23rd August 2025 > > ATH for ETH, Sherrod Brown & spot XRP ETFs.

tl;dr

Sherrod Brown is an unlikely convert to the crypto cause, for reasons that one just cannot fathom. Spot XRP ETFs are heading our way, do not fumble your carefully curated bag.

Market Snap 

Market Wrap

A new ATH for ETH just shy of $4,900 gives a double-digit percentage gain over the last twenty-four hours, and a very juicy 220% return since the lows of April, proving once again that DCA is the most robust and effective strategy when applied to volatile investments.

This rally was sparked by the hapless Jerome Powell, Chair of the Fed, who spoke at Jackson Hole and seemingly opened the door to more interest rate cuts later this year. Leveraged shorts took a lot of pain, but frankly, I have zero sympathy for them. Leave them be, and let them bleed, I say.

Occasional Series – Interregnum

I know, there has been too much time off of late, but it is now August, so give me a break.

My excuse is for real – my dear friend Jason and the lovely Sam are cooking a birthday lunch for the Brighton crew today, followed tomorrow by the delightful pleasure of watching Greg Wilson do his thang on the pier.

Tip top weekend ahead. See you on the other side.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Sherrod Brown, ex-Senator

Brown, whilst Chair of the Senate Banking Committee, was a key lieutenant in Warren’s anti-freedom and anti-liberty army, attracting the ire of crypto enthusiasts globally. Pro-crypto super PAC Fairshake funded a successful campaign against his re-election last autumn – Brown was the highest profile casualty of Fairshake’s fight for the right to our privacy.

Brown will be standing again for election to the Senate, this time in Ohio. His voting record and past statements on cryptos can be seen here:

https://www.standwithcrypto.org/politicians/person/sherrod---brown?stream=business

Rather interestingly, out of 17 public statements he has made on the topic of cryptos, they have mostly been ranked as “Very anti-crypto”, except for this one, made just two days ago:

“My goal is to make sure that as more people use cryptocurrency, it expands opportunity and lifts up Ohioans and they are not put at risk.”

I wonder what caused the 180-degree pivot in this ex-Senator’s attitude towards cryptos now that he is unemployed?

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – XRP spot ETFs

A bunch of asset managers (Grayscale, WisdomTree, and others, though notably not BlackRock) all filed amendments to the S-1s they had previously submitted to the SEC in their quest to launch spot XRP ETFs. The documents will all be very similar, and I am sure that the amendments are all almost identical, penned in response to constructive feedback from the SEC as to how best to get this product launched. The timescale remains unclear, but sometime in 2025 looks a good bet to me, opening XRP up to a whole new class of investors, with obvious implications for its price action.

Trading at around 50c as recently as November 2024, that’s a 500% return in just ten months. What was I saying about DCA?