Loopring, one of the earliest projects to bring zero-knowledge rollup technology to Ethereum, has announced the immediate closure of its decentralized exchange and automated market maker (AMM). The decision, shared publicly on June 28, 2026, ends all crypto trading activity on the platform and takes the supporting relayer offline without delay.
The project originated in 2017 from a vision focused on using zero-knowledge proofs to dramatically improve Ethereum’s scalability and reduce costs for trading and payments.
It became the first zkRollup deployed on Ethereum mainnet around 2019–2020 and once supported significant activity.
However, usage has declined sharply in recent years.
According to on-chain data trackers, Loopring’s total value locked fell to roughly $8 million, representing a drop of nearly 99% from its peak above $760 million in late 2021.
In their statement, the team explained that Loopring never achieved broad adoption.
The original design lacked a full virtual machine, which prevented easy composability with other Ethereum applications and limited real-world uses such as seamless payments.
https://t.co/beXdvEBGru
— Loopring💙 (@loopringorg) June 28, 2026
The core contributors described themselves primarily as engineers rather than business developers, noting they struggled to build the partnerships and marketing needed for wider growth.
Additional pressures, including the delisting of the project’s native LRC token from major centralized exchanges in 2026, hastened the outcome.
Newer zkEVM-based rollups, which offer full compatibility with Ethereum smart contracts, have also rendered Loopring’s specialized architecture increasingly outdated.
Rather than continue operating a service with minimal activity, the team chose to conclude operations in an orderly manner.
This marks the latest step in a gradual wind-down. Loopring had already discontinued its smart wallet services in mid-2025.
User funds held on the Loopring Layer 2 remain secure, the team confirmed.
To simplify the process, the project will handle asset distribution directly instead of requiring users to perform self-custody exits via Merkle proofs.
In the coming days, a complete list of final balances—including spot holdings in ETH and ERC-20 tokens plus liquidity positions that will be automatically converted—will be published and linked from the project’s X account.
Users will have a two-week review window to check their figures and report any discrepancies.
After the review period, the team will upgrade the relevant smart contract to enable batch withdrawals controlled by whitelisted addresses.
Funds valued at $10 or more will then be sent in batches directly to users’ Ethereum Layer 1 wallets.
The crypto focused project will cover all gas fees associated with these transfers. Balances below the $10 threshold will be excluded to keep the process manageable.
The entire distribution is expected to wrap up within a few weeks once it begins.
Support inquiries can be directed to [email protected] once the balance list appears.
The closure underscores the intense competition in Ethereum’s Layer 2 landscape, where projects offering greater flexibility and developer tooling have gained stronger traction. Loopring expressed gratitude to its users and hope that the zero-knowledge advancements it helped enable during the early days will now continue to benefit the crypto ecosystem through other initiatives.
Circle just pulled a quarter-billion dollars worth of USDC off Ethereum and stamped out $910 million in fresh tokens on Solana. Think of it as moving cash between registers at a store, except the registers are blockchains and the cash is the second-largest stablecoin in crypto.
The net effect: a $660 million liquidity swing toward Solana.
How the burn-and-mint machine works Circle manages USDC supply through what it calls the Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol, or CCTP. The mechanics are straightforward: burn tokens on one chain, mint an equivalent amount on another. Every USDC in circulation is supposed to be backed 1:1 by cash and cash equivalents, so these operations don’t change the total supply. They just change where the tokens live.
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The $250 million Ethereum burn and $910 million Solana issuance fit a pattern that’s been accelerating throughout 2026. Earlier in June, Circle minted $1 billion USDC on Solana in a single day. Days before that, there was a $500 million Solana mint. The cumulative gross issuance on Solana has been approaching $57 billion for the year.
USDC’s total circulation sits at approximately $73.6 billion as of late June 2026. The stablecoin is now native on over 30 networks.
Why the migration matters The institutional angle has gotten more concrete this month. Circle expanded its partnership with BNY Mellon in June 2026, enabling direct mint and burn capabilities through the bank’s custody services. That means institutional clients can now create and destroy USDC without going through Circle’s standard pipeline.
What this means for investors For Solana, more USDC on the network means deeper liquidity pools, tighter spreads on decentralized exchanges, and more attractive conditions for both traders and protocol developers.
The BNY Mellon partnership adds another layer to consider. Institutional access to direct minting and burning means that large players can respond to market conditions faster than ever.
Tether’s USDT still dominates overall stablecoin market share, but USDC’s multi-chain expansion and emphasis on full reserve transparency have carved out a distinct institutional niche. The $73.6 billion in circulation represents significant ground gained.
The risk worth flagging: concentrated minting on any single chain creates dependency. If Solana experienced a significant outage or security event, having tens of billions of USDC sitting on the network would create redemption pressure that could test Circle’s operational capacity.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Key Takeaways Bitcoin’s limited supply of 21 million coins and expanding institutional adoption make it the most stable long-term cryptocurrency investment. Ethereum maintains dominance in smart contract platforms, hosting the largest DeFi ecosystem and billions in stablecoin volume. Solana’s high-speed transactions and minimal fees have driven significant growth in stablecoin usage and decentralized applications. Chainlink serves as critical blockchain infrastructure, enabling smart contracts to access external data through its oracle network. Sui represents a high-potential mid-cap opportunity with advanced technology and expanding ecosystem adoption. Investors seeking sustainable cryptocurrency positions are being advised to prioritize fundamental strength over market volatility. A comprehensive analysis identifies five digital assets demonstrating robust adoption metrics, active development communities, and significant institutional backing.
Bitcoin (BTC) Bitcoin secures the top position as the premier long-term cryptocurrency investment. As the pioneering digital asset, its supply is permanently limited to 21 million units.
Bitcoin (BTC) Price The introduction of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds alongside increasing corporate treasury allocations has accelerated institutional participation significantly. Analysts characterize Bitcoin as delivering the most favorable risk-adjusted returns within the digital asset sector.
Ethereum (ETH) Ethereum serves as the backbone infrastructure for a substantial portion of the cryptocurrency marketplace. The platform hosts thousands of decentralized applications and commands the industry’s most extensive decentralized finance infrastructure.
Ethereum (ETH) Price Multi-billion dollar stablecoin operations execute primarily on Ethereum’s network. The platform is increasingly central to the tokenization of traditional financial assets.
While facing competition from emerging blockchain platforms, Ethereum consistently attracts developer talent at an unmatched rate. This sustained development activity represents a primary factor supporting its position as a compelling long-term asset.
Solana (SOL) Solana distinguishes itself through exceptional processing speeds and minimal transaction costs. These technical advantages have enabled the network to capture market share across DeFi protocols, non-fungible tokens, payment systems, and consumer-facing applications.
The blockchain has recorded substantial increases in both stablecoin transaction volume and decentralized exchange activity. Institutional capital allocation toward Solana has similarly accelerated, according to market data.
Chainlink (LINK) Chainlink operates within a distinct category compared to traditional blockchain platforms. Rather than processing transactions directly, it delivers essential infrastructure enabling smart contracts to interact with external information sources.
Its decentralized oracle network is considered fundamental to DeFi operations. The Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol has gained particular traction among institutions exploring tokenized asset applications.
Sui Sui emerges as a compelling growth-oriented selection within the mid-capitalization segment. Built using the Move programming language, the platform prioritizes transaction throughput and network scalability.
The ecosystem has demonstrated expansion across gaming platforms, DeFi protocols, and mainstream consumer applications. While analysts acknowledge higher volatility compared to established cryptocurrencies, Sui presents substantial upside potential contingent on continued adoption.
Constructing a Balanced Crypto Portfolio The analysis proposes a strategic allocation framework for investors pursuing long-term positioning. The suggested distribution designates 35 percent to Bitcoin, 25 percent to Ethereum, 20 percent to Solana, 10 percent to Chainlink, and 10 percent to Sui.
This allocation strategy seeks to balance the stability characteristics of established cryptocurrencies with the expansion potential of emerging platforms. The framework acknowledges that no individual asset guarantees positive returns.
Each selected cryptocurrency addresses a distinct market function. Bitcoin provides store-of-value stability, Ethereum delivers smart contract infrastructure dominance, and Solana offers exposure to high-performance blockchain technology.
Chainlink furnishes the data connectivity layer between blockchain networks and external information sources. Sui provides access to an emerging high-performance network with accelerating growth metrics.
The analysis concludes by emphasizing that cryptocurrency investments inherently involve substantial risk and price fluctuation. Concentrating on assets demonstrating strong fundamental characteristics and tangible real-world applications may enhance long-term portfolio performance.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Chainlink, and Sui represent the core components of this fundamentals-focused investment strategy for July 2026.
Kiyosaki Says The Pin Is Near For The Biggest Bubble In HistoryKiyosaki posted his boldest price targets yet, predicting gold hits $35,000 an ounce and silver reaches $200 an ounce within a year of the bubble popping.
He paired those calls with $750,000 for Bitcoin and $95,000 for Ethereum, framing all four assets as the winners once the current financial system breaks.
“I do not know what pin, what event will pop the biggest bubbles in history,” Kiyosaki wrote. “It’s not IF. It’s WHEN.”
His targets mark a sharp jump from the $250,000 Bitcoin and $60,000 Ethereum figures he gave back in November, when the ETH number itself sparked confusion since the asset hadn’t traded anywhere near that level.
Cowen Says Bitcoin Closing Below The 200-Week Average Isn’t NewProminent analyst Benjamin Cowen pointed out that Bitcoin’s first weekly close below its 200-week moving average this cycle mirrors exactly what happened in June 2022, the last time Bitcoin broke that same level.
He noted Bitcoin tends to drop into June in multiple cycles, including 2018 and 2022, and that the pattern rarely needs to be more complicated than it looks.
Cowen’s base case calls for Bitcoin to form an early summer low, followed by a counter-trend rally into mid-to-late summer, before a final drop into the actual cycle bottom sometime in the third or fourth quarter.
He said this play would only change if a major blowup, similar to FTX or Luna in the last cycle, triggers a faster price-based capitulation instead of the slower time-based pattern.
Cowen’s preferred strategy is dollar-cost averaging into Bitcoin through the second half of midterm years, a method he said has worked across prior cycles even when short-term drawdowns got worse before recovering.
He’s watching for a volume spike similar to those seen at the end of the 2014, 2018, and 2022 bear markets as the real signal that capitulation has actually happened.
