Currency defense measures in Korea and Indonesia may lead to increased market volatility, impacting investor confidence and regional economic stability.
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The EU's tech sovereignty push could reshape global tech dynamics, boosting local firms while complicating US tech giants' European operations.
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Escalating Middle East tensions could fuel inflation fears, complicating Fed rate decisions and prompting defensive shifts in investment strategies.
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Li's framework for world models could revolutionize AI's spatial intelligence, enhancing robotics' ability to interact with real environments.
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This case could set a precedent for AI accountability, influencing global legal standards on privacy and data protection in AI-generated content.
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Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Buys a Home: Better and Coinbase Close First Fannie Mae-Backed BTC Mortgage
Better Home & Finance Holding Company (NASDAQ: BETR) and Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) on Thursday announced the funding of the first Fannie Mae-backed mortgage collateralized by Bitcoin in the United States, marking what the companies called a pivotal moment in bridging digital asset wealth and traditional homeownership.
The debut loan was closed by Joe and Amy, a married couple in their early 30s from Ann Arbor, Michigan, who used Bitcoin holdings as collateral to fund their down payment rather than liquidating their position, the companies said.
The couple pledged their crypto through Coinbase’s custody infrastructure and obtained a conforming mortgage through Better without incurring capital gains taxes or surrendering their long-term exposure to Bitcoin’s potential upside.
“Buying our first home has always been the goal, but I wasn’t willing to give up a decade of investing to get there,” said the homebuyer. “With this mortgage, I didn’t have to choose. We closed on our home and my Bitcoin stayed intact. We didn’t have to liquidate, didn’t have to time the market, and didn’t have to start over financially to achieve our homeownership goals. That meant everything.”
The structure involves two separate loans. Borrowers first receive a standard 15- or 30-year Fannie Mae-backed mortgage on the property itself. A second, privately financed loan — secured by pledged Bitcoin or USDC — covers the down payment. Both loans carry the same interest rate and term, consolidating into a single monthly payment.
The pledged crypto is held in Coinbase Prime custody for the life of the loan and returned upon full repayment.
Critically, the product carries no margin calls. If Bitcoin’s price declines, borrowers are not required to add collateral, and market movements alone cannot trigger liquidation. Collateral is only at risk if a borrower falls at least 60 days delinquent on payments, consistent with standard foreclosure timelines in conventional housing finance.
The product initially supports Bitcoin and USDC, with Bitcoin requiring collateral equal to 250% of the down payment loan and USDC at 125%. Better CEO Vishal Garg has noted plans to eventually expand eligible assets to include tokenized equities, fixed income, and other real estate assets.
Better said that 41% of its pre-approved customers qualify on income and credit but lack the cash for a traditional down payment. That gap has widened as homeownership has grown increasingly out of reach: the median age of first-time homebuyers in America hit a record 40 years old, up sharply from 32 a decade ago, according to the National Association of Realtors.
The product is designed to serve buyers whose wealth is concentrated in digital assets rather than liquid cash or traditional savings accounts.
The regulatory pathway was cleared in part by a June 2025 directive from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) instructing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to recognize digital assets as eligible collateral in the $18.5 trillion mortgage market.
That directive laid the groundwork for this week’s announcement and product launch.
This post Bitcoin Buys a Home: Better and Coinbase Close First Fannie Mae-Backed BTC Mortgage first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.
Bitcoin Magazine

Standard Chartered Sees Bitcoin Bottom ‘Almost In’ as Sell-Off Cuts 14% in Seven Days
Bitcoin shed 14% in seven days, sliding to levels not seen since February, as a convergence of institutional outflows, leverage liquidations, geopolitical pressure, and a shock sale from Strategy rattled digital asset markets.
Yet Standard Chartered’s global head of digital assets research, Geoff Kendrick, told clients the bear market may be in its final stages — and that the low is “almost in.”
“I think when we look back at the end of 2026 with BTC at $100k… we will say this was the buying zone we all wanted,” he wrote.
Bitcoin traded around $63,739 on Wednesday, down from a 24-hour high of $67,416.50, after touching a session low near $61,463 — the first time it breached that threshold since the February crash. The decline placed BTC roughly 51% below its all-time high of $126,277, set in October 2025.
The trigger that broke market confidence came from a Monday SEC filing. Strategy disclosed the sale of 32 Bitcoin between May 26 and May 31, generating approximately $2.5 million at an average price of $77,135 per coin.
The transaction represented the firm’s first net reduction of its Bitcoin holdings in years — a break from co-founder Michael Saylor’s well-known “never sell” posture . The sale was executed to fund dividend obligations on Strategy’s STRC preferred shares, which carry an annual variable dividend of 11.5%.
The market reaction was sharp. Bitcoin fell below $72,000 the same day as the SEC filing. Strategy’s own stock dropped near 6%, and STRC shares traded around $94 .
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs are recording a 13 consecutive day streak of net outflows — the longest run since the products launched in early 2024. Total withdrawals reached approximately $3.45 billion across that stretch. The week ending May 29 alone saw $1.42 billion in net outflows, the third-largest weekly withdrawal on record.
For the full month of May, cumulative spot ETF outflows reached $2.30 billion, making it the worst month of 2026.
Against this backdrop, Kendrick laid out three reasons he believes the market is near a floor.
First, Strategy’s behavior in 2022 offers a precedent. When the firm last sold Bitcoin in December of that year, it purchased more than it sold two days later. Kendrick said he expects the same pattern to repeat — with a potential buyback of up to 100 times the 32 BTC sold.
A confirmed purchase as early as next Monday would, in his view, serve as a tentative signal that the low is in.
Second, spot ETF holdings have held up better than feared. The cumulative net inflow since inception remains at $54.2 billion — right where it stood earlier in the year. Total BTC held by the 11 U.S.-listed funds sits at approximately 674,000 BTC, down from a peak near 682,000 but broadly unchanged in structural terms.
“This tells me that ETF holdings are more structurally strong than I had feared in February,” Kendrick said.
Third, the pool of leveraged longs available for liquidation is smaller than in prior drawdowns. Bitcoin futures bets worth $1.5 billion were liquidated by exchanges during the current sell-off, a figure in line with January’s.
With BTC already underperforming equities through 2026, forced selling risk has diminished.
Macro Headwinds Persist
Kendrick’s long-term targets remain $100,000 for Bitcoin by year-end.
This post Standard Chartered Sees Bitcoin Bottom ‘Almost In’ as Sell-Off Cuts 14% in Seven Days first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.
Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Price Plunges Below $62,000, Erasing Months of Recovery as Sell-Off Accelerates
Bitcoin price has tumbled to its lowest level in months Wednesday night, crashing below $62,000 and wiping out a sharp intraday loss of more than $5,300 — a decline of nearly 8% in 24 hours — as a perfect storm of institutional exodus, leverage liquidations, geopolitical fear, and a symbolic but jarring sale by Michael Saylor’s Strategy converged to shatter market confidence.
At approximately 10:00 PM EDT, Bitcoin price was changing hands at $61,463.22, down from a 24-hour high of $67,416.50 and dangerously close to the psychologically critical $60,000 floor. The selloff erased weeks of tentative recovery and put the world’s largest cryptocurrency nearly 51% below its all-time high of $126,277, set in October 2025.
The catalyst that many analysts believe broke the market’s will was a Monday SEC filing from Strategy revealing that the firm sold 32 Bitcoin between May 26 and May 31, generating approximately $2.5 million at an average price of $77,135 per coin.
While negligible relative to Strategy’s holdings of more than 818,000 BTC, the transaction represented the company’s first disclosed net reduction of its Bitcoin position in years — a jarring break from co-founder Michael Saylor’s long-standing “never sell” doctrine.
The move was intended to fund dividend obligations on its STRC preferred shares, which carry an annual variable dividend of 11.5%. Still, the market reacted viscerally. Bitcoin price immediately fell below $72,000 following the announcement, and Strategy’s own stock dropped nearly 6% the same day.
Today, STRC traded hands around $94.
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded an 11-to-12 consecutive day streak of net outflows, the longest run since the products launched, with total withdrawals reaching approximately $3.45 billion across that period. The week ending May 29 alone saw $1.42 billion in net outflows, marking the third-largest weekly withdrawal on record.
For the full month of May, cumulative spot Bitcoin ETF outflows reached $2.30 billion — the worst single month of 2026 — even as Bitcoin’s price only fell 3.69% in that time, suggesting institutions were quietly derisking at a pace far ahead of what price action alone implied.
Beyond crypto-specific factors, Bitcoin price has been whipsawed by a deteriorating macroeconomic backdrop. Escalating U.S.-Iran tensions — including military flare-ups in the Middle East — have driven investors toward safety, triggering a risk-off move that has hammered high-volatility assets across the board.
Adding to the bearish picture is the gravitational pull of the artificial intelligence boom. Capital that might have once flowed into Bitcoin is increasingly chasing AI-linked equities, with the impending IPOs of OpenAI and SpaceX diverting speculative interest.

This post Bitcoin Price Plunges Below $62,000, Erasing Months of Recovery as Sell-Off Accelerates first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.
Bitcoin Magazine

