Combined

Spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tied to the payments-focused XRP XRP$3,0389 and the top meme token, dogecoin DOGE$0.2752, debuted in the U.S. on Thursday with a bang, drawing significant trading volume.

The REX-Osprey XRP ETF, listed on the CBOE under the ticker XRPR, registered a trading volume of $37.7 million, marking the largest debut volume of any ETF launch this year, according to data shared by Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.

This first-day tally outpaced the previous record holder, Dan Ives’ Wedbush AI Revolution ETF (IVES), signaling strong investor appetite for alternative investment vehicles linked to coins beyond Bitcoin BTC$116 814,85 and Ether (ETH).

XRP’s market capitalization recently surpassed that of traditional banking giant Citigroup. Furthermore, Ripple, the company behind XRP, which facilitates cross-border transactions, has applied for a banking license in the U.S.

Traders also embraced the REX-Osprey Dogecoin ETF, ticker DOJE, which generated a first-day volume of $17 million. This placed DOJE among the top five ETF debuts of the year.

DOJE’s strong performance is notable given Dogecoin’s reputation as a non-serious meme token.

The successful launch of these two ETFs follows the SEC’s decision to approve a new, streamlined listing standard for crypto ETFs, reducing approval times to approximately 75 days from 240 days.

First-day net inflow figures are expected to be released later Friday.

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Countless Reddit threads and social media posts piled up this week strongly criticizing Blizzard’s decision to add a MOBA-style draft system to Overwatch 2’s popular Stadium mode. Specifically, players were against the removal of mirror matchups where both teams can play as the same heroes.

The response in the last few days, following the launch of the new season, has been so overwhelmingly negative that Blizzard has abandoned the system less than 72 hours after implementing it. The draft mode will stay, but mirror matchups are allowed again.

“We’re grateful to everyone who tried it out and shared feedback,” game director Aaron Keller wrote on X. “As a team, one of our goals is to make the game that you want to play. This involves listening, responding, and taking those desires into account.”

Keller says the team is “still invested in creating new and unique features” but acknowledges that “not everything is just right each time.” “That doesn’t mean we’ll stop trying to innovate,” he added, “but that we’ll adapt and iterate as quickly as we can when something doesn’t land the way we want.”

What was pitched as a system to help you strategically pick your heroes in a mode where you can’t swap mid-match quickly became a reason for people to not play it all. Players argued that Stadium’s limited hero pool (compared to normal OW modes) didn’t support such a severe restriction on your hero picks. It also seemed to defeat the purpose of the mode in the first place, which is to use a set of unique powers and items to build your character over the course of a match.

Hey everyone! We’ve just disabled the mirrored Hero restriction in Stadium Draft . You’ll be able to draft any Hero you’d like, even if the enemy team has already selected them. 1/4 August 28, 2025

MOBAs like League of Legends—where drafting is a common feature—work because they have over a hundred heroes to choose from. The point is to keep teams from playing the exact same heroes every single match once a popular meta forms. Stadium, however, only has 21 heroes available.

“We have six supports. SIX. You can lose access to half your role before you even get a turn,” Reddit user Pizzabro200 wrote.

“There is nothing to be gained from drafts,” Reddit user anarchistbuzzwords said. “It only serves to force counter picking and prevent you from playing the hero you went in wanting to play.”

By removing the mirror matchup restriction, counter-picking heroes is now optional—which is, frankly, how it should’ve been in the first place. Not everyone wants to make pivotal decisions on the hero selection screen, especially in a mode all about adapting on the fly.

To Blizzard’s credit, it’s repeatedly said Stadium will be a mode full of experiments. It’s been steadfast in regularly tweaking and replacing various aspects of the mode since it launched. Even if drafts were a miss, it’s at least nice that we didn’t have to put up with them for an entire season, and that it was willing to flip the switch in the same week it introduced it.

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XRP and DOGE ETFs Smash Records with $54.7M Combined Day-One Volume

The combined fury of angry Overwatch players forced Blizzard to reverse a change it made less than 72 hours ago: ‘We’re grateful to everyone who tried it out and shared feedback’