The cryptocurrency market enters September at a decisive moment. After an August of strong recovery, with Bitcoin gaining, altcoins advancing and ETF inflows picking up again, analysts believe the month will be shaped by a combination of macroeconomic factors, regulatory events and catalysts specific to certain protocols.
The Federal Reserve meeting on 15 and 16 September stands out as one of the main points of attention. At the same time, the increase in long-bond buybacks by the US Treasury, progress on digital asset rules in the United States, and the maturing of buyback-and-burn mechanisms in decentralised protocols are also on the radar as possible price drivers.
For Pedro Fontes, research analyst at Mercado Bitcoin, September brings together established assets and projects exposed to specific short-term triggers. André Franco, CEO of Boost Research, points to an important pattern: among the assets he picked, Chainlink, Ethena and Hyperliquid use operating revenue to buy back their own token, in a dynamic similar to share buybacks by listed companies. In a month of macro decisions, this type of mechanism can make the difference between a price sustained only by flows and one sustained by results.
Marcelo Person, Crypto Treasury & Markets Director at Foxbit, also sees September as a month to watch institutional flows, network technological developments and the possibility of profit-taking after recent strong gains. Paulo Camargo, ambassador at OKX, notes that August marked a turning point of broad traction across the crypto market, with Bitcoin rising again and most of the tracked cryptocurrencies following the move.
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Below are the cryptocurrencies analysts are backing for September:
Hyperliquid (HYPE)
Hyperliquid is the most-cited asset among the recommendations for September. The platform, the largest decentralised exchange for perpetual futures, has regained momentum by combining usage growth, revenue generation and buyback mechanisms for its own token.
Pedro Fontes notes that Hyperliquid handled more than US$114 billion in August and that its main trigger for September could be regulated access to the US market. According to Mercado Bitcoin's analysis, Donald Trump said in August that CFTC chair Michael Selig is working to bring the platform into the country on a regulated basis, which could open access to the world's largest derivatives market.
In addition, the protocol generated US$54.3 million in fees over the past 30 days, an annualised pace of close to US$970 million, with almost all of that reverted into HYPE buybacks. AQAv2, approved by validators, adds a second source of buybacks by converting yield from the more than US$5 billion in USDC deposited on the platform into demand for the token.
André Franco says Hyperliquid returns to the list with the mechanism that was missing in August. Since 26 August, about 90% of the yield from USDC reserves has been accumulated to buy back HYPE in 30-day cycles, with the first payment expected in October. The analyst also flags a relevant short-term risk: the unlock of 9.92 million tokens allocated to project contributors on 6 September.
In Marcelo Person's assessment, Hyperliquid has been consolidating as one of the leading names in the decentralised derivatives market. Using a significant share of protocol revenue to buy back HYPE makes the asset a clear representation of a sector trend: projects seeking to link usage growth to value capture by the token.
Paulo Camargo also places HYPE among his highest-conviction names for September. According to him, the platform hit a record high in late August after launching 24-hour trading of tokenised shares of companies such as Nvidia and Apple, alongside a new buyback mechanism funded by yield from its reserves. For the analyst, the asset has potential but also a shorter track record to validate the trend.
Chainlink (LINK)
Chainlink stands out among the main bets tied to institutional infrastructure. The project was highlighted by André Franco as one of the assets converting revenue into demand for its own token, and by Pedro Fontes as a central piece for oracles, interoperability and tokenisation.
In Mercado Bitcoin's analysis, Chainlink is the largest oracle network in the crypto market, responsible for bringing external data, such as asset prices and event outcomes, into smart contracts securely. The network already secures more than US$28 trillion in transacted value and serves as critical infrastructure for institutional tokenisation initiatives.
The main trigger cited for September is Project Pangea, an initiative bringing together more than 50 banks from South Korea and Europe, with more than US$10 trillion in assets under management, to test settlement of foreign exchange operations via stablecoins using Chainlink's CCIP protocol, alongside Swift infrastructure and the ISO 20022 standard.
André Franco also highlights a relevant institutional event: the launch of Arc, the network from Circle, issuer of USDC, on 16 September, with Chainlink as founding oracle and connectivity partner. The group of founding validators includes names such as BlackRock, DTCC, ICE, Mastercard, Standard Chartered and Visa.