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TL;DR Institutional products tied to Bitcoin and Ethereum reportedly saw net outflows. XRP and HYPE wrappers attracted inflows during the same period. The divergence points to a more selective crypto market, where investors are not treating every asset the same way. Institutions Are Not Just Buying Or Selling Crypto As One Trade Institutional investors reportedly reduced exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF products while still adding to XRP and HYPE-linked wrappers.
That is a more interesting story than a simple “institutions dumped crypto” headline. The flow picture suggests that investors are becoming selective. They may be cutting broad exposure to the two largest crypto assets while still looking for targeted opportunities elsewhere.
For Bitcoin and Ethereum, outflows are never a great signal in the short term. These products are major access points for traditional capital, and sustained redemptions can weigh on sentiment. But the fact that XRP and HYPE products saw inflows at the same time shows that the entire sector is not being abandoned.
Why Selective Flows Matter Crypto traders often talk about risk-on and risk-off as if the whole market moves together. That is still true during major volatility events, but flow data can reveal a more detailed picture underneath.
If investors are selling BTC and ETH exposure but buying XRP and HYPE, they may be rotating away from broad market beta and toward specific narratives. XRP has its payments and legal-resolution storyline. HYPE has become tied to the Hyperliquid ecosystem and more specialized on-chain trading demand.
That kind of split matters because it changes how traders should think about the market. The question is not just “are institutions bullish on crypto?” It becomes “which crypto exposures are institutions willing to hold during stress?”
That is a much more useful question. It also means Bitcoin dominance, Ethereum sentiment, and altcoin flows may give different signals at the same time.
The Risk In Reading Too Much Into It There is a caveat. Smaller products can show impressive inflows without matching the absolute scale of Bitcoin or Ethereum ETF flows. A modest inflow into an altcoin wrapper does not cancel out much larger outflows from BTC or ETH products.
So the takeaway should be measured. This is not proof that institutions are rotating into altcoins en masse. It is evidence that some targeted altcoin demand has remained active while broad crypto exposure has weakened.
For Bitcoin and Ethereum, the next test is whether outflows slow. For XRP and HYPE, the test is whether inflows continue once the market stabilizes or if they were simply temporary pockets of interest.
The market message is still useful: institutional crypto demand is no longer one-dimensional. Investors are not just buying the whole sector or selling the whole sector. They are separating assets, narratives, and wrappers — and that makes flow data more important than ever.
For readers, the useful approach is to treat this as a signal to monitor rather than a standalone trading call, because confirmation still has to come from follow-through in price, flows, and broader market behavior.
—
This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
Making ETH inevitable and scaling Ethereum to the world. Ethlabs's co-founders sat down with Bankless to unpack the new org's mission.
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When I wrote about Ethlabs last week, my piece talked about the what. Namely the basics of the new organization, and how it's a new independent R&D lab co-founded by former Ethereum Foundation luminaries like Ansgar Dietrichs and Caspar Schwarz-Schilling.
That said, both Ansgar and Caspar just came on the podcast to cover the why of the org and their thinking around it. It's one of the best conversations about Ethereum's direction I've heard in a while.
— Bankless (@Bankless) June 29, 2026 The core thesis, as Ansgar laid it out early in the convo, is that Ethereum is at an evolutionary crossroads. The network's first 10 years were about infra, bringing assets onchain, figuring out how DeFi protocols should work, and etc. All of that is done, more or less, as we now have the fundamental rails.
Now the question is whether Ethereum will become a central node that the global economy routes through, or whether we end up in a fragmented multichain world. Ansgar said it will be one or the other, and it's not inevitable which way will win.
Tackling this crux head-on is the strategic case for Ethlabs's existence. The EF, per its new mandate, is doubling down on CROPS, i.e. censorship resistance, open source, privacy, and security, the foundational properties that give Ethereum credible neutrality. Ethlabs exists to complement that vision, not compete with it. In Caspar's framing the EF maintains what makes Ethereum Ethereum, and Ethlabs will work to scale that to the world.
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The work streamsIn the episode, Ansgar sketched out Ethlabs's focus areas across three buckets:
Chain — Anything core protocol, including a push for L1 scaling that Ansgar has been pushing on for a while now. The upcoming Amsterdam hardfork, per the convo, should deliver something like ~4x throughput gains, and Ansgar's broader north star is a permanent 3x-per-year scaling trajectory for Ethereum going forward.Platform — Here will come the work that stems from the intersection between the chain and apps. This is where interoperability lives, and both Ansgar and Caspar were emphatic that Ethereum cannot be the central settlement node of the global economy if the UX of moving assets across L2s remains as fragmented as it is today. The superpower of a "United Chains of Ethereum," as Ansgar put it, only materializes if being in that bundle is an obvious no-brainer for any chain launching today. Right now, it isn't.Growth — The newest and most explicitly market-facing area of Ethlabs, this area of effort will focus on understanding what DeFi builders, Wall Street, and other finance-adjacent builders actually need from Ethereum, and then propagating those needs back upstream into research and EIPs.On ETH the assetOne of the more interesting threads in the episode was the discussion around ETH specifically, an area where the EF has historically been reticent.
As Ansgar argued, Ethereum and ETH can only win together, which means every protocol development decision needs to account for its effect on ETH's role and value accrual. He draws the Bitcoin comparison deliberately: Bitcoin's success is partly a matter of inevitability, as there's an aura around it that it will simply be there. That's what Ethereum, and ETH, need to build.
On the funding and longevity side, Caspar was candid that the org's accountability structure is quite intentional. Ethlabs has solid two-to-three-year runway and a starting team of five, with ambitious but lean hiring plans. Their plan for continued funding is to deliver impactful work, then come back to the community in a year and ask if their track record justifies further support.
Ansgar noted this accountability loop was a deliberate hedge against the classic nonprofit failure mode of drifting toward irrelevance without any real-world forcing function.
Alas, can Ethlabs pull off their plans and make a difference? We'll see, though it does seem clear to me that this group of Ethereum diehards is uniquely suited for the work they've set out for themselves. They're poised to have a big impact, and that's something everyone in Ethereum can root for. For now, catch up on all their thinking in our latest episode, out now for everyone!
Ethlabs: The New Org to Make Ethereum Win | Ansgar & Caspar on Bankless
Ethereum has a new R&D lab, and its mission is blunt: make Ethereum and ETH win.
Bitcoin is caught between a resistance zone and building liquidity above, while Ethereum mirrors a familiar February structure and XRP shows early signs of seller exhaustion.
Bitcoin: $60.5K to $61K Is the Wall
On the three-day chart, Bitcoin is holding above $60,000 without a confirmed candle close below. If that level breaks with confirmation and fails to be reclaimed, the next meaningful support sits at $54,000 to $55,000.
A bullish divergence is visible across the 12-hour, eight-hour, and daily timeframes, with lower price lows and higher RSI lows. That signal helped produce a short-term relief from recent extreme selling pressure. However, that relief has stalled directly at the $60,500 to $61,000 resistance zone, where previous support has flipped into resistance.
The liquidation heatmap shows significant liquidity clustered above at $62,000 and between $63,200 and $63,500, making a push toward $62,000 plausible once resistance clears. A smaller but growing liquidity pocket is also building below at $58,000, which becomes a target if stocks open weakly on Monday.
The weekly timeframe shows a large bullish divergence forming but not yet confirmed. The super trend indicator remains red.
Ethereum: Repeating February’s Pattern
Ethereum is holding the $1,500 to $1,600 support zone on the three-day chart. The daily chart closely mirrors the February structure, with horizontal lows, an oversold first low, and a higher RSI low suggesting early momentum recovery.
If the pattern continues to echo February, choppy sideways action or a modest relief rally could follow over the coming days. However, if stocks drag Bitcoin back toward $58,000 on Monday, Ethereum is unlikely to sustain any recovery regardless of its own setup.
XRP: Sellers Losing Steam, Not the Battle
XRP’s weekly trend remains technically bearish with no confirmed bottom. Support sits between $0.90 and $1.00, with the recent bounce from almost exactly $1.00. Resistance sits at $1.13.
The past two days have produced extremely small candle bodies, a classic outcome of a bullish divergence. Sellers are losing momentum rather than buyers taking control. Flat price action is the most likely outcome ahead of Monday’s stock market open.
What to Watch
Monday’s US market open is the single most important near-term catalyst. A stable open gives Bitcoin room to target the $62,000 liquidity zone. A weak open risks a move back to $58,000 and invalidates the short-term recovery signals across all three assets.
Story Ends Here
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Ethereum has fallen harder than Bitcoin, down nearly 70% from its high while the ETH/BTC ratio sits near multi-year lows. Will Ether keep lagging the market leader through 2026, or is the underperformance setting up a reversal? Here is the case on both sides, and what would flip it.
Summary
Ethereum trades near $1,550 as of late June 2026, down roughly 68% from its August 2025 all-time high near $4,950 and below every major moving average, the weakest technical picture among the large-cap majors. The ETH/BTC ratio sits near multi-year lows because Ether has fallen harder than Bitcoin’s roughly 52% drawdown, extending a multi-year stretch of underperformance against the market leader. The case for continued underperformance rests on Bitcoin’s ETF and treasury-driven institutional dominance, competition from Solana for on-chain activity, and a muddier investment narrative for Ether. The case for a reversal rests on deep-value pricing, staking yield, the Layer-2 and tokenization ecosystem, potential rotation of ETF flows, and the tendency of Ether to outperform in late-cycle altcoin phases. Year-end forecasts span roughly $1,266 at the bearish end to $4,400 to $5,300 at the bullish end, a gap that turns on whether capital rotates back toward Ether or stays concentrated in Bitcoin. Ethereum (ETH) is trading near $1,550 as of late June 2026, and it has fallen harder than almost any other large-cap crypto asset, which raises the question this article addresses: will Ether keep underperforming Bitcoin through the rest of 2026, or is the very depth of its decline setting up a reversal?
The numbers frame the problem starkly. Ether is down roughly 68% from its August 2025 all-time high near $4,950, a far deeper drawdown than Bitcoin’s roughly 52% fall from its own peak, and it trades below every major moving average, from the 20-day exponential average on up through the 200-day near $2,317, with a completed death cross and a relative strength index near 30.
Ethereum daily price chart — June 29 | Source: crypto.news The Fear and Greed reading sits around 13, even deeper in extreme fear than Bitcoin’s, and the $1,500 to $1,600 zone has become the line in the sand that bulls are defending; a clean loss of it opens $1,450 and then $1,400. Most tellingly for this question, the ratio of Ether’s price to Bitcoin’s sits near multi-year lows, the clearest single expression of how badly Ether has lagged the asset the market treats as its anchor.
