Stablecoin giants like USDT and USDC continue to strengthen their hold on the market, expanding their dominance and market share.
However, a new contender is making waves – PayPal’s PYUSD. While still relatively smaller, this emerging stablecoin is gaining momentum, signaling a potential shift, as per recent data.
Stablecoin Power Shift?
According to a report by the research team of asset manager Hashdex, stablecoins’ market dominance grew by 3% in the third quarter of 2024. Both USDT and USDC, the leading fiat-backed dollar stablecoins, saw their market shares increase by 1% and 5%, respectively.
PayPal’s PYUSD, though still smaller than USDT and USDC, experienced a remarkable 57% rise in dominance during the same period.
PayPal became the first financial technology

The surge in meme coins significantly contributed to Tron’s record revenue of $151.2 million in Q3 2024.
According to a report by Messari, the latest figure marks a 29% increase from the previous quarter. This growth can be largely attributed to the launch of SunPump, a platform designed specifically for launching meme coins.
Activity on SunPump started to surge on August 16 and escalated dramatically in the following two weeks. Between August 16 and August 31, Messari estimated that more than 270.3 million TRX (approximately $42 million) was burned, representing nearly 27% of Tron’s revenue for Q3. Notably, on August 21, the amount of TRX burned reached 34.7 million, which marked the highest daily total in Tron’s history.
The heightened activity surrounding meme coins not

With just over 20 days until the US presidential election, the race is heading into its decisive phase, and the stakes are high for the crypto industry.
Over the past few days, prediction markets have flipped, placing higher odds on Republican and pro-crypto advocate Donald Trump securing a win compared to his Democratic competitor, Vice President Kamala Harris.
This political shift to Republicans has contributed to significant inflows of digital assets over the past week.
Political Climate Fuels Inflow Ahead of US Elections
According to the latest edition of CoinShares’ “Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly Report,” investors funneled $407 million into digital asset products, seemingly prioritizing the US political climate, particularly the upcoming elections, over monetary

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin sold 651.6 ETH worth of meme coins, which is approximately $1.62 million, in line with his commitment to charitable donations.
The tokens sold include significant amounts such as 10 billion MOODENG for 395.95 ETH ($982K), 200K MSTR for 93.23 ETH ($231K), and 500 million EBULL for 73.79 ETH ($183K), as per Spot On Chain.
Other sales included meme coins such as POPCAT, FWOG, Milo, TCATI, and VITALIK tokens.
Buterin’s Charity Donations
Over the past nine days, Buterin has amassed 1,101 ETH ($2.78 million) through meme coin sales, of which he donated 360.16 ETH ($884K) to charities, the blockchain analytics platform revealed in its latest update.
In a tweet last week, Buterin expressed his appreciation for meme coins that donate portions of

Russia has sentenced Marat Tambiyev, a former mid-ranking investigator, to 16 years in jail after he was caught accepting a bribe of 1,032 bitcoins, which is currently worth around $65 million, from hackers he was investigating.
The bribe originated from members of the Infraud Organization hacking group, which Tambiyev was tasked with probing while working for the Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR).
Russia’s Bribery Scandal
Tambiev has been with the ICR since 2011, taking on key responsibilities in various investigative departments across the country. Before his downfall, he rose through the ranks to become the head of the investigative division in Moscow’s Tverskoy district. The disgraced officer allegedly received a significant bribe on April 7, 2022, from the

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) expressed deep concern about crypto’s role in facilitating illicit activities across Southeast Asia.
It notes that the existing underground banking infrastructure, including underregulated casinos, junkets, and illegal online gambling platforms, has increasingly adopted crypto as a tool for crime.
UNODC Raises Alarm Over Crypto
In its latest report, the UN agency claimed that the rise of high-risk virtual asset service providers (VASPs) has created a new avenue for criminal enterprises to operate without accountability, further entrenching these activities.
As such, UNODC called for urgent action, recommending enhanced monitoring of organized crime within casinos, junkets, and cyber fraud operations, alongside improved

The firm behind XRP has announced the launch of several new features and functionalities for Ripple Custody. With this, the company aims to improve its custody technology for fintech and crypto users.
Crypto custody is a relatively new area for the entity, which has streamlined its efforts under the recently launched Ripple Custody division.
Expansion of Ripple Custody
According to its official press release, the latest update includes the integration of a transaction screening service, additional hardware security module (HSM) options, integration with the XRPL for tokenizing Real World Assets (RWA), pre-configured policy frameworks, and improvements to the platform’s usability and user interface.
Ripple said that custody is an essential aspect of the expanding digital

Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission is preparing to roll out a pilot program for institutional crypto custody. The regulatory agency intends to collect applications in early 2025, and three private banks have already expressed interest in participating.
The latest move signifies efforts to promote institutional adoption of crypto in the region.
Institutional Crypto Custody in Taiwan
According to a report by local media, institutions participating in the pilot must specify the types of virtual assets they will custody—such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Dogecoin—and identify whether their services are for platforms, professional investors such as institutions, high-net-worth entities, or the general public.
In a press conference held earlier this week, Hu Zehua, the FSC’s

Digital asset investment products recorded minor outflows of $147 million over the past week, likely driven by stronger-than-anticipated economic data that reduced expectations for substantial rate cuts.
ETP investment product trading volumes rose slightly by 15% to $10 billion, while overall crypto market volumes remained lower.
Bitcoin saw significant investor focus, according to the latest edition of Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly Report.
Over the past week, Bitcoin saw outflows reaching $159 million, while short-Bitcoin products recorded inflows of $2.8 million. Despite reversing the five-week decline last week, Ethereum yet again experienced a downturn, with $29 million in outflows as interest in the asset stayed weak.
On the positive side, multi-asset investment

Tokyo-listed Bitcoin holder Metaplanet has purchased an additional 108.786 Bitcoin for 1 billion yen, reflecting its ongoing bullish stance on the crypto asset.
The latest stash is worth around $6.7 million.
Metaplanet Expands Bitcoin Holdings
According to the official statement released on Monday, Metaplanet – often referred to as Japan’s MicroStrategy – now holds 639.503 BTC, with a current market value of around $40.6 million. The firm disclosed that it acquired the additional bitcoins at an average price of 9.19 million yen ($61,880) per coin, while its total bitcoin purchases averaged 9.32 million yen ($62,790) per bitcoin.
The Japanese company has ramped up its bitcoin purchases over the past few months. In May, it declared that it was adopting the cryptocurrency as

Bitcoin appears to have defied the historical trend of negative return for September, with almost 9% in gains for the month. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading above $64,000.
As such, experts are now betting on a more favourable market conditions and a continued bullish trend for the world’s leading crypto asset.
Room For Growth
According to the latest update by Matrixport, Bitcoin’s funding rate has returned to near zero, despite recent price volatility. This indicates that futures traders are not heavily positioned on the long side, even with Bitcoin’s ongoing rally. The crypto service provider stated that such conditions open the door for more long positions, which could push prices higher.
However, the low funding rate also hints that the rally might be driven

Ripple has announced that South Korea’s Yonsei University is the latest to become a partner in its University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) program. This new collaboration with the popular South Korean academic institution brings Ripple’s global UBRI partnerships to 58, with 12 of them located in the Asia Pacific region.
Yonsei University will engage in a multi-year effort to drive research in blockchain technology, focusing on areas like artificial intelligence, finance, information systems, and management.
According to the official press release, the grant will finance the setup of an XRP Ledger (XRPL) validator at Yonsei University. XRPL validators are essential for reviewing transaction proposals from a designated set of trusted validators, referred to as the

There has been a shift in the Ethereum market, as rising exchange reserves signal a potential new distribution phase coinciding with growing concerns over a death cross.
This is evidenced by CryptoQuant’s Ethereum Exchange Reserve metric, which tracks the amount of ETH held in exchange wallets.
Ethereum in Jeopardy
When the metric rises, it often suggests that traders are moving their ETH onto exchanges, preparing to sell, which can increase supply pressure and contribute to a downtrend. This was seen between June and August, when the metric consistently trended upwards, coinciding with a significant bearish shift in Ethereum’s price.
The situation has become more complex following the death cross, a technical pattern where the 100-day moving average drops below the

Alongside a lackluster market, there has been a significant decline in whale activity across most major crypto assets.
According to the latest analysis by Santiment, Bitcoin and Ethereum are seeing noticeable drops in $100k+ transactions.
Whale Activity Plummets
During the highly active period of March 13-19, Bitcoin saw 115.1k transactions valued at over $100k each, reflecting intense activity from large holders.
However, by 21-27 August, this number had nearly halved to just 60.2k transactions, indicating a significant slowdown. Ethereum mirrored this trend, with its whale transactions dropping from 115.1k to a mere 31.8k over the same period.
Similar trends are also seen across other top assets, such as XRP, Toncoin, and Cardano.
While this reduction in high-value

High centralization can lead to increased influence by a few entities, potentially undermining the decentralized ethos that crypto strives to uphold. However, centralization continues to be a major bone of contention in space.
As such, popular project tokens – Polygon (MATIC) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) – have emerged as the leading examples of high concentration of holdings among top wallets.
Centralization Concerns in MATIC and SHIB
According to the data shared by Santiment, Polygon’s top ten wallets collectively control an astonishing 69.4% of its total market capitalization, making it the most centralized among major altcoins. Similarly, Shiba Inu’s top ten wallets hold 61.2% of its market cap.
This significant concentration raises critical questions about the impact on

Bitcoin appears to be struggling to position itself above $60,000. The world’s largest crypto asset by market cap is yet to recover from the fall earlier this week. As a result, its weekly losses compared to the surge last Friday stand at about 10%.
However, its reserves on exchanges hitting new lows for the year paints a bullish picture.
Bitcoin’s Dwindling Exchange Reserves
As per CryptoQuant’s observation, bitcoin’s decrease in reserves suggests reduced selling pressure, which could pave the way for a bullish market if demand continues to rise. A significant factor contributing to this decline is the growing trend of self-custody, the report noted. This means that more investors are opting to store their BTC in cold wallets, ensuring greater control over their assets.

