XRP goes big in New York

The top U.S. exchange, Gemini, is making the most of its XRP product with a new billboard in the heart of the Big Apple.

• “Spend Dollars, Earn XRP.” That is the message behind the exchange’s massive new billboard in the USA’s biggest city.

Founded by the Winklevoss brothers, the U.S. cryptocurrency exchange has really upped its advertising game for its new XRP card, launched earlier this week. As U.Today reported, this helped Gemini briefly overtake its biggest competitor, Coinbase, on Apple’s App Store.

• Success is questionable. Gemini cards received a mixed response from the XRP community.

Some XRP enthusiasts criticized Gemini’s solution for not really bringing anything new to the table. Despite the negativity, a bunch of Ripple executives and CEO Brad Garlinghouse in particular were not against showing off their XRP cards, which were launched in partnership with the enterprise blockchain company.

Ignoring the backlash from the community, the latest ad campaign shows that Gemini is serious about staying competitive in the U.S. crypto exchange market and sees XRP as a valuable asset in its efforts to compete with Coinbase, Kraken and Binance U.S.

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Star investor Ray Dalio reveals why crypto is real alternative to dollar

The hedge fund veteran says the clock is running out on what he calls the “big debt cycle.” Interestingly, cryptocurrencies — Bitcoin in particular — are at the center of attention, just as Satoshi Nakamoto designed it to be in 2008.

The star investor points to crossroads. If banks step back, it will be the natural market forces that push interest rates higher. That could cool inflation. But it would push households and companies into default as debt would become harder to carry.

The flip side is printing more money through quantitative easing, which might keep the system alive but chips away at trust in fiat, and Dalio warns of a loop where rising debt forces even more money creation, eating into the dollar’s credibility as a safe store of wealth.

He still prefers gold but is also open to crypto, recently saying up to 15% of a portfolio could go into Bitcoin or gold for the best risk-return mix. Some may see it as a far cry from his earlier stance, but the sign that hard-capped assets like BTC are moving up the ladder in Dalio’s playbook is evident.

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Dogecoin rockets 617% in liquidation imbalance as DOGE bulls take $7 million hit

Dogecoin, the “meme coin king,” has started September with $8.11 million in liquidations, hitting bulls the hardest as the DOGE price plunges back to 21 cents.

• What happened? A whopping $8.11 million in liquidations were accounted for by Dogecoin in the last 24 hours, with $6.98 million coming from longs, while shorts lost just $1.13 million — a stunning 617% liquidation imbalance.

According to CoinGlass, this DOGE wipeout was part of a wider $371 million flush-out across the entire crypto market. It was the long positions that suffered the most, showing how fragile all the optimism was. In an evident display of how risky leverage can be in historically choppy September conditions, bulls took the biggest hit.

As market analysts point out, the $0.208 zone has been tested five times and is now seen as a critical support level for the coin. On the upside, $0.225 — a price that lines up with the 50-day moving average — stands as the first major resistance. If Dogecoin breaks above that, a stronger recovery might be in the cards. But there’s a chance that if it keeps being rejected, there could be more selling pressure.

• September promises to be busy. Usually, this month is one of the weakest for crypto, but will 2025 be any different for Dogecoin?

There are quite a few checkpoints that might have the answers you are looking for. The first thing to watch is the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting on Sept. 16-17, which is likely to have a big impact on crypto prices.

With the big picture still looking totally uncertain, it seems like Dogecoin’s next big move might have more to do with how global markets react to the Fed’s message than how much retail investors are feeling it.

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U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs bought about 1,620 BTC on Aug. 28, roughly 3.6 times the approximately 450 BTC miners create each day.

Per Farside Investors, net inflows totaled $178.9 million, the fourth consecutive positive session into Aug. 28. The supply side is fixed by protocol changes made in April 2024, when the block subsidy fell to 3.125 BTC, or about 450 BTC per day at an average 10-minute block time.

The demand impulse is directly measurable in coins. Using prices near recent trading levels, the Aug. 28 net dollar flow equates to around 1,600 BTC purchased by ETF vehicles in a single day, while new issuance remains near 450 BTC.

If that demand repeats over a span of sessions, it draws directly on the tradable float because ETF creations are backed by spot holdings in custody. Aug. 25 through Aug. 28 all printed positive totals, a sequence that coincided with a post Jackson Hole reset in rate expectations after Chair Jerome Powell said policy conditions may warrant easing, as shown in the Federal Reserve’s posted remarks.

