14/09/2025. Weekly CryptoNews Digest (September, 8 – September, 14)

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I am pleased to present the latest MNO Weekly CryptoNews Digest for September 8–14, 2025. This week’s edition provides a comprehensive overview of the key developments, emerging trends, and critical market insights that are currently shaping the crypto industry.

From significant market shifts to behind-the-scenes strategic moves, I deliver a thorough analysis. This digest is designed to provide you with the essential information needed to navigate the evolving digital asset landscape, whether you are focused on long-term investments or seeking opportunities for growth.

I invite you to explore the most impactful news, notable trends, and informed perspectives in the world of digital finance.

CREATORS CASH IN ON CHARLIE KIRK-THEMED COINS CONTROVERSY

The tragic assassination of U.S. conservative activist and prominent crypto advocate Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025, at Utah Valley University, produced immediate political shockwaves across the country. Yet within the cryptocurrency ecosystem, the event triggered an especially heated and ethically charged controversy. Mere hours after the news broke, dozens of meme tokens bearing Kirk’s name—including “RIPCharlieKirk” and “JusticeforCharlie”—were launched across various blockchains, primarily on Solana’s pump.fun platform. One such token, RIPCharlieKirk, shot up by 53,000% in less than an hour, achieving a market cap nearing $5 million before plunging amidst frenzied trading.

This pattern of rapid, speculative launches was not limited to a handful of tokens: copycats proliferated, feeding a cycle of volatile “pump and dump” schemes. For example, the JusticeforCharlie token reportedly surged over 32,000%, temporarily hitting a $7 million market cap, only to collapse as creators and early entrants cashed out. The core of the controversy is twofold: the outright opportunism displayed by token creators seeking to profit from grief (one developer reportedly made $300,000 in fees within a single hour), and the lack of any underlying utility, roadmap, or team for most of these tokens. Various blockchain analytics and scam-detection X (formerly Twitter) accounts quickly flagged a familiar pattern: massive wallet bundling, insider profit-taking, and zero transparency or accountability—echoing notorious political meme coin scams earlier in the year such as those associated with the deaths of other public figures.

Community response has been deeply divided. Many X users, industry watchdogs, and crypto media condemned the trend as “immoral,” “despicable,” and a brazen exploitation of public emotion for financial gain. Critics pointed out that while meme coins generally thrive on trends and virality, there is “a line between satire and tragedy,” and profiting from real-world violence or death has crossed it. Even Binance, which tracks memecoin failure rates, highlighted that 97% of these tokens are fated to collapse, warning retail investors of the acute risks. In response to this backdrop, some activists and developers launched tokens like $STD (Stop Tokenizing Death) as a form of protest and to raise ethical awareness on the manipulation of human tragedy for speculative gain.

Yet, not all reactions were negative. Some segments of the crypto community argued that the Kirk-themed tokens served a purpose as “digital tributes” or “calls for justice,” recalling Kirk’s own advocacy for a U.S. Bitcoin reserve. However, this justification is undermined by the clear lack of structure and transparency behind these offerings. The underlying issue remains: headline-driven tokens with no substance leave retail investors especially vulnerable to pump-and-dump cycles and risks that are exacerbated by the lack of regulatory oversight. The Kirk coin saga thus reignites the debate around token issuance ethics, the necessity for more robust disclosure and anti-fraud standards, and the crypto industry’s struggle with self-regulation in the face of rapid, crowd-driven market events.

SEC PAUSE ON CRYPTO ETF DECISIONS

During the week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) once again delayed a host of anticipated decisions on major cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund (ETF) proposals, sparking frustration across the investment and blockchain industries. These postponements affect applications from industry giants BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and several others. Franklin Templeton’s Ethereum staking ETF amendment, initially scheduled for September 12, now faces a new decision day of November 13, while its proposals for Solana and XRP ETFs have been postponed until November 14. Similarly, BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust staking plan has been pushed to October 30.

Notably, these delays come against the backdrop of the SEC’s so-called “Crypto Project”—an initiative led by SEC Chair Paul Atkins (appointed under the Trump administration), which purports to support innovation and streamline digital asset regulatory frameworks in the United States. Chair Atkins has stated at international summits that “crypto’s time has come,” yet practical regulatory clarity remains elusive. More than 90 crypto ETF proposals are currently pending before the Commission, highlighting the magnitude of both market demand and regulatory inertia.

