Mars Weekly | The crypto market continues to fluctuate, gold prices hit a new high, Trump family project WLFI opened high and then turned lower, and a company associated with Jack Ma purchased Ether.

Spot gold has surpassed $3600 per ounce, setting a new historical high.

According to Mars Finance, on September 6, spot gold first reached 3600 USD/ounce, setting a historical high, with an intraday increase expanding to 1.5%, and a cumulative increase of over 970 USD so far this year.

The WLFI token officially launched on September 1, and Sun Yuchen's address has been frozen.

World Liberty Financial announced that the WLFI token will officially launch on September 1, with an initial circulation of approximately 24.67 billion tokens, accounting for about 24.7% of the total tokens. This includes 10 billion for ecological funds, 7.78 billion allocated to Alt5 Sigma (8% of total supply), 2.88 billion for liquidity and market promotion, and 4 billion for the first phase unlocking for public users. The remaining over 75 billion tokens are still locked. WLFI stated that it has coordinated calibration with CoinMarketCap.

The Trump family has increased its paper wealth by approximately $5 billion due to the trading of their flagship crypto project World Liberty's new token WLFI. Trump's three sons are co-founders, while Trump himself is titled "Honorary Co-Founder". Currently, the family holds less than a quarter of the WLFI tokens. WLFI is likely to have become the Trump family's most valuable asset, surpassing their decades-long real estate portfolio.

The Trump family's crypto project World Liberty Financial (WLFI) clarified the previous transaction "40.7 million WLFI tokens have been destroyed in the vault wallet": "There is some misunderstanding regarding the WLFI tokens unlocked in the Safe, and WLFI has no plans to sell these tokens on the open market. The allocation of this portion of tokens is solely determined by community governance voting — how to use them is decided by the community. The status of the vault tokens is as follows: 1. The initial amount was 10 billion WLFI; 2. 40.7 million WLFI were destroyed yesterday (governance decision); 3. The current balance is 9.953 billion WLFI. All these tokens are subject to community governance, not decided by the team."

On Friday, on-chain data showed that the World Liberty Financial controlled address 0x407F…5178 called the guardianSetBlacklistStatus function through the WLFI Token contract to blacklist the address 0x5AB2…DA74 (associated with Justin Sun). On-chain transactions indicated that as of Friday's data, the HTX address "HTX 48" had transferred approximately 60,000,000 WLFI tokens to the Binance deposit address 0xf387D7…29FcB5. In response, Justin Sun stated, "Our address has only made a few general exchange deposit tests, with very low amounts, and then dispersed some addresses, without any buying or selling involved, which could not have any impact on the market."

Sun Yuchen tweeted that his WLFI token has been unjustly frozen, calling on the team to respect these principles and unlock the tokens. These actions not only infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of investors but may also undermine people's confidence in WLFI.

Yunfeng Finance: Has purchased 10,000 ETH, total investment cost 44 million USD

Yunfeng Financial announced that its board of directors has approved the purchase of ETH in the open market as reserve assets. So far, the group has accumulated 10,000 ETH, with a total investment cost of 44 million USD, funded by internal cash reserves. The purchased ETH will be listed as investment assets in the financial statements. Alibaba founder Jack Ma is an important related person of Yunfeng Financial.

Yunfeng Financial Group Co., Ltd. previously announced a strategic partnership with Ant Group's Digital Technology and strategically invested in the RWA public chain project Pharos. Both parties will leverage the high-performance public chain of Pharos to jointly expand applications in the Web3 field such as tokenization of real-world assets (RWA). This collaboration will strengthen the digital financial layout, and all parties involved are independent third parties.

Ondo has launched over 100 U.S. stock and ETF tokens on Ethereum, and plans to support BNB Chain and Solana.

Ondo Finance announced the launch of Ondo Global Markets, releasing over 100 US stock and ETF tokens on Ethereum, and will soon support BNB Chain and Solana. The Ondo Global Markets platform is open to eligible investors in the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Africa, and Latin America, but excludes retail and institutional participants from the US and UK. Tokenized stocks and ETFs can be transferred peer-to-peer on-chain 24/7. Ondo will also integrate with Block Street to scale lending, short selling, and hedging.

The Ondo tokenization platform supports 104 types of assets, and Ondo Finance: Deployer has deployed these 104 stock tokens from July 23 to August 13. Users can purchase Ondo stock tokens using USDC on the platform, and within the transaction, USDC is first converted into the Ondo stablecoin USDon, which is then minted from Null: 0x00…0000 to provide the corresponding stock tokens to the users; when sold, the stock tokens are destroyed from Null: 0x00…0000, and the corresponding USDon is exchanged back into USDC for the users.

