Market Update

Crypto has gained sharply ahead of tomorrow’s FOMC meeting, at which the Fed is expected to begin its easing cycle. There is still uncertainty on the magnitude of the first rate cut, with markets pricing a 61% probability of 50bps as of this morning. BTC -1.40% has risen from $58k to $61k and ETH -1.98% has risen from the high $2,200s to $2,370. SUI -1.45% is outperforming today following news that they have partnered with MoviePass to allow users to pay for their subscriptions with USDC. Additionally, they will be offering on-chain rewards to enhance the MoviePass experience and bring web3 to a new audience. After making a new intraday high, the ^SPX -1.29%  has pared its gains and is flat on the day. The NDQ is similarly flat, while the IWM -2.30%  has gained over 1% as investors potentially rebalance towards more rate-sensitive assets ahead of tomorrow’s Fed meeting.

Lens Network Partners with Avail DA

Lens Protocol has chosen Avail to provide its data availability solution to Lens’ upcoming layer two network called Lens Network. Lens Network will operate as an EVM-compatible Validium chain built on zkSync’s SDK, ZK Stack. Lens is an open social network where users can own their content and connections. Building its own L2 should help deal with high-activity social media on its platform. Avail DA is tailored for ZK Stack and should reduce data storage demands and lower costs for Lens. Avail DA leverages Data Availability Sampling (DAS), which removes node requirements for downloading and storing full data sets. Instead, it checks random samples to verify their accessibility, improving blockchain throughput and outsourcing data storage and processing responsibilities to the DA layer. Lens Network is set to go live in Q4 this year and hopes the implementation of Avail DA will enhance its modular infrastructure and support the growth of its decentralized social graph network.

Microstrategy Announces $700m Convertible Note Offering

Microstrategy is planning to sell up to $700 million in convertible senior notes to buy back debt and fund additional Bitcoin purchases. The notes will be unsecured, senior obligations, with semiannual coupons, and mature in 2028. Microstrategy plans to use the offering proceeds to redeem $500 million in outstanding principal from its senior secured notes due in 2028 and use any remaining proceeds to purchase more Bitcoin or for general corporate purposes. As of June 2024, MSTR has $3.9 billion in debt and holds 244,800 BTC worth over $10 billion. The company’s latest Bitcoin purchase came last week when it acquired an additional 18,300 BTC. MSTR -3.77%  is trading 1.28% higher today following the announcement.

Technical Strategy

Bitcoin has made an impressive 4.5% advance today to exceed the area of its 9/13 peaks last Friday.  Ordinarily, this might be seen as a bullish breakout given that price has surpassed the highs of the last three days and is at the highest levels of the month.  However, upon closer inspection there looks to be a big downtrend line from late July that intersects right near where BTC -1.40% has rallied to today.  Thus, I think it’s difficult to call for a technical breakout just yet, and this echoes the stalling out today in US Equities following the initial breakout attempt by SPX over 7/16 peaks.   Overall, it makes sense that a sharp rally into Wednesday’s FOMC could stall out if markets are surprised, and similar thinking is applicable to BTC -1.40% after this rally.   In the bigger scheme of things, it looks technically like any reversal post-FOMC would likely prove temporary in nature, erasing 38-50% of the rally from early September ahead of a larger rally into October.  Thus, I feel that this price move has served to help momentum, and any pullback that arises should prove short-lived before turning higher. Daily closes over $65k would argue for trend continuation without any consolidation, which looks to be an alternative scenario at present.

