🔮 Last Week, Super Wallets, Staking ETFs, More Crypto on Wall St

Top Stories

Crypto Endures Record $19B Liquidation as Trump Tariffs Trigger Historic Shakeout

Global markets were rocked last week as President Trump’s surprise 100% tariff announcement on Chinese imports sparked the largest liquidation event in crypto history, wiping out over $19 billion in leveraged positions across 1.6 million traders. Bitcoin briefly fell to $102,000 before rebounding, while ETH dropped to $3,445 and altcoins suffered 40–70% drawdowns before partial recoveries. Despite the turmoil, DeFi protocols functioned flawlessly—absorbing over $100 million in liquidations with zero bad debt. Analysts noted the reset cleared speculative excess from markets, with BTC and ETH holding long-term support and altcoin dominance stabilizing. As Trump’s tone softened and liquidity conditions improved, markets saw a V-shaped recovery into Monday, with stablecoin supply surpassing $300 billion and prediction platforms like Kalshi hitting record engagement—underscoring crypto’s structural resilience despite extreme volatility.

Source: Coinglass, Re7

DeFi Fees Rebound as Protocols Shift Toward Revenue-Based Tokenomics

DeFi protocols earned about $600 million in fees in September 2025, rebounding 76% from March’s $340 million low, with Uniswap, Aave, and Ethena driving much of the growth. The resurgence comes as projects move away from meme-driven narratives toward fundamentals, embracing buybacks and revenue-sharing models to appeal to institutional investors. Ethena, Ether.fi, and Maple are among those piloting token buyback programs, signaling a broader pivot toward traditional financial metrics. While these mechanisms echo equity-style value accrual, tokens still differ through governance, access, and network utility functions. The trend marks a maturing phase for DeFi, where fundamental performance increasingly influences valuation.

Source: DefiLlama, The Block

Ethena and Jupiter Unveil JupUSD Stablecoin on Solana

Ethena Labs and Jupiter are teaming up to launch JupUSD, a native Solana-based stablecoin set to integrate across Jupiter’s DeFi ecosystem. Jupiter plans to gradually convert around $750 million in USDC from its Liquidity Provider Pool into JupUSD later this quarter. Initially backed by USDtb—a dollar-pegged asset investing in BlackRock’s BUIDL fund—JupUSD may transition to USDe backing over time. The stablecoin will function as collateral, a trading pair, and a liquidity hub across Jupiter’s lending and DEX platforms. The partnership marks Ethena’s latest whitelabel expansion following collaborations with Sui, MegaETH, and Anchorage Digital.

MetaMask Launches In-Wallet Perpetuals with Hyperliquid

MetaMask rolled out in-wallet perpetual futures trading powered by Hyperliquid, enabling users to trade over 150 tokens with up to 40× leverage directly from the mobile app. The feature marks a major step in the “wallet-as-super-app” evolution, bringing high-volume derivatives into self-custody alongside trading, staking, and social features. Early data shows $53M in cumulative volume ($37M on Oct. 9 alone), $26.8K in fees, and around 1,800 active users. With similar integrations across Phantom, Rabby, and Rainbow, Hyperliquid is rapidly becoming the universal backend for onchain perpetuals—driving decentralized derivatives toward mainstream adoption. Metamask is later planning an integration with Polymarket.

Source: Dune Analytics

Regulation

Bitcoin ETFs Hit $7.5B in Daily Volume, Set New AUM Record

Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw their highest trading volume in three months at $7.5 billion, led by BlackRock’s IBIT with $5.8 billion, reinforcing its dominance in institutional Bitcoin access. Total Bitcoin ETF assets under management climbed to a record $175 billion, indicating investors are holding these products for long-term exposure rather than short-term speculation. The success of Bitcoin ETFs has spurred a wave of over 100 crypto ETF filings across tokens and strategies as issuers chase demand for regulated, brokerage-accessible crypto exposure. While ETFs may diverge from crypto’s self-custody ethos, they continue to expand market participation by lowering technical barriers and offering a familiar investment format.

