By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)
Suddenly, it’s all about Ethereum rival Solana and its native token SOL as the broader market holds its breath ahead of Wednesday’s Federal Reserve rate decision.
Michael Novogratz, the founder and CEO of Galaxy Investment, says Solana could evolve to become a settlement infrastructure in global finance. Why? Because the blockchain can handle over 6 billion transactions a day, which is way higher than the 400 million-700 million trades global securities markets usually deal with, he said. Speed matters.
At BaseCamp 2025, Coinbase’s layer-2 network hinted at plans for a token launch that could accelerate decentralization and unveiled a Solana bridge to boost cross-chain connectivity. Pantera Capital’s Dan Morehead announced that Solana is their largest bet, valued at $1.1 billion, calling it the fastest and best-performing blockchain, which has outpaced even Bitcoin over the past four years.
If that’s not enough, Kyle Samani, chairman of Nasdaq-listed Solana treasury company Forward Industries, said over the weekend that the company plans to deploy funds to boost the Solana-native decentralized finance ecosystem.
All these signs suggest SOL could outperform bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and other major tokens if the Fed cuts rates by the 25 basis points this week, as expected. If it surprises with a 50-basis-point move, things could get wild. Keep your eyes on those SOL/BTC and SOL/ETH trading pairs.
Currently, SOL is trading around $235 after peaking near $250 over the weekend. Other major cryptocurrencies are stuck in neutral, trailing behind stocks, which continue to hit fresh highs.
On the stablecoin front, the Bank of England proposed limits on how the value of dollar-backed stablecoins an individual can hold, as low as 10,000 pounds ($13,600), citing systemic risks. Stani Kulechov, Aave’s CEO, called the move “absurd” and urged the crypto community to stand up against such regulations.
More countries, especially those with current account deficits, will likely consider similar measures to curb outflows that dodge traditional banks.
And as for the traditional markets, Monday’s mix of rising stocks and the VIX, Wall Street’s fear gauge, has some observers raising their eyebrows. History shows these moments often precede market corrections, so stay alert!
What to Watch
- Crypto
- Sept. 16, 12 p.m.: Solana Live event on X. Guests include Pump.fun co-founder Alon Cohen and Kyle Samani, chairman of Forward Industries (FORD) and the managing partner of Multicoin Capital.
- Macro
- Sept. 16, 8 a.m.: Brazil July unemployment rate Est. 5.7%.
- Sept. 16, 8:30 a.m.: Canada August headline CPI YoY Est. 2%, MoM Est. 0%; core YoY Est. N/A (Prev. 2.6%), MoM Est. N/A (Prev. 0.1%).
- Sept. 16, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. August retail sales YoY Est. N/A (Prev. 3.9%), MoM Est. 0.3%.
- Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
- None scheduled.
Token Events
- Governance votes & calls
- Curve DAO is voting to update donation-enabled Twocrypto contracts, refining donation vesting so unlocked portions persist after burns. Voting ends Sept. 16.
- Sept. 16: Aster Network to host a community call.
- Sept. 18, 6 a.m.: Mantle to host Mantle State of Mind, a monthly downhill series.
- Sept. 16, 12 p.m.: Kava to host a community Ask Me Anything (AMA) session.
- Unlocks
- Sept. 16: Arbitrum (ARB) to unlock 2.03% of its circulating supply worth $45.92 million.
- Token Launches
- Sept. 16: Merlin (MRLN) to be listed on Binance Alpha, MEXC, BitMart, Gate.io, and others.
Conferences
- Day 2 of 7: Budapest Blockchain Week 2025 (Budapest, Hungary)
- Day 1 of 2: Real-World Asset Summit (New York)
Token Talk
By Oliver Knight
- As the crypto market stays within a tight range after a brief peak and trough on Monday, one token is running its own race: IMX is up 15% in the past 24 hours with daily trading volume doubling to $144 million.
- The rise lifted IMX, the native token of Web3 gaming platform Immutable, to a five-month high.
- Bullish sentiment around Immutable can be attributed to an SEC probe that was dropped earlier this year and general optimism around the gaming sector. Gaming is estimated to reach $200 billion in revenue this year with further growth forecast in 2026 alongside the release of Rockstar Gaming’s Grand Theft Auto 6.
- Immutable is well positioned to capitalize on that growth after teaming up with gaming giant Ubisoft on the next iteration of Might and Magic Fates in April.
- Blockchain technology could have a key role to play in gaming if trends shift toward in-game ownership of items, which could see the implementation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) within a game that could then be collected or sold on for crypto tokens.
- IMX is currently trading at $0.736 having broken out of a key level of resistance. It will likely come back to test $0.70 as support before potentially moving higher, provided trading volume can sustain at these levels.
Derivatives Positioning
- Most major cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH, continued to experience capital outflows from futures, leading to a decline in open interest.
- AVAX stands out with OI rising over 14% as the token’s market cap looks to climb above $13 billion for the first time since Feb. 2.
- Solana OI has reached a record high of over 70 million SOL, with positive funding rates pointing to bullish capital inflows.
