winter

According to a report by Fortune, Grayscale CEO Peter Mintzberg wrote that Bitcoin surged about 20% last week, marking the strongest three-day increase of 2023, as the crypto winter gradually thaws. However, he warned that market observers are still overly focused on short-term price fluctuations, neglecting the long-term structural growth of digital assets.Mintzberg emphasized two core driving forces: first, institutional demand continues to expand, with daily inflows into Bitcoin spot ETPs exceeding $500 million in 2025, approximately 12 times the daily new supply from miners; a 2026 EY survey shows that 73% of institutional investors plan to increase their allocation to digital assets. Second, the adoption of blockchain by enterprises is accelerating, with about 60% of Fortune 500 executives indicating that their companies are advancing blockchain projects in 2025, and companies like Fidelity, Visa, and Stripe are all positioning themselves in the stablecoin business. He also pointed out that AI and public chain technology are complementary, and new demands such as machine-native micropayments and cross-border instant settlements will further drive the implementation of blockchain. As the regulatory framework becomes increasingly clear, digital assets are accelerating their integration into the mainstream financial system.

According to on-chain analyst Ai Yi's monitoring, the Hack VC associated address (0x2a5...590CF) transferred 21.85 million ENA to the Wintermute deposit address through multiple intermediaries 4 hours ago, suspected to be a sell-off, involving an amount of 3 million dollars.ENA has risen 58.09% in the past week, currently priced at 0.1478 dollars.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Wintermute (0xecb...2b00) has reduced its short exposure on Hyperliquid from $212 million to $80.48 million since the last update, still holding $80.48 million in short positions and $5.51 million in long positions.Its HYPE short exposure increased from $5.6 million to $10.2 million, with an unrealized loss of $568,800.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Wintermute's short exposure on Hyperliquid has increased from the previous $190.77 million to $211.53 million, while its HYPE short position has decreased from $11.43 million to $5.6 million.Current major short positions include: approximately $70.8 million in BTC, approximately $53.83 million in ETH, approximately $17.63 million in SOL, approximately $7.41 million in XRP, and approximately $6.79 million in DOGE.Currently, its unrealized loss is approximately $4.12 million, and it has accumulated funding fees of approximately $2.27 million.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Wintermute deposited 1,279.99 bitcoins into Binance through 8 transactions in the past 18 hours, worth approximately 98.68 million USD.The most recent transfer was for 90.1 bitcoins, worth about 6.97 million USD, completed about 30 minutes ago.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Wintermute transferred 129,500 SOL to Binance, worth approximately $12.42 million; at the same time, 169.5 BTC was transferred, worth approximately $13.11 million, suspected to be for sale. Additionally, 407.47 BTC was transferred through an intermediary wallet and then moved to Coinbase, worth approximately $31.36 million.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Wintermute (0xecb...2b00) currently holds approximately $160 million in open positions on Hyperliquid, with short positions around $146 million, accounting for 91% of its total exposure; long positions are about $13.9 million, with an unrealized loss of $3.66 million.The account has historically accumulated profits of approximately $204 million.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Wintermute deposited 590.9 BTC to Binance approximately 43 minutes ago, worth about 45.66 million USD.Since this week, Wintermute has transferred a total of 3,834.3 BTC to Binance, with a total value of approximately 256.8 million USD.

According to The Block, STS Digital CEO Maxime Seiler stated that there is a divergence between cryptocurrency asset prices and institutional adoption. He said, "From a price perspective, we are still in a crypto winter, but from the institutional side, we have entered a summer."Seiler noted that institutions are more focused on adopting underlying technologies, and funds do not necessarily flow into tokens, so technological adoption has not yet been fully reflected in coin prices. He also pointed out that the Bitcoin futures basis has converged from an annualized 20%-30% during the 2021 cycle to close to the risk-free rate, and it is more stable than in the previous cycle, partly because the channels for dollars entering and exiting the crypto market are deeper.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, the wallet related to a16z (0xb5E...c24e) has unstaked and transferred 89,470 HYPE to Wintermute a few minutes ago, worth approximately 6.6 million dollars, possibly for sale.

According to on-chain analyst Ai Yi's monitoring, a certain address has transferred a total of 2,300 BTC to the Wintermute recharge address since June 25, with a total value of 142 million USD and an average recharge price of 61,813 USD.The most recent transfer occurred 6 hours ago, valued at 50,720,000 USD. The source of funds for this address is Paxos, and the ownership of the address has not yet been confirmed.

According to Bloomberg, cryptocurrency market maker Wintermute plans to invest approximately $1 billion over the next five years in high-frequency trading and AI data center infrastructure to expand into traditional financial markets such as stocks, commodities, and foreign exchange. The related expenditures are expected to be funded by retained earnings.Currently, the non-crypto market contributes about 10% of the company's revenue, with a goal of increasing this proportion to over 50% by the end of 2027. Wintermute's average daily trading volume this year has decreased from about $15 billion last year to $10 billion.