That ratio, ETH measured against BTC, is the real subject of this piece, because the question is not only where Ether’s dollar price goes but whether it keeps losing ground to Bitcoin specifically. This article works through it from both directions: where Ethereum stands technically, what the ETH/BTC ratio actually measures and why it matters, the structural reasons Ether has underperformed, the case that the underperformance continues, the case that it reverses, what the analysts forecast, the specific conditions that would flip the ratio one way or the other, and three scenarios for both the ratio and the absolute price into year-end. The aim is to give a fair hearing to both sides, because this is a genuinely contested question on which thoughtful people disagree.
The forecasts here are information, not advice. And the framing to carry throughout is that Ether’s 2026 outcome has 2 layers: its dollar price, which depends heavily on the broad market, and its performance relative to Bitcoin, which depends on whether capital rotates back toward Ether or stays concentrated in the market leader. Both layers point to the same underlying question of whether Ethereum can reclaim the narrative momentum it has lost.
Where Ethereum stands right now The technical condition of Ethereum is the weakest among the large-cap majors, and being honest about that is the starting point. Near $1,550, Ether trades below its 20-day, 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day exponential moving averages, the last of which sits up near $2,317, meaning price is far beneath even its slowest-moving trend line. A death cross, the bearish crossover of shorter and longer averages, has completed, confirming the downtrend on the technical framework many traders use.
The relative strength index near 30 indicates oversold conditions and weak buying momentum, and the broader structure since the spring has been one of lower highs and lower lows, with sellers in control through a steep decline from the $2,000-plus range earlier in the year down to the current zone. The $1,500 to $1,600 area is the critical support, having acted as the 2026 floor, and below it the next levels are $1,450 and $1,400.
Sentiment is correspondingly grim. The Fear and Greed reading around 13 is a deeper extreme fear than Bitcoin’s, reflecting how thoroughly the market has soured on Ether specifically. The drawdown of roughly 68% from the August 2025 high near $4,950 is severe even by crypto standards and significantly worse than Bitcoin’s contemporaneous decline, which is the heart of the underperformance story. To improve the picture,
Ether needs, at minimum, to reclaim short-term resistance near $1,700 to $1,750, and a genuine trend change would require recovering the higher averages up toward $2,000 and then $2,317. Until then, the structure is bearish, and the burden of proof sits with buyers.
This is the uncomfortable backdrop against which the underperformance question must be answered: Ether is not merely down; it is down harder than Bitcoin, deeper in fear, and weaker on the charts, which is exactly why some see capitulation and opportunity while others see a structurally lagging asset with further to fall.
What the ETH/BTC ratio is telling us To analyze underperformance properly, you have to understand the ETH/BTC ratio, because it strips out the broad market and isolates the question of Ether versus Bitcoin specifically. The ratio simply expresses Ether’s price in terms of Bitcoin rather than dollars, and it rises when Ether outperforms Bitcoin and falls when Ether lags. Right now it sits near multi-year lows, which is the precise, quantified statement of the problem: over an extended period, and especially through the 2025 to 2026 drawdown, Ether has lost value against Bitcoin, not just against the dollar. When both assets fall, but one falls more, the ratio captures the difference, and Ether’s roughly 68% drawdown against Bitcoin’s roughly 52% means Ether has shed a meaningful chunk of its value relative to the market leader.
Why does this matter beyond bookkeeping? The ETH/BTC ratio is one of the most-watched gauges in crypto because it functions as a barometer of risk appetite and capital rotation within the asset class. When the ratio rises, it typically signals that capital is rotating out of Bitcoin and into Ether and the broader altcoin complex, the classic risk-on, altcoin-season dynamic. When it falls, as now, it signals that capital is concentrating in Bitcoin, treating it as the safer, more institutionally endorsed crypto asset while shunning the higher-beta alternatives.
A ratio near multi-year lows therefore tells a story: the market, in its current risk-off and Bitcoin-dominated mood, has been choosing Bitcoin over Ether decisively. For the question of whether Ether underperforms again in 2026, the ratio is both the scoreboard and the leading indicator.
A continued decline or stagnation in the ratio means underperformance persists; a sustained turn upward would be the clearest sign that Ether is regaining ground. Everything that follows, the structural arguments and the catalysts, ultimately expresses itself through which way this ratio moves.
Why Ethereum has underperformed Understanding the causes of Ether’s underperformance is essential to judging whether it continues, and several structural forces have converged against it. The 1st and arguably most important is the institutional bid for Bitcoin that Ether has not matched in kind.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs and a wave of corporate Bitcoin treasuries have created sustained, price-insensitive demand that treats Bitcoin as digital gold and a primary reserve asset, a role with no clear Ether equivalent. While Ether has its own ETFs, the institutional narrative around Bitcoin as a macro reserve asset has been far more powerful, channeling the bulk of institutional crypto allocation toward Bitcoin and leaving Ether to compete for a smaller, more speculative pool of capital. In a risk-off market, that distinction is decisive: capital flows to the asset with the strongest institutional endorsement, which has been Bitcoin.
The 2nd force is competition for Ethereum’s core use case. Solana and other high-throughput chains have captured a large share of the on-chain activity, particularly the memecoin and high-frequency trading culture, that once would have flowed to Ethereum, challenging Ether’s status as the default smart-contract platform and muddying its growth narrative.
The 3rd is a narrative problem of Ether’s own. Following its technical upgrades, the relationship between network activity and value accrual to the token has become more complicated, with much activity migrating to Layer-2 networks whose fees do not always translate cleanly into demand for Ether, leaving the investment case harder to articulate than Bitcoin’s simple scarcity story.
Together, these forces- Bitcoin’s institutional dominance, Solana’s competitive pressure, and a muddier value-accrual narrative- explain why capital has favored Bitcoin and why the ETH/BTC ratio has fallen to multi-year lows. They are real and structural, not merely cyclical, which is what gives the continued-underperformance thesis its force.
The case that the underperformance continues The bearish-on-ratio case holds that the forces just described are durable and that Ether keeps lagging Bitcoin through 2026. Its strongest pillar is that the institutional preference for Bitcoin is structural rather than temporary. As long as the dominant institutional narrative casts Bitcoin as the crypto reserve asset and digital gold, with ETFs and treasuries channeling allocation toward it, Ether will struggle to attract a comparable bid, and in any risk-off phase capital will continue concentrating in Bitcoin.
This is not a sentiment that flips quickly; it reflects how large allocators have categorized the two assets, and that categorization has only deepened through the current drawdown. On this view, the ETH/BTC ratio at multi-year lows is not an anomaly poised to mean-revert but the accurate reflection of a lasting shift in how the market values the two.
The competitive and narrative pillars reinforce the case. If Solana and other chains continue to capture on-chain activity and developer attention, Ethereum’s growth story weakens further, and a weakening fundamental narrative makes it harder for Ether to outperform regardless of price level. The muddled value-accrual picture, with activity on Layer-2 networks not cleanly driving Ether demand, means that even genuine ecosystem growth may not translate into the token appreciation that would lift the ratio. Bears also note that Ether’s deeper drawdown is itself a warning: an asset that falls harder than the market leader in a downturn is displaying higher beta and weaker relative strength, traits that tend to persist until a clear catalyst changes them.
In this reading, the most likely path for 2026 is that Ether’s dollar price may rise or fall with the broad market, but it continues to underperform Bitcoin specifically, with the ratio grinding sideways to lower, because none of the structural forces working against it have meaningfully reversed. The underperformance, on this thesis, is a feature of the current market regime, not a temporary dislocation.
The case for a reversal The bullish-on-ratio case is equally serious and rests on the proposition that Ether’s underperformance has gone far enough to create the conditions for its own reversal. The 1st pillar is deep value. After a 68% drawdown that has driven Ether to multi-year lows against Bitcoin and into extreme fear, the bull argument is that the selling has been overdone, that much of the bad news, the competition, the narrative confusion, the risk-off flight to Bitcoin, is now priced in, and that assets this oversold relative to the leader have historically offered strong mean-reversion potential when sentiment turns.
The 2nd pillar is Ether’s genuine fundamental base, which remains the deepest in the smart-contract world: it anchors the largest decentralized finance ecosystem, hosts the bulk of tokenized real-world asset activity, supports a sprawling Layer-2 network of scaling solutions, and offers a staking yield that gives holders a return Bitcoin does not. These are real assets that a reversal thesis can build on.
The 3rd pillar is the potential for capital rotation, which is how ratio reversals historically happen. In past cycles, after Bitcoin leads a move and its dominance peaks, capital has frequently rotated into Ether and the broader altcoin complex in a late-cycle altcoin season that drives the ETH/BTC ratio sharply higher, and bulls argue the current extreme in Bitcoin dominance and Ether weakness is exactly the kind of setup that precedes such a rotation.
Specific catalysts could trigger it: ETF flows rotating from Bitcoin toward Ether, particularly if Ether ETF staking features attract yield-seeking institutional capital; a stumble in Solana’s momentum that returns activity and attention to Ethereum; a broad macro shift to risk-on that lifts the higher-beta assets most; and the growth of tokenization and institutional finance building on Ethereum translating into clearer token demand.
On this view, the very severity of Ether’s underperformance, the multi-year-low ratio and the extreme fear, is the contrarian signal, and 2026 could be the year the ratio turns as capital rotates back toward a deeply discounted asset with the strongest fundamental ecosystem in its category. The reversal is not guaranteed, but it is a coherent thesis grounded in real catalysts and historical precedent.
What the analysts forecast The analyst forecasts for Ether’s dollar price in 2026 span a wide range that maps onto the underperformance debate. On the bearish side, model-driven and cautious forecasters see continued weakness: Traders Union’s statistical model projects a year-end average near $1,266, and DigitalCoinPrice has pointed to a 4th-quarter low around $1,370, both implying Ether stays near or below current levels and, by extension, likely keeps underperforming a Bitcoin that most forecasters see holding higher absolute levels. These bearish targets are consistent with the thesis that the structural forces against Ether persist and that the ratio does not recover.
On the bullish side, forecasters such as BitScreener have projected Ether reaching toward $4,676 by year-end, and others, including Cryptopolitan and the optimistic scenarios at LiteFinance, point to ranges of roughly $4,400 to $5,300, which would imply a powerful recovery and, if Bitcoin does not rise proportionally, a sharp improvement in the ETH/BTC ratio.
