ETH Soars Above $3,400 as ETF Demand Explodes

Plus, 🏛️ House pushes crypto bills, 🪙 $900M in TRUMP unlock looms, ⚡ Basechain gets speed boost and app overhaul.

Author

Juan Aranovich
July 17, 2025

Hi! In today’s edition:

  • 💥 ETH blasts past $3,400 on record ETF inflows

  • 🏛️ House advances 3 major crypto bills after marathon vote

  • 🪙 $900M in TRUMP memecoins set to unlock

  • ⚡ Base becomes Basechain, Coinbase Wallet turns into Base App

Show love to our sponsors! 

Their support keeps Unchained going to provide you with unbiased content. Find their links below.

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.

Discover a multi-currency wallet that’s easy, quick, and secure, and now SOC 2 Type 2 compliant–one of the highest standards for data security and operational integrity, affirming our commitment to ensuring that your data is protected.

By Tikta

ETH Tops $3,400 as Ether ETFs See Record Daily Inflows

Ether surged to $3,478 on Thursday morning, setting a six-month high and extending a rally that has seen its price appreciate by over 24% in the last week.

The advance comes amid a record net daily inflow into spot ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) of $726.7 million and reflects a surge in both institutional and retail demand.

As of 6 am ET, ETH was up 9.6% over the past 24 hours, and its year-to-date performance has finally turned green.

Numerous publicly listed treasury firms collectively acquired over 570,000 ETH in recent months, while open interest for ETH futures contracts jumped to a record $50 billion.  

“Ethereum's market value has now grown by +50% since June 22nd, hitting its highest price levels since late January,” noted market intelligence platform Santiment.

“The network has over 152.03M non-empty ETH wallets, more than any other coin in cryptocurrency.”

Crypto Bills Advance After Longest House Vote in History

The U.S. House of Representatives advanced three major crypto bills late Wednesday after the longest vote in House history, a session that lasted nearly 10 hours and ended with a 217-212 vote.

The three bills advanced for debate are the GENIUS Act, which sets rules for stablecoin issuers, the CLARITY Act, which defines which tokens will be regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and a bill to prevent the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

The extended deadlock was primarily driven by Republican hard-liners demanding a strong, explicit ban on a CBDC. Their support was finally secured after House leadership promised that the anti-CBDC provision would also be included in the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), giving it a separate and likely path to becoming law.

The GENIUS Act is the furthest along in the legislative process. The Senate has already passed it in a bipartisan vote, and if it clears the House, it would head to the President’s desk, where it would be signed into law.

$900M in TRUMP Memecoins Set for Crypto Week Unlock

Around 90 million Official Trump (TRUMP) tokens, valued at nearly $900 million, are set to be unlocked this week – an event that will increase the circulating supply by about 45% and allow early stakeholders, including Trump-affiliated entities, to sell their previously locked tokens.

It is one of the most significant tranches to be unlocked since the 200 million released at the coin’s January 17 launch.

The unlock will boost President Donald Trump’s net worth by an estimated $93 million, on top of earlier profits from TRUMP token sales and trading.

It also coincides with Crypto Week, which has seen heated debates in Congress on passing pro-crypto bills, with opponents criticizing the memecoin as a tool to profit from his name rather than any underlying utility.

TRUMP surged 8.5% to an intraday high of $10.31 on Wednesday before dropping to around $10.1 as of 6 am ET today.

Base Rebrands to Basechain, Coinbase Wallet Becomes ‘Base App’

Coinbase’s layer 2 blockchain Base has rebranded as “Basechain,” with a major technical upgrade called Flashblocks that reduces block times to 200 milliseconds.

Base creator Jesse Pollak unveiled the upgrade at the “A New Day One” conference, sharing that the ultra-fast transaction confirmations would make Basechain up to ten times faster.

The Coinbase Wallet has also been morphed into the Base App, positioned as an all-in-one platform that integrates wallet, trading, payments, and a broad array of social features.

The app merges wallet management, crypto trading, payments (including in-person NFC tap-to-pay using USDC), social media, messaging, content discovery, and the ability to run mini applications within a single interface.

It comes with two major foundational features: Base Account, for unified, onchain identity and cross-app sign-in, and Base Pay, for fast, fee-free USDC payments.

Social features use the decentralized Farcaster protocol, allowing creators to earn directly from their posts – each post is represented as a tradable token powered by the Zora protocol.

  • 🌍 Pakistan and El Salvador formed official diplomatic ties for the first time, anchoring the relationship in crypto collaboration as both nations deepen digital asset strategies despite IMF pressure.

  • 📅 The SEC pushed its decision on whether Bitwise’s Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs can offer in-kind redemptions—where investors get crypto instead of cash—to September 8, citing the need for more time to weigh potential risks.

  • 🎰 Despite blowing a $100 million profit earlier this year, trader James Wynn returned to Hyperliquid with $20 million in high-risk bitcoin bets, already down over $200,000 as he continues his “all or nothing” approach.

  • 👨‍⚖️ Jurors in Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm’s trial heard testimony from an Axie Infinity exec and a convicted NFT scammer, both describing how the crypto mixer was used to hide stolen funds, including North Korea-linked hacks.

  • ⚖️ Facing a potential 109-year U.S. prison sentence for hiding tens of millions in crypto gains, Roger Ver sued Spain in the European Court of Human Rights to stop his extradition.

  • 🏛️ California launched a government-tech task force with Ripple, Coinbase, and MoonPay to explore how blockchain can modernize public services like licensing and benefit delivery.

  • 💰 Talos acquired Coin Metrics for over $100 million to bolster its crypto trading software with deep blockchain analytics, aiming to become a full-service provider for Wall Street’s growing digital asset operations.

Big crypto returns often mean big tax hits.

Lumida Wealth helps offset these gains and reduce taxes using direct indexing and long/short strategies.

We can offset tax liabilities and keep you positioned for more growth.