Policy risk down, builder/LP intent up. The center of gravity in APAC is rebalancing.
More importantly, ,Japan’s policy posture has shifted from “tolerate” to “compete.”
If Japan follows through on moving crypto from a punitive ~55% “miscellaneous income” bracket toward a ~20% unified financial tax (with corporate treatment near ~15% for compliant entities), then the world’s third-largest economy is explicitly bidding to be America’s East Asia financial counterpart for digital assets.
Add friendlier PR/visa paths and lower employee visa costs, and you can see why exchanges are expanding headcount and why North American funds (and even Tokyo Stock Exchange folks) were roaming the events.
Where I am leaning towards
Japan as the East Asia compliance hub
Watch for JPY-denominated staking notes, exchange-listed crypto treasuries, and LST ETFs with Japanese wrappers if U.S. timelines drift.
Bridges consolidate into networks with captive flow
Expect a roll-up: a handful of connectors will own liquidity pathways across EVM, Move, Solana, and appchains. Winning looks less like “best light client” and more like best BD + best safety record + most wallets by default.
Wallets become banks in everything but name
A native stable (mUSD), one-click Zaps, unified balances (Gateway), embedded yields, intent-based bridging: the wallet is the retail front office. Protocols that plug into this surface (risk, custody, credit, on/off-ramps) win distribution.
Market structure eats MEV for breakfast
DFBA-style designs will compress latency rent and reward quote quality and size. Builders who ship auction-native AMMs, solver networks, and cross-domain netting will own next-gen DEX volume.
Benchmarked yield becomes the “prime rate” of DeFi
A standardized stablecoin rate and credible safety modules turn DeFi from “strategy roulette” into portfolio plumbing. The TAM multiples when CFOs can say, “We’re at +250 bps over DeFi base, with audited risk.”
What actually changed (and why it matters)
1. Policy from friction to funnel
If the tax alignment lands even close to the levels discussed, you get three flywheels:
Corporate domiciling: “pay and you’re clean” removes the gray zone that kept serious teams offshore.
Talent magnet: high-safety, high-comfort cities with straightforward visas attract senior operators.
Listings/primary markets: a credible path for “MicroStrategy-style” balance sheet exposures in Japan invites structured product innovation and exchange participation.
Approvals will lag. But the signal is unambiguous: innovation.
2. Bridge wars = distribution wars
LayerZero won Stargate’s governance vote; Wormhole countered with a higher cash offer. Both are bidding for liquidity routing rights across chains.
M&A in crypto infra is maturing: control the order flow, you control fees, UX surface area, and developer mindshare. Protocol moats are becoming go-to-market moats.
3. Market structure is going pro
Jump Crypto’s Dual Flow Batch Auctions (DFBA)—parallel, millisecond auctions with uniform clearing—aims to tax latency as a strategy. If adopted, expect: tighter spreads, lower toxic flow, and less “speed alpha,” more price-quality alpha. The endgame is obvious: DeFi starts to look—on execution quality—like a prime broker’s dark pool, without the darkness.
4. Liquid staking ramping up
VanEck’s proposed JitoSOL ETF is the clearest signal yet that U.S. institutions want yield-bearing crypto exposure with traditional wrappers. If regulators get comfortable with rebasing/validation mechanics in a ‘40 Act-adjacent context, stakes change (pun intended).
Downstream implication: LST basis becomes a first-class portfolio asset for RIAs and pensions, not just crypto-native funds.
5. Cross-VM ubiquity > chain tribalism
Aave V3 on Aptos (Move) shows blue-chips will go where demand is—with serious rewrites—to meet users.
Circle Gateway unifies USDC balances across chains in sub-second time; MetaMask mUSD signals wallet-native settlement assets. UX is converging on frictionless, chain-abstracted money.
6. Corporate treasuries are coming on-chain (again)
ETHZilla’s treasury moves (accumulation, ATM program, buyback) preview a broader corporate playbook: hold productive crypto assets, tap public markets when spreads are attractive, and communicate like a software company, not a miner. Expect copycats.
7. Yield is getting benchmarked and industrialized
Kamino’s USD Benchmark Rate and DeFi Saver’s Umbrella staking formalize what pros already do: compare vaults to a reference rate, then build tooling for one-click strategies (Trending & Zaps).
Maple’s syrupUSDC 25% APY and the rest of the “points + yield” meta will persist, but the real adoption curve bends when risk-adjusted return gets standardized and audited like credit.
