A 5-Minute Recap of Last Week's Web3 Market

We have compiled the latest market information and major news from the past week.

Good morning.
I’m Mitsui, a web3 researcher.

This is a summary article covering the web3 market over the past week. We gather information from over 20 domestic and international media outlets and newsletters, selecting news items from them. Please use this to catch up on information and trends!

📰Pickup News
📗Pickup Article
📊Market & News

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📰Pickup News

Sui was down for several hours

• Sui’s Layer 1 network has been down for several hours.Transaction Halt。

• The development team officially acknowledged the “network star (stopped state)” and implemented recovery operations.

• dApps and block explorers are also temporarily unavailable.

• Sui had been growing rapidly by touting its high throughput, but there have been outage incidents in the past.

• In high-performance L1Stability and Fault Tolerance Issueshas been brought into sharp relief once again.

Polygon Labs unveils “Open Money Stack” concept to complete fund transfers entirely on-chain

• Polygon Labs announces a comprehensive infrastructure plan to complete fund transfers and payments entirely on-chain.

• Can be used without being aware of stablecoins or tokenized depositsChain-independent designis a characteristic.

• Based on the premise of interoperability with multiple blockchains and existing financial infrastructure.

• Not only individuals and companies,Autonomous payments by AI agentsAlso anticipated.

• We aim to build an economic foundation where funds will continue to circulate on-chain in the future.

After X revised its API policy and banned the InfoFi crypto project, the Kaito token plummeted.

• X announces API policy banning “post-reward apps.”

• The background is that InfoFi-related projects were generating massive amounts of AI spam replies.

• Immediately following this announcement, the native token of the InfoFi networkKaito plunged more than 10%。

• Kaito will discontinue its reward-based features and transition to a new model leaning toward traditional marketing.

JCB, Digital Garage, and Resona to Collaborate on Social Implementation of Stablecoin Payments

• JCB, Digital Garage, and Resona Holdings have begun collaborating to implement stablecoin payments in Japan.

• Using USD-pegged and JPY-pegged stablecoinsPayment Proof-of-Concept Testing in Physical StoresScheduled.

• Verifying practical challenges such as UI/UX, blockchain processing performance and stability, and merchant settlement operations.

• JCB handles the merchant network, Digital Garage manages the payment infrastructure, and Resona is responsible for financial service design.

• Future plans include expanding the ecosystem and exploring partnerships with other businesses.

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📗Pickup Article

Introducing posts and articles I found interesting.

enough with the buy-and-burns. jesus christ

• Buy-and-burn is simple and easy to understand, but it is criticized as an inherently value-destructive token model.

• When successful, it repurchases at a high price; when unsuccessful, it fails to produce results—pointing out the “worst asymmetry.”

• Early-stage projects should allocate funds toward growth investments, as returns can easily backfire.

• The cryptocurrency market is highly reflexive, with narratives driving prices.

• In many cases, we conclude that a poorly designed token is worse than having none at all.

The Heat Death Of Memecoins: Tracking the Memecoin Hype & Rapid Cooldown of 2025

• The total market capitalization of the meme coin market has decreased by approximately 61% over the past year.

• Solana’s Pump fun enables hyper-rapid token proliferation, forming a speculative bubble in early 2025.

• The number of new token issuances has decreased from a peak of 70,000 per day to around 20,000.

• There are numerous cases where bot trading is prevalent and price formation does not reflect actual demand.

• Similar to the NFT market, we have now entered a “post-hype phase,” with consolidation and convergence underway.

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📊Market & News

🟠Market Overview

• JPMorgan expects cryptocurrency inflows to increase further in 2026 after hitting a record high of $130 billion in 2025.

⛓️L1 Blockchain

• Ethereum staking hits all-time high, with approximately 30% of ETH supply locked

• Vitalik Buterin argues Ethereum should not delay preparations for the threat of quantum computing

• Buterin calls for Ethereum updates to ensure blockchain outlasts its developers

• Ripple secures UK license to expand payment services

• Sonic Labs Provides Partial Compensation to Exploit Victims

⛓️L2 Blockchain

• Polygon surges 15%, driving the sharp rise in altcoins

• Polygon lays off 30% of employees as it shifts focus to payment services

• ZKsync’s 2026 roadmap centers on real-world infrastructure.

• Polygon Labs to strengthen payment infrastructure under U.S. regulations. Acquiring CoinMe and Sequence.

• Starknet partners with NEAR to bring STRK to Solana

💰DeFi

• Felix Protocol Launches Spot Stock Trading on HyperEVM

• YO, $3.7 Million Loss from Unintended Stablecoin Exchange

• Trove Markets’ $11.5 million token sale saw last-minute changes ripple through Polymarket’s bets, triggering a backlash.

• ETHGas releases GWEI tokens to manage Ethereum’s block space and make on-chain execution predictable

• As sports betting drives on-chain prediction markets, Football.Fun unveils the FUN token

• Polymarket CEO Promotes Prediction Platform’s “Most Mainstream Integration” at Golden Globes Awards Ceremony

• Lighter introduces LIT staking for access to liquidity pools

• $LIT continues to decline after the TGE

• Euler’s founding CEO steps down; protocol refocuses on institutional investor business

🤑RWA・Stablecoin

• Galaxy receives $50 million allocation from Globe and tokenizes its first CLO on Avalanche

• Franklin Templeton Updates Two Money Market Funds to Support Blockchain

• The CEO of Goldman Sachs stated that as U.S. regulations evolve, the firm is actively exploring tokenization and prediction markets.