Wintermute released a market update indicating that the U.S. non-farm payrolls unexpectedly decreased by 23,000 in July, significantly weaker than market expectations, leading to a drop in September rate hike expectations from 55% to 40%, and driving a broad rebound in risk assets.Gold led the gains, with the Nasdaq, S&P 500, Bitcoin, and altcoins generally rising, while Brent crude oil fell by 6.85%.

Wintermute released a report stating that the upcoming U.S. CPI data to be announced on Wednesday will be key in testing whether the recent interest rate repricing can be sustained. The cryptocurrency market has joined the ranks of rising risk appetite. The U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF has seen a net inflow for five consecutive trading days, totaling $853.5 million, marking the best weekly performance since mid-April; the Ethereum ETF has also seen a net inflow for the fifth consecutive week, increasing by $244.9 million, with BlackRock accounting for over 80% of the combined inflow of $1.1 billion for both.These inflows occurred against a backdrop of relatively low trading volume, more characteristic of institutional planned allocations rather than aggressive momentum buying, and reversed the narrative of fund rotation away from Bitcoin over the past two weeks, indicating that ETF demand is being matched by supply from elsewhere.On the institutional front, Wells Fargo announced it will launch a tokenized deposit business this fall, starting with the USD-GBP corridor and operating on its own chain, joining the ranks of JPMorgan and Citigroup to bring settlement rails on-chain.Meanwhile, the Senate Majority Leader submitted a motion to end debate on the CLARITY Act early Saturday morning, which will undergo procedural voting on September 15, requiring support from at least seven non-Republican senators. The improvement in ETF inflows is encouraging but still represents a preliminary signal. A strong weekly performance alone is insufficient to confirm a structural shift; the entire risk asset sector has just been repriced due to one piece of data. If Wednesday's CPI exceeds expectations and pushes the probability of a rate hike in September back above 50%, it could quickly alter the core logic supporting the current upward trend.Recent key catalysts include the CPI on August 12, the PPI on the 13th, retail sales data on the 14th, followed by the Jackson Hole meeting from August 27-29, and the vote to end debate on the CLARITY Act on September 15. Until ETF inflows and digital asset treasury activities prove their sustainability throughout the remainder of the summer, it is advisable to remain cautious, even as the market increasingly trades on institutional terms.

According to the WSJ, Wintermute's U.S. subsidiary has registered as a broker-dealer, marking the company's official entry into the regulated U.S. financial market. This registration qualifies it to apply to become a designated market maker on securities exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, providing a foundation for its expansion into the traditional financial services sector. The report noted that Wintermute is competing with large market-making institutions such as Jane Street Capital and Citadel Securities.

According to the Financial Times, after three years of record low stagnation, Chinese venture capital firms are accelerating the fundraising of new funds, seeking to capitalize on investors' renewed interest in the Chinese technology sector.Data from Asante Capital shows that at least 60 new dollar funds are planning to raise a total of about $35 billion, of which about 40 are venture capital funds. HSG, IDG Capital, Matrix Partners China, and Ming Shi Capital are promoting new funds or preparing to start fundraising, while ZhenFund and Qiming Venture Partners have recently completed fundraising.The successful listings of technology companies such as Zhipu and MiniMax, as well as progress in projects like The Dark Side of the Moon, DeepSeek, and the robotics field, have prompted investors to refocus on Chinese technology. Some investors view allocating to Chinese AI as a way to hedge bets on the U.S. market, as Chinese companies are highly competitive on costs and offer lower-priced model services.However, market participants indicate that this does not mean Chinese venture capital has returned to a boom period, but rather that dollar fundraising has selectively restarted after three consecutive years of low levels.Preqin data shows that in 2022, a total of 1,105 China-related funds raised $150 billion, while in 2025, only 97 funds raised $13.6 billion.Currently, some large U.S. investors remain cautious due to restrictions on sensitive technology investments, while European and Middle Eastern funds show stronger interest. Investors are vying for more co-investment rights in the current "buyer’s market" and are demanding fund managers to invest more of their own capital. Meanwhile, a large amount of capital is competing for a limited number of high-confidence projects, particularly concentrated in the AI sector.

Cryptocurrency market maker Wintermute stated that the next round of altcoin season may have only a few winners, as market funds are further concentrating on leading tokens. Wintermute's data shows that in the first half of 2026, institutional clients accounted for 72% of its over-the-counter trading spot volume, a record high. Institutional funds typically reduce activity about a day after a significant price increase, while retail funds maintain activity for an average of about three days, indicating that institutional capital tends to concentrate on a few tokens and exit trades more quickly.From an overall market perspective, CryptoQuant data shows that the trading volume of altcoins priced in Bitcoin has approached its lowest level since 2021. Currently, the top ten non-stablecoin altcoins account for approximately 80.5% of the market capitalization of non-Bitcoin, non-stablecoin crypto assets. Additionally, Kaiko data shows that the top ten altcoins now account for 63% of the overall altcoin trading volume.