Daily News 19

Category: Coins

Digital assets, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and currency news.

  • Global ETF Demand Could Drive Bitcoin’s Next Bull Cycle Peak

    Global ETF Demand Could Drive Bitcoin’s Next Bull Cycle Peak

    Bitcoin’s current bull-cycle peak could be driven by institutional capital and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) outside the United States, according to Ki Young Ju, founder and CEO of cryptocurrency market analytics platform CryptoQuant.

    Ju outlined the forecast in an Aug. 27 post on X, arguing that international market access could become a significant source of demand after U.S. products expanded regulated exposure to bitcoin.

    Ju stated:

    “The peak of this bull cycle will likely be driven by institutional money and ETFs outside the US.”

    South Korea Highlights Barriers to Bitcoin ETF Access

    Ju cited South Korea as an example of the restrictions that remain in international markets. The country does not have a spot bitcoin ETF, retail investors cannot purchase foreign-listed spot bitcoin ETFs, and most companies are still unable to open exchange accounts to buy $BTC.

    South Korea has begun allowing corporate participation in stages. A Financial Services Commission (FSC) roadmap includes a phase covering about 3,500 listed companies and qualified professional investors, while financial companies and other corporations remain outside the framework.

    Ju described widespread retail access as a possible signal that the market cycle is reaching its peak:

    “This cycle’s top might be when a banker at a regional bank in Korea recommends a spot bitcoin ETF to a granny for her savings.”

    The forecast shifts attention away from U.S. fund flows and toward markets where regulated bitcoin investment products are unavailable or have limited distribution. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved spot bitcoin exchange-traded products in January 2024, enabling investors to gain exposure through conventional brokerage and investment accounts.

    Ju argues that similar access in other countries could broaden participation during the next phase of bitcoin’s cycle.

    Institutions Build Bitcoin and Tokenization Infrastructure

    Institutional adoption extends beyond direct bitcoin purchases and spot ETF holdings, although access and service offerings remain uneven. Strategy’s Bitcoin Banking Adoption Index assessed 25 major institutions across trading, custody, digital asset products, financing, and corporate participation.

    The index placed overall bank adoption at 32%, indicating substantial room for financial institutions to expand their digital asset capabilities.

    Tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) could provide another part of the financial infrastructure that Ju expects to support broader adoption. As of Aug. 29, RWA.xyz’s Global Market Overview reported $38.63 billion in distributed asset value, an increase of 2.65% over the previous 30 days.

    These products are part of the tokenized RWA market, which transfers claims on assets such as government securities and private credit to blockchain-based systems for issuance, settlement, and transfer.

    Stablecoin Liquidity Could Expand Market Access

    Deeper stablecoin markets could provide institutions with greater liquidity for trading, settlement, and cross-border transfers as regulated bitcoin access expands.

    The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said stablecoins show potential for faster, programmable payments but warned that current designs can create financial integrity, liquidity, and monetary risks. The assessment underscores that expanding on-chain financial infrastructure does not remove regulatory or operational concerns.

    Bitcoin’s fixed supply limit and decentralized settlement remain distinct from the regulated funds and tokenized financial systems that give investors access to the asset. Wider ETF distribution could increase bitcoin access without changing the network’s underlying design.

    Ju expects both investment access and the infrastructure supporting it to expand beyond the U.S. market. His comments follow rapid adoption of U.S. bitcoin ETFs, with spot funds attracting about $57 billion in net inflows during their first two years.

    “So far this has been a US adoption story, but the next phase is global institutionalization with deeper stablecoin liquidity and RWA rails,” Ju noted, adding:

    “More institutions will hold $BTC as a strategic asset, and access will improve in the many countries that still lack ETFs.”

    The outlook centers on wider international ETF availability, increased institutional bitcoin holdings, and blockchain-based financial infrastructure as factors that could shape the cryptocurrency’s next stage of adoption.

  • Cardano Hits 10,166% Liquidation Imbalance as ADA Price Tests $0.20 Support

    Cardano Hits 10,166% Liquidation Imbalance as ADA Price Tests $0.20 Support

    Cardano’s ADA token is facing a critical test at the $0.20 price level amid a sharp imbalance in leveraged liquidations.

