Crypto Market Update: Stablecoin Funding Hits Record, Ethereum Sets Next Hard Fork Date
September 19, 2025 — The cryptocurrency market experienced notable developments on Friday, including record-breaking stablecoin funding, Ethereum’s announcement of its upcoming hard fork, and significant trends in Bitcoin and altcoin trading. Here’s a detailed update on the key movements and news shaping the crypto landscape.
Bitcoin and Ethereum Price Movements
As of 9:00 p.m. UTC on September 19, Bitcoin (BTC) was trading at approximately US$115,191, reflecting a 1.9 percent decline within the past 24 hours. The digital asset had peaked earlier in the day at around US$116,450 before sliding to its daily low. This dip came amid a week of market resilience, buoyed by positive investor sentiment in the wake of the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut on September 17 and NVIDIA’s substantial US$5 billion investment in Intel.
Ethereum (ETH), meanwhile, traded lower at US$4,445.54, down 3.2 percent for the day and hitting its lowest valuation for the session. Its highest price reached US$4,541.88 earlier on Friday. Other major altcoins also experienced declines: Solana (SOL) dropped 4.8% to US$236.73, XRP decreased by 3.8% to US$2.99, SUI was down 7.6% at US$3.65, and Cardano (ADA) traded around US$0.8959, down 3.6%.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs and Market Flows
Spot Bitcoin ETFs drew a record influx this week, adding roughly 20,685 BTC to holdings and pushing total US Bitcoin ETF assets to about 1.32 million BTC, equivalent to US$150 billion. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF led with US$1 billion in net purchases, followed by Fidelity’s Advantage Bitcoin ETF with US$843 million, and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF contributing US$182 million.
In contrast, US Ethereum ETFs faced outflows totaling US$62 million over the same period. The recent approval and launch of the first US ETFs for XRP and Dogecoin have reshaped altcoin flows, with Dogecoin jumping 20% upon debut. Backed by prominent investment firms like Grayscale and Franklin Templeton, these altcoin ETFs are gaining traction and lending greater legitimacy to more speculative digital assets.
Derivatives markets exhibit near-record leverage levels, with Bitcoin futures open interest surpassing US$220 billion in September. CryptoQuant cautions about clusters of orders near spot prices that could lead to significant liquidations if sudden price swings occur. Indeed, roughly US$13.71 million in Bitcoin and US$10.85 million in Ethereum have been liquidated in the past four hours, mostly from long positions, signaling continued bearish pressure.
Stablecoin Market Hits New Heights
Funding for stablecoin-focused companies has surged dramatically in 2025. According to DefiLlama data, 14 firms raised a combined US$537 million this year, compared to US$84 million raised through all of 2024. July’s largest deal saw Hong Kong-based OSL Group secure US$300 million.
This surge in investment is attributed partly to regulatory clarity provided by the GENIUS Act signed into law by former US President Donald Trump in July. This legislation granted legal frameworks supporting stablecoin issuers, fueling investor confidence in fiat-backed digital assets. Secondary market activity underscores stablecoin momentum; for example, Circle (NYSE:CRCL) has seen its share price quadruple since its June IPO.
Ethereum’s Fusaka Hard Fork Scheduled for December
The Ethereum Foundation has announced that the next major network upgrade, the Fusaka hard fork, is slated for mainnet deployment on December 3, 2025. The update will incorporate 11 to 12 Ethereum Improvement Proposals focused on enhancing scalability and efficiency, including a notable doubling of blob capacity to improve layer-2 transaction throughput.
Public testing is scheduled for October and November, supported by a US$2 million audit competition to ensure the security and robustness of the upgrade. The Fusaka hard fork follows the May 2025 Pectra update and is a significant step towards broader improvements planned throughout 2026. Other Crypto News Highlights
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PayPal’s US dollar stablecoin, PYUSD, is expanding to nine additional blockchains in partnership with interoperability protocol LayerZero, aiming to boost reach and adoption. The expansion broadens PYUSD’s accessibility beyond Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, and Stellar to networks like Avalanche, Aptos, and Tron.
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Kraken and Trust Wallet have teamed up to bring tokenized US equities via the xStocks product to over 200 million Trust Wallet users globally. The collaboration enables trading of 60 tokenized stocks across multiple blockchains with various fiat currencies.
Regulatory Watch: Token Sales to Sanctioned Actors
In regulatory developments, watchdog group Accountable.us has accused World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture linked to Donald Trump, of permitting token sales that reached wallets associated with sanctioned actors in North Korea, Iran, and Russia. Notably, on January 20, 2025, 600,000 WLFI tokens were sold to a wallet later tied to North Korea’s Lazarus Group, despite US sanctions.
The investigation suggests lapses in compliance and could lead to intensified scrutiny of WLFI. The company and Trump’s team have not issued any public response to these allegations.
Looking Ahead
Market participants are watching Bitcoin’s formation of a rising wedge pattern as potential bearish divergence signals caution in the near term. Upcoming catalysts include Korea’s Blockchain Week (September 22–28) and significant token unlocks such as LayerZero’s release of 25.7 million ZRO tokens on September 20 and Optimism’s 116 million OP tokens on September 21, events likely to influence market dynamics next week.
Stay connected for ongoing updates and analysis of the fast-evolving cryptocurrency ecosystem.
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