ETFs are running out of momentum. In fact, since March, there has been no large-scale and sustained net inflow of ETF funds. In recent times, the daily net flow of Bitcoin ETFs is only a few hundred coins, and the daily net flow of Ethereum ETFs is only a few thousand coins, which is even less than the buying and selling volume of ordinary whales.
Institutions investing in Bitcoin are waiting for a more important macroeconomic catalyst, and institutions investing in Ethereum are observing whether a new narrative will emerge after the negative impact of Ethereum's FUD. At this stage, the flow of ETFs is unlikely to ignite bullish sentiment; while other segments of the crypto market are facing potential outflows of billions of dollars, further dampening market sentiment.
Now all participants in the global capital market know that the Federal Reserve’s macro-monetary cycle is about to reverse and a new expansion cycle is about to come. They just don’t know whether an economic recession will occur, so they are becoming more cautious.
Layer1
1. Berachain: An L1 public chain built on Cosmos SDK and compatible with EVM. Total financing of $142 million, invested by Polychain, OKX Ventures, etc.
2. Hyperliquid: An L1 blockchain that combines the advantages of CEX and DeFi, including a DEX with more than 100 Perps and native Spot.
DeFi
1. Babylon: A leading project in the Bitcoin ecosystem and the largest Bitcoin Staking infrastructure. It has raised a total of US$96 million from investors such as Paradigm and Binance Labs.
2. Morpho: Enables users to borrow and lend, creating an independent lending market without permission. Total financing of $68 million, invested by a16z, Variant Fund, etc.
3. Synfutures: A decentralized derivatives exchange that pioneered a permissionless contract market model with a total financing of US$37.4 million, invested by Pantera Capital, Polychain, etc.
4. Symbiotic: A universal re-staking system, a permissionless shared security protocol. Total financing of US$5.8 million, invested by Paradigm, Cyber Fund, etc.
Social
1. Farcaster: A decentralized social protocol that allows users to create, own, and transfer identities and content. Total financing of $180 million, invested by Paradigm, a16z, etc.
2. Lens Protocol: A decentralized open social graph into which any application can be plugged. Total financing of $15 million, invested by IDEO CoLab Ventures, Robot Ventures, etc.
3. Fantasy.top: A SocialFi trading card game built on Blast. Total funding was not disclosed, with investments from Alliance DAO, Fabric Ventures, etc.
Game
1. Nifty Island: An open social game world where players can create, trade and display 3D NFTs. Total financing of US$20 million, invested by Hashed, Arrington Capital, etc.
2. Sonic: The first game chain on Solana, dedicated to game development and operation. Total financing of US$16 million, invested by Bitkraft Ventures, OKX Ventures, etc.
Meme
1. Pump.fun: A platform for creating and trading Meme tokens on the Solana blockchain. Total funding and investors were not disclosed.
AI
1. Gensyn: A decentralized deep learning computing protocol that aims to establish an AGI computing power market. Total financing of $49.5 million, invested by a16z, Eden Block, etc.
DePIN
1. Ambient Network: A decentralized environmental monitoring infrastructure network that collects global environmental data. Total financing of $2 million, invested by Borderless Capital, Solana Ventures, etc.
Privacy
1. Light Protocol: A privacy project in the Solana ecosystem, providing the most accessible privacy track in the ecosystem. Total financing of $4.5 million, invested by Polychain, Solana Ventures, etc.
Outlook for the second half of the year
The macroeconomic situation in the United States also deserves continued attention. The US presidential election in November may lead to market volatility, and the Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates in September, which may be beneficial to the cryptocurrency market.
Financial markets now fully expect the Fed to cut its benchmark interest rate next month from its current range of 5.25%-5.50%, which has remained unchanged since July 2023. The question is the size of the first rate cut, with markets currently favoring a 25 basis point cut rather than a 50 basis point cut.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is expected to reinforce his view on Friday at the Jackson Hole conference that credit conditions are about to start easing after tamping down the worst outbreak of inflation in 40 years. Fed policymakers hope the rate cuts come in time to complete what has so far been a textbook “soft landing” of slowing inflation without a sharp rise in unemployment.
