Suehyeon Lee

Capital outflows continue from U.S. Ethereum (ETH) spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs). According to Trader T on the 24th (local time), U.S. Ethereum spot ETFs recorded a net outflow of $140,750,000 (about 196.3 billion won) on the previous day. This marks the second consecutive trading day of net outflows. On that day, $63,400,000 flowed out of Fidelity FETH, $36,370,000 from Grayscale Mini ETH, $23,880,000 from Bitwise ETHW, and Grayscale ETHE saw a net outflow of $17,100,000. The remaining products, including BlackRock ETHA, had no net inflows or outflows.

The AI-based Web3 search platform Kaito's Token Mindshare, which quantifies a token's influence in the crypto market, shows that as of the 24th the top five crypto-related keywords people are most interested in are Aster (ASTER), Brevis (Brevis), Tether (USDT), Hyperliquid (HYPE), and ApeCoin (APE). Easy Labs (formerly Binance Labs)-backed decentralized derivatives exchange Aster recently drew investor attention after being mentioned in a tweet by Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance. Aster is currently trading on CoinMarketCap at $2.05, up 20.75% from the previous day. Zero-knowledge proof technology company Brevis made headlines by partnering with Kaito to launch the Yapper leaderboard. The campaign is being conducted in two phases, and top-performing participants will be rewarded with a portion of Brevis's allocation of TGE tokens. Tether attracted attention by announcing it is seeking to raise up to $20 billion through a private placement. In this round, Tether is aiming to set the company valuation at $500 billion. Hyperliquid appears to have seen an increase in online mentions after yielding the top spot in daily trading volume to Aster. Aster's 24-hour trading volume is $13.5 billion, while Hyperliquid's is $9.6 billion. Meanwhile, Hyperliquid is trading on CoinMarketCap at $44.06, down 5.54% from the previous day. ApeCoin announced a 'hyper-financialization' strategy that enables point accumulation and reward earning based on Hyperliquid's 'HyperEVM'. ApeCoin is currently trading on CoinMarketCap at $0.5345, up 1.29% from the previous day. Investors are also shown to be interested in USDC, SFUND, Base, FTX Token (FTT), Story (IP), and others.

Michael Saylor, founder of MicroStrategy, predicted that Bitcoin (BTC) will overcome the current crisis and rise through year-end. On the 24th (local time), Saylor said in an interview with CNBC, "The core driver of Bitcoin's rise is corporate adoption. Currently, some 180 companies are accumulating Bitcoin, and the amount they hold has surpassed miners' supply." He added, "Despite short-term macroeconomic variables and resistance, Bitcoin will continue its upward trend through year-end," and forecasted, "Bitcoin is the technical version of gold. Over the long term, it will grow into an asset class 10 times larger than gold."

U.S. Bitcoin (BTC) spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded net outflows of more than $100 million the previous day. On the 24th (local time), TraderT reported that U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs experienced net outflows of $100.355 million (about 144.4 billion won) the previous day. This marks net outflows for two consecutive trading days. On that day, Fidelity's FBTC alone saw net outflows of $75.56 million, the largest amount, followed by ARK Invest's ARKB with $27.85 million and Bitwise's BITB with $12.76 million in net outflows. Meanwhile, BlackRock's IBIT recorded net inflows of $2.6 million, and Invesco's BTCO also saw net inflows of $10.02 million. The other products had no net inflows or outflows.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has officially launched the 'Crypto Sprint' initiative, focused on tokenized collateral and stablecoins, in collaboration with the private sector. On the 24th (local time), Caroline Pham, acting chair of the CFTC, said on X, "The CFTC is launching the tokenized collateral and stablecoin initiative with industry partners." The project is reported to include Circle, Coinbase, Crypto.com, Tether, and Ripple.

An analysis showed that the average realized price of major Ethereum (ETH) accumulation wallets is about 2900 dollars. On the 24th (local time), CryptoQuant author burakkesmeci said, "The average realized price of Ethereum (ETH) accumulation addresses is currently about 2900 dollars. With the Ethereum spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) rally, this price range surged from 1700 dollars to 2900 dollars." He analyzed, "The total amount held by these accumulation wallets reaches 27.6 million ETH. Since a large accumulation range has formed, even in the worst case this price range is highly likely to act as a strong support level."

