The disruption in oil transit highlights the strategic shift towards decentralized finance, challenging traditional economic sanctions.

The post 80 mines in the Strait of Hormuz are reshaping oil markets and pushing Iran toward Bitcoin appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Ecuador's World Cup triumph fosters national unity and pride, potentially boosting morale and cultural identity beyond the sports realm.

The post Ecuador president Daniel Noboa declares public holiday after World Cup win over Germany appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Qualcomm's custom chip strategy could redefine mobile and XR markets, challenging competitors and expanding its influence across device tiers.

The post Qualcomm plans new chip architecture for smartphones appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The integration of crypto in World Cup 2026 could redefine sports sponsorships and betting, expanding crypto's global reach and market influence.

The post World Cup 2026 meets crypto as England faces Panama amid fan token frenzy and Kraken sponsorship appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The Fed's shift to less explicit guidance may enhance policy flexibility but requires careful signaling to maintain market stability.

The post IMF chief economist calls Fed’s forward guidance retreat ‘entirely appropriate’ appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Bitcoin Magazine

Michael Saylor Responds to Scrutiny as Strategy Shares and STRC Hit 52-Week Lows

Michael Saylor responded to the deepening selloff in Strategy’s stock and preferred shares Friday with a statement on X.

“Volatility tests every capital structure,” Saylor wrote. “Strategy remains focused on Bitcoin, disciplined capital allocation, credit quality, and long-term value creation. We appreciate our investors and will continue to execute with transparency and resolve. $MSTR”.

The tweet landed as MSTR shares and STRC, Strategy’s variable-rate perpetual preferred, both hit 52-week lows. MSTR has shed more than 80% from its all-time peak. STRC, which carries a par value of $100, traded near $74 — a 26% discount. When preferred shares trade below par, the mechanism that funds bitcoin purchases through preferred issuance breaks down: the company cannot raise capital on favorable terms on instruments trading at a discount.

Bitcoin broke to $58,000 Wednesday for the first time since October 2024, pushing Strategy’s paper losses above $14 billion. The company holds 847,363 bitcoin at an average purchase price of $75,680 per coin — a gap of more than $17,000 per coin at current prices.

MSTR shares, which had shed around 25% over five trading days going into Friday, extended that decline somewhat in pre-market trading as bitcoin’s slide appeared to stagnate. The stock trades at an mNAV below 1.0, meaning the market values Strategy’s shares at a discount to the bitcoin on its balance sheet.

That matters because the company’s model depends on a premium: Strategy issues stock or preferred instruments above NAV, deploys proceeds into bitcoin, and lifts NAV per share in the process. With the premium gone, both capital taps are constrained at the same time.

Strategy’s cash strain deepens further

The pressure on the capital structure extends past bitcoin’s price. Annual dividend obligations on Strategy’s preferred instruments — STRC, STRK, STRF, STRD, and STRE — have risen from $300 million at the start of 2026 to $1.2 billion, a fourfold increase in six months. Cash reserves have fallen 38% this year. Dividend coverage, once above seven years, has compressed to about 14 months.

A Bloomberg report Thursday described investor scrutiny of Saylor’s funding model as the most intense the company has faced. CryptoQuant issued a note this week calling on Strategy to halt bitcoin purchases and rebuild cash to $2.8 billion before resuming accumulation.

Strategy made its first bitcoin sale in four years in early June, offloading 32 BTC at an average of $77,135 per coin. Saylor framed the move as proof the company could cover dividend obligations through asset liquidation. The market’s reaction suggests that framing did not hold.

Last week, Strategy bought 520 bitcoin — a fraction of its prior pace — and put $300 million of a $335.5 million equity raise into cash rather than bitcoin. Saylor has not elaborated on the tweet beyond the statement posted to X.

This post Michael Saylor Responds to Scrutiny as Strategy Shares and STRC Hit 52-Week Lows first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

‘I See Volatility as Opportunity’: Bitcoin Tests Critical Support as Key Level Hangs in the Balance

Bitcoin has shed more than 50% of its value since hitting an all-time high near $126,000, and the market is now locked in a tense standoff at a support level that technical analysts say could determine the digital asset’s next major move.

The cryptocurrency has been testing the $58,000–$60,000 range for the third time in recent months, a zone that chart watchers consider critical. Below that threshold, the next meaningful support sits in the low $40,000s, a drop that would push Bitcoin into drawdown territory comparable to its most brutal prior cycles.

The sell-off has been swift and precise. Bitcoin’s failed attempt to break higher ran straight into its 200-day moving average, a level that served as near-perfect resistance and triggered a roughly 30% decline from that ceiling. The pattern has left the asset in a clear downtrend, though some technical indicators are beginning to flash warning signs for bears.

“We’re looking for stabilization,” said Katie Stockton, founder and managing partner of Fairlead Strategies on CNBC’s Squawk Box. “Ideally it does happen in this range because it is a key Fibonacci retracement level, below which a full retracement often happens.”

Stockton noted that Bitcoin has been in a long-term oversold condition for a duration that, based on historical patterns, tends to precede a shift in momentum. That does not mean a bottom is confirmed, she said she would want to see two to three weeks of price stabilization before feeling conviction that support is holding.

The $60,000 level carries weight beyond Fibonacci math. It represents a psychological marker and has been a contested battleground across multiple test cycles. A clean break below it would erase a layer of confidence among retail and institutional holders alike.

80% drawdowns in bitcoin’s price

Some Bitcoin bulls have argued this cycle is structurally different from previous crashes. The presence of spot Bitcoin ETFs, growing institutional adoption, and broader mainstream acceptance, they say, may cap the depth of any drawdown compared to the 80%-plus collapses seen in earlier bear markets. Stockton is not convinced the argument holds.

“I think we can still see those 75 to 80% drawdowns,” she said, “but as a technician, I almost see the volatility as opportunity.”

That framing cuts to a tension at the heart of Bitcoin trading: the gap between what investors say they want and what they do when prices fall. At $125,000, many buyers felt priced out. At $60,000, the same buyers hesitate to pull the trigger. 

Market psychology, Stockton noted, runs counter to rational accumulation.

On the question of four-year halving cycles — a framework many Bitcoin traders treat as gospel — Stockton said the sample size is too small to place confidence in the pattern. She described herself as a Bitcoin bull from a “very, very long-term perspective,” while maintaining that short-term risk management through trend-following tools remains the more reliable approach.

For now, Bitcoin sits at a crossroads. The coming weeks will test whether institutional infrastructure and long-term demand are enough to hold a line that, if broken, leaves a long way down to the next floor.

This post ‘I See Volatility as Opportunity’: Bitcoin Tests Critical Support as Key Level Hangs in the Balance first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Strategy Stock (MSTR) Nearly Craters Another 10% as Securities Lawsuit Lands

Strategy Inc. (MSTR) fell more than 9% at times on Thursday to its lowest level since March 2024, extending a five-day collapse of nearly 30% as Bitcoin broke below $60,000 and a securities investigation targeting the company became public.

Shares of the Michael Saylor-led Bitcoin treasury company hit $85 by midday Thursday, down from above $117 at the start of the week. The stock has now shed roughly 36% over the past month — nearly double the 18.5% decline in Bitcoin over the same period.

On top of this, Rosen Law Firm posted a press release saying it is investigating potential securities fraud claims against Strategy, alleging the company “may have issued materially misleading business information to the investing public.” The probe covers all five of Strategy’s publicly traded securities: MSTR, STRF, STRC, STRK, and STRD. 

The legal pressure compounds a financial squeeze that analysts say stems from Strategy’s own capital structure. 

The company holds 847,363 Bitcoin — the largest corporate stockpile in the world — purchased at an average price that now leaves the entire 2024, 2025, and 2026 acquisition tranche underwater. Unrealized losses on the Bitcoin portfolio stand at approximately $10.6 billion.

Strategy’s preferred stock breaks down

The deeper concern for investors is Strategy’s STRC preferred stock, which has crashed to an all-time low and now trades around $76 — roughly 24% below its $100 par value. The structure matters because Strategy has relied on selling preferred stock to fund ongoing Bitcoin purchases. 

When preferred shares trade below par, that capital-raise mechanism stalls.

As Strategy issued more STRC over the past six months, annual dividend obligations ballooned from $300 million at the start of 2026 to $1.2 billion — a fourfold increase. Cash reserves, meanwhile, fell 38% over the same period. 

CryptoQuant, the on-chain analytics firm, published a note June 23 urging Strategy to stop buying Bitcoin and rebuild its cash position to roughly $2.8 billion before resuming accumulation. The firm said dividend coverage has collapsed from more than seven years to approximately 14 months.

Strategy appears to have gotten the message before the report landed. In the week of June 22, the company bought just 520 Bitcoin for roughly $35 million — a fraction of its prior pace — and routed $300 million of a $335.5 million common stock raise into its cash reserve, lifting it to $1.4 billion.

Saylor has not commented publicly on the investigation or CryptoQuant’s warning.

This post Strategy Stock (MSTR) Nearly Craters Another 10% as Securities Lawsuit Lands first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Trezor Academy Releases Documentary on Africa’s Bitcoin Economy, Opens Education Donations

While Western financial media has spent much of 2026 tracking Bitcoin’s crash from its October 2025 all-time high near $126,000, Trezor Academy has released a documentary that documents a different story. 

Seeding Bitcoin: Trezor Academy and Africa’s Bitcoin Revolution follows educators, merchants, and community members across Sub-Saharan Africa who are using Bitcoin not as a speculative asset but as a functional monetary tool.

The film captures Bitcoin education centers in South Africa where students as young as teenagers complete a Bitcoin diploma course and receive weekly rewards in bitcoin, which some use to buy groceries for their families. 

It profiles a shopkeeper who refused Bitcoin due to volatility concerns until a local educator introduced him to stablecoin settlement, after which he became an adopter. 

It documents a woman who traveled 14 hours to attend a grassroots Bitcoin conference and a former drug addict whose life has shifted since engaging with the local Bitcoin circular economy.

The through-line across all of them is exclusion from the existing financial system. Speakers in the film describe populations — refugees, orphans, people without formal addresses or government-issued ID — who cannot access bank accounts, credit, or formal payment infrastructure. 

Bitcoin, as one participant puts it, “doesn’t recognize if you’re poor or rich, what color your skin is, whether you have some government ID or not.”

Chainalysis recorded more than $205 billion in on-chain value received across Sub-Saharan Africa in the year to mid-2025, up around 52% year-on-year — the third-fastest regional growth rate in the world. 

A larger share of those transfers fell under $10,000 than in any other region, a pattern consistent with everyday use by individuals rather than institutional flows. 

Remittance costs tell part of the story: sending $200 to Sub-Saharan Africa through traditional channels carries fees close to 9 percent, the highest of any region according to the World Bank. 

On Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, the equivalent transfer can cost a few cents.

Currency instability adds another dimension. When Nigeria’s naira was devalued in March 2025, on-chain volume across the region spiked as people moved savings out of local currency. For communities that have lived through rampant inflation across multiple generations, a fixed-supply asset outside government control carries practical rather than ideological appeal.

Trezor Academy: Global bitcoin education

Trezor Academy, which has run more than 300 meetups, graduated over 2,000 students, and now operates in more than 30 countries, built the documentary around local educators teaching peers in their own languages. 

“This program will not teach everybody in Africa about Bitcoin,” says one educator in the film. “What we’re doing here is planting seeds through local educators from which Bitcoin circular economies later grow.”

Alongside the release, Trezor has added a donation option to its online shop. Customers can contribute at checkout or donate without a purchase, with all proceeds directed toward workshops, meetups, and project sponsorships in the Global South.

This post Trezor Academy Releases Documentary on Africa’s Bitcoin Economy, Opens Education Donations first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Matt Corallo Urges Bitcoin Projects to Exit GitHub After Rust Lightning Ban

GitHub has been the home to Bitcoin Core and many other software projects in the Bitcoin industry for over a decade, but it was not the first collaborative version control platform to host the digital currency’s code, and it may not be the last.

Recent performance issues in GitHub have triggered a new wave of criticisms of the platform, reviving old concerns and dissatisfactions with its design and reliability. Matt Corallo, one of the longest-acting Bitcoin core contributors, took to X recently to announce the decision to migrate off the platform, not Bitcoin core’s code base yet, but the Rust Lightning dev kit, a code base he is closely involved with. 

In an X quote retweet thread that goes back through multiple viral posts complaining about the platform, Corallo said, “our org currently has no CI (quality testing processes) because GitHub wrongly flagged a contributor, not an admin or maintainer, just someone new who opened a few pull requests. We’ve escalated it through corporate account managers and still basically nothing.” A week or so later, he added: “GitHub has decided our open-source project has been permanently banned with no explanation and no option to appeal, pointing to a ToS that clearly does not cover anything we’ve ever done.” – “I guess it’s time for Bitcoin projects to leave GitHub.”

