AAVE price pulled back on Tuesday, Sept. 24, as on-chain data showed an increase in centralized exchange outflows.
AAVE (AAVE), one of the best-performing DeFi assets recently, retreated to $164.5, down from this week’s high of $178. However, it remains 131% above its lowest level in July.
According to Nansen, AAVE had CEX outflows of over $6.35 million, a 4.96x increase from the recent average. CEX outflows are often seen as positive for a cryptocurrency, as they indicate that investors are moving their tokens to self-custody, signaling long-term holding.
Additional data shows that the top ten biggest accounts bought AAVE tokens worth over $8.4 million, compared to sales worth over $7.8 million. This suggests that more investors remain bullish on AAVE, hoping for a DeFi renaissance.
Meanwhile, according to DeFi Llama, AAVE has accumulated over $12.53 billion in assets, most of which are in its V3 version. Of these assets, $8.09 billion has been borrowed, and the network has collected over $260 million in fees in the last 12 months, making it one of the most profitable DeFi platforms.
AAVE’s future interest has also remained at an elevated level. Data by CoinGlass shows that daily open interest has stayed above $87 million since Aug. 15, reaching a high of $214 million on Sept. 11. Before that, its highest open interest was $124 million on Aug. 2.
On the weekly chart, the AAVE token has been in a strong bullish trend over the past few weeks. It has remained above the ascending trendline that connects the lowest points since June 2022.
AAVE has also flipped the crucial resistance point at $154.21, its highest swing in March this year. It has jumped above the 25-week moving average, while the Relative Strength Index is approaching the overbought level.
Therefore, AAVE may continue its bull run, with buyers targeting the psychological level of $200.
Bitcoin could be on the path to a new all-time high if it breaks out of its reaccumulation phase this Saturday, according to an analyst.
In a Sept. 14 X post, prominent trader Rekt Capital indicated that Bitcoin could soon break out of its reaccumulation range, where it has been trading since early March if historical patterns repeat.
The analyst pointed out that Bitcoin has historically exited its reaccumulation phase between 154 and 161 days after a halving event.
A Bitcoin halving event is when the reward for mining new Bitcoin blocks is cut in half, reducing the rate at which new Bitcoins are created. This occurs once approximately every four years to maintain Bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million.
The latest halving happened on April 20, 2024, 157 days ago—right within the historical window for a potential breakout, according to Rekt Capital.
Bitcoin is now 157 days post-halving event | Source: X/RektCapital
In an earlier X post, the analyst revealed that in both the 2016 and 2020 halving cycles, Bitcoin broke out of its accumulation range after 154 and 161 days, respectively. He clarified that while history doesn’t always follow an exact pattern, the current situation aligns with previous breakout periods.
“History suggests it is ‘Breakout Time’ for Bitcoin,” Rekt Capital said, noting that if the pattern holds, Bitcoin could break from its reaccumulation range within the next few days.
The analysis also pointed out that while September is typically a bearish month for Bitcoin, this cycle has defied expectations.
Since the start of September, Bitcoin (BTC) has increased by 9.8%, climbing from its initial price of $58,147 to reach an intraday high of $63,869 on Sept. 24 at the time of reporting. This rise made it Bitcoin’s best-performing September in over a decade, starkly contrasting to the eight bearish September it has endured in the past 11 years.
Looking ahead, rising institutional interest may also play a crucial role in driving Bitcoin’s price higher over the long haul. Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas expects major Bitcoin ETF issuers like BlackRock to increase their Bitcoin holdings by the end of 2025.
The rationale is that as more investors engage with Bitcoin ETFs, issuers must buy additional Bitcoin to meet demand, further tightening supply.
Bitcoin was exchanging hands at $63,623 at press time, up 7.7% over the past week.
Core has emerged as the largest Bitcoin sidechain as its total value locked surpasses the $400 million mark.
According to data provided by DefiLlama, Core’s (CORE) TVL increased by over $100 million over the past 30 days and is currently sitting at $423 million. This accounts for over 26% of the total TVL across all Bitcoin (BTC) sidechains, per a press release shared with crypto.news.
Core was launched in January 2023 to bring an Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible decentralized finance ecosystem to Bitcoin.
What makes Core unique is its Satoshi Plus consensus — using delegated proof-of-work and delegated proof-of-stake. Per the press release, 55% of the Bitcoin hash rate is keeping the network secure and the DPoS consensus makes it more scalable for decentralized applications.
According to a Messari report on Sept. 17, Core recorded $2.5 in average daily decentralized exchange trading volume in Q2 this year. Moreover, the network recorded an average transaction fee of $0.01 with its total revenue reaching $263,000 in the same timeframe.
Thanks to its DPoS consensus, Core contributors have staked 5,639 BTC, worth roughly $358 million at the reporting time, per the press release. However, the Messari research shows that the Bitcoin sidechain only had 23 validators as of Q2.
