Crypto Market Update

Despite a $200 million inflow into BTC ETFs yesterday, crypto prices have declined over the past 24 hours. BTC has fallen back below $62K, ETH is under $2,600, and SOL is just below $155. Only a few coins are in the green today, including TON, rebounding from its recent selloff, MKR, following its major rebrand announcement, and STX, likely benefiting from the ongoing activation of the Nakamoto upgrade. Meanwhile, the 10Y and 30Y yields are rising as the yield curve steepens, potentially driven by a stronger-than-expected consumer sentiment report. The DXY is slightly lower, and equities are mixed, with both ^SPX 0.13%  and QQQ ticking up, while IWM and KRE lag behind.

MakerDAO Rebrands to Sky Ahead of Token Redenomination

Core Strategy constituent MakerDAO (MKR) has rebranded to Sky and will launch new upgradeable tokens on September 18th as part of its “Endgame” plan. DAI stablecoin holders can upgrade to Sky Dollar (USDS) at a 1:1 ratio, while MKR governance token holders can convert to SKY at a 1:24,000 ratio. The existing DAI and MKR tokens will remain active. Sky Dollar holders can earn SKY tokens by participating in the Sky Protocol, though rewards are restricted in certain countries. MakerDAO’s SubDAOs have been rebranded to Stars, and its borrow/lend protocol, Spark, will become the first Sky Star with an upcoming SPK token airdrop. Over the past 24 hours, we have seen a sizeable increase in DAI market cap, as many users are likely looking to participate in the SKY rewards program.

Aave Looks to Integrate BlackRock’s BUIDL

In a strong example of competition driving better outcomes for consumers, MakerDAO rival Aave Labs (AAVE) has proposed a temperature check to update the GHO Stability Module (GSM) by integrating BlackRock’s tokenized fund, BUIDL. BUIDL is comprised of yield-bearing USD assets such as U.S. Treasury bills. This integration aims to enhance the capital efficiency of Aave’s GHO stablecoin by facilitating 1:1 swaps between USD Coin (USDC) and GHO, while also allowing excess USDC to mint BUIDL shares. The proposal could generate dividends for users in BUIDL and create new yield opportunities for Aave DAO through real-world asset partnerships. The proposal is currently open for feedback from the Aave governance community before moving to a vote.

Technical Strategy

Bitcoin’s dominance chart broke out yet again last month and has steadily trended higher since 2022 nearly two years ago.  This relative outperformance in Bitcoin eventually should give way to some weakness that allows for Alt-coin outperformance.  However, at present, it’s important to utilize the current uptrend from January 2024 lows as well as 2022 vs. attempting to guess when this mean reversion should occur.  Following the last few weeks of consolidation post breakout, it’ s likely that BTC will continue to show dominance into October before showing much relative weakness.

Daily Important Metrics Crypto Size Bullish signal is tied to the crypto market growing Market cap 2.17T $-59.1B(-2.65%) BTC Dominance 56.35 % (0.01%) Stablecoins Increase in circulating stablecoins is a Bullish signal In Circulation +$118B (0.15%) In Exchanges +$21B (-0.04%) BTC Metrics A decrease in Bitcoin on exchanges is bullish, indicates investors are moving coins to cold storage # BTC Exchanges +$3.0M (-0.01%) Funding Rates Positive funding rates indicate traders are Bullish Aggregate +0.3538(-0.1404) Binance +0.1996(0.0964) Bitfinex 0.0000(-0.0602) Bitmex +0.1763(-0.1525) ByBit +0.8350(0.1213) Deribit +0.0018(-0.5958) Huobi +0.5891(0.5891) Kraken +0.2478(-0.2269) Mean +0.3538(-0.1404) OKex -0.1216(-1.3184) Sentiment BMI : 47 (100.00%) Futures A positive spread between Futures Prices and Spot Prices is Bullish CME Price $61,965(-2.63%) Spot Basis +$53(0.08%) Volume 474,124(76.99%) Open Interest 291,142(-2.04%) Options all exchanges Higher open interest change in a bull market is bullish for the sector Volume 27,474(201.98%) Open Interest 296,018 (1.11%) Vol. Put/Call Ratio 0.5272 (-2.82%) OOI Put/Call Ratio 0.4613 (-0.53%) All metrics as of 2024-08-27 16:29:55 All Funding rates are in bps Crypto Prices Symbol Market Cap Last Price Daily Change Year to Date Relative to BTC YTD BTC $1.22T $61,912 -2.69% 46.59% ETH $311B $2,586 -5.06% 13.63% -22.49% SOL $72B $155 -1.69% 52.29% 3.89% HNT $1.1B $7.04 4.62% -81.35% -87.28% DOGE $215,128 $0.0002 7.49% -99.76% -99.84% All prices as of 2024-08-27 16:29:35 Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) Symbol Prem. to Nav Last Price Daily Change Year to Date Relative to BTC YTD BITW -26.53% $33 -3.53% 42.02% -3.12% ETHE -0.05% $22 -4.10% 12.07% -23.55% News Quick Bits CoinDesk Tokenization Pioneer Centrifuge Unveils Lending Market With Morpho, Coinbase The institutional real-world asset lending market combines Coinbase’s layer-2 network, Base, and Morpho Vaults using three varieties of tokenized Treasury bills. CoinDesk Trump Releases Fourth Drop of His NFT Trading Cards The new collection will offer buyers a piece of the candidate’s suit from his debate with President Joe Biden. CoinDesk Crypto Bank Xapo to Manage $200M Bitcoin-Denominated Hedge Fund With Hilbert Capital The fund, set for launch in September, will be available to corporates, businesses and professional investors Dose of DeFI The Block MakerDAO rebrands to Sky, DAI stablecoin optionally upgradeable to USDS DAI holders will be able to upgrade to USDS 1:1, while MKR holders can convert to SKY at a 1:24,000 ratio. Regulation The Block Nasdaq seeks SEC approval to list and trade bitcoin index options Nasdaq is seeking U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approval to list and trade bitcoin index options. Fundraising and M&A The Block Solana Optimistic Network raises funds in a ‘cobuilder’ round without participation from VC firms Solana Optimistic Network — known as SOON — has raised an undisclosed amount in what is being called a "cobuilder " round. The Block Microsoft-backed AI, blockchain startup Space and Time raises another $20 million Space and Time Labs is building tools which aim to improve the development of applications "at the intersection" of AI and blockchain. The Block Gameplay Galaxy reaches $71 million valuation with $11 million seed extension round Gameplay Galaxy, a web3 game development studio founded by the creators of the Trial Xtreme series, has raised $11.17 million.