Banks Build Their Own Chain, and ETF Money Keeps Arriving

A group sitting on $21.8 trillion just stopped arguing about digital dollars and started constructing the infrastructure. Bitcoin cleared a level it hadn’t seen since spring, then got turned back at the next one. And the ETF bids refused to take a day off.

Three Businesses Hidden (Sponsored)

Claim the stock ticker I promised you

Marc Chaikin says one overlooked AI company could be hiding three separate high-growth businesses inside a single stock.

He believes those divisions could eventually be spun off, while current shareholders may also collect a dividend along the way.

Wall Street still treats it like one company. Chaikin thinks that could be a major mistake.

See the “dark horse” AI stock Chaikin says to own before September 4

Market-Moving News

Thirty-nine state banking associations formed a coalition to build a shared blockchain. That sounds like every other bank-chain headline until you notice the scale. Bitcoin pushed through $80,000 for the first time in months, then ran straight into its 50-week moving average and bounced. ETF money kept showing up on the red days as well as the green ones.

Institutions and traders are operating on completely different clocks right now. That’s usually where the interesting divergence lives.

Industry

Revolut Launches Euro Stablecoin With 80M-Customer Distribution Engine

Revolut has started rolling out EURR, its first euro-backed stablecoin, placing tokenized euros inside a financial app used by roughly 80 million customers.

The phased launch begins with selected users in Denmark, Poland, and Portugal, then expands more widely across the European Economic Area later this year. EURR is designed to maintain a €1 value and will support transfers between Revolut accounts, external wallets, and multiple blockchain networks.

Bridge Building, part of the payments infrastructure company Stripe acquired for $1.1 billion in 2025, issues the stablecoin.

Distribution Comes Built In

Most new stablecoins have to compete for listings, wallet integrations, and users before meaningful circulation can develop. Revolut starts from a different position. Its banking, payments, foreign exchange, and crypto products already sit within the same app, giving EURR a ready-made route to customers who may never use a crypto exchange.

The initial three-country rollout remains small compared with Revolut’s overall customer base, but broader European expansion is planned.

Tokenized Euros Enter Everyday Finance

EURR could also move beyond Revolut’s closed ecosystem through external wallets and supported blockchain networks. That matters as euro-denominated stablecoins compete for relevance against the much larger dollar-backed market. Revolut has also indicated that stablecoins tied to additional currencies could follow.

Take: Stablecoin competition changes when distribution is already sitting inside a mainstream financial app. You do not need EURR to dominate crypto trading for this launch to matter; widespread everyday use across Revolut’s existing payment network would be the bigger prize.

ETFs

Hong Kong Launches First Bitcoin-and-Gold ETF With a 50/50 Split

Hong Kong has launched its first ETF combining Bitcoin and gold, giving investors exposure to both assets through a single regulated, exchange-listed product.

MicroBit Capital’s Bitcoin & Gold Value ETF began trading on HKEX today under tickers 3002.HK and 9002.HK. The fund targets an allocation of roughly 50% Bitcoin and 50% gold, with either side allowed to move between 40% and 60% before rebalancing.

Digital Gold Meets Traditional Gold

The Bitcoin portion primarily holds spot BTC, with Hong Kong and U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs available as supplementary exposure. The gold side mainly uses regulated COMEX futures rather than holding physical bullion directly.

At least 70% of the fund’s net asset value must remain tied to Bitcoin and gold exposure. That makes the product a direct attempt to package crypto scarcity and traditional safe-haven demand together.

One ETF Handles the Allocation

Investors no longer need separate products to manage a Bitcoin-and-gold strategy inside Hong Kong’s regulated market. The fund automatically rebalances when either allocation moves outside its target range, although Bitcoin volatility and gold futures roll costs can still affect returns. The ETF is also brand new, so liquidity and investor demand have yet to establish themselves.

Take: Hong Kong is treating Bitcoin and gold as parts of the same portfolio rather than as competing alternatives. You get a more interesting signal if investors start treating the 50/50 structure as a permanent allocation instead of a short-term trade.

September Catalyst Approaches (Sponsored)

Huge AI Announcement Coming on September 3

The last time this firm did this, it skyrocketed overnight.

Now – backed by a $51 billion backlog, a SpaceX partnership, and President Trump’s ringing endorsement – the gains could be even bigger.

Get its stock symbol free of charge.

*This ad is sent on behalf of InvestorPlace Media at 1125 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201. If you're not interested in this opportunity, please click here.