• Gacha sales hit an all-time high, sending CARD tokens soaring

• Fujitsu Utilizes Blockchain for Green Iron Value Distribution in METI Research Project

• Figure Announces On-Chain Stock Network Aiming to Reform Stock Trading and Financing

• As banks rush to bring cash and funds on-chain, State Street expands its push for tokenization

• The CEO of Bank of America has warned that up to $6 trillion in deposits could shift to stablecoins if interest payments are permitted.

• Visa partners with BVNK to enable stablecoin payments via Visa Direct

• USD1 lands on prediction market Myriad

• WLFI Launches Crypto Asset Lending and Borrowing App, Enabling USD1 Stablecoin Operations

• Ethena Labs aims to increase holdings of USDe Safe through gas-free Ethereum transactions and a tenfold increase in rewards.

• South Korea’s major financial institution KB applies for patent on stablecoin credit card

• Sumitomo Mitsui Card to Conduct Proof-of-Concept Trial for JPYC Touch Payments Using My Number Cards

• Tether has frozen $182 million worth of USDT tied to five Tron addresses.

🏢ETF・DAT

• Bitcoin ETF inflows hit $1.7 billion for the third consecutive day

• Michael Saylor fiercely criticizes interviewer who questioned Bitcoin’s financial model: “Ignorant and unpleasant”

• Ethereum finance company BitMine invests $200 million in MrBeast’s Beast Industries

• Allied Architects, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market, launches next-generation DAT initiative. Yu Oki, former head of the Solana Super Team, appointed as project leader.

• Kushim and Fracton form business alliance to advance treasury operations and support the Ethereum community

• Solana finance company Sharp Technology partners with Coinbase to launch validator

🖼️NFT

• OpenSea Partners with Metamask to Earn Points

• MoonBirds Announces $1 Billion Revenue Forecast

🤖AI Agent

• AMIKO introduces TARS, equivalent to ERC-8004, for the Solana ecosystem

• NEAR AI joins NVIDIA Inception to accelerate the development of enterprise-grade privacy-preserving AI infrastructure.

• Dexter AI launched Dexter Marketplace, enabling agents to search for and pay for services using x402 with real-time payment and usage visibility.

• Hive Intelligence has launched its Crypto Governance Analyst agent, designed to rigorously evaluate the alignment of DAO governance structures with decentralization.

National, Legal, and Regulatory Matters

• CFTC Chairman Selig Announces Innovation Committee to Examine Cryptocurrencies and Prediction Markets

• The Senate Banking Committee’s decision to postpone the markup has caused the comprehensive cryptocurrency bill to hit a major snag.

• Coinbase states it does not support the Senate cryptocurrency bill ahead of the Banking Committee vote

• Tennessee Demands Closure of Sports Betting Marketplaces Polymarket, Calci, and Crypto.com

• South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges criticize government’s proposed holding limit

• South Korea Approves Framework for Tokenized Securities at Key Legislative Hearing

• Google Play removes South Korean exchanges

• Russia finalizes bill to open cryptocurrency market to unlicensed traders

• Nigeria plans to track cryptocurrency without hacking blockchain

• Dubai bans use of privacy tokens on exchanges, tightens stablecoin rules amid cryptocurrency reset

Other

• Cake Wallet adds support for Zcash

• MetaMask adds native Tron support to its mobile and browser extension wallets as part of its multi-chain push acceleration.

• Ledger Wallet introduces “BTC Yield” feature in collaboration with Lombard and Figment

• Bitpanda, backed by Peter Thiel, plans IPO in the first half of 2026

• Bank of Thailand Monitors USDT “Grey Money” Transactions

• Kraken-related SPAC aims for Nasdaq IPO at $250 million

• Cryptocurrency custodian BitGo aims to raise $201 million in U.S. IPO

• Binance Japan to Release “Binance Japan Card” Credit Card That Earns BNB

• Coincheck Group Acquires Digital Asset Management Firm 3iQ from Monex Group Through Share Transfer

• Privacy coins make a comeback as Monero sets a new record price

• CoinGecko is considering a sale at a valuation of $500 million

• Backpack launches prediction market

• Paxos’ asset base will increase by 450% by 2025

• DASH surges nearly 50% following Alchemy Pay integration

• Discord suddenly locked down servers for the same alarming reasons X purged these crypto developers.

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Disclaimer：I carefully examine and write the information that I research, but since it is personally operated and there are many parts with English sources, there may be some paraphrasing or incorrect information. Please understand. Also, there may be introductions of Dapps, NFTs, and tokens in the articles, but there is absolutely no solicitation purpose. Please purchase and use them at your own risk.

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🇯🇵🇺🇸🇰🇷🇨🇳🇪🇸 The English version of the web3 newsletter, which is available in 5 languages. Based on the concept of ``Learn more about web3 in 5 minutes a day,'' we deliver research articles five times a week, including explanations of popular web3 trends, project explanations, and introductions to the latest news.

Author
mitsui
A web3 researcher. Operating the newsletter "web3 Research" delivered in five languages around the world.

Contact
The author is a web3 researcher based in Japan. If you have a project that is interested in expanding to Japan, please contact the following:

• X：@web3researchgl

• Telegram：@mitsui0x

*Please note that this newsletter translates articles that are originally in Japanese. There may be translation mistakes such as mistranslations or paraphrasing, so please understand in advance.