The banned contributor appears to be Luis Schwab, who replied “I’ve had my account banned twice within a week “by mistake”. Relying on GitHub’s goodwill is not a good long term strategy.” Multiple other Bitcoin and crypto engineers replied with similar experiences, saying they too had migrated off the platform or been banned without recourse, like Roman Storm, who replied, “In 2022, GitHub locked my account over Tornado Cash sanctions. I’m a US citizen. They told me to get an OFAC license to access my own account. The sanctions were later ruled unlawful and overturned. The account is still locked. I’ve filed ticket after ticket – now they don’t even respond. Abolish GitHub.”

Corallo blames the AI wave on the recent mass banning of accounts and increasingly aggressive measures taken by the massive platform. The popularity of vibe coding has brought a new wave of attention, amateur projects and automated bot-like behavior to the already overburdened platform. Today, GitHub claims to host over 420 million repositories and over 4 million organizations worldwide. GitHub was acquired by Microsoft in 2018, which, to some, also explains its steady downfall. 

Even Andrew Poelstra, another senior Bitcoin Core and Rust Lightning contributor, with over a decade of experience in the industry, wrote a devastating take-down of GitHub, defending the decision to migrate. “This site has an overwhelming amount of LLM slop, and they have no intention of stopping it, though they did write this insane blog post taking credit for FOSS as a way of acknowledging the problem,” he began, continuing to explain that the merging of code into the master repositories had now been  “broken for several days.” This caused cascading issues that confused the “merge script,” a security program that makes sure updates to a code base are done properly. 

The bug meant that tracking and merging pull requests — contributions from other developers — didn’t work as expected. “Tracking PRs is the one thing GitHub is supposed to do, and it’s broken. It’s no longer more convenient to stay here than to leave, which was the only reason we’ve stayed so long,” Poelstra continued. “The usual problems where diffs and comments are hidden, the site being slow and unreliable, the permissions model being insane and broken, the lock-in, the crappy and slow API, etc. [All of] which we could live with if the basic functionality worked, but it doesn’t.”

As a result, the next destination for Rust Lightning and perhaps other Bitcoin projects in the industry may be Forgejo, a lightweight GitHub alternative optimized towards self-hosting and high agency projects. Corallo confirmed to Bitcoin Magazine that “rust-bitcoin already started migrating to git.rust-bitcoin.org” and Rust Lightning would follow. 

The repositories will likely continue to host a copy on GitHub, though no public statements have been made about any kind of long-term mirroring strategy of the code base, meaning it will eventually just live on their own site. 

This post Matt Corallo Urges Bitcoin Projects to Exit GitHub After Rust Lightning Ban first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Juan Galt.

Some of the largest US crypto companies and advocacy groups are escalating a coordinated lobbying campaign to secure a Senate vote on landmark digital-asset legislation before lawmakers leave Washington for their August recess.

The industry’s push for the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act comes as the Senate confronts a narrowing legislative calendar, and negotiations remain unfinished.

In view of this, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who controls the chamber’s floor schedule, reportedly acknowledged that negotiators still have a route forward but warned that the opportunity is closing.

The warning has added urgency to an industry campaign years in the making. The bill supporters are now widening their effort across Washington, seeking to convert committee progress and bipartisan negotiations into floor action before the congressional calendar becomes more difficult.

A broad crypto coalition mobilizes

The campaign took a visible turn this week when Ripple sent a branded “Clarity Truck” through Washington, carrying messages in support of the legislation as lawmakers prepared to leave the capital.

Ripple presented the measure as a way to establish consumer protections, encourage responsible digital-asset development, and preserve the United States’ position in financial technology.

The truck is part of a broader operation involving cryptocurrency exchanges, blockchain developers, venture capital firms, trade associations, and grassroots organizations.

Earlier this month, a coalition of more than 200 companies and advocacy groups sent a letter to Thune and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, urging them to schedule a floor vote for the CLARITY Act. Signatories included Coinbase, Ripple, Kraken, Circle, Binance.US, and Andreessen Horowitz.

The coalition argues that the absence of a comprehensive federal framework has left companies subject to competing interpretations from regulators and courts.

Supporters say clearer registration pathways would encourage businesses, capital, and technology jobs to remain in the United States while bringing more trading activity within the reach of domestic regulators.

Kristin Smith, president of the Solana Policy Institute, said talks involving Senate Republicans, Democrats, the White House, and industry representatives are continuing despite mounting anxiety about the bill’s progress.

Smith said lawmakers and their staff have held frequent in-person meetings, identifying Republican Sens. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Bernie Moreno of Ohio and Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Ruben Gallego of Arizona among those working to advance the proposal.

The industry has also expanded its political operation. Crypto-backed groups spent heavily during recent election cycles, while companies and trade associations increased their presence in Washington and developed relationships across both parties.

That work helped move the legislation through the committee. It has not yet secured a commitment from Senate leaders to bring the measure to the floor.

Clearing legislative hurdles

The House passed H.R. 3633 by a 294-134 vote on July 17, 2025. The Senate Banking Committee advanced a substantially revised version 15-9 of the CLARITY Act on May 14 after months of negotiations.

The Senate proposal would divide oversight responsibilities between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) based on the nature of an asset and the transaction through which it is offered or traded.

The SEC would retain authority over securities offerings and investment-contract transactions involving digital assets. The proposal would also create tailored disclosure rules for some token distributions while placing intermediaries that operate spot markets for digital commodities under CFTC supervision.

The framework is intended to replace a system shaped largely by enforcement actions, agency interpretations, and court rulings.

Cryptocurrency companies have argued that the current approach makes it difficult to determine which regulator has jurisdiction and whether particular tokens or trading activities can be offered legally in the United States.

The proposal also builds on the stablecoin framework established under the GENIUS Act. It would prohibit digital-asset service providers from paying interest or yield solely because a customer holds a payment stablecoin, while permitting rewards tied to transactions, platform use, liquidity provision, and other activities.

Stablecoin rewards had become a major point of contention. Banks warned that interest-like payments could draw deposits away from traditional financial institutions, while crypto companies argued that an expansive ban would restrict competition and prevent platforms from offering legitimate incentives.

Negotiators reached a sufficient compromise to secure the Banking Committee vote, but additional changes could emerge during floor consideration.

The committee’s proposal must also align with legislation within the Senate Agriculture Committee's jurisdiction, which oversees the CFTC. Senate leaders would then need to assemble the bipartisan support required to overcome procedural barriers that typically take 60 votes.

Any Senate-approved version would probably have to return to the House because of changes made since the representatives passed their bill last year.

Lummis described the committee vote as evidence of how far the industry’s legislative campaign had come, saying:

“I have watched the digital asset community grow from the fringes to the floor of the United States Senate. Now let’s get the Clarity Act to the president’s desk.”

CLARITY Act's illicit-finance dispute

Despite the progress in committee, CLARITY Act negotiations remain divided over how the bill would alter the perimeter of US anti-money laundering regulation.

The immediate dispute centers on Section 604, a provision known as the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act. The language is designed to prevent developers of noncustodial software and blockchain infrastructure from being classified as money transmitters when they neither hold customer assets nor directly control transactions.

Industry groups say the protection is necessary because a developer who publishes code should not automatically face the same licensing and reporting obligations as a financial company that takes possession of customer funds.

However, four law enforcement organizations recently sent a joint letter to administration officials warning that the provision could create gaps in oversight and accountability.

The National District Attorneys Association, the National Association of Assistant United States Attorneys, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the National Sheriffs’ Association argued that broad exemptions could shield some crypto participants from know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering requirements.

The groups said they support protections for developers who merely write or publish software. Their concern is that the provision could also cover operators that actively facilitate digital-asset transfers without formally taking custody of customer funds.

That disagreement has become one of the central sticking points in negotiations involving Congress, the administration, industry representatives, and law enforcement.

In response, Lindsay Fraser, chief policy officer at the Blockchain Association, said the criticism reflects a misunderstanding of the legislation.

Fraser said Section 604 narrowly protects developers who neither custody assets nor control transactions and does not prevent authorities from prosecuting fraud, money laundering, sanctions evasion, or terrorism financing.

Other provisions would apply the Bank Secrecy Act and sanctions obligations to digital-commodity brokers, dealers, and exchanges. The bill would also expand information sharing between private companies and federal agencies, strengthen seizure and forfeiture powers, and give the Treasury Department additional tools to target illicit financial activity.

It would create a safe harbor allowing stablecoin issuers and digital-asset service providers to place temporary holds on transactions when they reasonably suspect unlawful activity or receive a written law-enforcement request.

Fraser said those measures would expand compliance obligations while ensuring that noncustodial developers are not treated as financial intermediaries solely because they created software.

The Blockchain Association has also sought to show that the legislation has support from within the national security community.

Earlier this month, it released a letter signed by 160 former national security, intelligence, and law enforcement professionals urging Thune and Schumer to advance the bill.

The former officials argued that bringing more digital-asset businesses under US oversight would give investigators stronger private-sector partners and discourage companies from moving activity to offshore jurisdictions with weaker transparency requirements.

The competing letters reflect a narrower disagreement than the broader debate over whether cryptocurrency markets need federal rules. Both sides say investigators require stronger tools.

They differ over whether Section 604 draws an effective boundary between neutral software development and the operation of a financial service.

Ethics roadblocks remain

A separate political dispute over the CLARITY Act concerns ethics restrictions on senior government officials and their families.

Democrats have sought stronger provisions addressing crypto holdings and commercial relationships involving officials who influence digital-asset policy. Scrutiny has intensified because of President Donald Trump’s family connections to cryptocurrency ventures.

The Senate Banking Committee rejected an ethics amendment during its May markup, but the issue is expected to return before any floor vote. Republican leaders will need Democratic support to assemble the votes required to advance the legislation.

Reid MacInnes Cuming, chief executive officer of research firm Ground On-chain, said negotiators had made progress on several difficult technical questions, including stablecoin rewards and the treatment of decentralized finance.

The ethics provisions present a more politically sensitive challenge, he said.

According to him:

“House and Senate reconciliation still has rough edges, and significant rulemaking remains. But the ethics provisions are the real obstacle; if unresolved before August, the bill stalls past the midterms and innovation pays the price.”

A stronger ethics provision could help attract Democratic votes but may face resistance from Republicans, the White House, or parts of the industry. Failure to reach a compromise could leave Senate leaders without enough support to justify using scarce floor time on the bill.

Rules for decentralized-finance platforms also remain under discussion. Lawmakers are attempting to distinguish genuinely decentralized software from services that retain significant control while presenting themselves as autonomous protocols.

Those questions overlap with the Section 604 fight because both involve determining when software developers or protocol operators should be treated as regulated intermediaries.

The legislative window narrows

The Senate calendar now magnifies each unresolved issue surrounding the CLARITY Act.

Lawmakers are scheduled to return from their current recess on July 13 and remain in session through Aug. 7 before beginning the state work period on Aug. 10. The dates do not create a legal deadline, but they establish a difficult political cutoff.

A delay beyond the recess would push the legislation deeper into the midterm election cycle, when floor time becomes scarcer and lawmakers are often less willing to cast votes on disputed financial legislation.

Even a passage before August would leave additional work. The Senate must complete a combined market-structure package, reconcile its language with the House, and send an agreed measure to the president.

However, Smith said the four weeks between the Senate’s return and the August recess provide enough time for leaders to schedule the bill and resolve the remaining disputes. Congressional deadlines often force compromises that negotiators resist when more time appears available, she said.

The crypto industry is betting on that pattern. Companies and trade groups have spent years building a political campaign capable of moving the legislation this far, and their latest efforts are intended to ensure it does not lose momentum in the final stretch.

The post Crypto firms race to lock in CLARITY Act rules before the Senate window closes appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Ripple and SBI announced the official launch of RLUSD in Japan on June 24, following JFSA approval, with the stablecoin available to institutional and retail users through SBI VC Trade.

Ripple categorized RLUSD under Japan's Payment Services Act as a new type of electronic payment instrument for foreign-issued stablecoins, the first time the company has had a regulated dollar stablecoin in one of its most established markets.

The day after the launch, Circle and Nomura plan to launch a USDC-based digital asset settlement and corporate payment service in Japan as early as 2027.

The service would let Japanese businesses exchange yen for USDC for supplier payments, overseas affiliate transfers, and FX settlements, compressing cross-border transfers that currently take two to three business days down to minutes.

Japan's FX market processed $440 billion in daily transactions in 2025, per BIS data, a figure that puts real institutional weight behind the announcement.

Japan's FSA-registered electronic payment instrument list, as of June 24, shows SBI VC Trade handling USDC, RLUSD, and JPYSC.

