Originally published in First Mover, CoinDesk’s daily digest delivering sharp insights on recent crypto market dynamics. Subscribe for daily updates straight to your inbox.
Current Market Snapshot
Headline Highlights
Ether pushed past the $3,500 barrier during European trading hours, sparking a modest upward momentum in digital assets. Over the past day, ETH surged more than 4%, exchanging hands near $3,540 at the moment of reporting. Meanwhile, the CoinDesk 20 Index inched up by approximately 1.6%. Meme coins displayed notable resilience: DOGE bounced back by nearly 3.5% following Tuesday’s dip, with SHIB climbing over 3%. Bitcoin, however, stayed relatively muted around $65,400, marking a subtle 0.2% uptick from the previous day. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs saw continued withdrawals amounting to $152.4 million on Tuesday.
According to CryptoQuant data, whales offloaded bitcoin valued at more than $1.2 billion over the last fourteen days. These seasoned BTC holders reveal scant signs of renewed appetite, suggesting a persistent stall in bullish momentum for the premier cryptocurrency. Analysts observed, “Traders remain hesitant to bulk up bitcoin stash, with demand from major holders failing to gain traction.” Some market watchers speculate crypto miners might be pivoting their focus toward the flourishing AI industry rather than bitcoin mining, possibly liquidating their BTC earnings instead of accumulating. Both crypto mining and AI rely heavily upon sophisticated computing hardware to operate and sustain their ecosystems.
Brokerage Bernstein sees undervalued opportunities in bitcoin and crypto-linked equities, forecasting institutional tides turning in their favor. Despite bitcoin and related ETFs having shown glimpses of promise prior to recent setbacks, Bernstein projects that major wirehouses and prominent private banking sectors will greenlight ETF offerings during the latter half of the year. They anticipate a surge in inflows for bitcoin ETFs across Q3 and Q4, propelled by large advisory firms embracing ETF products and unlocking portfolio allocation bandwidth. The firm maintains “outperform” ratings on bitcoin-affiliated publicly traded companies such as MicroStrategy, Robinhood, along with miners Riot Platforms and CleanSpark.
Key Data Insight
Within just two weeks, open interest on bitcoin perpetual futures across leading exchanges contracted sharply, dropping from $6.07 billion to $5.10 billion. This signals that the recent dip in bitcoin price stemmed primarily from profit-taking and unwind of bullish positions rather than fresh waves of pessimistic trading.
- Cumulative bitcoin perpetual futures open interest fell from $6.07B to $5.10B within 14 days.
- Price correction attributed more to profit-taking than increased bearish sentiments.
Noteworthy Mentions
- SEC Concludes Investigation of Consensys Without Filing Suit on Ethereum
- Heightened Volatility Forecasts for Ether May Lack Solid Ground
- National Australia Bank’s Venture Arm Backs Crypto Custodian Zodia
– Omkar Godbole
