Crypto Market

BTC and ETH Market Insight

A soft U.S. labor-market report has shifted the global financial landscape, driving moves across equities and crypto markets. The main catalyst was the July non-farm payrolls report, which showed an unexpected contraction of 23,000 jobs versus expectations of a solid gain. The miss eased fears of imminent Federal Reserve rate hikes and revived risk-on sentiment. Odds of a September hike have fallen back below 50%, as the weaker labor data compressed bond yields and reduced expectations of aggressive tightening. Equities closed the period near record highs, led by technology, semiconductor, and chip stocks. Bitcoin remained resilient in the $64,000–$65,000 range, while Ethereum consolidated steadily near $1,900 rather than making aggressive gains.

Separately, the United States and Japan conducted a rare coordinated currency intervention, the first of its kind in about 15 years to support the yen after it approached multi-decade lows near 163–164 per dollar. The action helped pull the yen back toward the 155–157/USD range. The move signals that authorities are less willing to tolerate an excessively weak currency and has increased pressure on the Bank of Japan to raise rates. Japanese government bond prices fell, pushing both short- and long-dated yields higher. With a stronger yen and rising Japanese yields, the spread between the U.S. 10-year Treasury (around 4.65%) and the Japanese 10-year (around 2.78%) has narrowed to roughly 187 basis points. This could encourage Japanese institutions to repatriate capital from overseas investments.

Upcoming Macro Calendar - Source: Trading Economics

Options Market

Over the past week, BTC and ETH options markets continued to calm as spot prices recovered from the prior week’s softness. BTC climbed to around $64,920 (from ~$63,000) and ETH rose above $1,900 (from ~$1,850). Implied volatility compressed further across short tenors compared to last week, with BTC 1W ATM IV declining from ~32.5% to ~25.4% and ETH 1W IV falling sharply from ~47.8% to ~36.3%. Realized volatility also moderated (BTC RV ~23%, ETH RV ~32.7%), restoring a modestly positive volatility risk premium. Skew remained moderately bearish but eased overall, with BTC 25Δ 1W skew at ~13.8 vol points and ETH 25Δ 1W skew dropping notably to ~4.2 vol points, signaling reduced demand for aggressive downside protection. ETF netflows turned solidly positive for both assets, providing supportive institutional backing after the mixed-to-negative flows of the previous week.

Altcoins and Blockchain News

• Anas, the founder of Solana perpetual contract protocol FlashTrade, has announced the closure of the project and is seeking to sell its existing tech stack to compensate FAF holders.
  
  
• According to CoinGlass data, the Coinbase Bitcoin Premium Index has been in negative territory for 82 consecutive days from May 19 to August 8, setting a new record for the longest continuous negative premium since the indicator was launched.
  
  
• Robinhood Crypto has announced that it will lower the minimum Gas sponsorship amount for Robinhood Wallet on Robinhood Chain from $5 to $0.50, with the official team covering Gas fees for more swap transactions.
  
  
• The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has announced sanctions against two Iranian cryptocurrency trading platforms, Shelbit and Aban Tether, further expanding the Trump administration's "Economic Fury" campaign targeting Iran's financial networks.
  
  
• Dow Protocol, an RWA platform for e-commerce operational funding, has announced the completion of a $10.5 million Seed round, co-led by MH Ventures and Mapleblock Capital, with participation from Animoca Brands, Arcane Group, Hashkey Chain, Essentia Partners, and Quartet Group.
  
  
• Binance has announced that it will support cash dividend distributions for holders of tokenized stocks Apple (AAPL) and IBM (IBM) under its bStocks program.
  
  
• Circle has released its Q2 2026 financial results. According to the data, USDC circulation reached $73.3 billion by the end of the quarter, up 19% year-over-year; on-chain transaction volume for USDC during the quarter reached $14.8 trillion, up 151% year-over-year.
  
  
• Binance has added 10 new bStocks tokens as eligible collateral assets.

Macro

The major indices finished another week with solid gains, with several hitting record highs: the DJIA rose +3.0%, the S&P 500 added 2.07%, and the Nasdaq advanced 3.0%. The Chinese stock market finished the week with a strong rebound: the Shanghai Composite Index increased 2.81%, the CSI 300 advanced 2.32% while the Hang Seng index shed 0.84%.