According to the official panel of Ondo Finance, on the first day of its launch, the trading volume of Ondo Global Markets stock tokens reached $26.4 million, mainly from buy-ins (i.e., minting) on the platform. Currently, the AUM of Ondo Global Markets stock tokens exceeds $26.5 million, with both the SPDR S&P 500 ETF and the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF having AUMs of over $2 million.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority: Only a small number of licenses will be issued in the initial phase of the stablecoin regulations.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) stated that as of the end of August, it has received 77 expressions of interest for stablecoin issuer licenses, with applicants coming from banks, technology companies, securities/asset management firms, e-commerce, payment institutions, and Web3 startups. The HKMA reiterated that only a limited number of licenses will be issued in the initial phase of the regulations and advised institutions that are well-prepared to submit formal applications by the end of September. The HKMA emphasized that submitting an expression of interest or application does not constitute any approval or recognition, and reminded the public to be cautious of promotional activities for unlicensed stablecoins.

Hong Kong Legislative Council member Wu Jiezhuang stated that the regulations for stablecoins in Hong Kong are very strict, and the number of licenses issued is very limited. Perhaps a license will be granted early next year. Additionally, the Legislative Council will expedite the legislative process for offline OTC next year. Wu Jiezhuang believes that digital assets are already a major trend, and many countries and enterprises have included digital assets, including Bitcoin, in their reserves.

Chainalysis: India and the United States Lead the 2025 Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index

The "2025 Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index" released by Chainalysis shows that India, the United States, and Pakistan rank in the top three, with Vietnam and Brazil in fourth and fifth place, respectively. The report points out that the total on-chain cryptocurrency transaction volume in the Asia-Pacific region grew by 69% year-on-year over the past year, making it the fastest-growing region, with significant contributions from India, Vietnam, and Pakistan. Latin America follows with a growth rate of 63%, ranking second.

The SEC and CFTC jointly stated their support for registered platforms to conduct cryptocurrency Spot trading.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a joint statement on September 3, clearly supporting their registered trading platforms to engage in trading of certain crypto Spot assets. This marks the beginning of the two regulatory agencies' efforts to advance the acceptance path for the crypto market under current regulations before Congress completes market structure legislation. The statement pointed out that SEC-registered National Securities Exchanges (NSE), CFTC-registered Designated Contract Markets (DCM), and Foreign Trading Platforms (FBOT) are not prohibited from offering crypto Spot product trading services, and relevant platforms can proactively contact the two agencies to discuss the details of advancement.

The President of the European Central Bank calls for addressing the risks posed by non-EU stablecoins.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has called on EU policymakers to address regulatory gaps for stablecoins, particularly for non-EU stablecoins that are not included in the EU's MiCA framework. She emphasized that stablecoin issuers should not be allowed to operate in the EU unless they establish a "robust equivalent mechanism" in their home jurisdiction, which should include ensuring that EU investors can redeem at face value and that issuers provide sufficient reserves.

Bridgewater founder: Cryptocurrencies may become an alternative currency when the supply of dollars increases and demand decreases.

Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, publicly released the full Q&A in response to an interview report by the Financial Times, emphasizing that the risks of U.S. debt and inflation have entered the final stage of a "big cycle." He warned that if policies remain unchanged, it could lead to an "economic heart attack" caused by debt. He pointed out that if the independence of the Federal Reserve is weakened, the value of bonds and the dollar will face pressure, and international funds have increased their gold holdings while reducing U.S. Treasury bonds. At the same time, Dalio stated that cryptocurrencies, due to their limited supply, may become alternative currencies during times of increased dollar supply and decreased demand, and their value is attractive compared to fiat currencies.

Mastercard's Head of Crypto in Europe: Does not rule out the possibility of developing its own blockchain in the future.

Christian Rau, the crypto lead for Mastercard in Europe, stated in an interview with The Big Whale that the company views cryptocurrency as a potential payment technology rather than a revolution, with a strategy centered on "secure and compliant payments." Mastercard has launched crypto account debit cards and on/off-ramp services, and is collaborating with MetaMask, Bitget, and MoonPay to promote merchant crypto payments. Rau mentioned that stablecoins are beneficial settlement tools that can improve cross-border payments, but they cannot replace the compliance and dispute protection of traditional networks. Regarding the possibility of launching its own blockchain, Rau stated that there are currently no public plans, but he does not rule out this possibility.

Trump signs executive order to adjust the scope of tariff policy.

According to Mars Finance news on September 6, the White House announced that President Trump signed an executive order to adjust the scope of import tariffs and implement a trade and security framework agreement with foreign trade partners. The executive order stipulates that after reaching a framework agreement or final agreement with foreign trade partners, the United States can adjust tariffs based on the content of the agreement, including reducing the equivalent tariffs on certain goods to zero. However, the tariff range is generally not narrowed or modified under Section 232 related tariffs (tariffs on steel and aluminum derivatives) before the final agreement is signed. Goods eligible for zero equivalent tariffs include products that cannot be produced in the United States or are produced insufficiently to meet domestic demand, certain agricultural products, aircraft and parts, and non-patented items for pharmaceutical applications.

Ethena Foundation launches a new $310 million buyback plan

According to Mars Finance, on September 6, Ethena announced an additional $530 million PIPE deal for "StablecoinX," and the foundation launched a new $310 million open market repurchase plan. Previously, on July 21, the stablecoin issuer StablecoinX announced the completion of $360 million in financing for the acquisition of ENA tokens, and plans to list Class A common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market under the stock code "USDE." Among them, the Ethena Foundation will contribute $60 million worth of ENA tokens.

