Morning Minute is a daily newsletter by Tyler Warner. The views expressed are his own and do not necessarily represent Decrypt's position.
Good morning!
Here are today’s key highlights:
- Major cryptocurrencies rise by 1-5%, with SOL leading; BTC is priced at $79.2k
- Bitcoin ETFs attracted $337 million in inflows, while ETH gained $116 million
- Coinbase has launched tokenized stocks on its Base platform
- Hyperliquid’s HyperEVM achieved a new all-time high in revenue
- The FWAIR PFP drop caused a significant spike in gas fees on Ethereum, resulting in over 16,000 transactions
🏛️ Coinbase Launches Tokenized Stocks on Base
On Monday, Coinbase launched its tokenized stocks on Base, starting with fractional shares of companies like Apple and Nvidia. Users outside the U.S. can now hold real equity in a self-custody wallet, trade it on Aerodrome, or use it as collateral on Aave. The AERO token surged by more than 13% on this news.
Each token represents an actual share held by Alpaca, a regulated broker and custodian, granting holders a direct claim on the share rather than just a derivative. This system is built on a token standard known as B20, which manages dividends and stock splits without altering token balances. This ensures that open lending positions or liquidity pools remain intact when companies like Apple disburse dividends.
Why are tokenized stocks on @base significant? https://t.co/tGSIrVrWYU pic.twitter.com/2jHJwDagyo
— jesse.base.eth (@jessepollak) August 24, 2026
This marks the second instance in a week where a U.S. company has rolled out a product unavailable to American users. Earlier, Coinbase introduced perpetual futures on its Base App via Hyperliquid, restricting access to users in the U.S., U.K., and Canada. Last month, Robinhood launched its own layer-2 chain, which included tokenized stocks available in over 120 countries but not in the U.S.
Vlad Tenev, Robinhood's CEO, has been vocal in urging U.S. policymakers to revise regulations, stating it would be peculiar if the world develops ownership models around American assets while U.S. citizens are sidelined. The SEC currently has a tokenized-stock exemption pending, while its new Regulation Crypto Assets proposal focuses on token fundraising rather than equity tokenization.
Despite regulatory uncertainties, Coinbase is moving ahead with its plans. The Base platform anticipates the introduction of more Coinbase-issued stocks and other real-world assets in the forthcoming weeks. While the infrastructure is ready, regulatory clarity remains elusive. Time will tell if U.S. regulations catch up before offshore versions become the norm.
🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets
- Crypto majors are performing well, with SOL in the lead; BTC up 2% at $79.1k; ETH steady at $2,480; SOL rising 5% to $99; HYPE increasing by 3% to $80
- Notable altcoin increases include STX (+8%), INJ (+8%), SPX (+3%), and JUP (+4%)
- Oil prices fell by 2% to $82.60; Gold remained steady at $4,690
- Stock futures are on the rise; DOW up 0.4%, Nasdaq up 0.8%
- Stand With Crypto endorsed 32 House incumbents for the midterms, a bipartisan list featuring Tom Emmer, Glenn Thompson, Bryan Steil, and Democrats Jim Costa and Ritchie Torres
- Strategy raised $2.01 billion through MSTR share sales last week, creating a USD Cash pool of $1.59 billion, which may be used for Bitcoin purchases, maintaining its holdings at 840,447 BTC
- Strive acquired 1,110 Bitcoin for $81.5 million at an average price of $73,409, boosting its total holdings by 5.5% to 21,356 BTC
- Tom Lee’s Bitmine added 32,447 ETH valued at approximately $81 million, bringing its total to 5,847,611 tokens, remaining about 187,000 ETH short of its 5% supply goal
- OFAC designated Iran's crypto sector as sanctionable, alongside gold, technology, aviation, and shipping, allowing the Treasury to target any operator in those sectors globally
- Cosmos Labs advised validators on Cosmos EVM chains to pause their networks due to an ongoing security incident affecting users
Corporate Treasuries & ETFs
- Bitcoin ETFs recorded $337M in net inflows on Monday; ETH ETFs saw $116M in inflows
- STRC closed above $97 on Monday, marking its highest close since June 1
Meme Coin Tracker
- Meme leaders showed mixed results; DOGE down 1%, SHIB up 1%, PEPE steady, PENGU up 3%, TRUMP down 1%, BONK steady
- Robinhood chain experienced significant gains again; Cashcat surged 40% to $200M, PONS rose 32%, AI climbed 25%, and Juggernaut increased 50%; DTF debuted at $8M
- Solana leaders included Cate (+70%), Jimothy (+80%), Tiny (+12x) and CMNS (+12x); Ansem remained steady at $255M
💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker
- Hyperliquid’s HyperEVM recorded a new all-time high in daily revenue with over $500k on August 23
- Kinetiq launched Elysium as a Hyperliquid L2 using HYPE as its gas token, with half of sequencer fees allocated for KNTQ buybacks and burns
- Pumpfun reported $12.48 million in weekly protocol fees for the period from August 17 to 23, marking a 16% increase week-over-week and its second-best week since late January, burning $6.13 million in PUMP and pushing total burns beyond 16% of total supply
- Quotrons introduced tokenized equity pools on Ink, launching eight markets including NVDA, AAPL, TSLA, and SPY as Uniswap v4 pools quoted in USDG, with half of each 0.30% fee routed to Quotron terminal holders
🚚 NFT Developments
- NFT leaders remained mostly stable; Punks up 1% at 32.4 ETH, BAYC down 1% at 8.2 ETH, Pudgy down 1% at 4.25 ETH; Stonkbrokers steady at 5.4 ETH
- Quotrons (+190%), Cash Cats (+57%), and KYC (+45%) were among the top gainers
- FWAIR PFPs launched on FWA, leading to a significant increase in spinning activity, debuting at a 3.25 ETH floor (FWA valued at $30M)