Bitcoin starts under pressure in September after a cruel end in August. Now, all eyes are $100,000. Bitcoin closed a disappointing week for the Bulls in August. After winning a new all-time high just over $124,000 in mid-August, Bitcoin closed three red candles in a row on its weekly charts. The candles for the past week close to a low low, blowing away momentum.

The MACD oscillator also confirmed a bearish cross at the end of each week. This should help maintain the downward pressure that comes in this week. The RSI currently sits in a relatively neutral position just above the 50 line, but it’s the lowest level since mid-April.

This first week of September saw Bitcoin drop to test support levels from price integrations from May to June. The Bulls are looking for a large number of nodes, ranging from around $104,000 to keep the price, and can ideally prevent this week’s candle from falling below that level. Through this support, the Bears will attempt to return the price to the Key 1.618 Fibonacci expansion level from Bear Market in 2022 for $102,000. Closing under $102,000 this week is a very bad thing for the Bulls. This would be very bad as it threatens to test your last major swing at $98,000, below the infamous laser eye level of $100,000.

Taking $100,000 on the downside gives a lot of weight to the paper “long-term top.” $96,000 is basically the Bulls’ final line of defense, if the price can slip through all these upper support levels.

So heading into this week, look for buyers to step in and try to turn things into order at the $105,000 level. The Bulls are turning right this week on the ship and putting in some kind of inverted candle to turn things around. But for now, the bear is in full control and is about to continue selling pressure in September.

Terminology Guide:

Bulls/Bully: A buyer or investor expects prices to rise.

Bear/Bear: Sellers or investors who expect prices to drop.

Support or Support Level: At least at the beginning, the level at which the asset’s price is retained. The more touches you have in support, the more likely it will be to be weaker and will not be able to hold the price.

Resistance or Resistance Level: Opposition to support. At least at the beginning, there is a high probability of rejecting the price. The more resistance touches and the weaker the more likely it is to be unable to keep the price down.

Fibonacci retrace and extensions: Ratios based on what is known as the Golden Ratio, a universal ratio related to natural growth and collapse cycles. The golden ratio is based on the constants PHI (1.618) and PHI (0.618).

Oscillator: A technical indicator that differs over time, but usually remains within the band between set levels. Therefore, they vibrate between low levels (usually representing conditions for sale) and high levels (usually representing terms for acquisition). For example, relative strength index (RSI) and moving average convergence force (MACD).

Macd Oscillator: Moving Average Convergence Divergence is a momentum oscillator that shows motion and momentum to subtract the difference between two moving averages.

RSI Oscillator: The relative strength index is a kinetic oscillator that moves between 0 and 100. Measures the change in price speed and the speed of price movement. If the RSI is above 70, it is considered to be over-purchased. If the RSI is below 30, it is considered to be oversold.

• Sol Price has launched a new upward move above the $192 and $202 levels against the US dollar.
• The price is currently trading above $200, a simple moving average of 100 hours.
• The hourly wage chart for the Sol/USD pair (Kraken data source) has an upward channel formed with $205 support.
• Clearing the $212 resistance zone could result in the pair extending their profits.

Solana Price aims for more profits

Solana Price has started to increase considerably after finding support near the $188 zone, like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Sol has entered the short-term positive zone above the $195 level.

The price destroyed $202 resistance. The bull was able to push up prices beyond the $208 barrier. The highs form at $213, with the price consolidating profits above the 23.6% FIB retracement level of upward movements from $177 swing low to $213.

Solana is currently trading above $200 and has a simple moving average of 100 hours. It also forms an ascending channel with $205 support on the hourly chart of the Sol/USD pair.

The advantage is that the price faces resistance near the $212 level. The next major resistance is close to the $215 level. The main resistance could be $220. Successfully beyond the $220 resistance zone allows you to set another steady pace of growth. The next important resistance is $225. Any further profit could potentially send the price towards the $232 level.

SOL’s defect correction?

If the SoL does not rise above the $212 resistance, it may begin to decline. The initial support of the downside is near the $205 zone. The first major support is close to the $202 level.