SBI launched RLUSD with Ripple, distributed USDC from March 2025, and co-launched JPYSC the same week with SBI Shinsei Trust Bank overseeing issuance and Startale as technical partner.

Ripple's longtime Japanese ally has built a stablecoin shelf, and every major issuer is on it.

Ripple's Japan position

SBI Group invested in Ripple in 2016; SBI Remit built remittance corridors on Ripple Payments after that investment; and XRP gained retail familiarity through SBI VC Trade at a depth unusual for any blockchain asset outside Japan.

RLUSD extends that decade-long relationship by being the first regulated dollar stablecoin distributed through SBI's existing payment infrastructure.

Ripple said RLUSD has reached approximately $1.7 billion in market capitalization since its launch in late 2024. SBI VC Trade's own notice positioned RLUSD as the platform's second US dollar stablecoin, alongside USDC on the same shelf, with relationship history as the differentiator.

Cross-border payments, remittances, and Ripple Payments flows are where that history converts into actual transaction volume, and those lanes are Ripple's most defensible position in Japan.

The institutional lane Circle and Nomura are opening

USDC arrived in Japan via SBI VC Trade in March 2025, with Binance Japan, bitbank, and bitFlyer signaling future listings, thereby enabling Circle to achieve exchange-level distribution.

The Nomura partnership brings USDC into corporate treasuries, supplier payment chains, and FX settlement desks within Japanese companies, a territory that exchange listings never reach.

A survey by Nomura and Laser Digital of 518 Japanese investment professionals found that 63% saw stablecoin use cases spanning treasury management, cross-border payments, crypto investment, and tokenized securities settlement.

The same survey found that stablecoins issued by major financial institutions received the highest trust ratings across JPY, USD, and EUR denominations.

Ripple positions RLUSD around payments, cross-border liquidity, and settlement infrastructure, the same institutional problem Nomura gives Circle a bank-facing route to solve, with the institutional trust layer that Ripple's own brand alone has yet to earn in Japan's corporate market.

The yen stablecoin floor

Reports pointed out that MUFG, SMBC, and Mizuho plan to jointly issue yen-based stablecoins during the fiscal year ending March 2027, with Japan's FSA supporting the experimental phase.

That timeline runs in parallel with Circle and Nomura's 2027 target and with JPYSC's current distribution through SBI VC Trade.

SBI and Startale call JPYSC Japan's first trust-type yen stablecoin under the electronic payment instruments framework.

It targets large-value transfers, on-chain FX, institutional lending, and tokenized RWA settlement, as well as corporate use cases in which a yen-denominated instrument carries less FX risk for Japanese firms than a dollar-denominated one.

For domestic B2B payments and yen-to-yen settlement flows, bank-issued yen stablecoins carry an institutional trust advantage that puts dollar stablecoins in a structurally weaker position.

If RLUSD drives meaningful transaction flow on cross-border corridors, connecting Japanese institutions to dollar liquidity faster than SWIFT rails, the SBI relationship converts from a distribution advantage into a revenue-generating payment infrastructure.

Ripple Payments already operates remittance corridors through SBI Remit, and RLUSD adds a regulated stablecoin layer on those rails that Circle, arriving through Nomura with a 2027 target, has yet to build operations in Japan.

The bear case is that RLUSD becomes a listed stablecoin without the transaction volume to support its position.

If Nomura activates USDC for corporate FX before Ripple deepens RLUSD usage beyond SBI VC Trade listings, and if megabank yen stablecoins absorb domestic settlement flows, RLUSD ends up serving the cross-border and crypto-settlement lane Ripple already held.

Meanwhile, the higher-value corporate settlement market consolidates around Nomura, Circle, and the megabanks.

SBI's position and the adoption test

SBI invested in Ripple in 2016, distributed USDC in March 2025, launched RLUSD in June 2026, and co-launched JPYSC the same week.

The FSA list showing SBI VC Trade handling all three stablecoins simultaneously makes SBI's actual Japan strategy visible: a regulated access layer for multiple issuers that captures distribution revenue regardless of which stablecoin wins each use-case lane.

SBI's multi-stablecoin positioning gives Ripple guaranteed distribution and retail access through a regulated partner, and it puts Ripple in direct wallet-share competition with USDC and JPYSC on the same platform.

Four stablecoins now cover Japan's regulated market: RLUSD on Ripple-rail and cross-border dollar liquidity; USDC on exchange access and Nomura-backed corporate FX; JPYSC on yen-denominated institutional flows; and megabank stablecoins targeting domestic settlement by March 2027.

Ripple has the SBI relationship, remittance infrastructure, and a decade of XRP-adjacent brand familiarity that Circle and Nomura will spend years trying to replicate in Japan.

Circle has a dollar-stablecoin scale, a banking partner with institutional trust data, and a corporate FX pitch targeting the highest-value payment problem Japanese firms face.

Both enter the adoption phase without proven transaction volume in Japan, which will decide the market.

The next 18 months, ending around the Circle/Nomura and megabank 2027 launch targets, will determine whether Ripple's head start converts into a durable position in payment infrastructure or whether Japan's stablecoin market consolidates around institutional trust and bank distribution.

The post Ripple got RLUSD into Japan, now the stablecoin race begins as Circle and Nomura join appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Celsius froze withdrawals in June 2022 before filing for Chapter 11 in July 2022, and Genesis froze redemptions after FTX's collapse and filed for bankruptcy in January 2023, owing approximately $3.4 billion to its 50 largest creditors.

BlockFi, Celsius, Genesis, and Voyager together accounted for 40% of the crypto lending market and 82% of CeFi lending at their peaks, per Galaxy data. The 2022 unwind exposed two failures simultaneously: bad loans and the complete opacity of where risk sat inside those balance sheets.

The answer crypto landed on was to put lending on-chain, which helped address some of the opacity problem.

Building the credit infrastructure that institutional lenders require, such as defined seniority, first-loss retention, enforceable custody arrangements, independent administration, borrower servicing, and legal-grade bankruptcy isolation, demanded a different approach entirely.

Maple and Kraken's warehouse facility is a test of whether DeFi can deliver that infrastructure at the collateral layer, using liquid BTC and ETH as the asset base.

What the structure does

Kraken funds its OTC lending book through the USDC facility, with Maple lenders providing senior capital and Kraken affiliates originating, selling, and servicing the loans while retaining junior exposure, meaning Kraken absorbs losses before senior lenders take any hit.

Kraken Financial, a Wyoming-chartered SPDI and regulated qualified custodian, holds the BTC and ETH collateral, and Zaria administers the SPV independently.

Kraken structured the facility within a bankruptcy-remote SPV to isolate it from Kraken's entity risk and says that collateral balances and loan performance are verifiable on-chain in real time.

Aave liquidates borrowers when the health factor falls below 1, and Morpho when LTV exceeds the market's defined threshold, both collateral-ratio and liquidation engines, transparent and automated but bounded by what automated liquidation can handle.

Origination, servicing, monitoring, workout, and credit recovery require human judgment, legal relationships, and institutional structure that automated protocols leave unaddressed.

Maple and Kraken are adding those layers, along with legal structuring that goes beyond what smart contracts alone can enforce.

Kraken's most forward-looking announcement line is “repeatable template for additional originators,” framing the facility as a credit infrastructure template open to other originators.

If that claim holds, the structure becomes a model for exchanges, custodians, and OTC desks seeking to grow their lending books by bringing in senior outside capital.

The problem Goldfinch identified

In April 2024, a Goldfinch governance update said Lend East expected to repay approximately $4.25 million of a $10.15 million pool, a roughly 58% principal loss, with the chain logging the loss in real time while Warbler Labs turned to external counsel and off-chain legal processes to pursue recovery.

Maple and Kraken aim to sidestep that specific failure mode by using liquid BTC and ETH as collateral, with execution on a crypto exchange taking seconds, recovering a defaulted trade-finance receivable in an emerging market takes years.

The collateral choice concentrates risk in market liquidity and execution speed, a test the structure can run quickly against observable data.

The structural bet is that crypto-native collateral pairs best with warehouse finance, with defined roles, defined seniority, and defined triggers, and a borrower underwriting layer on top.

RWA.xyz shows tokenized credit at $5.73 billion in distributed value as of June 25, with Maple as the largest platform by value at approximately $1.4 billion and a 24.6% market share. These figures show that real institutional capital is already allocated to the category.

Warehouse finance as credit infrastructure

Galaxy's latest leverage report put total crypto-collateralized lending at $67.42 billion at the end of the first quarter, down 5.1% quarter over quarter and 14.3% below the high registered in the third quarter of 2025.

DeFi lending apps still held $28.22 billion in outstanding loans, down 13.82% in the first quarter, while CeFi lenders had $25.43 billion in open borrows, down 7.23% on the quarter.

Combining DeFi apps and CeFi lending venues, Galaxy tracked $53.65 billion of outstanding crypto-collateralized borrows at quarter-end, with DeFi's share narrowing to 52.6% from 54.3% in the last quarter of 2025.

Galaxy said DeFi open borrows had already fallen to $23.29 billion as of May 1, down 50.58% from their Sept. 19, 2025, all-time high of $47.13 billion, following exploits and capital flight that hit on-chain lending.

That makes Maple and Kraken's facilities more relevant to institutional credit returns, but it requires answers on collateral custody, first-loss protection, servicing, liquidation triggers, legal isolation, and what lenders can verify before stress hits.

Warehouse lines in traditional credit are the bridge between loan origination and scaled capital markets.

A World Bank/IFC document describes them as revolving facilities used to build loan portfolios for future securitization, with assets pledged to an SPV and core risk mitigants including servicing, trust agreements, custodians, overcollateralization, and legal enforceability.

SIFMA reported $232.3 billion in US ABS issuance through May 2026, up 12.6% year over year, the scale standardized structured credit reaches when its infrastructure is trusted.

If Maple and Kraken perform through normal market volatility, the template becomes available to other originators.

Standardized LTV bands, collateral eligibility rules, liquidation triggers, custody arrangements, servicing obligations, and on-chain reporting templates could follow, creating the consistent credit documentation that institutional capital needs to allocate at scale.

Where the structure gets tested

The risk has moved from opaque balance sheets to execution, including accurate pricing during collateral declines, timely margin calls, liquid markets for liquidation, responsive custody, and servicer performance when it counts most.

If BTC or ETH gaps lower faster than margin calls execute, the facility depends on auction depth and execution speed, and multiple lenders liquidating similar collateral simultaneously can amplify selling.

That is the same forced-liquidation dynamic that crypto markets have experienced repeatedly during sharp drawdowns.

Legal structure reduces opacity, while collateral price volatility stays in the market regardless of how the credit stack is structured.

The model proves itself during a sharp BTC or ETH price drop, a liquidity gap in collateral markets, a borrower default, a servicer impairment, or a legal test of the SPV's bankruptcy remoteness.

Coinbase offers USDC borrowing against BTC collateral through Morpho, with liquidation triggered at 86% of the BTC collateral's market value.

Maple and Kraken build the institutional layers above that model, and each layer adds an operational dependency that requires performance during a rapid collateral decline.

What comes next

Warehouse facilities in traditional credit typically precede securitization, and originators use them to accumulate loan pools, build performance history, and standardize documentation before accessing broader capital markets.

If Maple and Kraken's loans perform through a full market cycle, the next step could be larger pools of crypto-backed credit financed by institutional investors who need that performance record before they can allocate.

If this template spreads, crypto credit could develop consistent underwriting criteria: which collateral qualifies, at what LTV, with what liquidation triggers, held by what type of custodian, serviced under what obligations, reported in what on-chain format.

That consistency enabled the traditional ABS market to reach $232 billion in annual issuance, allowing buyers to underwrite a structure once and apply that framework across the entire loan pool.

Crypto-backed credit needs that same infrastructure layer before institutional capital allocates to it at scale, with Maple and Kraken running the first test of whether DeFi can build it.

The post Crypto lending turns to Wall Street credit rules to win back institutional trust after 2022 collapse appeared first on CryptoSlate.

SOL touched $64.56 intraday on June 25 before recovering toward $66.56 as Bitcoin fell to $58,189. Fed hike odds for September held above 60% after the PCE print, and tight liquidity kept the broader market locked out of high-beta crypto rotation.

Solana still ranked third among all blockchains by 30-day net bridge inflows, with roughly $137 million flowing to the network, while tokens based on its blockchain gained ground in the same period.

Backpack gained 356%, Solstice's SLX climbed 92.5% over 30 days and nearly 159% over the past seven days, CARDS rose 74%, and JTO added 29%. Those moves show traders are already expressing Solana recovery risk through smaller network tokens, with SOL's own reversal still unconfirmed.

Jake Kennis, senior research analyst at Nansen, said SOL's earlier bounce off June 19 lows, combined with daily volumes holding above $4 billion and roughly $140 million in monthly chain inflows, pointed toward sustained interest.

SOL has since given back those gains and made new lows, which Kennis acknowledged makes the durability question harder to answer.

For a broader Solana recovery to hold, he said, winners inside the network need to reinvest in the chain, broadening on-chain performance beyond a handful of isolated token moves.

The macro gate

BTC traded between $58,189 and $61,844 on June 25, as the odds of a September hike held above 60% even after the in-line PCE print.

That backdrop keeps a broad, sustained Solana rotation out of reach for now, as high-beta assets need risk-on conditions to sustain gains, and the Fed's hawkish path hasn't delivered them.

Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget Research, said FTX-related asset sales, tighter market liquidity, and HYPE's sudden surge have collectively weighed on altcoin capital rotation.

Lee called those market frictions, arguing that they leave Solana's high-throughput architecture and DeFi activity intact, but they still set the ceiling for any near-term rally.

HYPE has captured the high-beta altcoin rotation that Solana-adjacent tokens would typically absorb in a risk-on move, and the FTX supply overhang continues to weigh on sentiment.

Backpack's 356% move, SLX's 159% over seven days, CARDS at 74%, and JTO at 29% all preceded any clean SOL reversal, so traders positioned in higher-beta network tokens first, with SOL's own confirmation still pending.

After the memecoin casino

Pump.fun's daily revenue fell from around $4.8 million six months ago to about $800,000 in June, and its seven-day average token graduation rate dropped to 0.26%, an 80% decline over three months.

Ben Nadareski, CEO and co-founder of Solstice, said Solana apps still generate about $2.8 million a day in revenue despite that, over double Hyperliquid's and roughly 2.5 times Ethereum's.

Capital kept flowing into the network while the casino emptied, and Nadaresk sees this disconnect as showing Solana's fee base now runs on application revenue.

Collector Crypt, which sells tokenized Pokémon cards, generated about $4 million in revenue last week, with over 30% of buyers redeeming the physical card. Meteora and Backpack produce fee revenue from trading and exchange infrastructure.

Tokenized equities on Solana count more than 170,000 holders and half a billion dollars in assets, with most trading volume occurring outside US market hours.

SpaceX is Nadareski's example: buyers seeking exposure to the firm's stocks found it on-chain because no standard brokerage offers it.

Solana's May roundup reported $2.8 billion in RWA value on the network, 97% of the cumulative on-chain spot trading volume for tokenized equities, and $16.4 billion in stablecoin supply.

Blockworks data put spot trading volume for tokenized assets was nearly $3 billion in June, almost triple the $1 billion recorded in May.

Nadareski argued that the tokens are following application traction this time, in the right order, and inflows are the last to show up.

The setup

If Bitcoin closes below $58,000, bridge inflows will reverse quickly. FTX supply overhang, tighter liquidity, and HYPE's dominance in the high-beta altcoin rotation are still active headwinds.

21Shares has argued that Solana's value-capture structure channels most economic returns to applications, leaving SOL's price gains to depend on separate demand drivers beyond app revenue alone.

SOL needs to reclaim $70, and Bitcoin needs to hold above $60,000 before the network's inflows and app revenue convert from latent potential into a confirmed trend.

A Solana Summer requires Bitcoin to stabilize, September hike odds to ease, and bridge inflows to persist long enough to broaden from network token speculation into sustained SOL demand.

Solana enters that wait with $137 million in 30-day inflows, $2.8 million in daily app revenue, 97% of tokenized equity spot volume, and a basket of network tokens already pricing in recovery, a stronger pre-conditions profile than most chains can show during a downturn.

If macro turns, Solana has a specific and data-backed claim to lead the next high-beta rotation. If macro stays hostile, inflows and token moves will look like early positioning the market wasn't ready to absorb.

The post A ‘Solana Summer’ could lead the next altcoin rebound if Bitcoin holds the line appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bitcoin registered an intraday low of $58,189 on June 25 before clawing back toward $60,100 as of press time, even as the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge landed roughly in line with expectations.

The May PCE print came in at a headline of 4.1% year over year and a core of 3.4%, with a monthly headline of 0.4% versus a 0.5% estimate. It cleared the immediate downside threat of an upside inflation shock, leaving BTC without a new bid.

Matt Mena, senior crypto research strategist at 21Shares, called the print “a brief exhale.” Headline PCE is still over double the Fed's 2% target.

The June FOMC statement kept rates at 3.50%-3.75% and noted that 17 of 18 participants judged inflation uncertainty to be above normal, with risks weighted to the upside.

The Fed ceiling

Can-Luca Köymen, investment strategist at Sygnum Bank, described the current policy environment as a “print-by-print Fed,” where core PCE drives decisions more than CPI, and Warsh has already signaled that forward guidance is no longer a policy tool.

September hike odds stayed above 60% after the June 25 data, with market pricing pointing to a hawkish path through year-end.

When dollar strength reasserted in recent weeks, Glassnode described DXY's move as “not constructive” for BTC and the dominant macro signal.

The June 25 modest dollar easing after PCE tracked directly with Bitcoin's partial recovery from $58,189 toward the high-$59,000 area, underscoring how heavily Bitcoin now trades as a liquidity-sensitive risk asset.

Alex Blume, founder and CEO of Two Prime, said Bitcoin has “struggled in price and in garnering attention,” while AI stocks have captured the bulk of risk appetite.

US semiconductor stocks surged roughly 170% over the prior year, while Bitcoin shed around 40% over the same period. A hawkish Fed and AI-equity dominance leave BTC fighting for flows on two fronts simultaneously.

The $58,000 Bitcoin price stress test

Bulls had pointed to $59,000-$62,000 as the zone anchored by the 200-week moving average and concentrated buying volume. June 25 broke the lower boundary of that zone, pushing BTC to $58,189 before a partial recovery.

A decisive close below $58,000 over multiple sessions would make the PCE relief look structurally irrelevant, and a convincing breach of $60,000 would set up $50,000 as the next psychological target.

US-traded spot Bitcoin ETFs logged net outflows of $68.3 million on June 22, $113.8 million on June 23, and $469 million on June 24, for a total of roughly $651 million across three sessions.

Strategy amplifies the macro headwind with a crypto-specific funding problem, as MSTR fell to an intraday low near $85 on June 25 before trading around $87, and the company's STRC preferred stock dropped below its $100 par value to $89, closing one of Strategy's BTC funding channels.

Blume said Strategy's behavior has “scared the market,” with its preferred equity near 80 cents on the dollar. He argued the fears are emotional, but STRC is still below par, MSTR is still below $90, and neither resolves on PCE data.

Forced selling exhausts itself

Glassnode's Accumulation Trend Score by wallet cohort reached 1, its maximum reading, during the previous plunge towards $60,000.

That means large holders have rotated from distribution to active accumulation in the previous correction, with investors purchasing a net 259,298 BTC between $59,000 and $67,000 since June 5.

Over 10.5 million BTC sat at an unrealized loss as of early June, exceeding the amount held in profit for the first time this cycle.

Mena pointed to March 2020 and the FTX collapse in 2022 as the closest historical analogs, both of which saw forced selling exhaust itself before major recoveries.

Blume made the same point from a different angle, arguing that the selling coming out of Strategy-adjacent anxiety is “largely emotional, but not truly a structural issue.”

With half of all holders at an unrealized loss and Glassnode's score at 1, the accumulation is absorbing forced selling. Mena attributed the recent selling to basis trade unwinds as the CME premium collapsed, driven by the mechanical closing of positions among traders.

The bull sequence requires cooperation from oil and the Fed, as Brent settled at $73.74 on June 24 and WTI at $70.34 after roughly 20 million barrels exited the Strait of Hormuz in 24 hours, pulling the energy component lower.

If that holds into June and July inflation prints, it gives the Fed cover to hold. Köymen's base case has the Fed holding across the next two to three meetings if Hormuz flows continue to improve.

A Fed hold, softer energy, and cooler-than-expected sequential CPI and PCE readings would pull the dollar lower, creating room for Bitcoin to reclaim $66,000-$67,000. Clearing that level and $70,000-$75,000 enter the conversation, followed by the $82,000-$85,000 ceiling that has capped Bitcoin since February.

The bear case rests on existing forces: September hike odds above 60%, continued ETF outflows, and Strategy's STRC still below par.

A CEPR analysis of the Iran war shock estimated that even a cautiously optimistic Hormuz disruption scenario could still add 0.6 percentage points to US headline inflation and 0.2 percentage points to core in 2026, putting the Fed's 2026 projections further above target.

If BTC loses $58,000 on a closing basis with outflows continuing and the dollar reasserting itself, the $50,000–$54,000 band becomes the next zone to watch.

The next Bitcoin price move

Whether oil relief translates into softer June and July inflation data will determine how much room the Fed has to hold and how much room Bitcoin has to reclaim $66,000.

If ETF outflows reverse as macro anxiety fades, the bull case for exhaustion in forced selling becomes self-reinforcing. If outflows persist despite a benign PCE print, the data confirm structural de-risking.

The $59,000-$62,000 zone held by the thinnest margin, and reclaiming $60,000 on a closing basis with improving ETF flows would confirm that the June 25 macro reprieve translated into something durable.

Failing to do so would confirm that ETF outflows and the Fed ceiling will decide the next leg.

The post Bitcoin nearly loses $58K as ETF outflows decide whether inflation relief holds appeared first on CryptoSlate.

It's official, and the timing couldn't be tighter. Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, has told its European customers it will stop providing services to them from July 1 — because it won't hold the licence required to legally operate in the bloc. For millions of EU users, this is the moment the long-running MiCA saga finally hits home.

Here's exactly what happened, what it means for your funds, and why regulated European platforms like Bitpanda are suddenly looking like the obvious safe harbour.

Why is Binance leaving the EU?

The trigger is a hard regulatory deadline. From July 1, every crypto firm serving the EU must hold a MiCA licence from a member-state regulator or be locked out of the 27-nation market, and a single national licence can then be "passported" across the bloc.

Binance bet everything on Greece as its entry point — and lost. The exchange had submitted an application in January through a local entity, but on June 24 it withdrew that bid, one week after Reuters reported the Hellenic Capital Market Commission was poised to reject it. In plain terms, Binance pulled the application before it could be formally refused.

The company is now pivoting to a new jurisdiction. After withdrawing the Greek application, Binance plans to seek authorization in France, saying it remains confident it will secure an EU licence in the coming months. But here's the catch: even if France approves it, any licence is likely to come well after the July 1 deadline, leaving Binance unable to serve EU customers in the interim.

What does this mean for Binance users in the EU?

If you're an EU-based Binance user, this affects you directly. Customers in markets including Poland, Italy, Spain and France — where Binance held local registrations that MiCA now renders void — received emails this week explaining how to withdraw their funds after the company told them it "will not be granted a MiCA license by 30 June 2026."

Binance has tried hard to calm the panic. The exchange said user assets "remain safe and secure" and accessible at all times, that it is communicating directly with affected users, and pointedly that it is "not telling users to withdraw their funds by July 1." Its head of Europe and UK, Gillian Lynch, told Reuters flatly that "Binance is not leaving Europe."

In practice, though, the reality is a service suspension. From July 1, Binance halts new spot orders, deposits, sign-ups, and Earn, staking and launchpool products for EU residents, while funds remain accessible and withdrawals stay active — the correct phrasing is "suspension and orderly wind-down," not "permanent closure."

There's one important warning here: staying put has a cost. EU users on an unauthorized platform forfeit the consumer protections MiCA is designed to guarantee. And the regulator has been blunt — ESMA advises investors to check their provider's authorisation in the ESMA register and, in case of doubt, to transfer crypto assets to licensed platforms or self-custody wallets.

Why is this such a big deal for Binance

This isn't just a paperwork hiccup. The failure to get EU approval marks a major setback for an exchange that has spent years trying to position itself as compliant after a long string of penalties and lawsuits around the world. 

The history is heavy. In 2023, Binance pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to money laundering and breaching international financial sanctions, agreeing to pay more than $4.3bn to US authorities, while founder Changpeng Zhao resigned as CEO, pleaded guilty to a criminal charge, served four months in US prison and was later pardoned. Those concerns echoed right into this licensing process — the Greek application was reviewed jointly by authorities in Greece, Ireland and Latvia, which raised concerns about the company's legal history and complex corporate structure.

The bigger picture: a great regulatory reshuffle

Binance is the biggest name caught out, but it's far from alone. MiCA is reshaping the entire European crypto landscape, and the bar is brutally high. According to ESMA, only around 250 companies currently hold full authorisation — down from more than 1,200 providers previously active in the EU, a conversion rate of less than one in five.

