Crypto Market

BTC and ETH Market Insight

The market entered "Uptober," but it had a bumpy beginning. Historically, September is one of the weakest months for performance; however, this year defied expectations with Bitcoin closing 7.3% higher. Yet, uncertainty due to geopolitical tensions and lackluster Bitcoin price movement at the $66k peak led to nearly a 10% drop in just three days. NFP was unexpected by most institutions. The strong employment figures have boosted confidence in a soft landing for the U.S. economy, subsequently reducing the likelihood of a 50 basis point rate cut in November. Following the release of the employment data, Bitcoin experienced a modest rebound of 2-3%.

Options Market

The increasing geopolitical tension in the Middle East was in the spotlight, which reinvigorated the market volatility. BTC revisited 60k low and ETH 2.3k low in the middle of the week. Despite the pullback, the market remained well bid around these key support levels. In addition, a stronger-than-expected NFP print on Friday boosted risk assets - both BTC and ETH rebounded modestly. Implied volatility drifted higher as realised volatility rose. Front-end skew shifted to favour puts as the pullback sparked the downside protection demand. The volatility could remain relatively elevated until the dust is settled.

Altcoins and Blockchain News

• Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently donated 100 ETH, equivalent to about $240,000, to the legal defense fund of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm. This marks Vitalik's third donation to the defense fund.

   

• Elon Musk updated his Twitter account's bio to "Read @America to understand why I'm supporting Trump for President" and changed the bio link to the website of the "American Political Action Committee".

   

• An upcoming documentary by Home Box Office (HBO) set to premiere next week claims to reveal the true identity of Bitcoin's anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.

   

• On the 5th of a certain month, AO, a scalable blockchain network based on Arweave, announced that over 90 million DAI has been deposited into AO.

   

• Binance Labs has invested in ZKsync's "elastic chain", Sophon, which is a second-layer network built using Matter Labs' modular open-source framework, Stack. The investment amount has not been disclosed.

   

• Stablecoin protocol Usual has partnered with LayerZero to introduce Layer 2 network capabilities, enabling faster transactions, lower fees, and seamless cross-chain functionality.

   

• Blockchain identity verification platform Humanity Protocol announced on social media that its testnet is now live, allowing users to register for a Human ID.

   

• Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary, the Products and Research Lead at Grayscale, stated that Grayscale has launched a new fund offering investment in Aave's AAVE token.

Marco

A late rally bolstered by the surprising job gains helped large-cap stocks notch their fourth consecutive weekly gain despite growing tensions in the Middle East. The DJIA ended the week at + 0.09%, S&P 500 at +0.22% and Nasdaq at 0.1%. On the other side of the Pacific, Chinese stocks skyrocketed in a holiday-shortened trading week as optimism about the government’s stimulus and support offset disappointing data. The Shanghai Composite Index gained 8.06%, while the blue chip CSI 300 Index rose 8.48%. In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index climbed 10.2%.