ETH Nears Record High as BitMine Plans $20B Raise

Plus, ⚠️ Monero 51% takeover claim, 🪙 Circle to launch Arc blockchain, ⚖️ Do Kwon pleads guilty.

Hi! In today’s edition:

  • 🚀 ETH close to ATH, BitMine bets big with $20B plan

  • 💥 Monero hit by alleged 51% takeover

  • 🏦 Circle building Arc blockchain for stablecoin finance

  • 🛑 Do Kwon admits to fraud charges

  • 🎧 Bits + Bips – ETH rally: Flows, Fed moves & macro shifts

  • 🎙️ Unchained – Altcoin treasuries: Gimmick or game changer?

Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Xapo Bank and Ledn. If you enjoy Unchained Daily, show our sponsors some love!

Access up to $1M without selling your Bitcoin

Please also be aware that eligibility and availability restrictions may apply to the Bitcoin-backed loans product. Not currently available for UK residents.

Instant liquidity. No selling. No fees. No early penalties. Backed by your BTC.

How do you access capital when all your wealth is tied up in Bitcoin? LEDN solves this with Bitcoin-backed loans - you get the liquidity you need while keeping your Bitcoin position intact.

No selling, no taxable events, just capital when you need it.

Trusted since 2018 with 1,000+ verified reviews.

By Tikta

Ether Nears Record High, Topping $4,700 as BitMine Eyes $20 Billion Expansion

Ether extended its rally on Tuesday, surging 9% to reach $4,708 by Wednesday morning. The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency is now trading just 4% shy of its all-time high of $4,891 set in November 2021.

“Including staking rewards, ETH has now outperformed BTC by 900 [basis points] YTD,” said VanEck’s head of digital assets research, Matthew Sigel, on X.

The price action comes as BitMine Immersion Technology announced plans to raise an additional $20 billion in equity to buy more ETH. The firm already holds 1.15 million ETH valued just shy of $5 billion, but its bigger target is to own 5% of ETH’s total supply.

BitMine chair and prominent market strategist Tom Lee projects that ETH could reach between $7,000 and $15,000 before year-end.

“It’s all about ETH right now,” said Asgard founder Alex Kruger on the Bits + Bips podcast, “it’s about flows, it’s about BitMine and Tom Lee.”

Meanwhile, solana was also on a tear, surging 15% and reaching an intraday high of $201.58.

Qubic Claims Successful 51% Monero Network Takeover

Qubic, a project led by former IOTA co-founder Sergey Ivancheglo, claims to have achieved majority control of Monero's hashrate, reaching 51% dominance after “a month-long, high-stakes technical confrontation.”

This level of control theoretically allows Qubic to reorganize blocks, censor transactions, and attempt double-spends on Monero’s privacy-focused token XMR.

The project deployed a “useful proof-of-work” model that converted XMR mining rewards into USDT, then used those proceeds to buy and burn QUBIC tokens, strengthening its own ecosystem while increasing its hashrate share on Monero.

Blockchain data shows that Monero experienced a 6-block deep chain reorg, a scenario where the blockchain replaces the last six blocks with a different set due to finding a longer competing chain.

While some developers, like Serai DEX lead developer Luke Parker, contested that it constitutes a successful 51% attack, others like Blockchain CEO Nikita Zhavoronkov argued that a malicious 6-block reorg is already a success even if it’s short-lived.

Zhavoronkov warned, “I’ve warned the Monero community several times about the low security budget. Bitcoin is next!”

XMR dropped as much as 13% to an intraday low of $244.42 on Tuesday.

Circle to Launch Layer 1 Blockchain ‘Arc’

USDC issuer Circle plans to launch a new layer 1 blockchain called Arc, with the public testnet expected to go live this fall and the mainnet beta set for a 2026 rollout.

Arc is designed to be an enterprise-grade platform focused on stablecoin payments, foreign exchange, and capital markets applications.

It will be Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible, allowing easy integration with Ethereum-based applications, and use USDC as its native gas token. 

The Arc whitepaper claims performance targets for the network are processing 3,000 transactions per second (TPS) and settlement finality under 350 milliseconds using 20 validators, with higher speeds possible in certain configurations.

“One truth has become clear: the industry needs blockchain infrastructure purpose-built for stablecoin finance,” said Circle.

Do Kwon Pleads Guilty to Two Counts of Fraud

Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon has pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud — one for conspiracy to commit commodities, securities, and wire fraud, and another for wire fraud related to schemes at Terraform.