Core shared it will launch Liquid Staked Bitcoin for its stakers to benefit from the dApps in the BTCfi ecosystem — such as lending, borrowing and swapping — and get rewards for their participation.
However, the Bitcoin scaling solution did not reveal the exact date of launching LstBTC.
TIA, the native token of the modular blockchain network Celestia, has surged 14% after it announced the commencement of its second funding round.
At press time, Celestia (TIA) was trading at $6.2, having surged to an intraday high of $6.86—marking a rise of over 40% from its weekly low. The token’s daily trading volume doubled from the previous day to $410 million.
TIA 24-hour price chart – Sept. 24 | Source: crypto.news
Meanwhile, its market capitalization reached $1.34 billion, securing its position as the 65th largest cryptocurrency, according to CoinGecko. Following the latest price jump, TIA also gained a top trending status on the crypto data aggregator.
Despite the recent price rally, TIA still has to climb 69.8% to break past its all-time high of $20.85 seen on February.
TIA’s price rally follows a key milestone, with the Celestia Foundation announcing an additional $100 million in funding, bringing its total to $155 million. The funding round coincided with Celestia’s core developer community unveiling the project’s technical roadmap, both of which traders perceived as positive developments.
Eyes on $6.60 resistance level
TIA’s price has now fallen to $6.171, hovering just below the upper Bollinger Band, which is currently at $6.601. This suggests that the token recently encountered resistance near the upper band, leading to a sharp pullback, as indicated by the price being near the middle band.
TIA Bollinger Band and RSI – Setp. 24 | Source: crypto.news
The Relative Strength Index RSI is at 56.87, retreating from overbought levels, which points to weakening bullish momentum. However, the RSI is still above the neutral zone, signaling that there is room for potential upward movement if buyers step in.
If TIA can regain momentum and break above the $6.60 resistance level, it could push higher, with $7 as the next target. In contrast, failure to maintain current support levels could result in a further decline, with the middle Bollinger Band around $4.994 serving as the first support zone. Traders should be cautious of further consolidation or volatility near these key levels.
NEAR Protocol is currently one of the top performers in the market, with bulls aiming to capitalize on the uptrend to break through a key psychological barrier.
Notably, NEAR Protocol (NEAR) has seen a remarkable surge over the past month, gaining nearly 31%. Most of its recent performance came from a notable intraday gain of 14.43%, the largest in over four months.
This came on the back of a partnership between leading AI chipmaker Nvidia and Alibaba, which triggered a favorable reaction from AI tokens.
NEAR is trading at $5.217 at the time of writing, having appreciated by as much as 6.36% over the past 24 hours. The latest upsurge has pushed its market cap to $5.79 billion, with a massive daily trading volume of $890 million.
This surge has driven the asset above the upper Bollinger Band, currently at $5.072. This position suggests that NEAR is in an overbought condition, but confirms the strong bullish momentum in the short term.
In addition, the Commodity Channel Index surged to 224.85 following the recent rally. A CCI reading above 100 is considered overbought. As a result, caution is warranted, as such high readings often precede corrections.
However, following a minor drop this morning, NEAR Protocol retested the upper Bollinger Band and sustained a value above it. This indicates that the bulls are firmly in control of the market at the reporting time.
This momentum could persist if buying pressure continues. NEAR is now facing a critical juncture as it approaches resistance levels at $5.469 and $6.301.
The $6 psychological level represents a major target for bulls. However, the last time NEAR approached $6, it faced strong resistance at $5.9, resulting in ten consecutive days of losses.
For the bulls to breach this level, NEAR would need to consolidate above $5.469 and maintain its current momentum. Failure to break past $5.469 could see a retracement to the Pivot level support at $4.954 or further down to $4.121.
Polymarket plans to raise $50 million and is exploring a potential token launch as the on-chain betting platform grows.
According to a report from The Information citing anonymous sources, Polymarket will raise $50 million in fresh funding and could introduce a token that would “validate the outcome of real-world events.”
Launched in 2020, Polymarket emerged as a prominent player in the prediction market space this year, with its smart contracts running on the Polygon blockchain. It allows users to bet on the outcomes of various events, from sports to geopolitical tensions, with the U.S. presidential election drawing particular attention with nearly $1 billion wagered.
Data from DeFi Llama shows that Polymarket now holds over $121 million in total value locked, with its growth accelerating even further following mentions from major outlets such as Bloomberg and CNN, with the former even integrating Polymarket data into its election terminal.
The New York-based company is now considering offering investors warrants for future token purchases as part of the funding round, but it isn’t clear whether investors will receive equity, token warrants, or both if the token issuance plan moves forward.
