Market Cap ATH Kicks Off the Week
Olivia Capozzalo & Denis Omelchenko
August 11, 2025
Happy Monday, Defiers!
Today’s big story:
- Total crypto market cap broke a new record, while BTC is over $120,000 and ETH surged above $4,300
In other news:
- Strategy marks its 5-year Bitcoin buying anniversary with a 155 BTC purchase
- ALT5 Sigma Corporation is looking to raise $1.5B and initiate the first WLFI treasury
- Pendle’s token soared 36% in a week alongside the rest of DeFi
- Experts say Trump’s 401(k) crypto EO is bullish, but implementation could take years
- With the SEC case closed, Ripple is emerging with a surprisingly coherent, enterprise-friendly tokenization stack [Issue #7 of Real World]
- Last week’s verdict against Tornado Cash signals that crypto developers may face increased legal risks when working on one of the areas the industry arguably needs most: privacy.
- DeFi Saver: Elevating DeFi excellence with game-changing features [SPONSORED]
- Exploring Stellar Flipside Quests: Earn, learn and contribute on the blockchain [SPONSORED]
Read more below! But first, please give our sponsors some love; they make this newsletter possible.
Coinspect delivers full-stack security for web3 builders. We uncover critical vulnerabilities others miss, letting you innovate confidently, ship faster, and safeguard users, assets, and reputation through industry-trusted services.
Mezo Mainnet is live! Mint MUSD — Bitcoin-backed, dollar-pegged, and fully permissionless. BTC is finally productive. Start borrowing today at mezo.org/overview
Mezo Enables Borrowing Against Your Bitcoin with 1% Fixed-Rate Loans
Selling Bitcoin to pay for real-world expenses means facing taxes and losing future upside. Mezo enables users to borrow against their Bitcoin at a 1-5% fixed APR with a highly efficient 110% collateral minimum.
Lock your BTC to mint MUSD, a fully Bitcoin-backed stablecoin, and access instant liquidity without selling your stack or facing capital gains tax. Fund a down payment, pay for groceries, or deploy into DeFi. Our latest deep dive explores how this new circular economy works, from its sustainable incentive model to powerful real-world examples.
Read more: Mezo: Building a Global Economy on Bitcoin
We’re back! Here’s what you need to know in web3 today
📈 Markets in the Last 24 Hours
| TICKER | VALUE | 24H | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Bitcoin | $120,205 | 1.21 % |
 | Ethereum | $4,315.83 | 2.32 % |
 | XRP | $3.2 | 0.54 % |
 | BNB | $805.41 | 0.45 % |
 | Solana | $179.84 | -0.81 % |
 MessariPortals | MINDSHARE Rank | MINDSHARE % Change (7d) |
|---|---|---|
 | MINDSHARE Rank | MINDSHARE % Change (7d) |
 |  | -15.70% |
 | | -19.98% |
 | | -54.38% |
| Powered by Messari Portals | ||
Today’s Big Story
Crypto Market Cap Sets New Record as BTC and ETH Near All-Time Highs
Crypto markets had a strong weekend, very much led by altcoins — with notable gains clocked by ZORA, ZRO, PUMP, and LDO. Meanwhile, BTC is trading over $120,000 again and ETH surged above $4,000, reaching as high as $4,347 earlier today.
The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies has marked a new all-time high today, reaching $4.14 trillion for the first time ever, up from around $3.9 trillion on Friday. It broke over $4 trillion for the first time last month.
Total crypto market cap has grown about 90% in the past year, per data from CoinGecko — standing near $2.2 trillion last August.
Total crypto market cap all-time chart
The market cap of Bitcoin (BTC) is at $2.38 trillion, representing a Bitcoin dominance of 58.7%. Meanwhile, BTC is trading just over $120,000, just 2.5% down from its all-time high of $122,830, which it reached almost a month ago. Earlier today, BTC reached as high as $122,227, before retracing.
BTC 24-hour price chart. Source: CoinGecko
Ethereum (ETH) is showing even more momentum, especially on the weekly timeframe. The largest altcoin is up almost 20% on the week, trading close to $4,300 today, a level last seen in December 2021. That puts ETH just 12% below its record high of $4,878 reached almost four years ago in November 2021.
ETH 1-week price chart. Source: CoinGecko
ETFs and Macro
After last week’s outflows of $1 billion on weak U.S. payroll data, crypto asset inflows rebounded to $1.57 billion, following Trump’s 401(k) crypto approval — despite the fact that experts note implementation could take time. That brought net weekly inflows to $572 million, James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, noted in a research report today.
Ethereum ETPs led with $268 million in inflows last week, which pushed year-to-date inflows to $8.2 billion, per CoinShares data.
Bitcoin regained momentum with $260 million in inflows, while altcoins SOL, XRP, and NEAR saw inflows of $21.8 million, $18.4 million, and $10.1 million respectively.
