Good Morning, Asia! Here’s what’s happening in the markets:

Welcome to the Asia Morning Briefing, a daily summary of significant stories and market movements during U.S. hours. For a detailed overview of U.S. markets, visit CoinDesk’s Crypto Daybook Americas.

Ethereum recently crossed the $2,600 threshold in early Asia trading, marking a 3.7% increase as it breaks through the prior resistance level of approximately $2,500. This uptick comes after a phase of consolidation driven by strong institutional ETF inflows and rising DeFi activity, as highlighted by CoinDesk Research’s AI analysis model.

It’s noted that the surge in Ethereum is backed by robust trading volumes, including $248 million in net inflows into spot Ethereum ETFs last week, led by BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust. Ethereum’s total locked value has also risen, reaching $64.37 billion with a 3.59% increase within the last 24 hours due to DeFi activity.

Yet, this rally may not be free from headwinds, with current active addresses around 406,180, reflecting stagnant growth compared to 430,000 addresses a year ago. Furthermore, stablecoin flows indicate mixed trends; despite stablecoins like USDT and USDC holding steady, new entrants like Ethena’s USDe and BUIDL are displaying stronger growth indicators.

Bitcoin Outpaces Luxury Watch Market: A Shift in Trends

Over the past year, Bitcoin and luxury watches, once interconnected commodities during the pandemic, have now charted separate paths, with Bitcoin increasing 56.9%, while luxury watch values have decreased by 4% according to data from CoinDesk and WatchCharts.

Lennix Lai, CCO of OKX, attributes Bitcoin’s ongoing success to growing institutional acceptance, contrasting it with the secondary luxury watch market, which has shown a notable cooling post-pandemic. “The genuine collectors persisted, while speculators shifted elsewhere; Bitcoin has established itself as a generational asset,” said Lai.

The luxury watch market has started hinting at a recovery with a slight 0.3% gain in the last three months, credited to external factors like increased gold prices and additional tariffs impacting the watch market.

Circle Plans to Go Public

Circle Internet Group, the issuer of USDC, has officially filed for an IPO at the New York Stock Exchange, seeking to release 24 million class A shares valued between $24 and $26 each. Furthermore, interested parties like Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment are looking to invest $150 million in the IPO, which is set to be managed by the finance giants J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs.

Government Should Engage in BTC Mining

Fred Thiel, CEO of Marathon Digital has suggested that the U.S. government should actively consider mining Bitcoin to meet market demands. This proposal is supported by Senator Cynthia Lummis, who promotes the broader adoption of Bitcoin through her proposed BITCOIN Act.

Market Movements:

• BTC: Back to $107,604, showing strong support, just under key resistance at $110,000.
• ETH: Surged past $2,600 with strong inflows amid DeFi growth.
• Nickel 225: Expected to rise to 39,600 by year-end as trade tensions ease.

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