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Ethereum Whales Return With $213 million ETH Purchase, What's Happening?
NFT Gaming

Ethereum Whales Return With $213 million ETH Purchase, What’s Happening?

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With the broad cryptocurrency market showing signs of a brief rebound, whales appear to be exiting the market regardless. 

On August 27, on-chain monitoring company Whale Alert reported a massive Ethereum deposit in a mysterious move that appears to be an attempt to sell.

The major ETH transfer, which happened in a matter of minutes, saw a total of 33,622 ETH flow into the U.S.-based crypto exchange Coinbase. Although the transfers were made in two separate transactions, the total ETH moved in both transactions was worth over $213 million, per data provided by the source.

Following the nature of both transfers, they have been perceived as a major sell attempt from Ethereum whales, as large crypto deposits to crypto trading platforms are pointers to massive selling sprees from high-profile investors or institutions.

Massive ETH dump from whales

It is not uncommon for transfers like this to be executed during moments of high volatility and broad market dips where investors look to secure their capital and avoid major losses. However, these massive Ethereum transfers were spotted when the market was experiencing a sharp rebound in the prices of cryptocurrencies, including leading altcoins like Ethereum, XRP, and Solana.

As such, it appears that long-persisting market correction has seen investors’ confidence go weak, and whales are taking decisive efforts to dump their holdings. Hence, large investors are increasingly spotted selling off their stash in preparation for the supposed bear phase.

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After multiple days of trading sideways, the market has seen a brief resurgence in the price of Ethereum, flipping from a low of $4,501 to a high of $4,656 within the same day.

While the large ETH deposits to Coinbase in the last hour may not have affected the price performance of the asset during the period, commentators suggest that the move might be mere strategic portfolio redistribution from institutions.

With bearish concerns increasingly lingering within the crypto ecosystem in the past days, investors are worried that bears might be taking over the market, leading to deeper plunges in the prices of cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin and Ethereum, which are renowned for their dominance in the crypto market.

Source: CoinMarketCap

Nonetheless, Ethereum has remained stable on the upside since the time of the transfers, according to data showcased by CoinMarketCap. With Ethereum trading steadily at around $4,642.01, it has surged by nearly 3% in the last 24 hours.



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Shiba Inu Forms First Major 2025 Golden Cross, What's Next?
NFT Gaming

Shiba Inu Forms First Major 2025 Golden Cross, What’s Next?

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Shiba Inu has formed a golden cross on its daily chart, the first such occurence in the year 2025, as SHIB saw a death cross on its one-day chart in February this year. The short-term moving average 50 has crossed above the long term moving average 200, resulting in a bullish golden cross.

While Shiba Inu has formed moving average crossovers on the hourly or 4-hour time frames, the newly created golden cross is the first such on the daily chart this year. With this newly created bullish signal on the Shiba Inu charts, the market awaits where the dog coin will go next.

SHIB/USD Daily Chart, Courtesy: TradingView

The broader cryptomarket is seeing continued profit taking, with major cryptocurrencies reversing early gains.

Shiba Inu fell for three straight days from Aug. 22, when it saw a sharp rise from $0.000012 to $0.0000135. The drop hit a low of $0.00001183 from where Shiba Inu sharply rebounded in yesterday’s session.

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At press time, SHIB was up 2.16% in the last 24 hours to $0.00001249, with its market cap rising to $7.36 billion.

What’s next?

Shiba Inu last saw a golden cross on its daily chart in November 2024, which was followed by its price skyrocketing to $0.00003344 on Dec. 8, 2024. Around the time of the golden cross formation then, Shiba Inu was trading around $0.000018, with the move marking a nearly 85% increase.

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The market will be watching to see if history repeats itself as Shiba Inu displays a golden cross on its daily chart. If this is the scenario, an 85% increase would imply a target of $0.000023 if taken from the current Shiba Inu price.

In the event of a price drop, support is envisaged for Shiba Inu at $0.000011 and then at $0.00001.



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What's Next For Overwatch 2? Blizzard Shares Future Plans, Why Story Missions Fell Apart, And More
Game Updates

What’s Next For Overwatch 2? Blizzard Shares Future Plans, Why Story Missions Fell Apart, And More

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Without being hyperbolic–and as someone who has been an on-and-off again Overwatch fan since the original game’s release back in 2016–I don’t mean it lightly when I say that I believe Overwatch has never been better.

I’ve critiqued the series quite a bit throughout the years. In my Overwatch 2 review, I wrote at length about how it felt “detached from the principles and charm of the original,” was seemingly struggling to retain its identity, and how its new monetization models felt disingenuous and “at odds with the spirit of the original Overwatch.” Harsh words, yes, but I meant them. I was frustrated by what one of my all-time favorite games had become, and worried that I’d be chasing the same bliss I felt playing in 2017 endlessly and to no avail.

So, with all that said, how did we get here?

I recently had the opportunity to discuss the state of Overwatch 2 with game director Aaron Keller and associate game director Alec Dawson in an exclusive interview for GameSpot, and it seems a lot of this dramatic turn-around boils down to two things: an increased emphasis on responding to player feedback, and a sharp pivot away from the “conservative” mentality the Overwatch 2 team once clung to. The result is a vastly improved game that is taking big swings with more efficiency.

Be it Stadium mode, Perks, the inclusion of heroes with never-before-tried mechanics, map voting, hero bans, or one of the many other tweaks and additions made to the game, Blizzard is not shying away from shaking up Overwatch 2’s core gameplay loop; Season 18 is no exception. And according to Keller and Dawson, all these changes are just the beginning of the studio’s push to “explore how big” Overwatch can become.

GameSpot: A lot of changes have happened this year in Overwatch 2, so I would love to start by unpacking that with you both. How do you think things are going? How are you feeling about the overall health of the game?

Keller: When you look at the way that 2025 has gone for the game, we’ve done a lot of big releases. Earlier this year, we released our Perk system, which was a pretty substantial game mechanic that changed the way moment-to-moment gameplay can happen. It gave players more strategic choices that they could make over the course of a match and put more emphasis on what a hero can do and [fulfilling] that power fantasy.

In Season 16, we released Stadium. It’s probably the biggest new game mode we’ve ever introduced to the game and there was a lot of player excitement there. We’ve done a lot of other things, too. We introduced hero bans this year. We introduced map voting this year. We’ve introduced a new hero as well, with another one soon to come.

A lot of players are now telling us that this is the best state that Overwatch has ever been in and we think that some of that is because we’re making bigger changes to the game than we typically would have in the past. If you look back on the history of Overwatch, you could say that maybe we’re a little bit conservative, but we have a new mindset and a new vision for how we operate the game. [We want] to be taking bigger swings and bigger bets with Overwatch, and I think you’ll see that when we get to Season 18.

That’s great to hear. Touching on that, I would love to hear a little bit more about what’s coming tomorrow in Season 18.

Dawson: We look at Season 18 as sort of the next steps for a number of the big swings we’ve taken this year. There’s around 60 new Perks that are brand new–every hero gets [a refresh]. Quick play is coming to Stadium, and then you have four new heroes coming: Brigitte, Winston, Farah, and then Tracer.

A lot of what we’re doing in [Season] 18 [stems from] evaluating what’s in the game currently and evolving it in some way and/or even revamping it. Our progression system is a great example. It’s been one of those things that’s been in the game for a bit now, but there’s a lot of screen space that players weren’t really caring about; a lot of bars going up, a lot of things you’re leveling up. We want to simplify it–make sure it’s a lot more visible, make sure it’s a lot more surfaced.

Keller: We are doing a total revamp to our progression system. When you looked at our progression system before, it kind of just felt like there were just a bunch of bars going up all the time. It was pretty complex and so we’ve simplified it. But the exciting thing about it is that, not only is it easier to understand, but it has a lot of cool new rewards too.

