Top Stories of The Week
SharpLink shares drop 12% on Q2 crypto impairment loss
SharpLink Gaming, an online gaming company with the second-largest corporate Ether treasury, announced a net loss of $103 million for the second quarter of 2025, driven by a paper loss from accounting for liquid staked Ether (LsETH). The loss marks a steep drop from a $500,000 loss in the same period of 2024 — a year-over-year change of -25,980%.
According to a Friday announcement, SharpLink now holds 728,804 Ether worth approximately $3.5 billion at this writing. The only publicly traded company with more ETH is BitMine Immersion Technologies, which holds a little more than 1.15 million ETH worth approximately $5.1 billion.
Of SharpLink’s Q2 loss, $87.8 million — or 85% — is related to the company’s LsETH. A SharpLink representative told Cointelegraph that the company still has all its LsETH and that the impairment “reflects accounting rules, not a sale or loss of ETH.”
“Under US GAAP, LsETH is currently treated as a digital intangible asset, which is recorded at cost and subject to impairment,” a SharpLink spokesperson said. “In Q2, the lowest market price of LsETH was $2300, triggering the $87.8M non-cash impairment.”
US Fed to end oversight program for banks’ crypto activities
The Federal Reserve Board said that it would end a “novel activities supervision program” set up in 2023 to supervise certain activities related to crypto assets and distributed ledger technology.
In a Friday notice, the Fed said it will sunset the program created in August 2023 and return to “monitoring banks’ novel activities through the normal supervisory process.” The 2023 program said it would be “risk-focused” and include supervision of banks providing “deposits, payments, and lending to crypto-asset-related entities and fintechs.”
“Since the Board started its program to supervise certain crypto and fintech activities in banks, the Board has strengthened its understanding of those activities, related risks, and bank risk management practices,” said the Fed. “As a result, the Board is integrating that knowledge and the supervision of those activities back into the standard supervisory process and is rescinding its 2023 supervisory letter creating the program.”
Coinbase says a ‘full-scale altcoin season’ may be just ahead
Altcoins have seen significant recent growth, while crypto market conditions suggest there could soon be a shift toward cryptocurrencies outside of Bitcoin, according to Coinbase.
“We think current market conditions now suggest a potential shift towards a full-scale altcoin season as we approach September,” Coinbase’s global head of research, David Duong, wrote in a monthly outlook report on Thursday.
The Coinbase analyst joined a growing chorus of traders and market observers tipping for an imminent altcoin season.
The firm defines altcoin season as when at least 75% of the top 50 altcoins by market capitalization outperform Bitcoin over the preceding 90 days.
Duong added that there was “significant retail capital sitting on the sidelines” in money market funds, and Federal Reserve easing could “unlock greater retail participation in the medium term.”
FBI warns of ‘fictitious law firms‘ targeting crypto scam victims
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a public service announcement for victims of crypto scams looking for legal advice to recover their funds.
In a Wednesday notice, the FBI said that fictitious law firms were targeting individuals who had previously been scammed out of some or all of their crypto holdings, putting them at additional risk. According to the bureau, the scammers’ actions left victims at risk of compromising their personal data and other funds.
The announcement, based on an update for similar warnings from the FBI in August 2023 and June 2024, cautioned people against accepting assistance from anyone recommending a “crypto recovery law firm” or any law firm “requesting payment in cryptocurrency or prepaid gift cards.”
“Be cautious of law firms contacting you unexpectedly, especially if you have not reported the crime to any law enforcement or civil protection agencies,” the notice reads.
Justin Sun, Bloomberg in legal dispute over billionaires index
Justin Sun, founder of the Tron blockchain, has sued Bloomberg and sought a temporary restraining order, alleging it published false and private financial information in its billionaires list.
Sun’s representatives said on Tuesday in a blog post by Tron that his profile on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index released on Monday had “published inaccurate data that dramatically and dangerously misrepresents Mr. Sun’s assets.”
Sun sued Bloomberg in a Delaware federal court on Monday, asking a judge to stop it from publishing the information, claiming the action was to prevent the outlet from “recklessly and improperly disclosing his highly confidential, sensitive, private, and proprietary financial information.”
Lawyers for Bloomberg said in a letter to the court on Tuesday that the company will oppose Sun’s application for a restraining order and asserted “the entire basis” of the application was moot as the outlet had published the information before the application was filed.
Most Memorable Quotations
“ETH is arguably the biggest macro trade for the next 10 to 15 years as AI creates a token economy on the blockchain and as Wall Street financializes on the blockchain.”
Tom Lee, co-founder and head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors
“Has anyone else noticed that the topping price action in 2021 looks exactly the same as current price action?”
Nebraskangooner, pseudonymous crypto trader
“We think current market conditions now suggest a potential shift towards a full-scale altcoin season as we approach September.”
David Duong, global head of research at Coinbase
“No matter what, it’s impossible that Ethereum is worth 4,600,000 BTC.”
Samson Mow, CEO of Jan3
“With key stakeholders accumulating loose coins that small ETH traders are willing to part with right now, prices are showing very little sentiment resistance from breaking through and making history in the near future.”
