Bitcoin steadied around the $64,000 mark, seemingly gathering momentum for its next ascension. On Friday, Jerome Powell hinted at a potential interest rate reduction in September, which further invigorated the crypto space. Among the crypto heavyweights, Solana (SOL) exhibited remarkable resilience, appreciating by 3% over the last 24 hours. This surge occurred despite the diminishing likelihood of a SOL-based spot ETF materializing in the United States. Concurrently, the broader market, represented by the CoinDesk 20 index, edged up by 0.6% within the same timeframe.

The uptick in cryptocurrency prices was underpinned by a robust expansion in stablecoins, with $1 billion worth of tokens minted on a seven-day moving average, according to Markus Thielen, the founder of 10x Research. Joel Kruger, a market strategist at LMAX Group, emphasized in his Monday analysis that “technically, the market appears to be in a bullish consolidation phase, primed for the next significant upward thrust.” He projected that this would result in Bitcoin scaling to new all-time highs, while Ethereum (ETH) could break out to fresh yearly peaks, potentially challenging its previous record from 2021.

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In parallel, the crypto world was shaken by the arrest of Pavel Durov, stemming from a warrant issued by France’s Office for the Prevention of Violence Against Minors (OFIM). This action was part of an investigation into Telegram’s purported shortcomings in moderation and collaboration with law enforcement. Telegram, however, asserted in a statement that it remains fully compliant with all European Union regulations. The Telegram Open Network (TON) token, closely associated with Durov, tumbled by nearly 17%, trading at $5.60 on Monday.

On the institutional front, spot Bitcoin ETFs saw substantial inflows of $250 million on Friday, coinciding with Powell’s remarks. This influx occurred amidst heightened trading activity, with the eleven ETF products amassing over $3 billion in trading volume—the highest seen in over a month. Leading the inflows were BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC, while Grayscale’s GBTC witnessed outflows.