TL;DR

• BTC experienced significant volatility, surging past $62,500 on the 19th before encountering resistance at $63,000.
• Bitcoin ETFs saw net inflows of $17.44 billion, while Ethereum ETFs experienced net outflows of $615 million.
• The total market capitalization of stablecoins rose by 0.59%, signaling a continued inflow of fresh capital from outside the crypto market.
• The Federal Reserve announced a 50-basis-point reduction in the target range for the federal funds rate.
• Gate launched its Pilot Trading, with over 20 new tokens officially listed.
• Aleo announced the launch of its mainnet, promoting the development of privacy-focused applications.
• 1inch introduced Fusion+, an intent-based atomic swap feature.
• DeltaPrime, a DeFi project in the ARB ecosystem, suffered an attack resulting in losses of approximately $4.5 million.

Market Analysis

Review and Insights

According to Gate.io market data, as of 4:00 AM (UTC) on Sep 19 [1]:

• BTC Market — BTC strongly broke through $60,000 on the 13th, with a daily increase of 4.07%. It then encountered resistance at the $60,800 level and retreated to around $57,500 over the weekend. On the 17th, possibly influenced by the approaching interest rate decision, BTC again broke through $60,000, with a daily increase of 3.60%. On the 19th, likely due to the positive macroeconomic impact of the Federal Reserve’s 50-basis-point rate cut, the price surged above $62,500, then attempted to pull back, and is currently fluctuating around $62,000. [1]

• ETH Market — ETH’s performance has been relatively weak over the past 7 days. On the 13th, ETH followed BTC’s strong breakthrough, surpassing $2,450 with a daily increase of 3.28%. ETH then began to pull back, falling to around $2,250 on the 16th, but did not break the short-term support level of $2,150. On the 19th, possibly influenced by the interest rate cut, ETH’s price temporarily broke through the short-term resistance level of $2,380, rising above $2,400. [2]

• Altcoins — The altcoin market has largely mirrored BTC’s movements over the past 7 days, with most coins experiencing modest fluctuations. However, several altcoins have bucked this trend, posting significant gains. This positive performance has contributed to the overall cryptocurrency market cap rebounding to $2.17 trillion. Notably, sectors such as SOL liquid staking, Bridged WBTC, and Modular Blockchain have outperformed, with numerous tokens in these categories seeing price increases exceeding 20%. [3]
• Derivatives Data — Over the past 7 days, the overall Bitcoin buy/sell ratio has been positive, indicating short-term market optimism about Bitcoin’s price trend. On September 18th at 18:00 (UTC+0), the Federal Reserve announced a 50-basis-point cut in the target range for the federal funds rate, which could positively impact on the crypto market. [4] The BTC weighted funding rate is positive, and the long/short ratio for BTC and ETH contracts across the network is predominantly long. [5]
• Stablecoins — The total market capitalization of stablecoins saw a modest increase of 0.59%, reaching $171.1 billion. This uptick suggests continued inflows of fresh capital from external sources into the cryptocurrency market. [6]
• Gas Fee — Over the past 7 days, the Gas fee has risen from a low of 2 Gwei to 10 Gwei, suggesting an increase in on-chain activity. [7]

Trending Concepts

According to data from CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap, this week saw significant growth in the Solana liquid staking, Cat-Themed tokens, and modular blockchain sectors, with increases of approximately 50.5%, 20.2%, and 13.7% respectively over seven days. These three sectors share the common trait of novel narratives or technological developments, making them hot topics in the current bull market. [8]

SOL Liquid Staking — Solana liquid staking platforms allow users to deposit idle SOL into DeFi platforms, unlocking liquidity yields in addition to coin-based appreciation. With the emergence of exchange-backed products like bnSOL and bbSOL, Solana liquid staking has once again caught market attention. Over the past 7 days, this sector has seen an overall increase of 50.5%, with STAKESOL (Stake City SOL) showing particularly notable gains.

Cat-Themed Tokens — Cat-Themed tokens share the common characteristic of cat-related brand imagery and unique marketing strategies. The Cat-Themed token sector has seen an overall increase of 20.2% over the past 7 days. This sector includes various cat-themed tokens, with Onigiri (ONI), Ton Cat (TCAT), and Hehe (HEHE) showing price increases of 319.3%, 224.9%, and 115.2% respectively over the past week.

