On August 18, according to reports, a research report shows that mortgage volumes in the crypto market increased by 27% in Q2, reaching $53.1 billion, the highest level since the beginning of 2022, mainly due to demand for loans in Decentralized Finance and the recovery of risk appetite. Bitcoin fell from $124,000 to $118,000, leading to liquidations in the crypto derivatives market of over $1 billion, marking the largest scale of long positions since the beginning of August. Analysts believe this is more of a healthy profit-taking rather than the start of a reversal, but it also highlights the vulnerability of the market as leverage accumulates quickly. Analysts note that pressure points have already started to emerge. In July, Aave recorded massive outflows, which caused the ETH lending rate to rise above Ethereum staking yields, disrupting the logic of "cyclical arbitrage" — that is, using staked ETH as collateral to borrow more ETH. This process of loan unwinding triggered the withdrawal of staking positions, resulting in the exit queue from the Beacon Chain Ethereum setting a historical record of 13 days. Loans in the network remain stable. The spread between them has widened to the highest level since the end of 2024. This divergence means that the demand for dollars outside the network has exceeded liquidity within the network, and if the market environment complicates further, it could escalate volatility. In a situation where lending volumes are sharply increasing, the concentration of loan power, decreasing DeFi liquidity, and the constant widening of the gap between dollar markets on-chain and off-chain indicate that the system is exhibiting more and more pressure points. This $1 billion liquidation on Thursday serves as a reminder that the consequences of leverage are two-sided.