from Monday to clarify that the estimate is based on a "large quasi-random immigration shock," a reference to the Cuban refugees who suddenly sought housing in the Miami area 45 years ago.

A Fed spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The work from Albert Saiz, an MIT economist who has studied immigration and housing for decades, shows that an inflow of immigration equal to 1% of the population of a city leads to about a 1% increase in rents in that city. Other researchers have also found such impacts - some bigger, some smaller - and Saiz told Reuters he does not argue with the idea that reversing the inflow will tend to reduce rents.

Miran, in his debut speech as the Fed's newest policymaker, latched onto that idea but didn't follow Saiz's formula - choosing an estimate of the national renter population of about 100 million people as his denominator rather than the far-larger total U.S. population of 340 million. The result was an imputed impact on inflation about three times larger than using Saiz's formula.

"If you did the calculation using the right magnitudes, you get 1 divided by 340 million - that’s about 0.29 percent a year," Saiz said in an interview. "Obviously population growth does impact the price of housing, but the magnitude isn't big enough to justify major changes in monetary policy."

Miran argues that net-zero immigration under Trump's new border policies implies 1 percentage point-per-year lower rent inflation. He bases that on a 2003 Saiz paper that looked at how a sudden influx of Cubans into Miami in 1980 - the so-called Mariel boatlift - impacted rental prices in that city. That paper did look at how much that influx expanded Miami's renter population.

A second Saiz paper in 2007 - and much but not all of the subsequent international literature on the subject - suggests a more limited effect.

It retains Miran's original estimate that rent inflation in the consumer price index will fall 2 percentage points through 2027 - equal to his estimate of the rental inflation effect based on his reading of Saiz. That drop would pull total inflation by the measure the Fed uses - the 12-month personal consumption expenditure index -- down by 0.4 percentage points by early 2028, justifying a half-point reduction in the Fed's policy rate, he said in the speech.

"One might characterize this view on rental inflation as optimistic," Miran said. "However, I believe forecasters have underappreciated the significant impact of immigration policy on rent inflation—both on the way up and, now, on the way down."

Overall Miran says Fed policy is fully 2 percentage points too high, a view that does not have any other takers among the Fed's other 18 policymakers.

Source: Reuters

To stay updated on all economic events of today, please check out our Economic calendar

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Adam

Economic

Economists expect inflation to keep climbing in the fourth quarter, as President Donald Trump's tariffs continue to push up prices for everyday goods.Most mainstream forecasts call for inflation to accelerate in the fourth quarter, as companies pass on the cost of Trump's sweeping new import taxes on to their customers. The Consumer Price Index is expected to rise 3% over the year in the fourth quarter, according to an August survey of professional forecasters by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. That would be a tick up from the 2.9% annual CPI inflation in August, and the highest since May 2024.Inflation is just below 3% by several measures. Consumer prices as measured by Personal Consumption Expenditures rose 2.7% over the year in August, up from 2.6% in July, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Friday. "Core" PCE, which excludes volatile prices for food and energy, and is considered a more reliable indicator of broad inflation trends by economists, rose 2.9% annually in August, the same is in July.

How This Could Affect Your Finances

Inflation has a major and obvious effect on household budgets, especially when it comes to necessities like gas and groceries. Although by some measures, average wages have kept up with inflation since the pandemic, the pay increases haven't been shared equally among Americans, and more households are struggling to keep up with their bills.

The cost of imported items is rising as a result of tariffs, which are meant to encourage companies to locate factories in the U.S. Companies have been reluctant to pass costs on to consumers for fear of losing business, but according to surveys, more are planning to do so in the coming months.

A major question is how much of the double-digit tariffs, which vary by country and by sector, will be passed on to consumers. Companies were passing through 70% of the costs to consumers, the Yale Budget Lab found in an analysis in June. However, because some companies have reported delaying price increases, there may be more tariff-related inflation in the months ahead.

How Long Will Tariff Inflation Last?

Some economists see the tariff impact as significant but temporary. Forecasters at Goldman Sachs estimate inflation as measured by Personal Consumption Expenditures (excluding food and energy) will rise 3.2% over the year in December, up from 2.9% in August. That would be the highest inflation reading since August 2023, but Goldman then expects it to start to fall in 2026.

That's a significant contrast to the past few years, when inflation has generally fallen. Inflation surged to a 40-year high in the aftermath of the pandemic, peaking in June 2022 at a rate of 9.1%, and then falling after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to combat price hikes. Inflation has faded in some key categories such as rent, while prices for imports have risen, Fed officials noted in speeches this week.

The Fed cut its key interest rate last week for the first time in 2025, citing weakening conditions in the labor market. Forecasts from Fed officials indicate that more rate cuts are possible, though rising inflation could keep the central bank from cutting as quickly or aggressively as investors hope. The Fed has a dual mandate to promote high levels of employment and stable prices.