Modular Blockchain/Data Availability — Modular blockchain divides the traditional blockchain tasks of execution, consensus, settlement, and data availability into four separate modules. This innovative blockchain design paradigm aims to improve system efficiency and scalability through specialization and division of labor. Data availability solutions include the Data Availability Layer (DAL), Data Availability Sampling (DAS), and Data Availability Committee (DAC). As of September 18 at 5:00 AM (UTC+0), the modular blockchain sector has seen an overall increase of 13.7% over the past 7 days, with SAGA rising over 33.2% and TIA over 30%.

Top Performers

According to CoinGecko data, the top performing cryptocurrencies over the past 7 days are: [9]

CKB — CKB (Nervos Network) is a PoW-based Layer 1 blockchain ecosystem that supports smart contract development and includes a series of Layer 2 scaling solutions for high-capacity use cases. On Feb 13, 2024, Nervos Network underwent a brand strategy upgrade, launching the RGB++ product and shifting its focus to BTC Layer 2. On Sep 13, CKB was listed on a major Korean exchange. Possibly driven by this news, CKB’s 7-day increase reached 102.2%, with a current circulating market cap of approximately $797 million. [10][11]

SUI — SUI is a DPoS Layer 1 blockchain based on the Move programming language. Last Thursday, Grayscale announced the launch of a SUI trust fund, followed by Circle launching USDC on the Sui testnet on Sep 18. These developments indicate growing capital interest in the SUI ecosystem. Possibly influenced by these factors, SUI rose 41.7% in 7 days, with a circulating market cap of about $3.68 billion. [12][13]

TIA — TIA is the native token of Celestia, which focuses on providing a data availability layer for modular blockchains. According to official announcements, Celestia is set to undergo its first major network upgrade, expanding block size to 1 GB, which will significantly increase the data throughput of its ecosystem. Influenced by this news, TIA rose 39.0% in 7 days, with a circulating market cap of approximately $1.26 billion. [14][15]

Weekly Spotlights

Hot Topic Review

Fed Cuts Interest Rates by 50 Basis Points
The Federal Reserve announced on the 18th that it will lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 50 basis points to 4.75% - 5.00%. This marks the first interest rate cut since March 2020, signaling a shift from the Federal Reserve’s prolonged tightening cycle to a more accommodative stance. This move indicates that the Fed is responding to challenges posed by slowing economic growth and external risks, aiming to stimulate economic activity by lowering borrowing costs.

According to the CME FedWatch Tool, there is a 64.86% probability of the Fed further reducing interest rates by 25 basis points in November, while the likelihood of a 50 basis point cut is 35.14%. For December, the market expects a cumulative rate cut to 4.25% - 4.5% with a probability of 14.97%, and a cut to 4.00% - 4.25% with a probability of 85.03%. These forecasts reflect market expectations for further easing by the Federal Reserve.[16]

As interest rates in traditional financial markets decline, returns on fixed-income assets will likely decrease. This could prompt investors to seek higher-yielding assets, including riskier investments such as cryptocurrencies. Consequently, major crypto assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum might see increased capital inflows. Moreover, since the US dollar serves as the primary pricing currency for crypto assets, a rate cut could potentially lead to dollar depreciation. This, in turn, might result in a relative increase in cryptocurrency prices.

1inch Launches Intent-Based Atomic Swap Feature Called Fusion+
1inch, a leading decentralized exchange aggregator, has introduced Fusion+, a groundbreaking cross-chain solution that combines intent-based swaps and atomic swaps. The intent-based design empowers users to freely specify their order details without worrying about cross-chain routing, MEV, or trusting third-party bridges. The underlying atomic swap technology ensures that if an order fails for any reason (such as a timelock expiration), the assets will be safely returned to their original owners.