The potential token could serve as a tool for users to validate real-world event outcomes, according to the sources, though the details of how this would function weren’t clarified. It is also unclear whether the token would replace or supplement Polymarket’s current use of the UMA Protocol, which resolves market outcomes via community votes.
Earlier this year, the company raised $70 million across two previous rounds, including a $45 million Series B led by Founders Fund, a venture capital firm started by billionaire Peter Thiel.
Polymarket’s expansion plan surfaces as U.S. regulators have taken a firm stance against election betting contracts, arguing that it may influence outcomes. CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam recently commented on the situation, warning that platforms offering offshore election betting to U.S. customers would face enforcement action if found violating U.S. law.
Currently, U.S. residents are blocked from accessing the platform as a part of a 2022 settlement with the CFTC, but some reports suggest that American users have been bypassing these restrictions using VPNs.
In related news, the on-chain prediction market continues to grow, with Wintermute, a prominent cryptocurrency market maker, announcing plans to launch OutcomeMarket, a multi-chain platform focused on U.S. election betting.
The total value locked in decentralized finance protocols has reached its one-month high as the broader crypto market recovers.
According to data provided by DefiLlama, the global DeFi TVL is currently sitting at $87.3 billion — a level last seen on Aug. 27. The weekly trading volume, however, declined by 2.2% in the last seven days and is hovering at $23 billion.
Top 10 DeFi protocols – Sept. 23 | Source: DefiLlama
Notably, the DeFi TVL plunged to $75 billion on Sept. 7 for the first time since late February.
Data shows that the top 10 leading DeFi protocols have all recorded bullish momentum over the past week.
Lido’s TVL surpassed the $25 billion mark after a 13% rise in seven days. AAVE witnessed a quite similar movement and its TVL surged to $12.4 billion. EigenLayer secured the third spot with a TVL of $12.2 billion.
Moreover, Lido DAO (LDO) and Aave (AAVE) — the native tokens of the top two protocols — rose by 1.5% and 7.8% in the past 24 hours, respectively. LDO is currently trading at $1.15 and AAVE surpassed $170.
Ethena lost the 10th spot to Pendle after its TVL decreased by 3% over the past week.
The total value locked in DeFi is still down over 50% from it’s November 2021 high near $188 billion.
The global cryptocurrency market capitalization rose from $2.14 trillion to $2.31 trillion over the past week, according to data from CoinGecko. Most of the gains were recorded on Sept. 18 as the U.S. Federal Reserve cut its interest rates by 50 basis points.
AAVE, the second player in decentralized finance, has done well this year, jumping to its highest point since 2022.
AAVE (AAVE) has soared to a high of $160, up by almost 120% from its lowest point this year, bringing its valuation to over $2.5 billion.
AAVE’s DeFi TVL has jumped
The token has done well, helped by the substantial increase in assets in its network. Data showsthat its total value locked in the ecosystem, has jumped to over $12.1 billion.
This growth makes it the second-biggest player in DeFi after Lido, which has over $25 billion in staked assets. It is followed by EigenLayer, Ether.fi, and JustLend.
AAVE’s growth has also led to substantial fees in the network. According to TokenTerminal, the total fees in the ecosystem this year stands at over $287 million, making it the third most profitable players in DeFi after Lido and Uniswap.
Rising whale activity helped AAVE jump in price over the past few months. For example, several whales have made substantial purchases, and currently account for most of the holders followed by investors and retail.
Data by Nansen shows that, while the number of smart money has retreated slightly recently, it remains significantly higher than June’s low of 71. The total balance held by these investors has held steady at 439,000.
The biggest smart money holds over 25,000 AAVE tokens worth $4 million plus other coins like Ethereum (ETH), Pepe (PEPE), Ondo Finance, and Beam.
AAVE has also jumped as the Federal Reserve starts cutting interest rates. In its meeting on Wednesday, the bank decided to slash interest rates by 0.50% and hinted that more were coming. Lower interest rates may lead to more inflows into lending platforms like AAVE and JustLend.
AAVE’s jump also happened after the coin formed a golden cross pattern in July as the 50-day and 200-day exponential moving averages crossed each other.
It has continued to form a series of higher highs and higher lows. Also, the coin has flipped key resistance at $150 into a support level. It has also jumped above the important point at $153.68, its highest point in March this year.
Most importantly, AAVE has formed a cup and handle pattern, a popular continuation sign.
Therefore, as the analyst below noted, there are chances that the token will continue rising as the DeFi comeback continues. If this happens, the next point to watch will be at $170.
$AAVE is trading at the highest level since May 2022 and seems to be breaking out from a 2 year consolidation pattern.
Despite significant investment and real technical advancements, today’s crypto custody solutions remain stubbornly anchored in the past. Whether it’s vendors like Web3Auth providing “Wallets as a Service” using multi-party compute or “smart wallets” like Argent—everyone wants it to be easier to custody, recover, and use crypto. And yet, custody still feels stuck in 2021. The reality of adoption has been mostly disappointing.
