Ether Outperforms Bitcoin as Token 2049 Concludes, Overall Crypto Market Stays Flat
The CoinDesk 20 is beginning the week flat.

- Monday marked a slow beginning to the Asia trading week with BTC up 1.2% and ETH up 2.6%.
- Solana memecoin MOTHER, the brainchild of music star Iggy Azalea, is up 4% after having a strong presence at Breakpoint in Singapore.
Ether
ETH is up 2.6%, trading above $2,600, according to CoinDesk Indices data, while BTC is trading above $63,700, up 1.2%. The CoinDesk 20 (CD20), a measure of the performance of the largest digital assets, is flat, up less than 1%.
Data from CoinGlass shows that in the last 12 hours, slightly more short positions than longs have been liquidated, with $64.23 million in short positions and $54.42 million in longs being liquidated.
Trading is likely light in the aftermath of last week's 50 basis points (bps) interest rate cut. BTC is up 9.5% in the last week while ETH is up over 16%. Polymarket bettors are confident that another rate cut is coming but are split as to the extent: 47% say it will be 50 bps, while 47% say it will be 25 bps.
Solana's
Hard to imagine anything gets close to Solana for at least the next decade.
— seg | locked(in) (@segfaultdoctor) September 23, 2024
At the rate at which Solana’s compounding in a technical, cultural and product level, I just don’t think it’s physically possible for any other system to compete.
This Breakpoint saw some new things,…
Pendle, a portfolio company of Arthur Hayes' fund Maelstrom, is down over 6.5%. Traders are likely spooked that Maelstrom has reduced its position in the project after Hayes spent a considerable amount of time promoting it on stage in Singapore.
For his part, Hayes said that they reduced their position in Pendle to get liquidity to fund "a special situation."
As you can see @MaelstromFund is reducing its $PENDLE position. Even after the reduction it is still one of our largest positions. We still fully believe that $PENDLE will be the leader in #crypto interest rate derivatives. And we plan to profit off of their success.
— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) September 21, 2024
We have…
"Those who monitor our wallets will get a glimpse as to what that is in the very near future," he wrote on X.
Pendle is up over 24% on-week according to CoinGecko data.
Meanwhile, MOTHER, a memecoin promoted by music star Iggy Azalea is up 4.5% after she announced that the project was building a companion casino called Motherland.
MOTHER is one of the few celebrity memecoins that has managed to maintain its value. The token, however, mostly trades on decentralized exchanges (DEX) and is not available on any well-known centralized platforms. An addition of an online casino is sure to complicate the listing process on major centralized exchanges because of regulatory complexities.
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KuCoin Hits Record Market Share as 2025 Volumes Outpace Crypto Market

KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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Crypto ETFs with staking can supercharge returns but they may not be for everyone

From yield potential to custody risks, here’s how direct ETH and staking funds compare for different investor goals.
What to know:
- Investors can now choose between owning ether directly or buying shares in a staking ETF that earns rewards on their behalf.
- While staking ETFs offers yield, they come with risks and less control than holding ETH in an exchange or wallet.
- Grayscale’s Ethereum staking ETF recently paid $0.083178 per share, yielding $3.16 in rewards on a $1,000 investment.