    Cardano recorded $1.17 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, according to Coinglass. Long positions accounted for $1.16 million of the total, while short positions represented $11,410.

    The imbalance between long and short liquidations reached 10,166%, showing that leveraged long traders bore the overwhelming majority of losses. The concentration of liquidations on one side of the derivatives market could contribute to increased volatility if ADA breaks decisively out of its current range.

    ADA is down 3.66% over the past 24 hours at $0.20 as the broader crypto market weakened over the weekend following Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s hawkish remarks at the Jackson Hole event. According to CME FedWatch, the probability of a September rate hike rose to 42% from 35% a day earlier.

    Warsh’s speech had been closely watched because the Jackson Hole event has often provided an opportunity for Federal Reserve leaders to prepare markets for significant policy changes.

    Cardano has extended its decline from last Saturday’s high of $0.259 and is now down 9.27% on a weekly basis. ADA fell from a high of $0.218 yesterday, catching bullish traders off guard, as reflected in the predominance of long liquidations.

    ADA is currently attempting to hold support at $0.20. Traders will be watching the outcome of that effort closely in the coming sessions.

    Cardano Dijkstra Development Gains Momentum

    According to Intersect, development work for the Dijkstra era is progressing across node development, protocol parameters, supporting infrastructure and node diversity. Upcoming node releases are expected to enable early testing of Dijkstra functionality.

    Node 11.1 is currently in pre-release, while Node 11.2 is expected within the next two to three weeks and will include the Plutus V4 ledger interface. The update is expected to provide greater visibility into Dijkstra and support early testing of its capabilities. However, it should not be considered the hard-fork-ready release.

    The feature-complete 11.3 release is expected in the months ahead. The overall Dijkstra delivery timeline continues to be assessed in relation to the node release schedule.

    In the meantime, stake pool operators can continue participating in Leios development on the Musashi testnet, with a rewards program announced earlier this month.

  • $1.1 Million Crypto Card Hack Crashes Neobank Token by 49%

    $1.1 Million Crypto Card Hack Crashes Neobank Token by 49%

    A vulnerability in an outdated Rain card contract drained approximately $1.1 million from several Solana-based programs, including $500,800 from 1,685 Avici users. The exploit also sent Avici’s AVICI token down as much as 49%.

    Avici token falls after Solana contract exploit

    AVICI, a self-custodial neobank that lets users spend cryptocurrency through a Visa-integrated credit card, dropped from a 24-hour high of $0.43 to a record low of $0.217. The token later recovered to approximately $0.378 at the time of writing.

    Avici said the attack was limited to a Solana contract holding funds after customers topped up their cards. Its self-custodial wallets on Solana and Ethereum-compatible networks were not affected. The company said it would refund every affected card balance.

    Tria reports more than $430,000 in user losses

    Tria, another crypto neobank, said 636 users were affected, with total losses exceeding $430,000. The company pledged to repay users in full, although its token fell by more than 10% at one point.

    Rain said its monitoring systems detected the vulnerability in an outdated contract version used by Avici and a small number of other programs. The company upgraded every program running that version and reported no further unauthorized activity.

  • Deribit Moved 90% of Client Assets to Coinbase, Then Ended Its Daily Proof-of-Reserves Checks

    Deribit Moved 90% of Client Assets to Coinbase, Then Ended Its Daily Proof-of-Reserves Checks

    Deribit will remove its public Proof of Reserves page on Sept. 1, ending a daily verification tool that allowed customers to check whether their balances were included and compare aggregate liabilities with the exchange’s published wallet holdings.

    Regulator-required reserve, reconciliation and audit controls will remain in place, but they will not offer the same level of daily public visibility.

    Deribit links change to Coinbase integration

    Deribit said the change reflects an overhaul of its wallet infrastructure during its integration with Coinbase. Approximately 90% of client assets have moved into Coinbase custody arrangements since Coinbase acquired the derivatives platform in August 2025.

    Deribit’s disclosures identify Coinbase at the brand level but do not specify which Coinbase legal entity holds the migrated assets.

    How Deribit’s Proof of Reserves system worked

    Deribit’s existing system uses a privacy-preserving binary Merkle tree and a daily snapshot. Each client can use a unique proof identifier to locate hashed entries representing their balances. The public can also total the file’s liabilities and compare that figure with wallet balances published by Deribit.

