CMC Market Pulse: Sideliners in Disbelief

Market Overview 📉

*Data as of 6:45 AM UTC on August 28, 2026.

Bitcoin (BTC) continues its upward trajectory, rising another 5.63% this week, while <a href="https://xpertsstudio.com/tom-lee-sees-ethereum-at-6k-if-bitcoin-reaches-150k/” title=”Tom Lee Sees Ethereum at $6K if Bitcoin Reaches $150K”>Ethereum (ETH) followed in line, rising 5.47% in the same period. Total crypto market cap grew as well, climbing 5.91% to $2.69T.
Weekly liquidations normalized from the prior week’s bloodbath, with the early week skewing towards long liquidations on late market entrants. Despite the rising bullish sentiment, funding rates have interestingly fallen from the prior week, with some majors even falling into negative territory.
📌 Michael Saylor’s Strategy raises its USD Reserve by $300M and repurchases $136M in STRC shares, bringing their total USD Reserve to $5.1B. – Link
📌 Fintech app, Revolut, rolls out their first stablecoin, EURR, a Euro-backed stablecoin issued by Bridge. – Link
📌 JP Morgan is rumored to be exploring a stablecoin of their own, after several pilot projects into the DeFi space. – Link

Why does it matter?

The crypto market continues its bullish push from the previous week, leaving little room for new entrants or sidelined participants to enter. While traditional markets initially saw a move to the downside, an earnings beat by Nvidia appears to have temporarily eased the sell pressure. The S&P 500 is up 0.85% this week, while the Nasdaq is up 0.96% in the same period.

Notable altcoin outperformers this week included Prom (PROM), Dog (Bitcoin) (DOG), Stacks (STX), Official Trump (TRUMP), and Official Melania Meme (MELANIA).
View CMC Gainers & Losers board

Narrative of the Week 📰

Crypto pushes higher amidst disbelief from bearish short positions and sidelined traders, leaving only shallow dips for new entries.

📌 Bitcoin ETFs see more than $1.1B in net inflows this week, with ETH ETFs seeing just over $700M in inflows as well. – Link
📌 Coinbase introduces crypto-backed mortgages, allowing borrowers in the U.S. to pledge Bitcoin for a downpayment, without the need to sell. – Link
📌 Bitcoin indicators flash bullish as spot and futures demand grow together for the first time since October 2025. – Link

Why does it matter?

Despite momentary weakness in traditional equities and a huge macro week, crypto continues to slowly creep higher, bolstered by increasingly bullish sentiment and inflows.

Major Project Updates 🗓️

📌 Hyperliquid activates AQAv2, channeling USDC Reserve Yield to HYPE token buybacks and burns. – Link
📌 Solana pushes forward with two governance proposals seeking to sharply increase SOL burns and cut issuance over the next six years. – Link
📌 Ethena drops major updates, including alignment of token and equity, revenue buyback proposals, removal of monthly unlocks, and a buyout of locked tokens from several major investors. – Link
📌 Hyperliquid liquid staking protocol, Kinetiq, announces Elysium, a chain built for spot trading, to work in line with HyperCore and HyperEVM, using HYPE as its gas token. – Link
📌 Pump.fun now supports HyperEVM, allowing users to trade any HyperEVM token with USDC via their app. – Link

Why does it matter?

Hyperliquid continues to deliver bullish updates through the shift in sentiment upwards, as projects scramble to clean up their tokenomics to reduce any supply overhangs on their respective tokens.

DeFi Brief 🏦

Why does it matter?

Tokenized stocks remain a core focus for large crypto companies like Coinbase, further pushing their utility through integrations with DeFi applications.

Fundraises 💰

📌 Crypto neobank, Fasset, raises $68M in a Series C funding round led by SBI Group, bringing their valuation to $1B. – Link
📌 Privacy infrastructure protocol, Beldex, raises $8M in a funding round led by Sigma Capital, with support from NxGen, New Tribe Capital, Digital Consensus Fund, and EAK Digital. – Link
📌 Pre-IPO perpetuals platform, Entropy, raises $14M in a funding round led by Ribbit Capital. – Link
📌 Decentralized neofinance protocol, City Protocol, raises  $11M in Seed and Pre-A funding rounds, with investors including Dragonfly, CMT Digital, Stratified Capital, Mirana, Jump, and more. – Link

Tweet of the Week 📝

Bear market PTSD got us good huh?

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