🚀 This week in crypto: GameFi tokens surging, Ethereum hits 400 TPS, Lightning Network evolving & USDT dominates fees across 9 blockchains. Your weekly blockchain digest is here! #Blockchain #Crypto #Web3
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This Week’s News Digest from Blockchain Bulletin
The blockchain and cryptocurrency landscape continues to evolve at breakneck speed, with groundbreaking developments emerging almost daily. This week’s digest from Blockchain Bulletin brings you the most significant stories shaping the digital asset space in early August 2025. From GameFi tokens gaining momentum to infrastructure breakthroughs and regulatory shifts, we’ve curated the top 10 stories that every crypto enthusiast needs to know.
1. GALA GameFi Token Gains Traction Among Beginners
The GameFi sector is experiencing renewed interest, with GALA Games leading the charge as a pioneering blockchain gaming platform. Founded in 2019 by Eric Schiermeyer, co-founder of Zynga, GALA has evolved from a simple play-to-earn model into a comprehensive decentralized entertainment ecosystem.
GALA’s unique positioning stems from its founder’s proven gaming expertise, bringing professional game development knowledge to the blockchain space. The platform operates on a node-based system that empowers community members to participate directly in network governance and earn rewards, setting it apart from more centralized gaming projects.
The tokenomics of GALA include a Bitcoin-like halving mechanism, where daily token emissions are reduced by half each year to control inflation. This deflationary pressure, combined with token burning from transaction fees, creates an economic model designed to support long-term value appreciation.
Recent community buzz on social media platforms highlights GALA’s expansion beyond gaming into film and music industries, positioning it as a multi-entertainment blockchain ecosystem. The integration of NFTs as truly owned in-game assets allows players to trade, stake, and use items across multiple games within the ecosystem.
Key Insight: GALA’s approach to blockchain gaming emphasizes high-quality gameplay over pure speculation, potentially setting new standards for the GameFi sector as it matures.
Source: GALA: Your Beginner’s Guide to the Trending GameFi Token
2. Lightning Network’s 20% Capacity Drop: Evolution, Not Decline
Bitcoin’s Lightning Network experienced a notable 20% decline in public capacity during 2025, dropping from over 5,400 BTC to approximately 4,200 BTC. However, industry experts argue this isn’t a sign of retreat but rather network maturation and optimization.
The capacity decline reflects structural improvements in the network’s efficiency. As routing algorithms become more sophisticated through updates to Lightning Network Daemon (LND), Core Lightning (CLN), and Eclair clients, channels can operate more effectively with less total locked capital.
Despite the capacity reduction, Lightning Network processed 100 million transactions in Q1 2025 alone—a 28% increase from the previous quarter. This demonstrates that transaction volume and network utility continue growing even as the total visible capacity decreases.
The evolution includes a shift toward more private channels and optimized liquidity management. Many channels are becoming private or being consolidated to reduce fees and improve performance, making the network more efficient rather than smaller.
Key Insight: The Lightning Network’s capacity decline represents optimization rather than abandonment, with increasing transaction volumes indicating healthy underlying growth in real-world usage.
Source: Lightning Network Decline: Why 20% Drop Isn’t a Disaster
3. Keeta (KTA) Emerges as Potential Layer-1 Contender
Keeta (KTA) is positioning itself as a next-generation Layer-1 blockchain designed to bridge traditional finance with decentralized finance. Backed by notable figures including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Keeta aims to solve compliance and scalability challenges that have limited institutional crypto adoption.
The project’s technical foundation combines Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) architecture with delegated Proof-of-Stake (dPoS) consensus, enabling claimed performance of up to 10 million transactions per second with 400-millisecond finality. This represents a significant leap beyond current Layer-1 capabilities.
Keeta’s distinguishing feature is its built-in compliance infrastructure, including native KYC (Know Your Customer) protocols, digital identity management, and foreign exchange support integrated directly into the blockchain protocol. This regulatory-first approach targets institutional adoption by addressing compliance concerns that have traditionally limited enterprise blockchain usage.
Since emerging from stealth mode in March 2025, Keeta has established partnerships with KYC providers like FootPrint and demonstrated its technology through testnet stress tests. The project is preparing for mainnet launch in summer 2025, with a mobile wallet and cross-chain features planned for later releases.
Key Insight: Keeta’s regulatory-compliant approach could address key barriers to institutional blockchain adoption, potentially creating a new category of enterprise-ready Layer-1 networks.
Source: Is Keeta the Next Big Layer-1? KTA Crypto Rebound Explained
4. Wrapped BNB (WBNB) Powers GameFi Innovation
Wrapped BNB (WBNB) is emerging as a crucial infrastructure token for GameFi projects on the BNB Chain ecosystem. As a BEP-20 compatible version of BNB, WBNB enables seamless interaction with decentralized applications while maintaining the flexibility needed for gaming economies.
The token’s dynamic supply model, which expands and contracts based on wrapping and unwrapping activity, provides the liquidity flexibility essential for volatile GameFi environments. This prevents the supply bottlenecks that can occur with fixed-supply tokens during periods of high player activity.
