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Last Updated:  
January 22, 2025
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2 min read

Crypto Markets Daily Jan 22 2025

The SEC has unveiled a dedicated cryptocurrency task force led by Commissioner Hester Peirce, aiming to establish “comprehensive and clear” digital asset regulations in collaboration with other agencies like the CFTC. This announcement, following a brief market dip around President Trump’s inauguration, has reinvigorated market sentiment, with BTC holding steady at $105K and ETH seeing modest gains. Despite subdued implied volatility and a flattening term structure, realized volatility has surged to pre-election levels. Meanwhile, excitement builds around new ETF filings, including high-profile crypto and even memecoins, as Solana’s price momentum continues. In DeFi, Uniswap Labs is poised to deploy Uniswap v4, promising further innovation in the sector.

Crypto
Derivatives
DeFi
Macro

Can Do Better

“The SEC can do better”.

That’s taken directly from the SEC’s newest statement, announcing the launch of a cryptocurrency-dedicated task force, led by Commissioner Hester Peirce – also dubbed as “Crypto Mom” and known for her dissent against the previous SEC administration’s enforcement over crypto companies.

What is the role of the task force? Regulate the crypto industry with “comprehensive and clear” frameworks for digital assets. The group will also work alongside other federal agencies including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). 

On Monday, President Trump’s inauguration turned out to be a ‘buy the rumour sell the news event’. However, following a brief dip in prices across the board, the SEC task force news has bolstered the market again: BTC is holding close to the $105K mark and ETH is up slightly on the day. 

Derivatives markets are slightly more subdued, though still bullish – implied vol smiles’ skew for BTC options are not as strongly skewed towards OTM calls as we saw in the past few days.

Figure 1.  BTC 25-delta put-call skew ratio at selected tenors. Source: Deribit, Block Scholes
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