The SEC’s recent trend is to utilize the full extent of its authority under Section 19(b) of the Securities Exchange Act, allowing maximum extension of review periods, ostensibly for greater evaluation of risks and investor protection—especially around staking features, custody, and compliance issues. While the current delay does not signify outright rejection for any ETF, it leaves both retail and institutional investors frustrated with regulatory unpredictability. This particularly impacts providers seeking to launch spot products, as well as altcoin ETFs featuring staking capabilities, which traditionally attract additional regulatory scrutiny.

In the wider context, these postponements also stoke anxiety among market participants that the SEC’s regulatory strategy, despite rhetorical support for crypto innovation, remains overly cautious and is stifling access to mainstream-accepted funds. The delay has material consequences: institutions are confronted with allocation uncertainty, and ETF sponsors must wait longer before bringing products to market—a contrast to Europe, where crypto ETPs are already widely available. The sheer backlog also signals that traditional finance is racing to enter digital assets, underlining the urgency for clearer rules and faster pathways to approval. The agency’s eventual policy choices will thus have significant consequences for both investor protection and the broader U.S. positioning on global crypto competitiveness.

SENATE DEMOCRATS’ RIVAL CRYPTO REGULATION FRAMEWORK

A major development in U.S. digital asset policy surfaced as twelve Senate Democrats unveiled a competing, comprehensive framework for cryptocurrency regulation on September 9, 2025, setting the stage for a high-stakes legislative clash with Republicans who are pushing their own bill. The Democrats’ seven-pillar plan addresses longstanding calls for clearer oversight in token classification, consumer protection, exchange regulation, stablecoin rules, DeFi compliance, anti-money laundering, and, notably, new ethics standards targeting siting officials’ involvement in crypto projects.

At its core, the Democratic framework grants the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) exclusive authority over non-security digital asset spot markets, streamlines SEC–CFTC jurisdiction, and installs tailored disclosure and compliance requirements for token issuers and trading platforms. Importantly, it mandates registration of crypto platforms with FinCEN under Bank Secrecy Act rules, imposing full anti-money laundering and sanctions enforcement, and proposes a sweeping ban on direct or indirect yield by stablecoin issuers—a move that goes beyond the already-passed GENIUS Act’s prohibitions.

What makes this bill distinctly controversial, however, is its direct challenge to both the ethics of public officials (explicitly referencing President Trump’s purported “crypto enrichments” and demanding full disclosure of holdings and a ban on launching or profiting from digital assets while in office) and its more hawkish stance toward DeFi platforms. The Democratic plan leaves open the possibility of imposing compliance burdens on decentralized software teams—a stark contrast to the Republican draft, which seeks explicit safeguards for protocol developers. These divisions are more than just semantics; they cut to the heart of debates over privacy, innovation, and systemic risk.

Market, industry, and political reactions were swift. Crypto lobbying groups welcomed the clarity but opposed any overreaching restrictions that could create insurmountable barriers for DeFi and US-based stablecoin issues. Banking industry advocates lobbied for tighter stablecoin yield prohibitions, while crypto-native firms cautioned against tilting the playing field in favor of incumbent banks. The fight sets up weeks of bipartisan negotiations and is critical for the future of U.S. crypto market structure. Key stakeholders agree on the need for reform, but the tension between the desire for rapid action and a thorough, bipartisan approach ensures that the debate will be both protracted and politically fraught.

REX-OSPREY SPOT XRP ETF LAUNCH DELAY

The much-anticipated arrival of the first U.S. spot XRP ETF, managed by Rex Shares and Osprey Funds, was delayed at the eleventh hour, bumping its launch from the initially publicized September 12 date to September 18, 2025. The SEC completed its standard 75-day review with no objections, meaning the product can launch without the cumbersome “19b-4” process required for novel spot ETFs, but operational and registration issues reportedly forced the launch pushback.

The XRP ETF stands out for its structure. Unlike futures-based derivatives, the fund will directly hold XRP as the underlying asset, granting both retail and institutional investors a regulated, brokerage-accessible pathway to XRP exposure. In a bid to comply with U.S. tax and regulatory laws, the ETF leverages a Cayman Islands subsidiary to house its XRP holdings, similar to the structure of other commodity funds. However, regulatory uncertainty still lingers, and no official ticker symbol has yet been broadly posted for the product.

Market participants view this as a watershed moment for XRP and the broader altcoin investment landscape. For XRP holders, the ETF is a long-sought-after vehicle that promises institutional flows, increased liquidity, and stronger market stability. Analysts expect that, if successful, this model could drive a new wave of hybrid products—particularly if the SEC, under Project Crypto, continues to avoid obstruction of spot ETF launches for major cryptocurrencies. However, there remain serious questions regarding the structure’s flexibility, scalability, transparency, and the risk of amplified retail-driven volatility (especially if share redemptions or profit-taking occurs at scale).