That shakeout creates clear winners and losers. Firms that are already regulated stand to benefit, since an "EU passport" lets them serve customers across all 27 member states without further national hurdles — and among the already-licensed players is Bitpanda, which holds licences in Austria (FMA), Germany (BaFin) and Malta (MFSA).

What are other regulated EU Binance alternatives?

If you're an EU crypto user weighing your options as unregulated exchanges retreat from the bloc, the priority is simple: move to a platform that's fully licensed and built for Europe from the ground up.

Bitpanda fits that description precisely. It's a European-headquartered exchange holding BaFin regulation in Germany alongside its Austrian and Maltese licences — exactly the MiCA-aligned, fully regulated status that Binance is now scrambling to obtain. For users who value maximum capital security and regulatory clarity, that distinction matters more today than it ever has.

And right now, there's a strong incentive to make the switch. Through a limited CryptoTicker × Bitpanda campaign, new users can claim:

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If you're checking crypto prices today, brace yourself: it's a sea of red. Bitcoin ($BTC) has slipped back below the $60,000 mark once again, dragging nearly the entire market down with it. After a brutal inflation-driven sell-off, the world's largest cryptocurrency is now trading around $59,586 — and almost every major coin is bleeding alongside it.

Let's break down exactly where crypto prices stand today, which coins are getting hit hardest, and what's behind this latest leg lower.

What are the crypto prices today?

The damage is broad and deep. Here's where the top of the market sits right now:

• Bitcoin ($BTC): ~$59,586 — down 3.39% on the day, down 4.35% over 7 days, and a painful 31.91% in the red year-to-date. Market cap still commands a massive $1.19T.
• Ethereum ($ETH): ~$1,550 — the worst major performer, down 5.80% on the day and a brutal 47.73% YTD.
• XRP ($XRP): ~$1.03 — down 4.49% on the day and down 8.34% over the week, clinging to the $1 line with a 43.96% YTD loss.
• BNB ($BNB): ~$565 — holding up best among the large caps, down just 0.53% on the day.
• Solana ($SOL): ~$69 — down 0.94% on the hour but actually up 1.07% over 7 days, a rare pocket of relative strength.
• Dogecoin ($DOGE): ~$0.074 — among the heaviest weekly losers, down 9.77% over 7 days.

Two names buck the trend worth noting. TRON ($TRX) is roughly flat and remains one of the only majors in the green year-to-date, up 13.25%. And Hyperliquid ($HYPE), despite a 5.46% weekly dip, is the standout of the entire board with a staggering 148.16% YTD gain — a reminder that even in a bloodbath, isolated strength exists.

Why is Bitcoin below $60,000 again?

The trigger this time was macro, not crypto-specific. The catalyst was the US Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report, which showed inflation running hotter than economists had forecast — and because PCE is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure, an upside surprise immediately raises the probability that the Fed keeps interest rates elevated for longer.

The numbers were ugly. Headline PCE inflation rose to 4.1% year-over-year in May, the highest reading since 2023 and more than double the Fed's 2% target. Higher-for-longer rates are kryptonite for risk assets — when government bonds yield 4.5–5%, capital rotates out of speculative plays like crypto and into safe yield.

The market repriced instantly. The inflation shock triggered $1.48 billion in crypto-wide liquidations within 24 hours, with long positions bearing the brunt at $1.21 billion of that total and Bitcoin alone seeing $665 million in forced exits. At its worst, the drop was severe — Bitcoin printed a 21-month low of $58,115 during the session before staging a partial recovery.

What else is dragging crypto prices down?

The inflation print was the spark, but several forces are amplifying the damage at once.

First, the Fed outlook has structurally shifted. Markets repriced the probability of a December rate hike to roughly 77%, with Bank of America now expecting three rate increases in 2026 and Deutsche Bank forecasting two hikes starting in September. The market has gone from pricing cuts to pricing hikes — a brutal reversal for crypto.

Second, the AI trade keeps stealing crypto's capital. AI infrastructure stocks continue pulling speculative capital away from crypto, and the Nasdaq 100 erased an intraday rally on the same inflation news, with the two markets tracking each other closely all year.

Third, there's a massive options expiry landing today. The largest quarterly options settlement of 2026 is clearing on Deribit, with $10.6 billion in open interest, 80% of positions out of the money, and max pain sitting at $72,000 — roughly $12,000 above the current spot price. The market was positioned for higher prices that simply never arrived.

On top of all that, the fear is palpable. The Fear and Greed Index is sitting deep in Extreme Fear, around 20–23.

What are the key levels to watch?

With $60,000 broken again, the technical map matters more than ever. The $59,000 level is the market's load-bearing floor today, and a close below it shifts the next reference point to $55,000, with deeper bearish targets at $52,000 and below still on the table.

On the way back up, the bulls have work to do. The first resistance cluster sits at $61,800–$62,000, while the $63,000–$64,400 zone — where the 21-day EMA sits — would need sustained buying to break.

Crypto's most important piece of US legislation just picked up an opponent almost nobody saw coming: the Catholic Church. And it lands at the worst possible moment for a market already deep in the red, with Bitcoin ($BTC) changing hands around $59,800 after slipping below the psychological $60,000 line this week.

This isn't a fringe objection. It's a coordinated, faith-based campaign aimed squarely at the provision the crypto industry has called a red line — and it's reshaping the math on whether the CLARITY Act passes before Congress breaks for August.

Why Are Catholic Leaders Opposing the CLARITY Act?

On June 23, a coalition delivered a letter to Senate leadership opposing a core section of the bill. In a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, more than 80 Catholic leaders, organizations and advocates warned that provisions in the House-passed CLARITY Act could weaken safeguards against illicit finance and create opportunities for criminal organizations to exploit digital asset networks. The letter was organized by the Alliance to End Human Trafficking, a faith-based nationwide network.

The framing was explicitly moral. "The Catholic Church has long taught that economic systems and markets must ultimately serve the human person, especially the poor, vulnerable, and those at greatest risk of exploitation," the letter said, adding that innovation "cannot come at the expense of human dignity or public accountability."

The market mood was already grim as the news circulated. Ethereum ($ETH) was trading near $1,567, down sharply on the day, while XRP ($XRP) hovered around $1.04 and Solana ($SOL) sat near $65 — a sea of red across the majors.

What Is Section 604 of the CLARITY Act (the BRCA Provision)?

The dispute isn't about crypto regulation broadly. It targets one specific mechanism. At the center of the objections is Section 604 of the CLARITY Act, commonly known as the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, or BRCA, which would provide legal protections for developers of decentralized blockchain software by limiting when they could be held liable for activities conducted by users of their software. 

Here's why both sides are dug in. The coalition argues that by removing non-custodial developers from the money-transmitter classification, Section 604 strips away the transaction-monitoring and suspicious-activity-reporting obligations that anti-money-laundering frameworks depend on. The industry sees it as essential protection for builders. Many crypto industry leaders have said the BRCA is a red line, and that they would not support the legislation if it were removed.

That's the deadlock: the exact clause the church wants stripped is the one the industry refuses to give up. Resolving the objection one way breaks the bill for the other side.

How Does the CLARITY Act Affect Bitcoin and Crypto Prices?

A single advocacy letter doesn't move $BTC on its own. But it matters because of where it lands and what it represents.

The CLARITY Act has been one of the few genuine bullish catalysts traders were counting on. With Bitcoin ($BTC) stuck under $60,000 and sentiment already battered by macro headwinds and ETF outflows, the market needs a reason to turn — and clean, fast passage of the bill was supposed to be that reason. Anything that lowers the odds of passage chips away at one of the last remaining upside narratives.

And the odds are not encouraging. Polymarket currently assigns a 42% probability that President Trump will sign the CLARITY Act before the end of 2026. The Catholic intervention doesn't help. A coalition letter targeting the bill's most industry-critical provision, arriving from an unexpected moral quarter, does not improve those odds.

The deeper problem is political optics. It hands opponents a ready-made floor-speech frame: that a vote for the provision is a vote against the tools that catch traffickers — a framing that does not have to be legally accurate to be politically effective. For a market hoping for a confidence boost, that's the opposite of helpful — and it helps explain why $ETH, $XRP and $SOL have struggled to find a floor alongside $Bitcoin.

What Other Opposition Is the CLARITY Act Facing?

The trafficking-safeguard fight is the newest pressure point, but it's far from the only one. The bill is being squeezed from several directions at once. It faces opposition from Wall Street, which wants language added restricting stablecoin rewards; from Native American tribes, which want clauses limiting prediction markets' sports-based wagers; and from some Democrats, who insist the bill must restrict the crypto ventures of President Trump and his family.

That fragmentation is the real danger for anyone holding $BTC and hoping for a catalyst. Each opposition bloc targets a different provision, which means resolving one does not resolve another. The church isn't acting in isolation either — law enforcement groups representing prosecutors, sheriffs and police chiefs sent their own letter warning that the bill's regulatory gaps could make it harder to trace financial flows tied to trafficking and organized crime.

The industry, for its part, is pushing back hard. Digital Chamber CEO Cody Carbone argued that Section 604 simply ensures non-custodial developers who build software tools are not unfairly penalized or treated under the same regulatory burdens as traditional banks.

Will the CLARITY Act Pass Before the August Recess?

For traders watching $BTC for a breakout, the timeline is everything. With the legislative clock ticking toward the August recess, the CLARITY Act sits on the Senate floor calendar but still requires at least seven Democratic votes to clear the 60-vote cloture threshold — and if it fails to advance before the summer recess, negotiations will be pushed into the fall.

That fall window is treacherous. Many industry leaders have said that if the bill cannot pass by next month, it is unlikely to become law this year, given the looming November midterms. In other words, the trafficking-safeguard objection isn't just one more complaint — it's friction at the precise moment the bill can least afford delay.

Just days before a hard EU regulatory deadline, Binance has dropped a bombshell on its European users. In a series of posts on X, the world's largest crypto exchange confirmed it is pulling its licence application in Greece and will try again elsewhere in the bloc.

With the clock ticking and millions of European users watching, here's what actually happened, what it means for your funds, and whether this had anything to do with crypto's brutal price drop this week.

What happened with Binance in the EU?

Binance had been trying to use Greece as its gateway into the European Union. The plan was straightforward on paper: get one MiCA licence, then "passport" it across all 27 member states. That plan has now collapsed.

The withdrawal didn't come out of nowhere. Binance's announcement came just one week after a Reuters report indicated its application was going to be rejected by the Greek finance regulator, the HCMC. In other words, Binance jumped before it was pushed. The company framed it as a prudent decision, noting that with no formal response ahead of the deadline, it chose to move forward in a way that gave users more clarity.

And the timing is critical. The MiCA transitional period for crypto-asset service providers ends on July 1, 2026, and after that date any firm without proper authorization is effectively locked out of the EU market. That gives Binance a razor-thin window to sort out an alternative.

What does this mean for crypto users on Binance?

This is the question on every European user's mind — and the honest answer is: mostly reassurance, with some uncertainty around the edges.

• Your funds are safe. Binance has been emphatic on this point. "The most important message is this: your funds remain safe and secure," the company stated, adding that it is actively reaching out to all EU users via email and in-app notifications.
• Some users may face disruption. Binance has been upfront that not everyone walks away untouched. The firm said that because it must take steps before July 1 to remain compliant, some users may be impacted, and it will communicate directly with affected users about next steps. What "impacted" means in practice — restricted new sign-ups, limits on certain products, or regional service changes — will vary by jurisdiction and hasn't been fully spelled out yet.
• Watch out for scams. Periods of confusion are a goldmine for fraudsters, and Binance issued a pointed warning. The exchange stressed it will never contact users by phone, will only communicate through official channels or email, and will never ask for passwords, 2FA codes, or private keys. If you're an EU user, treat any unexpected "urgent" message with extreme suspicion.

The practical takeaway: don't panic, but do keep an eye on official Binance channels for any account-specific instructions in the coming days.

Did this cause the crypto price crash?

Short answer: no, not really.

It's tempting to link this headline to the brutal sell-off that just dragged Bitcoin below $60,000 and XRP toward $1, but the timeline doesn't support a direct cause-and-effect. The crypto crash was driven by a confluence of macro factors — a sharp sell-off in tech and AI stocks, sticky inflation keeping the Fed hawkish, relentless $Bitcoin ETF outflows, and the fading CLARITY Act catalyst. Those were the real heavyweights moving the market.

The Binance news is better understood as a sentiment drag than a price driver. Landing in an already-fragile, fear-driven market, a regulatory wobble at the world's largest exchange doesn't help confidence — but there's no evidence it triggered the cascade. The market was bleeding before this headline hit, and the structural causes sit firmly in the macro and ETF picture, not in a single licensing setback.