There’s a whole rewards track where you’re updating things like emotes and Play of the Game [intros]–even loot boxes and legendary loot boxes. There’s a whole Ascended State where you get a really cool icon with VFX on it that lets you and other players know just how much time you’ve put into each one of your heroes. We have a new Hero [Skill Rating] system coming out, so you’re going to know how good [you are] not just at a [particular] role, but how well you play each of your heroes in Competitive. You can see which ones you’re better at, and which ones you’re worse at. We also have a new advanced hero info panel, where you can look up stats on what all of the different heroes do.

We’re bringing Stadium to Quick Play, which is one of the biggest requests that our players have for the mode, and that’s coming with cross-play enabled. We have four new heroes coming to Stadium, a new game mode, Payload Race, and two brand new maps for it. You mentioned Wuyang, our new support hero, is coming, and we have changes to Roadhog too. Lucio Ball is back–this time in third-person–and there’s mouse and keyboard support coming to console.

We even have [things] on the cosmetic side. Kiriko’s getting this skateboard emote [that lets her] travel around the maps riding a skateboard. The Mythic [Character] skins and Mythic Weapon skins are really cool this season… It’s a huge update to Overwatch. This is going to be one of the biggest seasons we’ve ever had for the game.

Is this the biggest update in terms of sheer content? Because I feel like, based on what you’re saying, I don’t know if there’s ever been an update quite this big.

Keller: I don’t want to jump into hyperbole and say like this is the biggest one coming, but man, it’s… it is big.

Dawson: There’s truth to that, though, to some degree. I think our team has been getting better and better about structuring our seasons to where, now, we can create some really big beats. Season 9 felt like a big change in the game, and then they went to Season 12 which had Juno and a bunch of competitive updates. 15 and 16 [added] Perks and Stadium. And now 18, is another massive update for Overwatch. We’ve been getting a lot more efficient and a lot better at planning over time, which has led to these big moments for Overwatch. [We can now] decide, like, “Hey, how do we want to change the game for the middle of the year?”

I can sense that. Even with your newest hero, Wuyang–he feels extremely different.

Keller: Yeah, there’s a lot of unique mechanics and abilities with Wuyang that I just think it’d be great to touch on. He can surf on his own private wave and cruise around the map. He gets this speed boost with it, too, and is able to jump over gaps and things like that. He can use his staff to create this wave of water in front of him that knocks down enemies, and can turn himself or allies basically into ticking time bombs by imbuing them with water. But what I’m most excited about with Wuyang is his primary fire. He shoots out this orb, and you can kind of do it rapid fire, but at any moment, you can also take control of it and steer it, turning it into a guided missile. Even if they take cover, you can actually bend it around a corner. There’s some skill expression here. It takes a little bit of practice to actually be able to do it, but once you get it, it feels so satisfying.

Dawson: I think he’s one of the best support heroes we’ve ever made. He’s an example of what a support is in Overwatch 2, where you can have a ton of impact through your offense and can make game-changing plays. Wuyang is dynamic in the sense that he has to go from offense to defense quite quickly. All of your attention is gonna be on the primary fire, landing some of those shots, and tracking people down, but then you have these defensive options that you’re going to [need to] be really timely with. His guardian wave is this big wave that gives healing and gives heal boosts–it can change the fight instantly.

I think players are going to really love him. I know we’re not supposed to play favorites, but he’s a joy to play with and I think he’s really special.

I think he’s also one of the first heroes where his skills and powers feel almost more magical rather than technological, right? I feel like Overwatch historically has always leaned more into tech rather than magic. Was that a conversation that had to be had when developing him?

Keller: Oh yeah, and we have those conversations all the time. We had those conversations a lot with both Hanzo and Genji, you know, because when they summon the dragon, that feels like a pretty magical thing there as well. We do have our own internal explanations for that that we’ll actually get into at some point with our players, but we’re not quite ready to yet. I guess all I can really say right now is that Overwatch is a science fiction game, and so there is an explanation behind the way those work.

At this point, do you feel like you’re still fighting that initial nature of being conservative? Like you both said, for a long time, Overwatch was more conservative. Are you still fighting that hesitation or is it like, “Nope, we’re all in”?

Keller: I think the team has left a lot of the hesitation about being conservative behind. The question for us really is, how big do we go with releases for Overwatch? Because there’s two sides of this coin. There’s an active player base that really appreciates the way that the game plays right now, you know. But we also see that, anytime we do make a big release for the game, players respond to it really positively.

So we want to keep going big. I think what we want to do is explore how big we really can go for Overwatch. And I think as we hit seasons like 18 here, and we see players’ excitement, that gives us the confidence to know this isn’t just the right direction–this is something that we can expand on in the future. We can keep pushing the boundaries of what a release for Overwatch can be.

With the implementation of Stadium, did you see a spike in people playing Overwatch 2? If so, how is retention following that?

Keller: There was a huge spike of people jumping into Stadium when it first came out. I think we went public at one point saying that over 50% of play hours in Overwatch were in Stadium. And when we do have new modes for the game, we do always see that initial burst of excitement and then it’ll kind of taper off after that. And Stadium did taper off, but not to the extent that our other modes have. It’s still, I think, our third most popular mode in the game right now, just behind Quick Play and Competitive.

Dawson: We view Stadium as one of the main ways to play Overwatch, and Season 18 as almost Stadium’s 1.0 launch. A lot of players are clamoring to have Quick Play in there. They’re clamoring for something that’s a little bit more brief and doesn’t have a rank associated with it. So with Quick Play, it’s a best-of-five round structure and you power up your hero even faster as well.

And then the other main piece of feedback from players is, “Hey, my favorite hero isn’t here.” So we’re continuing to release new heroes into Stadium. We’re going to be doing that throughout the rest of the year and there’s four this season who I’m really excited about. Tracer in particular. I think… She’s a little wild.

Keller: I’m super excited about Winston jumping into Stadium. I love playing as him and using his mobility. Sometimes with Winston, you just feel like you’re holding down primary fire a little bit too long to actually be doing what you want to do. [With Stadium], you can really juice his gun and it feels so satisfying.

How did you land on those four heroes and what are some other heroes who you see people clamoring for and are on the docket? If you can’t say right now, can you share what gameplay styles you’re focused on bringing in?

Keller: There’s a lot of things we look at when we’re looking at heroes for Stadium. First and foremost is how well we feel like we can make a really cool set of abilities for them. We want every hero in there to really double down on “hero fantasy.” We want to make sure that comes across to our players.

For the first few seasons of Stadium, we really tried to have at least a few heroes per role. Eventually, I think we’re going to have to break that pattern and start moving into other patterns. I think we’ll start seeing, you know, maybe different numbers of heroes coming to Stadium with different role ratios.

We want to make sure that heroes that we know a lot of people play are available there. Like Alex said, you know, we have a lot of people saying things like, “Hey, I’m just sitting on the sidelines, waiting for my hero to join the cast.” So we want to make sure that we’re opening up that funnel.

There’s also a few heroes we’re avoiding, you know? Like Widowmaker, who is a controversial hero that’s designed around a one-shot [kill]. I think that there’s probably some learnings we need to do with how we build those heroes–how we build counters for some of the sharper mechanics.

There was a recent IGN article in which you said that you’d “dropped the ball with story in Overwatch 2,” and I thought that was interesting to bring up this far removed from the announcement of PvE being dropped. So do you have plans to course-correct going forward?

Keller: Yeah. When you look back at the history of Overwatch, there are moments where there was more or less lore–where we were developing more or less story for players. And one of the things that we hear from our community–and we’ve been hearing it a lot lately–is that they just want there to be more of that in the game. That it feels like we’re doing less of it.

