After a contentious community voting process, Native Markets has secured the USDH ticker for Hyperliquid's US dollar-pegged stablecoin. The rollout will begin with a testing phase featuring capped transactions, followed by the opening of the USDH/USDC spot order book and the removal of transaction caps. The selection process has drawn criticism from industry executives who alleged a predetermined outcome favoring Native Markets, suggesting controversy around what was presented as an open competitive process among multiple stablecoin issuers, including established players like Paxos, BitGo, and Ethena.
Tether will launch USAT, a U.S.-compliant stablecoin issued through Anchorage Digital and backed by Cantor Fitzgerald, marking its first regulated entry into the American market. Designed as a “hedge-and-expand” strategy, USAT provides a compliance-first option for banks, fintechs, and corporates under the GENIUS Act, while USDT continues to serve offshore, permissionless markets. The move directly challenges Circle's USDC by eroding its positioning as the regulated dollar token of choice, raising the stakes in the ongoing battle for distribution and integrations.
2025.09.15·links.tldrnewsletter.com·3 min read·TLDR Crypto The Ethereum Foundation's Privacy & Scaling Explorations team has rebranded to Privacy Stewards of Ethereum (PSE), releasing a roadmap for building full end-to-end privacy on Ethereum. The plan focuses on private writes (cheap, seamless private transactions), private reads (blockchain access without exposing user identity or intent), and private proving (fast, accessible zero-knowledge proofs).
2025.09.15·links.tldrnewsletter.com·3 min read·TLDR Crypto Prediction markets break down into five key design dimensions, revealing the complex tradeoffs platforms make when balancing decentralization, efficiency, and user experience. This typology covers outcome resolution methods (oracle-based, like Polymarket vs human-reviewed, like Kalshi vs automated feeds), liquidity models (AMMs used by XO Market vs order books used by evolved Polymarket vs hybrid approaches by Kalshi), event creation mechanisms (platform-curated vs user-generated vs community-vetted), market types (binary vs multi-outcome vs scalar markets like Trepa's precision-based approach), and underlying infrastructure (off-chain vs onchain vs hybrid). Analysis reveals that successful prediction markets must solve the fundamental liquidity problem while making strategic choices about centralization versus decentralization, with platforms like Kalshi prioritizing regulatory compliance and institutional liquidity, while fully onchain protocols like Augur emphasize censorship resistance and trustlessness. There is no single "best" prediction market design, as the optimal approach depends entirely on target audience, use case, and tolerance for trade-offs, with innovation continuing across multiple dimensions as the ecosystem matures.
Coinbase Institutional's Weekly Market Commentary anticipates a 25 basis point Federal Reserve rate cut on September 17, driven by weakening labor and housing markets, though persistent core services and shelter costs make a more aggressive 50 basis point cut unlikely despite August's 0.4% month-over-month CPI increase. Digital Asset Tokens (DATs) have entered a "Player versus Player" phase with market Net Asset Values compressing toward 1 and trading volumes cooling, though NAV and supply share continue rising, indicating sustained institutional interest despite reduced speculative premiums. There is intense competition for Hyperliquid's USDH stablecoin partnership, with issuers proposing to share 95-100% of reserve yields, potentially redirecting $200-220 million annually and enhancing HYPE token value through buybacks and burns, with a final vote scheduled for September 14.
2025.09.15·links.tldrnewsletter.com·9 min read·TLDR Crypto Fixed yield products represent DeFi's institutional adoption strategy by offering predictable cash flows that traditional finance already understands, with Ethereum-based fixed yields delivering 8-15% APY compared to T-Bills' 3-5% returns across a $33.2 trillion market. Pendle's yield trading mechanism splits yield-bearing assets into yield tokens (YT) and principal tokens (PT), mirroring the familiar bond structure of separating coupons from principal while leveraging code enforcement and onchain settlement rather than relying on distressed issuers or opaque IOUs. The yield trading market has scaled to over $10 billion in TVL with $100 million in daily volume, with Pendle settling more than $54 billion in fixed yield derivatives across ETH derivatives, stablecoins, and real-world assets. Institutional demand for stable, predictable onchain yield is expected to grow following the GENIUS Act passage and corporate exploration of stablecoins by companies like Walmart and Amazon, positioning fixed yield as the anchor for onchain finance, similar to how Treasuries anchor traditional finance.