That said, regulatory uncertainty around the biggest on-ramp in crypto is exactly the kind of background noise that can deepen risk-off sentiment when traders are already nervous. It's a contributing chill, not the cause of the freeze.

What happens if Binance finds another EU country?

This is where the story could swing back to neutral — or even positive.

The whole point of MiCA is a single market. Once approved in one EU nation, a firm can "passport" — or transfer its compliance — to the other member nations. So if Binance secures a licence in a different member state, it can in theory restore seamless access across the bloc, and this entire episode becomes a speed bump rather than an exit.

There's already a frontrunner. France has been mentioned as a potential landing spot, and it would be a logical choice — Binance already holds a registration with France's AMF as a digital asset service provider, a designation that predates MiCA, making it easier than starting from scratch.

But it's not a guaranteed clean save. The "passport" system has its critics. Last year, French regulators spoke out about disallowing passporting, threatening to block some firms that received approval in more lax EU states. And Binance's troubles aren't unique to Greece — Greek, Irish and Latvian regulators had reportedly raised concerns about Binance's past legal issues and corporate structure. If multiple regulators are skeptical, finding a willing home could prove harder than Binance's confident messaging suggests.

Will Binance Leave the EU?

For European Binance users, the immediate message is reassuring: your funds are safe, and the company insists it isn't leaving Europe. The real risk is operational disruption in the short term and the open question of whether Binance can secure a new licence before — or shortly after — the July 1 deadline.

On the market side, don't blame this for the crash. The price carnage was a macro and ETF story; the Binance news is a confidence headwind layered on top of an already-jittery market. If Binance lands a licence in France or another member state and passports it across the EU, this likely fades into a footnote. If it can't, the conversation about access for millions of European users gets a lot more serious.

For now: watch your inbox, ignore the scammers, and keep your eyes on which EU flag Binance plants next.

XRP is getting hammered. As Bitcoin smashed below the $60,000 floor, Ripple's token cratered right alongside it, sliding all the way down to around $1.08 after briefly dipping below $1.05. The $1 psychological level — once a distant safety net — is now staring traders dead in the face.

How did XRP crash to $1?

This wasn't an XRP-specific collapse — it was guilt by association. $XRP has a long, well-documented history of amplifying Bitcoin's moves to the downside. On every major Bitcoin drop this year, XRP has lost close to twice as much as Bitcoin, with the ratio staying consistent at around 1.8 to 1.

So when Bitcoin broke below $60,000, XRP didn't stand a chance of holding firm. The setup here is arguably uglier than the last big flush. Bitcoin breaking below $60,000 for the first time since October 2024 — after Strategy broke its years-long never-sell rule and spot Bitcoin ETFs ended their longest outflow streak ever — created conditions worse than the February Iran-war crash, when buyers had stepped in at the $1.11 level that has now broken.

And the key support that bulls had been defending all year finally gave way. XRP was holding $1.28 — the level buyers had defended on every dip since February — barely a week ago, before sliding steeply with $1.11 broken and the $1 floor closing in.

XRP Price Analysis: Is XRP RISKY to Buy?

The daily chart paints a textbook bearish picture. Since topping out near the $1.50 resistance zone in mid-May, XRP has been locked inside a clean descending trendline — a steady sequence of lower highs and lower lows that has capped every bounce attempt.

The key technical takeaways:

• The downtrend is intact. Every rally since mid-May has been sold into at the descending yellow trendline. The mid-June bounce toward $1.30 failed exactly there before rolling over again.
• Broken support turned resistance. The $1.15 and $1.20 levels that once acted as support have flipped into overhead resistance. XRP now trades below both.
• The $1.00 line is the last stand. The green support line sits right at the psychological $1.00 mark. That's the level the entire chart is now gravitating toward.
• RSI at 40.53. Momentum is bearish but not yet deeply oversold on the daily. The RSI sitting around 40 means there's still room to fall before sellers are fully exhausted — a warning sign for anyone expecting an immediate bounce.

The structure is clear: until XRP can reclaim the descending trendline and flip $1.15 back to support, the path of least resistance points lower.

XRP price prediction: where does Ripple go next?

Here's where it gets interesting. The near-term picture hinges almost entirely on two things — Bitcoin and the CLARITY Act.

• The bearish case (downside to $1 and below). With $1.05 broken, the chart is thin. Analysts identify $1.13 as XRP's critical weekly support, noting that a confirmed break below it could bring the $0.90–$1 target zone into focus, citing Bitcoin's weakness as the key drag. Worse-case macro scenarios get uglier still — should Bitcoin drop beneath $60,000 while ETF decisions stall and regulatory progress halts, some projections suggest XRP could settle between $0.21 and $0.75. That's a tail risk, not a base case, but it shows how much damage a prolonged BTC breakdown could do.
• The bullish case (a violent snap-back). Here's the twist that makes XRP fascinating right now. While the price bleeds, on-chain data tells the opposite story. XRP whales now control 45.83 billion tokens — 68.5% of circulating supply, the highest concentration since May 2018 — and Binance whale outflow dominance recently hit 91.4%, the same reading that preceded XRP's rally from $0.50 to over $3 in late 2024. On top of that, positioning is extremely lopsided: short bets currently outweigh longs by roughly 9 to 1, meaning any surprise positive catalyst — like a Senate floor vote going through — could trigger a short squeeze that moves XRP far faster than fundamentals alone would suggest.
• The CLARITY Act is the wildcard. This is the single biggest swing factor. If the bill clears and the macro stabilizes, Standard Chartered forecasts XRP could hit $2.80, with the bullish analyst range extending toward $8 — but if the CLARITY Act stalls and slips to 2030 or beyond, prices could drop closer to $0.53. That's roughly 30–40% downside against 2.5x–7x upside, which is exactly why XRP holders are glued to this vote.

The levels that matter

For your XRP price prediction watchlist, keep these on the radar:

• Immediate support: $1.05, then the all-important $1.00 psychological floor.
• If $1 breaks: the $0.90 zone comes into play, with little technical support beneath.
• Upside reclaim: XRP needs to break back above the descending trendline and flip $1.15 into support to even begin repairing the structure. Above that, $1.20 and $1.30 are the next hurdles.

XRP Price Prediction: Will XRP Crash Below 1$?

XRP's crash to $1 isn't a Ripple problem — it's a Bitcoin problem, amplified by XRP's tendency to fall nearly twice as hard on every BTC drop. The daily chart is firmly bearish, the descending trendline is still in control, and the $1.00 line is the last meaningful support before things get really thin.

But the setup is a coiled spring. With whales accumulating, shorts dangerously crowded, and the CLARITY Act floor vote looming as a binary catalyst, XRP could see an explosive move in either direction. For now, respect the downtrend — but don't be surprised if a single headline flips this chart violently.

The reported request to OpenAI follows the Trump administration's move to limit access to Anthropic's Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI models.

Strategy’s flagship preferred stock tumbled again when U.S. markets opened, setting another record low as Bitcoin lingered below $60,000.

Bitcoin fell to around $59,400 as $691 million fled spot ETFs, the most since May, ahead of Friday's $10.6 billion options expiry.

Bitcoin sinks to a fresh 2026 low as the selloff drags on. Kraken makes a major move into DeFi. And BlackBerry is staging a comeback.

The newly public crypto custodian is slashing nearly 15% of its workforce as it pivots to focus on stablecoins and AI infrastructure.

XRP native lending protocol nears activation as xpmarket backs the XLS-65 and XLS-66 upgrades.

Elon Musk officially teases X Money with Visa cards, but Dogecoin is missing.

XRP risks further decline as crucial support forms around $1.06 at a time when the broader crypto market faces extreme volatility.

Four cryptocurrencies set to be delisted on the Binance exchange in the coming days.

XRP on-chain data targets $0.51, a dormant whale moves $2.5 million in SHIB, Singapore flags Hyperliquid, and Bitcoin hits $58,000 amid $900 million in liquidations.

The xrp price prediction shifted again after pro-XRP lawyer Bill Morgan demanded Ripple release more of the monthly 1 billion XRP unlock instead of looping it back into escrow per Benzinga. The note dropped while XRP slid to $1.04. Benzinga still calls $10 a real long-term target, with Standard Chartered projecting $8 by year end.

The xrp price prediction now runs alongside record ETF activity. Seven U.S. spot XRP ETFs hold $1 billion AUM and 938.7 million tokens in custody on June 25, but the early high-multiple window for XRP and Solana closed at $67 billion and $40 billion in market cap.

CoinDesk reported XRP slid 2.8% to $1.04 on June 25, losing the $1.0850 support and parking at the lower end of its June trading range. Bulls need to reclaim $1.10 to flip the shakeout narrative. Solana (SOL) sits at $69.25, down 0.52%, while broader risk turned cautious across the CD20 index.

For the wider tape, the XRP setup confirms both tokens lean on institutional flow for price support, but the early returns are already behind them. The traders hunting 267x are no longer looking at assets where the chart fights over a $1 floor.

Top Cryptocurrencies to Position Before the Next Breakout

Pepeto: The Exchange Token Where $0.0000001879 Could Become 267x Before Institutions Find It

XRP traders sit on resistance levels waiting for steady percentage gains, but Pepeto at $0.0000001879 runs on different math. The ticket price is a fraction of a cent, the runway scales for years, and presale wallets stand in front of every public buyer that arrives later.

A live exchange under construction at the presale stage is rare on its own. Add $10,334,426 already inside the raise during a Fear and Greed reading of 12, a SolidProof reviewed contract, the cofounder who walked Pepe to $7 billion, and a former Binance executive shaping the listing.

Pepeto targets a meme coin trading market worth more than $45 billion with zero-fee infrastructure spanning three chains. Hitting 267x only requires the token to trade at a fraction of what Pepe achieved with the same 420 trillion supply.

The xrp price prediction has a ceiling. Pepeto does not, and the Binance listing is the event that wipes this entry off the screen for good.

XRP Price Prediction: Validated by Institutions but Returns Stay Range Locked

XRP trades near $1.04 per CoinmarketCap after losing key support under $1.0850. Benzinga still maps $10 as a possible long-term target, with Standard Chartered projecting $8 by year end and Coinpedia mapping $5 to $6 later this cycle.

The xrp price prediction targets $10 if ETF flows and CLARITY clarity keep stacking, roughly 9x over years, but moving averages stack between $1.13 and $1.19 and block every rally attempt.

Solana (SOL) Price at $69.25 as Risk Sentiment Cools Across Major Tokens

Solana traded at $69.25 per CoinDesk, down 0.52% across a broader pullback on June 25. SOL ETFs continue to attract incremental flows while support sits at $65 with $89 the key resistance. Losing $65 opens $58.

Conclusion

Ripple will still be trading next week no matter what the xrp price prediction lands on. The Pepeto presale will not. The June 25 break under $1.0850 confirms the early high-multiplier window for both XRP and SOL is already closed. A $1,000 XRP position buys 935 tokens and stretches to about $9,000 even at the bullish $10 target.

The same $1,000 in Pepeto secures 5.32 billion units, a position that pays out between $100,000 and $150,000 once the listing hits Pepe’s ATH math, and $10,000 on the same ticket is the million-dollar wallet most readers spent last cycle wishing they had.

One wallet got in before listing and walked out of this cycle with a portfolio between $150,000 and a million on a single position. The other hesitated like buyers who passed on Shiba Inu and carries that regret forever. The window is still open, but at the pace demand is hitting the raise, days are all that is left.

Click To Visit Pepeto Website To Enter The Presale

FAQs

What is the xrp price prediction target after Bill Morgan called for faster escrow releases?

The xrp price prediction targets $10 long term per Benzinga if ETF demand and CLARITY Act clarity keep stacking. XRP’s $67 billion cap caps near-term upside to percentages, not the multiples a presale entry can deliver.

How does Pepeto’s return math compare to holding XRP or SOL?

Pepeto secures 5.32 billion units per $1,000 at $0.0000001879, a position that pays between $100,000 and $150,000 at listing on Pepe’s ATH math. XRP at $67 billion and Solana at $40 billion cannot support a 100x to 150x outcome from their current caps.

What does the June 25 XRP breakdown mean for XRP and Solana?

XRP losing $1.0850 confirms both tokens lean on institutional ETF flows for price support. Neither offers the presale upside Pepeto carries ahead of a confirmed Binance listing at $0.0000001879.

The post XRP Price Prediction 2026: Pepeto Presale Math Beats XRP $10 Target as Bill Morgan Pushes Ripple to Unlock Faster appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Highlights

• Tokenization platform Securitize anticipates $400M in capital from CEPT transaction

• NYSE trading debut under ticker SECZ scheduled for July 2

• Critical shareholder approval meeting set for June 29

• Minimal redemption requests preserve transaction funding

• Platform currently oversees $4B in real-world tokenized assets

The impending business combination between Securitize and Cantor Equity Partners II is projected to deliver roughly $400 million in total gross funding. Following a crucial shareholder vote scheduled for June 29, the transaction could finalize on July 1, paving the way for public trading to commence under the SECZ symbol on the New York Stock Exchange just one day later.

