Weekly Results: Ethereum Growth, Ripple's SEC Dispute Ends, and GPT-5 Launch
Date: 2025-08-12 Author: Oliver Abernathy Categories: BUSINESS
Ethereum became the growth leader, rising from $3,500 to $4,300, which is 23% higher than last week and close to the peaks of December 2021. Now the rate has corrected to $4,200, only 14% below the historical maximum. Daily transaction volumes and staking indicators reached record values: there are more than 1.1 million validators in the network and 36.1 million ETH in lockup. The impetus for growth was the initiative of US President Donald Trump, who ordered the inclusion of cryptocurrencies in 401(k) pension plans. XRP, SOL, and DOGE were also among the leaders of the week. The total market capitalization has grown to $4.02 trillion, while Bitcoin's dominance has decreased to 58.6%.
A company under the Salomon Brothers brand has announced its intention to collect bitcoins from "abandoned" wallets, citing a rule according to which property unused for 14 years can be considered ownerless. The owners of the addresses were given 90 days to confirm their rights, but the technical implementation of the initiative remained unclear. Experts called the idea legally and technically untenable, and some saw an attempt to create a precedent for future litigation.
After almost five years of litigation, Ripple and the SEC withdrew all appeals, ending a dispute that began in 2020. The court previously found that trading XRP on exchanges does not violate the law, but the placement of tokens for institutions violated securities rules. The result was a fine of $125 million instead of the required $2 billion. The completion of the trial led to an 11% increase in XRP, from $3 to $3.3, after which the price fell to $3.15.
OpenAI launched GPT-5, the first “unified” model that combines sequential reasoning and fast responses. It is capable of performing tasks on behalf of the user, including developing applications, working with calendars, and collecting analytics. GPT-5 received an improved voice mode, support for third-party services, and customization of communication. The model outperformed competitors in a number of programming tests, but showed a modest result in the comprehensive Humanity’s Last Exam. The community reaction was mixed: slowness and the persistence of previous errors were noted.
In the US, a jury found Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm guilty of conspiring to conduct an unlicensed money transfer business. There was no verdict on the money laundering and sanctions violation charges, leaving open the possibility of a new trial. Legal experts say this sets a dangerous precedent for DeFi and open-source developers.
