Crypto Market

BTC and ETH Market Insight

Crypto is not a safe-haven asset to flee to during periods of high stress in the overall economic system. This week, the markets experienced considerable instability due to various macro factors such as FOMC decisions, geopolitical tensions, and an unexpected rate increase by the Bank of Japan. This week began with some of the largest liquidations since the FTX collapse, wiping out around $1B and numerous traders' positions in just a few hours. Solana outperformed Bitcoin and Ethereum, as its ecosystem experienced rapid accumulation and a quicker recovery after the crash. The rising SOL/ETH ratio indicates a potential shift in sentiment, with more investors viewing Solana as a strong competitor to Ethereum.

Options Market

BTC and ETH options market saw some consistent short-term downside protection demands after last Monday’s global de-risking; one-week and one-month 25d skew (measured in 25d call IV – 25d put IV) has remained in negative territory since then. Market sentiment remains optimistic over medium term, with three-month and six-month 25d skew swings around 5% level. Market also priced in an increased volatility into this Friday’s expiry (Aug 16th), leading to a twisted term structure (IV elevated at near and far end, suppressed in the middle). This Friday’s max pain price (the most concentrated strike price of option open interest at certain expiry) is BTC: 60,000 and ETH: 2,650; should BTC and ETH spot price hover around these levels at expiry, further elevated price volatility could be expected. 

Altcoins and Blockchain News

• According to Farside Investors data, this week the cumulative net inflow of Ethereum spot ETF in the United States is $104.8 million.

   

• Orderly Network announced that an airdrop event will take place in August and updated its tokenomics information, with 13.3% of the total 10 billion ORDER tokens allocated for the airdrop.

   

• UniWorlds, a Bitcoin ecosystem infrastructure project, completed its seed funding round with UniSat leading the investment. The amount raised in this round has not been disclosed.

   

• According to DefiLlama data, the total revenue of the Solana meme platform pump.fun has reached $85.37 million.
  Russian President Putin signed a law legalizing cryptocurrency mining in Russia.

   

• Stablecoin protocol Usual announced its listing on Pendle, becoming the second stablecoin on the platform. Users on Pendle can earn additional Usual Pills, and as long as they stay in Pendle or other Usual products, they can enjoy Boost Catchup.

   

• Binance's venture capital and incubation arm, Binance Labs, announced an investment in Solayer, a Solana ecosystem re-staking protocol.

   

• According to The Block, the cryptocurrency asset management company Grayscale has added Bittensor (TAO) and Sui Network (SUI) to its list of crypto investment products

Marco

The major indexes closed modestly lower after recovering from the severe sell-off on Monday last week: the DJIA ended -0.6%, the S&P 500 closed flat, and the NASDAQ -0.2%. The pullback was mainly triggered by a recent increase in Japanese short-term interest rates, and the intraday drop was around -10% for the S&P 500 index on Monday, marking the increasing worries about the economic growth.