Ecosystem Update August 2025
We are pleased to present the August 2025 Ecosystem Update, highlighting the macro environment, market performance, and key industry developments. Mid-month, crypto markets reached new records, with Bitcoin setting fresh highs and Ether showing stronger relative momentum, before cooling towards the end of the month amid profit-taking and macro uncertainty. This report summarizes how the month unfolded and what the main drivers may signal for the road ahead.
Macro Overview
Source: Coingecko
August was a two-part story. In the first half of the month, risk appetite strengthened on expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would begin easing later in the year. Bitcoin set a new all-time high in mid-August and was up roughly a third year to date at that point, according to Reuters coverage of the move.
In the second half, markets cooled as traders took profits. Bloomberg reported the combined crypto market value slipped back below about 4 trillion dollars after briefly touching record territory the week before. By late August and early September, Bitcoin was trading near the low one hundred thousand and off its mid-month peak, while majors like Ether and Solana also eased.
Market performance and flows
Price action diverged from flows in August. Prices cooled into month-end, but fund data showed a strong rotation under the surface.
U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs attracted close to 4 billion dollars of net inflows in August, while U.S. Bitcoin ETFs saw roughly 751 million dollars of net outflows. This rotation was highlighted by CoinDesk’s analysis of August flows and mirrored by other trackers following weekly prints through the final trading days of the month. The shift in flows helps explain why Ether outperformed on a relative basis even as broad market momentum faded into the final week.
Ether also cleared round-number milestones during the month. Bloomberg noted Ether moved back above 4,000 dollars in early August on accelerating ETF demand, and CoinDesk reported a new Ether price high of about 4,946 dollars later in the month, even as DeFi activity on Ethereum remains below prior cycle peaks.
On Bitcoin, mid-month strength pushed a fresh record before profit-taking set in. Reuters coverage on August 14 tied that move to expectations for easier policy and “long-sought regulatory wins.” That backdrop, plus the SEC’s end-July decision to allow in-kind creations and redemptions for crypto ETPs, has improved the operational plumbing of listed crypto funds and may reduce tracking error over time.
Policy and regulation
The regulatory picture advanced on several fronts that matter to liquidity, product design, and global market access.
In the United States, the SEC formally permitted in-kind creations and redemptions for crypto ETPs on July 29, a change that took effect in August and aligns crypto products more closely with how commodity and equity ETFs operate. That should improve primary-market efficiency for both Bitcoin and Ether products.
Congress and the White House also moved on market structure during the summer. Multiple legal and policy analyses, along with a White House fact sheet and major press reports, confirm that on July 18, the president signed the GENIUS Act into law, creating a federal framework for payment stablecoins with one-to-one reserves, disclosures, and strong redemption rights. Commentary since then has focused on implementation details and the bankruptcy “superpriority” created for stablecoin holders. These rules begin to set national guardrails for dollar-pegged tokens.
In Asia, Hong Kong’s licensing regime for fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers formally commenced on August 1, bringing a full authorization requirement under the city’s new Stablecoins Ordinance. Japan also moved forward, with Reuters reporting that JPYC received a license that will allow issuance of the first yen-pegged stablecoin later this year. These steps extend the regulated stablecoin infrastructure in two major financial centers.
In the European Union, the regulatory environment for tokenized instruments continued to take shape under MiCA and securities law. Gemini disclosed it secured a MiCA license in Malta, enabling broader product rollout in the bloc. ESMA, meanwhile, warned on potential “investor misunderstanding” risks around tokenized stocks, underlining that these instruments do not convey shareholder rights in the same way as ordinary equities.
Institutional Infrastructure & Adoption Momentum
August underscored the growing maturity of crypto market infrastructure:
- Standard Chartered launched deliverable spot trading in BTC and ETH for institutional clients via its UK-based crypto services arm. This followed announcements of upcoming non-deliverable forward offerings, signaling fully integrated access for asset managers and corporate treasuries.
- On the public markets front, crypto-native firms advanced toward listing. BitGo confidentially filed for a U.S. IPO, while Bullish, a crypto exchange operator, filed and priced its offering in August, signaling renewed confidence in public crypto infrastructure names.
- Solana staking ETFs continued to attract attention following debut institutional demand, building on the growing trend of yield-optimized crypto products that appeal to conservative digital asset allocators.
On-Chain Data & DeFi Ecosystem Dynamics
Decentralized finance maintained upward momentum. Total Value Locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols recovered to approximately $150–153 billion by late August, a multi-year performance high. Ethereum accounted for the lion’s share of $92–97 billion of TVL, underscoring its continued dominance in the smart-contract ecosystem. Meanwhile, Solana saw TVL rise to $11.7–11.8 billion, buoyed by high throughput and growing user activity in decentralized exchanges.
