• Last week, cryptoassets were supported by clear signals for a pivot in Fed monetary policy following dovish remarks by Fed chairman Powell at the recent central bank symposium in Jackson Hole.
• Our in-house “Cryptoasset Sentiment Index” signals a neutral sentiment at the moment.
• Fed Funds Futures already price in slightly more than 9 cuts à 25 bps each and a terminal rate of 3% which will be reached by the end of 2025, ie markets are already anticipating significant cuts to the Fed Funds target rate.
Editorial Note: ETC Group has been acquired by Bitwise Asset Management as of the 16th of August 2024. Find out more here.
Chart of the Week
Performance
Last week, cryptoassets were supported by clear signals for a pivot in Fed monetary policy following dovish remarks by Fed chairman Powell at the recent central bank symposium in Jackson Hole.
Powell’s comments were dovish across the board and essentially signalled that the Fed can no longer tolerate a deterioration in labour market conditions in favour of maintain price stability, ie lowering inflation. More specifically, the following remarks by Powell were interpreted by markets as a clear signal towards an imminent shift in monetary policy and rate cuts in September:
“The time has come for policy to adjust. The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks.”
Powell’s remarks essentially confirmed what Fed Funds Futures markets have already been anticipating following the capitulation event in early August 2024 – initial rate cuts starting in September. The latest payroll benchmark downward revisions which suggested that past payroll growth was much lower than previously estimated, made the case for rate cuts in September even stronger.
At the time of writing, Fed Funds Futures already price in slightly more than 9 cuts à 25 bps each and a terminal rate of 3% which will be reached by the end of 2025. So, markets are already anticipating significant cuts to the Fed Funds target rate (Chart-of-the-Week).
The big question is whether Fed interest rate cuts could 1. be faster than anticipated, and 2. deeper than anticipated amid an increasingly likely US recession over the coming months?
Only in this kind of scenario, Fed cuts could continue to remain a significant tailwind for markets.
The Fed is essentially following the footsteps of other major central banks such as the ECB or Bank of England that have already commenced their interest rate cutting cycle.
In this context, it is important to highlight that global money supply has recently reached a new all-time high already. Historically speaking, periods of global money supply expansion tend to be bullish for Bitcoin and cryptoassets.
Another important development was the withdrawal of RFK Jr. from the US presidential elections and his personal endorsement of Donald Trump. This has increased the odds of Trump winning the presidency which is generally regarded as a net positive outcome for crypto markets.
However, at the time of writing, betting markets still see Harris in the lead with 50.4% against 47.8% for Trump according to electionbettingodds.com which aggregates betting odds across different providers.
Last week’s recovery in crypto markets was also supported by an acceleration in net inflows into global crypto ETPs that attracted almost 700 mn USD.
However, there was a large divergence between Bitcoin and Ethereum ETP flows which led to a significant underperformance of Ethereum vis-à-vis Bitcoin last week. Risk appetite in altcoins was also somewhat muted due to the arrest of Telegram’s founder Pavel Durov in Paris over the weekend, which led to a strong underperformance of Telegram’s Open Network token TON.
That being said, overall altcoin outperformance vis-à-vis Bitcoin remained relatively resilient despite the abovementioned market developments.
In general, among the top 10 crypto assets, Avalanche, TRON, and Cardano were the relative outperformers.
Overall, altcoin outperformance vis-à-vis Bitcoin remained resilient lately, with 70% of our tracked altcoins managing to outperform Bitcoin on a weekly basis, despite a significant underperformance of Ethereum relative to Bitcoin.
Sentiment
Our in-house “Cryptoasset Sentiment Index” signals a neutral level of sentiment at the moment.
At the moment, 10 out of 15 indicators are above their short-term trend.
Last week, there were significant reversals to the upside in the Altseason index and Crypto Fear & Greed Index.
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index currently signals a “Greed” level of sentiment as of this morning.
Performance dispersion among cryptoassets still remains at low levels. This means that altcoins are still very much correlated with the performance of Bitcoin.
Altcoin outperformance vis-à-vis Bitcoin continued to stay high, with 70% of our tracked altcoins outperforming Bitcoin on a weekly basis. However, Ethereum significantly underperformed Bitcoin last week.
