The default signals increased risk in the municipal bond market, prompting investors to reassess the reliability of similar securities.

The post Nassau County agency defaults on $36M tobacco bond payment, marking first-ever default in $80B sector appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

A direct peace dialogue could stabilize global markets, easing energy and agricultural disruptions, and potentially reshape geopolitical dynamics.

The post Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposes direct peace talks with Vladimir Putin in open letter appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Putin's stance sidelines Europe, potentially reshaping global diplomatic dynamics and impacting geopolitical stability and economic markets.

The post Putin rebuffs European leaders on Ukraine talks, seeks Trump deal appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The shift from tech to healthcare and banks signals a potential long-term sector rotation, impacting investment strategies and market dynamics.

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The reconvening of U.S.-Iran talks signals potential progress in easing regional tensions and could influence global diplomatic dynamics.

The post US envoy Witkoff, Iran’s Araghchi to reconvene talks next Saturday appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Bitcoin Magazine

The Hyperinflation of 1971 at the Kindergarten

I’m pretty sure it was 1971, but it could have been 1972. In any case, it was in kindergarten, and I was five years old. Our teachers had set up a system to motivate us kids to behave well. They had hung a big board on the wall, with all of our names listed. If you were particularly well-behaved, kind, helpful, or polite, they drew a black dot next to your name. Misbehave, and they gave you a red one. It was all about following the kindergarten rules, and the absolute transparency of it motivated most of us to try our best.

At some point, an extra prize was introduced for exceptionally good behavior: a small piece of fabric. From the group’s standpoint, that was worth much more than the top ranking in a row of black dots. And it was tangible. You could prove your elite status, even out in the sandbox.

Eventually, a trading system developed between us kids. For a scrap of fabric, you could get a bucket of sifted sand. For two, you could get a piece of candy. Suddenly, we could trade labor (sifting sand) for status symbols or sweets.

Then one day, a new teacher arrived. For whatever reason, she much more generously handed out those scraps of fabric. She simply changed the rules governing their distribution. All of a sudden, everyone had them, and you had to spend four for a piece of candy instead of two. Some of the kids started to complain. Their hard-earned scraps of fabric were now worth less, and they demanded more of them.

As you’d expect, the fabric scraps were given out more and more freely. Before long, anyone could take as many as they wanted. Eventually, they were lying around all over the place. They were worthless. No one wanted them anymore. You couldn’t trade them for anything. And so, at just five years old, I experienced genuine hyperinflation.

What does this have to do with Bitcoin?

In kindergarten, the rules were simply changed. The new teacher wanted to be nice, we kids whined, and suddenly more and more fabric scraps were handed out.

The rules of Bitcoin simply cannot be changed.

It’s a completely different story with our fiat currencies. They too have rules. The problem is that no one can ensure those rules are actually followed. Here is an example: the European Central Bank is not allowed to permanently finance governments through bond purchases, yet it does so anyway, brazenly and with no one doing—or even being able to do—anything about it. And who would intervene anyway?

Here’s another example. The Maastricht Treaty’s Stability and Growth Pact stipulated that the budget deficits of EU member states could not exceed 3% of their GDP, although permissible exceptions were built in. However, between 2000 and 2010, the Stability Criteria were repeatedly violated without sanctions—not only by Greece (11 times) but also by larger countries such as Italy (seven times), France (six times), and Germany (five times). According to the Maastricht Treaty, there are clear sanctions for countries that unlawfully fail to adhere to the deficit limit. But not once has such a sanction been imposed. No attempt was ever even made.

This may have been politically expedient and justified for whatever reason, but it shows how difficult it is for us to adhere to the rules. It’s like the New Year’s resolutions that we make with the greatest of convictions, but then usually don’t stick to for very long. The result is what matters. Currencies inflate and, sooner or later, become worthless. The U.S. dollar has lost 97% of its value over the last hundred years. The British pound, which originally represented a pound of silver, has suffered the same fate. All because more and more new dollars, euros, or pounds have been created, or to put it differently, printed.

The outcome is the same: when the fabric scraps become worthless, everyone who holds them loses their wealth.

This cannot happen with Bitcoin. Its rules are fixed, and no one controls the system nor can they simply change those rules.

Discover more in Bitcoin: The Honest Money!
This excerpt is just the beginning. Dive deeper into how inflation devalues your money, your savings, and your time in Bitcoin: The Honest Money by Alex von Frankenberg, Ph.D. The paperback is available now.

Order your copy here!

This post The Hyperinflation of 1971 at the Kindergarten first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Alex v. Frankenberg.

Bitcoin Magazine

5th Worst Bitcoin Price Action Ever — I’m Buying At 99.8% Probability

The bitcoin price looks bad, but I’m buying. Price might go lower, it always can, but there is value at these levels, and I’m accumulating. I think it’s important to be honest about how I’m actually acting on the analysis I publish, rather than just presenting data from a distance. And right now, the data is saying something that has only been said a handful of times in Bitcoin’s entire history.

Let’s cut to the chase:

• The Crosby Ratio Z-score has one of the lowest readings in history.
• The RSI is at a level we’ve only encountered a handful of times in extreme market lows.
• Bitcoin has bounced off the 200-week moving average.
• The SOPR is in the bottom fifth percentile of all historical readings.
• The Mayer Multiple is also in its bottom fifth percentile.

The Crosby Ratio

The Crosby Ratio Z-score measures bitcoin’s price momentum and standardizes it for Bitcoin’s evolving volatility. It’s not a fixed threshold as it adjusts as the market matures and volatility compresses, making it applicable across every stage of Bitcoin’s history. The current reading is around -1.7. This means 99.8% of all days in Bitcoin’s history have registered a less extreme reading on this indicator.

Figure 1: The Crosby Ratio Z-Score has just dipped to one of its lowest ever values.

The list of instances where this reading has been as low: the recent drop to $60,000, the first break below $20,000 in 2022, the COVID crash in March 2020, and the 2018 bear market low. That’s it. Four occasions in over a decade of price history. Every single one of them turned out to be a significant accumulation opportunity.

The RSI

The Relative Strength Index is one of the most widely used momentum indicators across all markets. Bitcoin’s weekly RSI is currently at one of the lowest levels ever. The previous instances of readings this low were the 2015 bear market low, the 2018 bear market low, the COVID crash, and the recent drop to $60,000.

Figure 2: The Relative Strength Index is comparable to historical lows.

Two independent momentum indicators, measured completely differently, but producing the same short list of historical comparisons. That kind of confluence across methodologies isn’t something to dismiss.

The 200-Week Moving Average

The 200-Week Moving Average has served as bear market support throughout Bitcoin’s history. The only meaningful exception was the FTX collapse in late 2022, which caused a brief but sharp undershoot before a rapid recovery. Outside of that event, this level has held as a floor every single cycle.

Figure 3: Bitcoin currently sits just above its 200WMA.

View Live Chart

Bitcoin has just bounced off that level again. Directly beneath current prices sits the recent cycle low, creating the structure for a potential double bottom, one of the more reliable technical formations across any market. The 200-week moving average and the Bitcoin Realized Price converge in approximately the same zone, adding further weight to this level as meaningful structural support.

SOPR & The Mayer Multiple

The Spent Output Profit Ratio is currently in the bottom fifth percentile of all historical readings. This means the rate of realized losses across the Bitcoin network, the pace at which holders are selling at a loss, is in the deepest 5% of anything we’ve ever recorded. The selling that has driven this move has been predominantly short-term in nature; value days destroyed data confirms that long-term holders have largely not participated in this liquidation. These are short-term traders and leveraged positions being cleared out, and not the conviction holders capitulating.

Figure 4: The Spent Output Profit Ratio illustrates the severity of recent losses.

View Live Chart

The Mayer Multiple, which measures bitcoin’s price relative to its 200-day moving average, is simultaneously in its own bottom fifth percentile. When these two indicators have historically been in their lower extremes at the same time, the resulting accumulation opportunities have been exceptional. It has happened only a handful of times, and each instance has been followed by significant price appreciation.

Figure 5: The Mayer Multiple has reached levels corresponding to previous bear cycle lows.

To Sum It Up

I’ll be honest, the strength of the decline surprised me. I anticipated a pullback from the $80,000 resistance zone, but the move through $70,000 was sharper than expected. What hasn’t surprised me is the data that’s emerged as a result, because this kind of confluence across technical, on-chain, and momentum indicators has appeared before, and the market has consistently rewarded accumulation at these readings.

Could we go lower? Yes. The realized price sits not far beneath current levels and represents the next meaningful support zone if the low is revisited. I’m prepared for that scenario. But removing all emotion and looking purely at what the data is saying, five independent signals simultaneously in generational territory, this is not the moment to wait on the sidelines for a marginally better price.

Subscribe to Bitcoin Magazine Pro on YouTube for more expert market insights and analysis!

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Always do your own research before making any investment decisions.

This post 5th Worst Bitcoin Price Action Ever — I’m Buying At 99.8% Probability first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Matt Crosby.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin’s Pullback Tests Institutional Adoption Narrative as Pompliano Stays Bullish

Bitcoin’s recent price decline is testing one of the asset’s most prominent bullish narratives: that institutional adoption will stabilize volatility and support long-term growth.

Despite the downturn, ProCap Financial CEO Anthony Pompliano thinks that the broader trajectory remains intact, framing the current weakness as a natural phase in Bitcoin’s maturation into a mainstream financial asset.

Speaking on CNBC’s “Power Lunch,” Pompliano said Bitcoin’s integration into traditional finance is accelerating, pointing to growing interest from major institutions such as BlackRock CEO Larry Fink. 

According to Pompliano, this shift represents the realization of a long-anticipated transition from a niche, ideologically driven asset to a widely held portfolio allocation.

“Bitcoin is maturing into a traditional finance asset,” Pompliano said, adding that institutional demand signals “what mass adoption looks like.”

Bitcoin has come under pressure in recent weeks, with prices retreating amid broader risk-off sentiment and capital rotation into equities, particularly in high-growth sectors like artificial intelligence and newly listed public companies. 

The downturn has revived concerns that Bitcoin’s adoption cycle may be nearing saturation, limiting its ability to deliver the outsized returns seen in prior cycles.

Some argue that Bitcoin’s earlier growth was driven largely by rapid user adoption and speculative inflows — dynamics that may be harder to replicate now that the asset has reached a more mature phase. 

As the CNBC host noted, the “adoption story” may have already peaked.

At the same time, some market participants, including Strategy’s Michael Saylor, have suggested capital could be rotating out of crypto into other high-momentum opportunities, including upcoming IPOs and AI-linked investments.

Pompliano: Rotation from bitcoin is natural, not structural

Speaking with CNBC, Pompliano pushed back on the idea that capital outflows signal structural weakness. Instead, he characterized the movement as typical portfolio rebalancing behavior.

“Capital chases momentum and returns,” he said, noting that Bitcoin’s liquidity makes it a convenient source of funds when investors pursue new opportunities.

The current market environment highlights a tension in Bitcoin’s evolution. While institutional adoption has broadened its investor base, it has also tied Bitcoin more closely to macroeconomic trends and cross-asset flows.

As a result, Bitcoin increasingly behaves like a risk asset during periods of market stress, declining alongside equities rather than acting as an uncorrelated hedge. This dynamic has complicated the narrative of Bitcoin as “digital gold,” particularly in the short term.

Still, Pompliano maintains that Bitcoin’s core fundamentals remain unchanged. He pointed to the network’s continued operation, decentralization, and predictable issuance schedule as evidence that the asset’s long-term value proposition is intact.

“Show me what has changed,” he said. “The network continues to do everything it is designed to do.”

Bitcoin as a ‘Savings Technology’

Pompliano reiterated his long-held view of Bitcoin as a hedge against fiat currency debasement, arguing that persistent government spending and monetary expansion underpin its long-term case.

He described Bitcoin as a “savings technology,” highlighting its historical compound annual growth rates — approximately 60% over the past decade and over 30% in the last three years — as evidence of its ability to preserve and grow capital over time.

In his view, Bitcoin’s role is less about short-term speculation and more about long-term wealth protection, akin to gold or real estate for previous generations.

This post Bitcoin’s Pullback Tests Institutional Adoption Narrative as Pompliano Stays Bullish first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Price Plunges Below ‘Fire Sale’ Territory as Fear Index Reads 12 — Echoing the FTX Crash

Bitcoin price dropped to levels on Thursday that placed it below the “Fire Sale!” band on the Bitcoin Rainbow Chart — a depth not reached since the catastrophic FTX exchange collapse in November 2022 — as the Fear and Greed Index registered a reading of 12 out of 100, deep in “Extreme Fear” territory.

Bitcoin price opened today near $63,500 after sliding below $62,000 last night. That puts BTC below even the most discounted valuation band on the Bitcoin Rainbow Chart — a level the model historically flags as a rare and extreme buying signal.

The Bitcoin Rainbow Chart is somewhat of a logarithmic growth curve overlaid with color-coded sentiment bands. The deepest band — labeled “Basically a Fire Sale!” — represents the lowest tier of the model’s projected fair value range. When Bitcoin trades beneath it, the asset sits outside the historical channel that has contained BTC’s long-term price behavior.

The last confirmed breach of the “Fire Sale!” floor occurred during the FTX exchange collapse in November 2022, when Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire imploded and BTC cratered under forced selling pressure across the market. That event remains one of the most severe liquidity crises in crypto history.

