💰 $1.5B for Invisible $WLFI?

$ZORA up 1852%… $SOON pumps hard too! Now $ES is showing eerily similar signs… If history really does repeat itself… could we be standing right before $ES’s breakout moment? Or will this time be different?

Here’s what we got for you today:

• ⭐ 5 Things You Shouldn’t Miss

• 🧱 Payments L1 War: Circle & Stripe Both Built Its …

• 💡 $ZORA vs $ES Opportunity. Is History About to R …

• 🤡 Meme Of The Day

⭐ 5 Things You Shouldn’t Miss

📉 US CPI July results are in. Headline CPI: 2.7% (below forecast). Core CPI: 3.1% (above expectations). So while inflation is easing, we’re still far from the Fed’s 2% long-term goal. But traders are very confident about a rate cut soon. $ETH.X ( ▼ 2.04% ) queen, pumped hard to ~$4600 now. Eric Trump posted & fired shots at Ashley, who once doubted his ETH calls.

🥃 Heritage Distilling (NASDAQ: $CASK ( ▼ 4.71% ) ) just announced plans to create a $340M fund to buy $IP.X ( ▼ 3.22% ) from Story Protocol. But it’s not all sunshine, IP token just dropped sharply despite the big fund news. Still, the token is up 3x since late June, even with today’s dip. Some are now accusing Story of supply manipulation to boost token price.

📥 Coinbase Ventures officially confirmed it now holds Toncoin ($TON.X ( ▲ 6.99% ) ), bought directly from Telegram. TON’s early backers already include heavyweights like Sequoia Capital, Benchmark,... Telegram’s massive user base as the ultimate distribution weapon. TON barely moved after the news. But this is clearly a big narrative shift for TON.

🟢 US spot Ethereum ETFs just pulled in $1.01B on Aug 11, the largest 24h inflow since launch. Bitcoin ETFs saw only $178M the same day. $ETH.X ( ▼ 2.04% ) is becoming the backbone of the future financial system. Holding ETH reserve → driving ETF demand → boosting price → more inflow → ETF buying… A closed-loop accumulation flywheel is forming.

🚨 Trump-backed WLFI just raised $1.5B before it’s even tradable. ALT5 Sigma set up an investment firm to buy 7.5% of WLFI's supply, with Eric Trump joining the board and confirming listings are coming soon. This is raising serious concerns. Crypto now makes up 9% of the Trump family’s total $6B net worth.

🧱 Payments L1 War: Circle & Stripe Both Built Its Own Blockchain

Circle just launched Arc - a fast, privacy-optional Layer-1 designed exclusively for stablecoin payments, fully integrated into its ecosystem.

At the same time, Stripe is quietly incubating Tempo, a payment-focused L1 backed by Paradigm. Two fintech giants. Two custom blockchains. One goal: own the future of crypto payments.

📊 Circle Q2/2025 Earnings: USDC Is Booming, But They Still Posted a Loss

On August 12, Circle (the second-largest stablecoin issuer globally) released its Q2 financials and it’s a mixed bag.

• $USDC.X ( ▼ 0.0% ) in circulation hit $61.3B, up 90% YoY, and continued climbing to $65.2B as of Aug 10

• Revenue + reserve income: $658M, up 53% YoY

• “Other revenue” (subscriptions, services, trading): up 252%

• Adjusted EBITDA: $126M, up 52%

But Circle still reported a net loss of $482M, mostly due to IPO-related non-cash expenses:

• $424M in stock-based comp

• $167M from rising convertible debt valuation

To grow USDC adoption, Circle is partnering with major players like: Binance, OKX, Corpay, FIS, Fiserv. These deals are all about expanding payment rails and deepening liquidity.

It also launched Circle Payments Network + Circle Gateway → Enables near-instant, cross-border USDC payments, no bridges or rebalancing needed.

And thanks to the new GENIUS Act, Circle is set to benefit big - the law gives federal clarity for stablecoin issuers, helping solidify Circle’s role as the top regulated stablecoin provider in the U.S.

