‘Largest Drawdown For Digital Assets Now in the Rearview Mirror’: Markets Wrap

Cardano (ADA) became the third largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization on Friday ahead of the launch of its smart contracts update. Bitcoin and ethereum continue to advance.

Cardano’s ADA token shot up 19% on Friday morning, with a trading day-high above $2, according to data from Messari. The crypto simmered down to gains of 12% midday, trading $1.99 as of press time.

The token is approaching the launch of its smart contract update as its price rises. The Sept. 12 update (referred to as “Alonzo Purple” upgrade) is expected to improve the blockchain’s code, matching Ethereum’s capabilities. 

Other altcoins like XRP and Polkadot were up roughly 6% on-day too. 

Ethereum and bitcoin continued their upward trend after briefly sliding on Thursday. Bitcoin and ether traded 4% and 5% ahead, respectively. 

Security Exchange Commission (SEC) filings signal more institutional adoption for bitcoin on Friday, according to MacroScope.

• Private investment firm Parkwood reported owning 125,000 shares of Grayscale Bitcoin, up 32,000 shares since March. 

• Boston Private, which was recently acquired by SVB Finance Group, reported owning 103,469 shares of Grayscale Bitcoin as of June 30, 2021. This is 15,280 more shares than in March.

In decentralized finance (DeFi) news, Exactly, a start-up building a DeFi credit protocol, raised $3 million in a seed funding round. Latin American VC fund, Kaszek, led the round, benchmarking their first major investment in the DeFi space.

DeFi

• Uniswap is trading at $29.24 with a total value locked of $5,008,572,413 up 5.51% in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET. 
• Chainlink is trading at $26.50, advancing 6.4% with trading volume at $1,029,106,491 in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.
• DeFi:ETH is 30.3% at 4:00 pm ET.

Crypto

• Bitcoin is trading around $46,313.64, up 4.44% in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.
• Ether is trading around $3,216.30, advancing 5.09% in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.
• ETH:BTC is at 0.069, rising 1.29% at 4:00 pm ET.
• VIX fell -1.41% to 15.37 at 4:00 pm ET.

Insight

Sean Rooney, head of research at digital asset manager Valkyrie Investments, weighed in on recent BTC price action.

“The initial shock from this year’s largest drawdown for the digital asset markets is now in the rearview mirror as bitcoin has made steady gains for almost a month,” Rooney said in a note to Blockworks. “It has been quiet on the corporate treasury and institutional front for bitcoin since the pullback in Q2, however the reversal of this trend is what will help propel bitcoin back towards challenging all-time highs and beyond. I am expecting continued signs of strengths for the next 6 weeks followed by fireworks in Q4.”

Cardano and XRP trading over the past five days. Source: TradingView

Equities

• The Dow was up 0.01% to 35,503.
• S&P 500 advanced 0.11% to 4,465.
• Nasdaq declined -0.03% to 14,811.

Commodities

• Brent crude fell to $70.27 per barrel, shedding -1.46%.
• Gold advanced 1.55% to $1,778.90.

Fixed Income

• US 10-year treasury yields 1.292% as of 4:00 pm ET.

Currencies

• The US dollar fell -0.56%, according to the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index.

In other news…

• Crypto wallet Ledger announced users can now stake ethereum directly on Ledger Live’s interface through Lido. In an effort to make staking more accessible, Lido doesn’t require participants to own a set amount of ether to become a network validator, Blockworks reported.

That’s it for today’s markets wrap. I’ll see you back here on Monday.

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