Analysts at Keyrock said in a report today that the market feels mixed right now, with investors still willing to take risks but worried about stagflation and debt issues. Traders are betting on price increases by buying September call options, especially around the $140,000 strike for Bitcoin’s Sept. 26 expiry.
Source: Keyrock
If interest rates get cut and risk-taking continues, BTC and ETH could “extend their upward momentum through August,” the analysts said.
Outside of crypto, the U.S. dollar weakened last week as interest rate gaps with other major economies narrowed and worries about stagflation grew, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., one of the oldest and largest private investment banks in the U.S., said in its weekly outlook.
Inflation data due tomorrow, Aug. 12, is expected to show an uptick, while July retail sales may soften. Meanwhile, new trade policies aimed at shrinking the U.S. deficit could reduce the flow of dollars abroad, slowing foreign investment in American markets and adding further pressure on the currency.
Denis Omelchenko, staff reporter at The Defiant
Forwarded this newsletter? Subscribe for insights and curated news from The Defiant team, Monday-Friday. It’s free.
Subscribe to The Defiant Daily
🎬WATCH
Bridging DeFi and TradFi: Niklas Kunkel on Chronicle Labs and the Future of Finance
In the latest episode of The Defiant Podcast, Cami sat down with with Niklas Kunkel, founder of Chronicle Labs and a pioneer in the world of DeFi.
From his early days at MakerDAO, where he helped build the first oracles and DEXs, to launching Chronicle Labs, Nicholas shares his journey of innovation and problem-solving in the crypto space. We dive into the challenges of building efficient oracles, the rise of tokenized RWAs, and the convergence of TradFi with DeFi.
Confidentiality in Blockchain: Rand Hindi on Zama's Vision and the Future of On-Chain Transactions [SPONSORED]
Rand Hindi, CEO and co-founder of Zama, explores the importance of confidentiality in blockchain technology. Learn how Zama's innovative protocol uses fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) to enable secure, confidential transactions on public blockchains—without altering existing protocols.
Discover real-world applications like stablecoin payments and DeFi, and get a glimpse of Zama's ambitious roadmap to make confidentiality a cornerstone of digital finance.
Top News in the Past 24 Hours
- MicroStrategy Marks Five Years in Bitcoin With New 155-Coin Purchase MicroStrategy Inc. disclosed in a regulatory filing today that it bought 155 BTC last week for approximately $18 million, paying an average $116,401 per coin. This week also marks the company’s five-year anniversary of buying BTC for its treasury, collecting a total of 628,946 BTC and kicking off an industry-wide crypto treasury trend.
- ALT5 Sigma Raises $1.5 Billion for WLFI Treasury, Adds Eric Trump as Board Director Nasdaq-listed ALT5 Sigma is looking to create the first WLFI treasury. Trump-linked World Liberty Financial is the lead investor in the private placement and is contributing payment in WLFI tokens. Once the deal closes, ALT5 plans to initiate a WLFI treasury, aiming to hold about 7.5 percent of the total WLFI token supply. The firm also announced that Eric Trump, World Liberty Financial’s co-founder, will join the board.
- Pendle Rallies on the Back of KHYPE Market Success The native asset of yield tokenization protocol Pendle is up over 36% in the past week, after the staking token linked to Kinetiq, KHYPE, launched on the protocol. Pendle integrated with Hyperliquid on July 30, and the KHYPE market has quickly surged to a total value locked of $177 million.Experts Say Trump’s 401(k) Crypto Order Opens Doors but Real Change Will Take Time President Donald Trump’s Aug. 7 executive order to allow crypto in 401(k) retirement plans is being described as a milestone for mainstream adoption. Still, experts warn that actual changes could take years due to regulatory and administrative challenges.
- FEATURE: Tornado Cash Verdict Threatens to Hold Back DeFi Where it Matters Most Roman Storm, the co-founder of crypto privacy tool Tornado Cash, was found guilty on Wednesday of one of the three charges brought against him, in a case that could reshape how the law treats DeFi developers. The outcome could force privacy-focused crypto projects to add more rules, like checking users’ identities and tracking transactions.
Trending on The Defiant
- SEC Drops Ripple Appeal Signaling Shift in Crypto Regulation — But Uncertainty Remains
- Pendle Rallies on the Back of KHYPE Market Success
- Ethereum TVL Hits All-Time High as ETH Rallies
- ETH Briefly Breaks Above $4K for the First Time Since December
- Ethereum’s Buterin Presses for Faster L2 Withdrawals to Curb Bridge Reliance
- Aave’s Net Deposits Exceed $60B, up 55% in July
That’s it for today — if you enjoyed this newsletter, tell your friends! https://thedefiant.io/subscribe
Free newsletters
Good reporting. Delivered.
Choose your coverage: crypto and DeFi, the future of finance, or both.
Free. Unsubscribe anytime.
