U.S. crypto, financial markets and economic policy: the latest reporting from The Token Press.
Ripple’s long legal fight with the SEC was influenced by the activism of the XRP Army, according to lawyer John Deaton. Thousands of XRP holders submitted affidavits, petitions, and coordinated campaigns, which Judge Torres later cited in her ruling that XRP itself is not a security.
Traditional banks are expanding into crypto custody. Deutsche Bank plans to launch a digital assets custody service in 2026 with Bitpanda, while Citigroup is considering custody and payment services as regulatory shifts make the sector more accessible.
Chainalysis data shows Bitcoin dominates crypto adoption, pulling in over $4.6T in fiat inflows, with the U.S. leading at $4.2T. Layer-1 tokens followed with $4T, stablecoins just under $1T, and memecoins around $250B. Bitcoin’s share was especially strong in the UK and EU, where nearly half of fiat purchases went into BTC.
Crypto.com partnered with Trump Media, owner of Truth Social, to launch a treasury strategy for its native token Cronos (CRO). The token jumped nearly 150% to $0.38 on the news but later eased back to $0.27, far below its 2021 peak.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the new futures index is part of building an “everything exchange,” tied to the firm’s broader “everything app” strategy. In July, Coinbase rebranded its wallet as the Base app, aiming to merge trading, payments, social media, and messaging in one platform.
Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin predicts that Ether will eventually surpass Bitcoin as the global “monetary base,” fueled by Wall Street’s adoption of staking, DeFi, and tokenization. He calls ETH the “highest octane decentralized trust commodity,” arguing its potential is far greater than most forecasts. Institutional clients are already allocating treasury assets to ETH, while stablecoin supply on Ethereum has surged past $160 billion, doubling since January 2024. Though Bitcoin still dominates as a store of value, Ethereum’s programmability and rapid ecosystem growth could accelerate the long-awaited “flippening.”