Why crypto markets just rebounded
There’s never a dull moment on the blockchain. Here’s what you need to know this week:
Bitcoin rebounded above $90K. Also, asset management giant Vanguard is now allowing clients access to crypto ETFs.
What you need to know about Ethereum’s latest upgrade. The “Fusaka” upgrade is one of the network’s most significant in years.
Cantor Fitzgerald opened a new position in Solana. See how much, and more key stats from around the cryptoverse.
MARKET BYTES
After worst day since March, crypto markets regained ground
Crypto’s wild Q4 ride continued this week, with BTC seeing its worst day since March on Monday, followed by a significant rebound for most major tokens on Tuesday. It was such a sharp turnaround that a CNBC headline wondered, “Is the crypto winter over or just starting?”
As of Tuesday, BTC was up almost 7% for the day, breaking $92,000; ETH was up more than 8%, breaking $3,000; and a variety of other tokens also saw spikes. Prices remained close to these levels by Wednesday afternoon.
Over the past week, major crypto ETFs have also rebounded, adding around $1 billion in new capital, according to CoinShares’ latest report.
What do analysts think boosted markets on Tuesday and what might happen next? Here’s what you need to know…
Why did prices begin to rebound on Tuesday?
Just under two months ago, BTC was celebrating a new all-time high north of $126,000 and a total crypto market cap of around $4.4 trillion. In the weeks since, prices have seesawed wildly as the crypto market has shed more than a trillion dollars in value.
On Monday, another sharp dip had some market watchers wondering if a prolonged “crypto winter” was settling in, only for prices to rebound substantially on Tuesday.
Helping drive the revival were a variety of factors, including rebounding inflows for crypto ETFs, the news that Vanguard will allow crypto ETFs on its platform, a major update for the Ethereum network (more on this below), and increased optimism that the Fed will continue to cut interest rates at next week’s meeting.
Positive sentiment… “It seems to be a combination of industry specific headlines and crypto catching up to the broader market that is driving this strong price activity,” said Jasper De Maere, desk strategist at Wintermute.
Asset management giant Vanguard now allows clients access to crypto ETFs
One of the major drivers of historically high crypto prices over the past couple of years has been the rise of exchange-traded funds that buy BTC, ETH, and other tokens and sell shares via conventional stock markets.
But until this week, Vanguard Group, the world's second biggest asset manager after BlackRock, hadn’t allowed crypto ETFs to be traded on its platform.
“Persistent demand — retail and institutional — has spurred Vanguard’s about-face,” reports Bloomberg. “Vanguard’s shift, which follows a late-September report that the firm was weighing the move, opens access for more than 50 million brokerage customers, who collectively oversee over $11 trillion.”
In related news, Bank of America is offering wealth-management clients access to several crypto funds, and suggests that clients consider a one-to-four percent allocation.
Money maker… BlackRock’s BTC ETFs are now the firm’s top revenue source, according to a new report — a remarkable stat given that the company has more than 1,400 different ETFs and is the world’s largest financial firm, with more than $13 trillion under management.
ETH UPDATE (LITERALLY)
Everything you need to know about Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade
Like the rest of the crypto market, ETH has struggled since early October, and is now down more than 40% from its October high.
But investors have their eye on an event that some suggest has the potential to begin turning things around: Ethereum’s new “Fusaka” upgrade, which, at the time of publication, was expected to go live on Wednesday afternoon.
The upgrade has been billed as a major step forward for Ethereum’s future performance, leading some analysts to suggest it could contribute to a price rebound for ETH.
Here’s what you need to know.
What is the Fusaka upgrade?
Fusaka, which actually combines two separate upgrades (called Fulu and Osaka), is broadly intended to allow Ethereum to more efficiently process large batches of transactions from layer-2 “rollup” networks like Base and Arbitrum.
Quick refresher: Layer-2 networks are blockchains built on top of the main Ethereum blockchain that allow for speedier and cheaper transactions. You can think of them as being kind of like HOV lanes on a highway. Large numbers of L2 transactions are batched together and then posted to the main ETH blockchain using a process called “rollups.”
