Robinhood Chain revenue fell 83% from its peak while trading volume set records

gm, Defiers!

These are the biggest stories in DeFi and crypto:

Crypto's market-structure bill has new text. Senate Republicans posted a substitute on Thursday, five days before the vote that decides whether it reaches the floor at all.

The Sept. 10 draft release by Cynthia Lummis adds CFTC registration and Bank Secrecy Act obligations for trading protocols that are not decentralized, limits the DeFi title to spot and cash digital commodity transactions, and spells out what credit unions may do with digital assets.

Read more below!

WATCH

Tokenized Stocks and Memecoins: Revolutionary Primitive or Retail Wipeout?

Memecoins quoted in tokenized equities have run the tape on Robinhood Chain for two weeks. Camila Russo put the trade to Brian Huang and Binji Pande: what it does to price discovery, and what happens to retail when the quote asset moves too. Watch the full conversation.

REGULATION

Senate Republicans Post Revised CLARITY Act Text Five Days Before Cloture Vote

Senate Republicans Post Revised CLARITY Act Text Five Days Before Cloture VoteLummis released a revised CLARITY Act text on Sept. 10 adding CFTC registration for trading protocols that are not decentralized. Cloture ripens Sept. 15 and needs seven Democrats.thedefiant.io

Why this matters: The rewrite answers the objection that trading venues were escaping supervision, and the seven votes it needs to clear cloture have given no public sign they moved.

BLOCKCHAINS

Robinhood Chain Revenue Falls 83% From Its Peak While Trading Volume Sets Records

Robinhood Chain kept $943,728 in gas revenue on Sept. 10 against $5.44 million on Sept. 4, its lowest daily take since Aug. 29, while transactions held flat and decentralized exchange volume over the week rose 27%. The average transaction cost $0.077 in gas, against $0.43 at the peak.

Why this matters: Usage held while the toll collapsed: the chain carries the same traffic, and each transaction now pays roughly a fifth of what it did at the peak.

SECURITY

Blockstream Rejects Ransom Demand After Liquid Bitcoin Exploit

Blockstream refused to pay a ransom after the Liquid exploit and said it will pursue lawful tracing if the outstanding coins stay out. Liquid said on Sept. 8 that 3,400 BTC had been returned with about 598.5 BTC still missing; transactions have since resumed with peg-outs disabled.

Why this matters: Paying would have set the price of attacking a federated sidechain, and the network is running again with the one function the attacker used switched off.

DEFI

Standard Chartered Says SKY Token Will 5X to $0.325 by 2028

Standard Chartered's global head of digital assets research, Geoff Kendrick, initiated coverage of SKY with a $0.325 target for end-2028, up from about $0.06 today. He calls Sky "DeFi's federal bank" and forecasts a five-fold rise in the value the protocol passes to token holders, a thesis that runs on USDS supply growth.

Why this matters: A bulge-bracket research desk now publishes a price target on a governance token, and the model behind it is stablecoin supply.

DEFI

Spark Opens Its USDT Savings Vault To OKX Users

Spark opened its USDT savings vault to OKX users, letting exchange customers earn onchain yield from inside the OKX app. The vault sits on X Layer, OKX's own Layer 2, where it held about $418 ahead of launch, and Spark's risk reviewers noted the chain can be upgraded by its operator without delay.

Why this matters: An exchange is routing deposits into a DeFi vault on infrastructure it controls, and the risk note says that operator can change the infrastructure at will.