Crypto Trends: PYUSD Error and 2025 Q3 Market Leaders
- PYUSD’s internal minting mistake made it social media’s top-trending crypto topic.
- Ethereum drew interest through its ETF inflows, zk tech progress and DeFi deposits.
- CoinGecko reported a $563 billion Q3 market cap rise and record stablecoin expansion.
A rare $300 trillion minting mistake by Paxos involving PYUSD on the Ethereum blockchain this week led to widespread social media debate, according to Santiment. The incident happened internally, with the excess coins immediately burned after the error surfaced and Paxos stated that no breach occurred. The scale of the error drew comments across platforms, driving PYUSD to the top of trending discussions and raising questions about operational safeguards.
Ethereum Activity and Developer Momentum
Santiment data shows Ethereum gaining strong attention on social media for more than just the PYUSD issue. Reports say the Ethereum Foundation made big deposits into DeFi vaults, sparking talk about possible institutional moves and liquidity management. This came as ETF inflows began to surpass Bitcoin’s, renewing interest in Ethereum’s changing supply and demand.
On the tech side, Brevis launched real-time proving with its Pico Prism zkVM, a tool that speeds up zero-knowledge processing. Vitalik Buterin noted the improvement, saying it helps drive growth in ZK-EVM technology. Ethereum’s market also had ongoing cross-chain work and national ID migration initiatives, while its 2025 lead in developer inflows continued to be noted in social discussions.
Bitcoin, Tether, Monad and FTX Among Top Mentions
Santiment’s list also showed Bitcoin’s dominance relative to altcoins and gold. Many posts focused on market capitalization, inflation hedging and growing comparisons with traditional assets.
Most discussions online showed investors adjusting portfolios toward Bitcoin, seeing it as a stronger long-term option than other tokens. Tether also gained attention as users looked at its role in trading pairs and overall stablecoin liquidity.
People talked about its reserve backing, rising supply, and ongoing scams pretending to be Tether support. Some noted its falling market share even with more supply, as other stablecoins grew faster.
Monad trended after Telegram bots started promoting $MON token giveaways, attracting retail users curious about rewards and eligibility. FTX also resurfaced in discussions, mainly about its collapse, regulatory issues, asset recovery, lawsuits involving Sam Bankman-Fried, and the political fallout that followed.
Related: CME Crypto Futures Hit Record in Q3 as Ether Leads Growth
Market Performance and CoinGecko Q3 Report
CoinGecko’s Q3 2025 data adds context to the social spikes tracked by Santiment. Total crypto market cap grew 16.4% in the quarter, adding $563.6 billion to reach $4 trillion. Average daily trading volume climbed by 43.8%, rising from $107.8 billion in Q2 to $155 billion.
Stablecoins set new records. The top 20 stablecoin market cap increased by $44.5 billion to $287.6 billion, with USDe rising 177.8% and overtaking USDS in size. Tether added $17 billion in absolute terms but saw its market share drop from 65% to 61%.
Ethereum reached an all-time high of $4,946 before closing the quarter at $4,215, a 68.5% rise. Trading volume climbed from a daily average of $19.5 billion in Q2 to $33.4 billion. Institutional buys from firms like Tom Lee’s BitMine Immersion and Joe Lubin’s SharpLink boosted market attention, while inflows into Spot ETH ETFs added more momentum.
BNB also jumped 57.3% in Q3, closing at $1,030 after peaking at $1,048. Part of the trading activity came from new DEX listings and integrations, including PancakeSwap’s connection to Binance and trading pairs promoted by Aster.
The total value locked in DeFi grew from $115 billion to $161 billion, a 40.2% jump, raising its market share from 3.3% to 4%. New tokens from platforms like Avantis and Aster also helped drive the growth as prices rallied.
On centralized exchanges, spot trading volume hit $5.1 trillion, up 31.6% from $3.9 trillion in Q2. Binance recorded $2.06 trillion, while Bybit moved from sixth to third place, and Upbit grew by 40.5%. Coinbase saw a 23.4% increase but remained behind rivals in global ranking.
Perpetual DEX volume hit $1.8 trillion in Q3, up 87% from $964.5 billion in Q2. Hyperliquid held a 54.6% market share, while Aster, Lighter and edgeX challenged with incentive programs. Aster recorded daily trading volumes of up to $84.8 billion in September.
The PYUSD glitch raised worries about technical safeguards, while Ethereum’s market progress kept interest high. Activity around Bitcoin, stablecoins, new tokens, and past market failures fueled more trading and liquidity across both centralized and decentralized exchanges.
