Truflation has called for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates after its July forecast came within 0.01 percentage point of the official monthly headline PCE reading and matched the other three published figures.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported on Aug. 26 that the PCE Price Index rose 0.2% month over month in July, reversing a 0.1% decline recorded in June. Annual headline inflation remained unchanged at 3.7%.

Core PCE, which excludes food and energy, also increased by 0.2% on a monthly basis and held at 3.3% from a year earlier. The Federal Reserve uses PCE as its preferred measure of inflation and has set a long-term inflation target of 2%.

Five days before the government release, Truflation estimated that headline PCE would increase 0.19% monthly and stay at 3.7% annually. Its forecast placed monthly core PCE at 0.2% and the annual reading at 3.3%.

The 0.19% headline estimate rounds to the 0.2% figure published by the BEA, although the two figures were not identical before rounding. Truflation matched the remaining three figures at the precision used in the official release.

Truflation has called the data a turning point

Speaking directly to crypto.news after the PCE release, Truflation Head of Data Oliver Rust said softer household demand, mixed employment data and falling gasoline prices have created a case for lower borrowing costs.

“Truflation is of the opinion that we have reached a turning point that needs the Fed to cut rates. We are seeing a softening in demand, i.e., spending.”

Official data offered some support for the demand side of Rust’s argument. The BEA said inflation-adjusted personal consumption expenditures were almost unchanged in July, down from a 0.4% increase in June.

Current-dollar spending rose by $36.3 billion as an $86.2 billion increase in services was partly offset by a $49.9 billion decline in goods. Personal income increased 0.4%, while disposable personal income gained 0.5%.

Households saved $712 billion during the month, leaving the personal savings rate at 3%. Truflation’s report said declining excess savings and increased reliance on credit could reduce consumer demand during the second half of 2026.

Retail sales also fell 0.6% in July, according to the report, ending an eight-month run without a monthly decline. Truflation attributed the drop to fading support from tax refunds, higher energy expenses, and more cautious discretionary purchases.

Rust said the labor market continues to show a “low-hire, low-fire environment.” Truflation’s report placed unemployment at 4.1% and said labor-force participation had fallen to 61.4% after nearly 1.4 million people left the workforce during 2026.

TruPCE maps live prices to BEA categories

Asked how the company makes its data comparable with the government index, Rust said Truflation assigns its price information to the BEA’s PCE category definitions and then applies the agency’s category weights.

The resulting measure, called TruPCE, is designed to track the government index while offering earlier guidance. Rust said Truflation’s data leads the BEA measure by an average of approximately 30 days.

Truflation says its indexes use more than 15 million product prices from over 30 data partners and sources. The company publishes its readings daily, while the BEA releases PCE figures monthly and can revise previous estimates as more information becomes available.

July represented only the fourth PCE forecast Truflation has published, according to Rust. He said the company also matched the previous month’s result and missed the April and May readings by 0.1 percentage point each.

The limited sample means the supplied figures do not provide a 12-month average forecasting error or a full comparison with economists’ estimates. Market consensus had placed July annual headline PCE at 3.6%, while forecasts for core inflation matched the eventual 3.3% reading.

In July, crypto.news reported PCE cooling from 4.1% in May to 3.7% in June as Bitcoin approached $65,000. July’s new reading left the annual rate at the same level rather than extending the decline.

Services and food kept inflation elevated

Housing carried the largest weight in Truflation’s July model, while gasoline created the strongest downward pressure, Rust said. Services and groceries produced the largest upward contributions.

Truflation’s underlying data showed gasoline and other energy goods falling 3.36% from June, although the category remained 23.6% higher than a year earlier. Clothing and footwear declined 0.7% monthly but increased 4.24% annually.

Food services and accommodation prices rose 1.21% during July and 3.61% over the year. The report attributed the monthly increase to summer travel, hotel demand, and restaurants passing higher labor and operating expenses to customers.

