Arthur Hayes believes the current crypto bull market has further to run, supported by global monetary trends he sees as only in their early stages.

Speaking in a recent interview with Kyle Chassé, a longtime bitcoin and Web3 entrepreneur, the BitMEX co-founder and current Maelstrom CIO argued that governments around the world are far from finished with aggressive monetary expansion.

He pointed to U.S. politics in particular, saying that President Donald Trump’s second term has not yet fully unleashed the spending programs that could arrive from mid-2026 onward. Hayes suggested that if expectations for money printing become extreme, he may consider taking partial profits, but for now he sees investors underestimating the scale of liquidity that could flow into equities and crypto.

Hayes tied his outlook to broader geopolitical shifts, including what he described as the erosion of a unipolar world order. In his view, such periods of instability tend to push policymakers toward fiscal stimulus and central bank easing as tools to keep citizens and markets calm.

He also raised the possibility of strains within Europe — even hinting that a French default could destabilize the euro — as another factor likely to accelerate global printing presses. While he acknowledged these policies eventually risk ending badly, he argued that the blow-off top of the cycle is still ahead.

Turning to bitcoin, Hayes pushed back on concerns that the asset has stalled after reaching a record $124,000 in mid-August.

He contrasted its performance with other asset classes, noting that while U.S. stocks are higher in dollar terms, they have not fully recovered relative to gold since the 2008 financial crisis. Hayes pointed out that real estate also lags when measured against gold, and only a handful of U.S. technology giants have consistently outperformed.

When measured against bitcoin, however, he believes all traditional benchmarks appear weak.

Hayes’ message was that bitcoin’s dominance becomes even clearer once assets are viewed through the lens of currency debasement.

For those frustrated that bitcoin is not posting fresh highs every week, Hayes suggested that expectations are misplaced.

In his telling, investors from the traditional world and those in crypto actually share the same premise: governments and central banks will print money whenever growth falters. Hayes says traditional finance tends to express this view by buying bonds on leverage, while crypto investors hold bitcoin as the “faster horse.”

His conclusion is that patience is essential. Hayes argued that the real edge of holding bitcoin comes from years of compounding outperformance rather than short-term speculation.

Coupled with what he sees as an inevitable wave of money creation through the rest of the decade, he believes the present crypto cycle could stretch well into 2026, far from exhausted.

The Ethereum network has been on a positive roll for some time, with its momentum extending beyond on-chain activities to increased adoption.

Analysts at the crypto research firm CryptoQuant noted in their weekly report that Ethereum has come a long way since spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were approved. Like bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) is now increasingly being viewed as a long-term strategic asset. This has led to higher demand from market participants.

Rising Institutional Adoption

According to CryptoQuant, demand from institutional investors and large holders drove ether’s recent rally from $1,400 in April 2025 to nearly $5,000 in late August. Ethereum holdings by U.S. spot ETFs have risen to an all-time high (ATH) of 6.7 million ETH. The assets have almost doubled since the price of ETH began to surge.

Likewise, addresses holding between 10,000 and 100,000 ETH have scooped up roughly six million tokens within the same time period. The consistent accumulation has taken their holdings to new highs of 20.6 million ETH.

“This level of institutional endorsement provides a robust long-term tailwind for Ethereum’s price and perceived legitimacy,” analysts explained.

Besides rising demand, selling pressure on ETH has eased up. The amount of ETH flowing into centralized exchanges has declined, particularly since the asset reached its peak near $5,000. Daily inflows have fallen from 1.8 million in mid-August to 750,000 ETH currently. This indicates that investors prefer to hold for further upside rather than cash in current gains – a trend that supports price stability.

Additionally, the amount of ETH staked has surged since May, hitting a record 36.2 million. This rise in validator deposits indicates growing long-term confidence in the network, reduces liquid supply, and adds bullish pressure.

Ethereum Network is Booming

With the Ethereum network booming, total transaction counts and active addresses have reached record highs of 1.7 million and 800,000, respectively, in August. Smart contract calls have also reached new levels, surpassing previous cycles with 12 million daily interactions.

CryptoQuant analysts say such activity growth highlights Ethereum’s growing role as a programmable settlement layer supported by decentralized finance (DeFi) and asset tokenization.

Meanwhile, ETH currently faces resistance at $5,200, a realized price upper band that has remained a critical level in past cycles. A decisive breakout above this level would mark the onset of a strong bullish phase, while sustained consolidation below it could signal a cooling period.

Solana’s SOL rallied above $239 on Friday, extending its sharp September gains, as Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz described the blockchain as “tailor-made” for global financial markets and analyst Ali Martinez charted a potential path to $1,314.