Franklin Templeton CEO: Blockchains Threaten Wall Street’s Fee Machine, Not Its Technology
Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson has a straightforward explanation for why major financial institutions have been slow to embrace public blockchains: the technology destroys their fee-based revenue streams.
Speaking at the Proof of Talk summit in Paris, Johnson — who oversees $1.74 trillion in assets at Franklin Templeton — told a panel audience that the resistance from traditional financial players is not about technology skepticism.
It is about protecting the business model. Banks and intermediaries that collect transaction fees at every step of the settlement process stand to lose that income the moment a smart contract can handle the same function at a fraction of the cost.
Johnson pointed to Franklin Templeton’s tokenized money market fund, Benji, as a concrete demonstration of the cost differential. Running 50,000 transactions through the firm’s legacy system cost $1.30 per transaction. The same volume processed on the Stellar blockchain came in at $1.13 per transaction — a meaningful reduction at institutional scale.
The announcement came as Franklin Templeton disclosed a new partnership with MoonPay, designed to let institutional investors move between stablecoins and the firm’s tokenized fund through an on-chain workflow.Franklin Templeton’s push into digital assets is one of the most aggressive moves by a legacy asset manager in the industry’s history. The California-based firm, which manages roughly $1.74 trillion in assets, began building its dedicated digital assets team in 2018 — years before tokenization became a mainstream focus among institutional players.
Benji launched in 2021 as the world’s first U.S.-registered mutual fund to use a public blockchain as its official system of record for processing transactions and recording share ownership. The fund invests predominantly in U.S. Treasury securities and uses blockchain strictly for operational efficiency rather than crypto exposure.
On the bitcoin front, Franklin Templeton launched the Franklin Bitcoin ETF (ticker: EZBC), a passive product that holds only bitcoin and cash, designed for investors seeking direct price exposure without managing custody.
The firm also offers a dynamic bitcoin/ethereum separately managed account product for investors wanting active allocation between the two largest digital assets.
In April 2026, Franklin Templeton announced plans to acquire 250 Digital, a spinoff from crypto venture firm CoinFund, forming a new division called Franklin Crypto to pursue active cryptocurrency investment strategies at institutional scale.
The deal itself broke new ground — BENJI tokens were used as part of the acquisition payment, making it one of the first M&A transactions structured on-chain. The firm’s digital assets division manages approximately $1.8 billion in assets.
This post Franklin Templeton CEO: Blockchains Threaten Wall Street’s Fee Machine, Not Its Technology first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.
Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Price Crashes to Precarious Position Below $65,000 as Momentum Rotates Into AI, IPOs
Bitcoin price is holding a risky position near $65,000 Wednesday, down roughly 12% over the past seven days and trading at its lowest level since February as a broad rotation out of crypto into competing speculative trades chips away at the foundation of its recent bull run.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency touched a bitcoin price of $64,987 earlier in the session before a partial recovery, but analysts and strategists say the weakness runs deeper than any single catalyst.
The most popular explanation — that Strategy’s (MSTR) first bitcoin sale in four years triggered the slide — is being challenged by a growing chorus of market voices.
Charles Schwab director of digital currencies research and strategy Jim Ferraioli that the issue in simpler terms: bitcoin is losing its status as the market’s dominant momentum trade.
“Bitcoin has been in a bear market since October,” Ferraioli said according to CoinDesk reporting. “There’s a lack of a reason to be buying here when there’s other things you can choose.”
A broader sentiment in the bitcoin space is that the asset class is facing a competition problem, not a confidence problem.
Capital that once poured into crypto in search of high-octane returns is rotating toward artificial intelligence stocks, gold, and a wave of high-profile IPOs from private tech firms including SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic.
Those offerings represent some of the most anticipated market events of the year, and investors appear to be freeing up liquidity to participate.
Wall Street bank Citi reinforced a similar structural concern Wednesday. Analyst Alex Saunders estimated that spot bitcoin ETF flows account for roughly 45% of weekly BTC price variation — the clearest real-time gauge of investor demand.
Those flows have turned negative. Saunders also flagged diminishing prospects for the Clarity Act, a U.S. crypto market structure bill that many in the industry viewed as a potential catalyst for fresh institutional inflows.
Without that regulatory tailwind, the bank sees sentiment remaining muted.
Strategy’s sale of 32 BTC for approximately $2.5 million in late May did rattle markets. The transaction marked a rare departure from Executive Chairman Michael Saylor’s longstanding “buy and hold” approach and sparked concern that one of bitcoin’s most prominent corporate backers could shift from buyer to seller.
Strategy attributed the move to a tax-optimization plan disclosed during its first-quarter earnings call.
Citi said the sale was anticipated and does not change the firm’s broader strategy. Ferraioli described it as a convenient narrative attached to a trend already underway, noting that many ETF investors sitting near breakeven are treating the current price level as an exit opportunity rather than a buying opportunity.
Another theory gaining traction in analyst circles points to U.S. sanctions on Iran’s digital asset ecosystem as a source of persistent selling pressure.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the freezing of more than $1 billion in Iranian crypto assets last week, and the U.S. sanctioned Nobitex, Iran’s largest crypto exchange, on Tuesday for alleged ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
From a technical standpoint, the bitcoin price at $65,000 level is critical. This level is a test of year-to-date lows around $60,000. Bitcoin Magazine Pro data points to an initial support in the $63,000–$64,000 bitcoin price range, where bids emerged in February and March, with a bitcoin price of $60,000 representing the next major psychological floor and $58,000 beyond that.
This marks the third test of bitcoin price’s February 6 panic low. The prior two — on February 24 and March 29 — produced sharp recoveries above $70,000. Seasonal weakness, historically concentrated in summer months, gives bulls little immediate help.
With AI assets outperforming, IPO pipelines absorbing speculative capital, and legislative catalysts receding, bitcoin’s path back to momentum-driven price discovery depends on investor attention returning — and right now, that attention is pointed elsewhere.
At the time of writing the bitcoin price is near $65,300.

This post Bitcoin Price Crashes to Precarious Position Below $65,000 as Momentum Rotates Into AI, IPOs first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.
Bitcoin’s relationship with the S&P 500 has stopped behaving like a simple correlation trade at exactly the wrong time for bulls.
For much of 2026, the logic was clean enough. When oil jumped during the Iran war, yields rose amid inflation fears, stocks sold off, and Bitcoin followed, as the market treated BTC as a liquidity-sensitive risk asset.
When the pressure eased, both risk trades could recover together.
That link has now fractured. The S&P 500 closed at a fresh record 7,609 on June 2, with the latest leg tied to earnings strength and AI-linked stocks.
At the same time, Bitcoin is trading near $63,508 on June 4, down 13% over seven days, down 21% over 30 days, and 49% below its Oct. 6, 2025 all-time high.
Bitcoin is doing more than quietly lagging a mild equity rally. It is in a major drawdown while the world’s most watched equity benchmark pushes higher.
Bitcoin is reacting to more than the same macro signal as stocks. It is being forced to prove whether the ETF-era bid that carried it from the 2023 anticipation trade through the January 2024 launches and into the 2025 high is still the marginal buyer.
The earlier correlation had a straightforward explanation. The same transmission channel hit two assets that had become sensitive to liquidity.
The Iran/Hormuz shock gave markets a physical reason to price inflation risk. EIA data showed total oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz falling from 20.7 million barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 14.6 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 2026.
A World Bank scenario analysis framed the disruption as the largest oil-market shock in history and put 2026 Brent scenarios around $95 to $115 per barrel depending on how the disruption evolved.
That channel flowed straight into rates. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to about 4.45% from 3.96% before the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, as investors priced in higher inflation and fewer Federal Reserve rate cuts.
In that setup, Bitcoin could trade like a stock without being one. Higher oil threatened inflation. Higher inflation kept yields elevated. Higher yields drained risk appetite. Stocks fell, and BTC fell with them.
The earlier Iran-deal rally setup needed proof in oil flows, gasoline prices, inflation compensation, and Fed pricing before traders could treat it as more than a relief trade.
A separate May analysis noted that Bitcoin’s apparent break from U.S. stocks could have reflected different lead markets at different times of day rather than a durable decoupling.
The out-of-hours detail fits that framework. Weekend crypto trading can outpace U.S. equity desks, especially when oil headlines or rate expectations hit before cash equities reopen.
Once the S&P 500 starts trading, the larger liquidity signal can pull Bitcoin back into the same risk-asset channel. That made the prior break fragile.
This week’s pattern carries more weight. The current move has lasted beyond a weekend rally fading into the U.S. open. It is a multi-day equity high against a crypto selloff.
The most important Bitcoin levels are now below the market rather than above it.
Bitcoin’s flash crash below $68,000 triggered around $400 million in liquidations in under an hour and exposed how crowded bullish positioning had become.
The move also pushed BTC below several on-chain levels traders were watching, including the short-term-holder cost basis near $76,900 and the true market mean around $78,000.
That changed the tone. A market that was still trying to frame weakness as a dip suddenly had to price protection.
Current options positioning shows traders paying to protect against a fall toward $50,000 after BTC broke below $70,000, with $60,000 and $50,000 becoming live downside markers rather than distant bear-market talking points.
The immediate battle line is the old $66,900-$68,000 range. That area capped the 2021 cycle, defined part of the 2024 breakout, and is now testing whether the ETF-era rally can defend former resistance as support.
A fast reclaim would argue that the selloff was a liquidation event. Rejection would keep the downside path in control.
The ETF channel is central because it changed Bitcoin’s market structure. The SEC approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products on Jan. 10, 2024, opening regulated access to BTC through traditional brokerage accounts.
That channel helped turn Bitcoin from a mostly crypto-native cycle asset into a tradable part of broader institutional portfolios.
The same wrapper that brought in new demand also made flows easier to measure. If spot Bitcoin ETFs are bleeding while AI equities are rallying, a grand anti-Bitcoin thesis is unnecessary.
The marginal buyer only has to be somewhere else, and ETF-flow tables make that test visible day by day.
That is where the AI and mega-IPO angle becomes interesting. SpaceX has filed an S-1 with the SEC, and S&P Dow Jones Indices has consulted on changes to MegaCap eligibility, including reducing IPO seasoning from 12 months to 6 months and creating exceptions for MegaCap companies.
Nasdaq has also run a 2026 Nasdaq-100 consultation around very large new listings.
SpaceX’s index path remains contingent on index provider decisions and timing. The current documents show methodology pressure rather than automatic S&P 500 inclusion.
If investors are preparing for large AI or space-linked listings while the S&P is already being carried by AI earnings, Bitcoin has to compete for attention, liquidity, and risk budget in a market where the excitement is elsewhere.
The broader crypto backdrop offers little help to Bitcoin.
Institutional blockchain adoption is real, but it is increasingly happening through controlled rails. CryptoSlate’s analysis of Wall Street’s on-chain push argued that tokenization can advance without reviving open DeFi in the form retail users remember.
The distinction affects price because tokenized Treasuries, controlled settlement systems, and permissioned market infrastructure create a different feedback loop from the speculative DeFi cycle that once pulled retail liquidity into crypto.
DeFiLlama data puts aggregate DeFi TVL near $73 million, down from $80 billion in late May, and the all-time high of $173 billion in October 2025, well below the kind of broad risk-appetite signal crypto bulls would want to see.
Thus, open DeFi currently offers little offset to Bitcoin’s ETF-flow problem.
Security pressure adds another drag. CertiK has warned that AI has expanded the digital-asset attack surface, as Chainalysis highlights increased pressure from crypto crime across the industry.
For Bitcoin, if institutional crypto interest shifts toward ETFs, tokenized assets, and permissioned rails while retail DeFi remains weak, Bitcoin’s price becomes even more dependent on whether regulated spot demand returns.
That leaves Bitcoin without a second speculative engine at the moment its first one is being tested. In prior cycles, weakness in BTC could still sit beside rising retail leverage, yield-farming appetite, and broad altcoin beta.
The current setup is thinner. Tokenization may be growing, but the capital showing up there is less likely to rotate quickly into open crypto risk.
That difference also changes what a rebound would look like. A retail DeFi recovery would show up as rising TVL, broader stablecoin circulation inside open protocols, stronger fee generation, and renewed leverage across lending and perpetual venues.
A tokenization-led recovery can grow balance sheets while leaving public-market crypto beta weak. For BTC, that split keeps the watchlist focused on ETF flows, options, and the $66,900-$70,000 shelf.
Bitcoin is close enough to major long-term valuation models that assuming a straight collapse is too simple. It is also damaged enough that assuming an immediate recovery is premature.
The power-law framework is useful here because it shows why the current area carries weight.
For those new to the power law, Bitcoin.com’s power-law chart explains the model as a log-log price corridor with fair-value and band assumptions, while recent market discussion has framed BTC as trading near a historically low power-law zone.
The model provides context rather than destiny. Stock-to-flow looked powerful until it failed badly after the 2021 cycle. Power-law context makes the $54,000 to $58,000 area more important than a random chart level.
The market now has two credible paths:
| Path | Probability | What validates it | What breaks it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liquidity reset and base | 60% | BTC fails to reclaim $66,900-$70,000, ETF outflows persist, options demand around $60,000 and $50,000 grows, and AI equities keep attracting the marginal risk dollar. | Spot ETF flows turn positive quickly and BTC reclaims the old shelf with volume. |
| Fast recovery and recoupling | 40% | BTC retakes $68,000-$70,000, oil and yields cool, ETF flows stabilize, and the move back above short-term-holder cost basis turns the selloff into a liquidation reset. | BTC loses $60,000 and then the $54,000-$58,000 model/support cluster while ETF redemptions continue. |
The first path is more likely because the evidence is already pointing there. Bitcoin has broken key levels, ETF demand is under pressure, hedging has moved lower, and equities are rising for reasons specific to AI earnings and index-flow demand.
The base-case reset can happen without a full bear-market collapse. It points first to a support test and base-building attempt.
The second path remains live because Bitcoin is already trading near an area where long-term models and prior market structure should count.
A rapid flow reversal could quickly repair sentiment. If BTC reclaims $70,000 and the short-term holder cost basis is near $76,900, the divergence would look more like forced de-risking than a cycle failure.
My older $49,000 absolute-bottom area therefore sits as a tail-risk extension rather than the primary forecast.
It becomes credible if Bitcoin loses the $54,000 to $58,000 cluster, if ETF outflows keep running after the liquidation event, and if the AI equity trade continues to absorb the capital that might otherwise have returned to BTC.
For now, Bitcoin is testing whether it can rally with stocks. It is also revealing how much of its ETF-era advance depended on a specific buyer showing up.
The next answer will come from flows and levels, not from the S&P 500’s record alone.
The post Bitcoin’s $63k slide shows ETF demand fighting AI equities for dollar liquidity appeared first on CryptoSlate.
Thomas Lee's BitMine is turning to the preferred-stock market to raise fresh capital for its Ethereum strategy, offering investors a 9.5% annual payout.
On June 3, the company revealed plans to sell 3 million shares of 9.50% Series A perpetual preferred stock with a $100 stated amount, creating a potential $300 million raise.
The shares are expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BMNP if the listing is approved. Moelis & Company and Cantor are serving as joint lead bookrunners.
If sold in full, the offering would add about $28.5 million in annual dividend obligations, paid weekly when declared by BitMine’s board.
The sale comes as the Ethereum treasury company faces a sharper test of the corporate crypto model. Due to current market conditions, BitMine’s unrealized losses on ETH have exceeded $8 billion after ETH’s decline pushed the asset well below the company’s average purchase price.

