Eterna's Insights - August 2025

Crypto Markets Reach Historic Milestones

In August, crypto markets have continued their record-breaking run. On Aug. 13, bitcoin surged to a new all-time high of $124,496, briefly surpassing Alphabet to become the world’s fifth-largest asset by market cap. The broader digital asset market followed suit, with total capitalization hitting $4.16 trillion. This rally has occurred alongside resilient U.S. equity performance, underscoring crypto’s growing role as a mainstream asset class.

Ethereum has staged an even stronger comeback. In late August, ETH set a new all-time high above $4,900 – finally surpassing its November 2021 record. However, both bitcoin and ETH have recently been consolidating lower, reflecting macro pressures in the U.S. including shifting rate-cut expectations and tighter liquidity conditions. Despite this near-term consolidation, Ethereum ETFs have outpaced bitcoin ETFs in both inflows and performance since mid-summer, highlighting a growing investor appetite for ETH exposure even as broader market drivers remain in flux.

U.S. Treasury Reveals Size of Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent disclosed for the first time the size of the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR), created by President Trump’s March 6 executive order. Speaking on Fox Business, Bessent said the reserve is worth between $15 billion and $20 billion at the time, implying holdings of 120k to 170k BTC. This range is slightly below many analyst estimates, which often cite ~200k BTC under U.S. government control based on known seizures such as the ~95k BTC recovered from the Bitfinex hack. Notably, the executive order does not require Treasury to disclose reserve size, making Bessent’s comments the first official acknowledgment of a concrete figure.

Bessent also clarified the Treasury’s acquisition strategy. Initially, he stated that the government would not purchase Bitcoin for the SBR and would rely solely on confiscated coins. However, he later amended this position on X, noting that Treasury is “committed to exploring budget-neutral pathways to acquire more Bitcoin” in line with the President’s vision of making the U.S. the “Bitcoin superpower of the world.” This dual message underscores both the political ambition behind the SBR and the lingering uncertainty over how aggressively the U.S. will expand its Bitcoin holdings going forward.

Strategic Acquisitions Reshape the Crypto Landscape

M&A momentum in crypto continues to build as market conditions improve. Phantom has announced the acquisition of SolSniper, a Solana-native trading and analytics platform, marking its third deal since 2024 after Bitski and Blowfish. This latest move accelerates Phantom’s transformation from a wallet app into a broader consumer finance platform. With the recent integration of Hyperliquid’s perpetuals and now SolSniper’s trading capabilities, Phantom is positioning itself at the center of Solana’s thriving memecoin market, which regularly drives more than half of the chain’s DEX volumes.

Ripple, meanwhile, has agreed to acquire Rail for $200 million, adding virtual account infrastructure and compliance rails that will expand distribution of its RLUSD stablecoin. The deal follows Ripple’s $1.25 billion bid for prime broker Hidden Road and earlier takeovers of custodians Metaco and Standard Custody, bringing its M&A spend above $3 billion. Ripple also reportedly pursued a $4-5 billion acquisition of Circle prior to the stablecoin issuer’s public listing in June. Together, these transactions underscore how leading players are using acquisitions to secure infrastructure, capture liquidity, and position themselves for the next wave of digital-asset adoption.

Stripe and Circle Enter the Layer-1 Race

Two of the largest names in fintech and stablecoins are now building their own blockchains. Stripe is developing Tempo, an EVM-compatible chain designed for stablecoin payments and enterprise adoption. Positioned as a high-performance, payments-focused L1, Tempo aims to cut cross-border transaction costs and latency. The project comes after Stripe’s acquisitions of Bridge (stablecoin infrastructure) and Privy (crypto wallets), and will be led by Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang as CEO.

Stablecoin issuer Circle has also announced Arc, its own EVM-compatible L1 built specifically around USDC. Arc will use USDC as its native gas token, feature built-in compliance tools, optional privacy, and a foreign exchange engine for 24/7 onchain settlement. Unlike many public networks, its validator set will be permissioned. Circle expects a public testnet later in 2025 and a full mainnet launch in early 2026. Together, Stripe and Circle’s moves signal that major incumbents are no longer content to simply build on existing infrastructure – they want to own the rails of the stablecoin economy.

Google Launches Its Own Blockchain: Universal Ledger

Google has entered the corporate blockchain race with the launch of Google Cloud Universal Ledger (GCUL), its proprietary layer-1 chain. GCUL marks the third major blockchain announcement in two weeks (after Circle’s Arc and Stripe’s Tempo shared above) and the fourth corporate chain since Robinhood’s June reveal. While technical details remain limited, Google confirmed the network will be private and permissioned at launch, support Python-based smart contracts, and focus primarily on payments and asset issuance.

In a blog post titled “Beyond stablecoins: The evolution of digital money”, Google framed GCUL as an evolutionary step in financial infrastructure, likening the shift to the move from privately issued banknotes in the 1700s to stablecoins today. The company highlighted inefficiencies in legacy payment and capital market systems and argued that digitized dollars running on distributed ledgers could unlock speed, security, and privacy without reinventing money itself. With CME onboard as a pilot partner, Google is positioning GCUL as a trusted backbone for payments and asset transfers – leveraging Google’s own security and privacy technologies to differentiate its chain.