Trakx Weekly Update: Data On-Chain, Tether on Bitcoin, and Falling Volatility

Key Crypto Market Figures

CTIs Weekly Performance

Last week digital asset markets were in consolidation mode as evidenced by our flagship large cap Top10 Crypto CTI slipping by a little over 4%. For a second successive week, top of the performance tables over the prior seven days was the Centralized Exchanges (CEX) CTI, after it rallied a further 3%. Meanwhile at the other end of the spectrum was the Cardano Ecosystem CTI, as a result of a 10% correction.

Macro Data Meets Blockchain

Critics often dismiss cryptocurrency and blockchain as “a solution in search of a problem.” That view is becoming increasingly outdated. Last week, the US government announced it had begun publishing official macroeconomic data on public blockchains—including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana—as well as through decentralized oracle networks Chainlink and Pyth. The initiative began with Thursday’s GDP report, which showed the US economy expanding slightly faster than expected (3.3% vs. 3.1%). Commerce Secretary Howard said putting the data on-chain makes it “immutable and globally accessible”, but the timing of the initiative is curious coming just weeks after the Trump administration was accused of undermining the integrity of US official statistics, following the dismissal of Bureau of Labor Statistics head Erika McEntarfer amid allegations her office had “faked” jobs data for political purposes.

Tether Arrives On Bitcoin

As we highlighted in our August update (link below), stablecoins have been in the spotlight following the passage of the GENIUS Act in the US, which establishes a regulatory framework for the sector. Global stablecoin market cap now stands at $290 billion, with Tether (USDT) dominating at 57%. Since the start of the year, Tether has been streamlining its operations, discontinuing support for smaller legacy networks while deepening integration with major blockchains—most notably Bitcoin. After enabling USDT transfers on the Layer 2 Lightning Network in January, Tether last week announced support for the RGB (Really Good Bitcoin) protocol. In doing so, it provides crypto users with a way to carry out transactions in a stablecoin that has been deployed natively on the Bitcoin network. Additionally, it provides a good test case to determine whether the Bitcoin blockchain can be used to support regular financial transactions without the need to alter the protocol’s consensus rules.

Low Vol

Finally, recent price action suggests the long-awaited altcoin season may have arrived. Since Bitcoin hit a new all-time high in mid-August, it has underperformed other tokens, driving its dominance ratio down four percentage points in less than a month. This shift in the internal dynamics of the digital asset space is not the only notable change in relation to Bitcoin. Also significant is the substantial fall in its price volatility. Historically, annualized volatility has ranged between 50–150%, far higher than traditional asset classes. But since early May, volatility has held below 40%—a trend many attribute to growing institutional adoption. This marks an important milestone for Satoshi’s monetary innovation because lower volatility signals Bitcoin’s maturation as a financial asset, enhancing its usability and supporting the case for a higher fundamental valuation.

Sources: Trakx, Coingecko, Alphavantage

Market Trends

• U.S. Government Starts Pushing Economic Data Onto Blockchains as ‘Proof of Concept’: CoinDesk
• Tether’s $167 billion USDT ready to launch natively on Bitcoin in game-changing debut via RGB: Cryptoslate
• JPMorgan says current bitcoin price ‘too low,’ sees upside to $126,000 by year-end: The Block
• Joe Lubin tips 100x Ether as Wall Street adopts decentralized rails: Cointelegraph
• Stablecoins hit record $283bn as analysts eye path to $2 trillion by 2029: DLNews

Trakx News

• Ryan Shea published the August monthly update outlining how alt-coin season is gathering momentum as the bull market matures.

Trakx CTIs Performance

Sources: Coingecko and AlphaVantage

*Return of bitcoin is calculated since 01/05/2020, while CTIs performances were calculated since their respective launch date.
**Includes simulated performance.
***The risk signal is determined according to the historical volatility level, the higher the riskier.

Trakx is a global fintech company creating new standards for digital asset investments. Through our trading platform, we offer thematic Crypto Tradable Indices (CTIs) and customised solutions, providing sophisticated investors with a high degree of compliance, custody and liquidity.

TRAKX SAS,  10 rue de Penthièvre, Paris, 75008, FRANCE – French société par actions simplifiée Paris Trade and Companies Register number 850 626 078

Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) Registered with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) under number E2021-020

Disclaimers: No Investment Advice. Index returns and statistics are for illustration only. Index returns do not reflect any transaction costs or expenses. Past performance does not guarantee future results. The information provided in this newsletter does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, trading advice, or any other sort of advice and you should not treat any of the newsletter content as such. Trakx.io does not recommend that any cryptocurrency should be bought, sold, or held by you. Readers shall conduct their own due diligence and consult their financial advisors before making any investment decisions.