Key Facts

• Bitcoin Soars on Fed Hopes: Bitcoin surged above $114,000 for the first time since late August amid cooler U.S. inflation data, fueling bets on imminent Federal Reserve rate cuts cointelegraph.com cointelegraph.com. Ether also climbed past $4,400, as traders position for a potential policy pivot coindesk.com. Total crypto market capitalization hovered near $4 trillion cryptonews.com, with volatility at multi-month lows before upcoming CPI data.
• Record ETF Inflows Signal Institutional Demand: Bitcoin and Ether ETFs saw hefty inflows on Sept. 10. Bitcoin funds logged $757 million in one-day net inflows – the strongest since July – led by Fidelity’s FBTC ($299M) and BlackRock’s IBIT ($211M) coindesk.com coindesk.com. Ethereum ETFs reversed outflows with a $171 million daily gain coindesk.com, as investors re-entered ahead of next week’s Fed meeting.
• Dogecoin ETF Launches – Memecoin Goes Mainstream: The first U.S. Dogecoin ETF (REX’s DOJE) launches Sept. 11, marking a historic entrance of meme tokens into traditional markets boxmining.com. Dogecoin’s price jumped ~20% from early-month lows, recently trading around $0.24 boxmining.com, and analysts are eyeing a $0.25 breakout with upside to $1.00 if broader crypto ETFs win approval boxmining.com. “This creates the first regulated investment vehicle for a purely speculative meme token,” noted DLNews, suggesting it could open institutional access to assets once deemed too risky boxmining.com.
• U.S. Unveils Landmark Crypto Framework: Senate Democrats introduced a comprehensive 7-pillar digital asset framework aimed at overhauling U.S. crypto oversight cryptoslate.com cryptoslate.com. The plan would clarify jurisdiction (giving the CFTC authority over spot “digital commodities” and adapting SEC rules for tokenized securities) cryptoslate.com cryptoslate.com, impose stricter DeFi and AML/KYC compliance, and even bar public officials and their families from issuing or profiting from tokens while in office cryptoslate.com. “This framework represents a turning point. It restores trust, prevents abuse, and ensures that America…leads the next generation of financial innovation,” the authors said cryptoslate.com.
• Regulatory Thaw and Global Moves: U.S. regulators signaled a softer stance as the Federal Reserve quietly ended its “Novel Activities” supervision program for banks’ crypto dealings on Sept. 9 boxmining.com, shifting back to standard oversight – a win for banks dabbling in digital assets. India, meanwhile, appears unlikely to introduce a dedicated crypto law soon (per a leaked government document) amid ongoing caution blockchair.com. In Europe, MiCA licensing is underway; sources say Coinbase and Gemini are poised for EU-wide licenses despite debate over the speed of approvals reuters.com reuters.com. And in Latin America, governments are gradually embracing crypto pragmatically – Venezuela is reportedly allowing dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies in the private sector as a hedge against hyperinflation ifcreview.com.
• NFT & Metaverse Developments: After a summer uptick, the NFT market is cooling: weekly NFT sales fell to $91.9 million in early September – the lowest since mid-June cointelegraph.com – as the number of buyers dropped 58% from its peak cointelegraph.com. (By contrast, late July saw weekly volumes as high as $170M amid renewed NFT buzz cointelegraph.com.) Analysts say adoption efforts kept NFTs in the spotlight; for example, a permanent NFT art gallery opened inside a nightclub in Ibiza, Spain, showcasing works by Beeple and others cointelegraph.com. In metaverse news, anticipation builds for Meta’s upcoming Connect 2025 event (next week) amid reports of new AR glasses and AI avatars xrtoday.com, and Hitachi announced a VR “metaverse” platform for nuclear power plant training – underscoring how even industrial firms are leveraging metaverse tech nucnet.org.
• Enterprise & Institutional Adoption Surges: Blockchain lender Figure Technologies raised $787.5 million in a U.S. IPO at a $5.3 billion valuation reuters.com reuters.com, underscoring investor appetite as crypto firms tap public markets. In Japan, MetaPlanet – a listed real estate-turned-Bitcoin company – announced a ¥212.9 billion ($1.45 billion) share offering to fund massive Bitcoin purchases, aiming to reach “MicroStrategy-scale” BTC holdings boxmining.com cointelegraph.com. Over in Hong Kong, gaming firm Boyaa Interactive approved a HK$440 million (~$56M) capital raise, with 90% of proceeds to buy Bitcoin for its treasury mexc.com – adding to the 3,670 BTC it already holds ainvest.com. And in a major TradFi crossover, Binance is partnering with $1.6 trillion asset manager Franklin Templeton on a tokenization initiative theblock.co, reflecting growing institutional forays into blockchain. “Pension funds…usually cannot directly buy Bitcoin. But by buying our shares they get exposure in a regulated way,” said Altvest’s CEO in South Africa, where Altvest Capital is planning a $210M raise to put Bitcoin on its balance sheet – the first African public company to bet its treasury on BTC ecofinagency.com ecofinagency.com.
• DeFi & Web3 Ecosystem Updates: The DeFi sector is buzzing with innovation and liquidity. On Layer-1 upstart Hyperliquid, a “Bachelor-style” contest is underway as multiple crypto companies vie to issue Hyperliquid’s new USDH stablecoin, which will power its fast-growing DEX (holding nearly $6 billion in stablecoins) fortune.com. Native Markets, a leading contender, has drawn community support with a proposal for a compliant, yield-sharing stablecoin decrypt.co decrypt.co. (Analysts at Bernstein note that ~7.5% of all USDC is used as collateral on Hyperliquid’s platform, so a successful USDH could gradually reduce reliance on USDC there coincentral.com.) In the Layer-2 arena, ConsenSys’s Linea network officially launched its $LINEA token on Sept. 10, backed by $725M in funding boxmining.com, one of 2025’s most anticipated rollups. Cross-chain activity also advanced: ApeCoin (APE) became transferable on Solana this week, bridging a major NFT token into the Solana ecosystem for the first time boxmining.com. And Solana’s DeFi total value locked (TVL) hit a new all-time high around $12.2 billion tekedia.com, as rising institutional interest and improved network performance (Solana recently surpassed 100k TPS in testing) drive a DeFi resurgence.
• Hacks, Scams & Security: Security incidents continued to plague the industry. Swiss crypto platform SwissBorg disclosed a $41.5 million exploit in its yield program after a partner’s API was compromised coindesk.com. Roughly 192,600 SOL was drained from an external wallet (affecting <1% of users), but SwissBorg emphasized its own systems weren’t hacked and pledged to cover all customer losses coindesk.com coindesk.com. The incident – coming on the heels of other DeFi exploits – pushed the year’s running total of stolen crypto to over $2.17 billion coindesk.com. On a positive note, law enforcement and white-hat hackers are engaged: SwissBorg is working with authorities and security firms to attempt fund recovery coindesk.com. No other major hacks were reported on Sept. 10–11, but the industry remains on alert: a widely used software library on NPM was recently found infected with crypto-stealing malware (a supply-chain attack flagged by multiple security researchers) forbes.com financemagnates.com, highlighting ongoing risks. Regulators also stayed vigilant – the U.S. Justice Department moved to forfeit $5M from earlier SIM-swap crypto thefts scworld.com, and North Korea’s Lazarus Group continues to be accused of high-profile crypto hacks (as seen in a recent $240M KuCoin case update).

