Crypto Currents: Ether soars as infrastructure giants enter

A tidal wave of institutional capital is flooding into ethereum, sending the asset soaring as major infrastructure players like Circle, Visa, and Stripe deepen their commitments to blockchain technology. Keep up with the fast-moving world of cryptocurrency with “Crypto Currents,” from The Fly. Join us 2 PM daily for your essential briefing on the fast-moving world of cryptocurrency on FlyCast radio. Also, subscribe to our YouTube channel for the Crypto Fly By weekly recap.

ETHER BOOMS ON RECORD ETF INFLOWS, WHALE BUYS: Driven by immense institutional buying pressure, spot ether (ETH) ETFs smashed previous records yet again, absorbing over $1B in a single day, led by BlackRock’s (BLK) ETHA fund with a staggering $640M inflow. The demand far outpaced bitcoin (BTC) ETFs, which saw a comparatively modest $178M inflow. Adding fuel to the fire, a single new whale purchased $1.34B in ether over the past eight days. This conviction is causing a market-wide rotation, with traders reportedly shifting funds from speculative solana (SOL) meme coins into “quality-focused” assets like ether. The intense interest is reflected in the derivatives market, where open interest in ETH futures is approaching an all-time high of $60B, signaling trader expectations of major price moves.

CIRCLE LEADS INFRASTRUCTURE PUSH WITH STRONG EARNINGS, NEW BLOCKCHAIN: USDC (USDC) issuer Circle (CRCL) saw its stock jump over 11% after reporting a 53% yearly revenue increase to $658M, beating analyst estimates. The company simultaneously announced a major strategic move: the launch of its own enterprise-grade Layer-1 blockchain, “Arc,” later this year. Arc is designed for stablecoin payments and capital markets applications and will use USDC as its native token for transaction fees.

GIANTS DEEPEN CRYPTO COMMITMENTS:

• VISA’S STABLECOIN STRATEGY: Visa (V) is making a major push to leverage the burgeoning stablecoin market, which some analysts predict could grow to $2 trillion. The company’s crypto division is expanding its stablecoin settlement services and partnering with global fintechs, signaling a deep, long-term interest in crypto payment technology.
• STRIPE’S “TEMPO” BLOCKCHAIN: Fin-tech firm Stripe is reportedly building a new payments-focused Layer-1 blockchain called “Tempo.”, developed in collaboration with crypto venture capital firm Paradigm.
• MARA EXPANDS INTO AI: Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings (MARA) struck a $168M deal to acquire a majority stake in Exaion, a unit of French utility giant Electricite de France SA. The acquisition is a strategic move to extend its reach into high-performance computing and AI infrastructure.

MONERO NETWORK DISRUPTED BY LIKELY 51% ATTACK: In a critical security event, the privacy-focused cryptocurrency monero (XMR) suffered a major network disruption from what appears to be a successful 51% attack by the qubic network. The attack left 60 orphaned blocks on the monero chain and caused the price of XMR to dip more than 8.6%. A successful 51% attack is a serious event that could allow an attacker to rewrite transactions or block them entirely, raising wide-ranging questions for proof-of-work security.

OTHER CRYPTO NEWS:

• Do Kwon, the founder of the collapsed $40B Terra ecosystem, is expected to plead guilty in a landmark case for the industry.
• The corporate “bitcoin treasury” thesis continues, with Japanese firm Metaplanet (MTPLF) and Smarter Web adding nearly $100M in BTC to their reserves.
• Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin now reportedly accepts bitcoin, ethereum, and solana for spaceflights.

PRICE ACTION: As of time of writing, bitcoin (BTC) was trading at approximately $119,720.94, while ethereum (ETH) was around $4,428.61.