Original | Odaily Planet Daily ( @OdailyChina )

Author | Dingdang ( @XiaMiPP )

The crypto market is heating up, and Ethereum is leading this round of accelerated market.

Over the past 48 hours, ETH has surged past the psychologically important $4,000 barrier, reaching a high of $4,200 and currently trading at $4,194, a 45-month high since December 2021. Since hitting a low of $1,385 on April 9th, ETH has seen a cumulative increase of over 300% , with a 65% increase in July alone – significantly outperforming most altcoins and becoming a key target for capital siphoning.

In contrast, Bitcoin has performed relatively weakly, currently fluctuating between $112,000 and $119,000, and currently trading at $117,200. Solana has also performed well in the past two days, rebounding from its August 3 low of $155.8 to around $180. The altcoin sector has been fully activated, with frequent positive news from projects boosting market sentiment and signaling a brewing "altcoin season."

In terms of liquidation data, the total amount of liquidation in the past 24 hours was US$362 million; of which long positions were liquidated for US$78.14 million and short positions were liquidated for US$286 million. ETH alone contributed US$203 million in liquidation. The largest single liquidation occurred in OKX ETH-USDT-SWAP, with an amount of up to US$10.6284 million.

In terms of capital flows, Bitcoin spot ETF turned to net inflow after four consecutive days of net outflow; Ethereum spot ETF also ended two consecutive days of net outflow and recorded net inflow for four consecutive days, indicating that funds are accelerating their return to the crypto market.

Macroeconomic catalyst: Trump's executive order and the elimination of negative factors

On August 7th, Trump's executive order officially opened the door for 401(k) retirement plans to alternative assets like cryptocurrencies, private equity, and real estate. If even 2% of the $9 trillion in managed assets were allocated to crypto assets, theoretically, it could generate $170 billion in incremental value—enough to spur the entire spot ETF market. While the policy's implementation is still months or even years away, its symbolic significance has already ignited market speculation. (For details, see " Cryptocurrency Officially Enters US Pension Plans, Opening the Floodgate for Major Incremental Investments ").

On the same day, the reciprocal tariff executive order officially came into effect, imposing tariffs ranging from 15% to 41% on imported goods from 67 trading partners. The pending risks were finally resolved and the negative impact was gradually digested.

Fed policy shift: Expectations of rate cuts rise

San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly bluntly stated that considering the weakening job market and limited inflationary pressure from tariffs, the window for interest rate cuts is approaching, and the Fed may cut interest rates by 25 basis points in September or December; if the labor market deteriorates further, the number of interest rate cuts may be greater.

Trump nominated Milan, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors on Thursday. Analysts generally believe that as the architect of tariff policy, Milan's appointment may make the Fed's policy more dovish and put pressure on Powell to cut interest rates.

Investment banks' analyses converge: Tariffs have pushed the trade-weighted average tariff rate to nearly 20%. This cost shock will erode corporate profits, weaken household purchasing power, and potentially force the Federal Reserve to act early in the fall. Institutions such as Fidelity International and Berenberg Bank have even warned that a delayed policy response could lead to a repeat of the "lag effect" of 2021-2022.

Capital trends: Institutions accelerate layout

Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), stated that Trump's gold tariffs will "catalyze a new wave of institutional adoption of Bitcoin." This isn't just a statement of confidence; it's a further bolstering of the "digital gold" narrative.

Michael Martin, director of Ava Labs incubator Codebase, predicts that venture capital firms will invest up to $25 billion in crypto startups in 2025. This is due to a "perfect storm" of multiple favorable factors, including Circle's listing, market recovery, Stripe's acquisition of Privy, Wall Street's increased investment in blockchain, and clarification of regulatory rules.

This year's capital flows have already hinted at the beginning of this storm. Martin noted that $13.2 billion has poured into crypto project financing so far this year, a 40% increase over the entire year of 2018 and expected to surpass PitchBook's forecast of $18 billion. However, he cautioned that if publicly traded companies like Circle and Coinbase fail to meet expectations, or if the macro environment worsens due to tariffs, the pace of capital deployment could slow.

On-chain data: Multiple sectors rise

On-chain metrics are also telling a story of recovery. According to DappRadar data, the total value locked in DeFi protocols reached a record high of $270 billion in July, a 30% increase from the previous month. Tokenized stocks were a bright spot, with the number of active wallets surging from approximately 1,600 to over 90,000, and market capitalization increasing by 220%.

During the same period, NFT trading volume increased by 96% month-on-month to US$530 million, with approximately 3.85 million daily active wallets interacting with NFT DApps, slightly higher than DeFi. Despite the market recovery in July, the scale of NFT trading is still lower than the peak in 2021.

