🐶 New DOGE Era: ETF Verdict

Plus: PancakeSwap Contest Rigged 🤯

September 17, 2025

Deep Dive Into Crypto Biggest News

In partnership with

Welcome back to WhaleTales. We’re halfway to the weekend, folks! 😎🍹

Breaking: Big news for Dogecoin fans. The OG meme coin is soon to launch the first-ever U.S. exchange-traded fund. The groundbreaking move could usher in a new era for meme coins and the broader crypto economy.  

Spotlight: PancakeSwap, the flagship DEX platform for BNB Chain, is accused of rigging its much-publicized trading contest. Details inside 👇  

Headlines:

  • DOGE ETF Breakout

  • PancakeSwap Rigged

  • Is it Altcoin Season?

  • Athena Bitcoin Scandal

  • PayPal Adds Crypto 

Be the first to know the latest updates in crypto. Join free. 📩

Deep Dive

🤯 ETF Breakout: DOGE to Launch First-Ever Meme Coin ETF

📊 News flash: The beginning of a new era for meme coins. 🐶

Dogecoin, the popular meme coin, is all set to launch the first-ever U.S. exchange-traded fund (ETF), igniting a wave of bullish sentiment among meme coin lovers. Despite the SEC’s (the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) decision to delay the ETF filing, the news breakout surged Dogecoin prices by nearly 4% and reached $0.26 within 24 hours last week.

In-depth:

On September 9, in his X post, Eric Balchunas, Senior ETF Analyst at Bloomberg, tweeted, “ Meme coin ETF era about to kick off it looks like with $DOJE slated for a Thursday launch.”

Source:  X

The Background 📜

Earlier, Balchunas indicated that the Rex-Osprey Dogecoin ETF (ticker: $DOJE) official launch date is Thursday, September 11, filed under the Investment Company Act of 1940, which was later postponed to begin trading on September 12. But Balchunas’s recent announcement revealed that it has been rescheduled to Thursday, September 18.

What Fuels the Fire? 🔥

Dogecoin, widely considered the very first meme coin in history, could fuel large institutional and retail mainstream adoption of DOGE with the launch of the first-ever meme coin ETF. Social media discussions surrounding DOGE amplified optimism among investors, both retail and institutional. Anticipation for $DOJE witnessed accumulated whale accumulation exceeding $280 million over the past week.

Additionally, the REX-Osprey DOGE ETF was filed under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (“40 Act”) and not under the Securities Act of 1933 (“33 Act”), bypassing SEC approvals. This implies a clearly defined regulatory framework and faster ETF launch.

Notably, $DOJE ETF differs from other altcoin ETFs, as it is based on the Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism like Bitcoin.

The Verdict? ⚖️

DOGE, the original meme coin, was launched by Jackson Palmer and Billy Marcus in 2013 as a light-hearted joke and was largely supported by tech billionaire Elon Musk. Today, the meme coin that started as a satirical joke has grown into the world’s 8th-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

Opinion: DOGE ETFs are a big milestone in meme coin history that introduces a regulated infrastructure under the 1940 Act for meme coins. It gives exposure to spot ETFs and derivatives, indicating the broader institutionalization of meme coins.

Keep This Stock Ticker on Your Watchlist

They’re a private company, but Pacaso just reserved the Nasdaq ticker “$PCSO.”

No surprise the same firms that backed Uber, eBay, and Venmo already invested in Pacaso. What is unique is Pacaso is giving the same opportunity to everyday investors. And 10,000+ people have already joined them.

Created a former Zillow exec who sold his first venture for $120M, Pacaso brings co-ownership to the $1.3T vacation home industry.

They’ve generated $1B+ worth of luxury home transactions across 2,000+ owners. That’s good for more than $110M in gross profit since inception, including 41% YoY growth last year alone.

And you can join them today for just $2.90/share. But don’t wait too long. Invest in Pacaso before the opportunity ends September 18.

Paid advertisement for Pacaso’s Regulation A offering. Read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com. Reserving a ticker symbol is not a guarantee that the company will go public. Listing on the NASDAQ is subject to approvals.

Exclusive

🚨 PancakeSwap Rigged: Half of the Winners were Connected

🔔 Crypto Alert: Popular decentralized exchange PancakeSwap is under scrutiny. 👀 

According to a recent analysis by Cointelegraph, PancakeSwap claimed that its July trading competition winners were selected randomly. However, records show results were heavily rigged, and about half of the 1700 winning wallets were interconnected.

Details:

In July, PancakeSwap announced the launch of its new trading campaign that featured 5 Binance Alpha Tokens on Binance Chain, namely, Bedrock (BR), League of Traders (LOT), MilkyWay (MILK), NodeOps (NODE), and Moonveil (MORE).

To qualify for the reward, eligible participants must complete the minimum trading volume tiers of $2000, $5000, and $10,000 worth of tokens by swapping sponsor tokens on PancakeSwap. Lucky winners will be selected through a “random lucky draw.”

Inside Story: 🔍

Blockchain data revealed a different story. Apparently, a suspicious cluster of 850 wallets (nearly half of the winning wallets) were directly linked that marred the lottery-style trading contest .

The on-chain trades indicated “wash trading” through BNB transfers among the alleged wallet addresses, and the process was repeated to inflate the trading volume.  

PancakeSwap is yet to respond to the allegations. The competition took place between July 27 to August 5, is now under scrutiny.

Despite the allegations, PancakeSwap managed to complete its third trading contest with a prize pool of $300,000 for “2040 random lucky winners” on the BNB chain.

Source: X (@PancakeSwap)

📌 At A Glance

Is it Altcoin Season? 🌈

Is the much-anticipated “Altcoin Season” finally here? According to the Blockchain Center Altcoin Season Index, the altcoin index value is 80 as of September 15, officially indicating the onset of the altcoin season. Several other altcoin season indexes, like CoinMarketCap or Binance, show a value of 70, with top altcoins outperforming Bitcoin over the last 90 days. 📎 Read More at CCN. 

Athena Bitcoin Fee Scandal 🫣

District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued ATM operator Athena Bitcoin, Inc., on Monday, September 8, alleging that 93% of its deposits were scams over the last five months. General Schwalb’s office claimed that Athena charges hidden fees without proper disclosure and is involved in unfair trading practices. 📎 Read More at Cointelegraph. 

PayPal Adds Crypto to New P2P Payments 📲

PayPal will add cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and PYUSD to its new peer-to-peer (P2P) payments. On Monday, September 15, the global online payment service announced the launch of PayPal links for U.S. users, with expansion plans for the U.K., Italy, and other international markets beginning next month. The personalized payment feature will enable users to receive and send payments directly with just “one tap.” 📎 Read More at PayPal Newsroom.

🎲 Play the Quiz

Hey readers, we are back with last week’s quiz result.

It’s a tie between Python and Solidity. The correct answer 👉 Solidity. 🥁

Congratulations to the winners who got it right. 🎉

This Week’s Quiz:

Which prominent Dogecoin investor is widely known as the “SlumDoge Millionaire” for his rags-to-riches story?

The Options Are:

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Stay tuned for our next edition, where we will bring another fun quiz and reveal this week’s result. Until then, keep reading. 📰 ☕

🌐 Market Map

Top 5 Crypto according to CoinMarketCap, September 17, 2025.

🍿 Quick Bytes

🤡 This Week’s Meme Drop

That’s it folks. Before you go, do not forget to sign up with WhaleTales newsletter. See ya all next week. 🗞️😇

Disclaimer: The information provided in this newsletter is educational and not intended for any investment or financial advice.