Fernando Vasquez, head of capital markets at Chainlink Labs, named creating real demand as the biggest challenge for the tokenization market. At the panel discussion of the global Web3 private conference 'Eastpoint: Seoul 2025 (hereinafter Eastpoint)' held on the 22nd at the Grand Hyatt Seoul in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Vasquez said, "Although various assets such as real estate and farms have been tokenized, they did not attract many investors after issuance. This was because there were no real use cases for tokenized assets," and pointed out, "As a result, liquidity became limited and demand could not be sustained." Vasquez proposed "expanding investor-centric utility" as a solution. He said tokenized assets should not be limited to simple ownership but should be usable as collateral, for lending, for reinvestment, and be connected to global 24-hour trading. He emphasized, "The tokenization industry must move away from an issuer-centric approach toward an investor-centric one. The market can truly grow when tokens secure liquidity and usability that allow them to be used in actual financial activities."

Ethereum (ETH) has recently stalled, but on-chain data still suggests a possibility of surpassing $5,000. On the 20th (local time), Cointelegraph reported, "Ethereum briefly topped $4,700 this week but was immediately pushed down to $4,475 and failed to continue its uptrend. However, on-chain indicators still show that the possibility of surpassing $5,000 remains alive." In fact, on-chain indicators still point to bullishness. On the 18th, spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw a net inflow of $213 million, sustaining institutional demand, and exchange ETH holdings fell to a five-year low. According to Glassnode, 2.69 million ETH have been withdrawn from exchanges in the past two months alone, showing a clear cumulative accumulation trend. The outlet analyzed, "Alongside bullish on-chain indicators, as companies expand incorporating Ethereum into their financial strategies as a reserve asset, the possibility of surpassing $5,000 in the mid to long term is being reinforced."

According to Token Mindshare of Kaito, an AI-based Web3 search platform, which is a metric that quantifies the influence of specific tokens in the crypto asset (cryptocurrency) market, the top 5 crypto-related keywords people are most interested in as of the 18th are MetaMask(Metamask), Kaito(KAITO), Mask Network(MASK), Limitless(Limitless), Aptos(APT), etc. Crypto asset wallet MetaMask recently announced plans to support perpetual futures trading within the wallet through cooperation with Hyperliquid, drawing attention. This will operate as a method of using Hyperliquid's perpetual futures market through MetaMask. Kaito and Limitless are presumed to have seen an increase in online mentions ahead of the launchpad they will unveil on the 25th. Currently Kaito is trading on CoinMarketCap at $1.14, down 1.02% from the previous day. Web3 social media middleware project Mask Network is presumed to have attracted attention as founder Suzi Yan attended as a speaker alongside Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin at the EDCON 2025 event. Aptos recently drew attention as PayPal began issuing its stablecoin 'PayPal Dollar (PYUSD)'. Currently Aptos is trading on CoinMarketCap at $4.58, down 2.6% from the previous day. Additionally, investors are presumed to be interested in Rabby(Rabby), Linea(LINEA), Billions(Billions), Fantom(FTM), Hyperliquid(HYPE), etc.

Economist Timothy Peterson (Timothy Peterson) said the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) will cut rates faster than markets expect, and virtual assets (cryptocurrencies) will benefit. On the 20th (local time), according to Cointelegraph, Peterson pointed out, "The market is not properly reflecting the possibility that the Fed will quickly cut rates within the next few months. Historically, the Fed has never lowered rates gradually." He said that such abrupt easing would be a strong upward force for Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins, and forecasted, "The effect will appear within the next 3–9 months."

The U.S.'s first Solana (SOL) spot exchange-traded fund (ETF), Rex Shares-Osprey's Solana spot ETF, recorded more than $30 million in net inflows this week. On the 20th (local time), Paside Investor reported that Rex Shares-Osprey's Solana spot ETF 'SSK' recorded net inflows of $38.1 million (KRW 53.3 billion) this week. Since listing, cumulative net inflows amount to $249.1 million (approximately KRW 348.4 billion). Meanwhile, Solana is currently trading at $238.24 on CoinMarketCap, down 2.08% from the previous day.