Stablecoins are transforming remittances by letting senders transfer USD directly, leaving recipients to decide when (or if) to convert into local currency. This shift offers greater flexibility, stability, and utility while moving FX revenues downstream from traditional remittance firms to wallets and neobanks. In markets like Argentina, businesses already hold stablecoin treasuries, signaling where consumer adoption is headed.
Astrology, a new mini app on Base, lets users mint zodiac-themed art and receive personalized AI-powered daily horoscopes.
In tracking crypto market cycles, there are four phases of capital rotation.
Average transaction fees on major chains like Ethereum (~$0.50), Bitcoin (~$1.40), and Solana (near $0) have dropped to levels where they no longer block mainstream use.
Solana's stablecoin TVL has reached a new all-time high of $13.3 billion, according to data from Artemis.
Bitcoin steadied near $114K after August CPI data matched expectations, reinforcing odds of a 25 bps Fed rate cut next week. Headline CPI rose 2.9% YoY, while core held at 3.1%, aligning with forecasts and supporting a dovish policy pivot. Analysts say BTC remains bullish if it can close above $113K-$113.5K, with ETF inflows strengthening and markets now pricing in up to three rate cuts before Q1 2026.
2025.09.12·links.tldrnewsletter.com·3 min read·TLDR Crypto Multicoin Capital, Jump Crypto, and Galaxy led a $1.65 billion investment into Forward Industries (FORD) to create the world's leading Solana treasury company. Kyle Samani was appointed as Chairman. Each sponsor committed over $100 million and attracted participation from major firms, including Bitwise, Ribbit Capital, and crypto angels. The strategy adapts MicroStrategy's Bitcoin DAT model to Solana, aiming to increase "SOL per share" through active treasury management, including DeFi participation, acquiring discounted SOL through sponsor networks, and arbitraging cost of capital differences between traditional banking and DeFi protocols. Samani argues SOL offers superior properties for a DAT compared to Bitcoin or Ethereum, citing native staking yields of approximately 8.05% (including 1.86% real yield from MEV and economic activity) versus Ethereum's 3.21% total yield with only 0.41% real yield, while Bitcoin generates zero real yield.
Kraken has expanded access to perpetual futures (“perps”) for eligible retail traders in select regions, positioning the product as a simplified way for “everyday investors” to speculate on crypto prices or manage risk. First introduced by BitMEX in 2016, perps now account for the majority of derivatives activity, with Hyperliquid leading volumes. The launch comes as Kraken prepares for a potential 2026 IPO, rolling out perps with built-in protections like stop-loss functions and collateral in USD balances, alongside broader product expansion into tokenized stocks and an in-house Ethereum L2 called INK.
2025.09.12·links.tldrnewsletter.com·3 min read·TLDR Crypto Giza's Pulse is the first autonomous agent that optimizes Pendle Principal Token (PT) portfolios. The non-custodial agent automatically handles portfolio construction across PT markets, real-time rebalancing to higher yields, slippage forecasting, and maturity management, including rollovers and exits, eliminating the manual tracking and expiry anxiety associated with fixed yield strategies. Built in partnership with Pendle, Pulse represents an evolution toward "Swarm Finance" where protocols offer rewards to attract agent liquidity, agents capture boosted yields automatically, and fees flow to token buybacks, creating a competitive ecosystem for automated capital allocation. The platform plans to expand to additional chains and assets.