Per Bitcoin Magazine Pro data from March 2026, Bitcoin price had already begun testing below the “Fire Sale!” zone — described at the time as “its first drop into this area since the FTX-induced crash”. 

The renewed descent on June 4 deepens that breach, with the coin shedding ground for the second consecutive week.

Bitcoin price and market in ‘Extreme Fear’

The Fear and Greed Index, which runs on a scale of 0 to 100, registered 12 on Thursday — placing the market squarely in “Extreme Fear”. The index aggregates volatility, market momentum, social sentiment, and derivatives data into a single score. 

A reading below 25 signals extreme fear, a condition that, by the index’s own framework, has historically preceded price recovery periods.

February 2026 saw the index touch an all-time low of 5, driven by a 52% drawdown from Bitcoin price’s peak of $126,000. Thursday’s reading of 12 sits just above that nadir, as Bitcoin price continues its slide from cycle highs.

On X today, Strategy’s Michael Saylor argued the sell-off reflects institutional capital rotating into AI infrastructure rather than a deterioration in Bitcoin’s fundamentals. The decline may have been compounded by concerns over Strategy selling 32 BTC to fund preferred-share dividends — its first bitcoin sale since 2022 — despite the company recently reducing debt by repurchasing $1.5 billion of convertible notes at a discount.

This post Bitcoin Price Plunges Below ‘Fire Sale’ Territory as Fear Index Reads 12 — Echoing the FTX Crash first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Schwab Strategist: Bitcoin’s $60,000 Mining Cost Could Mark the Cycle Bottom

Bitcoin is in a bear market. That much is not in dispute. 

What Jim Ferraioli, Director of Digital Currencies Research and Strategy at Charles Schwab, argued Wednesday on Bloomberg is more precise and more structural: this selloff has a measurable cost floor, and that floor is built not from sentiment or chart patterns, but from the physics of energy consumption.

The numbers frame the drawdown in context. Bitcoin peaked at $126,000 in the fall before collapsing to roughly $60,000 in February — a 50% correction that, while brutal for recent buyers, falls far short of the 75%-plus implosions that defined prior Bitcoin bear markets.

Ferraioli’s core analytical framework centers on one question: what does it cost to manufacture Bitcoin? The answer creates a natural gravitational floor that has held across multiple cycles. 

For the most efficient miners — those operating at scale with next-generation ASIC hardware and access to the cheapest wholesale energy — the cost to produce one Bitcoin sits at approximately $60,000, Ferraioli said.

That figure is not arbitrary. It represents the all-in expense of powering a facility at roughly $0.07 per kilowatt-hour with the most advanced semiconductor fleets available.

The less efficient miners — those with older ASIC hardware, higher energy costs, and thinner operational margins — carry a production cost of approximately $95,000 per BTC, according to Glassnode data cited in Schwab’s May 2026 research report. That gap between $60,000 and $95,000 defines Bitcoin’s current valuation range. 

Bitcoin’s energy floor: Why $60,000 may mark the bottom

Ferraioli argues that in deep bear markets, the cost of production for the best miners has historically served as the bottom. February’s low near $60,000 aligns almost precisely with that level, as well as BTC’s 200-week moving average.

The BTC selling pressure is not random. It is demographically specific. The investors driving forced liquidations are those who acquired Bitcoin during the past 18 months — buyers who rode the asset from sub-$80,000 up to $126,000 and then watched gains evaporate in full. 

Schwab tracks two cost-basis metrics to quantify this pressure: the average acquisition cost for U.S. spot ETF and ETP holders, which stands near $83,000, and the active investor cost basis — excluding coins rewarded to miners — which sits near $78,000. 

Both figures sit well above current spot prices, putting the majority of recent entrants into unrealized loss positions and reinforcing $83,000 as a ceiling of overhead supply rather than a floor of support.

Glassnode’s on-chain data corroborates this dynamic. Bitcoin’s latest attempted rally stalled at the aggregate ETF cost basis near $83,000, with total realized losses spiking to $1.35 billion per day and long-term holders capitulating from cycle-top positions. Hedge funds represent roughly 30% of spot ETP ownership but are operating market-neutral, executing basis trades rather than taking directional views — meaning they provide no natural bid when prices fall.

Here is where Ferraioli’s analysis turns constructive. Every major publicly traded Bitcoin miner has announced a pivot toward high-performance computing (HPC) for AI inference workloads. The economics on their face appear to favor abandoning mining: inference generates higher net revenue per megawatt-hour than Bitcoin mining during peak demand windows. 

But demand for AI inference is not uniform across 24 hours. Models run hard during business hours and sit idle overnight and on weekends.

That creates a structural opportunity that does not displace BTC mining — it layers on top of it. Schwab’s analysis models Bitcoin as the optimal baseload monetization of power during off-peak hours, with inference overlaid during peak business-hour demand. 

A data center operating this hybrid model maximizes utilization across the full 24-hour cycle rather than leaving capacity dark when inference demand falls away. For miners, this translates to more stable revenue, reduced forced BTC sales to cover operating costs, and lower structural risk across bear market cycles.

Bitcoin is backed by energy 

The underlying thesis is one of energy economics. Bitcoin has no earnings, no free cash flow, and no CEO issuing guidance. Its value, in Ferraioli’s framework, derives from the energy cost required to produce it — a cost that is transparent, verifiable, and historically durable. 

In commodity markets, price cannot sustainably trade below cost of production. Producers shut down, supply contracts, and equilibrium resets higher. 

Bitcoin follows this same logic: when spot prices fall toward $60,000, the least efficient miners shut down operations, the network’s hash rate adjusts through Bitcoin’s difficulty mechanism, and the cost to produce each new coin falls.

As of May 2026, the average mining cost across all Bitcoin miners sits near $85,604, with the Bitcoin price trading in the mid-$60,000s — meaning the network as a whole is operating at a loss, a configuration that has historically preceded recoveries, not further collapse.

This post Schwab Strategist: Bitcoin’s $60,000 Mining Cost Could Mark the Cycle Bottom first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

The exploit that nearly broke Zcash originated inside the zero-knowledge proof circuit that powers Orchard, Zcash's newest shielded pool, and the cryptographic core of its private transaction system.

Taylor Hornby, a security researcher at Shielded Labs, found it on May 29 during a targeted protocol security review.

Within hours, ZODL engineers confirmed the flaw, and Zcash executed an emergency soft fork, then a full consensus hard fork, to close it.

According to Shielded Labs, Hornby used Anthropic's Opus 4.8, released the day before on May 28, alongside a custom AI harness and prompts, to produce a complete local exploit in a regtest environment.

If applied to mainnet, the exploit could have generated unlimited counterfeit ZEC within Orchard without detection.

Zcash's official position is that there is no evidence of mainnet exploitation, no unauthorized value creation has been detected, and the 21 million ZEC supply cap stays intact, protected by the turnstile mechanism that tracks value moving between pools.

Shielded Labs holds a harder line, warning that Orchard's privacy properties make it cryptographically difficult to prove the supply was never tampered with, and proposing a further upgrade to route coins through turnstile accounting so anyone can verify integrity directly.

ZEC traded as high as $611 intraday before the disclosure and fell sharply, settling around $421 as the market priced the difference between “patched” and “proven clean.”

The broader frame is that AI-assisted exploits are moving from targeting DeFi protocols to directly affecting the money layer.

The bug that required a consensus upgrade

Orchard's proof circuit contained a soundness bug: a proof system accepted something it should have rejected, and fixing it required updating the pinned verifying key embedded in the circuit.

The update process constitutes a consensus-level change and demands coordinated network agreement between miners, exchanges, wallet providers, and infrastructure operators, all moving together on a compressed timeline.

The emergency soft fork was activated at 02:00 UTC on June 2 at block 3,363,426, temporarily disabling Orchard actions.

The NU6.2 hard fork followed on June 3 at 00:05 EDT at block 3,364,600, replacing the circuit and restoring full Orchard functionality. Zcash coordinated the response in secret and under market stress while the chain kept running, and the remediation timeline from discovery to hard-fork activation was less than 5 days.

AI at the money layer

Opus 4.8 launched with improved coding and reasoning benchmarks, and Shielded Labs says Hornby used it alongside a custom AI harness to conduct a targeted review of the Orchard circuit, producing a working local exploit that would have functioned on mainnet.

Zcash has not independently verified the specific role of AI in the research process, but the claim fits a pattern that extends well beyond Zcash.

In February 2026, Octane disclosed that its AI found a high-severity bug in Nethermind, an Ethereum execution client, that could have caused local block production to stop for roughly 38% of Ethereum validators. The vulnerability was patched before it was exploited and was rooted in client infrastructure.

A January 2026 arXiv paper on AI-agent exploit generation found a 63% success rate on a smart contract benchmark, app-layer research demonstrating the same compression of the vulnerability discovery loop that Orchard and Nethermind now show one level deeper.

TRM Labs' 2026 Crypto Crime Report counted $2.87 billion stolen across nearly 150 hacks in 2025, with adversaries concentrating attacks on keys, wallets, and control planes. These are the operational and cryptographic infrastructure beneath the contract code, where the Zcash and Nethermind disclosures sit.

The prove-the-negative problem

Public blockchains make money auditable by design, with every transaction visible, every balance derivable from the chain state.

Privacy coins invert that guarantee, and Zcash's entire value proposition is that Orchard balances and transaction amounts stay hidden from outside observers.

That inversion creates a tension when a soundness bug appears in the proof circuit, since the same privacy that protects users also makes it impossible to scan Orchard's history for evidence of counterfeit value.

Zcash Foundation's answer is the turnstile mechanism, which tracks aggregate value flows entering and leaving each shielded pool without revealing individual transactions.

Turnstile analysis found no evidence of unauthorized value creation in the window before remediation. Shielded Labs' proposed next upgrade would route existing Orchard coins back through turnstile accounting, creating an on-chain record that anyone could verify, converting a probabilistic assurance into a cryptographic one.

Until that upgrade completes, the window between “no detected exploitation” and “provably clean supply” persists.

If AI-assisted security reviews become standard practice for base-layer infrastructure, including proof circuits, consensus clients, validator logic, and supply-accounting mechanisms, the Zcash incident serves as a proof-of-process.

AI found a deep flaw, coordinated disclosure contained it, and a proposed follow-on upgrade closes the epistemic gap.

Octane's Nethermind disclosure follows the same template, and the chains that build coordinated response capacity around AI-assisted audits absorb these findings before adversaries can reach them.

Hacken's report for the first quarter logged $482.6 million in stolen funds across 44 incidents, with wallet compromises overtaking code bugs in value in major DeFi incidents.

AI-assisted adversaries operate without disclosure obligations, and that same infrastructure layer is where attacks are already concentrating. A researcher with Hornby's toolkit and malicious intent who finds a comparable flaw before the defenders do faces a target whose privacy properties prevent post hoc detection.

ZEC's sharp intraday move after disclosure reflects that the market has already priced in a patched bug in a privacy coin's proof circuit, leaving a residual confidence discount that no press release can fully close, because the assurance the system needs to provide is the hardest for a privacy system to give.

Consensus clients, proof circuits, and supply rules are the layer AI-assisted research reached in 2026, and every major chain's security posture now needs to account for a threat model that did not exist when those systems were designed.

The post AI-assisted Zcash flaw exposes the supply integrity gap an emergency fork could not fully close appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Apyx's apxUSD fell below its dollar reference on June 4 as Bitcoin traded near $63,000, putting DeFi dollar peg risk back in focus.

A Bitget report said the token briefly touched $0.93 during the selloff. The report framed Apyx's response as a design point: apxUSD's reserve risk is largely borne by Strategy's STRC preferred stock, with cash serving as part of a broader buffer.

Data at the time showed an even wider 24-hour range, from $0.9094 to $0.9984, with apxUSD trading around $0.9176 and volume rising to roughly $74.6 million.

The mechanics put apxUSD in a different category than a normal stablecoin peg scare. Bitcoin was down 5.77% over 24 hours, and the pressure showing up in apxUSD also reflected a public-market preferred share becoming part of DeFi's dollar collateral stack.

A dollar token built on preferred equity

Apyx describes apxUSD as a synthetic dollar backed by a basket of preferred shares issued by Digital Asset Treasury companies.

The same documentation says apxUSD is intended for use as collateral and as a quote asset across DeFi and CeFi, while the yield generated by the collateral stack is routed to apyUSD, the protocol's savings asset.

The key collateral link is STRC, Strategy's Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock. Apyx's peg stability model says apxUSD currently primarily uses STRC as its core collateral asset.

STRC is structured around a $100 stated amount, but the price-stability tool is economic. It is built around Strategy's ability to adjust dividends and encourage trading near the reference value.

A dollar token built on preferred-share collateral can look strange through a USDC lens and more coherent through a credit lens.

Apyx says apxUSD adds overcollateralization, a cash and Treasury buffer, cross-market arbitrage, and possible hedging strategies. The protocol also says in its own risk section that apxUSD may trade above or below a $1 reference value.

That disclosure turns the June 4 move into a cleaner market-structure event. The sharper question is whether DeFi users are pricing a dollar-like asset correctly when its collateral can behave like public preferred equity under stress.