    However, the public snapshot was already narrower than Deribit’s full custody footprint. Its methodology says assets held with third-party custodians are excluded because they are outside Deribit’s direct control, citing Copper ClearLoop as an example.

    VARA reserve and audit requirements remain

    Removing the page does not cancel the obligations that apply to Deribit FZE. Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority requires covered virtual asset service providers to maintain reserves equal to 100% of client liabilities, hold reserves one-to-one in the same asset, reconcile them daily and obtain an independent third-party reserve audit at least every six months.

    Deribit’s notice refers to both annual and twice-yearly Proof of Reserves audits. VARA rules set the minimum reserve-audit frequency at once every six months. A separate VARA provision requires an annual financial-statement audit and says the annual report must be made available to clients and the regulator on request.

    Other evidence is submitted to the regulator rather than made public. Covered firms must provide wallet addresses monthly and submit quarterly statements demonstrating compliance with financial requirements, including reserve assets, to VARA.

    VARA’s register lists Deribit FZE as an active exchange and broker-dealer VASP. Its membership terms allow assets to be held directly or through third-party custodians while requiring segregation from company assets and preserving clients’ legal title. A separate service-provider list names Coinbase for custody and self-custody technology without specifying the Coinbase entity.

    The removal of Deribit’s Proof of Reserves page is not evidence of a reserve shortfall. It does reduce what customers can independently test each day, leaving them with controls and reports that are less public, less frequent or available only on request.

  • How Far Can USDe’s Yield Scale as Ethena Targets RWA Perpetuals?

    How Far Can USDe’s Yield Scale as Ethena Targets RWA Perpetuals?

    Ethena is expanding the collateral backing for its yield-bearing synthetic dollar, $USDe, into basis trades on equity perpetuals, also known as real-world asset (RWA) tokenization perps.

    Equity perpetuals create a larger basis-yield opportunity

    According to Ethena, the equity perpetuals market has grown tenfold since March, reaching $6 billion in open interest. The project believes the RWA perpetuals market could become 100 times larger, creating a scalable source of basis yield that is less dependent on the cyclical cryptocurrency market.

    The underlying asset base is >$150 trillion compared to ~$2.5 trillion of crypto, making this the most scalable extension of the basis allocation to date. We expect RWA perpetuals to eclipse crypto allocations in $USDe’s backing within 12-24 months.

    Ethena expects RWA perpetuals to outpace crypto-based basis trades as a source of $USDe collateral within one to two years. At present, liquid stablecoins such as USDT and USDC make up the largest share of $USDe’s backing at 32%. DeFi lending is the second-largest reserve category, accounting for 31% across Aave and Morpho.

    Source: Ethena

    Ethena diversifies $USDe’s yield sources

    A basis trade captures the spread between an asset’s spot price and its futures contract, including perpetual futures. However, the strategy is exposed to crypto market cycles. During the peak of the 2024–2025 bull run, $USDe’s supply reached nearly $15 billion, with more than 80% of the supply earning yield. As the crypto winter set in, supply fell to $4 billion and the yield dropped below 0%.

    Source: $USDe market supply (Ethena)

    To reduce its reliance on the crypto market, Ethena first expanded into traditional credit, powered by Janus Henderson. Traditional credit currently represents 12% of $USDe’s backing.

    The RWA perpetuals strategy, which is expected to launch in the next few weeks, would represent the second major stage of Ethena’s diversification plan. Explaining why the project waited before expanding into RWA perpetuals, Ethena founder Guy Young said:

    We took a cautious approach to what was a nascent market and waited until we saw deep, liquid markets with a data history we could study before moving into the opportunity at scale.

    Source: X

    Young added that the segment is “one of the very few 100x left” and could exceed the global cryptocurrency market’s trading volume and open interest within 24 months.

    $USDe yield compared with U.S. Treasury bills

    Compared with its main yield competitor, short-term U.S. Treasury bills, $USDe offered a 1.6% spread. In other words, $USDe could provide a higher yield than U.S. T-bills before accounting for the security risks associated with DeFi.

    Source: Ethena

    Ethena has continued upgrading its ecosystem ahead of the next crypto bull market. Whether the latest expansion of its yield sources will increase demand for $USDe remains to be seen.