Still, this move will deepen the link between the firm's balance sheet, its staking operation, and the public-market investors being asked to finance its next stage of accumulation.
BitMine said proceeds from the offering may be used for general corporate purposes, including additional purchases of ETH and other digital assets, expansion of its staking and validator infrastructure, working capital, Ethereum-related strategic investments, and repurchases of its common stock.
That broad use of proceeds makes the offering more than a balance-sheet repair. It could allow BitMine to keep accumulating ETH while market prices remain weak, reinforcing the company’s role as the largest public Ethereum treasury firm.
Over the past year, the company has built its ETH portfolio position through aggressive purchases and currently holds more than 5.3 million tokens. This represents around 4.5% of ETH's circulating supply.
Notably, a large share of that stack is staked, allowing BitMine to earn protocol rewards while it holds the tokens.

Chairman Thomas Lee has argued that those staking rewards give Ethereum treasury firms an advantage over Bitcoin-focused vehicles. Unlike Bitcoin, ETH can produce yield through staking, allowing a company to earn returns without selling the underlying asset.
That distinction is central to BitMine’s new preferred stock. At a 9.5% coupon, the full $300 million offering would cost roughly $548,000 a week in dividends.
BitMine has said its annualized staking revenue is running in the hundreds of millions of dollars, suggesting the preferred payout is small relative to the income its staked ETH could generate under ordinary market conditions.
Moreover, the broader Ethereum treasury sector is already moving in that direction. Staking accounted for 60% of disclosed revenue across publicly listed ETH treasury firms in 2025, according to a study from staking provider Everstake.
The report said the figure was drawn from companies that separately broke out staking-related income, showing how active deployment has become a larger part of the public ETH treasury model.
That revenue mix helps explain why BitMine is leaning on Ethereum’s yield profile at the same time it is asking investors to accept a fixed 9.5% payout.
The company is not merely holding ETH as a treasury reserve. It is trying to convert that reserve into a recurring income base that can support capital-market financing.
However, the company’s filing also shows why the structure is not risk-free.
BitMine does not pledge a dedicated pool of staking income to the preferred shares. Instead, the filing says dividends may be funded through available cash, ETH yield activity, securities sales, future financing, or other sources.
Meanwhile, the firm also warns that staking income may not be sufficient and that staked ETH may not be immediately available for withdrawal or sale during periods of stress.
That caveat is central to the transaction because the preferred stock turns part of BitMine’s Ethereum bet into a recurring cash obligation.
BitMine’s move closely resembles the financing model used by Strategy, Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin treasury company, which has repeatedly tapped preferred shares and other securities to fund crypto accumulation and manage its capital structure.
Both companies are using public-market instruments to transform investor demand for yield into balance-sheet capacity for digital-asset purchases. Both have sought to create securities that appeal to investors who may want exposure to a crypto treasury without directly owning the underlying token.
Both are also operating in a market where the value of their main asset can change sharply before the cash obligation attached to the security comes due.
However, this comparison has limits.
Strategy’s STRC preferred is a variable-rate product designed to help keep the shares trading near their $100 stated amount. Its dividend rate can be adjusted monthly, giving Strategy a tool to respond if market pricing drifts away from par.
BitMine’s Series A preferred is simpler in one respect and stricter in another. It carries a fixed 9.5% coupon, paid weekly in arrears when declared, rather than a variable rate that can be reset to influence the trading price.
If dividends are not paid, however, they accumulate and compound weekly. The rate on unpaid dividends can step up over time, capped at 15% annually.
| Feature | STRC | BitMine Series A |
|---|---|---|
| Issuer | Strategy, Bitcoin treasury | BitMine, Ethereum treasury |
| Security type | Perpetual preferred | Perpetual preferred |
| Dividend | Variable, currently 11.50% | Fixed 9.50% |
| Payment cadence | Monthly cash | Weekly cash, if declared |
| Purpose | General corporate purposes, including Bitcoin purchases | General corporate purposes, including ETH/digital assets and staking infrastructure |
| Par/stated amount | $100 | $100 |
| Market-stabilizing feature | Dividend adjusted to keep price near $100 | Liquidation preference adjusts using market-price formula, but no variable dividend targeting par |
| Redemption | STRC callable at $101 or higher, plus unpaid dividends | BitMine callable at 110% in first 18 months, 105% from 18 months to three years, then 100%, plus unpaid dividends |
The preferred shares also include a liquidation preference that begins at $100 and adjusts based on a market-price formula, while never falling below $100.
BitMine can redeem the shares at 110% of the stated amount during the first 18 months, 105% from 18 months to three years, and 100% after three years, plus accumulated and unpaid dividends. Holders would also have repurchase rights if certain fundamental changes occur.
Those terms give BitMine flexibility, but they also show the price of raising capital in a weaker crypto market. A 9.5% payout is high enough to draw attention from income investors, but it also reflects the premium demanded from a company whose main asset base is tied to ETH.
The post Ethereum treasury giant offers 9.5% payout as BitMine paper losses top $8.5 billion appeared first on CryptoSlate.
Charles Hoskinson has announced that he is “taking a break” from the pressure around Cardano after an emotional plea to the community. His remarks, however, point to frustration rather than abandonment.
It seems that the Cardano founder is openly questioning his remaining power over the network at a time when ADA holders are blaming him for price weakness, governance disputes, and a fragile application ecosystem.
In a video shared on X, Hoskinson said the second half of the year would be hard for Cardano and warned that more dApps and DeFi projects could die as the ecosystem consolidates.
He asked what role he personally has in fixing that problem and said, “I don't have any special powers with Cardano.” In a separate update from his X account, he said: “I'm taking a break. TTYL.”
That combination has triggered the obvious question: has Hoskinson given up on Cardano? It leaves a public pause amid pressure rather than a resignation. He seems to be trying to separate his public responsibility for Cardano's mood from the formal controls that now sit elsewhere.
Hoskinson's comments cut to the heart of the central tension in Cardano's current era. He remains the person most associated with the chain in public markets, but Cardano's own governance structure was built to make protocol and treasury control more distributed.
That context matters because Hoskinson's list of limits was specific. He said he lacks governance keys, cannot initiate a hard fork or protocol parameter change, has no access to the treasury, and does not own the Cardano trademark.
The Cardano Constitution defines hard-fork initiation, protocol parameter changes, and treasury withdrawals as governance actions.
The Cardano Developer Portal describes a governance model involving DReps, stake pool operators, and the Constitutional Committee, rather than a founder key that can force a protocol change on demand.
Hoskinson still has influence. He leads Input Output Global, commands a large public audience, and can shape debate around funding, development priorities, and ecosystem strategy.
But influence is different from custody over governance keys, direct treasury access, or unilateral authority to initiate a hard fork.
Hoskinson also pointed out that he does not even own the Cardano trademark.
The Cardano Foundation's trademark policy states that the Cardano marks are owned by the Foundation. That detail matters because his comments went beyond blaming the price. They were about whether the levers people assume he controls are actually his to pull.
Cardano's Voltaire roadmap framed voting and treasury systems as the path to a network no longer under IOHK's management.
CryptoSlate's January 2025 Plomin hard fork coverage described that upgrade as a step that gave ADA holders direct voting power over key network decisions, including parameters, treasury withdrawals, and hard forks.
Hoskinson's frustration is part of Cardano's decentralization story. The same governance structure that lets the community resist founder-backed spending also leaves the founder without a clean override when the market demands an immediate rescue.
That design creates a sharp market tension. Cardano markets still assign personal accountability to Hoskinson because he is the network's most recognizable advocate, while governance routes capital allocation and protocol changes through bodies that can disagree with him.
The more Cardano proves it is decentralized, the less realistic it becomes for traders to expect a founder rescue on demand.
The timing here is interesting. Cardano is in the middle of a live funding fight over how much control Input Output and other ecosystem institutions should have over treasury resources.
Intersect's 2026 budget process sets out a framework for coordinating treasury requests.
A current CGOV proposal for Cardano Vision 2026 seeks 32.92 million ADA for IO Research, with voting scheduled to run into June 8, 2026.
CryptoSlate previously reported that Hoskinson warned Cardano could lose scientists if Input Output's research funding failed.
That May 22 report described the standoff as a test of decentralized governance, with DReps resisting parts of a funding package tied to research, maintenance, scalability, developer tooling, and other technical priorities.
A later CryptoSlate article said Hoskinson was refocusing on Cardano and Midnight as governance resistance mounted.
That recent context cuts against a simple abandonment narrative. Days before the break post, the public framing was a deeper return to Cardano's political and technical fight.
Still, the break lands in a market that has little patience for governance nuance. CryptoSlate's June 4 market snapshot showed Cardano ranked No. 13, with ADA near $0.18, down 10% over 24 hours, down 25% over 30 days, and 93% below its all-time high at the time of retrieval.
The direction of pressure is clear enough. The Cardano price page shows an asset that has lost momentum while rival ecosystems compete for developers, stablecoins, and liquidity.
That is where Hoskinson's comments become more consequential. If Cardano's DeFi base, dApp sector, and funding process need to improve, the fix has to move through governance participants, builders, infrastructure teams, and ecosystem institutions.
A founder can argue, persuade, threaten to walk away from specific proposals, or take a break from public pressure. He cannot make a decentralized governance system behave like a company board that reports to him.
Cardano's near-term question centers on whether the network can turn decentralized control into visible execution.
CryptoSlate's May 21 analysis of Cardano's hard-fork vote and DeFi weakness framed the Van Rossem upgrade as a test of whether cheaper scripts, cryptographic upgrades, and governance coordination can translate into developer activity.
That remains the most durable benchmark.
The bearish take is that Hoskinson's break becomes a confidence shock if the community interprets it as withdrawal while funding disputes and usage weakness remain unresolved.
That scenario would leave Cardano with the downside of founder dependency and the friction of decentralized approval: traders still blame one person, while the system requires many parties to act.
A constructive take would be that the moment forces Cardano stakeholders to use the system they built.
DReps, SPOs, Intersect, the Cardano Foundation, EMURGO, Input Output, and builders would have to make budget choices, defend priorities, and deliver measurable results without relying on Hoskinson's presence as the default coordination layer.
The next signal is whether the active research proposal clears or fails, whether Cardano's institutions respond with a clearer execution plan, and whether usage metrics such as TVL, stablecoin liquidity, DEX volume, and active deployments begin to move.
