Bitcoin clears $78K as Starknet, Arbitrum and Uniswap lead Friday L2-DeFi bid
By 8bitcrypto
September 18, 2026
CoinDesk’s Friday Crypto Markets wrap says Bitcoin rose above $78,000 in the European morning, up about 2.1% since midnight UTC, while layer-2 and DeFi tokens led a broad advance as post-Fed hike nerves eased. The desk flagged Starknet (STRK) up about 18%, Arbitrum (ARB) about 17%, and Uniswap (UNI) about 13% on the day, with CoinDesk’s DeFi Select Index up roughly 8.3% since midnight and about 16% over 24 hours—all figures attributed to that CoinDesk tape, not to CryptoSlam NFT sales.
The rotation matters for NFT bid currency because Friday’s leaders sit on the same settlement rails collectors use to fund floors and marketplace carts. CoinDesk framed the move as risk-on after Thursday’s privacy/haven lead, with macro relief from the 10-year Treasury yield slipping back under 5% and Brent crude easing below $103 after earlier-week prints as high as about $109. Equity index futures were described as firmer, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures up about 0.3% and 0.6%, while gold and silver added about 1.1% and 2.8%.
Breadth was wide on CoinDesk’s book: the wrap said 98 of the CoinDesk 100 constituents were advancing, with only two named in the red—Dash (DASH) down about 0.53% and World Liberty Financial (WLFI) down about 0.31%. Thursday’s privacy standout Zcash (ZEC) was quoted near $1,490.10 for about a 1.6% day gain against roughly 7.6% over 24 hours, meaning most of that advance had already printed Thursday.
Derivatives color from the same CoinDesk desk: cumulative futures open interest expanded nearly 5% to about $141.2 billion while daily trading volume dipped about 3% to roughly $95 billion, a mix CoinDesk read as more positional than pure momentum chase. Bitcoin futures open interest ticked from about 670K to 680K BTC alongside the cash advance—still well below an early-year peak near 800K BTC that CoinDesk cited. UNI futures open interest was described near a record at about 86.61 million tokens, up from roughly 76.89 million the prior day, moving with a sharp spot rebound CoinDesk tied in part to optimism around coordinated SEC/CFTC crypto relief already logged elsewhere on this desk.
Layer-2 and DeFi leadership was the Ape Index tell. CoinDesk put STRK at its highest since June 19 on the session’s ~18% jump and ~21% over 24 hours, with ARB near 20.9 cents—levels CoinDesk said had not been seen since January—plus Stacks (STX) up about 9.2% and Optimism (OP) about 8.9%. On the DeFi side, Ethena (ENA) gained about 9.6% and Lido (LDO) about 6.6% in the same wrap. Solana (SOL) added about 4.5% to roughly $106.14, while Solana DEX token Raydium (RAY) rose about 16%—a split CoinDesk read as DEX-volume interest rather than a blanket SOL bid. Liquid-staking Jito (JTO) lagged at about 1.6%.
Options and volatility notes stay attributed to CoinDesk: bitcoin’s annualized 30-day implied volatility index (BVIV) dropped to about 36%, described as a floor since May after the Clarity Act vote and major central-bank meetings cleared the calendar. Short-dated Deribit put-call skews for BTC and ETH turned one-week bullish in that report, while longer tenors still showed a slight put bias. CoinMarketCap’s “Altcoin Season” index was cited at 44/100, up from Tuesday’s low of 32/100.
What this tape does not prove: that NFT secondary volume will print the same percentages as STRK or UNI, that marketplace unique buyers will rise in lockstep with DeFi Select, or that Nostra’s Starknet money-market pause earlier today changes the STRK percentage move. Keep the columns separate—L2/DeFi token risk, NFT floor bids, and protocol incident risk—and attribute every print in this file to CoinDesk’s September 18 Markets Today. Do not invent CryptoSlam or OpenSea volume figures this wrap did not state.
For collectors watching bid currency on September 18, the Ape Index line is CoinDesk’s Friday rotation: Bitcoin above $78K, L2 and DeFi tokens leading with STRK/ARB/UNI double-digit day gains, and a softer rates-and-oil backdrop after the week’s Fed hike scare.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, legal, or trading advice. The NFT market is highly volatile, and past performance is not indicative of future results. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any decisions related to digital assets. The cover image for this article may have been created using artificial intelligence (AI).