So I think I’m actually really excited for the Wuyang hero trailer to come out and for people to get a glimpse at that hero and maybe how they tie into the bigger, broader universe. It’s something that I can’t really go into a lot right now, but I’m excited for players to be able to get in touch with more lore over the coming seasons this year.

Based on that, do you plan on having more heroes come from similar factions or the same countries? I know that, for a while there, there was more avoidance since you’re trying to represent a lot of different backgrounds. But at the same time–and with the lack of PvE–do you find yourself thinking “Well actually let’s add this person’s best friend and have more storytelling through voice lines?” Or “Let’s try to add folks from the same factions.”

Dawson: Yeah, there’s a delicate balance to it. We don’t want to make it feel like heroes are appearing out of nowhere and like [players always have] this brand-new thing to learn. I think we’ve created a universe over quite some time that is very rich with tons of different characters from different factions, and we want to lean into that more and more.

Even some of the things you saw in the Freya story trailer earlier this year link back to some of the things we’ve already built in the world. We want to make sure that we’re pulling from that world because there are characters that people have only gotten glimpses of, that they love, or that could end up as heroes one day.

Keller: As far as where our heroes hail from, we do still like to spread heroes out across like all over the globe. That’s a really important value that we’ve got. We do like our heroes to feel like they represent Earth, but not in the strictest sense. We don’t have 40% of our heroes from China and India, which is maybe what a true representation of the global population would be.

Has the team considered any other avenues for more large-scale storytelling? I’m sure you see the success of series like Arcane and Castlevania on Netflix, and I wonder if that has been something that you’re interested in pursuing.

Keller: The team would love to have something like that come out. You know, we’re also fans of those shows and fans of those universes. To have something like that for Overwatch would be really, really cool. But I can’t really discuss the plans for future stuff like that.

I completely understand. I just ask because it’s something that I want to manifest into the universe. But on the subject of Overwatch’s story–and now that we’re a little bit more removed from what happened–do you want to go into a little bit more detail on why things didn’t really work out with story missions?

Keller: I know Blizzard holds their cards kind of close to their chests sometimes. But I don’t think we really saw the critical success that we wanted and it forced us to really analyze where we were putting our time and resources. At the end of the day, what we’ve been telling our players is that we want to make the game that they want to play. And the game that our players have been playing is this competitive, PvP-focused hero shooter. We really realized that that was the game that we needed to invest our time into.

Following the release of our sole campaign, we did a really big pivot internally on the team. We wanted to focus on what it means to be a best-in-class hero shooter. What are the competitive systems that we need in order to do that? What are some of the other systems?

In the year since that, we’ve focused on evolving the game our players play–on how we turn it into the best version of Overwatch it can be. That’s why we started doing these much bigger systems, like Perks and Stadium. Now that we’ve corrected the course, it gives us the opportunity to make bigger steps with the game. And some of those are things that players are asking for, but then some of them are really big surprises. That’s the future for Overwatch right now.

The above interview has been lightly edited for clarity, readability, and brevity.



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Trey Hendrickson-Bengals contract dispute: What's next?
Esports

Trey Hendrickson-Bengals contract dispute: What’s next?

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  • Ben SolakAug 25, 2025, 06:15 AM ET

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      Ben Solak joined ESPN in 2024 as a national NFL analyst. He previously covered the NFL at The Ringer, Bleeding Green Nation and The Draft Network.

In a not-so-distant future, sportswriters around the country might be tasked with writing a quick summary on the Bengals’ trade of star edge rusher Trey Hendrickson. To help them with that mad scramble, I have written two ledes (that are free to copy, word for word). Here is the first:

After consecutive seasons missing the playoffs, the Bengals continue reloading their roster, trading away a 30-year-old pass rusher after a peak season.

And here is the second:

Despite contending aspirations, the Bengals refuse their sack leader’s contract request, weakening their struggling defense via a last-minute trade.

Are either of these good ledes? No. But both could stand atop a quick summary of a potential Hendrickson trade and hold equal truth, depending on the spin the author wants to give.

There’s no end in sight for the contract dispute between the 30-year-old Hendrickson and the Bengals, which is sparking more trade rumblings. It has gone on for so long and taken so many turns that it bears recalling how it came to this point, explaining why both sides are right(ish) and trying to figure out what will happen next.

Jump to a section:
How much has actually changed?
How big could a Hendrickson extension be?
How much trouble is this defense in?
Which teams could trade for him?
What’s the most likely outcome now?

How did we get here?

This Hendrickson contract dispute really started two years ago. At the time, he was halfway through a four-year, $60 million deal he had signed as a free agent in 2021.

When Hendrickson signed that deal, he was coming off his first year as a starter for the Saints, racking up 13.5 sacks in 15 games. The Bengals rewarded him with a long contract, but in typical Bengals fashion, it came with minimal guarantees. Only $16 million of his $60 million contract was guaranteed at signing. Compare that to the other edge rushers who signed deals in that 2021 offseason: Carl Lawson, who Hendrickson replaced in Cincinnati, was given a three-year deal worth $45 million by the Jets, of which $30 million was guaranteed; Shaquil Barrett got a four-year, $68 million deal from the Buccaneers with $34.5 million guaranteed; and Bud Dupree left the Steelers for the Titans and signed a five-year, $82.5 million contract with $35 million guaranteed. This was the going rate for a 26- to 28-year-old second contract edge rusher at the time.

These deals are significant not just for the difference in guarantees, but what happened next: Hendrickson outperformed them all. Dupree struggled in Tennessee and was released after two seasons. Barrett was an All-Pro in the first season of his extension, but regressed thereafter, only making one Pro Bowl in the next five seasons. Lawson ruptured an Achilles tendon before ever taking a snap in a Jets uniform and never returned to form.

Meanwhile, Hendrickson made four straight Pro Bowls. He missed three games in four seasons, recording 57 sacks over 65 games — just three behind Myles Garrett and 1.5 behind T.J. Watt over that stretch. As his contemporaries from the 2021 free agent class faded, other star rushers got extensions, and the edge market exploded.

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The next offseason, Haason Reddick, Harold Landry III and Maxx Crosby all got bigger deals — 32-year-olds Von Miller and Chandler Jones, too. In the spring of 2023, Rashan Gary and Montez Sweat signed deals worth over $24 million per year, while Nick Bosa reset the market with a deal worth over $34 million annually.

By the summer of 2023, Hendrickson was one of the most underpaid edge rushers on the market, and he set out to address that. He and the Bengals reached terms on a one-year extension that bumped up his APY, added $21 million in new money and guaranteed some of that money in the form of an $8 million roster bonus. That additional year is the 2025 season, but Hendrickson has said he will not play out the deal.

Structurally, this additional year is quite team-friendly (the final years of long extensions often are). In exchange for giving Hendrickson the raise he sought in 2023, as well as some guaranteed money, the Bengals secured an additional year of team control. He hits the cap for only $18.6 million this season — 10th among edge rushers. None of his base salary — $15.8 million — is guaranteed, either. That means he will only be paid by the Bengals for games he plays for the club this season — significant in the event of a midseason trade and remarkable in the event of an in-season holdout. For every week of the 18-week season Hendrickson misses, he’ll be fined 1/18th of that $15.8 million salary — $877,777.

Hendrickson is in a similar position to 2023. At that point, he had accumulated 22 sacks in 31 games with consecutive Pro Bowl appearances. This time, he has 35 sacks in 34 games (which leads the league), has added a first-team All-Pro nod to his résumé and once again dramatically outperformed his contract value. If the Bengals were willing to play ball with him then, why aren’t they now?

That question is why Cincinnati isn’t playing ball. Hendrickson already came to the team once, while under a contract that he signed, and asked for a new deal to reflect his level of play. The organization gave him that raise in exchange for an additional year of team control. Now that the Bengals are finally getting that additional year, Hendrickson wants to rip things up again? When he’s two years older? And when there’s almost no shot he outperforms his contract a third time? He would have to be setting single-season sack records to do so.

