Crypto Market Update

This morning’s Producer Price Index (PPI) came in cooler than expected at 0.1% month-over-month, compared to the anticipated 0.2%. This data has pushed rates and the DXY lower, fueling optimism ahead of tomorrow’s CPI release as hopes for another disinflationary print grow. In response, BTC -0.60% has moved slightly higher, though it has yet to reclaim the $60k level. Meanwhile, ETH 2.60% has pulled back slightly from its quiet rally last night, during which it surpassed $2,700, possibly supported by the first day of zero outflows for Grayscale’s ETHE 1.70%  product. SOL -3.04% is trading around $146, maintaining its relatively tight range over the past couple of days. While altcoins are mixed, MKR stands out in the top 100, likely benefiting from the ETH rally and today’s news of Grayscale’s launch of an MKR trust. Equities are also rallying, with strong outperformance from the tech sector. Meanwhile, gold, often seen as a bellwether for Bitcoin, is nearing a new all-time high. However, it’s worth noting that gold’s recent strength might be driven more by rising concerns of global conflict than by an increase in liquidity trends.

Backed Launches Tokenized Securities in Latin America

This morning, Backed announced a partnership with eNor Securities, an El Salvador-based exchange specializing in on-chain real-world assets (RWAs) within the Latin American market. Through this collaboration, Backed will launch tokenized versions of various financial products, including Coinbase stock, BlackRock’s S&P 500 ETF, and corporate and government bond ETFs, on eNor Securities’ platform. This marks the first time Backed’s tokenized securities will be listed on a licensed exchange serving both retail and institutional investors. Backed issues its RWAs as bTokens, which are fully backed by underlying assets and comply with EU regulations, ensuring that token holders have primary claims to these assets. Currently, Backed tokens are available on Ethereum and other EVM-compatible chains. Although the total market value of all tokenized equities trading on-chain is just over $5 million, which is relatively small compared to the market value of stablecoins or treasuries on-chain, the demand for on-chain U.S. equities is expected to grow as other economies develop sound, crypto-friendly regulatory frameworks. This will allow a broader audience access to these assets, overcoming barriers posed by the lack of interoperable infrastructure.

Grayscale Launches MKR Trust

Grayscale has introduced a new single-asset fund focused on MakerDAO’s governance token, MKR. This closed-end fund, available to accredited individual and institutional investors, follows the same structure as Grayscale’s other closed-end single-asset trusts, meaning that investors cannot withdraw assets directly. The announcement of the fund led to a significant price increase in MKR, which rose over 5% in an hour. MakerDAO, a leading DeFi protocol, is a constituent in our Core Strategy due to its fundamental traction and its impending “End Game” overhaul, which involves architectural and branding upgrades. This new offering follows Grayscale’s recent launches of similar trusts for the AI project TAO -2.14% and the Move-based L1 SUI -8.29% .

As Mark Newton is on break, there will be no Technical Strategy section for this week. Mark will be returning on Tuesday, August 20th.

Daily Important Metrics Crypto Size Bullish signal is tied to the crypto market growing Market cap 2.09T $-13.4B(-0.64%) BTC Dominance 56.06 % (0.05%) Stablecoins Increase in circulating stablecoins is a Bullish signal In Circulation +$116B (0.00%) In Exchanges +$19B (-0.64%) BTC Metrics A decrease in Bitcoin on exchanges is bullish, indicates investors are moving coins to cold storage # BTC Exchanges +$3.0M (0.04%) Funding Rates Positive funding rates indicate traders are Bullish Aggregate +0.5045(-0.0932) Binance -1.3243(-2.3206) Bitfinex +0.4019(0.2468) Bitmex +0.7049(0.5029) ByBit +0.2057(-0.7943) Deribit +0.1401(0.0269) Huobi +1.2436(1.2436) Kraken -0.0684(-0.6314) Mean +0.5045(-0.0932) OKex +0.4227(-0.0544) Sentiment BMI : 53 (100.00%) Futures A positive spread between Futures Prices and Spot Prices is Bullish CME Price $59,655(-0.61%) Spot Basis +$191(0.32%) Volume 888,755(87.50%) Open Interest 265,681(-2.70%) Options all exchanges Higher open interest change in a bull market is bullish for the sector Volume 23,988(115.68%) Open Interest 282,079 (1.87%) Vol. Put/Call Ratio 0.9485 (33.73%) OOI Put/Call Ratio 0.5049 (1.80%) All metrics as of 2024-08-13 15:42:11 All Funding rates are in bps Crypto Prices Symbol Market Cap Last Price Daily Change Year to Date Relative to BTC YTD BTC $1.17T $59,507 -0.93% 40.90% ETH $319B $2,652 -1.23% 16.57% -17.27% SOL $68B $146 -0.77% 43.56% 1.89% HNT $1.1B $6.84 0.84% -81.86% -87.13% DOGE $170,001 $0.0002 11.19% -99.81% -99.86% All prices as of 2024-08-13 11:59:24 Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) Symbol Prem. to Nav Last Price Daily Change Year to Date Relative to BTC YTD BITW -24.43% $33 1.39% 43.61% 1.92% ETHE -2.34% $23 0.69% 16.89% -17.04% News Quick Bits CoinDesk Asset Manager Grayscale Introduces Crypto Fund for MakerDAO's MKR The company launched similar single-asset trusts for TAO and SUI and a fund that invests in a basket of decentralized artificial intelligence-focused tokens over the past month. Market Data The Block Japan’s Metaplanet buys $3.3 million more in bitcoin, raising holdings to 303 BTC The Tokyo-listed firm announced today another purchase of 57.1 bitcoin after securing a $6.8 million loan last week. The Block Runes protocol struggles with fee revenue as Bitcoin’s conservative framework limits growth The protocol's decline can be attributed partly to broader market conditions but also to the inherent limitations of Bitcoin's infrastructure. CoinDesk Crypto Wallet Holding $2B Mt. Gox Bitcoin Sends Test Transaction as Distribution Continues: Arkham Some users in the Mt. Gox creditors channel on Reddit reported receiving funds on their BitGo accounts. Dose of DeFI The Block Uniswap Labs’ cumulative front-end revenue surpasses $50 million Uniswap Labs, the developer firm behind the Uniswap protocol, has seen its cumulative front-end fees cross the $50 million mark. Fundraising and M&A The Block Intent-centric Ethereum L2 Essential raises $11 million in Series A funding Intent-centric Ethereum Layer 2 Essential has raised $11 million in a Series A funding round structured as equity with token warrants. Web 3.0 The Block PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin on Solana surpasses its supply on Ethereum The PYUSD stablecoin on Solana has a supply of 377 million, while Ethereum-based PYUSD stands at 356 million. CoinDesk Tokenized Asset Issuer Backed to Offer Crypto RWAs in LatAm with eNor Securities ENor Securities, an exchange based in El Salvador, will offer Backed’s bTokens to retail investors in Latin America.