In July, while Bitcoin's momentum seemed to pause, the rally in traditional markets continued to flourish. This was largely driven by the anticipation of a "soft landing" for the U.S. economy. The term refers to the delicate balance of reducing inflation to sustainable levels without triggering a recession. The immediate future of the crypto market may hinge on how the debate around the soft landing unfolds. If incoming economic data continues to bolster this thesis, the rebound in major token valuations may persist. Conversely, if the economy falters or the Federal Reserve opts to raise real rates further, the crypto recovery could stall in the near term.
Recent data and Federal Reserve policy signals lend support to the idea that the economy might rebalance without succumbing to a recession. Inflation has further decelerated, particularly in the "core" measure, which excludes fluctuating food and energy prices. This slowdown occurred despite favorable employment conditions, including a low unemployment rate and strong employment growth.
Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) remained broadly range-bound, experiencing a slight decline month-over-month. Both cryptocurrencies saw their realized and implied volatilities drop to historically low levels, while their daily correlations with the S&P 500 Index rebounded. Bitcoin fees continued to decline, while Ethereum fees saw an increase, particularly following an attempted exploit of the Curve protocol.
Price volatility was more pronounced beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum, and "alt-coin dominance" increased through July. A key catalyst was the U.S. District Court ruling on July 13th in the case SEC v. Ripple Labs. The court's decision had a significant impact on Ripple's native token, XRP, and appeared to influence prices for a few other tokens as well.
Headlines
- Multichain Team Confirms Exploit Across Fantom, Moonriver and Dogechain Bridges
- Top BINANCE Execs Leave Company Over CZ’s Handling of DOJ Investigation: Report
- issuing stablecoin in Japan
- Google Play users to earn crypto assets in apps
- XRP Ruling a ‘Landmark’ Judgment, Weakens SEC's Stance Against Crypto
- SEC asserts XRP case wrongly decided, signals appeal
- Crypto Bridging Protocol Multichain Ceases Operations After CEO, Sister Detained in China
- Alex Mashinsky, the founder and former CEO of the bankrupt crypto lending company Celsius, has been granted bail at $40M by a U.S. District Judge following his arrest on fraud charges
- is set to launch its first Bitcoin ETF
- Aave stablecoin, GHO, goes live
- Chainlink's Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) Goes Live
- Neon EVM Released to Allow Deploying EVM Application on Solana
- Stablecoin Protocol Ethena Closes $6 Million Seed Round Led by Dragonfly
- Liquid Staking Protocol StakeWise Released V3 on Goerli Testnet
- reveals UniswapX
- Celo announces transition to L2 built on OP Stack
- Lens Protocol introduces its V2
- Federal Reserve officially launches FedNow instant payment service
- Optimism moves forward with two proposals to add zk-proofs
- Vyper vulnerability leads to massive $70M Curve hack
- PacWest merges with Banc of California +$400M equity infusion, latest “bank failure”
- Crypto staking rewards must count as taxable income, IRS says
