Cryptocurrency
SEC delays BTC ETF decision, Grayscale triumphs over SEC and BitBoy gets the boot: Hodler’s Digest, Aug. 27 – Sept. 2

Top Stories This Week
Grayscale wins SEC lawsuit for Bitcoin ETF review
Crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments recently scored a big win in its battle against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
In an ongoing effort to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), the U.S. appeals court judge accepted Grayscale’s argument that the SEC’s rejection of its recent ETF application was unfair. The SEC had alleged that the GBTC didn’t have enough safe practices and fraud protection in place.
Judge Neomi Rao gave the green light to Grayscale’s request for a second review.Previously, Rao said that the SEC did not “offer any explanation” as to why Grayscale was in the wrong.
However, the victory doesn’t automatically mean Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF is a done deal. There’s still more to come…
BitBoy Crypto brand will no longer include YouTuber Ben Armstrong
The parent company of Hit Network, the folks behind the “BitBoy Crypto” brand, just gave the boot to its public face, Ben Armstrong.
The company alleged issues of substance abuse and financial damage as reasons behind the decision.
In a YouTube and social media announcement, Hit Network revealed that despite its efforts to support Armstrong during his struggle with addiction, it had decided to part ways with the influencer.
This follows Armstrong facing a series of lawsuits in recent times. He was in a class-action lawsuit where investors accused him and other influencers of promoting FTX without disclosing how much they were getting paid by the exchange.
Furthermore, during the lawsuit, there were claims that Armstrong threatened the plaintiff’s lawyers and even blew off a federal judge’s orders to show up in court. The case was put on hold in June.
SEC delays decision on 6 spot Bitcoin ETF applications
The SEC has chosen to postpone delivering a decision on six applications for spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States. The commission has opted to extend its review period by an additional 45 days, pushing the eventual decision back until October. Shortly after the news broke, the SEC also put BlackRock, the biggest asset manager in the world, in the same delayed decision boat.
Bitwise withdraws Bitcoin and Ether Market Cap ETF application
In a surprising twist following the U.S. SEC’s announcement of delays, Bitwise has submitted a request to retract its application for its Bitcoin and Ether Market Cap Weight Strategy ETF. This application was originally submitted to the SEC on Aug. 3. It seems that Bitwise is taking a step back to reconsider its approach, despite the brief positive market sentiment that followed Grayscale’s recent SEC win.
Robinhood bought back Sam Bankman-Fried’s stake from US gov’t for $606M
Crypto and stock trading platform Robinhood scooped up more than 55 million shares of their own company that were previously owned by Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX. The purchase, which cost Robinhood roughly $606 million, was finalized this week after it filed the paperwork with the U.S. SEC. These shares originally held by Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang, a co-founder of FTX, through a company called Emergent Fidelity Technologies.
However, back in January, the U.S. Department of Justice seized these shares. The purchase has been in the works for a while. Robinhood’s board of directors gave it the green light in its Q4 2022 report, and an SEC filing from August confirmed that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York approved the purchase without any legal complications.
Winners and Losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $25,610, Ether (ETH) at $1,618 and XRP (XRP) at $0.49. The total market cap is $1.03 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Toncoin (TON) at 33.90%, Iota (MIOTA) at 13.13% and Maker (MKR) at 12.33%.
The top three altcoin losers of the week are KuCoin Token (KCS) at 15.53%, Hedera (HBAR) at 15.02% and Astar (ASTR) at 12.82%.
For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.
Read also
Most Memorable Quotes
“There are many cases where transparency is a feature, but people do not want most transactions in the economy to be public.”
Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase
“Now that the courts are starting to rein in the SEC a bit, I think there’s some hope that the industry is kind of igniting again in the U.S.”
Jeremy McLaughlin, partner at K&L Gates
“In the end, we will win. You can’t steal someone’s company they built on their identity and win.”
Ben Armstrong, former frontman of BitBoy Crypto
“I definitely do think we could see in this next cycle $100,000 cost per Bitcoin, and that’s based on if BTC were to capture even 2 to 5% of gold’s $13 trillion place in institutional portfolios.”
Sue Ennis, vice president of Hut 8
“We see limited downside for crypto markets over the near term.”
JPMorgan analysts
“I spoke to a guy the other day that has 80 altcoins in his portfolio. There’s no way an individual investor can stay across and know exactly what 80 different coins are doing at any one time.”
