Blockchain Capital general partners Aleks Larsen and Spencer Bogart said in a recent Bankless podcast that crypto is moving out of its infrastructure-heavy phase and into an application-driven one, with stablecoins, prediction markets and tokenized financial assets leading the change. They argued that abundant and cheap block space has set the stage for broader onchain adoption, while value capture is beginning to migrate from base infrastructure to the application layer. The pair pointed to several signals. In their view, the current token bear market has unfolded alongside unusually strong catalysts, including the GENIUS Act and a clearer path for the Clarity Act, as well as deeper engagement from traditional financial institutions. Larsen compared crypto’s current position to the internet in 2003-2004: broadband had arrived, but the mobile-led inflection was still ahead. He said consumer-ready tools such as embedded wallets, social recovery and passwordless login only became usable in the last two to three years. Bogart also said application-layer fees surpassed infrastructure-layer fees for the first time in 2025, a shift he sees as evidence that crypto is entering a “fat apps” era. On tokenization, he said stablecoins are already proving how onchain dollars can deepen liquidity for lending and trading protocols, and argued tokenized equities could follow two tracks: easier market access and stronger composability. He added that traditional finance and permissionless DeFi do not need to fully merge to coexist on public blockchains.

Bitcoin extended its decline to a sixth straight day and briefly fell below $63,000, touching roughly $62,800 for the first time since Aug. 3, while also losing its 200-week moving average near $64,000. Analysts cited in PANews’ market note said the chart damage matters: Ash Crypto warned that the last comparable break of the daily trendline was followed by a decline of about 20%, putting fresh focus on whether the $60,000 area can hold. Benjamin Cowen added that mid-August through mid-October has historically been a weaker seasonal stretch for BTC, with average drawdowns of around 10% to 11% in August and about 8% in September. At the same time, volatility has compressed to an extreme. Bitcoin’s 30-day trading range narrowed to just 5.6%, one of the tightest readings on record, while roughly $1.29 billion in BTC options are approaching expiry with a max pain level at $64,000. The report also pointed to broader cross-asset signals, including U.S. inflation data, ETF flows, crypto-linked equities, and Asia market moves, as traders wait for a directional break.

Blockchain Capital general partners Aleks Larsen and Spencer Bogart told the Bankless podcast that crypto is moving out of an infrastructure-heavy phase and into an application-led one, arguing that the shift is already visible in fee flows, user behavior and institutional interest. They said stablecoins have become the first large-scale real-world asset success in crypto, creating deep on-chain liquidity that feeds lending venues, exchanges and other protocols. Spencer Bogart said Blockchain Capital was the only venture firm to invest in Tether, Circle and Paxos a decade ago, and he now believes the stablecoin market, currently around $300 billion, could grow into the trillions by 2030. The two investors also argued that tokenized equities could follow a two-step path: access first, then composability. In their view, one branch of the market will favor permissionless wrappers such as SPV-based structures, while another will lean on regulated ownership rails that institutions can actually hold. They linked that broader trend to a structural industry change: in 2025, application-layer fees surpassed infrastructure-layer fees for the first time, after more than 70% of user fees had gone to infrastructure in 2021. Larsen compared crypto’s current position to the internet in 2003 or 2004, after broadband became available but before mobile drove the curve sharply higher.

On August 9, BlockBeats reported that on-chain analyst Ai Yi (@ai_9684xtpa) detected a notable MKR move from an Ethereum ICO whale. This whale participated in the 2015 Ethereum ICO with 40,000 ETH. Between September 2018 and May 2019, the address withdrew 7,020.84 MKR at an average price of $828.92 per MKR token, putting the total value of the withdrawal at $5.81 million. More than seven years later, the wallet finally made its first transfer: it sent 3,510.42 MKR, exactly half of what it had withdrawn, to a new address. The transferred MKR was worth approximately $4.41 million at the time of reporting, which left an unrealized gain of roughly $1.506 million on that portion. Ai Yi also noted that the transferred tokens have not been further transferred or sold. After this move, the wallet still holds 3,510.42 MKR — the remaining half of the original withdrawal — with no additional transactions detected.

An address tied to the Ethereum ICO has transferred 3,510.42 MKR, worth roughly $4.41 million, to a new address after remaining dormant for seven years. The tokens had been received by the address between 2018 and 2019, according to on-chain monitoring tool Ai Yi. The move has drawn attention from the crypto community as the destination of the funds remains unclear.

On-chain monitoring picked up movement from an early crypto whale tied to 40,000 ETH from the 2015 ICO era. According to the tracked data, the wallet accumulated 7,020.84 MKR between September 2018 and May 2019 at an average withdrawal price of $828.92, for a total value of $5.81 million. After holding the position for more than seven years, the whale moved 3,510.42 MKR to a new address for the first time about four hours ago. The transferred tokens were valued at roughly $4.41 million at the time of the move, representing an unrealized gain of $1.506 million based on the monitored cost basis. The tracked address has not moved the remaining tokens out, and no sale has been observed so far. The update was cited by ChainCatcher and attributed to on-chain analyst monitoring.

An ancient Ethereum whale linked to the 2015 ICO has made its first MKR transfer in more than seven years. On-chain analyst Ai Yi said the address participated in the 2015 ICO with 40,000 ETH. Between September 2018 and May 2019, it withdrew 7,020.84 MKR at an average price of $828.92, then worth $5.81 million. About four hours before the report, the whale sent 3,510.42 MKR to a new address, a position valued at roughly $4.41 million with unrealized gains of about $1.506 million. The tokens moved to the new address have not been transferred again or sold so far. Odaily Planet Daily published the on-chain data.

Blockchain Capital general partners Aleks Larsen and Spencer Bogart used a recent Bankless podcast appearance to make a broad case that crypto is moving out of its infrastructure-heavy era and into an application-driven phase. Their argument starts with token models: despite years of criticism, buyback-and-burn mechanisms remain one of the clearest ways for serious projects to align with token holders while legal rights around tokens stay uncertain, particularly unless the Clarity Act passes. From there, they framed the current market as an unusual token bear market occurring alongside constructive policy developments, including the Genius Act and a clearer path for the Clarity Act, as well as deeper engagement from traditional financial institutions. Larsen compared crypto’s current position to the internet around 2003 or 2004, after broadband improved the base layer but before mobile applications pushed usage into a steep S-curve. In his telling, Solana’s early scaling path in 2020 and the broad adoption of Layer 2 networks by 2024 created the equivalent of cheap, abundant block space, while consumer-grade tools such as embedded wallets and social recovery only became usable in the past two to three years. Bogart added that the clearest sign of the shift is economic: in 2021, more than 70% of user-paid fees went to infrastructure, but in 2025 application-layer fees surpassed infrastructure fees for the first time. He also argued that stablecoins, now around $300 billion in market value, have become the first truly successful RWA category, locking capital on-chain and feeding lending and trading activity. Tokenized equities, he said, could follow through two waves: access first, then composability.