Weekly Recap: ETH Surges to Highest Price Since December 2021

Happy weekend Defiers!

The Ethereum ecosystem is booming as ETH rallies above $4,200 for the first time since December 2021.

Investor sentiment has been buoyed by ongoing ETH purchases by multi-billion-dollar treasury companies and ETFs, alongside increased regulatory clarity after the SEC’s Department of Corporate Finance said that certain liquid staking activities are not considered to be securities, paving the way for wider institutional adoption.

Also this week, the SEC and Ripple jointly dropped their appeals, ending a five-year legal battle. The regulator also issued guidance stating that some stablecoins could be considered equivalent to cash for accounting purposes.

Meanwhile, Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm was found guilty of operating an unregistered money-transmitting business. The verdict signals that crypto developers may face increased legal risks when working on one of the areas the industry arguably needs most: privacy.

Finally, Solana memecoin launchpad pumpfun has struggled since its token launch in mid-July, with the platform’s weekly revenue plunging to its lowest level since March 2024.

Enjoy!

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Ethereum TVL Hits All-Time High as ETH Rallies

Ethereum’s ecosystem TVL just hit a new high of $306 billion, surpassing its previous high of $253 billion in December 2024 and $195 billion in 2022.

DeFi protocols continue to scale new heights as ETH rallies above $4000, with Aave hitting a record $60 billion in net deposits.

Meanwhile, the Layer 1 still accounts for a whopping 90% of DeFi protocol fees, as Layer 2 deployments struggle to generate revenue.

SEC Drops Ripple Appeal Signaling Shift in Crypto Regulation — But Uncertainty Remains

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple jointly dropping their appeals shows a big shift in how U.S. regulators plan to handle crypto. The joint dismissal ends a five-year legal battle that started in 2020, when the SEC sued Ripple for selling XRP, the native token of Ripple's payment network, as unregistered securities.