Transportation services climbed 1.13% monthly and 12.25% annually, led by airfares and public transportation costs, according to Truflation. Grocery prices increased 1.09% from June, with beef, coffee, and internationally traded food commodities adding pressure.

Wage growth presents another risk to Rust’s rate-cut argument. Truflation estimates that annual pay growth has remained between 4% and 4.5% since the middle of 2025, a rate the company says can sustain inflation in labor-intensive services.

Tariffs, oil prices, and electricity demand could also prevent a steady decline. The report said repeated tariff changes involving China, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union were becoming more visible in apparel and vehicle prices.

Utility prices rose 0.98% monthly and 7.64% annually in Truflation’s data, reaching their highest rates since mid-2024. The company linked some of the pressure to rising electricity use and infrastructure needs associated with artificial intelligence.

Fed officials have remained cautious about cuts

Rust’s call for lower rates stands apart from the current debate inside the Federal Reserve. Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid said on Aug. 27 that the existing 3.5%–3.75% policy range did not appear restrictive enough to return inflation to 2%, according to Reuters.

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee also described persistent inflation as concerning, although he said rates could fall over time if the data showed prices moving back toward the central bank’s target.

Truflation’s Aug. 21 report had taken a less aggressive position than Rust’s post-release comments. The document projected that the Fed would leave rates unchanged in September and avoid another increase during the rest of 2026, rather than forecasting an immediate cut.

Bitcoin showed little initial reaction to the PCE release, trading around $78,353 approximately 36 minutes after the figures arrived, compared with a pre-release range of roughly $78,500 to $79,000. The 10-year Treasury yield moved about one basis point higher to 4.65%.

Earlier in the week, a Bitcoin catalyst report identified July PCE and Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s Jackson Hole appearance as the main U.S. macro events facing crypto traders. Warsh is scheduled to deliver his keynote on Aug. 28 as markets seek guidance on the next interest-rate decision.

EX DeFi offers XRP holders a cloud mining alternative as ETF inflows sustain institutional interest amid market volatility.

Cumulative net inflows into XRP ETF have hit a record high of $1.566 billion; however, the price of XRP has not surged in tandem. Instead, it has experienced a pullback, further fueling investor caution.

Historically, sustained inflows into XRP ETF have tended to bolster market sentiment. Yet, as of August 26, XRP ETF saw a single-day inflow of $23.87 million, a significant increase, while the price of XRP actually fell. This phenomenon highlights a supply-demand imbalance in the spot market and dampens institutional interest in entering the space.

With the XRP price pulling back, more investors are considering a practical question: rather than simply waiting for the price to rise, are there more flexible ways to utilize their holdings and generate additional long-term returns?

Against this backdrop, some investors are turning to the EX DeFi cloud mining platform, exploring income-generating avenues beyond mere asset holding. Cloud mining offers a way to earn returns on digital assets that is distinct from price-based speculation, even amidst short-term price volatility.

What exactly is driving XRP price fluctuations?

Current price movements are influenced not only by ETF capital flows but also significantly by on-chain activity.

After a prolonged 20-month slump, the XRP market is gradually regaining momentum. Unlike the relatively passive and orderly nature of ETF inflows, XRP recent surge of over 40% shows signs of active engagement by major market participants.

Prior to the recent rapid price rally, wallet addresses holding between 1 million and 10 million XRP showed clear accumulation patterns, collectively purchasing nearly 500 million tokens. Some analysts believe this massive accumulation by “whales” provided crucial support for the rebound, helping XRP break free from a downtrend that had persisted for 608 days.

Consequently, XRP current price trajectory cannot be explained solely by ETF inflows. A combination of factors, including ETF capital, whale activity, on-chain transactions, and overall market sentiment, likely shapes XRP’s future price performance. 

XRP price volatility makes EX DeFi cloud mining platforms an alternative.

As market volatility intensifies, an increasing number of investors are seeking ways to engage with digital assets that go beyond simple price speculation. EX DeFi offers sustainable energy-based cloud mining solutions, providing investors with a compliant and structured pathway to participate in the XRP ecosystem.