The gap between roughly $1,266 and $5,300 for the same asset in the same year is enormous, and like Bitcoin and XRP, it reflects genuine uncertainty rather than careless modeling. The bearish numbers assume the structural underperformance continues and Ether stays pinned near its lows; the bullish numbers assume a reversal driven by rotation, deep-value mean reversion, and Ether’s fundamental strengths reasserting themselves.
What the forecasts collectively reveal is that Ether’s 2026 outcome is even more binary than Bitcoin’s, because it depends not only on the direction of the broad market but on whether capital rotates back toward Ether specifically. An investor who believes the rotation comes will lean toward the high forecasts; one who believes Bitcoin’s dominance is structural will lean toward the low ones.
The forecasts cannot settle the debate; they can only show how much rides on it. For the underperformance question specifically, the spread is a reminder that Ether is the higher-variance bet, capable of both deeper losses and sharper recoveries than the market leader, which is precisely the profile of an asset whose relative performance is genuinely up for grabs.
What would flip the ratio, and what would keep it down The underperformance question ultimately resolves into a set of watchable conditions, and naming them is more useful than guessing. The ratio would flip in Ether’s favor on several developments. The clearest would be a broad rotation into altcoins, the classic late-cycle dynamic in which Bitcoin dominance peaks and capital flows down the risk curve into Ether first; a sustained turn upward in the ETH/BTC ratio off its multi-year lows would be the signal that this is underway. ETF flows rotating toward Ether, especially if staking-enabled Ether products draw yield-seeking institutional capital, would provide a concrete demand catalyst.
A stumble in Solana’s momentum that returns on-chain activity and developer attention to Ethereum would repair the competitive narrative. A macro shift to risk-on, with the Federal Reserve easing and liquidity improving, would favor the higher-beta asset, which is Ether. And technically, reclaiming resistance near $1,700 to $1,750 and then the higher averages toward $2,000 and $2,317 would confirm a trend change. If these align, the reversal thesis gains the upper hand.
The conditions that keep Ether underperforming are the mirror image. Continued institutional concentration in Bitcoin, with ETFs and treasuries channeling allocation toward the market leader and away from Ether, would preserve the structural imbalance. Ongoing Solana strength and further erosion of Ethereum’s on-chain dominance would keep the fundamental narrative weak.
A persistent risk-off market would keep capital huddled in Bitcoin instead of rotating into higher-beta Ether. And technically, a loss of the $1,500 support that opens $1,450 and $1,400 would confirm that sellers remain in control and that the ratio is still falling. The practical discipline for anyone watching this question is to track the ETH/BTC ratio directly as the scoreboard, alongside Bitcoin dominance, ETF flow data, Solana’s activity trends, and the macro backdrop. Those signals will reveal whether 2026 is another year of Ether lagging the leader or the year the long underperformance finally reverses. The market will answer the question through the ratio; the job is to watch it instead of to assume.
Three scenarios for Ethereum in 2026 Translating the debate into scenarios captures both the dollar price and the relative-performance dimension. In the bull scenario, the underperformance reverses. Capital rotates into Ether in a late-cycle altcoin phase, ETF flows and staking demand pick up, Solana’s momentum cools, the macro turns risk-on, and Ether recovers toward the $4,400 to $5,300 range that the optimistic forecasts describe, with the ETH/BTC ratio turning sharply higher off its multi-year lows.
In this world, Ether not only rises in dollar terms but decisively outperforms Bitcoin, rewarding the deep-value and rotation thesis. It is a coherent path, grounded in historical precedent and real catalysts, but it requires the structural forces that have favored Bitcoin to loosen.
In the base scenario, Ether broadly tracks the market without a clean resolution of the underperformance question. It stabilizes around current levels, recovers modestly if the broad market does, but continues to lag Bitcoin or merely matches it, with the ETH/BTC ratio grinding sideways near its lows instead of reversing decisively. Ether’s dollar price spends 2026 in a wide, volatile band, and the relative-performance question stays unresolved into 2027. This middle path reflects how balanced the structural arguments are and is a reasonable central expectation. In the bear scenario, the underperformance deepens.
Bitcoin’s institutional dominance persists, Solana continues to pressure Ethereum, the market stays risk-off, Ether loses the $1,500 support and slides toward $1,400 and below, validating the bearish forecasts near $1,266, and the ETH/BTC ratio falls further as capital keeps choosing Bitcoin. Which scenario unfolds depends on capital rotation, ETF flows, the Solana competition, and the macro backdrop, all of which express themselves through the ETH/BTC ratio. All 3 are live, and the breadth between them is exactly why Ether is the higher-variance bet among the majors heading into the rest of 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions Will Ethereum underperform Bitcoin in 2026? It is truly contested. Ether has underperformed Bitcoin badly, down roughly 68% from its 2025 high versus Bitcoin’s roughly 52%, pushing the ETH/BTC ratio to multi-year lows. The case for continued underperformance rests on Bitcoin’s structural institutional dominance through ETFs and treasuries, competition from Solana for on-chain activity, and a muddier value-accrual narrative for Ether. The case for a reversal rests on deep-value pricing after the severe drawdown, Ether’s strong fundamental ecosystem and staking yield, and the potential for capital to rotate into Ether in a late-cycle altcoin phase. The deciding signal is the ETH/BTC ratio itself; a sustained turn higher would mark a reversal, while continued weakness would confirm more underperformance.
Why has Ethereum fallen harder than Bitcoin? Several structural forces have weighed on Ether more than Bitcoin. The biggest is the institutional bid for Bitcoin as digital gold and a reserve asset, channeled through ETFs and corporate treasuries, with no equally powerful equivalent for Ether. Competition from Solana and other high-throughput chains has captured on-chain activity that once flowed to Ethereum, weakening its growth narrative. And Ether’s value-accrual story has grown more complicated, with much activity migrating to Layer-2 networks whose fees do not cleanly translate into demand for the token. In a risk-off market, capital concentrates in the asset with the strongest institutional endorsement, which has been Bitcoin, leaving higher-beta Ether to fall harder.
What is the ETH/BTC ratio and why does it matter? The ETH/BTC ratio expresses Ether’s price in terms of Bitcoin instead of dollars; it rises when Ether outperforms Bitcoin and falls when Ether lags. It matters because it strips out the broad market and isolates the question of Ether versus Bitcoin specifically, and because it functions as a barometer of risk appetite and capital rotation within crypto. A rising ratio typically signals capital rotating out of Bitcoin into Ether and altcoins, the classic altcoin-season dynamic; a falling ratio, as now near multi-year lows, signals capital concentrating in Bitcoin. For the underperformance question, the ratio is both the scoreboard and the leading indicator, so watching it directly is the best way to judge whether Ether is regaining or losing ground.
What would make Ethereum outperform again? A reversal would likely require capital rotation into Ether, the late-cycle dynamic in which Bitcoin dominance peaks and money flows into Ether and altcoins, signaled by the ETH/BTC ratio turning up off its lows. Concrete catalysts include ETF flows rotating toward Ether, especially staking-enabled products attracting yield-seeking capital; a stumble in Solana’s momentum returning activity to Ethereum; a macro shift to risk-on that favors higher-beta assets; and Ether reclaiming technical resistance near $1,700 to $1,750 and then the higher averages toward $2,000 and $2,317. The bull thesis also leans on deep value after the 68% drawdown and Ether’s strong fundamentals in decentralized finance, tokenization, Layer-2s, and staking. If these align, the long underperformance could reverse in 2026.
What are analysts forecasting for Ethereum in 2026? The range is very wide. Bearish, model-driven forecasts see continued weakness, with Traders Union projecting a year-end average near $1,266 and DigitalCoinPrice pointing to a 4th-quarter low around $1,370, implying Ether stays near its lows. Bullish forecasts are far higher, with BitScreener toward $4,676 and others, including Cryptopolitan and optimistic scenarios at LiteFinance, in the $4,400 to $5,300 range, implying a strong recovery. The gap from roughly $1,266 to $5,300 reflects genuine uncertainty: the low end assumes structural underperformance continues, while the high end assumes a reversal driven by rotation and deep-value mean reversion. Ether’s outcome is more binary than Bitcoin’s because it depends on whether capital rotates back toward Ether specifically.
Is Ethereum a better buy than Bitcoin right now? This article does not give buy recommendations, and the honest answer is that it depends entirely on the question it examines. Ether offers higher potential reward if the underperformance reverses, because it is more deeply discounted and has more room to mean-revert, but it carries higher risk because the structural forces favoring Bitcoin- institutional dominance, Solana competition, and a muddier narrative- may persist. Bitcoin has been the safer, more institutionally endorsed asset that capital has favored in the risk-off market. Choosing between them is really a bet on whether capital rotates back toward Ether in 2026 or stays concentrated in Bitcoin, which is the unresolved question at the center of this analysis. Both are highly volatile and can lose value.
This article is information, not financial or investment advice. Ethereum and Bitcoin price levels, the ETH/BTC ratio, indicator readings, and analyst forecasts reflect data available as of June 28, 2026, are point-in-time, and can change rapidly. Cryptocurrency is highly volatile, and you can lose money. Price predictions are inherently uncertain, and the scenarios described are not guarantees. Do your own research and consult a qualified financial professional before making any investment decision.
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TL;DR Bitmine Immersion Technologies has expanded its Ethereum treasury to 5,700,040 ETH. The latest update places the company among the largest publicly disclosed corporate Ethereum holders. The move keeps the focus on whether ETH treasury strategies are becoming a more serious corporate playbook, not just a Bitcoin-only story. Bitmine Adds To Its Ethereum Stack Bitmine Immersion Technologies has added to its Ethereum holdings again, expanding its treasury to 5,700,040 ETH after its latest reported purchase.
For readers, the important point is not just that another public company bought more crypto. It is that the company is continuing to treat Ethereum as a treasury asset at a time when the market has been under pressure and sentiment around crypto risk has weakened.
That makes this a little different from the usual “company buys token, price may move” story. Bitmine is building a position that is now large enough to sit in the same conversation as the more familiar corporate Bitcoin treasury strategies. The asset is different, the market structure is different, and the risk profile is different, but the treasury logic is similar: hold a major crypto asset on the balance sheet and let investors decide whether that exposure is a feature or a risk.
Why This Matters For ETH Ethereum has spent years being viewed through several lenses at once. It is the base layer for DeFi, NFTs, stablecoins, tokenized assets, and much of the on-chain economy. But as a corporate treasury asset, it has not had the same simple public-market narrative as Bitcoin.
