The past night was rich in events. Bitcoin made a sharp jump, updating local highs, while institutional investors continued to actively build positions through spot ETFs. In parallel, important news emerged in the market that could affect the balance of power both in the prediction sector and in the decentralized finance segment.
Bitcoin and the Market: Momentum for Growth
The leading cryptocurrency demonstrated impressive dynamics, rising 4.13% over the past day. At the time of analysis, the asset was trading near the $80,895 mark, although during the day it showed more ambitious levels, reaching $81,800. Starting from $77,200, buyers managed to turn the tide of the battle and move into solid positive territory. Ether (ETH) also showed positive dynamics, gaining 4.33% and reaching $2,506.
In the top 25 coins by market capitalization, synchronized growth was observed. The leaders were Zcash (ZEC) with a gain of 15.62%, Uniswap (UNI) — 9.99%, and Cardano (ADA) — 6.79%. XRP rose by 5.72%. Among the laggards was only Monero (XMR), which lost 2.09%. In the broader top-100 list, Pons (PONS) stood out, surging by 32.16%, as well as Dash (DASH) with a gain of 16.02%. Among the falling assets, Filecoin (FIL) stood out, losing 5.74%.
The key driver of this movement was spot Bitcoin ETFs, which recorded a powerful inflow of funds amounting to $730.87 million. Ether funds also attracted a significant $141.39 million. The fear and greed index jumped to 74 points, returning to the "greed" zone, confirming a shift in market participant sentiment. Over the past day, positions worth $537.28 million were liquidated, with the bulk coming from short positions ($456.46 million), indicating a squeeze on bears.
Industry News: From Forecasts to Security
The prediction market platform Polymarket launched a new service, Polymarket Perps, offering users (excluding U.S. residents) perpetual contracts with leverage of up to 20x. Trading will be available not only for cryptocurrencies but also for stocks, commodities, and other assets.
Meanwhile, Fidelity analysts issued a warning that August's Bitcoin rally is not a guarantee of the end of the bear cycle. They listed factors that could reverse the market: exiting low volatility, regulatory clarity (including the CLARITY bill and SEC rules), monetary policy, and institutional inflows.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirmed that El Salvador has not used state funds to purchase Bitcoin since June 27, 2025. All accumulated coins came in the form of private donations. The fund also does not expect further BTC accumulation beyond documented amounts.
In the DeFi sector, the Curve DAO community approved funding for the yRisk team, which will handle risk management for crvUSD and Llamalend. This decision followed the incident with the Resupply protocol, which lost about $9.6 million in June due to an attack. yRisk will replace the previous partner LlamaRisk and will receive 125,000 frxUSD and 568,181 CRV.
My view: The launch of Polymarket Perps is a serious bet on the growth of the prediction market, but high leverage increases risks for retail traders. As for Fidelity's statement, it looks balanced — the current growth could be merely a correction within a long-term downtrend rather than the start of a new bull cycle.