Bitcoin Rally is Fun, but Don't Overlook RWAs: Crypto Daybook Americas

By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)

Bitcoin (BTC) remains in an uptrend, despite the overnight pullback. The world's largest cryptocurrency is on fire, having rallied nearly 10% in one week.

While the buzz around BTC is natural, other sub-sectors, such as real-world assets (RWAs), are lighting up big time and deserve attention.

On Monday, Ondo Finance, one of the top five RWA projects by market value, announced the acquisition of Oasis Pro, a U.S. firm with full SEC broker-dealer, ATS, and Transfer Agent licenses.

The takeover enables Ondo to offer compliant tokenized securities products in the U.S., including the issuance, trading, and management of tokenized assets such as equities, corporate debt, and structured products. The ONDO token rose nearly 5% to 96 cents, while continuing to trade well below its December 2024 peak of $2.14.

In a parallel development, the RWA-focused Layer 2 blockchain, Plume Network, said that it has been registered by the SEC as a transfer agent.

The license allows Plume to manage digital securities and shareholder records directly onchain, supporting interoperability with the U.S. Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) settlement network. The network's native token (PLUME) rose by 25% to over 12 cents on the announcement.

Taken together, these announcements signal that the digitization and tokenization of traditional assets are gaining regulated traction, bridging the gap between traditional finance and blockchain innovation.

In other news, Cathie Wood’s ARK Venture Fund invested about $10 million in Securitize, a BlackRock-backed tokenization firm. The stake makes it ARK’s eighth-largest holding.

Speaking of the market outlook, the path of least resistance for BTC remains on the higher side, supported by ETF inflows. However, there is an interesting point to consider: Each of the previous times ETFs pulled in $1 billion or more in a day or two, bitcoin's price put in an interim top and subsequently corrected lower, according to CoinDesk analyst James Straten.

Additionally, the dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against major currencies, remains resilient despite discussions of faster Fed rate cuts against the backdrop of the U.S. government shutdown.

A potential rally in the greenback could weigh on cryptocurrencies and gold. The latter is fast closing on the $4,000 mark, a rally that has likes of Citadel concerned. Stay alert!

What to Watch

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's "Crypto Week Ahead".

CryptoNothing scheduled.MacroOct. 7, 10:05 a.m.: Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle W. Bowman delivers welcoming remarks at the 2025 Community Banking Research Conference, St. Louis, Mo. Watch live.Oct. 7, 10:30 a.m.: Conversation with Fed Governor Stephen I. Miran at the Managed Funds Association (MFA) Policy Outlook 2025 in New York. Watch live.Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)Nothing scheduled.

Token Events

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's "Crypto Week Ahead".

Governance votes & callsGnosis DAO is voting on GIP-138 to fund NodeSentinel, a validator monitoring tool used by 94 operators for 60k+ validators. Voting ends Oct. 7.UnlocksNo major unlocks.Token LaunchesOct. 7: KGeN (KGEN) to be listed on Binance, MEXC, BingX, KuCoin, and others.Oct. 7: Klink Finance (KLINK) to be listed on Binance, KuCoin, and others.

Conferences

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's "Crypto Week Ahead".

Day 2 of 2: London Fintech SummitDay 1 of 2: FinTech LIVE London 2025

Token Talk

By Oliver Knight

Plasma's XPL token shrugged off last week's negative sentiment on Tuesday, rising by more than 11% as it approaches the $1.00 mark after sliding to $0.87 on Monday.The project battled criticism over alleged founding team token sales, a claim founder Paul Faecks adamantly refuted last week.There was also complaints about the Plasma team following links to the less-than-impressive layer 2 network Blast."Of our team of 50, three spent time at Blur or Blast," Faecks wrote on X. "Our team members also come from Google, Facebook, Square, Temasek, Goldman Sachs, and Nuvei. To say our team is 'ex-Blast' is to say it is 'ex' any of these firms. We are proud of the team we've assembled at Plasma."Now, with the negative sentiment in Plasma's rear-view mirror, the stablecoin-focused blockchain is beginning to find its groove, bolstered by $5.1 billion in total value locked (TVL), $1.2 billion of which is in the Plasma Savings Vault protocol.Attention on the XPL token is also rising as daily trading volume jumped by more than 90% on Tuesday to $5 billion.

Derivatives Positioning

BNB is leading growth in futures open interest in most major tokens, including bitcoin, a sign of continued capital inflows into the market.One concerning sign: OI in non-serious token FARTCOIN has risen by over 12% in the past 24 hours. That typically represents froth, often observed at interim market tops.Volatility in XRP may increase, as open interest in USD- and USDT-denominated perpetuals listed on major exchanges has surged to 938 million XRP, the highest level since late July.Despite BTC hovering close to record highs, the market doesn't look overheated. Annualized funding rates most tokens, including memecoins, remain at around 10%.On the CME, BTC open interest has seen a modest bounce to three-week highs, but remains well below 211K BTC in December last year. Meanwhile, ether OI has hit a record high of 2.2 million ETH.On Deribit, traders are chasing BTC bull call spreads, with some taking profits in long call positions and moving to higher strike bets. Overall, calls still appear cheap relative to puts.

