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Crypto Daybook Americas: Ye Adds to Memecoin Turmoil as Broader Market Languishes
By Francisco Rodrigues (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)
Cryptocurrency prices are rising after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s former crypto enforcement unit transitioned into the Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit and amid dovish comments from Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic.
Renaming the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit is significant because it shows the agency is moving away from its crypto focus that often led to accusations of regulation by enforcement and legal battles with major industry participants.
“In the near to medium term, clearer regulations will likely boost institutional participation, leading to improvements in market infrastructure,” BackPack founder and CEO Armani Ferrante told CoinDesk. Bitcoin is now above $98,000 after adding 1.2% in 24 hours, while the broader CoinDesk 20 Index rose 1.35%.
Yet, volatility is still relatively low. «These environments may feel slow and frustrating, but they rarely persist for long — volatility tends to mean revert,” Wintermute OTC trader Jake O told CoinDesk.
With tensions between the U.S. and its European allies growing, investors are hoping Germany’s election on Sunday will lead to a stable coalition government that will push out economic reforms to stimulate growth and boost defense spending. Germany is Europe’s largest economy and a positive result could lead to a more risk-on approach.
Open interest has already moved up ahead of the election. Still, the crypto market lacks positive catalysts in the near term, JPMorgan analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote in a report.
In fact, the market is nearing backwardation — where spot prices rise above futures prices — in a “negative development” that’s “indicative of demand weakness” by institutional investors using regulated CME futures contracts to gain exposure to the market. Stay alert!
What to Watch
Crypto:
Feb. 21: TON (The Open Network) becomes the exclusive blockchain infrastructure for messaging platform Telegram’s Mini App ecosystem.
Feb. 24: At epoch 115968, testing of Ethereum’s Pecta upgrade on the Holesky testnet starts.
Feb. 25, 9:00 a.m.: Ethereum Foundation research team AMA on Reddit.
Feb. 27: Solana-based L2 Sonic SVM (SONIC) mainnet launch (“Mobius”).
Macro
Feb. 21, 9:45 a.m.: S&P Global releases February’s (Flash) U.S. Purchasing Managers’ Index (Flash) reports.
Composite PMI Prev. 52.7
Manufacturing PMI Est. 51.5 vs. Prev. 51.2
Services PMI Est. 53 vs. Prev. 52.9
Feb. 24, 5:00 a.m.: Eurostat releases eurozone’s (final) consumer inflation data for January.
Core Inflation Rate YoY Est. 2.7% vs. Prev. 2.7%
Inflation Rate YoY Est. 2.5% vs. Prev. 2.4%
Earnings
Feb. 24: Riot Platforms (RIOT), post-market, $-0.18
Feb. 25: Bitdeer Technologies Group (BTDR), pre-market, $-0.17
Feb. 25: Cipher Mining (CIFR), pre-market, $-0.09
Feb. 26: MARA Holdings (MARA), post-market, $-0.13
Token Events
Governance votes & calls
Sky DAO is discussing withdrawing a portion of the Smart Burn Engine’s LP tokens to stop malicious actors from acquiring them.
DYdX DAO is discussing increasing the limit on the maximum notional value of liquidations that can occur within a given block on the dYdX protocol to enhance the speed and efficiency of risk reduction during liquidations.
Unlocks
Feb. 21: Fast Token (FTN) to unlock 4.66% of circulating supply worth $78.6 million.
Feb. 28: Optimism (OP) to unlock 1.92% of circulating supply worth $34.23 million.
Mar. 1: Sui (SUI) to unlock 0.74% of circulating supply worth $81.07 million.
Conferences:
CoinDesk’s Consensus to take place in Toronto on May 14-16. Use code DAYBOOK and save 15% on passes.
Feb. 23-March 2: ETHDenver 2025 (Denver)
Feb. 24: RWA London Summit 2025
Feb. 25: HederaCon 2025 (Denver)
March 2-3: Crypto Expo Europe (Bucharest, Romania)
March 8: Bitcoin Alive (Sydney, Australia)
Token Talk
By Oliver Knight
With a botched launch from Argentine president Javier Milei and a token proposed by self-professed Nazi Kanye West, now known as Ye, this week in memecoin land has been one to forget.
Castle Island Ventures partner Nic Carter said the craze is «unquestionably over,» a view that might be cemented by a report revealing that West is planning to introduce YZY token — and will own 70% of the supply.
The rest of the crypto market remains relatively unperturbed by the potential demise of the sector: ETH and LTC are up by 3% this week whilst TRX has risen by 7.7% as liquidity appears to be rotating from speculative tokens back to more utilitarian projects.