  • Bitcoin Miner IREN Still Gets 82% of Revenue From Bitcoin After Making Room for Microsoft AI Cloud

    Bitcoin Miner IREN Still Gets 82% of Revenue From Bitcoin After Making Room for Microsoft AI Cloud

    IREN remains primarily a Bitcoin mining company by revenue, even as it retires mining hardware to create capacity for artificial intelligence infrastructure and expand its AI cloud business.

    The company’s fiscal 2026 results, filed on Aug. 27, show that Bitcoin mining generated $578.2 million of IREN’s $707 million in annual revenue, representing approximately 81.8%. AI Cloud Services generated $128.8 million.

    IREN’s transition to AI infrastructure resulted in a $638.8 million non-cash impairment charge, primarily related to decommissioning mining equipment as data center sites were converted for AI workloads. The company also reported a $702.6 million net loss, affected by the impairment and other items.

    The impairment was not a $638.8 million cash outflow. Instead, it reflected the accounting value of assets retired before the replacement AI business had fully entered service.

    IREN faces a $3 billion AI cloud revenue gap

    As of Aug. 26, IREN had $1 billion in annualized operating run-rate revenue, or ARR, compared with $4 billion of contracted ARR tied to its 2026 capacity. The company is targeting the larger run rate to be operational by Dec. 31.

    IREN calculates ARR by multiplying contracted GPU pricing by a full year of hours, including storage and related services. ARR is an operating measure rather than GAAP revenue, and the company warns that recognized revenue may be materially lower.

    Closing the gap depends on delivering and obtaining acceptance for the required physical infrastructure, as well as meeting IREN’s assumptions for utilization and pricing.

    According to IREN’s Form 10-K, revenue generally begins only after data centers have been built and energized, equipment has been installed and commissioned, performance testing has been completed, and customers have accepted the capacity. Delays can defer revenue while financing and operating costs continue, and may also trigger delay or service credits.

    The deployment timeline is staged. Microsoft accepted Horizon 1 in August. Horizons 2 through 4 were scheduled for phased delivery in calendar Q4 2026, with contractual grace periods extending into the beginning of calendar Q2 2027.

    Bitcoin mining capacity is being converted for AI workloads

    As of June 30, IREN still had approximately 23.2 EH/s of installed Bitcoin mining capacity across roughly 380 megawatts. The company aimed to substantially complete the conversion of that data center capacity to AI Cloud Services by the end of the year.

    The transition also carries significant financing costs. IREN raised GPU financing to support its Microsoft contract through a delayed-draw loan priced at one-month SOFR plus 2.25%, along with senior notes carrying a 5.96% interest rate. The financing tranches remain subject to certain conditions.

    A separate Mackenzie financing facility of up to $2.4 billion carries a fixed 9% interest rate and matures 30 months after each applicable staged funding date.

    Microsoft and NVIDIA together accounted for a substantial majority of IREN’s contracted revenue, according to the company. Although new customers are broadening its customer base, acceptance, performance and counterparty risks remain concentrated.

    IREN has contracts that could replace its Bitcoin mining business on a run-rate basis. However, the filing does not show that the replacement has been completed. The next test will be customer acceptance of the remaining deployments and the GAAP AI revenue those deployments begin to generate.

  • XRP ETFs Attract $153 Million in 9 Days: Is the Supercycle Still Alive?

    XRP ETFs Attract $153 Million in 9 Days: Is the Supercycle Still Alive?

    Ripple’s $XRP price has lost momentum after rallying alongside the broader cryptocurrency market. The altcoin is trading at approximately $1.38, down more than 8.50% over the past seven days.

    Despite the pullback, substantial inflows into spot Ripple ETFs this month suggest that bullish investors may be positioning for an $XRP supercycle. However, whale sentiment remains divided, with major traders taking both long and short positions.

    Spot $XRP ETFs record nine consecutive days of inflows

    Spot $XRP ETFs recorded nine consecutive days of inflows, including an August single-day high of $28.14 million. The products attracted more than $153.54 million during the streak, bringing total monthly inflows to approximately $157 million.

    With one day remaining before the month ends, $XRP ETFs are on track to record their third-best month since launch. Combined net inflows now represent 1.63% of the altcoin’s circulating supply.

