Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt.

Crypto majors were mostly flat despite weaker equities and rising oil prices, with BTC at $65,500. Senate Republicans published a new draft of the CLARITY Act, a market structure bill that would determine which digital assets fall under SEC versus CFTC oversight, while Democratic leaders continued to oppose it. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce warned that some DeFi vaults and onchain lending products may fall under securities law. Bitcoin ETFs recorded seven straight days of inflows, Ethereum’s validator exit queue fell to 0, and Rhynotic’s new FWA protocol token rose to $11 million while lifting multiple NFT collections.

Bitwise CIO outlines two lanes for the next crypto cycle

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan argued in a new memo that the next crypto bull market will not resemble previous cycles. According to Hougan, the next phase would be driven by the convergence of traditional finance and onchain finance, including stablecoins, tokenization, 24/7 trading, instant settlement, and institutional DeFi, rather than the speculative demand that powered earlier rallies.

Hougan’s central claim is that a cycle built on real financial activity and revenue could be larger than previous ones, even if it develops more slowly and with less volatility.

He described the opportunity in two “lanes.” The first is the “Hyperliquid Lane,” referring to crypto-native protocols that generate meaningful revenue and direct that revenue back to their tokens. Hyperliquid crossed $1 billion in cumulative revenue in June, is on pace for roughly $800 million this year, and directs 99% of that revenue toward buying HYPE on the open market.

The second is the “Robinhood Lane,” which Hougan used to describe established companies building real financial services on blockchain rails rather than running pilots. Robinhood Chain went live on July 1 and has already surpassed $3 billion in volume.

Hougan said the Hyperliquid Lane addresses a long-running issue in crypto, where applications can generate fees and volume without creating demand for their own tokens. He cited Uniswap, Aave, and Morpho as protocols moving in a similar direction, along with onchain projects such as Pump.fun.

His Robinhood Lane includes traditional finance firms and infrastructure moving toward crypto rails, including Citadel into Crypto.com, Morgan Stanley onto E*TRADE, and the DTCC going live on tokenization.

The memo represents a formal argument from a major institutional crypto investment executive that revenue-generating protocols and blockchain-based financial rails, rather than speculation alone, could drive the next market cycle. The view is not entirely new, as many on Crypto Twitter have highlighted Hyperliquid for months, and institutional adoption has long been a recurring crypto theme. However, Hougan’s framing puts both factors into a more formal thesis from the CIO of Bitwise, which manages over $4 billion in crypto-focused fund assets.

As Warner wrote, the framing shifts the institutional narrative from “the institutions are coming” to “the institutions are here—and they’re going to drive the next bull cycle.”

Macro crypto and markets

Major crypto assets were mostly flat despite weaker stock markets and rising oil prices. BTC was down 0.3% at $65,500, ETH was even at $1,925, SOL was even at $78, and HYPE was even at $59.30.

Stable rose 16%, WLFI gained 13%, and ENA climbed 4%, leading top movers.

Oil rose 4.5% to $90, while gold fell 1.5% to $4,090.

Stock futures were lower after difficult earnings calls from TSLA and Google. Dow futures were down 0.4%, and Nasdaq futures were down 0.5%.

Senate Republicans published a new CLARITY draft that would impose limits on Trump’s crypto empire, along with other updates.

Seven key Senate Democrats said the draft “falls short” on ethics, consumer protection, illicit finance, and market integrity.

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce warned that some DeFi vaults and onchain lending products may fall under securities laws, a notable caution from the agency’s most crypto-friendly commissioner.

Franklin Templeton’s Sandy Kaul called blockchain the next AI trade, arguing that as autonomous agents transact in fractions of a cent, card networks become uneconomical and blockchains win the machine-to-machine payment layer.

BitMEX, co-founded by Arthur Hayes and once the dominant venue for crypto perpetual futures, announced that it will permanently close on Sept. 23, 2026, and has stopped accepting new users.

Ethereum’s validator exit queue has fallen from a peak of 2.6 million ETH to 0, indicating validators are no longer waiting in line to leave the network, while its staking queue now contains 2.48 million ETH and has a 43-day waiting period.

Corporate treasuries and ETFs

Bitcoin ETFs saw $69 million in net inflows on Wednesday, marking seven consecutive green sessions. ETH ETFs recorded $73 million in inflows.

Japan, which was among the first major economies to establish a comprehensive crypto regulatory framework, may launch its first Bitcoin ETF as soon as 2028 as the country revises its crypto investment rules.

Meme coin tracker

Leading meme coins were mostly flat. DOGE fell 1%, SHIB fell 1%, PEPE was even, PENGU fell 1%, TRUMP rose 3%, and BONK fell 3%.

On Robinhood Chain, GME rose 425x, AI gained 80%, and SWOGE rose 190%. Cashcat fell 25% to $48 million, and PONS dropped 18% to $26 million as earlier winners sold off sharply.

Solana leaders included Jimothy, up 5%; KET, up 110%; and BOP, up 170%. ANSEM fell 10% to $175 million.

Token, airdrop and protocol tracker

Kalshi launched a U.S. Midterms Hub featuring live odds on Senate and House races alongside polling and FEC data.

An Arbitrum USDC bridge lost about $24.15 million after attackers compromised its hot-validator signing path, clearing quorum to authorize a withdrawal that the contract treated as legitimate.

The Verus-Ethereum bridge was exploited for the second time in two months, with $7.54 million drained after attackers abused the bridge’s import path. Cross-chain bridges remain among the most frequently exploited categories in crypto, with billions lost to such attacks in recent years.

NFTs

NFT leaders were flat while several other collections climbed. Punks were even at 32 ETH, BAYC was even at 8.65 ETH, Pudgy was even at 4.18 ETH, and Hypurr’s was even at 185 HYPE.

Cyberkongz rose 53%, Memeland MVPs gained 29%, TTT climbed 38%, Creepz rose 77%, mfers gained 16%, and CrypToadz rose 16%, leading top movers.

Robinhood NFTs were led by Hood Mundo, up 39%, and Pepe Hood Town, up 9%.

Rhynotic’s new Fake World Assets, or FWA, NFT gacha platform saw its token soar to $11 million overnight before retracing.

An FWA user won a CryptoPunk from a 0.06 ETH gacha spin, a 550x return, before selling it back for FWA tokens.