Source: Yahoo Finance, The Block

Grayscale Adds Staking Rewards to Ethereum ETFs

Grayscale has become the first U.S. issuer to enable staking rewards for Ethereum spot ETFs, introducing the feature to its $4.82B Ethereum Trust (ETHE) and Ethereum Mini Trust (ETH). The firm’s SEC filing outlines that ETH will be staked through Coinbase and a network of institutional validators, allowing investors to earn yield in addition to price exposure. Staking has also been activated for Grayscale’s Solana Trust, pending ETF conversion approval. The move addresses a key limitation that had slowed ETH ETF adoption since launch and could help Grayscale narrow the gap with BlackRock’s leading crypto funds. CEO Peter Mintzberg called the addition “first-mover innovation,” reflecting growing institutional demand as Ethereum’s market value and staking economy continue to expand.

ICE’s $2B Polymarket Bet Marks Wall Street’s Move Into On-Chain Data

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the NYSE, is investing up to $2 billion in Polymarket, signaling Wall Street’s entry into blockchain-verified data. Polymarket operates entirely on-chain, with USDC-collateralized markets settled by smart contracts on Polygon and verified through UMA’s Optimistic Oracle and Chainlink. ICE will become the exclusive distributor of Polymarket’s event-driven data, turning real-time, on-chain probability signals into a new asset class for institutional clients. The partnership not only validates prediction markets as transparent, auditable sources of “on-chain truth” but also opens a path toward tokenized financial products—event-driven indices, derivatives, and ETFs built around predictive data. For ICE, it’s a strategic bridge between traditional market infrastructure and blockchain’s unmanipulatable data layer, positioning Polymarket as a foundation for the next generation of financial intelligence.

House of Doge Debuts on Nasdaq to Advance Dogecoin’s TradFi Integration

House of Doge, the corporate arm of the Dogecoin Foundation, began trading on Nasdaq after merging with Brag House Holdings (TBH), marking the meme coin’s boldest step into traditional finance. Backed by Elon Musk’s attorney Alex Spiro, former Texas governor Rick Perry, the Steinbrenner family, and several NHL players, the company aims to expand Dogecoin’s global payment infrastructure and tokenized ventures in sports and culture. CEO Marco Margiotta said the public listing will provide the capital needed to “bring Dogecoin’s utility full circle,” enabling faster development of payment rails and new financial products. House of Doge is also a key partner in the $170M CleanCore Dogecoin treasury on the NYSE and has filed for a spot DOGE ETF with 21Shares, expected later this year—cementing Dogecoin’s growing foothold in mainstream markets.

Other Domestic Regulation Updates

• Galaxy launches new crypto and stock trading platform
• Grayscale enables staking for its spot Ethereum ETFs in the US
• Morgan Stanley to open crypto access to all client accounts, including retirement plan

Other International Regulation Updates

• Standard Chartered estimates $1 trillion could exit emerging market banks for US stablecoins
• India plans to double down on CBDC, reaffirms stance against crypto
• PayPay acquires 40% stake in Binance Japan to bridge crypto and digital payments
• Coinbase and Mastercard in $2 billion bidding race for stablecoin firm BVNK
• UK lifts ban on crypto exchange-traded notes as ‘market has evolved’

Pain & Gain

Pain

• Over $489M in Crypto Longs Liquidated as Bitcoin, Ethereum Extend Losses
• Two Indicted in Tel Aviv Over $600,000 ‘Wrench Attack’ on Bitcoin Trader
• Crypto Markets Plummet as BTC Briefly Drops Below $106K
• ‘Made in China’ Tokens Outperform Broader Crypto Market

Gain

• Kraken expands access to traditional CME contracts like oil and gold
• Kalshi's $300M raise values firm at $5B as it tops Polymarket in global market share
• Bitcoin miners' power edge makes them key AI infrastructure players, Bernstein says
• BNB’s Four.meme Overtakes Pump.fun
• Variational, A New Perps Infra Layer on Arbitrum