The delay also highlights the continued friction between legacy securities approvals, rapid altcoin market cycles, and the urgency to align regulatory calendars with investor demand. The XRP ETF’s debut is a test case: if successful, it may embolden more U.S. fintech and asset managers to proceed down similar regulatory paths, evolving market structure and accelerating the convergence of traditional finance with the realities of blockchain asset management.

HYPERLIQUID STABLECOIN VOTE POWER STRUGGLE

The decentralized perpetuals exchange Hyperliquid became the epicenter of a high-stakes, industry-wide governance drama this week, as its inaugural vote to determine the primary issuer of USDH—the protocol’s first native, dollar-pegged stablecoin—erupted into a public power struggle involving major stablecoin producers, governance activists, and speculators.

At issue: who would secure the lucrative right to control billions in stablecoin flows on a DEX that handled $330 billion in trading volume in July alone, all with an 11-person team. Contenders included Paxos (noted for its regulatory track record and past U.S. government partnerships), Frax, Sky, Agora, Curve, BitGo, OpenEden, and the eventual frontrunner, Native Markets, a group closely affiliated with certain Hyperliquid core developers and powered by Stripe’s Bridge tokenization platform.

Tensions mounted after prominent candidate Ethena withdrew its bid, instead throwing support behind the upstart Native Markets. This fueled allegations among the Hyperliquid community of “backroom deals,” rushed voting, and disproportionate validator influence that appeared to sideline proposals from established compliance-oriented issuers like Paxos and Frax. Critics on social media highlighted that Native Markets’ proposal allocated only 50% of stablecoin reserve yield toward ecosystem buybacks (versus 95% in rivals’ plans), and warned of potential conflicts stemming from Stripe’s broader blockchain ambitions.

The governance turmoil escalated as Hyperliquid responded by removing team-staked $HYPE tokens from the voting process—ostensibly to enhance community control and fairness, but also as a tacit admission of excess insider weight in the tally. This strategic move potentially boosted the odds for more compliance-driven bids, but at press time, Native Markets continued to dominate validator power (with 95% Polymarket odds). The ultimate outcome, and the selection process’s legitimacy, will set a potent precedent for how multibillion-dollar protocols navigate the fraught intersection of community-driven governance, validator influence, and real-world regulatory partnership requirements.

GLASSNODE BTC, ETH, SOL ALL-TIME HIGH PREDICTIONS ROCK MARKETS

The cofounders of Glassnode, a widely cited on-chain analytics provider, sent shockwaves through the crypto community this week with an unambiguously bullish forecast: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana are all poised to break new all-time highs (ATH) within the next three to four weeks. Their warning to “September doomers” was unequivocal—“Don’t stand in front of the freight train”—just as Bitcoin bounced at $116,000, Ethereum traded at $4,700+, and Solana hovered at $242. Historical patterns have typically marked September as a weak month for crypto, but Glassnode and supporting analysts dismissed this “September Curse,” arguing that this year, unique structural factors—record ETF inflows, low exchange reserves, strong stablecoin demand, and institutional dip-buying—have temporarily suspended the rule.

Glassnode’s message gained added traction because major macroeconomic events aligned in traders’ favor. The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut interest rates on September 17, 2025, and institutional inflows to digital assets have surged, with lifetime ETF allocations exceeding $54.5 billion for Bitcoin funds alone. On-chain analytics corroborated that mega-whales (10,000+ ETH) drove Ethereum’s rally throughout August, and stablecoin “dry powder” on exchanges nearly doubled from a year ago. Corporate treasuries are also reportedly stockpiling both ETH and SOL, with public companies now holding over 1 million BTC collectively and increasing their ETH reserves.

While the forecast excited much of the community, seasoned market participants sounded a note of caution. Concerns include elevated profit-taking risk (as more than 90% of Bitcoin and 95% of Ether supply is in profit), and the reality that any deviation from the expected Fed dovishness could force a swift repricing—potentially triggering a “violent correction” entwined with leverage and macro crosswinds. Still, the call has flipped market psychology: after a week of battered volumes and skepticism, the sentiment has quickly shifted towards anticipation of a historic Q4 rally. If realized, the break to ATHs would mark September 2025 as the moment the classic “September blues” for crypto was finally broken.

3AC SUBPOENAS SBF OVER $1.5B LIQUIDATION

The long-running fallout from the 2022 triple collapse of hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), FTX, and the broader crypto credit stack took on new life this week as 3AC’s liquidators were authorized to subpoena Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), Caroline Ellison, and Ryan Salame for fresh court testimony over alleged illegal liquidation of $1.5 billion in 3AC’s positions on FTX.