### Interview with Lu Yin, Head of APAC Business Development at the Solana Foundation ### ### Participating as a sponsor of 'Eastpoint Seoul' on the 22nd ### "A 'keystone event' for Korea, which values institutions" ### Solana, recent full-scale inflow of global institutions ### "Thanks to technical capabilities…will continue upgrades" **** **"Solana (SOL), as a global blockchain, will realize the 'Internet Capital Markets (ICM)' to improve inefficiencies in existing capital markets and open new opportunities"** Lu Yin, Head of APAC Business Development at the Solana Foundation (photo), said in an interview with Bloomingbit on the 20th, "Investors, builders, and institutions can all collaborate with our ecosystem, and the Foundation will act as that connector." Lu Yin visited Korea to attend 'Eastpoint Seoul 2025', a global web3 private conference sponsored by Solana. He emphasized, "'Eastpoint' is the event most needed by Solana, which prioritizes institutional clients." He added, "Especially because 'Eastpoint' has a unique strength on the institutional side, we judge it will establish itself as a 'keystone event' in Korea," expressing expectations. ## Large institutions begin full-scale inflow…"Thanks to Solana's technical capabilities" Recently, large institutions such as Galaxy Digital and Forward Industry have been purchasing large amounts of Solana (SOL) and incorporating it into their financial assets. US crypto venture capital Pantera Capital even bet a quarter of its total assets on Solana. The scale reaches about 1 trillion won. Lu Yin pointed to Solana's "low-cost, high-performance" technical capabilities as the reason institutions are showing interest. He explained, "Our vision is to implement 'Internet Capital Markets' that put existing financial market capital on the blockchain to enable 24-hour trading. For that, low-cost, high-performance blockchain technology is essential." He added, "Solana has already reached a level of technology that large institutions like BlackRock or Franklin Templeton can use with confidence." In fact, Franklin Templeton launched the Solana-based Franklin Mutual Fund (FOBXX) token 'BENJI' in February. Institutional entry is rapidly growing the Solana ecosystem. Lu Yin said, "As institutional capital comes in, builders are also moving actively," and noted, "A notable recent feature is that many builders are former employees of traditional finance/payment companies such as Visa, HSBC, and Alipay." He added, "People with practical experience are creating new projects on Solana, and with institutional capital attached, the ecosystem's growth rate is accelerating." ## Continued technical upgrades…"Faster and cheaper"  He also emphasized Solana's advantage over Ethereum as a "high-performance, low-cost blockchain." Lu Yin said, "Some still view Ethereum as a more stable choice than Solana, but superior technical capabilities can overcome that perception." He explained, "Traditional financial transactions must go through three stages—execution, clearing, and settlement—and institutions will want to improve this. Solana reduces these complex steps to one, handling them quickly and cheaply." Technical upgrades are also actively underway. Recently, Solana announced the 'Alpenglow' upgrade, which increases payment speed by about 100 times, and plans to apply it to the testnet this December. The mainnet upgrade is scheduled for Q1 next year. Lu Yin said, "We will continue technical upgrades like Alpenglow and focus on improving Solana's transactions per second (TPS) and reducing fees," and added, "Specific upgrade schedules will be announced later." ## Stablecoins as a core business…"Will expand partnerships in Korea"  As stablecoins are drawing attention as a core of global payments and capital market infrastructure, Solana is also preparing this as a major business. Lu Yin said, "Solana positions itself as a neutral platform open to all stablecoin issuers," and added, "Thanks to Solana's strong DeFi ecosystem, both the issuance and use of stablecoins will be advantageous." Finally, regarding entry into the Korean market, Lu Yin said, "Korea is strategically a very important market for Solana," and added, "In fact, Solana's Korea team is the oldest team in Asia." He continued, "We recently signed a strategic MOU with Shinhan Investment Corp. to expand the digital asset ecosystem, and partnerships with other companies will be announced soon," and said, "We will continuously expand our business in Korea."

U.S. spot Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded net inflows of $48 million (about 67.1 billion won) on the previous day. On the 20th (local time), according to Trader T, U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs posted $48 million in net inflows (about 67.1 billion won) the previous day. This marks net inflows for two consecutive trading days. Driving the flow that day was BlackRock ETHA, which recorded net inflows of $144.52 million. Meanwhile, Fidelity FETH saw $53.4 million withdrawn. Other major products also showed net outflows: Bitwise ETHW $7 million, 21Shares TETH $6.01 million, Invesco QETH $4.43 million, VanEck ETHV $8.16 million, Grayscale ETHE $6.22 million, Grayscale Mini ETH $11.3 million.

U.S. Bitcoin (BTC) spot exchange-traded funds (ETF) recorded net inflows of more than 200,000,000 dollars the previous day. On the 20th (local time), according to TraderT, U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs drew in 222,750,000 dollars (about 311.6 billion won) the previous day, continuing the net inflow trend. This is 2 consecutive trading days of net inflows. That day, BlackRock IBIT recorded net inflows of 246,250,000 dollars, leading the overall inflows. Meanwhile, Grayscale GBTC saw net outflows of 23,500,000 dollars. The remaining products had no net inflows or outflows.