The convenience conundrum
Traditional finance, despite its flaws, continues to offer unrivaled convenience and peace of mind (at least in middle and high-income countries). Forgot your password? Send a quick reset link to your Gmail. Hit with unauthorized charges? Dispute them with ease and freeze your card through the mobile app.
These safeguards let you engage confidently with the TradFi ecosystem, but they’re virtually absent in the crypto world (outside of risky centralized parties like now-bankrupt Celsius). Managing private keys and securing transactions is complex and unforgiving, demanding a level of tech-savviness that most users simply don’t possess. It’s harder to use crypto than to buy it—which is already hard enough to discourage many people in the first place. The result? Crypto has seen more adoption in gambling than a better version of finance for everyday life that people can use (savings, lending, borrowing).
As the primary access point to crypto, custody solutions need to offer more utility beyond simply holding assets. Users need to feel confident engaging with the DeFi ecosystem.
TVL is not usage
Consider Gnosis Safe, now rebranded as Safe. This platform is the industry leader for controlling funds and making transactions while separating the private key requirements of an account (including even requiring multiple signers to approve a transaction). However, despite having over $100 billion in assets stored within these Safes, their potential remains woefully underutilized.
Over 5,000 Safes are created each month on Ethereum mainnet alone, but these Safes are predominantly used for crypto cold storage rather than active DeFi interaction. These smart contract-based accounts allow users to rotate their keys or have a friend be required to confirm any time these assets are moved.
Ideally, these Safes should become the main way the creator/owners/signers of the Safe interact with DeFi. Over 100 apps (including custom transaction builders and useful DAO tools) exist to make Safes easier to use directly in a standard browser. However, despite these tools, many users still rely on their Externally Owned Accounts—accounts that are secured by a private key and are inherently risky—when interacting with DeFi. Whether it’s buying an NFT on Blur, swapping on Uniswap, depositing to MakerDAO, repaying an Aave (AAVE) loan, or simply sending tokens to a friend, people often create Safes with their EOAs and then continue to use their EOAs—a risky practice firmly rooted in 2021.
The data is telling: excluding raw Ethereum (ETH) (which isn’t an ERC20 token) for Ethereum Mainnet specifically, 99.4% – 99.9% of token transfer volume (in USD terms) happens via a Safe Creator’s EOA, not their Safe! This isn’t just a statistic; it’s a glaring indictment of the industry’s current approach to combining utility and security through crypto custody.
Raw ETH usage may be a positive sign
To put this into a broader perspective, consider how blockchains are used today. Raw ETH, not being a token contract, is typically “wrapped” into Wrapped Ether (WETH) via a 1:1 smart contract to enable it to be more easily used in DeFi. Yet, less than 3% of Ethereum supply is wrapped. A disproportionate amount of activity in crypto is basic peer-to-peer sendings of the native asset, and only a sliver of human-operated addresses actually interact with DeFi protocols.
Unlike DeFi tokens, we do see Safe creators navigating raw ETH via their Safes. Comparing raw ETH transfer volume between Safes and Creator EOAs we not only see an increasing pattern for Safes, but as of May 2024, Safes are seeing more raw ETH usage than the EOAs that created them to the tune of nearly $2 billion worth of monthly volume on just Ethereum mainnet alone.
The path forward: Simplification at the custody, not protocol, level
To be clear, there has been real progress in protecting users since 2021, especially at the wallet layer with projects like Rabby, Rainbow, Coinbase Wallet, and the industry leader Metamask heavily focused on preventing user losses via transaction simulation, approval management, and warnings for potentially malicious contracts. However, these still operate on the framework of users managing private keys that control their funds 1:1.
The industry is experimenting (and investing) heavily in alternatives to this framework, including proposals to: give your account to a smart contract (EIP-3074), turn your account into a smart contract (EIP-7702), abstracting how transactions are themselves created and managed (EIP-4337). These “account abstraction” projects differ in complexity and assumptions and require changes to Ethereum itself.
Striving for widespread consensus on a single, complex, one-size-fits-all solution—such as the notion that “all wallets should simply agree to use the same singleton contract”—is likely a dead end. Instead, the industry should focus on practical UX solutions that can be readily adopted without every app generating an Nth wallet for a user or fiddling (too much) with the inner workings of Ethereum.
The good news is we’re trending in the right direction. More L2s come online every week, lowering the cost of DeFi. The industry is tired of hearing about infrastructure and having more hard conversations on organic user growth instead of airdrop farmers. Apps are launching more mobile native experiences, including integrating wallets as a service and social recovery. The mission for a decentralized, robust, permissionless, censorship-resistant alternative to the modern financial system(s) is alive and well.
