Cryptocurrency daily summary:
US Senators Plan to Introduce Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Legislation
Liquidity staking platform on Monad reaches $100 million token valuation
Jupiter Launches New Ecosystem Token API and Standards
Let’s first look at the trading activities of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. According to Farside Investor data, Grayscale Bitcoin Spot ETF (GBTC) had an outflow of $39.6 million on July 25. Bitwise Ethereum Spot ETF (ETHW) had a net inflow of $16.3 million on the first day; Fidelity Ethereum Spot ETF (FETH) had a net inflow of $34.3 million on the first day; Grayscale Ethereum Spot ETF (ETHE) had an outflow of $346.2 million on the first day;
US Senator Cynthia Lummis Plans to Introduce Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Legislation
The most noteworthy crypto-related event of the week is that Trump will give a speech to about 20,000 Bitcoin enthusiasts in Nashville, Tennessee this week, and at the same time, Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, who supports cryptocurrency, also plans to announce that she is drafting new legislation aimed at consolidating Bitcoin's position as a mainstream financial asset. This legislation could fundamentally change the booming cryptocurrency industry.
Loomis is preparing to announce legislation at the annual Bitcoin conference that would require the Federal Reserve to hold some Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset, according to three cryptocurrency executives familiar with the matter. Loomis' plans are still uncertain and the announcement may be delayed. But people who have had direct contact with some of Loomis's staff said she hopes to announce her intentions at the conference on Saturday, just before Trump's scheduled speech; her staff hopes Trump will support the bill and the ideas behind it.
While the specifics of the bill remain unclear, according to a person who has seen an early draft, it seeks to direct the Fed to buy bitcoin and hold it as a reserve asset, just as the U.S. central bank holds gold and foreign currencies, to help manage the U.S. monetary system and keep the value of the dollar stable.
Implementing Bitcoin as a reserve asset would require support from the president and Congress, but that is no easy feat given political and economic skepticism about the validity of digital currencies as financial assets. The $2 trillion cryptocurrency industry has been plagued by fraud; many mainstream economists are skeptical of its use as a store of value.
Still, even the introduction of legislation (and Trump’s likely support) to classify Bitcoin as a reserve asset would be a high-level recognition by government that Bitcoin is a legitimate financial asset, something the cryptocurrency industry has been seeking in its quest for mainstream acceptance.
Monad Liquidity Staking Platform aPriori Achieves $100 Million Token Valuation
aPriori, a liquidity staking platform based on the Monad blockchain, has raised $8 million in a seed round led by Pantera Capital. The round also attracted participation from investors such as Consensys and CMS Holdings. Co-founder and CEO Ray S said the round gave aPriori a fully diluted token valuation of at least $100 million, but he declined to comment on the financing structure.
The seed round brings aPriori’s total funding to $10 million. Last year, the project raised $2 million in a pre-seed round co-led by Hashed and Arrington Capital. Ray said the project was initially built as a maximum extractable value (MEV) project related to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) blockchain ecosystem, but later shifted to focus on the Monad blockchain ecosystem.
aPriori was founded last year by Ray, a former member of Jump Crypto and Pyth Data Association, who aims to build a MEV-driven liquidity staking platform on the Monad blockchain, combining staking rewards and MEV rewards. MEV refers to the additional value that can be extracted from block production by optimizing transaction sorting, beyond the standard block rewards and gas fees. Ray said that aPriori will provide an efficient MEV market, reduce junk transactions and increase validator incentives on Monad.
Ray also mentioned that aPriori will launch its platform’s testnet on the first day of the Monad testnet launch, and will launch its platform’s mainnet on the first day of the Monad mainnet launch. Monad is currently running on a private internal development network. As for aPriori’s own token launch, Ray said there is no timetable yet.
The Monad blockchain has yet to launch its mainnet. Once the mainnet goes live sometime this year, Ray said users will be able to stake their Monad tokens with aPriori, earn rewards, and receive a liquid staking pool token that can be used in other DeFi applications.
In addition, Kintsu, another Monad-based liquidity staking protocol, also raised $4 million in seed funding from companies such as Brevan Howard Digital and Castle Island Ventures on Thursday.
Jupiter launches new ecosystem token API and standards, deprecating old API by the end of August
Jupiter has released a new ecosystem token API and standard on the X platform. The new API enhances trading capabilities and can immediately display tokens from new markets. These tokens are verified every day, enter the trusted list, and undergo rigorous testing by the Jupiter community and users. The new API is built on the Metropolis infrastructure.
Jupiter said it would identify and remove fake tokens that impersonate popular token names and symbols, and ban certain tokens based on community reports. The symbols of the top ecosystem tokens are protected and will continue to improve over time to ensure community safety.
Jupiter says it will deprecate the old API by the end of August 2024. The new API will be roughly similar in responses to the old API, so hopefully the migration will be painless and smooth.
Market analysis: BTC rebounded sharply, but ETH and altcoins performed poorly
Market Trends
BTC: Bitcoin rebounded by $3,000 during the day and re-entered the key psychological price of $66,000. The current price is still suitable for long-term fixed investment. On the weekly chart, Bitcoin has regained its position above the middle track of the Bollinger Bands, which is a positive signal for long-term technical analysis. However, the final position of the weekly line still needs to wait for further observation at the end of this week.
