Sam Reynolds
6 min read
Welcome to Asia Morning Briefing, a daily summary of top stories during U.S. hours and an overview of market moves and analysis. For a detailed overview of U.S. markets, see CoinDesk's Crypto Daybook Americas.
As Asia begins its Thursday business day, ETH is trading at $2,770.
ETH is up almost 11% this month, according to CoinDesk market data, outperforming BTC, which rose 5%.
Part of this could be because of institutional trading demand, and the fact that it's overtaken BTC in derivatives markets as sophisticated investors increasingly bet on ETH’s structural growth and role as a gateway between decentralized finance (DeFi) and traditional finance (TradFi), OKX Chief Commercial Officer Lennix Lai told CoinDesk in an interview.
"Ethereum is overshadowing BTC on our perpetual futures market, with ETH accounting for 45.2% of trading volume over the past week. BTC, by comparison, sits at 38.1%," Lai said.
This is a similar finding to what's occurring on Derebit, CoinDesk recently reported.
That's not to say that institutions have taken a disinterest in BTC. Far from it.
A recent report from Glassnode shows that despite BTC's recent volatility, institutions are happily buying up the dips.
Long-term holders (LTHs) realized over $930 million in profits per day during recent rallies, Glassnode wrote, rivaling distribution levels seen at previous cycle peaks. Yet, instead of triggering a cascade of selling, the LTH supply actually grew.
“This dynamic highlights that maturation and accumulation pressures are outweighing distribution behavior,” Glassnode analysts wrote, noting that this is “highly atypical for late-stage bull markets.”
Neither, however, are immune to geopolitical risk or black swan events like the Trump-Musk blowout.
These episodes serve as reminders that sentiment can shift quickly, even in structurally strong markets. But beneath the surface-level volatility, institutional conviction remains intact. ETH is emerging as the vehicle of choice for accessing regulated DeFi, while BTC continues to benefit from long-term accumulation by institutions via ETFs.
"Macro uncertainties remain, but $3,000 ETH looks increasingly likely,” Lai concluded.
The stablecoin market just hit an all-time high of $228 billion, up 17% year-to-date, according to a new CryptoQuant report.
That surge in dollar-pegged liquidity, driven by renewed investor confidence showcased by the blockbuster Circle IPO, rising DeFi yields, and improving U.S. regulatory clarity, is quietly redrawing the map of where capital lives on-chain.
