It’s been another packed week in crypto, with Bitcoin price fluctuations testing investor confidence, Ethereum ETFs post ATH hangover, and regulators keeping markets on edge. From South Korea’s sudden lending crackdown to Justin Sun’s legal battle with Bloomberg, the headlines remind us how quickly sentiment and structure can shift. Altcoin chatter is rising (and falling just as fast), while the SEC continues to drag its feet on ETF approvals.
Let’s dive into the stories shaping the week.
What’s happening on the Wayex platform this week
BTC Resilience Tested: What’s Next?
Fresh data shows a sharp drop in Bitcoin’s 30 day Coin Days Destroyed. In simple terms, long-term holders aren’t moving their coins as much right now. Despite the slowdown, the market has stayed resilient. This usually signals that seasoned investors are feeling more confident and are choosing to hold onto their Bitcoin rather than sell.
Despite Bitcoin trading roughly $11,000 USD below its mid‑August record, FalconX’s Head of Research notes that the cryptocurrency’s market structure remains "extremely bullish." This upbeat assessment comes amid what many see as a healthy pause on BTC pricing. ICO Bench referred to the current pricing movement as sideways grinding.
Although most analysts agree that BTC remains strong, where the price predictions go from here, who knows? CoinTelegraph, cited. Analyst Michael van de Poppe noted Bitcoin is trading around $113,700 USD, pointing out that the price has entered a “potential area of interest for longs.” His chart highlighted the zone between the August low of $111,900 USD and the $113,000 USD psychological level as a key area to watch on Bitcoin’s six-hour chart.
These indicators continue to point toward sustained strength, suggesting that the broader upward trend remains intact even amid short-term corrections.
But as always, Do Your Own Research.
ETF Flows Flip: Investors Pull Back, Others Dive In,
Global crypto exchange-traded products saw $3.75 billion USD inflow last week, with Ethereum ETFs leading the way. Ethereum attracted around $2.87 billion USD of this overall investment, making up more than three-quarters of the total overall inflow this week. Bitcoin, despite climbing to a new all-time high above $124,000 USD midweek. BTC only consisted of 552 million USD of ETF inflows last week. Trading was intense, with Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs hitting $40 billion in just four days, including $17 billion from Ethereum alone. Ethereum funds also notched up eight straight days of inflows worth $3.7 billion, while Bitcoin funds had a seven-day streak totalling $1.3 billion. The results highlight how quickly investor interest is shifting toward Ethereum.
South Korea Pulls Plug on Crypto Lending
The crypto world is abuzz with South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) ordering the immediate suspension of crypto lending services announced Tuesday (timezone). The changes took effect immediately, impacting retail investors looking to use these services. The “pause” will remain in effect until the new regulatory ruling is made.
The pause was sudden and brought shockwaves to the market; however, the response was due to a high number of users who leveraged their assets for lending in June. Yahoo Finance reported that the major player, Bithumb, had 27,000 users tap lending services in June according to Yahoo Finance borrowing approximately 1.5 trillion won. Although the trend of crypto users lending facilities is not new, Galaxy Research noted that investors using ceFI lending facilities experienced a quarter on quarter growth rate of 14.66% as of June 30.
The regulatory body was triggered to act by the harsh market swings and a massive uptick in users using the lending facilities borrowed by exchanges. The pause was seen as a necessary stopgap to address the market deficiencies of the South Korean regulatory market.
The suddenness of the ruling did take many by surprise, but it isn’t completely out of the blue for the regulator. In July, the FSC issued a general warning about the risk of crypto lending services. But, it seems that the Regulator was caught out by how attractive these lending facilities were, with crypto lending facilities racing to offer the best deal, allowing customers to leverage up to four times their holdings.
Despite the pause on lending leveraged crypto facilities, South Korea is still all-in on crypto, with stablecoins pegged to the WON and the regulator considering approving its first ETF spot trader.
Justin Sun Lawsuit Rocks the Crypto Scene
Justin Sun, founder of Tron, is suing Bloomberg to stop them from reporting on his crypto holdings. He is seeking a Federal Court in Delaware to issue an injunction against Bloomberg to stop the release of his private crypto holdings. How did Bloomberg get this information?
Because he gave it to him to get on the famous Billionaire’s List. When Sun was pursuing a spot on Bloomberg’s Billionaires list, he reportedly provided them with documents to verify his wealth. However, according to court filings, Sun was assured both verbally and in writing that his private holdings would not be made public. Although some of the information has been published, Sun is trying to stop Bloomberg from publishing more.
Now, Bloomberg is seeking to share a more detailed breakdown of his crypto assets with the wider public, and Sun is trying to stop it. Justin’s lawyers argued against the publication that Bloomberg violated the agreement by including inaccurate and private asset data, which was never intended for public release. He also cites personal security risks to him and his family if the information were to be published.
Altcoin Season or Just Hype? What Trend Says
Various media outlets such as CoinTelegraph, Trading View and MiTrade, reported last week that “Altcoin” search on Google Trends was soaring to the highest levels since November 2021.
But, CCN has already reported the sharp drop in search for Altcoins, dropping by 32% overnight. Why is this important? General searches show an indication of consumer sentiment, basically what people are talking about, thinking about, and potentially using their money to invest in different altcoins. The sharp and sudden drop in search traffic shows that interest is decreasing, and the impact is reflected in the change in sentiment with the Coin Market Cap Index.
To get into the specifics, to be truly considered an “Altcoin season” or Al Season, alt-coins need to significantly increase Bitcoin’s performance of day-to-day market share.”
Does Crypto continue to be the boy that cried “ALTCOIN season”.
Time will tell.
SEC Delays Spark Frustration Across Crypto Markets
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed several regulatory decisions on proposed crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
According to a filing made on Monday, the agency set 8 October as the new deadline to rule on the Truth Social Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF. The delay in the decision is common, and several applications across the board were impacted.
The SEC also announced that the applications required by the CoinShares Litecoin ETF, the CoinShares XRP ETF, and the 21Shares Core XRP ETF would also be delayed to October. Further delays were later applied to the Canary XRP Trust, the Grayscale XRP Trust, and a proposal to enable staking within the 21Shares Core Ethereum ETF.
These delays are all within the filing deadline and are in accordance with the normal process of the SEC. The market remains unworried but eagerly awaits the outcome of the application.
In other news, Gemini, run by the enigmatic and favourite and potentially only crypto twins, the Winklevoss brothers, applied for their own IPO. It’s IPO season in Crypto, and we’ll see if their S3 is approved.
Things that made us laugh this week
Founders Corner
Bitcoin’s pullback looks more like a healthy pause than a reversal, with long-term holders sitting tight and the market still leaning bullish. Ethereum stealing ETF flows shows the tide is shifting; investors are finally treating it as more than BTC’s shadow. Regulators, from South Korea’s lending freeze to the SEC’s endless ETF delays, keep reminding us how fragile sentiment is. While “altcoin season” might be around the corner, I am keen to see if it is knocking at the front door. Confidence is quietly building in the majors, and the winners will be the ones delivering real products, not chasing headlines.
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