Cryptocurrency Price & Market Movements

Bitcoin Bulls Charge Past $110K: The crypto market surged mid-week, led by Bitcoin’s rally on Sept. 10 that saw the leading cryptocurrency breach $114,000 cointelegraph.com. Traders cheered a U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) report showing inflation cooling more than expected – just 2.6% YoY in August (vs 3.3% forecast) cointelegraph.com – which bolstered confidence that the Federal Reserve will pivot to easing. “Markets are viewing interest rate cuts as increasingly imminent,” noted the Kobeissi Letter, after PPI turned negative month-over-month and prior inflation figures were revised down cointelegraph.com cointelegraph.com. Prediction markets put odds of a Fed rate cut next week at ~82% cryptonews.com coindesk.com, and money market funds sitting on trillions could rotate into crypto if rates fall coindesk.com – a potentially explosive catalyst.

Altcoins Follow Bitcoin’s Lead: Ethereum (ETH) pushed above $4,400 amid the bullish sentiment coindesk.com. Major altcoins rode the wave: XRP hovered near $3.00 after an institutional-fueled breakout coindesk.com, Solana (SOL) jumped to ~$225 (its market cap now back above $120B after a 20% monthly rise) 99bitcoins.com, and Dogecoin (DOGE) spiked to ~$0.25, buoyed by enthusiasm for its upcoming ETF boxmining.com boxmining.com. Even lesser-known tokens saw action – e.g., Avalanche (AVAX) popped ~12% to ~$29 coindesk.com coindesk.com. The total crypto market cap briefly topped $4 trillion before slight profit-taking, and Bitcoin dominance remained elevated with BTC’s share around 48%. Market volatility, which had been unusually low, is expected to return as the Sept. 13 U.S. CPI report and Sept. 17 Fed decision approach cryptonews.com.

ETF Flows Underscore Confidence: A key story was the resurgence of institutional flows into crypto-backed funds. On Sept. 10, Bitcoin ETFs recorded their strongest daily inflows in over two months, totaling $757M coindesk.com coindesk.com. Fidelity’s FBTC and BlackRock’s IBIT products led the pack, pulling in $299M and $211M respectively in a single day coindesk.com coindesk.com. (Notably, Ark Invest’s ARKB also added $145M coindesk.com.) These inflows helped Bitcoin erase August’s ETF outflows; month-to-date, BTC funds are up $1.39B net coindesk.com. Ether funds similarly saw ~$171M in one-day inflows, reversing a streak of redemptions coindesk.com. BlackRock’s ETHA and Fidelity’s FETH led with ~$74M and $50M added coindesk.com. Analysts say the return of ETF demand reflects renewed risk appetite as rate cuts loom and could provide a “structural bid” that supports crypto prices going forward coindesk.com.

Regional Market Highlights: In Asia, traders played a big role in recent moves – on-chain data showed a whale in Asian markets opened ~$88M of leveraged longs across BTC, SOL, and SUI futures ahead of the rally boxmining.com boxmining.com, increasing market open interest. Meanwhile, South Korea’s stock market (KOSPI) hitting record highs prompted some caution that a local risk-asset peak “could stop BTC’s bull run,” one analyst warned coindesk.com coindesk.com, though that remains speculative. In Europe, crypto sentiment benefited from the ECB’s signals that its hiking cycle may be ending, and Europeans continued to pour money into ETPs – Germany’s Xetra-listed BTC ETC saw strong volume as Bitcoin ran up. Latin American markets, often driven by stablecoin use, saw surging demand for USD-pegged tokens as local currencies wobbled (e.g. Argentina’s peso hit new lows, boosting Tether purchases). African crypto trading also spiked in places like Nigeria when Bitcoin crossed the ₦85 million mark (around $112K), reflecting its role as an inflation hedge amid a 25% devaluation of the naira earlier this year chainalysis.com.

Outlook: Overall, market observers are turning optimistic for Q4. Crypto Twitter buzzes about a potential year-end rally, citing historical post-halving cycles and a coming “altseason” if Bitcoin consolidates boxmining.com boxmining.com. However, some analysts urge caution, noting September can be seasonally weak, especially for Ethereum (e.g. -12% in Sept 2021 post-merge) boxmining.com. Much will depend on macro triggers: a benign inflation print or a confirmed Fed cut could propel Bitcoin toward the next psychological level ($120K has been floated as a technical target if momentum continues coindesk.com coindesk.com). For now, bulls have the upper hand, with greed returning to the market (the Crypto Fear & Greed Index climbed back into the 70s) and liquidity conditions improving, evidenced by those robust ETF inflows and a slight uptick in global trading volumes.