Through cloud mining, users can participate in the operation of blockchain infrastructure and earn returns based on established rules, creating a cash-flow-oriented investment model without the need to configure specialized mining hardware or possess complex technical expertise.

Compared to traditional mining, cloud mining reduces the burden on users regarding hardware procurement, power supply, equipment maintenance, and daily operations. The platform handles hashrate management and related operations, while users participate in mining and track their earnings via an automated system.

About EX DeFi

Founded in 2021 and headquartered in the UK, EX DeFi operates in accordance with relevant European regulatory frameworks, including the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) and the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II). The platform continuously enhances its transparency, operational standards, and user protection mechanisms.

Regarding security and compliance, the platform employs measures such as:

• Annual financial and security audits conducted by PwC
• Insurance coverage for custodied digital assets provided by Lloyd’s of London
• Utilization of enterprise-grade security solutions from Cloudflare and McAfee®
• Implementation of multi-layer encryption architecture, 24/7 monitoring, and real-time risk management mechanisms

Currently, EX DeFi supports a wide range of mainstream crypto assets, including XRP, BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB, ADA, USDC, DOGE, LTC, and SOL, offering users greater flexibility in how they engage with digital assets.

Start cloud mining in just three steps

Step 1: Register an Account

Sign up for a free account on the official EX DeFi platform using an email address. New users receive a $17 trial bonus.

Step 2: Select a mining package

Choose a suitable cloud mining contract based on budget, desired participation period, and specific needs, then launch the mining service with a single click.

Step 3: Start earning returns

Once the contract is activated, the system automatically allocates hashrate, and earnings are credited to the account daily. Users can withdraw or reinvest these earnings at any time.

Cloud mining contract examples

BTC (Beginner Trial Contract): Investment $100, Duration: 2 days, Daily Return: $4, Total Profit: $100 + $8

DOGE (Golden Shell Mini-Doge Pro): Investment $500, Duration: 6 days, Daily Return: $6.5, Total Profit: $500 + $39

BTC (Canaan-Avalon-A1466): Investment $1,000, Duration: 10 days, Daily Return: $13.4, Total Profit: $1,000 + $134

LTC (Bitmain Antminer L7): Investment $5,000, Duration: 20 days, Daily Return: $73.5, Total Profit: $5,000 + $1,470

BTC (Bitmain S19K-Pro): Investment $10,000, Duration: 30 days, Daily Return: $161, Total Profit: $10,000 + $4,830

For more contract details, please visit the official EX DeFi website.

Conclusion

Continued capital inflows into XRP ETFs indicate that institutional investors remain highly interested in XRP; however, growth in ETF funds does not guarantee a simultaneous rise in the XRP price. The market is currently influenced by multiple factors, including “whale” activity, on-chain capital flows, and overall sentiment in the cryptocurrency market.

For long-term XRP investors, beyond monitoring price fluctuations and ETF capital flows, EX DeFi offers a professional cloud mining infrastructure that provides regulated, secure, and sustainable access to the XRP ecosystem, laying a solid foundation for long-term wealth accumulation.

Ethena has proposed directing 95% of net revenue from its branded businesses toward ENA buybacks once USDe supply reaches $7.5 billion, as the protocol also moves to end monthly investor unlocks and separate ecosystem economics from Ethena Labs equity.

According to the Ethena Foundation, the proposed changes are designed to address two long-running issues around ENA: recurring supply from early investor unlocks and uncertainty over how the protocol’s economic value reaches token holders.

The overhaul combines changes to the token’s supply schedule with a proposed fee switch that could create recurring market purchases of ENA. It also sets out a planned agreement under which most of the intellectual property and economic benefits tied to the Ethena protocol would sit with the foundation and ecosystem rather than shareholders in Ethena Labs.

ENA reacted sharply to the announcement, rising about 23% over the past 24 hours to around $0.17. The token has roughly doubled in a little more than a week, extending gains recorded during the latest crypto market rally.