WBNB-powered GameFi projects leverage the token for transaction fees, staking rewards, and NFT marketplace operations. The low transaction costs on BNB Chain, often under a cent for WBNB transfers on certain networks, make it ideal for the frequent microtransactions common in blockchain gaming.
Recent developments include integration with Unreal Engine-powered games, offering console-quality visuals while maintaining blockchain functionality. Cross-game NFT compatibility within the WBNB ecosystem allows players to use assets across multiple titles, creating a more interconnected gaming experience.
Key Insight: WBNB’s role as GameFi infrastructure demonstrates how wrapped tokens can provide the flexibility and utility needed for complex blockchain gaming economies.
Source: Wrapped BNB (WBNB): Your Beginner’s Guide to GameFi Gold
5. USDT Dominates 40% of On-Chain Transaction Fees
Tether’s USDT has achieved a remarkable milestone, capturing 40% of all transaction fees across nine major blockchain networks. This dominance across platforms including Ethereum, Tron, Solana, Binance Smart Chain, and others underscores USDT’s central role in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
USDT’s supply has surged to $104.1 billion, making it the largest stablecoin by market capitalization. The token’s widespread adoption stems from its utility in emerging markets, where users rely on USDT for payments, savings, and cross-border transfers to avoid local currency instability.
Different blockchain networks offer varying cost structures for USDT transfers. Tron hosts approximately 60% of USDT activity due to its near-zero transaction fees, while Ethereum remains expensive during network congestion. Solana provides a middle ground with dynamic fees averaging a few cents per transaction.
The 40% fee dominance is being called crypto’s “ChatGPT moment”—a breakthrough for mass adoption. However, this concentration also raises centralization concerns, as Tether’s influence spans multiple blockchain ecosystems.
Key Insight: USDT’s fee dominance reflects its evolution from a trading tool to essential financial infrastructure for global payments and emerging market financial inclusion.
Source: USDT Dominance: Tether Captures 40% of On-Chain Fees
6. Juno Network Integrates Andromeda OS for Enhanced dApp Development
The Juno Network experienced an 18.9% price surge following its integration with Andromeda OS (aOS), a development that significantly enhances the capabilities available to decentralized application builders within the Cosmos ecosystem.
Andromeda OS functions as a decentralized operating system for Web3 development, providing developers with tools to build applications more easily across multiple interconnected blockchains. The integration with Juno allows developers to leverage aOS’s lightweight configuration and data transport capabilities via Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC).
This partnership represents a strategic evolution for Juno, which launched in October 2021 as a smart contract hub within Cosmos. The network has consistently focused on developer experience, offering features like native token creation, fee sharing with developers, and DeFi oracle integration.
The Andromeda integration enables several advanced features including enhanced token factory usage, improved pathfinding for cross-chain transactions, and the potential for an Interchain DEX and money market. These capabilities position Juno as a prime destination for cross-chain application development.
Key Insight: The Juno-Andromeda integration demonstrates how Layer-1 blockchains can enhance their value proposition through strategic partnerships that expand developer capabilities and ecosystem interoperability.
Source: Juno Crypto Soars: Andromeda OS Integration Fuels dApp Growth
7. Cryptocurrencies Challenge Gold’s Wall Street Dominance
Bitcoin, XRP, TON, and Ethereum are legally accomplishing what gold cannot in modern Wall Street corporate treasury strategies. Historical regulations, particularly the Gold Reserve Act of 1934 and subsequent amendments, prevent U.S. public companies from operating primarily as gold holding entities.
These regulatory restrictions limit gold’s utility in corporate finance, while cryptocurrencies face no such barriers. Companies like MicroStrategy have pioneered the “Bitcoin treasury strategy,” converting corporate cash reserves into BTC and building their business model around these holdings—something impossible with gold.
Different cryptocurrencies serve distinct corporate purposes. Bitcoin functions as a treasury asset and store of value, while Ethereum offers yield generation through staking. XRP provides utility for cross-border payments, and TON enables integration with application ecosystems like Telegram’s platform.
Recent market activity shows institutional appetite for crypto treasuries continues growing. Ethereum ETFs saw over $2.3 billion in inflows during July 2025, while XRP experienced a 30% surge amid speculation about potential ETF approval. The regulatory flexibility around crypto holdings enables innovation in corporate finance that gold’s legal constraints prevent.
Key Insight: Cryptocurrencies are capturing market share from gold in corporate treasuries not just through performance, but by offering legal and operational flexibility that traditional precious metals cannot match.
Source: Crypto vs Gold: BTC, ETH, XRP Disrupt Wall St
8. Ethereum Achieves 400 TPS and Mobile Node Capability
At ETHKyiv 2025, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and developer Tomasz K. Staczak announced two groundbreaking developments: Ethereum Layer 1 achieving 400 transactions per second (TPS) and the capability to run full nodes on smartphones and smartwatches.
The 400 TPS milestone represents a massive improvement from Ethereum’s historical 15-30 TPS limit. This achievement resulted from recent protocol upgrades including the Dencun upgrade’s blob transactions, which allow Layer 2 solutions to store data more efficiently on the main chain.
