Selling blockspace is no longer a strong standalone business for blockchain networks, according to a new analysis from Castle Labs Research translated by TechFlow and published by MarsBit. As infrastructure gets cheaper and more interchangeable, the gap between application fees and chain-level fees keeps widening, leaving many networks with growing usage but weaker direct revenue capture. The report groups recent responses into two tracks. One is ecosystem expansion, where chains such as Arbitrum and Polygon try to earn more through infrastructure distribution, payments, and revenue-sharing arrangements. The other is product expansion, where networks such as MegaETH and Sophon move closer to the application layer and try to internalize value that would otherwise accrue to third-party builders. The piece highlights Arbitrum Stack’s revenue share from Robinhood’s L2, Timeboost’s treasury contribution, Polygon’s role in stablecoin payments, MegaETH’s first-party app strategy and USDm stablecoin model, and Sophon’s shift away from operating its own chain. The broader argument is that chains are no longer content to remain neutral infrastructure providers. More of them are trying to become ecosystem operators, application owners, or both, as they search for revenue models that can better support token value and long-term sustainability.

Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds brought in about $854 million to $865 million last week, according to Decrypt’s Morning Minute newsletter, marking their strongest weekly inflow since May and the first notably large return of capital after an eight-week stretch of outflows through June and early July. Ethereum ETFs also had a solid week, with $244 million in net inflows, which the newsletter said was roughly equivalent to $1.25 billion in Bitcoin ETF buying on a market-cap-adjusted basis. The report linked the move to a softer macro backdrop. U.S. earnings were broadly positive last week, while the July jobs report came in well below expectations, showing a loss of 23,000 jobs versus forecasts for an 80,000 gain. Unemployment still edged down to 4.1%. After that data, the odds of a September rate hike dropped from 67% to 42%. Elsewhere, major crypto assets were mostly flat over the weekend but still 3% to 4% above last week’s levels, with BTC at $65,000 and ETH at $1,916. The newsletter also tracked gains in select altcoins, token and protocol activity, Robinhood Chain assets, and a mixed NFT market, while noting fresh developments around the Clarity Act, NYSE tokenization infrastructure, MARA’s Bitcoin sales and borrowing, and Grayscale’s withdrawn ETF filings.

BlockBeats reported on August 8 that STONKBROKER, a meme coin on the Robinhood chain, briefly pushed its market capitalization past $63 million earlier in the day, setting a fresh all-time high. The price has since cooled, with market cap easing to $59.75 million, while the token still trades up 32% over the last 24 hours. Trading volume during that period reached $5.9 million, according to GMGN market data. This latest leg higher follows a string of major updates from the Robinhood ecosystem project. The team has launched a launchpad intended to incubate ecosystem projects, and Broker Box, an FWA-like feature that packages tokenized stocks into card packs, has gone live. BlockBeats noted that these updates drew attention from KOLs and the wider community, including Ansem, and helped push the token to consecutive market-cap records. Despite the strong run, BlockBeats warned that the project still carries considerable uncertainty and is subject to sharp price swings. The outlet advised users to exercise caution when investing in the token.

TokenWorks, an on-chain financial experimentation team, said it has increased the share of protocol fees used for buybacks in its Fake World Assets (FWA) product from 80% to 100%. The team also revised how repurchased tokens will be distributed: 40% will go to buyers, 30% to depositors, and 30% will be burned. At the same time, trades in the v4 pool will continue to carry a 1% fee retained by TokenWorks. The update outlines a full fee-to-buyback shift for FWA protocol revenue while keeping the existing v4 pool fee arrangement in place.

