ETH is rising, Bitcoin dominance is falling and all of a sudden, uttering the words ‘alt season’ doesn’t make you sound unhinged. In other words, it very much looks like we may be so back.But of course, given how good crypto is at pricing things in waaay ahead of time, thoughts are starting to turn to when we might top out and the music will come to a stop. And, unless you’re one of those calling for a supercycle, it is indeed a good time to start thinking realistically about how high the cryptos you hold could go.Happily, today’s video can help with that. In it, we look at how to assess when the cycle tops could come, from BTC to altcoins. We look at the signals you need to be paying attention to, what sorts of events could well signal that we’ve reached the summit, and when exactly the top might be. Newsflash: it might be sooner than you expect.You can watch that video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUtHFSRZ9Zo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.📈 Crypto Market Forecast 📈Inside of every crypto investor there are two wolves: Donald Trump, signer of pro-crypto laws, but also tariffs; and Jerome Powell, printer of money, but also of higher interest rates. This week, these two wolves will battle it out, and the result could be a level of volatility akin to April’s Liberation Day market meltdown. The difference this time is that it could be a market melt up.Starting with Trump, his recent meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska could bring Russia and Ukraine one step closer to peace. While a formal peace deal is unlikely to happen anytime soon, if the markets get a sense that there’s a chance, they will begin pricing this in. Given that the Ukraine war is currently the only major remaining source of geopolitical uncertainty, signs of a resolution to it would be bullish.As for Powell, he will be speaking at the Jackson Hole conference this Friday, August 22nd. Mixed data around inflation and unemployment puts the Fed in a tough spot, especially since tariffs started coming into force earlier this month. It’s possible that Powell will pour cold water on the idea of a rate cut, which could bring any Ukraine-related rally to a screeching halt on Friday.Alternatively, it’s possible that Powell will confirm that a September rate cut is still on the table, particularly because this is what investors still expect, and the Fed doesn’t want to surprise the markets. This would be the most bullish outcome, and if the markets are already rallying as the result of speculation around peace in Ukraine, it would send them much higher still.Conversely, the most bearish outcome would be no progress towards peace in Ukraine by Trump, and Powell taking a September rate cut off the table, or just being more hawkish. The chances of the latter seem higher given that the last time Trump openly slammed Powell, he was hawkish during the Fed’s subsequent press conference. Recent events foreshadow a repeat this Friday.The resulting macro backdrop will determine whether any upcoming crypto catalysts will be like throwing a match on a pile of wood covered with gasoline, or a spark on a stack of wet rocks. In case you forgot, both the SEC and the CFTC have been out in full force, making positive comments around crypto in the media, and issuing guidance and clarity to the industry.This seems to be working, because inflows into the spot Ethereum ETFs have been relentless, even with last week’s long liquidations. It’s only a matter of time before this capital flows further along the risk curve, and the main thing standing in the way is arguably the aforementioned uncertainty around the war in Ukraine. Tariffs are mostly resolved. Rate cuts are all but priced in.More importantly, crypto is clearly a key priority for the current administration. This is evidenced by the fact that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent walked back comments about the US government not buying additional BTC to add to its strategic Bitcoin reserve. For context, the executive order about the reserve specified it would consist of seized BTC, and also instructed government departments to find ways of accumulating more BTC without cost to taxpayers.The fact that Bessent’s slight deviation from this script resulted in a quick clarification is evidence that the Trump admin wants the current crypto rally to continue uninterrupted, and it’s probably not just because of the crypto interests running around the White House. The more crypto speculation there is, the more stablecoin demand this creates, and the trend there is clear.When you recall that the Treasury needs to issue large amounts of bonds to refill the Treasury General Account (its bank account at the Fed), and you remember that stablecoins are backed primarily by US bonds, it’s not farfetched to say that it’s in the Treasury’s own interest for crypto speculation to continue. After all, it looks like other investors aren’t eager to buy all these bonds.In sum, it looks like it’s going to be a very volatile week, and as always, it could go either way - big pump, or big dump. Although this isn’t helpful on shorter term timeframes, zooming out gives you all the answers you need - since May, the trend has been up and to the right, and this is likely to continue regardless of what happens this week. If Powell is hawkish, it’s not the end.