Crypto Market

BTC and ETH Market Insight

Core CPI slowed sharply to 3.0%, the lowest since September 2021, and softer CPI likely cemented a September pause. The futures market has performed mediocrely, with both BTC and ETH trading volumes hitting historic lows. BTC’s volatility reached historical lows, similar to post-March 2020 levels. Low volatility typically was seen in the accumulation phase and the desk observed ongoing inflow to the long-term holder wallets. Due to the imbalance in the 3CRV pool, USDT underwent an unexpected selloff and USDT has been in a light depeg for a week now. 

Options Market

RV seems to have found its footing, steadying in the low-20s for 1-3 months of maturity. ETH's term structure has seen a significant drop, and there's an apparent lack of liquidity from buyers, suggesting an overshoot beyond what is fair value. The volatility spread between ETH and BTC has seen a sharp contraction, especially in the longer-term maturities. This suggests the market anticipates BTC will largely fuel any bullish activity in the upcoming 6-9 months. BTC's skew has gradually adjusted towards a steady call premium across the curve, while ETH's skew remains balanced for the short-range but exhibits a preference for puts for longer durations.

Altcoins and Blockchain News

• On August 13th, according to Dune data, 25,033 ETH have been bridged to Linea mainnet, with a total of 231,978 transactions and 168,130 interacting addresses.
• DeFi yield protocol Affine Protocol announced that its total funding has increased to $7 million. Affine Protocol previously announced completed funding of $5.1 million in February this year, with Jump Crypto and Hack VC as lead investors.
• According to Coinglass data, the current premium rate for Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) is 25.31%; the premium rate for ETH Trust is 35.41%.
• According to CoinDesk, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has extended the review period for Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications from Ark Investment Management and 21Shares, as the commission continues to review applications from traditional financial giants such as BlackRock and Fidelity.
  Worldcoin announced the launch of a reservation feature, allowing users to start reserving WLD tokens immediately, even if they have not verified their World ID. Users can redeem the tokens by accessing Orb within the next 12 months.
• On August 10th, according to official sources, Binance's subsidiary Binance Labs invested $5 million in Curve DAO tokens. As part of the partnership, Curve will explore deployment on the BNB Chain.
• DeFi lending protocol Maple Finance announced that it has opened its cash management pool supported by tokenized treasury bills (T-bills) to U.S. investors. Maple has obtained an exemption under Regulation D Rule 506(c) from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Previously, only non-U.S. entities could access Maple's cash management pool.
• All-in-one DeFi wallet DeBank announced the launch of DeBank Chain based on the OP Stack, aiming to become the asset layer in the social field. The testnet is already live, and the mainnet is planned to launch in 2024.

Macro

The major indexes closed mixed for the week: the DJIA added +0.6%, the S&P 500 lost -0.3%, and the NASDAQ -1.9%. The investors weighed inflation data against the recent rise in long-term interest rates, as the Consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.2% in July, bringing the year-over-year increase to 3.2%. After a remarkably strong rally in the past few months, a breather could be healthy for the market to go further.