Corporate cryptocurrency treasuries continued to expand this week, as publicly traded US firms announced plans to raise hundreds of millions for altcoin treasury reserves.
On Monday, Nasdaq-listed Helius Medical Technologies unveiled a $500 million corporate treasury initiative centered around the Solana token (SOL), highlighting further corporate adoption of cryptocurrency.
The following day, Standard Chartered’s venture arm, SC Ventures, disclosed intentions to raise $250 million for a digital asset investment fund, set to launch in 2026, backed by Middle Eastern investors with a focus on global investment opportunities.
On the regulatory side, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) introduced new generic listing standards designed to expedite reviews for spot crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on exchanges such as Nasdaq, NYSE Arca, and Cboe BZX.
The SEC approved these new standards alongside Grayscale’s Digital Large Cap Fund (GLDC), marking the approval of the first multi-asset crypto exchange-traded product (ETP) in the US.
Nasdaq-listed Helius announces $500 million funding for Solana treasury
Nasdaq-listed Helius Medical Technologies is initiating a $500 million corporate treasury reserve focused on Solana, positioning it as one of the largest Solana-centric treasury initiatives to date.
The company announced Monday that it priced an oversubscribed private investment in public equity (PIPE) offering of common stock at $6.88 per share, alongside stapled warrants exercisable at $10.12 for three years. The arrangement comprises $500 million in equity and up to $750 million in warrants, contingent on full exercise.
Helius stated it will utilize the net proceeds from the offering to implement a crypto treasury strategy with the Solana (SOL) token as its principal reserve asset. The company plans to “substantially increase holdings over the next 12-24 months through a top-tier capital markets program incorporating ATM sales and other proven methods.”
Additionally, Helius will investigate staking and lending opportunities within the Solana ecosystem to generate extra revenue from the SOL treasury while maintaining a “conservative” risk stance, it added.
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Standard Chartered venture arm to raise $250 million for digital asset fund: Report
Standard Chartered’s venture division is gearing up to launch a $250 million digital asset investment fund in 2026, signaling a growing institutional interest in digital assets.
Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures intends to amass the capital for an investment fund focused on digital assets within the financial services sector, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing operating partner Gautam Jain.
Set to debut in 2026, this fund will have backing from investors in the Middle East, aiming at global investment prospects, according to Jain’s remarks to Bloomberg.
SC Ventures’ strategy follows a surge of corporate treasury firms devising long-term accumulation plans, raising expectations for increased institutional inflows into the crypto market over the next several years.
“Digital assets remain a high conviction theme for SC Ventures, as demonstrated through our digital asset-native ventures: Libeara, Zodia Markets, Zodia Custody, and our existing digital asset investments,” a representative from SC Ventures informed Cointelegraph, adding:
“We are consistently assessing opportunities in the digital asset domain, be it through direct investments or joint ventures.”
Beyond digital asset opportunities, the firm is also “exploring prospects in dynamic regions, such as the Middle East and Africa,” the representative further elaborated.
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Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade moves to December, blobs to double after
Ethereum’s core developers have tentatively set early December for the upcoming major hard fork of the network, known as Fusaka, which aims to enhance scalability and efficiency.
The Fusaka upgrade is slated to go live on Dec. 3, with the increase in blob capacity occurring two weeks later, around Dec. 17, followed by another blob capacity hard fork on Jan. 7, 2026.
Both blob capacity hard forks will more than double the existing blob capacity, according to Ethereum researcher Christine D. Kim.
Prior to the upgrade’s initiation on the Ethereum mainnet, three public testnets will be conducted between early October and mid-November.
“The preliminary conclusion is that we can proceed with a Max blob count of 15 for BPO1 [Blob Parameter Only] and Max blob count of 21 for BPO2. A total of 5 BPOs are planned for Fusaka, ensuring substantial scaling for the mainnet – safely,” Ethereum developer community ethPandaOps stated in a post on X this Thursday.
BPO (Blob-Parameter only) forks exclusively modify parameters concerning blob targets and limits, without needing any updates from the client side.
Blobs facilitate the storage of large datasets offchain, enhancing the efficiency of layer-2 networks while reducing transaction costs.
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Curve Finance community to vote on $60 million proposal to make CRV a yield-bearing asset
The Curve Finance decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) is conducting a vote on a proposal that could introduce new revenue streams for the protocol and its ecosystem.
The proposal, put forth in August by founder Michael Egorov, aims to establish a $60 million credit line of crvUSD for Yield Basis. Voting commenced on Wednesday, with 97% of votes registered in favor of the proposal at the time of writing.
Under the Yield Basis framework, CRV holders who stake their tokens would receive veCRV (vote-escrowed CRV) in exchange, effectively generating income for stakers. Yield Basis will return between 35% and 65% of its value to veCRV holders, while an additional 25% is reserved for the ecosystem.
Egorov noted that the credit line would suffice to establish pools for three assets: WBTC (WBTC), cbBTC (cbBTC), and tBTC (tBTC).
“To create additional incentives for the Curve ecosystem, as well as to compensate for the fees incurred from utilizing Curve technology (cryptopools) for its core, Yield Basis allocates 25% of YB obtained by Yield Basis liquidity providers to Curve,” Egorov outlined in the proposal.
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40% of Americans would use DeFi with laws in place: Crypto lobby poll
Over 40% of Americans are inclined to utilize decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols if proposed legislation is enacted, according to a recent survey.
The DeFi Education Fund (DEF) discovered in a survey released on Thursday that many Americans “are curious about DeFi,” as respondents expressed low trust in the traditional financial system.
The survey, conducted by Ipsos between Aug. 18 and 21, involved 1,321 US adults. Ipsos Public Affairs vice president Alec Tyson mentioned that the study indicated “emerging awareness of cryptocurrency and decentralized finance,” as many Americans voiced frustrations with the current financial institutions’ ability to provide security, personalized control, and flexibility.
40% of Americans open to DeFi
The poll revealed that 42% would likely explore DeFi if the legislation was approved, divided between 9% who identified as “extremely or very likely” and 33% who responded they were “somewhat likely” to try.
Congress is presently reviewing bills that would define the legal status of various cryptocurrencies and outline how the country’s financial regulators will distribute oversight over the sector.
Four in ten, or 40%, of respondents indicated they’d “likely try out DeFi,” with 84% of these respondents expressing intent to use it for online purchases.
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DeFi market overview
According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization concluded the week positively.
The Aster (ASTER) token surged over 600% as the week’s top gainer in the top 100, followed by the Immutable (IMX) token, which increased over 50% during the past week.
Thank you for reading our overview of this week’s most significant DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights, and education regarding this rapidly evolving space.