On-chain metrics also showed that exchange outflow activity, primarily accumulation, continued to outperform inflows. Long-term holders remained net accumulators throughout August, further reinforcing the thesis of supply shrinkage.
Market Sentiment & Volatility Patterns
Sentiment in August swung from greed to caution. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index oscillated between 50 and 70, reflecting evolving confidence through the highs and into the correction. During downturns, particularly around the August 24 Fed announcement, there were an estimated $490 million in crypto long liquidations across Bitcoin and Ethereum derivatives markets, fueled by algorithmic and margin-based strategies.
Outlook
August set the tone for a maturing crypto ecosystem: structural adoption trends and supportive policies underpinned new highs, while volatility and uncertainty served as reminders of inherent market risk. The divergence in ETF flows favoring ETH reflects evolving investor preference for yield and utility. At the same time, tighter supply, improving regulatory infrastructure, and increasing institutional access create a durable foundation.
As we turn the page into September, the key signals to monitor include:
- Bitcoin holding $110K+ on weekly closes to maintain momentum
- Continued inflows into ETH and staking-based instruments
- Implementation of stablecoin licensing and operational enhancements across North America, Europe, and Asia
- Liquidity behavior in DeFi and issuance trends in tokenized assets
- The upcoming Federal Reserve meeting on 16–17 September 2025 and growing expectations of potential interest rate cuts, which could serve as a positive macro catalyst for markets, including crypto
Group Update
August has been quite a demanding month for the entire team. We have been working hard to finalize, together with the new independent auditor in Cyprus, the audit reports for the years 2023 and 2024. This has been significantly time-consuming, but both reports were published on our website on the 27th August, and some of the key findings were explained in the investor update call, which took place on the 28th August. The corresponding presentation is available on the investor relations page of our website.
Within the audit reports for both years, it is important to note that the new auditor issued a disclaimer of opinion, citing several factors. These include, among other things, the unauthorized control of company-owned crypto wallets by former executives and/or external consultants, the improper transfer of assets, and the withholding or non-existence of transaction documentation. Based on the assessment of the independent auditor, Incredulous Labs Ltd., Cyprus, appears to have been a victim of at least misappropriation of assets in recent years.
The new management team has already introduced a comprehensive internal control system since September 2024 to prevent such incidents in the future.
Furthermore, we worked intensively on preparing documentation, including numerous resolutions, test transactions, and notes for the Financial Statements, particularly regarding sensitive disclosures and ongoing legal cases. These materials, prepared in coordination with legal advisers, were requested by the auditor and deemed mandatory for completing the audit. This requirement and the associated extensive clarification process have consumed significant internal resources and time, but were deemed necessary to ensure that the audit could be finalized in compliance with applicable regulatory standards and to provide transparency on past transactions. In parallel, our team has successfully concluded the financial statements and respective corrections of the UAE-based entities with the local auditor.
Based on the audited annual financial statements of the subsidiary, the annual financial statements of Advanced Blockchain AG are now being finalized, with publication scheduled for early September. Once completed, Advanced Blockchain AG intends to convene the Annual General Meeting, planned for the second half of October 2025.
This event, which will be held in a physical format at the Blockchain Center of the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, will provide investors to address all their questions and concerns surrounding the company, but it will also give the Company’s management to further outline the company’s future strategy, based on the results achieved so far.
During the investor update call on the 28th of August, the management also presented the current status of its monetization efforts, which exceeded USD 1 million as of the end of August. These efforts include selective token sales, staking rewards, farming activities, and some preliminary algorithmic trading results. We intend to grow these activities further into the year, and also into 2026, as the workload related to the historical cleanup has eased relatively following the conclusion of the Incredulous Labs audit report. In addition, the first covered call option in collaboration with Keyrock was established in August after extensive discussions in previous months.
On the 25th of November, Advanced Blockchain will also conduct a group presentation at the annual Equity Forum in Frankfurt, and the management team will be available for one-on-one meetings.
Portfolio Update
peaq: August marked a strong acceleration for peaq, the machine-economy network. The project surpassed 5 million on-chain humans and machines, rolled out a Python SDK to simplify app development, and welcomed six new DePIN projects into its UAE-based machine economy free zone.
Exposure grew as peaq was listed on Kraken, Binance Alpha, and four other exchanges. A Binance Alpha airdrop and trading competition (July 12–26) sparked a 138% jump in trading volume, but prices cooled afterward, sliding 58% over the next 60 days. At the time of writing, peaq trades at $0.0633, around 25% lower since the campaign ended.
On the partnerships front, peaq teamed up with IoTeX and U↗Power to tokenize EV battery swap stations across China and Southeast Asia. It also now hosts DePIN projects like charge.xyz (peer-to-peer EV charging) and Hivemapper (crowdsourced charger mapping).
Takeaway: August showed peaq can drive adoption, expand real-world use cases, and secure listings on top exchanges. Price action was mixed, but the fundamentals – growing ecosystem, developer tools, and key partnerships – point to steady progress in the machine-economy space.
