Wayex Weekly Wrap
This week in crypto has delivered record highs, market shifts, and big headlines. Bitcoin surged to a new all-time high of over $124,000 USD, while Ethereum broke the $4,000 USD barrier for the first time in years. Meme coins gained momentum, boosted by whale activity and growing utility. Bullish made a strong NYSE debut, Ripple’s legal battle with the SEC finally ended, and a high-profile DeFi case reignited debate over developer accountability. From price surges to courtroom drama, the week has been packed with events shaping the next phase of the crypto market.
Top Gainers & Losers of the Week on Wayex
Bitcoin reaches new All Time High
Bitcoin has once again reached an All Time High, reaching a new record of over $124,000 USD or $189,624 AUD as of today in August 2025. The new ATH surpassed the previous record of $123,000 USD on 14 July 2025. According to Investopedia, Bitcoin has reached a new ATH on multiple occasions this year, January, May, July and each time it created new expectations on what the ceiling price would be articulated quite accurately by BITCOIN.COM.
Last month, when Bitcoin reached its last ATH of 123,00 USD, CoinDesk reported Citi speculating on Citi forecasts bitcoin at $135,000 USD by year-end, with a bull case of $199,000 USD driven by rising ETF flows and a bear case of $64,000 USD under weaker macro conditions. However, if you are listening to Cathie Wood, from ARK, it can go even higher.
CoinTelegraph, has reported today that Bitcoin, at its new price, is facing strong selling pressure, but the bulls are holding ground at $120,000 USD. The price surge is being encouraged by positive market conditions and net inflows from institutional and retail investors alike. Additionally, both deFI and Wall Street are amped up due to predictions of a rate cut in September by the US Federal Reserve and bad jobs data out of the United States
Ethereum breaks the resistance levels
Ethereum has had a big month. Earlier this month, ETH celebrated its 10th birthday, but this week it finally passed the $4,000 USD mark. THE BLOCK, reported that ETH has hit over $4,000 USD for the first time since November 2021. ETH breaking the resistance level has been attributed to the rapid increase of ETH treasury companies and increasing ETF inflow over the past few weeks.
ETH may also be finally benefiting from the overall positive market sentiment of the crypto market, and in particular, President Trump’s Executive Order that crypto can be purchased by American pension companies, also known as 401k’s. Previously, American pension funds were excluded from investing their funds into crypto companies, which means a new market is opening for cryptocurrencies.
ETH has thus far failed to capitalise on the continued positive market sentiment and has had a long recovery from the Liberation Day tariffs. Throughout most of 2025, according to, THE BLOCK, ETH underperformed BTC, losing roughly 50% of its value in the pair before bottoming near 0.018 in April, shortly after President Donald Trump’s Liberation Day tariff announcements.
Despite being the second largest coin by market capitalisation at 571.02 BILLION, it consistently struggled against BTC for the first half of the year. But it has come back with an absolute blockbuster bang. Ethereum set a new record of 1.74 million daily transactions on Wednesday (US EDT), surpassing its previous peak from May 2021. This milestone came on the heels of its busiest month to date in July, when the network processed over 46 million transactions. ETH continues to see large treasury inflows, with Ethereum treasury accumulation “just getting started,” with potential to grow tenfold and control 10% of total ETH, according to Standard Chartered.
Whales are betting big on meme coins
Meme coins are seeing renewed momentum in 2025, driven not only by retail enthusiasm but also by heavy accumulation from large “whale” investors. Among the standouts, Fartcoin, currently priced around $0.9380, has gained significant traction thanks to whale activity and its Layer-2 blockchain, which offers faster and cheaper transactions; analysts believe it could double to $2 by year’s end. Shiba Inu (SHIB), trading near $0.00001224, has evolved beyond its meme origins to develop a full ecosystem, including ShibaSwap, an NFT marketplace, and DeFi features, with forecasts suggesting it could reach $0.000095. Little Pepe (LILPEPE) is a newcomer, priced at $0.0018 in presale, raising over $15.3 million and attracting whale investment with its Layer-2 security-focused infrastructure, including liquidity locks and anti-rug-pull mechanisms via the “Pepe Pump Pad.” These projects share several growth drivers: large-scale whale accumulation indicating strong investor confidence, vibrant communities with viral marketing, and real-world utility that extends beyond simple speculation. Low entry prices for Fartcoin and LILPEPE add to their speculative appeal, making them accessible to a wider investor base. According to CoinCentral, these factors combine to position Fartcoin, Shiba Inu, and Little Pepe for potentially explosive gains as the next crypto bull run gathers pace.
Bullish launches on the exchange
Bullish, the Peter Thiel-backed crypto exchange and parent company of CoinDesk, made a blockbuster debut on the New York Stock Exchange, with shares more than doubling from their $37 IPO price to close around $92.60. The IPO raised $1.11 billion, with the company planning to convert much of the proceeds into stablecoins, a move supported by the regulatory clarity of the recently passed GENIUS Act. Bullish is also close to securing a New York BitLicense, which would allow it to fully operate in one of the most tightly regulated U.S. markets.
Ripples court case ripples away
Ripple has finally had its case against them dropped by the SEC. The SEC sued XRP in 2020 when they alleged that they were selling securities without a license. Upon President Trump’s new crypto-friendly stance, both parties attempted to amicably settle the case and reduce the fine from $125 million USD to $50 million USD. However, the settlement was rejected by Judge Torres in May 2025.
Now it seems that both sides, the SEC and Ripple, have ended the lawsuits against each other. Essentially, this means the fine of $125 million for Ripple and the injunction holds. What does this mean practically for Ripple? We’ll have to wait and see on this one.
Guilty: deFi verdicts and guilty pleas
In an interesting paradox, Roman Storm, the founder of Tornado Crash, was convicted of “Conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business” in New York this week. Although we have seen consistent proCrypto rhetoric from the Trump administration, United, this case highlights the wide-scale issues in crypto legislation and the different approaches by the different federal departments to crypto issues. For those not familiar with it, Roman Storm was charged with money laundering and violating sanctions. Although Roman Storm has vowed to appeal the guilty verdict, he was found guilty of facilitating money laundering of approximately 1 billion dollars in crypto linked to an organisation in North Korea. His defence argued he only created and published open source privacy software and had no control over how it was used. The case has raised wider questions about the legal responsibilities of developers who build decentralised tools.
What’s making us laugh this week?
Source: https://x.com/Pleb_Style/status/1955647892846248212
Founder’s Corner
Bitcoin’s new all-time high isn’t just a chart milestone; it’s a credibility check for the whole asset class. Momentum, rate-cut whispers and real institutional flows finally lined up, and everything finally delivered. My view? celebrate, but don’t get sloppy. ATHs test discipline more than conviction. Meanwhile, ETH reclaiming $4k USD feels different this time, ETFs, treasury adoption and record on-chain activity are finally showing up in price. If BTC sets the ceiling, ETH expands the house.
On the structural side, Bullish’s punchy NYSE debut says public markets will pay for regulated crypto plumbing, not just casino volume, that’s healthy capital. Ripple’s courtroom saga winding down removes a long, noisy overhang; clarity beats drama. And the DeFi verdict reminds builders that “just code” isn’t a shield; compliance-by-design will be the baseline. Meme coins are buzzing on whale activity, but utility wins the fourth quarter. Are we looking towards the long-awaited altcoin season? We shall see.
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Until next time,
The Wayex Team
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