DeFi & L1L2 Weekly — 💰 Solana generated $2.86 billion revenue over the past 12 months; Tether plans to raise funds for a digital asset treasury company to acquire its XAUT token
Solana generated $2.86B revenue over the past 12 months. Tether plans to raise funds for a DAT company to acquire its XAUT token. Grayscale launched staking for its Ethereum and Solana ETPs.
Key Takeaways
- Tether is seeking to raise at least US$200 million for a digital asset treasury company that would acquire Tether’s XAUT token.
- Avalanche Treasury Co. is set to launch through a $675 million SPAC merger with Mountain Lake Acquisition Corp., aiming to purchase over US$1 billion in AVAX tokens after listing on Nasdaq in early 2026.
- Grayscale launched staking for its Ethereum and Solana exchange-traded products (ETPs), making them the first US-listed spot crypto ETPs to offer this feature.
- Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, invested $2 billion into the prediction market Polymarket, valuing the company at $9 billion.
- Visa launched a cross-border stablecoin payments pilot.
- BNY Mellon is exploring tokenised deposits to modernise cross-border payments and move part of its $2.5 trillion daily payment flow onto blockchain technology.
- Linea launched an ETH-backed loan product in collaboration with Maple Finance.
- Virtuals Protocol introduced a new launch system called Unicorn for its AI agent platform, replacing the previous Genesis model.
Weekly DeFi Index
This week, market capitalisation, volume, and volatility indices rose by +6.80%, +28.06%, and +75.22%, respectively.
Chart of the Week
Solana generated $2.86 billion revenue over the past 12 months, primarily from trading platforms and meme coins. Additionally, institutions are pushing Solana into mainstream finance, with its efficiency and low fees attracting around 1.2–1.5 million daily active addresses on average. Meanwhile, several companies have rebranded to focus on Solana treasuries, holding nearly $4 billion in SOL.
News Highlights
- Tether is seeking to raise at least $200 million for a digital asset treasury company that would acquire Tether's XAUT token, according to Bloomberg. The initiative is led by Tether and Antalpha Platform Holding, a Singapore-based financial services firm and strategic partner of Bitmain Technologies. The funds would be used to accumulate XAUT, Tether's gold-backed token, which is currently backed by over 7.66 tons of gold.
- Avalanche Treasury Co. is set to launch through a $675 million SPAC merger with Mountain Lake Acquisition Corp., aiming to purchase over $1 billion in AVAX tokens after listing on Nasdaq in early 2026. The company, backed by major crypto firms like Dragonfly and VanEck, plans to actively engage on the Avalanche blockchain through investments, validator infrastructure, and tokenising RWAs.
- Grayscale launched staking for its Ethereum and Solana ETPs, making them the first US-listed spot crypto ETPs to offer this feature. Investors can stake Ether through the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) and Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust (ETH), while the Grayscale Solana Trust (GSOL) now offers staking for Solana (SOL).
- Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, invested $2 billion into the crypto-based prediction market Polymarket, valuing the company at $9 billion.
- Visa launched a cross-border stablecoin payments pilot. The programme will allow selected partners to use USDC and EURC as pre-funded assets to settle transactions.
- BNY Mellon is exploring tokenised deposits to modernise cross-border payments and move part of its $2.5 trillion daily payment flow onto blockchain technology. Tokenised deposits are digital coins directly backed by commercial bank balances, differing from stablecoins that rely on third-party reserves.
- Layer-2 (L2) scaling solution Linea launched an ETH-backed loan product in collaboration with Maple Finance, an on-chain platform that provides institutional credit products.
- Virtuals Protocol introduced a new launch system called Unicorn for its AI agent platform, replacing the previous Genesis model. This new system shifts from point farming to performance-driven ownership, encouraging early support and aligning it with long-term value creation.
Recent Research Reports
Global crypto owners reached 708 million by the first half of 2025. BTC owners grew 4.1% to 354 million (50.1% of global owners), driven by institutional interest and US pro-crypto policies. ETH owners grew 3.4% to 160 million (22.7% of global owners), mainly attributed to real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation and institutional adoption. | This report provides an in-depth analysis of the institutional stablecoin market, which is being shaped by a multi-front contest among traditional financial institutions, regulated fintechs, and purpose-built crypto-native infrastructure. | September ended with broadly positive momentum across asset classes, which coincided with the Fed rate cut during the month. Equity markets remained near record highs, but concerns over persistent inflation, geopolitical tensions, and trade conflicts influenced investor sentiment. |
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