$SKY-USD

Four altcoins—PUMP, AAVE, WLD, and SKY—posted double-digit gains while most crypto assets declined. AAVE rose 20% due to lending growth and new features, PUMP surged 30% amid token buybacks, and SKY gained 14% on institutional interest. WLD added 15% without a clear catalyst. QNT dropped 7% after a recent rally. Total crypto market cap fell 0.30% last week, per BeInCrypto.

Several altcoins, including Aave (AAVE), Pump.fun (PUMP), Worldcoin (WLD), and Sky (SKY), saw strong weekly gains despite a broader crypto market decline. AAVE rose 20% weekly, partly due to reaching $1 billion in user deposits. PUMP gained 30% with a token supply reduction strategy. SKY advanced 14% amid institutional adoption. WLD rose 15% without a clear catalyst. Quant (QNT) fell 7% on profit-taking.

Aave (AAVE) rose 7% as Aave V4 surpassed $1B in deposits and expanded its offerings. Quant (QNT) fell 7% after a recent surge. Pump.fun (PUMP) gained 30% due to aggressive buybacks, while Sky (SKY) rose 14% following institutional support from Galaxy.

Sky Protocol's token (SKY) surged 6.44% after Galaxy Digital allocated $100 million of Sky's stablecoin (sUSDS) to its treasury and approved it as collateral, according to the company. Galaxy also acquired an undisclosed amount of SKY. The move signals institutional adoption and boosted SKY's price, which was up 7.5% over 24 hours and 16.9% over seven days at publication time.

Ondo Finance, BlackRock (BLK), and Securitize (SECZ) proposed OUSG, a tokenized US Treasuries product, for Sky's Spark Tokenization Grand Prix. OUSG aims to diversify Sky's assets and support its sUSDS stablecoin. The product offers 24/7 liquidity, low fees, and tracks short-term US government securities. Sky's governance will decide if OUSG receives an allocation.

Sky Protocol and Galaxy Digital (GLXY) announced a partnership. Galaxy added $100M of sUSDS to its treasury and approved it as loan collateral. Galaxy is the first public company to hold sUSDS, with a $1.4B average loan book. Sky Protocol is the largest onchain capital allocator with $5.41B in liquidity.

Sky (SKY) surged 4% in 24 hours, driven by bullish research from Standard Chartered, which set a $0.325 price target for 2028, implying 5x upside. The broader crypto market also rose, with altcoins up 2.87%. Increased trading volume and short-term trader activity contributed to the move.

Standard Chartered initiated coverage of Sky's SKY token, setting a 2028 price target of $0.325, a fivefold increase from its current $0.065. The bank expects value to token holders to rise due to USDS adoption and borrowing expansion. Sky, a DeFi platform, is the largest issuer of yield-bearing stablecoins and ranks third overall. The forecast suggests SKY will outperform Bitcoin and keep pace with Ether by 2028, with Ether and Bitcoin targets set at $18,000 and $300,000 respectively.

Crypto projects have spent $640M on token buybacks in 2026, up from $545M in 2025, to support prices amid market challenges. Hyperliquid and pump.fun lead buyback activity, with Hyperliquid allocating 99% of revenue to repurchase its HYPE token, which has risen 70% year-over-year. Other projects like Sky Protocol and Lido have also initiated buybacks, but price impacts vary. According to Allium Labs, buybacks aim to reduce supply and signal confidence, though their effectiveness is uncertain.

The newsletter cites CoinDesk saying Coldcard, a Bitcoin-only hardware wallet, has been drained since July 30, with losses estimated at $114M, linked to a 2021 firmware bug that made seed phrases guessable. It also notes Japan’s yen purchases after 40-year lows and discusses the U.S. CLARITY Act’s Senate timing. It highlights Solana, Bitcoin levels, and tokenization firm Securitize’s institutional investments.