That is why Bitmine’s continued accumulation is worth watching. A company holding millions of ETH does not automatically create a new institutional trend, but it does add another example for investors trying to understand whether ETH can become a balance-sheet asset beyond crypto-native funds and staking-heavy vehicles.
It also raises a cleaner market question: if companies start holding ETH in size, are they buying it for price exposure, network utility, staking economics, or all three? Those distinctions matter. Bitcoin treasury companies are generally easy to explain: they hold BTC because they want Bitcoin exposure. Ethereum treasury strategies can become more complicated because ETH sits inside a broader network economy.
The Reader-Relevant Takeaway The latest purchase does not prove that corporate Ethereum accumulation is about to accelerate across the market. It does, however, show that Bitmine is still leaning into the strategy despite a weaker crypto tape.
That is the part traders will care about. In soft markets, treasury additions can be read as confidence, but they can also be read as concentration risk. If ETH strengthens from here, the move may look well-timed. If ETH weakens, the size of the position will invite tougher questions about volatility and treasury management.
For now, Bitmine has made the signal clear: it wants to be known as one of the biggest public Ethereum holders, and it is still adding to the stack.
—
This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
GameStop said it will continue to advance its $56 billion acquisition plan for eBay.
According to Reuters, GameStop says it will continue advancing its acquisition of eBay, even after the e-commerce giant rejected its roughly $56 billion all-cash and stock offer. GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen’s May proposal to acquire eBay took Wall Street by surprise. Cohen argued the combined entity would be a stronger competitor to Amazon, and stated he would oversee its operations. eBay rejected the offer that same month. GameStop noted it remains committed to the acquisition plan, but did not disclose the deal’s rationale or next steps. Separately, in a brief regulatory filing, GameStop projected its adjusted EBITDA for fiscal 2026 will exceed $600 million, up from the $345.4 million reported for fiscal 2025.
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The USD/JPY exchange rate has risen above 162, marking the first time in nearly 40 years.
According to data from Bitget, depreciation pressure on the Japanese yen continues to intensify, with the USD/JPY exchange rate breaching the 162 threshold for the first time since December 1986.
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Crypto KOL Ansem has airdropped 67.38 million ANSEM tokens to over 700 addresses, valued at approximately $9.43 million.
According to Lookonchain’s monitoring, crypto KOL Ansem has airdropped 67.38 million ANSEM tokens to over 700 addresses, valued at $9.43 million. Of the total, 49.89 million ANSEM (worth $6.98 million) went to seven addresses. These seven addresses have sold 38.29 million ANSEM, generating $1.29 million in proceeds, and currently hold 11.6 million ANSEM, valued at $1.62 million.
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South Korea's KOSPI index extended its decline to 2%, with SK Hynix falling 3%.
According to Bitget data, South Korea’s KOSPI index has extended its decline to 2%, with Samsung Electronics down 0.4% and SK Hynix down 3%.
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Serenity: Bullish on Agility Robotics and Unitree in the humanoid robot sector
Serenity stated in a post that it favors robotics firms Unitree and Agility Robotics, adding that its largest position in the humanoid robot space is currently concentrated in Agility Robotics, as it personally prefers U.S.-based humanoid robot companies. Regarding exposure to upstream components, Serenity said it currently holds Harmonic Drive (6324), noting that harmonic reducers and related parts account for a large share of the bill of materials. It also holds Vishay Precision, citing its sensor business and potential to become a candidate supplier for Tesla Optimus. It also expresses optimism about LeaderDrive (688017) and Schaeffler, though it does not hold positions in these firms. In other AI data center-related companies, it also gains indirect exposure to robotics through areas like storage. Serenity emphasized that it does not advise anyone to replicate its positions, noting it is only sharing its personal holdings and views. Serenity said the humanoid robot industry is large, citing a Goldman Sachs report that states, "South Korean companies will directly and indirectly account for 30% of global humanoid robot output." It noted that there are numerous players globally, and related companies continue to appear in Goldman Sachs' institutional reports and coverage. Currently, Agility Robotics is its most favored company.
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SemiAnalysis: AI semiconductor manufacturing bottlenecks may extend to critical materials such as tungsten
Independent semiconductor and AI research institute SemiAnalysis noted in a report that one of the most underrated ways to contribute to AI semiconductor development may not be the chips themselves, but materials. As the industry accelerates production of more advanced semiconductors, demand growth is not limited to GPUs and foundry equipment, but also extends to the critical materials underpinning modern chip manufacturing. Taking tungsten as an example, the report points out that tungsten is one of the most critical materials in semiconductor manufacturing, valued for its high-temperature stability and resistance to electrical wear. Foundries rely on chemical vapor deposition (CVD) to fill deep, high-aspect-ratio vertical vias connecting multi-layer chip architectures, and use physical vapor deposition (PVD) to deposit ultra-thin structural barrier layers around them. Because tungsten is used in both core deposition processes, it is irreplaceable in advanced chip production. Tungsten supplies appear to be increasingly constrained. High-purity tungsten metal powder is the primary raw material for manufacturing tungsten hexafluoride (WF6), a gas used in CVD. Japan hosts key tungsten hexafluoride suppliers including SK Materials and Shin-Etsu Chemical, but is facing sharp price hikes and a significant drop in tungsten raw material imports, making it nearly impossible to continue producing this critical material. This price pressure is also reflected in South Korea’s tungsten hexafluoride import prices, which have surged by 151% year-to-date. As semiconductor complexity and AI demand rise, bottlenecks may emerge not only in chips or equipment, but also in the critical materials at the base of the entire supply chain.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Bitcoin climbed back above $60,000 after Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR) unveiled its BTC monetization and capital restructuring program, easing near-term concerns and supporting a rebound in crypto sentiment.
Notable Statistics:
Coinglass data shows 86,762 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours for $355.22 million. SoSoValue data shows net outflows of $444.5 million from spot Bitcoin ETFs on Friday. Spot Ethereum ETFs saw net outflows of $12.9 million. In the past 24 hours, top losers include MemeCore, Velvet and Pi. Notable Developments:
Trader Notes:
Analyst Ted Pillows noted that Bitcoin recorded its first weekly close below $60,000 in nearly two years, signaling a significant technical breakdown.
He also pointed to continued spot Bitcoin ETF selling and the prospect of Strategy selling Bitcoin as additional headwinds, arguing BTC is likely to fall toward $50,000 before eventually rallying to $100,000.
Trader Justin Bennett said Bitcoin’s first weekly close of the year below $60,000 reflects persistent bearish market structure despite expected end-of-month and quarter-end institutional positioning.
A short-term relief rally or bullish reversal is possible.
Expert Benjamin Cowen pointed out that Bitcoin posted a weekly close below its 200-week moving average, calling it another example of the recurring four-year market cycle.
He also noted that the first weekly close below the 200-week moving average during the 2022 bear market likewise occurred in June, suggesting a historical parallel with the current price action.
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Chainlink holder count climbed to 892.8K Ethereum wallets after adding more than 8K holders in five days. Recent wallet growth accelerated sharply and pushed LINK closer to the 900K holder milestone. Santiment linked the increase to growing interest in tokenized assets and institutional blockchain projects. LINK holder growth continued even while the token traded near recent local price lows. Chainlink has surpassed another important adoption milestone amid the recent surge in wallet growth over the last few days. The network now has 892,800 non-empty Ethereum wallets, which have swelled by over 8,000 in the last five days, according to fresh on-chain data.
The boost is part of a growing spotlight on the crypto market on tokenized assets and institutional blockchain projects. Despite LINK trading near recent lows, the latest stats suggest more people are joining the network.
Chainlink Holder Count Rises as More Wallets Join the Network On-chain analytics platform Santiment reported that Chainlink’s holder count has entered a much steeper growth phase. The platform tracks non-empty Ethereum wallets holding LINK.
Its latest data shows the network added more than 8,000 holders over five days. That pushed the total number of wallets holding LINK to roughly 892,800.
The recent increase stands out from previous growth trends. According to Santiment, Chainlink could move beyond the 900,000-holder mark before the week ends if the current pace continues.
✍️ TL;DR: Chainlink’s holder count has gone parabolic
📊 Metrics used: Total Holders
🔗 Link to chart: https://t.co/dtIQSALghS
📈 Chainlink’s holder growth is suddenly accelerating in a big way. $LINK on Ethereum is now up to 892.8K non-empty wallets, adding more than 8K holders… pic.twitter.com/rr4POGHn9a
— Santiment Intelligence (@SantimentData) June 29, 2026
Holder growth remains one of the clearest ways to measure network adoption. A larger holder base often reflects increasing participation across an ecosystem, regardless of short-term market movements.
While price often attracts the headlines, wallet data can tell a different story. In Chainlink’s case, more users continue entering the network even as LINK remains close to recent local lows.
Institutional Blockchain Activity Keeps Chainlink in Focus Santiment linked the recent wallet expansion to several developments involving real-world assets and institutional finance.
These include Project Pangea, DTCC’s collateral initiatives, tokenized assets, and 24/5 equity data streams.
Chainlink has become part of a growing number of blockchain projects supporting tokenized financial infrastructure.
Its oracle network provides external data that decentralized applications and financial platforms rely on. The latest wallet figures arrived during a period when institutional blockchain projects continue expanding.
Real-world asset tokenization has also remained one of the industry’s most active development areas throughout the year.
Although LINK has yet to stage a major price recovery, wallet growth has continued moving higher.
Santiment noted that the increase in holders has taken place while the token trades near local lows, suggesting network participation continues to build despite subdued market conditions.
Chainlink’s expanding holder base adds another metric to watch as adoption develops across the ecosystem. The latest on-chain figures show users continue accumulating LINK while institutional blockchain and tokenized asset initiatives remain active across the broader crypto market.
Loopring, an Ethereum [ETH] layer-2 scaling protocol, has announced it will shut down its decentralized exchange, marking the end of one of Ethereum’s earliest layer-2 pioneers.
Declining user engagement over several years was a major factor in Loopring’s decline. However, it seems that this decline in engagement was largely due to the growing popularity of zkEVM technologies, which provide full support of the EVM.
Source: X Unlike Loopring’s (LRC) specialized zkRollup design, zkEVMs allow existing Solidity applications to deploy without extensive redevelopment, accelerating ecosystem growth. That transition steadily reduced daily active addresses, transaction volumes, DEX activity, and protocol fees before the shutdown on the 28th of June.
Therefore, it appears that innovative technology can establish a platform as a leader in terms of scalability. If such a platform does not also offer widespread composability, then ultimately it cannot maintain that position.