When Hendrickson signed that 2023 extension, he got more money upfront on a deal that was light on guarantees. In doing so, he gave the Bengals that additional year of team control, opting to hit the market in 2025 instead of 2024. Had he gotten banged up in the 2023 season, or if his play had fallen off, the extra financial security would have been huge. Instead, he excelled in 2023 and 2024, ascending into the upper echelon of edge rushers — and now that free agent delay is hurting his earning potential.

Has anything changed to accelerate a trade?

That’s how we got here in a general sense: unhappy Hendrickson, obstinate Bengals. How did we get here specifically? After months and months of negotiating, have the Bengals finally reached the end of their rope? Will Hendrickson be traded soon?

Probably not.

The Bengals and Hendrickson have gotten closer on an extension over the past few months. In June, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the two sides still disagreed on value and length in their contract talks. One month later, Schefter said: “The deal is in place, but there is a disagreement on the guaranteed money in the deal.”

During the Bengals’ preseason game against the Commanders last week, ESPN’s Laura Rutledge spoke to Hendrickson and reported that the two sides agree on contract length and total value, yet remain far apart on guarantees. This is not unsurprising since Cincinnati is notoriously reluctant to include guaranteed money beyond the first year of any contract extension, only making recent exceptions for Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and (to a degree) Tee Higgins.

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Still, movement on length and total value implies some degree of positive momentum. Despite the reports the two parties might be close to an agreement, why are there suddenly rumors about a trade?

The first is as a negotiating tactic. Hendrickson is staring down big fines while his teammates finish their preseason and prepare for Week 1. If his resolve is beginning to crack, maybe some rumblings that he could become a Carolina Panther will spur him to give a little ground on those guaranteed numbers.

As Burrow pointed out, the Bengals recently signed extensions in the past couple of weeks before the season: His megadeal was signed on Sept. 7, 2023; running back Joe Mixon signed his extension on Sept. 2, 2020; and wide receiver A.J. Green signed his on Sept. 11, 2015. Defensive linemen Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap were signed on the same day — Aug. 29, 2018. At the time, Atkins’ $16.3 million APY was the biggest number for a non-quarterback over 30 years old.

If the Bengals believe Hendrickson’s deal is close and needs a little extra push, perhaps they’re using the trade rumors as a final tactic of leverage. That, to me, feels like the more likely explanation.

But it is also possible negotiations have been so stagnant for so long that the Bengals are finally taking a serious look at options: They might actually trade Hendrickson. Reportedly, their asking price is steep (which is why I believe the first explanation more than this one). Any team acquiring Hendrickson will then have to pay him the contract he seeks, and in that it is a very large contract, trading the pick(s) and spending the money makes the pill a little too big to swallow.

How big could a Hendrickson extension be?

Extending Hendrickson should be a preposterously easy exercise for the Bengals and a team possibly acquiring him. There has been so much recent activity in the edge rusher market that a clear contract range exists for a player of his age and production.

At the top end, there is Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett. Garrett, who is less than a year younger than Hendrickson, signed a four-year, $160 million deal ($40 million per year) in March. Over the past three seasons, Garrett and Hendrickson have had the same number of sacks (47) in the same number of games played (49). Garrett gets more attention from opposing offenses and is significantly better on run downs (Hendrickson’s 17% run stop win rate ranks 459th out of 463 qualifying defensive linemen, linebackers and safeties over the past three years), but he can argue to be in Garrett’s neighborhood as a pass rusher.

Hendrickson vs. Myles Garrett: 2022-24

PlayerGamesSacksSack
ratePressure
ratePass rush
win rateDouble team
rateRun Stop
Win RateRun stop%Hendrickson49433.6%13.7%23.0%19.4%17%2.7%Garrett49443.4%12.7%26.0%31.3%28%4.2%

Just below Garrett on the edge rusher rankings is the Texans’ Danielle Hunter, who signed a one-year extension in March worth $35.6 million onto his existing deal — a little like the Hendrickson 2023 extension, except most of the money is guaranteed. Hunter is more comparable to Hendrickson in run defense but has been a cut below as a pass rusher over the past three seasons.

Hendrickson vs. Danielle Hunter: 2022-24

PlayerGamesSacksSack
ratePressure
ratePass rush
win rateDouble team
rateRun stop
win rateRun stop%Hendrickson49433.6%13.7%23.0%19.4%17%2.7%Hunter51392.6%9.8%17.0%19.6%23%2.4%

Fold in a few other recent edge rusher extensions if you like. Hendrickson’s camp would rightfully argue that T.J. Watt, who is older than Hendrickson, just got $41 million per year from the Steelers despite being demonstrably less productive as a pass rusher. But remember: Chasing the bigger APY figure is what led to issues for Hendrickson. In that he’s desperate to get some guaranteed money while he’s still highly productive in his early 30s, signing him to a deal below $40 million per year but with guarantees through the first and into the second year feels feasible for the Bengals. For another team, guarantees could stretch well into Year 3.

It’s those pesky guarantees that are the hang-up. Hunter has $54.1 million guaranteed over the two seasons of his deal in what is nearly a fully guaranteed pact. Maxx Crosby signed a three-year extension with $91.5 million guaranteed with the Raiders — $62.5 million of which is in the first two years. Don’t even look at Watt and Garrett, who had $108 million and $123.6 million guaranteed in their respective extensions.

If the Bengals are trying to meet Hendrickson somewhere in the middle and give him guarantees over the first two years of an extension, they will be lucky to get him between Hunter’s and Crosby’s numbers of $54.1 million and $62.5 million. Any figure in that range will dwarf the two-year guarantees given to any Bengal not named Chase or Burrow. Only $30 million in guarantees were given to Higgins on his four-year, $115 million extension ($40.9 million, if you want to include a roster bonus that triggers next season).

If the Bengals are offering Hendrickson guarantees in Year 2, they’re likely trying to use a similar structure to the Higgins deal — all of the real guarantees in Year 1 and then a Year 2 salary that guarantees shortly after the 2026 league year begins. By doing this, Cincinnati functionally creates more team option years (like Hendrickson’s current 2025 contract) at the end of the deal — years full of fat salaries but no guaranteed money that make players easily cuttable. Will Hendrickson take a deal that includes those years? Short of signing a Hunter-esque, fully guaranteed one-year extension, it’s something he’ll likely have to endure.

As I said above, this should be painfully easy. The same realities of the quarterback and wide receiver market that forced the Bengals to break their typical contract guardrails for Burrow and Chase are present in the edge rusher market. Top pass rushers get paid like top receivers in terms of yearly contract size and functional guarantees. While it was a little easier to see Chase’s megadeal occurring than it was to see Hendrickson’s, who has unlocked a new level of play in his late 20s, this is an excellent problem to have. Sure, signing 30-year-olds to big guarantees comes with more risk, but every team does it — it’s an inescapable reality of the NFL.

If an elite player at a premium position wants to sign a contract with you, do it.

What could the Bengals defense look like without Hendrickson?

Cincinnati isn’t sure if it can financially endure Hendrickson’s demands — but can it endure his absence on the field? Forget about his elite play. He was one of a precious few good players for its defense last season. Of course, his 17.5 sacks and 65 pressures can only do so much. Despite his All-Pro efforts, the Bengals ranked 27th by defensive EPA per play and 29th by success rate. Only the Jaguars and Panthers gave up a new set of downs more frequently.

