Tom Lee: Ethereum is more like 'digital land' rather than cash.

Singapore’s DBS Bank and Citibank’s New York branch completed the first weekend U.S. dollar payment between Singapore and the U.S. on September 5 via Swift Digital Ledger, settled using tokenized deposits. DBS noted the transaction took just minutes, while traditional cross-border U.S. dollar payments typically take up to two business days. The trial aims to overcome limitations of traditional banking hours, weekends, and time zones to enable 24/7 cross-border fund transfers, with relevant use cases including cross-border e-commerce and digital services. Citigroup joined Swift’s tokenized deposit-based 24/7 cross-border payment pilot in July this year and plans to participate in building the U.S. tokenized deposit network. DBS launched its blockchain-based banking system in 2024, which includes DBS Treasury Tokens for liquidity management.

Michael Gubbins, head of Ireland’s Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB), stated that local organized crime gangs have begun renting private vaults to store crypto wallet private keys and mnemonic phrases, alongside assets such as cash, luxury watches, high-end goods, and passports. This practice was uncovered in CAB investigations and has been reported to Ireland’s Anti-Money Laundering Committee. Gubbins noted that criminal groups view crypto assets as anonymous, reducing the risk of their assets being seized, but he pointed out that crypto’s use in Irish criminal activities remains “fairly basic”, with cash still the primary funding source for illegal activities like drug trafficking. Ireland is currently preparing to implement new EU anti-money laundering rules, which will ban cash transactions exceeding €10,000 and strengthen oversight of sectors including crypto asset service providers and luxury goods retailers.

Dongcha Beating AI News Flash: Zhihu recently established Beijing Zhizhe Exploration Technology Co., Ltd., with a registered capital of 1.5 billion yuan, and Zhou Yuan, founder of Zhihu, serving as its legal representative. The new firm is wholly owned by Beijing Zhizhe Tianxia Technology Co., Ltd., Zhihu’s core domestic operating entity, and its business scope covers big data services, internet data services, AI basic software and application development, etc. Notably, the 1.5 billion yuan refers to the shareholders’ subscribed registered capital, not equivalent to Zhihu’s actual cash injection of 1.5 billion yuan. To date, Zhizhe Exploration’s paid-in capital, capital contribution method, and specific business plans remain undisclosed. The establishment of the new company comes as Zhihu accelerates its AI commercialization drive. Zhihu has expanded its AI business to areas including AI search, brand content assets, expert data solutions, and developer tools, but management previously noted that the AI business is still in the commercial verification stage and has not yet generated stable, large-scale revenue.

According to Strategy’s latest 8-K filing, the company has raised approximately $20.9 billion this year via common and preferred stock issuances, ranking fourth in U.S. stock issuance volume, behind only SpaceX, Alphabet, and Intel. Strategy recently booked a net gain of $602.8 million from selling its MSTR common stock, with $369.7 million of that used to acquire 4,603 BTC at an average price of roughly $80,318 per coin. As of August 30, the firm’s total BTC holdings stood at 845,050 coins, with a cumulative purchase cost of about $63.73 billion and an average cost of roughly $75,412 per BTC. Additionally, MSCI’s consultation on digital asset financial reserve companies will wrap up on September 30, and the market is closely monitoring whether it will adjust relevant index inclusion criteria going forward.

According to Binance Research’s latest monthly market report, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization rose 17.6% in August to $2.70 trillion, driven primarily by ETF inflows and interest rate trading. However, as the market reprices Federal Reserve policies, whether the subsequent rally can continue will depend on whether spot and ETF demand can withstand liquidity tightening pressures. The report notes that Bitcoin (BTC) rose 24.8% over the past seven days, an extreme move ranking among the top 1% of single-week gains since 2020. Historically, after the prior seven instances of similar gains, BTC rose one month later in all cases, with six of those still rising two months later, posting an average two-month gain of 18.3%. Binance Research emphasizes, however, that the sample size is limited and the short squeeze effect in this rally has been largely exhausted. On the funding front, the allocation share of crypto assets among stock asset holders rose from 64% to 72%, stablecoin allocations fell by 22%, and the proportion of traditional finance (TradFi) perpetual contract trading volume dropped from 40% to 20%. Additionally, weekend trading volume for TradFi perpetual contracts in August hit $53 billion, nearly 12 times higher than the start of the year, signaling the formation of an independent market for 24/7 cross-asset trading demand. The report also points out that as expectations for Anthropic’s listing heat up, its related pre-IPO market saw a sharp rise in August.

Bitcoin is facing multiple key macroeconomic events this week. The U.S. August PPI and CPI data will be released on Thursday and Friday respectively, while the Federal Reserve will announce its interest rate decision on September 16. CME FedWatch data shows the market currently assigns a 58.4% probability to the Fed raising rates by 25 basis points to the 3.75%-4% range. Meanwhile, Japan’s record foreign exchange intervention and potential U.S. Treasury bond sales have also become a market focus. Japan’s foreign exchange reserves have decreased by approximately $79.57 billion since the end of July, leading markets to believe Japan may sell U.S. Treasuries to fund yen interventions. Polymarket data shows the probability of the Bank of Japan raising rates by 25 basis points in September has now reached 98%. Fluctuations in the yen and carry trades could further impact global liquidity and crypto markets. On-chain data from CryptoQuant points out that Bitcoin’s recent rally has been driven primarily by the futures market, with no corresponding confirmation from spot demand. Derivatives open interest rose by approximately $2.3 billion in a single day to $27.53 billion, while spot demand remains negative, casting doubt on the sustainability of the current rally. Technically, Bitcoin closed above $80,000 on its weekly chart for the first time in several months this week, though strong selling pressure remains near the $80,000 level. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s weekly Supertrend indicator flipped to a "buy" signal for the first time since November 2025, a similar signal that emerged after the bear market bottomed in early 2023.