Coinbase's institutional crypto research report maintains a bullish outlook for early Q4 2025, driven by resilient liquidity, favorable macroeconomic conditions, and supportive regulatory dynamics, with Bitcoin positioned for outperformance as Federal Reserve rate cuts are expected in September and October. Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs) have evolved from early adoption into a competitive "player-versus-player" phase, with public DATs now holding over 1M BTC ($110B) and 4.9M ETH ($21.3B), though early mover premiums have dissipated as the market matures. The report conducts extensive statistical analysis debunking crypto seasonality myths, particularly the "September effect," using multiple methodologies, including Wilson confidence intervals, logistic regression, and out-of-sample predictions, to demonstrate that monthly calendar patterns are not statistically significant predictors of Bitcoin returns. Despite Bitcoin's historical weakness in six consecutive Septembers from 2017 to 2022, assuming each month has roughly the same odds as the long-term average outperforms all calendar-based trading approaches.
2025.09.12·links.tldrnewsletter.com·12 min read·TLDR Crypto There are nine different proposals for Hyperliquid's USDH stablecoin partnership, each offering distinct approaches to backing, yield allocation, and ecosystem integration. The proposals showcase varying risk profiles, from conservative T-Bills and cash backing to more complex structures like Ethena's delta-neutral strategies and Sky's diversified RWA portfolio, with most committing significant portions of yield revenue to the Hyperliquid ecosystem. Regulatory approaches differ substantially, with established players leveraging existing GENIUS Act compliance while newer entrants like Native Markets plan to use Stripe's Bridge infrastructure for regulatory coverage. The USDH proposal battle is under controversy for seemingly favoring Native Markets from the beginning and being yet another instance of decentralization theatre.
Prediction markets could solve the modern "Information Problem" - the shift from centralized, slow information flows to decentralized, instant but low-quality information that makes distinguishing truth from noise increasingly difficult. AI will exponentially worsen this crisis through indistinguishable deepfakes and personalized manipulation tools that could be weaponized by malicious actors to turn citizens against each other and enable authoritarian control. Prediction markets offer a solution by applying capitalism's price mechanism to information discovery, where real financial stakes incentivize accuracy and collective intelligence outperforms bias and manipulation, as demonstrated by Polymarket's superior accuracy in calling the 2024 US Presidential election before traditional media outlets. The vision extends beyond speculation to prediction markets becoming critical infrastructure for truth discovery, enabling better decision-making for individuals and corporations, rapid response to misinformation campaigns, and potentially revitalizing journalism through trading desks that profit from accuracy.
Crypto companies must adapt rather than copy web2 marketing playbooks, with different business models requiring distinct approaches: L1/L2s focus on Monthly Active Addresses and developer ecosystem growth, protocols track users/volume/TVL, while wallets and games use more traditional DAU and ARPU metrics. Core web2 metrics like Customer Acquisition Cost, Lifetime Value, and LTV:CAC ratios require crypto-specific adaptations to account for wallet-based customers, token incentives, and onchain value creation, while the marketing funnel stages present unique challenges, including restricted advertising access, complex attribution tracking between web2 and onchain actions, and distinguishing organic growth from airdrop farming. Crypto has unique advantages like onchain data transparency and instant verifiable rewards, but over-relying on incentivized metrics may mask a lack of product-market fit.
Upexi (UPXI) and BIT Mining (BTCM) both expanded their Solana treasuries, with Upexi adding 18,000 SOL for a total of 2M+ tokens ($456M) and BIT Mining nearly doubling to 44,000 SOL ($9.9M).
2025.09.12·links.tldrnewsletter.com·3 min read·TLDR Crypto Daily transactions on Starknet have spiked ~300% over the past month, according to Token Terminal data.
Aave has seen impressive growth in revenue over the past three years, with 2025 about to flip 2024's $90 million marker.
The x402 protocol, deployed on Solana, allows agents to use the network for pay-per-use services and agent-to-agent interactions.
