Bybit: On-Chain Transaction of Stablecoin Soars to ATH, Cardano Fixed Date for Vasil Upgrade

Chart of the Day 

Over the weekend, major cryptocurrencies remained in a tight trading range, with BTC struggling to stay atop the $20k threshold and ETH inching slowly towards the $1,600 handle. As of the time of writing, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap is still below the $20k mark and the 100-hour moving average after posting a marginal gain over the last 24 hours. The technical outlook for BTC remains negative, as the triumphs of bears at critical resistance levels continue to thrash breakout attempts. The RSI on the hourly chart plunges below the normal line, while other key indicators lose pace in the bullish zones and begin to dive along the spot price. Bybit Blog reports.

ETH maintained a similar level of price stasis on Saturday, but has since been slowly inching towards the $1,600 level after a 1.4% increase in the same period. The Bellatrix Upgrade scheduled on Sept. 6 would likely provide some tailwinds to the ETH’s price action, in addition to setting the final Merge in process. Most major altcoins are largely in the green, with LINK and SAND leading the pack on 5% percentage gains over a similar time frame.

Meanwhile, the adjusted on-chain transaction volume of stablecoins has jumped by 33% in August, reaching an all-time high of $866.2 billion. The increase in transaction volume may be related to the Tornado Cash sanction by the U.S. Treasury.

Back to (the) Futures 

The leverage ratio of BTC futures across all exchanges remains elevated, suggesting that the derivatives market still heavily leans towards the short side. Funding rates in general see an uptick, but the value is still trapped in the negative territory as sentiments continue to dampen after BTC dipped below the $20k threshold, which is also a critical level to watch in the options market. Put skew has been steadily rising, but the implied volatility has yet not picked up amid dismal macroeconomic conditions. Merge-related ETH options positions are still open, but the lack of enthusiasm at the late stage may suggest some degree of hesitancy towards the Merge euphoria.

Talk of the Town 

After multiple delays, the Vasil upgrade on the Cardano network now has a final date. The Input Output Labs announced last Friday that the much-anticipated upgrade has met its criteria of successful completion, extensive testing, and community readiness, and will take place on Sept. 22. The Vasil upgrade is a hard fork upgrade that aims to increase the Cardano network’s efficiency and scalability, while keeping transaction costs low. The price of Cardano’s token, ADA, has seen a 14% boost in the last seven days, on the back of the anticipation of the upgrade, and its recent listing on popular brokerage Robinhood.

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