Corporate cryptocurrency treasuries have continued to grow this week, with publicly traded US companies announcing initiatives to raise substantial funds for altcoin treasury reserves.
On Monday, Nasdaq-listed Helius Medical Technologies unveiled a $500 million corporate treasury initiative centered on the Solana token (SOL), marking a significant step toward corporate crypto adoption.
The following day, Standard Chartered’s venture arm, SC Ventures, disclosed plans to raise $250 million for a digital asset investment fund set to launch in 2026, backed by investors from the Middle East and focusing on global opportunities.
On the regulatory side, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) introduced new generic listing standards aimed at accelerating reviews for spot crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on platforms 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 United States.
Nasdaq-listed Helius announces $500 million funding for Solana treasury
Helius Medical Technologies, listed on Nasdaq, is initiating a $500 million corporate treasury reserve focused on Solana, making it a significant Solana-centered treasury effort thus far.
The company announced Monday that it has 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 deal comprises $500 million in equity and potentially up to $750 million in warrants if fully exercised.
Helius stated it will utilize the net proceeds from the offering to create a crypto treasury strategy with Solana (SOL) as the primary reserve asset. The company aims to “significantly scale holdings over the next 12-24 months through a best-in-class capital markets program incorporating ATM sales and other established strategies.”
Helius also intends to explore staking and lending opportunities within the Solana ecosystem to enhance revenue from the SOL treasury while maintaining a “conservative” risk profile.
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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 investment fund focused on digital assets in 2026, reflecting a growing institutional interest in this sector.
SC Ventures, the venture arm of Standard Chartered, plans to secure funding to establish the investment fund targeting digital assets within the financial services industry, as reported by Bloomberg on Monday, citing operating partner Gautam Jain.
Set to commence in 2026, the fund will be supported by investors from the Middle East, with a priority on global investment prospects, according to Jain.
SC Ventures’ initiative follows a trend of corporate treasury firms implementing long-term accumulation strategies, boosting expectations for more institutional inflows into the crypto market over the coming years.
“Digital assets remain a high conviction theme for SC Ventures, evidenced by our digital asset-native ventures: Libeara, Zodia Markets, Zodia Custody, and our current digital asset investments,” a SC Ventures representative told Cointelegraph, adding:
“We are continually assessing opportunities in the digital asset space, whether through direct investments or JVs.”
Besides digital assets, the firm is also “looking into opportunities in dynamic regions, such as the Middle East and Africa,” the representative further stated.
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Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade moves to December, blobs to double after
Ethereum’s core developers have slated early December for the tentative launch of the network’s next significant hard fork, named Fusaka, designed to enhance scalability and efficiency.
The Fusaka upgrade is expected to go live on Dec. 3, with an increase in blob capacity scheduled for 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.
Before the upgrade is deployed on the Ethereum mainnet, three public testnets will occur between early October and mid-November.
“The initial assessment indicates we can proceed with a maximum blob count of 15 for BPO1 [Blob Parameter Only] and a maximum blob count of 21 for BPO2. Five BPOs are planned for Fusaka, ensuring substantial, safe scaling on the mainnet,” an Ethereum developer community member, ethPandaOps, noted in an X post on Thursday.
BPO (Blob-Parameter only) forks only adjust parameters relevant to blob targets and limits and do not require updates from the client side.
Blobs store large datasets off-chain, enhancing the efficiency of layer-2 networks while lowering 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 currently voting on a proposal that could create new income sources for the protocol and its ecosystem.
The proposal, put forward in August by founder Michael Egorov, seeks to establish a $60 million credit line of crvUSD for Yield Basis. Voting commenced on Wednesday, with 97% of votes cast in support 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 return, effectively generating income for stakers. Yield Basis plans to return between 35% and 65% of its value to veCRV holders, while an additional 25% will be allocated for the ecosystem.
Egorov mentioned that the credit line would be sufficient to establish pools for three assets: WBTC (WBTC), cbBTC (cbBTC), and tBTC (tBTC).
“To enhance incentives for the Curve ecosystem and to instruct a fee for integrating Curve technology (cryptopools) in its core, Yield Basis allocates 25% of YB, which Yield Basis liquidity providers receive, to Curve,” Egorov detailed in the proposal.
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40% of Americans would use DeFi with laws in place: Crypto lobby poll
Over 40% of Americans express willingness to utilize decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols should proposed regulations come into effect, based on a recent survey.
The DeFi Education Fund (DEF) carried out a survey released on Thursday, revealing that many Americans are “curious about DeFi” amid a general distrust of traditional financial systems.
Conducted by Ipsos between Aug. 18 and 21, the survey included 1,321 US adults. Ipsos Public Affairs vice president Alec Tyson noted that the study highlighted “an emerging awareness of cryptocurrency and decentralized finance as many Americans express frustrations with existing financial institutions’ capacity to provide security, personalized control, and flexibility.”
40% of Americans open to DeFi
The poll indicated that 42% of respondents would likely explore DeFi if proposed laws were enacted, divided between 9% identifying as “extremely or very likely” and 33% as “somewhat likely” to try.
Congress is reviewing legislation aimed at defining the legal status of several cryptocurrencies and determining how financial regulators will oversee the sector.
Two in five respondents, or 40%, stated they would “likely try out DeFi,” with 84% of these respondents indicating they would use it for online purchases.
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DeFi market overview
As per data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization concluded the week positively.
The Aster (ASTER) token surged over 600%, emerging as the week’s leading gainer in the top 100, followed by the Immutable (IMX) token, which rose over 50% during the past week.
Thank you for reading our summary of this week’s most significant DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more insights, stories, and education regarding this rapidly evolving space.
