Markets held a cautious tone last week as the U.S. shutdown enters day 40, the longest ever. Fiscal worries weighed on sentiment as $BTC fell 5.3%, NDX lost 3.1% for its worst week since September, and Gold rose 0.8% as USD strength capped gains.

Option markets show a clear defensive tilt across maturities, while macro opacity and policy drift favor choppy conditions. We favor staying liquid, leaning into quality risk on weakness, and using vol dislocations to finance downside protection.

Crypto markets erased over $1t from the total MCap. This triggered $1.8b in ETF redemptions, BTC at $1.3b and ETH at $500m, though Solana drew $66.5m in inflows. By EOW, sentiment hit ‘extreme fear’ with BTC down 1%, ETH down 2.8%, and SOL down 4.6% WoW.

BTC OI fell 2.4% and ETH 11.5% WoW, with funding barely positive. Alt breadth turned sharply negative, yet File Storage, up 77.5%, Privacy, up 33.6%, and Data Availability, up 27%, sectors held firm. The market absorbed this stress test with resilience, positioning well for Q4.

USDC and USDT yields rose to 5.1% and 4.7% on @aave, even as supply balances fell sharply, at -41% and -58% respectively, hinting that lenders are rotating out of passive pools into higher-yield or offchain opportunities.

RWAs AUM fell 1.7% WoW as Maple, down 5% WoW, saw outflows following the sunset of its SYRUP program. Capital is quietly rotating toward quality, with yields are stabilising, liquidity consolidating, and RWAs are evolving from speculative to structural.

Kalshi’s Politics OI ($133m) has overtaken its Sports OI ($130M) following the NYC mayoral election, driven by strong retail and institutional participation. Traders had priced a Zohran Mamdani win above 80% since last year, far ahead of polls at 54% just before the election.

Prediction markets are becoming a primary way the public interprets information. As platforms like @Kalshi scale, they’re evolving into a new layer of financial infrastructure that prices collective belief in real time.