A break below the $202 level could send prices to a $195 support zone and a 50% FIB retracement level rise level rise level from $177 to $213. If it falls below $195 support, the price could drop towards $188 support in the short term.

Technical indicators

HOURLY MACD – SOL/USD’s MACD is paced in the bullish zone.

Hourly Hours RSI (Relative Strength Index) – SOL/USD’s RSI is above 50 levels.

Key support levels – $205 and $195.

Major resistance levels – $212 and $215.

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Cardano’s first full‐cycle ecosystem budget has reached its finish line. On August 19, 2025, Intersect—Cardano’s member-based organization that facilitated the process—announced: “Our ecosystem budget and withdrawal process has now reached its conclusion… DReps have approved ₳264m in ecosystem funding.” In the same statement, Intersect said the pipeline began with 194 proposals submitted through GovTool and the Ekklesia poll, was refined off-chain to 40, and ultimately produced 39 on-chain treasury withdrawals—37 of which cleared the required thresholds.

First Cardano Budget Cycle Closes

Intersect added that “more than 30 vendors have now signed contracts,” with those agreements being published for public review. The live “Intersect Administered Contracts” ledger confirms a growing roster of counterparties and amounts—ranging from the ₳64.3 million “Catalyst 2025” program to infrastructure and tooling efforts such as a ZK bridge and maintenance of key developer libraries. Intersect says additional contracts will be posted in the days ahead “together with the funding of related smart contracts.”

The conclusion caps a months-long governance sequence that combined off-chain deliberation and on-chain ratification. In July, Intersect submitted 39 Treasury Withdrawal governance actions for DRep and Constitutional Committee scrutiny; throughout late July and early August, proposals began surpassing the 67% DRep supermajority threshold that marks passage under CIP-1694’s current regime. Intersect’s development updates documented the first wave of supermajorities and directed participants to follow each proposal’s progression epoch by epoch.

With votes cast and thresholds met, Intersect has outlined what happens next. After a proposal passes, it is ratified at the epoch boundary, then enacted one epoch later, moving funds from the Treasury to designated smart-contract holding addresses. Intersect’s administration team finalizes legal agreements, deploys vendor-specific contracts with milestone schedules, and co-signs them alongside an oversight committee. Intersect’s August guidance emphasized the three-stage sequence—ratification, enactment, administration—and pledged status updates as each vendor’s contract goes live on-chain.

The mechanics behind those disbursements have been built for transparency. Intersect’s knowledge base details an end-to-end flow: withdrawals fund partitioned “Treasury Contracts”; vendors sign written agreements; “Vendor Contracts” encode milestones and payment dates; the oversight committee holds keys to provide checks and balances; and vendors withdraw only as milestones mature. Funds sit effectively in escrow, are auditable on-chain, and unclaimed balances time out back to the Treasury.

To monitor the delivery phase, Intersect points the community to two public dashboards. A Smart Contract dashboard exposes milestone breakdowns, dates, and payment events for each funded project, while a Cardano Treasury dashboard tracks flows from the Treasury into the reserve and project contracts.

The now-published contract catalog provides a first look at how the approved ₳264 million will be administered across core infrastructure, governance tooling, developer experience, and ecosystem programs. Entries include continued development for the AdaStat explorer, ongoing maintenance of PyCardano, and a ZK bridge prototype—illustrating the mix of large-scale programs and targeted technical workstreams that made it through the final on-chain filters.

IOG Takes The Lead

Cardano’s single largest allocation goes to Input Output’s core protocol program. Intersect’s contract ledger lists ₳96,817,080 for the “2025 Input Output Engineering Core Development” proposal, dedicated to “engineering, maintenance, and development services to enhance and secure the Cardano protocol and its core infrastructure,” explicitly framed as delivery of the community-endorsed technical roadmap. A companion research track, “Input Output Research (IOR): Cardano Vision – Work Program 2025,” adds ₳26,840,000 for multi-year research and technology validation.

