RaaS #479: VanEck Files JitoSOL ETF!

SharpLink Approves $1.5B Buyback, VADER Surprise Unlocks Staked Tokens, and Moar!

Plasma’s Binance Earn campaign now caps at $1B after overwhelming demand. A fresh $250M USDT quota opens in an hour. Users can lock USDT for daily yield + XPL (post-TGE). The scale signals rising appetite for onchain yield, even before the token goes live.

Given the same prompt, Kaito’s yapybara in a space-station greenhouse, Everlyn nailed it: 9/10 accuracy, sub-20s speed, and $0.004 per clip. Google veo2, Holoworld, and Grok followed, but with slower renders, looser prompts, or higher costs.

On Aug 19, a victim lost 783 BTC ($91M) in a social engineering attack impersonating exchange and hardware wallet support. Funds were later funneled through Wasabi. The incident occurred exactly one year after the $243M Genesis Creditor theft, same day, same playbook.

Preconfirmation brings credit-card speed to crypto, but centralizing it risks trust. Taiko launched with a whitelist for safety, but plans to decentralize via slashing. It’s a blueprint for fast UX without compromising Ethereum’s values.

USDe supply doubled to $11.4B in a month. Yield chasers are rotating into sUSDe for 7–12% APR or looping on Pendle, Silo, and Euler for 60%+ net returns. But it’s musical chairs; if yield drops or depegs, you’re the exit liquidity.

Web2 company CXOs have been dumping their stocks quite consistently.

Jackson Hole? Not about interest rates. It’s a coded Ethereum signal. From bison shirts to leap year math to gas multipliers, every clue leads to ETH. It’s not macro, it’s metaphysics. Wake up. All roads lead to Ethereum.

Vitalik calls it the finish line: Ethereum rebuilt on ZK. From EVM to zkVM, from heavy nodes to ultra-light clients, the chain becomes verifiable, scalable, and private by default. ZK isn’t just a feature; it’s Ethereum’s final form.

SharpLink, one of the largest corporate holders of ETH, approved a $1.5B stock buyback plan. If shares trade below ETH NAV, buybacks could be more accretive than equity issuance. This marks another step in aligning treasury strategy with Ethereum’s long-term upside.

Mid-range deals ($3–10M) make up a third of 2025 crypto raises, but nearly 1 in 5 rounds exceed $20M, signaling a bifurcated market where early-stage bets coexist with rising institutional-sized allocations.

VADER surprise-unlocked all staked tokens, triggering a 50% price drop. No prior notice. Team says it’s part of a project pivot, but most holders dumped amid uncertainty. Also means no more $VADER rewards for Virtuals, killing future utility.

My quant tells me about it after it happens (looking at you, Rango)

On The Radar Vol. 2. Kanye’s token chaos, Heaven vs Pump, and is Hyperliquid inevitable? Join Blingoh, Luki, and Yugi as they break down the biggest stories in crypto this week, live.

Sentient’s GRID now spans 100+ partners, powering open-source intelligence at scale. From real-time social data to decentralized storage, partners like CrunchDAO, Vana, and 0G enable high-fidelity, vertical-specific insights across industries.

Ethena adds BNB as the first new asset backing USDe under its new Eligible Asset Framework, signaling XRP and HYPE could be next. This diversifies perp-hedge collateral while maintaining risk controls. USDe supply stands at $11.75B, making it crypto’s third-largest stablecoin.

$200M in shorts were liquidated within an hour, $112M from $ETH alone, as Jerome Powell hinted at potential rate cuts. Markets are pricing in relief fast, and crypto is leading the charge.

Top Gainers: HT, BIO, SN62, TOKABU, TROLL.

Sonic Labs plans to issue $200M in new S tokens, a 20% dilution to fund an ETF, treasury company, and new U.S. entity aimed at boosting institutional demand. Amid a 64% drop in DeFi deposits, the move faces strong community backlash over rushed execution and lack of safeguards.

The last objector to BlockFi’s $13.2M settlement has withdrawn, clearing the way for 89K interest account holders to be compensated for losses from its 2022 collapse. Triggered by a $680M FTX exposure, the case now nears closure as BlockFi preps for crypto repayments.

VanEck just filed an S-1 for the JitoSOL ETF, marking a major first: a 100% LST-backed ETF. This puts Solana and Jito at the forefront of regulated DeFi products in the US. If approved, it sets a precedent for staked asset ETFs and validates LSTs as institutional-grade collateral.

That’s all for today, see ya next week!