Panoptic: Blockscholes has published a comprehensive research report on Panoptic covering crucial aspects of the protocol and its key competitive advantage. The full report can be accessed here.
Towards the end of August, Panoptic’s team disclosed a vulnerability in its smart contracts and, as a precaution, about 90% of the protocol’s funds were withdrawn with no indication of any active exploit. With support from security partners Cantina and Seal911, a coordinated rescue operation secured most of the remaining assets, and the team has promised to share a detailed post-mortem over the next few days to describe this vulnerability in detail and how it has been fully addressed.
Our team is in an ongoing conversation with the Panoptic team to understand the overall situation and how Panoptic’s team is planning to mitigate such future risks.
Contango: Contango’s fees have continued to grow steadily, surpassing the USD 1 million benchmark since the end of 2024.
Not only does Contango as a protocol profit, but also its users via the lucrative yields offered. Contango showcased one whale user who generated more than USD 1 million in profits. Read the full thread on how this user was able to achieve it here.
XMAQUINA: This month was a busy and defining month for XMAQUINA. The team wrapped up Wave 2 of the DEUS community auction (Aug 12–15) on Impossible Finance, bringing in over $1 million from more than 1,450 participants at $0.045 per token. Tokens will unlock gradually, with 33% available at the planned Token Generation Event in Q4 2025.
On the governance side, the DAO is proving it can walk the talk. The newly launched DAO Portal gives token holders the tools to stake, vote, and track treasury activity, while capital deployment is already underway, Apptronik has been funded, 1X Technologies got the green light, and a proposal for Figure AI is in the works.
As a fun aside, August also saw the first-ever Humanoid Robot Olympics in Beijing, where robots competed in everything from soccer to dance, an anecdote that highlights just how fast the robotics field is evolving, and why XMAQUINA’s focus on Physical AI is so timely.
All in all, August showed XMAQUINA turning plans into action. The DAO is funding real robotics projects, its governance processes are live, and momentum is building toward big milestones later this year.
AO Ecosystem: August was all about steady progress for Arweave. The month saw the $PI token become transferable (Aug 11), giving users a simple way to gain exposure across AR, AO, and ecosystem projects. Around the same time, the Agents of the Permaweb hackathon kicked off, offering a $39,000 prize pool to developers building AI-driven agents on Arweave.
On August 25, VentoSwap launched an AO Bridge, making it easier to move assets across chains and strengthening Arweave’s DeFi connections. Meanwhile, the ArweaveEco team noted the network is on pace to surpass 20 billion transactions, a milestone that underlines just how much activity is happening on-chain.
Neon Labs: The month kicked off with the wrap-up of Neon’s first Developer Bootcamp. Over ten weeks, more than 170 developers learned the ins and outs of deploying on Neon EVM, shipping close to 100 contracts and creating standout graduation projects like TipCard, which enables Solana payments by link, and Streamline, a cross-chain tip jar.
On August 12, $NEON was listed on Revolut, putting the token in front of over 60 million users. With fewer than 300 assets available on the platform, this listing is a major step in making Neon more accessible to everyday investors.
To close the month, Neon unveiled a proof-of-concept for stable AMMs on Solana via Neon. The demo showed a Curve-style StableSwap running natively without extra code rewrites or RPC juggling, clear proof of how Neon can bring mature Ethereum DeFi primitives onto Solana with minimal friction.
Silencio: August was about steady progress for Silencio. The team pushed out two Android app updates (on August 6 and 25), keeping things smooth and reliable for their fast-growing community. On social, while many tokens talk about future utility, $SLC is already powering real-world use cases, from global noise monitoring to smarter city planning and environmental data. With over 1 million users in 180+ countries and a solid foundation on peaq, Silencio is quietly proving that sometimes consistency speaks louder than hype.
In September, the Silencio team will host an exclusive event in Munich showcasing some of the most exciting startups in AI, Robotics, and Web3. Our team is planning to attend the event to reconnect with the Silencio team and to network with other projects and partners.
—------------------------
August showed both the challenges and opportunities that come with a maturing Web3 landscape. While markets reminded us of crypto’s inherent volatility, our portfolio companies kept delivering, expanding ecosystems, shipping new tools, and securing real-world partnerships. At the group level, finalizing the 2023 and 2024 audits was a key milestone, and during our Investor Call on August 28, we had the chance to walk shareholders through some of the key findings and our next steps. With the audits finalized and a stronger control framework in place, Advanced Blockchain AG is entering the autumn on a clearer, more confident footing. We look forward to deepening our dialogue with investors at the upcoming AGM and to building on the solid groundwork laid over the next phase of the company’s growth.
We thank our shareholders and partners for their continued support and look forward to sharing further progress in the coming months.
Best regards,
Your Advanced Blockchain Team
.svg)
.svg)