NEAR leads the pack on Friday, surging by 11% after announcing the «first truly autonomous» AI agents. The agents will be able to autonomously own, trade and manage assets on-chain.
Derivatives Positioning
BTC open interest on centralized exchanges rose nearly 5% to $37.3 billion in the past 24 hours. This, coupled with the reversal in funding from positive to negative, suggests a potential short squeeze scenario. Short liquidations have dominated the futures markets over that period, nearing a total of $110 million compared with $6.11 million in longs.
Among the assets with over $100 million in open interest, Maker DAO, Virtuals Protcol and Artificial Super Intelligence saw the highest one-day increase, rising by 39.2%, 35.5% and 28.00%, respectively.
Among the options instruments, the call option on BTC with a strike price of $99,000 and expiring Feb. 22 has traded with the most volume on Deribit. The next most popular options instrument is the call on BTC with a strike price of $108,000, expiring on Feb. 28. The action hints at the optimistic short-term sentiment in the market over the past couple of days.
Market Movements:
BTC is up 0.28% from 4 p.m. ET Thursday to $98,632.42 (24hrs: +1.35%)
ETH is up 2.09% at $2,800.02 (24hrs: +2.15%)
CoinDesk 20 is up 0.92% to 3,298.29 (24hrs: +1.49%)
Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is unchanged at 2.99%
BTC funding rate is at 0.0010% (1.0961% annualized) on Binance
DXY is up 0.29% at 106.68
Gold is down 0.31% at $2,929.76/oz
Silver is down 0.12% to $32.91/oz
Nikkei 225 closed +0.26% at 38,776.94
Hang Seng closed +3.99% at 23.477.92
FTSE is up 0.20% at 8,680.19
Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.18% at 5,471.08
DJIA closed Thursday down -1.01% at 44,176.65
S&P 500 closed -0.43% at 6,117.52
Nasdaq closed -0.47% at 19,962.36
S&P/TSX Composite Index closed -0.44% at 25,514.08
S&P 40 Latin America closed +0.76% at 2,480.21
U.S. 10-year Treasury rate was down 2 bps at 4.49%
E-mini S&P 500 futures are unchanged at 6,138.25
E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are up 0.13% at 22,170.75
E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index futures are up 0.10% to 44,309
Bitcoin Stats:
BTC Dominance: 61.02 (-0.35%)
Ethereum to bitcoin ratio: 0.02842 (2.01%)
Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 807 EH/s
Hashprice (spot): $54.92
Total Fees: 5.34 BTC / $526,892
CME Futures Open Interest: 178,500 BTC
BTC priced in gold: 33.4 oz
BTC vs gold market cap: 9.49%
Technical Analysis
TAO has emerged as one of the strongest-performing assets over the past week, fueled by the launch of the dynamicTAO upgrade. This momentum has propelled the price above all key exponential moving averages on the daily time frame, signaling renewed strength.
Adding to the bullish sentiment, the price action has formed an inverse head and shoulders pattern.
TAO’s recent listing on Coinbase provided an extra catalyst, driving its price up nearly 20% to a high of $495 since the initial announcement.
Crypto Equities
MicroStrategy (MSTR): closed on Thursday at $323.92 (+1.65%), up 0.37% at $324.85 in pre-market
Coinbase Global (COIN): closed at $256.59 (-0.80%), up 0.86% at $258.80
Galaxy Digital Holdings (GLXY): closed at C$25.65 (+1.30%)
MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $15.95 (+1.08%), up 0.38% at $16.01
Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $11.60 (+0.35%), up 0.52% at $11.66
Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $11.84 (-1.50%), up 0.51% at $11.90
CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $10.06 (+1.72%), up 0.80% at $10.14
CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $22.49 (-1.27%), down 0.31% at $22.42
Semler Scientific (SMLR): closed at $52.24 (+0.04%), unchanged
Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $47.80 (-1.26%), down 2.72% at $46.50
ETF Flows
Spot BTC ETFs:
Daily net flow: -$364.8 million
Cumulative net flows: $39.63 billion
Total BTC holdings ~ 1.169 million.
Spot ETH ETFs
Daily net flow: -$13.1 million
Cumulative net flows: $3.16 billion
Total ETH holdings ~ 3.807 million.
Source: Farside Investors
Overnight Flows
Chart of the Day
Bitcoin’s price action has triggered short liquidations totaling $97.9 million at the $98,890 level, according to CoinGlass. The next key resistance levels, based on the liquidation heat map, are $99,185 and $99,332, where liquidations worth $65.2 million and $67.9 million, respectively, are clustered.