As a pioneer in the DeFi aggregator space, 1inch’s move is driving the further development of “intent-based” operations in the industry. By auctioning user demands to solvers for execution, funds are locked in a contract until the solver’s actions are verified, at which point the corresponding funds are released. This design, similar to that used by the cross-chain infrastructure Across Protocol, enhances cross-chain security by introducing an additional layer of verification. Furthermore, the allocation of orders to solvers through a Dutch auction fosters a dynamic game-theoretic mechanism, stimulating innovation in solver market solutions.[17]

Gate Launches Pilot Section for Early Access to On-Chain Opportunities
Gate.io has introduced a “Pilot Section”, aimed at providing users with early investment opportunities in on-chain projects. This solution combines the advantages of spot trading and on-chain transactions, simplifying the process for users to participate in trending on-chain projects without the need for complex Web3 wallets, private key management, or other technical knowledge.

Users can easily participate in popular projects using just their Gate account, significantly reducing the technical barriers for engaging with on-chain projects. As of Sep 19 at 4:00 AM (UTC), the Pilot Trading features 17 Solana-based tokens, 3 Ethereum-based tokens, and 6 Tron-based tokens. Going forward, new tokens will be listed for immediate trading in the Pilot Section without prior announcements or countdown periods.

While this trading model enables faster investment and early access to projects, it also comes with increased volatility and trading risks. Investors should exercise caution, bearing in mind that tokens in the Pilot Section may be delisted at any time. It is crucial for users to carefully evaluate their financial situation and risk tolerance before investing to minimize potential losses. [18]

Security Incident

DeltaPrime, an Arbitrum-based DeFi Project, Suffers a $5.98 Million Hack
On Sep 16, DeltaPrime, a DeFi project, confirmed via X (formerly Twitter) that its DeltaPrime Blue protocol on the Arbitrum network had been compromised in a security incident. The attack resulted in a loss of approximately $5.98 million due to the theft of private keys. Following the attack, the hacker continuously moved funds across various liquidity pools, including DPUSDC, DPARB, and DPBTCb. The stolen USDC was then exchanged for Ethereum, with approximately 1,200 ETH (valued at around $2.8 million) transferred to a new address.

The next day, the attacker bridged all stolen assets, including the previously transferred ETH, to the Ethereum network and subsequently deposited them into Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer, in multiple transactions.[19]

Project Highlights

Trump Family’s Crypto Project: World Liberty Finance
On Sep 17, the Trump family officially launched World Liberty Financial, with several key roles held by Trump family members. According to official X (formerly Twitter) announcements, WLFI has passed audits by companies such as BlockSec and Peckshield. WLFI will collaborate with Aave, focusing on providing lending services for cryptocurrencies. On September 15, WLFI announced that Sandy Peng, co-founder of Scroll, became their latest advisor. Additionally, Luke, one of the partners at Polychain Capital, has also become a project advisor.[20]

According to the whitepaper, the token distribution is as follows: 62.66% for the upcoming token sale, 17.33% for project governance and community growth incentives, and 20% for the team and advisors. Given Trump’s influential role in the cryptocurrency space, early investors in WLFI might see substantial returns. However, Bloomberg reports that some team members have a history of selling questionable products like weight loss pills and get-rich-quick schemes, and have made controversial statements about cryptocurrencies. Potential investors should carefully consider these factors and conduct thorough research before making any investment decisions.[21]

Data Highlights

Sui TVL Breaks $800 Million, Reaching All-Time High
According to DeFiLlama data, Sui’s Total Value Locked (TVL) has surpassed $800 million, currently standing at $810 million—an all-time high. Within this ecosystem, the lending protocol NAVI Protocol boasts a TVL of $310 million, with a 7-day increase of 16.25%. Similarly, Scallop Lend, another lending protocol, has reached a TVL of $140 million, showing a 7-day increase of 19.79%. The lending platform Suilend isn’t far behind, with a TVL of $134 million and a 7-day increase of 14.63%.[22] Sui’s native token has also seen significant growth, rising by 35.1% over the past week and currently trading at $1.38. [23]

US Spot ETF Market Data
From Sep 13 to Sep 19 at 4:00 AM (UTC), Bitcoin ETFs reached a total net asset value of $54.85 billion, representing 4.61% of BTC’s market capitalization. The cumulative net inflow stood at $17.44 billion. This week, the BTC spot ETF market experienced an overall net inflow of $146 million, with the largest single-day inflow of $263 million occurring on Sep 13.[24]

