ARP's Crypto Digest

General Digital Asset Market View:

On September 20, Bitcoin ETFs recorded inflows of $92 million. Bitcoin ETFs ended the week with total inflows of $397.2 million. 

What’s particularly interesting about the past few weeks is the lack of actual interest in the largest Bitcoin ETF — BlackRock’s IBIT. It has seen only one day of positive flows since August 26, which occurred on September 15. There have been two days of net outflows within the same timeframe, while all other trading days saw no reportable action.

In contrast, Fidelity’s FBTC has attracted impressive amounts on September 17 ($56.6 million), September 19 ($49.9 million), and September 20 (26.1 million). Ark Invest’s ARKB and Bitwise’s BITB have also seen impressive flows in the past few weeks.

More Crypto:

CME’s open interest has surged after the FOMC. CME’s open interest currently sits at 2-month highs of 161,000 BTC. Non-ETF-related flows dominate the recent surge on CME, with active market participants increasing their exposure by 17,360 BTC in the past week, nearing ATHs.

CME Bitcoin futures net short positions have declined significantly, dropping 75% over the past five months. This shift signals a notable change in institutional trading behavior, coinciding with a period of steady Bitcoin prices between $54,000 and $63,000. The data reflects a reduction in aggressive shorting by institutions from February to March.

What Happened This Week:

• The liquidation process for Terraform Labs has begun and is expected to pay out between $184.5m — $442.2m to crypto investors and other stakeholders.

• Polkadot announced the release of Agile Coretime, an important product that paves the way for Polkadot 2.0 upgrades.

• Federal Reserve cuts interest rates by 50bps for the first time in 4 years.

• Celestia announced that the Lemongrass update is now live. Lemongrass introduces 1-click interactions over IBC, interchain accounts, and more.

• SEC approved options on Blackrock Spot Bitcoin ETF.

What to Look Out For:

• MEXC Ventures, Foresight Ventures, and Mirana Ventures have announced a joint fund to support projects within the Aptos ecosystem.

• Linear Finance has teased a big announcement of a new game-changing product.

• MANTRA Chain announced the launch of its mainnet in October.

• Floki teased a marketing announcement on X Space , Sept 24 at 4pm (UTC).

What we enjoyed reading and listening to:

• Massive breakthrough in AI intelligence: OpenAI passes IQ 120 — Link

• Why Korean Gamers Resist Blockchain — Link

• AI-Powered Prediction Market Oracles — Link

• The Deaf ETH L2 Debate: Why We’re Missing the Real Issue — Link

• How Sequoia Capital’s Roelof Botha is forging the future — Link

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