The upgrade consists of 12 code changes aimed at making using layer-2 rollup networks even faster and cheaper than they already are, which should help the entire Ethereum network scale.
They include the introduction of a “floor” price on gas fees for recording data related to layer-2 transactions; the introduction of “Danksharding,” which increases ETH’s capacity to process transaction data; and UX improvements that allow users to sign transactions more easily.
“The main thing Fusaka does is it provides much more space for rollups,“ said Dankrad Feist, co-lead of the protocol architecture team at the Ethereum Foundation. “They will have much more ability to scale based on this, like they can provide a lot more capacity to the users. Correspondingly, the transaction costs will go down.”
Why is Fusaka significant?
Fusaka represents the second major upgrade for ETH of 2025, and the 17th major upgrade to the protocol over its decade of existence.
In terms of significance, Fusaka could rival “The Merge” — the 2022 upgrade that enabled ETH staking — Feist says. Fusaka, according to a recent analysis from Decrypt, represents a total redesign of how ETH manages data availability, gas prices, and network security.
The introduction of danksharding, for example, means that instead of Ethereum’s blockchain having to download all transaction data it receives from layer-2 networks, only one-eighth of that data will now need to be verified to confirm a transaction, which speeds up transaction processing, lowers fees, and theoretically means ETH can now support eight times as much data output.
What could Fusaka mean for ETH’s future?
According to a recent report from Fidelity Digital Assets, the Fusaka upgrade represents a major step for the Ethereum Foundation in terms of how it executes the blockchain’s roadmap.
Instead of network upgrades focusing on broad priorities, Fusaka is narrowly focused on scalability, usability, and economic sustainability. The setting of a floor price on gas fees, for example, helps create consistent blockchain revenue even during times of low demand, helping ensure ETH’s economic stability.
“The Fusaka upgrade shows that the protocol is optimizing its products, asserting pricing power, and aligning incentives across stakeholders,” the report said. “For investors, this is arguably the most compelling upgrade in years and potentially the beginning of a new era for ETH as a cash-flowing, economically sustainable asset.”
What could Fusaka mean for ETH’s price?
After the Pectra upgrade this past spring, ETH saw a 40% gain in just three days. But with the crypto market at large still facing headwinds, it's unclear if Fusaka will be enough to reverse ETH’s price trend.
Still, the ETH treasury firm Bitmine Immersion Technologies, run by Tom Lee, bought 96,798 ETH last week, citing the Fusaka upgrade as part of the reasoning behind the purchase’s timing.
Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan is also bullish on Fusaka’s potential because of the way it allows ETH to capture more of the revenue generated from layer-2 transactions. “I suspect the market will start to orient around the positive impacts of Fusaka soon, particularly if it's delivered Dec. 3 as expected,” Hougan said. “It’s an under-appreciated catalyst and one reason ETH could lead the crypto rebound.”
NUMBERS TO KNOW
$11 billion
The valuation of prediction market platform Kalshi after securing a new $1 billion funding round. Kalshi overtook Polymarket in betting volume last quarter, reaching $4.47 billion in volume versus Polymarket’s $3.5 billion.
$1 billion
The market capitalization that Ripple’s stablecoin, RLUSD, surpassed last week, less than a year after its launch. RLUSD is now the 10th largest stablecoin by market cap, and around 80% of its supply is concentrated on Ethereum.
114 million
The amount of users reported by Klarna, the by-now-pay-later platform. Klarna announced this week that they’ll be launching a stablecoin, KlarnaUSD, that will be built atop Tempo, the payments-focused blockchain being built by Stripe.
$1.28 million
The size of a position that investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald has opened in Solana, via ETF products, according to recent filings. Analysts say the position highlights how asset managers are experimenting to see how much investor appetite exists beyond BTC and ETH products.
TOKEN TRIVIA
When was Ethereum originally launched?
A
2009
B
2013
C
2015
D
2017
在下面查找答案。
琐事答案
C
2015
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