LIVE NOW -- New Bitcoin ATH! ETH Next? Stripe & Circle L1s ExplainedOn this week’s Weekly Rollup, ETH flirts with ATH while BTC tags a new one, PPI spooks then fades? @RyanSAdams and @TrustlessState dig into a $1B ETH ETF day, Tom Lee’s 1M ETH treasury, and the ETH/BTC setup. Also, Stripe and Circle launch L1s, Coinbase routes Aerodrome in-app, Uniswap’s Wyoming DUNA and fee switch path, Monero’s 51% attack, plus quick hits on Do Kwon and bank pushback on the Genius Act.[TIMESTAMPS]0:00 Intro4:01 PPI Volati ...

Industry Trends & Events - Robinhood, Stripe, Circle are expected to announce their own chains [3] - Pumpdotfun launched a token [3] - Trump is expected to announce a Bitcoin treasury company [3] - SEC is going to launch "Project Crypto" [3] - Robinhood is expected to launch xStocks on Solana [3] - Stripe is expected to buy Privy [3] - Coinbase is expected to Deribit [3] Market Dynamics & Investment - Tom Lee & Joe Lubin are expected to invest billions of dollars in Ethereum [3] - ETH initially hit $1,400, then rallied to $4,800 within a few months [3] - Bessent is creating a strategic Bitcoin reserve [3] - Crypto treasury companies are expected to launch for 15+ assets [3] Regulatory Landscape - Ruling indicates that 99% of crypto is not classified as securities [3]

Market Trends & Analysis - ETH price is up 19% on the week, teasing all-time high, with a potential target of $10,000 to $20,000 in the next 6-8 months [26][33] - Bitcoin hit a new all-time high of $124,500, but is currently at $17,700, up 1% on the week [21] - The Producer Price Index (PPI) number was 37%, higher than the estimated 29%, indicating inflation running hotter [13] - Tom Lee projects ETH to reach $7,500 by the end of the year [36] Institutional Adoption & Investment - ETH ETFs experienced a billion-dollar inflow day, significantly higher than Bitcoin's initial ETF flows, with total ETH ETFs at $12 billion [39][40] - Harvard revealed holding $116 million in BlackRock Bitcoin ETFs, indicating institutional adoption of crypto assets [42] - Tom Lee accumulated 1 million ETH in his treasury vehicle over a 30-day period [45] - Bitmine aims to raise $20 billion to acquire more ETH, targeting 5% of the total ETH supply [45] Technological Developments & Blockchain Infrastructure - Stripe and Circle are launching their own Layer 1 blockchains, Tempo and Arc respectively, for stablecoin payments and capital markets [4][46][48] - Coinbase added DEX trading to its app, allowing access to any token on Aerodrome, excluding New York State [4][51] - Uniswap Foundation proposed a legal structure known as a DUNA under Wyoming law, potentially paving the way for the fee switch [51] Regulatory & Legal Landscape - Banks are demanding exclusion for yield-bearing stablecoins in the Genius Act, fearing loss of interest revenue [4][50] - Do Kwon pleaded guilty to fraud charges related to Terra Luna's $80 billion collapse, facing up to 12 years in prison [55][57] Security & Network Concerns - Monero experienced a 51% attack, highlighting vulnerabilities in proof-of-work networks, with the attacker bribing miners to acquire hash rate [4][59][61] - The US government, through Scott Bessant, will establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve using confiscated assets, estimated between $15 billion and $20 billion [50]

Industry Perspective on New Layer 1 Blockchains - Ondo Finance believes companies like Stripe and Circle still prefer some level of control, even with new L1 announcements [1] - The industry questions the necessity of creating new L1s, emphasizing that the need depends on the specific goals [1] - The industry anticipates that large TradFi L1s will likely not be the most permissionless chains [1]

Core Insights - Affirm Holdings, Inc. has expanded its partnership with Stripe, becoming the first buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider integrated into Stripe Terminal, enhancing its presence in physical retail locations [1][9] - The integration allows customers to select Affirm at checkout, facilitating purchases from $35 to $30,000 with flexible repayment terms [2][3] - This partnership is significant as over 80% of retail spending occurs in physical stores, providing Affirm an opportunity to penetrate in-person transactions [3] Company Performance - Affirm's transaction volume surged 45.6% year over year to 31.3 million in the last reported quarter, indicating strong growth potential from the new partnership [4] - The stock has gained 27.6% year to date, outperforming the broader industry and the S&P 500 Index [7] - Affirm trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 6.23X, higher than the industry average of 5.84, reflecting a premium valuation [10] Industry Context - Competitors like PayPal and Block are also expanding their BNPL services, with PayPal's total payment volume growing 6% to $443.5 billion and Block's BNPL gross merchandise value increasing 17% year over year to $9.11 billion [5][6] - The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Affirm's fiscal 2025 earnings suggests a 103% improvement year over year, indicating strong future growth expectations [12]