Circle's reserve model for USDC is built around a different promise. Circle says USDC is redeemable 1:1 for dollars and backed by highly liquid cash and cash-equivalent assets.

Most USDC reserves are held in the Circle Reserve Fund, which can contain cash, short-dated US Treasuries, and overnight Treasury repurchase agreements.

apxUSD's design points somewhere else. Apyx's collateral allocation page states that backing can be dynamically allocated across DAT preferred shares, with cash and short-term Treasuries serving as a liquidity buffer.

Kraken's listing note for apxUSD also describes the asset as backed by variable-rate DAT preferred shares. It says minting and redemption are restricted to authorized institutional participants, with redemptions settled in USDC while the underlying preferred equity remains outside the redemption flow.

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Apr 7, 2026 · Andjela Radmilac

That access model becomes important during volatility. An authorized participant may have a primary pathway through the protocol. A normal holder generally faces the market in front of them, whether that means a DEX pool, a centralized exchange order book, or another DeFi route.

Apyx's FAQ also flags liquidity risk directly, noting that users who acquire apxUSD via DEX swaps may experience slippage when liquidity is low. It also says apyUSD exits follow an asynchronous model with an approximately 30-day cooldown.

The result is a stablecoin-like instrument whose dollar behavior depends on more than the issuer's stated reference price. It depends on STRC's market price, apxUSD/USDC liquidity depth, whitelisted arbitrage, the reserve buffer, and whether DeFi users are trying to exit the same route at the same time.

Strategy's preferred stack is now DeFi collateral risk

STRC is more than a ticker in the background. Strategy's own STRC page describes it as perpetual preferred stock paying an annual dividend rate of 11.50% in cash, with the rate adjusted monthly to encourage trading around the $100 par value.

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Apr 14, 2026 · Oluwapelumi Adejumo

The same page also warns that returns, liquidity, future performance, and cash dividends are not guaranteed. It says the preferred securities lack collateral claims on Strategy's Bitcoin holdings.

Strategy's latest filing added another layer to the market's read on that structure. In a June 1 Form 8-K, the company disclosed that it sold 32 BTC between May 26 and May 31 for about $2.5 million, with proceeds expected to fund distributions on preferred stock.

The filing also said Strategy held 843,706 BTC as of May 31 and maintained the STRC dividend rate at 11.50% for monthly periods beginning June 1.

That filing is channel context for a market now connecting Strategy's preferred dividends, Bitcoin treasury liquidity, STRC's par-seeking design, and DeFi collateral products.

CryptoSlate has already covered how Strategy's preferred stack has become part of its broader funding machine, including the risk around selling BTC to fund preferred payouts and why STRC has become a key funding gauge.

apxUSD extends that issue into DeFi. The preferred share has moved beyond a capital-markets instrument held in brokerage accounts. It is also part of an onchain dollar product that traders may use as liquidity, collateral, and yield infrastructure.

The June 4 move exposed that bridge. DAT preferred shares are being marketed as lower-volatility, income-paying instruments tied to companies that hold crypto, and Apyx is turning that public-market yield into programmable stablecoin infrastructure.

DeFi can capture headline yield, but it can also capture credit, liquidity, confidence, and exit-route risk.

The DeFi footprint is already large enough to matter

The apxUSD selloff reached a token with meaningful market plumbing. DefiLlama's RWA dashboard showed active apxUSD DeFi exposure concentrated in Pendle and Curve, with Pendle at $118.22 million and 64.62% of listed active TVL, and Curve at $44.63 million and 24.39% of listed active TVL.

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May 18, 2026 · Gino Matos

Morpho Blue was much smaller at about $751,647, yet its presence is relevant because lending markets can turn price moves into collateral questions.

CoinGecko also showed the Curve apxUSD/USDC pair as the most active market, with about $48.5 million of 24-hour volume. That is the venue-level reality behind the phrase “stable collateral.”

If a token is used as a quote asset, a liquidity-pool asset, or a yield-trading input, a move toward 93 cents reaches beyond the chart. It changes slippage, pool balances, fixed-yield assumptions, and the risk calculation for anyone treating the token like cash.

The point travels beyond apxUSD. DAT preferred shares are being marketed as lower-volatility, income-paying instruments tied to companies that hold crypto. Apyx is turning that public-market yield into programmable stablecoin infrastructure.

The June 4 move showed that the bridge cuts both ways: DeFi can import the yield, but it can also import the credit, liquidity, and confidence risk.

The next test is straightforward. If STRC returns toward par, apxUSD liquidity holds, and the token moves back toward its reference value, the episode will look like a live stress test of a design that Apyx already said allows price variability.

If STRC stays discounted, the reserve dashboard shows less cushion than users assumed, or DeFi venues report liquidations or emergency parameter changes, the market may start treating apxUSD less like a standard stablecoin and more like a credit-linked collateral token.

The key signals are now visible: STRC's price versus par, Apyx's current reserve mix, apxUSD/USDC liquidity depth, Pendle and Curve exposure, Morpho collateral behavior, and Strategy's next dividend-rate decision.

Putting Wall Street preferred equity into DeFi leaves it with a market price. That market price is now part of the collateral risk.

The post A stablecoin tied to Strategy stock depegs putting a new DeFi dollar risk in focus as Bitcoin sells off appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Zcash lost more than $5 billion in market value after its developers, using Anthropic's Claude AI, discovered a long-running flaw in one of its privacy systems that could have enabled counterfeit tokens to be created without easy detection.

In response to this disclosure, data from CryptoSlate showed that ZEC fell more than 50% to as low as $255 before recovering to about $321 as of press time. This represents a sharp reversal for an asset that had climbed more than 1,000% over the past year as traders revived a broader bet on financial privacy.

The price decline caused the privacy-focused token’s market capitalization to fall from about $ 10 billion to roughly $ 4.5 billion during the reporting period. It has climbed to $5.3 billion as of press time.

Still, Zcash developers maintain that the vulnerability was found before attackers could use it, patched within days, and resolved through an emergency network upgrade.

However, the disclosure struck at a more difficult question for Zcash investors: how much assurance markets require when the affected system is built to conceal transaction amounts and wallet histories by design.

A private-money rally breaks on a public disclosure

Zcash was launched in 2016 as one of the earliest attempts to build private digital money. Unlike Bitcoin, whose ledger allows anyone to trace balances and transactions,

Zcash lets users move funds through shielded addresses that obscure amounts, senders, and recipients. This design has given the token renewed relevance as governments, exchanges, and analytics firms have expanded their ability to monitor public blockchains.

Data from Zechub shows that roughly 30% of circulating ZEC, equivalent to more than 5 million coins, now sits in shielded addresses.

The recent rally reflected that shift. Traders had treated ZEC as one of the clearest vehicles for a privacy trade, helped by rising anxiety over surveillance, artificial intelligence, and state access to financial data.

However, that momentum abruptly reversed after Shielded Labs published a detailed disclosure about a vulnerability in Orchard, Zcash’s most advanced shielded pool.

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Zcash rallied after a critical Orchard flaw was patched, even as broader crypto markets fell under liquidation pressure.

Jun 4, 2026 · Oluwapelumi Adejumo

Shielded Labs said the flaw was discovered May 29 by Taylor Hornby, a security engineer it engaged in April to search for protocol vulnerabilities before malicious actors could find them.

Hornby used Anthropic’s Opus 4.8 artificial intelligence model while conducting a targeted review of Orchard’s cryptographic circuit.

The review found a bug that could have allowed an attacker to create counterfeit ZEC inside Orchard without detection. Shielded Labs said Hornby wrote a complete exploit and tested it in a local environment, where it generated unlimited counterfeit ZEC that appeared valid.

Hornby immediately disclosed the issue to Zcash Open Development Lab, which coordinated an emergency response.

Then, the network developers introduced a temporary network change to disable affected Orchard actions before rolling out a hard-fork upgrade that corrected the vulnerability and restored full functionality.

The bug sat inside Zcash’s shielded pool for years

The vulnerability was especially sensitive because Orchard has been active since May 2022. That means the flaw existed for about four years despite repeated reviews by cryptographers, engineers, and auditors.

For a layperson, the issue can be understood as a flaw in the rulebook that governs private Zcash transactions.

A shielded transaction includes a mathematical proof showing that it followed the protocol’s rules without revealing the amount or history of the coins. In Orchard’s case, one of those rules was written loosely enough that false information could still pass as valid.

Essentially, that flaw was in the implementation of the Orchard circuit, the set of instructions that determines whether a private transaction should be accepted.

In a transparent blockchain, a supply problem is easier to inspect because balances and transfers are visible. In a shielded pool, the system deliberately hides that information, and users rely on the correctness of the circuit to ensure that every private transaction follows the rules.

Mert Mumtaz, the co-founder and CEO of Helius, pointed out that most privacy protocols have this vulnerability, arguing that:

“In theory, with a zk privacy protocol (not just zcash), you could have a bug in a circuit that inflates supply provided someone extremely sophisticated finds it and somehow exploits it undetected (the difference between a regular defi exploit is that it's harder to detect).”

This is one of the reasons why the market reaction to Zcash's case was so severe.

While Zcash developers said there was no evidence that the bug had been exploited, and several Zcash backers argued that the quick disclosure and patch showed the network’s security process working.

For context, Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss said:

“Zcash has unparalleled cryptographers, security engineers, and security researchers. And the community is heavily focused on continuous improvement and hardening the network. That's why it engages world class security researchers to look for bugs. And that's why the recent potential exploit was found. It wasn't by accident and it's a vote of confidence, not a cause for alarm.”

However, privacy coins face a narrower margin for doubt. Their value depends not only on secrecy but on confidence that secrecy has not weakened the monetary guarantees underneath it.

Due to this, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes said he sold his entire ZEC position after reassessing the privacy thesis. Hayes said it was unlikely counterfeit ZEC had been created, but the inability to formally prove that point changed the way he viewed the trade.

He stated:

“The privacy from AI, govt, big tech narrative demands perfection not improbability.”

Shielded Labs acknowledged that uncertainty directly and conceded that there was no definitive way to determine through cryptography alone whether an exploitation occurred before the fix.

The proposed fix shifts the burden back to verification

Due to the current uncertainty in the market, Shielded Labs proposed a network upgrade that would create a new shielded pool and use turnstile accounting on coins migrating out of Orchard.

Market observers noted that this proposal is an attempt to answer the market’s central concern. If Zcash cannot prove from Orchard’s internal records alone that counterfeit coins were never created, it can try to force a migration path that reconciles value as coins move into a new system.

That process would be technically complex and socially sensitive. If no counterfeit ZEC exists, migration could help restore confidence. If a mismatch emerged, the community would face harder questions over which balances should be honored and how to protect users who held funds in the affected pool.

Meanwhile, Josh Swihart, founder of the Zcash-focused firm ZODL, said the more important long-term issue is how to prevent similar vulnerabilities from recurring. He pointed to formal verification, a process that uses mathematical proofs to confirm that a circuit’s implementation matches its intended rules.

Formal verification would reduce reliance on human review of a large and complex rulebook. Instead of asking auditors to catch every edge case by inspection, developers can create a concise specification and use computer-checked proofs to verify that the implementation follows it.

That approach is becoming more important as privacy systems become more sophisticated. Orchard was built for performance and contains special cases that make it harder to review manually. A simpler and formally verified circuit could reduce the surface area for this type of mistake.

Zcash developers and affiliated teams are now pursuing multiple security efforts, including continued work with Hornby, formal verification of Orchard’s circuit, and additional security hiring.

Shielded Labs also said a detailed proposal for supply-verification upgrades could follow shortly.

AI turns old bugs into immediate market risks

The Zcash disclosure highlights a fundamental shift in the economics of software security. While artificial intelligence did not create the Orchard vulnerability, it severely compressed the timeline between a hidden risk and its public discovery.

This acceleration poses a systemic challenge to the broader digital asset sector.

Cryptocurrency protocols rely on open-source code and complex financial logic to govern massive pools of capital, making them highly attractive targets. Decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, cross-chain bridges, and layer-1 blockchains have all suffered from foundational bugs missed during initial audits.

That threat is moving fast enough to alarm industry veterans. Last month, OpenZeppelin co-founder Manuel Aráoz urged investors to exit DeFi altogether, warning that AI agents are now capable of identifying vulnerabilities far faster than human reviewers.

The caution arrives as the DeFi sector faces mounting pressure, having lost over $1.1 billion to exploits in the past year.

Compounding these structural fears is Anthropic’s quiet unveiling of Claude Mythos. The vulnerability-seeking AI model was deemed too dangerous for public release by the San Francisco-based company, underscoring the potential for sudden, irreversible losses if such tools fall into the wrong hands.

In an interview with CryptoSlate, Deddy Lavid, chief executive of blockchain security firm Cyvers, emphasized the scale of the problem, estimating that the sector's financial exposure to AI-driven exploits easily ranges from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars.

Ultimately, AI presents a double-edged sword for blockchain infrastructure. As these models become more sophisticated, they drastically lower the cost and effort required for attackers to find weaknesses, while simultaneously giving defensive researchers the tools to patch them faster.

This dual-use reality shaped the response from prominent crypto executives. Grayscale Chairman Barry Silbert framed the Zcash episode as clear evidence that digital assets have fully entered an “AI-enabled” threat environment.

Yet, industry advocates maintain that the fundamentals of protocol defense remain the same.

Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss noted that software security has always been a continuous race between developers and malicious actors.

According to him, artificial intelligence has simply accelerated the pace for both sides. He stated:

“AI doesn't change this game of cat and mouse, it just accelerates it. Every piece of software has to run this race. There's no escaping it.”

The post Zcash loses over $5 billion after AI finds 4-year bug that could have created fake hidden coins appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bitcoin just tested an intraday low of $61,349, triggered roughly $1.76 billion in liquidations with long positions absorbing more than $1.5 billion of that total, and then bounced toward the mid-$63,000s.

Funding rates flipped deeply negative, open interest reset sharply, and the Crypto Fear & Greed Index fell to 12, a level in extreme fear territory.

That is a meaningful amount of technical work compressed into a short window, and the buyers who need to absorb the remaining supply have yet to confirm their return.

What the crash reset

Lacie Zhang, research analyst at Bitget Wallet, argues the technical work from this flush was real. In a note, she said that the $1.76 billion liquidation wave, concentrated in long positions, cleared the most crowded bullish leverage from the order book.

Funding rates moving deeply negative indicate that the leverage bias has shifted from overheated longs to defensives, and the sharp open interest reset means speculative positioning is considerably cleaner than it was last week.

Zhang also frames the equity comparison, noting that the Dow fell 1.2%, the S&P 500 dropped 0.7%, and the Nasdaq declined 0.9% over the same period, with no comparable deleveraging event.

Bitcoin's 24/7 structure, higher leverage, and more reactive participant base mean it tends to price macro stress faster than equity markets, compressing what equities may absorb over weeks into a few sessions.

On that read, crypto may already be closer to clearing this macro episode than traditional markets are, with a retest of $55,000-$57,000 still plausible if ETF outflows persist, but the probability window for that range is narrowing as technical conditions reset.

Glassnode's June 3 report notes that Bitcoin had fallen 13% over seven days, the short-term holder cost basis had declined to roughly $76,400, and the 7-day Spot Volume Delta had turned decisively negative, reaching its weakest level since February.

Spot sellers were dominating order books even as prices bounced, and Glassnode concluded the market still lacked evidence of a durable demand response.

Standard Chartered's Geoffrey Kendrick maintained a $100,000 year-end 2026 Bitcoin target and said much of the selling may already be over, but also flagged that a move below $60,000 would risk triggering a fresh wave of selling with no natural floor visible below that level.

Why the bounce is still under suspicion

Nicolai Sondergaard, research analyst at Nansen, reads the exchange flow data as a direct challenge to the recovery narrative.

BTC and ETH both recorded net exchange inflows over the 24 hours following the bounce from $61,000, the first such reversal since the June 1 lows. Traders moving coins onto exchanges are positioning to sell or reduce exposure, and the timing after a bounce points to participants using the recovery as exit liquidity.

The ETF data reinforces Sondergaard's caution, as US-traded spot Bitcoin ETFs extended their outflow streak to 13 consecutive sessions, accumulating roughly $4.4 billion in withdrawals.

Sondergaard frames this outflow run as mostly confirmatory of deteriorating sentiment and draws a harder line, saying that pension allocators and RIAs operating under compliance mandates do not quickly rebuild exposure after reducing it.

The institutional bid that helped carry Bitcoin from $50,000 to $126,000 across 2024 and 2025, in the form of a structural demand layer from allocators who could only access BTC through the ETF wrapper, has been withdrawing since May, and its return will move at the pace of compliance review cycles.

Sondergaard also notes that leveraged long positioning has not fully normalized, meaning the market may still carry more cleanup ahead even after the liquidation wave.

The checklist for a confirmed bottom

The low-$60,000s represent the immediate survival zone where the market absorbed the latest flush, with the $60,000 handle itself acting as the psychological threshold Kendrick identified as the dividing line between containment and acceleration.

A retest of $55,000-$57,000 represents the bear case if exchange inflows and ETF outflows persist through the week.

Recovery into the mid-to-high $60,000s would represent early traction for the bounce, while the short-term holder cost basis near $76,400 is the stronger confirmation zone, a level where buyers who entered during the last rally return to breakeven.

ETF outflows need to slow or reverse, which would point out that the institutional buyer class has stopped withdrawing liquidity, while BTC and ETH exchange inflows need to fade, reducing the near-term sell overhang.

Whale accumulation needs to strengthen to show that large entities are actively absorbing supply. Funding rates need to normalize without open interest immediately re-leveraging, because a clean reset that gets crowded again within days produces the same fragility the market just unwound.

And spot buying needs to drive the recovery by actively filling the order book, with liquidated longs gone and new bids taking their place.

Until those conditions show up in the data, Bitcoin has completed the forced-selling phase of this correction, while the voluntary sellers, such as the ETF redemptions, the exchange depositors, and the compliance-driven de-riskers, are still active, and the bounce off $61,500 stays a positioning event until buyers confirm it as a floor.

The post Bitcoin crashed and flushed leverage out, but is the bottom here yet? appeared first on CryptoSlate.

A Casascius coin tied to 25 BTC moved this week, converting a 2011 physical Bitcoin artifact into spendable BTC during a broader market selloff.

Galaxy Research identified the item as an S1-COIN-25 Casascius physical Bitcoin, a large-denomination piece from the era when Bitcoin could still be handed across a table as a loaded coin. The reported alert valued the 25 BTC at about $1.78 million at the time.

The on-chain sequence is more precise than a simple cash-out. The watched address received a 25 BTC output in block 156,413 on Dec. 7, 2011. It later accumulated small dust outputs before spending its funded outputs this week.

The first 2026 spend landed on June 3 at block 952,159. That transaction spent 25.00002187 BTC from the address and returned 24.98998 BTC to the same address after fees and dust handling.

A second transaction on June 4 at block 952,267 moved 24.98996629 BTC to a SegWit address, leaving the watched address with no balance.

The event proves a status change rather than a confirmed sale. Bitcoin, once attached to a physical collectible, became spendable via a normal wallet path. The chain shows movement away from the old address without any evidence of an exchange deposit, custodian route, or sale.

What the Bitcoin blockchain shows

The June 3 transaction matters because it exposed activity from an address that had carried its original 25 BTC output since 2011. The spend returned most of the value to the same address, so a one-line address history can overstate what changed.

The June 4 transaction completed the visible move. The final spend sent 24.98996629 BTC from the watched address to bc1qn5snfwq447vge9ynnz66xqm9kpam9eu34z52dk. The fee was 1,371 sats.

After that, Blockstream's address view showed no remaining balance. The holder's reason remains unknown, and the available record ends with a transfer to another Bitcoin address.

That boundary matters for market interpretation. Old coins moving can look like holder behavior during a selloff, while the available data only establishes transfer to a recipient address.

CryptoSlate applied a similar standard to Mt. Gox-linked wallet movements, treating the first transfer as a warning light until later routing showed more. The same discipline applies here, where the next useful signal is onward routing.

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For now, the address history supports the following conclusion: a long-dormant, Casascius-attributed 25 BTC address became active, then sent nearly all of its remaining balance away from the original address.

Casascius attribution and on-chain proof do separate jobs. The visible chain proves the key was used. Galaxy-attributed secondary coverage supplies the label that makes it a physical-coin event.

Keeping those layers separate preserves the cultural hook without turning a tracker alert into more certainty than the record can carry.

A move from an old address becomes supply-only if subsequent routing points to a venue where coins can be sold or financed.

Until then, the strongest verifiable signal is a custody transition. A private key once hidden in a physical object has been used, and the BTC now sits outside the original Casascius-attributed address.

Why a Physical Coin Still Matters

Casascius coins occupy a strange place in Bitcoin history because they turned a purely digital bearer asset into a physical object. The original site describes pieces with their own Bitcoin address and a redeemable private key sealed inside.

The Casascius FAQ explains the tamper-evident hologram and the rationale behind making a physical Bitcoin as a proof-of-concept and conversation piece.

That design created a trade-off outside ordinary wallet custody. Leaving the hologram intact preserves the object as a loaded collectible. Peeling it gives the holder control over the BTC, but changes the item from a funded artifact into a spent collectible.

The owner is choosing between numismatic scarcity and direct wallet liquidity. That choice makes this move more distinctive than a dormant wallet transfer.

A standard wallet can sit idle for years and then move without changing its form. A Casascius redemption changes the nature of the thing itself.

The coin can still exist as a physical object, but its main economic value has shifted back to Bitcoin on-chain.

CryptoSlate covered a larger version of that tension in 2025, when a holder unlocked about $10 million from a rare Casascius bar. That case also forced a choice between keeping a scarce, loaded relic and redeeming the BTC.

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The current 25 BTC move lands differently because of timing. Bitcoin was already under pressure, and old-wallet activity carries a sharper edge when leverage is unwinding.

CryptoSlate's Bitcoin price page shows BTC near $63,000 on June 4, down 5.7% over 24 hours, 13.8% over seven days, and 22% over 30 days.

At that snapshot price, 25 BTC is worth about $1.58 million, which is already below the $1.78 million recently reported in the Galaxy-attributed alert.

Routing, Not Folklore

Bitcoin fell from $71,765 to $67,895 on June 2, triggering about $394 million in one-hour liquidations as leveraged long positions unwound.

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That selloff makes any movement from old BTC addresses feel more consequential than it would during a calm rally.

The cultural signal and the trading signal are different. The cultural signal is clear: one of Bitcoin's early physical storage formats appears to have rejoined the ordinary liquidity layer.

The trading signal remains unresolved. The watched BTC has left the original address, while the available data leaves open whether it will be sold, stored, pledged, or moved again.

Casascius redemptions connect the Bitcoin of forums, holograms, and physical experiments with the Bitcoin of ETFs, market-cap dashboards, and institutional liquidity.

A physical coin from 2011 can sit untouched for years, then become on-chain BTC in a market where every old coin movement is scanned for supply pressure.

It is a small event compared with Mt. Gox balances, ETF flows, or miner selling, but it is vivid because the holder had to alter a collectible to make the BTC liquid.

The next signal is simple. If the June 4 recipient address routes funds toward an exchange, custodian, mixer, or known liquidity venue, the signal moves from culture and custody into market supply.

If it stays parked, the event remains a clean example of Bitcoin's long memory: old keys, old objects, and old storage habits can still wake up when the asset around them has become a global market.

The post A 2011 physical Bitcoin loaded with 25 BTC was just unlocked during the $62k selloff appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Hoskinson Announces Break as ADA Dips Below $0.20

Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano and CEO of Input Output Global (IOG), has announced a temporary departure from public channels. This sudden decision follows a series of sharp warnings he issued to the community regarding structural and financial pain within the layer-1 network’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.

On June 3, 2026, Hoskinson posted a brief message on X stating, "I'm taking a break. TTYL," sending shockwaves through native token holders. The announcement triggered an immediate double-digit sell-off, pushing the price of ADA down past the critical $0.20 threshold for the first time in five years. However, he later posted that "he's not leaving", making the community feel lost.

TapTools Collapse Signals Broader Governance and Funding Crises

The developer break comes immediately after Hoskinson warned investors to brace for a "wave of failures" among Cardano-based decentralized applications (dApps). The market anxiety is driven by concrete closures within the ecosystem, notably the abrupt shutdown of popular data analytics platform TapTools.

In a recent video address to the community, Hoskinson emphasized that broader macroeconomic pressures and gridlocked on-chain governance are suffocating smaller projects:

"I said at the beginning of the year we were going to see a lot of people collapse because the markets are really bad. This is where we're at as an ecosystem."

Compounding these ecosystem pressures, the $Cardano community recently exercised its decentralized governance powers to reject a key treasury funding initiative, leading to the cancellation of the highly anticipated 2026 Singapore Summit. Concurrently, IOG is navigating tense negotiations as decentralized governance members delay approval for the "Cardano Vision 2026" development roadmap, which requests a budget of 32.92 million ADA.

Cardano Price Analysis: ADA Coin Crashing HARD 

The cascading negative sentiment has heavily impacted ADA's market valuation. According to data tracked on major trading venues, $ADA reached an intra-day low of $0.198. This marks a staggering 93% decline from its all-time high of $3.09 achieved in late 2021.

While liquidations spike across alternative layer-1 protocols, the Cardano community faces a critical choice regarding how to deploy treasury resources without over-centralizing network decisions. Analysts are closely watching the conclusion of the ongoing roadmap vote on June 8 to determine if a relief rally or further consolidation will follow.

Zcash has become the biggest crypto crasher today, with $ZEC dropping more than 40% as the broader market selloff accelerates. While Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, Cardano, and Dogecoin are all under pressure, the ZEC crash stands out because it appears to be driven by a more specific and damaging narrative.

The sharp move comes after reports of a critical Zcash vulnerability, claims that Claude AI helped identify the bug, growing concerns over whether counterfeit ZEC could have been created, and renewed attention around large whale short positions. Together with heavy crypto liquidations, this has pushed $ZEC into one of its most aggressive selloffs of the year.

Zcash Price Analysis: ZEC Coin Dumps Over 40%

Zcash is currently trading around $306, down more than 42% in 24 hours, making it the worst-performing major crypto asset among the top coins today. Its market cap has fallen to nearly $5.1 billion, while 24-hour volume surged to around $2.78 billion, showing that the move is not only sharp but also heavily traded.