Positioning through the fourth quarter centers on two linked variables, flow persistence and price elasticity. A simple translation of daily dollars into coins shows the scale.

At $50 million in average daily net creations, ETFs would absorb roughly 13,600 BTC over 30 trading days, 27,100 BTC over 60, and 40,700 BTC over 90.

At $100 million, the draw becomes about 27,100 BTC, 54,200 BTC, and 81,300 BTC over the same intervals.

At $150 million, the totals reach about 40,700 BTC, 81,300 BTC, and 121,900 BTC. A second lens fixes demand in issuance multiples, where one, two, and three times daily issuance over 60 trading days align to about 27,000 BTC, 54,000 BTC, and 81,000 BTC, respectively.

None of these figures embed a flow-to-price coefficient; they map the potential coin withdrawal relative to the steady 450 BTC of new supply.

Holdings data frame the available float. Trackers show roughly 1.292 million BTC now sit inside U.S. spot ETFs across issuers, led by IBIT, which holds about 747,000 BTC, according to WalletPilot’s ETF dashboard.

As creations accumulate shares, the underlying coins consolidate at custodians, which can amplify spot price sensitivity when order books are thin. The effect toggles with flows, and recent months have seen alternating streaks of creations and redemptions, a pattern visible in the rolling tables on Farside Investors.

Macro policy remains the background variable. Powell’s Aug. 22 Jackson Hole speech outlined a willingness to adjust rates as labor conditions evolve, which markets read as a higher probability of near-term easing.

Lower policy rates can recalibrate relative demand for duration and hedge assets, a channel that has historically supported gold and, by extension, spot-backed bitcoin funds when allocations are flowing.

The limits of this setup are straightforward. Dollar flows are volatile by day, creation mechanics vary by issuer, and price changes modify the BTC per dollar translation. Still, the arithmetic of the past week isolates the core dynamic.

On Aug. 28, U.S. spot funds added $178.9 million, about 1,620 BTC at recent prices, against roughly 450 BTC of new issuance. Aug. 28 was the fourth consecutive inflow day for the group.

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Tapzi It’s not making a sound. It’s moving. While most crypto projects yell pre-citing tokens with flashy ads and exaggerated claims, Tapzi quietly sold over 4.7 million tokens to early supporters. Rather than relying on hype-driven FOMOs, the project relies on a solid product and a growing community of players who believe in what it offers.

Tapzi Presale It is currently open and has a current price of $0.0035, which is considered an opportunity for many to enter before the platform’s mainnet launch and full tournament rollout.

So what exactly is Tapzi and why is it one of the most promising Web3 game projects now?

Why do real utilities beat hype in web3 games?

The truth is that Web3 games are struggling to meet expectations. There were a lot of GameFi projects that raised millions but were unable to maintain users. why? Most of them were not built to last. Their models relied on token inflation, random rewards, or endless crushing – something that doesn’t appeal to real gamers.

Tapzi took a different route. It doesn’t promise wealth overnight, but it focuses on what people keep playing, such as fair games, fast access, and skill-based competition. When you join a match on Tapzi, you are playing the game against another real person, rather than spinning wheels or farming tokens. The outcome is entirely strategy dependent.

Therefore, every match is human vs. human. Bots, randomness, no grinding – fair competition.

Tapzi is completely cross-platform and can be played directly in the browser, both on desktop and mobile.

Keeping the game simple, competitive and rewarding will help Tapzi build what players want to return to. It’s the kind of utility that lacks space.

Tapzi’s transparent economy: No inflation, just skills

Most Web3 games hand out tokens like candy. You will then run into trouble when the value of the token starts to crash, or when the Ministry of Finance is dry. Tapzi skips all of that by making sure there are no emissions-based reward systems, free handouts, or random loot boxes.

Instead, all games are direct battles. Both players bet $tapzi tokens before the match, and the winner takes the pot. The platform simply provides an arena and ensures everything runs smoothly. You don’t need to print a new token to keep things going.

This setup does a few things. First, check the value of the token. No inflation means there is less risk of price collapse. Second, we ensure that the prize pool is always fair and realistic. Also, it makes more sense to all your victory, as it is not only a digital point on the screen, but also the actual value gained through your skills.