3AC accuses FTX of forcibly and improperly liquidating its assets without proper authorization during the market crash, accelerating its own demise and exacerbating creditor losses. The liquidators are pressing for testimonies from SBF (from prison, as he is currently incarcerated), Ellison, and Salame on October 14, as the bankruptcy court considers a revised $1.53 billion claim—far higher than the $120 million originally sought. FTX’s estate rebuts these allegations, asserting that only $82 million was liquidated, and that most of the losses were self-inflicted by 3AC’s failed trades and the wider downturn, not by any improper action by FTX.

The legal significance is profound. If 3AC’s claim succeeds, it will expand the creditor pool for FTX’s estate by ~20%, dramatically diluting expected recoveries for other customers and raising the principle that centralized exchanges can be held accountable for improper account actions—even during periods of systemic crisis. It also brings attention back to the issues of insider trading, account management, and transparency on CEXs, as former FTX executives face scrutiny over whether privileged information was misused to trade against 3AC or other users.

Broader repercussions loom for how bankruptcy processes, counterparty risk, and legal accountability are handled in future crypto collapses. As the litigation grinds forward, any outcome will have significant precedential weight for how digital asset bankruptcies are navigated both under U.S. law and internationally.

THE GREAT NPM HEIST SUPPLY CHAIN ATTACK

On September 8, 2025, the JavaScript and web3 development community was rocked by the largest supply chain attack in npm history, quickly dubbed “The Great NPM Heist.” Threat actors leveraged a custom phishing campaign to compromise the account of prolific open-source maintainer Josh Junon (Qix-), injecting cryptocurrency-stealing malware into more than 18 foundational npm packages that together account for over 2 billion weekly downloads.

The attack unfolded with chilling speed and technical sophistication. After capturing Junon’s credentials through a fake 2FA verification email (from a lookalike domain, npmjs.help), the attackers published infected versions of critical libraries such as chalk, debug, ansi-styles, and color-convert. The injected code operated as a browser-based interceptor, silently hijacking web3 wallet transactions and network traffic—replacing destination crypto addresses or intercepting signing requests in real time. The malware’s use of the Levenshtein distance algorithm to mask attacker addresses as visually similar to victims’ addresses added to its stealth.

The blast radius was unprecedented. Because these packages are deeply embedded within countless other npm modules, millions of downstream projects and developer environments—ranging from individual apps to enterprise-grade infrastructure—became potentially vulnerable in mere hours. Security firm Aikido detected the attack within minutes, but by then, the malicious versions had already propagated widely. Major platforms like Vercel rushed to revoke 76 affected build caches, issue alerts, and rebuild clean project versions, while npm and open-source communities scrambled to identify, remove, and patch the compromised packages.

Although the actual dollar losses were surprisingly modest (estimated under $1,000 as attackers targeted only transactions that happened to occur through affected browser pathways), the implications are severe. The incident exposed glaring weaknesses in the npm trust model, supply chain security, and developer operations—demonstrating how a single moment of maintainer fatigue can compromise billions of downstream deployments. Security experts are now calling for systematic reforms including stricter publisher authentication, signed GitHub Actions workflows, more alert tooling, and a re-examination of dependency management practices across the global open-source landscape.

ARKHAM INTELLIGENCE TOP CRYPTO HOLDERS RANKING

On September 11, 2025, blockchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence published its annual “crypto whales” rich list, revealing an unprecedented concentration of digital assets among a handful of exchanges, corporations, protocols, and governments. As of early September 2025, Arkham’s entity-based rankings show that the top 100 holders collectively command an estimated $1.6 trillion in crypto—nearly half of the global market cap.

Leading the list, Binance controls over $209 billion across hundreds of consolidated wallets. Coinbase follows closely at $155 billion, while the enigmatic Satoshi Nakamoto’s verified Bitcoin clump is valued at $125 billion. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, appears in the top five with exposure over $100 billion, a testament to its recent success in launching institutional crypto products. Other titans include Fidelity ($47.5B), Grayscale ($34B), and MicroStrategy ($53B), while DeFi protocols such as Lido ($70B) and Aave ($31B) have also established themselves as major market players.

Surprisingly, national governments appear on the list as major holders: the U.S. holds around $23 billion (primarily seized assets) and the U.K. controls almost $7 billion. Meanwhile, publicly traded companies collectively hold more than one million BTC, and Ethereum treasuries have grown dramatically, with institutions now holding millions of ETH. These findings reflect both increased institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies for treasury and strategic asset purposes and an ongoing centralization of power—raising new questions about market manipulation, systemic risk, and the long-term vision of decentralized finance.