Minimal Redemption Activity Preserves Transaction Capital

According to recent disclosures, under 30% of CEPT’s Class A stockholders exercised their redemption rights. This outcome ensures substantially more funding will be accessible to the merged entity upon deal completion. The anticipated $400 million figure encompasses accompanying private investment but does not account for deal-related expenses.

The capital infusion will enable Securitize to expand its footprint in the rapidly developing tokenized asset sector. The firm presently administers over $4 billion worth of tokenized real-world assets across its platform. Its infrastructure powers investment vehicles created in partnership with numerous prominent international asset management firms.

Before the merger can proceed, CEPT investors must grant their approval at the specially convened meeting on June 29. Both organizations must also satisfy or obtain waivers for all standard closing conditions. Current projections indicate the deal will reach completion forty-eight hours following the stockholder vote.

Public Market Entry Positions SECZ on NYSE

Once finalized, the unified enterprise will conduct business publicly as Securitize Corp. The company’s common shares are anticipated to launch trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the SECZ ticker symbol on July 2. This public listing will establish a prominent tokenization services provider within traditional equity capital markets.

Securitize delivers compliant infrastructure enabling the creation, administration, transfer, and exchange of tokenized financial instruments. The platform collaborates with industry giants including BlackRock, Apollo, BNY, Hamilton Lane, KKR and VanEck. These strategic alliances bridge conventional asset management firms with distributed ledger technology-based financial systems.

The organization maintains multiple regulated subsidiaries spanning North America and Europe. Within the United States, its operations encompass a licensed broker-dealer, securities transfer agent, registered investment adviser, and fund administration entity. Its European division functions under the European Union’s specialized DLT Pilot Regime framework.

SPAC Transaction Stems from Late 2025 Agreement

Securitize and CEPT publicly unveiled their binding merger agreement on October 28, 2025. CEPT functions as a blank-check company sponsored by an affiliate of Cantor Fitzgerald. The framework established plans for the post-combination company to obtain a New York Stock Exchange listing.

In subsequent months, both entities have compiled comprehensive regulatory submissions and deal documentation for investor examination. These disclosures encompass CEPT’s mandated regulatory filings and Securitize’s registration statement submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The documentation details transaction mechanics, corporate structure, funding arrangements, and potential risk factors.

Citigroup is acting as financial and capital markets advisor to Securitize for this transaction. Cantor Fitzgerald provides advisory services to CEPT, with both institutions additionally coordinating the associated private placement offering. Multiple legal firms are delivering counsel to the companies and placement representatives.

Securitize approaches this prospective public listing with more than eight years of operational history in asset tokenization. The platform integrates securities issuance, transfer agency services, fund oversight, and secondary market trading within a unified regulated framework. The SECZ public debut would link its tokenization capabilities with enhanced access to mainstream capital markets.

The post Securitize (SECZ) Set for NYSE Debut with $400M SPAC Merger Backing appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Highlights

• SMX shares declined 5.18% amid heightened recycling compliance demands.

• Emerging state environmental regulations drive producers toward authenticated data systems.

• SMX platform connects molecular markers with encrypted digital documentation.

• Material authentication could facilitate regulatory reporting, audits, and sourcing decisions.

• Tightening environmental standards may increase need for authenticated recycled-content documentation.

Shares of SMX (SMX) declined 5.18% to $14.45 amid growing focus on the company’s material verification platform as environmental regulations tighten. The stock retreated after briefly climbing above $15.20 during early trading, eventually settling near mid-morning levels. Concurrently, expanding state-level environmental mandates are driving increased demand for authenticated data throughout recycling and packaging ecosystems.

SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited Company, SMX

Environmental Regulations Intensify Compliance Requirements

California’s SB 54 mandates that manufacturers participate in packaging recovery initiatives and extended producer responsibility frameworks. Additional states have enacted recycled-content mandates and disclosure obligations covering packaging materials, containers, carrier bags, and similar items. Businesses now face requirements to substantiate material sourcing, recycled composition, processing methods, and end-of-life disposition.

New Jersey has implemented recycled-content mandates spanning multiple plastic, glass, and paper product segments. Maine, Oregon, Colorado, Minnesota, Maryland and Washington have similarly enacted packaging stewardship legislation. Collectively, these initiatives transfer greater recycling expenses and documentation responsibilities onto manufacturers.

This regulatory evolution presents operational hurdles for manufacturers, recycling facilities, consumer brands, and waste management entities. Organizations must substantiate every recycled-content assertion with documentation suitable for regulatory and third-party examination. Consequently, inadequate chain-of-custody frameworks may generate compliance vulnerabilities and brand integrity concerns.

SMX Focuses on Material-Embedded Authentication

SMX embeds an imperceptible molecular identifier within materials and links it to encrypted digital documentation. This framework can maintain information regarding provenance, chemical makeup, custody transfers, and processing history across a material’s entire journey. Consequently, organizations can monitor physical substances alongside their corresponding compliance documentation.

Recycling ecosystems typically encompass multiple intermediaries, processing facilities, and regulatory territories before materials re-enter commercial markets. Throughout this journey, documentation can become dispersed, contradictory, or challenging to authenticate. SMX seeks to address these vulnerabilities by anchoring data directly within the physical material.

The company’s solution could accommodate plastics, fabrics, and additional materials requiring authenticated recycled-content verification. Manufacturers might leverage authenticated data for sourcing decisions, public disclosures, compliance audits, and regulatory submissions. Nevertheless, market penetration will hinge on commercial appetite, implementation expenses, and regulatory recognition.

Plastic Authentication Demonstrates Commercial Applications

Plastic recycling presents a compelling application because recycled resins frequently traverse multiple supply-chain intermediaries. Authenticated material documentation could reinforce assertions regarding recovery rates, reprocessing, and recycled-content percentages. It might also assist manufacturers in satisfying evolving state disclosure mandates.

SMX further integrates authenticated recycled volumes with its Plastic Cycle Token infrastructure. The company engineered this mechanism to correspond with quantifiable industrial recycling operations. Thus, authenticated output might underpin plastic offset instruments, contractual arrangements, project financing, and additional commercial applications.

Wider market dynamics may also shape demand for recycled plastic authentication. Petroleum price volatility can affect virgin plastic economics and influence procurement strategies. As environmental mandates intensify, SMX might attract interest from organizations pursuing enhanced verification throughout material supply networks.

The post SMX (SMX) Stock: Drops as Tightening Recycling Regulations Spotlight Verification Tech appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR:

• Securitize expects about $400 million in gross proceeds after fewer than 30% of SPAC shares were redeemed.
• The proposed business combination is expected to close on July 1 after shareholder approval on June 29.
• Securitize Corp. is scheduled to begin trading on the NYSE under the ticker SECZ on July 2, 2026.
• Securitize currently tokenizes more than $4 billion in real-world assets across its investment platform.

Securitize SPAC Deal is moving toward completion after the company confirmed its proposed business combination with Cantor Equity Partners II is expected to raise approximately $400 million in gross proceeds.

Fewer than 30% of CEPT Class A shareholders redeemed their shares, allowing most trust proceeds to remain available.

Subject to shareholder approval on June 29 and customary closing conditions, the transaction is expected to close on July 1, with the combined company targeting a New York Stock Exchange listing on July 2 under the ticker SECZ.

Securitize SPAC Deal Secures $400 Million Before Public Listing

Securitize and Cantor Equity Partners II announced the final redemption results on June 26 through an official company statement.

Less than 30% of CEPT Class A shareholders elected to redeem their shares before the proposed business combination.

The redemption outcome means Securitize expects to receive approximately $400 million in gross proceeds. The amount includes related PIPE financings but excludes all transaction-related expenses.

The companies also confirmed that 71.5% of the CEPT trust was retained. The proposed business combination remains subject to shareholder approval during the special meeting scheduled for June 29.

If shareholders approve the transaction and the remaining conditions are satisfied or waived, the companies expect to complete the merger on July 1.

The combined entity is then expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SECZ on July 2.

CEO Discusses Public Market Plans as Tokenization Business Grows

Following the completion of the transaction, the combined company will operate as Securitize Corp. The company currently tokenizes more than $4 billion in real-world assets across its platform.

Commenting on the upcoming listing, Securitize Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Carlos Domingo said, “Reaching the public markets is a milestone for Securitize and a reflection of the growing momentum behind tokenization.”

He added that the company began more than eight years ago when institutional adoption of tokenized securities remained largely theoretical.

Domingo continued, “Today, tokenization is moving into the mainstream, and we believe becoming a public company gives us the visibility, credibility, and capital to lead that next phase of growth.” The remarks accompanied the company’s announcement of the expected closing timeline.

The company confirmed that the planned schedule remains unchanged following the redemption results. Subject to shareholder approval on June 29, Securitize expects to complete the business combination on July 1 before its shares begin trading on the NYSE under the SECZ ticker on July 2.

The post Securitize SPAC Deal Secures $400M Ahead of Planned NYSE Debut appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Highlights

• Johnson & Johnson reached a record price of $251.76 on June 26, 2026, delivering a 65.12% total return over 12 months
• Guggenheim elevated its target from $266 to $270 while maintaining a Buy rating, designating JNJ as a leading large-cap biopharma selection
• Second-quarter 2026 results expected July 15; Guggenheim projects $25.48B revenue and $2.87 EPS, surpassing consensus estimates
• Robust prescription performance for Tremfya, Caplyta, and Erleada supported the upgraded outlook
• Company faces $32 million verdict in Los Angeles talc-related mesothelioma lawsuit

Shares of Johnson & Johnson climbed to an unprecedented $251.76 on Thursday, June 26, before settling near $251.18 — marking just a 0.97% decline from that record level. This performance brings the pharmaceutical giant’s trailing 12-month total return to 65.12%, with its market valuation standing at $604.8 billion.

Johnson & Johnson, JNJ

The surge coincided with Guggenheim’s announcement raising its valuation target on JNJ to $270 from the previous $266, while reaffirming its Buy recommendation. The investment firm simultaneously highlighted JNJ as a premier choice within the large-capitalization biopharmaceutical sector.

Guggenheim’s forecast for the second quarter of 2026 anticipates revenues reaching $25.48 billion alongside earnings per share of $2.87. These projections exceed the prevailing Street consensus, which calls for $24.96 billion in sales and $2.85 per-share profit.

Catalysts Behind the Optimistic Outlook

The enhanced valuation stems from prescription velocity data that exceeded expectations across three important medications: Tremfya, Caplyta, and Erleada. Performance metrics for each surpassed Guggenheim’s proprietary forecasts.

Analysts noted that prescription tracking for two recently introduced therapies — Icotyde and Inlexzo — remains too preliminary for meaningful incorporation into models. These products will receive heightened scrutiny as data sets become more comprehensive.

Guggenheim anticipates the July 15 earnings discussion will emphasize Tremfya’s volume expansion, the commercial rollout of Icotyde, the company’s multiple myeloma pipeline, alongside updates on Caplyta and Spravato.

JNJ boasts an impressive 55-year streak of annual dividend increases, solidifying its appeal among yield-oriented portfolio managers.

Corporate Initiatives and Challenges

Beyond market performance, JNJ unveiled plans to invest over $1 billion in its Jacksonville, Florida facilities. These funds will support enhanced manufacturing, packaging, and logistics infrastructure for the Vision segment, particularly ACUVUE contact lens production.

The organization also broadened domestic distribution of its TECNIS PureSee intraocular lens, designed for cataract procedures. On the research front, JNJ disclosed encouraging Phase 2/3 data for Imaavy in treating warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia patients.

However, legal headwinds persist. A jury in Los Angeles determined JNJ bore responsibility in Maria Lozano’s mesothelioma case, resulting in a $32 million judgment for her family. The verdict relates to asbestos contamination allegations in the company’s baby powder products — a prolonged litigation concern.

InvestingPro’s current assessment suggests the shares may be trading at a premium relative to fundamental metrics, despite the compelling upward momentum.

The post Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Stock Reaches New Peak on Analyst Upgrade and Strong Drug Performance appeared first on Blockonomi.

Four lesser-known cryptocurrencies have plummeted by double digits over the past 24 hours, and this time the main culprit is not the broader market correction but Binance.

Meanwhile, the company has faced significant regulatory challenges that could negatively impact its users in the European Union (EU).

The Normal Reaction

The world’s largest crypto exchange conducted another review to verify that the coins listed on the platform meet the necessary standards and industry requirements. The checklist includes a variety of factors, such as the team’s commitment to the project, network stability, the level of development activity, adequate liquidity, and more.

