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Pop

Nintendo’s own Zurich Pop Con display reveals five Lego games are getting Switch 2 ports

by admin September 28, 2025

A number of Tt Lego games could be on the way for Nintendo Switch 2, including Lego games based on notable franchises like Star Wars and Harry Potter.

Whilst not confirmed by either Nintendo or Lego directly, an eagle-eyed fan spotted a number of classic Lego games advertised under the Switch 2 banner at Zurich Pop Con over the weekend. Of the five games included on the banner, not a single one has been formally announced for Switch 2, although all are available on the OG Switch.

Nintendo Switch 2 – Is It Good?Watch on YouTube

However, all five games included on the banner – LEGO City Undercover, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, LEGO Jurassic World, LEGO Harry Potter Collection, and LEGO DC Super-Villains – are clearly badged beneath a Switch 2 logo.

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With several other images purportedly taken at the same event, it would appear to suggest the image is authentic, leading many fans to hope a formal announcement is coming soon. Until then, of course, all we can do is chalk this up to a convincing rumour and wait for the official reveal.

If you’re looking for the best deals for Switch 2 memory cards, cases, chargers, and other peripherals like headsets, webcams and controllers, we’ve got you covered. Earlier this week, we learned Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser is set to retire at the end of the year, and will be succeeded by the company’s first female president, Devon Pritchard.

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September 28, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

U.S. Silent Hill f fans slam pitiful Steelbook allocations as missing pre-order gifts pop up on pricey eBay auctions

by admin September 27, 2025

Silent Hill f fans who missed out on Steelbook pre-orders despite ordering early are slamming U.S. retailer GameStop and speaking out against opportunist scalpers.

Players were tempted to pre-order the physical edition of Silent Hill f ahead of time by the “free” addition of a striking Steelbook case for orders placed with Amazon in the UK, and GameStop in the U.S.

However, as orders began arriving across the States this week and fans stopped by stores to pick up their freebie, it became clear that GameStop did not have nearly enough Steelbook cases to satisfy demand.

Silent Hill f Review – An Occasionally Unsatisfactory Return To Form.Watch on YouTube

“Is anyone else having trouble trying to acquire their Silent Hill f steelbook?” asked one customer. “Preordered from GameStop months ago and went today just an hour after opening and they’ve run out of all four steel boxes they had in stock. All four. Called every GameStop in a 50 mile radius and NONE other store received ANY shipment of steel boxes at all.”

“Everyone is getting the shaft,” someone responded. “Stores that even got allocation were at like 10% or less compared to their pre-order number.”

People ruin everything
byu/Plenty_Pattern_9279 insilenthill

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“I went to a GameStop earlier today as they opened, and they only got one,” commented someone else. “And I was the second guy in line. Supposedly, they should get another shipment. But it’s really stupid that there is a shortage of Steelbooks, and on top of that, online preorders require you to go in store to pick up the Steelbook. I wish Amazon US or Best Buy had the Steelbook, ’cause at least they would ship it with the game. I guess I’ll check in and see if they ever get more in the upcoming weeks.”

Other players claimed GameStop employees confirmed to them that each store received only a handful of Steelbook cases irrespective of how many pre-orders the stores logged, with some saying their local store “didn’t even get a single Steelbook…”

“I work at GameStop. We got a total of nine Steelbooks… for 30+ preorders,” explained another commenter.

If this all sounds very familiar, that’s because it is. When Silent Hill 2 Remake pre-orders began shipping in the UK in October 2024, GAME customers similarly received their game without the steelbook sweetener they’d hoped to get when placing their orders, and it took several weeks for GAME to fulfil delayed shipments. This time around, however, Konami partnered with Amazon UK to distribute the Steelbook pre-order bonus, which seems to have been more successful this time around.

What’s particularly galling for some fans, however, is the number of Steelbook cases that have made it onto online auction sites like eBay. Despite being given away for free, the collectible case is being auctioned for anywhere from $30 to $205, both with and without the game bundled alongside it.