On the one hand, it feels like trading Hendrickson wouldn’t matter too much. He was elite last season, and the Bengals were really bad on defense. Their particular struggle was in run defense. By success rate, this was one of the 20 worst run defenses of the past 15 years; it was average against dropbacks. As mentioned above, he is a low-impact run defender. He makes some plays as a penetration disruptor, but his win rate against run blocking is well below the league average, and that shows up on the film — his effort wanes, he doesn’t shed contact well and he struggles against double teams.

But imagine a Bengals defense that cannot stop the run at all, and then on that rare first-and-10 when they get a stop … they don’t have their ringer pass rusher to actually get off the field. Similarly, Hendrickson’s willingness to sell out for early-down pass rushes (at the expense of run defense) helped them keep the opposing offense behind the sticks. Of his 17.5 sacks last season, 13.5 came on first and second down, which is tied for the most early-down sacks in a season this decade. The Bengals needed splashy negative plays to find flashes of viability as a defense, and Hendrickson hunted for those.

Trey Hendrickson is holding in to try to get an extension from the Bengals. His contract is set to expire after the 2025 season. Photo by Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire

Consider a Hendrickson holdout that makes it to Week 1, when Cincinnati travels to Cleveland. The Bengals’ brass likely feels justified in its approach to his contract negotiation thus far. But the team’s young defense, even under a new defensive coordinator this season, suffers the same run issues. The Browns then lean on them on the ground. On those precious few early-down dropbacks they force, they can’t get quick pressure or a drive-ending sack. Week 2 comes against Jacksonville — who, like the Browns, aren’t considered a top offense. But the same thing happens. No Hendrickson escape button to get the two or three stops the Bengals offense needs to win shootouts.

Suddenly, Hendrickson has a lot more leverage at the negotiating table, even as he incurs his holdout fines. Because the Bengals have gotten a taste of what defense looks like without him on the field, and it’s painfully obvious, their only path to a Super Bowl involved a heroic Hendrickson effort. And they need him to get on the field now in order to be ready to deliver that in January.

Other outcomes are possible. The defense holds its own for the first few weeks — maybe the run defense even improves without him on the field — and the call for him to sign never gets unbearably loud. The extension gets done and we never see the Bengals defense without him. Or perhaps Hendrickson gets traded, and their defense is reimagined around another player altogether.

It’s difficult to imagine any player returning in a trade and dramatically overhauling this defense. Perhaps in-season we’ll be pleasantly surprised by the linebackers, defensive line and safeties — but a glaring need at corner will demand filling. Still, trading Hendrickson is defensible because of one of those headlines I wrote above: That a team that has missed the postseason twice, in large part because of an underwhelming defense, is trading an outstanding performer it doesn’t want to pay and who evidently cannot single-handedly save its defense anyway.

Which team could trade for Hendrickson at this point?

If Hendrickson gets dealt, measuring his trade package against potential deals from earlier this spring will be fascinating. I immediately recall when the Panthers sent edge rusher Brian Burns to the Giants for a second- and fifth-round pick in March 2024, not 18 months after declining two firsts and a second at the 2022 trade deadline. When the rest of the league knows you’re painted into a trade corner, the offers drop in value fast. I wonder what trade offers long past come out of the woodwork, if and when Hendrickson gets dealt over the next few weeks.

Offers were always going to be better in February and March than they are in September and October. Teams have more money at the beginning of the league year, before they’ve signed any free agents; they have more draft picks, too, before the draft hits. With that said, big late-summer trades are not unprecedented.

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A few examples jump to mind: One of the biggest in recent memory was the Khalil Mack trade, which happened on Sep. 1, 2018. He held out of the preseason for a new deal from the Raiders, but they flipped him to the Bears (and a second-round pick) for two firsts. Mack then signed a six-year, $141 million extension — at that point the biggest deal for a defensive player in NFL history. Mack had an even stronger résumé then than Hendrickson does now — two All-Pro seasons, including a Defensive Player of the Year award — and he was only 27.

The Mack trade is perhaps the most forgivable of all late-summer expenditures of big draft capital — it went pretty well for the Bears. The other ones aren’t so excusable.

On Aug. 31, 2019, the Dolphins traded offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil (who also had one year remaining on his contract) and some change for two first-round picks and a second. Tunsil was 25 at the time, but it’s worth noting the Dolphins got a young tackle (Julien Davenport) in the deal, much as the Bengals are looking to get a young replacement back in their trade. Of course, after sending such value to secure him, the Texans were in a poor negotiating position. Tunsil played out the final year of his deal, then was signed to a three-year, $66 million contract that was the highest offensive line APY at the time. This trade was universally panned as bad business by the Texans at the time, and despite the fact that Tunsil was a pretty good left tackle for them, the juice was not worth the squeeze.

On July 25, 2020, the Jets traded safety Jamal Adams to the Seattle Seahawks for two future first-round selections. Like Tunsil and Mack, Adams was young (24 years old) and approaching the end of his deal (he had two seasons remaining). Like Tunsil and Mack, the Seahawks had to give Adams the extension he sought: a four-year, $72 million deal that topped the safety market following the 2020 season. That trade was really, really bad for the Seahawks — Adams struggled to stay healthy and make impactful plays even when he was on the field.

Hendrickson’s age complicates things significantly. ESPN’s Bill Barnwell pointed out that the last non-quarterback over 30 years old to return a first-round pick in a trade was Chris Doleman in 1994 — a much different time.

Perhaps the best analogy for Hendrickson is Richard Seymour, who was traded on Sept. 6, 2009, from the Patriots to the Raiders — a month before his 30th birthday. Seymour was entering the final year of his deal with the Patriots and coming off one of his best seasons (8 sacks, 11 TFLs, 17 QB hits). He was traded for a 2011 first-round pick — two drafts in the future — and without an extension in place, which led to a long and painful contract dispute. Much like the Tunsil deal, the Seymour trade was not considered shrewd business at the time for the Raiders, nor does it look much better in hindsight.

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As such, it’s impossible to say which team will trade for Hendrickson because it doesn’t make sense. At cost, it is a universally bad idea. Sending a first-round pick for a non-quarterback over 30 is bad business. Making a big trade right before the season implies a frantic plugging of a short-term gap, which is rarely a good approach, either. It is financially achievable for almost all teams, depending on the sort of contracts they offload in the trade process — and for some, it is financially prudent. The Patriots and Titans have plenty of money and not much young ascending talent they’re preparing to pay. The Chargers and Seahawks have the room and the playoff aspirations, too. It might not be a good idea on paper, but it’s not impossible — similar trades have happened before. It only takes one team.

Should the Bengals become interested in, say, a second-round pick and cornerback Cam Hart in an offer from the Chargers, or a second-round pick and edge rusher Derick Hall from the Seahawks, then it becomes much more likely. But I don’t think they will, nor am I sure those other teams will offer those packages — not with the season around the corner and plenty of other possibilities to spend their future money on.

So what will happen next?

My prediction: The Bengals will announce a three-year extension with Hendrickson worth $38 million per year with over $60 million in new guarantees on Sept. 3.



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Dogecoin Rockets 11% in Fed-Driven Market Rally, What's Next?
NFT Gaming

Dogecoin Rockets 11% in Fed-Driven Market Rally, What’s Next?

by admin


Dogecoin saw a sharp surge toward the weekend as markets rose on optimism surrounding a potential rate cut in September.

The markets, including cryptocurrencies, rose in the aftermath of Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s much awaited speech at the annual Jackson Hole, Wyoming, symposium as traders increased their bets on the likelihood of a September rate cut after Powell said the “shifting balance of risks may warrant an adjustment of policy stance.”

Dogecoin surged from $0.208 to $0.242 on Friday, aligning with the broader market rise, which saw Ethereum hit a fresh all-time high in nearly four years.

At press time, Dogecoin was still sustaining its daily gains, up 11.17% in the last 24 hours to $0.235 and up 3% weekly. Dogecoin’s trading volume has increased 165% in the last 24 hours to $5.42 billion, as traders flock in to profit from the recent market volatility.

