The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.
Happy Monday! Bitcoin wallets in the 100–1,000 BTC band are hitting multi-month accumulation highs, signaling buyer control beneath the surface. But analysts warn that a flow reversal or a hawkish surprise from the Fed later this week could quickly sap liquidity as the market treads water.
In today's newsletter, Base is exploring a native token for the Layer 2 network, Polkadot's DAO agrees to cap DOT supply at 2.1 billion, Native Markets wins the bid to issue Hyperliquid's USDH stablecoin, and more.
Meanwhile, Standard Chartered says Ethereum will benefit more from DAT buying than Bitcoin or Solana.
Let's get started!
P.S. Don't forget to check out The Funding, a biweekly rundown of crypto VC trends. It's a great read — and just like The Daily, it's free to subscribe!
Base exploring network token
Coinbase-incubated Ethereum Layer 2 network Base is "beginning to explore" a native token, Jesse Pollak announced at BaseCamp, in a change to its prior stance.
- Representatives of the crypto exchange previously said there were no plans to issue a token for Base, which currently uses ETH for gas.
- Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong confirmed the exploration but stressed there are still "no definitive plans" for a Base token yet.
- Base said a token could help accelerate decentralization and expand opportunities for builders and creators across its ecosystem, while reaffirming its commitment to work with regulators and legislators.
- The move follows Kraken-incubated Ink's disclosure of plans to launch its own INK token, with both networks part of Optimism's Superchain ecosystem of Layer 2 blockchains.
- Base's recent milestones include sub-second, sub-cent transactions and advancing to Stage 1 decentralization after adding permissionless fault proofs, Pollak noted.
- Pollak also unveiled a new open-source bridge that lets users move SOL and Solana-based tokens into Base apps and export Base assets to Solana.
Polkadot to cap DOT supply at 2.1 billion
Polkadot DAO voted 81% in favor of referendum 1710 to cap DOT's supply at 2.1 billion, ending its unlimited issuance model.
- The new framework introduces a two-year token inflation period, replacing the prior uncapped 120 million DOT annual minting schedule.
- Polkadot projects supply to reach approximately 1.91 billion DOT by 2040 under the new model, compared with 3.4 billion DOT using the old model.
- DOT slipped around 5% to $4.13 in the 24 hours following the vote's conclusion amid a broader crypto selloff, sitting at a $6.3 billion market cap.
Ethereum stablecoin supply hits record $166 billion
Ethereum's stablecoin supply has reached a new all-time high of $166 billion, climbing from $149 billion a month ago, and reinforcing its role as DeFi's settlement layer.
- USDT remains dominant with $87.8 billion on Ethereum, followed by USDC with $48 billion, according to The Block's data dashboard.
- Analysts said the milestone signals rising institutional liquidity and trust in Ethereum's infrastructure — now strong enough to absorb volatility and support the market during macro dips.
- Meanwhile, USDT's total market cap topped $170 billion over the weekend, highlighting its continued dominance across chains.
Native Markets wins Hyperliquid USDH stablecoin bid
Hyperliquid's validator community awarded the reserved USDH stablecoin ticker to Native Markets, beating out bids from Paxos, BitGo, Ethena, and Frax in the exchange's first major governance vote.
- Native Markets plans to roll out USDH in stages, starting with capped testing of mints and redemptions "within days" before opening a USDH/USDC pair and lifting limits.
- The stablecoin will be issued on HyperEVM, fully backed by cash and U.S. Treasuries with reserves managed by BlackRock offchain and Superstate via Stripe-owned Bridge onchain.
- USDH's reserve yield will fund HYPE buybacks and programs to expand distribution, posing a potential challenge to Circle's $6 billion USDC dominance on Hyperliquid.
Bitcoin whale deposits more BTC to Hyperliquid following $4 billion ETH rotation
After a two-week break, the OG whale who recently swapped over $4 billion in BTC for ETH has resumed selling bitcoin, sending 1,176 BTC ($136.2 million) to Hyperliquid over the weekend, Lookonchain noted.
- The whale previously exchanged a total of 35,991 BTC for 886,371 ETH between Aug. 20 and Sept. 1, after emerging from a seven-year slumber. Following those transfers, the whale still held 49,634 BTC ($5.4 billion) across four wallets.
- Since the whale began rotating, the ETH/BTC ratio is up 8.3%, currently sitting at 0.039, but down 9.3% from a peak of around 0.043 on Aug. 24.
In the next 24 hours
- It's quiet on the economic calendar front.
- Arbitrum is set for a token unlock.
- EDCON 2025 gets underway in Japan.
Never miss a beat with The Block's daily digest of the most influential events happening across the digital asset ecosystem.
