Bitcoin began the new week with a steep correction, falling $10,000 from its recent all-time high above $124,000. As of time of writing, Bitcoin trades at about $115,000 with a market capitalization of $2.28 trillion, representing 59 percent dominance over the broader crypto market.
According to CoinMarketCap data, the total global cryptocurrency market capitalization now stands at $3.88 trillion, a 3.79 percent drop in the last 24 hours.
The downturn erased nearly $150 billion from total market value. Inflation concerns resurfaced after higher-than-expected U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) data, raising doubts about the possibility of a September rate cut. According to Bloomberg data, both the PPI and Core PPI for July rose 0.9 percent versus forecasts for 0.2 percent. On a year-over-year basis, the PPI reached 3.3 percent, compared to forecasts of 2.5 percent. Core CPI increased 3.7 percent versus 2.9 percent expected. The unexpected figures triggered a risk-off sentiment across markets, sending digital assets sharply lower.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent added to bearish momentum with earlier comments on Bitcoin reserves. Speaking in an interview with Fox Business, Bessent clarified that the government would not directly purchase Bitcoin. Instead, the United States will continue to rely on confiscated assets. “We’ve also started to get into the 21st century, a Bitcoin reserve. We’re not going to be buying that, but we are going to use confiscated assets and continue to build that up,” Bessent said.
Solana Price Declines Amid Increased Onchain Activity & Institutional Interest
While Bitcoin captured attention with its sell-off, Solana experienced its own volatility. At the time of writing, $SOL trades at $181.25, down 6.4 percent in the last 24 hours. Despite the $SOL price drop, Solana memecoin launchpads experienced $1.54 billion in trading volume over the previous week, the second-highest volume recorded in a week since February.
Institutional interest in Solana remains strong. CoinShares’ Weekly Report revealed that Solana-based products attracted $176 million in inflows last week, the second-largest weekly inflow ever recorded. REX Shares' $SSK, the first U.S. Solana staking ETF, saw significant inflows on August 17 and 18, attracting $13 million and $7.4 million, respectively. Over those two days, the ETF alone brought in a total of $20.4 million.
Data from CoinGlass and Ranger Finance shows that during Sunday’s market pullback, Solana onchain perpetuals recorded $37.4 million in $SOL liquidations, 79 percent higher than the $20.9 million liquidated on centralized exchanges. This trend, in which decentralized exchanges process more liquidations than centralized exchanges during periods of increased market activity, validates the theory of a shift toward greater onchain trading activity.
Governance Process Begins for Alpenglow
Beyond market performance, Solana’s developer community has turned attention to a new governance proposal: SIMD-0326, known as Alpenglow. The proposal, introduced on August 14, outlines a new consensus protocol designed to replace the existing Proof-of-History and TowerBFT mechanisms.
Alpenglow aims to achieve block finality in as little as 150 milliseconds, a significant improvement over the 12.8 seconds common under TowerBFT. At its core is Votor, a lightweight direct-vote protocol that adjusts its process based on network conditions. By reducing latency and bandwidth consumption, Alpenglow seeks to improve resilience and efficiency across the network.
The voting process for Alpenglow includes a discussion period, publication of stake weights, token distribution for voting, and a quorum threshold requiring at least 33 percent participation. If two-thirds of the votes cast support the proposal, Alpenglow will pass.
What’s Next?
The cryptocurrency market faces a delicate balance between Bitcoin’s dominance and the growing strength of alternative assets, such as Solana. Short-term volatility has raised caution among traders, yet institutional inflows and technical progress signal continued momentum in the sector.
Bitcoin’s ability to stabilize following its $10,000 pullback will likely dictate sentiment across the broader market. Meanwhile, Solana’s onchain growth, institutional adoption, and ambitious governance proposals highlight the network’s resilience even during turbulent conditions.
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