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Dogecoin has reclaimed the eighth spot in crypto rankings, with a current market capitalization of $35.52 billion, flipping Tron (TRX) to the ninth spot.

What’s next?

Analysts are eyeing the potential of an explosive move for Dogecoin in the days ahead. In a recent tweet, Kaleo, a crypto trader, wrote, “Still believe it’s only a matter of time before Dogecoin prints a god candle. Long overdue for an explosive move. The king of memes isn’t dead.”

Ali, a crypto analyst, highlights Dogecoin consolidating in a triangle with the potential for a 40% price move.

Dogecoin has now well surpassed the daily SMA 50 at $0.218 following Friday’s major move. Going forward, the dog coin would seek to flip this level into support to aim for $0.26 and $0.29 next.

If Dogecoin exits its current range between $0.14 and $0.26, a move to $0.4 and $0.48 might be on the table.



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What’s on your desk, Dominic Preston?
Gaming Gear

What’s on your desk, Dominic Preston?

by admin


Not all of The Verge’s staff live in the US. For example, news editor Dominic Preston is based in London and is, as he says, “responsible for keeping our news coverage ticking over in UK mornings before the US team comes online.” He also curates our new Verge Daily newsletter and covers Android phones, especially all the models that don’t launch in the US.

And outside of work? “I’m a bit of a food obsessive,” he says, “and run a newsletter called Braise where I review London restaurants and cookbooks, and occasionally try my own hand at recipe writing. That means I spend most of my free time cooking, eating, or thinking about food, and so also a decent amount of time in the gym trying to make up for that.”

Where is your workspace located?

This is an office that I share with my partner in our flat in London. It used to be a second bedroom, but now we’ve kitted it out with two desks and a sofa bed for the occasional times we actually have guests to stay. My partner is a PhD student, so her working hours are a bit unpredictable, and split between here and school — which means that 90 percent of the time I’ve got the office to myself.

A shared office with two desks, two chairs, and a cat.

Could you tell us about your desk(s)?

We both have standing desks. Mine is an Autonomous SmartDesk 2 that’s electronic and automatic, hers an old pneumatic model by Bakker Elkhuizen that they don’t make anymore, which annoys her because it requires a bit of effort to shift up and down. They’re both decorated with self-healing cutting mats, which are still occasionally used for arts and crafts (or as the backdrop for my product photos) but mostly double as giant mouse mats.

You have both a chair and a walking station. What are they, and how well do they work for you?

The chair is a secondhand Herman Miller. It actually used to be my partner’s, while I sat in a big Duelhawk Jet Black PU gaming chair (also no longer available), until we each realized we preferred the other’s seat and swapped. I’m old enough, and sore enough, to be willing to invest a little in the chair I’ll be using every day anyway.

The walking pad is a pretty cheap one from Mobvoi. I actually bought it immediately after reading a piece by my colleague Victoria Song on a different Mobvoi model, and following her advice I’ve made no attempt to touch its smart features or track my workouts; so far it’s served me well. I just use it as slow as it goes, and try to spend as much of every morning walking on it as possible — on a good day I’ll rack up two or three hours of steady walking time; on a bad day I’ll keep putting it off until the coffee hits and never quite get going. Either way, I let myself sit down for the afternoon, which is more likely to be concentrated writing time — I find it hard to do anything too creative or complicated while walking at the same time.

(I know, I know, my cable management isn’t great. I tend to be very tidy, but cables are one of the few things I absolutely don’t have the patience to organize. Sadly, having a standing desk really lays bare those sins, so I may have to force myself to get better about it.)

A walking pad helps with fitness. Photo by Dominic Preston / The Verge

Cable management can be a problem. Photo by Dominic Preston / The Verge

Here’s the long one: tell us about the various tech devices you’re using.

My current setup is slightly awkwardly trapped between my work and personal computers, though I have some plans in the works to improve it.

My work machine is an M2 MacBook Air, which lives propped up on a Ugreen laptop stand. It’s connected to the monitor on the right, a cheap 24-inch QHD Philips model that I bought in 2020.

The confusing part of my setup is that second monitor, an embarrassingly old Acer one. That’s because I’ve also got a desktop PC that I use outside of work, and that connects to both monitors. At the end of the work day I can flip the MacBook shut, and my personal setup is good to go. It’s all unnecessarily cluttered, though, especially since the MacBook can’t support both external monitors at once, so this year’s big upgrade will probably be a 32-inch 4K monitor to replace the pair of them. I’ll happily take any recommendations from the comments!

My keyboard is the Logitech MX Keys S, which I love. I’m as much of a sucker for a good mechanical board as the next guy, but I love low-profile, full-size keyboards, and good mechanical options in that space are few and far between. I used to use a Hexgears Venture, but I ran it into the ground eventually, and this has served me well since.

The mouse is also Logitech, though it isn’t my usual one. I picked up this MX Anywhere 3S a while back to use when I’m traveling to trade shows and product launches, and usually have the larger MX Master 3S on my desk. Sadly the left button on that has given up the ghost, and I’m holding off on replacing it in the hopes that the long-rumored MX Master 4 is about to launch.

Continuing the Logitech theme (I’m just now realizing quite how much of my desk setup was built by them), I have an old Z337 2.1 speaker system that just barely fits on the desk right now (another reason I need to switch to a single monitor), and a Brio 500 webcam that I mostly like for how easy it is to flip the built-in privacy shutter.

Everything connects up through an Anker Prime USB hub that’s almost certainly more powerful than I need it to be, but has lots of front-facing USB ports for charging my array of phones, helped by a Xiaomi 50W wireless charging stand, which made more sense when I was using a Xiaomi 14 Ultra as my main phone, but is slightly wasted now — other phones don’t hit that max charging speed.

I tend to have a rotating cast of phones floating around my desk, though this is relatively tidy for me — on messy days I can have up to five or six handsets taking up space. Beyond the Vivo X200 Ultra I used to take these photos, you can see the Fairphone 6 and Huawei Pura X, the two phones I’ve most recently been testing for reviews.

Tell us about your camera collection.

I decided I wanted to try out film photography back in 2019, because I was spending a lot more time writing about cameras as part of my phone reviews and using cameras as part of my job. I figured film would be a good way to make myself learn more about the core principles.

I picked up this Canon EF on eBay. It’s a ’70s SLR with a metal body, which means it’s heavy but is built like a tank — I suspect it will outlast me. It came with a Canon 50mm lens, and I’ve gradually picked up a few cheap options to go with it: a 28mm wide-angle, a 35-70mm for when I want flexibility, and a 70-210mm telephoto I bought specifically for a safari in Kenya a couple years back. I always tell myself I’ll buy better-quality lenses when I’m a good enough photographer to get the most out of them, but I’ll probably just have to bite the bullet eventually.

The microphone living alongside them all is the Rode NT-USB, which I use for podcasts and videos, though I’d like to get a boom arm for it so I can store it around the desk.

A Canon film camera with its several lenses.

You’ve got a lot of toys and games on those shelves! How long have you been collecting them?

This is a really motley assortment of things I’ve collected over the years — some bought, some gifted, some acquired from an old office clearout. There’s more dotted around the rest of my apartment, though my girlfriend is on an (understandable) mission to concentrate it all in the office.

Do you have any favorites?

I’m an absolute Alien obsessive, and I actually have two full-size facehuggers, one plushie and one vinyl, which I adore. There’s also a (sadly not full-size) power loader from Aliens, which I can’t get enough of. Elsewhere in the apartment I have a few original ’90s Street Sharks and Small Soldiers action figures, which are still waiting for the right shelf to display them on.

