Risk Appetite Returns as Crypto Rally Shifts to DeFi and Layer-2 Tokens

Crypto investors are once again turning to higher-risk assets as evidenced by the recent rally in DeFi and layer-2 tokens.

The shift away from privacy and safe-haven assets, such as Zcash (ZEC), was observed on Friday when Bitcoin's price rose above $78,000, up 2.1% since midnight, but still approximately 5% below the monthly peak of $82,284 seen on September 4.

The DeFi Select Index increased by 16% in the last 24 hours and 8.3% since midnight, with Uniswap (UNI) rising 25%, Ethena (ENA) gaining 9.6%, and Lido (LDO) gaining 6.6%.

In the layer-2 group, Starknet (STRK) rose 21%, Arbitrum (ARB) 25%, Stacks (STX) 9.2%, and Optimism (OP) 8.9%. Solana also rose 4.5% to reach $106.14.

Total open interest in futures rose approximately 5% to $141.2 billion, while daily trading volume fell by 3% to $95 billion, suggesting the movement is not driven solely by short-term trading intensity.