In a thread entitled “people ruin everything” with hundreds of upvotes, one fan wrote: “What [is] really disappointed me even more was going on eBay just to see what resellers were up charging for the cases, ruining it for other people by being greedy. I know [the] Silent Hill franchise ha[s] always been expensive, I’ve gotten my fair share of games over the years, but for people to sell a case for more than market value is sickening.”

With most retailers advertising the freebie as available “while stocks last”, however, there’s very little customers can do, as demonstrated by this email response from GameStop customer care, who told one player that “even with online pre-orders, the Steelbook must be claimed in-store” and “these items are extremely limited and available only while supplies last.”

We’ll reach out to GameStop and update as/when we hear back from the retailer.

Regarding Steelbook
byu/_W01fy_ insilenthill

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Whilst slow to get going and a little cumbersome early on, I had a good time with it in Eurogamer’s Silent Hill f review, calling it “a return to form worth sticking with” and awarding it four out of five stars.

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September 27, 2025 0 comments

The Saja Boys pose at the end of a performance

Game Reviews

KPop Demon Hunters Writer Says He Used AI To Write ‘Soda Pop’

by admin September 17, 2025

OpenAI officially has a Korean office. Normally, that wouldn’t be news we would cover here at Kotaku, but KPop Demon Hunters, Netflix’s animated musical phenomenon, was apparently brought up during the generative AI organization’s launch event for its new Korean subsidiary on Monday, September 15. Vince, a prolific K-pop producer who wrote songs performed by the film’s demonic boy band group called the Saja Boys, made an appearance at the Seoul event. That’s annoying in and of itself, but he also apparently dropped the bomb that he used AI to help write the group’s infectious song “Soda Pop.”

OpenAI technical staff member Sherwin Wu said in a since-deleted tweet that Vince said he used ChatGPT to write “Soda Pop,” and that the generative chatbot “gave him ideas to make it sound ‘more bubbly.’” This occurred during an on-stage discussion with Oliver Jay, OpenAI’s Chief Business Officer. Korea Joongang Daily reports that Vince said this was an example of how AI is “already used in K-pop production,” but this is notably not a direct quote, as the original article was written in Korean and “translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools.” The publication’s original Korean article includes mentions of Vince using ChatGPT, but doesn’t call out KPop Demon Hunters or “Soda Pop” by name. We’ve reached out to the outlet for clarification.

At the moment, there doesn’t seem to be footage of Vince’s talk on the internet, but we’ve reached out to Netflix and OpenAI for comment on the situation. Based on these accounts, it sounds like Vince used ChatGPT to help ideate the song that would eventually become “Soda Pop,” but AI was not used to generate the song that appears in the film. Rei Ami, one of the vocalists behind the voices of the fictional girl group Huntr/x, has been very vocal about the real people behind every performance in the film ever since accusations of AI use have sprouted up in the wake of the film’s colossal popularity.

Even if the final song is all produced and sung by real people, fans are feeling burned knowing AI may have played any part in the creation of the film, given its worldwide success and how it’s become a poster child for people advocating for new ideas in the animation industry in the face of never-ending sequel slop. We’ll update this story if we hear back from Netflix or if Vince makes an official statement.

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September 17, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Pop Mart Unleashes Its Blind Box ‘Chucky’ Collection Just in Time for Halloween

by admin September 11, 2025

Pop Mart, purveyor of Labubu, is branching out in the world of creepy pop culture collectibles with a little help from Chucky. The blind box drop arrives September 12, timed to coincide with Halloween season and aiming to bolster the company’s roster of animation-influenced characters. At the recent San Diego Comic-Con, Pop Mart made a splash with the Monsters series Big Into Energy, Skullpanda, and Peach Riot, as well as its latest Star Wars line.

During io9’s preview at SDCC, Emily Brough, Pop Mart’s head of IP licensing in the Americas, talked about the company’s plans leading into Halloween. “We have this amazing product and these amazing characters and then we’re just extending the excitement and innovation to every touchpoint with our fans. We just love doing that and we love just continuing to bring the creativity of our characters,” she said of creating experiences around specific seasons, including the spooky Chucky release.