Ben Simpson, founder of Collective Shift
Prediction of the Week
Bitcoin risks ‘swift’ $23K dive after BTC price loses 11% in August
Data indicates that Bitcoin is on track for a retest of long-term support levels following a drop in BTC price as August came to a close. Reversing the gains witnessed the previous week, BTC/USD is now trading below $26,000 as of Sept. 1, according to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView.
Initially, market participants had reasons to be optimistic as Bitcoin held a key long-term trendline and maintained the $27,000 level. However, a decision by the U.S. SEC to delay several Bitcoin ETF applications caused a change in sentiment.Bitcoin swiftly shed $1,000 in value over just two hourly candles.
Read also
Traders have been speculating over the movements. “On-chain data suggests that $BTC lacks strong support below the $25,400 mark,” popular pseudonymous trader Ali told X (formerly Twitter) subscribers.
On-chain monitoring resource Material Indicators delivered a similarly grim picture for BTC/USD on daily, weekly and even monthly timeframes. Using signals from one of its proprietary trading tools, Trend Precognition, Material Indicators advised that $24,750 needed to hold for bulls to have a chance at clinching a rebound.
FUD of the Week
Balancer exploited in nearly $900k after vulnerability warning.
The Ethereum automated market maker and decentralized finance protocol, Balancer, confirmed that it had fallen victim to an exploit, resulting in losses of nearly $900,000. This incident occurred shortly after it had disclosed a vulnerability that impacted several pools.
An Ethereum address allegedly belonging to the attacker has been revealed by blockchain security expert Meier Dolev. Following the exploit, the address received two transfers of Dai stablecoin worth $636,812 and $257,527, respectively, bringing its total balance to over $893,978.
“Balancer is aware of an exploit related to the vulnerability below,” the protocol’s team posted on X, adding that, while mitigation measures taken in recent days had drastically reduced risks, affected pools could not be paused. “To prevent further exploits, users must withdraw from affected LPs,” the team advised.
Brazilian crypto streamer loses money by accidentally exposing private key
A Brazilian cryptocurrency streamer is one of the latest victims of unsafe self-custody practices, reportedly losing thousands of dollars due to a private key accident. The owner of the Fraternidade Crypto channel, Ivan Bianco, unwittingly exposed his private key to a self-custodial cryptocurrency wallet during a livestream on YouTube.
In the middle of the livestream related to Bitcoin and blockchain games, Bianco apparently tried to access his passwords for the blockchain games platform Gala Games through a text file on his computer.
Unfortunately for the streamer, his Gala Games passwords were stored in the same text file as the seed phrase for his MetaMask wallet, which had a significant amount of Polygon (MATIC).
Exploits, hacks and scams stole almost $1B in 2023: Report
Cybersecurity firm CertiK reported that over $997 million was lost to flash loan attacks, exit scams and exploits in 2023. Malicious actors targeting the crypto space have taken more than $45 million in digital assets from their victims in the month of August alone and a total of $997 million year-to-date.
In the report, CertiK highlighted that exit scams took around $26 million, flash loan attacks took $6.4 million, and exploits took $13.5 million from their victims in August 2023. The cybersecurity firm confirmed that the total losses amounted to over $45 million.
Best Cointelegraph Features
How to protect your crypto in a volatile market: Bitcoin OGs and experts weigh in.
Crypto is a volatile place. Money can be as easily lost as made through the ups and downs of Bitcoin and the wider market. Bitcoin OGs, veterans and experts provide their opinions, tools and views on how to protect your crypto.
6 Questions for Leila Ismailova: Digital fashion and life after Artisant
Leila Ismailova began her professional career at the age of 15 as a broadcasting star in Belarus, the Russian-neighboring Eastern European country that plays home to 9.3 million citizens. She continued in the role for 10 years, she says, before reaching what she felt was a “professional ceiling” and beginning a journey that led to Web3.
Crypto Banter’s Ran Neuner says Ripple is ‘despicable,’ tips hat to ZachXBT: Hall of Flame
Ran Neuner is the CEO of Onchain Capital, founder of Crypto Banter, and a vocal crypto commentator on X. According to Crypto Banter’s Ran Neuner, following people you dislike on Twitter/X can actually make you smarter.
Subscribe
The most engaging reads in blockchain. Delivered once a
week.
Cryptocurrency
Ripple (XRP) News Today July 30th

The last few weeks have been quite turbulent for XRP and the company behind it. In this article, we will check the latest updates involving the two and analyze the token’s price dynamics.
