Billion-Dollar Whale Rotates BTC Into ETH

Hyperliquid Gains on Binance | Sonic Labs’s $150M US Market Push

Marco Manoppo & Karon Pangestu
September 01, 2025

📢Sponsor | 💡Telegram | 📰Past Editions

Good Morning,

Markets are shifting as institutional-sized capital rotations, governance-driven expansions, and exchange rivalries redefine the balance of power in crypto.

Check out our latest episode with Neutrl!

In Today's Email:

What Matters: Billion-Dollar Whale Rotates BTC Into ETH 👀
Product of the Week: Sonic Labs’s $150M US Market Push 💰️
Charts: WLFI Derivatives Surge, Hyperliquid Gains on Binance 📈

You read and share. We listen and improve. Send us feedback at marco@launchy.app.

Narratives: Capital Rotation

For daily market updates and airdrop alphas, check out our telegram!

WHAT MATTERS

Billion-Dollar Whale Rotates BTC Into ETH

Source: Arkham

State of play: A long-dormant Bitcoin whale has resumed massive activity, shifting another $1.1B in BTC after already buying $2.5B worth of Ethereum last week.

Onchain data shows the whale is using Hyperliquid to sell BTC and accumulate ETH spot positions, with over 641,000 ETH (~$2.94B) already acquired.
Some analysts suggest the transactions may involve multiple whales or institutions rather than a single entity.
The rotation has coincided with BTC dropping 8% in the past month, while ETH gained 14%.
The ETH gain is supported by strong inflows into US Ethereum ETFs, expected to reach $4B in August.

Why it matters: Ethereum is increasingly positioned as the growth asset of choice, especially with ETF inflows accelerating.

Our take: This whale activity is less about one entity’s conviction and more about institutional-sized capital flows reshaping market balance. It signals growing confidence in ETH as both a store of value and a yield-bearing asset.

For builders and investors: Expect ETH liquidity and volatility to rise.

PRODUCT OF THE WEEK

Sonic Labs Approves $150M US Market Push

Sonic Labs has passed a $150M governance proposal to expand into US capital markets, with near-unanimous community support.

The plan involves launching an S token ETF, seeding $50M liquidity, and committing $100M to a Nasdaq PIPE that will lock tokens for 3 years.
Sonic Labs will also launch Sonic USA for compliance and partnerships and update tokenomics with gas fee burns to boost deflation.
The initiative aims to boost adoption and position the Sonic blockchain as a stronger Layer 1 player in both crypto and traditional finance.

Other cool products:

Minto, a DeFi platform for mining BTC.
10KSwap, an AMM protocol that advances with Ethereum.
Thales, a liquidity & settlement layer for prediction markets.
DragonSwap, a decentralized AMM native to the Sei Network.
Rezolut, a blockchain based trading game built on Polygon & BNB chain.

Take a peek at our referral reward at the bottom of this issue. Share this newsletter and receive our list of 500 crypto VC individuals 👇

CHARTS OF THE WEEK

WLFI Derivatives Surge Before Token Unlock

Source: Coinglass

State of play: World Liberty Financial, the Trump-linked DeFi project, is set to unlock its first WLFI tokens on Monday, releasing 20% of early investor allocations through a Lockbox process.

Ahead of the event, derivatives volume spiked over 400% to $3.13B, with Binance leading in trading and open interest.
At current pre-market prices, WLFI could debut with a fully diluted valuation above $31B, placing it near Sui, Dogecoin, and Tron.
Early backers from the $0.015 round may see ~20x returns.
Meanwhile, Trump’s holding company controls 22.5B tokens valued at over $7B, though team allocations remain locked.
World Liberty also teased an update on its USD1 stablecoin.

Our take: With a $31B FDV before spot trading even begins, the project risks becoming more about momentum than fundamentals.

Hyperliquid Gains on Binance

Source: The Block

State of play: Hyperliquid is rapidly gaining ground in derivatives trading, with its volume reaching nearly 14% of Binance’s share, up from 8% earlier this year.

The decentralized exchange now commands about 80% of perpetual protocol market share and has processed over $200B in recent months.
Its success stems from fair tokenomics, strong liquidity, crosschain support, and user experience comparable to centralized platforms.
Sustainability will depend on whether it can scale without losing performance.

Our take: Hyperliquid’s rise shows DeFi can rival CEXs when liquidity, UX, and fairness align.

QUICK BITES

Tron cuts network fees By 60% amid stablecoin boom.
Japan Post Bank eyes 2026 rollout of DCJPY deposit token.
Elon Musk's lawyer to chair Dogecoin treasury raising $200M.
Pump.fun spends over $62M on buybacks to boost PUMP price.
WLFI derivatives volume jumps 400% ahead of first token unlock.
Sonic Labs passes $150M proposal to expand into US capital markets.
Metaplanet buys $112M worth of BTC; total holdings reach 20,000 BTC.
El Salvador splits BTC holdings between 14 addresses to 'enhance security.'

NOTEWORTHY READS & MEME

Jakob’s read on The Yield Gap.
Coinmetrics’s read on Layer-1s Vertical Analysis.
Trepa’s thread on Making Predictions the Smart Way.

> 2.5M in VC funding
> mission: “help humanity remember and unlock the power each individual holds within themself"
> so basically horoscope but with AI
are we in a bubble..?
— NIK (@ns123abc)
5:21 PM • Aug 31, 2025

If you enjoy reading this issue, please consider subscribing. It takes 1 minute of your time, but it would mean the world to us 🙇

Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.