CNBC host Jim Cramer said on air that he is selling his Bitcoin after asking IBM CEO Arvind Krishna whether quantum computers could eventually break the cryptography protecting crypto holdings. Krishna said that in three to four years he would become "rather paranoid," prompting Cramer to say he would sell his coins and add that Ethereum might be "even worse." Bitcoin still rose about 1.6% on the day of the remark, and traders on Crypto Twitter quickly revived the long-running "inverse Cramer" joke. Decrypt’s Morning Minute also ran through a wide set of market updates. Major crypto assets were slightly higher while U.S. stocks pushed to fresh all-time highs, with BTC up 0.5% to $64.1K and ETH flat at $1,868. Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $211 million on Tuesday and $380 million across the first two sessions of the week, while ETH ETFs added $53 million. Elsewhere, Justin Drake and five other researchers proposed EIP-8361, a tapered issuance burn mechanism aimed at reducing Ethereum inflation as staking rises. The newsletter also highlighted Cloudflare Wallets for AI agent payments, Circle’s $701 million in Q2 revenue, Wells Fargo’s tokenized deposit plans, BitGo’s WBTC move to Chainlink, Robinhood Chain meme coin gains led by CASHCAT, and a softer NFT market.

TokenWorks, the two-person team behind NFT gacha protocol Fake World Assets, rewrote its token economics after FWA plunged to a record low and holders objected to the project’s original fee plan. The team now says it will direct up to 80% of future protocol fees to FWA buybacks and spend 327 ETH, about $610,000, to accumulate the token for a team reserve over 30 days. The change came after users realized that none of the roughly $3.2 million generated during the protocol’s first two weeks would be used for buybacks under the initial trading-launch structure. FWA fell to $0.0066 overnight before trading at $0.0083 on Tuesday, down 43% over 24 hours, according to CoinGecko. The token was also 78% below its July 26 peak of $0.03856, leaving its market capitalization near $8 million. The dispute landed as Fake World Assets’ 15-day emissions program, which distributed 30% of supply to users, ended on the same day external purchases of the token were set to open. TokenWorks later disclosed that the protocol had earned 1,735 ETH in revenue, with 63% going to the team, 30% to S02 holders, and 7% to co-developer Teto. Even after the revision, some researchers questioned whether the team’s ownership and the token’s incentive design were enough to support demand after emissions expired.

STONKBROKER, a project in the Robinhood ecosystem, hit a fresh high in market value after rolling out several product updates, according to BlockBeats. The move came as on-chain activity tied to Robinhood has dropped sharply in recent days, with BlockBeats attributing the slowdown to an oversupply of token launch platforms and competition from the BSC ecosystem for stock-meme market share. The project recently launched a new launchpad designed to incubate ecosystem projects and introduced Broker Box, a quasi-FWA feature that packages stock tokens into a card-draw format. BlockBeats said those updates drew attention from key opinion leaders and the wider community, including Ansem, helping push the token higher. Data cited from GMGN showed STONKBROKER’s market cap briefly exceeded $48 million earlier on Aug. 3 before easing to $42.8 million, still up more than 20% over the past 24 hours. That valuation places it as the second-largest project by market cap on the Robinhood chain, behind only meme coin CASHCAT at $43.32 million. Its related STONKBROKER NFT collection also reached a new high, with the floor price at 6.3 ETH. BlockBeats added that the project still carries significant uncertainty and high price volatility.

PANews has released a weekly selection of featured reads spanning crypto markets, macro developments, AI infrastructure, and on-chain trends, with Michael Saylor’s latest comment on STRC among the headline items. The roundup brings together stories on AI agent wallets, the sharp swings in South Korean equities, ChangXin Memory Technologies’ market debut, Federal Reserve policy, token valuation gaps, RWA utilization, Ethereum’s 2030 roadmap, and stablecoin competition. Among the shorter headline updates compiled by PANews, Strategy reported an $8.2 billion net loss in the second quarter while increasing its Bitcoin holdings by 11%. Coinbase posted $1.22 billion in Q2 revenue, missing expectations, and its shares fell 5% in after-hours trading. PANews also highlighted Saylor’s statement that the goal is to push STRC back to its peg around Sept. 8. Other items in the roundup included a 17% jump in South Korea’s KOSPI, SK Hynix rising more than 29%, C ChangXin’s intraday market value topping 4 trillion yuan, new token listings on Upbit and Bithumb, and ETH slipping below $1,900 with a 1.02% daily decline.