Stablecoins continue to play a cornerstone role in market liquidity. Total circulating supply hit a record high of $265 billion, with a 5% growth rate over the past 30 days. While not as strong as the double-digit surge seen at the beginning of the year, this rebound, against the backdrop of continued slow growth, suggests that funds are beginning to re-enter the blockchain, awaiting the next wave of growth.

Tracking recent events of the three major mainstream assets

According to data disclosed by on-chain analyst Yu Jin, in the month since July 10, more than 1.035 million ETH (worth approximately US$4.167 billion) have been hoarded by multiple unknown whales/institutions through channels such as exchanges or institutional business platforms. Most of the ETH hoarded by these addresses should belong to institutions or US-listed companies that hold ETH reserves (excluding SBET addresses). The average price of these hoarded ETH is approximately US$3,546.

Sharplink Gaming's address has been tracked. It currently holds a total of 532,914 ETH, valued at $2.07 billion. On August 7th, SharpLink announced it had raised $200 million through a rights offering at $19.50 per share. The new funds will be used to expand its Ethereum treasury. Based on its past pace, a new round of large purchases is on the way.

Solana's story is somewhat different. Solana, a digital asset treasury company led by Joe McCann, originally planned to go public through a SPAC merger with Gores Holdings X, raising up to $1.5 billion. However, the plan was abruptly halted recently for undisclosed reasons. Previous reports indicated that McCann's hedge fund, Asymmetric, had suffered losses of nearly 80% this year. This delay has led to market speculation: Is this a change in the capital market or a shift in the team's strategy?

Tracking Altcoins: Four Stories Worth Watching

Ripple (XRP): Six-year legal battle ends

The tug-of-war between XRP and the SEC has finally ended. Both parties have withdrawn their appeals to the Second Circuit Court of Appeal, each assuming legal costs. This means that the 2023 ruling by Judge Analisa Torres has officially taken effect: secondary market transactions do not constitute securities transactions, but large-scale sales to institutions constitute illegal securities issuance. Ripple was fined $125 million and permanently banned from future violations. For related reading, see " XRP's July surge exceeding 70%, market capitalization surpassing PepsiCo and BlackRock: How did it achieve its resilience? "

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated that the company will fully resolve this legal dispute and focus on the more important issue of building the "Internet of Value." Meanwhile, the supply of Ripple's USD stablecoin, RLUSD, exceeded $600 million in July, a 32% month-over-month increase, with transaction volume reaching $3.3 billion, a record high.

Digital Wealth Partners Management, LLC (DWP Management) also announced that its series of private investment funds have raised approximately $200 million since April. As a private fund manager accepting investments in physical digital assets, all in-kind investments to date have been made in XRP.

Ethena (ENA): Using buybacks to maintain confidence

On July 21st, Ethena Labs announced a $360 million PIPE (Private Investment in Equity) transaction with stablecoin issuer StablecoinX. StablecoinX plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker "USDE" (the same as Ethena's stablecoin, USDe). Simultaneously, the Ethena Foundation launched a $260 million buyback program for ENA tokens, with an estimated daily investment of approximately $5 million over the next six weeks to build up the ENA reserve. For related information, see " ENA's 'Confidence Game': $260 Million Buyback Stabilizes Price, $360 Million Transfusion Helps StablecoinX Target IPO ."

According to DeFiLlama, Ethena's synthetic stablecoin, USDe, has reached a market capitalization of $9.293 billion, a 75.13% increase over the past month. USDe is currently the third-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, behind only USDT and USDC.

Chainlink (LINK): Locking Revenue on-chain

Chainlink announced the launch of Chainlink Reserve, a strategic on-chain reserve for LINK tokens. It plans to convert user fees from enterprise integrations and on-chain service fees into LINK tokens to support the long-term sustainable growth of the Chainlink network, which also means a long-term and continuous repurchase plan .

Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov stated that market demand for Chainlink has already generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the project, much of it from large enterprises. The reserve has already accumulated over $1 million worth of LINK tokens in the early stages of its launch and is expected to continue to grow.

BounceBit (BB): A New Way to Play in CeDeFi

BounceBit has partnered with Wall Street asset management giant Franklin Templeton to launch a new product, BB Prime, and simultaneously launched a token buyback program. This product integrates Franklin Templeton's tokenized money market fund to create a CeDeFi structured product that combines basis arbitrage with Treasury bond yields. This tokenized fund, part of the BENJI product family, will serve as collateral and settlement tool within the investment strategy. This allows investors to not only receive the underlying Treasury bond interest rate but also leverage other income streams. The newly announced BB token buyback program, backed by over $10 million in protocol revenue , aims to strengthen the long-term value of the token.

Overall, this rebound is fueled by macroeconomic policies, on-chain data, and fueled by investor sentiment. Whether it's the accelerated breakthrough of ETH or the collective recovery of the altcoin sector, the market seems to be accelerating toward a familiar and exciting rhythm.