The S&P 500 committee's decision to reject Strategy's inclusion despite meeting criteria is a “blow to crypto treasuries,” signaling reluctance to add firms that function as bitcoin funds. The move limits Strategy's ability to channel bitcoin exposure into major benchmarks, raising the risk that other index providers could also reconsider. Analysts warned that fatigue is growing around treasury-focused firms, with capital potentially shifting instead toward exchanges and miners with operating businesses.
2025.09.11·links.tldrnewsletter.com·2 min read·TLDR Crypto SEC Chair Paul Atkins said entrepreneurs and investors should be able to raise capital onchain “without endless legal uncertainty,” reaffirming that most crypto tokens are not securities. He outlined “Project Crypto,” aimed at modernizing securities rules to enable onchain trading, lending, and staking under a unified framework. Atkins criticized the prior administration for driving innovation offshore and said the new SEC approach is to provide the “minimum effective dose” of regulation to protect investors while fostering growth.
2025.09.11·links.tldrnewsletter.com·2 min read·TLDR Crypto Coinbase's x402 is an open payments standard that allows any online service to be monetized and paid for via crypto-based microtransactions. The x402 bazaar enables dynamic, self-improving agents that can browse before they pay, which unlocks complex workflows that previously required developers to directly sign up and pre-pay for services like LLM inference, financial analysis, and web scraping.
Upbit, the largest South Korean crypto exchange, has launched its Giwa layer 2 on testnet. The layer 2 is built on the OP stack and aims for one-second block times and a friendly user experience. Details about the mainnet launch, ecosystem partners, and explicit purpose of the chain remain unclear, but this is the latest in a flurry of L2 announcements from major entities like Sony and Robinhood.
Crypto markets require clear regulatory frameworks to achieve broad adoption, countering both the "regulatory free-for-all" approach favored by some crypto advocates and the current hostile regulatory environment. There are four essential objectives for crypto regulation: predictability and stability, protection of property rights, transparency and information clarity, and fair competition. The SEC's approach of pursuing enforcement actions without first establishing clear legal standards creates uncertainty that stifles innovation while allowing bad actors to operate in regulatory grey zones. Crypto-specific regulation should recognize blockchain technology as both a financial system and a web infrastructure platform, requiring specialized frameworks like token taxonomy, decentralization standards, and guidelines that enable legitimate businesses to operate without fear of arbitrary prosecution.
Boros is a new Pendle-built platform that enables direct trading of funding rates rather than underlying assets or perpetual contracts. The strategy, called "Optimistic Funding Rate Trading," involves longing rates when Binance's real-time funding rate rises above the market's implied rate and shorting when it falls below, attempting to capture both settlement gains and price movements from rate shifts. The approach relies on timing market sentiment cycles in funding rates, with traders earning the spread between actual funding settlements and their locked-in fixed rate, plus potential profits from correctly anticipating rate direction changes. This is high-risk in nature, and there is potential for significant losses from mistimed entries or misjudged market shifts.
A developer building a real-time fitness aggregator demonstrates why blockchains are fundamentally unsuitable for most applications by detailing how a simple Python app becomes impossible to implement onchain. The app easily handles continuous data streams, event-driven updates, external API calls, real-time processing, and hot deployments using traditional web infrastructure, but each capability is blocked by blockchain constraints like determinism requirements, oracle dependencies, gas costs, and sandboxed execution environments. Blockchain applications remain toy-like because they're designed around extreme blockchain limitations rather than actual user needs. A new approach is needed to bridge the gap between computational requirements and verifiable guarantees.
Bastion, a regulated stablecoin issuer with a New York trust charter and broad MTL coverage, has submitted its proposal to issue Hyperliquid's native USDH. Unlike other contenders, Bastion doesn't run a competing chain or stablecoin, positioning itself as a neutral infrastructure partner with strong U.S. regulatory compliance. The proposal calls for USDH to be a full-stack stablecoin with segregated, bankruptcy-remote reserves, 95% of yield reinvested into Hyperliquid growth, and global on/off-ramp access via partners like Rain, LayerZero, and Securitize. Bastion argues USDH should serve as the base stablecoin for the ecosystem, with others built on top of it rather than as wrappers.
