Weekly Market Commentary - Sept 5, 2025
Major stories:
Bitcoin recovered slightly this week, with BTC/USD ending 2% higher at $110,700. ETH/USD sold off about 1% to $4,290. U.S. nonfarm payrolls for August showed an increased unemployment rate of 4.3%. The Fed is expected to cut rates by 25 bps at its September 17th meeting and by 75 bps total by the end of 2025, according to CME FedWatch.
Trading Update:
Funding rates on perpetual swaps are now around 10% annualized. BTC futures are trading at an annualized basis of 5% on Binance, 4% on OKX and 8% on CME. The ETH futures basis is trading at 4% on Binance, 3% on OKX and 8% on CME. On Deribit, 3-month options implied volatility is currently at 39% for BTC and 67% for ETH. Through Thursday, BTC ETFs had net inflows of $410M and ETH ETFs had net outflows of $341M.
Other News:
Blockchain lender Figure will seek an IPO at a $4B valuation. Gemini will IPO targeting a $2.2B valuation. Kraken will offer xStocks tokenized equities on the Ethereum mainnet. Grayscale launched an ETH covered call ETF. The CFTC approved Polymarket's new QCX exchange. Stripe and Paradigm announced their stablecoin-focused blockchain Tempo. Fireblocks also announced a new stablecoin network.
NASDAQ may require firms to get shareholder approval before raising funds for crypto treasuries. Yunfeng Financial bought $44M for its Ethereum treasury. NYSE listed CleanCore fell sharply after announcing a $175M private placement to fund its DOGE treasury. The Ether Machine received a 150,000 ETH investment. BitMine acquired an additional 150,000 ETH last week. Nasdaq listed AlphaTON will establish a $100M TON treasury. Sora ventures has secured $200M for a BTC treasury. Strategy bought 4,408 BTC for $450M and increased the dividend on its STRC preferred shares. The firm is now reported to be elligible for inclusion in the S&P 500 Index.