The Chucky collab is such a natural choice for horror fans. It will feature toy box-style packaging for various incarnations of the character throughout Don Mancini’s franchise legacy. “We like to lean in, especially in the U.S. Halloween is such a meaningful holiday, so we had a lot of fun here really leaning into that with product development,” Brough said of the Universal Pictures terror toy going mini and all in on the blind-box craze.

As someone scared of owning a 1:1 Chucky, I’m more comfortable with a miniature threat or pulling a Glen or Tiffany. “We made them kind of cute because that’s what we do. There will be more and more coming out around Halloween and some other key holidays for us,” Brough said.

We’re hoping for a second series of Chucky blind boxes because, as fans know, there are so many variants from the movies and the TV show we’d love to get our hands on—give us Phantom Chucky, the Colonel, or even more of Tiffany and Glen(da).

Brough continued, “We’re excited to bring [top IP] collaborations from beloved studios all over the world, and we’re also continuing to build out our artist roster and have the roster of artists that we work with reflect the diversity of the markets that we’re in. So we’re really, really excited to continue to bring in new artists and new IP and then extend those stories into the Pop Mart universe as well.”

As far as extending excitement for their existing licenses and their original IP drops, Brough elaborated on how the new toy titan aims to engage its audience.

“There’s so much great storytelling within all of the characters. At the core we are a pop culture entertainment company and we work with these amazing independent artists from all over the world to bring their characters to life and really bring the storytelling to life through collectible design, [but] we’re looking for ways to continue to extend their stories,” she said of the potential for their properties, such as Kasing Lung’s Labubu, to find life in other entertainment mediums.

“We’ve been doing it kind of [through] short animation for the social media channels to share a little bit more about the story of the series or the stories of the characters and every series is really building out either the story or the personality for each person. That is something that we are doing now and we’re looking forward to continuing to build out the storytelling in new and innovative ways.”

When we asked if that involves U.S. versions of the overseas pop-up and theme park offerings to meet Labubu, Brough doesn’t deny that could be in the works.

“Later this year we’ll be looking at some pop-up shop experiences, and we’ll continue to extend those out throughout not only later this year but also into next year,” she said.

As for getting immersive experiences such as Popland in the states, she added, “It’s a format that we have globally and that we’ve seen a lot of success with so we’re looking forward to bringing that to the US as well as some of those offline experiences. Popland is expanding right now, so over there in Beijing, as the offline experience, [and] we’re constantly looking for ways to extend that.”

Check out the Chucky drop in the gallery below. Buy online here or at your local Pop Mart location beginning September 12.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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September 11, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

A New Astro Bot Funko Pop Figure Is Up For Preorder

by admin September 8, 2025

If you missed out on the limited-edition Astro Bot with Protector Funko Pop that launched earlier this year, fret not: Funko has officially opened preorders for the similarly styled Funko Pop Astro Bot, which arrives on January 30, 2026. It’s not quite the same as the limited-edition model, but it gives fans another chance to add PlayStation’s newest mascot to their figure collection. Since the last Astro Bot Funko Pop sold out quickly, we’re expecting this new $15 model to be quite popular, too. Consider taking a peek at its Amazon page and preordering while you can.

$15 | Releases January 30, 2026

This upcoming 3.75-inch Funko Pop Astro Bot vinyl figure features the same mid-air pose as the sold-out, Limited Edition model. The only difference is that it sports Astro Bot’s standard white and blue design, rather than the Limited Edition’s chrome finish. While it’s not as flashy, the upshot is it matches Astro Bot’s in-game look, which is nice for those who want an authetic version of the cute platforming mascot to display. The figure comes with a display base and packaging.

If you don’t want to wait for this new Funko Pop! to launch next year, there’s a highly poseable Astro Bot Nendoroid available for $130. It’s likely a bit too expensive for all but the most diehard Astro Bot fans, but with three face plates, optional parts like a fuse, fuse lid, coin, and laser feet, it’s a deluxe choice for discerning collectors. You’ll also find a handful of Astro Bot shirts up for grabs. These are all priced at around $20, with a variety of colors available for each style. From Astro Bot taking a quick rest to a collage of the game’s most common enemies, there are some cool designs to peruse.