Not just players: the full developer Launchpad

There are things Tapzi does that many people don’t realize yet. It’s more than just a gaming platform. We’re also building tools for developers who want to create games and plug them into Tapzi’s growing community.

Think of it as the LaunchPad from Web3 Game Studio. If developers want to release a new PVP skill-based game, they can use Tapzi’s SDK, smart contract templates and staking engines. They don’t have to struggle to build a backend from scratch or find an audience. The infrastructure is already there.

This part of the project is still early, but it opens up a whole new layer of utility. Turn Tapzi into a kind of distributed arcade. There, the games are all linked by shared tokens, fair economy and ready-made user base.

Developers also share revenue from gameplay activities and benefit from Tapzi’s growing network of players. This means their games are instantly exposed and incorporate monetization.

Why $Tapzi has long-term growth potential

Many GameFi tokens are designed for pumps and dumps, but $tapzi appears to be different. Everything from tocononomics to roadmap is built with sustainability in mind.

The total supply is fixed and there is no hidden mint function. There are also clear vesting rules for pre-sale and team assignments. That alone sets it apart from many new projects. But that goes further.

Players can wager $Tapzi to unlock Cosmetic NFTs with tournament access, loyalty perks and, ultimately, future updates. The more someone plays, the more benefits they have to unlock, all of which are tied to holding and using the token.

The roadmap includes global tournaments, NFT avatars, cross-chain expansions, and even developer incentives. Presale Money is used to build core functionality.

Looking at it like that, it’s easy to see why early supporters believe this is one of the rare tokens that hold value beyond the hype cycle.

How to buy $ tapzi before the price jumps

Tapzi Presale is currently live. The current price is set at $0.0035, and by the time the token is published it is set at nearly three times the public price of $0.009. This means that when the token launches on the exchange, early buyers may be seeing big profits.

Also, early buyers will unlock priority access to exclusive tournaments, loyalty rewards and cosmetic upgrades as the platform expands.

You don’t need to be a Defi expert or navigate complex tools. Please visit Tapzi Presale Site Connect your wallet. The platform supports metamast and other top tier wallets. If you prefer Fiat, you can use ETH, BNB, Matic or a bank card.

Once connected, choose $ tapzi to purchase and confirm the transaction.

Visit the Tapzi community

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The New York Times recently disgraced itself obsessing over Zohran Mamdani having checked “Asian” and “Black or African American” boxes on a failed college application when he was a 17-year-old Ugandan immigrant. Worse, it got the data from hacked personal records provided to it by a far-right activist, and rushed out its story because it didn’t want to be scooped by a different far-right activist. Moreover, it misled readers about its source, claiming he was an “academic” opposed to “affirmative action”—but he was soon identified as a vulgar Twitter racist whose own family reports to be a college dropout. None other than former Times Public Editor Margaret Sullivan raked the paper for its williness to ally with a far-right crusade, but as is often the case, humor is the best answer. Check out The Mamdani Times, which generates headlines for follow-up stories in the Times‘ distinctively clenched style.

Eric Adams Questions Mamdani’s Commitment to Serving Interests of Turkey
Zohran Mamdani Says He Flosses Every Day. But Does He?
In Mamdani, Some Democrats Recoil at Sight of Popularity

That third one there really gets to the heart of the matter! Mamdani is popular (and made shockingly fast work of Andrew Cuomo in the Dem primary) but a left-wing muslim becoming mayor of New York is unacceptable to the Times. If anything, Democratic party brass have merely distanced themselves from Mandani while they vet him, and will likely warm to his candidacy should his campaign remain sure-footed. It’s really mainstream media elites who can’t stand him to the point of throwing their lot in with right-wingers.

America’s political journalists poke around all day on Twitter, drowning in its anti-woke algorithmic preferences and outright Nazi gibberish. They’re at the center of a venn diagram of Audience Capture, “You Are Not Immune To Propaganda” and the ludic loops of process addiction. “Race science” is on their minds (and your screens) largely because of it, so it’s no wonder what is feeding their reportage and who they now see as journalistic peers.

