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The Protocol that outearned everyone — Even Ethereum

PLUS: ETH gains $10B in institutional trust • MemeFi spikes after Binance delisting • Bitcoin SPACs are back

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Cryptopolitan News
August 07, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes

Welcome back, friends —

Something unusual just happened: A purpose-built perps chain generated more revenue than Ethereum itself. Meanwhile, ETH is quietly becoming Wall Street’s next balance sheet asset, and even delisted meme coins are staging chaotic comebacks.

Let’s break it down.

🧠 The Protocol that outearned everyone — Even Ethereum

In July, Hyperliquid captured a staggering 35% of all on-chain blockchain revenue, outperforming Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Solana, according to VanEck’s latest crypto recap.

That’s not just big.
It’s market-flipping.

At the peak of the meme coin mania earlier this year, Solana dominated the fee charts, briefly generating more revenue than the next four chains combined.

But that momentum is fading. While Solana is down 13% YTD, Hyperliquid’s native token HYPE is up 57%, even after a recent 12% pullback.

Quick explainer:

What is Hyperliquid?
A high-speed, zero-gas decentralized exchange (DEX) built exclusively for perpetual futures trading which is a favorite among crypto degens. It’s not an L2 or on Ethereum, it’s a purpose-built appchain optimized for speed, user experience, and deep liquidity.

What’s a Perps Appchain?
A Perps Appchain is a standalone blockchain custom-built for perpetual swaps (futures with no expiry). Think of it as a one-trick pony that’s really, really good at that one trick — 24/7 crypto leverage trading.

How hyperliquid dethroned Solana

Solana’s earlier advantage rested on two things: blazing speed + a booming meme coin ecosystem.

But cracks began to show:

  • Firedancer, the much-hyped Solana performance upgrade, missed deadlines, lost talent, and triggered internal turmoil.

  • Institutional devs got spooked by ongoing reliability issues.

  • DEX volumes and fees slipped, down 2% last week despite a broader market uptick.

Hyperliquid, meanwhile, offered something cleaner:

A sleek, snappy interface, instant settlement, and zero gas fees all while skipping the typical MetaMask headaches.

In July, traders created more revenue on Hyperliquid than Ethereum and that includes all L2s.

And while Solana's top meme tokens — BONK and WIF — are down 22% and 53% YTD respectively, Hyperliquid’s token HYPE hit $12.5B in market cap, becoming a top-15 coin.

Why this matters

  • Hyperliquid is proving that appchains can beat general-purpose chains.

  • Ethereum is clawing back relevance via L2s, but Solana is stuck in-between — too centralized for full trust, not modular enough to scale cleanly.

  • The next wave of crypto isn’t about ecosystems. It’s about apps that deliver — now.

💡 TL;DR | Solana got sniped — By a Perps Appchain

  • Hyperliquid now leads all blockchains with 35% of July’s revenue, dethroning Solana and Ethereum.

  • Its perps-focused chain is becoming a new home for degens, built for speed and zero gas.

  • Solana’s dev drama and delays are dragging momentum.

  • HYPE outperformed SOL, BONK, WIF, and even BTC and ETH in 2025 (so far).

  • Appchains are quietly winning: not with hype, but with product.

🔜 Meanwhile…

Solana’s next billion-dollar bet?
Forget DEXs. It’s going mobile.

📱 The Solana Mobile Seeker smartphone officially begins shipping, with 150,000+ units pre-ordered.

🏢 Ethereum’s new class of believers

Ethereum isn’t just for devs and DeFi degenerates anymore.
It’s now a corporate treasury asset and the wave is only getting started.

According to new data from Strategic ETH Reserve, 64 companies now hold over 2.73M ETH, worth $10.49B, in their treasuries.

That’s just 2.27% of the total ETH supply, but the velocity and scale of recent buys paint a much bigger picture: institutions are accumulating Ethereum with purpose and size.

The top ETH whales are public companies

The surprising twist? These firms scooped up most of their ETH in less than 90 days.

Bitmine alone has spent $2B+ in ETH since June and says it wants to stake up to 5% of Ethereum’s entire supply. That’s 6 million ETH, nearly 3x what they hold today.

Meanwhile, Sharplink Gaming recently acquired 77,000 ETH in one swoop and is exploring convertible notes to finance more buys much like MicroStrategy did with Bitcoin.

Quick explainer: What is an ETH Treasury Strategy?

Treasury allocation means holding ETH on the balance sheet as a long-term asset.
Why are firms doing it now?

  • Hedge against fiat inflation

  • Earn yield via staking

  • Bet on Ethereum’s long-term dominance as infrastructure for onchain finance

Unlike BTC (often seen as “digital gold”), ETH offers a productive, programmable asset which make it increasingly attractive to corporates.

Who else is holding ETH?