Intersect also shows two further IOG-administered items—₳5,159,000 to overhaul Project Catalyst’s technical stack and ₳1,300,000 to decentralize the Blockfrost API via a gateway and “Icebreaker” network—bringing Input Output–family contracts to roughly ₳130.1 million, just under half of the approved ₳264 million budget.

Input Output characterizes the engineering mandate as the first community-authorized core development program in Cardano’s history, approved with 73.93% support. In its newsroom statement, IOE says the funded roadmap will advance scalability, developer experience, and interoperability through initiatives including Ouroboros Leios, Hydra, Mithril enhancements, nested transactions, and Project Acropolis—a modular re-architecture of the node—with “faster sync times, lower RAM usage, and reduced operational costs for stake pool operators.”

At press time, ADA traded at $0.92.

Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com

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The XRP price has now moved back into bearish territory after a remarkable run on the daily chart that had been signaling possible bullish momentum. Crypto analyst Master Ananda points this out in a post that shows a disturbing trend in the XRP price chart. If this continues, then the future of XRP, at least in the short term, has become even more uncertain, with bears fighting for more control.

4 Green Daily Closes Fall to Nothing

After suffering a crash along with the rest of the crypto market, the XRP price had faced a recovery that seemed to have put it right back on track to rally again. This saw the first green daily close on the last day of May and then carried on into the new month of June. The first three days also closed in the green, leading to four consecutive daily green closes, which is usually bullish for the price.

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However, there was just another part of the trend that was not completed to show that this was a bullish move, and it has to do with volume. As Master Ananda pointed out, a spike in volume was expected as the XRP price put in a higher low. This would mean there is the momentum needed to push the price back up. But this was not the case as the volume plummeted and remained muted.

The absence of this expected volume suggests there is weakness surrounding the XRP price, and this played out as the next day saw a red close for the altcoin for the first time in June. If this lack of momentum continues, then the price could continue to plummet.

So far, there is now resistance mounting at the 0.382 Fibonacci level, which is $2.2959. This resistance would need to be cleared with a spike in volume if there is to be a recovery in the XRP price. Otherwise, it risks a fall back down to the 0.236 Fibonacci level, meaning the first steps toward falling below $2.

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XRP Price Could Fall As Volumes Suffer

Data from Coinglass shows how bad the XRP volume has been recently. So far in June, daily volume has remained well below $5 billion, reminiscent of the bear market figures whenever the price was falling. This also shows reduced participation from investors who are wary of entering the market during such conditions.

Interestingly, though, open interest remains rather high, $3.94 billion, showing that crypto traders are actively betting on the XRP price. However, the majority are betting that the XRP price will continue to fall from here, with Coinglass data showing 52.75% of all positions being short compared to only 47.25% betting the price will increase.

Featured image from Dall.E, chart from TradingView.com

The Ethereum price could face another significant crash, as the machine learning algorithm, CoinCodex, predicts a sharp decline toward $1,500. After enduring four consecutive months of sideways trading and bearish closes, technical indicators and sentiment data are flashing warning signs of an impending correction in the coming weeks.  

Ethereum Price Crash To $1,526 Incoming

According to CoinCodex’s latest Ethereum price prediction, ETH is expected to decline by 16.47% over the coming weeks, potentially reaching $1,526.06 by June 2, 2025. This bearish projection comes amidst a turbulent market cycle in which investor sentiment and confidence have wavered due to rising macroeconomic pressures and unexpected declines in Bitcoin. 

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Notably, Ethereum’s technical outlook continues to deteriorate as it just wrapped up its fourth consecutive monthly red candle. Cryptorank’s data shows that Ethereum experienced a dip of 1.27% in January, followed by sharper losses of 32.2% in February and 18.4% in March. The downtrend continued into April, with the cryptocurrency closing the month in red with another 1.58% decline. 

Despite brief intra-month rallies that saw its value rise sharply, Ethereum has consistently failed to sustain gains, closing each month with rising selling pressure and leading the wider market drawdown. CoinCodex’s data further paints a grim picture, highlighting that the top altcoin has recorded 16 green days out of the last 30, signaling unstable market strength. Its price volatility, measured at 6.43%, also reflects a choppy market that lacks clear bullish conviction. 

