This is a segment from The Drop newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.







Miss collecting stamps in your passport? American Express is now giving US cardholders onchain travel “stamps” for each country visited around the world. 



Each digital “stamp” within the Amex Passport feature has an associated piece of art that will be an ERC-721 token on Base, Colin Marlowe, VP of emerging partnerships at Amex Digital Labs, explained to me in an interview. 



Obviously, it’s not a real passport though, so don’t bother showing the customs officer your app full of NFTs when you’re jetting off to a new locale.



Stamps are viewable within the existing Amex mobile app, which is separate from the upcoming Amex Travel app that’s launching Sept. 18. 



Amex is backdating stamps to get cardholders started with their collections, and will add stamps from the countries users have visited in the past two years to start. 



A crypto wallet for each Amex mobile app user, custodied and operated by Amex, is spun up on the backend when users access the feature. Stamps are minted as tokens behind-the-scenes as cardholders use their Amex cards at different locations around the world.



“We’re trying to do it in such a way that that’s not so in someone's face,” Marlowe said of Amex’s approach to blockchain integrations.



But cardholders won’t see the wallet that’s spun up (that’s abstracted away), won’t be directly engaging with the blockchain at all, and won’t be able to trade stamps. 



The stamps aren’t introducing cardholders to crypto, per se. They’re supposed to be a way to feel just a little bit more fulfilled about global travel in an increasingly digital age. 







Amex chose to put the stamps onchain as NFTs because blockchain assets can give a greater sense of permanence, Marlowe explained, like the ink of a physical stamp.



“We really are hoping again to capture a customer at the end of their journey, when they’re

American Express launches travel stamp NFTs on Base

Symbiotic has partnered with Chainlink and Bitcoin DeFi protocol Lombard to introduce a new cryptoeconomic security layer for cross-chain transfers of Lombard Staked Bitcoin (LBTC).



According to the announcement, the collaboration integrates Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) with Symbiotic’s restaking framework to safeguard LBTC as it moves across blockchains. Lombard, which has more than $1.5 billion in total value locked (TVL), is also preparing to launch its native token BARD, according to initial reporting by The Defiant.



As part of the rollout, Symbiotic unveiled two staking vaults: a $100 million LINK vault and a 20 million BARD vault. Users who deposit assets into these vaults can earn yields of up to 15% annual percentage yield (APY), while reinforcing LBTC’s cross-chain integrity. 



The system uses a Symbiotic-powered monitoring network to verify transfers, adding a second layer of protection alongside CCIP’s modular security design.



The development positions Symbiotic, currently the third-largest restaking platform with $1.28 billion in TVL, as a direct competitor to EigenLayer and Babylon in the growing restaking sector. Lombard co-founder Jacob Phillips said the integration provides “stronger economic guarantees through staking.”



Symbiotic’s Misha Putiatin emphasized that “Symbiotic turns passive crypto assets into modular, active security infrastructure.” She noted that the integration “showcases how decentralized collateral can be deployed quickly and permissionlessly to reinforce cross-chain value flows and deliver tangible benefits to end users.”



This is a developing story.







This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor Jeffrey Albus before publication.







Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:




The Breakdown: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.



0xResearch: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst. 



Empire: Crypto

Symbiotic teams with Chainlink, Lombard for cross-chain Bitcoin security

The Fellowship PAC, a newly registered super political action committee (super PAC), announced on Sept 15 that it is launching with more than $100 million committed to supporting candidates who promote transparency, digital asset innovation, and entrepreneurship.



According to its statement, the Fellowship PAC positions itself as a pro-crypto, pro-innovation committee designed to ensure the United States maintains its global leadership in digital assets.



The group, which registered with the Federal Election Commission under ID C00915181, emphasizes trust and accountability as its differentiators. Its stated mission is to align the interests of crypto entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers while reinforcing America’s role in shaping the future of blockchain-based finance and entrepreneurship.



The PAC said it would focus on backing candidates who commit to transparent and predictable digital asset rules, safeguard the country’s competitive edge in technology, and provide regulatory clarity to prevent talent and companies from moving offshore. Political committees of this type cannot coordinate directly with candidates or parties, but they can raise and spend unlimited amounts on independent expenditures.



There have been several other crypto-focused PACs launched in recent months. Fairshake, one of the largest crypto-aligned super PACs, raised more than $100 million across the 2024 cycle with support from Coinbase, Ripple, and various venture firms. Back in August, Politico reported that Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss had also contributed millions to the Digital Freedom Fund PAC.



It’s unclear who’s behind the new PAC. The Fellowship PAC did not return a request for comment by the time of publication.



This is a developing story.







This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor Jeffrey Albus before publication.







Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:




The Breakdown: Decoding crypto

The Fellowship PAC launches with $100M for pro-crypto candidate

This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.