In general, increasing (decreasing) altcoin outperformance tends to be a sign of increasing (decreasing) risk appetite within cryptoasset markets and the latest altcoin outperformance signals increasing appetite for risk at the moment.
Meanwhile, sentiment in traditional financial markets as measured by our in-house measure of Cross Asset Risk Appetite (CARA) remains at neutral levels after having recovered sharply from the very low levels observed in early August.
Fund Flows
Fund flows into global crypto ETPs accelerated significantly last week.
Global crypto ETPs saw around +688.5 mn USD in net inflows across all types of cryptoassets which is a significant reversal from the -4.2 mn USD in outflows observed the week prior.
Global Bitcoin ETPs saw significant net inflows of +661.8 mn USD last week, of which +437.3 mn USD in net inflows were related to US spot Bitcoin ETFs alone.
Last week also saw a positive reversal in flows into Hong Kong Bitcoin ETFs with +132.4 mn USD in net inflows.
The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) continued to see net outflows, with around -86.5 mn USD last week.
Meanwhile, global Ethereum ETPs continued to see net outflows last week of -21.0 mn USD. US Ethereum spot ETFs saw around -44.5 mn USD in net outflows in aggregate. However, this was mostly related to continuing outflows from the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) which experienced -118 mn USD in net outflows last week while all other US products have seen +74 mn USD in net inflows.
Hong Kong Ethereum ETFs saw sticky AuM last week (+/- 0 mn USD).
In contrast, Altcoin ETPs ex Ethereum experienced positive net flows of around +11.7 mn USD last week.
Besides, Thematic & basket crypto ETPs also saw continued net inflows with around +36.0 mn USD last week. The ETC Group MSCI Digital Assets Select 20 ETP (DA20) saw neither in- nor outflows last week (+/- 0 mn USD).
Meanwhile, global crypto hedge funds increased their market exposure last week to a 3-months high but still remain slightly underweight to Bitcoin. The 20-days rolling beta of global crypto hedge funds’ performance to Bitcoin increased to around 0.92 per yesterday’s close.
On-Chain Data
In general, on-chain metrics imply a strong improvement in relative buying power.
For instance, Bitcoin spot intraday net buying volumes have significantly reversed to the upside. Over the past week, net buying volumes across BTC spot exchanges amounted to around +546 mn USD. They reached a 3-months high on Friday last week due to the acceleration in US spot Bitcoin ETF inflows.
Meanwhile, BTC whales mostly remained on the sidelines. More specifically, BTC whales have transferred around 1.1k BTC off exchange. Whales are defined as network entities that control at least 1,000 BTC. As a result, on-exchange balances have declined over the past week.
It is interesting to highlight that buyers were able to absorb the increasing supply that emanated from continued distribution of bitcoins by the Mt Gox trustee last week who distributed around 1.3k BTC via Bitstamp according to data by Arkham.
Another important market development to highlight was the fee spike on the Bitcoin core network on the 22nd of August as traders rushed to Babylon Labs’ new Bitcoin staking protocol. The staking amount was capped at 1k BTC which is why traders rushed to stake and were willing to pay high transaction fees. As a result, average transaction fees reached 7.2 USD per transaction on the 22nd of August but have now normalised again (0.64 USD per transaction now) according to data provided by Glassnode.
As far as Ethereum is concerned, market sentiment was somewhat burdened by the fact that the Ethereum Foundation distributed around 35k ETH via Kraken and Binance which also contributed to the recent underperformance of Ethereum vis-à-vis Bitcoin.
That being said, overall ETH exchange balances continued to drift lower last week and reached a new multi-year low which still signals an increasing supply deficit for Ethereum.
What is more is that on-chain activity on Ethereum layer 2s such as Base continues to improve significantly. Active addresses on Base have recently surpassed 1 million.
Futures, Options & Perpetuals
Last week, derivatives traders continued to increase their exposure to BTC via futures and perpetuals. More specifically, BTC futures open interest increased by +20k BTC and BTC perpetual open interest increased by +12k BTC.
This happened amid a general ascend in prices which suggests that this increase in open interest was probably related to long open interest. Short liquidations of BTC futures also increased somewhat as bitcoin decisively crossed 60k USD again but remained relatively low compared to the amount of liquidations we saw at the beginning of August.
