The Crypto Basic

G20 finance ministers and central bank governors committed to developing regulatory and supervisory frameworks for digital assets that support innovation and economic growth while safeguarding financial stability, according to a Chair’s Statement following a two-day meeting in Asheville, North Carolina.

The officials said digital financial innovation, including digital assets, could contribute to broad-based economic growth, with the private sector playing a central role in developing the technology. 

G20 Awaits FSB Findings on Global Stablecoins

The G20 said its approach would seek to accommodate responsible digital finance and digital-asset innovation while accounting for potential issues and opportunities that extend across borders.

As part of that work, officials are awaiting Financial Stability Board (FSB) findings on global stablecoin arrangements, including their cross-border implications and issues involving the availability and sources of stablecoin data.

Cross-Border Payments Work Remains a Priority

The focus on cross-border issues also extends to the G20’s broader payments agenda. Finance ministers and central bank governors reaffirmed their commitment to the G20 Roadmap for Enhancing Cross-border Payments and called on countries to pursue longer operating hours for large-value payment systems.

Several G20 jurisdictions, including the United States, the European Union, and Japan, have already introduced frameworks covering digital assets or stablecoins as policymakers examine their potential to improve the efficiency and accessibility of financial and payment systems.

Hyperliquid Strategies (PURR) has amended its financing arrangement with Chardan Capital Markets, lifting the maximum commitment for purchases of newly issued common shares to $2.5 billion from $1 billion, according to a Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The change modifies the ChEF Purchase Agreement that the two companies entered into on Oct. 22, 2025. Hyperliquid Strategies can continue issuing shares to Chardan under the terms, conditions, and limits set by the agreement.

Lower-Priced Share Sales Face 19.99% Issuance Limit

A restriction takes effect once cumulative common-stock sales through the arrangement pass $1 billion. From that stage, transactions below $12.02 a share are generally limited to 42,641,847 shares, equal to 19.99% of the company’s outstanding common stock immediately before the amendment. 

Sales beyond that ceiling may proceed if shareholders authorize the additional issuance under applicable Nasdaq requirements, or when those rules do not require such approval.

Hyperliquid Strategies gave no explanation in the filing for enlarging the commitment. Earlier company disclosures showed that roughly $647 million of stock had been sold by June 30.

The expanded financing capacity comes as Hyperliquid Strategies continues to maintain a sizable HYPE treasury.

HYPE Treasury Stood at 29.4 Million Tokens

The company’s digital-asset treasury is centered on HYPE, the native token associated with Hyperliquid. Its latest Form 10-K reported holdings of about 29.4 million HYPE as of Aug. 23. 

As of this writing, HYPE trades at $82.06, down 1% over 24 hours. Nasdaq-listed PURR finished Tuesday’s session at $11.36 after falling 7.31%, while the shares remained up 73% over the preceding month and 230% year to date.

Combined trading volume across prediction markets Kalshi, Polymarket and Polymarket US fell 14.5% in August from the previous month to $45.33 billion, ending a run of monthly increases that had lasted since August 2025.

Kalshi generated $37.17 billion in August volume, down 7.3% from $40.1 billion in July. Polymarket and its U.S. platform recorded a combined $8.16 billion, a 36.7% decline from $12.89 billion a month earlier, according to The Block’s data dashboard.

Prediction-Market Activity Retreats After World Cup Boost

The August pullback followed elevated summer trading, as the World Cup, held from June 11 through July 19, helped drive activity across prediction markets.

Still, trading remained well above pre-tournament levels. August’s combined volume of $45.33 billion was 76.7% higher than the $25.66 billion recorded in May.

The decline also comes as prediction-market operators face regulatory disputes in the United States over sports event contracts. More than a dozen states have pursued enforcement actions or litigation involving Kalshi and Polymarket.

Connecticut, for example, sued Kalshi last week seeking to stop the company from offering sports contracts, extending a legal dispute between the state and the prediction-market operator that has been running for months.

Kalshi Expands Sports Business Amid Regulatory Disputes

Despite the state-level challenges, Kalshi has continued expanding its presence in sports. The company recently reached a multi-year agreement with the U.S. Tennis Association to become the US Open’s exclusive prediction-market partner, with the partnership beginning with the 2026 tournament’s singles main draw on Aug. 30.

The agreement gives Kalshi a presence across US Open digital platforms and on-court signage while also establishing an integrity framework covering its tennis markets.

Kalshi has separately stepped up enforcement of its trading rules. Earlier this week, the company permanently barred former U.S. Representative George Santos from its platform, marking the first lifetime trading ban in Kalshi’s history.

The action stemmed from Santos’ trading in a contract tied to whether he would attend the State of the Union. Kalshi imposed a penalty of more than $71,000 and permanently prohibited him from trading on the platform.

