Author: Ding Dang, Odaily Planet Daily
The crypto market is experiencing a surge, with Ethereum leading this accelerated trend.
In the past 48 hours, ETH forcefully broke through the psychological barrier of 4,000 USD, peaking at 4,200 USD, now reported at 4,194 USD, setting a new high in 45 months (since December 2021). Since the low of 1,385 USD on April 9, ETH has accumulated over a 300% increase, with a monthly increase of 65% in July alone—significantly outperforming most altcoins and becoming the core target for capital siphoning.
In contrast, Bitcoin's performance is relatively weak, currently oscillating in the range of 112,000 to 119,000 USD, now reported at 117,200 USD. Solana has rebounded from a low of 155.8 USD on August 3 to around 180 USD, with impressive performance in the past two days. The altcoin sector is fully activated, with frequent project positive news driving market sentiment, signaling a strengthening of the 'altcoin season'.
In terms of liquidation data, the total amount of liquidations in the past 24 hours was 362 million USD; of which long positions were liquidated for 78.14 million USD, and short positions for 286 million USD, with ETH alone contributing to 203 million USD in liquidation; the largest single liquidation occurred in OKX ETH-USDT-SWAP, amounting to 10.6284 million USD.
In terms of fund flows, Bitcoin spot ETFs have turned from a net outflow to a net inflow after four consecutive days of outflow; Ethereum spot ETFs have similarly ended a two-day net outflow trend, recording net inflows for four consecutive days, indicating that funds are accelerating back into the crypto market.
Macro Catalysts: Trump's Executive Order and Bearish Sentiment Cleared
On August 7, an executive order by Trump allowed 401(k) pension plans to officially embrace alternative assets such as cryptocurrencies, private equity, and real estate for the first time. The funding pool, which manages up to 9 trillion USD, could theoretically bring in 170 billion USD in incremental funds if even just 2% were allocated to crypto assets—enough to leverage the entire spot ETF market. Although the policies will take months or even years to implement, their symbolic significance is enough to ignite market imagination. (See details: Cryptocurrency officially enters U.S. pension packages, the largest incremental entrance opens).
On the same day, the equal tariff executive order officially took effect, imposing tariffs of 15% to 41% on imported goods from 67 trade partners, with the pending risk boot dropping and the bearish sentiment gradually digesting.
Federal Reserve Policy Shift: Rate Cut Expectations Rise
San Francisco Federal Reserve President Daly bluntly stated that considering the weakening job market and limited inflation pressure from tariffs, the window for rate cuts is approaching; the Federal Reserve may cut rates by 25 basis points in September or December; if the labor market further deteriorates, there may be more cuts.
On Thursday, Trump nominated Milan, the chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, to become a member of the Federal Reserve Board. Analysts generally believe that as the designer of tariff policy, Milan's appointment may lead to a more dovish Federal Reserve policy and exert pressure on Powell to cut rates.
Analysts from investment banks are reaching a consensus: tariffs have pushed the trade-weighted average tax rate close to 20%, and this cost shock will erode corporate profits, weaken household purchasing power, and may force the Federal Reserve to act early in the fall. Institutions like Fidelity International and Berenberg Bank have even warned that if policy responses are slow, the 'lag effect' of 2021-2022 may repeat.
Capital Trends: Institutions Accelerate Layout
Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), stated that Trump's gold tariff will 'catalyze a new wave of institutional adoption of Bitcoin'. This is not just a confidence shout-out, but a reaffirmation of the 'digital gold' narrative.
Michael Martin, head of the Ava Labs incubator Codebase, expects that in 2025, venture capital firms will invest up to 25 billion USD in crypto startups, backed by a 'perfect storm' of favorable factors such as Circle's IPO, market recovery, Stripe's acquisition of Privy, Wall Street's increased focus on blockchain, and clearer regulatory rules.
This year's capital flow has already hinted at the prelude to this storm. Martin pointed out that as of this year, 13.2 billion USD has flowed into crypto project financing, a 40% increase compared to the entire last year, and is expected to break PitchBook's forecast of 18 billion USD. However, he also warned that if companies like Circle and Coinbase do not meet expectations, or if the macro environment worsens due to tariff policies, the pace of capital deployment may slow.
On-chain data: Multiple sectors rise together
On-chain indicators are also telling a recovery story. According to DappRadar data, the total value locked in DeFi protocols reached a historical high of 270 billion USD in July, with a month-on-month growth of 30%. Tokenized stocks have become a growth highlight, with the number of active wallets surging from about 1,600 to over 90,000, and market cap increasing by 220%.
During the same period, NFT trading volume increased by 96% to 530 million USD, with about 3.85 million daily active wallets interacting with NFT DApps, slightly higher than DeFi. Despite the market warming in July, NFT trading volume remains below the 2021 peak.