Market Movements

BTC is down 0.84% from 4 p.m. ET Monday at $124,220.89 (24hrs: +0.27%)ETH is down 0.17%at $4,683.25 (24hrs: +2.58%)CoinDesk 20 is down 1.09% at 4,360.28 (24hrs: +0.43%)Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is up 3 bps at 2.85%BTC funding rate is at 0.0076% (8.3132% annualized) on BinanceDXY is up 0.34% at 98.44Gold futures are unchanged at $3,978.10Silver futures are down 0.57% at $48.17Nikkei 225 closed unchanged at 47,950.88Hang Seng closed down 0.67% at 26,957.77FTSE is unchanged at 9,479.43Euro Stoxx 50 is unchanged at 5,627.61DJIA closed on Monday down 0.14% at 46,694.97S&P 500 closed up 0.36% at 6,740.28Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.71% at 22,941.67S&P/TSX Composite closed up 0.2% at 30,531.88S&P 40 Latin America closed down 0.86% at 2,877.42U.S. 10-Year Treasury rate is up 0.6 bps at 4.168%E-mini S&P 500 futures are unchanged at 6,785.25E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are unchanged at 25,186.00E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index are down 0.17% at 46,878.00

Bitcoin Stats

BTC Dominance: 58.82% (-0.17%)Ether to bitcoin ratio: 0.03768 (0.29%)Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 1,022 EH/sHashprice (spot): $52.18Total Fees: 4.41 BTC / $550,867CME Futures Open Interest: 147,835 BTCBTC priced in gold: 31.2 ozBTC vs gold market cap: 8.80%

Technical Analysis

ETH jumped to $4,740, marking an upside break of a counter-trend consolidation identified by trendlines connecting Aug. 24 and Sept. 13 highs and lows on Sept. 1 and Sept. 25. The breakout points to resumption of the broader uptrend, and scope for record highs. On the downside, Monday's low of $4,489 is the level to beat for the bears. That would invalidate the bullish breakout.

Crypto Equities

Coinbase Global (COIN): closed on Monday at $386.07 (+1.59%), -1.44% at $380.51 in pre-marketCircle Internet (CRCL): closed at $148.51 (+1.87%), +1.96% at $151.42Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $38.84 (+7.41%), +2.70% at $2.70%Bullish (BLSH): closed at $68.79 (+6.14%), -0.36% at $68.54MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $20.57 (+9.3%), -1.12% at $20.34Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $21.56 (+10.91%), -0.42% at $21.47Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $17.91 (+0.51%), +0.28% at $17.96CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $17.43 (+9.35%), +0.75% at $17.56CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $52.29 (+8.51%), +1.36% at $53.00Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $31.7 (+5.46%), -3.03% at $30.74

Crypto Treasury Companies

Strategy (MSTR): closed at $359.69 (+2.29%), -1.58% at $354.00Semler Scientific (SMLR): closed at $30.75 (+0.62%)SharpLink Gaming (SBET): closed at $19.24 (+5.83%), -0.73% at $19.10Upexi (UPXI): closed at $7.7 (+3.49%), -2.6% at $7.50Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $2.6 (+1.56%), -0.77% at $2.58

ETF Flows

Spot BTC ETFs

Daily net flow: $1,190 millionCumulative net flows: $61.20 billionTotal BTC holdings ~ 1.34 million

Spot ETH ETFs

Daily net flow: $176.6 millionCumulative net flows: $14.61 billionTotal ETH holdings ~ 6.75 million

Source: Farside Investors

While You Were Sleeping

FOMOing into Bitcoin? Check Out These Bullish BTC Plays Favored by Analysts (CoinDesk): Analysts highlight out-of-the-money and put-financed call spreads as cost-efficient ways to stay bullish on bitcoin’s rally while limiting downside exposure at record price levels.U.S. Bitcoin ETFs Log $1B Inflows Again, a Level That’s Marked Local Tops Six Times Before (CoinDesk): U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs saw $1.2 billion in inflows Monday, mostly into IBIT, now managing nearly $100 billion. Historically, such $1 billion surges have coincided with short-term bitcoin peaks.NYSE Owner Near Deal for $2 Billion Stake in Polymarket (The Wall Street Journal): Intercontinental Exchange's planned move would give Polymarket major institutional backing and help the crypto-based betting platform rebuild its U.S. foothold after past regulatory battles.Uniswap, Aave Lead DeFi’s Fee Rebound to $600M as Buybacks Take Center Stage (CoinDesk): Uniswap, Aave and Ethena are driving decentralized finance’s revenue recovery as protocols shift toward buybacks and fee-sharing models designed to strengthen tokenholder value and project sustainability.MetaMask Confirms $30M Rewards Program, Links to Future Token (CoinDesk): The program rewards active users with $30 million in LINEA tokens and various other perks to drive adoption of the Linea blockchain and MetaMask’s mUSD stablecoin.