💸 Circle Unveils Arc - A New L1 Blockchain Built for Stablecoin Payments

In its Q2 report, Circle introduced Arc, a new EVM-compatible, open-source Layer-1 blockchain made specifically for:

• Stablecoin payments

• FX transactions

• Capital market apps

Arc uses $USDC.X ( ▼ 0.0% ) as the native gas token, features under-1s transaction speed, optional privacy, and built-in FX tools for stablecoins.

Arc will be fully integrated with Circle’s ecosystem, yet remain interoperable with partner blockchains. Public testnet coming between Sep–Nov 2025.

However, Circle isn’t alone in this move.

• Tether is backing L1s like Stable and Plasma

• Ripple, post-SEC settlement, is doubling down on XRP Ledger + stablecoin $RLUSD.X ( ▲ 0.01% )  

• Stripe is working on its own payments chain: Tempo, in collaboration with Paradigm (we’ll talk about it later)

$CRCL ( ▼ 3.75% ) stock jumped 6.41% (from $161 → $171.5) in pre-market trading after the Arc news on Aug 12. That’s a 93% gain since Circle’s IPO on June 5, 2025

💳 Stripe Is Secretly Building Its Own Blockchain: Tempo

According to Fortune, Stripe (which processed $1.4 trillion in payments in 2024) is quietly developing a Layer-1 blockchain called Tempo, in collaboration with crypto VC giant Paradigm.

The leak? A now-deleted job post on The Blockchain Association - uploaded by Paradigm - revealed: "Tempo is a high-performance blockchain focused on payments, being co-developed by Stripe and Paradigm."

Tempo is still in stealth mode with just 5 people on the team, but they’re hiring a marketing lead to shape the brand and promote it to:

• Fortune 500 companies

• Mainstream users

The project is being directly led by Matt Huang, CEO of Paradigm and Stripe board member, who’s now taking the helm at Tempo during its early phase. Looks like Stripe is going full Web3 and aiming big.

New sources via Fortune reveal that Tempo, the Layer-1 blockchain Stripe is building with Paradigm, is not based on any existing chain, it's completely independent, but EVM-compatible.

Both Stripe and Paradigm declined to comment.

This comes after Stripe’s crypto comeback:

• Late 2024: Resumed crypto payments

• Acquired stablecoin company Bridge for $1.1B

• April 2025: CEO Patrick Collison confirmed a Bridge-powered stablecoin payment product is on the way

With the GENIUS Act now in place, big names are going all-in on stablecoins:

• Walmart, Amazon, and major US banks are rolling out consumer and financial integrations

• Robinhood is building a Layer-2 on Arbitrum

• Shopify supports USDC payments via Coinbase’s Base chain

The stablecoin arms race is officially on and Stripe's Tempo is stepping in strong. The race to own the future of global payments is on, and the biggest players aren’t sitting still.

💡 $ZORA vs $ES Opportunity. Is History About to Repeat Itself?

After the explosive price movement of $ZORA.X ( ▲ 6.6% ) , a lot of people are asking:
👉 Is $ES the next one to run?
👉 Are we seeing history repeat itself right in front of us?

We already analyzed $ZORA case study before, you can see full details here. So today we’ll discover the full breakdown of the pattern and the opportunity:

1️⃣ Why do so many tokens crash hard after TGE… only to pump later?

First, you need to understand that when a token’s FDV at TGE is lower than the valuation funds paid in later rounds, those funds are technically “at a loss” on paper when it lists.

→ That means they usually won’t sell right away → leaving room for price to move up.

But this gap doesn’t turn into instant gains. Two strong selling forces often hit first:

• Airdrop & launchpool sellers cashing out fast

• Short-term traders who don’t want to wait around

These forces can make the price drop or go sideways right after TGE. Only when that “hot supply” gets absorbed does the market shift into accumulation, with more stable liquidity and room for the team or market makers to push price.

This waiting phase can last weeks to months. For $ZORA.X ( ▲ 6.6% ) , it took ~2–3 months before the breakout.

And when it happened? From July 14 to Aug 11, $ZORA rocketed from $0.0078 → $0.1475 → a +1852% move!

That’s 7x its ICO price and 18x from pre-pump levels, setting a new ATH.

2️⃣ Low float + high FDV = perfect setup for a pump?

🤡 Meme Of The Day

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This newsletter is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. Traders should conduct thorough research, understand the risks, and carefully evaluate their decisions before investing in cryptocurrency.