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Venture capital is consolidating into larger, higher-conviction bets, with infrastructure projects leading the way, according to Outlier Ventures Aug 30, 2025, 6:00 p.m. Web3 startups raised $9.6 billion in venture funding during the second quarter of 2025, making it the second-largest quarter on record, even as the number of deals fell to multi-year lows, according to a new report by Outlier Ventures. The research by the London-based venture capital firm could present a maturing market in which investors are putting more money into fewer projects. The findings suggest that Web3 fundraising is evolving from hype-driven activity toward targeted, durability-focused investment, with investors favoring foundational infrastructure and proven teams over volume. Only 306 deals were disclosed in the quarter, the lowest since mid-2023, but the median deal size rose across every stage. Outlier said this reflects a shift from broad, speculative investing to strategic, high-conviction allocations. Series A funding, which had slowed sharply during the bear market, staged a comeback. The median Series A round grew to $17.6 million, with 27 deals totaling $420 million, the largest since 2022. Seed funding also picked up, with a median size of $6.6 million. Token fundraising painted a split picture. Private token sales raised $410 million across just 15 deals—their strongest showing since 2021, while public token sales slumped 83% to $134 million, underscoring waning appetite for retail-focused offerings. Sectors such as cryptocurrency infrastructure, mining and validation, and compute networks saw the largest rounds, with medians ranging between $70 million and $112 million. Consumer-facing sectors, such as marketplaces, trailed significantly. “Capital is consolidating around the projects that can provide the rails for the next phase of adoption,” Outlier wrote, adding that infrastructure-first bets are viewed as “indispensable” to Web3’s long-term growth. AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy. More For You Pump.fun Buybacks Fuel PUMP Token Revival Amid Broader Crypto Downturn Despite a cooling crypto market, Pump.fun’s aggressive strategy of deploying platform revenue to repurchase its native token has driven a 17% weekly gain. What to know: PUMP is up 17% this week as Pump.fun continues to buy back tokens using platform revenue. $59 million in cumulative buybacks have been executed to date, absorbing supply from a pool of more than 12.5 million launched tokens. Despite the rebound, PUMP is trading 50% below its July debut price, underscoring the challenges of sustaining early hype. Read full story Read More

Most Bitcoin Still Belongs to Individuals, but Institutions Are Catching Up: Research River’s research estimates BTC ownership at 65.9% for individuals, 7.8% for funds, 6.2% for businesses and 1.5% for governments. About 7.6% is believed to be lost. Updated Aug 30, 2025, 7:35 p.m. Published Aug 30, 2025, 5:04 p.m. River says individuals still own the majority of bitcoin. The U.S.-based bitcoin financial services firm revealed ownership distribution research dated Aug. 25 in a recent post on X. The study groups bitcoin supply into a few categories and shows the market share of each, using public filings, custodial address tagging and earlier blockchain research. River estimates individuals control about 65.9% of circulating BTC, or 13.83 million coins. This bucket includes self-custodied wallets and exchange accounts that River classifies as individual. On the institutional side, River divides holdings into businesses, ETFs and funds. Businesses — a global category covering corporate treasuries and conventional firms that report bitcoin holdings — account for about 6.2% of supply, or 1.30 million BTC. ETFs and funds — spot ETFs and investment vehicles that custody coins for clients — control about 7.8%, or 1.63 million BTC. Governments are shown at about 1.5%, or 306,000 BTC, based on sovereign addresses tracked from public sources. Two special categories round out the distribution: Lost bitcoin makes up about 7.6%, or 1.58 million BTC. River says this is inferred from age heuristics, which show coins that have not moved for many years and are likely unrecoverable. Satoshi/Patoshi holdings are pegged at about 4.6%, or 968,000 BTC, based on earlier research into early-era mining patterns. Finally, about 5.2% of the supply, or 1.09 million BTC, has yet to be mined before the hard cap of 21 million is reached. River’s research estimates as of Aug. 25, 2025, individuals hold 