My read on Tokyo in becoming the new “middle office” of crypto
Japan doesn’t need to be the biggest risk-on venue; it needs to be the most bankable. Think compliance-forward listings, structured product origination, and regulated distribution that pipes global liquidity to APAC enterprises. With taxes simplified and immigration practical, the city becomes where:
Founders incorporate, raise, and hire senior ops.
Exchanges and custodians secure licenses and expand.
Funds meet policymakers and source public-market conduits (Japanese equities with crypto treasuries, LST-linked notes, etc.).
The attendance data from WebX—~12k participants, 80% of exhibitors overseas, >50% local attendees, ~90 side events—tracks the pattern we look for before capital formation spikes: foreign supply meets local demand under a friendlier rulebook.
Macro: stop worshiping liquidity.
Liquidity overlays failed traders in 2021, and they’re failing again. The driver set has changed: programmatic, recurring flows—ETF creations, corporate treasuries, exchange safety modules, restaking emissions, and (yes) regulated wrappers for LSTs—are replacing the old “global money supply up = number go up” heuristic.
Stock-to-flow-style supply models missed two cycles in different ways because they underweight who buys, how often, and through what rail.
Today, we track: ETF net creations, validator economics, exchange safety staking (Umbrella), and corporate balance-sheet policies. Those decide marginal price more than abstract M2 charts.
So the question isn’t “Is liquidity rising?” It’s: “Which obligated buyer shows up every day, and what access path are we giving them?”
Final thoughts
The next leg is about institutional rails, who builds them, who regulates them, and which cities host them. This summer, Tokyo raised its hand. If the tax code follows the rhetoric, expect Japan to become crypto’s middle office: the place where money becomes product, product becomes distribution, and distribution becomes policy leverage.
Builders who align to that reality, obligated flows, compliance surfaces, and distribution moats, won’t care what the global liquidity chart says. They’ll ship into daily demand that doesn’t need a bull market to exist.
See you in Korea.
WebX 东京大会，不一样的日本。 1. 为期三天的东京大会终于结束了，这次有首相、有两位部长、有 CZ、还有老黑 Arthur，很快即将到来的以太坊东京和 EDCON，Vitalik 也会来常驻 10 天。 2. 最大的变化，政策层的彻底转变，全面向美国开始看齐，成为美国在东亚核心的金融中心，中间连接处。 3. 政策上，此前对加密货币的 55% 最高杂项税，确定要降至 20% 金融统一税率，公司则可降低到 15% 左右，做到缴纳即可上岸。 4. 对外上，从最近接触金融厅的交易所同行反馈来看，金融厅已开始大力鼓励创新，但由于今年扎堆申请，案件积压，审核还是偏慢，这两年有好几家我们熟知的所，相继落牌和扩大办公室，目前还有几家确定也在推进。 5. 规模上，这次参会人数大概 1.2 万人，比去年多了大概 50%，参展商 80% 都是海外，但现场参会的有一半多是本地的，边会更是达到了 90 多个。 6. 北美的几家头部基金，也来到了现场，除了与政策层会面以外，也出现了东京证券交易所的人员，它们都在推进微策略型公司在日股的落地事项，这几天听了不下 3 家北美 vc 正在推进，从 ETH 到 SOL、XRP 都有。 7. 而项目方，则是来东京开公司或办公的比较多，一个是拿 PR 较快且友好，一个是给员工发签证的成本较低，很多追求安全、环境舒适的项目方，近期确实在扎堆过来。 8. 在 7 年前 CZ 因为监管原因离开了日本，在诞生出 ADA、XRP 这类日本全民项目后，监管瞬间趋于严格，而 7 年后的今天，从民间到上层，都在请大家回来，鼓励创新，欢迎落地和更多的雇员。 翻天覆地的变化，这次日本真不一样了。 图 2 是币安日本站的成员们，它们的规模也在扩大中，祝贺。以上是这次的有感，欢迎大家能来日本居住和生活～
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Stargate Approves LayerZero Proposal, Vaneck Files JitoSOL ETF, Lend ETH For 17% APR, and more...
Aug 25
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Updates 📰
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Wormhole Foundation confirmed it has secured financing for an initial $120 million USDC cash offer to acquire Stargate, positioning it above LayerZero’s $110 million ZRO-based bid. The foundation said its proposal would provide STG holders immediate liquidity without conversion risk and pledged to honor Stargate’s commitments for at least 12 months.
However, the Stargate community has already approved LayerZero’s acquisition proposal, with over 15,000 participants casting more than 7.5 million veSTG votes.
StargateEcosystem noted that operations will continue as normal, with further details expected from the Stargate Foundation.
