WLFI Freezes Justin Sun’s Assets, Robinhood Joins S&P 500, Global Crypto Adoption Skyrockets | Weekly Recap

Regulatory shockwaves hit as WLFI freezes Justin Sun's assets—just another day in crypto's regulatory circus.

Robinhood's S&P 500 Debut: Mainstream finance finally catches up—trad-fi playing with the toys crypto built years ago.

Global Adoption Surges: From emerging markets to institutional portfolios, digital assets are eating traditional finance's lunch.

Meanwhile, Wall Street still can't decide if crypto is a threat or an opportunity—classic hedge fund paralysis.

World Liberty Financial controversy engulfs Justin Sun

• The Trump-associated token project triggered widespread criticism after freezing wallets connected to Tron founder Justin Sun.
• The project blocked access to 540 million unlocked tokens and 2.4 billion locked tokens
• Platform administrators activated contract-level permissions to blacklist Sun’s addresses following a transfer of 50 million WLFI (WLFI) tokens worth $9.2 million on Sept. 4.
• The freeze extended beyond the initial transfer. On-chain data revealed WLFI’s controlling address executed the guardianSetBlacklistStatus function after suspicious activity from HTX address “HTX 48” transferred nearly 60 million tokens to a Binance deposit wallet within 32 hours.
• Sun defended his actions through multiple social media posts and stated the transfers were “routine deposit tests and portfolio shuffling, not sales.”
• The Tron founder criticized the blacklisting as “unreasonable” and unjust, asserting that it violated blockchain transparency principles and investor fairness.
• Despite the controversy, Sun announced Sept. 5 investment plans worth $10 million in both ALTS stock and additional WLFI tokens.

Robinhood achieves S&P 500 milestone

• The trading platform will join the prestigious index on Sept. 22, causing shares to surge past $108 following the announcement from S&P Dow Jones Indices.
• Robinhood’s inclusion alongside advertising technology firm AppLovin shows the index committee’s recognition of the company’s market capitalization and trading significance.

SharpLink Gaming explores Ethereum staking expansion

• The treasury company plans to stake portions of its $3.6 billion Ethereum holdings on layer-2 network Linea following its Sept. 10 mainnet launch.
• Co-CEO Joseph Chalom indicated the firm currently stakes nearly all holdings through custodians Anchorage and Coinbase.

Tether considers gold mining investments

• Discussions concerning investments in the refining, trading, and royalty operations of the gold supply chain have been held between mining associations and the stablecoin issuer.
• The investigation expands into physical commodity operations while remaining consistent with Tether’s current gold-backed token sales.

UK proposes stricter cryptocurrency rules

• HM Treasury released draft money laundering regulation changes addressing loopholes and changing risks with stricter requirements for cryptocurrency businesses.
• The proposed updates aim to create “a more risk-based, proportionate regime that is robust against financial crime whilst remaining workable for industry.”

India leads global cryptocurrency adoption rankings

• Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis ranked India first globally for the second consecutive year, surpassing other nations across all criteria, including retail centralized services, institutional adoption, and DeFi usage.
• The United States climbed to second position from fourth place last year, driven by regulatory momentum and increased institutional participation.

Gemini targets $316.7 million IPO fundraising

• The Winklevoss twins’ cryptocurrency exchange filed to raise up to $316.7 million through an initial public offering. They marketed 16.7 million shares at $17-19 each.
• The New York-based exchange and custodian seeks public market access as another major cryptocurrency business pursues traditional capital markets.

Solana community approves Alpenglow upgrade

• Network participants voted overwhelmingly in favor of the technical transformation with 98.27% approval from Solana (SOL) stakers, while only 1.05% opposed and 0.36% abstained.
• Total participation reached 52% of network stakers, indicating strong community engagement in the governance process.

Strategy continues systematic Bitcoin accumulation

• The treasury company acquired 4,048 Bitcoin for approximately $449.3 million at an average price of $110,981 per Bitcoin.
• Total holdings reached 636,505 Bitcoin as of September 1, purchased for approximately $46.95 billion including all acquisition costs.