65.9% of BTC, funds 7.8% In plain terms, River’s research is an attempt to map who holds bitcoin today, not to forecast future prices. The estimates are not definitive, since custodians aggregate many clients, some wallets are misclassified, and ownership can be opaque. River’s conclusion is that individuals still dominate holdings, but the institutional share is expanding, helped by the growth of ETFs and companies that now treat bitcoin as a balance-sheet asset. AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy. More For You Given Trump’s Pro-Crypto Stance, Is it Time to Fully Ditch Gold in Favor of Bitcoin? Bitwise’s André Dragosch argues gold still protects against stock sell-offs while bitcoin hedges bond stress — raising questions about their roles in 2025 portfolios. What to know: Bitwise’s André Dragosch says gold works best as a hedge when equities tumble, while bitcoin offers more resilience when U.S. bond markets are under pressure. Historical data and industry research back the split: gold often rises in equity bear markets, while bitcoin has held up better during Treasury sell-offs. So far in 2025, gold is up more than 30% and bitcoin about 15%, reflecting their diverging roles as investors weigh higher yields, equity volatility, and Trump’s pro-crypto stance. Read full story Read More

Businesses Are Absorbing Bitcoin at 4x the Rate It Is Mined, According to River’s Research River’s new flow map suggests companies absorb around 1,755 BTC per day versus approximately 450 mined, with funds and ETFs adding more demand. Updated Aug 30, 2025, 7:42 p.m. Published Aug 30, 2025, 4:07 p.m. River says companies are taking in far more bitcoin each day than miners create. The U.S.-based bitcoin financial services firm, which runs brokerage and mining operations and publishes research, released a Sankey-style flow infographic dated Aug. 25 in a post on X. In this layout, outflows are shown on the left, inflows on the right, and the thickness of each line represents the size of the net daily movement. River’s Aug. 25 snapshot shows businesses absorbing about 1,755 BTC/day vs about 450 mined. River defines “businesses” broadly. The category combines bitcoin treasury companies — firms such as Strategy that publicly hold BTC — with conventional companies that keep bitcoin on their balance sheets. Based on public filings, custodial address tagging and its own heuristics, River estimates that about 1,755 BTC per day flow into business-controlled wallets. By comparison, River calculates new miner supply at about 450 BTC per day in 2025. That figure reflects the April 2024 halving, which cut the block subsidy to 3.125 BTC per block. With bitcoin blocks averaging one every 10 minutes — about 144 per day — the result is roughly 450 BTC in new issuance daily, though the exact number fluctuates slightly as block times vary. That math is the basis for River’s claim that companies are absorbing bitcoin at nearly four times the rate it is mined. The infographic shows other large institutional inflows as well. Funds and ETFs account for about 1,430 BTC/day in net inflows, which further boosts total absorption compared with new issuance. Smaller streams go to “other” entities (about 411 BTC/day) and governments (about 39 BTC/day). River also records a small but steady flow into “lost bitcoin” (about 14 BTC/day), representing coins that the firm judges to be permanently inaccessible, such as through key loss. On the other side of the ledger, individuals appear as the largest net outflow at about –3,196 BTC/day. River stresses that this does not necessarily mean retail investors are dumping coins. Rather, it reflects bitcoin moving from addresses the firm classifies as individual-held into those it tags as institutional. River says the takeaway is simple: when inflows to businesses and funds exceed new issuance from miners, available supply tightens. Still, the firm cautions that the infographic should be read carefully. First, the figures are estimates, not an exact census of the blockchain. River relies on a mix of wallet tagging, public disclosures and external databases, which may miss some holdings or misclassify certain addresses. Second, net inflows do not always equal direct spot buying. A business wallet showing +1,755 BTC per day could reflect OTC transactions, custodial transfers or treasury reshuffling, not just exchange purchases. For readers unfamiliar with flow diagrams, the point is this: the lines show where coins are ending up on balance, not every trade or transfer in the system. If more coins consistently end up in business, fund