USDC Issuer Restructures, Crypto ETPS See Weekly Outflows
Market Update
- Bitcoin is extending its slide lower, down 1.0% today and 11.9% weekly to trade at $25.8k. Ethereum is underperforming, losing 2.5% over the last day to trade near $1.6k. Investors expecting a decision on the Grayscale vs. SEC case today were disappointed yet again as no opinions were released. The next possible decision day is this Friday. Nearly 70% of the top 100 tokens are in double digit losses over the past week, with every token in the red except KAS (+2.1%) and RUNE (+9.6%). THORChain’s RUNE has benefited from the release of a lending product that allows users to lend L1 assets to ThorChain and borrow USD denominated debt with no liquidations, interest, or expiration. Kaspa’s KAS has been one of the stronger performing tokens this year, rising 691% so far. The project claims its GHOSTDAG protocol allows it to be the fastest, most decentralized, and fully scalable L1 on the market. Risk-on markets continue to face headwinds from a strong dollar, which is on track to gain for the 6th straight week, up 4% in the same period. Short term rates continue to press higher, with the US 2-year at 5.04%. Longer term rates also remain elevated, with the 10-year and 30-year bonds currently trade at 4.33% and 4.4% respectively.
- Coinbase has acquired a minority stake in Circle Internet Financial and dissolved the Centre Consortium, which used to issue the USDC stablecoin. As a result, Circle will now be the sole issuer of USD, and will take over Centre's governance and operational responsibilities. The revenue generated from the interest on the dollar reserves backing USDC tokens will now be equally shared between Coinbase and Circle. This move solidifies the relationship between the two companies, as Circle has been closely tied to Coinbase through the consortium they founded in 2018. The USDC stablecoin will expand to be available on more blockchains, increasing its accessibility. USDC is currently the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization after Tether. This type of stablecoin is backed by fiat reserves, like U.S. dollars, and can be redeemed for their equivalent value. Coinbase's revenue structure has evolved, with interest from USDC reserves playing a significant role. This announcement clarifies the partnership between Coinbase and Circle, which had previously been less clear.
- Amid a crypto market downturn and SEC indecision on a Bitcoin ETF, CoinShares reports that institutional investors withdrew $55 million from crypto ETPs in the past week, attributing the sell-off to disappointment with the SEC's lack of action and concerns about an overhyped market. The decline affected not only Bitcoin but also altcoins like Ethereum, with low trading volumes exacerbating the impact. Ripple stood out with continued institutional inflows, while the recent flash crash in prices aligned with the reported data. Despite the bearish sentiment, CoinShares anticipates increased trading volumes due to upcoming events, as institutional investors await clarity on a Bitcoin ETF and stable market conditions.
Daily Technical Strategy
Mark L. Newton, CMT
Head of Technical Strategy
Avalanche is growing ever so close to bottoming out following its break of former lows from June 2023. Many might see that as a technical break of support. However, this falls in line with a symmetrical five-wave decline which began back in January this year which has produced a series of lower lows and lower highs as part of this ongoing five-wave decline. The most recent peak on 7/10 marked the beginning of the final wave to this decline, and likely could find a bottom in the coming 1-2 weeks, despite the technical pattern appearing to be broken. DeMark-based exhaustion is now apparent on both daily and weekly charts, which adds to the likelihood of an upcoming low for AVAX and then a subsequent rebound in the month of September. Overall, AVAX looks attractive at current levels near $10 and would be even more appealing from a risk/reward perspective on further weakness down to $8.50-$9. Overall, recent weakness looks to likely stabilize and reverse back higher in the near future.
Daily Important Metrics
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All metrics as of August 22, 2023 1:10 PM
All Funding rates are in bps
Crypto Prices
| Symbol | Market Cap | Last Price | Daily Change | Year to Date | Relative to BTC YTD |
 BTC | $503B | $25,829 | ↓ -1.09% | ↑ 56% | |
 ETH | $199B | $1,655 | ↓ -4.99% | ↑ 38% | ↓ -18% |
 ADA | $9.2B | $0.2615 | ↓ -3.34% | ↑ 5.94% | ↓ -50% |
 SOL | $8.7B | $21.27 | ↓ -7.72% | ↑ 115% | ↑ 59% |
 DOT | $5.5B | $4.51 | ↓ -4.25% | ↑ 3.76% | ↓ -52% |
 MATIC | $5.3B | $0.5693 | ↓ -5.63% | ↓ -25% | ↓ -81% |
 LINK | $3.3B | $6.13 | ↓ -7.38% | ↑ 10% | ↓ -46% |
 NEAR | $1.1B | $1.13 | ↓ -5.58% | ↓ -11% | ↓ -67% |
 DOGE | $0.0000 | $0.0001 | ↑ 0.00% | ↓ -100% | ↓ -156% |
Exchange Traded Products (ETPs)
| Symbol | Premium to Nav | Last Price | Daily Change | Year to Date | Relative to BTC YTD |
| GBTC | ↓ -27% | $17.08 | ↓ -0.76% | ↑ 106% | ↑ 50% |
| BITW | ↓ -49% | $11.08 | ↓ -1.67% | ↑ 106% | ↑ 50% |
| ETHE | ↓ -34% | $10.17 | ↓ -3.51% | ↑ 114% | ↑ 58% |
| BTCC | ↑ 0.10% | $4.73 | ↓ -1.15% | ↑ 56% | ↑ 0.19% |
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FUNDRAISING AND M&A
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