Corporate cryptocurrency treasuries continued to expand this week, with publicly listed US companies revealing plans to amass hundreds of millions for altcoin treasury reserves.
On Monday, Nasdaq-listed Helius Medical Technologies announced a $500 million corporate treasury initiative centered on the Solana token (SOL), indicating further corporate crypto adoption.
The following day, Standard Chartered’s venture arm, SC Ventures, disclosed intentions to raise $250 million for a digital asset investment fund, slated to debut in 2026 and supported by Middle East investors targeting global investment opportunities.
On the regulatory side, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) introduced new generic listing standards aimed at expediting reviews for spot crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on exchanges like Nasdaq, NYSE Arca, and Cboe BZX.
The SEC approved these new standards alongside Grayscale’s Digital Large Cap Fund (GLDC), marking the first acceptance of a multi-asset crypto exchange-traded product (ETP) in the US.
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, positioning it as one of the largest treasury initiatives centered around this token.
The company announced on Monday the pricing of an oversubscribed private investment in public equity (PIPE) offering of common stock at $6.88 per share, with stapled warrants exercisable at $10.12 for three years. The agreement includes $500 million in equity and up to $750 million in warrants, assuming full exercise.
Helius intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to create a crypto treasury strategy, with the Solana (SOL) token as its main reserve asset. The firm stated it plans to “significantly scale holdings over the next 12-24 months using a best-in-class capital markets program incorporating ATM sales and other proven strategies.”
The company will also look into staking and lending opportunities within the Solana ecosystem to generate additional revenue from the SOL treasury, while maintaining a “conservative” risk profile, as noted.
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Standard Chartered venture arm to raise $250 million for digital asset fund: Report
Standard Chartered’s venture arm is gearing up to launch a $250 million digital asset investment fund in 2026, illustrating the growing institutional interest in digital assets.
SC Ventures of Standard Chartered aims to raise capital to establish an investment fund concentrated on digital assets in the financial services sector, as reported by Bloomberg Monday, quoting operating partner Gautam Jain.
Launching in 2026, the fund will be financed by Middle East investors, focusing on global investment opportunities, Jain informed Bloomberg.
SC Ventures’ strategy follows a trend of corporate treasury firms developing long-term accumulation plans, raising expectations for increased institutional inflows into the crypto market in the coming years.
“Digital assets remain a high conviction theme for SC Ventures, demonstrated by its digital asset-native ventures: Libeara, Zodia Markets, Zodia Custody, and existing digital asset investments,” a representative from SC Ventures shared with Cointelegraph, adding:
“We continually assess opportunities in the digital asset sphere, whether directly or through JVs.”
In addition to digital asset prospects, the firm is also “exploring opportunities in dynamic regions like the Middle East and Africa,” the representative mentioned.
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Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade moves to December, blobs to double after
Ethereum’s core developers have proposed early December for the expected launch of the network’s next significant hard fork, called Fusaka, intended to enhance the network’s efficiency.
While the Fusaka upgrade is set to go live on Dec. 3, the blob capacity increase is planned 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 activated 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 five BPOs are planned for Fusaka, ensuring mainnet scales substantially – safely,” Ethereum developer community ethPandaOps noted in an X post on Thursday.
BPO (Blob-Parameter only) forks exclusively modify parameters related to blob targets and limits, necessitating no updates from the client side.
Blobs facilitate large data sets offchain, enhancing layer-2 networks’ efficiency 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 casting votes on a proposal that could unveil new income streams for the protocol and its ecosystem.
The proposal, introduced in August by founder Michael Egorov, would create a $60 million credit line of crvUSD for Yield Basis. Voting commenced on Wednesday, with 97% of votes cast favoring the proposal at the time of writing.
Under Yield Basis, CRV holders who stake their tokens will receive veCRV (vote-escrowed CRV) in return, effectively generating income for stakers. Yield Basis would return between 35% and 65% of its value to veCRV holders, with an additional 25% earmarked for the ecosystem.
Egorov mentioned that the credit line would suffice to establish pools for three assets: WBTC (WBTC), cbBTC (cbBTC), and tBTC (tBTC).
“To enhance incentives for the Curve ecosystem and to compensate for utilizing Curve technology (cryptopools) in its core, Yield Basis allocates an amount equivalent to 25% of YB that 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 are inclined to use decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols if proposed legislation becomes law, according to a recent survey.
A survey released on Thursday by the DeFi Education Fund (DEF) revealed that many Americans “are interested in DeFi,” as respondents expressed low trust in the traditional finance system.
The survey, conducted by Ipsos between Aug. 18 and 21, involved 1,321 US adults. Ipsos Public Affairs vice president Alec Tyson noted that the study indicates “emerging awareness of cryptocurrency and decentralized finance, as many Americans express dissatisfaction with current financial institutions’ capability to ensure security, personalized control, and flexibility.”
40% of Americans open to DeFi
The poll indicated that 42% would likely explore DeFi if proposed legislation was enacted, divided between 9% who were “extremely or very likely” and 33% who stated they were “somewhat likely” to try.
Congress is currently reviewing bills that aim to establish the legal status of numerous cryptocurrencies and specify how the nation’s financial regulators will manage the sector.
Two in five respondents, or 40%, said they’d “likely try out DeFi,” with 84% of those respondents intending to use it for online purchases.
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DeFi market overview
According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, the majority of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization wrapped up 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 by over 50% during the past week.
Thank you for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights, and education regarding this dynamically evolving space.