Hoskinson still appears engaged with Cardano's future, even as he steps back from immediate public pressure. His break has exposed a sharper question for the network: if the founder cannot pull the levers people want him to pull, can Cardano's governance system pull them in time?
The post Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson takes “a break” – exposing who really controls ADA’s next move appeared first on CryptoSlate.
Zcash became the subject of a brief market scare after block explorers appeared to show that the privacy-focused blockchain had stopped producing blocks for several hours.
By the time developers and infrastructure providers pushed back on the claim, the market had already moved in the opposite direction. ZEC was recently trading near $620, up about 10% over the session, while Bitcoin and Ethereum dropped more than 4%, according to CryptoSlate's data.
The rally turned Zcash into a rare winner amid a broader crypto sell-off tied to renewed geopolitical stress, weaker digital-asset sentiment, and forced liquidations of leveraged positions.
The episode also gave traders a clearer test of what had initially looked like a damaging technical crisis: Zcash did not go offline, but part of its privacy system was deliberately shut down to carry out “the most ambitious network upgrade in Zcash's history.”
The confusion started after Zcash completed an emergency network upgrade to restore Orchard, the shielded pool that underpins the network’s most advanced privacy transactions.
Some block explorers appeared to be stale after the upgrade, giving the impression that the blockchain had stopped.
Infrastructure operators later said those explorers were catching up or resyncing after their nodes upgraded, while miners continued to produce blocks, and transactions continued to be confirmed.
ZODL founder Josh Swihart wrote on X:
“Zcash was never down. Many block explorers have been using unpatched nodes. Happens with every network update.”
That distinction mattered. Zcash was not dealing with a total chain halt. Instead, developers had temporarily disabled Orchard transactions through an emergency soft fork while they prepared a permanent fix for a soundness vulnerability in the Orchard zero-knowledge proof circuit.
The Zcash Foundation said the vulnerability was discovered May 29 by independent security researcher Taylor Hornby, who was conducting protocol security research for Shielded Labs.
ZODL engineers confirmed the report within hours and began preparing a confidential response with miners, exchanges, infrastructure providers, and other network participants.
The first stage of the response was activated at block height 3,363,426 and rejected Orchard-containing transactions and blocks.
The second stage came with the NU6.2 hard fork, which activated at block height 3,364,600 early Wednesday and re-enabled Orchard using a corrected circuit.
The Foundation urged node operators to upgrade to Zebra 5.0.0, the software release that follows the new network rules.
Orchard is not a peripheral part of Zcash. It is the network’s newest shielded pool and was introduced with the NU5 upgrade in 2022.
Unlike earlier Zcash privacy pools, Orchard uses Halo 2 and does not require a trusted setup, a long-running concern in the design of privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies. The Zcash Foundation described Orchard as the centerpiece of the network’s privacy architecture.
The bug affected the soundness of the Orchard circuit. In plain terms, soundness is the rule that a system should accept only valid transactions and valid state changes. A soundness flaw can allow a system to accept something it should reject.
In this case, the Foundation said successful exploitation could have allowed double-spending inside Orchard. That would have been serious for the shielded pool’s accounting, even though the issue did not allow an attacker to inflate Zcash’s total supply.
That limit is important. Zcash’s “turnstile” mechanism tracks how value moves among its pools, including Sprout, Sapling, Orchard, transparent addresses, and lockbox balances.
The Foundation said those checks confirmed the 21 million ZEC supply cap remained intact, with no evidence of unauthorized value creation.
The vulnerability also did not affect user privacy, according to the Foundation. Sapling and transparent transactions continued operating while Orchard was suspended.
The emergency response unfolded in two steps because a normal software patch would not have been enough.
Developers first used a soft fork to disable Orchard while keeping details of the vulnerability private. A direct public patch could have exposed enough information for attackers to understand the flaw before the network had completed a full repair.
The permanent fix required a hard fork because the bug was inside the zero-knowledge proof circuit. Repairing that kind of flaw requires changing the pinned verifying key that the network uses to validate Orchard proofs. That kind of consensus-level change cannot be handled through ordinary node software alone.
The Zcash Foundation said the incident was only the second security-driven protocol upgrade in Zcash’s history since the network launched in 2016.
The coordination was unusually compressed. Private outreach to miners and exchanges began May 31.
An initial soft-fork activation attempt encountered deployment issues, prompting engineers to prepare a second patch. The soft fork then activated around 02:00 UTC on June 2, and the NU6.2 hard fork followed early June 3.
The price reaction was striking because the disclosure landed during a weak session for digital assets.
Bitcoin recently traded around $65,900, while ETH was near $1,832, down about 4%, according to CryptoSlate's data. ZEC, by contrast, traded near $620, after reaching an intraday high above $642.
The broader market was already under pressure from renewed geopolitical tensions and oil market concerns. Reuters reported Wednesday that global markets weakened as conflict in the Middle East escalated and Brent crude approached $100 a barrel.
Crypto-specific pressure added to the move. Recent market reports showed that the Bitcoin price decline also triggered more than $1 billion in leveraged crypto positions liquidated during the sell-off, with long trades taking most of the damage.
Against that backdrop, ZEC’s rise suggested traders were not pricing the Orchard bug as a lasting impairment to the network. Instead, the market appeared to focus on the fact that the flaw was found, contained, and fixed before any known exploitation.
Moreover, the price movement showed how much interest the market had in the privacy-focused crypto token.
The post Zcash was rumored to have stopped working – then it became crypto’s only winner appeared first on CryptoSlate.
For traditional US banks, the CLARITY Act was intended as a firewall that effectively barred crypto companies from offering “passive” interest on stablecoins.
The legislation aimed to prevent a catastrophic deposit flight in which everyday checking account balances drain from the banking system into high-yield crypto exchanges.
But as lawmakers prepare to finalize the framework, Coinbase appears to be quietly structuring a loophole that relies on complex financial engineering to keep the lucrative yield flowing.
The key lies in a critical semantic distinction within Section 404 of the proposed legislation. While the CLARITY Act explicitly outlaws savings-account-style interest on stablecoins, it preserves “activity-based” rewards.
Enter Ethena, a synthetic dollar protocol that generates returns through an active, delta-neutral basis trade that involves shorting crypto perpetual futures while holding the spot asset.
By integrating with Ethena, Coinbase could theoretically route idle USDC into this strategy.
If successful, the exchange could pass along the profits of an active trading strategy and potentially offer massive yields on digital dollars right under regulators' noses while deeply frustrating a traditional banking sector stuck offering negligible rates.
The CLARITY Act, a sweeping US market-structure bill designed to define how crypto assets and intermediaries operate under federal regulations, has been a legislative battleground.
At the center of the dispute that dragged out the Senate Banking Committee's process is the question of stablecoin rewards.
The latest compromise is primarily captured in Section 404, which was born from the Tillis-Alsobrooks amendment. The provision draws a hard regulatory line that the industry negotiated for months.
On one side is passive yield: simply holding a stablecoin balance and receiving periodic interest, which is structurally identical to a bank savings account. This is explicitly banned.
On the other side are activity-based rewards: incentives tied to actual customer activity, such as payments, transactions, platform usage, and trading. These are permitted.
The bank lobby pushed hard for these restrictions. Banking executives contend that firms offering bank-like products should face comparable oversight, reserve, and capital obligations.
If crypto platforms could freely pay savings-account rates on stablecoin balances without FDIC insurance requirements, they could easily siphon depositor capital at the expense of the regulated banking system.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon recently voiced this exact frustration. In a recent interview, Dimon criticized Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and warned that the CLARITY Act could fail if traditional banking concerns aren't addressed.
Asked if he was satisfied with the current draft of the bill, Dimon was blunt, saying:
“No, because it allows them to effectively pay interest on deposits, stablecoins or something like that, without protection that they should have. The banks will not accept it that way…”
For the legislation to become law, representatives from the Senate Banking and Agriculture committees must merge their advanced bills before it clears the full Senate, the House, and lands on President Donald Trump’s desk. But while Washington debates, the crypto industry is already building around the new rules.
Coinbase relies heavily on stablecoins. In Q1 2026, the exchange reported $305.4 million in stablecoin revenue, making up roughly 52% of its subscription and services revenue.
The firm also stated that it held an average of about $19 billion in USDC across its products, accounting for more than 25% of the total USDC in circulation.

To protect this vital revenue engine under Section 404, Coinbase needed a product in which yield is tied to explicit activity rather than passive holding. Its new partnership with Ethena perfectly threads this needle.
Ethena stated:
“Ethena and Coinbase have partnered to grow on-chain finance and savings products for their 100 m+ user base, with the first growth initiative launching next week.”
Alongside the integration, Coinbase Ventures made its first investment into Ethena on the open market.
Coinbase also confirmed its expanded role, noting it will support security and operations across more than $5 billion in Ethena assets. Coinbase now serves as Ethena's primary custodian, wallet provider, and perpetuals venue.
Because Ethena generates yield through complex trading activities, Coinbase can route yield-seeking USDC users into real borrow demand and active market strategies.
Guy Young, Ethena's Founder, explicitly acknowledged the regulatory tailwinds, saying:
“Excited to partner with Coinbase for the first time to support their dollar savings products…Given the evolving nature of the Clarity Act, we expect further potential tailwinds for onchain native products like USDe from idle balances on exchanges, and Ethena is well positioned to support this transition.”
Yan Liberman, a managing partner at Delphi Ventures, highlighted exactly how lucrative this structural shift could be for both sides. He stated:
“Reading between the lines for the upcoming product launch referenced. Coinbase x Ethena is bullish because it can turn Coinbase’s ~$19B USDC base, with an implied ~$13B of reward-earning balances, into a funding rail for Ethena. If sUSDe yields clear baseline USDC rates, Coinbase can offer better USDC lending yields, loopers can lever the spread, and Ethena gets deeper/cheaper funding than native DeFi alone. Aave mechanics, Coinbase distribution.”
Liberman added that the CLARITY Act makes this pivot highly valuable. If lawmakers restrict passive USDC rewards, Ethena gives Coinbase a way to route users into real borrow demand rather than simply paying them for holding USDC.
He added:
“Coinbase needs products where yield is tied to explicit activity: lending, collateral, liquidity, or platform usage. Ethena gives them a way to route yield-seeking USDC users into real borrow demand, rather than just paying rewards for holding USDC.”