Core DAO plans an emergency hard fork after a small group of validators received more CORE rewards than the protocol was designed to issue, as multiple crypto exchanges restricted CORE transfers around the time of the incident.

In an update, Core said the excess reward activity has been contained and that validators it called “malicious” can no longer obtain additional rewards through the issue. The project had earlier described the problem as limited to reward issuance and said user assets were not at risk.

The planned upgrade will apply prospectively, leaving the blockchain and all previously confirmed transactions unchanged.

Exchanges Restrict CORE Deposits and Withdrawals

Exchange operators took different measures in response to the incident. Coinbase temporarily disabled transfers to and from the Core network around the time the reward problem surfaced. South Korean trading platforms Coinone and Bithumb also suspended CORE deposits and withdrawals, citing security-related concerns in their notices.

Other trading platforms imposed restrictions for different stated reasons. Bitget attributed its suspension of CORE deposits and withdrawals to wallet maintenance, while LBank said it halted deposits at the project’s request.

Scale and Cause of Reward Issue Remain Unclear

Although Core says the incident has been contained, key details about its scope remain undisclosed. The project has yet to quantify the additional CORE issued or disclose how long the abnormal reward activity persisted. It also has not said whether tokens generated through the incident subsequently entered circulation.

Core has not provided technical details explaining the vulnerability that allowed validators to collect the additional rewards. The project said it plans to release a postmortem addressing the incident.

Meanwhile, CORE’s price stood at $0.0205 as of this writing, down 4.1% over the past 24 hours and 19.5% over seven days.

Ethena Labs is moving into consumer payments with Ethena Pay, a self-custodial app that combines USDe balances with bank transfers, crypto transfers, and card spending, founder Guy Young told The Block.

The beta is being rolled out in stages across 48 countries on iOS and Android. Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Kenya, Singapore, the Philippines, Japan, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are among the markets included in the initial rollout.

The U.S. and the EU are excluded from the initial release. Ethena expects to add those markets, as well as Canada, South Korea, and Taiwan, during the beta, subject to local regulatory requirements. The company also plans to introduce additional countries, currencies, and features each week during the testing period.

Young said Ethena Pay differs from neobanking products built around third-party stablecoins such as USDC and USDT because the app directly incorporates Ethena’s own USDe. He described the product as an effort to bring fiat and crypto services into a single experience for everyday financial use.

Users can receive fiat using International Bank Account Number (IBAN) details or send crypto to their wallets, with both routes resulting in a USDe balance. Funds can also be withdrawn to an external bank account and settled in the recipient’s local currency, according to Ethena.

The app supports fee-free transfers between users through usernames or tags. Ethena said bank transfers in U.S. dollars, euros, and British pounds carry no fee, while transfers in other currencies are charged between 0.05% and 0.1%. 

Iron, the stablecoin infrastructure company that MoonPay acquired in 2025, provides the app’s backend infrastructure.

ENA Holdings and Referrals Determine Reward Limits

Ethena Pay divides its rewards program into Standard, Pro, and VIP tiers, with higher levels available either by locking ENA tokens or meeting referral thresholds.

Standard membership is free and provides a 5% annual percentage yield (APY) on balances of up to $5,000. Pro status requires $2,000 worth of locked ENA or 10 referrals and raises the yield to 6% on balances capped at $15,000. Users qualify for VIP by locking $10,000 in ENA or referring 50 people, with the 6% rate applying to balances of up to $50,000.

According to Young, returns from USDe fund the savings yield. The company has not disclosed the funding source for the app’s other rewards.

Card spending carries a separate rewards structure. The Ethena Pay Card pays cashback in Avalanche’s AVAX token at rates of 4% for Standard members, 4.5% for Pro, and 5% for VIP users. At selected brands such as Spotify, Uber, and Claude, the maximum cashback rises to 5% for Pro and 10% for VIP, Ethena said.

Avalanche Deployment Comes as Ethena Navigates Regulatory Limits

Ethena Pay runs exclusively on Avalanche. Young said Ethena chose Avalanche because both companies are focused on developing financial products for businesses and infrastructure designed to operate largely behind the scenes for end users. He also cited Avalanche’s earlier work with Rain cards.

The launch also raises questions about the service’s regulatory status. When The Block asked what licenses or approvals Ethena Pay currently holds and where they are valid, Young did not provide specifics, saying the information would appear in public documentation this week. 

Ethena has previously faced regulatory scrutiny in Europe. Germany’s BaFin ordered Ethena GmbH to wind up its USDe business in June 2025 after the company withdrew its application for authorization under the European Union’s crypto rules. 

The expansion into payments also comes as USDe has about $4 billion in circulating supply, compared with a peak of approximately $15 billion in September 2025. Rather than using the fiat-reserve structure associated with stablecoins such as USDT and USDC, USDe relies on backing assets and derivatives positions intended to hedge price movements in the backing assets and maintain its dollar peg.