🤓 State of Abstract 🤓It’s been almost a year since we last covered Abstract – the consumer-focused Ethereum L2 from the Pudgy Penguins team. Those of you who’ve read our previous coverage likely remember that we were super bullish on the chain pre-launch, claiming it could rival Coinbase’s Base network in popularity.Well, it’s been seven months since Abstract’s mainnet launch, so let’s take a look at how things have progressed since.First, Abstract isn’t giving Base a run for its money – at least, not yet. Base’s total value secured (TVS) stands at $16B, while Abstract’s TVS currently holds strong at $290M. That said, this isn’t a fair comparison - Base is a multi-purpose L2 with a fully functional DeFi ecosystem, CEX backing and two years of run time, while Abstract is still a fledgling ecosystem with just seven months under its belt. With maturity and more dapp onboarding, TVS on Abstract could accelerate in the months ahead – especially since user activity on Abstract shows promise for it being the go-to consumer app chain.To talk numbers, the average number of daily transactions on Abstract stands at roughly 500K and average daily active users (DAU) is roughly 50K - with recurring users making up nearly 70-80% of this figure. Not to mention, user retention on Abstract Global Wallet stands at 35%, which is far higher than other consumer products across web2 and web3. Individual projects like Gigaverse have also reported retention rates of 70%. In more recent days, the number of new user wallets on Abstract has been growing steadily – ranging between an average of 5K and 20K new wallets a day.As for consumer brand partnerships, Abstract has onboarded the likes of Red Bull and Modhaus (the K-pop label behind TripleS and the fan engagement app Cosmo). It also recently managed to raise $230K in partnership with NFT marketplace OpenSea for Mr. Beast’s Team Water initiative.Most importantly, the growth of consumer dapps on Abstract (primarily games and gambling apps) has been impressive. For instance, the Gigaverse game on Abstract is estimated to have raked in more than $3.5M in revenue since launch. Proof Of Play’s Pirate nation game is also reported to have made over $300K in revenue fewer than two weeks after launch. Other games like Moonsheep, Moody Madness and Death.fun have also recorded millions of plays just weeks after launch.Interestingly, this has seen research firms like Four Pillars compare Abstract’s potential to the explosive growth seen by the Apple App Store in 2008. Specifically, the notion of Abstract’s AGW portal interface helping small consumer brands and games achieve mass distribution quickly and easily is similar to what the App store did for games like Angry Birds. In fact, Four Pillars researcher Ponyo believes Abstract could generate nine figures in yearly dapp revenue, overtake Arbitrum and Optimism in monthly transactions, while also capturing most of the consumer attention in crypto by the end of 2026.On that note, there has been some scepticism from investors about Abstract’s growth possibly stalling post TGE (likely Q4 2025) – as has been the trend with most other new projects in this space. Thankfully, the Abstract team seems to be incentivising active holder participation post-TGE through its Panoramic Governance (PG) model. At its core, PG consists of two interconnected systems: one that distributes sequencer fees (revenue from transaction processing) to engaged governance participants, and another that allows voters to allocate token emissions to promising on-chain protocols. This framework draws inspiration from established models like Curve Finance's vote-escrow (ve) system.In practice, $ABS token holders who are bullish on the network’s future growth are incentivised to lock a portion of their airdrop in exchange for a share in the network’s future sequencer fees and governance. By tying this distribution to active participation, the governance token holders also become active users of the network, helping align incentives between