Astro Bot T-Shirts

Haven’t yet played Astro Bot? You can snag it for $53 at Amazon. Our glowing Astro Bot review gave it a 9/10, praising just about everything it has to offer. “Stranded in space following an attack from a googly-eyed alien, Astro’s mission is to repair their ship and rescue all 300 pals scattered across five main clusters of planets, each composed of individual levels,” wrote critic Mark Delaney. “It may be 2024’s most immersive game, and it achieves that without a line of dialogue. Instead, each level tells a story, clear as day, about where you ought to go next and what you should do there.”

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September 8, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

BTC Price Teases Rebound as DOGE, WLD, HYPE, ENA Pop: Crypto Daybook Americas

by admin September 8, 2025

By Omkar Godbole

The bearish sentiment that followed Friday’s disappointing U.S. nonfarm payroll data quickly ran out of steam over the weekend. That has allowed a few coins, including Ethena’s ENA, worldcoin WLD$1.2232, hyperliquid (HYPE) and dogecoin DOGE$0.2334, to post impressive gains in the last 24 hours.

Bitcoin BTC$112,080.20, which dropped below the key support level of $112,000 after the report, now appears to be forming a bullish inverse head-and-shoulders pattern, often a precursor to a strong rally. BTC’s mining difficulty hit a new high and Strategy (MSTR) Executive Chairman Michael Saylor hinted at additional BTC purchases.

On-chain indicators, however, paint a more nuanced picture for the largest cryptocurrency: The proportion of illiquid supply has surged to record highs, signaling holder conviction. Yet, as CryptoQuant points out, whales are offloading coins at the fastest pace since 2022.

Meanwhile, a lively debate unfolded on X regarding the health of the Ethereum blockchain. One observer pointed to August’s revenue of $39.2 million, the fourth-lowest since 2021, proclaiming, “Ethereum is dying.”

In response, Tom Dunleavy, a senior research analyst at Messari, pushed back strongly, noting that Ethereum and Solana are thriving in terms of total value locked (TVL), active addresses, transaction volume, application revenue and stablecoin activity. He emphasized that revenue alone is a misleading metric for blockchain networks, as it contradicts their fundamental goal of enabling low-friction, decentralized financial activity and could ultimately hinder ecosystem growth.

Ethena’s governance token, ENA, surged to three-week highs after StablecoinX, a treasury company linked to a synthetic dollar issuer planning a Nasdaq listing, raised $530 million saying it intended to buy the tokens. The protocol’s robust fundamentals, highlighted by seven-day revenues of $53 million — more than double those of Hyperliquid — combined with anticipated benefits from StablecoinX’s Nasdaq listing and potential Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, position ENA as a compelling investment opportunity, according to pseudonymous observer Crypto Stream.

Speaking of Hyperliquid, the layer-1 blockchain and decentralized exchange’s plans to launch its own USDH stablecoin sparked a governance battle, with the community facing backlash over a proposal tied to Stripe’s Bridge platform’s centralized influence.

On the macro front, the yen held steady against the dollar, shrugging off Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s resignation. France, meanwhile, seemed headed toward government collapse.

In the U.S., the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will release annual benchmark revisions on Tuesday, which are expected to show significantly weaker job growth earlier in the year, with some surveys suggesting that between 500,000 and 1 million jobs could be revised away. Stay alert!

What to Watch

Crypto
- Sept. 9: Shares of SOL Strategies (HODL), a Canadian company focused on investing in and providing infrastructure for Solana’s ecosystem, are expected to start trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol STKE. OTCQB trading as CYFRF will end, and shares will continue on the Canadian Securities Exchange as HODL.
- Sept. 10, 9:15 a.m.: Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould will talk about digital assets at the CoinDesk: Policy & Regulation Conference in Washington.
Macro
- Sept. 9, 8 a.m.: Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography releases August consumer price inflation data.
  - Core Inflation Rate MoM Prev. 0.31%
  - Core Inflation Rate Prev. 4.23%
  - Inflation Rate MoM Prev. 0.27%
  - Inflation Rate YoY Prev. 3.51%
- Sept. 9, 10 a.m.: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics releases preliminary annual benchmark revision to employment data.
  - Nonfarm Payrolls Annual Revision Prev. -818K
- Sept. 10, 8 a.m.: The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) releases August consumer price inflation data.
  - Inflation Rate MoM Prev. 026%
  - Inflation Rate YoY Prev. 5.23%
- Sept. 10, 8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics releases August producer price inflation data.
  - Core PPI MoM Est. 0.3% vs. Prev. 0.9%
  - Core PPI YoY Prev. 3.7%
  - PPI MoM Est. 0.3% vs. Prev. 0.9%
  - PPI YoY Prev. 3.3%
Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
- Sept. 9: GameStop (GME), post-market, $0.19