Jump Crypto introduced Dual Flow Batch Auctions (DFBA), a proposed alternative to traditional CLOBs and AMMs in DeFi. DFBA runs two parallel auctions every 100 milliseconds, with all trades clearing at a uniform price, removing the advantage of order arrival time. The model aims to reduce latency arbitrage, MEV, and toxic flow while providing tighter spreads and deeper liquidity.
By rewarding better pricing and size rather than speed, DFBA is positioned as a fairer market structure that aligns fees with genuine trading activity.
ETHZilla ($ETHZ) amended its sales agreement to create a $10 billion at-the-market (ATM) stock offering program.
The company stated that the proceeds are expected to strengthen its ETH reserves.
Resupply outlined recent progress, including the proposal of sreUSD, a savings vault that boosts depositor returns when reUSD trades below peg. The protocol cleared $1.13 million in bad debt through a Yearn Treasury loan, transferring liabilities to Yearn and Convex treasuries. A recovery plan is distributing $2.5 million in RSUP over a year to support Insurance Pool depositors, nearly doubling yields.
Additional updates include audited security guardrails, a new permissions framework with upgradeable operators, and upcoming plans to launch sreUSD and expand collateral options.
Plasma announced that its campaign with Binance Earn has reached a final subscription cap of $1 billion USDT, with an additional $250 million quota to be open soon.
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Aave’s new Umbrella staking module is now live on DeFi Saver
Users can access yields like 3.26% on ETH, 8.30% on USDC, 12.94% on USDT, and 8.32% on GHO. It’s a governance-free safety system that rewards you for staking while helping cover bad debt. Available now on Ethereum with a 20-day cooldown and 2-day withdrawal window.
Start staking today at DeFi Saver.
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VanEck filed a registration statement for a JitoSOL ETF, proposing the first U.S. exchange-traded fund backed entirely by a liquid staking token. The fund would track the price of JitoSOL, which represents staked SOL that remains tradable while earning staking rewards. The Jito Foundation said the ETF follows months of engagement with the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, noting that recent SEC guidance clarified proof-of-stake and certain liquid staking activities do not constitute securities transactions.
Revert just launched Discover Pools, your new go-to tool for LP yield hunting.
ons as part of its treasury yield strategy. The allocation will utilize Renzo’s ezETH, a liquid restaking token built on EigenLayer that compounds staking and restaking rewards through Actively Validated Services (AVSs).
For STRAT holders, the move provides simplified ETH yield via auto-compounded returns, on-chain transparency with tradable collateral positions, and optimized strategies through curated AVS restaking.
Jumper added support for Flare Network, enabling users to bridge assets such as ETH, USDT, and USDC to the chain through its platform.
Moar Market launched a Leverage LP Simulator on Aptos, allowing users to model leveraged liquidity provision strategies before deploying capital. The tool lets users set parameters such as entry and exit prices, ranges, leverage, debt mix, and duration in range, then calculates PnL, rewards, fees, impermanent loss, and interest.
It also provides estimated liquidation prices and supports CSV export, link sharing, and side-by-side scenario comparisons for deeper analysis.
Revert just launched Discover Pools, your new go-to tool for LP yield hunting.
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Find your next High APR LP with Revert.
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Cube announced that Aptos integration will go live on its platform tomorrow.
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Airdrops
Mitosis launched its Binance Booster Campaign Season 2 after reaching $400 million in TVL during the first season. Participants from Season 1 remain eligible by holding their existing positions, with new reward details outlined on Binance’s campaign page.
The USD1 Points Program has gone live, with Gate becoming the first exchange to support it. The program marks a new milestone for USD1, which has quickly grown into one of the most widely adopted stablecoins.
Pudgy Penguins introduced the “Early to the Party” Soulbound Token (SBT) to commemorate users who joined Pudgy Party ahead of launch and helped introduce the game to the mobile market. To qualify, users must pre-download Pudgy Party from the Apple App Store or Google Play and complete registration through the official site.
Eligible wallets will receive the SBT after the game goes live.
Farms
Maple’s syrupUSDC is offering up to 25% APY through Kamino Multiply vaults. The stablecoin product is positioned as an institutional-grade yield option, with additional strategies and integrations being developed across DeFi.
USD.AI launched Boost USDai and sUSDai vaults on Pendle, offering LPs 25x ICO Allo or 12x Airdrop Allo points in addition to yield from the LP position. Users can hold until maturity on November 19 or exit early via swaps while still receiving full point allocations.
YT-USDai, YT-sUSDai, and Pendle LPs deposited through Penpie will also earn Allo, with backdated rewards and upcoming multiplier details.
Hyperwave listed the hwHLP/USDT0 pair on PRJX, offering 2.5x Wave Points for participants in the 0.05% pool.
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