From Sep 13 to Sep 19 at 4:00 AM (UTC), Ethereum ETFs reported a total net asset value of $6.3 billion, accounting for 2.25% of Ethereum’s total market capitalization. However, there was a cumulative net outflow of $615 million. This week, ETH spot ETFs witnessed a total net outflow of $34.37 million, with the only positive inflow of approximately $1.52 million recorded on Sep 13.[25]

Changes in Stablecoin Market Cap
According to DefiLlama data, as of Sep 19 at 0:00 (UTC), over the past seven days, the market capitalization of stablecoins increased by 0.59% to $171.172 billion. USDT continues to dominate with a market share of 69.53%. Compared to last week, USDT’s market cap increased by 0.51%, USDC’s market cap increased by 0.65%, while DAI’s market cap decreased by 0.55%. Overall, the continuous growth in stablecoin market capitalization over multiple weeks indicates a sustained inflow of external funds.[26]

Weighted Funding Rates
As of Sep 19 at 11:00 AM (UTC), Bitcoin’s weighted funding rate was 0.0055%, while Ethereum’s stood at 0.0091%. Throughout the past week, Bitcoin’s rate briefly turned negative only on Sep 14, maintaining a positive trend otherwise. Ethereum followed a similar pattern, with its rate dipping into negative territory solely on Sep 16 but remaining positive for the rest of the week. These consistently positive funding rates indicate a prevalence of long positions for both Bitcoin and Ethereum contracts across the market.[27]

Market Opportunties

Project Airdrops

Airdrop projects to watch this week: Catizen [28]
Catizen is a cat-themed synthetic game built on the TON blockchain. The core gameplay revolves around a “Swipe-to-Earn” mechanic, combined with elements of business simulation. Players manage a cat cafe, earning in-game tokens whenever a customer visits to pet the cats. To qualify for an airdrop, players must accumulate enough of the in-game token, $vKitty, and reach the “Silver League” in the game’s rankings.

Catizen announced its tokenomics on Sep 15. CATI, the project’s governance and utility token, has a fixed supply of 1 billion tokens with no plans for future minting. The airdrop will be distributed over 12 quarters following the Token Generation Event (TGE). To date, Catizen has secured $6.2 million in funding. Its latest round, completed on July 16, 2024, raised $4 million in strategic financing, attracting prominent investors like Binance Labs and HashKey Capital. Gate.io is set to list Catizen (CATI) for trading on Sep 20, 2024, at 18:00 (UTC+8).[29]

As of Sep 19 at 8:00 AM (UTC), Catizen’s Stake to Earn activity has already surpassed one million participants, with a total stake of nearly 15 million CATI, making it the staking reward activity with the highest number of participants in the crypto ecosystem.[30]

Note:
The airdrop plan and participation methods may be updated at any time. Users are advised to follow Catizen's official channels for the latest information. At the same time, users should participate cautiously, be aware of risks, and conduct thorough research before participating. Gate.io does not guarantee the subsequent distribution of airdrop rewards.

Weekly Fundraising Report

This week, multiple projects successfully completed fundraising, covering a wide range of applications in sectors such as infrastructure and gaming. According to RootData , from Sep 13 to Sep 19, a total of 10 projects announced funding, amounting to $123 million. Here are the top three in terms of funding size:[31]

TON (The Open Network) — A fully decentralized Layer 1 blockchain designed by Telegram. Foresight Ventures and an exchange announced on Wednesday a $30 million strategic investment in the TON blockchain. Such large OTC transactions are relatively rare. According to DeFiLlama data, TON’s total value locked (TVL) exceeds $400 million.[32]

Helius — The Solana developer platform Helius announced the completion of a $21.75 million funding round. Investors include Haun Ventures, Founders Fund, Foundation Capital, 6th Man Ventures, Chapter One, and Spearhead. The new funds will be used to accelerate the development of cryptocurrency and Solana applications.

Hemi Network— Hemi Labs, co-founded by Bitcoin developer Jeff Garzik, has secured $15 million in funding to develop and launch Hemi, a Layer 2 blockchain network built on both Bitcoin and Ethereum. Breyer Capital and Big Brain Holdings led the funding round. Hemi Network functions as a single blockchain while serving as a Layer 2 solution for both Bitcoin and Ethereum. It aims to merge the strengths of these networks, combining Bitcoin’s robust security with Ethereum’s versatile liquidity and programmability.

