SnapShot 224

Hello SnapShotters,

The week’s interest was all in the interest (rates). The Fed delivered its first rate cut in over nine months, trimming its target range by 25 bps in what Chair Jerome Powell called a “risk management cut.” He flagged a cooling employment market versus lingering inflation risks, and indicated that two more cuts could follow by year’s end.

The crypto market responded favourably. Bitcoin surpassed $117K, while Ether briefly pushed above $4.6K. Among the big caps, AVAX clocked about 8% 24-hour gains, riding on the momentum of the ETF filing news.

DOGE, SUI, DOT, and the big memes like PENGU and pump.fun also saw notable gains.

ETF flows reinforced the upward trend. Spot BTC funds drew $2.3B in inflows, while ETH products reversed course with $638M of fresh demand after a week of heavy outflows.

Read on for all the other headlines that matter.

Market Spotlight

Note: Market prices captured in USD at the time of sending. Explore more on Crypto‌.com/Price.

Want more? Get weekly Market and DeFi Updates from Crypto.‌com’s Research Team.

News Snaps

🌐 Galaxy Buys $1.5B in SOL

Galaxy Digital snapped up 6.5M SOL (worth about $1.55B) in five days, including a $306M purchase in one day, after joining a $1.65B private placement in a Solana treasury firm. The spree adds to the growing rhetoric of SOL treasuries.

🕵️ Ethereum Maps Out End-to-End Privacy

The Ethereum Foundation’s rebranded ‘Privacy Stewards of Ethereum’ team unveiled plans to make privacy “the norm”. The roadmap spans private reads, writes, and proving, aiming to embed confidentiality across apps, wallets, and protocols while maintaining regulatory compliance.

📈 Bitwise Files for Spot AVAX ETF

Bitwise has submitted an S-1 to launch a spot Avalanche ETF. The filing follows Grayscale’s and VanEck’s bids, as competition heats up to bring AVAX to U.S. markets through regulated products.

🇵🇰 Pakistan Invites Global Crypto Firms

Pakistan’s new federal regulator, the Pakistan Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (PVARA), is calling on top exchanges and VASPs to apply for entry into the country’s digital asset market.

💵 Tether to Launch U.S. Regulated Stablecoin

Tether unveiled plans to debut USAT, a USD-backed stablecoin tailored for U.S. businesses and institutions. The move marks a major push for U.S. regulatory approval and signals Tether’s bid to grow its market share.

What’s Ahead

⏳ Altcoin ETF Decisions Pushed to November

The SEC has extended reviews of the Bitwise Dogecoin ETF and Grayscale Hedera ETF to November 12. Now that the SEC has approved generic listing standards for crypto ETPs, eligible ETFs can move forward without individual reviews. This could accelerate approval for the 92 pending products in queue, including multiple SOL and XRP funds.

Number of the Week

Source: BeInCrypto

Chart of the Week

Altcoin Season Index Hits 2025 High

The Altcoin Season Index rose to 82 on September 15, its highest level since December 2024 (peak: 88). The reading translates into altcoins broadly outperforming Bitcoin over the past 90 days; it reinforces a risk-on sentiment and a potential pivot toward a sustained “altseason”.**

As of September 15, 2025

Sources: CoinGlass, Crypto.com Research

** Trading cryptocurrencies involves risk, including market volatility. Past performance does not indicate future results, and earnings are not guaranteed. Consider risks before trading.

Research & Insights

The State of Crypto Commerce & Payments: H1 2025

Crypto commerce may no longer be a niche. With global crypto ownership surpassing 700 million, merchants embracing digital assets are seeing measurable gains in e-commerce revenues, order values, and conversion rates.

Crypto.com’s Visa Card and Pay platform are leading this shift, powering higher spend in luxury, fashion, and electronics, while new travel partnerships with Accor and Emirates highlight the value of crypto-native consumers.

As stablecoins and seamless payment rails spread, the test is whether adoption can move beyond early movers and embed itself into the habits of everyday spenders.