Regulatory Updates (Global)

United States – New Crypto Playbook: Washington took a significant step toward clearer crypto regulation. In the early hours of Sept. 10, a group of Senate Democrats unveiled a sweeping digital asset legislative framework meant to “reshape U.S. crypto markets” cryptoslate.com. The framework, structured around seven core pillars, directly challenges the more laissez-faire approach of the previous administration (even referencing “Trump’s crypto escapades” in its introduction) cryptoslate.com cryptoslate.com. Key provisions include:

• CFTC Empowerment: Granting the Commodity Futures Trading Commission full jurisdiction over spot crypto commodity markets (i.e. non-securities like Bitcoin) cryptoslate.com. This would end the ambiguity that left exchanges unsure if BTC/ETH fell under SEC or CFTC purview.
• SEC Adaptation: Directing the SEC to integrate tokenized securities into existing disclosure regimes cryptoslate.com. In practice, this means if a crypto asset is a security, it could be issued and traded with modified compliance rules, rather than the SEC’s current case-by-case enforcement approach.
• Exchanges & DeFi: Bringing crypto trading platforms and DeFi protocols under stricter oversight, akin to securities exchanges cryptoslate.com cryptoslate.com. Platforms would face mandatory registration, disclosure, and investor protection rules. Notably, even overseas exchanges serving U.S. customers would have to register with FinCEN and comply with AML/sanctions rules cryptoslate.com. The proposal tasks regulators to devise new models to oversee DeFi, an area historically outside traditional regulatory reach.
• Stablecoin Restrictions: Reiterating bans on stablecoin issuers paying interest (echoing the still-pending GENIUS Act) and presumably requiring stablecoin reserves to meet certain quality standards cryptoslate.com. This stems from concerns about quasi-banking activities without oversight.
• Political Integrity: A headline-grabbing clause: elected officials (and their immediate families) would be prohibited from launching or profiteering from crypto projects while in office cryptoslate.com. All their crypto holdings would need to be disclosed. This directly addresses conflict-of-interest fears, after reports that some politicians dabbled in token launches.

The draft also boosts funding for both the SEC and CFTC to hire “digital asset experts” and expedite rulemaking cryptoslate.com cryptoslate.com. It underscores bipartisan leadership – requiring both agencies to maintain cross-party commissioner quorums so that one party cannot dominate crypto policy cryptoslate.com. Lawmakers behind the framework argue it will restore confidence in the now $4T crypto market by closing regulatory gaps cryptoslate.com cryptoslate.com. While just a framework (not yet a bill), it sets the stage for intense negotiations. Crypto industry reactions are mixed – many applaud the clarity on commodities vs securities, but some DeFi advocates worry about “overregulation” stifling innovation. All eyes will be on Congress as this blueprint potentially evolves into legislation heading into 2026.

US Regulatory Climate Thaws: In a related development largely welcomed by banks and fintechs, the Federal Reserve ended its “Novel Activities Supervision” program on Sept. 9 boxmining.com. Quietly introduced in early 2023, this program subjected banks engaging in crypto (and other novel tech like AI) to extra scrutiny by a specialized Fed team. Its termination shifts oversight of bank crypto activities back to standard supervisory channels boxmining.com. While the Fed gave no official public statement about the change, insiders cited by Fintech Weekly say the move “signals a softer regulatory stance” boxmining.com and aligns with broader efforts by the pro-crypto Biden administration to integrate digital assets into the existing financial framework reuters.com. The result: banks may feel more comfortable offering crypto custody or trading services now that they aren’t under a microscope by a dedicated “crypto task force.” This follows other recent U.S. regulatory wins for crypto, including court rulings against the SEC’s tougher positions (e.g. the Grayscale Bitcoin ETF case in August).

Europe – Licensing Under MiCA, Debates Continue: Across the Atlantic, the EU’s landmark MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) regulation is gradually rolling out, and large firms are beginning to secure licenses. Notably, Coinbase is reportedly poised to receive approval in Luxembourg, giving it EU-wide access reuters.com reuters.com. Similarly, Gemini is near a license in Malta reuters.com. These would make them among the first U.S.-headquartered exchanges fully regulated across the 27-nation bloc. However, Europe’s regulatory unity is being tested: Some countries (like Malta) have fast-tracked licenses – Malta approved four crypto firms within weeks of MiCA’s start reuters.com reuters.com – prompting concerns of a “race to the bottom.” France’s regulator publicly warned that if one country is too lax, it could undermine MiCA’s intent reuters.com. ESMA (the EU securities authority) is reviewing Malta’s approvals amid calls for consistent standards reuters.com. Meanwhile, Germany has held up certain crypto innovations pending more guardrails (e.g. debate around an EU law nicknamed “Chat Control” could impact encrypted communications, with Germany seen as a swing vote) cointelegraph.com. On a positive note, Europe is also advancing blockchain use in mainstream finance: European Parliament adopted rules on shorter securities settlement cycles on Sept. 10 regulationtomorrow.com, which some MEPs said could eventually dovetail with tokenized securities and DLT-based settlement – part of the EU’s broader Digital Finance agenda.

Asia – Mixed Signals: In Asia, regulatory approaches remain a patchwork. India grabbed headlines via a leaked government memo (reported Sept. 10) indicating no immediate plans for a crypto law blockchair.com. Despite prior discussions of a potential ban or framework, the document suggests Indian authorities prefer to wait for a global consensus (such as G20 recommendations) rather than rushing domestic legislation. This leaves India’s market in de facto limbo – crypto is not banned (the Supreme Court struck down an RBI ban in 2020), but exchanges face uncertainty and no clear rules. Contrastingly, Hong Kong and Singapore are positioning themselves as crypto-friendly hubs. Hong Kong, backed by Beijing’s “one country, two systems” tolerance, has been issuing licenses to exchanges under new rules since June, and the Boyaa Interactive move (raising $56M to buy Bitcoin) showcases the pro-crypto sentiment in its capital markets mexc.com. Singapore recently finalized stablecoin regulations (requiring reserves, capital, and redemption rights for issuers), and its central bank is exploring DeFi pilots under Project Guardian. Japan too remains active: aside from MetaPlanet’s bold Bitcoin strategy, Japanese regulators have been easing token listing rules and considering tax reforms to stem the exodus of crypto startups. By contrast, China’s mainland still enforces a strict ban on crypto trading – yet even there, official support for blockchain tech continues (the city of Shanghai announced a new $10B metaverse and tech investment fund on Sept. 11, for instance).