While banks might feel protected by Section 404’s ban on passive interest, the Ethena loophole presents a new and immediate threat.
Stablecoins have outgrown their origins as a niche settlement layer. The total stablecoin market sits at roughly $320 billion, with USDC at about $76 billion and Ethena's USDe around $4.5 billion.

Because Circle backs USDC with highly liquid cash and cash-equivalent assets with monthly attestations, Coinbase’s strategy uses USDC as the trusted settlement asset, while Ethena supplies the yield-bearing synthetic-dollar layer.
Admittedly, an immediate systemic bank run is unlikely. US commercial bank deposits stood at roughly $19.3 trillion in late May 2026, and money-market fund assets sat at $7.78 trillion. Even if Coinbase converted its entire $19 billion USDC balance, it would be a drop in the bucket compared to the broader banking system.
However, the real danger to banks is marginal pricing pressure.
If mobile, yield-sensitive retail customers and institutional treasuries realize they can seamlessly access ~3.8% APY through an activity-based Ethena strategy inside a Coinbase app, they will inevitably move their idle cash.
To stem the outflow, traditional banks may be forced to raise their own historically low deposit rates, which directly eats into their net interest margins. Notably, US savings accounts yield just 0.38%, and interest checking accounts scrape the bottom at 0.07%.
Moreover, Tom Wan, head of research at Entropy Advisors, pointed out that the Coinbase and Ethena integration could be the beginning of an institutional synergy that bypasses traditional banking entirely.
Wan notes Ethena can leverage institutional lending via Coinbase Asset Management, utilize Coinbase Custody, and use USDC as a liquid stablecoin backing. In the future, Coinbase could become a primary basis trade venue and allocate backing assets to lending protocols like Aave on Base to grow USDe as a dominant savings product.
The post Banks pushed Congress to kill stablecoin yield with CLARITY Act – Coinbase may have found the loophole appeared first on CryptoSlate.
The Cardano crash in June 2026 has become one of the biggest talking points in the crypto market, as ADA fell sharply while the broader market also turned red. At the time of writing, Cardano is trading around $0.188, after falling from an intraday high near $0.214. This means ADA is down by roughly 12% in 24 hours, underperforming major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Solana.
The broader crypto market is also under pressure. Bitcoin is trading around $63,900, down from an intraday high near $66,799, confirming that the weakness is not limited to Cardano alone. However, the size of ADA’s decline shows that Cardano is facing deeper selling pressure than most top crypto assets.
The Cardano crash is not caused by one single factor. Instead, ADA is being hit by a combination of market-wide weakness, technical breakdowns, and Cardano-specific concerns.
The first major reason is the broader crypto market decline. When Bitcoin falls sharply, altcoins usually react with even stronger losses. This pattern is visible again, as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and several other major coins are trading in the red.
But Cardano’s decline is stronger because ADA is also dealing with negative ecosystem sentiment. Recent reports highlighted concerns after TapTools, a Cardano analytics platform, announced that it would wind down operations after nearly four years. The platform cited executive departures and rising operating costs as reasons behind the shutdown.
The TapTools shutdown matters because it is not only about one platform closing. For many investors, it raises broader questions about the strength of the Cardano ecosystem, especially during a difficult market cycle.
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson also warned that more projects could fail in 2026, pointing to harsh market conditions and funding challenges across the ecosystem. His comments added more pressure to ADA at a time when traders were already nervous.
This created a negative feedback loop: weak market conditions hurt Cardano projects, project closures hurt sentiment, and weaker sentiment pushes ADA lower.
Another factor behind the Cardano crash is the cancellation of Cardano Summit 2026 in Singapore. The event was cancelled after a treasury funding proposal failed to reach the required two-thirds supermajority under Cardano’s governance rules. A smaller EMURGO proposal for TOKEN2049 Singapore was approved, but the cancellation of the flagship summit still created concerns around governance alignment and ecosystem momentum.
This does not mean Cardano governance is broken. In fact, it shows that Cardano’s decentralized voting system has real power. However, from a market perspective, the failed vote added to the bearish narrative around ADA at the wrong time.
From a technical perspective, ADA’s biggest problem is the loss of the $0.20 level. This is both a psychological and technical zone. If Cardano fails to recover above $0.20 quickly, traders may continue to treat the chart as bearish.

The next important recovery zone is between $0.22 and $0.24. ADA needs to reclaim this area to reduce bearish pressure and show that buyers are stepping back in. Without that recovery, Cardano could remain vulnerable to further downside.
However, if the broader crypto market stabilizes and Bitcoin rebounds, ADA could attempt a short-term recovery. The main question is whether Cardano-specific sentiment can improve after the recent TapTools shutdown, governance controversy, and ecosystem concerns.
The Cardano crash June 2026 could attract long-term believers who see ADA at historically low levels. However, the current setup remains risky. ADA is not only falling because of the market; it is also facing real questions about ecosystem activity, project funding, and investor confidence.
For short-term traders, the most important level is $0.20. A reclaim of this level could trigger a relief bounce. For longer-term investors, the more important question is whether Cardano can prove that its ecosystem still has enough builders, users, and funding support to compete with faster-growing blockchain networks.
The Cardano crash in June 2026 shows how quickly sentiment can shift in the crypto market. ADA is falling harder than most major cryptocurrencies because the token is being hit from several sides at once: a weak crypto market, a technical breakdown below $0.20, the TapTools shutdown, Charles Hoskinson’s warning about possible ecosystem failures, and the cancellation of Cardano Summit 2026.
Cardano is not finished, but the market is clearly demanding stronger proof of growth. Until ADA reclaims key levels and ecosystem confidence improves, the Cardano price prediction remains cautious.
$ADA, $Cardano
The cryptocurrency market is experiencing renewed selling pressure, and Ripple’s native token has become one of the hardest-hit major altcoins. The latest technical developments point to an accelerating XRP price crash, with the asset violating a critical psychological and structural baseline that had previously kept buyers in the game.
Data from the 4-hour XRP/USD chart reveals that the digital asset has officially broken below the key 1.20 support level, shifting market control entirely over to the bears.
$XRP has been locked in a well-defined downtrend for several weeks. This structural decline is clearly demarcated by a prominent descending yellow trendline that has consistently capped any attempt at a bullish reversal.

The breakdown unfolded rapidly through several distinct phases:
The Relative Strength Index (RSI), which tracks the speed and change of price movements, further confirms the severity of this latest xrp price drop.
The 14-period RSI on the 4-hour interval has plummeted deep into oversold territory, currently printing at 31.03 with its moving average dropping even lower to 28.98. While an oversold RSI sometimes suggests a temporary relief bounce or stabilization could be on the horizon, it primarily highlights the sheer velocity of the institutional and retail distribution taking place.
Traders should exercise caution, as assets can remain technically oversold for extended periods during aggressive structural breakdowns. The fact that the price is hugging the bottom of its immediate trading range indicates that buyers are currently staying on the sidelines, waiting for a definitive macro bottom to form.
With the 1.20 support invalidated, market participants are scrambling to identify where the asset might find its next structural floor.
If the current bearish momentum cannot be arrested, the next major horizontal line of defense sits visibly at 1.15. A failure to hold the 1.15 level could accelerate panic selling, opening the door for an extension of the bear market toward psychological territory closer to the 1.00 mark.
For a bullish invalidation or recovery narrative to take shape, XRP would first need to reclaim the 1.20 level on high volume, flip it back to support, and eventually mount a challenge against the long-term descending yellow trendline. Until then, the path of least resistance remains firmly to the downside.
The ongoing correction is not isolated to Ripple. The broader market showcases a synchronized retreat across major digital assets over the last 24 hours and trailing 7 days.
Below is a snapshot of the live prices and performances of the top market capitalization tokens:
| # | Name & Ticker | Price | 24h % | 7d % | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bitcoin ($BTC) | $63,969.86 | -4.17% | -11.91% | $1,281,865,048,826 |
| 2 | Ethereum ($ETH) | $1,771.81 | -4.44% | -10.52% | $213,831,951,334 |
| 3 | Tether ($USDT) | $0.9990 | +0.04% | +0.07% | $187,351,800,267 |
| 4 | BNB ($BNB) | $604.15 | -4.62% | -4.46% | $81,430,530,259 |
| 5 | USD Coin ($USDC) | $0.9999 | -0.01% | -0.01% | $75,968,697,174 |
| 6 | XRP ($XRP) | $1.17 | -4.58% | -9.65% | $72,639,040,656 |
| 7 | Solana ($SOL) | $69.81 | -5.81% | -13.52% | $40,394,064,107 |
| 8 | TRON ($TRX) | $0.3290 | -1.42% | -5.67% | $31,197,986,438 |
| 9 | Hyperliquid ($HYPE) | $67.17 | -7.16% | -18.11% | $17,030,547,488 |
| 10 | Dogecoin ($DOGE) | $0.08913 | -4.48% | -8.95% | $13,772,535,259 |
he cryptocurrency market faced an abrupt and severe wave of liquidations over the opening days of June, catching market participants off guard. Bitcoin ($BTC) and Ethereum ($ETH) both suffered double-digit percentage losses within a 72-hour window.
The aggressive deleveraging event wiped out roughly $250 billion from the total digital asset market capitalization. Paradoxically, traditional financial markets have shown zero signs of systemic stress, with major US stock indices continuing to trade near their historical highs. This stark divergence leaves investors debating whether the correction is an isolated crypto liquidity shakeout, pure market manipulation, or if digital assets are front-running a broader macroeconomic turn.
Bitcoin led the market downturn, crashing by 17% over the course of three days. The premier cryptocurrency plummeted by $12,800, dropping from a stable position at $74,000 down to a local low of $61,300. The rapid velocity of the decline triggered an estimated $1.1 billion in total crypto liquidations across derivatives exchanges, primarily punishing over-leveraged long positions.