Token Events

Governance votes & calls
- Lido DAO is voting on a proposal to migrate Nethermind’s ~7,000 Ethereum validators to infrastructure operated by Twinstake, a staking provider co-founded by Nethermind. Voting ends Sept. 8.
- Uniswap DAO is voting to establish “DUNI,” a Wyoming DUNA as its legal entity, preserving decentralized governance while enabling off-chain operations and liability protections, with $16.5M in UNI for legal/tax budgets and $75K UNI for compliance. Voting ends Sept. 8.
- Uniswap DAO is voting on an updated Unichain-USDS Growth Plan to accelerate adoption through performance-based incentives and DAO-guided distribution. The proposal introduces minimum KPIs, a “no result, no reward” model. Voting ends Sept. 9.
- Hyperliquid to vote on who issues its USDH stablecoin. Major contenders include Paxos, Frax and a coalition involving Agora and MoonPay. Voting takes place Sept. 14.
Unlocks
- Sept. 9: Sonic (S) to unlock 5.02% of its circulating supply worth $46.02 million.
- Sept. 11: Aptos APT$4.3482 to unlock 2.2% of its circulating supply worth $48.86 million.
- Sept. 15: Starknet (STRK) to unlock 5.98% of its circulating supply worth $15.66 million.
- Sept. 15: Sei SEI$0.2982 to unlock 1.18% of its circulating supply worth $16.01 million.
- Sept. 16: Arbitrum ARB$0.5000 to unlock 2.03% of its circulating supply worth $46.05 million.
Token Launches
- Sept. 8: Openledger (OPEN) to be listed on Binance Alpha, MEXC and others.
- Sept. 8: OlaXBT (AIO) to be listed on Binance Alpha and others.

Conferences

The CoinDesk Policy & Regulation Conference (formerly known as State of Crypto) is a one-day boutique event held in Washington on Sept. 10 that allows general counsels, compliance officers and regulatory executives to meet with public officials responsible for crypto legislation and regulatory oversight. Space is limited. Use code CDB15 for 15% off your registration.

Token Talk

By Oliver Knight

Memecoins are showing fresh signs of life after months in the doldrums, with several popular tokens posting gains on Monday. The rally comes despite lingering skepticism following a string of celebrity-linked launches that flamed out earlier this year.
Bonk BONK$0.0₄2210, a Solana-based, dog-themed token, led the charge with a nearly 7% daily gain. Dogecoin DOGE$0.2334, the original memecoin, also climbed more than 7%, reaching $0.2335, while newer entrants like spx6900 SPX$1.3292 and pump.fun (PUMP) each outperformed the wider altcoin market.
The CoinDesk Meme Index (CDMEME) has gained 2.20% in the past 24 hours, outpacing the broad market CoinDesk 20 Index measure, which added 1.27%.
Other speculative assets, including the irreverently named fartcoin (FARTCOIN), also found buyers, adding to the sense of momentum across the sector. The rally suggests renewed appetite among retail traders for high-risk, high-reward bets after weeks of sideways action in the broader crypto market.
The rally marks a sharp turnaround for the sector, which has been depressed for months. A series of celebrity-driven launches, including TRUMP and MELANIA coins, drew headlines in recent months but quickly collapsed under the weight of poor liquidity, questionable tokenomics, and investor fatigue.
Layer-1 blockchain MemeCore (M), which is designed to cater to the memecoin sector, ignited the fuse last week, climbing 164% over a seven day period.
The wider crypto market cap is up 0.57% to $3.84 trillion as majors bitcoin BTC$112,080.20 and ether (ETH) began to lift themselves away from a critical level of support, suggesting renewed strength for the altcoin and memecoin markets as a result.