Moving forward, CoinCodex not only predicts that Ethereum could break down to $1,526 but also expects a steeper price crash to $1,447.96 by August 1, 2025. This would represent a decline of approximately 20.75% from current market prices.

The machine learning algorithm has declared that broader market sentiment for ETH is currently bearish, implying that traders and investors still anticipate further corrections and limited upward momentum in the near term. Overall, this indicates a cautious outlook for Ethereum’s price prospects.

CoinCodex Says Now Is A Bad Time To Buy ETH

Given its bearish forecast for the Ethereum price, CoinCodex suggests that now may not be the best time to buy Ethereum. Interestingly, while investor sentiment remains cautious, the Fear and Greed index is at 65, reflecting a state of “Greed” and suggesting that market optimism may be outpacing the underlying bearish fundamentals. 

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Building on this, crypto whales are still buying ETH in droves, capitalizing on low prices despite the possibility of a continued downtrend. Recent reports reveal that a single whale purchased 30,000 ETH tokens worth approximately $54 million.

With price momentum fading and macro uncertainty still high, ETH bulls may need to wait for market stabilization and clearer reversal signals before re-entering the market. According to CoinMarketCap’s data, the Ethereum price is currently trading at $1,827, marking a yearly decline of over 38%.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from Tradingview.com

The SEC has wrapped up several high-profile investigations involving some of the industry’s biggest names, like Ripple, Immutable, Kraken, OpenSea, and Yuga Labs. This could signal a real change in how regulators treat crypto, especially with Commissioner Hester Peirce now heading a revamped Crypto Task Force in the United States.

The focus is shifting toward striking a balance between investor protection and innovation—a move that could help reshape the future of blockchain regulation.

Key Takeaways

• The SEC has ended investigations into several major crypto firms, including Ripple and Immutable.

• Ripple settled with the SEC for $50 million, down from the original $125 million fine.

• Immutable’s probe closed with no enforcement action.

• A 2025 Executive Order reversed earlier crypto policies and banned Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).

• Despite the closures, legal challenges and regulatory uncertainty persist for many crypto companies.

Ripple’s Legal Win and Settlement Details

After nearly four years of legal battles, Ripple has finalized a $50 million settlement with the SEC—significantly reduced from the original $125 million. Both Ripple and the SEC dropped their appeals, officially closing the case in March 2025.

The SEC will refund $75 million of the $125 million fine a New York judge had ordered Ripple to pay last year, finalizing the settlement at $50 million. The outcome is seen as a landmark moment for crypto regulation, setting a precedent for companies pushing back against SEC enforcement actions.

Immutable Investigation Ends Without Penalty

In another major development, the SEC closed its investigation into Immutable with no enforcement action. The probe centred around the company’s 2021 IMX token sales and a blog post on pricing and token splits.

Immutable called the closure a “win for all builders, creators and gamers fighting for true digital ownership in gaming”.

Despite the investigation, Immutable maintained strong momentum:

• Signed partnerships with three billion-dollar firms

• Launched over 500 gaming titles

• Built zkEVM blockchain infrastructure

• Reached 4.9 million Passport sign-ups

SEC Backs Off Multiple Crypto Cases

Recent moves by the SEC suggest a more lenient approach to crypto regulation. The agency has either closed or backed away from several major cases involving Yuga Labs, Kraken, Coinbase, OpenSea, and Binance—all high-profile players in the industry.

• Yuga Labs announced on March 4 that the SEC ended its nearly three-year investigation into the company’s NFT offerings. While the SEC hasn’t officially commented, the decision suggests it doesn’t view Yuga’s NFTs as securities.

• Kraken shared on March 3 that the SEC plans to dismiss its 2023 lawsuit, which accused the exchange of selling unregistered securities. The case will wrap up with no penalties, no changes to Kraken’s business, and no admission of wrongdoing.

A Shift in U.S. Crypto Policy

These investigation closures align with broader changes in crypto policy under the current administration. In January 2025, a new Executive Order reversed several Biden-era regulations, banned CBDCs, and launched a pro-innovation Working Group on Digital Asset Markets.