On the downside, significant long liquidations are positioned at $97,415 and $97,194, amounting to $69.3 million and $70.7 million, respectively. These key levels highlight potential areas of volatility as bitcoin navigates its current price range.
While You Were Sleeping
Crypto Market Faces Weak Demand, Needs Trump Initiatives to Kick In, JPMorgan Says (CoinDesk): JPMorgan said CME futures data reveals weak institutional interest in crypto, with any pro-crypto initiatives from the Trump administration unlikely to emerge until the second half of the year.
South African Firm to Amass Bitcoin Hoard in First for Continent (Bloomberg): Altvest Capital adopted bitcoin to be a treasury reserve asset. It bought one BTC and is considering a $10 million share sale to expand its digital holdings.
Block Shares Fall on Profit, Revenue Miss (CNBC): At its Q4 2024 earnings call, Block (XYZ) executives commented on Proto, their bitcoin mining initiative. CFO Amrita Ahuja said the project should drive growth in the second half.
Japan Yields Fall as Ueda Warns BOJ Can Step In to Smooth Market (Bloomberg): Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda vowed to buy government bonds if long-term yields spike. Earlier, 10-year yields hit 1.455% — the most since 2009.
U.K. Retail Sales Rise for First Time in Five Months (The Wall Street Journal): In January, retail spending in the U.K. rose 1.7% from December, led by a 5.6% jump in food store sales as more people ate at home.
New Microsoft Chip Shortens Timeline to Make Bitcoin Quantum-Resistant: River (Cointelegraph): Bitcoin-focused financial services firm River said Microsoft’s Majorana — though not yet a threat — could reach a 1-million-qubit scale by 2027–2029, potentially enabling attacks on the blockchain.
In the Ether
Stellar’s XLM token endured sharp swings over the past 24 hours, tumbling 3% as institutional selling pressure dominated order books. The asset declined from $0.39 to $0.38 between September 14 at 15:00 and September 15 at 14:00, with trading volumes peaking at 101.32 million—nearly triple its 24-hour average. The heaviest liquidation struck during the morning hours of September 15, when XLM collapsed from $0.395 to $0.376 within two hours, establishing $0.395 as firm resistance while tentative support formed near $0.375.
Despite the broader downtrend, intraday action highlighted moments of resilience. From 13:15 to 14:14 on September 15, XLM staged a brief recovery, jumping from $0.378 to a session high of $0.383 before closing the hour at $0.380. Trading volume surged above 10 million units during this window, with 3.45 million changing hands in a single minute as bulls attempted to push past resistance. While sellers capped momentum, the consolidation zone around $0.380–$0.381 now represents a potential support base.
Market dynamics suggest distribution patterns consistent with institutional profit-taking. The persistent supply overhead has reinforced resistance at $0.395, where repeated rally attempts have failed, while the emergence of support near $0.375 reflects opportunistic buying during liquidation waves. For traders, the $0.375–$0.395 band has become the key battleground that will define near-term direction.
Technical Indicators
- XLM retreated 3% from $0.39 to $0.38 during the previous 24-hours from 14 September 15:00 to 15 September 14:00.
- Trading volume peaked at 101.32 million during the 08:00 hour, nearly triple the 24-hour average of 24.47 million.
- Strong resistance established around $0.395 level during morning selloff.
- Key support emerged near $0.375 where buying interest materialized.
- Price range of $0.019 representing 5% volatility between peak and trough.
- Recovery attempts reached $0.383 by 13:00 before encountering selling pressure.
- Consolidation pattern formed around $0.380-$0.381 zone suggesting new support level.
Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.
Hedera Hashgraph’s HBAR token endured steep losses over a volatile 24-hour window between September 14 and 15, falling 5% from $0.24 to $0.23. The token’s trading range expanded by $0.01 — a move often linked to outsized institutional activity — as heavy corporate selling overwhelmed support levels. The sharpest move came between 07:00 and 08:00 UTC on September 15, when concentrated liquidation drove prices lower after days of resistance around $0.24.
Institutional trading volumes surged during the session, with more than 126 million tokens changing hands on the morning of September 15 — nearly three times the norm for corporate flows. Market participants attributed the spike to portfolio rebalancing by large stakeholders, with enterprise adoption jitters and mounting regulatory scrutiny providing the backdrop for the selloff.