Derivatives Positioning

By Omkar Godbole

DOGE, SUI and HYPE have seen double-digit gains in futures open interest over the last 24 hours, significantly outpacing other top cryptocurrencies.
Dogecoin OI surged to 16.88 billion DOGE, the highest since July 31, validating the 7.5% surge in the cryptocurrency’s price. The token has broken out of a descending trendline characterizing the pattern of lower highs since mid-July.
BTC’s OI in USDT and USD-denominated perpetuals on major exchanges continues to hover in the recent range of 270K-290K BTC. An increase above 290K may be a harbinger of renewed price volatility.
On the CME, BTC’s standard futures OI remains at April lows while the ETH futures OI has pulled back to 1.87 million ETH from the record high of 2.2 million ETH, indicating capital outflows.
On Deribit, XRP and SOL calls trade at a premium to puts across all tenors, indicating a bullish bias. Meanwhile, BTC and ETH options signal lingering downside concerns.

Market Movements

BTC is up 0.39% from 4 p.m. ET Friday at $112,087.64 (24hrs: +0.8%)
ETH is up 0.26% at $4,328.09 (24hrs: +0.54%)
CoinDesk 20 is up 1.25% at 4,079.43 (24hrs: +1.92%)
Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is down 9 bps at 2.81%
BTC funding rate is at 0.0091% (9.9634% annualized) on Binance

DXY is unchanged at 97.73
Gold futures are unchanged at $3,651.60
Silver futures are up 0.66% at $41.83
Nikkei 225 closed up 1.45% at 43,643.81
Hang Seng closed up 0.85% at 25,633.91
FTSE is up 0.10% at 9,217.42
Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.49% at 5,344.27
DJIA closed on Friday down 0.48% at 45,400.86
S&P 500 closed down 0.32% at 6,481.50
Nasdaq Composite closed unchanged at 21,700.39
S&P/TSX Composite closed up 0.47% at 29,050.63
S&P 40 Latin America closed up 1.14% at 2,801.75
U.S. 10-Year Treasury rate is unchanged at 4.086%
E-mini S&P 500 futures are up 0.19% at 6,502.25
E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are up 0.34% at 23,764.75
E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index are up 0.11% at 45,510.00

Bitcoin Stats

BTC Dominance: 58.47% (unchanged)
Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.03853 (-0.56%)
Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 973 EH/s
Hashprice (spot): $51.88
Total fees: 3.23 BTC / $358,958
CME Futures Open Interest: 134,065 BTC
BTC priced in gold: 30.8 oz.
BTC vs gold market cap: 8.72%

Technical Analysis

DOGE’s daily chart with the Ichimoku cloud. (TradingView/CoinDesk)

DOGE’s two-day price rise has taken it past the trendline characterizing the decline from July 21’s high of 28.7 cents.
Prices now look to be crossing into bullish territory above the Ichimoku cloud, a widely tracked momentum indicator.
That would shift the focus to 25.58 cents, the Aug. 14 high.

Crypto Equities

Coinbase Global (COIN): closed on Friday at $299.07 (-2.52%), +0.81% at $301.50 in pre-market
Circle (CRCL): closed at $114.56 (-2.49%), +0.7% at $115.35
Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $23.49 (+2.53%), -0.38% at $23.40
Bullish (BLSH): closed at $52.35 (+6.81%), -0.78% at $51.98
MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $15.19 (+0.53%), +0.33% at $15.24
Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $13.29 (+0.99%), +0.3% at $13.33
Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $13.62 (0%), +1.32% at $13.80
CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $9.24 (+1.76%), +0.54% at $9.29
CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $29.45 (+0.96%)
Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $24.03 (-1.15%)