ETH: In comparison, Ethereum's rebound is weaker. On both the daily and weekly charts, Ethereum fell below the middle track of the Bollinger Bands. In addition, Grayscale Ethereum ETF (ETHE) continues to see large capital outflows, with outflows exceeding $1 billion in the first three working days. This indicates that the profit-taking of ETHE, which has been a large amount of bottom-fishing at a negative premium in the past two years, may create huge selling pressure on the market in the next two weeks.
Altcoins: Currently, altcoins have failed to follow the general rise of Bitcoin, and the market lacks consistent upward momentum.
Data indicators:
-AHR999 Index: Today’s AHR999 Index is 0.88, indicating that the current BTC price is still suitable for long-term fixed investment.
-Fear and Greed Index: The Fear and Greed Index is still at 68, indicating that market sentiment has been in a greedy state for five consecutive days. The opening of the market in the short cycle will require some emotional preparation.
Macroeconomics
US stocks: US stock indexes were mixed, but Tesla rose 2% against the trend. US Treasury bonds rose further, and the decline in global stocks boosted safe-haven demand. Traders are currently betting that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by 68 basis points this year, compared with the forecast of 64 basis points on Wednesday.
Policy trends: US presidential candidate Trump will deliver a speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference on the 27th of this weekend. At present, the community generally expects Trump to be friendly to the crypto industry, which requires continued attention.
Market Hotspots
1. BTC Ecosystem: The Bitcoin 2024 Conference is being held, and the performance of BTC ecosystem tokens is significantly stronger than other sectors. Bitcoin rebounded 5% in the day, SATS rose more than 20% in the day, and the increase in the past two weeks exceeded 200%. Tokens such as PIZZA and ORDI also had a good rebound performance.
2. Trump concept token: After TRUMPCOIN was launched on Gate.io, it rose 100% from the opening price. Other Trump concept tokens such as MAGA and FIGHT encountered community crises. Perhaps if Trump mentioned the relevant slogan in his speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference, it could usher in a new wave of rising prices.
3. Cat Meme Coin: The previous strong performance of cat meme coins ushered in a large rebound. MEW rebounded more than 20% from the intraday low, POPCAT rebounded more than 10%, and MANEKI rebounded more than 10%. It is expected that cat meme coins will still be a strong sector in the future market.
in conclusion
The current market shows a certain degree of differentiation. Bitcoin and some BTC ecological tokens are performing strongly, while Ethereum and most altcoins are performing relatively weakly. There is no new grand narrative in the market. The macroeconomic environment and U.S. political dynamics also have a significant impact on market sentiment.
Macro: S&P 500 and Nasdaq close lower, large-cap stocks remain uncertain, global markets remain volatile
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ended Thursday's volatile session in the red, failing to recoup losses from the previous day's sell-off in technology stocks. Investors are struggling to predict the future direction of large-cap stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average continued its early gains and ended higher on stronger-than-expected U.S. gross domestic product data, while the Russell 2000 rose 1.3% as investors sought to avoid large-cap stocks and turn to small-cap stocks, partially recouping Wednesday's losses.
The specific index performances are as follows: The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%, the S&P 500 fell 0.51%, and the Nasdaq fell 0.93%.
Although large-cap stocks briefly moved higher in afternoon trading, many retreated, with Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Nvidia falling between 1.7% and 2.4%, respectively. Market sentiment remained cautious, with investors focusing on Friday's upcoming personal consumption expenditures price data to gauge whether the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates sooner than expected.
While heavyweight stocks have driven the market to record highs this year, Wednesday's sell-off heightened concerns that these shares may be overstretched and will face more volatility.
The yen stabilized near a 12-week high against the dollar on July 26, as Asia-Pacific stocks remained sluggish after experiencing their worst trading day since mid-April.
Influenced by Wall Street, the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell further after Wednesday's massive sell-off. MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares fell 0.55%, extending a 1.88% drop the previous day. Taiwan's stock market fell 3.3% after reopening after a two-day typhoon closure. Japan's Nikkei edged down 0.07%. Some markets rebounded, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 0.74% and Australia's benchmark up 0.85%.
The latest U.S. economic data brought some optimism, with the economy growing faster than expected in the second quarter and inflation easing. This allayed concerns that the economic expansion could end abruptly, while supporting expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September.
The U.S. two-year Treasury yield fell slightly to 4.4389%, but remained above the overnight low of 4.34%, which was the lowest level since early February. The 10-year Treasury yield fell slightly to 4.2466%. In other currency markets, the euro rose 0.11% to $1.0857 and the pound rose 0.1% to $1.2863.
In terms of commodities, oil prices rose slightly, driven by stronger-than-expected U.S. economic data and expected increase in crude oil demand. Brent crude futures for September rose 7 cents to $82.44 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for September rose 4 cents to $78.32 a barrel.
Gold prices strengthened on Friday ahead of key U.S. inflation data, with spot gold up 0.4% at $2,374.14 an ounce, but down 1% for the week. U.S. gold futures rose 0.7% to $2,371.00 an ounce.
