September 2025 was nothing short of explosive for digital assets, stablecoins, and the broader crypto-finance ecosystem — and in this news-packed episode of Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll (BFRR), Manuel and Stefan take you through the whirlwind of developments that shaped the month.

The episode kicks off with a market overview: crypto market cap reaching a fresh all-time high at $4.7 trillion, massive ETF inflows sparked by the Fed’s first rate cut of the year, and a landmark SEC decision to streamline spot crypto ETF approvals, reducing listing times from more than 200 days to just 75. These moves underline how deeply digital assets are embedding themselves into traditional finance.

From there, the hosts dive into the infrastructure shake-up. Tether’s launch of the Plasma Chain stole headlines, debuting with $2 billion in total value locked and support from over 100 DeFi projects. Anchored to Bitcoin, EVM-compatible, and zero-fee for users, Plasma marks Tether’s bold attempt to merge payments use cases, DeFi traction, and emerging market adoption into a single ecosystem — complete with its own neobank, Plasma One. Circle is countering with its ARK blockchain, while Stripe’s Tempo and Fireblocks’ payment network illustrate how corporates and fintechs are redrawing the rails of stablecoin infrastructure.

The stablecoin story doesn’t end there. Tether introduced USAT, a regulated, US-focused dollar stablecoin via Anchorage Digital. Meanwhile, Google unveiled its agent-to-agent payments protocol for AI-driven transactions, backed by a 60-member consortium including Mastercard, PayPal, and Coinbase. Cloudflare announced its Net Dollar stablecoin, while nine major European banks revealed plans for a euro-denominated alternative aimed at boosting “strategic autonomy” in payments.

On the digital asset side, Nasdaq and the London Stock Exchange began tokenization efforts, while Deutsche Börse and challengers like 21X push competing models for on-chain securities trading. In tokenized deposits, JPMorgan’s Kinexis and the multi-bank Partior consortium are expanding intraday FX and programmable payments.

Closing with Knowledge Bytes, the hosts explore ERC-8004 — a new Ethereum standard for agent reputation in AI-driven payments — alongside the latest BIS survey showing central banks tilting toward wholesale CBDCs under pressure from stablecoin adoption.

From ETFs to Plasma chains, euro stablecoins to AI-native payments, September shows one clear trend: the convergence of crypto, TradFi, and technology is accelerating faster than ever.

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