Yet, unless Loopring develops its zk-Rollup technology into either Layer-3 or modular solutions, the discontinuation of Loopring represents the beginning of Ethereum’s next step in scalability.
Can Loopring’s technology survive beyond its DEX? Loopring’s shutdown raises questions on how much Ethereum has lost one of its first layer-2 pioneers, with the innovation in layer-2. A decline in all key metrics such as TVL, transaction volume, daily users, and liquidity has made the Loopring independent DEX less relevant.
The Layer-2 protocol directly pointed out that the reason for this downward trend was low adoption, low composability, bad business practices, and 2026 delisting from exchanges using LRC. These trends point toward the possibility that the original protocol will be unable to reverse.
Source: Loopring on X However, the network’s technology tells a different story. Loopring’s current zkrollup architecture continues to provide a known secure and high-throughput design.
As long as these features can be used by other protocols in Layer-3 or modular infrastructure, then Loopring’s contributions to Ethereum history may continue. Alternatively, if they cannot, then this may signal the death of one of Ethereum’s first Layer-2 specific innovations.
Final Summary Loopring’s shutdown reflects years of weak adoption, falling activity, and pressure from zkEVM competitors. Loopring now depends on whether its zkRollup technology can survive through Layer-3 or modular infrastructure.
Crypto markets may be volatile, but the builders keep building. According to @SantimentData's latest 30-day GitHub development activity ranking, @MetaMask USD ($mUSD) sits at the top by a wide margin, ahead of some of the most established names in the industry.
The Top Five by Development Activity The current ranking, based on notable GitHub events over the past 30 days, is:
Santiment's ranking is based on daily notable development activity recorded on GitHub, tracking which projects within the ecosystem are experiencing the most intense technical progress. Importantly, Santiment tracks the number of GitHub events a project generates rather than simply counting commits, since pushing a commit is just one of many actions that produces an event. The methodology also filters out low-value noise such as automatic updates or superficial changes, making it a more reliable signal of genuine engineering momentum.
What Is Driving mUSD's Lead MetaMask USD ($mUSD) is the first native stablecoin launched by a self-custodial wallet, built with Bridge, a Stripe company, and M0, and supports on-ramps, swaps, bridging, and will soon be spendable via the MetaMask Card at millions of Mastercard merchants. Supported on Ethereum Mainnet and Linea, every mUSD in circulation is backed 1:1 by short-term US Treasury bills.
The development activity reflects ongoing technical work on the stablecoin's contracts, M0 protocol integrations, yield features, and wallet features such as swaps, bridging, and the MetaMask Card. MetaMask is building mUSD as a core financial layer inside the wallet, with a focus on frictionless on- and off-ramps, seamless cross-application payments, and native DeFi access, effectively evolving the wallet into a full financial operating system.
The gap between mUSD and the rest of the field is notable. According to Santiment, the list reflects only the technical development strength of projects and the activity of their teams, independent of price movements. That makes it a useful lens for gauging which teams are genuinely committed to shipping, regardless of where markets are trading.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Bitcoin (BTC) is showing renewed signs of recovery, approaching the $60,000 mark at the time of writing on Monday. Among altcoins, Ethereum (ETH) is positioned for a potential breakout above $1,600, while Ripple (XRP) continues to face bearish pressure, holding just above the key $1.00 psychological support.
US and Iran halt attacks, agree to renew peace negotiationsThe United States (US) and Iran exchanged fire near the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reported strikes against US military installations in neighboring countries, such as Kuwait and Bahrain, in response to recent US attacks on Iranian targets.
Iran has doubled down on its demand for a full withdrawal of Israeli Forces from Lebanon as part of the final Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the US.
A US official confirmed on Sunday that both the US and Iran have agreed to de-escalate military actions and permit unrestricted movement of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.
Ongoing technical discussions related to the MoU are expected to continue, with both parties scheduled to meet in Doha on Tuesday for further negotiations, according to Axios.
Sentiment in the broader crypto market has deteriorated further despite easing tensions between the US and Iran.
The crypto Fear & Greed Index is stuck in Extreme Fear territory at 12 on Monday, down from 18 the day before. This decline indicates that appetite for risk assets continues to diminish, weighed down by macro and geopolitical uncertainty.
Crypto Fear & Greed Index | Source: AlternativePrice analysis: Bitcoin builds momentumBitcoin trades at $59,888, rising slightly after last week's persistent sell-off. The Crypto King eyes a short-term breakout above the next hurdle at $60,000.
Meanwhile, the upside remains limited as BTC holds below the Bollinger middle band at $62,838, the 50-day, 100-day and 200-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs), which collectively reinforce the downside bias.
The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) histogram is marginally negative on the daily chart, while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 32 hovers just above oversold territory, hinting that bearish momentum is dominant but may be nearing exhaustion rather than showing fresh selling pressure.
BTC/USDT daily chartOn the downside, immediate support aligns with the Bollinger lower band near $58,633, where sellers could pause before attempting deeper extension. Conversely, Bitcoin faces immediate resistance at the Bollinger middle band near $62,838, with additional hurdles at the 50-day EMA ($66,963) and the Bollinger upper band at $67,043. Should these levels be surpassed, further resistance is seen at the 100-day EMA ($70,587), the descending trendline at $75,625, and the 200-day EMA at $76,539, which marks a critical threshold for reversing the broader bearish trend.
Altcoins technical outlook: Ethereum rebounds as XRP seeks supportEthereum trades at $1,574, edging slightly higher from previous week's dominant sell-off. Despite the mild gains, ETH holds below all major moving averages, which define a broader bearish trend.
Meanwhile, ETH sits below the Bollinger middle band at $1,673, highlighting ongoing downside pressure inside the volatility envelope, while the lower band at $1,528 offers the nearest cushion.
The MACD histogram holds in negative territory on the daily chart, hinting at weak bearish momentum rather than an impulsive selloff, as the RSI hovers around 30, flirting with oversold conditions that could slow the slide but not yet reverse the trend.
ETH/USDT daily chartInitial resistance emerges at the Bollinger middle band near $1,673, followed by the upper band at $1,818 and the 50-day EMA at $1,833, which collectively cap any recovery attempts. Above these hurdles, a downward-sloping resistance trendline comes into play around the break price at $1,963, before the 100-day EMA at $2,010 and the 200-day EMA at $2,291 reinforce a heavier supply zone.
Looking down, immediate support lies at the Bollinger lower band around $1,528. A daily close below this floor would open the door to fresh lows, while holding above it would keep Ethereum in a weak, but stabilizing, consolidation within the lower half of its recent range.
XRP, on the other hand, trades at $1.04, extending its slide well below major moving averages, which are keeping the near-term bias firmly bearish. The remittance token is also trading beneath the Bollinger Bands’ middle boundary at $1.12 and the upper band near $1.24.
At the same time, the MACD indicator remains slightly negative on the daily chart, hinting that downside momentum persists even as the RSI near 32 approaches oversold territory.
XRP/USDT daily chartOn the downside, immediate support lies around the Bollinger Bands’ lower boundary at $1.01, with the current level at $1.04 acting as a fragile pivot above that zone. On the topside, initial resistance is seen at the Bollinger middle band at $1.12, ahead of the upper band and the descending trendline break region clustered around $1.24. Further up, the 50-day EMA at $1.21, the 100-day EMA at $1.31 and the 200-day EMA at $1.53 define successive overhead barriers that would need to be reclaimed to ease the prevailing bearish pressure.
(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool.)
Bitcoin, altcoins, stablecoins FAQs Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, a virtual currency designed to serve as money. This form of payment cannot be controlled by any one person, group, or entity, which eliminates the need for third-party participation during financial transactions.
Altcoins are any cryptocurrency apart from Bitcoin, but some also regard Ethereum as a non-altcoin because it is from these two cryptocurrencies that forking happens. If this is true, then Litecoin is the first altcoin, forked from the Bitcoin protocol and, therefore, an “improved” version of it.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to have a stable price, with their value backed by a reserve of the asset it represents. To achieve this, the value of any one stablecoin is pegged to a commodity or financial instrument, such as the US Dollar (USD), with its supply regulated by an algorithm or demand. The main goal of stablecoins is to provide an on/off-ramp for investors willing to trade and invest in cryptocurrencies. Stablecoins also allow investors to store value since cryptocurrencies, in general, are subject to volatility.
Bitcoin dominance is the ratio of Bitcoin's market capitalization to the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies combined. It provides a clear picture of Bitcoin’s interest among investors. A high BTC dominance typically happens before and during a bull run, in which investors resort to investing in relatively stable and high market capitalization cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. A drop in BTC dominance usually means that investors are moving their capital and/or profits to altcoins in a quest for higher returns, which usually triggers an explosion of altcoin rallies.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) has completed 94% of its plan to accumulate 5% of Ethereum’s total supply.
Bitmine on Monday disclosed that it purchased more than 27,000 ETH last week, lifting its total holdings to 5.7 million ETH, representing 4.7% of all Ethereum in circulation. The company also announced its inclusion in the Russell 1000 Large-cap Index, which it expects will attract additional institutional investors.
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In total, Bitmine has about $9.8 billion in assets, including crypto, cash, marketable securities, and strategic investments.
Beyond its leading Ethereum treasury, the firm also owns 206 BTC, maintains $555 million in liquidity, holds a $180 million investment in Beast Industries, and owns $74 million of Eightco, one of the few publicly listed companies offering investors indirect exposure to OpenAI.
Operationally, Bitmine continues to scale its institutional staking platform, MAVAN, with approximately 4.9 million ETH already staked, representing more than 85% of its Ethereum holdings.
Based on current staking yields, management estimates annualized staking revenue of $211 million, with upside to $246 million once all ETH is deployed through MAVAN and partner validators.
On the outlook for the crypto market, Thomas “Tom” Lee, Chairman of Bitmine, said he maintains a positive long-term view despite recent declines. Lee reiterated that the ongoing migration of Wall Street infrastructure onto blockchain networks and the emergence of crypto-based payment rails for agentic AI applications continue to support its investment strategy.
“This past week was a challenging one for crypto investors as ETH fell by 8%, even as Ethereum witnessed notable positive developments such as the creation of Ethlabs, and even the Bank of England softened its stance around stablecoins. We are nearing quarter-end for June, and it is not surprising to see ‘window dressing’ leading to investors reducing their holdings in assets which have fallen in the past 3 months,” he noted.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Vivian Nguyen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has published a technical review exploring a cryptographic approach that could enable confidential on-chain voting without needing a trusted intermediary group. Buterin’s assessment outlines a system that maintains the privacy of individual votes while only revealing the final tally, aiming to empower transparent yet secret ballot governance.