    Source: SoSoValue

    Over the past 24 hours, spot $XRP ETFs recorded $26.20 million in net inflows. Bitwise led the group with $11.17 million, followed by Canary with $3.71 million, Franklin with $2.17 million, and 21Shares with $1.95 million. Grayscale recorded no activity.

    Whales remain divided over the $XRP price outlook

    Although spot Ripple ETF inflows point to the possibility of an approaching $XRP supercycle, large traders remain unconvinced. Data on the largest positions from Hyperliquid Wallet Analysis shows that some whales are betting on further gains while others are shorting the token.

    One whale has an unrealized profit of $8.89 million after purchasing 35 million $XRP with 10x leverage, for a position valued at $48.46 million. The liquidation price was $0.9364, and the position was showing a profit of more than 18%.

    Other long positions in the list were valued at $12.41 million and $9.27 million, both using 20x leverage.

    Source: CoinGlass

    In contrast, another whale opened a short position on 11.06 million $XRP valued at $15 million, using 5x leverage. The top 30 positions on Hyperliquid DEX were predominantly short, and most were profitable unless their entry price was below $1.38.

    Whale positioning indicates that major market participants have yet to reach a consensus on the potential for an $XRP supercycle.

    What do bulls need to do to trigger an $XRP supercycle?

    On the charts, $XRP was trading above a descending trendline and had formed a moving-average cross involving its 20-day and 50-day moving averages. However, the price is approaching those moving averages after falling from a peak of $1.70 to $1.38.

    Transaction volume is averaging 814.35 million $XRP, well below this year’s peak of 3.752 billion $XRP. At the same time, Bull Bear Power (BBP) bars were declining, pointing to weakening momentum.

    Source: $XRP/USDT on TradingView

    For the potential supercycle to remain intact, bulls must hold the price above the moving-average cross at $1.10. The current correction could represent a pause before the broader rally resumes.

    Final summary

    Spot $XRP ETFs recorded nine consecutive days of net inflows, lifting total monthly inflows to $157 million.

    Although $XRP was trading at $1.38, the potential supercycle remained intact unless the price fell below $1.10.

  • Zcash (ZEC) Social Buzz Vanished Before Its ETF Launch: Data

    Zcash (ZEC) Social Buzz Vanished Before Its ETF Launch: Data

    Zcash has been among the best-performing crypto assets this year, attracting substantial institutional investment. This week, asset manager Grayscale Investments launched the first exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking the spot price of $ZEC.

    However, interest in the privacy-focused cryptocurrency peaked shortly before Zcash reached its recent price high.

    Zcash Social Interest Peaked Before Spot ETF Launch

    Data from Santiment showed that social media discussion around Zcash had already faded by the time the $ZEC spot ETF began trading. Grayscale converted its 2017 Zcash trust into a spot ETF, which launched on NYSE Arca on August 25.

    In the days leading up to the launch, Zcash rose from approximately $509 on August 18 to about $878 on August 23, delivering a gain of roughly 72%. Social mentions reached 232 on August 22, nearly six times the usual August baseline. The surge in attention was short-lived, however.

    By the ETF’s launch day, social mentions had returned to their baseline level. Santiment said social activity peaked one day before $ZEC reached its price high, indicating that much of the crowd interest arrived before the market topped out.

    After reaching approximately $878, Zcash pulled back to around $789, representing a decline of roughly 10% from its recent peak.

    Could Zcash Challenge Bitcoin?

    Grayscale Research believes $ZEC could become a serious challenger to Bitcoin’s network effects as demand for financial privacy increases. In a report led by Head of Research Zach Pandl, the firm said Bitcoin remains dominant among digital currencies. Although alternatives such as Litecoin have emerged, none has seriously threatened Bitcoin’s position.

    Grayscale said Zcash could be different because it combines Bitcoin-like characteristics with privacy features that may become increasingly important as AI-powered surveillance expands. The report also highlighted the Zcash ecosystem’s active development, including efforts to address cybersecurity risks and potential threats to traditional cryptography from quantum computing.

    Zcash also benefits from cross-chain functionality through “intents” technology built into modern blockchain wallets. This allows the cryptocurrency to serve as a private asset hub without requiring widespread merchant adoption.

