Welcome to The Market Runup! Every week, we’re diving into what happened in the crypto market onchain and off-chain, as well macro developments — so you can get smarter on your Mondays and prepare for the week ahead.

Last week, markets gave us a pretty clear picture of what investors are prioritizing. U.S. equities pushed to new record highs earlier in the week on the back of strong tech earnings, while European equities also clocked new highs. 

Meanwhile, Bitcoin remained stuck in the mid-$60,000 range.

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Episode 26: Anthony Anzalone, founder and CEO of Verona: Who decides what's true in an AI economy?

Last week, I sat down with Anthony Anzalone, Founder and CEO of Verona, the decentralized AI network formerly known as XION.

The timing of the conversation couldn't be better.

For the last several years, the biggest infrastructure investment story has been around AI: chips, compute, models and data centers. But as AI grows increasingly capable, the industry has slowly recognized a new issue: How does an AI agent tell what's true?

Verona saw an opportunity to help companies and people answer that question in June, and has since moved its focus from web3 infrastructure to build what the company calls an "intelligence layer for AI." It aims to help people verify and own their information, which they can allow authorized AI agents to use. 

Alongside the rebrand, Verona’s flagship consumer platform EarnOS announced an $18.5 million raise and launched ero, giving consumers a real-world use case for Verona’s verification infrastructure. 

Anzalone discussed why the company made such a significant pivot now, whether we're entering an AI infrastructure cycle, and why verification could become one of the most important pieces of the AI economy.

We also dove deep into a crucial aspect that may become even more important: data ownership.

For decades, big tech platforms have owned most of the economics around the information and data people generate. AI could accelerate that, or completely change it. If people can own verified information about themselves and allow machines to use it, data may start resembling an economic asset.

We discussed what this changing dynamic could mean for financial services, tokenization, enterprise adoption, and the relationship between decentralized networks and AI.

The percentages and metrics are based on a 7-day timeframe, unless noted otherwise.

Perpetual futures remain one of the clearest gauges of speculative appetite in crypto. Bitcoin is trading around $64,666, while BTC open interest sits near $45.75 billion. Over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin futures volume reached roughly $32.88 billion, more than 15 times spot volume of approximately $2.15 billion. About $22 million in BTC futures positions were liquidated over the same period. 

Positioning looks relatively balanced, with recent perpetuals data showing roughly 50.9% longs versus 49.1% shorts across major centralized exchanges.

Traders are still willing to take risk, but are preferring to do so using leverage instead of spot trades. With BTC open interest around $45.8 billion, a relatively small move in either direction could force traders to unwind positions and amplify the next move.

Spot vs Derivatives Flows (what to watch):

Crypto's derivatives market remains enormous. CoinMarketCap currently reports roughly $380billion in perpetual open interest, compared with approximately $1.95 billion in traditional futures open interest on its tracked venues.

When spot demand isn't decisively leading, derivatives positioning becomes more important, as a heavily leveraged market can spark impressive short-term rallies without long-duration capital ever returning.

It’s wiser to see whether Bitcoin moves higher alongside persistent spot demand rather than because of leverage and short covering.

Cross-asset correlations (what it tells you):

Bitcoin increasingly trades inside the same global liquidity ecosystem as other risk assets, though it doesn't always respond to the same catalysts as the rest of the traditional markets. Last week was a good example.

Strong showings from tech companies this earnings season have pushed equities higher, though Bitcoin couldn’t replicate that. Similarly geopolitical uncertainty has pushed gold higher while Bitcoin remains far from becoming a safe haven asset.

All in all, bitcoin is growing more integrated into the global markets, though that’s not translating into predictability.

U.S. equities remain near record levels, AI continues to attract significant capital, and Bitcoin has stabilized in the mid-$60,000 range. 

Meanwhile gold’s strength shows investors are still maintaining hedging against geopolitical and macro uncertainty. Capital is rotating toward assets that are showing concrete proof, no matter how short-term, of future growth: tech companies, AI,  and defensive demand for gold.

Crypto meanwhile has been left out as bitcoin continues to capture the majority of institutional attention. Stablecoin liquidity remains substantial, and derivatives activity shows traders are still willing to take risk, though via leverage.

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This information is for entertainment purposes only. It should not be considered financial advice, nor should it be used to make investment decisions. Cryptocurrencies are high risk and you should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Make sure you do your own research.