Previously: New York Times Torture Euphemism Generator

Between March 3 and March 7, every single day saw net outflows — roughly $74 million on March 3, $143 million on March 4, $38 million on March 5, $134 million on March 6, and around $409 million on March 7. The Friday outflow was the largest single-day redemption of the month, capping off a week that totaled nearly $800 million withdrawn between March 3 and March 5 and over $2.6 billion in the week before.

There was a brief mid-week respite around March 5 (with nearly flat flows), but overall, the trend was decisively negative, with investors consistently pulling capital from Bitcoin ETF products. Even as the second week of March began, the wave of redemptions continued – for example, March 10 and March 11 each saw between $350 million to $370 million in net outflows. Only very minor inflows, if any, punctuated this period, making March one of the most withdrawal-heavy months since Bitcoin ETFs launched in January 2024.

March continued the trend of net outflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs, reflecting a clear reversal from the strong inflows seen at the beginning of the year. Data from CoinShares showed this multi-week stretch of outflows totaled on the order of $4.5 billion to $4.8 billion, leaving digital asset investment products. Investors who had been steadily allocating to Bitcoin ETFs up through January suddenly turned into net sellers by late February and remained so through March.

A notable turning point occurred in mid-February: after an unprecedented streak of inflows (post-US elections) that amassed roughly $29.4 billion, the market saw its first significant weekly outflow of around $415 million in the week of Feb. 17. That inflection set the stage for March’s persistent withdrawals.

Unlike the earlier part of the year, where inflows were the norm, March’s flow pattern was mostly one-way (out). There were no major sustained inflow days during the month — the only “relief” came on isolated days when outflows temporarily slowed or briefly flipped positive. For instance, at the very end of February (Feb. 28), a one-day inflow of about $370 million broke an eight-day outflow streak, and early March saw a single modest inflow day (or essentially flat flows mid-week). However, these proved fleeting. By the next trading session, outflows resumed and, in some cases, accelerated.

This “two steps back, one step forward” pattern indicates that bearishness is prevailing: any small inflows were overwhelmed by subsequent larger redemptions. The peak outflow days in March — notably March 7, March 10, and March 11 — stand out as capitulation-like events where selling pressure surged. March 7’s roughly $409M outflow was especially striking, and the outflows on March 10 and March 11 were only slightly smaller (each around $367 million net). These peaks suggest multiple large institutions were withdrawing funds at the same time.

One observable pattern was that outflows built momentum through each week, often peaking toward the end of the week. For example, net withdrawals snowballed from Monday into Friday during the first week of March. A similar phenomenon appeared in the second week, culminating in the massive March 10 and March 11 outflows. This could indicate that as negative news accumulated or Bitcoin’s price fell (triggering stops or risk controls), more investors joined the exodus as the week progressed. The lack of consistent inflows also indicates weak dip-buying by institutions via ETFs during this period — a contrast to prior months where pullbacks often attracted fresh allocations.

The volatile ETF flows followed a roller-coaster in Bitcoin’s price. Early in the month, Bitcoin rallied to around the mid-$90,000s (briefly reaching roughly $94,000 to 95,000 in the first days of March) before sharply reversing course. By mid-March, amid the heaviest outflows, the price had plunged approximately 15% to 20% from its peak — dropping to the low $80,000s and even briefly below at one point. This period included some of the largest daily price swings of the year.

For example, on March 7, when Trump’s executive order news spooked the market, Bitcoin’s spot price dropped over 2% that day after falling as much as 5% intraday, mirroring the surge in ETF redemptions. It’s a similar story on other significant outflow days: March 3 and March 4 saw Bitcoin slide from around $94,000 down to $80,000 and the massive outflows on March 10 coincided with Bitcoin hitting four-month lows around $77000 to $78000 before bouncing back.

Large Bitcoin ETF outflows can directly translate into selling pressure on the underlying asset. When investors redeem shares, the ETFs need to sell Bitcoin to raise cash, increasing supply in the market. This mechanism likely exacerbated the price declines during March. The data shows a feedback loop between ETF flows and price volatility. As prices fell quickly in early March, some institutional holders may have been spooked into withdrawing funds (to cut losses or de-risk), forcing additional Bitcoin selling by the funds and potentially driving prices down further.

This cycle of falling prices and accelerating outflows is characteristic of a short-term capitulation phase. The result was unusually turbulent price action: Bitcoin’s trading range for March was wide (roughly $80,000 to $92,000 in the latter part of the month), with rapid swings that coincided with the ebb and flow of ETF investment. By contrast, when outflows finally started easing toward the end of the month, Bitcoin’s price began stabilizing and recovering.