As part of the plea deal, Kwon has agreed to forfeit over $19 million in earnings from his crypto activities and his interest in Terraform Labs and associated tokens.

“Kwon’s plea represents an important milestone in this Office’s continuing efforts to bring integrity and accountability to the digital asset markets, said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton.

The maximum possible prison sentence for the charges in question is 25 years, but under the terms of the plea agreement, prosecutors will not recommend a sentence above 12 years if Kwon complies with the conditions.

Kwon’s sentencing hearing has been set for Dec. 11. 

Bits + Bips: Why ETH Is Soaring and How Long the Rally Can Continue

Also, are traders mispricing the next Fed move? 

Ethereum’s rally has captivated the market, but is it really about the GENIUS Act and stablecoins, or just raw flows? 

In this episode of Bits + Bips, Alex Kruger, Ram Ahluwalia, Steven Ehrlich, and special guest Sid Powell of Maple Finance, dive deep into what’s driving ETH, the macro forces shaping crypto’s next leg up, and whether traders are completely wrong about the Fed’s next moves.

From the potential flood of TradFi capital onto the blockchain, to the battle for stablecoin dominance, to whether Solana is about to get a major boost, the conversation dissects the signals in today’s market.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Which Types of Crypto Assets Make for Good Treasury Companies?

Altcoin DATs are heating up. Are they the next wave of crypto capital markets or just a gimmick?

In this episode of Unchained, Guy Young, founder of Ethena Labs, and Rob Hadick, general partner at Dragonfly, unpack the emerging wave of Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs) and why altcoins may be the next to follow Bitcoin and Ethereum onto public markets.

They explain why StablecoinX, a new infrastructure company within the Ethena ecosystem, is merging with a SPAC to go public on Nasdaq under the ticker “USDE,” anchoring its treasury with Ethena’s ENA token. 

With $360 million in backing from investors like Dragonfly, Ribbit, Galaxy, and Polychain, the deal is testing whether public equity markets are ready for altcoin-native treasuries.

Guy and Rob also discuss why some crypto wrapper stocks are trading at massive premiums, how capital gets misallocated in crypto, and whether ETH staking rewards represent real yield or just inflation. 

They debate whether this trend is creating lasting infrastructure or just new packaging for old narratives.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

  • 🚀 Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang will serve as CEO of Stripe’s new layer-1 blockchain Tempo while retaining his VC role.

  • A New York judge granted more time for Roman Storm’s defense and prosecutors to prepare post-trial motions, delaying any potential retrial on two unresolved Tornado Cash charges until late 2025.

  • ⚠️ U.S. banking associations urged Congress to close a gap in the GENIUS Act that could let stablecoin issuers bypass the ban on paying yields by working through affiliates, warning it could drain trillions from bank deposits.

  • 💧 Coinbase relaunched its Stablecoin Bootstrap Fund after six years, starting with liquidity deployments in USDC and EURC across Aave, Morpho, Kamino, and Jupiter to strengthen stablecoin markets in DeFi.

  • 💥 Bitcoin memecoin launchpad Odin.fun lost 58.2 BTC (about $7 million) in a liquidity manipulation hack, prompting its co-founder to admit the treasury can’t fully cover losses while working on a user compensation plan.

  • 📉 MEV-focused Eden Network shut down operations citing fierce competition, pledging to distribute its 2,000 ETH treasury to EDEN token holders as part of a final token retirement program.

  • 🛡️ Andreessen Horowitz and the DeFi Education Fund urged the SEC to create a safe harbor shielding developers of decentralized apps from broker-dealer rules, even if they operate under partially centralized control.

  • 📊 U.S. inflation data for July showed monthly consumer prices rising 0.2% as expected, while annual CPI stayed at 2.7%—slightly below forecasts—even as core inflation hit its highest level in five months.

  • 🔥 OKX’s token OKB surged nearly 160% after the exchange announced a one-time burn of 65 million coins, capped total supply at 21 million, and rolled out major upgrades to its Polygon-powered X Layer blockchain.

  • 🏦 Major Wall Street firms executed the first 24/7 tokenized U.S. Treasury financing on the Canton Network, using USDC for instant weekend settlement in a move toward round-the-clock markets.

  • 💵 Web3 payments firm Transak secured $16 million from backers including IDG Capital and Tether to expand its stablecoin payments network and push into new global markets.