In early 2021, the video game streaming platform Twitch faced a major PR problem.



Female streamers scantily clad in bikinis started streaming themselves hanging out with cocktails in jacuzzis — what viewers dubbed the “hot tub meta.”



Unsurprisingly, Twitch’s advertisers pushed back. Twitch responded by quickly tightening its policies, and top streamers saw ad monetization get deactivated overnight.



That category of streaming continues to exist today, but in a quarantined corner operating under highly permissioned rules most advertisers opt out of.



From a business standpoint, it was the right move for Twitch. 



A significant chunk of Twitch’s revenue comes from advertisers, and brands aren't interested in associating their names with risky content. The economics of Twitch don't align with shock value.



That’s the market space Pump is leaning into.



Take, for instance, the 4-day-old BAGWORK memecoin. 



Over the weekend, a creator duo ran the classic “do anything for attention” playbook: streaking across a live baseball game, getting slapped by famous fitness influencers, threatening to jump off the Santa Monica pier, shaving their heads…you get the idea.




Day 2 – From Jail to TwitchFresh out (bailed out by creator fees), he crashes Bradley Martyn’s gym stream.Snatches Martyn’s hat, flashes the CA.Bradley slaps him on stream → 5M+ views in hours.That single slap = $40K in creator fees. pic.twitter.com/tFag3TCcZu— maanav ⚡️ (@maanavjporwal) September 14, 2025




The strategy worked. BAGWORK is trading at a $27 million market cap now and the duo behind the token has pocketed a tidy $169K within four days of the token being live.



That’s thanks to Pump’s revamped fee model in early September that lets token creators earn a cut every time their token is traded. 



(Creators earn a 0.95% take-rate fee at a 420 SOL market

What makes Pump livestreaming different from Twitch or OnlyFans?

Base, the Coinbase-backed Ethereum layer 2 network, is beginning to explore launching a native token, according to comments from Base creator Jesse Pollak at BaseCamp 2025 in Stowe, Vermont.



Pollak acknowledged the announcement was premature, stressing that discussions were in the early stages and that the team did not yet have definitive plans. He noted that while some advisors urged secrecy, the team opted to pursue exploration in the open to align with its principles of transparency and community engagement.



He clarified that the Base team is “committed to building on Ethereum. This is the path people are going to make all kinds of noise, but we benefit from being a part of a connected global economy."



The remarks signal a significant departure from Base’s prior messaging. As recently as November 2024, Pollak stated there were “no plans” for a Base token. The new direction suggests the team may now see value in designing a token for governance, incentives, or cross-chain functionality, though details remain undefined.



Alongside the token discussion, Base also announced development of an open-source bridge to connect its network with Solana, aiming to improve interoperability between ecosystems.



The decision to raise the possibility publicly reflects an effort to involve the community early, though much remains unresolved. How the token would be structured, distributed and governed will be central questions in the months ahead.



This is a developing story.







This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor Jeffrey Albus before publication.







Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:




The Breakdown: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.



0xResearch: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst. 



Empire: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.



Forward Guidance: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.



The Drop: Apps, games, memes and more.



Lightspeed: All things

Base begins exploring potential network token launch

Default charts are a good start. Clear conviction requires more.



Chart Builder gives you the freedom to present trusted Blockworks data the way your analysis actually flows without code, exports, or detours.



Compare signals, change timeframes, group by protocol. Live on Blockworks Research.



Why Chart Builder?




Design the view, not the pipeline. Start from Blockworks’ validated data and mold the visual that tells the truth fastest.



Move from idea to insight in minutes. Compare signals, switch lenses, annotate the story. No CSV babysitting, just the insight you need immediately.



Flexible by design. Lines, bars, areas, tables; single series or comparisons; quick filters and timeframes that match the way you work.



Consistency you can trust. Every chart is fed by the same warehouse that powers Blockworks Research.




Pick what you need from the catalog, shape the presentation, and save it. That’s it. Your definitions stay intact; your charts stay fresh.



Integrated with Dashboard Builder



Chart Builder now slots directly into Dashboard Builder. Build a chart once, then drop it onto your own dashboard alongside tables, notes, and other tiles.



Create a living view of the KPIs that matter, keep narrative context in one place, and let everything update automatically. No screenshots, no manual refresh cycles. All of your signal in one place.



You could build:




A set of focused KPI tiles focused on the things you care about.



A side-by-side comparison that shows you clear market share trends in a given sector.



A leaderboard table that ranks your favorite metrics across all time periods.



A daily-refreshing table for reporting that completely replaces the team’s monotonous work.




The possibilities are immense when you combine the depth of Blockworks data with the flexibility of crafting your own charts and dashboards in one elegant interface.



