A day after the Fed's interest rate announcement, the market is calmer and showing growth, indicating a positive reaction. Simultaneously, the crypto market continues to receive good news regarding crypto ETFs.

Market and Macroeconomic Overview

US equities closed with gains across all three indices on Thursday (September 18th, US), with the Nasdaq rising the most at 0.94% and all three indices hitting new peaks during the session. Stock futures traded sideways but showed an upward bias. Oil prices hovered around $63.5 per barrel. Gold was at $3670 per ounce.

This week, besides the Fed, other central banks also announced their monetary policies. Canada cut its interest rate by 0.25% to 2.5%—the first time since March—reflecting a weakening economy. In contrast, the UK and Japan kept their rates unchanged, as expected by the market.

Bitcoin held steady at $116,000–$117,000. Major altcoins saw slight corrections when BTC dipped. The overall crypto market capitalization is over $4.15 trillion.

US BTC spot ETFs saw inflows of $163 million on Thursday. Similarly, ETH spot ETFs also had inflows, but with a larger total of $213.1 million. The SOL ETF also recorded inflows of $19.1 million.

New ETFs for other altcoins have also been launched. Rex-Osprey recently launched the first two ETFs for DOGE and XRP in the US, following its earlier Solana ETF. These funds are registered under the 1940 Investment Company Act, allowing them to be approved faster than spot Bitcoin/Ethereum ETFs. However, their management fees are high (0.75% vs. BlackRock's 0.25%). Because the funds do not purely hold crypto but also include cash and Treasury bonds, they are unlikely to attract large capital inflows, but they are still a positive signal for the market. Additionally, the SEC has approved the Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund for trading, which includes BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, and ADA. This fund is officially scheduled to begin trading this Friday, US time.

The Future of Finance: Lending, AI, and Tokenized Funds

The Rise of Crypto-Backed Lending

Hunter Horsley, the CEO of Bitwise, predicts that over the next 6–12 months, lending and borrowing will become the hottest topics in the crypto market. He argues that instead of selling, investors will increasingly use their crypto as collateral to borrow money. Furthermore, as stocks become tokenized, the massive pool of over $60 trillion in US assets could also be used as collateral on the blockchain. However, this trend carries a hidden risk: if prices drop sharply, a wave of liquidations could cause a major shock to the market. Many companies that support crypto primarily to boost their stock prices might sell off their holdings when pressure increases, creating a domino effect.

AI, Jobs, and the Inevitable Shift

Beyond the growing popularity of crypto, AI is also becoming more widespread and integrated into businesses. Fred Krueger recently shared a list of professions that could disappear due to AI, such as drivers, doctors, programmers, teachers, and lawyers, with a timeline from 2027–2035. He warns that unemployment will rise sharply, forcing governments to consider solutions like Universal Basic Income (UBI). The driving industry is already seeing this with Tesla and self-driving taxis, while doctors could be replaced in diagnostics and surgery by AI and robots. This trend is already underway as many US companies have integrated AI into their operations.

In my view, while AI has advantages, humans still hold value through "authentic imperfection," something that machines find difficult to replicate. Furthermore, not every job is more efficient when replaced by AI due to costs and technical limitations. Ultimately, even with rising unemployment, governments will likely continue to print money to save the economy, leading to prolonged inflation.

The Launch of Tokenized Money Market Funds

DBS and Franklin Templeton have partnered with Ripple to launch a tokenized money market fund solution. DBS, one of Asia's largest banks with over $500 billion in assets, and Franklin Templeton, a leading global investment manager with over $1.6 trillion in assets under management, have signed a memorandum of understanding with Ripple to create a trading and lending solution using tokenized money market funds and Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin on the XRP Ledger blockchain.

The DBS digital exchange will list Franklin Templeton's sgBENJI token, which will allow investors to swap RLUSD for sgBENJI to quickly move into a stable, yielding asset 24/7 and reduce crypto price volatility risks. sgBENJI is a tokenized version of Franklin Templeton's short-term US government bond money market fund, giving investors access to a regulated money market fund product on the blockchain. DBS will also consider allowing customers to use sgBENJI as collateral for loans, possibly through repo transactions with the bank or through third-party platforms where DBS holds the collateral. Franklin Templeton will tokenize sgBENJI on the XRP Ledger, increasing interoperability between blockchains and enabling fast, low-cost, 24/7 payments, allowing tokenized money market funds to trade around the clock, unlike traditional funds that only trade and settle during market hours.

Other Key Crypto & Market Updates

GD Culture Group's stock dropped 28% after it announced the acquisition of all Pallas Capital Holding assets, including 7,500 Bitcoin valued at $875.4 million, through the issuance of 39.2 million shares. CEO Xiaojian Wang said the deal helps the company build a crypto treasury and benefit from the trend of Bitcoin's widespread acceptance. With this deal, GD Culture becomes the 14th largest publicly listed company to hold Bitcoin, joining a wave of over 190 businesses that have accumulated Bitcoin in 2025, with a total market value of $112.8 billion. However, this growth is slowing down due to concerns that the "raise capital, buy Bitcoin, and wait for the price to rise" strategy is unsustainable.

Laos plans to mine Bitcoin using surplus electricity from hydropower to reduce its debt burden of approximately $1.3 billion per year, which is equivalent to 9% of its GDP from 2025–2028. This activity helps convert surplus electricity into a globally tradable asset, as Laos often overproduces electricity but faces difficulties exporting it. Laos had previously allowed six companies to mine crypto in 2021 but later halted the practice due to drought and concerns about high electricity consumption. While hydropower output fluctuates due to climate, Laos still views Bitcoin mining as a way to utilize surplus electricity during the rainy season, similar to Bhutan and Ethiopia in leveraging value from renewable energy.

Valour Digital Securities, a subsidiary of DeFi Technologies, has launched the world's first Bitcoin staking ETP on the London Stock Exchange, named 1Valour Bitcoin Physical Staking (1VBS). This product is backed 1:1 by physical Bitcoin stored in secure cold wallets, offering professional investors access to Bitcoin along with an annual staking yield of 1.4%, which is added to the net asset value daily through Bitcoin Layer-2 solutions like Stacks.

Korean crypto custody company BDACS announced that it has launched a won-backed stablecoin called KRW1 on Avalanche. The stablecoin launch is still in the PoC (internal testing) phase and has not been widely announced yet, as regulations for stablecoins in South Korea are still unclear.

Australia has eased regulations, now allowing licensed crypto exchanges and brokers to distribute stablecoins without needing additional licenses, effective until June 1, 2028. Users must still be provided with a Product Disclosure Statement to understand the risks. The AUDMA stablecoin from Catena Digital Pty Ltd is the first project to be approved under this new framework.

Sources

• The New York Times
• Fox Business
• Bloomberg
• CME FedWatch Tool
• Bitwise
• Bitcoin Magazine
• MicroStrategy Investor Relations
• GD Culture Group Investor Relations
• Nvidia Investor Relations
• Marathon Digital Investor Relations
• Oracle Investor Relations
• Ripple Official Announcements
• Stripe Official Blog
• JPMorgan Chase
• DBS Bank
• Franklin Templeton
• Polkadot Official Blog
• Tether
• BNB Chain Official Announcements
• LSE Official Announcements
• Valour Digital Securities
• Fidelity Digital Assets
• Metaplanet
• Korea Digital Asset Custody Services (BDACS)
• Avalanche Foundation
• Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)

Disclaimer

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Please do your own research before making investment decisions.