This type of volume spike during a crash usually signals panic selling, forced liquidations, and aggressive short-side positioning. The ZEC technical rating also remains in strong sell territory, which confirms that momentum is still heavily bearish.

The move is especially important because Zcash was previously one of the stronger-performing privacy coins. Now, the same momentum that helped push ZEC higher appears to be reversing quickly.

Why the Zcash Crash Is Different From the Rest of the Market

The broader crypto market is already weak, but the ZEC crash has extra pressure because it is not only linked to market sentiment. Several Zcash-specific factors are now weighing on the token.

1. AI-Linked Vulnerability Fear Hits ZEC Confidence

The biggest trigger behind the crash appears to be the recent Zcash bug scare. Market posts claimed that a critical vulnerability could have allowed attackers to create unlimited counterfeit ZEC before the issue was patched.

What makes this story more sensitive is the AI angle. Several tweets suggested that Claude AI helped discover or expose the vulnerability. This created a new fear in the market: if AI tools can identify deep protocol weaknesses, older or privacy-focused crypto projects may face stronger security scrutiny.

Even if the bug has been fixed, traders are still reacting to uncertainty. In crypto, confidence often breaks faster than it recovers, especially when the concern touches supply integrity.

2. Whale Short Trades Add More Pressure

Another major reason behind the ZEC crash is the narrative around whale short positions. Some market posts claimed that a trader who previously made major profits shorting before a major crypto crash also opened a short position against ZEC before the dump.

This kind of story can quickly damage sentiment. When retail traders see large wallets profiting from a collapse, it creates the impression that smart money was positioned early. Whether the whale caused the crash or simply benefited from it, the result is the same: more fear, more selling, and weaker confidence in the short term.

3. Liquidations Turn the Drop Into a Cascade

The Zcash crash is also happening during a wider crypto liquidation wave. Recent market posts showed billions of dollars in leveraged crypto positions being wiped out over the past few days.

When leverage is high, a sharp drop can quickly become a liquidation cascade. Long positions are forced to close, stop-losses are triggered, and the selling pressure accelerates. For ZEC, this likely made the move much more violent than a normal correction.

Tip: Use Volatility With a Long-Term Strategy

Market crashes can feel extreme, but they also remind investors why risk management matters. Instead of reacting emotionally to every red candle, many long-term investors use a crypto savings plan to build exposure gradually through dollar-cost averaging.

This means investing a fixed amount over time instead of trying to guess the exact bottom. In volatile assets like ZEC, BTC, or ETH, this approach can reduce the pressure of timing every move perfectly.

Start your crypto savings plan and build your position steadily through every market cycle.

4. Privacy Coins Face Extra Market Pressure

Zcash is not a normal altcoin. It belongs to the privacy coin category, which often faces more scrutiny than other crypto assets. Privacy coins are built around confidential transactions, but that also makes investors more sensitive to security issues, exchange support risks, and regulatory pressure.

This is why the bug scare hit ZEC harder than it may have hit another token. Any question about supply, security, or network integrity becomes more serious when the asset already operates in a controversial category.

Zcash Price Prediction: Next Critical Support Targets for ZEC

With ZEC now trading near the $300 zone, traders are watching whether the price can stabilize or continue lower. After such a steep crash, short-term rebounds are possible, but the overall structure remains weak until ZEC reclaims key resistance levels.

Immediate Support: $300

The first major support area is the psychological $300 level. If ZEC holds above this zone, the token could attempt a short-term relief bounce after the extreme selloff.

However, if $300 breaks clearly, more traders may exit positions, and another wave of liquidation pressure could follow.

Next Downside Target: $280

If selling continues, the next important area to watch is around $280. This would represent another major step lower and could confirm that the crash is not yet fully exhausted.

A move toward this zone would likely keep sentiment extremely weak, especially if the broader crypto market remains red.

Deeper Capitulation Zone: $250

If the AI bug narrative continues spreading and traders remain uncertain about the vulnerability, ZEC could test a deeper capitulation zone near $250. This would signal a stronger breakdown and could erase even more of Zcash’s recent gains.

Key Resistance: $350 and $400

For ZEC to recover, bulls need to push the price back above $350 first. A stronger recovery would require a move toward $400, where sellers may start defending the previous breakdown zone.

Without a reclaim of these levels, any bounce could remain temporary.

Current Crypto Prices at a Glance

The broader market is also under heavy pressure, but ZEC remains the biggest outlier today:

• Bitcoin ($BTC): around $61,978
• Ethereum ($ETH): around $1,655
• XRP ($XRP): around $1.11
• Solana ($SOL): around $65.66
• Cardano ($ADA): around $0.16
• Zcash ($ZEC): around $306, down over 40%
• Dogecoin ($DOGE): around $0.083

Is the Zcash Crash Over?

The ZEC crash may slow down if the market receives clear confirmation that the vulnerability was fully patched and that no counterfeit ZEC was created. A strong public explanation from the Zcash ecosystem could help reduce panic.

However, the short-term risk remains high. The combination of an AI-linked bug scare, whale short activity, privacy coin uncertainty, and broad market liquidations makes this crash more serious than a normal pullback.

For now, $ZEC remains one of the most watched coins in the market, not because of a bullish breakout, but because it is leading the crypto crash.

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$ZEC, $BTC, $ETH, $SOL, $XRP, $ADA, $DOGE

The digital asset market is facing a severe wave of deleveraging, forcing Bitcoin ($BTC) to give up the critical $63,000 support level. Broad macroeconomic tightening, driven by persistent inflationary pressures and delayed interest rate cut expectations from the Federal Reserve, has severely weakened risk appetite. Furthermore, a rotation of capital into high-growth technology equities alongside persistent spot ETF outflows—which recently marked a record $4.4 billion multi-day exodus—has accelerated the downward momentum.

Bitcoin's structure is heavily skewed to the downside, with sellers maintaining firm control over the short-term trend. While the breach below $63,000 has already shaken retail confidence, technical data indicates that the next structural move could be far more worrisome for market bulls.

Bitcoin Price Analysis: BTC Coin Slides Under $63,000

The continuous decline of $Bitcoin has systematically dismantled major psychological thresholds over the last month. After failing to sustain its positioning within the $70,000 and $66,000 handling zones, heavy distribution took over. This triggered severe cascading liquidations across crypto derivative platforms, amounting to over $3 billion in wiped-out market leverage within a two-day window.

As depicted by live market action, BTC pushed down to an intraday low of $62,232 before experiencing minor structural consolidation toward $62,735.

• The RSI Factor: The 14-period Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the 4-hour chart is firmly embedded inside the oversold territory, printing a low reading of 27.68.
• Market Sentiment: Typically, an RSI falling below the 30 boundary suggests an asset is locally overextended to the downside. However, the accompanying volume spikes indicate aggressive spot distribution rather than a clean exhaustion of sellers, meaning a sudden trend reversal is not yet confirmed.

Why the Next Price Move is Worrisome

The breakdown below $63,000 is not just a localized correction; it signals a fundamental breakdown of the multi-month accumulation range. Market analysts point to several compounding technical factors that make the immediate outlook highly precarious.

1. Moving Average Convergence Flips to Resistance

Bitcoin remains pinned below its 20, 50, and 100-day moving averages. The velocity of the latest drop has widened the gap between the spot price and these core indicators, meaning any short-term relief rally will face immense overhead selling pressure at every minor step upward.

2. Institutional capitulation and ETF Outflows

The primary engine of the 2024–2025 bull cycle was consistent institutional demand via spot ETFs. The reversal of this trend into a historic 13-day outflow streak demonstrates that institutional risk metrics are forcing a reduction in crypto exposure. Without institutional buyers absorbing spot supply, order books remain thin and highly vulnerable to flash crashes.

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3. Macro Headwinds: Inflation and the Fed

Macro factors continue to act as a significant drag. Rising global crude oil prices, fueled by ongoing geopolitical tensions, have driven up corporate production and transportation costs. This sticky inflation has effectively erased the Federal Reserve's near-term rate-cut plans, with some officials even floating the possibility of interest rate hikes. Higher-for-longer interest rates structurally drain liquidity away from speculative risk assets like cryptocurrencies and redirect it toward traditional yield-bearing instruments.

Bitcoin Price Prediction: Next Critical Support Targets for BTC

With the $63,000 baseline now flipping into immediate overhead resistance, market observers are watching key horizontal support bands to evaluate where a macro price floor will settle.

Immediate Support: $60,000

The primary line in the sand for bulls sits directly at the $60,000 psychological milestone. According to multi-month trading data, this area represents a historic liquidity pocket where buyers have previously formed a defensive line. If $60,000 is invalidated on a weekly closing basis, it will likely spark an additional wave of automated stop-loss liquidations.

Macro Capitulation Floor: $58,000

Should macroeconomic or geopolitical conditions deteriorate further, the ultimate major defense line rests at $58,000. A descent into this territory would signify a deeper market capitulation, resetting open interest metrics completely before an organic base can be constructed.

Key Overhead Resistance: $65,581 and $70,000

For Bitcoin to neutralize its current bearish structure, the bulls must forcefully reclaim the $65,581 resistance line. Breaking above this level would provide the technical validation needed to shift short-term momentum and open the door for a retest of the major $70,000 supply zone.

Current Crypto Prices at a Glance

The systemic selloff has triggered broad-based declines across all high-market-cap digital assets. Based on aggregate market data, here is how the top cryptocurrencies are performing:

• Bitcoin ($BTC$): $62,735.00
• Ethereum ($ETH$): $1,664.72
• Binance Coin ($BNB$): $588.39
• XRP ($XRP$): $1.12
• Solana ($SOL$): $65.57

The cryptocurrency market is under significant downward pressure, causing the Ethereum price to fall below the psychologically important mark of $1,700. Ongoing macroeconomic stress factors, outflows from spot ETFs, and systematic liquidations of long positions have plunged the second-largest cryptocurrency into a deep correction phase.

Based on current market data from the 4-hour charts, Ethereum is currently in a heavily oversold area. For traders and investors, the urgent question now is where the price floor can be established.

Ethereum Price Analysis: ETH Coin Breaks Below $1,700

The market structure of Ethereum has continuously deteriorated over the past few weeks. After the bulls failed to sustain the price above the psychological level of $2,000, selling pressure accelerated significantly when the horizontal support zone at $1,800 was breached.

The recent drop pushed ETH down to a daily low of $1,661.90 before a slight consolidation began around the mark of $1,663.72.

• The RSI Factor: The Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the 4-hour chart has slipped deep into the oversold territory, currently sitting at a value of 19.00.
• Market Sentiment: An RSI value below 30 typically signals that an asset has fallen too much in the short term. However, the dominant bearish momentum indicates that a definitive trend reversal has yet to be initiated. Many traders are waiting for a stabilization of the overall market, which often heavily depends on the movements of the market leader $Bitcoin.

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The Next Critical Supports for ETH

As the $1,700 mark now serves as immediate resistance, market participants are monitoring the historical volume profile and key horizontal chart levels to identify potential turning points.

1. The Immediate Floor: $1,600

The $1,600 mark represents the primary defense line for the bulls. This area serves as a significant psychological barrier and has historically been a zone where more buyers have entered the market (accumulation zone). If the bulls do not act aggressively here, further liquidations are at risk.

2. Macro Support: $1,200

If macroeconomic pressure on risk assets persists or intensifies, the next major long-term price floor lies in the $1,200 range. A drop into this zone would signify a severe capitulation event for the current market cycle.

3. Resistances to be Reclaimed: $1,800 and $2,000

For the short-term bearish market structure to neutralize, $Ethereum must first establish a stable base above $1,600 and then reclaim the $1,800 mark. Only a sustainable breakout above this resistance would pave the way for a retest of the $2,000 level.

Current Crypto Prices at a Glance

The correction is currently affecting the entire digital currency space. Based on the latest aggregate data from major exchanges, the key cryptocurrencies are priced as follows:

• Bitcoin ($BTC): $62,641.90
• Ethereum ($ETH): $1,664.72
• Binance Coin ($BNB): $588.39
• XRP ($XRP): $1.12
• Solana ($SOL): $65.57

Zcash is one of the biggest losers in the crypto market today, with $ZEC price dropping by more than 10% in 24 hours while the broader market also trades under pressure. The sharp Zcash crash comes after a strong rally that pushed the privacy coin back into the spotlight, making it more exposed to profit-taking once sentiment turned bearish.

According to Binance market data, Zcash was trading around the $540 range, down more than 11% in 24 hours, with a market cap near $9 billion and 24-hour trading volume above $1.3 billion. The token also moved between a 24-hour high above $631 and a low near $538, showing how aggressive the sell-off became during the day.

Why Is Zcash Crashing Today?

The main reason behind the Zcash crash is not one single event. Instead, ZEC is being hit by a combination of profit-taking, market-wide weakness, technical uncertainty, and fear around recent network-related headlines.

ZEC had already rallied strongly before the current correction. The privacy coin became one of the strongest performers in the market as traders rotated into privacy-focused crypto assets. Business Insider recently reported that Zcash had surged sharply over the past month while Bitcoin gained much less, driven by renewed interest in financial privacy and institutional attention around ZEC.

This matters because assets that rise the fastest often fall the hardest when the market turns red. Traders who entered ZEC earlier may now be locking in profits, especially after the coin moved into overextended territory.

