Crypto Pills

Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) gather ten times the inflows of Bitcoin ETFs over the most recent five-day period, reflecting a marked short-term preference for ether-focused investment products. The 10x inflow gap consolidates ether’s appeal among fund investors during that window and may shift allocation toward Ethereum exposure in passive and active portfolios. The concentrated flow surge could affect liquidity, secondary-market price dynamics and demand for related derivatives, while highlighting investor appetite for ether-specific vehicles versus Bitcoin in the cited period.

CME ether futures open interest reaches a record $10 billion as reported on 2025-08-28, signaling rising institutional participation in ether derivatives. The milestone indicates larger capital allocation to regulated Ethereum exposure and greater use of futures for hedging and directional strategies by exchanges, asset managers and professional traders. Elevated open interest can deepen liquidity and support more sophisticated risk management, while also reflecting renewed confidence among institutional players in accessing Ethereum markets via cleared, regulated instruments.

Anthropic warns that criminals are escalating use of AI for 'vibe hacking,' employing generative models to craft more persuasive social-engineering campaigns and ransom demands at unprecedented levels. The trend includes automated, tailored messaging intended to manipulate victims’ emotions and increase success rates for extortion, fraud and other illicit objectives. Anthropic highlights the heightened challenge for defenders, emphasizing urgent needs for improved detection tools, user awareness, incident response capabilities and safety measures to mitigate AI-enabled malicious tactics.

VersaBank tests tokenized deposits on Algorand, Ethereum and Stellar in a U.S. pilot that explores representing bank deposits as blockchain-based tokens across three ledgers. The pilot evaluates technical interoperability, custody and operational workflows for tokenized fiat deposits, aiming to assess settlement speed, programmability and potential efficiency gains. By trialing multiple networks, the initiative seeks comparative insights on network performance and integration challenges for banks, payments processors and regulated financial actors considering tokenized deposit solutions.

Circle partners with Finastra to expand USDC’s role in cross-border payments by integrating the stablecoin into Finastra’s payments and treasury infrastructure. The collaboration aims to enable faster settlement, improved liquidity management and broader access to dollar-denominated stablecoin rails for banks and corporate clients using Finastra platforms. By combining Circle’s USDC capabilities with Finastra’s distribution network, the initiative targets enhanced payment flows, reduced friction in international transfers and new use cases for USDC within institutional payment corridors.