Has the Ripple/SEC Battle Concluded?
The major developments in the legal battle between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), more specifically, the company’s court wins, have left some with the expectation that the tussle is over.
Just recently, the American lawyer Bill Morgan said the regulator has not withdrawn its appeal yet. He emphasized that the Commission faces no formal deadline to do so, though it is required to submit a status update to the appeal court by August 15.
The legal contest refers to a court decision in 2023. Back then, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that Ripple’s sales of XRP tokens on secondary markets are not securities. The SEC appealed the ruling, while the company filed a cross-appeal, which was later withdrawn.
Earlier this year, the two parties jointly requested that the appeals be paused to allow time for a potential settlement. The court respected their wish but required the regulator to file a status report by mid-August. Many believe that if the SEC agrees to withdraw its appeal, it could mark the final resolution of the case.
To the uninitiated, it all started in December 2020 when the Commission filed a lawsuit against Ripple, accusing it of conducting an unregistered securities offering by selling XRP tokens. Initially, it sought a whopping fine of $2 billion, while years later, Judge Torres ruled a penalty of $125 million. Moreover, the SEC and Ripple shook hands on an even smaller sum of $50 million.
RLUSD Keeps Progressing
One trending asset within Ripple’s ecosystem is the USD-pegged stablecoin, RLUSD. The product, which officially debuted in December of last year, recently saw its market capitalization soar past $500 million and caught the eye of some major financial players.
As CryptoPotato reported, the asset was recognized by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) as a crypto token within the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), while the oldest US bank, BNY Mellon, agreed to serve as a custodian for RLUSD.
Meanwhile, the stablecoin’s market cap continued to grow in the following weeks and currently stands at approximately $577.6 million.
Spot XRP ETF Incoming?
Several XRP exchange-traded funds have popped up in the United States over the past several months. However, all of them are futures-based, and you can check the details here.
The XRP army has been eagerly awaiting the launch of a spot XRP ETF, which is expected to have a more significant impact on the price of the underlying token.
Some of the well-known firms willing to launch such a product include Bitwise, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, WisdomTree, and more. According to Polymarket, the approval odds before the end of the year stand at around 87%.
XRP Price Outlook
Ripple’s native token exploded to a new all-time high of $3.65 in mid-July, but since then, it has been on a downtrend, currently trading at around $3.08 (per CoinGecko’s data).
However, some important factors suggest this could be a temporary correction, followed by another rally. Large investors, for instance, have acquired 60 million XRP tokens in the last 24 hours. This shows strong confidence in the asset and could encourage other smaller players to jump on the bandwagon, too.
The amount of tokens stored on exchanges has been declining lately, suggesting that holders might have moved their funds into cold storage. This, in turn, reduces the immediate selling pressure.
Last but not least, the number of XRP wallets keeps growing, hinting at solid user engagement and rising interest in the network. The figure reached a peak of 7.2 million on July 21 and is currently inching towards 7.3 million.
Binance Free $600 (CryptoPotato Exclusive): Use this link to register a new account and receive $600 exclusive welcome offer on Binance (full details).
LIMITED OFFER for CryptoPotato readers at Bybit: Use this link to register and open a $500 FREE position on any coin!
Cryptocurrency
Solana (SOL) Plunges by 10% Weekly, But This Market Signal Says ‘Buy the Dip’

TL;DR
- Analysts point to certain indicators that suggest SOL could be poised for a rally in the near future. Some of the biggest optimists believe the price could soar to a new all-time high of $400.
- SOL’s RSI hovers just above 30, signaling oversold conditions. Combined with increased token withdrawals from crypto exchanges, this could reduce sell pressure and hint at a possible short-term recovery.
Buying Opportunity?
Solana’s SOL has declined by over 10% in the past week, currently valued at around $177 (according to CoinGecko’s data). However, the X user, Ali Martinez, estimated that the TD Sequential indicator has flashed a buy signal.
Buy the Solana $SOL dip, says the Tom DeMark Sequential indicator! pic.twitter.com/cyE5MR45DY
— Ali (@ali_charts) July 30, 2025
The analyst isn’t the only one with a bullish stance following the price drop. One X user claimed SOL “is setting the pace,” predicting a pump to as high as $400.
“Ignore the noise. This isn’t hype, it’s a shift in momentum. Smart money isn’t chasing later – it’s positioning now. Solana season is real,” they added.