Source: finance.yahoo

To stay updated on all economic events of today, please check out our Economic calendar

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Manuel

Cryptocurrency

Forex

SoftBank and Ark Invest have entered early discussions to participate in Tether’s largest external capital raise, according to a Sept. 26 Bloomberg News report.

The stablecoin issuer seeks between $15 billion and $20 billion in exchange for approximately 3% equity through a private placement. The fundraising could value Tether at $500 billion, positioning it among the most valuable private companies globally.

The backing from these technology investment giants could accelerate Tether’s mainstream adoption efforts and enhance its legitimacy across traditional finance sectors.

Investor profiles

Tether has sought greater political acceptance in markets, including the US. The firm recently announced the USAT, a US-compliant stablecoin that could challenge Circle’s USDC dominance in the country.

Additionally, Tether has added Bo Hines, President Donald Trump’s former crypto advisor, as its Strategic Advisor for Digital Assets and US Strategy.

Tokyo-based SoftBank maintains a portfolio of technology investments spanning data centers, autonomous vehicles, and semiconductors.

The firm has recently committed $30 billion to OpenAI and continues to pursue high-growth technology opportunities. Meanwhile, Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest has invested in stablecoin competitors, including Circle.

Cantor Fitzgerald is serving as advisor for Tether on the fundraising process. The New York-based investment bank, led by now-US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, also provides custody services for Tether’s reserve assets.

Billions in revenue

Tether generates revenue by investing reserves backing its USDT stablecoin in cash-equivalent assets, including US Treasuries. This business model allows the company to earn interest on these holdings while maintaining the token’s dollar peg.

Tether reported a net income of approximately $4.9 billion for the second quarter, bringing its year-to-date total to $5.7 billion. As of Sept. 25, USDT’s supply dominates 63% of the stablecoin market with $174.2 billion.

CEO Paolo Ardoino and co-founder Giancarlo Devasini lead the company. Devasini serves as chairman and holds the largest ownership stake.

The funding discussions represent Tether’s most substantial effort to attract institutional capital since its founding. If successful, it could establish new benchmarks for crypto company valuations and attract additional traditional finance participants to the stablecoin sector.

Source: Cryptoslate

Risk Warnings and Disclaimers

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Adam

Economic

Stocks of leading Indian drugmakers fell on Friday, even though the 100% U.S. tariffs on branded and patented drug imports are unlikely to affect these companies.

Indian companies mostly export generic drugs to the U.S., so the likely impact will be pretty minimal, Sudarshan Jain, an official at the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, told CNBC.

Yet, shares of large Indian drugmakers like Sun Pharmaceutical and Divi’s Laboratories fell by 2.5% and 3.5% on Friday, with even the sector benchmark Nifty Pharma Index falling by over 2%.

While the worries of investors might seem misplaced, Ayush Abhijeet, director of investments at White Oak Capital Partners, told CNBC that global market participants are seeing this as the sequence of events over the last couple of months.

“There has been a ratcheting of challenges to the India economy,” Abhijeet said. He referenced higher U.S. tariffs of 25% on India, then the additional 25% tariffs followed by the H-1B visa fee hike.

Many of these tariffs are not expected to substantially dent the economy or erode earnings of Indian corporates, but investors fear that there could be further escalations before U.S.- India trade ties improve.

Trade tensions

The U.S. first imposed 25% tariffs on India in August, before raising it to 50% citing India’s purchase of Russian oil, with White House trade advisor Peter Navarro calling Russia’s war in Ukraine “Modi’s war.”

Indian exporters of textile, gems and jewelry and marine products have been among most affected by the tariffs, but since the Indian economy is mostly driven by private consumption, the impact of the tariff is limited.

U.S. President Donald Trump last week imposed a “one-time” visa fee of $100,000 on new H-1B visa applications, a move which could disproportionally affect Indian workers.

All these announcements in quick succession are making investors jittery, with many fearing further escalation from Washington, experts told CNBC.

There is a possibility that these successive moves by the U.S. are part of a negotiation tactic to secure a quicker trade deal with India, said Gyanendra Tripathi, partner at risk advisory firm BDO Partners.

White Oak’s Abhijeet, meanwhile, said that unlike textiles, where India lacks the global competitiveness and its products can be substituted by exports from countries like Bangladesh or Vietnam, India does have an edge in the case of generic pharma.

“Even if [the] US was to impose tariffs on Indian generic pharma I will not be too worried,” Abhijeet said. “Generic pharma exporters are competitive and have few substitutes so [a] large part of the tariffs will be passed on to end-customers,” he added.