Crypto Market Update

Rates are broadly lower, with a notably stronger rally at the front end of the curve as the market appears to be taking potential rate cuts over the next couple of FOMC meetings more seriously. Despite significant weakness in equities today, the crypto market is looking relatively healthy, with BTC and many altcoins in the green. BTC briefly rallied above $67k but has since drifted back down to $66k, possibly catalyzed by a headline mentioning that Bitstamp creditors would be receiving their BTC on Thursday. ETH has fared less well than BTC today, following what we would consider a rather successful first day of spot ETF trading, currently trading near $3400. Meanwhile, SOL moved briefly back above the $180 level but is now trading just below it once again. The DXY is lower today, driven by strong outperformance in the JPY. While the ^SPX 0.13%  and QQQ are experiencing sizeable drawdowns, IWM continues to outperform, only down a few basis points.

ETH ETFs Post Net Inflows on Debut

The newly launched ETH ETFs saw over $1 billion in trading volume on their first day, with net inflows of $107 million. This volume is about 20% of what Bitcoin ETFs achieved on their debut, and net inflows about 16%. Outflows were from Grayscale’s ETHE, which saw an exodus of $484 million. The BlackRock’s ETHA and Bitwise’s ETHW had the highest inflows at $267 million and $204 million, respectively. Outflows for ETHE were expected. Outflows for GBTC peaked after seven trading days, which is likely what the market is expecting here. Any slowing in outflows before that is likely a bullish surprise.

Fold to Go Public Via SPAC

Fold, a Bitcoin financial services company founded in 2019, offers products like Bitcoin cashback debit cards and rewards on bill payments. It has processed over $2 billion in transactions and holds over 1,000 Bitcoin in its treasury. Fold is set to go public through a merger with FTAC Emerald Acquisition Corp. (EMLD), a SPAC, valuing Fold at $365 million. Post-transaction, Fold will remain listed on NASDAQ with its management team continuing to lead. The transaction, expected to close in Q4 2024, aims to expand Fold’s Bitcoin-integrated financial services. While this is a SPAC merger as opposed to an IPO, it is nonetheless an encouraging sign for the space that the appetite in the public market for crypto-linked equities is growing.

RIOT Acquires Block Mining for $92.5 Million

RIOT has acquired Block Mining, Inc. for $92.5 million, paid through $18.5 million in cash and $74 million in Riot stock. This acquisition immediately adds 60 MW of operational capacity with the potential to expand to 110 MW by year-end and over 300 MW in the future. Block Mining brings an experienced management team and two operational sites in Kentucky, enhancing Riot’s geographic diversification and exposure to new energy markets. The acquisition also increases Riot’s self-mining hash rate by 1 EH/s, with potential growth to 16 EH/s by the end of 2025, supporting Riot’s strategic goal of reaching 100 EH/s. This continues the recent trend of consolidation within the mining industry.

Technical Strategy

Following an encouraging day of trading for the ETH spot ETF, Ethereum itself remains largely range-bound and has shown precious little evidence of pushing higher or lower in recent weeks. Price remains near levels where this closed back on 7/15 after a sharp rally off the lows from early July. The short-term trend remains bullish as part of the neutral four-month sideways consolidation which began back in March of this year.  Upside looks possible to $3775, while downside support is found near July lows just above $2800.  Until there is clear evidence of this consolidation being broken, it’s proper to label charts of both BTC and ETH shown here as being in consolidation which eventually should give way to an upside breakout. Dips in price, should they occur into August, likely could provide support initially near $3200.   However, it will take a daily close above the high close from late May at $3892 to provide some conviction about an upside breakout.

Daily Important Metrics Crypto Size Bullish signal is tied to the crypto market growing Market cap 2.42T $-12.4B (-0.51%) BTC Dominance 54.23 % (0.02%) Stablecoins Increase in circulating stablecoins is a Bullish signal In Circulation +$114B (0.16%) In Exchanges +$19B (-0.98%) BTC Metrics A decrease in Bitcoin on exchanges is bullish, indicates investors are moving coins to cold storage # BTC Exchanges +$3.0M (-0.49%) Funding Rates Positive funding rates indicate traders are Bullish Aggregate +0.7973 (0.3833) Binance +0.9987 (-0.0001) Bitfinex 0.0000 (-1.2602) Bitmex +1.0000 (0.7676) ByBit +1.0000 (0.3775) Deribit +0.5620 (0.0048) Huobi +1.0000 (1.0000) Kraken +0.7493 (1.1741) Mean +0.7973 (0.3833) OKex -0.1549 (-0.5587) Sentiment BMI : 59 (100.00%) Futures A positive spread between Futures Prices and Spot Prices is Bullish CME Price $66,465 (-0.58%) Spot Basis $-33 (-0.05%) Volume 631,214 (36.63%) Open Interest 295,497 (0.22%) Options all exchanges Higher open interest change in a bull market is bullish for the sector Volume 28,101 (-12.18%) Open Interest 274,647 (2.45%) Vol. Put/Call Ratio 0.5139 (6.59%) OOI Put/Call Ratio 0.4499 (0.67%) All metrics as of 2024-07-24 12:00:30 All Funding rates are in bps Crypto Prices Symbol Market Cap Last Price Daily Change Year to Date Relative to BTC YTD BTC $1.31T $66,461 0.03% 57.36% ETH $412B $3,424 -0.53% 50.49% -4.37% SOL $83B $179 1.64% 76.32% 12.05% DOGE $350,469 $0.0004 -2.24% -99.61% -99.75% All prices as of 2024-07-24 11:37:19 Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) Symbol Prem. to Nav Last Price Daily Change Year to Date Relative to BTC YTD BITW -28.58% $37 1.58% 57.77% 0.26% ETHE 1.56% $29 -1.26% 49.46% -5.02% News Quick Bits The Block Crypto custodian Hex Trust receives in-principle MPI license approval in Singapore The Major Payment Institution license would allow it to offer crypto custody and over-the-counter trading services. CoinDesk Mt. Gox Moves $3B Bitcoin to New Wallet, $130M to Bitstamp Exchange The defunct exchange has moved billions of dollars worth of bitcoin over two days. The Block Ferrari to expand crypto payments for cars to Europe following US launch: Reuters Ferrari’s European dealer network will be able to accept crypto payments for its luxury cars from the end of July. CoinDesk AgriDex Settles First Agricultural Trade on Solana Blockchain AgriDex, a Solana-based marketplace aiming to bring the global agricultural market on-chain by tokenizing various crops has settled its first agricultural trade on the Solana blockchain, it told CoinDesk on Wednesday. The Block Bitcoin-focused app Fold plans to go public via special purpose acquisition company The proposed deal with Nasdaq-listed FTAC Emerald Acquisition Corp. implies a $365 million valuation for the company. Market Data The Block US spot Ethereum ETFs saw net inflows of $106.7 million on first trading day Nine ether ETFs from eight issuers began trading on Tuesday, with their total trading volume exceeding $1 billion. CoinDesk Bitcoin ETFs Break Inflow Streak as Traders Look to Trump’s Nashville Appearance for Volatility Bitwise’s BITB led with $70 million in net outflows, followed by Ark’s ARKB at $52 million and Grayscale’s GBTC at $27 million. Product Updates and Partnerships CoinDesk Cross-Chain Service DeBridge to Issue Governance Token, Completes Activity Snapshot The cross-chain service is popularly used to transfer funds between Ethereum, Base and Solana blockchains.