A model that reduces trust assumptionsAccording to Buterin, the technique known as indistinguishability obfuscation, or iO, could provide a more private and tamper-resistant voting environment when combined with blockchain infrastructure. As one of the largest blockchain networks supporting smart contracts, Ethereum is already a foundational platform for decentralized applications and governance models worldwide.
Mini glossary: Indistinguishability obfuscation is an advanced cryptography method aimed at keeping a program operational while hiding its internal workings. In effect, the program can generate outputs, but observers cannot see how it operates or access the data within.
Currently, private on-chain voting systems rely on operator groups who are trusted to protect sensitive information and act according to protocol. Buterin argues that reducing dependence on such groups can make decentralized governance less susceptible to manipulation, lower the risk of insider interference, and enable voters to participate without revealing their choices.
Vitalik Buterin emphasized that with iO, programs can be structured to reveal only the outcome of a vote, thereby largely eliminating the need for committees acting together to decrypt votes.
Programs reveal results but not individual votesButerin describes iO as a cryptographic method that transforms software into a protected program. In this design, users can obtain outputs from the program but cannot see its underlying code or access any stored input data. He frames the concept as concealing not just the processed data, but the code logic itself from outside scrutiny.
In the context of on-chain voting, such a program could process encrypted ballots and reveal only the aggregate results, minimizing the need for threshold committees who collectively hold decryption keys. This could streamline confidential governance on decentralized platforms.
Buterin acknowledged that the approach is not ready for immediate use, explaining that the most conservative models demand extremely high computational resources and that faster alternatives depend on security assumptions that are less thoroughly tested.
Technology remains in the research stageDespite the promise of iO, Buterin candidly states that this technology is not yet practical for real-world deployments. The most secure architectures present significant computational costs, while quicker methods have yet to be thoroughly validated for robust security. As a result, he positions iO-fueled voting as a long-term research direction rather than a short-term solution.
Buterin further highlights that blockchains will continue to play a central role within this new voting paradigm. Since a protected program cannot prevent itself from being copied or independently manage changing data, blockchain infrastructure remains essential for record-keeping and verifiable process oversight. The decentralization and immutability of the blockchain thus anchor the trust model of future private governance systems.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
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Key HighlightsEthereum Treasury Reaches New MilestoneMAVAN Staking Infrastructure Drives Yield GenerationRussell 1000 Inclusion and Preferred Securities LaunchGet 3 Free Stock Ebooks BMNR shares advanced 1.80% following disclosure of 5.70M ETH token holdings.
Combined cryptocurrency, cash and marketable securities portfolio reached $9.8B.
Company controls approximately 4.7% of Ethereum’s circulating supply.
4.88M ETH tokens staked via MAVAN platform and partnered validators.
BMNR added to Russell 1000 index; preferred shares trading as BMNP.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) disclosed total holdings of $9.8 billion across cryptocurrency assets, cash reserves, marketable securities, and associated investments. Shares finished the session at $13.56, representing a 1.80% gain, following intraday fluctuations. The stock reached an intraday peak of $13.97 before consolidating near closing levels.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies, Inc., BMNR
Ethereum Treasury Reaches New Milestone Bitmine disclosed ownership of 5,700,040 ETH tokens as of June 28, 2026. The valuation utilized an Ethereum price point of $1,569 per token. This accumulation represents approximately 4.7% of Ethereum’s 120.7 million total circulating supply.
The accumulation strategy spanned 11 months of consistent acquisitions. Management indicated the company has achieved 94% progress toward its strategic objective of controlling 5% of ETH’s supply. In the most recent weekly period, Bitmine acquired an additional 27,084 ETH tokens.
Bitmine maintains its position as the premier Ethereum treasury corporation by disclosed reserves. The company ranks second globally among cryptocurrency treasury holders, trailing only Strategy. Strategy’s Bitcoin reserves reportedly total 847,363 BTC, approximately $50 billion in value.
MAVAN Staking Infrastructure Drives Yield Generation Bitmine disclosed 4,879,157 staked ETH across its proprietary staking infrastructure and partner validators. These staked holdings carry an estimated value of $7.7 billion. This staked portion comprises over 85% of the company’s entire Ethereum position.
The MAVAN initiative—Made in America Validator Network—serves as the company’s institutional-grade staking solution. Bitmine developed MAVAN primarily to optimize returns on its treasury holdings. The platform will eventually extend services to custodial institutions, traditional finance entities, and blockchain ecosystem participants.
Staking operations produced a 2.75% annualized seven-day yield according to company data. Management projects annual staking revenue of $211 million based on current staked positions. When operating at maximum capacity, the platform anticipates generating approximately $246 million in yearly rewards.
Russell 1000 Inclusion and Preferred Securities Launch Bitmine secured placement in the Russell 1000 Large-cap Index effective June 26, 2026. The addition occurred during the index’s annual rebalancing process. Management anticipates enhanced institutional ownership through passive investment vehicles and index-tracking exchange-traded funds.
In early June, the company successfully executed a preferred equity offering. Bitmine issued 3.5 million shares of 9.50% Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock. After underwriting fees and transaction expenses, the company received net proceeds of approximately $273.8 million.
Preferred shares commenced trading on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol BMNP. Bitmine reported an additional $555 million in liquid assets and marketable securities. The broader portfolio encompasses 206 Bitcoin, equity positions in Eightco, and a $180 million investment in Beast Industries.
Oliver Dale
Editor-in-Chief of Blockonomi and founder of Kooc Media, A UK-Based Online Media Company. Believer in Open-Source Software, Blockchain Technology & a Free and Fair Internet for all. His writing has been quoted by Nasdaq, Dow Jones, Investopedia, The New Yorker, Forbes, Techcrunch & More. Contact [email protected]
Despite the declines that began in October, LD Capital founder Jack Yi, who had consistently expressed optimism about Ethereum until the beginning of February, had now lost hope in ETH.
Yi stated that he was one of those who felt the most pressure during the decline in early February, and admitted that it was a mistake to be overly optimistic about Ethereum.
Following these erroneous actions, Jack Yi, who is now approaching Ethereum and the market more cautiously, shared his new analysis from his X account.
According to JackYi, Bitcoin is currently in its final downtrend phase.
The expert noted that BTC is experiencing its third downturn since October of last year, and according to Elliott Wave and cycle theories, this decline could be the last major drop of the bear market. According to Elliott Wave theory, the third wave is usually the strongest and longest-lasting.
The Chinese founder added that the key variables in determining the bottom are the performance of the US stock market and the price of Strategy (MSTR). Yi believes that a sustained decline in stocks could drag Bitcoin further down, while a rebound in MSTR could signal a broader market bottom.
“We are currently experiencing the third wave of decline since 11:10, and according to ripple theory and cycle rules, this is the last major downward wave for Bitcoin.”
Furthermore, black swan events or sudden spikes often occur at the end of past bear markets, but this one hasn’t happened yet, so we need to watch it closely.”
What Levels Could Bitcoin Reach? Yi, who sets Bitcoin’s potential price targets based on its October all-time high of $126,000, suggested that a 60% drop from BTC’s recent ATH of $126,000 could bring it down to $51,000, and a 66% drop could bring it down to $43,000. According to Yi, these percentages represent significant declines from current prices and signal a deep bear market bottom.
Finally, JackYi predicted that July and August would constitute the final downturn of this cycle, offering the most valuable buying opportunity for the next three years.
“Finally, if we calculate based on BTC’s highest point of $126,000, a 60% drop would be $51,000, and a 66% drop would be $43,000. In any case, July-August should be the final period, the best time for a dip, and even the most valuable trading opportunity for the next three years.”
*This is not investment advice.
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Ethereum treasury firm Bitmine made another ETH purchase last week, with its holdings climbing above 5.7 million ETH. BMNR stock is up today amid the announcement of this latest purchase, which also comes as the firm joins the Russell 1000 index.
Bitmine Acquires 27,084 ETH as Holdings Top 5.7 Million ETH In a press release, the firm announced that it acquired 27,084 ETH over the past week, maintaining a steady pace of accumulation throughout this year. Bitmine’s Chairman, Tom Lee, reiterated that they believe the market is in the early stages of a crypto spring and expect to reach the ‘alchemy of 5%’ sometime in 2026.
The company now holds just over 5.7 million ETH, which represent 4.7% of the ETH supply of 120.7 million ETH. Meanwhile, the Ethereum treasury firm has staked almost 4.9 million ETH, worth around $7.7 billion at current prices. The 4.9 million ETH represents 85% of the firm’s total holdings.
Tom Lee said they project annualized staking revenue of $211 million from their staked ETH. Their staking operations have generated a 7-day yield of 2.75% annualized. This development comes as the Ethereum treasury firm joins the Russell 1000.
As CoinGape reported, Bitmine joined the Russell 1000 last week as part of the annual reconstitution of the stock market index. Tom Lee noted that they expect to add hundreds, possibly thousands, of additional institutional investors as equity owners with this move.
Positive Developments Amid Market Downtrend The Bitmine chairman noted that this past week was a challenging one for crypto investors as the Ethereum price fell by 8%. However, he pointed to the fact that ETH witnessed positive developments, such as the creation of Ethlabs, while the Bank of England softened its stance around stablecoins.
“We are nearing quarter-end for June, and it is not surprising to see ‘window dressing’ leading to investors reducing their holdings in assets which have fallen in the past 3 months,” Lee said. Ethereum and the Bitmine stock have recovered today following last week’s downtrend.
ETH is approaching the psychological $1,600 level. Meanwhile, the BMNR stock is up almost 2% at the market open today, trading at around $14, according to TradingView data. However, the stock is still down over 15% in the last week.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: $BMNR), chaired by @fundstrat's Tom Lee, has expanded its sovereign Ethereum reserve to 5,700,040 $ETH, placing the firm in control of 4.7% of the total circulating supply of 120.7 million tokens, according to a filing with the SEC.
World's Largest Corporate ETH TreasuryThe company's combined crypto, cash, and marketable securities holdings stand at $9.8 billion, cementing its position as the world's largest corporate Ethereum treasury. Bitmine's crypto holdings rank as the number one Ethereum treasury and number two global crypto treasury, behind Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ: MSTR). The firm has set an explicit target it calls the "alchemy of 5%," aiming to hold 5% of all circulating $ETH sometime in 2026. As of its latest disclosure, Bitmine is 94% of the way to that goal in just 11 months.