The bearish momentum instantly rippled into the altcoin market. Ethereum suffered a concurrent 14% drop, breaking past critical psychological support levels. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap hit a 13-month low of $1,715, marking its lowest valuation since April 12, 2025.
A primary catalyst accelerating the spot price decline is a sudden, aggressive shift in institutional sentiment. Just four days into June, US spot Bitcoin ETFs have already registered a staggering $1.4 billion in net outflows.
This rapid institutional exit follows heightened macro uncertainty regarding upcoming United States employment data and localized geopolitical flare-ups. Analysts point out that rising Treasury yields have forced institutional desks to de-risk, treating spot crypto products as the first line of liquidity to prune from portfolios.
The lack of negative news or corresponding drops in the equity markets has fueled two competing theories across trading desks regarding whether the crypto market is being actively manipulated:
Traders are now closely watching the $60,000 macro support zone for Bitcoin. Failure to defend this boundary could open the door for an extended bearish structure heading deeper into the summer.
The cryptocurrency market is experiencing a significant downturn today, with major digital assets flashing red across the board. Data from the major token tracking indexes reveals a broad-based sell-off affecting both market leaders and prominent altcoins, wiping out billions in total market capitalization over a 24-hour period.
The CoinMarketCap 20 Index DTF (CMC20) has declined by 5.14% over the last 24 hours, pushing its Year-to-Date (YTD) losses to 30.18%. This underscores a broader systemic correction within the digital asset ecosystem rather than isolated token liquidations.
Excluding stablecoins like Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC), which have maintained their pegs, the altcoin market is bearing the brunt of the volatility.
| Asset | Current Price | 24h Change | 7d Change | YTD Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BNB ($BNB) | $600.86 | -6.44% | -5.15% | -30.39% |
| XRP ($XRP) | $1.16 | -6.03% | -9.50% | -36.70% |
| Solana ($SOL) | $68.96 | -7.96% | -14.77% | -44.60% |
| Dogecoin ($DOGE) | $0.08867 | -5.36% | -9.69% | -24.44% |
While digital asset volatility is standard, several macroeconomic and structural factors typically trigger synchronized market drawdowns of this scale:
Broader financial markets heavily influence the digital asset space. Sustained high-interest rates set by the Federal Reserve often drive capital away from risk-on assets like cryptocurrencies and tech equities toward safer yields like U.S. Treasuries. Institutional investors pull liquidity from volatile positions during macroeconomic uncertainty.
When major support levels break—such as Bitcoin falling below key psychological thresholds—it often triggers a cascade of automated liquidations on futures exchanges. Long positions are forcefully closed, introducing massive sell volume to the market within a short timeframe, accelerating the drop.
Spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs heavily impact price action. Sustained net outflows from these institutional vehicles reduce structural buying pressure, allowing spot market sell orders to push asset prices down more aggressively.
The short-term trend remains firmly bearish as trading volume spikes amidst the sell-off, indicating active distribution. Traders are looking for signs of price stabilization around major historical support zones before anticipating a trend reversal. Until macroeconomic indicators ease or institutional buy walls return, the crypto market is likely to experience continued choppy price action.
The cryptocurrency market in June 2026 is experiencing a structural shift. Speculative hype is clearing out, making way for institutional capital, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, and decentralized artificial intelligence infrastructure.
With major regulatory frameworks like the CLARITY Act shaping asset definitions and central banks adjusting interest rates, smart capital is moving into protocols that generate protocol revenue and real-world utility. For investors looking to build a balanced portfolio this month, identifying leading assets within specific sectors is crucial.
Below is an analysis of the top 5 altcoins to buy in June 2026, categorized by market sector, focusing on project fundamentals and technical growth targets.
Solana continues to solidify its position as the premier Layer-1 blockchain for retail liquidity, decentralized finance (DeFi), and high-throughput consumer applications. Moving past the initial memecoin cycles, Solana's monolithic infrastructure has proven highly efficient for executing rapid transactions without relying on fragmented Layer-2 networks.
The network's execution speeds and low transaction fees have attracted major traditional fintech integrations. Platforms like PayPal and Visa utilize Solana's infrastructure for stablecoin settlements, securing its status as a major alternative to Ethereum’s settlement dominance.
The convergence of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology is a defining market narrative in 2026. Bittensor sits at the absolute forefront of this sector. TAO operates as a decentralized, open-source network that incentivizes machine learning models to collaborate and train across a global distributed node architecture.
Following its successful network upgrades, including the expansion of subnet capacities from 128 to 256, Bittensor has proven that distributed networks can train large-scale language models effectively. This makes it an essential infrastructure asset for developers seeking permissionless access to raw computing power and AI intelligence.
Real-world asset (RWA) tokenization has grown from a proof-of-concept into a multi-billion dollar sector. Ondo Finance is a market leader in this category, bridging the gap between traditional finance (TradFi) and on-chain liquidity. Ondo specializes in bringing institutional-grade financial products, such as US Treasuries and corporate bonds, onto public blockchains like Ethereum and Solana.
By embedding strict automated compliance directly into its smart contracts, Ondo allows global institutional investors to access yield-bearing tokenized products safely. Its structural integration with clearing giants and Tier-1 liquidity providers places it far ahead of competing asset tokenization protocols.
Near Protocol has evolved significantly from a standard smart contract platform into a core foundational layer for cross-chain "user intents" and autonomous AI agents. In 2026, decentralized applications rely heavily on AI agents executing transactions autonomously on behalf of users. Near provides the cryptographic framework necessary for these agents to interact across multiple chains securely.
Through its advanced chain abstraction technology, Near eliminates the friction of managing multiple wallets, gas fees, and network bridges. This enables seamless interactions where software can transact instantly behind a unified interface.
While Base does not feature a native network token, it dominates the Ethereum Layer-2 ecosystem, capturing over 60% of total L2 network revenues according to on-chain analytics. Developed by Coinbase, Base serves as the primary gateway for retail capital entering Web3.
The ecosystem's primary value capture mechanisms flow directly back to the wider Ethereum L2 infrastructure layer and decentralized protocols built natively on the network (such as high-performance automated market makers and decentralized derivatives exchanges like Hyperliquid). It serves as an essential index for measuring the health of retail on-chain activity.
To help visualize how to diversify into these sectors, investors can analyze how these top projects balance different market opportunities:
| Asset Name | Core Sector Category | Primary Utility Metric | Institutional Support |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solana (SOL) | Layer-1 Blockchain | High-speed payment settlements & Retail DeFi | High (Spot ETFs & Fintech partnerships) |
| Bittensor (TAO) | Artificial Intelligence (AI) | Incentivized distributed compute power | Medium-High (Crypto-native funds & Staking) |
| Ondo Finance (ONDO) | Real-World Assets (RWA) | Tokenized treasury bonds & Institutional yield | Very High (TradFi integrations) |
| Near Protocol (NEAR) | AI Infrastructure / L1 | Chain abstraction & AI agent interactions | Medium (Developer ecosystem) |
| Base Infrastructure | Layer-2 (L2) Ecosystem | Smart wallet retail onramps & Scalable DeFi | High (Coinbase ecosystem support) |
Success in the current crypto market requires a clear shift away from speculative assets toward platforms that generate verifiable economic value. Allocating capital across dominant Layer-1 chains like Solana, decentralized AI frameworks like Bittensor, and institutional infrastructure like Ondo Finance provides balanced exposure to the most resilient narratives of this market cycle.
Coinbase said a Michigan couple closed on the first-ever conventional, Fannie Mae-backed home mortgage by pledging Bitcoin as collateral.
The teenager's research into Russia’s alleged illicit crypto flows appears to have prompted Moscow's retaliation.
Bitcoin has dropped 17% in four days, sparking $4.5 billion in liquidations, as analysts warn of a potential move below $60,000.
Bitcoin falls to $62k and Arthur Hayes selling his HYPE and NEAR position leads to double digit fallout for recent alt darlings.
The Treasury chief told senators the administration is using “best practices” in implementing Trump's Bitcoin reserve order.
Michael Saylor attributes the recent Bitcoin drawdown to a $400 billion capital rotation into AI infrastructure, framing the crypto market collapse as a temporary squeeze.
This mirrors a similar trend in the past month, drawing attention.
Strategy has suffered losses of over $7 billion as about 74% of its total Bitcoin holdings are currently held at a loss with Bitcoin sliding below $65,000.
Schwartz defends XRP's $1.14 slide, ADA hits 5-year low as Hoskinson steps away, and Coinbase SpaceX futures signal AI drain.
Shiba Inu might stabilize sooner than anticipated as pressure from SHIB on exchanges is descending.
Travala introduced an agentic AI travel protocol that enables automated booking, payments, and settlement across hotel properties. The system operates on Base Layer 2 and supports gasless USDC transactions for near-instant settlement. The company said the protocol allows software agents to complete travel workflows before final user authorization.
Travala said the new Travel MCP protocol allows autonomous agents to search and reserve hotel listings without manual input. The system uses conversational AI to manage travel planning inside a single chat thread.
The company stated that the AI concierge can maintain context across bookings, cancellations, and itinerary updates. It operates through Claude while handling travel actions in sequence.
Travala confirmed that the protocol supports over 2.2 million properties across 230 countries on its platform. The system connects search, booking, and payment layers through one integrated interface.
The company explained that agentic workflows reduce friction across traditional booking processes. It added that automation removes multiple manual checkout steps for users.
Travala noted that the protocol uses ERC-7715 session keys to secure transaction requests. It said the system ensures that users retain final signing authority within their wallets.
Travala said the protocol integrates the x402 open payments standard for direct internet-based transactions. The company explained that agents can complete payments without redirecting users to external checkout systems.
It stated that USDC transactions on Base execute without gas fees for end users. The firm added that settlement occurs almost instantly with costs near $0.01 per booking.
Travala said the infrastructure supports programmable payments for APIs, applications, and AI systems. It noted that this design enables continuous execution without interruption.
The company also introduced ERC-8004 as part of the protocol’s trust framework. It said the standard enables machine-verifiable tracking of performance and execution.
Travala confirmed that developers can build AI agents on the protocol and receive incentives. It stated that participants will receive a 10% rebate in cbBTC for integrations.
The firm said future updates will expand support to flights and other travel services. It added that the AVA token will continue to support its loyalty and rewards system.
The post Travala unveils AI booking system with gasless USDC on Base appeared first on Blockonomi.
U.S. equity markets experienced a dramatic divergence on Thursday, with traditional industrial companies surging while technology stocks suffered significant losses.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped over 500 points, registering approximately 1% gains. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 declined between 0.2% and 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped more than 1%.

