The cryptocurrency market in the Americas remains unfazed by the Bybit incident, with Bitcoin and ether trading within their recent ranges. Meanwhile, traders are eyeing Solana’s SOL as Franklin Templeton has submitted a spot SOL ETF proposal to the SEC.
The cryptocurrency market has shown remarkable resilience in the face of adversity, with Bitcoin and ether trading largely within their recent ranges despite a $1.5 billion hack of one of the top exchanges, ‘Bybit.’
Market Reaction to Bybit Hack
Perpetual funding rates for both Bitcoin and ether are positive, indicating a bias towards long positions that benefit from price rises. This is reflected in the perpetual futures markets, where traders are taking on bullish bets. The bias for long positions is not limited to just these two assets, as options trading on ‘Deribit’ shows a similar trend.
Volatility Index Drops
The calm in the market can be attributed to the drop in implied volatility indices. Volmex Finance’s 30-day Bitcoin implied volatility index has dropped to an annualized 48.45%, the lowest since July. This is a sign of market maturity, according to ‘QCP Capital,’ which notes that every facet of crypto – from custodial and security solutions to corporate governance and transparency – has strengthened with each past crisis.
SOL ETF Proposal and FTX Estate Unlock
Meanwhile, traders are keeping a close eye on Solana’s SOL as Franklin Templeton, one of the world’s largest asset management firms, has submitted a spot SOL ETF proposal to the SEC. In addition, 11.2 million SOL (2.3% of total supply) from the FTX estate are scheduled to be unlocked on March 1, which could breed market volatility.
Gold Reserves Audit and Crypto Narrative
The decision by ‘President Donald Trump’ to audit gold reserves at Fort Knox in Kentucky has piqued interest in the crypto community. While routine gold audits are rare, the timing is notable as Trump continues to push a pro-crypto narrative. If the gold supply turns out to be lower than expected, it could reinforce Bitcoin’s case as digital gold — and possibly even as a superior reserve asset.
What to Watch
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Feb. 24: Bugis network upgrade goes live on Enjin Relaychain mainnet.
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Feb. 25: ‘Ethereum Foundation research team’ AMA on Reddit.
- Feb. 25: Pascal hard fork network upgrade goes live on the BNB Smart Chain (BSC) testnet.
Market Movements
Bitcoin is up 0.7% from 4 p.m. ET Friday at $95,581.78, while ether has risen by 1.91% to $2,679.37. The CoinDesk 20 is up 1.18%, with the ‘Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate’ remaining unchanged at 2.99%.
Technical Analysis
SOL’s daily chart shows a bearish technical setup, suggesting scope for continued losses toward $120. A move above the lower high of $209 would invalidate this outlook.
Solana is an open-source, decentralized blockchain platform that enables fast and scalable transactions.
It uses a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm to secure the network and achieve high transaction throughput.
Solana's architecture includes a clustered data storage system and a novel consensus protocol called Turbine.
This allows for a maximum of 65,000 transactions per second, making it one of the fastest blockchain platforms in the world.
Solana also supports smart contracts written in Rust programming language.
Crypto Equities
MicroStrategy closed on Friday at $299.69 (-7.48%), while Coinbase Global was down 8.27% to $235.38. Galaxy Digital Holdings fell by 11.27%, and MARA Holdings declined by 8.09%.
ETF Flows
Spot BTC ETFs saw a daily net flow of -$69.2 million, with cumulative net flows standing at $39.57 billion. Total BTC holdings stand at approximately 1.167 million.
Overnight Flows
Daily transactions and cumulative trading volumes on Solana’s decentralized exchanges have declined markedly since the debut of the ‘TRUMP memecoin’ a month ago.