BitBull thinks SOL’s current price performance resembles that of 2023, which was followed by a major breakout. The analyst argued that the activity in the Solana network is still strong, while institutional inflows “are coming.”
“All it needs now is a weekly close above $230, and SOL parabolic run will start,” the X user suggested.
AlejandroBTC stands in the opposite corner, claiming there’s no real momentum, while exit liquidity is “getting thinner by the day.” The analyst forecasted that SOL’s price could continue to plunge, warning investors that the altcoins are not in a bull market.
Observing Other Metrics
Over the past several months, the shift of SOL tokens from crypto exchanges toward self-custody methods has been more than evident. This results in reduced immediate selling pressure.
Solana’s Relative Strength Index is the next technical analysis tool we will touch upon. It tracks the speed and magnitude of recent price changes and helps traders identify overbought or oversold conditions. The metric varies from 0 to 100, and ratios around or below 30 suggest SOL could be headed for a rebound, while anything above 70 is considered bearish territory. Currently, the RSI stands at just over 30.
Binance Free $600 (CryptoPotato Exclusive): Use this link to register a new account and receive $600 exclusive welcome offer on Binance (full details).
LIMITED OFFER for CryptoPotato readers at Bybit: Use this link to register and open a $500 FREE position on any coin!
Cryptocurrency
Ethereum ETF Inflows Soar in July, Outpacing Last 11 Months Combined

Ethereum’s 10th anniversary is proving to be more than symbolic. As the network celebrates a decade since mining its genesis block on July 30, data shows a record-breaking surge in institutional demand.
Spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $5.41 billion in net inflows in July alone, surpassing the combined capital entries of the previous 11 months, which stood at $4.21 billion as of June 2025.
Institutional Investment Pushes ETH Into a New Phase
Data from SoSoValue shows that ETH ETFs have had $9.62 billion in cumulative fund deposits since their launch in July 2024. However, the inflows haven’t been consistent.
After a rocky start, with $483 million in outflows in their first month, the ETFs saw steady growth. They hit 10 figures for the first time in November 2024, when $1.05 billion came into the funds, followed by an even more impressive $2.08 billion the following month.
The first quarter of 2025 was more muted. January and February saw a combined $161.23 million in new capital before a poor showing in March led to more than $403 million flowing out of the ETFs.
Since then, the products have been on a tear, with investment activity growing exponentially month after month, to finally hit $5.41 billion in July. The explosion suggests a shift from institutional caution to aggressive accumulation, with ETH emerging as the clear beneficiary of this sentiment shift.
Data from SoSoValue shows that BlackRock’s ETHA alone now holds $11.39 billion in assets, while Grayscale’s ETHE remains in recovery after $4.31 billion in cumulative withdrawals. Together, these movements have pushed Ethereum ETF assets to $21.61 billion, which is about 4.75% of ETH’s market cap.
Price Momentum Builds as ETH Nears $4K
The price of ETH has also seen a fair amount of growth recently. At the time of writing, it was trading at $3,786, up 3.1% over the past week and 19.6% in the last fortnight despite a 2.4% dip in the previous 24 hours amid profit-taking.
It has also climbed 53.3% across 30 days, moving from around $2,470 to approach the $3,900 range, even briefly touching $3,933 before retracing.
QCP Capital has cautioned that derivatives positioning and overheated funding rates may create near-term resistance around $4,000, yet the structural tailwinds from ETF demand remain intact. If these fund flows persist, Ethereum could not only challenge its November 2021 all-time high of $4,878 but also cement itself as the centerpiece of a potential altcoin-led market cycle.
Binance Free $600 (CryptoPotato Exclusive): Use this link to register a new account and receive $600 exclusive welcome offer on Binance (full details).
LIMITED OFFER for CryptoPotato readers at Bybit: Use this link to register and open a $500 FREE position on any coin!
- Forex3 years ago
Forex Today: the dollar is gaining strength amid gloomy sentiment at the start of the Fed’s week
- Forex3 years ago
Unbiased review of Pocket Option broker
- Forex3 years ago
Dollar to pound sterling exchange rate today: Pound plummeted to its lowest since 1985
- Forex3 years ago
How is the Australian dollar doing today?
- Cryptocurrency3 years ago
What happened in the crypto market – current events today
- World3 years ago
Why are modern video games an art form?
- Commodities3 years ago
Copper continues to fall in price on expectations of lower demand in China
- Economy3 years ago
Crude oil tankers double in price due to EU anti-Russian sanctions