The analyst notes, however, that part of this expectation may already be priced in. The token rose 38% in August, and institutional integrations tend to take quarters to turn into revenue. Even so, the thesis remains strong given Chainlink's position as data and interoperability infrastructure for a market increasingly connected to stablecoins, banks and tokenised assets.
Zcash (ZEC)
Zcash is the most surprising name among the September recommendations. Paulo Camargo notes that the privacy token had a rapid turnaround and reached its highest price in eight years after Grayscale converted its fund into a spot ETF in the United States, with more than US$300 million under management right at launch.
The thesis behind the move is growing demand for financial privacy. According to the OKX analyst, fund managers have started arguing that artificial intelligence tools capable of tracing transactions increase the need for genuine privacy solutions. This context has put ZEC back on the radar of investors and specialist funds.
Read also: Zcash ETF debuts after security crisis hits privacy crypto
Despite the strength of the move, Camargo also issues a warning. The rally advanced a great deal in a short time, and there was significant movement from a large holder in late August, which could signal profit-taking. For that reason, the asset warrants close monitoring, particularly because it combines a strong narrative with elevated volatility risk after the recent surge.
Other cryptocurrencies to watch
Beyond the three main highlights, other assets appear among the September picks. Uniswap was cited by Pedro Fontes as the largest decentralised exchange in the market, with more than US$3.6 trillion traded since 2018. The main trigger lies in potential volume growth, driven by Robinhood Chain, which has Uniswap as its main liquidity provider, and by the return of speculative appetite in the market.
Aave was also chosen by Mercado Bitcoin. The protocol is the largest decentralised finance protocol by value deposited, at around US$17.7 billion, and its main catalyst is adoption of Aave V4. Deposits in the new version rose from US$346 million in early August to more than US$600 million on 21 August, hitting successive records. Growing use of real-world assets as collateral and the new tokenomics, with automatic and continuous AAVE buybacks, reinforce the thesis.
Virtuals Protocol appears as a bet tied to artificial intelligence. According to Pedro Fontes, the platform already has more than 18,000 agents created and gained a new catalyst with the possibility for Solana users to buy stakes in existing agents. The x402 standard, created by Coinbase and maintained by the Linux Foundation, also supports the thesis by enabling payments between autonomous agents directly in stablecoins.
Ethena was included by André Franco as the list's newcomer. The protocol proposed a mechanism that directs part of its revenue to buy back the ENA token as supply of the synthetic dollar USDe grows. The thesis has potential, but the risk is clear: at the end of August, USDe supply still needed to nearly double before the mechanism would start generating buybacks.
XRP was cited by Marcelo Person as an asset that regained strength in August and enters September benefiting from a more favourable environment for cryptocurrencies with institutional exposure. The evolution of the US regulatory landscape remains the main point of attention for the token.
Pump.fun completes OKX's list as one of the month's more aggressive bets. Paulo Camargo notes that the token nearly tripled in value over 30 days and that, unlike much of the memecoin space, the move is backed by real revenue. The platform earned more than US$35 million in fees over the past 30 days and uses part of that revenue to buy back and burn tokens daily. The point of attention is governance, following the release of large token batches to the team and early investors.
Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana
Even with altcoins carrying their own catalysts in the spotlight, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana remain central to September's analyses. Bitcoin remains the market's main benchmark and enters the month after an important recovery in institutional flows. Fontes notes that the increase in long-bond buybacks by the US Treasury reinforces the “debasement trade” thesis, in which assets with limited supply become more attractive amid monetary expansion.
Ethereum continues to be seen as the main infrastructure for smart contracts, stablecoins, DeFi and tokenisation. The Mercado Bitcoin analyst notes that clearer rules in the US tend to benefit established blockchains with an operating track record and an established developer base. Person adds that progress on the Glamsterdam upgrade and the ecosystem's prominence in stablecoins and tokenisation could show whether ETH's recent recovery will continue.
Solana, in turn, appears as one of the assets with the greatest relative strength. Analysts highlight the reduction in block time from 400 to 350 milliseconds and the opening of the network's first formal governance vote, with proposals that could remove around 18.9 million SOL from the supply projected for the next six years and multiply daily token burns. Franco notes that Alpenglow has been given a date, with mainnet activation expected on 28 September, although the schedule remains provisional.
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