Hey folks, it has been an eventful week in the crypto world, with major developments shaping the market. From regulatory updates and institutional moves to price surges and new project launches, there’s a lot to unpack. The week started with BinaryX (BNX) surging over 57.41% while Immutable (IMX) struggled. In an unexpected move, North Korea-linked Lazarus Group claimed to be the third largest Bitcoin holders after the U.S. and the U.K. The group’s holdings are speculated to have increased following the Bybit hack.
On the market front, the HEX burn triggered a market surge and high trading activity while a new token by Hayden Davis sparked speculation. Despite being under the Interpol list, Davis launched the $WOLF token, bearing similarities to the $HOOD token. Meanwhile, Binance had garnered attention by providing zero-fee trading on the wallet till September. Continuing his Bitcoin acquisition, Michael Saylor bought 130 BTC worth $10.7M, bringing the total holdings to 499,226 BTC worth $33.1B. In a bid to recover his Bitcoin from trash, James Howells requested the UK Court permission to excavate a landfill, claiming that his BTC holdings were mistakenly thrown into the trash.
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On Tuesday, the WLFI completed its second token sale raising a total of $550M in revenue while Metaplanet had announced raising 2 billion yen in zero-interest ordinary bonds to fund additional BTC purchases. On the market front, the Bitcoin ETFs recorded a total net inflow of $274.59M, marking the largest inflow in six weeks. On the regulatory side, Canary Capital has filed an SUI ETF with the SEC while Cumberland SG got approval to trade in Singapore. Further, the Singapore Police honored Binance with a cybersecurity award for aiding cybercrime probes across Southeast Asia.
On the other hand, the exchange had listed Bubblemaps (BMT) with HODLer Airdrop Rewards, offering 30M tokens to eligible users. Meanwhile, YZi Labs partnered with Plume Network to integrate RWAs on-chain. Despite the potential of Bitcoin, the Bank of Korea (BoK) rejected Bitcoin as a foreign asset reserve but proposed a pilot CBDC program for digital payments with seven other banks.
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The cryptocurrency community witnessed the most anticipated event on Wednesday. After five grueling years, the lawsuit of Ripple-SEC finally concluded, following which XRP surged above $2. On the other hand, North Dakota gained approval for a Crypto ATM Fraud Protection Bill while Minnesota awaits approval for the Bitcoin Act. The state proposes to use the bill on tax payments, retirement plans, and investments. Meanwhile, North Carolina has proposed 10% of its state reserves to Bitcoin assets. On the market front, despite institutional adoption and ETF investments, Bitcoin’s market faces a struggle.
SHIB shows signs of short-term recovery after declining by 34% last month while Cardano surged following positive sentiment after its inclusion in the US crypto reserve. Further, PancakeSwap led the DEX market with $2.67B in trading volume. Meanwhile, Ethereum has proposed to close its Holesky Testnet support by September for network transition while a survey conducted by Coinbase and EY-Parthenon revealed that 83% of institutional investors have plans to boost their crypto allocations in 2025.
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On Thursday, President Donald Trump addressed a crypto conference, emphasizing that the U.S. would dominate crypto and the next generation of financial technology, whereas at the FOMC meeting, Jerome Powell concluded that the rates would be maintained at 4.25% to 4.50%. On the institutional front, Binance Launchpool introduced Nillion as its 65Th project while Binance Wallet and PancakeSwap collaborated for an exclusive Token Generation Event for Bedrock (BR). Further, Binance introduced a vote-to-list campaign, allowing users to vote on new token listings.
Meanwhile, Kraken had proposed a $1.5B deal to acquire NinjaTrader and expand the U.S. crypto futures offerings while Dubai launched a pilot project that uses blockchain technology for property title deeds. Ben Zhao, the founder of Bybit, revealed that 88% of the firm’s stolen funds have been traced while 7.59% vanished. Cautioning users against fake TradingView files, a blockchain security firm revealed that the scam targeted Mac and Windows users, gaining their details and draining their wallets.
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Taking a strategic move, Metaplanet appointed Eric Trump to its Board of Advisors on Friday, strengthening its push for Bitcoin adoption and financial innovation. On the regulatory front, the SEC acknowledged Polkadot ETF while Canary filed an ETF combining PENGU tokens and Pudgy Penguins NFTs. On the other hand, pump.fun launched PumpSwap to cut costs and boost token trading while TRON enhanced its liquidity and access. Further, LG announced closing its NFT platform citing a shift of focus. On the other hand, BNB Chain rolls out Pascal Hardfork, exhibiting transaction efficiency and compatibility. In a bid to ensure smooth cryptocurrency business, Australia’s Treasury Department introduced new crypto rules to end debanking for firms. In an unexpected event, the Australian Federal Police investigated a massive scam wherein the miscreants posed as Binance representatives and tricked users into transferring funds.
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Over the weekend, significant developments took place in the crypto sector. A solo miner claimed $266K BTC and received an extra 0.032 BTC for processing transaction fees. Taking an innovative decision, the US SEC approved that Bitcoin is not a security citing that it was sufficiently decentralized. Meanwhile, German regulators have blocked Ethena’s USDe citing compliance issues while the U.S. Treasury delisted Tornado Cash from its sanctions list. On the institutional front, Coinbase eyes Deribit deal to dominate crypto derivatives while Across Protocol (ACX) gets listed on the Korean market, boosting crypto exposure. Meanwhile, a Japanese real estate firm has announced of accepting DOGE, XRP, and SOL payments apart from Bitcoin and Ethereum to cater to a wider audience.
On an overall note, the past week in crypto witnessed major market movements, regulatory shifts, and institutional adoption. From Bitcoin ETF inflows to Ripple’s legal victory, significant developments shaped investor sentiment. Regulatory bodies took decisive actions, while corporate giants expanded their crypto strategies. Amid market fluctuations, innovation and adoption remained key drivers of growth.