BTC perpetual funding rates also increased after having remained much of the past week in negative territory.
When the funding rate is positive (negative), long (short) positions periodically pay short (long) positions. A positive funding rate tends to be a sign of bullish sentiment in perpetual futures markets.
The 3-months annualized BTC futures basis rate remained relatively flat compared to the week prior at around 8.7% p.a.
Besides, BTC optionopen interest increased significantly by around +16k BTC. The significant decline in put-call open interest ratio suggests a net increase in call demand relative puts which is a bullish sign.
was mostly flat last week while the slight decline in put-call open interest ratio suggests a slight net increase in call demand relative puts. The 1-month 25-delta skews for BTC also declined and turned negative suggesting increasing relative demand for call options.
Meanwhile, BTC option implied volatilities mostly went sideways. At the time of writing, implied volatilities of 1-month ATM Bitcoin options are currently at around 51.8% p.a.
Besides, there was a significant development in Ethereum derivatives as well. ETH futures traders apparently piled into short contracts as the 1-month forward contract premium to spot prices on CME Ethereum futures reached the lowest level since December 2022.
This is also consistent with the observation that leveraged funds’ net positioning in Ethereum futures on CME continued to stay near record low levels. At the time of writing, leveraged funds are -30656 contracts net short in Ethereum futures.
These derivative market developments have also likely contributed to the recent underperformance of Ethereum vis-à-vis Bitcoin.
Bottom Line
• Last week, cryptoassets were supported by clear signals for a pivot in Fed monetary policy following dovish remarks by Fed chairman Powell at the recent central bank symposium in Jackson Hole.
• Our in-house “Cryptoasset Sentiment Index” signals a neutral sentiment at the moment.
• Fed Funds Futures already price in slightly more than 9 cuts à 25 bps each and a terminal rate of 3% which will be reached by the end of 2025, ie markets are already anticipating significant cuts to the Fed Funds target rate.
Read the full report including the Cryptoasset Sentiment Index and full chart show in the appendix on our website.
This is not investment advice. Capital at risk. Read the full disclaimer
Stablecoins are digital currencies tied to assets like the U.S. dollar, offering the price stability needed for payments. They maintain their peg by being backed 1:1 by their underlying fiat currency, with issuers holding equivalent amounts in cash and cash equivalents, making stablecoins a digital representation of those reserves. Their market has doubled to over $235 billion, with daily usage nearly doubling in two years.
Why are stablecoins making headlines now?
Due to their clear product-market fit and growing mainstream adoption, stablecoins have become a top priority for regulation, with both industry leaders and policymakers calling for swift action.
On April 4, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance finally clarified that stablecoins are not securities if backed one-for-one by USD or similar assets and used for payments or value storage. These “Covered Stablecoins” are not marketed as investments, lack profit incentives, and include protections like reserves, making securities law registration unnecessary for issuance or redemption.
The GENIUS Act, introduced in February and advanced by the U.S. Senate Banking Committee in March, marks a major step toward creating a clear legal framework for stablecoin issuance and oversight. This clarity is driving momentum as Fidelity is set to launch its own stablecoin, and Bank of America is preparing to follow it once legislation is finalized.
Globally, the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework has already come into effect, reinforcing a broader shift toward formal integration of stablecoins into traditional finance. These developments reflect a growing consensus that stablecoins are emerging as essential infrastructure for global payments, treasury management, and digital asset adoption.
What are the benefits of stablecoins?
Stablecoins are digital currencies designed for fast, low-cost, and stable transactions. Since their launch in 2014, they’ve become a go-to tool for online payments, especially cross-border transfers. As they’re pegged to stable assets like the U.S. dollar or euro, they avoid the wild price swings seen in other cryptocurrencies.
They’re accessible to anyone with internet, making them especially valuable in regions with high inflation or limited banking access, like Argentina or Turkey.
With some built on public blockchains, stablecoins offer transparency, letting users track transfers and supply in real time. For institutions, they also simplify treasury management by acting as efficient digital cash that can be deployed instantly.
Who are the major players in the stablecoin race?
Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC), the two largest stablecoin issuers, collectively hold over $204 billion in U.S. Treasuries, making them the 14th largest holders globally. Their combined treasury holdings surpass those of entire nations, including Norway and Brazil.
USDT leads with $144 billion in circulation; USDC, backed by Coinbase and known for compliance, has become a trusted digital dollar across global finance.
Why stablecoins matter: A revenue engine for blockchains
Stablecoins generate steady revenue for blockchains like Ethereum and Solana by driving transaction fees with each transfer. With trillions in annual volume, they help sustain network activity beyond speculation.
On Ethereum, for example, USDT and USDC transactions are major contributors to daily gas fees. Year to date, Tether ranks #3 and USDC ranks #5 in terms of total gas consumed. Tether and Circle also dominate daily transaction activity on Ethereum, averaging approximately 12 million and 6 million transactions per day, respectively, making them the top two entities on the network by daily transaction count.
Meanwhile, on Solana, stablecoin activity has surged, helping sustain validator rewards and strengthen protocol economics. In addition to the mainstream utility, stablecoins represent reliable, protocol-level cash flow, making them crypto’s killer use case.
Research Newsletter
Each week the 21Shares Research team will publish our data-driven insights into the crypto asset world through this newsletter. Please direct any comments, questions, and words of feedback to research@21shares.com
Disclaimer
The information provided does not constitute a prospectus or other offering material and does not contain or constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction. Some of the information published herein may contain forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties and that actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. The information contained herein may not be considered as economic, legal, tax or other advice and users are cautioned to base investment decisions or other decisions solely on the content hereof.
Invesco BulletShares 2029 EUR Corporate Bond UCITSETF EUR Dis (BE29 ETF) med ISIN IE000ZC4C5Q1, försöker följa Bloomberg 2029 Maturity EUR Corporate Bond Screened-index. Bloomberg 2029 Maturity EUR Corporate Bond Screened Index spårar företagsobligationer denominerade i EUR. Indexet speglar inte ett konstant löptidsintervall (som är fallet med de flesta andra obligationsindex). Istället ingår endast obligationer som förfaller under det angivna året (här: 2029) i indexet. Indexet består av ESG (environmental, social and governance) screenade företagsobligationer. Betyg: Investment Grade. Löptid: december 2029 (Denna ETF kommer att stängas efteråt).
Den börshandlade fondens TER (total cost ratio) uppgår till 0,10 % p.a. Invesco BulletShares 2029 EUR Corporate Bond UCITSETF EUR Dis är den billigaste ETF som följer Bloomberg 2029 Maturity EUR Corporate Bond Screened index. ETFen replikerar resultatet för det underliggande indexet genom samplingsteknik (köper ett urval av de mest relevanta indexbeståndsdelarna). Ränteintäkterna (kuponger) i ETFen delas ut till investerarna (kvartalsvis).
Invesco BulletShares 2029 EUR Corporate Bond UCITSETF EUR Dis är en mycket liten ETF med 1 miljon euro tillgångar under förvaltning. Denna ETF lanserades den 18 juni 2024 och har sin hemvist i Irland.
Produktbeskrivning
Invesco BulletShares 2029 EUR Corporate Bond UCITSETFDistsyftar till att tillhandahålla den totala avkastningen för Bloomberg 2029 Maturity EUR Corporate Bond Screened Index (”Referensindexet”), minus avgifternas inverkan. Fonden har en fast löptid och kommer att upphöra på Förfallodagen. Fonden delar ut intäkter på kvartalsbasis.
Referensindexet är utformat för att återspegla resultatet för EUR-denominerade, investeringsklassade, fast ränta, skattepliktiga skuldebrev emitterade av företagsemittenter. För att vara kvalificerade för inkludering måste företagsvärdepapper ha minst 300 miljoner euro i nominellt utestående belopp och en effektiv löptid på eller mellan 1 januari 2029 och 31 december 2029.
Värdepapper är uteslutna om emittenter: 1) är inblandade i kontroversiella vapen, handeldvapen, militära kontrakt, oljesand, termiskt kol eller tobak; 2) inte har en kontroversnivå enligt definitionen av Sustainalytics eller har en Sustainalytics-kontroversnivå högre än 4; 3) anses inte följa principerna i FN:s Global Compact; eller 4) kommer från tillväxtmarknader.