ZEC Rally Made the Correction More Violent

Zcash did not enter this crash from a weak position. It entered it after a major rally.

That is why the correction looks sharper than in many other altcoins. When a token gains strong momentum in a short period, late buyers often enter near the top. Once the price starts falling, these buyers may exit quickly, adding more selling pressure.

This creates a chain reaction:

ZEC pumps strongly, traders chase the move, the broader market turns bearish, profit-taking starts, leveraged positions get squeezed, and the price drops faster than the rest of the market.

In simple terms, ZEC is crashing the most because it had more gains to give back.

Zcash Network Headlines Added More Fear

Another key reason behind the Zcash crash is the confusion around the network.

Reports on June 3 suggested that the Zcash blockchain appeared to stop producing blocks for several hours. However, later explanations said the issue may have been related to block explorers rather than the blockchain itself. CoinDesk reported that the apparent disruption was mainly linked to block explorers tracking activity incorrectly, not necessarily a full chain failure.

Zcash network was fully functional and that the apparent problem came from some block explorer applications being connected to a faulty node.

Even if the network was not actually down, the timing was bad. In a nervous market, headlines about a possible blockchain issue can quickly trigger fear, uncertainty, and doubt. For traders, that can be enough reason to sell first and ask questions later.

Emergency Orchard Bug Fix Increased Short-Term Risk Sentiment

The Zcash crash also comes shortly after an emergency upgrade related to the Orchard shielded pool.

Zcash Foundation released Zebra updates after engineers found and fixed a critical soundness bug in the Orchard Action circuit. Reports stated that the emergency response included Zebra 4.5.3 and Zebra 5.0.0, with no known exploit reported.

CoinMarketCap also reported that Zcash completed an emergency upgrade to fix the critical Orchard privacy pool bug, adding that no funds were lost and user privacy was not affected.

Still, the market does not always wait for full technical explanations. Words like “critical bug,” “emergency upgrade,” and “privacy pool” can create short-term panic, especially around a privacy-focused coin where trust in the protocol is essential.

Privacy Coin Narrative Is Still Strong, But Volatile

Zcash has benefited from a stronger privacy coin narrative in 2026. As blockchain transparency, AI surveillance, and financial data tracking become bigger topics, some traders see ZEC as a hedge against total on-chain visibility.

This narrative helped ZEC outperform many major cryptocurrencies recently. However, strong narratives can also become crowded trades. When too many traders are positioned in the same direction, any negative headline or market pullback can cause a sharp reversal.

That is exactly what appears to be happening now. ZEC is not necessarily crashing because the privacy narrative is dead. It is crashing because the rally became too crowded, too fast.

Zcash Price Analysis: Key Levels to Watch

From a technical perspective, ZEC’s drop below the $600 area is important. The token recently traded above $631 before falling toward the $540 range, according to Binance data.

The next important levels to watch are:

• $540–$520: This is the immediate support zone. If ZEC holds this area, the crash may slow down.
• $500: This is the psychological level. A break below $500 could trigger more panic selling.
• $600: This is now the key recovery level. If ZEC reclaims $600, traders may regain confidence.
• $630–$650: This is the recent resistance zone. A move back above this area would suggest that buyers are returning strongly.

For now, the chart suggests that ZEC is in a correction phase after a strong rally. The next move depends on whether buyers defend the $520–$540 zone or whether the sell-off continues toward $500.

Is the Zcash Crash a Buying Opportunity or a Warning Sign?

The Zcash crash could be seen in two ways.

For bullish traders, this may be a normal correction after a major rally. ZEC still has a strong privacy narrative, renewed market attention, and growing discussion around financial confidentiality in crypto.

For cautious traders, the crash is a warning that ZEC became overheated. The combination of a strong rally, emergency bug-fix headlines, and confusion around network activity shows that ZEC remains a high-volatility asset.

The most important point is that Zcash is not falling in isolation. The broader crypto market is also under pressure. But ZEC is falling harder because it had already become one of the most aggressive recent movers.

Final Thoughts: Why ZEC Is Crashing the Most

Zcash is crashing harder than the rest of the crypto market because it entered the sell-off from an overextended position. The recent ZEC rally attracted strong attention, but it also created room for heavy profit-taking.

At the same time, network-related confusion and the emergency Orchard bug fix added short-term fear. Even though reports suggest that no funds were lost and the blockchain was not necessarily offline, the headlines were enough to pressure traders during an already weak market.

For now, the Zcash crash looks like a mix of profit-taking, technical correction, market-wide weakness, and fear-driven selling. If ZEC holds above the $520–$540 support zone, the correction may stabilize. But if the price breaks below $500, the sell-off could deepen further.

$ZEC

The warning from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority adds pressure to a perps market already under increasing scrutiny from regulators.

The ZCash team hired a hacker to find an exploit in the ZCash protocol, and he exposed a glitch that has been out there for four years.

Pump.fun's GO bounty platform already has hundreds of listings following its pitch to let users “Pay ANYONE to do ANYTHING.”

An Orchard vulnerability that allowed undetectable counterfeiting of ZEC in its shielded pool has reignited debate over privacy coins.

Anthropic says AI now writes most of its code and runs increasingly complex research tasks, leaving people to decide which problems are worth solving.

Peter Schiff dismisses claims that Bitcoin’s ongoing price dip was influenced by Strategy’s recent 32 BTC sale, noting that there’s more to it.

As SHIB drops 15%, a dormant whale broke a 10-month silence to move 400B tokens via a BitGo smart contract.

With Strategy's portfolio down $10 billion, Michael Saylor reveals the 4 rival factions that will ultimately decide whether Bitcoin survives the AI rotation.

Ripple software engineer drops exciting clue as key XRP Ledger release nears.

XRP's market activity is being pushed through, despite the relatively calmer market environment.

Key Takeaways

• New Glenn, Blue Origin’s flagship rocket, suffered a catastrophic explosion at its Cape Canaveral launch facility in late May 2026, causing significant infrastructure damage.
• Within a week of the disaster, Jeff Bezos announced via X that the company has identified a “solid path forward” to resume launches before year-end 2026.
• Shares of AST SpaceMobile plummeted 15% immediately following the explosion and continue trading approximately $26 below pre-incident prices.
• Karman, which manufactures components for New Glenn, experienced a 13% stock decline to $57.50 and has yet to recover meaningfully.
• Despite market turbulence, both affected companies maintain their original business projections, with AST SpaceMobile targeting early 2027 for commercial operations.

A catastrophic failure struck Blue Origin in late May 2026 when its New Glenn rocket exploded at Cape Canaveral’s launch complex in Florida. The incident caused substantial damage to critical launch facilities and triggered significant volatility across space industry equities.

Just seven days after the disaster, Amazon founder and Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos took to X to reassure stakeholders, stating the company is running a “24/7 operation with a solid path forward to launch this year.” Blue Origin’s CEO David Limp had expressed similar confidence days earlier.

Market Reaction: Space Stocks Take a Hit

The explosion’s impact on related companies was immediate and severe. AST SpaceMobile shares plunged 15% in the trading session following the incident. The stock remains depressed, currently hovering around $107—roughly $26 below its pre-explosion valuation.

AST SpaceMobile, Inc., ASTS

Karman, a key supplier providing specialized components for the New Glenn launch vehicle, saw its stock crater 13% to $57.50. Trading has remained stagnant near that level in subsequent sessions.

Even Amazon experienced modest losses, with shares dipping approximately 1% after the explosion became public.

Adrian Helfort, chief investment officer at Westwood, characterized the explosion as “a pretty big setback, an under-appreciated setback.” He emphasized the risks of relying on a single dependable launch provider. “SpaceX is great, but you can’t have just one supplier,” Helfort stated.

Business Outlook Remains Resilient

Despite the stock market turbulence, both AST SpaceMobile and Karman assert that the explosion hasn’t altered their fundamental business trajectories.

At the William Blair 46th Annual Growth Stock Conference held this week, AST SpaceMobile executives confirmed their beta direct-to-device service launch remains scheduled for later in 2026. The company continues to target the first half of 2027 for full commercial service deployment. Additionally, AST announced it secured authorization for 10×10 spectrum utilization in Brazil.

Karman CEO Jon Rambeau emphasized that the company’s space division growth projections should remain intact despite the setback. Rambeau disclosed that Karman has already secured over 90% visibility needed to achieve the midpoint of its annual revenue forecast, which projects 25% organic expansion.

William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma characterized Bezos’ confident messaging as encouraging for the broader space sector. DiPalma noted that Blue Origin serves as AST’s primary launch partner and that Karman provides New Glenn with exclusive components, including specialized aerodynamic interstage assemblies and advanced panel protection systems. William Blair’s analysis suggests New Glenn accounts for approximately 5% of Karman’s total revenue.

New Glenn represents a significant advancement in heavy-lift capabilities, designed to transport 45 metric tons to low Earth orbit. For perspective, SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket delivers roughly 23 metric tons.

The space sector has demonstrated remarkable strength recently despite the setback. AST SpaceMobile shares have surged 68% over the trailing month. Rocket Lab has climbed 52% during the same timeframe, while Firefly has gained 31%.

Market enthusiasm has been building in anticipation of SpaceX’s highly anticipated public offering, scheduled to price next week at an estimated $1.8 trillion valuation.

The post Jeff Bezos Confirms Blue Origin Recovery Timeline After New Glenn Rocket Disaster appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• Morgan Stanley introduced a referral arrangement with Galaxy Digital for eligible wealth clients.
• Clients can lend Bitcoin, Ether, or Solana and receive spot crypto ETP shares in return.
• Galaxy will coordinate in-kind share creation with an authorized participant for settlement.
• The transaction minimum for referred clients drops from $25 million to $5 million.
• The firms said onboarding timelines may fall by up to 75% in some cases.

Morgan Stanley Wealth Management has formed a referral arrangement with Galaxy Digital to support eligible clients seeking crypto exposure through exchange-traded products. The program allows clients to lend digital assets and receive spot crypto ETP shares in return. The firms said the structure aims to streamline onboarding and expand access for qualified investors.

Morgan Stanley Referral Model Targets Efficient Crypto Conversions

Morgan Stanley will provide educational materials on digital assets and refer interested clients to Galaxy. Under the structure, clients lend assets such as Bitcoin, Ether, or Solana to Galaxy. Galaxy then determines whether it can settle the loan with ETP shares.

If settlement proceeds, Galaxy coordinates an in-kind creation with an authorized participant. The ETP shares are then delivered into the client account of choice. The model includes products with spot crypto exposure, including the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust MSBT.

The firms said the structure supports portfolio integration across traditional brokerage accounts. It also enables margin and lending capabilities once shares settle. As a result, clients can align digital exposure with existing investment strategies.

Galaxy will reduce its lending transaction minimum for Morgan Stanley-referred clients. The threshold will fall from $25 million to $5 million for eligible participants. This change expands access to qualified clients who meet internal requirements.

Onboarding Timelines Cut and Minimums Lowered for Access

The firms stated that current onboarding timelines for similar transactions can exceed four weeks. Through the new referral capability, onboarding times may decline by up to 75% in some cases. The firms said this reduction depends on transaction details and eligibility standards.

Alison Nest, Head of Investment Solutions Products at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, described the program’s intent.

She said, “Morgan Stanley has been investing in the DeFi space for some time, and we are proud to support a referral capability with Galaxy.”

She added that the arrangement provides an institutionalized pathway to integrate digital assets into portfolios.

Zane Glauber, Global Head of Distribution at Galaxy, also addressed the launch.

He said, “We are excited to support referrals from Morgan Stanley Wealth Management to offer an efficient and secure path to access spot crypto ETPs.”

He stated that streamlined onboarding and lower minimums support integration alongside traditional investments.

Morgan Stanley Investment Management offers the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust under the ticker MSBT. The referral model allows eligible clients to receive shares of such ETPs after lending crypto assets. The firms confirmed that Galaxy coordinates settlement and share delivery once loan terms meet internal criteria.

The arrangement applies only to clients who satisfy eligibility standards. Morgan Stanley will not directly manage the lending transaction. Instead, it will facilitate referrals and provide educational resources on digital assets.

Galaxy will manage the lending structure and coordinate share creation with authorized market participants. The ETP shares will then move into the designated brokerage account. The firms announced the referral arrangement today and outlined operational details in their joint statement.

The post Morgan Stanley Links Clients to Galaxy for Crypto ETPs appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• Zcash developers are evaluating a new shielded pool to strengthen supply verification after patching the Orchard vulnerability.
• Shielded Labs proposed turnstile accounting to improve transparency for coins exiting the Orchard pool.
• The team confirmed that the flaw could have enabled counterfeit ZEC, although prior exploitation is considered unlikely.
• ZEC price dropped nearly 50% after the vulnerability disclosure before partially recovering.
• Community members renewed calls for formal verification to prevent similar circuit flaws in future upgrades.

Zcash developers are assessing a new shielded pool after patching a counterfeiting flaw in Orchard. Shielded Labs said it is exploring a network upgrade to strengthen supply verification. Meanwhile, the proposal awaits community review as ZEC price volatility continues.

Zcash Considers Second Orchard Pool for Supply Assurance

Shielded Labs said it is evaluating a network upgrade that would introduce a new shielded pool. The group explained that the plan would apply turnstile accounting to coins exiting Orchard. As a result, users could verify funds leaving the pool with clearer accounting rules. However, the organization said it will publish detailed tradeoffs next week.

