Huobi HTX Platform Asset Weekly Review (8.17—8.23): Policy and liquidity expectations improve simultaneously, with Meme and DeFi sectors leading the gains

Last week, the cryptocurrency market ended months of stagnation, with August 19 marking a turning point. On that day, U.S. President Trump convened a meeting at the White House with representatives from cryptocurrency companies, regulatory agencies, and traditional finance, publicly urging Congress to advance digital asset legislation; the U.S. Treasury announced it would at least double the single transaction limit for long-term Treasury liquidity support repurchase operations, raising it from $2 billion to $4 billion. Expectations for policy and liquidity improved simultaneously, with the 30-year U.S. Treasury yield falling by about 9 basis points that day, leading to a rally in risk assets, and Bitcoin rising over 8% within 12 hours.

For the week, Bitcoin rose approximately 22%, breaking through the long-held range of $60,000 to $70,000 for the year; from August 19 to 22, the total market capitalization of cryptocurrency assets, excluding Bitcoin, increased by about $215 billion, returning to above $1 trillion. According to data from the Huobi HTX platform, from August 17 to 23, multiple asset tracks on the platform strengthened simultaneously, with the Meme and DeFi sectors showing particularly concentrated performance.

Meme: TRUMP, TUT, PEPE All Rise Together

The resilience of the Meme sector was once again evident in this round of market activity. Such assets are typically used by traders as tools to express risk appetite, and when market sentiment rapidly improves, their gains often exceed those of mainstream assets during the same period.

TRUMP: This week’s increase reached 89%. TRUMP is a Meme asset related to the U.S. President, receiving considerable attention during a week filled with policy news.

TUT (Tutorial): This week’s increase reached 75%. TUT was issued on the BNB Chain's Meme platform Four.meme, originating from a tutorial demonstration for token issuance.

PEPE: This week’s increase reached 56%. PEPE is one of the longer-standing and more liquid Meme assets in the market, typically reacting first when the sector's rally begins.

PUMP: This week’s increase reached 88%. Pump.fun is a Meme issuance platform in the Solana ecosystem, with its rise synchronized with the recovery of the Meme sector.

It is important to note that the prices of Meme assets lack predictable patterns, with the speed of retracement comparable to that of increases, and participants should fully understand the associated risks.

DeFi: Yield Incentive Activities Drive PENDLE, AAVE, MORPHO Linkage

The strength of the DeFi sector last week had specific business backgrounds. On August 17, Pendle raised the upper limit of its PT Looping incentive program to $15 million and added two asset pools, with PT-USD3 deployed on Morpho and PT-USDG deployed on both Aave and Morpho, with the incentive window continuing until August 27. This program directly connects the yield strategies of the three protocols, attracting funding attention to the related assets during the same time period.

PENDLE: This week’s increase reached 48%. Pendle's core mechanism is to split the principal and yield of interest-bearing assets for trading, with PT Looping providing a leveraged fixed income strategy based on this.

AAVE: This week’s increase reached 22%. Aave is currently the largest decentralized lending protocol, providing lending layer support for the aforementioned strategies.

MORPHO: This week’s increase reached 20%. Morpho is known for its modular lending market design, allowing for separate risk parameter configurations for fixed-term principal tokens.

ZEC, XRP Strengthen, Privacy Assets Experience Independent Drivers

ZEC: This week’s increase reached 66%. Zcash's performance last week had independent drivers outside the overall market. On August 18, Grayscale submitted the fourth amendment to its S-3 registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, advancing the conversion of its Zcash trust into a spot ETF, intending to list on NYSE Arca. The document also disclosed that a subsidiary of its parent company, Digital Currency Group, is in non-binding discussions to acquire approximately 200,000 ZEC. Following the announcement, ZEC rose continuously, with prices surpassing $800 on August 22, reaching a new high since 2018.

The situation for privacy assets in 2026 is different from the past. As the compliance framework gradually clarifies, the application scenarios for privacy technology have shifted from regulatory avoidance to data protection itself, and institutional attitudes toward this direction have also changed.

XRP: This week’s increase reached 49%. As a mainstream asset with a high market capitalization, XRP led the gains in last week’s overall rally, reflecting a reflow of funds into leading assets following improved policy expectations.

Conclusion

Last week's rally covered multiple categories from mainstream assets to Meme, distinctly different from the previous months' partial rotations. Improvements in regulatory expectations and liquidity expectations occurred on the same day, marking the direct starting point for this round of market activity, with funds subsequently spreading from leading assets to other areas, with DeFi, privacy, and Meme sectors following suit.

However, there remains disagreement in the market regarding the sustainability of this rebound. Although Bitcoin has broken through the year's trading range, it is still a considerable distance from the high point at the beginning of 2026, and whether the return of institutional funds is stable and whether policy advancements can be realized will require more time to verify. After the broad rally during the initial phase of the market, differentiation among assets typically reappears. Huobi HTX will continue to monitor market dynamics and developments across various sectors, providing timely updates on asset information to offer users a stable trading environment and service support.