Recovery efforts briefly emerged during the final hour of trading, when corporate buyers tested the $0.24 level before retreating. Between 13:32 and 13:35 UTC, one accumulation push saw 2.47 million tokens deployed in an effort to establish a price floor. Still, buying momentum ultimately faltered, with HBAR settling back into support at $0.23.
The turbulence underscores the token’s vulnerability to institutional distribution events. Analysts point to the failed breakout above $0.24 as confirmation of fresh resistance, with $0.23 now serving as the critical support zone. The surge in volume suggests major corporate participants are repositioning ahead of regulatory shifts, leaving HBAR’s near-term outlook dependent on whether enterprise buyers can mount sustained defenses above key support.
Technical Indicators Summary
- Corporate resistance levels crystallized at $0.24 where institutional selling pressure consistently overwhelmed enterprise buying interest across multiple trading sessions.
- Institutional support structures emerged around $0.23 levels where corporate buying programs have systematically absorbed selling pressure from retail and smaller institutional participants.
- The unprecedented trading volume surge to 126.38 million tokens during the 08:00 morning session reflects enterprise-scale distribution strategies that overwhelmed corporate demand across major trading platforms.
- Subsequent institutional momentum proved unsustainable as systematic selling pressure resumed between 13:37-13:44, driving corporate participants back toward $0.23 support zones with sustained volumes exceeding 1 million tokens, indicating ongoing institutional distribution.
- Final trading periods exhibited diminishing corporate activity with zero recorded volume between 13:13-14:14, suggesting institutional participants adopted defensive positioning strategies as HBAR consolidated at $0.23 amid enterprise uncertainty.
Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.
The first exchange-traded fund (ETF) built around a meme coin could hit the market this week, after multiple delays and much speculation.
The DOGE ETF — formally called the Rex Shares-Osprey Dogecoin ETF (DOJE) — was originally slated to debut last week, alongside a handful of politically themed and crypto-related ETFs. Those included funds tied to Bonk (BONK), XRP, Bitcoin (BTC) and even a Trump-themed fund. But DOJE’s debut never materialized.
Now, Bloomberg ETF analysts Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart believe Wednesday is the most likely launch date, though they caution nothing is certain.
“It’s more likely than not,” Seyffart said. “That seems like the base case.”
Ahead of the introduction of the ETF, DOGE has been among the top performers over the past month, ahead 15% even including a decline of 3.5% over the past 24 horus.
If launched, DOJE would mark a milestone as the first U.S. ETF to focus on a meme coin — cryptocurrencies that generally lack utility or a clear economic purpose. These include tokens like Dogecoin, Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Bonk, which often surge in popularity thanks to internet culture, celebrity endorsements and speculative trading.
Balchunas described DOJE’s significance in a post on X: “First-ever US ETF to hold something that has no utility on purpose.”
DOJE is not a spot ETF. That means it won’t hold DOGE directly. Instead, the fund will use a Cayman Islands-based subsidiary to gain exposure through futures and other derivatives. This approach sidesteps the need for physical custody of the coin while still offering traders a way to bet on its performance within a traditional brokerage account.
The ETF was approved earlier this month under the Investment Company Act of 1940, which is typically used for mutual funds and diversified ETFs. That sets it apart from the wave of bitcoin ETFs that received green lights under the Securities Act of 1933, a framework used for commodity-based and asset-backed products. In short, DOJE is structured more like a mutual fund than a commodity trust.
More direct exposure may be coming soon. Several firms have filed applications to launch spot DOGE ETFs, which would hold the meme coin itself rather than derivatives. These applications are still under review by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has grown more comfortable with crypto ETFs since approving a slate of bitcoin products in early 2024.
The broader crypto market has shown that investor demand can outweigh fundamental critiques. Meme coins have long drawn skepticism for having no underlying value or use case, but that hasn’t kept them from drawing billions in speculative capital.
Seyffart said the ETF market is likely to follow the same path. “There’s going to be a bunch of products like this, whether you love it or need it, they’re going to be coming to market,” he said.
He added that many existing financial products serve no deeper purpose than providing a vehicle for short-term bets. “There’s plenty of products out there that are just being used as gambling or short-term trading,” he said. “So if there’s an audience for this in the crypto world, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this finds an audience in the ETF and TradFi world.”
Whether the DOJE ETF opens the door to more meme coin funds — or just proves the concept is viable — may depend on how the market responds this week. Either way, it signals a new phase in the merging of internet culture and traditional finance.
XLM Sees Heavy Volatility as Institutional Selling Weighs on Price
HBAR Tumbles 5% as Institutional Investors Trigger Mass Selloff
Dogecoin Inches Closer to Wall Street With First Meme Coin ETF
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