To initiate the acquisition plan, StablecoinX will use a net cash amount of $260 million (after deducting relevant expenses) obtained from financing to purchase locked ENA tokens from the Ethena Foundation subsidiary.

Arkham: The German government failed to seize Bitcoin worth $5 billion.

According to Mars Finance news, Arkham monitoring reports that the German government failed to seize Bitcoin worth $5 billion. In early 2024, German police seized 49,858 Bitcoins from the operators of the pirated film website Movie2K. However, in July 2024, the government sold these Bitcoins for only $2.89 billion, with an average selling price of $57,900. Currently, there are still over 45,000 Bitcoins in the Movie2K wallet, nearly equivalent to the initially seized amount, and this approximately $5 billion in funds is spread across about 100 wallets, which have not been transferred since 2019. Considering that the German government has made no comments on this matter, it is likely that these funds are controlled by the operators of Movie2K.

It is reported that Movie2K is a movie piracy website that became active in 2013. Its operators were arrested in 2019 and voluntarily transferred about 50,000 bitcoins to the German government in January 2024. The German government seized this batch of nearly 50,000 bitcoins in early 2024 and transferred them.

The range of candidates for the Federal Reserve Chairman has narrowed down to three, and Trump reiterated his support for Hassett's appointment.

According to Mars Finance, Trump stated on Friday that he is considering appointing the Director of the National Economic Council, Hassett, to other positions. Trump mentioned that he has a general idea of who he wants to appoint as the Federal Reserve Chairman, and Hassett is one of the three possible candidates. However, he refused to confirm that he would choose Hassett for the position of Federal Reserve Chairman.

Trump stated that U.S. Treasury Secretary Basant was the fourth choice for the Fed chair, and now there are three left. Waller and Walsh are other potential candidates.

Tether and Circle have minted a total of $12 billion in stablecoins over the past month.

According to Mars Finance, on September 5, Lookonchain monitored that Tether minted another 2 billion USDT 36 minutes ago. In the past month, Tether and Circle have minted stablecoins worth 12 billion USD.

Data: A certain Ethereum ICO participant stakes 150,000 ETH to ETH2 after 8 years of silence, approximately equivalent to 656 million dollars.

According to Mars Finance, Onchain Lens has monitored that an Ethereum ICO participant has staked 150,000 ETH (worth approximately $656 million) to ETH2 after 8 years of silence. This participant obtained 300,000 ETH during the ICO period, which was worth a total of $93,300 at that time.

The supply of ETH on trading platforms has hit a nearly 3-year low, with a rapid increase in withdrawals observed over the past 3 months.

On September 4, according to data from CryptoQuant, the ETH exchange platform reserves have decreased by nearly 10.7 million since reaching a peak of about 28.8 million in September 2022. The current reserve is approximately 17.4 million ETH, with about 2.5 million ETH withdrawn from the exchange in the past three months alone. Data shows that the spot ETH ETF launched in July 2024 has attracted over $13 billion in net inflows to date. From June to August, these funds saw net inflows exceeding $10 billion, with a record $5.4 billion in July alone. Corporate bonds are also driving demand. In recent months, several listed companies have announced the issuance of ETH bonds, and the regular purchases by corporations have impacted the ETH supply on exchanges, with 17 known listed companies holding a total of over 3.6 million ETH on their balance sheets. An analyst from Bitfinex stated that one of the major attractions of ETH as a reserve asset is its yield potential. "Unlike Bitcoin, ETH is both a macro asset and a productivity asset. It generates yield through staking and has over $100 billion in tokenized assets in the L2 and DeFi space."

Bitcoin's single-day hash rate reached a historic high of 1.279 ZH/s.

According to Decrypt, data from the mining data platform CoinWarz shows that Bitcoin's daily hash rate has reached a historic high of 1.279 ZH/s, even though the asset's price has remained relatively stable over the past 24 hours. The seven-day moving average of Bitcoin's hash rate also reached a high, breaking through 1 ZH/s during this period. Although miners are still facing rising energy costs and decreasing rewards, the hash rate continues to rise. Since last year's "halving," miners' earnings have dropped from 6.25 Bitcoins to 3.125 Bitcoins. Miners typically rely on rising Bitcoin prices to cover costs, but the asset's price has been volatile, prompting some large miners to venture into high-performance computing.

NASDAQ regulatory crackdown strikes hard, the crypto vault sector collapses overnight.

The Nasdaq has strengthened its scrutiny of listed companies investing in cryptocurrencies, requiring shareholder approval and timely disclosures, leading to a significant decline in the stock prices of crypto asset treasury companies and raising doubts in the market about the cryptocurrency investment model.

A review of major market crashes in the history of cryptocurrency

The cryptocurrency market often experiences low trends and high volatility in September. Historical crash data shows that the decline has gradually eased, dropping from an early 99% to 50%-80%. Different types of crashes have varying recovery cycles, and there are significant differences in the behavior of institutions and retail investors.