Market Trends & Cryptocurrency Performance - Crypto majors experienced a rally followed by a retracement ahead of PPI data release [1] - Bitcoin reached a new all-time high (ATH) of $124,500 overnight before retracing [1] - Ethereum ETFs saw $729.1 million in net inflows on Wednesday, the second-largest day on record [1] - Memecoin leaders were mostly down, including DOGE (-3%), Shiba (-2%), PEPE (-4%), PENGU (-6%), BONK (-3%), TRUMP (-1%), SPX (-6%), and FARTCOIN (-1%) [1] Partnerships & Developments - MetaMask is reportedly partnering with Stripe to launch a stablecoin mmUSD [1] - Google Play Store briefly introduced and then reversed a policy requiring licenses for crypto wallets, impacting custodial wallets [1] - Coinbase announced a partnership with Mercuryo to lower on-ramping fees for USDC on Base and also partnered with Squads to accelerate USDC adoption on Solana [2] Price Targets & Institutional Activity - Standard Chartered raised its Ethereum price target to $7,500 by the end of 2025 and $25,000 by 2028 [1] - Bullish, a crypto exchange backing institutions, had a volatile IPO debut, soaring 3x from its IPO price of $37 to over $100 before settling at $67 [1] NFT Market - ETH NFT leaders experienced corrections after the ETH rally, with Punks down 2% at 51.5 ETH, Pudgy down 6% at 13.6 ETH, and BAYC down 6% at 12.2 ETH [2] - Azuki introduced a new collaboration with Moser & Cie, offering $25,000 and $75,000 watches [2] AI & Crypto - The overall AI x Crypto market cap was up 3% to $13.6 billion [2]

stablecoin issuers became blockchain builders overnight. circle's arc executes treasury repos on-chain, stripe's tempo targets $1.4t annual volume at 20 tps, and tether joins the infrastructure race to control global payment rails. ...

MetaMask is partnering with Stripe to launch its stablecoin mmUSD 💰And it could debut as soon as today according to "a source knowledgeable of the initiative" https://t.co/aRls8U3XnL ...

Core Insights - Payoneer reported a strong financial performance for Q2 2025, with a transaction volume growth of 11% year-over-year, reaching nearly $21 billion, and revenue of $261 million, up 9% year-over-year [2][3] - The acquisition of a licensed payment institution in China, EasyLink Payment, positions Payoneer as the third foreign payment platform authorized to provide online payment services in the Chinese market [2][4] Financial Performance - Q2 2025 transaction volume reached nearly $21 billion, a year-over-year increase of 11% - Revenue for the quarter was $261 million, reflecting a 9% increase year-over-year - Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) clients contributed $183 million, an 18% increase year-over-year, with B2C e-commerce revenue at $116 million (up 8%), B2B revenue at $58 million (up 37%), and Checkout revenue at $9 million (up 86%) [2][3] Market Position and Strategy - Payoneer has nearly 2 million active customers, with approximately 560,000 classified as high-value customers, indicating a growing proportion of valuable clients [3] - The company announced a strategic partnership with Stripe, enhancing its global payment service capabilities [3] - Payoneer's revenue from the Greater China region was approximately $86 million, maintaining a leading position among all regional markets [3] Acquisition and Regulatory Compliance - The acquisition of EasyLink Payment allows Payoneer to operate under a licensed framework in China, which is crucial for compliance in the increasingly regulated cross-border payment industry [5][6] - The acquisition is expected to lower operational costs and enhance compliance capabilities, as Payoneer integrates this license into its existing global licensing network [6][7] Industry Context - The cross-border payment industry is undergoing structural changes due to stricter regulations, prompting some smaller payment institutions to sell their licenses as a means of resource consolidation [7] - Payoneer's acquisition reflects a strategic move to build a comprehensive licensing network and compliance infrastructure globally, which is essential for serving its SME clients effectively [6][7]

RT Pink Brains (@PinkBrains_io)Forget L2 wars.The new battlefield is stablecoin chains.Tether, Circle, Stripe, and more are rolling out their dedicated blockchains for global stablecoin payment.Here are the top competitors in the race 🧠🧵 https://t.co/3f41CeKhk7 ...