Daily Important Metrics Crypto Size Bullish signal is tied to the crypto market growing Market cap 2.06T +$39B(1.94%) BTC Dominance 56.88 % (0.51%) Stablecoins Increase in circulating stablecoins is a Bullish signal In Circulation +$119B (-0.07%) In Exchanges +$22B (4.06%) BTC Metrics A decrease in Bitcoin on exchanges is bullish, indicates investors are moving coins to cold storage # BTC Exchanges +$3.0M (0.00%) Funding Rates Positive funding rates indicate traders are Bullish Aggregate +0.7984(0.3173) Binance +0.9961(1.2871) Bitfinex +1.1544(0.0263) Bitmex +0.8812(0.4752) ByBit +0.8322(0.4734) Deribit +0.1582(-0.0617) Huobi +0.8844(0.8844) Kraken -0.0081(-0.6849) Mean +0.7984(0.3173) OKex +0.5308(-0.1270) Sentiment BMI : 43 (100.00%) Futures A positive spread between Futures Prices and Spot Prices is Bullish CME Price $59,370(2.45%) Spot Basis +$51(0.09%) Volume 574,737(87.89%) Open Interest 296,955(-0.91%) Options all exchanges Higher open interest change in a bull market is bullish for the sector Volume 17,532(145.67%) Open Interest 284,275 (1.92%) Vol. Put/Call Ratio 0.7156 (-40.05%) OOI Put/Call Ratio 0.4910 (1.37%) All metrics as of 2024-09-17 13:28:15 All Funding rates are in bps Crypto Prices Symbol Market Cap Last Price Daily Change Year to Date Relative to BTC YTD BTC $1.21T $61,184 5.85% 44.87% ETH $287B $2,387 4.33% 4.89% -27.60% SOL $63B $135 2.53% 32.55% -8.50% HNT $1.1B $6.96 -1.07% -81.56% -87.27% DOGE $182,436 $0.0002 3.57% -99.80% -99.86% All prices as of 2024-09-17 12:07:50 Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) Symbol Prem. to Nav Last Price Daily Change Year to Date Relative to BTC YTD BITW -37.18% $28 3.28% 18.88% -17.94% ETHE -0.91% $20 4.24% 3.27% -28.71% News Quick Bits The Block IoTeX collaborates with Polygon Labs to integrate with AggLayer for cross-chain DePIN liquidity The integration is designed to enable IoTeX-based projects to distribute rewards and allow users to settle on a chain of their choice. The Block MicroStrategy is selling $700 million more in convertible senior notes to buy back debt and more bitcoin The business intelligence firm holds about $14 billion worth of bitcoin, including a $1 billion purchase last week. Dose of DeFI Coin Telegraph Donald Trump silent on World Liberty Financial, team unveils WLFI token Donald Trump didn’t share any details about his family’s new crypto platform during his 45-minute talk on X, but the team later revealed that a token would be launched. Donald Trump didn’t end up talking about World Liberty Financial — his family’s new crypto platform — during a so-called launch event on X, but the team eventually shared information about the project’s token.Former President Trump was interviewed by crypto influencer Farokh Sarmad in a Sept. 16 X Spaces, his first public appearance since an apparent assassination attempt on Sept. 15, which he spoke about to open the livestream.Despite Trump billing the livestream as a “State of Crypto address,” it took about 16 minutes for him to mention the word, saying: “We’re going to make our country greater than ever before, and you’re going to be happy, and you’re going to love your crypto.”Read more The Block WalletConnect set to airdrop 185 million WCT with native token launch WalletConnect will launch its native Connect Token on Optimism’s OP Mainnet, with 185 million WCT to be airdropped to users. CoinDesk DYdX to Debut Perpetual Futures on Prediction Markets as DEX Seeks to Raise Profile Decentralized finance needs to develop a unique offering relative to centralized venues, dYdX Foundation CEO Charles d'Haussy said. Regulation Coin Telegraph SEC commissioners slam agency after $750K FlyFish Club NFT settlement SEC commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda didn’t believe any US securities laws were triggered and urged the commission to give NFT firms more room to experiment. Two commissioners from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission have slammed their agency for seemingly cornering non-fungible token-themed restaurant Flyfish Club into a $750,000 settlement.The SEC said Flyfish “conducted an unregistered offering of crypto asset securities” by selling 1,600 NFTs to US investors and making $14.8 million from two price points, according to a Sept. 16 cease and desist order.However, SEC commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda criticized the enforcement action, arguing the Flyfish NFTs were “simply a different way to sell memberships” and thus didn’t trigger securities laws.Read more Product Updates and Partnerships Decrypt.co Bitcoin Stacks L2 Integrates With Aptos Network The integration "instantly makes Bitcoin highly capable beyond a store of value," said an Aptos exec. BTC Manager Chainlink partners with Fireblocks to help banks issue stablecoins Fireblocks and Chainlink Labs have announced a strategic collaboration to provide banks with a technology solution for issuing and managing regulated stablecoins. Crypto custody and services firm Fireblocks has teamed up with Chainlink Labs to offer a new solution for… CryptoSlate Circle taps Sui blockchain for wider USDC integration Stablecoin issuer Circle is expanding its native issuance of USD Coin (USDC) and deploying its Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol on the layer-1 blockchain Sui. In a Sept. 17 X post, Evan Cheng, co-founder and CEO of Mysten Labs, revealed that his firm’s blockchain—Sui—has partnered with Circle to bring USDC to the network. Cheng did not provide […] The post Circle taps Sui blockchain for wider USDC integration appeared first on CryptoSlate. The Block Lens network to use Avail’s data availability solution for scalability Lens Protocol has partnered with Avail to integrate its data availability solution into the upcoming network.