CoinSpotMarket Update
Bitcoin At Record Highs As Ethereum Gets New Source of Demand
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On Thursday, Bitcoin (BTC) climbed to an all-time high of $171,000 ($112,000 USD). It ended the repeated failures of BTC to meaningfully break above $168,000 ($110,000 USD) in recent weeks.
This latest rally has coincided with BTC dominance falling to a three-week low of 64.7%. For the majority of this bull market so far, Bitcoin dominance—which measures BTC’s market cap as a percentage of the combined market cap of all cryptocurrencies—has been rising.
Onchain data indicates that the amount of unrealised profits that BTC holders are sitting on is lower than on previous occasions when BTC broke all-time highs. While this can signal less aggressive sell pressure, it may also hint at slowing momentum.
Various corporations have started to accumulate Ethereum (ETH), following the playbook of Michael Saylor's Strategy, the largest corporate Bitcoin holder in the world.
In recent weeks, firms like Sharplink Gaming (SBET), Bitmine Immersion (BMNR), and Bit Digital (BTBT) have announced plans to acquire and hold ETH as a treasury asset and also participate in the network operating validators.
Some of these companies are making use of decentralised finance (DeFi) projects in the Ethereum ecosystem, such as Aave (AAVE).
Meanwhile, the amount of ETH locked up in staking has never been higher. As of July 10, nearly 30% of ETH’s supply is staked, as per the chart below from Validator Queue. Generally, increased staking participation contributes to overall network health (e.g. greater decentralisation, improved security).
Earlier this month, the first spot ETF for Solana (SOL) went live with staking support. The so-called REX-Osprey Solana + Staking ETF holds directly staked SOL, along with liquid staking tokens (e.g. JitoSOL) to generate additional yield.
The unique launch may accelerate approval of the various pending spot SOL ETF applications currently under consideration by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As per CoinDesk, the SEC has asked prospective issuers to respond to comments and re-file amended documents by the end of July. This was despite the SEC having until October 10 to approve or deny these applications.
Should the SEC approve these outstanding SOL ETF applications, Solana’s credibility may be boosted, particularly from the perspective of institutional investors.
If approved, spot Solana ETFs would join Bitcoin and Ethereum as the only cryptocurrencies to have approved spot ETFs in the U.S. market. Spot ETF applications for XRP (XRP), Dogecoin (DOGE), Litecoin (LTC), Pudgy Penguins (PENGU), and several other cryptocurrencies remain pending. ETF analysts from Bloomberg Intelligence believe it is likely all of these will be approved by year-end.