Martinez, a well-known crypto analyst, highlighted Solana’s breakout from what chart technicians call a cup-and-handle pattern, a formation that often signals the start of a long-term rally.

In his chart, Martinez marked $1,314.41 as the main technical target, using Fibonacci retracement levels to project Solana’s upside. The pattern reflects a multi-year basing structure: Solana’s deep decline in 2022 and 2023 formed the “cup,” while the sideways consolidation of 2024 and early 2025 formed the “handle.”

According to Martinez, the breakout above resistance near $220 validates the structure and opens the way to much higher levels if momentum persists.

Novogratz, speaking on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Thursday, laid out a sweeping bull case for Solana and crypto more broadly. He began by pointing to treasury companies tied to both ETH and SOL, which he said are raising billions of dollars and bringing “lots of energy and money” into the digital asset ecosystem.

He then pivoted to bitcoin, predicting the world’s largest cryptocurrency should see a surge toward the end of the year.

But his most detailed remarks focused on Solana and the changing regulatory landscape. Novogratz said U.S. SEC Chair Paul Atkins has made clear that he wants all markets to move on-chain, citing a speech earlier in the week where Atkins declared, “On-chain capital markets and agentic finance are on the horizon, and the world is watching.”

As part of that backdrop, Novogratz flagged Nasdaq’s proposal to the SEC to allow tokenized securities to be traded directly on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Combined with the new U.S. stablecoin framework, he argued, crypto finally has both the technology and the regulatory clarity to serve as financial market infrastructure.

On the technology side, Novogratz emphasized Solana’s raw capacity, saying the blockchain can handle 14 billion transactions per day — enough, in his words, “to process all the transactions in equities, fixed income, commodities and foreign exchange combined.” He went on to call Solana a blockchain that is “tailor-made” for financial markets.

Adding it up — scalable infrastructure, a pro-blockchain regulatory stance and billions in new institutional inflows — Novogratz concluded that “this is the season of SOL,” a moment when Solana is positioned to take a leading role as capital markets shift on-chain.

Technical Analysis Highlights (Sept. 11 15:00 – Sept. 12 14:00 UTC)

• According to CoinDesk Research’s technical analysis data model, SOL gained about 6% in the 24-hour period, climbing from $227.14 to $240.02, with trading volumes reaching 3.66 million contracts.
• The token broke above eight months of resistance at $220, hitting $240 for the first time since January as institutional buyers added exposure.
• The strongest rally occurred in the final hour of trading (13:14–14:13 UTC on Sept. 12), when SOL advanced another 1% from $239.92 to $241.17.
• The most dramatic breakout came just after midnight UTC on Sept. 12, when volume surged to 3.66 million contracts — nearly triple the 24-hour average of 1.46 million.
• Support was established around $225.50 during early consolidation, while resistance emerged at $240.08, where several rallies initially stalled.
• Heavy trading volume at $228.78 (3.66 million contracts) confirmed that level as a key support zone.
• The busiest trading window was 14:09–14:11 UTC, with 214,368 contracts changing hands — nearly six times the typical hourly average.
• A fresh support level has now formed near $241.17, suggesting buyers are willing to defend higher prices even after the breakout.

Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.

Chainlink CEO Sergey Nazarov met with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins, who Nazarov said was keenly interested in how best to bring on-chain assets into compliance with securities laws.

The chief executive of Chainlink, a network specializing in authenticating real-world data for smart contracts, said he was impressed with how much the agency has shifted away from whether the U.S. should permit blockchain tokenization innovations into the financial system and instead is looking at how this can be conducted with maximum efficiency and market safety.

“While cryptocurrencies define the majority of our industry’s value today, I personally feel very strongly that the real-world asset trend and digital-asset tokenization in the institutional world will grow to be the majority of the market cap in our industry,” Nazarov told CoinDesk in an interview after his Friday meeting. He said Atkins “has very clear ideas and goals with getting the traditional financial system operating correctly on-chain.”

Nazarov, who also met with the White House’s new crypto liaison, Patrick Witt, on Friday, said he’s very hopeful “based on the urgency and speed” the SEC and the White House are demonstrating. He said he thinks blockchain infrastructure will manage to find a place within broker-dealer and transfer agent rules, allowing full-in tokenization “maybe by the middle of next year.”

The Chainlink co-founder said one central task is getting blockchains to fully meet the standards for a “legally binding transfer” of assets. “That’s a class of problems that’s now getting worked through with us,” he said, adding that Atkins understands it well and noted the chairman’s recent address in which he announced his “Project Crypto” initiative.