Middle East, Latin America, Africa: Other regions saw notable regulatory or policy moves. In the Middle East, the UAE and Saudi Arabia are crafting joint crypto rules – no major announcement on Sept. 10–11, but ongoing developments signal a push for Gulf-wide standards to attract blockchain business while mitigating risks. Latin America is embracing crypto through both regulation and necessity. Brazil’s crypto law (passed in 2022) is now in effect, and the country’s central bank just renamed its digital currency project DREX, moving closer to a 2024 CBDC launch. On Sept. 9, the EU and Brazil even agreed in principle on a data transfer deal that could facilitate cross-border fintech cooperation globalcompliancenews.com. Meanwhile, dollar-pegged stablecoins are increasingly used in inflation-hit nations like Argentina and Venezuela, prompting authorities to take a more permissive stance (Venezuela’s tacit allowance of USDT for transactions is one example ifcreview.com). Panama this week advanced a bill to regulate crypto trading and use (after a previous bill was partially vetoed last year), aiming to become a regional fintech hub. In Africa, South Africa stands out for having formally brought crypto assets under securities law in 2023. That framework is now yielding fruit: South Africa’s regulator has granted licenses to hundreds of crypto service providers, providing clarity that encourages institutional adoption chainalysis.com. Other African nations are watching closely – Nigeria, despite its strict bank ban on crypto, saw its Securities Commission float rules to allow tokenized equity and debt products, and Kenya is mulling a 3% crypto transaction tax (though it’s facing pushback). The Chainalysis 2025 Geography of Crypto report released Sept. 10 highlights that emerging markets are driving adoption: Latin America’s crypto adoption grew 63% year-over-year, and Sub-Saharan Africa’s by 52%, making them the #2 and #3 fastest-growing regions globally chainalysis.com chainalysis.com (Asia-Pacific is #1). This is spurring regulators in those regions to balance innovation with consumer protection, often looking to developed market frameworks for guidance.

NFT and Metaverse Developments

NFT Market Loses Steam After Summer Revival: The non-fungible token market, which showed flickers of a comeback in July and August, hit a cooling period in early September. Weekly NFT sales volume plunged to ~$92 million in the first week of September, the lowest level in nearly three months cointelegraph.com. For context, weekly volumes had consistently stayed above $115M throughout July and August, even reaching $170M in the week of July 21–27 – the third-highest week of 2025 cointelegraph.com. The recent slump saw unique NFT buyers drop below 200,000, a 58% collapse from the ~487,000 weekly buyers at the market’s last peak in mid-June cointelegraph.com. Average NFT sale prices also fell, from over $100 in August to around $72 in early September cointelegraph.com.

Analysts attribute the summer strength to real-world adoption and novelty projects rekindling interest. “Increasing NFT adoption” was cited as a driver by DappRadar’s Sara Gherghelas cointelegraph.com. July saw high-profile moves like Coinbase using a Pudgy Penguin as its Twitter avatar, sparking a 12% price bump in that collection coindesk.com coindesk.com. In August, Coinbase’s new Base layer-2 network drew attention with NFT mints like “Base, Introduced” (which briefly became one of the most traded NFTs). We also saw creative crossovers: in Ibiza, Spain, an electronic music club opened a permanent NFT art gallery showcasing works by top digital artists (Beeple, Mad Dog Jones, etc.), blending nightlife with crypto art cointelegraph.com. These kinds of cultural integrations helped NFT sentiment. But by September, the novelty appeared to wear off and “farmers” who had been trading for token rewards scaled back as incentives ended on certain platforms.

Certain blue-chip NFTs are still holding value or even rising: CryptoPunks floor prices jumped ~17% in one 24-hour spree in July as a whale spent $4.3M buying 140+ Punks coindesk.com. Bored Ape Yacht Club also saw a 20% floor price bounce over the summer coindesk.com. But many lesser collections have retraced. Total NFT market cap across major collections stands around $6–7 billion (CoinGecko data) coindesk.com coindesk.com, up from earlier in the year but still far from the frothy $20B+ of late 2021. NFT trading volumes (monthly) are roughly $400M – a shadow of 2021’s multi-billion peaks coindesk.com. Notably, Ethereum remains the dominant chain for NFTs, but others are growing: Solana NFTs had a moment with the launch of Mad Lads and Solana Monkey Business Gen3 in August, and Polygon continues to host mainstream brand drops (Starbucks Odyssey collectibles, Reddit Avatars, etc.). Blur, the NFT marketplace that rose to prominence with token incentives, announced a new lending product (“Blend”) which has seen usage but also contributed to market volatility and liquidation cascades affecting NFT prices.

Metaverse and Web3 Gaming: While pure NFT trading cooled, the broader metaverse and blockchain gaming sector had notable news. Meta (Facebook) is gearing up for its Connect 2025 conference on Sept. 17–18, where CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to unveil the next generation Quest mixed-reality headset and possibly preview the company’s AR glasses project xrtoday.com. There’s also buzz that Meta will showcase AI-driven NPCs for its Horizon Worlds metaverse platform xrtoday.com. This comes as Big Tech doubles down on metaverse investment despite a quieter year in the hype cycle – for instance, Apple’s Vision Pro headset is slated for early 2026 release, and Roblox just launched on PlayStation to expand its metaverse footprint. In Asia, Japan’s tech giant Hitachi announced on Sept. 10 a new VR/metaverse platform for training nuclear power plant staff nucnet.org – a niche but striking example of metaverse tech applied to industry. The platform will simulate plant environments in immersive 3D for safer, cost-effective training, leveraging both VR and AI.