and government wallets than miners are producing, River argues that institutions are tightening supply at the margin. River’s snapshot is not a price forecast, but it illustrates how ownership patterns may be shifting. If businesses and funds continue to absorb more than miners produce, the firm argues, institutions could play a larger role in shaping bitcoin’s supply dynamics. AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy. More For You Given Trump’s Pro-Crypto Stance, Is it Time to Fully Ditch Gold in Favor of Bitcoin? Bitwise’s André Dragosch argues gold still protects against stock sell-offs while bitcoin hedges bond stress — raising questions about their roles in 2025 portfolios. What to know: Bitwise’s André Dragosch says gold works best as a hedge when equities tumble, while bitcoin offers more resilience when U.S. bond markets are under pressure. Historical data and industry research back the split: gold often rises in equity bear markets, while bitcoin has held up better during Treasury sell-offs. So far in 2025, gold is up more than 30% and bitcoin about 15%, reflecting their diverging roles as investors weigh higher yields, equity volatility, and Trump’s pro-crypto stance. Read full story Read More

Hyperliquid’s HYPE Token: Why Arthur Hayes Thinks It Has 126x Upside Potential Arthur Hayes argues that fiat decline drives stablecoin saving, funneling into crypto speculation—and Hyperliquid is the exchange built for that wave. Updated Aug 30, 2025, 2:53 p.m. Published Aug 30, 2025, 2:42 p.m. Arthur Hayes, the BitMEX co-founder now serving as co-founder and chief investment officer of crypto-focused venture capital firm Maelstrom, says Hyperliquid’s HYPE token could soar more than 100-fold. Hayes is best known for inventing the perpetual swap at BitMEX, the derivatives contract that changed crypto trading. At Maelstrom, he invests in early-stage infrastructure projects. In his latest blog post, Hayes argued Hyperliquid’s token could rise 126 times, a claim backed by a valuation model produced by Maelstrom. Hyperliquid is a decentralized exchange built on its own blockchain. Unlike Coinbase or Binance, which are companies running private servers, Hyperliquid lives fully on-chain. Traders use it mainly for perpetual futures — contracts that let them bet on crypto prices without an expiry date. Its native token, HYPE, acts as both a governance tool and an economic stake. Holders can vote on upgrades, stake tokens for rewards and benefit from the way trading fees link to the token’s value. In short, Hyperliquid is the venue and HYPE is how users share in its growth. ‘Decentralized Binance’ Hayes begins his case with the big picture. He says when governments print too much money, currencies lose value and ordinary savers are forced to speculate just to maintain their standard of living. Those who don’t already own houses or stocks see their savings eroded. For many, especially in emerging markets, the easiest way to save today is with stablecoins such as USDT and USDC — digital dollars that sit natively on blockchains. Once you’re holding stablecoins, Hayes argues, the most obvious place to put them to work is crypto itself, since that’s the system where those tokens function most easily. That funnel, according to the Maelstrom CIO, leads straight to Hyperliquid. Hayes says it already dominates decentralized perpetual futures trading, controlling around two-thirds of the market and is starting to grow against centralized giants like Binance. He points to execution as the difference. He believes that Hyperliquid’s small team, led by founder Jeff Yan, ships features faster than rivals with hundreds of employees. The platform feels as fast as Binance, Hayes says, but every step — trading, settlement, collateral management — happens transparently on-chain. He calls Hyperliquid a “decentralized Binance.” Like Binance, it relies on stablecoins instead of banks for deposits. Unlike Binance, everything is recorded on its blockchain. Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 upgrade also lets outside developers create entirely new markets that plug directly into its order book, turning it into a permissionless trading hub. The 126x upside Then comes the math. Maelstrom’s model starts with a bold forecast: by 2028, the total value of stablecoins could reach $10 trillion. Next, Hayes borrows a ratio from Binance’s history. On that exchange, daily trading volume has often equaled about 26.4% of the total stablecoin supply. Apply that ratio to $10 trillion, and Hyperliquid could see about $2.6 trillion in trades every day. Now add fees. Hyperliquid charges around 0.03% per trade. On $2.6 trillion in daily activity, that works out to roughly $258 billion in annual revenues once you roll it up across the year. Investors then discount those future revenues into today’s money to reflect risk and the time value of money. Hayes uses a 5% rate, which produces a present value of about $5.16 trillion. Finally, stack that against HYPE’s current fully diluted valuation of around $41 billion. Divide the two, and you get Hayes’s headline number: a potential 126x upside. Maelstrom analysis shows how HYPE could see 126x upside. He ties the calculation back to his broader thesis—that weak money forces people into stablecoins, and stablecoins push them into crypto speculation, with Hyperliquid as the rails for that activity and HYPE as the token that captures the economics. ‘The king is dead’ Hayes closes out his thesis with a bold prediction. “The King is dead. Long live the King,” he wrote, arguing Hyperliquid could surpass Binance as the world’s largest exchange and that Jeff Yan could one day rival CZ’s wealth. The model depends on big assumptions: a $10 trillion stablecoin market, Hyperliquid holding a Binance-level share, fees holding at 0.03% and discount rates staying low. If those conditions break, so does the outcome. But Hayes’s through-line is simple. If the world saves in stablecoins, the speculation that follows will happen on-chain — and in his view, Hyperliquid is already in the lead. AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy. More For You Given Trump’s Pro-Crypto Stance, Is it Time to Fully Ditch Gold in Favor of Bitcoin? Bitwise’s André Dragosch argues gold still protects against stock sell-offs while bitcoin hedges bond stress — raising questions about their roles in 2025 portfolios. What to know: Bitwise’s André Dragosch says gold works best as a hedge when equities tumble, while bitcoin offers more resilience when U.S. bond markets are under pressure. Historical data and industry research back the split: gold often rises in equity bear markets, while bitcoin has held up better during Treasury sell-offs. So far in 2025, gold is up more than 30% and bitcoin about 15%, reflecting their diverging roles as investors weigh higher yields, equity volatility, and Trump’s pro-crypto stance. Read full story Read More

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“Tap to Earn” Pi network Pi coin has seen a jump of 5% hitting a three-week high price today, while trading volume surged to $65.2 million, up more than 30%. At a time when most cryptocurrencies are struggling to hold ground, Pi is standing out with strong momentum. What’s driving this rally? New Exchange Listings Boost Accessibility One of the key reasons behind the surge is new exchange support. Valour, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange-listed DeFi Technologies, launched eight new crypto-focused ETPs, including a Pi-focused product, Valour Pi (PI) Swedish Krona (SEK) ETP. In addition, Pi Network secured a listing with Swapfone (BTCC), offering PI/USDS trading pairs on a regulated U.S. platform. Airdrop promotions linked to this listing added further excitement and liquidity. Ecosystem Upgrades and Mainnet Launch Ahead The bullish sentiment also comes ahead of Pi Network’s long-awaited v23.01 upgrade and mainnet launch, scheduled for September 3, 2025. The update will enhance security, improve network performance, and introduce more open-source elements. Recently, Pi also announced the release of its Linux Node version, a move welcomed by developers and partners. This step makes the network’s infrastructure more standardized and scalable, adding long-term value to the project. Supply Pressure Eases in September Another factor pushing Pi higher is its token unlock schedule. Data from PiScan shows that 161.73 million PI tokens will be released into circulation this September. While this may sound large, it’s nearly 50% less than the August unlock, meaning there will be less supply pressure on the market. This reduction in new supply is seen as a positive trigger for price stability and growth. Pi Coin Price Prediction As of now, PI coin price is trading around $0.37, after recovering from its August low of $0.32. However, analysts note that the token is still moving within a downward channel but is showing signs of recovery. The RSI is climbing toward 48.55, signaling growing buying demand. If Pi breaks the resistance level at $0.4120, analysts believe it could extend its rebound further. Meanwhile, the MACD indicator has avoided a bearish crossover, suggesting