BTC is currently trading around $60,000 and ETH around $2,400. Notable gainers in the last 24 hours are UNI, POPCAT, and OM. The global crypto market cap is $2.20T, down 0.7% over the last day. DeFi Total Value Locked is ~$81b and BTC dominance is around 58%.
Markets are mixed after this morning’s higher-than-expected US inflation report dampened hopes of elevated monetary accommodation from the Fed near-term. In addition, yesterday’s FOMC minutes revealed division amongst participants at its September meeting, with some preferring a smaller 25 bps cut and also suggesting the Fed may slow play the size and/or pace of rate cuts. Lastly, $16m of seized ETH related to the PlusToken Ponzi scheme was sent to exchanges, causing fears the full $1.3b of PlusToken ETH could be sold.
Notable news includes: The Georgian opposition political party unveiled a blockchain project for public administration ahead of national elections; Dubai’s VARA issued fines and cease-and-desist orders against seven crypto entities; the US SEC charged digital assets trading firm Cumberland DRW for operating as an unregistered dealer; the FBI charged 18 individuals and three market makers for offering illegal wash trading services; Ripple Labs filed a notice of cross-appeal in its legal battle with the SEC; Ripple launched digital asset custody services for banks and fintechs; South Korea’s FSC revealed plans to investigate crypto exchange Upbit over monopoly concerns; South Korea will reportedly review its current ban on spot crypto ETFs; the first legally enforceable smart contract in Argentina was deployed on Cardano; fintech giant Stripe brought back crypto payments in the US after a six-year gap; the Telegram wallet app now enables law enforcement to collect evidence; Mt Gox extended its repayment deadline by one year to October 2025; Bitpanda added security tokens to its platform; BitGo completed its previously-announced custody changes of the Bitcoin backing WBTC; Paxos International launched its yield-bearing stablecoin USDL on Arbitrum; a PwC survey found that 47% of traditional hedge funds have exposure to digital assets; Trump’s World Liberty Financial revealed plans to raise $300m at a $1.5b valuation; leading DEX Uniswap announced plans to launch its own layer 2 network; Solana-based DEX aggregator Jupiter released a mobile app; Solana L2 gaming chain Sonic SVM introduced a tap-to-earn game based natively inside TikTok; liquid restaking and rollup platform Puffer Finance announced the release of its governance token; dYdX founder Juliano returned as CEO after a six month hiatus; and, Tron founder Justin Sun was elected Prime Minister of crypto-focused micro-nation Liberland.
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Author:
Brian Rudick, Head of Research | Twitter, Telegram, LinkedIn
Carlos Guzman, Research Analyst | Twitter, Telegram, LinkedIn
Toe Bautista, Research Analyst | Twitter, Telegram, LinkedIn
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