Web3 Gaming and NFTs: On the blockchain gaming front, CyberKongz (a popular NFT/game project) launched its new $KONG token on Sept. 10, migrating from the old $BANANA token, to power its evolving metaverse ecosystem playtoearn.com. Major game publishers are cautiously exploring NFTs: Epic Games hosts a few NFT-integrated games on its store, and Sega announced (on Sept. 7) blockchain card game “Battle of Three Kingdoms” using its IP – though in a twist, Sega’s top exec also expressed skepticism on play-to-earn, showing the internal debate. Yuga Labs, creator of Bored Apes, continued building its Otherside metaverse; they opened a limited demo for holders recently and are rumored to drop a new game mode by year-end. Intriguingly, a traditional collectibles market milestone occurred that underscored differing views on digital collectibles: Investor Kevin O’Leary (of Shark Tank fame) co-bought a physical rare sports card for $13M and stated he prefers tangible collectibles, calling most NFTs a fad coindesk.com. The NFT community pushed back, noting that NFTs representing sports moments or digital art have their own unique value propositions.

Outlook for NFTs/Metaverse: The NFT market’s health may depend on finding more real utility and mainstream appeal. There are bright spots: Starbucks’ NFT loyalty program has quietly onboarded tens of thousands of users, Nike’s .Swoosh platform is launching digital sneaker collections tied to real-world rewards, and Ticketmaster is experimenting with NFT tickets for events. If crypto markets continue rising, some expect an “NFT winter” thaw as profits rotate into collectibles. However, signs of maturity are appearing: the fact that NFT trading volume fell only 10% in Q1 2025 while value dropped 24% implies more transactions at lower prices, perhaps indicating speculation is cooling but user engagement remains cointelegraph.com. On the metaverse side, enterprises are now driving innovation (as with Hitachi’s VR or Walmart’s new Roblox worlds launched Sept 12), taking up the torch from purely crypto-driven projects. The metaverse stock index is also rebounding – companies like NVIDIA and Roblox have seen stock gains in 2025 as investors bet on the sector’s long-term potential marketbeat.com. All told, while the crazed frenzy of 2021’s NFT boom is gone, the coming months – with big tech announcements and maybe a crypto bull revival – could set the stage for a “second wave” of more utilitarian NFTs and metaverse experiences, potentially bringing broader adoption at last.

Major Enterprise and Institutional Blockchain Moves

Figure’s Blockbuster IPO: The march of crypto firms to the public markets continues. On Sept. 10, Figure Technologies – a San Francisco-based blockchain fintech – raised $787.5 million in its IPO on the NYSE reuters.com. Figure, best known as a stablecoin issuer and lending platform for home equity loans, sold 31.5 million shares at $25 each reuters.com, above the initially expected range. The IPO values Figure at about $5.3 billion reuters.com. Notably, the deal’s size grew (they upsized from 26M shares to 31.5M due to high demand) reuters.com. Big Wall Street names underwrote the offering – Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, and BofA – a sign of how mainstream crypto finance companies have become. Reuters noted this comes amid “a string of regulatory wins under a pro-crypto White House” that have encouraged such listings reuters.com. Figure’s successful debut follows other 2025 IPOs like crypto exchange Bullish and mining firm Bitdeer, and it’s the largest U.S. crypto IPO since Coinbase (2021). Figure was founded in 2018 by Mike Cagney (former CEO of SoFi) and leverages a private blockchain for loan origination. According to its filings, Figure’s blockchain cuts home equity loan settlement to 10 days vs 42 days industry average reuters.com. With its fresh capital, Figure aims to expand into mortgage-backed tokenization and possibly revive its attempt at a U.S. banking charter. The stock (ticker: FIGR) began trading Sept. 11 and saw a modest first-day pop, reflecting cautious optimism.

Asia’s Bitcoin Treasuries – MetaPlanet & More: In Japan, a bold corporate bet on Bitcoin grabbed attention. MetaPlanet – a Tokyo-listed hospitality and real estate firm turned Bitcoin holding company – announced an international share offering to raise ¥212.9 billion (~$1.44 billion) specifically to buy more Bitcoin cointelegraph.com cointelegraph.com. The company will issue 385 million new shares at ¥553 (about a 10% discount to market price) cointelegraph.com. The funds will be deployed between September and October to purchase BTC and to boost MetaPlanet’s Bitcoin options trading business cointelegraph.com. MetaPlanet already holds 20,137 BTC on its balance sheet cointelegraph.com, making it one of the world’s largest public Bitcoin holders (rivaling U.S.-based MicroStrategy). This move, essentially diluting shareholders to buy crypto, caused MetaPlanet’s Tokyo-listed stock to slide ~39% over the past month cointelegraph.com – some investors are wary of the strategy’s risks. But MetaPlanet’s CEO argues it’s a hedge against Yen depreciation and negative interest rates in Japan cointelegraph.com. Indeed, Bloomberg recently reported the company’s “Bitcoin flywheel” was losing momentum as easy gains shrink cointelegraph.com, prompting the new fundraising. If successful, MetaPlanet could nearly double its BTC stash, vaulting it into the top echelon of “Bitcoin treasury” firms globally. Market reaction: On Sept. 10, after the announcement, MetaPlanet’s stock initially fell ~8% but then stabilized, as some in Japan hailed it as visionary while others likened it to speculative excess.

Across Asia, other companies are also stocking up on digital gold. Boyaa Interactive, a Hong Kong–listed social gaming firm, confirmed on Sept. 9 it will use 90% of proceeds from a HK$440M rights issue to buy Bitcoin mexc.com. Boyaa has been quietly accumulating BTC; it now holds 3,670 BTC (~$230M worth), up from 3,380 BTC in June ainvest.com. The new share sale (about $56M USD) will significantly boost that. Boyaa’s board said “cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin, are a key strategic resource for the Web3 industry” and that early investment will give it a competitive advantage mexc.com. This trend echoes Warren Buffett’s comment years ago about public companies holding Bitcoin: “If you don’t understand it, you might get left behind.” In South Korea, several large tech conglomerates (Samsung, LG) have also dabbled in crypto via investments in exchanges and blockchain startups, though not yet directly on balance sheet.

