Major cryptocurrencies traded mostly lower on Thursday, with HYPE outpacing declines across the sector. Bitcoin traded at $63,400, down 1%, while Ethereum and Solana each dipped 1%, settling at $1,880 and $75.60, respectively. HYPE bucked the trend, climbing 4% to $57.30 during the session.
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AAPLSEC set to unveil new crypto regulations
The US Securities and Exchange Commission plans to introduce two significant crypto initiatives, according to Bloomberg. The first is a proposed “Regulation Crypto,” a framework that would enable blockchain projects to raise capital through token sales without requiring full securities registration. The proposal will be discussed at an open meeting scheduled for Friday.
The second, and potentially more impactful move, focuses on granting an “innovation exemption” for tokenized stocks. This exemption could be announced as soon as Friday and would allow tokenized shares of companies such as Apple, Tesla, and Nvidia to trade on public blockchains around the clock in fractional units with rapid settlement.
Currently, tokenized stocks give holders economic exposure to the underlying equities, but without voting or dividend rights. Multiple protocols are working to address these limitations. The initiative under SEC Chair Paul Atkins’s “Project Crypto” is expected to provide more specific regulatory guidance for these products.
Mini dictionary: Tokenized stocks are digital representations of equity shares posted on blockchains, allowing 24/7 fractional trading but typically lacking voting and dividend rights.
The legal clarity brought by a formal SEC exemption could open US retail access to an area of the market that has been mostly active in a regulatory gray zone and often limited to non-US users.
Market and volume trends
Spot trading activity sharply decreased in recent weeks, as Bitcoin’s spot trading volume dropped to its lowest point since 2019. Analysts point to a standoff between weak spot demand and building seller exhaustion. Exchange-traded Bitcoin products saw net outflows of $61 million on Wednesday, while Ethereum ETFs registered $7.4 million in inflows.
Altcoins and meme coins remained under pressure, with DOGE down 3%, SHIB falling 1%, and PEPE losing 5%. BONK was an exception, rising 2%. Top altcoin movers included OKB (+7%), MNT (+6%), and Virtual (+5%). Among Solana-based tokens, Ava soared 40%, momota surged 180%, and XST climbed 33%.
Across legacy markets, oil slipped 2% to $81, gold edged down 0.5% to $4,450, while stock futures showed minor gains with the Nasdaq up 0.5% and the Dow flat.
Institutional moves and technical events
Goldman Sachs completed a $2.25 billion acquisition of NEOS, obtaining the BTCI covered-call fund and access to about $30 billion in options-based strategies. Bitwise, a crypto-focused asset manager, reduced its staff by 14% as declining trading activity hit ETF issuers, trimming its workforce to around 155 employees.
Solana experienced a near-miss incident after a routing bug led to almost 29% of staked SOL becoming unavailable, bringing the chain within five percentage points of freezing finality. Meanwhile, the Robinhood Chain saw rapid growth in tokenized real world asset (RWA) volume, rising fivefold this summer and accounting for a major push across Solana and Base.
Hyperliquid, a decentralized derivatives exchange, introduced a new “scaleWei” function intended to redistribute tokenized stock balances automatically for events such as splits and dividends. The platform also lowered its real-time data node access cost to under $1,000 per month, removing a previous 10,000-HYPE staking requirement.
Mini dictionary: Hyperliquid is a decentralized crypto exchange that focuses on perpetual contracts and innovative onchain financial infrastructure with features such as real-time data nodes.
Multiple protocols are now developing solutions aimed at extending voting and dividend rights to holders of tokenized stocks, which could further align these assets with their traditional counterparts and address gaps in current structures.
Security and network incidents
A vulnerability in a bridge on the XRP Ledger allowed an attacker to generate unbacked XRP balances, draining nearly 200,000 XRP (approximately $202,000) despite the flaw passing multiple security audits. In another security event, the Coldcard incident led holders to transfer $15 billion in Bitcoin to safer storage, as 233,000 BTC left long-term wallets following the breach.
NFT and microcap token updates
NFT leaders were mostly flat. Punks traded at 31.7 ETH, Bored Ape Yacht Club at 8.17 ETH, and Pudgy Penguins at 3.92 ETH. Stonkbrokers fell 20% to 10 ETH. Top movers included Good Vibes Club (+32%) and The Saudis (+650%), while NFT microcaps like RH Machines, Robinhood Kitties, and fuwa all gained over 200%.
The introduction of a dedicated “innovation exemption” for tokenized stocks stands to unlock growth across onchain real world assets, positioning the US for broader retail access if regulatory clarity is delivered as anticipated.