The mobile node capability democratizes network participation by enabling users to verify transactions and maintain blockchain security using everyday devices. This development supports Ethereum’s decentralization goals while making network participation accessible in regions with limited computing infrastructure.
These improvements align with Ethereum’s broader scaling roadmap, which includes data sharding and enhanced Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanisms. Vitalik has proposed additional scaling improvements targeting a 10x increase in throughput by 2026.
Key Insight: Ethereum’s simultaneous achievement of higher throughput and mobile accessibility represents a significant step toward making blockchain infrastructure both scalable and globally accessible.
Source: ETHKyiv 2025: Ethereum on Phone, 400 TPS
9. Sanctioned Nations Use Bitcoin Mining to Circumvent Financial Restrictions
Analysis of Bitcoin’s hash rate data reveals that sanctioned countries including Iran, Russia, and others are using cryptocurrency mining operations to bypass traditional financial restrictions. These nations are leveraging abundant energy resources to generate Bitcoin directly, avoiding traditional banking systems.
Hash rate fluctuations correlate with geopolitical events, providing evidence of these covert operations. For example, infrastructure strikes in Iran have coincided with temporary drops in global hash rate, suggesting significant mining operations in the region.
Russia currently controls approximately 12% of global Bitcoin hash rate, while China maintains around 15% despite officially banning mining in 2021. These countries use mining as a strategic tool for economic independence, converting energy resources into cryptocurrency that can be traded internationally without dollar-denominated transactions.
The United States leads global hash rate with approximately 40% share, primarily concentrated in states like Texas that offer favorable energy costs and regulatory environments. This geographic distribution of mining power reflects both economic opportunities and geopolitical strategies.
Key Insight: Bitcoin mining has become a geopolitical tool allowing sanctioned nations to maintain economic participation while bypassing traditional financial systems, highlighting cryptocurrency’s role in reshaping international economic relationships.
Source: Bitcoin Mining: Sanctioned Nations’ Crypto Secret
10. Bitcoin Faces August Volatility Amid Tariff Concerns
Bitcoin experienced significant volatility in early August 2025, dropping below $114,000 following the implementation of new U.S. tariffs on multiple countries. The tariffs, ranging from 10% to 41% on imports from Mexico, Canada, China, South Korea, and Japan, triggered broader market uncertainty.
The crypto market saw over $170 million in liquidated positions as leveraged traders were forced out of their positions during the price decline. This cascade effect amplified the downturn, with Bitcoin falling from previous highs above $120,000 to around $113,696.
Traditional market correlation continued to influence cryptocurrency prices, with Bitcoin moving in tandem with stock market reactions to tariff announcements. The S&P 500’s decline contributed to a “risk-off” sentiment that affected digital assets alongside other growth-oriented investments.
Despite short-term volatility, institutional support remains strong through Bitcoin ETF inflows and whale accumulation patterns. Long-term forecasts suggest potential recovery to $140,000 by year-end, supported by continued institutional adoption and the ongoing effects of the 2024 halving event.
Key Insight: Bitcoin’s tariff-related volatility demonstrates its continued correlation with traditional markets during times of economic uncertainty, while institutional support provides underlying stability for long-term growth prospects.
Source: Bitcoin Price Swings: August 2025 Analysis
Looking Ahead: Key Themes Shaping the Crypto Landscape
This week’s developments reveal several important trends shaping the cryptocurrency and blockchain space. The maturation of gaming-focused tokens like GALA and infrastructure tokens like WBNB demonstrates growing real-world utility beyond speculative trading. Meanwhile, infrastructure improvements to major networks like Ethereum and Lightning Network show continued technical progress toward scalability and usability.
Regulatory dynamics continue evolving, with projects like Keeta embracing compliance-first approaches while others navigate existing frameworks. The geographic distribution of mining operations reflects broader geopolitical tensions and economic strategies, highlighting cryptocurrency’s growing role in international finance.
Market volatility remains a constant factor, but underlying institutional adoption and technical development suggest continued long-term growth potential. As the space matures, we’re seeing increased differentiation between speculative assets and those with clear utility and sustainable tokenomics.
The intersection of traditional finance and decentralized systems continues expanding, with stablecoins like USDT serving essential infrastructure roles and cryptocurrencies challenging traditional assets like gold in corporate treasury strategies. This evolution suggests we’re moving toward a more integrated financial system where blockchain technology plays an increasingly central role.
Conclusion
The blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem continues its rapid evolution, with this week’s developments showcasing both technological advancement and market maturation. From GameFi innovations to infrastructure breakthroughs, regulatory adaptations to geopolitical implications, the space demonstrates resilience and continued growth despite periodic volatility.
As we move forward, the focus appears to be shifting from pure speculation toward practical utility and real-world adoption. Whether through gaming platforms providing genuine entertainment value, payment systems enabling global financial inclusion, or infrastructure improvements making blockchain technology more accessible, the industry is building foundations for sustained growth.
For investors and enthusiasts, these developments underscore the importance of understanding both the technological and market dynamics driving the space. While volatility remains a characteristic of the crypto markets, the underlying innovation and adoption trends suggest continued evolution toward mainstream integration and practical utility.