Crypto Market Update: SEC Clears Faster Path for New Crypto ETFs

Bitcoin and Ethereum price update

Bitcoin (BTC) was priced at US$113,040, trading flat in the past 24 hours. Its lowest valuation of the day was US$111,369, while the cryptocurrency’s price peaked at US$113,176 as of Wednesday.

Bitcoin price performance, September 24, 2025.

Chart via TradingView

Bitcoin’s modest losses follow last week’s Federal Reserve meeting where the Fed cut its benchmark rate by 25 basis points (to 4.00–4.25 percent) but emphasized that this was a “risk management cut.”

The unwinding produced one of 2025’s biggest deleveraging events on Monday, producing a heavy sell-off worth nearly US$1.7 billion and a near-term correction rather than an immediate risk-on rally.

Bitcoin dominance in the crypto market is 56.27 percent, showing a slight rise week-on-week.

Meanwhile, Ether (ETH) has largely held in the $4,100–$4,200 range, currently at US$4,179.13 amid similar risk-off sentiment. Notably, analysts at Citigroup still see room for ETH to rise, reiterating a year-end ETH target of about US$4,300

Altcoin price update

• Solana (SOL) was priced at US$212.53, a decrease of 3.2 percent over the last 24 hours. Its lowest valuation of the day so far was US$206.33, while its highest value was US$220.43.

• XRP was trading for US$2.88, up by 0.4 percent in the past 24 hours. Its lowest valuation of the day was US$2.81 while its highest level was US$2.89.

• Sui (SUI) was valued at US$3.40, up by 0.3 percent over the past 24 hours. Its highest price point on Wednesday was US$3.41, while its lowest was US$3.26.

• Cardano (ADA) was priced at US$0.8227, trading flat over 24 hours. Its lowest value of the day was at US$0.7976, while its highest was US$0.8258.

Crypto derivatives analytics and market indicators

Total Bitcoin futures open interest was at 721.39K BTC, equivalent to US$84.19 billion, down by 0.05 percent over four hours but up 0.19 percent over 24 hours. The perpetual funding rate for BTC was at 0.0066 percent, while the ETH funding rate stood at 0.0025 percent.

Perpetual funding rates on BTC and ETH contracts remain slightly positive but have eased in recent days, reflecting a waning bullish bias.

At the same time, a major liquidation wave struck crypto markets: over US$1.8 billion of leveraged positions (mostly long) were wiped out in a single day as Bitcoin dipped below US$112,000 and Ether under US$4,150.

Despite the setback, analyst Tony Sycamore notes that this forced sell-off could clear weak holders: a retracement into the US$100–105k “buy zone” would flush out over-leveraged traders and pave the way for a year-end rally.

ETF Data

Institutional Bitcoin demand is now outpacing new issuance. Bitwise data shows that US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows far exceed new Bitcoin supply. Monday’s (September 15) Bitcoin ETF inflows were about US$260 million versus ETH’s US$360 million, followed by an uptick to US$292 million on Tuesday (September 16).

K33 and other data providers confirm last week’s 20,685 BTC net inflow helped U. spot BTC ETF holdings reach about 1.32 million BTC. Analysts point out ETF demand continues to outpace new supply, a structural support that matters even while short-term price action hiccups occur.

Fear and Greed Index snapshot

CMC’s Crypto Fear & Greed Index has remained firmly in neutral territory over the past week, but sentiment gauges have continued to cooled from its prolonged neutral positions.

The index currently stands around 39 (fear), dipping into ‘fear’ territory for the first time in 3 weeks.

CMC Crypto Fear and Greed Index, Bitcoin price and Bitcoin volume.

Chart via CoinMarketCap

Today’s crypto news to know

SEC opens door to new wave of crypto ETFs

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has streamlined its rules for launching crypto exchange-traded funds, paving the way for a flood of new products.

Asset managers are already filing for ETFs tied to Solana, XRP, and other tokens, which could arrive as early as October. Under the new framework, issuers no longer face a lengthy case-by-case review, cutting approval times from up to nine months to as little as 75 days.

Industry leaders say this will accelerate competition and lower barriers for investors seeking exposure to digital assets.

Grayscale was first to move, debuting a multi-coin ETF just two days after the rule change. Analysts anticipate that more launches will be announced before the year ends.

Tether targets US$500 billion valuation with record raise

Stablecoin giant Tether is reportedly seeking as much as US$20 billion from private investors in what could be one of the largest funding rounds in financial history, according to a Bloomberg report.

The raise would give the company a valuation near US$500 billion, putting it in the same league as global tech leaders like SpaceX and OpenAI.

Executives say the capital would fuel expansion beyond its core USDT stablecoin, into energy, AI, commodities trading, and communications. Tether’s flagship token dominates the market with a capitalization above US$173 billion, more than twice that of its nearest competitor USDC.

The firm is also preparing to relaunch a compliant US dollar stablecoin, USAT, under the country’s new regulatory framework.

Ethereum co-founder warns against ‘closed tech’ in public systems

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has raised concerns that closed, proprietary technologies are consolidating power in ways that threaten open innovation.

In a recent blog post, he argued that closed systems across health care, identity, and civic infrastructure create environments ripe for monopolies and abuse.

Buterin urged wider adoption of “full-stack openness,” including stronger copyleft licensing that forces companies to share improvements to open-source software. He also called for transparency in hardware and biological monitoring, citing pandemic-era vaccine distribution as an example of inequality driven by centralized control.

His comments come as the Ethereum Foundation and Solana Policy Institute collectively pledged US$1 million in legal support for Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm.