This week could rewrite the crypto leaderboard. 3 altcoins are on the verge of smashing all-time highs, Ethereum is the strongest it’s been in four years, and Bitcoin’s fate might be decided in the next 72 hours by four US economic numbers.
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💬 Fed’s vice chair, Michelle Bowman, signals possible 3 rate cuts in 2025. She says it’s to prevent labor market erosion and a weaker economy. But she’s cautious, reinforcing her Dec 2024 forecast that cuts could start then. With three Fed meetings left (Sep, Oct, Dec), that could mean one cut each meeting.
🏛️ El Salvador just announced the creation of the world’s first Bitcoin bank. President Nayib Bukele first proposed the idea back in April 2024, and now it’s officially moving forward. While this move goes against Satoshi Nakamoto’s original vision, it could potentially inspire other countries to launch their own Bitcoin banks.
🚨 China just told companies to stop all stablecoin research and promotion, with orders going out from late July to early August, citing risks of fraud. Meanwhile, Hong Kong is taking the opposite path, passing a stablecoin law in May 2025, licensing exchanges, and even proposing to add Bitcoin to its national reserves.
⚠ $1.5B Solana treasury plan from Accelerate, led by Joe McCann, to become the largest SOL holder is dead. It's killed by PIPE unlock fears & McCann’s fund losing ~80% in 2025. LP says $10M lost in first half of the year despite crypto rally. McCann offered investors a choice: pull out or roll into an illiquid deal.
🔓 XRP was close to breaking higher after days of gains, until Ripple unlocked 1B $XRP.X ( ▼ 0.49% ) from escrow. People are afraid that Ripple might dump tokens. CTO clarified it’s routine, nothing happens until a transaction triggers it. Still, community doubts remain. For now, XRP is stuck between bullish long-term & short-term selling pressure.
👑 $ETH Hits 4-Year High & Big Signals You Can’t Ignore
On Aug 11, $BTC.X ( ▼ 1.07% ) surged 3.3% in 24h to $122,012, recovering from $112K just 10 days ago and nearing its July 14 peak of $122,780. $ETH.X ( ▼ 0.72% ) also jumped 2%+ to $4,300 - its highest since Dec 2021 - boosted by the policy shift and strong institutional buying.
The market turned green across the board, major altcoins gained 5–15% in the last 24h. Spot ETF inflows added more momentum:
📖 The rally came after President Donald Trump signed an executive order allowing US 401(k) retirement funds to invest in crypto, private equity, and other alternative assets.
The US Department of Labor will now develop regulations for implementation. Analysts see this as a massive new source of long-term demand, similar in impact to spot Bitcoin ETF approvals.
Ethereum DEX volume has dominated for 4 straight days, holding steady between $3B and $4B daily.
TOTAL2 (the altcoin market cap) also hits 2025 high at $1.58T. The last time TOTAL2 was at this level was Dec 17, 2024. Since early April 2025, TOTAL2 has almost doubled in value - showing strong demand across altcoins, not just Bitcoin.
It’s now only ~8% away from breaking its all-time high. If that happens, it could trigger even more buying.
No surprise the phrase “altcoin season” is popping up more and more on X.
Besides, unexpected remarks from Federal Reserve Vice Chair Michelle Bowman gave Ethereum a sudden boost. Like I mentioned above, she said “three rate cuts are necessary”. Right after, ETH briefly broke above $4,300.
But on Monday, BlackRock made a move nobody saw coming. The US ETF giant pulled massive capital from both its Bitcoin spot ETF (IBIT) and Ethereum spot ETF (ETHA), injecting uncertainty into the market.
IBIT: $292.21M net outflow - the largest single-day outflow since May 30, more than 2 months ago
ETHA: $375M net outflow - a 3% drop in BlackRock’s ETH holdings in just one day. This also ended ETH’s record streak of 21 straight days of net inflows into spot ETFs.
After two days of heavy withdrawals, net outflows from crypto ETFs have stopped.
Traditional finance players are jumping in, with Fundamental Global raising $5B to buy ETH and total ETH reserve strategies now exceeding $13B across 64 institutions.
Companies adding to their ETH reserves include Bitmine (+208.1K ETH), SharpLink (+83.8K ETH), The Ether (+10.6K ETH), and GameSquare (+2.7K ETH).
While total ETH bought this week (+305.2K) is slightly less than last week (~314K), rising ETH prices pushed the value of purchases up by $2.2B, double last week’s figure.
Other big moves:
KR1 staked all its ETH, following Moss Genomics in disappearing from the reserve list
Fundamental Global filed to raise $5B for ETH buys, bringing its total raise to $5.2B
Cosmos Health joined the race, securing up to $300M to launch its ETH treasury strategy via stock sales
In total, fresh and committed capital flowing into ETH this week has hit $7.7B.
Wall Street veteran Tom Lee called buying Ethereum “the most important trade I’ll make in the next 10 years.”
3️⃣ Ethereum co-founder moves $41.3M in ETH to Kraken as price hovers around $4.2K
Jeffrey Wilcke, one of Ethereum’s co-founders, just transferred ~9.84K ETH (worth $41.3M) to the Kraken exchange.
Key details (here’s his wallet)
Back in May, he split 105,737 ETH across 8 wallets.
The Kraken transfer came from one of those wallets.
That stash was worth ~$262M in May — now ~$442M.
Meanwhile, the Ethereum Foundation also sold 998 ETH on Aug 4. If Jeffrey posts an apology like Arthur did… well, we might have the full set.
4️⃣ Low CPI could fuel a stronger market this week
This week’s setup looks a lot like last week. All eyes are on whether the Fed will go ahead with three rate cuts this year, and if a clear signal comes at the September FOMC meeting.
Key events to watch:
Tue: US July Consumer Price Index (CPI)
Wed: Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee speaks at a Springfield Chamber monetary policy lunch
Thu: US July Producer Price Index (PPI)
Fri: US July Industrial Production & Retail Sales
If CPI comes in higher than expected, chances of rate cuts in H2 2025 could drop, forcing a crypto market pullback. Lower CPI would support the case for cuts and likely lift risk assets.
PPI, industrial production, and retail sales will help confirm if the US economy is slowing.
According to FedWatch (as of Monday morning), there’s an 88.4% chance of a 0.25% rate cut in September. This ticked up slightly after Vice Chair Bowman’s weekend comments but it’s unclear if it will hold through the week.
No wonder people are calling it “$ETH season. It’s a week where Ethereum’s dominance was clear.
🎯 3 Altcoins Could Hit ATHs in mid-August 2025
The crypto market looks set for another leg up, with several altcoins already rallying since the start of the month and moving close to their record peaks.
Altcoins have been on a steady rise this month, and if momentum holds, these 3 could make history in the week ahead.
1️⃣ Binance ($BNB.X ( ▼ 2.9% )) is the closest altcoin to its all-time high
BNB is trading at $813, just 5.3% below its ATH of $861 → the top contender for a breakout.
Its proximity to ATH shows strong market sentiment and the potential for another push higher soon.
The previous ATH was set about three weeks ago, and with broad market support, BNB could not only retest $861 this week but possibly break above it to set a new record.
However, if the wider market can’t keep its momentum, BNB may struggle to clear $823. In that case, the price could fall back toward $793, or even down to $766.
Market conditions in the coming days will be the deciding factor for where BNB goes next.
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This newsletter is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. Traders should conduct thorough research, understand the risks, and carefully evaluate their decisions before investing in cryptocurrency.