Josh Swihart, founder of Zcash Open Development Lab, addressed the proposal on X. He said a second Orchard pool could align with the NU7 upgrade planned for late July. However, he stated that he holds no fixed position on adopting the change. He emphasized that community discussion will guide the final direction.

The discussion follows an emergency upgrade that patched a vulnerability in Orchard. Shielded Labs said the flaw could have enabled unlimited counterfeit ZEC within the pool. However, the team believes prior exploitation remains unlikely. Still, it acknowledged that cryptography cannot confirm whether exploitation occurred before the patch.

Earlier, developers suspended Orchard transactions after identifying the issue. They restored functionality through an emergency network upgrade. Consequently, the network resumed normal operations after the fix. The team disclosed the vulnerability publicly on Friday.

Following disclosure, ZEC dropped nearly 50% within hours. The token fell from $550.30 to $264.80, according to CoinGecko data. Later, it recovered to $308.07, though it remained sharply lower.

Formal Verification Debate Intensifies Within Zcash Community

The vulnerability revived debate over formal verification in Zcash. Developers discussed whether mathematical proofs could prevent similar circuit errors. Sean Bowe said shielded protocols rely on cryptographic assumptions to preserve supply integrity. He argued that formal verification offers a long-term solution.

Swihart also addressed the circuit flaw in his comments. He said the error stemmed from handwritten circuit rules, not broken cryptography. He explained that formal verification could convert those rules into concise specifications. Then, computers could confirm whether implementations match intended designs.

Wei Dai, research partner at 1kx, commented on the flaw publicly. He said the bug appeared obvious in retrospect yet escaped expert review. He added that expanding formal verification coverage is “probably the only long-term solution.” His remarks echoed calls for stronger verification standards.

During the market decline, some figures defended the development team. Justin Bons of CyberCapital said the market overreacted because “the good guys caught it first.” Cameron Winklevoss stated that finding bugs reflects active security research. He argued that the key issue lies in discovering and fixing flaws before attackers exploit them.

The post Zcash Plans Upgrade Following Orchard Counterfeit Bug appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR:

• The Crosby Ratio Z-score is near -1.7, placing it above 99.8% of all daily readings in Bitcoin’s history.
• Bitcoin’s weekly RSI and Crosby Ratio both reference the same four historical lows, confirming rare momentum conditions.
• The SOPR and Mayer Multiple are simultaneously in their bottom fifth percentile, a condition seen only a few times historically.
• Bitcoin has bounced off the 200-week moving average, forming a potential double bottom with the recent cycle low directly beneath.

Five signals pointing to Bitcoin accumulation have emerged simultaneously, each registering readings seen only a handful of times across the asset’s entire history.

The Crosby Ratio Z-score, weekly RSI, 200-week moving average, SOPR, and Mayer Multiple are all sitting at or near historical extremes.

Each prior instance where this combination appeared was followed by meaningful price recovery. On-chain and technical analysts say the current setup is consistent with previous cycle lows.

Two Momentum Indicators Converge on the Same Historical Comparisons

The Crosby Ratio Z-score is one of the five signals pointing to Bitcoin accumulation, currently registering near -1.7. That reading places it above 99.8% of all daily readings recorded throughout Bitcoin’s history.

The indicator is designed to adjust for Bitcoin’s maturing volatility, keeping it relevant across different market cycles.

Source: Bitcoin magazine pro

Prior instances at this depth include the COVID crash, the 2018 bear market low, the first break below $20,000 in 2022, and the recent drop to $60,000.

Bitcoin’s weekly RSI is producing a near-identical list of historical comparisons. Readings this low on the weekly RSI have only occurred during the 2015 bear market low, the 2018 cycle bottom, the COVID crash, and the recent $60,000 drop.

Two indicators measured through completely different methodologies are pointing to the same short list of precedents. That level of convergence across independent tools is not common.

The SOPR, or Spent Output Profit Ratio, adds a third layer to the accumulation case. It is currently sitting in the bottom fifth percentile of all historical readings, meaning realized losses across the network are near record depths.

Value days destroyed data confirms that long-term holders have not been the primary sellers. The selling has come from short-term traders and leveraged positions being flushed out.

The Mayer Multiple, which measures Bitcoin’s price relative to its 200-day moving average, is also in its bottom fifth percentile.

When both SOPR and the Mayer Multiple have reached these depths at the same time historically, the periods that followed proved to be strong accumulation windows.

This dual-indicator condition has occurred only a few times in Bitcoin’s price history. Each instance preceded notable price appreciation.

The 200-Week Moving Average Adds Structural Weight to the Setup

The fifth of the five signals pointing to Bitcoin accumulation is the 200-week moving average, a level that has held as bear market support across every prior cycle.

Source: Bitcoin Magazine pro

The only exception was the FTX collapse in late 2022, which caused a brief breach before a rapid recovery. Outside of that single event, this moving average has functioned as a reliable floor. Bitcoin has just bounced off this level again.

Directly beneath current prices, the recent cycle low sits in close proximity to the 200-week moving average. Together, these two levels form the structure of a potential double bottom, a technical formation that has preceded reversals across multiple markets.

The Bitcoin Realized Price also converges in approximately the same zone. That layering of technical and on-chain support adds further weight to the current price area.

The decline that produced these readings pushed through $70,000 with more force than many anticipated. However, the data that emerged as a result follows a pattern that has appeared before.

On-chain data shows the selling pressure has been short-term in nature, with long-term holders largely staying in position. That behavior mirrors what occurred at previous cycle lows where weaker hands drove the final capitulation.

Taken together, the five signals present a case that current price levels reflect a historically rare accumulation window.

The realized price, sitting not far below current levels, remains the next meaningful support zone if prices revisit recent lows.

Analysts note that all five indicators reaching these depths at the same time has occurred only a handful of times in Bitcoin’s history. Each prior instance was followed by a recovery.

The post Bitcoin Accumulation Case Builds as Five Key Indicators Hit Rare Historical Lows appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Takeaways

• Baird Equity Research reduced Coinbase’s price target from $160 to $142 while maintaining a Neutral rating and labeling it a “Bearish Fresh Pick.”
• Shares of Coinbase have declined 27% year-to-date, currently hovering between $153 and $164, while Bitcoin dropped approximately 5.9% to its lowest point since April.
• Analysts at Baird anticipate Q2 revenue will fall short of Wall Street projections by 5% to 6% due to sluggish trading activity.
• Passage of the CLARITY Act appears increasingly doubtful before upcoming mid-term elections, eliminating a key positive catalyst for cryptocurrency markets.
• Contrary to Baird’s pessimistic outlook, 64% of 39 analysts monitored by FactSet maintain Buy ratings, with an average price target of $231.

Coinbase has experienced a challenging 2026 thus far. Shares have plummeted 27% since January, and according to recent analysis from Baird Equity Research, relief may not arrive anytime soon.

Coinbase Global, Inc., COIN

On Friday, Baird maintained its Neutral stance on Coinbase (COIN) while reducing its price objective to $142 from a previous $160. The firm additionally named COIN a “Bearish Fresh Pick,” highlighting anemic trading volumes as the primary concern.

Shares continued their descent during Friday’s premarket session, sliding 3.1% to $159.12. Once regular trading commenced, COIN was changing hands near $153, representing a decline exceeding 6.6% for the day. Bitcoin tumbled roughly 5.9% to its weakest level since April, pulling down crypto-exposed equities alongside it.

David J. Koning, analyst at Baird, noted that early June showed some volume improvement, but he attributes that activity to substantial Bitcoin selling pressure rather than new buying momentum. “We think it’s due to significant trading out of Bitcoin, which may be followed by limited interest in trading,” his research note stated.

Second Quarter Revenue Shortfall Anticipated

Baird projects Coinbase’s second-quarter revenue will land 5% to 6% beneath consensus Wall Street forecasts. This presents a significant challenge for a business model still predominantly dependent on cryptocurrency transaction fees.

According to InvestingPro data, nine analysts have already lowered their earnings projections for the forthcoming reporting period. The platform has additionally identified the stock as potentially overvalued at present price levels.

Coinbase currently commands a valuation of approximately 35 times its projected 2027 earnings per share. Baird referenced compressed valuation multiples among outperforming fintech companies — including Mastercard, Visa, and Toast — as a cautionary indicator for where Coinbase’s trading multiples might migrate.

The intensifying battle for trader engagement isn’t providing any assistance either. The S&P 500 has delivered superior returns compared to crypto assets this year, while elevated consumer inflation and borrowing expenses are keeping retail participants on the sidelines. Artificial intelligence stocks and a surge of initial public offerings are also diverting capital away from cryptocurrency markets.

Legislative Roadblocks for CLARITY Act

The CLARITY Act — a regulatory framework bill that cryptocurrency advocates believe could serve as a major tailwind for the sector — appears increasingly unlikely to secure passage this year. Congressional calendars are constrained before the monthlong summer break and the acceleration of mid-term election activities.

Prediction market participants on Polymarket currently estimate the legislation’s probability of enactment this year at 57%, down from 65% just one month prior.

In other analyst commentary, Compass Point maintains a Sell rating on COIN with a $140 price objective. B. Riley decreased its target to $203 from $243, referencing a weaker near-term revenue environment.

Baird’s pessimistic position represents a minority view on Wall Street. Among 39 analysts monitored by FactSet, 64% assign COIN a Buy rating, with a consensus price objective of $231 — substantially higher than current trading levels.

Bitcoin dropped to its weakest level since April on Friday, while Ether similarly reached a three-month low.

The post Coinbase (COIN) Shares Plunge 6% Following Baird’s Price Target Downgrade appeared first on Blockonomi.

It was quite the week for the cryptocurrency markets, dominated to a very large extent by the bears. Here’s the breakdown.

The previous weekend was quite sluggish, although BTC had already declined to $74,000 from the May top of almost $83,000. However, the worst was yet to take place. As the new business week and month began on Monday, bitcoin experienced a quick and painful decline. It first dumped toward $70,000, and even though that psychological level held the first breakdown attempt, it eventually gave in, and the landscape quickly worsened.

The cryptocurrency kept losing key support levels one after the other, and each bounce-off attempt was halted in its tracks. The bears appear to be in full control, even today on Friday. Earlier today, BTC dipped below $62,000 again and slipped to $61,000. It rebounded to $63,000 within minutes, which only increased the liquidations across the board, only to be rejected again.

The latest leg down transpired minutes ago when the asset slumped below $61,000 to chart a fresh four-month low. Thus, the cryptocurrency has lost well over $20,000 since its mid-May top as it now struggles to remain above the coveted $60,000 support.

The weekly decline is quite obvious and striking. BTC has plummeted by 15% since this time last Friday, and by a whopping 26% monthly. Its market cap has shed over $400 billion in weeks and is down to $1.2 trillion on CG. Even its dominance over the alts took a hit, even though many have charted similar or even worse declines.

Some of the notable examples include ADA, which is down by over 30% following Charles Hoskinson’s decision to take a break, and Zcash’s 41% drop after some technical vulnerabilities were uncovered earlier.

Market Data

Market Cap: $2.18T | 24H Vol: $138B | BTC Dominance: 55.7%

BTC: $60,650 (-15.5%) | ETH: $1,600 (-17%) | XRP: $1.11 (-14%)

This Week’s Crypto Headlines You Can’t Miss

Strategy Sold Bitcoin, But It’s Not What You May Think. Bitcoin’s big troubles began shortly after Strategy announced its first sale in years. Although it disposed of a very tiny portion of its BTC holdings, it still triggered a community reaction and perhaps led to a significant worsening in the overall market sentiment.

Peter Schiff Warns Bitcoin Could Plunge Below $20K as Complacency Sets In. In an entirely expected comment on X, Peter Schiff took advantage of BTC’s price crash and predicted an even bigger calamity to $20,000 if the $50,000 support is lost.

Strive Doubles Down on Bitcoin With $185M Buy, Holdings Near 19,000 BTC. Unlike Strategy, Strive made its first purchase in a long time, expanding its holdings to almost 19,000 BTC after a substantial $185 million accumulation of the asset.

Arthur Hayes Dumps Entire Zcash (ZEC) Position After Major Flaw Emerges. Shortly after the news of Zcash’s issues went viral on X, Arthur Hayes, who had been supporting the project for a while, said he had disposed of his entire ZEC position, citing a lot of uncertainty.

Cardano (ADA) Faces Make-or-Break Moment as Social Buzz and Network Activity Explode. Hoskinson’s break, combined with ADA’s massive price calamity, led to a significant increase for Cardano, with the social media activity going wild.

Ethereum Crashing to 14-Month Low Is a ‘Screaming Buy-The-Dip Opportunity’ – Analyst. ETH was not spared by the overall market crash, dumping to consecutive 14-month lows at under $1,800 and then to $1,600. Some analysts, though, believe this could be a proper buy-the-dip opportunity.

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 Bitcoin Crumbles Toward $60K, Strategy Sold BTC, Zcash Faces Critical Vulnerability: Weekly Crypto Recap appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Bitcoin remains under heavy selling pressure after crashing below multiple key support levels in quick succession. The recent rejection from the descending 200-day moving average triggered a sharp sell-off that invalidated the previous rising channel structure and pushed BTC back toward a major demand zone around $60K. Meanwhile, on-chain data suggests market participants are increasingly realizing losses, reflecting deteriorating investor sentiment.

