📈 Crypto Rallies After Powell Says Rate Cuts Coming
Plus TON tanks after Telegram CEO Pavel Durov is arrested in France.
TylerD's Market Summary
GM!
Today's top news:
Crypto majors rally after Powell rate cut comments; BTC at $64k, SOL leads at $162
AI coins FET and TAO lead top movers ahead of NVDA earnings
JLP hits new ATH on back of crypto rally
Sony's new L2 Soneium teases Aug 28 launch
Punks open week at 29.4 ETH floor ($80k); XCOPY sees streak of sales
📈 Crypto Rallies After Powell Comments
Interest rate cuts have been one of the hottest macro economic topics of the past several months.
Traders have been forced to become quasi-experts in CPI reports and jobs numbers, trying to interpret what the metrics may mean with respect to interest rate cuts.
Well, we may have finally got the confirmation that rate cuts are finally coming.
And crypto liked the news.
What Happened?
On Friday, Jerome Powell confirmed that rate cuts are coming soon in a speech at Jackson Hole.
The direct quote:
"The time has come for policy to adjust. The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks."
Interestingly, this comes just a few weeks after the Yen carry trade "crash" and recovery, which led many to say Powell waited too long to cut.
Currently, Polymarket is showing a 68% chance of a 25 bps cut in September, a 27% chance for 50 bps and just a 4% chance of no cuts.
So a cut is almost certainly coming, with just a question of how big.
And the markets liked the news.
Market Impact
BTC rallied from below $61,000 at the start of Friday all the way past $64,000 by late Friday evening, and effectively held there throughout the weekend.
That BTC move came on the back of $252M in ETF inflows after Powell's comments, the highest day of inflows in weeks.
ETH and SOL caught nice moves as well, with ETH jumping to $2,750 (though held back by the Ethereum Foundation selling) and SOL outperformed jumping to $162 (+15% on the week).
Meme leaders rebounded strongly as well (weekly % change):
PEPE to $3.83B (+26%)
WIF to $1.92B (+44%)
BONK to $1.44B (+22%)
POPCAT to $750M (+97%)
MOG to $417M (+16%)
Even NFTs caught some love in the move, with leaders like BAYC (+14% to 13.87 ETH) and Pudgy Penguins (+19% to 10.9 ETH) catching nice green candles over the weekend.
Why It Matters
The long-awaited interest rate cuts from the Fed are finally on the horizon.
Now we are about to find out how they actually impact the market.
Some have been calling for a recession, pointing to market response to prior rate cuts.
Others have been calling for the banana zone, with the money printer turning on and risk assets set to benefit most.
The reality is likely somewhere in the middle, but if I have to make a prediction - the rate cuts are bullish.
And we end the year at a smashing new ATH for Bitcoin.
We are about to find out who’s right.
🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?
Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:
ETH led NFT trading volume with $4M on the day; Solana was next with $3.3M, and then BTC with $1.9M
ETH NFT leaders were slightly red but closed a very green week; Pudgy even at 11 ETH, BAYC even at 13.9 ETH, Azuki -2% at 4.78, Milady -2% at 3.87; Punks up to 29.4
Jirasan (+70%) and Sproto Gremlins (+45%) were other notable top movers
BTC NFT leaders were mixed but closed a green week; NodeMonkes -1% at 0.153 BTC, Puppets -4% at 0.1 BTC, OMB +5% at 0.172, Quantum Cats even at 0.29
The Runes leaders were very green; DOG +8% at $372M mc, RSIC +7% at $84M mc, PUPS +6% to $52M
Solana NFTs were mostly green; Mad Lads even at 56 SOL, SMB Gen 2 +4% at 27, DeGods +1% at 34, Bodoggos +27% at 4.1
XCOPY saw a big trio of sales, with DEATHLESS selling for 40 ETH, OVERLORD selling for 35 ETH and Gobble selling for 22.6 ETH
Forgotten Runiverse's New Foundation launches today at 10 am PST
💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker
Here's a rundown of major token or airdrop news from the day:
Fantasy Top set 2-month highs in trading volume and cards burned, 1-month high in active users and hit the Blast Jackpot for 520k Gold
Sony's new L2 Soneium teased an Aug 28 launch date
Magic Eden teased "big BTC features" coming in ME wallet
Phantom added real-time support for interest-bearing assets
NFT Inspect updated its tokenomics, to become deflationary
🌎 Around Crypto and Web3
A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:
Crypto majors rallied over the weekend after Powell's interest rate cut comments Friday; BTC even at $64,000; ETH even at $2,750, SOL +3% at $162
Memecoin majors were mostly green with DOGE +1%, PEPE +2%, WIF +2%, BONK +1%, MOG -6%
TON fell 14% to $5.63 after Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France, charged as complicit with crimes facilitated on TG due to lack of moderation/cooperation
AI tokens like FET, TAO were notable top movers ahead of NVIDIA earning this week
Ethereum Foundation shares high-level details for $100M/year budget leading to outcry
JLP hit an ATH over the weekend on the back of the crypto rally, now at $3.33
Kamala Harris re-flipped Donald Trump on Polymarket on Sunday, with a narrow 50-49 lead
🚀 Memecoin Movers
$WDOG (+63%, $18M market cap, SOL)
$FWOG (+55%, $59M market cap, SOL)
$SUNDOG (+40%, $302M market cap, TRON)
$BRAINLET (+25%, $30M market cap, SOL)
$EBULL (+25%, $18M market cap, ETH)
📈 NFT Floor Price Increase (ETH)
QQL (700%, 7 ETH Floor)
Jirasan (70%, 0.45 ETH)
Asterix (45%, 0.35 ETH)
Sproto Gremlins (44%, 0.89 ETH)
Plooshies (39%, 0.2 ETH)
🗓 Upcoming Mints and Events
Today is a slightly busier day of mints and events to start the week.
The Forgotten Runiverse is launching their New Foundations public gaming event, and CyberKongz is debuting their collab with adidas.
Joyce Liu is lined up as the meme card artist for today as well.
See the full list and dive in for more details with Swizzy's daily mint monitor.
Rabeno - Picho (10:00 a.m. ET)
Memes by 6529 (11:00 a.m. ET)
The Forgotten Runiverse - New Foundations (12:00 p.m. ET)
CyberKongz x Adidas (12:00 p.m. ET)
G-shock x Stepn Go (12:00 p.m. ET)
Enjoy this write-up and/or want to sponsor the Morning Minute? Follow along with me on Twitter @tyler_did_it or reach out via email to tyler.warner@luckytrader.com.