By James Van Straten (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)

Bitcoin BTC surged to new highs above $118,000, showcasing its strength amidst continued price rally against major assets like gold and the British pound. The recent climb from $108,000 on July 9 has seen BTC rise by 60% since its lows in April. Notably, bitcoin has surpassed gold’s year-to-date performance for the first time since February, showing a 27% increase compared to gold’s 26%.

The rally in BTC has resulted in significant liquidations, especially around the $112,000 level, the previous all-time high, which was heavily defended by short positions. The unwinding of these short positions has contributed to the further upside momentum in bitcoin price. In the pre-market trading, U.S. crypto stocks are also on the rise.

Moreover, the Bitcoin network hash rate has rebounded to over 915 exahashes per second (EH/s), indicating robust network participation. A significant difficulty adjustment of over 7% is expected over the weekend.

Looking ahead, it is essential to keep an eye on the U.S. inflation data scheduled for release on July 15. Any deviations from the previous month’s headline and core inflation rates of 2.4% and 2.8% year over year, respectively, could impact rate cut expectations. Stay vigilant!

What to Watch

Crypto:

– July 14, 10 p.m.: Singapore High Court hearing on WazirX’s Scheme of Arrangement after the $234 million hack in 2024.
– July 15: Alchemist staking update launch for token holders to access advanced features.
– July 15: Lynq is expected to debut its real-time interest-bearing digital asset settlement network.
– July 15, 3 p.m.: U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture hosts a market structure hearing.
– July 16, 9 a.m.: U.S. House Ways and Means Committee oversight hearing on digital asset policy.

Macro:

– July 11: Statistics Canada releases June employment data.
– Aug. 1: Reciprocal tariffs take effect following President Trump’s executive order.

Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data):

– July 23: Tesla (TSLA), post-market
– July 29: PayPal Holdings (PYPL), pre-market
– July 30: Robinhood Markets (HOOD), post-market
– July 31: Coinbase Global (COIN), post-market
– July 31: Reddit (RDDT), post-market

Token Events

Governance votes & calls:

– Compound DAO is running multiple votes on adopting an Oracle Extractable Value (OEV) solution.
– 1inch DAO is voting on a $25,000 grant proposal for researching crustless cross-chain swaps.
– Aavegotchi DAO is voting on a $245,000 funding proposal for expanding Gotchi Battler.
– July 16, 5 p.m.: VeChain hosts a monthly update with community representatives.

Unlocks:

– July 12: Aptos (APT) to unlock 1.76% of its circulating supply.
– July 15: Starknet (STRK) to unlock 3.79% of its circulating supply.
– July 15: Sei (SEI) to unlock 1% of its circulating supply.
– July 16: Arbitrum (ARB) to unlock 1.87% of its circulating supply.
– July 17: ZKSync (ZK) to unlock 2.41% of its circulating supply.
– July 17: ApeCoin (APE) to unlock 1.95% of its circulating supply.
– July 18: Official TRUMP (TRUMP) to unlock 45.35% of its circulating supply.
– July 18: Fasttoken (FTN) to unlock 4.64% of its circulating supply.

Token Launches:

– July 11: PrompTale AI (TALE) listing and Kraken listing Propy (PRO) and AIOZ Network (AIOZ).
– July 12: Pump.fun to launch an initial coin offering (ICO) on various platforms.

Conferences:

– CoinDesk Policy & Regulation conference in Washington on Sept. 10.
– Mallorca Blockchain Days, Invest Web3 Forum, Crypto Coin Day, Web3 Investor Day 2025, Blockchain Summit Global, and TWS Conference 2025.

Token Talk By Shaurya Malwa:

ETH’s surge past $3,000 led to a rally in Ethereum-native memecoins, showcasing broader ether strength and investor interest.

Derivatives Positioning:

– Bitcoin and Ethereum perpetual futures open interest fell despite rising prices.
– XRP’s open interest continued to rise, supporting its price rally.
– Funding rates for major coins remain slightly elevated, indicating potential overheating.

Market Movements:

– BTC is up 6.8% at $118,308
– ETH is up 8% at $3,006.71
– CoinDesk 20 is up 5.3% at 3,513.29

Bitcoin Stats:

– BTC Dominance: 64.77%
– Ether to bitcoin ratio: 0.02544
– Hashrate: 916 EH/s
– Hashprice: $64.17
– Total Fees: 4.97 BTC / $558,499
– CME Futures Open Interest: 152,685 BTC

Technical Analysis:

BTC’s dominance rate shows potential signs of outperformance of alternative cryptocurrencies relative to bitcoin.

Crypto Equities:

– Market performance of various crypto-related companies.

ETF Flows:

– Spot BTC and ETH ETFs net flows.

Overnight Flows:

– Latest updates and market movements.

Chart of the Day:

– Total DeFi loans outstanding reaching nearly $28 billion, indicating investor risk appetite growth in on-chain lending business.

While You Were Sleeping:

– A summary of recent news and developments.

In the Ether:

– A visual representation of ETH-related news and market activity.