Institutional and whale accumulation of Solana (SOL) appears to be continuing. According to Lookonchain on the 20th (local time), a whale wallet (9PYSeq) bought about 134,628 Solana (SOL) roughly 5 hours ago. This is about USD 31.8 million (KRW 44.4 billion) in size. The whale is understood to have first deposited 32.4 million USDC to Binance, bought Solana with it, and then immediately withdrew.

An analysis suggested that the altcoin rotation, which continued amid Bitcoin's (BTC) weakness trapped in a trading range over the past two months, is gradually coming to an end. On the 20th (local time), CryptoQuant author Mignolet said, "Bitcoin's sideways movement brought about a bullish rally in Ethereum (ETH), which led to a rotation into altcoins," adding, "The alt rotation lasted longer than expected and is now slowly ending. However, Bitcoin remains weak." He added, "Of course, one cannot rule out the possibility of a reversal triggered by rate cuts, but at present there are no convincing signals to support that. Now is the time to respond calmly and cautiously."

Bitmain has shown signs of purchasing additional Ethereum (ETH). On the 20th, according to Arkham data, Bitmain received 15,427 ETH (about $68.96 million) from Galaxy Digital over the past 8 hours. Meanwhile, Bitmain's Bitcoin holdings are estimated at about 2.17 million.

Major coins, including Bitcoin (BTC), are continuing to be weak. As of 8:30 a.m. on the 20th, according to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin is trading at 115,535.33 dollars, down 1.06% from the previous day. On Upbit's KRW market, it is trading at 162,117,000 won, down 0.22%. Ethereum (ETH) is trading at 4,455.22 dollars, down 2.74% from the previous day, and XRP is trading at 2.98 dollars, down 2.77% from the previous day. Solana (SOL) is also trading at 237.27 dollars, down 3.78% from the previous day.

Grayscale submitted an amended S-1 filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to convert the Dogecoin (DOGE) closed-end trust into a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF). On the 20th (local time), The Block reported that Grayscale submitted an amended registration statement (S-1) to convert the Dogecoin closed-end trust into a spot ETF, and if approved the product would be listed on the New York Stock Exchange Arca (NYSE Arca) under the 'GDOG' ticker. The amendment serves to formalize the ETF conversion process. Meanwhile, on the same day, NYSE Arca also filed a rule change to allow Grayscale's Ethereum (ETH) Trust ETF and its mini version to be traded under the recently approved 'Generic Listing Standards'.

The United States' first multi-cryptocurrency spot exchange-traded fund (ETF), the Grayscale Digital Large-Cap Fund (GDLC), and spot ETFs for XRP and Dogecoin (DOGE) posted respectable results from their first day of trading. On the 20th (local time), Eric Balchunas, a Bloomberg analyst, said on X, "Grayscale GDLC recorded $22 million in trading volume on its first day. The Dogecoin spot ETF 'DOJE' recorded $12 million, and the XRP spot ETF 'XRPR' recorded $15 million in trading." He added, "This is well above the average ETF launch performance; while it is smaller in scale than the Bitcoin spot ETF, it is an encouraging result for a new issuer."

September has long been regarded as the toughest period for Bitcoin (BTC) investors, but analysis says this year is different. On the 20th (local time), XWIN Research Japan of CryptoQuant said, "Over the past 10 years, the average September return has been negative, and there was a six-year consecutive decline from 2017 to 2022. Profit-taking, seasonal investor sentiment contraction, and regulatory negative factors have held it back each year. But 2025 is a different story." They added, "As of mid-September, Bitcoin is up 8.13% and holding around $117,000, and exchange holdings have fallen by more than 20%, from over 3,000,000 at the end of 2024 to about 2,450,000 now," and analyzed, "This is acting as a major factor supporting prices due to reduced selling pressure and supply shortages caused by institutional inflows." On-chain indicators also appeared positive. The long-term holder spent output profit ratio (LTH SOPR) is 1.44; some profit-taking is occurring, but it is far from the overheating phase of past highs. The majority of long-term holders are still absorbing sell-side supply and maintaining firm holding intentions. The author diagnosed, "Unlike past September average returns of -7% to -13%, this year has already recorded more than +8%. Although the month is not over yet, attention is on whether it will finish this month as a 'plus September', and furthermore whether it will challenge an all-time high. The formula that September is a weak month may no longer be valid."

An analysis found that the most important support level for Bitcoin (BTC) is $115,440. On the 18th (local time), Ali Martinez, a virtual asset (cryptocurrency) analyst, said via X, "According to Pricing Bands analysis, Bitcoin's most important support level is $115,440." He added, "If this level holds, the next target opens at $137,300, but if it breaks, it could retreat to $93,600."