- On the CME, OI in solana futures pulled back to 7.63 million SOL from the record 8.12 million SOL on Sept. 12. Still, the three-month annualized premium holds well above 15%, offering an attractive yield for carry traders.
- BTC CME OI continues to improve, but overall positioning remains light relative to ether and SOL futures.
- On Deribit, the bias for BTC and ETH put options continues to ease across all tenors as traders anticipate Fed rate cuts. SOL and XRP options remain biased bullish.
- On OTC network Paradigm, block flows featured BTC calendar spreads and shorting of call and put options.
Market Movements
- BTC is unchanged from 4 p.m. ET Monday at $115,500.55 (24hrs: +0.54%)
- ETH is unchanged at $4,513.45 (24hrs: -0.49%)
- CoinDesk 20 is up 0.48% at 4,271.28 (24hrs: +0.71%)
- Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is up 5 bps at 2.87%
- BTC funding rate is at 0.0059% (6.4616% annualized) on Binance
- DXY is down 0.32% at 96.99
- Gold futures are up 0.42% at $3,734.70
- Silver futures are up 0.53% at $43.19
- Nikkei 225 closed up 0.3% at 44,902.27
- Hang Seng closed unchanged at 26,438.51
- FTSE is down 0.22% at 9,256.41
- Euro Stoxx 50 is unchanged at 5,437.55
- DJIA closed on Monday up 0.11% at 45,883.45
- S&P 500 closed up 0.47% at 6,615.28
- Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.94% at 22,348.75
- S&P/TSX Composite closed up 0.5% at 29,431.02
- S&P 40 Latin America closed up 1.64% at 2,904.55
- U.S. 10-Year Treasury rate is unchanged at 4.037%
- E-mini S&P 500 futures are up 0.19% at 6,633.75
- E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are up 0.29% at 24,380.00
- E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index are unchanged at 45,902.00
Bitcoin Stats
- BTC Dominance: 58.11% (unchanged)
- Ether to bitcoin ratio: 0.03907 (-0.36%)
- Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 1,025 EH/s
- Hashprice (spot): $53.98
- Total Fees: 4.41 BTC / $508,109
- CME Futures Open Interest: 140,975 BTC
- BTC priced in gold: 31.2 oz
- BTC vs gold market cap: 8.82%
Technical Analysis
- The monthly chart shows that BTC is again probing the trendline connecting the previous bull market peaks.
- Bulls failed to establish a foothold above that trendline in July and August.
- A third straight failure could really embolden sellers, potentially yielding a deeper drop.
Crypto Equities
- Coinbase Global (COIN): closed on Monday at $327.02 (+1.23%), +0.27% at $327.91
- Circle (CRCL): closed at $134.05 (+6.97%), unchanged in pre-market
- Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $30.77 (+3.6%), +0.58% at $30.95
- Bullish (BLSH): closed at $51.08 (-1.47%), +0.59% at $51.38
- MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $16.24 (-0.43%), unchanged in pre-market
- Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $16.68 (+4.97%), +1.08% at $16.86
- Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $16.32 (+2.9%), +0.37% at $16.38
- CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $10.29 (-0.58%), +0.1% at $10.30
- CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $38.73 (+3.78%), +1.96% at $39.49
- Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $27.88 (-1.69%), -1.94% at $27.34
Crypto Treasury Companies
- Strategy (MSTR): closed at $327.79 (-1.1%), +0.34% at $328.89
- Semler Scientific (SMLR): closed at $28.39 (-2.74%)
- SharpLink Gaming (SBET): closed at $16.79 (-5.14%), +0.54% at $16.88
- Upexi (UPXI): closed at $6.33 (-6.29%), +0.95% at $6.39
- Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $3.07 (+10.43%)
ETF Flows
Spot BTC ETFs
- Daily net flows: $259.9 million
- Cumulative net flows: $57.05 billion
- Total BTC holdings ~1.31 million
Spot ETH ETFs
- Daily net flows: $359.7 million
- Cumulative net flows: $13.74 billion
- Total ETH holdings ~6.53 million
Source: Farside Investors
While You Were Sleeping
- Gold Uptrend Intact, but Due for Correction Before Topping $4,000 in 2026 (Reuters): Gold has surged 40% in 2025, outpacing the S&P 500. Analysts warn it looks overbought and may decline before targeting $4,000 next year.
- Coinbase Policy Chief Pushes Back on Bank Warnings That Stablecoins Threaten Deposits (CoinDesk): Coinbase’s Faryar Shirzad said concerns of stablecoin deposit flight are myths, claiming banks are really defending profits from an outdated payments system.
- King Charles Rolls Out the Red Carpet to Woo Trump (The Wall Street Journal): U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is using royal pageantry to sway Trump on tariffs and European security, while the visit will showcase new U.S.-U.K. cooperation in technology and energy.
- Deutsche Börse’s Crypto Finance Unveils Connected Custody Settlement for Digital Assets (CoinDesk): The Deutsche Börse subsidiary launched AnchorNote in Switzerland, letting institutions trade digital assets across venues while keeping them in custody to cut counterparty risk and improve capital efficiency.
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