Weekly Ecosystem Updates(September 15th - September 21st)

Ethereum Dencun upgrade cut L2 fees by 90%: Link 

Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade introduces proto-danksharding (EIP-4844), cutting L2 transaction costs by adding blob space for data. It’s a major scalability step, making rollups cheaper and boosting Ethereum’s overall throughput.

ETH Foundation building privacy-focused L2: Link 

Ethereum Foundation launches Privacy Stewards (PSE) to embed ZK-proof–based privacy across protocol, infra, and wallets. With L2s like PlasmaFold, PSE enables private transfers, confidential voting, and seamless cross-chain interoperability.

Arbitrum: DeFi Renaissance Program: Link 

The DeFi Renaissance Incentive Program (DRIP) is ArbitrumDAO’s $40M initiative to make DeFi incentives actually work - targeting growth actions instead of vanity metrics.

Linea: Native ETH yield, dual burn, $1B TVL Ignition, $LINEA launch: Link 

Q3 2025: Burn Mechanism → 100% of gas fees burned (20% ETH + 80% $LINEA), aligning with Ethereum while driving $LINEA scarcity. Q4 2025: Native Yield → liquidity flows into DeFi + ecosystem rewards, boosting sustainable growth.

Optimism: Ronin migrating to OP Stack: Link 

Ronin is migrating from a sidechain to an Ethereum L2 using the OP Stack, unlocking faster txs, stronger security, and Superchain integrations.This upgrade brings new funding, dev support, and alliances - making Ronin Ethereum’s true gamification engine.

Ink: Thunderdome sequencer event: Link 

Ink launches the Thunderdome: Flashblocks vs. Based-OP battle on Sepolia to decide the future sequencer stack for OP rollups.The winner proves faster confirms, lower DA costs, and a credible path to decentralized sequencing for the superchain.

$BNB Hits New All-Time High: Link

BNB surged to $1,087 amid doubled on-chain activity (14M daily txns) and $7.7B TVL (Highest Since May 2025).

GAIB Launches AI GPU RWA Vault: Link

GAIB partnered with World Liberty Financial to enable USD1 stablecoin deposits into BNB Chain vaults, turning GPU-backed assets into DeFi yield opportunities and expanding AI infrastructure onchain.

NGP Protocol Hack: Link

On Sep 18, the NGP protocol on BNB Chain suffered a $2M exploit, with stolen funds laundered via Tornado Cash.

Aster DEX Token Surges Post-Launch: Link

Aster, a new perpetuals DEX backed by CZ, rallied over 600% after its TGE, surpassing $1B TVL and 330K users on day one.

Solana RWA Value Soars 35% as Holder Base Expands

RWA value hits $671.3M (+34.57% in 30D) with 76,311 holders (+15.25%), reflecting growing momentum and adoption in the future of finance.

Total revenue surged to $193.5M in August

Solana's total application revenue in August reached $193.5 million, marking a 126% increase compared to the same month last year.

Forward Industries Expands Solana Strategy with Major Moves

Forward Industries acquired 6.82M $SOL worth $1.58B from its $1.65B PIPE backed by Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto, and Multicoin Capital, unveiled a $4B ATM offering to further grow its Solana treasury, and partnered with Superstate to tokenize $FORD shares directly on Solana.

CME Group to Launch Solana Options on October 13

The move signals TradFi’s push for efficiency and readiness to provide institutional hedging tools ahead of potential $SOL ETF approvals.

Brera Holdings Rebrands to Solmate After $300M PIPE

The UAE-based public company completed a $300M raise and adopted the Solmate name to mark its new strategic direction.

SEC approves generic ETF listing standards, paving the way for spot crypto ETFs

On Sept 17, 2025, the SEC approved generic listing standards allowing exchanges to list and trade spot commodity ETPs, including crypto ETFs, without individual filings—marking a major shift for digital assets.

Helius Medical Technologies raises $500M to launch a Solana-focused treasury firm

Helius Medical closed a $500M oversubscribed PIPE to launch a Solana-focused treasury, with $750M in stapled warrants pushing potential scale beyond $1.25B.

Meteora Overtakes Rivals to Lead Solana DEX Volumes

Meteora leads daily, weekly, and monthly trading volumes across Solana DEXs.

Fragmetric Labs and DeFi Development Corp. will launch the first Solana Digital Asset Treasury in Korea

DeFi Development Corp., one of Solana’s earliest DATs, has partnered with Fragmetric to acquire a publicly listed Korean company and launch Korea’s first $SOL Digital Asset Treasury.

Star Atlas dropped an arena shooter update

Star Atlas dropped an arena shooter update, free Holosim rewards, the z.ink L1 (-99% fees), and Starframe for Solana devs.

Lombard’s Token Generate Event. Link

Lombard’s Token Generation Event (TGE) for its $BARD token occurred on September 18, 2025, with listings on major exchanges like Binance and Upbit. $BARD reached the peak of $300 MC since launch.

Hemi listing on Binance HODLER Airdrop. Link

Binance will list HEMI at 2025-09-23 12:00 (UTC) and open trading against USDT, USDC, BNB, FDUSD, and TRY pairs.

Ducat launched liquidations on Bitcoin L1 Link

Ducat’s Liquidation Protocol is the first native, permissionless liquidation system that runs entirely on Bitcoin.

Solv x Pendle Campaign Link

Solv Protocol and Pendle Finance launch the $vSOLV Campaign, reducing trading fees and rewarding top traders with $vSOLV. Two programs offer big incentives for active participation in BTCFi.

Base will officially release native tokens

Base announce will officially release native tokens in BaseCamp 2025

Launching an open-source bridge that connects directly to Solana

Base is announcing a new bridge with Solana for a thriving global economy, it must be open, interoperable, and connected - not siloed or closed.

Major upgrade for Base App

Base app adds double-tap buying - tap posts twice to buy instantly

Coinbase launches DeFi lending

Lend your USDC, earn up to 10.8% currently.

Zora cuts fees to 1% and pays creators more 

Creators now capture most fees, earn from trade referrals, and benefit from lower 1% fees with updated bonding curves, alongside rewards for inviting new creators.

USDC Integration on Felix Vanilla - Link

Users can now bridge USDC to HyperEVM via Stargate or Across Protocol (using CCTP v2) and engage in borrowing/lending on Felix Vanilla.

$XPL Launch Details - Link

$XPL goes live on September 25 at 8:00 AM ET, with day-one availability on Hyperliquid spot via Hyperliquid’s Unit.

Universal Deposits on Hyperbeat - Link

Users now can deposit any asset, from any chain, or even using FIAT on Hyperbeat.

Kyber Aggregator Added to Hyperpie - Link

Monad Introduces Monad Momentum Program - Link

The Monad Momentum program is an incentives-matching initiative launched to accelerate the growth of high-potential applications within the Monad ecosystem.

Monad Announces Oracle Partners - Link

Monad's testnet integrates push price feeds from ten oracles like Chainlink and Pyth, delivering sub-second updates with under 5bps deviation on its 10,000 TPS EVM chain.