The crypto market has recently ignited like fireworks, soaring upward—Ethereum is the brightest star among them.
In the past two days, ETH surged past the $4,000 mark, peaking at $4,200, setting a new high since December 2021. From the low of $1,385 on April 9, it has more than tripled in less than six months, with a 65% increase just in July. While other altcoins are still lagging, Ethereum has become the hot commodity that capital is scrambling for.
In contrast, Bitcoin appears a bit more "stable," fluctuating between $112,000 and $119,000, currently resting at $117,200. Solana is performing well, bouncing back from a low of $155.8 on August 3 to around $180, and has been quite strong in the past two days. More importantly, the overall altcoin sector has awakened, with favorable news flying around, and the familiar scent of "altcoin season" is becoming stronger.
How hot is the market? In the past 24 hours, the total liquidation amount reached $362 million, with short sellers suffering greatly—liquidations for short positions totaled $286 million, contributing $203 million in liquidations from Ethereum alone. The largest single liquidation amounted to $10.62 million—the intensity of the battle between longs and shorts is palpable even through the screen.
Funds are also quietly flowing back. After four consecutive days of net outflows from the Bitcoin spot ETF, it finally turned into a net inflow; Ethereum ETF is even stronger, attracting capital for four consecutive days, indicating that significant funds are seizing this opportunity.
Macro gift pack: Trump provides assistance, all negative news has been cleared.
The rise in this market can’t be separated from the macro "tailwind."
On August 7, Trump signed a major executive order allowing 401 (k) retirement plans to invest in cryptocurrencies and private equity as "alternative assets." This plan manages $9 trillion in funds, and even if only 2% is allocated to crypto, that's $170 billion—enough to nearly double the entire spot ETF market. Although the policy won't be implemented for several months or even years, just this signal is enough to send the market into a frenzy of imagination.
On the same day, the long-anticipated tariff policy was implemented, imposing a 15%-41% tax on imports from 67 trading partners. Previously, everyone was worried about this "shoe" dropping, but now that it has landed, it has instead become a "bad news cleared out is good news" situation.
Is the Federal Reserve going to cut interest rates? The market has already started the countdown.
The Federal Reserve's stance is also changing. San Francisco Fed President Daly stated: the labor market has weakened, tariffs have limited effects on inflation, the interest rate cut window is approaching, with a potential 25 basis point cut in September or December; if employment worsens further, cuts could be even larger.
More importantly, Trump nominated White House economic advisor Milan to the Federal Reserve Board. This person is the architect of the tariff policy, and analysts believe that once in office, he will pressure Powell to make the Federal Reserve more "dovish"—in plain terms, more willing to lower interest rates.
Investment banks are very clear: the current tariffs have pushed the average tax rate close to 20%, which will erode corporate profits and weaken consumer purchasing power. The Federal Reserve is likely to act early this fall. Institutions like Fidelity have even warned: if actions are delayed, the inflationary lag that occurred in 2021-2022 could repeat.
Institutions are scrambling: From Bitcoin to Ethereum, big players are increasing their positions.
Michael Saylor of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) stated directly: Trump's golden tariff will drive institutions to buy Bitcoin even more frantically. This is not just empty talk, as the narrative of "digital gold" has been reignited.
Ava Labs' incubation director Martin is even more optimistic: Venture capital may inject $25 billion into crypto startups by 2025. The reason is simple: Circle is going public, the market is warming up, Stripe has acquired Privy, Wall Street is doubling down on blockchain, and regulation is becoming clearer—this is simply a rhythm of a "perfect storm."
Funding has already started to surge this year: so far, crypto projects have raised $13.2 billion, which is 40% more than the total for last year, and it may likely exceed $18 billion. However, Martin also warns: if companies like Circle or Coinbase underperform, or if tariffs disrupt the macro environment, funding may slow down.
On-chain data: Signals of "warming" are everywhere.
DappRadar data shows that in July, the locked value of DeFi protocols surged to $270 billion, hitting a historical high, a 30% increase in a month. The most striking is tokenized stocks, where active wallets jumped from 1,600 to 90,000, directly doubling in market cap.
NFTs haven't lagged behind either, with trading volume in July increasing by 96% to $530 million, with 3.85 million wallets interacting with NFT DApps daily, slightly more than DeFi. While there is still distance from the peak in 2021, the momentum has already picked up.
Stablecoins go without saying; the total circulation has broken the new high of $265 billion, rising 5% in the past 30 days. Although it's not the double-digit surge seen at the beginning of the year, this steady growth indicates that funds are starting to "settle down" on-chain, waiting for the next wave of advances.
Mainstream asset trends: Ethereum is being wildly bought, and Solana's listing plan has suddenly halted.
Ethereum: In the past month, over 1.035 million ETH (worth $4.167 billion) have been hoarded by mysterious whales and institutions, with an average cost of around $3,546. SharpLink has hoarded 532,900 ETH, valued at $2.07 billion, and recently raised $200 million, indicating they plan to continue buying.
Solana: Faced some minor setbacks. Initially planned to go public through a SPAC merger, raising $1.5 billion, but suddenly called it off without stating a reason. Previously, there were reports that the hedge fund leading this was down nearly 80% this year—has the market changed, or did the team change their mind? No one knows, but this small hiccup has not hindered Solana's recent rebound.
Altcoin highlights: These four stories are worth watching.
Ripple (XRP): After six years, the lawsuit has finally concluded. The SEC and Ripple have both withdrawn their appeals, and the 2023 ruling is in effect: secondary market trading is not considered securities, but large institutional sales of coins are illegal, resulting in a $125 million penalty for Ripple. Now, Ripple's stablecoin RLUSD has a supply exceeding $600 million, up 32% in a month, and there are private equity funds specifically raising capital using XRP, having raised $200 million.
Ethena (ENA): Collaborated with StablecoinX for a $360 million partnership, which plans to go public on NASDAQ, and its code shares the same name as Ethena's stablecoin USDe. At the same time, Ethena launched a $260 million buyback, planning to spend $5 million daily on ENA over the next six weeks. Currently, USDe has a market cap of $9.29 billion, making it the third-largest stablecoin, up 75% in a month.
Chainlink (LINK): Launched a "Chainlink Reserve," intending to convert enterprise user fees and on-chain service fees into LINK as a long-term reserve. The founder stated that they have already generated several hundred million in revenue, mostly from large enterprises, with over $1 million in LINK accumulated since the reserve was just initiated and it will continue to grow.
BounceBit (BB): Collaborated with Franklin Templeton to launch a product called "BB Prime," integrating their tokenized currency fund into a "CeDeFi" structured product—able to earn treasury bond interest while layering other returns. It also announced a buyback of BB tokens using over $10 million in protocol revenue to support token value.
This round of market activity is backed by macro policy, supported by on-chain data, and boosted by capital sentiment. Ethereum is leading the charge, altcoins are stirring, and the market is racing towards a familiar yet exhilarating rhythm. As for how long this will last? No one dares to make a guarantee, but at least for now, the summer of the crypto market is heating up.
Disclaimer: The content of this article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice. Investors should rationally assess cryptocurrency investments based on their own risk tolerance and investment goals, and should not blindly follow trends.