The divergence was particularly striking. Despite the mixed index performance, most individual stocks within the Dow and S&P 500 actually advanced. However, steep declines among semiconductor names created sufficient downward pressure to offset broader market strength.
Broadcom stock collapsed more than 14% on Thursday following the semiconductor giant’s artificial intelligence chip revenue outlook, which disappointed investors looking for more aggressive growth projections.
While Broadcom’s quarterly results exceeded analyst estimates, the company’s forward guidance failed to justify the stock’s dramatic appreciation over the preceding twelve months. Investors who had bid shares higher on AI optimism quickly reversed course.
“All it takes is one company to at least temporarily wreck the party,” noted Paul Hickey, co-founder of Bespoke Investment Group. “Yesterday, the party pooper was Broadcom.”
The iShares Semiconductor ETF plunged 4.4% during Thursday’s session. Additional chip manufacturers including Micron and Sandisk also posted notable declines.
Nvidia, which represents the Dow’s sole semiconductor holding, demonstrated relative resilience with just a 0.3% decline.
The technology-focused Nasdaq had posted consecutive daily gains for approximately two weeks before Thursday’s reversal. Market strategists had cautioned that the rally’s foundation was weakening, with fewer stocks contributing to index advances — a trend that historically signals vulnerability.
Investors also processed significant geopolitical news. The House of Representatives passed legislation on Wednesday to conclude U.S. military engagement with Iran. The congressional action followed a concerning escalation in hostilities earlier this week — the most serious confrontation since an April ceasefire agreement.
Oil prices retreated on Thursday as President Trump outlined potential ceasefire parameters. The U.S. dollar and Treasury yields similarly moderated.
With Friday’s May employment report approaching, market participants analyzed two Thursday labor indicators: the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ weekly unemployment claims and layoff tracking from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Holiday-week distortions contributed to elevated jobless claims figures.
Separately, SpaceX revealed through Securities and Exchange Commission filings its intention to pursue a $75 billion initial public offering — positioning it among the largest public market debuts in history.
Corporate earnings releases continued with anticipated reports from Ciena Corporation, Lululemon Athletica, and DocuSign scheduled for Thursday.
Earlier this week, Alphabet’s equity capital raise bolstered expectations for sustained artificial intelligence infrastructure investment. However, following an extended technology sector rally, Broadcom’s results proved sufficient to undermine investor confidence.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were tracking toward consecutive sessions of declines as afternoon trading progressed.
The post Dow Surges 500 Points While Tech Stocks Tumble on Broadcom’s AI Forecast Miss appeared first on Blockonomi.
Broadcom delivered solid quarterly results fueled by robust artificial intelligence demand, yet the market reaction was decidedly negative. The semiconductor giant’s networking solutions and specialized AI processors have positioned it as a critical partner to leading cloud infrastructure companies. However, Wall Street had already baked in exceptional performance, and when actual figures fell slightly below those sky-high expectations, shares tumbled.
The weakness rapidly contaminated the broader chip industry. Semiconductor names such as Advanced Micro Devices, Micron, Qualcomm, and Intel all retreated as market participants shifted capital away from recent high-flyers.
Marvell Technology had experienced an impressive rally following remarks from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who indicated the company possessed potential to eventually achieve a trillion-dollar market capitalization. Those comments propelled the stock significantly higher throughout recent trading sessions. However, today’s broader sector weakness provided an ideal moment for traders to realize profits.
The Marvell decline underscored a crucial reality about AI-focused equities: rapid ascents can be matched by equally swift reversals. Elevated price-to-earnings multiples leave minimal margin for error, even when fundamental business narratives remain compelling.
CrowdStrike reported quarterly earnings that exceeded analyst projections and increased its outlook for the full fiscal year. The cybersecurity leader simultaneously announced a four-for-one stock split, a move generally designed to attract retail participation by making shares more accessible at a lower price point.
Yet despite these positive developments, the stock declined. Market participants appeared more concerned with the company’s premium valuation multiple rather than celebrating the operational achievements. This represented another illustration of a recurring market theme—exceptional results aren’t always sufficient to sustain momentum.
Ciena emerged as another unexpected casualty. The networking equipment provider increased its top-line revenue forecast but fell short on profitability metrics and certain forward-looking guidance components. Shares plunged sharply, demonstrating how demanding investors have grown regarding quarterly performance, requiring flawless execution across all metrics.
UnitedHealth provided one of the session’s few positive storylines. Bank of America elevated its rating on the healthcare behemoth, pushing shares higher and providing support to the broader medical sector. Market participants have been searching for defensive positioning beyond technology, and healthcare offers that characteristic profile.
Oil prices surged past the $95 per barrel threshold amid escalating geopolitical tensions across the Middle East. Energy sector equities benefited from the commodity strength, though the advance simultaneously reignited concerns regarding inflationary pressures. Elevated crude prices could complicate the Federal Reserve’s efforts to maintain price stability.
The session’s overall character reflected an increasingly discriminating market environment. While artificial intelligence remains an attractive secular growth theme, investors have grown far more selective regarding valuations and are no longer willing to chase momentum at any price.
The post Market Recap: Broadcom (AVGO) Earnings Trigger Tech Selloff as Oil Surges Beyond $95 appeared first on Blockonomi.
The graphics processing giant has completed its purchase of Kumo AI, a Mountain View-based startup launched four years ago, in a transaction exceeding $400 million, The Information reports. The acquisition came to light when a Nvidia executive shared the information via LinkedIn.
The founding trio behind Kumo — Vanja Josifovski, Jure Leskovec, and Hema Raghavan — have already completed their transition to Nvidia’s workforce. While their LinkedIn accounts have been updated to show Nvidia as their current employer, Kumo’s official website remains unchanged regarding the ownership transfer.
NVIDIA Corporation, NVDA
Shares of NVDA traded down 1% on Thursday in response to the announcement.
Established in 2022 by researchers with ties to Stanford University, Kumo had previously secured $37 million in venture funding from backers including Sequoia Capital prior to being acquired.
The company develops artificial intelligence systems focused on answering forward-looking business inquiries through structured corporate information — elements such as customer databases and transaction records. This represents an area where conventional large language models typically face limitations.
Kumo’s approach merged synthetic data generation methods with graph-based machine learning technology to address these challenges. Their systems can handle forecasts related to customer retention, credit risk assessment, and comparable business issues without requiring fresh training for each use case.
“With the foundation model, you point it to your data, you define what you mean by churn, and a second later, you get the prediction,” co-founder Jure Leskovec explained in a previous statement.
The company’s latest offering, KumoRFM-2, debuted in April 2026. Its client roster and partnerships have featured DoorDash, Reddit, Databricks, and Snowflake.
This transaction represents another chapter in an established trend. Nvidia has completed acquisitions of more than 100 startups in recent years as it expands its comprehensive AI technology stack.
Notable recent transactions include a $20 billion acqui-hire securing critical assets and talent from AI inference firm Groq in December 2025, the purchase of data semantics provider Illumex in February 2026, and a $700 million agreement for orchestration software developer Run.ai in April 2024.
The specific implementation strategy for Kumo’s capabilities within Nvidia remains to be determined. Possible scenarios include incorporating Kumo’s systems into the company’s AI foundry software platform, or leveraging Kumo’s research team to create new enterprise-focused foundation models, according to The Information.
This purchase strengthens Nvidia’s collection of AI systems designed for its hardware ecosystem and provides enterprises with additional resources for building and customizing models using its infrastructure.
The post Nvidia (NVDA) Acquires Kumo AI in $400M+ Deal as Founders Join Chip Giant appeared first on Blockonomi.
Shares of Snap (SNAP) rallied approximately 7.6% on June 4, 2026, providing a boost to a stock that had been down nearly 29% year-to-date prior to the session.
Snap Inc., SNAP
The rally followed Snap‘s announcement that it has acquired Illumix, an emerging augmented reality company, to accelerate development of its Specs smart eyewear product line.
The social media platform did not reveal the purchase price for Illumix. The transaction encompasses integration of Illumix’s technological infrastructure and the onboarding of the majority of its workforce.
Illumix was established in 2017 by CEO Kirin Sinha. The startup specialized in augmented reality applications and collaborated on creating an AR adaptation of the popular Five Nights at Freddy’s video game franchise in 2019.
This strategic purchase directly supports Snap’s growing Specs initiative. Earlier in January 2026, the company established “Specs Inc.” as a dedicated internal division aimed at advancing its position in the competitive smart glasses market.
The share price movement was also influenced by a secondary catalyst. Activist shareholder Irenic Capital has been actively campaigning for comprehensive strategic changes at Snap, including exploring the potential separation of its augmented reality hardware operations into an independent entity.
Such activist involvement typically attracts trader attention. The convergence of activist demands and tangible business announcements provided market participants with multiple catalysts for buying activity.
Snap has indicated it will unveil additional information regarding its Specs glasses at the Augmented World Expo, taking place in Long Beach, California, on June 16.
This upcoming event is serving as a short-term market catalyst. Market participants are establishing positions in advance, anticipating product revelations that could validate Snap’s smart eyewear strategy.
The company’s shares trade with an average daily volume of roughly 49.8 million. Technical indicators for the stock continue to show a sell signal heading into this timeframe.
Notwithstanding the single-session rally, Snap maintains a market capitalization of around $9.55 billion, with year-to-date performance still deeply negative.
The Illumix acquisition and the forthcoming expo presentation represent the most tangible near-term catalysts for Snap’s hardware expansion strategy.
The post Snap (SNAP) Stock Jumps 7.6% Following Illumix Acquisition and Activist Investor Pressure appeared first on Blockonomi.
[PRESS RELEASE – KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, June 4th, 2026]
ChangeNOW, a non-custodial crypto management platform extending beyond exchange services with a full suite of B2B solutions for businesses in the digital asset space, is pleased to announce that it has been named “Best Digital Assets Fintech” at the BeInCrypto x Proof of Talk Institutional 100 Awards 2026. The award, which honors the businesses influencing institutional cryptocurrency adoption worldwide, was given out at the actual ceremony, which took place live at Proof of Talk, the Louvre Palace in Paris.
About the BeInCrypto Institutional 100 Awards
The BeInCrypto x Proof of Talk Institutional 100 is one of the most credible and rigorous independent media award programmes in the digital assets space. The awards, which cover 24 competitive categories across six pillars: Regulation & Governance, Capital Markets & Infrastructure, Retail to Crypto Bridge, Digital Assets, Tokenization & On-Chain Finance, and Enterprise Blockchain, are assessed using a two-stage process that includes blind scoring by an independent Expert Council of leaders in traditional finance and digital assets after proprietary quantitative screening using on-chain data and company disclosures.
With a global audience of 7–11 million monthly readers across 26 languages and a B2B community of over 20,000 verified professionals (70% of whom operate at C-level) a win at the BeInCrypto Institutional 100 carries significant weight across the digital finance industry.
ChangeNOW received the Best Digital Assets Fintech nomination in the Retail to Crypto Bridge category alongside Revolut, a European neobank. This award recognizes platforms that provide exceptional service at the intersection of traditional finance and the crypto economy.
ChangeNOW the Best Digital Assets Fintech Winner

ChangeNOW initially is a non-custodial cryptocurrency exchange that was established in 2017 with the goal of making it easy and accessible for everyone to trade digital assets. It serves eight million people globally and supports over 1500 digital assets.
Today its robust infrastructure spans both retail and business use cases. Alongside its web platform, iOS and Android apps, and NOW Wallet for self-custody, ChangeNOW offers a range of B2B products including NOWPayments for crypto payment processing, NOWNodes for blockchain infrastructure access, NOW Custody for digital asset storage, and a business API that enables wallets, fintech platforms, and financial services to integrate exchange functionality directly into their products.
Over the years, ChangeNOW has processed millions of transactions and built a client base that includes both individual clients and commercial partners across the digital asset space.
Industry Recognition and Company Response
Winning the Best Digital Assets Fintech Award goes way beyond just picking up a new industry title. Getting this nod from BeInCrypto matters immensely to the team. The BeInCrypto team’s endorsement indicates that the ChangeNOW platform’s speed and institutional standing truly stand out in a competitive market because of their robust reputation for editorial independence and strict grading.
These kinds of milestones don’t happen by coincidence. This win is the direct result of serious work from the whole ChangeNOW crew, alongside the trust of millions of clients who choose the platform over the alternatives. It keeps them right where they want to be: acting as a reliable fintech bridge connecting regular folks to the wider digital asset economy.
“This recognition means a lot to our team because it reflects the trust our clients place in us every day. From the beginning, our goal has been to make crypto simple, accessible, and reliable for everyone, regardless of their experience level. We’re honoured to be recognised by BeInCrypto and see this award as both a celebration of what we’ve achieved and a motivation to keep raising the standard for the industry,” says Elena Dali Bey, Senior Business Development Manager at ChangeNOW.
Planned Platform Developments
Rather than pause to applaud, ChangeNOW is taking advantage of this momentum to accelerate the extension and improvement of its service offerings. The organization intends to outperform the changing needs of both regular traders and institutional clients. In the following months, work will focus on several key initiatives:
ChangeNOW views this award not as a destination, but as a benchmark. The team remains committed to the values that earned this recognition: transparency, accessibility, and relentless improvement.
About ChangeNOW
Founded in 2017, ChangeNOW is a non-custodial crypto management platform that makes it easy to swap more than 1500 digital assets quickly and without unnecessary complexity. The platform is used by over eight million people globally. ChangeNOW has a robust B2B infrastructure that includes NOWPayments for crypto payment processing, NOWNodes for access to blockchain infrastructure, NOW Custody for institutional-grade digital asset storage, and a business API that lets wallets, fintech platforms, and exchanges plug swap functionality directly into their own products. The intent behind the suite is practical: most companies building in crypto share a common problem, they need core infrastructure that would take years to develop independently. ChangeNOW’s B2B offering is designed to remove that constraint.
The post ChangeNOW Wins Best Digital Assets Fintech at the BeInCrypto Institutional 100 Awards 2026 appeared first on CryptoPotato.
Ethereum has been under intense selling pressure due to losing the 100-day moving average, which was only reclaimed in April after months. The recent breakdown below a key demand zone has pushed ETH to fresh local lows near $1.75K, while both technical and on-chain indicators continue to favor the bears. Unless buyers reclaim the lost levels quickly, the current structure suggests that further downside cannot be ruled out.
On the daily timeframe, ETH continues to trade below a well-defined long-term bearish trendline that has been in place since the reversal from the $4.8K cycle highs. The trendline remains intact and has repeatedly capped recovery attempts throughout the decline. It has also rejected the price in May, which has initiated the current aggressive drop.
More importantly, Ethereum is now trading below both the 100-day and 200-day moving averages, currently located around $2.15K and $2.40K, respectively. The inability to reclaim either moving average confirms that the broader market structure remains bearish.
The price is now breaking below the $1.8K support zone, which represents a significant technical development. This area had acted as a market floor since February. With the price now trading beneath that level near $1.76K, the former support is turning into immediate resistance.
If sellers maintain control, the next major demand zone is located around $1.5K, which represents the next visible daily support area. A deeper correction could expose that region in the coming weeks. On the upside, bulls would first need to reclaim the $1.8K zone before targeting the resistance cluster just above $2k. Until then, everything on the daily chart is extremely bearish.