Bitcoin Price Analysis: The Daily Chart

On the daily timeframe, Bitcoin has confirmed a significant bearish breakdown after falling below both the ascending channel and the 100-day moving average near $74K. The channel had supported the recovery from February’s lows, but the recent violation indicates that buyers have lost control of the intermediate trend.

The rejection occurred near the confluence of the channel’s upper boundary and the descending 200-day moving average, located around the $82K region. Since then, BTC has experienced an aggressive decline, slicing through the $74K support area and the prominent low of $65K from late May with little resistance.

The price is now testing a major support block at $60K, which previously acted as a strong rebound area following the February capitulation. This zone represents the last major defense for bulls before the market opens the door toward significantly lower levels.

BTC/USDT 4-Hour Chart

The 4-hour chart highlights the severity of the recent breakdown. Following an extended consolidation near the $74K region, BTC failed to reclaim the level and subsequently broke below the daily ascending channel’s lower boundary that had supported price action for months.

As the breakdown accelerated, the $65K support area also gave way, which drove price directly into the $60K-$62K demand region. This area is currently preventing further downside and has already attracted some buying interest.

An important observation comes from the RSI, which has formed a mild bullish divergence in extremely oversold conditions while price has established fresh local lows. Although the signal remains early, it suggests bearish momentum may be weakening in the short term and could support a temporary rebound toward the $65K resistance zone.

However, from a structural perspective, the market continues to print lower highs and lower lows. As long as BTC remains below the broken support levels at $65K and $74K, any recovery is likely to be viewed as a corrective move rather than the beginning of a new uptrend.

On-Chain Analysis

The Adjusted Spent Output Profit Ratio (aSOPR), a metric that measures whether coins moved on-chain are being sold at a profit or loss, is providing an important signal regarding investor behavior.

The chart shows that the 30-day EMA of aSOPR has fallen below the critical 1.0 threshold. Historically, readings above 1 indicate that market participants are realizing profits on average, while values below 1 suggest coins are being spent at a loss.

The recent drop below 1 coincides with Bitcoin’s decline toward the $60K area and reflects growing capitulation among holders. This shift suggests that a larger portion of investors is now exiting positions at a loss, a behavior commonly associated with bearish market phases and periods of weak confidence.

While persistent readings below 1 often accompany downtrends, they can also signal the later stages of a corrective phase as weaker hands leave the market. Therefore, traders should closely monitor whether aSOPR can reclaim the 1.0 level. A recovery above that threshold would indicate renewed profitability across the network and could support broader market stabilization.

For now, both price action and on-chain data continue to favor the sellers, while the $60K support region remains the key battleground that will likely determine Bitcoin’s next major directional move.

The post Bitcoin Price Analysis: Where Is BTC Heading Next After Drop Below $61K? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Cardano has become one of the most talked-about cryptocurrencies after its price briefly dropped below $0.16 for the first time since December 2020, according to on-chain analytics platform Santiment.

The surge in attention appears to be linked to growing concerns surrounding Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, who recently said he was “taking a break” after warning that the ecosystem could face a “wave of failures” due to project shutdowns and funding difficulties.

Social Frenzy

According to Santiment’s data, the developments triggered a sharp increase in both social activity and on-chain engagement. Cardano’s social dominance climbed to around 0.52%, its highest level in 2026. This means that more than one in every 190 cryptocurrency-related discussions on social media focused on ADA.

At the same time, daily active addresses reached 28,459, representing the highest reading in four months. According to Santiment, the spike in network activity indicates that users were actively interacting with the blockchain as the sharp price volatility created strong divisions among traders. Bearish sentiment appears to be dominating much of the discussion.

Despite the negative market reaction, Santiment explained that Cardano continues to have one of the most loyal and vocal communities in the crypto sector. The analytics firm said ADA holders have, for years, remained committed through multiple market cycles, and have often supported the network during periods when institutional participation was limited.

“The next few weeks and months will likely be a make-or-break stretch for the #15 market cap, as the community hopes institutionals consider entering into positions while prices are now at 5.5 year lows. Many investors are now looking for ecosystem growth, successful project launches, and of course some more positive future words from Hoskinson to validate the long-term vision that Cardano supporters have championed for years.”

Cardano – Brazilian Olympic Committee

In a separate development, the Cardano Foundation announced a partnership with the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) to bring blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies into the country’s sports sector.

According to the organizations, the three-year collaboration will focus on identity and certification systems, fan engagement, equipment tracking, and improving governance and transparency. The first pilot projects are expected to launch in the coming months.

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As stablecoins move closer and closer to mainstream financial infrastructure, the regulatory debate around them is seemingly becoming less about crypto in isolation and more about the future outlook of the global payments system.

Just recently, for instance, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey warned that global regulators may be heading for a “wrestle” with the US over stablecoin rules. Essentially, this underscored a growing divide between European, American, and other regional approaches.

But for some, this disagreement reflects a deeper question.

CryptoPotato talked to Jody Mettler, Chief Operating Officer of BitGo and President of BitGo Trust. According to her, the question is whether digital money develops into a single interoperable global system or into parallel networks shaped by regional priorities centered around monetary sovereignty, reserve standards, custody, settlement finality, consumer protection, and more.

In the following interview, Mettler discusses how MiCA is shaping Europe’s digital asset infrastructure, why institutions are demanding banking-grade certainty (rather than abstract “crypto rules”), and how stablecoins can force banks, issuers, custodians, and payment providers to rethink the architecture of cross-border finance.

Governor Andrew Bailey warned that global regulators may be heading for a “wrestle” with the U.S. over stablecoin rules. From your vantage point, what is the real disagreement underneath that fight: consumer protection, financial stability, dollar dominance, or control over payment rails? 

The conversation has moved well beyond crypto regulation in isolation. What’s really being debated underneath the “wrestle” Andrew Bailey refers to is how modern payment and settlement infrastructure gets designed, and which standards end up defining it globally.

At BitGo, what we see in practice is that institutions are not asking for “crypto rules” so much as they are asking for banking-grade certainty around custody, settlement finality, and redemption mechanics. That is where the regulatory divergence starts to matter. The U.S. is generally leaning toward a more market-led framework that encourages innovation and participation, while Europe is building a more prescriptive system through MiCA that prioritizes systemic stability, reserve quality, and controlled market entry.

In Europe specifically, there is also a more explicit policy objective around financial autonomy. That shows up in the focus on ensuring euro-denominated digital money and regulated stablecoin frameworks can develop alongside, rather than be fully dependent on, dollar liquidity and U.S. dominated payment rails. But that ambition only really works if the underlying infrastructure exists to support it. That means deep liquidity, regulated custody, banking connectivity, and trusted settlement layers that institutions can actually plug into at scale.

So underneath the policy language, the real tension is less about any single rule and more about whether global digital money evolves into a single interoperable system or a set of parallel, regionally anchored financial networks.

When people talk about the U.S. and Europe “diverging” on stablecoins, what does that actually mean in practice for issuers, custodians, banks, and payment companies?

It means the market is starting to split less around “crypto vs traditional finance” and more around how each region chooses to define and control the plumbing of digital money.

Europe has moved earlier with MiCA, which is not just about licensing crypto firms, but about standardising how custody, issuance, trading, and transfer of digital assets work across the entire EU under one supervisory perimeter. That creates a more predictable environment for institutions, because they can build against a single framework rather than 27 different interpretations. The U.S., meanwhile, is still in the process of defining its market structure through legislation like the Clarity Act, so the roles of different participants in the stack are still being actively negotiated.

From BitGo’s perspective in Europe, that difference shows up in very practical ways. Institutions are not asking abstract questions about regulation, they are asking how assets are actually held in bankruptcy remote structures, how settlement finality is achieved across venues, and how they can move liquidity between regulated counterparties without changing their risk assumptions every time they cross a jurisdictional boundary. That is where MiCA starts to matter operationally, because it turns policy into something closer to a defined rulebook for custody and market access.

The tension, then, is that global institutions still want a single operating model for digital assets, but the infrastructure they are plugging into is becoming regionally defined. Over time, that raises a real question about whether liquidity, custody standards, and settlement systems converge globally or whether they develop into parallel but interoperable regional stacks.

If stablecoins become a major part of cross-border payments, what happens when the rules for reserves, redemption, custody, and supervision differ from one jurisdiction to another?

MiCA helps because it creates a single rulebook across Europe, which gives institutions a much clearer operating environment. That’s important because it reduces a lot of the fragmentation we used to see inside the EU. But once you move outside Europe, you’re still dealing with different approaches in different markets.

And that’s where it gets operational. Cross-border payments depend on trust that assets behave in a predictable way as they move through different systems. If that starts to differ too much, you get friction in liquidity and settlement even if the markets are linked.

What BitGo is focused on in Europe is helping institutions operate within MiCA, but still stay connected to global liquidity. So regulated custody, segregated client assets, and infrastructure that makes it possible to move and settle assets without having to rebuild everything market by market.

Are we heading toward a single global stablecoin market, or toward competing blocs: dollar stablecoins under U.S. rules, euro stablecoins under EU rules, and sterling- or other local models elsewhere?

In the near term, we’re more likely to see regional frameworks emerge first. The dollar will probably continue to dominate because it already sits at the center of global liquidity and trade, but Europe is clearly trying to ensure it has its own regulated digital financial infrastructure as well. The bigger question is whether these systems remain interoperable over time or whether we start seeing more fragmented pools of liquidity tied to different jurisdictions.

How should policymakers think about the line between stablecoins as crypto products and stablecoins as payment or banking infrastructure? At what point do they stop being an asset class and start becoming part of the monetary system?

That shift might happen once stablecoins start being used at institutional scale for settlement, treasury operations, and cross border movement of funds. At that point, they stop behaving like purely speculative assets and start interacting much more directly with payment systems and financial infrastructure. That’s why custody, segregation of assets, settlement finality, and regulatory oversight become so important. Institutions need these systems to operate with the same confidence and safeguards they expect from traditional financial infrastructure.

Europe has been more explicit about protecting monetary sovereignty in its digital-assets framework. Is the stablecoin debate really also a debate about whether Europe can build payment infrastructure that is not dependent on U.S. dollar rails?

That’s definitely part of the underlying discussion. Europe is thinking carefully about how to maintain influence over its own financial infrastructure as digital money and stablecoin adoption continue to scale globally. Right now, most liquidity and activity still sits around dollar-backed stablecoins, so there’s a broader question around whether Europe can develop euro-denominated digital assets and payment rails that are competitive, liquid, and usable at institutional scale.

The challenge is that creating a successful euro stablecoin ecosystem requires more than regulation alone. It needs deep liquidity, trusted custody providers, settlement infrastructure, banking connectivity, and institutional participation across the region. That’s part of why MiCA matters. It gives firms a clearer framework to start building those networks and infrastructure layers within Europe rather than relying entirely on external rails over time.

Looking five years ahead, do you think stablecoins will be absorbed into the existing financial system, or will they force banks and payment networks to fundamentally change how they operate?

It’ll probably be a combination of both. Traditional financial institutions are already integrating parts of digital asset infrastructure into existing systems, especially around custody, settlement, and payments. But stablecoins also introduce expectations around real-time settlement, 24/7 movement of value, and programmable infrastructure that traditional systems weren’t originally designed for. Over time, parts of the banking and payments ecosystem will need to evolve to meet those expectations.

The post Stablecoins Are Becoming a Fight Over the Future of Digital Money: Interview With BitGo COO Jody Mettler appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Crypto markets are in shambles again, with bitcoin dipping to $61,000 earlier this morning for the first time in four months. Although some alts managed to withstand the calamity at first, they have joined the ride with even more profound losses.

Ripple’s XRP is no exception. The asset stood above $1.55 just a few weeks ago, but the subsequent rejection drove it south hard. It plunged to just under $1.10 today, which marked its lowest price position since before the US presidential elections in late 2024.

Despite the short-term pain, popular analyst EGRAG CRYPTO outlined a more macro perspective, suggesting that the real story may just be beginning.

What’s Next for XRP?

The analyst noted that the cross-border token has approached a pivotal moment that could define its next major cycle move. By drawing parallels to early 2017, EGRAG highlighted a historical pattern where XRP briefly slumped below key structural support, which they referred to as the “Bifrost Bridge,” before it initiated a powerful expansion move.

That bull phase began with a sharp downside wick, designed to flush out weak hands and reset market positioning, EGRAG added.

“The big question: Will we get another massive liquidity wick… or will price build a solid brick structure above support?” – The analyst asked now.

They predicted that another deep wick could “shake out weak hands, create maximum fear, sweep liquidity fast, and form the final macro reset.” This would be the so-called “wick” scenario, in which a sudden yet aggressive move lower challenges the broader market’s positioning.

The Brick Structure

The alternative in EGRAG’s analysis is the “brick” structure, where Ripple’s native token consolidates above key support levels such as $1.00 and $1.10 and gradually builds a reliable base. This scenario would signal stronger accumulation and market confidence, potentially allowing for an earlier upside continuation without the need for the aforementioned dramatic flush.

Despite the uncertainty, the analyst leans toward the first outcome:

“Personally…I still think the market wants one final emotional move before the real expansion,” they concluded.

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