Try it today



Chart Builder is live inside Blockworks Research. Open it, shape the

Chart Builder: From signal to story

The Ethena Foundation said Monday that parameters required to activate its ENA fee switch have now been met, with final implementation details under review by the protocol’s Risk Committee before a governance vote can proceed.



The fee switch, first proposed by trading firm Wintermute in November 2024, is designed to direct a portion of Ethena protocol revenue to ENA holders who stake their tokens. The Risk Committee previously outlined “success metrics” such as supply growth of USDe, Ethena’s synthetic dollar stablecoin, and cumulative protocol revenue milestones.



Governance forum updates suggest those benchmarks — including a USDe supply surpassing $6 billion and protocol revenue near or above $250 million — have been reached, though the committee has not yet confirmed each threshold publicly.



The next phase involves defining how revenues would be shared with stakers and what safeguards will apply. Governance documents have referenced measures such as comparing yields to market benchmarks and monitoring risk metrics, but the specifics of reserve management and allocation remain under discussion.



If approved by ENA holders through a formal vote, the change would align incentives more closely with protocol growth by granting direct exposure to revenue. The Risk Committee said details will be published before the proposal is put to a vote.



This is a developing story.







This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor Jeffrey Albus before publication.







Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:




The Breakdown: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.



0xResearch: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst. 



Empire: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.



Forward Guidance: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.



The Drop: Apps, games, memes and more.



Lightspeed: All things Solana.



Supply Shock: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.

Ethena Foundation prepares ENA fee switch for token holder vote

The Ethereum Foundation has launched a dedicated artificial intelligence initiative, underscoring its view that AI will become central to the network’s future.



The new dAI team, led by Ethereum developer Davide Crapis, was announced with a mission to make Ethereum the preferred settlement and coordination layer for AI agents. 



According to Crapis, the initiative aims to bridge blockchain and AI development by advancing standards for how autonomous agents discover, verify and transact with one another.



A near-term priority is the advancement of ERC-8004, a proposed standard for AI-agent identity and interoperability. He also compared Ethereum’s AI opportunity to the early days of DeFi, suggesting grassroots adoption could precede eventual institutional integration, as originally reported by Decrypt.



Longer term, the dAI team is pursuing a decentralized AI stack designed to provide open, verifiable and censorship-resistant alternatives to corporate-controlled systems. Crapis described this as a critical safeguard to prevent AI infrastructure from consolidating under a few powerful actors.



This move comes amid a surge of AI-related experimentation across Web3, with projects on networks like Solana, Avalanche and Polygon also exploring ways to integrate AI agents, decentralized compute and data-sharing protocols.



From tokenized AI marketplaces to autonomous trading bots, developers are increasingly treating blockchains as neutral infrastructure for machine-to-machine coordination.



This is a developing story.







This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor Jeffrey Albus before publication.







Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:




The Breakdown: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.



0xResearch: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst. 



Empire: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.



Forward Guidance: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.



The Drop: Apps,

Ethereum Foundation launches dAI team to steer AI integration

P2P.org has introduced what it calls an “industry-first” fast-track ETH staking product designed to help institutional clients bypass Ethereum’s growing validator entry queue. The move comes as the industry is closely watching Kiln’s mass exit of all Ethereum validators, a precautionary measure following an infrastructure incident involving SwissBorg.



The Ethereum validator entry queue has ballooned to between 10 and 16 days, leaving stakers unable to earn rewards until activation is complete. For institutions migrating large validator sets, that gap translates into weeks of missed yield. 



P2P’s new product offers pre-activated validators funded with the company’s own ETH, allowing clients to begin earning rewards immediately while their stake waits in the regular queue.



Source: Validatorqueue.co



P2P declined to share full technical details of the setup, citing competitive sensitivity, but said the security model is identical to vanilla staking with no additional risk exposure.



“We’ve already launched validators into the set that are simply waiting for activation,” the team said, adding that competitors attempting to replicate the approach would face a longer activation delay, making their offering less attractive to clients.



Ethereum’s validator exit queue (distinct from the entry queue) spiked sharply on Sept. 10, rising from under 1 million ETH to more than 2.6 million ETH in a single day, and pushing the estimated exit wait time to its highest level on record. The timing aligns with Kiln’s announcement that it was initiating the orderly exit of all of its Ethereum validators, suggesting that a significant share of the spike is attributable to Kiln’s precautionary withdrawal.



Source: Validatorqueue.com



Kiln emphasized that rewards continue to accrue during the exit period and that client assets remain secure.



“We took immediate action once we identified a potential compromise in our infrastructure. Exiting

P2P fast-tracks ETH staking as exit queue hits record highs

Helius Medical Technologies (Nasdaq: HSDT) has announced that it has raised more than $500 million in a private investment in public equity offering led by Pantera Capital and Summer Capital to launch a Solana-focused treasury company.



