Ethereum Stablecoin Volume Smashes $2.8 Trillion Record

Hi! In today’s edition:

• 💸 Stablecoin volume on Ethereum hits $2.8T record

• 🪙 Aster surges 30% after CZ reveals $2.5M stake

• 📈 Solana ETFs attract $44M while Bitcoin funds bleed

• 🔐 Zcash devs unveil Q4 privacy and wallet roadmap

Stablecoin Volume on Ethereum Breaks $2.8 Trillion Record in October

Stablecoin transactions on Ethereum hit a record $2.82 trillion in October, up 45% from September’s $1.94 trillion. The spike came as traders sought yield during a broader market slowdown.

USDC led with $1.62 trillion in volume, followed by USDT at $895.5 billion. DAI ranked third at $136 billion, down from September’s $141.2 billion and far below May’s $470.7 billion peak.

The volume spike coincided with major crypto price corrections, as bitcoin dropped 11.5% to $108,229 and ether fell 16.4% to $3,754. Vincent Liu from Kronos Research said traders were managing liquidity to capitalize on dips, using stablecoins as hedging and yield-generation instruments. Min Jung of Presto Research attributed growth to yield farming activity and innovative stablecoin concepts following the Circle IPO and the GENIUS Act passage.

Stablecoin issuers captured 65% to 70% of daily protocol revenue in October, outpacing exchanges, lending platforms, and infra providers. Nick Ruck of LVRG Research said the volume reflects a shift from speculation to payments and cross-border use.

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Aster Jumps 30% After CZ Discloses $2.5 Million Holdings

Aster surged 30% Sunday after Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao disclosed holding over $2.5 million in the token. It spiked from $0.91 to $1.26 before settling at $1.22.

CZ posted a wallet screenshot on X, stating he purchased Aster with personal funds on Binance and prefers buying and holding over trading. The announcement sparked a trading volume explosion from $224 million to $2 billion within 24 hours, according to DefiLlama. Market capitalization expanded from $1.8 billion to $2.5 billion. A trader called Gold noted this marked CZ's first public token purchase announcement beyond BNB.

Following the rally, CZ remarked he hoped to acquire more at lower prices, revealing he rarely purchases tokens aside from Aster and BNB, bought eight years prior.

Analytics firm Lookonchain reported that two whales took opposing short positions: one bet against 42.97 million tokens worth $52.8 million at a $2 liquidation price, the other shorted 15.3 million tokens worth $19.1 million at a $2.11 threshold. CZ’s family office, YZi Labs, previously backed Aster’s predecessor, Astherus, which merged with APX Finance in 2024.

Solana ETFs Draw $44 Million as Bitcoin Funds Bleed $191 Million

Spot Solana ETFs saw $44.48 million in inflows Friday, their fourth straight day of gains, while capital exited Bitcoin and Ethereum products. Total inflows into Solana ETFs reached $199.2 million, pushing assets past $502 million.

Bitwise’s Solana ETF led with a 4.99% daily gain. In contrast, spot Bitcoin ETFs lost $191.6 million Friday, following $488.43 million on Thursday and $470.71 million Wednesday. Ethereum ETFs shed $98.2 million Friday, bringing cumulative inflows to $14.37 billion.

Vincent Liu of Kronos Research described the movement as capital rotation driven by appetite for staking yields and emerging narratives. He expects momentum to persist next week unless macro developments create volatility.

Bitwise's Solana Staking ETF launched Tuesday with $222.8 million in assets, offering an estimated 7% staking yield. Canary introduced LTC and HBAR ETFs, while Hong Kong approved its first spot Solana ETF. Grayscale's Solana Trust conversion to ETF format remains anticipated.

Zcash Developer Reveals Q4 Roadmap

Electric Coin Co., the company behind Zcash, released its fourth quarter 2025 roadmap as ZEC trades near $420, up from $50 in mid-September.

The roadmap prioritizes four areas: 

• implementing ephemeral addresses for ZEC swaps via the NEAR Intents protocol,

•  generating fresh transparent addresses after receiving funds, 

• enabling Keystone hardware wallet resyncing, 

• and supporting Pay-to-Script-Hash multisig wallets in Keystone. 

ECC will deploy a multisig wallet to manage Zcash developer funds. The firm stated its focus targets reducing technical debt, enhancing privacy and usability for Zashi users, and streamlining fund management.

These updates follow Zashi's August 28 decentralized off-ramp for shielded ZEC and October 1 on-ramp release. ECC temporarily suspended the Coinbase on-ramp over privacy concerns regarding a session-token requirement.

ZEC's market capitalization recently exceeded privacy competitor Monero. Shielded token supply in the Orchard privacy protocol surpassed 4.1 million tokens, with most growth since mid-September occurring in Orchard, ZecHub data shows. The protocol maintains compatibility with earlier Sprout and Sapling versions.

• 🕵️‍♂️💰 Decentralized exchange Balancer suffered a massive hack that drained over $100 million in crypto assets after attackers exploited a security flaw in its access controls.

• 🇪🇺📊 The European Commission is preparing a proposal to create a single EU watchdog modeled on the U.S. SEC to oversee crypto exchanges, stock markets, and clearing houses, aiming to simplify cross-border regulation and strengthen financial integration across member states.

• 📈 Tether reported it had generated over $10 billion in profit during the first nine months of 2025, largely thanks to booming demand for its USDT stablecoin and soaring U.S. Treasury holdings now worth $135 billion.

• 🎲 Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong deliberately ended the company’s earnings call by saying buzzwords like “blockchain” and “Web3” to trigger payouts on prediction markets that had wagered $84,000 on which terms he would mention, spotlighting how easily these platforms can be gamed by insiders.

• 💶 The European Central Bank plans to pilot its digital euro in 2027 and aims for a full rollout by 2029, after being urged by the European Council to speed up development of the state-backed digital currency.

• 🧊😬 Crypto exchange MEXC apologized for freezing $3 million from influencer “The White Whale,” returned the funds after months of backlash, and admitted its internal systems hadn’t kept up with its rapid rise in user activity.

• 🚫 Custodia Bank, a crypto-focused institution in Wyoming, lost its appeal to force the Federal Reserve to grant it a master account, with judges reaffirming the Fed’s right to deny access even to eligible applicants.

• 🤝 Coinbase is reportedly in advanced talks to buy London-based stablecoin infrastructure firm BVNK in a $2 billion deal as part of its push to grow beyond trading fees and strengthen its position in the digital payments sector.

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