Portföljförvaltarna strävar efter att uppnå fondens mål genom att tillämpa en urvalsstrategi, som inkluderar användning av kvantitativ analys, för att välja en andel av värdepapperen från referensindexet som representerar hela indexets egenskaper, med hjälp av faktorer som index- vägd genomsnittlig varaktighet, industrisektorer, landvikter och kreditkvalitet. När en företagsobligation som innehas av fonden når förfallodag kommer kontanterna som fonden tar emot att användas för att investera i kortfristiga EUR-denominerade skulder.
ETFen förvaltas passivt.
En investering i denna fond är ett förvärv av andelar i en passivt förvaltad indexföljande fond snarare än i de underliggande tillgångarna som ägs av fonden.
”Förfallodag”: den andra onsdagen i december 2029 eller annat datum som bestäms av styrelseledamöterna och meddelas aktieägarna.
Det betyder att det går att handla andelar i denna ETF genom de flesta svenska banker och Internetmäklare, till exempel Nordnet, SAVR, DEGIRO och Avanza.
Under hypervolatila marknader omvärderar investerare vanligtvis vad de äger. De ser också över vilka investeringar som är bäst lämpade för att navigera i svåra tider. Guld är alltid ett självklart val, och under den nuvarande turbulensen har det inte gjort dem besvikna. Faktum är att gammaldags guld-ETF, börshandlade fonder som investerar i guld slår till och med bitcoinfonder med en enorm marginal.
Marknadsreferenser som SPDR S&P 500 ETF såg stora dippar från 1 januari till 15 april 2025 SPDR-fonden föll med 7,99 procent under den tiden medan iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF sjönk med 10 procent. Samtidigt steg SPDR Gold Shares-fonden, världens största ETF med fysiskt guld som backas upp, med nästan 23 procent. Fonden har tillgångar på över 98 miljarder dollar.
Medan S&P 500 belönade investerare rikligt under 2023 och 2024, ”sedan befrielsedagen, den 2 april i år, har spelplanerna för 2025 ändrats lite”, säger John Kinnane, chef för nyckelkunder på Sprott Asset Management.
Mitt i de krympande marknaderna har det skett en översvämning av ETFer som fysiskt stöds av guld och silver. I april ökade ETFer för ädelmetaller med 6,6 miljarder dollar i nya tillgångar och vann de största nettoinflödena för månaden i råvarukategorin.
Även ETFer för gruvaktier har klarat sig bra. VanEck Gold Miners ETF, till exempel, avkastade över 49 procent för året fram till den 15 april.
Det finns också specialiserade strategier. USCF Gold Strategy Plus Income Fund erbjuder en unik inkomsttwist på guld genom att sälja täckta köpoptioner för att generera intäkter. Den har en 30-dagars SEC-avkastning på 3,36 procent och har hittills i år ökat med 20,72 procent.
”En av guldets bestående egenskaper är att det faktiskt är en okorrelerad tillgång. Investerare av alla slag letar efter låg korrelation så att de i tider av volatilitet – som vi befinner oss i just nu – får en jämnare avkastning för sin totala portfölj”, säger Kinnane.
I februari lanserade Sprott Sprott Active Gold & Silver Miners ETF. Den inkluderar aktier i guld- och silvergruvor i en ETF-ticker med en aktivt förvaltad strategi.
Medan guldlänkade fonder har blomstrat har varken bitcoin eller resten av kryptovalutamarknaden gett investerarna något särskilt skydd.
Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund, ett mått på 10 olika kryptovalutor, inklusive bitcoin, sjönk med 21,28 procent från 1 januari till 15 april. Mindre kryptovalutor, särskilt meme-mynt och tokens, har presterat usla.
Guldets överprestationer har hjälpts av den kraftigt ökande efterfrågan från investerare, men också av köp från centralbanker. 2024 var tredje året i rad som de lade till mer än 1 005 ton till sina globala guldreserver.
”Respondenterna var tydliga med att centralbanksgemenskapen skulle fortsätta att öka sina allokeringar till guld inom kort”, stod det i en rapport om reserver från World Gold Council från 2024.