👉 Read the full report here.

Crypto Trivia

What was the first project to introduce the concept of a crypto airdrop?

A) Bitcoin
B) Stellar
C) Litecoin

Find the correct answer at the end of this newsletter. 👇

NFT Spotlight

Step up and stand out with unique collectibles from ‘Brave Badges’, the latest NFT drop to join the Brave universe.

ArtemisArt, the creative brains behind the collection’s lore and utility, drew inspiration from the warriors, mystics, rogues, and legends of the Braveverse to craft each badge.

Collectors stand to be awarded with additional NFTs from ArtemisArt’s past drops, including ‘Minty Cuties’ and ‘Brave Legends’, as well as LION tokens and a ‘Loaded Lions’ NFT*!

*Eligible users only.  Terms and Conditions apply.

Don’t miss out on these unique badges and shop the drop today.

Product Updates

SOL Now Available On Dual Invest

In addition to BTC, ETH and USDC, SOL is now available on Dual Invest, where you can earn rewards in one of two top tokens regardless of market volatility. Simply set your target price and term, and lock in your reward rate. Find out more here, or try it for yourself.

The Loaded Lions: Mane City Howlpoint Blitz Is Coming Soon!

Gear up for the next blitz of the Loaded Lions: Mane City competitive season III, with a starting prize pool of $25,000 worth of CRO and NFTs. 100% of diamond spend will be added to all prize pools, with 70% allocated to this Blitz. Howlpoint Blitz takes place from September 26, 2025, 9:00 AM EDT to October 3, 2025, 9:00 AM EDT. Start playing Mane City now. T&Cs apply.

New Tokens

Boundless (ZKC)

Boundless is a universal zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) platform developed by the RISC Zero team, enabling nodes to generate ZKPs for Layer-1s, applications, and infrastructure. 

Sky (SKY) 

Sky is a decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem evolved from MakerDAO, built around the USDS stablecoin, the upgraded version of DAI. It powers a non-custodial, decentralized financial infrastructure. 

Avantis (AVNT)

Avantis is a decentralized perpetuals exchange built on the Base network, enabling fast, cost-effective trading of cryptocurrencies and real-world assets (RWAs) like forex pairs and commodities.

Some Crypto.com products may not be available in some jurisdictions.

Crypto Learn

What Is Proof of Intelligence (PoI)?

Proof of Intelligence (PoI) is a consensus mechanism where participants solve AI or machine learning problems instead of crunching random numbers, like in Proof of Work (POW).

This approach channels computing power into useful tasks, such as training AI models, while still securing the blockchain. It’s designed to reduce wasted energy and turn consensus into something productive.

PoI could also lower entry barriers for miners by rewarding problem-solving ability over raw hardware power, potentially making participation more inclusive.

Learn more in this University article.

CryptoIRL

@FWARRROUT had his breath taken away, both by the scenic view and the Rose Card

Hashtag #CryptoIRL with your Crypto.‌com Card on your social profiles to get featured! Your 15 minutes of fame in the #CROFam awaits you!

Security Tips

New ModStealer Malware Targets Crypto Wallets

A new malware called ModStealer is targeting crypto users’ wallets across multiple operating systems. Security researchers discovered that it targets Web3 developers via fake job recruitment ads, and is designed to steal private keys, certificates, and credentials.

Once installed, ModStealer embeds into the system, running silently in the background. It captures clipboard data, screenshots, and even executes remote commands, putting both wallets and development environments at serious risk.

How to stay safe:

1. Don’t click on links or download files unless the source is verified
2. Use a dedicated browser or device for your crypto wallets, and keep it separate from devices for work and online browsing
3. Secure your wallets by keeping seed phrases offline and turning on two-factor authentication

Crypto Trivia Answer

B) Stellar ✅

In 2014, Stellar gave away free tokens to users of Bitcoin and XRP as a way to bootstrap adoption. The airdrop model is now a standard growth tactic in Web3.

That's it for this week's SnapShot. Want more? Find out what’s trending in the crypto world.