Crypto Markets Today: Gold tokens shine as bitcoin rises to $89,000

Crypto Markets Today: Gold tokens shine as bitcoin rises to $89,000 What to know: Gold-backed tokens like Tether Gold (XAUT) have reached record highs, reflecting the surge in gold prices. Bitcoin rose to $89,800 as the dollar index dropped and technology stocks rose. Curve DAO rejected a proposal to allocate 17.45 million CRV tokens for development, citing concerns over transparency. Gold surged to record, bringing cheer to digital tokens backed by the metal traditionally seen as a haven investment. Gold-backed tokens rose to record highs. (Jingming Pan/Unsplash modified by CoinDesk) , the largest gold-backed token by market value, rose to an all-time high of $4,425 while PAXG (PAXG) and kineses gold (KAU) also rose, lifting the total market value of gold-backed tokens to $4.38 billion. See all newsletters "The message is clear. Investors are still hedging macro uncertainty rather than leaning aggressively into risk. That divergence continues to cap enthusiasm for crypto, even as liquidity conditions improve," BRN's head of research Timothy Misir, said in an email. Bitcoin, referred to by some followers as digital gold, rose to $89,800 while the dollar index dropped and technology stocks lifted Asian equity indexes higher. Notably, heavyweight chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and Samsung Electronics gained, helping calm fears of an AI bubble. Futures tied to the S&P 500 advanced roughly 0.3%, pointing to a positive U.S. open on Monday. While the price uptick is encouraging, a sustained recovery will require a renewed appetite for institutional investment vehicles, which currently appear to have cooled. Last week, digital asset investment products listed worldwide registered a net outflow for the first time in four week, losing $952 million, according to data source CoinShares. Derivative insights Market stability has yet to galvanize demand for renewed risk taking. Futures are painting a mixed picture, with BTC, ETH, HYPE and BNB seeing small increases in open interest (OI) over 24 hours. Other major cryptocurrencies have seen capital outflows. BTC longs raised with borrowed money continue to rise on Bitfinex. Historically, this has been a feature of sustained bear markets. BTC's 30-day implied volatility remains steady at around 45%, pointing to dull trading as the year draws to a close. Ether's 30-day implied volatility dropped to 70%, the lowest since Oct. 9. On the CME, open interest in BTC futures dropped below 120K BTC for the first time since early 2024. That's a sign of dwindling institutional participation. BCH, SHIB, WLFI and TON are seeing negative funding rates in perpetual markets, indicating a bias for short positions. Funding rates for majors remain mildly positive. On Deribit, block flows paint a mixed picture, with both BTC call and put spreads crossing the tape. In ETH's case, traders chased calendar spreads. Overall, BTC and ETH puts continue to trade at a premium to calls, although the put bias has weakened slightly since Friday. Token Talk Curve DAO voted down a proposal to send 17.45 million CRV tokens, worth around $6.3 million, to Swiss Stake AG, a company led by Curve Finance founder...

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