Polygon (MATIC) has been experiencing a decline in network activity since the broader crypto market retrace began in March.
However, recent data shared by the crypto analytic platform Santiment indicates a potential shift in this trend.
Bullish Reversal for Polygon (MATIC)?
Polygon’s native token, MATIC, has lost over 17% of its value in the past month alone as it traded mostly below $0.52. Subsequent declines dragged the asset to the press time price of $0.43, but this could be an opportunity for buyers to amass it at a low valuation.
In its latest post on X, Santiment observed there had been a notable rise in dormant token transactions on August 28th, coinciding with the second-largest number of Polygon addresses interacting with the network this year.
In fact, a total

The realized capitalization of Bitcoin long-term holders (LTH) surpassed $10 billion this week for the first time ever. This highlighted the growing confidence among investors who hold the asset for extended periods, typically more than 155 days.
The LTH metric is particularly crucial because it reflects the conviction of these holders in Bitcoin’s long-term potential, as they are less likely to sell during short-term market fluctuations.
$10 Billion Milestone
The latest surge in realized capitalization essentially signified a broader trend of increasing maturity in the Bitcoin market, where more capital is being held by those who believe in the asset’s enduring value, according to CryptoQuant contributor Amr Taha’s analysis.
Another analyst, Alex Adler, weighed on the

The Tether network quietly achieved a 5-month high in new wallet creation, surpassing 31.3K addresses in a single day, and the highest since March 2024.
This surge has coincided with rising network growth in Multi Collateral Dai, indicating a broader trend across stablecoins.
According to Santiment’s analysis, 732 new DAI wallets were created, representing the fourth-highest figure since March 2024. Interestingly, the timing of these new wallets, emerging after a market recovery and without a significant decline in Bitcoin or Ethereum wallet activity, suggests that fresh capital might be entering the crypto market.
This could signal renewed trader confidence, with investors positioning themselves for potential future gains.
“Since these new wallets are being created after

Litecoin’s value has plummeted by 36% since peaking on April 1st. The crypto asset hasn’t been generating much buzz on social forums either, as per latest data.
Meanwhile, a certain cohort of small LTC holders have been quietly exiting the market. However, this has ignited interest in a potential bullish reversal shortly.
According to Santiment’s findings, there has been a sudden liquidation of 45.2k net wallets holding between 0.1-1 LTC which suggests that small traders are losing confidence and capitulating on Litecoin.
This exodus of small-scale holders, often dubbed “small fish,” could be a significant indicator of a potential bullish turnaround, as such behavior historically precedes price rebounds in established assets like Litecoin.
The crypto analytic platform

Digital asset investment products attracted $533 million in inflows last week, the biggest in over a month, following Jerome Powell’s hint at the Jackson Hole Symposium that an interest rate cut might occur in September.
While trading volumes were lower than in recent weeks, these products still totaled $9 billion for the past seven days.
According to CoinShares’ latest edition of Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly Report, Bitcoin dominated the market, drawing in $543 million in inflows. A major portion of this figure was found to have occurred on Friday after Powell’s dovish remarks, which essentially highlighted Bitcoin’s sensitivity to interest rate expectations.
Short-Bitcoin ETFs also saw $1.7 million in weekly inflows, as per the European digital asset investment firm’s

Stablecoins have reached an all-time high market cap of $169.57 billion following nearly a year of uninterrupted growth.
Leading assets such as Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC have seen a significant resurgence this year, in addition to a newcomer.
Stablecoin Market Cap Surge
Data compiled by DefiLlama revealed that this is the highest market cap for stablecoins, surpassing the previous peak of $167 billion established in March 2022, which later declined to $135 billion by year’s end.
Weighing on the latest milestone, crypto analyst Patrick Scott said that this new peak indicates a fresh influx of capital into the crypto market, suggesting renewed interest and confidence in the space.
“And just like that, we’re at a new all-time high. The total stablecoin market cap,