What to Watch Next Week

Token Unlock

According to Token Unlocks data, next week (Sep 20-26, 2024) will see several important token unlock events in the market. Most token unlocks are valued at tens of millions of dollars, with a total of $61.92 million worth of tokens being unlocked. Here are the top 3 token unlocks for the week:[33]

ID will unlock approximately 78.49 million tokens at 12:00 AM UTC on Sep 22. This represents 18.23% of its circulating supply, valued at about $27.4 million. Notably, 20 million tokens, or 25% of the unlocked amount, come from seed round sales.

VENOM will unlock 235 million tokens at 8:00 AM UTC on Sep 25, representing 12.67% of its circulating supply. Of this, 220 million tokens (93.6% of the unlocked amount) will be unlocked.

LISTA will unlock 24.68 million tokens at 9:00 AM UTC on Sep 20, representing 13.49% of its circulating supply. Of these, 15 million tokens (60.78% of the unlocked amount) come from airdrops.

Crypto Calendar

The blockchain and crypto industry will see several key events in the coming week (Sep 20-26, 2024). ETHGlobal Singapore kicks off on September 20, riding the wave of enthusiasm from the Token2049 conference held on Sep 18-19. Token2049 has already generated significant buzz, hosting hundreds of side events and drawing in a multitude of institutions, investors, and industry professionals.

Furthermore, on Sep 25, the EOS Network Foundation will implement a hard fork or consensus upgrade. They claim that the Spring 1.0 and Savanna consensus algorithm will be the most significant upgrade for EOS since its network launch. [34] On the macroeconomic front, several important data releases will also have a significant impact on the industry. Notably, Australia, Sweden, and Switzerland will announce their interest rate decisions. These announcements will cover key areas such as economic growth, inflation, and the job market, providing crucial insights into the future monetary policy directions of Australia and Europe. [35]

References

1. Gate.io, https://www.gate.io/price/bitcoin-btc
2. Gate.io, https://www.gate.io/price/ethereum-eth
3. Gate.io, https://www.gate.io/bigdata/estimate
4. Cryptoquant, https://cryptoquant.com
5. CoinGlass, https://www.coinglass.com/FundingRate
6. Defillama, https://defillama.com/stablecoins
7. Etherscan,https://etherscan.io/gastracker
8. Coingecko, https://www.coingecko.com/en/categories
9. Coingecko, https://www.coingecko.com
10. CKB, http://nervos.org/
11. CKB, https://www.gate.io/trade/CKB_USDT
12. SUI, https://x.com/Grayscale/status/1833898477564395833
13. SUI, https://www.gate.io/trade/SUI_USDT
14. TIA, https://blog.celestia.org/roadmap/
15. Gate.io, https://www.gate.io/trade/TIA_USDT
16. GME, https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/interest-rates/cme-fedwatch-tool.html
17. 1inch, https://blog.1inch.io/1inch-introduces-fusion-plus/
18. Gate.io, https://www.gate.io/announcements/article/39150
19. DeltaPrime, https://x.com/DeltaPrimeDefi/status/1835603279369125893
20. WLFI, https://decrypt.co/249749/donald-trump-launches-world-liberty-financial-project-token-details
21. bloomberg, https://www.bloomberg.com
22. Defillama, https://defillama.com/chain/Sui
23. Gate.io, https://www.gate.io/zh/trade/SUI_USDT
24. SosoValue, https://sosovalue.xyz/zh/assets/etf/Total_Crypto_Spot_ETF_Fund_Flow?page=usBTC
25. SosoValue, https://sosovalue.xyz/assets/etf/Total_Crypto_ETH_ETF_Fund_Flow?page=usETH
26. Defillama, https://defillama.com/stablecoins
27. Coinglass, https://www.coinglass.com/pro/AvgFunding/ETH
28. Catizen, https://www.odaily.news/post/5198469
29. Gate.io, https://www.gate.io/zh/announcements/article/39103
30. Gate.io, https://www.gate.io/zh/blog
31. Rootdata, https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Fundraising
32. Defillama, https://defillama.com/chain/TON
33. Unlock, https://token.unlocks.app/
34. Calendar, https://www.panewslab.com/zh/calendar/index.html
35. News, https://rili.jin10.com/day/2024-09-02

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