a revival in bullish momentum. Never Miss a Beat in the Crypto World! Stay ahead with breaking news, expert analysis, and real-time updates on the latest trends in Bitcoin, altcoins, DeFi, NFTs, and more. FAQs Why is Pi coin’s price rising today? Pi coin surged 5% due to new exchange listings, including a Valour ETP product and a Swapfone listing, alongside anticipation of its mainnet launch. What are the key upcoming developments for Pi Network? The v23.01 upgrade and mainnet launch on September 3, 2025, will enhance security, performance, and introduce more open-source elements to the network. How do new exchange listings impact Pi? Listings like Valour’s Pi ETP and Swapfone’s PI/USDS pair increase accessibility, liquidity, and institutional interest, driving retail and institutional demand. What is the price prediction for Pi coin? If Pi breaks the $0.4120 resistance level, it could extend its rebound. RSI at 48.55 shows growing buying demand despite a recent downtrend. We’d Love to Hear Your Thoughts on This Article! Was this writing helpful? Read More

Cardano is advancing its long-planned upgrade aimed at increasing network throughput and is inviting the community to weigh in. The “Ouroboros Leios” Cardano Improvement Proposal (CIP) is now publicly available in the Cardano Foundation’s repository. On August 27, Input Output’s Director of Software Architecture, Nicolas “BeRewt” Biri, announced the public release of the Leios CIP. Although too early to celebrate the upgrade, he notes that this submission is a significant milestone, and the team wants to ensure the community agrees with it first. So, here it is, we know have a public and submitted CIP for Leios. More than ever, it’s now time for feedback.https://t.co/s3aCAHBfyKIt may be too early to celebrate, as we want to be sure that the community agrees on it first, but it’s a huge milestone. — Nicolas `BeRewt` Biri (@BeRewt) August 27, 2025 Reviewing Design and Trade-Offs Biri said that the team is reviewing the design choices and trade-offs. The coverage areas include the detailed Leios variant, implementation materials (formal specifications and mini-protocols), trade-offs, potential positive effects on script budgets, and resistance to attacks. He added that the team had planned to submit the PR by the end of August. The draft now includes feedback on failed transactions and aims to have minimal impact on dApps. Community Debates Security, Speed, and Decentralization Not all community members are convinced that Cardano can achieve higher throughput without compromise.  One user questioned whether the network would need to make the same trade-offs as Solana to achieve speed. Biri responded that Cardano deliberately avoided that path, opting for a balance that does not sacrifice decentralization or security. Compromising anything how it would be different from Solana? All these days finger was pointed on them now we also saying we need to compromise. Is Solana understood and solve this problem best way possible much ahead of time? — AR (@ashishranjan04) August 28, 2025 He added that Cardano’s security model limits certain speed optimizations, meaning that matching Solana’s speed would require reducing decentralization, reliability, or cost efficiency. So far, the Cardano community has not been willing to take that approach. Earlier this month, the Cardano community approved 96 million ADA (around $71 million) to fund a year-long series of core upgrades.  The proposal passed with 74% approval, marking the first time treasury funds have been directly allocated to core development. With these moves, Cardano is taking a major step toward high-throughput, scalable, and community-driven development. Never Miss a Beat in the Crypto World! Stay ahead with breaking news, expert analysis, and real-time updates on the latest trends in Bitcoin, altcoins, DeFi, NFTs, and more. FAQs What is Cardano’s Ouroboros Leios upgrade? It’s a Cardano Improvement Proposal (CIP) designed to significantly increase network throughput while maintaining decentralization and security, now open for community review. How will Leios improve Cardano’s performance? The upgrade aims to boost transaction throughput and scalability while minimizing impact on dApps and maintaining the network’s security model and decentralization. What areas does the Leios proposal cover? It includes formal specifications, implementation details, script budget improvements, attack resistance measures, and handling of failed transactions. We’d Love to Hear Your Thoughts on This Article! Was this writing helpful? Read More