Stablecoins continue to play a cornerstone role in market liquidity. The total circulating supply reached a historical high of 265 billion USD, with a growth rate of 5% over the past 30 days. Although there was no double-digit explosion at the beginning of the year, this rebound amidst continuous low-speed growth signifies that funds are beginning to re-establish on-chain, awaiting the next peak.
Tracking Recent Events of Three Major Assets
According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin’s disclosed data, since July 10, over 1.035 million ETH (valued at approximately 4.167 billion USD) has been accumulated by multiple unknown whales/institutions through exchanges or institutional business platforms. Most of the ETH accumulated in these addresses likely belongs to institutions or U.S. companies holding ETH reserves (excluding SBET addresses), with an average price of approximately 3,546 USD.
The address of Sharplink Gaming has been tracked. Currently, it holds a total of 532,914 ETH, worth 2.07 billion USD. On August 7, SharpLink announced that it has raised 200 million USD through a private placement at 19.5 USD per share, and the new funds will be used to expand its Ethereum treasury. At its previous pace, a new round of large buy orders is on the way.
The story of Solana is somewhat different. The Solana digital asset treasury company, led by Joe McCann, originally planned to raise up to 1.5 billion USD through a merger with Gores Holdings X's SPAC. However, this plan was abruptly halted recently, with the reason not disclosed. Previous reports indicated that McCann's hedge fund Asymmetric had incurred losses of nearly 80% this year, leading the market to speculate: has the capital environment changed, or has the team’s strategy shifted?
Altcoin Tracking: Four Stories Worth Watching
Ripple (XRP): Six-Year Lawsuit Concludes
The tug of war between XRP and the SEC has finally ended. Both parties have jointly withdrawn their appeal in the Second Circuit Court and will bear their own legal costs. This means that the ruling made by Judge Analisa Torres in 2023 officially takes effect: secondary market trading does not constitute a securities act, but large sales to institutions are considered illegal securities issuance, leading Ripple to be fined 125 million USD and permanently banned from future violations. Related reading references (Over 70% increase in July, market cap surpassing Pepsi and BlackRock, how XRP's 'resilient constitution' was forged?).
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated that the company will completely end this legal dispute and focus on more important matters—building a 'value internet'. Meanwhile, Ripple's USD stablecoin RLUSD saw its supply surpass 600 million USD in July, up 32% month-over-month, with a trading volume of 3.3 billion USD, setting a new historical high.
Digital Wealth Partners Management, LLC (abbreviated as DWP Management) also announced that since April, its series of private equity investment funds has raised approximately 200 million USD. As a private fund manager accepting physical digital asset investments, all physical contributions have been completed in the form of XRP.
Ethena (ENA): Stabilizing Confidence through Buybacks
On July 21, Ethena Labs announced a PIPE (Private Investment in Public Equity) deal worth 360 million USD with stablecoin issuer StablecoinX, which plans to go public on Nasdaq under the ticker 'USDE' (the same name as Ethena's stablecoin USDe). At the same time, the Ethena Foundation launched a 260 million USD ENA token buyback plan, expected to invest about 5 million USD daily over the next 6 weeks to build ENA reserves. Related reading references (ENA's 'Confidence Game': 260 million USD buyback stabilizes price, 360 million USD infusion for StablecoinX's IPO).
DeFiLlama data shows that Ethena's synthetic stablecoin USDe has reached a market cap of 9.293 billion USD, with a 75.13% increase over the past month. USDe is currently the third-largest stablecoin by market cap, only behind USDT and USDC.
Chainlink (LINK): Locking income on-chain
Chainlink announced the launch of Chainlink Reserve, a strategic on-chain reserve for LINK tokens, which plans to convert user fees integrated by enterprises and on-chain service fees into LINK tokens to support the long-term sustainable growth of the Chainlink network, indicating a long-term and continuous buyback plan.
Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, stated that the market's demand for Chainlink has already brought hundreds of millions in revenue to the project, most of which comes from large enterprises. The reserve has accumulated LINK tokens worth over 1 million USD since its launch, and is expected to continue growing.
BounceBit (BB): A new way of CeDeFi
BounceBit has partnered with Wall Street asset management giant Franklin Templeton to launch a new product BB Prime, while also initiating a token buyback plan. This product integrates Franklin Templeton's tokenized money market fund, creating a structured product that combines basis arbitrage and treasury yields in the CeDeFi space. This tokenized fund belongs to the BENJI product series and will serve as collateral and settlement tool in investment strategies. Through this approach, investors can not only gain underlying treasury yield but also accumulate additional sources of returns. The announced BB token buyback plan is supported by over 10 million USD in protocol revenue, aiming to reinforce the long-term value support of the token.
Overall, this rebound is fueled by both macro policies and supportive on-chain data, along with the push of capital sentiment. Whether it's the acceleration of ETH breaking through barriers or the collective warming of the altcoin sector, the market seems to be accelerating towards a familiar yet exciting rhythm.
Click to learn about job openings at ChainCatcher