As a result, Binance decided to terminate all services with Alchemix (ALCX), Ardor (ARDR), NFPrompt Token (NFP), and Marlin (POND). The actual delisting is scheduled for July 10, but the announcement has already caused a major decline for the affected tokens. They have all headed south by double digits, with NFP taking the biggest blow after posting a 21% daily plunge.

Reactions of that type shouldn’t come as a surprise, as losing backing from a market leader like Binance typically leads to thinner liquidity, reduced availability, and reputational damage.

Earlier this month, it delisted Contentos (COS), Dar Open Network (D), Highstreet (HIGH), and MOBOX (MBOX), which resulted in similar price drops. Prior to that, Automata (ATA), Harvest Finance (FARM), Enzyme (MLN), Phoenix (PHB), and Syscoin (SYS) fared even worse after an analogous effort from the exchange.

The Problems in Europe

Perhaps the biggest news surrounding Binance as of late concerns its issues with financial regulators in the European Union. Several days ago, the media outlet Reuters reported that the company might seek the necessary MiCA license from another country rather than Greece.

Binance officially addressed the issue by saying that it has withdrawn its application with the Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC) in the southern European nation.

“When we are ready to announce that Member State, we will do so publicly. We made this decision after careful consideration of the status and the timeline of the process in Greece, with our users’ interests at the center,” it added.

The exchange’s CEO Richard Teng stated that it remains committed to securing a MiCA authorization in the coming months, while “providing clarity, minimizing disruption, and keeping users informed directly.” It is important to note that the deadline for obtaining such a license is July 1, and some of Binance’s competitors, including Kraken and Coinbase, have already met the requirements.

The company assured customers that their assets are safe and promised to unveil further details in due time. Meanwhile, users in other European nations such as Poland, Italy, Spain, and France have reportedly been told to withdraw their funds from the platform.

The post Binance Triggers a Brutal Collapse for 4 Altcoins: Here’s How appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Although there are still some days left in June, the month has turned out to be one of the worst for the entire cryptocurrency market in recent history.

Before we explore what took place in the past week alone, let’s rewind the clocks to last Friday when the most significant news came from the new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, who continued Powell’s policy of maintaining the interest rates unchanged and had a hawkish conference after the FOMC meeting. In addition, the promised deal between the US and Iran failed as both parties have yet to reach a permanent agreement.

Bitcoin reacted with a nosedive from $67,200 to $63,000. Although the bulls managed to defend that level and even push the cryptocurrency to $65,500 on Monday, the real trouble was just ahead.

BTC was quickly and violently rejected there and dropped by over three grand in hours. Its recovery attempt was halted at $63,000, and the bears initiated another leg down on Wednesday, taking the asset south to $59,000, which became a new multi-year low. Bitcoin reacted well at first and quickly rebounded to $62,000, but that turned out to be a dead-cat bounce.

The bears were even more persistent during the next phase of the correction, driving the asset down to $58,000 for the first time since October 2024. That support level has held for now, and BTC has recovered some ground, but still remains below $60,000 as the overall market uncertainty continues. This is particularly true for Michael Saylor’s Strategy, but more on that a bit later.

The weekly chart below will paint a clear picture, as red dominates almost all charts. BTC is down over 5%, while ETH and XRP have bled 8.5% and HYPE 7%. DOGE, ZEC, ADA, and XLM have plummeted by double digits. The only notable exceptions are RAIN (8%) and AAVE (20.5%) in the green. The total crypto market cap is down by over $120 billion weekly.

Market Data

Market Cap: $2.14T | 24H Vol: $99B | BTC Dominance: 55.6%

BTC: $59,555 (-5.1%) | ETH: $1,560 (-8.5%) | XRP: $1.04 (-8.5%)

This Week’s Crypto Headlines You Can’t Miss

Saylor Should Stop Buying Bitcoin, Says CryptoQuant. As mentioned above, Strategy continues to be the main talk in crypto, with CQ urging the firm to halt its BTC buying spree in favor of rebuilding its USD reserve. The company indeed followed a similar philosophy over the past week, buying just $35 million in BTC while increasing its USD reserve by $300 million.

MSTR’s Bitcoin Per Share Gets ‘Annihilated’ in Extreme Bear Case: Analyst. Meanwhile, a popular analyst outlined the massive risks to Strategy and its stock price if BTC’s bear market extends, including a worst-case scenario for MSTR of a drop to $1. Separately, KALEO warned last week that the firm might have to sell over 50,000 BTC in the next couple of years.

Polymarket to Refund Users After Hackers Steal $3M in Frontend Attack. The team behind the popular platform confirmed on Friday that a compromised third-party vendor allowed attackers to inject malicious code into its frontend, draining $3 million from a handful of users. It promised to fully reimburse the affected customers.

Hyperliquid Responds After Appearing on Singapore’s Investor Alert List. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) added Hyperliquid to its Investor Alert List (IAL), raising concerns within the industry. However, the exchange claimed that this doesn’t necessarily constitute a regulatory violation, an enforcement action, or a ban.

Bitcoin Miners Flood Binance as Exchange Inflows Hit Four-Month High. On-chain data shared by CryptoQuant showed that BTC miners had sent massive portions of their bitcoin holdings to some exchanges, including Binance. This coincided with the asset’s violent price drop.

Bitcoin Didn’t Lose to Gold, the Rotation Story Is Wrong: Analyst. Although both assets have turned red in 2026, gold continues to take the recent market-wide correction better. However, analyst Shanaka Anslem Perera believes the rotation story from BTC to the precious metal is actually wrong.

Charts

This week, we have a chart analysis of Ethereum, Ripple, Cardano, Binance Coin, and Hyperliquid – click here for the complete price analysis.

The post Crypto Markets Erase $120B as Bitcoin Tanks to $58K Amid Growing Strategy FUD: Weekly Recap appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Hyperliquid has been added to the Investor Alert List (IAL) maintained by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The perpetual futures platform clarified that the listing does not represent a regulatory violation, enforcement action, or ban.

In a statement shared on X, Hyperliquid said that inclusion on the IAL should not be interpreted as evidence of wrongdoing while adding that the list is intended to identify entities that may be incorrectly viewed as being licensed, authorized, or regulated by MAS.

MAS Investor Alert List

Hyperliquid noted that several major crypto exchanges and decentralized finance protocols have also appeared on the list in the past. According to MAS, the Investor Alert List contains names of entities that, based on information available to the regulator, may have been wrongly perceived as being licensed or otherwise regulated by the central bank.

The regulator also stated that the list may include entities offering investments or investment-related products that could be mistakenly viewed as being authorized, recognized, registered, or accompanied by documents lodged with MAS.

Responding to the development, Hyperliquid asserted that it is a permissionless infrastructure and has never claimed to be licensed or authorized by MAS and that users should not regard the platform as holding such approval. The platform added that users continue to maintain self-custody of their assets and that transactions on the network remain transparent and fully settled on-chain.

“The Hyperliquid ecosystem remains committed to engaging collaboratively and constructively with regulators and institutions globally and to supporting clear, well-designed frameworks for onchain finance.”

The MAS had also placed Bybit Fintech Limited on its Investor Alert List earlier this month. In response, Bybit said it has maintained regular and constructive engagement with MAS and has implemented measures to restrict access for users in Singapore. The exchange said these measures include restrictions in its terms of service and geo-blocking of Singapore IP addresses.

HYPE Cools but ETF Interest Accelerates

Hyperliquid’s native token, HYPE, showed little reaction following the development. HYPE traded largely around $62 over the past 24 hours. The token had previously rallied above $75 in mid-June before retreating amid broader market volatility.

Meanwhile, institutional demand for the token appeared to remain strong. Data from SoSoValue revealed that US spot HYPE ETFs recorded more than $108 million in net inflows on June 25, which is the largest single-day inflow since the products launched last month. The inflows came after five trading days in June that recorded no net flows.

The post Hyperliquid Responds After Appearing on Singapore’s Investor Alert List appeared first on CryptoPotato.

XRP remains under sustained selling pressure, with the broader trend continuing to favor the sellers. The USDT chart shows the price on the verge of breaking a major support area after another leg lower, while the XRP/BTC pair has also slipped back toward a key floor, highlighting the token’s ongoing weakness against Bitcoin.

Ripple Price Analysis: The USDT Pair

On the USDT pair, XRP has extended its long-term downtrend while respecting a descending channel that has capped the price action for several months. The asset is currently trading around $1.04 after almost losing the key $1.10 support zone, which has now turned into immediate resistance.

The asset also remains below the 100-day and 200-day moving averages, with the 100-day sitting near $1.25 and the 200-day around $1.5. Both averages continue to slope downward, reinforcing the bearish market structure. Meanwhile, the upper boundary of the descending channel is converging with these moving averages, creating a strong resistance cluster that buyers would need to reclaim before any meaningful trend reversal could be considered.

On the downside, the current support zone around $1.00 is being tested. A confirmed breakdown below this area could expose the next major demand region around $0.60. Momentum also continues to deteriorate, with the RSI falling toward the oversold territory, which suggests bearish pressure remains dominant even though short-term relief bounces cannot be ruled out.

As long as XRP remains below the descending channel resistance and the major moving averages, the broader market structure continues to favor sellers despite the recent stabilization.

The BTC Pair

Against Bitcoin, XRP is also trading inside a well-defined descending channel. This shows persistent relative weakness throughout the past several months. The pair is currently trading around 1,720 sats while sitting directly on a horizontal support level that has repeatedly attracted buyers since May.

However, the broader technical picture remains bearish. The price is trading below both the 100-day and 200-day moving averages, which are located around 1,850 sats and 2,000 sats, respectively, while both averages continue to trend lower. As a result, any recovery attempt is likely to encounter heavy resistance around the 1,850 to 2,000 sats region, followed by the upper boundary of the descending channel.

If the current support at roughly 1,700 sats fails to hold, sellers could target the lower boundary of the channel near the 1,500 sats area. Conversely, defending this level could allow for another short-term rebound toward the channel resistance, although the overall structure would remain bearish unless XRP manages to reclaim the major moving averages and establish higher highs.

The post Ripple Price Analysis: How Likely Is a Crash to $0.60 as XRP Tests $1 Support? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Ethereum remains under heavy selling pressure after another rejection at a key resistance level, with the latest decline pushing the asset back toward a major demand zone. While buyers are attempting to stabilize the price around support, the broader trend remains firmly bearish as ETH continues to trade below all major moving averages.

Ethereum Price Analysis: The Daily Chart

On the daily timeframe, Ethereum continues to print lower highs and lower lows while trading beneath the 100-day, 200-day, and long-term descending trendline, confirming that sellers remain in full control of the broader structure.

The recent recovery stalled precisely below the $1.72K to $1.78K supply zone before bearish momentum resumed. That rejection has now driven ETH back into the key support region around $1.46K to $1.56K, where buyers are once again attempting to defend the market.

This support zone has produced another reaction, but so far the rebound remains weak and has failed to alter the overall bearish structure. As long as Ethereum remains below the $1.72K to $1.78K resistance area, rallies are likely to be viewed as corrective rather than the beginning of a trend reversal.

A decisive loss of the current demand zone would expose the market to another leg lower, while reclaiming the nearby resistance would be the first indication that bearish momentum is beginning to fade.

ETH/USDT 4-Hour Chart

The 4-hour chart highlights the recent rejection at the $1.72K to $1.78K resistance zone, triggering another sharp decline toward the lower boundary of the established range.

Following that sell-off, ETH has bounced modestly from the $1.50K to $1.53K support area, suggesting buyers remain active around this demand zone. However, the asset continues to trade near the bottom of the broader consolidation range, while every recovery attempt has so far produced another lower high.

The current structure suggests Ethereum may continue consolidating between approximately $1.52K and $1.75K in the near term. The lower boundary remains the critical level to watch, as another breakdown below support could accelerate bearish momentum, whereas reclaiming the upper resistance would improve the short-term outlook and open the door for a stronger recovery.

Sentiment Analysis

The Exchange Netflow chart shows a notable increase in ETH moving onto exchanges over the most recent sessions, with the 14-day moving average of netflows turning sharply positive.

Historically, sustained positive exchange netflows indicate that more coins are being transferred to trading venues, often reflecting rising selling pressure or a greater willingness among holders to distribute their assets. This shift has coincided with Ethereum’s latest decline toward the $1.5K area.

Although exchange inflows alone do not guarantee additional downside, the recent surge suggests that supply entering exchanges remains elevated. Unless netflows begin to moderate while price stabilizes around the current demand zone, the on-chain data continues to favor a cautious outlook and supports the possibility of continued weakness before a more durable recovery can develop.

The post Any ETH Rebound Remains Corrective Below This Key Level: Ethereum Price Analysis appeared first on CryptoPotato.