Wall Street and TradFi Embrace Tokenization: A major partnership was unveiled Sept. 10: Binance is teaming up with Franklin Templeton, one of the world’s largest asset managers (over $1.5 trillion AUM), on blockchain tokenization initiatives theblock.co. Specifically, Franklin Templeton – which already manages a tokenized money market fund on Stellar – will work with Binance to explore tokenizing real-world assets and making them accessible via Binance’s platform. This reflects a broader institutional drive into “on-chain finance”. Just a day earlier, London-based asset giant Abrdn announced it’s building a tokenized asset exchange in the UK. And Nasdaq is moving forward with custody services for crypto by year-end.

Additionally, Fidelity Digital Assets reported a significant uptick in interest from pension funds and investment advisors, as crypto’s strong 2025 performance (Bitcoin is up ~300% YTD) revives the institutional FOMO last seen in 2021. “We’re seeing 70% of institutional segments either invested or planning to invest in digital assets,” Fidelity’s Tom Jessop told an audience at the SALT conference (Sept. 11). Further bridging the gap, Cboe Global Markets announced it will launch 10-year Bitcoin and Ether futures with daily settlement and perpetual roll – essentially bringing the “perpetual swap” concept from offshore crypto venues into a regulated U.S. exchange boxmining.com. These “continuous futures” (set to start trading Nov. 10) are the first of their kind in the U.S. and could attract institutions that want long-term crypto exposure without handling tokens.

Africa’s First Bitcoin Corporation: A pioneering move is underway in South Africa. Altvest Capital, a Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed investment firm, revealed plans to raise $210 million to convert its treasury almost entirely to Bitcoin ecofinagency.com ecofinagency.com. If completed, this would make Altvest (to be rebranded “Africa Bitcoin Corp”) the first publicly traded company in Africa to adopt Bitcoin as a primary reserve asset ecofinagency.com. CEO Warren Wheatley’s rationale is reminiscent of MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor: he views BTC as a better long-term store of value than cash or gold, especially in emerging markets vulnerable to inflation ecofinagency.com. “By buying our shares [investors] get exposure [to Bitcoin] in a regulated way,” Wheatley said, noting many institutional investors like pension funds cannot directly hold crypto ecofinagency.com. Instead, they could hold equity in Altvest to gain indirect BTC exposure ecofinagency.com. Altvest’s bold bet comes as Chainalysis data shows Nigeria and South Africa among the leaders in crypto adoption (Nigeria ranks 6th globally) ecofinagency.com. The plan is not without skeptics: Altvest’s current market cap is only ~$3M ecofinagency.com, so raising $210M (70x its size) is a huge ask, and questions remain whether regulators or investors will green-light it. Still, it marks a “new stage” in African crypto adoption if it proceeds, potentially inspiring other firms on the continent ecofinagency.com.

Other Notable Enterprise Moves:

• Tech Billionaire moves: Larry Ellison (Oracle co-founder) briefly became the world’s richest person on Sept. 10 (net worth $393B) after Oracle’s stock surged on an AI partnership mexc.com mexc.com. While not directly crypto-related, Oracle has quietly explored blockchain for enterprise data management, and Ellison’s rise – dethroning Elon Musk – underscores the massive tech investments (AI, cloud) influencing digital asset infrastructure as well.
• Fintech M&A: Payments giant Stripe is rumored (per Sept. 11 reports) to be in talks to acquire a major crypto startup to enhance its crypto on-ramp offerings, following its partnership with Paradigm. Meanwhile, PayPal’s new stablecoin PYUSD saw modest uptake since its August launch; PayPal’s CFO on Sept. 10 said they are “patient” and working with regulators globally on using PYUSD for remittances.
• Enterprise Blockchain: On Sept. 10, Swift (the global bank messaging network) published results of its experiments with Chainlink and dozens of banks on using public blockchains for interbank communication. Early results were promising – multiple banks successfully moved tokenized assets across chains in a simulated environment, pointing toward future integration of blockchain in mainstream finance coincentral.com. Also, IBM and Maersk’s TradeLens blockchain shipping platform, which was shut down last year, found a second life as a Hong Kong-based consortium announced on Sept. 11 they’ve acquired the IP to relaunch it, aiming to streamline global trade using a more open governance model.

In sum, the past two days underscored that institutional and corporate adoption of blockchain is accelerating. From raising capital to invest in Bitcoin, to deploying blockchain for real assets, to launching new crypto financial products, major players around the globe are doubling down on crypto in ways unimaginable a few years ago. As Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong quipped this week, “2025 is shaping up to be the year crypto grows up on Wall Street.”

DeFi Ecosystem News

Stablecoin Battle on Hyperliquid: A fascinating drama is unfolding in DeFi, centered on Hyperliquid, a fast-growing decentralized exchange (DEX) with its own Layer-1 blockchain. Hyperliquid’s foundation announced it will introduce a native USDH stablecoin and, in a twist, invited external teams to propose who should issue it decrypt.co decrypt.co. This “governance by contest” approach has been likened to a reality show – Fortune quipped it’s a “‘Bachelor’-style frenzy” among crypto companies to win the role fortune.com. The reason for the scramble: Hyperliquid is DeFi’s hottest new exchange, with nearly $6 billion in stablecoins already deposited as collateral on its perpetual futures platform fortune.com. A Hyperliquid-first stablecoin could quickly gain significant usage.

