COINBASE INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

Summary from the TLDR Crypto newsletter

Markets pulled back ahead of Jackson Hole amid macro headwinds, with the US Treasury rebuilding its General Account balance by $185B since early August, while Fed rate cut odds dropped from 96% to 70%, contributing to $756M and $867M in BTC and ETH ETF outflows, respectively. Circle launched Gateway, making USDC effectively chain-agnostic with sub-500ms cross-chain transfers that could save large exchanges up to $40M annually per $1B of float by eliminating rebalancing costs and reducing safety stock requirements. Despite spot weakness, ETH derivatives markets showed strength with 9% annualized funding rates and open interest hitting new all-time highs at $125.5B globally, suggesting crypto-native traders are buying the dip. Gateway's initial lack of Solana support may strategically benefit EVM chains in capturing multi-chain institutional flows until Circle expands coverage or prioritizes its upcoming Arc L1.