The board game collection is small but steadily growing. I’ve been playing a lot of Gloomhaven over the last year or so, though Betrayal at House on the Hill is probably the game that gets broken out most often. I’ve also got a healthy collection of D&D 5e and Alien RPG sourcebooks — I can strongly recommend the latter, and that’s not just the fanboy in me speaking!

Okay, tell us about that beautiful cat.

That’s Noodle, one of our two cats (the other is Loaf, and yes, of course they have an Instagram account).

She’s actually a recent addition to my desk. We’ve had the cats for a couple of years, but in the last few months Noodle has decided she really wants to hang out with me while I work, and will happily lie down on my keyboard to do so. We set her up with a little blanket bed instead, which she now sleeps in about half the day, though she still isn’t above a keyboard nap when the mood strikes. The biggest surprise to me is that she doesn’t seem to mind the standing desk going up or down while she’s on it, which I expected would cause a bit of panic.

Photographs by Dominic Preston / The Verge

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Sims 4 YouTuber Eva Rotky talks what's desperately missing in build/buy and the eco-friendly fairytale of Enchanted by Nature
Game Reviews

Sims 4 YouTuber Eva Rotky talks what’s desperately missing in build/buy and the eco-friendly fairytale of Enchanted by Nature

by admin


Since the beginning of the decade, The Sims 4 has shown a consistent preoccupation with sustainable living and reclaiming industrial spaces.

Its most recent add-on, July 2025’s Enchanted by Nature expansion, is just the latest DLC to tackle a theme that was already present in the aptly-named Eco Lifestyle expansion pack, as well as the Cottage Living and Horse Ranch packs, the Tiny Living stuff pack, and the Werewolves game pack (that last title sounds a little left-field, but trust me, it fits the theme).

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To learn more about this growing design trend within The Sims 4 and its player community, I spoke to Eva Rotky, a Sims YouTuber who describes herself as “an interior designer by day and a Sims builder by night”.

She has been gaming as a hobby since childhood, but it wasn’t until the pandemic lockdowns that friends encouraged her to begin making YouTube videos of her Sims builds, which eventually led to her joining the EA Creator network in 2022. “If my seven-year-old self could see or know these things,” she says, “She’d be like, absolutely not! I don’t believe it!”

Eva has been a Simmer since the days of the original game back in the early 2000s, so naturally she’s well-positioned to appreciate the changes that have come to the series over its 25-year history – in particular, the expansion of build mode, one of the few features which the majority of players seem to agree has improved with every new gen of the franchise.

The Irish folklore inspired world of Innisgreen gave fairies and PlantSims a new place to call home in Enchanted by Nature.Image credit: EA / Maxis

“I do think that there is a trend at the moment outside of The Sims to go back to nature and to want to reconnect with nature,” Eva agrees. “I think that’s especially since COVID and lockdown that people are cherishing nature a bit more and wanting to embrace it, not be stuck in a concrete city and a one-bedroom apartment. I think it’s definitely reflecting a trend in society as well, but obviously also those are features in the game that The Sims community has always wanted to have.”

So does this extend to simulated living too? “I don’t know what it is about The Sims, but being outdoors is so much more fun in The Sims than just being indoors in your house,” Eva explains, adding that: “One of my favourite things to do in The Sims is the landscaping, and it’s not something I’m particularly interested in outside of The Sims, I don’t really know plants!”

Despite some Sims skills applying to real life more than others – Eva’s day job is in interior design, and she even mentions including Sims builds in her portfolio when she applied for the role she holds now – there’s no denying that The Sims 4’s whimsical vision of the natural world has a hold on her.

“Creating landscapes in The Sims is so satisfying, just making a garden or a space that looks natural with plants growing out everywhere and not perfectly pristine all the time. In my Enchanted by Nature build I went heavy on the landscaping, I spent most of my time on it just in the landscaping tools. Even though the build/buy is lovely, the exterior was kind of where it was at with the new roof colours and being able to place plants on roofs with the new base game update.”

Watch Eva put her ideas into practice with her Enchanted by Nature build!Watch on YouTube

Updates to The Sims 4 – whether free or paid – are of particular interest to Eva, who makes a point of not using custom content (CC) in her builds, and keeps her use of mods to a minimum. This ensures her designs are more accessible for players on console, for example, as well as adding an extra layer of creative challenge; and it also means that Eva is very attuned to critique of what’s new in every DLC release.

“I’ve enjoyed it more in recent years because of the build/buy and the quality of the items really changing and improving in my opinion, and there being more of a focus on the actual design of the items that really makes it easier for me to use no CC in my builds,” she says. “It’s always a challenge and I do enjoy it. Sometimes it’s a little frustrating, but in recent years I would say it’s been so much easier because of the really beautiful items that the team have been creating.”

This seems like a good time to address the elephant in the room – or should that be the spiral staircase very prominently not in the room? – and ask Eva what’s still on her wishlist for future updates. “My first thought was spiral staircases!” Eva confirms. “I miss those so desperately! That would be my number one wishlist item. Probably it’s so small, but it makes such a difference.”

Given that spiral staircases almost go without saying, though, Eva also adds that: “One thing I would also really love would be to be able to create not-full-length walls – so you could create a few more shapes, do half the length of the wall or something like that. I think that’d be really fun!”

A recent base game update brought greenhouses and living roof options to The Sims 4, further supporting that recurring theme of greener living. | Image credit: EA / Maxis

Eva is also quick to point out that, despite not wearing its eco credentials on its sleeve quite so blatantly as Enchanted by Nature, the previous Sims 4 expansion pack – March’s Businesses & Hobbies – still quietly carries the theme.

Nordhaven – the world that shipped with the pack – draws its primary inspiration from a mixture of Stockholm and Copenhagen; and while the name of the city may be a little on-the-nose, EA deserves credit for avoiding the obvious one-note Ikea jokes in favour of a more authentic approach to designing a modern Scandinavian urban environment, both in terms of public areas and living spaces.

To prove the point, Businesses & Hobbies features some of Eva’s own work, in the form of two pre-made lots in Nordhaven: a neoclassical museum in the Gammelvik historic district and a converted foundry in Iverstad, the latter styled as a formerly industrial neighbourhood where defunct factory buildings are being repurposed as residential dwellings.

The builds are, as you might expect, very distinct from one another, demonstrating both the breadth of Eva’s design interests and the flexibility of what can be created in the game as it stands.

“Scandinavian mid-century is kind of my bread and butter to be honest, and industrial as well, so it was nice to create something that felt so realistic,” Eva says of her Iverstad build. “And every time I’m in [Nordhaven], I feel like I’m where the inspiration came from. I feel like I’m not in The Sims, I feel like I’m actually in Copenhagen or somewhere, which is really lovely.”

Nordhaven, where Eva’s builds are featured in-game, is far more down-to-earth than Innisgreen, but they share their eco-conscious themes. | Image credit: Maxis / Electronic Arts

All of this ties neatly into Eva’s overarching design philosophy: “I think the balance to strike in any design is always not to be one-sided,” she explains. “If you only focus on nature then that will come with challenges and limitations. And what I love doing (also in real life design) is combining natural materials with man-made materials. I think that kind of combination and contrast between the two is actually how you create something that’s really timeless.”

One final thing that strikes me about Eva’s Sims content is that, while you might expect her interests to be very grounded in aspirational design, she’s never afraid to let her more whimsical side show.

By her own admission, her favourite among her own builds is not a high-end mansion but a recreation of one of the post-apocalyptic fortresses seen in The Last of Us – which is, after all, nothing if not a defunct space being repurposed by humans and reclaimed by nature at the same time.

Whether it’s a luxurious mansion, a zombie-proof stronghold, or a fairytale cottage, Eva recognises that the unifying theme – the one thing that perhaps draws together most Simmers, despite being an incredibly diverse player base – is the wish fulfillment. “What I really like about The Sims is that you can do whatever you want,” she explains. “You might never be able to live in any of these houses in real life, but you can create your own little reality in The Sims and do it there.”