Security

Ethereum Moves to Protect $104B in Staked ETH From Quantum Attacks

Ethereum researchers have proposed the first concrete step toward making the network’s staking system resistant to future quantum-computing attacks. The draft targets Ethereum’s validator deposit contract, which currently relies on BLS cryptography. 

Roughly 42.4 million ETH, worth about $104 billion, is now staked through a system that developers eventually want to migrate toward stronger post-quantum protection. The immediate goal is not to replace today’s cryptography overnight, but to give Ethereum a way to transition when the technology is ready.

The Deposit Contract Gets an Escape Route

Ethereum’s current deposit contract effectively hard-codes the cryptographic format validators use. The proposal would allow deposits to specify different signature systems, opening the door for quantum-resistant keys to operate alongside BLS. 

Developers could later stop accepting new BLS deposits once a secure replacement has been tested and adopted. Existing validators would not suddenly lose access under the proposed structure.

Quantum Risk Moves Onto the Roadmap

Current quantum computers cannot break Ethereum’s validator security, so the proposal is preventive rather than an emergency response.

Ethereum researchers are targeting the end of the decade for broader quantum-resistant protocol changes, with staking only one part of the challenge. Wallets, smart contracts, and Layer 2 systems would also require protection.

Take: Ethereum is treating quantum risk as an infrastructure problem before it becomes a live security crisis. By the time you actually need post-quantum protection, having a migration path already built could matter far more than rushing one into place.

1973 Valuation Cracks (Sponsored)

The Next Big Gold Move Is Already Building

Washington still values its gold at a 1973 price, while real gold sits above $3,100.

Trump could be about to blow that number wide open, and last time this happened, one asset exploded over 2,000 percent.

Get the free report before this breaks.

Future Forward

A heavy close to the month, with a large options expiry landing on top of the conference calendar.

On the Radar:

🗳️ Solana’s emission and fee vote, closing around month-end

📊 Whether ETF inflow streaks extend

🏦 BankChain’s still-unnamed technology partner

Coming Up:

📅 Solana Summit Serbia in Belgrade this week

📅 Bitcoin Asia in Hong Kong at the end of the week

Crypto Know-How: What Max Pain Means and Why Friday Might Get Choppy

Around $6.4 billion of bitcoin options expire Friday. You’ll see a max-pain price near $68,000 quoted alongside it. Worth knowing what that number actually represents before reading too much into it.

An option gives its holder the right to buy or sell at a set price by a set date. The other side of that contract is usually a market maker, not someone with a strong directional view. Market makers collect the premium and hedge constantly, buying and selling spot to stay neutral as price moves.

Max pain is the price at which the largest number of outstanding options expire worthless. Option buyers lose the most there; the people who sold the contracts keep the most premium. Because market makers tend to sit on the winning side of that equation, there’s a long-running idea that price gets pulled toward max pain into expiry as their hedging flows nudge it.

Hold that theory loosely. Spot volume still dwarfs options open interest in bitcoin, so any pull is weak, and expiries miss max pain often enough that the pattern isn’t reliable. What’s more consistent is the volatility. As expiry approaches, market makers roll or unwind large positions. That mechanical churn produces sharper moves around heavily traded strikes regardless of anyone’s longer-term view.

Short version: expect Friday to be twitchier than usual near round numbers. Don’t mistake hedging flow for a genuine change of conviction.

Everything Else

• Most traders spot a move after it is already underway. These three small-cap profiles across AI, energy, and emerging tech are showing the early characteristics that tend to form beneath the surface before anything becomes obvious.

• SOL holders are voting on proposals that would accelerate the network’s disinflation schedule and raise daily fee burns. The window closes around month-end. One of the more consequential supply decisions any major chain has put to a vote this year.

• Galaxy Digital opened a retail credit line through GalaxyOne, letting users borrow against BTC, ETH, and SOL (including staked SOL) without selling. Crypto-backed lending continues drifting from institutions toward ordinary customers.

• Hyperliquid activated a new mechanism that routes the bulk of yield earned on its large USDC reserves into ongoing HYPE buybacks and burns, adding a revenue stream that doesn’t depend solely on trading volume.

• ENA holders continue watching governance around fee switches that would route more protocol revenue into open-market buybacks and staker value.

• Roughly $6.4 billion in bitcoin options expire Friday, with meaningful call open interest clustered around the $75,000–$80,000 strikes. Settlement days tend to get noisier than the news alone would justify.