ENA buybacks could receive 95% of net revenue

Under the governance proposal, ENA holders are voting on a fee switch that would link token purchases to the size of USDe’s circulating supply.

Once USDe reaches the first threshold of $7.5 billion, 95% of net revenue generated by Ethena-branded businesses would be allocated to programmatic ENA purchases. The remaining 5% would be retained to fund ecosystem growth.

Buybacks would then increase as USDe circulation reaches additional milestones, creating a mechanism through which growth in Ethena’s businesses could translate into demand for ENA.

The proposal addresses a question that has followed governance tokens across decentralized finance: whether revenue generated by a protocol ultimately produces economic benefits for the token itself. In Ethena’s case, the proposed structure would use revenue for open-market ENA demand rather than leaving the connection dependent mainly on governance rights or expectations of future utility.

The idea is not Ethena’s first use of token repurchases. In August 2025, crypto.news reported on ENA buybacks when a $260 million program was allocating about $5 million per day toward token purchases as USDe supply and protocol revenue climbed.

The latest proposal differs by tying purchases to recurring net revenue and predetermined USDe supply thresholds rather than relying only on a fixed pool of capital.

Ethena moves to remove the ENA unlock overhang

Alongside the revenue proposal, the Ethena Foundation said it had purchased the remaining locked tokens belonging to certain large seed investors that had been selling ENA during the previous nine months.

Remaining original investor allocations will also be unlocked on an accelerated schedule, bringing the monthly release of venture investor tokens to an end. Tokens allocated to the Ethena team will continue under their existing vesting schedules.

Ending the monthly investor releases changes when the remaining supply enters circulation rather than removing those tokens entirely. The foundation’s purchase of locked allocations from some seed investors, however, removes those holdings from investors who had previously been selling ENA.

Token unlocks have affected ENA trading before. In June 2025, an unlock of roughly 41 million ENA, worth more than $12 million at the time, produced only a limited market reaction, with the token falling about 1% during the day.

More recently, the supply picture has become important as ENA’s institutional ownership has expanded. Grayscale Investments added ENA to its Decentralized Finance Fund during its first-quarter 2026 rebalance, selling other fund components to finance the purchase.

Another source of U.S. market exposure arrived in June when StablecoinX completed its merger with TLGY Acquisition Corp. and began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker USDE. The company held about 3.029 billion ENA, valued at roughly $275 million using the 30-day average price cited around the transaction, giving public-market investors exposure to a business built around the Ethena ecosystem.

Ethena seeks clearer ownership of protocol economics

A separate part of the overhaul deals with the relationship between Ethena Labs, the foundation and ENA holders.

Under an agreement in principle described by the foundation, substantially all material intellectual property and economic upside associated with the Ethena protocol would belong to the foundation and ecosystem rather than holders of equity in Ethena Labs.

The parties expect to publish the agreement in October.

Formalizing that division could clarify which economic interests belong to shareholders in the development company and which remain with the token-governed ecosystem. The foundation presented the arrangement alongside the buyback proposal and investor unlock changes rather than as a standalone corporate restructuring.

Institutional involvement in ENA has increased during 2026. Coinbase Ventures bought ENA on the open market in June rather than receiving tokens through a discounted private allocation, while Coinbase and Ethena announced plans to develop onchain finance and savings products.

As previously covered in June, Ethena did not disclose the number of ENA tokens Coinbase Ventures purchased, its average acquisition price, or wallet addresses associated with the transaction.

A first product from the relationship arrived later that month when Coinbase introduced a high-yield USDC vault using Morpho infrastructure and allocations curated by Steakhouse Financial. The product included Ethena-related assets in its collateral structure and allowed users to access the vault through Coinbase’s application.

USDe supply remains far below its peak

While ENA has rallied, Ethena is still working to rebuild demand for USDe after a steep contraction from its 2025 highs.