Pendle has seen an exponential growth in TVL, with a new record high of $11.3 billion, up 250% since May.
Polygon Labs confirmed it successfully deployed a hard fork to fix a finality bug on its PoS chain that caused 10-15 minute delays in validator synchronization and transaction confirmations.
2025.09.11·links.tldrnewsletter.com·2 min read·TLDR Crypto Syndicate is launching its $SYND token on Aerodrome using the platform's community-first model, where 1% of supply is deposited as voting incentives before liquidity exists.
Coinbase One members have already earned $1M+ in onchain rewards since the program launched.
2025.09.11·links.tldrnewsletter.com·3 min read·TLDR Crypto Nasdaq has filed a proposal with the SEC seeking permission to offer tokenized stock trading alongside traditional equity trading, allowing customers to choose between legacy methods and onchain transactions with equal priority treatment. The tokenized stocks would clear and settle through the existing Depository Trust Company infrastructure, with token holders receiving full shareholder rights, including voting and liquidation privileges. This move follows similar tokenization efforts by Robinhood in Europe and various crypto exchanges. The proposal aligns with SEC Chairman Paul Atkins' stated priority of clearing a path for tokenized securities markets. The regulator compares the transition to the historical shift from analog to digital audio formats.
SharpLink Gaming (SBET) has begun executing its $1.5 billion share repurchase plan, buying back 939,000 shares at an average $15.98. With 837,000 ETH ($3.6B) staked and no debt, the company says repurchases are “immediately accretive” while shares trade below NAV, boosting ETH per share for remaining holders. Staking income of $67M–$151M annually plus cash reserves will also help fund additional buybacks as SharpLink prioritizes capital allocation over equity issuance.
2025.09.10·links.tldrnewsletter.com·2 min read·TLDR Crypto Aerodrome is rethinking token launches by eliminating the usual pre-sale, market maker payments, and CEX lobbying. Instead, projects seed liquidity directly on Aerodrome, incentivize emissions via veAERO votes, and let community liquidity providers and traders handle price discovery from day one. With Coinbase's new DEX integration, this model now connects transparent, community-driven launches to millions of retail users, avoiding the extractive dynamics of traditional launches.
Coinbase has acquihired the founders of Sensible, a DeFi-focused startup, to accelerate its onchain consumer strategy. The new team will help simplify access to DeFi and expand consumer use cases, supporting Coinbase's push to become an “everything exchange” where users can trade, stake, borrow, and spend seamlessly. Coinbase framed the move as part of its broader mission to make onchain finance the default for everyday money management.
2025.09.10·links.tldrnewsletter.com·2 min read·TLDR Crypto Multiple stablecoin issuers are competing to partner with Hyperliquid for its upcoming USDH stablecoin, with GENIUS Act compliance and revenue sharing as baseline requirements, but the real contest centers on who can present the most credible vision for growing USDH beyond margin trading on HyperCore. While established issuers offer regulatory support and distribution, USDH would likely never be their top priority, whereas native teams like Native Markets (using Stripe's Bridge for compliance) could offer maximum ecosystem alignment despite higher execution risk. The GENIUS Act has effectively commoditized regulated stablecoins, shifting the competitive advantage from regulatory compliance to demonstrated long-term commitment and strategic alignment with the Hyperliquid ecosystem.
Stablecoins inadvertently support US monetary policy by creating global dollar demand through cryptocurrency trading, enabling the government to fund massive deficits through money printing. This printed capital flows primarily into AI development, which is viewed as critical for maintaining US economic dominance in competition with China. Investments should focus on crypto infrastructure ("shovels"), including stable blockchain networks, exchanges, and major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, rather than speculative tokens that primarily serve as liquidity-churning mechanisms. AI-driven media will amplify this cycle by encouraging more retail participation in onchain trading, ultimately reinforcing dollar demand through stablecoin usage.