governance and direction of network growth. Given Igloo’s success with Pudgy Penguins and the generous $PENGU airdrop received by NFT holders, it makes sense for loyalty to be at the heart of Abstract.That said, there’s some speculation that the $ABS token airdrop could rival the likes of $HYPE and $PENGU. Given the relatively small number of active but loyal onchain users on Abstract, this seems highly probable. In case you didn’t know, the abstract team has gamified user interaction with their application ecosystem by providing XP (experience points) for their most active users. Depending on the XP accumulated, each wallet is either tagged as a bronze, silver, gold or diamond tier wallet. The open secret is that this XP system will play a huge role in the upcoming $ABS token airdrop.The best part is that activity is determined offchain - you won’t get more XP just by spamming onchain transactions on a DEX. You actually need to spend time exploring the different projects building on the chain. In our understanding, the amount of XP allotted to each project in the ecosystem shuffles on a weekly basis. As a rule of thumb, the best way to qualify for the most amount of XP each week is to explore/use the dapps listed on the ‘spotlight’ section of the Explore tab on the Abstract Portal. Long-time users of Gigaverse have reported massive XP earnings for their participation in the game. If you’re a content creator, you could also try becoming a streamer on the portal. Active streamers receive a generous allocation of XP each week.The second-best way is to mint badges and hold NFTs and memecoins from prominent projects in the ecosystem. In recent weeks, holders of NFTs from projects like Fugz, Bearish and Dreamlio have reported boosted XP earnings. That said, we’ll caveat that there is no way to verify this info. The XP distribution formula is a closely guarded secret of the Abstract team.Nevertheless, you can’t go wrong being active on the chain – with time the passive XP earning from this participation will compound. In our opinion, Abstract still remains one of the more promising bets within the consumer crypto niche. With TGE expected sometime towards the end of the year, you’ve got just a few months left to mark your presence in the ecosystem – get grinding!🔥 Hot Deal Of The Week 🔥Crypto is awash with horror stories of crypto users not taking self-custody seriously and losing their life savings in an instantSo, the best way to protect your crypto against that is to use a cold, self custodial hardware wallet. One option that we have come to love at Coin Bureau HQ is Tangem, which allows you to access your crypto with seedless security using NFC-enabled cards.These cards are rated to last for more than 25 years! It’s a massive advantage over complicated seedwords that depend on being written down on paper.So, if you plan on being in crypto for the long term - it’s the best alternative.👉 Get an exclusive 10% OFF when you <a href="/deals/wallet/tangem-wallet-cb/">get your cold Tangem wallet!</a>🔮 Video Pipeline 🔮* CFTC Crypto Sprint: Push to allow federally regulated spot trading &amp; what it means? * Top 5 Ethereum Altcoins: Top 5 tokens poised to outperform ETH? * Top 5 ETH Treasuries: The biggest companies stockpiling ETH &amp; their strategies? * How To Buy Altcoins: The ultimate guide to finding and buying high potential alts! * Trump Insiders: How are they shaping US policy to benefit their holdings? 🏆 What's New at CoinBureau.com This Week? 🏆* <a href="/analysis/is-okx-safe/">Exploring the Safety of OKX</a>: A Detailed Review of Security Practices * <a href="/review/gate-com-review/">Reviewing Gate.com</a>: Your One-Stop Hub for Crypto, DeFi &amp; NFT * <a href="/guides/how-to-buy-shiba-inu-coin/">A Beginner's Guide to Buying Shiba Inu Coin</a>: Step-by-Step Instructions * <a href="/analysis/best-memecoin-exchanges/">The Ultimate List of the Top Memecoin Exchanges for Traders In 2025</a> * <a href="/guides/dogecoin-cloud-mining-process/">Discover The Ins and Outs of the Dogecoin Cloud Mining Process</a> * <a href="/analysis/best-crypto-wallets/">Discover The Top 10 Crypto Wallets</a>📖 Quote of the Week 📖Making money in this cycle is one thing - keeping it is another. Never forget to practice proper risk management.“Never test the depth of the river with both feet.” - Warren BuffetTeam Coin BureauDisclosure: Authors may own cryptoassets named in this newsletter. These are unqualified opinions, and a Coin Bureau newsletter, is meant for informational purposes only. It is not meant to serve as investment advice. Please consult with your investment, tax, or legal advisor.&nbsp;

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