An SEC spokesman declined to comment on the meeting, though the agency has been building momentum with crypto-friendly statements, remarks and policy maneuvers. Just last week, the securities regulator issued a joint statement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to tell registered platforms that they’re OK to pursue spot trading of certain crypto assets, issued a near-term agenda that is crowded with crypto initiatives and got together with the CFTC on Friday to tell reporters that the two markets regulators will now be working in lockstep to pave the way for crypto.

Under Atkins’ predecessor, Gary Gensler, the agency had resisted embarking on tailored digital assets regulation. Atkins says the existing securities laws and agency powers offer ample authority to start work on friendly policies to clarify how the government approaches crypto.

Meanwhile, the Senate is working on a crypto market structure bill that would establish new laws for crypto and for its regulators. That effort saw some progress on Friday as a new, lengthier version of the Senate Banking Committee’s earlier bill began circulating.

Chainlink’s network was also among the digital assets venues chosen by the U.S. Department of Commerce last week when, for the first time, the federal government issued major economic data — the gross domestic product report — via blockchain. That’s set to be an ongoing trend for Commerce and other agencies, according to the officials behind the release.

“Our industry has a very unique kind of moment in time right now, that if it uses it well it can solidify its position in the U.S. and therefore the global economy,” Nazarov said.

Read More: SEC, CFTC Chiefs Say Crypto Turf Wars Over as Agencies Move Ahead on Joint Work

Good Morning, Asia. Here’s what’s making news in the markets:

Welcome to Asia Morning Briefing, a daily summary of top stories during U.S. hours and an overview of market moves and analysis. For a detailed overview of U.S. markets, see CoinDesk’s Crypto Daybook Americas.

Digital Asset Treasury (DATs) companies – firms that put bitcoin on the balance sheet – were the talk of the town during BTC Asia in Hong Kong.

But corporate adoption of Bitcoin can be a double-edged sword, says Alessio Quaglini, CEO and Co-Founder of crypto custodian Hex Trust. While treasury holdings put crypto on the balance sheets of public companies, he warns that leveraged strategies could turn adoption into a source of instability.

“It’s great for the adoption. It’s great because you have basically indirect bitcoin access to billions of people investing in local stock exchanges and Nasdaq,” Quaglini told CoinDesk during a recent interview on the sidelines of BTC Asia in Hong Kong.

But he drew a sharp line between healthy diversification and financial engineering.

“If this listing company exists for the sole purpose of holding crypto, well then, it’s a hedge fund that is publicly traded. It’s a financial engineering kind of exercise,” he continued.

Quaglini, like many others in the industry, is concerned about excessive levels of leverage. A recent report from Galaxy illustrates the risk, showing loan volumes at their highest since 2022 alongside a $1 billion liquidation wave, while Korean regulators have already stepped in to freeze new lending products as they grow concerned about leverage straining markets.

“If these companies deploy leverage, and they issue debt to buy Bitcoin with strong triggers, then it’s a big issue,” Quaglini said. In public markets, debt covenants are transparent, meaning traders can anticipate forced selling. “You might be in the situation of the prisoner dilemma… You can have this kind of spiral effect that brings more volatility to the industry.”

Even so, Quaglini sees today’s treasury players as a first step.

“The next step is that you have real companies that do have a lot of operating cash flow, and they’re sitting on huge amounts of cash, like Apple, Google, etc.,” he said. If those firms start allocating reserves into BTC, the shift would be “extremely positive.”

In the end, the real test of the viability of DATs isn’t whether small firms turn themselves into bitcoin proxies, but whether the world’s largest corporates are willing to put their cash piles on-chain.

Market Movement

BTC: Bitcoin is in the green changing hands above $109K. The world’s largest digital asset is stabilizing after August saw a rare rotation out of BTC spot ETFs into ETH funds, which has weighed on relative BTC demand in recent weeks. Broader macro remains supportive but price action is still consolidating beneath mid‑August highs

ETH: Ether is trading at $4,298. Market participants are easing on profit‑taking after notching record levels late last month and bumping into resistance near the high‑$4,000s. The August ETF flow trend favored ETH, but near‑term consolidation dominates after the run‑up

Gold: Gold is holding near a four‑month high on mounting bets for a September Fed rate cut and a softer U.S. dollar, both of which typically support bullion

Nikkei 225: Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose as investors weighed tariff uncertainty and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 up 0.31% after a U.S. court ruled most of Trump’s global tariffs illegal.

Elsewhere in Crypto:

• Gavin Newsom Wants to Launch a Meme Coin Just to Troll Trump (Decrypt)
• South Korea’s FSC chief nominee faces backlash after calling crypto valueless (The Block)
• Trump Family Share of World Liberty Crypto Grows to $6 Billion (Decrypt)