Other backers include Big Brain Holdings, Avenir, SinoHope, FalconX, Arrington Capital, Animoca Brands, Aspen Digital, Borderless, Laser Digital, HashKey Capital, and Republic Digital.



The deal includes common stock, pre-funded warrants, and stapled warrants exercisable over three years, potentially expanding the total investment to $1.25 billion. Net proceeds will be used to acquire SOL, which Helius plans to designate as its primary reserve asset.



Helius’ move is part of a growing wave of public companies that are adding SOL to their balance sheets, not just for speculative upside, but for utility, yield, and strategic exposure to the Solana blockchain ecosystem.



Firms such as Upexi Inc. (UPXI), DeFi Development Corp. (DFDV), and Sharps Technology (STSS) have already accumulated millions of SOL. As of early September 2025, 13 publicly listed companies collectively hold ~8.9 million SOL (worth roughly $1.8 billion) — which equates to about 1.55% of Solana’s circulating supply.



Key features of these SOL treasuries include staking yield at ~7%, where SOL is staked to help secure the network in return for rewards, as well as holding SOL outright for its performance and ecosystem growth. According to the press release, Helius will pursue the same approach, aiming to benefit from Solana’s native staking yield.



The initiative will be overseen by Joseph Chee, incoming director and executive chairman of Helius and founder of Summer Capital, with Pantera Capital’s Cosmo Jiang as board observer and Dan Morehead as advisor.



The offering is expected to close by September 18, pending customary conditions. Clear Street acted as financial advisor, with Maxim Group and Tiger Securities as co-placement agents.



This

Helius raises $500 million with Pantera to build Solana treasury

MoonPay announced that it has acquired Meso, a startup specializing in bridging traditional finance and crypto, in a move designed to accelerate its transformation into a regulated global payments network.



The deal adds experienced leadership to MoonPay’s executive team while expanding its infrastructure to connect banks, card networks, stablecoins and blockchains under a unified compliance framework.



Meso, founded in 2022, was built by payments veterans Ali Aghareza and Ben Mills, whose prior roles at Braintree, Venmo and PayPal gave them experience in scaling consumer and enterprise financial systems.



MoonPay will integrate Meso’s leadership team, with CTO Aghareza stepping into the same role at the parent company, while Mills will oversee product strategy as senior vice president. Their appointments follow MoonPay’s earlier acquisitions of Solana-based payments app Helio and stablecoin infrastructure provider Iron, consolidating three critical pieces of the company’s strategy.



MoonPay, founded in 2019, first became known for offering fiat-to-crypto ramps, allowing users to buy and sell digital assets with mainstream payment methods. The company now services over 30 million customers and nearly 500 partner companies, positioning itself as a core provider of crypto infrastructure.



With Meso’s focus on self-custody and developer-friendly API integrations, MoonPay aims to provide businesses and consumers with a single, trusted way to transact across both fiat and digital currencies.



This is a developing story.







This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor Jeffrey Albus before publication.







Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:




The Breakdown: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.



0xResearch: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst. 



Empire: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.



Forward Guidance: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.



The Drop:

MoonPay acquires Meso to expand global payments push

Everyone wants an edge. 



But many traders still rely on Crypto Twitter sentiment, Telegram alerts, and fragmented dashboards to navigate markets, meaning by the time they move to execute a trade, they're already behind. Rather than more data, these traders need faster, focused, and clearer insights.



That’s where Arkham, trusted by leading trading firms, exchanges, protocols, media organizations, government entities, and over three million users, comes in. With its launch of Arkham Insights, Arkham is now the crypto equivalent of a Bloomberg Terminal, powered by AI. It’s a command center where traders can monitor markets, follow institutional positioning, and quickly absorb and react to vast volumes of raw data points that Arkham turns into structured, actionable signals. Users can then seamlessly leverage those insights to place trades on Arkham Exchange.



Try Arkham Insights: http://intel.arkm.com/insights 



Whether analyzing ETF flows, tracking institutional behavior, or reacting to sentiment shifts across exchanges, Arkham equips traders to operate with speed, clarity, and confidence.



What Arkham actually solves



Crypto markets move faster than traditional finance, but information remains deeply fragmented. Traders must often toggle between exchange dashboards, onchain explorers, social feeds, and news aggregators to construct a complete picture of market conditions. The result is overload.



Arkham was built to change that. Originally launched as the leading platform for blockchain entity intelligence, Arkham pioneered the ability to deanonymize the blockchain at scale. Today, it has evolved into a full-fledged intelligence-based exchange, integrating its intelligence platform with execution, enabling seamless analysis and trading in one interface.



This shift is grounded in two core beliefs:




Public blockchain data represents a structural shift in market visibility. Traders can now observe market participants in real time—a radical