Quick Take

• Liquid staking on all blockchains hit a record high of US$86 billion in total value locked (TVL) on 14 August, marking a 48% increase since the start of 2025.
• Wyoming launched the Visa-supported Frontier Stable Token (FRNT) stablecoin across seven blockchains.
• Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) is set to approve the country's first yen-pegged stablecoin, JPYC.
• S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) is discussing partnerships with exchanges, custodians, and DeFi protocols to launch tokenised versions of its benchmarks.
• Google increased its stake in TeraWulf from 8% to 14%. This deal includes a $1.4 billion backstop, bringing Google's total investment to $3.2 billion.
• Polkadot (DOT) launched Polkadot Capital Group to bridge traditional finance to its blockchain ecosystem.
• Two Prime, an SEC-registered investment adviser, partnered with staking infrastructure provider Figment to offer institutional clients access to cryptocurrency yield opportunities. 
• Thumzup, a social media firm backed by Donald Trump Jr., is set to acquire Dogecoin mining firm Dogehash Technologies.
• Decentralised exchange Valantis acquired StakedHYPE (stHYPE), a leading liquid staking platform on Hyperliquid's HyperEVM blockchain.
• Meme coin launchpad Odin.fun suffered a liquidity manipulation exploit, resulting in the draining of 58.2 BTC.

Weekly DeFi Index

This week, the market capitalisation index dropped by -5.02%, while the volume and volatility indices grew by +4.33% and +108.41%, respectively.

• DeFi aggregator 1inch (1INCH) launched cross-chain swaps between Solana and 12 Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) networks, eliminating the need for bridges or messaging protocols.
• Synthetix (SNX) is shutting down its remaining function on Optimism by September and returning to the Ethereum Mainnet to launch a high-performing perpetual futures marketplace. Additionally, SLP vault, a new community-owned market-making system that’s launching soon, is set to offer sUSD depositors a share of trading profits and enhanced risk management. Pre-deposits for the Synthetix Mainnet are live, and users can earn a spot on the alpha whitelist and earn points by depositing sUSD or sUSDe.

Chart of the Week

On 14 August, liquid staking protocols on all blockchains hit a record US$86 billion in total value locked (TVL), marking a 48% increase since the start of 2025. Lido Finance was a major contributor to this growth, accounting for approximately $42 billion. This surge is attributed to growing user confidence in Ethereum's staking ecosystem, renewed appetite for yield-generating crypto products, and increased institutional adoption. At the time of writing, over 29% of the total ETH supply has been staked.

News Highlights

• The state of Wyoming launched the Frontier Stable Token (FRNT) stablecoin across seven blockchains, including Ethereum and Solana. The FRNT stablecoin is fully collateralised by US Treasury bills and dollars with a 102% reserve requirement. It is also Visa-supported and can be used for mobile payments and digital wallet services.
• Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) is set to approve the country's first yen-pegged stablecoin, JPYC, this fall. The stablecoin will be pegged to the Japanese yen in a 1:1 ratio, and is backed by highly liquid assets such as bank deposits and Japanese government bonds. This approval could reshape demand for Japanese government bonds and boost their adoption, similar to how leading stablecoin issuers have become major buyers of US treasuries.
• S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) is discussing partnerships with exchanges, custodians, and DeFi protocols to launch tokenised versions of its benchmarks. The goal is to ensure that tokenised products meet high standards for transparency, security, and regulatory compliance.
• Google increased its stake in TeraWulf, a bitcoin miner and data centre operator, from 8% to 14%. This deal includes a $1.4 billion backstop, bringing Google's total investment to $3.2 billion.
• Polkadot (DOT) launched Polkadot Capital Group to bridge traditional finance to its blockchain ecosystem. The division aims to connect institutions with Polkadot's infrastructure to explore opportunities in asset management, banking, and more.
• Two Prime, an SEC-registered investment adviser, partnered with staking infrastructure provider Figment to offer institutional clients access to cryptocurrency yield opportunities across over 40 protocols.
• Thumzup, a social media firm backed by Donald Trump Jr., is set to acquire Dogecoin mining firm Dogehash Technologies.
• Decentralised exchange (DEX) Valantis acquired StakedHYPE (stHYPE), a leading liquid staking platform on Hyperliquid's HyperEVM blockchain. The acquisition will allow Valantis to further build market infrastructure around liquid staking tokens and expand StakedHYPE's operations, development, and scaling efforts.
• Bitcoin-based meme coin launchpad Odin.fun suffered a liquidity manipulation exploit, resulting in the draining of 58.2 BTC, worth around $7 million. The attack occurred when a bad actor moved large amounts of cryptocurrencies to artificially inflate the price of a meme coin before withdrawing liquidity in BTC.

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