Commissioner Hester Peirce now leads the revamped Crypto Task Force, tasked with developing clear and balanced regulatory frameworks. 

These changes reflect a growing effort to create a regulatory environment that encourages growth while maintaining oversight.

In a recent speech, SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce emphasized the need for regulators and the crypto industry to collaborate, stating:

“I invite you to join us in determining how to get from regulatory desolation to a place where the crypto industry can blossom without the weeds of fraud, grift, and market manipulation.”

She acknowledged that centralized intermediaries won’t disappear anytime soon, yet warned that if rules are “too heavy, too light, or simply not right,” people will turn to decentralized options.

Peirce also suggested that crypto’s innovations could help modernize equity markets, explaining:

“Perhaps these discussions also will help us to rationalize the regulatory framework for our traditional equity markets… Blockchain technology might even be an agent in that streamlining initiative.”

Market Reaction and Industry Outlook

The crypto market responded with measured optimism. XRP’s price held steady post-settlement, suggesting the outcome had already been priced in. Meanwhile, regulatory clarity is expected to improve investor confidence—especially among institutions wary of compliance risks.

The Web3 gaming space stands to benefit from reduced regulatory pressure, and Immutable’s progress during its investigation is a sign of resilience in the sector.

Looking ahead, proposals like a national crypto reserve could further reshape asset liquidity and create new opportunities for blockchain-based finance.

What’s Next for Crypto Regulation?

The SEC’s rollback of enforcement signals a more constructive approach to regulation. Industry players are now looking for more clarity on token classification and long-term compliance standards.

The current direction aims to support innovation without compromising investor protection. As new frameworks are introduced, they’ll likely shape how crypto assets are governed—and could help position the U.S. as a leader in blockchain development.

For crypto companies, this shift opens the door to greater focus on building and scaling—with less immediate pressure from regulators. Still, staying compliant remains essential in an evolving legal landscape.

Bitcoin Spot ETFs: 10 Straight Days Of Positive Netflows

According to data from ETF tracking site SoSoValue, the Bitcoin ETFs registered total net outflows of $93.47 million on Friday, moving its aggregate netflows for the past week to $196.7 million. Prior to Friday’s negative input, these funds recorded a positive flow for 10 consecutive trading days suggesting a high amount of favorable market interest.

This development indicates a return of bullish sentiments among Bitcoin institutional investors following the bearish mood seen in February and early March which featured massive asset withdrawals.

In a similar fashion, Blackrock’s IBIT accounted for the majority of the inflows from last week by attracting $171.95 million in investments, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC with $86.84 million. VanEck’s HODL was the only other ETF with a positive inflow of $5 million in new deposits.

On the other hand, a large percentage of withdrawals came from Ark Invest’s ARKB which recorded $40.97 million in net outflows. Invesco’s BTCO, WisdomTree’s BTCW, and Bitwise’s BITB also experienced moderate levels of redemptions ranging between $6.95 million – $10.22 million. Meanwhile, Grayscale’s GBTC, BTC, and Franklin Templeton’s EZBC registered no significant flow.

Bitcoin ETFs Close Out Q1 – What Next?

With Q2 of 2025 fast approaching, the Bitcoin spot ETFs conclude the first quarter of the year on an uncertain note. The year began with strong bullish momentum, driving $5.25 billion in net inflows during January. However, this was followed by a sharp reversal, with cumulative net liquidations of $4.25 billion across February and March.

Notably, the resurgence of positive inflows seen in the latter half of March is a sign of renewed market interest and strong market confidence. Furthermore, the crypto-friendly stance being adopted by the Donald Trump administration could encourage institutional investment in the long run.

However, macroeconomic factors including potential Fed rate hikes, and ongoing US tariff changes may force investors to move out of high-risk assets or other associated investments. In addition, the uncertainty over the current Bitcoin bull run also draws serious concerns.

At the time of writing, the flagship crypto asset trades at $83,359 after a 0.77% decline in the past day. Meanwhile, daily trading volume is down by 49.43% and is valued at $16.88 billion.