MEV evolved from an initial design flaw that allowed transaction ordering to affect blockchain state into a systematized value extraction mechanism. Over $1.1 billion has been siphoned from Ethereum users since the Merge through block builders and searchers. Rather than solving the problem, Layer 2 rollups created new centralized extraction points through sequencer control, with networks like Base generating an estimated $50-200 million annually and major L2s capturing tens of millions from transaction ordering privileges. The economic incentives have created a permanent "invisible VAT" on DeFi interactions, where centralized sequencers have no motivation to decentralize due to the massive revenue streams from controlling transaction flow. This represents the entrenchment of value extraction at the infrastructure layer, where owning transaction ordering mechanisms has become a highly profitable rent-seeking business model with little accountability or competition.
Meta's stablecoin project came much closer to regulatory approval than commonly believed. The Swiss regulator FINMA was ready to approve Meta's license before political intervention killed the project. Stripe's Tempo faces the same fundamental flaw that doomed Libra: corporate chains with centralized control will inevitably break promises about neutrality and permissionlessness due to economic incentives to favor their own products over competitors. The core tension is between crypto's original vision of truly open, permissionless networks versus the pragmatic appeal of "slick, branded, proprietary chains" controlled by fintech giants. The success of corporate blockchain projects like Tempo would represent the failure of crypto as a revolution, simply replacing traditional financial monarchies with new centralized empires controlled by tech companies, potentially splitting along geopolitical lines rather than creating a unified global infrastructure.
Over the past five years, Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) has outperformed BTC by 3x.
Ant Digital Technologies, the blockchain arm of Ant Group, plans to put over $8.4 billion in energy assets onchain.
2025.09.10·links.tldrnewsletter.com·2 min read·TLDR Crypto Ripple is expanding in Spain via a new custody agreement with banking giant BBVA, which just rolled out retail crypto trading and custody for BTC and ETH.
2025.09.10·links.tldrnewsletter.com·2 min read·TLDR Crypto Tempo, Stripe's new L1, is a Trojan horse for the global financial system.
Fidelity has quietly launched the Fidelity Digital Interest Token (FDIT) on Ethereum, a tokenized version of its Treasury money market fund that has already accumulated over $200 million in assets since beginning operations in August. The move puts Fidelity in direct competition with BlackRock's BUIDL fund, which dominates the tokenized Treasury market with over $2 billion in assets under management, as part of a broader $7 billion tokenized Treasury ecosystem that includes offerings from Franklin Templeton and WisdomTree. Despite currently having only two holders, FDIT marks another major traditional finance player adopting blockchain infrastructure to improve market efficiency, reduce settlement times, and cut costs. McKinsey analysts project that tokenized securities could reach $2 trillion in market value by the end of the decade.
The Rex-Osprey DOGE ETF ($DOJE) is expected to launch this week, becoming the first U.S. exchange-traded fund to provide direct exposure to Dogecoin's price movements. The ETF is backed by REX Shares and Osprey Funds, the same firms behind the Solana staking ETF that launched earlier this year, and represents the latest expansion of crypto ETF offerings following the approval of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum products in 2024. DOGE has rallied 7% in the past 24 hours and 15% over the week in anticipation of the launch, outperforming major cryptocurrencies as market participants expect increased volatility and potential speculative inflows. The launch comes amid a broader race among issuers to create ETF products tied to alternative cryptocurrencies, with Canary Capital also recently filing for a TRUMP coin ETF in late August.
Circle announced that native USDC and its upgraded Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP V2) will soon be live on Hyperliquid's HyperEVM. This integration enables direct USDC deposits into HyperCore, institutional-grade on/offramps via Circle Mint, and seamless use across HyperEVM apps. With CCTP V2, developers can build efficient crosschain apps for swaps, treasury rebalancing, and onboarding, positioning USDC as a key settlement asset for Hyperliquid's trading and DeFi ecosystem.