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ETH ETFs just 5X’d Bitcoin’s — The yield era is here

ETH ETFs just 5X’d Bitcoin’s — The yield era is here

PLUS: Gold dodges Trump’s tariffs, Coinbase bets big on TON, and altcoins join corporate treasuries.

Cryptopolitan News
August 12, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Welcome back, friends —

Ethereum just stole the spotlight with a $1B ETF inflow day, five times Bitcoin’s haul, and Wall Street is suddenly talking “yield + upside” in the same breath.

Trump quietly spared gold from tariffs, sending a global safe-haven signal, while Coinbase doubled down on TON in a rare direct deal with Telegram.

Meanwhile, corporate treasuries are loading up on altcoins from BONK to SUI, chasing staking rewards and liquidity.

Let’s break it down.

🧠 Ethereum just flipped the narrative

Read the full scoop

Imagine ETH confidently striding past Bitcoin at the crypto red carpet.

That’s what happened on August 11: Ethereum ETFs raked in $1.019 billion, that’s five times more than Bitcoin ETFs. Suddenly, the question isn’t "Will ETH catch up?" but "How fast can it overtake?"

ETF issuers are thrilled. BlackRock’s ETHA brought in $640M, Fidelity’s FETH smashed records with $277M, and Grayscale’s Mini Ether Trust lent another slick $66.5M. All it took? Ethereum's rare combo of yield, compliance, and infrastructure play.

Why the race accelerated (Now, not earlier)

For years, ETH staking—a way to earn ~3–5% APY was the secret handshake of DeFi nerds. But it wasn’t institutional-grade… until now. The SEC has recently signaled that ETF-linked staking and liquid staking tokens (LSTs) don’t automatically fall under securities law. A major compliance green.

This means ETH ETFs could soon unlock the holy grail combo: price exposure + yield. That can push total returns into the 10%+ range for long-term holder accounts—making ETH ETFs not just a bet on upside but a yield-generating asset.

What this means for institutions

Institutional cash isn’t just buying: it’s deploying. SharpLink Gaming staked $147M worth of ETH via Figment, turning cash into yield. Meanwhile, on-chain stats show $150B+ staked ETH, and Ethereum commands 58% of tokenized asset volume. It’s not hype—it’s productivity at scale.

Off-chain, Vitalik Buterin's 10-year roadmap dropped hard: think ultra-light wallets, built-in privacy, and verified app stacks from device to dApp.

I think the Ethereum Barbell strategy will prove right.
This is how Vitalik explains it:
"Ethereum's barbell strategy of L1 and L2 is basically that L2s do the thing that require centralization and they get the benefits of centralization which includes the ability to do HFT but
— RYAN SΞAN ADAMS - rsa.eth 🦄 (@RyanSAdams)
2:16 PM • Aug 11, 2025

Ethereum is transitioning from “digital silver” to digital infrastructure.

TL;DR (For your Bitcoin-Maxi friend)

ETH ETFs just pulled down a deluge of money—$1B+ in a day, or 5X BTC’s take.
Staking is the missing yield accessory that now might get approved in ETFs.
ETH is no longer just “growth”. It’s becoming a yield machine, seen in SharpLink's big stake and rising on-chain dominance.
The Ethereum roadmap isn’t sci-fi, it’s building tomorrow’s backbone.
TL;DR: ETH is gaining ground, and Wall Street just handed it the steering wheel.

🧠 Signal vs Noise

Trump delays tariffs — and quietly tells the world: gold is still sacred.

President Trump just hit pause on the U.S.–China tariff war… again. A 90-day extension will keep duties from spiking on Chinese imports. But that’s not the real headline.

The real story? Gold was removed from the tariff list.

Earlier, U.S. Customs had ruled that certain Swiss-imported gold bars. The 1kg and 100oz bricks backing COMEX futures would be hit with a 39% tariff. Markets freaked. Gold surged to a record high. Swiss refiners warned of global disruptions.

Then came Monday’s reversal.

So… why gold? Why now?

The U.S. imports around 250 to 300 metric tons of gold annually, mostly from Switzerland. That’s billions of dollars in contracts tied to physical delivery and the backbone of America’s gold futures market.

If those bars were suddenly taxed, the entire flow of institutional hedging, reserves management, and dollar-alternative positioning could unravel.

Gold is a strategic safe haven, especially as inflation fears linger and geopolitical trust erodes. Removing gold from the tariff list was a signal to global investors that the U.S. still sees gold as a core part of financial stability not a pawn in a trade war.

💭 Noise: “It’s just about Swiss bars.”
📢 Signal: Gold isn’t just off the hook: it’s being elevated. And in a world where central banks are stockpiling gold, this move just made one thing clear: The U.S. won’t mess with the king of safe havens.

Chart our finance team is watching

$TON

Coinbase Ventures backs TON. Here’s why it matters.

Coinbase Ventures has purchased Toncoin directly from Telegram, a rare, off-market deal that signals growing institutional interest in The Open Network (TON).

TON powers Telegram’s web3 stack, embedding payments, wallets, and dApps directly into the messaging app. With over 1 billion active users on Telegram, the distribution angle is unique but it also raises questions about dependency on a single platform.

This isn’t a one-off bet either.
Sequoia Capital, Benchmark, Ribbit, and Pantera are already in. Verb Technology even rebranded to TON Strategy Co. after a $558M private placement.

So why is finance watching?

TON mini-apps are gaining traction within Telegram’s user base
TVL in TON has been steadily rising, now crossing $650M
Direct token deals suggest long-term alignment vs short-term speculation

Narratives to Watch

The Altcoin treasury moment is building up

Read the full scoop

1/ First it was Bitcoin on balance sheets.
Now, altcoins are going corporate.

BONK, IP, and SUI are forging treasury deals with public companies adding staking rewards, stock market hype, and fresh liquidity.

Here’s what’s really going on 👇

2/ SHOT x BONK
Solana’s dog coin BONK became the treasury asset of NASDAQ-listed Safety Shot (SHOT).

Result? SHOT shares plunged 50% post-announcement.
The meme magic didn’t translate to Wall Street.

3/ CASK x IP
Heritage Distilling is raising $220M with A16Z backing to hold the IP token (Story Protocol).

The plan: tokenize IP + fuel treasury with liquidity.

MCVT x SUI
Mill City Ventures added $20M in SUI and is staking it for $26K/day in rewards.
Now that’s a productive treasury.

4/ Why this matters:

• 34+ altcoins now have treasury deals
• Staking yield makes it more attractive than BTC
• Some stocks pump on treasury news — others tank

This is Strategy 2.0 but with memes, multipliers, and midcaps.

Top staking & DeFi educators to follow on X

Here are Cryptopolitan’s top picks:

@Arthur_0x – DeFiance Capital founder. Early to trends, deep on staking mechanics and token models.

@Route2FI – Sharp, simple breakdowns of yield farming, LSDs, and tokenomics. Great for visual learners.

@cryptounfolded – Mixes charts, staking updates, and TVL movements across protocols like Lido, EtherFi, and Pendle.

@eliasimos – Formerly Delphi Digital. Deep thinker on validator incentives, protocol economics, and LST liquidity loops.

@econoar – ETH staking OG. Brings a validator’s lens to every discussion — pure staking signal.

Trump Tuesday: Top Trump headline picks

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JUST IN: BSV’s £9B delisting lawsuit against Kraken, Binance & others over their 2019 BSV removal has now escalated to the UK Supreme Court, after appeals in lower courts.
— Cryptopolitan (@CPOfficialtx)
2:19 PM • Aug 11, 2025

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