Aug 01, 2025
Regulatory Wins Fuel Broad-Based Rally
Key takeaways for the month
Flagship indices posted double-digit increases: The CF Smart Contract Platforms Index surged 31.84 % MTD, leading gains, while Ultra Cap 5 and Diversified Large Cap advanced about 27 %. Even traditionally defensive gauges like the Free-Float Broad Cap added 17 %, confirming risk-on sentiment across market segments.
Pro-innovation policy fuels broad rally: The SEC’s green-light for in-kind ETF creations and new listing rules, together with the GENIUS Act’s stable-coin framework and a White House crypto roadmap, have fostered a friendlier regulatory climate, catalyzing renewed investor confidence and a broad upswing across major tokens.
Historic fund inflows signal deepening adoption: Digital-asset funds attracted $10.6 billion, an all-time monthly record. Bitcoin captured $5.3 billion, while Ethereum drew $4.9 billion.
Regulated Derivatives markets set new highs: CME Ether futures traded nearly $118 billion with open interest climbing to $5.21 billion, eclipsing prior peaks. Alt-coin contracts followed suit: Solana volume jumped to $8.1 billion with open interest above $400 million, and XRP futures hit $125 million in turnover, highlighting rising institutional market participation.
On-chain activity rebounded sharply: Total value locked in DeFi protocols rose 20.6 % to roughly $340 billion, fueled by borrowing-and-lending growth on Ethereum. Aggregate layer-1 fees across Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana climbed to $108.4 million, underscoring higher network usage and fee demand.
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Size and Growth Lag in Market-Wide Selloff
CF Benchmarks’ Quarterly Factor Report breaks down digital asset performance through a systematic factor lens, highlighting the key drivers of risk and return to help investors better understand market behavior across different regimes.
Gabriel Selby
Weekly Index Highlights, January 12, 2026
Crypto cooled but stayed positive in the most recent week, with Bitcoin and Ether dipping slightly. Infrastructure was best performing CF DACS Sub-Category, +4.2%. Meanwhile our CME CF Bitcoin Volatility Index eased -8.12% even as realized ticked up. Among Factors, Value and Size notched slim gains.
CF Benchmarks
CORRECTION: Expansion of the CME CF Cryptocurrency Pricing Products Family to include the CME CF Uniswap-Dollar Reference Rate - New York Variant
The Administrator will announce the date to which the launch of this index will be rescheduled in due course.
CF Benchmarks