The 4-hour chart paints an equally weak picture. ETH broke below a descending channel that had contained price action throughout May, signaling an acceleration of the bearish trend rather than a bullish breakout. Alongside the channel breakdown, Ethereum sliced through the $2K support area and is losing the critical $1.8K zone.
The price is currently testing the lower boundary of the $1.75k-$1.8k demand area. While this region could trigger a short-term bounce due to its historical significance, the overall structure remains bearish unless ETH can recover above the $1.8k mark and consolidate.
The 4-hour RSI is also deeply oversold near 20. This reflects aggressive downside momentum. Although bearish exhaustion may be developing, there is currently no confirmed bullish divergence visible on the chart, and therefore, there is no sign pointing to even a small bounce that could stabilize the market for a while.

The Ethereum Taker Buy/Sell Ratio provides additional evidence that market participants remain heavily skewed toward selling activity. This metric compares aggressive buy orders against aggressive sell orders across exchanges, with readings above 1 indicating stronger buying pressure and readings below 1 signaling seller dominance.
The ratio has fallen sharply to roughly 0.96, marking one of the lowest readings on the chart and extending a persistent decline that began after the April-May recovery attempt. The sustained positioning of the metric below the neutral 1.0 level suggests that market takers continue to favor sell orders, reinforcing the bearish trend visible on both the daily and 4-hour charts.
For the outlook to improve, the ratio would ideally need to reclaim and sustain levels above 1.0, indicating that aggressive buyers are returning to the market. Until that occurs, the futures positioning data continues to support the broader bearish narrative and suggests that downside risks remain elevated despite increasingly oversold technical conditions.

The post Ethereum Price Analysis: Is $1.5K ETH Inevitable After Latest Breakdown? appeared first on CryptoPotato.
[PRESS RELEASE – Stockholm, Sweden, June 4th, 2026]
Decentralized prediction market platform lets participants launch their own World Cup markets, trade with leverage of up to 2.5x, and earn fees on the markets they create.
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup set to begin on June 11, Premu, a decentralized prediction market platform, is highlighting the feature that distinguishes it from centrally operated venues: any participant can create a market on a World Cup outcome, set it live, and earn a share of the fees generated by trading in that market.
Rather than waiting for a platform to list a contract, participants on Premu can launch a yes-or-no market on questions such as which team advances from a group, who reaches the final, or the result of a single fixture. Markets are created permissionlessly by posting a bond in USDC, and the creator earns a fee on every trade placed in the market. Positions can be traded with leverage of up to 2.5 times using isolated or cross margin, with activity settled on-chain in USDC across the Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Base networks.
The timing coincides with rising interest in prediction markets, which have moved from a niche tool into wider public view over the past year as participants turn to event-based markets for forecasting and information. Major sporting events have historically drawn some of the highest trading activity to these platforms, and the World Cup, a 104-match tournament running through July 19, ranks among the largest such events on the 2026 calendar.
“Sporting events like the World Cup tend to generate questions faster than any central team can list them,” said Chadi Farhat, Chief Technology Officer at Premu. “Allowing participants to create their own markets, and to earn from the activity they bring, means the platform can keep pace with each stage of a tournament as it unfolds.”
Comparisons such as Polymarket vs Kalshi have featured prominently in industry discussion, drawing attention to differences in market structure, regulatory approach, and how markets are listed across centralized and decentralized models. Premu positions itself as a decentralized prediction market in which the market list is defined by participants themselves rather than a central operator, an approach the company says suits fast-moving events where demand can shift between fixtures.
Beyond sports, the platform supports markets across cryptocurrency, politics, culture, technology, economics, and global events, including rapid five-minute markets on the price direction of assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. Balances are held in on-chain vault contracts that can be independently verified, and deposits and withdrawals are recorded as on-chain events rather than processed through a custodial intermediary.
The Premu platform is available globally through its web application at https://premu.xyz.
About Premu
Premu is a decentralized prediction market platform that enables participants to create and trade markets based on real-world events. The platform combines permissionless, user-created markets with leveraged event trading and on-chain settlement in USDC across the Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Base networks, supporting a range of event categories.
The post Premu Opens User-Created, Leveraged Prediction Markets Ahead of the 2026 World Cup appeared first on CryptoPotato.
[PRESS RELEASE – Portland, OR, June 4th, 2026]
USD Private is launching a structured digital asset platform built around a programmed price path, closed-platform access, and future utility.
The platform is designed to offer a more rules-based approach to digital assets, with pricing determined by a scheduled model rather than open-market trading. The $USDP token is launching soon, with an initial price of $1 providing an easy entry point for early participants. From there, the pre-programmed price path is designed to increase to $1,000,000 over a four-year period.
A Programmed Price Path
One of USD Private’s key features is its programmed price path. The $USDP token will start at $1 and is designed to increase to $1,000,000 over four years, giving early adopters an exciting opportunity.
Unlike many digital assets that are driven by open-market volatility, $USDP’s pricing will be determined by the platform’s programmed model. This means the token price is not set by speculative trading across external exchanges. Instead, the platform separates price progression from liquidity: the programmed schedule determines the price path, while user participation determines how easily buy and sell orders are fulfilled. USD Private is investing heavily in demand creation activities and expects an always rising price will result in more buyers than sellers in the market over time.
This structure gives USD Private a more rules-based model than typical token markets. The pricing model is straightforward, easy to understand, and central to how the platform is designed to operate.
A Closed Platform with Structured Rules
USD Private operates within a closed trading environment. This structure allows the platform to support its algorithmic pricing model and maintain a consistent set of rules for all participants.
All buying and selling activity takes place within the USD Private platform. This avoids reliance on scattered external markets and allows users to interact through a single structured system. The platform also supports fractional purchases, enabling users to participate with smaller amounts rather than needing to purchase a full token. This can be helpful for those who want to try the platform first.
The closed-platform model is designed to make the user experience more consistent and easier to follow. Instead of navigating multiple exchanges or market venues, participants use one environment, one programmed price schedule and one queuing system for platform activity.
Long-Term Utility Through USDM
USD Private is not designed only for its first four years. While $USDP is designed to reach $1,000,000 within that period, the platform’s roadmap provides long-term utility and value. After the four-year early adopter phase, $USDP’s price will become fixed and convert into USDM. USDM will be the only fully private and anonymous USD-linked blockchain. A highly demanded private USD blockchain is expected to generate high demand for the platform beyond its initial four-year cycle, while introducing a pathway for longer-term utility within the broader model. For early adopters, this creates the potential to move into an exciting new phase designed around expanded utility after the first cycle is complete.
Platform Activity and Liquidity
USD Private separates the programmed price path from market liquidity. The platform sets the price path in advance, but completed sell orders still require buyer participation within the system.
This means the programmed schedule determines the price, while platform activity helps determine liquidity and how easily users can buy or sell over time. Stronger buyer activity may support smoother transaction flow, while lower activity may lead to longer waiting times for sellers.
This is why the platform is making heavy investments in demand creation and makes clear that liquidity depends on participation and is not guaranteed.
About USD Private
Expected to launch soon, USD Private will mark the first entry point into a more structured digital asset model. $USDP will begin at its initial $1 price point before continuing along its programmed price path to $1,000,000 per token.
To access USD Private from launch, users may register their interest by emailing register@usdprivate.com. Registered users will be notified directly once the launch date is confirmed.
To learn more about the platform and follow launch updates, visit USD Private’s official website and social channels:
Website: https://usdprivate.com/
Telegram: https://t.me/USDPrivate
X: https://x.com/USDPrivate
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.
The post USD Private Introduces a Structured Digital Asset Model with a Programmed Price Path From $1 to $1 Million appeared first on CryptoPotato.
[PRESS RELEASE – Panama City, Panama, June 4th, 2026]
After nearly $5 million in beta trading volume, Pred opens public access for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with unique markets and fastest market resolution benchmarks.
Pred, a peer-to-peer sports trading exchange built on Base, opened public access today after a private beta that kept 86% of traders active week over week and pushed $5 million in notional volume through 300+ invited users.
Across 8 weeks, traders executed more than 100k trades on soccer markets, and 83% of them made repeat deposits.
Pred is a sports native exchange, designed for the speed of live sports. Traders match positions against one another through an on-chain order book. Trading settlement happens in 200 milliseconds, and markets resolve in 3 minutes, not hours. Positions are denominated in USDC, settled on-chain, and deposits and positions always earn native yield.
The release lands just in time for the opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Pred is building market depth around in-game events that general prediction platforms don’t carry: 15-minute markets that settle inside the run of play, 1UP and 2UP markets that close the moment a goal difference is reached, and live moneyline markets with the best prices. A typical Premier League match during beta ran several of these in parallel, where most prediction platforms list a few sub-markets per match.
“I spent 22 years trading sports, watching exploitative pricing of sportsbooks and limits of sharp traders cut to nothing the moment they started winning,” said Amit Mahensaria, CEO and co-founder of Pred. “Pred is the exchange I wanted as a trader. The UX and speed of a sportsbook, the pricing and transparency of an on-chain exchange.”
General-purpose prediction markets are today benefiting from the broken market structure and exploitative pricing of sportsbooks. But they are not designed for live sports – neither in UX, nor in speed, nor in market variety. Sports trading will be a verticalised play, and being such a large asset class, it needs its own exchange.
The product going live today is Pred V2, rebuilt after more than 300 calls with beta users. Pred is backed by Accel and Coinbase Ventures.
About Pred
Pred is a peer-to-peer sports native prediction market built on Base. Positions are denominated in USDC, matched through an open order book, and settled at high speed on-chain.
Disclaimer: Pred does not operate in India, Singapore, the United States, or OFAC-sanctioned countries.
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