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Memecore Price Surges 20% Amid Breakout Hopes, What’s Next?
Crypto Trends

Memecore Price Surges 20% Amid Breakout Hopes, What’s Next?

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As major memecoins have displayed increased price volatility, this segment is back under discussion over the past few trading sessions. The Memecore (M) crypto has played a major role in this as its price has displayed major movements within a short period of time, making it the center of talks within the crypto community.

The memecore price chart has been displaying constant waves patterns over the past weeks and it is now on the path of potentially forming a massive swing-like pattern in the upcoming time. 

Memecore is currently listed on CoinMarketCap at $0.4566 with a change of +20%. Moreover, it was trading between a high of $0.4654 and a low of $0.4523. The daily volume is about $36.75 million, which implies good activity even in the trading periods when there is no direction in prices.

With this, investors are keeping a close eye on whether the token can defend its position around the $0.395 or record a breakout to higher levels beyond $0.484.

M Memecoin Breaks Out Channel Pattern

The chart in the 4H time frame has formed a down-sloping channel pattern since August 4, 2025. Ideally, this pattern is considered as a bullish pattern in the longer time frame. Fast-forwarding to the recent candle, the memecore price has successfully breach the resistance of the trend pattern around $0.39 level and has further converted it into a support as seen in the chart.

However, it has failed to breach the $0.484 mark in the 4H time frame. The recent bounce off the lower band ($0.36) of the trend pattern indicates that the buyers are fighting for support as that price point is a potential entry point for investors.

Historically, this memecoin has displayed major volatility around the $0.36 mark and it has also acted as a key resistance during the last week of July 2025.

In case the bullish dominance is maintained, the token may retest the resistance zone of $0.5814 that is where it was during the earlier rally. On the negative side, the important support level stands strong at $0.3951 with its crucial low holding at $0.3083 respectively.

The Bear Bull Power (BBP) which is used to identify potential trend reversal by measuring the strength of buyers(bulls) and sellers (bears) in the market, is pointing to a little restoration in purchasing strength is currently at 0.0773 (positive). Moreover, with 5 consecutive green histograms, the technical indicators show increasing bullish share in the market. With this, the trend of the overall channel indicates caution until the decisive breakout is made.

Will MemeCore Price Maintain Bullish Momentum?

A break above $0.48 should be an inflow magnet and the beginning of a rally toward its upper price target of $0.58 level. Failing to do so, the M memecoin price may experience a pullback towards the $0.39 in case of a major sell-off, its lower support of $0.30 may be retested where it has taken support in the past.

Also Read: Mark Cuban Questions Future of Crypto IPOs As Bullish Stock Drop 

Disclaimer: The Crypto Times does not endorse or promote this digital asset in any manner. This article was created only for educational purposes. Make sure to “DYOR” as the market is highly volatile. New positions should be done by traders being careful and awaiting volume-backed breakouts.



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Dogecoin Whales Accumulate as Short-Term Holders Capitulate: What’s Going On?

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In brief

  • Dogecoin whales have accumulated 300M DOGE tokens over the past week, as short-term holders sell at a loss.
  • The profitability of investors who purchased the dog-based meme token over the past 30 days hovers around 9% after the recent crypto market correction.
  • Experts suggest this capitulation is a forced transfer of wealth from weak hands to strong ones and is bullish in the long run.

On-chain data reveals that Dogecoin whales are aggressively accumulating the meme coin at a discount as short-term holders capitulate amid major fundamental developments and price reversals.

The divergence in behavior follows a series of recent key events, including a spot ETF filing and a high-profile corporate acquisition.

A capitulation event was spotted on August 15 with 271.41 million DOGE sold at a loss, according to Santiment data.

A capitulation event is when investors sell their token at a loss amid volatile price regimes.

Dogecoin experienced a 16% correction between August 13 and 14, resulting in a local bottom formation on August 15. But retail investors, often swayed by ephemeral price moves, sold their tokens at a loss on August 15.

The profitability of short-term holders who purchased Dogecoin tokens in the past month reached 9% on August 19, further highlighting the capitulation.

Over the same period, however, whales holding between 100 million and 1 billion DOGE acquired more than 330 million DOGE at a discount, bringing their total holdings to 26.73 billion.

“This looks like the community shaking out short-term price chasers while long-term believers add to their stacks,” Jordan Jefferson, Founder and CEO of Dogecoin app layer DogeOS, told Decrypt.

However, this divergence is not a cause for concern, he argued. “Supply is moving into steadier hands that care about Dogecoin’s future rather than the daily chart,” Jefferson explained.

Dogecoin ETF incoming?

This dynamic between short and long-term holders is playing out against the backdrop of several major headlines.

On August 16, Grayscale filed an S-1 for a spot Dogecoin ETF.

Though the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has since delayed its decision, this move, coupled with the announcement of a Trump family-backed company acquiring a Dogecoin mining firm, has injected both institutional legitimacy and speculative hype surrounding Dogecoin.

Jefferson believes this split is a key differentiator in how retail and institutional investors process information.

“Headlines move fast, and retail speculators chase them,” he stated, noting that whales, in contrast, “see past that, recognizing that DOGE is stepping onto institutional rails while also moving into real-world applications.”

This long-term view enables large investors to capitalize on short-term price weakness to accumulate for the future.

Rather than pointing to the future downside, Jefferson argued that the capitulation and accumulation signal a healthy consolidation phase for Dogecoin.

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Dogecoin Director Issues RadioDoge Project Details: What's Next for DOGE?
NFT Gaming

Dogecoin Director Issues RadioDoge Project Details: What’s Next for DOGE?

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Dogecoin Foundation director, Timothy Stebbing, has revealed his vision for RadioDoge, a Dogecoin grassroots project committed to improving financial inclusion for unbanked individuals.

The technology uses long-distance RF technologies like LoRa and VaraHF to enable dependable and durable data transfer in remote areas, eliminating the requirement for traditional internet access to reach the Dogecoin blockchain.

RadioDoge also utilizes the Starlink network. In a tweet on X, Stebbing revealed his musings about RadioDoge. He highlighted a vision of having a RadioDoge base station coverage of 500kms for ground based HF and lorawan, which would be about 150 base stations to cover Africa’s 30.3 million square kms.

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“Assuming RadioDoge base station coverage of 500KMs for ground based HF + lorawan, that’s about ~150 base stations to cover Africa’s 30.3 million square KMs (with overlaps). Using this new $5/month 500kb/s starlink for backhaul we could provide Dogecoin coverage to all of continental Africa for about $750/month,” Stebbing wrote.

Assuming RadioDoge base station coverage of 500KMs for ground based HF + lorawan, that’s about ~150 base stations to cover Africa’s 30.3 million square KMs (with overlaps)..

Using this new $5/month 500kb/s starlink for backhaul we could provide Dogecoin coverage to all of… https://t.co/7fQAGxl15Y

— Timothy Stebbing (@tjstebbing) August 17, 2025

Stebbing added: “That’s providing a means of exchange to all of Africa without access to internet for under 1k/month. no more middle-men ripping off farmers because they can’t access banking. Literally life changing if someone could commercialize this stuff.”

Dogecoin news

On April 22, 2022, the first-ever DOGE transaction was successfully transmitted via radio using the Radio Doge protocol. The global Starlink satellite network helped to make this historic feat possible.

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Grayscale is moving forward with its proposal to launch and trade an exchange-traded fund that trades Dogecoin under the ticker code “GDOG,” according to a recent filing.

In a registration statement filed on Friday, Grayscale announced that the Grayscale Dogecoin Trust will be renamed Grayscale Dogecoin Trust ETF.





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