    $ZEC has gained approximately 19 times over the past year but remains valued at less than 1% of Bitcoin’s market capitalization. Grayscale said Zcash’s financial privacy and other features could be undervalued, leaving room for further upside.

  • Zcash’s 19x Rally Could Continue as Grayscale Eyes Bitcoin Market Share

    Zcash’s 19x Rally Could Continue as Grayscale Eyes Bitcoin Market Share

    Zcash may have further upside despite rising approximately 19-fold over the past year, according to Grayscale Head of Research Zach Pandl. The asset manager said on Aug. 25 that Zcash could challenge Bitcoin’s network effects with capabilities that were unavailable or less relevant when Bitcoin established its lead.

    Grayscale’s “Currencies” sector includes crypto assets primarily designed to function as digital money or stores of value. Bitcoin represents 93% of the category by market capitalization. Grayscale identified financial privacy, development aimed at cybersecurity threats, and cross-chain reach through intents technology as potential advantages for Zcash.

    “Zcash offers financial privacy and other attributes that users may find essential in an age of AI,” Pandl wrote, adding:

    “We think it is still undervalued and can continue to capture market share.”

    $ZEC’s price as of Aug. 29 via Bitcoin.com Markets

    Bitcoin’s Market Cap Is 114 Times Larger Than Zcash’s

    Zcash remained valued at less than 1% of Bitcoin’s market capitalization after its rally significantly improved Zcash mining economics. Grayscale said the disparity could indicate that investors are underpricing Zcash’s features, while emphasizing that $ZEC remains a smaller, more volatile, and higher-risk cryptocurrency.

    As of Aug. 29, Bitcoin ranked first among all cryptocurrencies with a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion. Zcash ranked 11th at $13.74 billion. ZEC’s market capitalization was approximately 0.88% of Bitcoin’s, leaving $BTC about 114 times larger.

    Grayscale calculated how ZEC could perform if it captured a larger share of Bitcoin’s market capitalization over five years. Based on estimated ZEC supply, the scenarios imply prices of $1,622 at a 2% share, $4,054 at 5%, and $8,109 at 10%. These figures are hypothetical scenarios, not price forecasts.

    Potential ZEC prices at different shares of Bitcoin’s market capitalization. Source: Coin Metrics and Grayscale Investments; Aug. 24, 2026.

    AI Surveillance Could Strengthen the Case for Financial Privacy

    Artificial intelligence could make financial surveillance more effective by connecting public addresses with exchanges, counterparties, wallet behavior, and transaction histories. Grayscale’s Aug. 19 analysis of Zcash’s financial privacy argued that AI and blockchain adoption could trigger another wave of public concern about financial confidentiality.

    Intents technology allows a wallet to coordinate cross-chain transactions based on a user’s desired outcome, such as converting another digital asset into ZEC. This could allow users or AI agents to access Zcash’s privacy features without requiring merchants to accept ZEC directly.

    In some respects, Zcash resembles Bitcoin through its proof-of-work security model and fixed supply of 21 million coins. Unlike Bitcoin, however, the network supports shielded transfers that conceal transaction details using zero-knowledge proofs. These transfers illustrate how privacy coins use cryptographic techniques to obscure details such as the sender, recipient, or transaction amount.

    Market access expanded on Aug. 25 when Grayscale’s Zcash ETF began trading on NYSE Arca under the ticker ZCSH. The fund moved from OTCQX quotations to NYSE Arca, giving investors spot ZEC exposure through a publicly traded vehicle without requiring them to purchase the cryptocurrency or manage wallets and private keys directly.

    Privacy Use and Network Development Add Momentum

    Grayscale said in March that privacy and growing network momentum could help ZEC compete with BTC. Its March 18 comparison of Zcash and Bitcoin cited increasing use of shielding technology, along with new capital supporting wallet development and Zcash mining.

    Pandl wrote:

    “Zcash, a privacy-focused digital currency, is the Bitcoin competitor with the best shot at capturing market share over time, in our view.”

    Network development also brings security and execution risks alongside its potential benefits. During the first quarter, the Zcash Foundation patched two Zebra vulnerabilities, including a critical remote denial-of-service flaw and a high-severity potential chain-split flaw.