🇧🇭 Crypto.com received its payment service provider license in Bahrain; the ETH/BTC ratio is at its lowest since April 2021

Crypto.com received its payment service provider license in Bahrain; the ETH/BTC ratio is at its lowest since April 2021; Circle expanded USDC to Brazil and Mexico via local payment systems.

Quick Take

• Crypto.com received its payment service provider license in Bahrain; the ETH/BTC ratio is at its lowest since April 2021; Circle expanded USDC to Brazil and Mexico via local payment systems.
• US spot Ether ETFs saw a US$26 million net outflow last week, while spot Bitcoin ETFs had a weekly net inflow of $397 million.
• On the macro side, in the US, the Fed cut interest rates by 0.5% to the 4.75% to -5% range, and mentioned the Committee gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably towards the 2% target. The latest CME FedWatch Tool showed a 100% probability of a November rate cut in the US. Bank of Japan, Bank of England, and People’s Bank of China kept interest rates unchanged. 
• Notable updates: Ethereum (ETH) developers agreed to split the upcoming Pectra hard fork into two; Sky (formerly MakerDAO (MKR) announced that the Sky governance token (SKY) and Sky Dollar (USDS) are live on Ethereum; Gala (GALA) announced the introduction of a new gas fee system; the Crypto.com App listed Self Chain (SLF), Catizen (CATI), Aleo (ALEO), and hehe (HEHE).
• Notable events in the coming week: Interest rate decision from Australia and Switzerland, and the release of US Core Personal Consumption Expenditures

Weekly Market Index

The price, volume, and volatility indices increased by +4.40%, +18.92%, and +182.14%, respectively, last week. IMX (+294.71%) and APT (+251.10%) led the volatility increase. This coincided with Aptos Foundation announcing its partnership with Ignition AI Accelerator to explore artificial intelligence solutions, as well as Stacks (STX) integrating Bitcoin into Aptos via sBTC.

Chart of the Week

The ETH/BTC price ratio reached 0.038 on 18 September — its lowest point since April 2021 — according to data from Coingecko. This coincided with Bitcoin dominance reaching 58%, its highest since March 2021. 

At the same time, US spot Ether ETFs saw a net outflow of $608 million since launch, compared to a net inflow of $17.7 billion for US spot Bitcoin ETFs since launch. 

Weekly Performance

BTC and ETH increased by +4.1% and +6.8%, respectively, in the past seven days. Price action for other selected top market capitalisation tokens was mixed. ATOM (+9.1%) led the increase, while DOT (-4.9%) led the drop.

Key categories were all up in market capitalisation in the past seven days. The artificial intelligence and gaming categories led the increase.

Notable Updates

News Highlights

Adoption

• Circle has announced the expansion of USDC to Brazil and Mexico, supporting transfers via national payment systems, PIX and SPEI, respectively. It is also launching USDC on Sui, marking its fifteenth network integration.
• Multiple banks in Germany and Singapore announced crypto trading services last week. Germany’s DZ Bank partnered with Boerse Stuttgart Digital to offer cryptocurrency trading and custody services, and Commerzbank partnered with Crypto Finance to offer crypto trading services starting with BTC and ETH. Singapore’s DBS Bank will launch over-the-counter cryptocurrency options trading and structured notes for institutional clients starting in Q4 this year. 
• Swiss stock exchange SIX is exploring launching a platform in Europe to facilitate spot or derivatives crypto trading, mentioning that crypto has become an increasingly recognised asset class. 
• Cryptocurrency custodian BitGo announced plans to introduce a USD stablecoin, USDS, in 2025. It will be backed by short-duration Treasury bills, overnight repos, and cash. It will also offer rewards to institutions that provide liquidity to the network. 
• WisdomTree introduced the WisdomTree Connect platform to allow businesses and institutions access to tokenised real-world assets. The platform will initially mint tokens on Ethereum, and investors can purchase fund tokens with USD or USDC. It will also complement the retail-facing application, WisdomTree Prime.  
• Fintech firm Revolut is said to be planning to issue its own stablecoin. The company currently offers cryptocurrency trading and intends to continue expanding its crypto offering.  
• Societe Generale’s subsidiary SG Forge will roll out Euro stablecoin EUR CoinVertible (EURCV) on the Solana blockchain. EURCV was designed primarily for institutional investors and launched on the Ethereum blockchain last year. 

Licenses and Regulations

• Crypto.com has received full approval to provide payment service provider (PSP) services from the Central Bank of Bahrain through its subsidiary registered in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The PSP licence will allow Crypto.com to expand its offerings of e-money and fiat-based payment services regionally, including the launch of its prepaid cards.

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Catalyst Calendar

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