Binance announced that it has prevented over $2.4 billion in losses from potential scams and fraudulent activities that could have impacted more than 1.2 million users from January to July 2024 owing to its risk management measures.
According to the official press release shared with CryptoPotato, Binance employs an internal risk engine that provides 24/7 real-time monitoring using a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and manual reviews.
Binance’s Internal Risk Engine
This system enables the crypto exchange to accurately detect and address suspicious transactions promptly, protecting users across various sectors such as P2P trading, payments, and crypto network withdrawals. The risk engine integrates multiple layers of controls to manage and mitigate risk

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has contested Hex founder Richard Heart’s attempt to dismiss its $1 billion securities fraud lawsuit, asserting its jurisdiction over the case.
In its opposition brief, filed in a New York federal court on August 22 but dated July 8, the SEC contended that Heart’s motion to dismiss fails to address the well-supported allegations in the complaint and ignores relevant legal standards.
Heart had previously argued in his dismissal motion that the regulator lacks authority because he resided abroad and had no presence in the US during the relevant period.
SEC Alleges Misuse of Funds and Challenges Heart’s Defense
According to the official SEC document, from December 2019 to November 2020, Heart marketed Hex as a crypto asset security,

Former Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao has been transferred from FCI Lompoc II to the RRM Long Beach halfway house in California, sparking confusion among X users who mistakenly believed he had been released.
Despite the change in his location, CZ remains incarcerated.
The RRM Long Beach facility, categorized as a ‘residential reentry management (RRM) field office,’ is designed to assist inmates nearing their release but does not equate to a full release. InmateAID – which is a Federal inmate communications provider – describes this facility as one with voluntary compliance requirements rather than a high-security environment, though strict house rules must be followed.
The misinterpretation of CZ’s transfer has been compounded by a previous mix-up about his release date.

The Dencun upgrade in March 2024 was a significant milestone for Ethereum, but it also brought about unforeseen challenges, particularly for Layer 2 networks.
Christine Kim, a researcher at Galaxy, highlighted that this upgrade inadvertently led to an increase in transaction failures across these networks.
Ethereum’s Layer 2 Networks Face Challenges
Kim’s August 21 analysis, titled “150 Days After Dencun,” revealed that since the fee-reducing upgrade, there has been a notable rise in failed transactions and bot activity on Layer 2 networks.
The report highlighted that after the activation of EIP-4844, Ethereum L2’s daily transactions more than doubled, growing by 6.65 million within 150 days. However, this increase in transaction activity has also been accompanied by a

Binance plans to hire 1,000 new employees this year, with a substantial focus on compliance roles. A large portion of these hires is specifically aimed at expanding the company’s compliance team from its current 500 members to 700 by the end of 2024.
CEO Richard Teng, who is currently in the US for discussions with monitors and officials, shared these hiring targets in an interview with Bloomberg News in New York on Wednesday.
Focus on Compliance
Bloomberg’s report revealed that Binance is estimated to allocate over $200 million this year solely for regulatory compliance, including expenditures related to the US plea agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and other agencies.
The 55-year-old exec disclosed plans that Binance has seen a surge in requests from law

McDonald’s Instagram page was reportedly hacked on August 21, leading to a significant scam involving a Solana-based meme coin.
The perpetrators exploited the fast-food chain’s social media account to promote a fraudulent token named “Grimace,” referencing one of McDonald’s fictional characters featured in its advertisements.
Bubblemaps’ findings reveal that the hacker acquired 75% of the Grimace token’s total supply using the Solana meme coin deployer pump.fun. The attacker leveraged multiple addresses to purchase the token simultaneously and then distributed the accumulated supply across approximately 100 different wallets.
The hackers reportedly siphoned over $700,000 in Solana during the scheme. Screenshots from X revealed that the McDonald’s Instagram page was altered

Terraform Labs (TFL) – the bankrupt cryptocurrency firm co-founded by Do Kwon – is set to face a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization hearing on September 19.
The hearing will be crucial in shaping the company’s future as it navigates the aftermath of the Terra ecosystem’s dramatic collapse in 2022, which triggered extensive legal and financial challenges.
Fallout from TerraUSD and LUNA Collapse
The court’s ruling will essentially decide if Terraform Labs can successfully restructure and potentially recover from bankruptcy or if it will be compelled to liquidate its assets and shut down operations permanently.
Terraform Labs is the company behind the Terra blockchain, which is known for its ill-fated algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) and LUNA. On May 9, 2022, UST began

The TON blockchain recorded yet another milestone as the number of active addresses on the project’s Masterchain has surged to an all-time high of 946 daily.
According to CryptoQuant’s latest analysis, this marks a more than sevenfold increase since July 2021, highlighting the growing popularity and adoption of the network.
New Milestone for TON
While 946 active addresses might initially seem modest, it’s crucial to understand that the TON architecture is designed with multiple “workchains” that handle the bulk of data, leaving the Masterchain primarily responsible for message routing and transaction coordination.
This increase in active addresses has several implications, as per the analyst’s findings. Firstly, their growth indicates a surge in network activity, with more