By Sept. 11, at least three proposals were in play. Native Markets, a project backed by institutional trading firms, emerged as an early frontrunner after its team proposed a fully compliant USDH with fiat gateways and profit-sharing to Hyperliquid’s ecosystem fund decrypt.co decrypt.co. Community reaction in Hyperliquid’s Discord suggests Native Markets’ bid is popular – their post garnered the most positive reactions so far. Another proposal, rumored to involve Stripe (the payments company), raised eyebrows with claims of a head start; some community members called foul, questioning if insiders had an unfair advantage decrypt.co decrypt.co. A third candidate, the team behind an existing Hyperliquid-adjacent stablecoin called Hyperstable (ticker USH), protested the whole process – they said they were previously blocked from using the USDH ticker and that changing course now is “unfair… after the game has started” decrypt.co decrypt.co. Hyperliquid’s foundation responded that circumstances changed after the U.S. passed the GENIUS Act (imposing stablecoin rules), implying they want a fresh start with a compliant coin decrypt.co.

The governance vote runs for five days. Whichever team wins will get to issue USDH, presumably backed 1:1 by reserves and integrated deeply into Hyperliquid’s trading and lending markets. Observers say this could challenge the dominance of USDC and USDT on that platform. Currently about 7.5% of all USDC in circulation is used on Hyperliquid (locked as collateral) coincentral.com, so if traders trust USDH, they might swap some USDC out for the new coin. Bernstein’s analysts, however, believe USDC’s position is safe near-term – bootstrapping liquidity for a new stablecoin is “non-trivial, especially in high-stakes markets like futures,” they noted coincentral.com coincentral.com. Regardless, the outcome will be a bellwether for decentralized stablecoin models in a post-regulation era, and could also influence how other DeFi platforms (like Curve or Aave) pursue their own stablecoins.

DeFi Total Value Locked (TVL) Milestones: The sector’s recovery continues. Solana’s DeFi TVL hit an all-time high of ~$12.2 billion around Sept. 9 tekedia.com, officially surpassing its pre-2022 peak. This is a remarkable turnaround for Solana, which suffered a steep TVL decline after FTX’s collapse last year. The surge is attributed to “rising institutional interest” (per Cryptoslate) and new success of Solana-native protocols cryptoslate.com cryptoslate.com. For instance, Solana’s ETH staking derivative Marinade Finance grew sharply, and Jito’s liquid staking token gained traction after Coinbase Cloud joined as a validator. Even MemeFi on Solana is thriving – a token called BONK created buzz in Q1, and more recently Solana’s Pump&Dump NFT and token experiment (yes, that’s the name) drew attention to Solana’s vibrant, if chaotic, community. Outside Solana, Liquid staking protocols across chains have swelled with Ethereum’s staking uptick; Lido now secures over $15B in assets, and Coinbase’s cbETH is also expanding – these contribute to TVL on multiple chains.

New Protocol Launches and Upgrades: Sept. 10 saw the official token launch of Linea (LINEA), ConsenSys’s Ethereum Layer-2 network boxmining.com. Linea had a high-profile testnet with over 5 million users, and its mainnet went live in August without a token – until now. The $LINEA token’s fully diluted valuation (FDV) is estimated around $300M, moderate for a Layer-2, possibly leaving room for upside if adoption grows. Early trading was volatile (it briefly spiked then settled as airdrop recipients took profits). Linea’s launch highlights the continuing “rollup boom” of 2025: other upcoming airdrops like zkSync’s token and StarkNet’s STRK are hotly anticipated, and we’ve seen tokens for Scroll and Base rumored as well. Meanwhile, Cardano implemented its Mithril upgrade on Sept. 11 to improve node sync speed (benefiting DeFi users on Cardano), and MakerDAO inching forward on its “Endgame” plan (it deployed new tokens and farming for its Spark protocol to boost DAI usage).

DeFi Hacks and Security Responses: On the security front – aside from the SwissBorg incident detailed in the Hacks section – there were some notable actions. Yield protocol (a lending project) announced an orderly shutdown, allowing users to withdraw all funds after concluding that the regulatory environment and lack of growth made its operations untenable. This wasn’t a hack, but a voluntary wind-down, reflecting how U.S. DeFi teams are reacting to legal uncertainties. Elsewhere, Curve Finance, which suffered a $70M hack in July, finally recovered ~80% of stolen funds by early September and is moving to reimburse affected users, restoring confidence in one of DeFi’s cornerstone platforms. And in a proactive move, Kiln.fi, a staking service, withdrew its validators from Ethereum after the SwissBorg partner API fiasco theblock.co, citing a need to reevaluate counterparty risk – showing how one breach’s ripple effects can lead others to bolster their safety measures.

Global DeFi Regulation Notes: Regulators haven’t forgotten DeFi. The U.S. Senate’s new framework explicitly calls for assessing AML controls in DeFi cryptoslate.com cryptoslate.com. The U.K.’s FCA said on Sept. 11 it’s monitoring “DeFi lending pools and DAO governance” closely as it drafts new crypto rules. And Thailand enacted stricter rules for DeFi projects after some rug-pulls hit retail users. Paradoxically, even as some jurisdictions crack down, places like Hong Kong are encouraging “regulated DeFi” – Hong Kong’s securities regulator is considering a pilot for licensed firms to offer tokenized bonds and automated market maker (AMM) liquidity under oversight.

In summary, the DeFi ecosystem remains dynamic and resilient. TVLs are climbing back, innovative stablecoin and cross-chain initiatives are underway, and the space is professionalizing (with more institutional players and serious governance) even as it faces regulatory headwinds. “DeFi’s not going away – it’s evolving,” said one industry expert, “The next phase will integrate more with real-world finance while preserving what makes DeFi unique.” Expect further news as stablecoin battles play out, Layer-2s distribute tokens, and traditional finance experiments ever more with decentralized models.

Notable Hacks, Scams, or Security Incidents

$41M SwissBorg Exploit – API Compromise: The most significant security incident of the week was the hack of SwissBorg’s yield wallet on Sept. 8 (disclosed Sept. 9). SwissBorg, a Swiss-based crypto exchange and wealth app, reported that an attacker drained about 192,600 SOL (Solana) – worth $41.5 million – from an external wallet used for its “SOL Earn” yield program coindesk.com coindesk.com. Crucially, SwissBorg clarified this was not a breach of their platform’s core systems or smart contracts; instead, the exploit occurred due to a compromised API key from a third-party partner coindesk.com. The partner (unnamed, but likely a custodial or DeFi service integrated with SwissBorg) had an API that was targeted, allowing the thief to authorize the transfer of funds from the SOL staking wallet.