The pattern of ETF flows we’ve seen in March reflects a significant shift in institutional investor sentiment. A major overhang was the Federal Reserve’s policy outlook. In mid-February, Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled a more hawkish stance, and US inflation data came in hotter than expected. Being highly sensitive to interest rate expectations, Bitcoin reacted negatively — institutions pulled money out when they realized rates might stay higher for longer. These hawkish signals “prompted” the initial wave of outflows, breaking the long inflow streak.

By March, the prospect of continued tight monetary policy (and the lack of an immediate Fed pivot to easing) kept institutional investors on the defensive. Fears that higher interest rates would strengthen the dollar and dampen appetite for alternative assets made Bitcoin ETFs less attractive in the short term.

March also brought noteworthy US policy news that influenced sentiment. Early in the month, anticipation built around a rumored US “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.” However, when Trump signed an executive order on Mar. 6 establishing the reserve, it disappointed traders by not mandating any immediate Bitcoin purchases. The announcement was nuanced — it created a framework for a national Bitcoin reserve (mainly using seized assets and instructing budget-neutral acquisition strategies).

However, it did not unleash new government buying of Bitcoin. This fell short of market hopes and exemplified a “buy the rumor, sell the news” scenario: many investors had likely bid up Bitcoin in expectation of bullish government action, only to sell when the actual policy was less impactful. The day after the executive order, March 7, saw a massive outflow from ETFs of over $370 million and a significant fall in price driven by the market’s disappointment.

In addition, Trump’s broader economic policies played a role. The administration’s renewed trade tariffs and tough talk on trade introduced worries about global growth. Such geopolitical tensions and protectionist measures tend to make large investors more risk-averse. Alongside this, the White House Crypto Summit had raised hopes for supportive signals but ultimately provided no bullish catalyst, doing little to stem the sell-off.

The post Turbulent times for Bitcoin as ETF outflows continue in March appeared first on CryptoSlate.

A malicious Python Package Index (PyPI)  package named “set-utils” has been stealing Ethereum private keys through intercepted wallet creation functions and exfiltrating them via the Polygon blockchain.

The package disguises itself as a utility for Python, mimicking the popular “python-utils,” which has over 712 million downloads, and “utils,” which counts over 23.5 million installs.

Researchers from the developer cybersecurity platform Socket discovered the malicious package and reported that set-utils had been downloaded over a thousand times since its submission on PyPI on January 29, 2025.

The open-source supply chain security firm reports that the attacks primarily target blockchain developers utilizing ‘eth-account’ for wallet creation and management, Python-based DeFi projects, Web3 apps with Ethereum support, and personal wallets using Python automation.

As the malicious package is targeting cryptocurrency projects, even though there were only a thousand downloads, it could impact a far larger number of people who used the applications to generate wallets.

Stealthy Ethereum keys theft

The malicious set-utils package embeds the attacker’s RSA public key to be used for encrypting stolen data and an Ethereum sender account controlled by the attacker.

The package hooks into standard Ethereum wallet creation functions like ‘from_key()’ and ‘from_mnewmonic()’ to intercept private keys as they are generated on the compromised machine.

It then encrypts the stolen private key and embeds it in the data field of an Ethereum transaction before it’s sent to the attacker’s account via the Polygon RPC endpoint “rpc-amoy.polygon.technology/.”

Compared to traditional network exfiltration methods, embedding stolen data in Ethereum transactions is far stealthier and more challenging to distinguish from legitimate activity.

Firewalls and antivirus tools typically monitor HTTP requests but not blockchain transactions, so this method is unlikely to raise any flags or get blocked.

Also, Polygon transactions have very low processing fees, no rate limiting applies to small transactions, and offer free public RPC endpoints, so the threat actors do not need to set up their own infrastructure.

Once the exfiltration process is done, the attacker can retrieve the stolen data at any time, as the stolen information is permanently stored on the blockchain.

The set-utils package was removed from PyPI following its discovery. However, users and software developers who incorporated it into their projects should uninstall it immediately and assume that any Ethereum wallets created are compromised.

If the said wallets contain funds, it is recommended to move them to another wallet as soon as possible, as they are at risk of getting stolen at any moment.