Crypto Treasury Companies

Strategy (MSTR): closed at $335.87 (+2.53%), -2.02% at $329.10
Semler Scientific (SMLR): closed at $28.12 (+0.11%)
SharpLink Gaming (SBET): closed at $14.94 (-3.21%), -0.37% at $14.88
Upexi (UPXI): closed at $6.04 (-4.58%), +2.65% at $6.20
Mei Pharma (MEIP): closed at $4.23 (-0.94%), -20.33% at $3.37

ETF Flows

Spot BTC ETFs

Daily net flows: -$160.1 million
Cumulative net flows: $54.47 billion
Total BTC holdings ~1.29 million

Spot ETH ETFs

Daily net flows: -$446.8 million
Cumulative net flows: $12.74 billion
Total ETH holdings ~6.42 million

Source: Farside Investors

Chart of the Day

Monthly purchases of bitcoin by BTC Treasury companies. (CryptoQuant)

The chart shows that companies have significantly slowed their purchases of BTC in recent months.
In August, Strategy and other firms cumulatively added 3,700 BTC to their stash, down from 134,000 BTC in November last year.
The slowdown in buying helps explain BTC’s stalled price rally.

While You Were Sleeping

EasyJet Founder Adds Crypto Trading to His Cut-Price Empire (Bloomberg): Stelios Haji-Ioannou will launch easyBitcoin this month with Uphold, saying President Trump’s election pushed crypto into the mainstream and promising lower-cost bitcoin and ether trading under his expanding “easy” brand.
Hyperliquid Faces Community Pushback Against Stripe-Linked USDH Proposal (CoinDesk): Hyperliquid’s plan to replace USDC with a native stablecoin has drawn bids from Stripe, Paxos, Frax and an Agora–MoonPay coalition, with validators set to choose the USDH issuer Sept. 14.
Crypto Exchange HashKey Plans $500M Digital Asset Treasury Fund (CoinDesk): The Hong Kong–based exchange is launching a $500 million fund targeting digital asset treasury projects, starting with bitcoin and ether, to build an institutional bridge between traditional financial capital and on-chain assets.
Russia Unleashes Largest Drone Assault of War, Setting Government Building Ablaze (The New York Times): 805 drones and 13 missiles reached Ukraine on Sunday, with 60 drones and nine missiles getting through. Debris from a downed drone set Kyiv’s Cabinet of Ministers building on fire.
Japanese Lawmakers Launch Leadership Bids After PM Resigns, Yen Sinks (Reuters): Japan’s ruling party will choose a new leader Oct. 4 after Shigeru Ishiba’s Sunday resignation, fueling expectations of looser fiscal policy and a delay to Bank of Japan rate hikes.
Javier Milei Suffers Stinging Setback in Buenos Aires Polls (Financial Times): A Peronist coalition beat Javier Milei’s grouping in Argentina’s largest province as voter anger over soaring living costs and a corruption scandal tied to his sister Karina eroded his support before October’s congressional midterms.

In the Ether

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September 8, 2025 0 comments

Pi Network, Cetus, Optimism: Cryptocurrencies to watch

Crypto Trends

Pi Coin price poised to pop? Two rare patterns form

by admin August 24, 2025

Pi Coin, the native cryptocurrency of the Pi Network, remains in a deep slumber despite the recent crypto market rally.

After hitting a year-to-date low, Pi Coin (PI) shows signs of a potential bullish reversal, forming rare chart patterns like a double-bottom and falling wedge. With low volatility suggesting an accumulation phase, the cryptocurrency could see a breakout if triggered by catalysts such as a tier-1 exchange listing, a token burn, or increased decentralization—though a drop below the double bottom would invalidate the bullish outlook.

Summary

Pi Network price has formed a falling wedge pattern on the daily chart.
Pi has also formed a double-bottom pattern at its lowest level this month.
It has numerous catalysts that may push it higher in the near term.

Pi Network price technical analysis

Pi Coin was trading around $0.3567 at the last check on Sunday, Aug. 24 — significantly lower than its year-to-date high of $3. Its market cap and daily trading volume have slumped this year.

A closer look at the Pi Coin’s12-hour chart shows that it has formed two rare unique chart patterns. The first one is a double-bottom pattern at $0.3357, its lowest level on Aug. 1 and 19. This pattern has a neckline at $0.4660, its highest level on Aug. 10. In most cases, this pattern normally leads to a strong bullish breakout.