SwissBorg acted swiftly upon discovery: they paused all SOL Earn withdrawals, isolated the affected wallet, and announced a full recovery plan to ensure users don’t lose funds coindesk.com coindesk.com. The stolen amount represented roughly 2% of SwissBorg’s total assets under management and impacted fewer than 1% of its users coindesk.com coindesk.com. The company stated it will cover any shortfall from its balance sheet and insurance, effectively making customers whole coindesk.com coindesk.com. As of Sept. 11, SwissBorg is working with white-hat hackers, blockchain analytics firms, and law enforcement to trace the stolen SOL coindesk.com. Some funds have reportedly been tracked moving into mixers; however, Solana’s transparency and the community’s vigilance mean there’s a chance of freezing assets if they hit exchanges. This case underscores the supply-chain risk in crypto services – even if a platform is secure, a breach in an integrated partner can have cascading effects.

The SwissBorg incident arrives amid a surge in crypto hacking this year. Security researchers note that over $2.17 billion in crypto has been stolen in 2025 through early September coindesk.com, already exceeding 2024’s total. One major contributor was the record-breaking $1.5 billion hack of Bybit in February (the largest crypto heist ever) reuters.com reuters.com. While the Bybit thieves (suspected to be North Korea’s Lazarus Group) have laundered a portion through mixers, about half of that haul remains in known wallets – perhaps too large to move easily without detection reuters.com. U.S. authorities have stepped up efforts: the FBI and DOJ have been seizing stolen funds where possible (e.g., they moved last week to forfeit $5.2M from a hacker involved in SIM-swap thefts scworld.com). The FBI also issued a fresh warning on Sept. 11 about North Korean hackers targeting DeFi, after identifying Pyongyang-linked addresses tied to recent hacks of CoinEx and Stake.com.

Other Noteworthy Incidents:

• Ethereum Vanity Address Exploit: A vulnerability in certain vanity address generation tools (used to create personalized crypto addresses) led to multiple hacks over the past days. One victim lost ~$500K in ETH on Sept. 10 when their vanity address was brute-forced by attackers exploiting a weakness in the generator’s random number algorithm. Developers are urging users to avoid such tools and stick to well-audited methods for key generation.
• NPM Package Malware – Crypto Stealers: A Forbes report on Sept. 10 highlighted a supply-chain attack on the NPM software registry (widely used in web development) forbes.com. Attackers published malicious updates to 18 popular JavaScript packages that, if installed, would steal crypto wallet data from browsers krebsonsecurity.com. The malware intercepts web sessions to inject code aiming at MetaMask or other wallet extensions krebsonsecurity.com. This kind of attack could silently affect thousands of apps and users. GitHub and NPM security teams removed the tainted packages and notified projects, but the incident underscores the need for vigilance even in non-crypto software dependencies. Krebs on Security noted the sophistication: the malicious code only activates under specific conditions (e.g., when it detects a crypto-related domain), making it harder to spot krebsonsecurity.com.
• Bybit $1.4B Hack Aftermath: Though the Bybit hack occurred in February, Reuters on Sept. 10 published an in-depth piece recounting the biggest crypto hacks in history in light of Bybit’s unprecedented theft reuters.com reuters.com. It serves as a stark reminder: from Mt. Gox (2014’s $480M hack) to Poly Network (2021’s $610M hack) to Ronin/Axie Infinity (2022’s $540M hack), the industry has endured major blows reuters.com reuters.com. Bybit’s $1.5B tops them all – and researchers at Elliptic called it “almost certainly the single largest known theft of any kind ever” (crypto or otherwise) reuters.com. The roundup is a cautionary tale and is likely prompting some exchanges to bolster their cold wallet procedures (Bybit’s was a “cold” wallet for ether that still got compromised reuters.com).
• Social Engineering Scams: Crypto Twitter saw a resurgence of impersonation scams around Sept. 10–11. Notably, a fake account pretending to be Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin “announced” a token giveaway – an old trick – and managed to snag a few ETH from unwary users before being shut down. Likewise, prominent NFT figures reported phishing attempts via malicious Google Docs links shared in Discord groups. Community admins are on high alert, reminding users never to click unsolicited links and to use hardware wallets for protection.

Responses and Security Initiatives: The wave of exploits is galvanizing industry action. White Hat hackers have been extra active; on Sept. 10 a white hat returned ~$600K stolen from Zunami Protocol, taking only a 10% bounty. Immunefi, a bug bounty platform, reported that August had a record $35M in bounties paid out, suggesting many projects are preemptively fixing vulnerabilities disclosed by ethical hackers. Regulators too are focusing on crypto crime: the White House is reportedly preparing an executive order to improve open-source software security (partly in response to incidents like the NPM hack) and to extend AML rules to DeFi to deter illicit use.

For everyday users and companies, the lesson from this week is clear: operational security is paramount. As SwissBorg’s case showed, even indirect integration points (APIs, third-party providers) need rigorous safeguards and monitoring. Multi-signature wallets, limits on API permissions, real-time anomaly detection, and comprehensive insurance are no longer optional – they’re becoming standard best practices in crypto finance.

In conclusion, while the crypto world celebrated price highs and innovation this week, it also grappled with the enduring challenge of security. The community seems more determined than ever to address it: as one SwissBorg executive put it, “We’ll emerge from this breach stronger, with even better security – turning a painful lesson into an industry-leading standard.”

Sources: The information in this report is drawn from up-to-date crypto news outlets and official statements between Sept. 10–11, 2025. Key references include Reuters reuters.com reuters.com, CoinDesk coindesk.com coindesk.com, Cointelegraph cointelegraph.com boxmining.com, CryptoSlate cryptoslate.com cryptoslate.com, and other reputable sources that reported on these developments in real time. All facts and quotations are linked to their original sources for verification.