Santiment, sentiment platform
“It’s a Darwinian stage for Web3 gaming: tough for small players, but potentially healthy for long-term stability.”
Sara Gherghelas, analyst at DappRadar
Winners and Losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $117,594, Ether (ETH) at $4,445 and XRP at $3.11. The total market cap is at $3.97 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are OKB (OKB) at 102.40%, Aerodrome Finance (AERO) at 23.91% and Lido DAO (LDO) at 19.83%.
The top three altcoin losers of the week are SPX6900 (SPX) at 21.33%, Monero (XMR) at 16.95% and Conflux (CFX) at 16.23%. For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.
Top Prediction of The Week
Ether bull flag targets $6K as ETH supply on exchanges falls to 12%
Ether price registered a multi-year high of $4,792 on Thursday after a 45% rise from its Aug. 3 low at $3,354. The price is now consolidating below its $4,867 all-time high after validating a classic bullish continuation pattern.
Can Ether’s price rise 34% in the next few days?
ETH rallied more than 126% between June 22 and Thursday to reach a multi-year high just below $4,800. The latest rally saw the price breach the resistance provided by the upper boundary of a bull flag at $3,770 on the daily chart, confirming a bullish breakout.
A bull flag is a continuation pattern that occurs after a significant rise, followed by a consolidation period at the higher price end of the range.
Ether has confirmed a “textbook bull flag” in the daily time frame, said trader Mister Crypto in an earlier analysis on X.
Top FUD of The Week
New BIS plan could make ‘dirty’ crypto harder to cash out
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has proposed a provenance-based risk score system for crypto-to-fiat off-ramps.
In its Wednesday BIS Bulletin, the institution outlined “an approach to anti-money laundering compliance for cryptoassets,” recommending that a compliance score be assigned to crypto holdings before they are exchanged for fiat currency.
“An AML compliance score based on the likelihood that a particular cryptoasset unit or balance is linked with illicit activity may be referenced at points of contact with the banking system,” the document said. The score would then be used to prevent inflows of illicit funds and encourage a “duty of care” among crypto market participants.
The BIS said existing Anti-Money Laundering (AML) approaches relying on trusted intermediaries have “limited effectiveness” in the context of crypto. Public blockchain transaction histories could provide valuable tools for compliance monitoring, it said.
BtcTurk halts withdrawals amid suspected $48M crypto hack
Turkish cryptocurrency exchange BtcTurk has halted withdrawals amid reports suggesting that the platform has suffered a major loss of funds due to a hack.
Cybersecurity firm Cyvers took to X on Thursday to report that it had detected $48 million worth of digital assets, including Ether, involved in unusual activity.
“Our system detected multiple alerts across ETH, AVAX, ARB, BASE, OP, MANTLE and MATIC networks,” Cyvers reported, adding that the attacker had moved the assets to two addresses and begun swapping them.
BtcTurk subsequently halted deposits and withdrawals, citing a “technical issue” with hot wallets, reporting that trading and local currency withdrawals and deposits remained intact.
Ether rally turns Radiant Capital exploit into $103M windfall for hacker
The trove stolen from decentralized lender Radiant Capital in October 2024 has nearly doubled in value as Ether climbed, blockchain data shows.
Decentralized finance protocol Radiant Capital was hacked in mid-October 2024 when the crosschain lending protocol suffered a $58 million cybersecurity breach on BNB Chain and Arbitrum.
Radiant Capital lost about $58 million in the breach. The attacker later swapped proceeds into Ether and now holds 21,957 ETH worth about $103 million, according to Lookonchain, up from an estimated $58 million at the time of the exploit.
Ether closed Oct. 15, 2024, above $2,300, and was trading above $4,700 Thursday.
Top Magazine Stories of The Week
Everybody hates GPT-5, AI shows social media can’t be fixed: AI Eye
OpenAI’s GPT-5 has debuted to a wave of hatred, but here’s what its critics get wrong. Plus, AI proves social media can’t be fixed.
Altcoin season 2025 is almost here… but the rules have changed
Ignore all previous calls, “altcoin season” is finally upon us. Maybe.
South Koreans dump Tesla for Ethereum treasury BitMine: Asia Express
South Korea’s retail investors dump Tesla for Ethereum treasury companies. Thai crypto mule account crackdown.
Editorial Staff
Powers On… The SEC takes reactionary moves against crypto lending
“The SEC attacks the crypto industry while Commissioner Peirce continues to advocate for reasonableness, and the huge $100 million BlockFi lending settlement is first alleging investment company registration violations.”
Read more
Bitcoin special! New 2020 high, election fallout, DeFi suffers: Hodler’s Digest, Nov. 2–8
The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — one week on Cointelegraph in one link!
Read moreEther eyes $6K as supply plunges, Justin Sun’s legal saga: Hodler’s Digest, Aug. 10 – 16
Buterin’s ETH treasury warning, Bitcoin $250K a ‘maybe’: Hodler’s Digest, Aug. 3 – 9