For market observers, Arkham’s report affirms that true wealth in the crypto world is far more concentrated than the proliferation of wallets suggests. Decisions by a relatively small number of centralized exchanges, asset managers, and protocol governance boards now exert outsized influence on market liquidity, volatility, and policy engagement. This insight further fuels debate about the role of “crypto whales,” the future distribution of value, and governance risks within the digital asset ecosystem.

BLACKROCK EXPLORATION OF TOKENIZED ETFS

Rounding out a transformative year in finance, BlackRock announced new steps toward the tokenization of exchange-traded fund (ETF) shares—an initiative that could revolutionize both how traditional assets are traded and how they interact with decentralized finance (DeFi).

Building on the momentum from its $2.2 billion BUIDL fund (currently the largest tokenized money market fund) and the profound success of its spot Bitcoin ETF, BlackRock is now exploring the conversion of ETF shares into blockchain-based tokens. Such “tokenized ETFs” would allow for 24/7 settlement, international retail access (beyond Wall Street hours), and the use of ETF shares as digital collateral within DeFi protocols. This approach offers the prospect of merging traditional finance (TradFi) efficiency with the transparency and immediacy of public blockchains.

This initiative is not merely conceptual: BlackRock is already conducting backend trials using JPMorgan’s Kinexys blockchain platform, testing settlement models alongside established clearing systems. CEO Larry Fink has been vocal, describing “tokenization” as the inevitable direction for all financial assets, advocating for direct digital representations of fund shares. The potential impact is enormous—blockchain-based ETFs could unleash trillions in traditional assets onto decentralized rails, restructuring how everything from settlement and custody to governance and compliance functions.

However, obstacles remain. Regulatory regimes must reconcile legacy clearing with 24/7 tokenized settlement, custodians and exchanges need to upgrade compliance and infrastructure, and investor protections must be preserved across digital and traditional channels. BlackRock’s move signals the coming era of institutionally driven DeFi, where the boundaries between classic and crypto asset classes are increasingly blurred. The race is on: rivals such as Franklin Templeton, Fidelity, and even Nasdaq are developing competing tokenization products, and major exchanges like Kraken and Robinhood have already rolled out tokenized stock products for overseas clients. The large-scale mainstreaming of this concept represents a paradigm shift—one that, if realized, could make tokenized assets as common in portfolios as traditional ETFs.

CONCLUSION. The week of September 8–14, 2025, was marked by an extraordinary convergence of drama in the cryptocurrency world—spanning tragedy and exploitation, regulatory roadblocks, legislative brinkmanship, legal reckonings from past failures, transformative technical hacks, and groundbreaking institutional adoption.

At one end, the viral Kirk-themed coins controversy exposed the industry’s ethical challenges, laying bare the volatility and risk for retail investors. Simultaneously, the ongoing regulatory stasis at the SEC and the partisan tug-of-war in the Senate underscore how much U.S. crypto market structure is still caught in legislative crossfire. Market structure itself is evolving—from the power struggles of Hyperliquid’s stablecoin vote to the institutional concentration exposed by Arkham’s rich list and BlackRock’s audacious push toward tokenized ETFs.

Glassnode’s bold ATH predictions and the technical shock of the NPM supply chain breach reflected the extremes of market psychology and software risk. Meanwhile, the unresolved legal battles of 3AC, FTX, and others remind the industry of the multi-year consequences from earlier cycles’ excess and collapse.

Collectively, these stories illustrate that crypto is far from the fringes—it stands at the crossroads of finance, governance, technology, and human emotion. This moment is pivotal: the shape of innovation, regulation, and risk tolerance defined this week will echo through the next phase of blockchain’s integration into not just financial markets, but the fabric of the global economy.

And with that, I’m clocking out for a quick Sunday reset — but before I disappear into the weekend haze, I need YOU to drop your take in the latest MNO TalkBack poll. Your voice drives the convo, and it’s how I lock in what to tackle next.

No stress — I’ll be back next Sunday with a fresh edition of the Weekly CryptoNews Digest. Expect wild revelations, sharp data drops, and profit-packed strategies you won’t catch anywhere else. I’m talking about the real keys to stacking and safeguarding your crypto stash like a seasoned vet.

Truth is, your grind and feedback are what make MNO the most dialed-in crypto community out there. I’m genuinely thankful for every one of you. Let’s keep chasing that digital bread, side by side. For Money Lovers, always.

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