Pi Network, a mobile-focused blockchain that allows users to mine and transact directly through a smartphone app, has also formed another rare pattern known as a falling wedge. This pattern, illustrated in the chart below in red, is drawn by connecting the highest swings since June 26 and the lowest points since April this year. The two lines are nearing their confluence, which may trigger a big move ahead.

At the same time, the volume and volatility have slumped in the past few months. That could be a sign that it is in the accumulation phase of the Wyckoff Theory. The bullish Pi Network price forecast will become invalidated if it plunges below the double-bottom pattern.

Pi Coin price chart | Source: crypto.news

Potential catalysts for Pi Coin price

The recent OKB (OKB) price surge was triggered by OKX’s announcement that it would burn tokens worth billions. Its maximum supply has now dropped to 21 million.

Similarly, all Pi Network needs is a single catalyst, which could be a tier-1 exchange listing. Such a listing would be beneficial as it would make it available to millions of users. Pi is only available on a few tier-2 exchanges like Bitget and Gate.

Another potential catalyst for the Pi coin could be a token burn mechanism that reduces the total number of tokens. Fortunately, Pi has a low-risk approach, where it burns the billions of unclaimed Pi tokens.

Pi Network price would also go parabolic if there were full decentralization. Presently, the obscure Pi Foundation controls everything and holds over 90 billion tokens.

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August 24, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Microsoft’s Windows 95 release was 30 years ago today, the first time software was a pop culture smash

by admin August 24, 2025

Microsoft’s momentous Windows 95 operating system became available to the public on this day 30 years ago. Computing enthusiasts were queuing around the block at midnight launch events. Perhaps this was the first time an OS launch became a cultural event – one that was carefully primed by the launch a month earlier, and the Start Me Up advertising campaign.

Windows 95 – Start Me Up – Promo / Commercial (High Quality 720p) – YouTube

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Other welcome features that first became mainstream on PCs thanks to the introduction of Windows 95 include; the 32-bit preemptive multitasking architecture with task bar, plug and play hardware, support for long filenames, and many more.

System requirements

To boost Windows 3.1 migrations, Windows 95’s official requirements presented quite a low bar. Users should have an Intel 386DX processor, 4MB of RAM, a VGA or better display, and make sure to have 55MB of HDD space clear for the installation process.

Recommended settings, for those hoping to make proper use of the new multitasking capabilities, and internet features like MSN and Exchange were higher. For improved usability, Windows 95 would benefit from a 486 or better CPU, 8MB of RAM, an SVGA display, as well as more storage.

It is debatable whether this was the beginning of bloat. For some context, the contemporary Macintosh System 7.5.X required about half the fixed storage of Windows 95.

You can test Windows 95 RTM in an online VM, on PCjs Machines, using the link.

(Image credit: Future)

Windows 95 launch price and success

Windows 95 originally retailed in a box with between 13 and 15 1.44MB floppy disks. You could purchase a full installation version or an upgrade for Windows 3.1 systems. A CD distribution came with a boot floppy, as you would need DOS-level CD-ROM drivers to load before install.

PC enthusiasts at the time would have had to buy a new system with Windows 95 pre-installed or cough up $209, which adjusted for inflation brings us perilously close to $400 in 2025. Just for an OS…

Despite the entry price, Microsoft’s lavish advertising budget and promotional activities paid off. Sales revenue from the release reportedly hit $720 million on day one. Also, a million copies of the OS had been shipped by day four.

In 1996, Microsoft celebrated the one-year anniversary of Windows 95’s release with the claim that it had shipped 40 million units worldwide. By then, the software company could boast of 400 PC manufacturing partners, and that 4,406 software applications were supported.

Gaming and the web

Paving the way for the success to come, it was also noted that 10 of the 11 publishers of the top 20 PC game titles were onboard with Windows 95-based gaming. Moreover, the use of the web was accelerating, with Netscape and Microsoft both releasing their new browsers on 32-bit Windows.

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August 24, 2025 0 comments