  • Ethereum Foundation: 234,600 ETH

  • Mantle Network: 101,000 ETH

  • Gnosis DAO, Lido, Frax, Pulsechain Sac all treasury holders

  • Even governments:

    • US Gov: 60,000 ETH

    • Bhutan: 495 ETH

    • Michigan State: 4,000 ETH

Buy ETH. Buy shares. Repeat.

Interestingly, Bitmine isn’t just accumulating crypto.

The company just approved a $1B stock buyback, a strategy to boost share value while ETH stays volatile. Sharplink is doing something similar — but more cautious — aiming to maintain healthy leverage while still scaling ETH exposure.

TL;DR — The ETH accumulation era has begun

  • $10B+ ETH now held by public firms

  • Bitmine, Sharplink, and Ether Machine lead the pack

  • Corporates are borrowing MicroStrategy’s playbook but for Ethereum and earning yields

  • ETH price cooled off, but on-chain metrics suggest more gas in the tank

🧵 WTF happened here?

Why is MemeFi still rising even after Binance delisting?

Binance delisting usually kills a token.

But MemeFi? It mooned 312% this week. Here's how the weirdest rally of the month unfolded — and why it may not last.
👇

1/ The Setup: Binance Pulled the Plug
Binance announced MEMEFI futures would be delisted on August 11 due to low activity.
Usually, that’s game over for a token. But this time, something strange happened…

MEMEFI rallied to a 3-month high — up 312% in a week.

Was it real momentum? Not exactly.

2/ The Squeeze: Shorts got nuked
Open interest on MEMEFI surged to $36.9M, with over 54% in short positions.
As prices jumped, shorts got liquidated — fast.

Result?
💥 $1.28M in short liquidations on Binance
💥 Even more on Huobi
💥 Price ripped to $0.005 (up from near-zero levels)

Traders scrambled to exit before the August 11 cutoff. Some won. Most didn’t.

3/ The Game Plan: MemeFi Isn’t Dead (Yet)
While the trading chaos unfolds, the MemeFi team is relaunching.
Their “Mini App 2.0” drops on August 31, aiming to rebuild a user base after months of inactivity.

But…

  • DappRadar shows near-zero users

  • Past rallies crashed 90%+

  • Binance won’t stabilize prices during final trading hours

4/ The Verdict: MemeFi = Casino mode

  • Thin order books

  • Futures market cliff on August 11

  • Unproven game revival

  • Past influencer shill baggage

Sure, MemeFi went vertical. But it’s walking a tightrope over a pit of broken derivatives.

If you're chasing it now, remember:
This isn’t a comeback. It’s a cover-your-shorts rally.

TL;DR — A rally built on liquidations

  • Binance delisting triggered a short squeeze, not real demand

  • Open interest exploded to $37M

  • New app is coming… but old users haven’t

  • Delisting hits August 11 — the casino lights turn off

🔍 Behind the Headlines

While the herd chases ETH, Parataxis doubles down on Bitcoin

With ETH treasuries crossing $10B and public companies scooping up millions of ETH, it’s easy to think the institutional wave is shifting toward Ethereum.

But not everyone is switching sides.

Parataxis Holdings, a digital asset management firm, just merged with SilverBox Corp IV a SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) — to go public on the NYSE under the ticker PRTX. The goal? Build a massive Bitcoin treasury, targeting $640 million in total firepower.

🧠 Wait, what’s a SPAC again?
A SPAC is a shell company created to raise capital through an IPO and later merge with a private company. It’s a shortcut to going public without the traditional IPO process. In this case, it’s crypto meeting Wall Street on fast-forward.

💰 Where’s the money coming from?

  • $240M from SilverBox’s current capital (subject to investor redemption)

  • $400M via an equity credit line, known as an ELOC
    This war chest will be used to buy Bitcoin and build a diversified digital asset portfolio.

🌎 Target markets?
Parataxis is eyeing the U.S. and South Korea, where its local entity has already seen a 4.5x stock jump since June.

📊 Joining the Treasury club
Parataxis is the latest to follow Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) and Trump Media Group in creating public vehicles that hold BTC on their balance sheet. Bitcoin treasury holdings across all entities now total 3.64 million BTC, worth $415B.

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@Route2FI – Macro meets crypto fundamentals. Shares portfolio insights and early bets on undervalued altcoins and DeFi plays.

@ignasdefi – Underrated alpha source. Does long-form token and ecosystem breakdowns, often months before major CT rotation.

@Tindorr – Token model deconstructions, incentive leakage analysis, and valuation deep-dives. Quietly followed by giga brains.

@cryptotesters – Strong for ecosystem overviews and comparing token models across sectors (e.g., L2s, RWA, perps).

@redphonecrypto – Narrative whisperer with big-brain threads that explain why some tokens will win long-term.

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