USDe supply has fallen below $5 billion from a peak of nearly $15 billion in October. The decline followed weaker conditions in crypto derivatives markets, where funding rates form an important part of the strategy Ethena uses to generate returns.

USDe differs from reserve-backed stablecoins because Ethena uses collateral alongside derivatives positions to maintain its dollar exposure. Returns available from that structure can therefore change as derivatives funding conditions move.

During the previous expansion, USDe had reached $11.7 billion in supply by August 2025, while Ethena reported more than $500 million in cumulative gross interest revenue. Weekly protocol revenue was $13.4 million at the time, alongside $670 million of USDe mints.

By June 2026, however, the decline in USDe supply was already visible as Ethena pursued institutional distribution and new uses for its capital.

One route has been traditional asset management. Janus Henderson invested in ENA in June and began exploring ways to use USDe for treasury management and to distribute it through investment products. The asset manager oversaw roughly $480 billion at the time of the agreement.

Ethena also planned a $250 million allocation to Securitize’s tokenized AAA-rated collateralized loan obligation fund when the product expanded to Solana in June. The fund invests in U.S. dollar-denominated AAA-rated CLO tranches, with BNY serving as custodian and sub-adviser. The planned allocation provided another route for Ethena capital into traditional credit markets.

Institutional access expanded again later in June when BlackRock integrated USDe into its Aladdin investment and risk-management platform. The Aladdin integration gave institutions using the system access to USDe through existing workflows, while the announcement was accompanied by plans for a $100 million liquidity facility connected to BlackRock’s tokenized BUIDL money-market fund.

New credit facility reduces reliance on crypto funding rates

Ethena added another source of potential yield in August through a $1 billion facility with institutional crypto prime broker FalconX.

Announced on Aug. 19, the warehouse facility allows assets backing USDe to be deployed into overcollateralized institutional loans. The arrangement gives Ethena a source of returns outside the crypto derivatives funding-rate trades that have historically formed a central part of USDe’s yield model.

The announcement also contributed to ENA’s recent price strength. Days after the FalconX deal, ENA had climbed 48% as several altcoins outperformed Bitcoin, although CoinDesk reported that market-wide measures did not yet indicate a general altcoin season.

Meanwhile, Coinbase has already provided a U.S.-facing distribution channel for Ethena-linked products. Its high-yield USDC vault launched in June through Morpho and Steakhouse Financial, with Ethena-related assets included in the collateral framework. The Coinbase vault is accessible from the exchange’s consumer application, while the underlying lending activity runs through onchain infrastructure.

Janus Henderson’s involvement has added another institutional route. Along with investing in ENA, the asset manager has explored USDe distribution through investment products, according to the June announcement.

Virtu Financial, M1X Global and Tradeweb have completed an onchain repurchase agreement (repo) that uses a sovereign digital bond as collateral, with the entire transaction settling on the Canton Network. The deal is notable for pairing natively issued sovereign collateral with fully onchain atomic settlement, according to a release referenced in the report.

The collateral in question is USDM1, a US dollar-denominated sovereign bond issued onchain by the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The bond is described as being backed 1:1 by short-term US Treasurys and pays a coupon while it is posted as collateral. It is also structured under New York law as a fully collateralized sovereign obligation.

Key takeaways

• Repo settlement moved fully onchain: the full repo and repurchase cycle completed using atomic settlement on Canton, in under 10 minutes.
• USDM1 is deployed as collateral, not just a tokenized asset: the bond is used to support an institutional financing flow.
• Deal executed between regulated counterparties: the transaction ran through Tradeweb and was completed between established financial firms.
• USDM1 availability ties to institutional rails: Tradeweb provides access, while custody is supported by Anchorage Digital, BitGo and tZERO, per the release.

A repo built around tokenized sovereign debt

Repos are a core part of institutional liquidity management, allowing one party to sell securities and agree to repurchase them later, typically with collateral underpinning the transaction. In this case, the participating firms structured the repo around USDM1—an onchain sovereign bond whose design is meant to keep dollar exposure tied to underlying US Treasurys.

According to the release, the transaction used USDM1 as collateral throughout the lifecycle of the repurchase agreement. This matters because it extends tokenized sovereign debt beyond initial issuance and secondary trading narratives, positioning it for use directly inside financing structures where collateral efficiency and settlement speed are often pivotal.

The companies involved also said the transaction was the first repo to combine natively issued sovereign collateral with fully onchain atomic settlement. While that claim signals a meaningful technical milestone, the report also emphasizes that this remains an early-stage example and does not confirm broad adoption across institutional repo markets.

Canton’s institutional focus shows up in the transaction design

Canton is presented as a blockchain network tailored for institutional finance, with permissioning and privacy features intended to support regulated transactions and tokenized assets. The repo executed this week follows a broader pattern of Canton-related activity in recent months, where major market infrastructure and financial firms have used the network to move tokenized instruments in settlement workflows.

Earlier coverage highlighted that Tradeweb facilitated a July transaction transferring a tokenized US Treasury from Franklin Templeton to Virtu Financial on Canton. That transaction settled against USDCx, illustrating that Canton has been used to connect tokenized assets with stablecoin settlement mechanisms.

In the latest repo, settlement is framed as “fully onchain atomic,” meaning the transaction’s logic and settlement completion happen within the network workflow rather than being partly dependent on traditional post-trade processes. The report states the entire cycle—repo and repurchase—was completed in under 10 minutes between regulated counterparties via Tradeweb.

Momentum on Canton: cross-chain swaps, stablecoins and planned public-benefits pilots

The repo is only one thread in a wider wave of institutional experimentation on Canton. The report notes several developments across August and prior months.

In August, FalconX and Interstice launched a cross-chain swap engine connecting Canton with Ethereum, Solana and Robinhood Chain. The same period also saw World Liberty Financial launch its USD1 stablecoin natively on Canton. Taken together, these moves reflect a push to make Canton interoperable with broader token ecosystems rather than limiting activity to a closed network.

Beyond purely financial market plumbing, the report also references plans announced this month by Digital Asset and the American Idea Foundation—founded by former US House Speaker Paul Ryan—for a 2027 pilot using Canton to distribute state-administered benefits across three US states. While that initiative is different from repo settlement, it signals that developers and institutional backers are looking at Canton as infrastructure for regulated, high-stakes workflows where auditability, access control and privacy matter.

For investors and market participants, this mix of activities raises an important question: whether Canton’s institutional use cases will expand from discrete pilots and isolated transactions into repeatable market processes. Each new transaction type—such as repo collateralization—adds another potential building block, but adoption in core markets depends on operational readiness, counterparties’ comfort with risk controls, and whether tokenized settlement can integrate smoothly with existing institutional infrastructures.

Where USDM1 fits into institutional custody and trading

According to the release cited in the report, USDM1 is available through Tradeweb, while institutional custody is provided by Anchorage Digital, BitGo and tZERO. This structure is relevant because custody and access are often gating factors for tokenized collateral in traditional finance. If collateral remains usable across multiple participants without forcing bespoke custody arrangements, tokenized sovereign debt may be more practical for institutional balance sheets and financing desks.

The reporting also frames USDM1 as a bond that pays a coupon while being used as collateral—an important design point for financing applications. In many collateralized transactions, the issuer of the tokenized asset and the economic rights attached to it can determine whether the collateral is attractive for borrowers and lenders alike.

Still, the report leaves open the extent to which the model will generalize beyond this transaction. Even if the settlement workflow was completed quickly and end-to-end onchain, broader uptake would likely require more counterparties, more standardized collateral handling, and evidence that operational and legal requirements can be met consistently across venues.

Going forward, the key signal for the market will be whether additional repo deals follow using similar collateral structures and whether other institutional networks or trading venues can reproduce the same kind of atomic settlement without requiring significant bespoke setup. Watch for more examples that connect tokenized sovereign assets directly into financing cycles—because that is where adoption could become more than an experimental proof of concept.