A significant portion of those holdings is already put to work. The company has 4,879,157 ETH staked, representing $7.7 billion at $1,569 per ETH, through its MAVAN (Made in America VAlidator Network) platform. Annualized staking revenues are projected at around $230 million.
Russell 1000 Inclusion and $BMNP Preferred Stock Bitmine was added to the Russell 1000 Index, with the inclusion becoming effective following the 2026 Russell U.S. Index reconstitution. The Russell 1000 is one of the main U.S. large-cap equity benchmarks, and inclusion typically brings fresh demand from funds that track it, increasing liquidity in the stock.
The company has also bolstered its balance sheet through the capital markets. On June 10, Bitmine closed an offering of 3,500,000 shares of its 9.50% Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock at $80.00 per share, receiving net proceeds of approximately $273.8 million after underwriting discounts and expenses. The Series A Preferred Stock trades on the NYSE under the symbol $BMNP, with dividends scheduled to be paid weekly. The company intends to use the proceeds to buy more Ethereum and other digital assets and scale its MAVAN staking and validator infrastructure.
On the broader strategic outlook, Lee has pointed to tokenization and artificial intelligence as key demand drivers for Ethereum. "The best years for crypto remain ahead, in our view. Tokenization and the rapid progress in AI are expected to drive exponential demand growth for blockchain and decentralized crypto," Lee stated.
Sources:
Bitmine SEC Form 8-K Filing, June 2026
Bitmine Press Release via PR Newswire, June 22, 2026
BitMine, Upexi Secure Russell Index Inclusion, The Crypto Times
CZ: I previously sent a message to Elon Musk to discuss cooperation based on X Money, and received a reply stating that X Money is currently not involved in cryptocurrency.
In an interview, CZ stated that when X Corp launched X Money, he sent a message to Elon Musk on X, inquiring whether Binance could become a partner. Musk responded that X Money is not currently venturing into the cryptocurrency space. CZ added that he hopes X will eventually evolve into a global payments platform, drawing a parallel between this opportunity and Starlink’s achievements in the internet access sector.
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CZ comments on MicroStrategy: The company’s asset structure is overly complex, but he views Michael Saylor as a "steadfast Bitcoin supporter".
In an interview, CZ stated that Strategy’s preferred stock STRC structure is "too complicated", noting that "it took many attempts to understand STRC". The product relies on Bitcoin as underlying collateral, creating a structural contradiction: while Bitcoin’s long-term appreciation thesis may be valid, its volatility makes it a challenging base for leverage instruments. CZ also emphasized he is not commenting on founder Michael Saylor’s credibility, describing him as a "firm Bitcoin supporter".
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CZ: Binance’s Greek MiCA license application was nearly approved, but was forced to withdraw due to external factors.
In an interview, CZ stated that Binance’s MiCA license application submitted in Greece was fully compliant with regulatory requirements and near approval before being withdrawn, but the process was interrupted by "external political intervention". He added that multiple EU countries had expressed interest in the license, leading to a degree of "competitive lobbying", yet non-regulatory factors ultimately derailed the application, forcing its withdrawal. Binance officially pulled the Greek application last week and said it will shift to other EU member states to pursue MiCA authorization. Responding to market rumors linking Binance to senior EU political figures, CZ noted he has not seen any verifiable documents, only similar claims online, and has not confirmed them. He also pointed out that the EU MiCA transition period will end on July 1, after which unlicensed platforms must cease related services, with national regulators making clear they will not extend the deadline. CZ called the outcome a "lose-lose situation" and cited Japan and Singapore’s regulatory paths as examples, emphasizing compliance processes often require longer timelines.
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BitMine Immersion Technologies just added another 27,084 ETH to its balance sheet, paying roughly $43 million for the haul. The purchase brings the company’s total Ethereum holdings north of 5.7 million tokens, representing approximately 4.7% of the circulating supply.
From Bitcoin miner to Ethereum whale BitMine, trading under the ticker BMNR, has undergone a dramatic identity shift. The company pivoted from its origins as a Bitcoin mining operation into what is now essentially an Ethereum treasury vehicle, guided by chairman Tom Lee, the Fundstrat founder who has spent years as one of Wall Street’s most vocal crypto bulls.
BMNR’s total crypto and cash holdings are now estimated at around $9.8 billion. This latest $43 million purchase is just the most recent in a string of acquisitions throughout 2026. The firm has executed multiple large ETH buys this year, including a single tranche of 126,971 ETH for approximately $214 million.
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Lee has indicated that the accumulation will continue through the rest of 2026. The strategic target is clear: reach 5% of Ethereum’s total supply by year-end. At 4.7%, that finish line is getting close.
The playbook behind the buying BMNR has been timing its purchases around market dips, essentially buying weakness rather than chasing momentum. Lee has attributed recent ETH price softness to quarter-end portfolio adjustments, the kind of seasonal rebalancing that temporarily pushes prices lower without reflecting any fundamental change.
The funding mechanism is worth understanding. BMNR isn’t just selling equity to buy tokens. The strategy is partially bankrolled by staking rewards, meaning the Ethereum the company already holds generates yield that helps fund additional purchases. On top of that, the company has filed for preferred stock yielding 9.5%, creating another capital channel specifically designed to fuel further accumulation.
Lee has acknowledged that the strategy involves riding through unrealized losses during price corrections.
Why Ethereum, and why now Lee has been vocal about his belief that Ethereum is entering a supercycle, one driven by real-world asset tokenization migrating onto the network and the growing intersection between blockchain infrastructure and AI demand.
What this means for investors There’s also the question of what BMNR’s preferred stock offering means for retail investors in the company itself. A 9.5% yield is attractive, but it’s attractive precisely because it carries risk. That yield is ultimately backed by a volatile asset, and the company’s ability to sustain it depends on Ethereum maintaining or growing in value.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
A single corporate entity now controls 4.7% of the entire Ethereum supply. It is not an exchange, a protocol treasury, or a decentralized autonomous organization. It is a private company that just added another 27,084 ETH to its balance sheet in one week.
According to the original report, Bitmine now holds 5.70 million ETH. The firm also carries $555 million in cash and marketable securities, with 4.88 million of that ETH actively staked. At a projected annualized staking revenue of $211 million, the position generates a reliable nine-figure income stream without selling a single coin.
That scale puts Bitmine in a category that even some of Ethereum’s largest ICO-era whales would struggle to match. The accumulation pattern does not look like a short-term trade. It looks like a multi-year treasury strategy built around staking yield and a conviction that the asset itself will appreciate.
The mechanics behind a massive staking position Running a validator operation with 4.88 million ETH staked requires meaningful infrastructure. The 27,084 ETH added this week would itself be enough to run over 800 validators. The fact that Bitmine can absorb that kind of inflow without visible market disruption says something about the liquidity structure around ETH today. Most of the buying likely happened off-exchange or through OTC desks, limiting price impact.
The staking yield alone—$211 million a year—is not trivial. At current Ethereum staking rates, it is consistent with a blended annual return somewhere in the range institutional investors track closely. With $555 million in cash and marketable securities on top, Bitmine is running a capital-heavy operation that looks more like a traditional treasury desk than a crypto startup.
Meanwhile, Ethereum’s developer ecosystem continues to dominate activity rankings. Top 10 Blockchains by Developer Activity This Week at BlockchainReporter shows Ethereum still out front, with layer-2 networks and alternative layer-1s trailing behind. Heavy staking participation like Bitmine’s anchors the security of a chain that still attracts the most builders.
Supply concentration and what it means for the market Owning 4.7% of a $300 billion asset is not just a financial statistic. It is a market structure question. Large stakers do not only influence supply dynamics; they also affect validator queue mechanics if they ever decide to rotate out of the position. A partial unstake of that magnitude would create an exit event that fills the withdrawal queue for weeks and jolts the staking derivative market.
Yet the market seems to price concentration risk unevenly. The same week Bitmine expanded its holdings, SUI Price Today showed how institutional staking demand can drive a rally on other chains too. Across the sector, staking-as-a-service and corporate treasury allocations are starting to merge. When a firm can earn solid yield and still vote on network proposals, staking ETH looks more like an operational asset than a trading position.
Regulatory shadows over staking treasuries What remains uncertain is whether a corporate entity staking nearly 5 million ETH draws the attention of policymakers in the United States and Europe. Enforcement actions against staking services have mostly targeted exchange-based offerings, but a single private company holding such a large share of the supply could eventually trigger questions about concentration, governance influence, and market integrity.
The fight in Washington over crypto market structure legislation is not settled. As Banks Are Trying to Kill the Biggest Crypto Bill in US History detailed, banking interests are pushing hard to reshape the rules, and the outcome could directly affect whether large staking operations face additional compliance burdens in the years ahead.
For now, Bitmine’s accumulation play works on the assumption that the rules will not choke the model. The firm keeps buying and keeps staking. If the regulatory environment stays permissive, the 4.7% figure may just be a waypoint.
AUTHOR
Max delves deep into the cryptocurrency realm, with a passion for altcoins and NFTs. Convinced of crypto's transformative potential, he envisions a decentralized financial future. Max's background in the financial sector grants him unique insights into global monetary systems. In his leisure, Max embraces the thrill of adventures and is an avid sports enthusiast, finding balance and rejuvenation away from work.
Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has published an in-depth examination of a sophisticated exploit that drained at least $7.5 million from JaredfromSubway.eth, widely regarded as Ethereum’s most active sandwich-attack operator. According to insights from Chainalysis, the incident unfolded over June 20–21, 2026, when an unknown attacker used a reverse honeypot to turn the bot’s own aggressive trading logic against it.
As explained by Chainalysis, these so-called sandwich attacks are a common maximal extractable value (MEV) tactic on Ethereum.
Bots monitor the public mempool for pending user transactions and insert their own orders around them.
They typically buy a token immediately before the victim’s purchase to push the price higher, then sell right after, profiting from the resulting slippage while the original trader receives a worse execution price.
JaredfromSubway.eth, operating pseudonymously since 2023, built one of the most successful versions of this strategy.
At its peak, the bot was among the network’s largest gas consumers and was estimated to have cost other traders roughly $60 million annually in unfavorable trades while generating tens of millions in profits for its operator.
The June exploit began weeks earlier when the attacker deployed 66 fake token contracts that closely mimicked legitimate assets such as WETH, USDC, and USDT.
These were paired with fabricated liquidity pools engineered to appear as profitable sandwich opportunities.
JaredfromSubway.eth’s bot, optimized for rapid detection of mempool activity, repeatedly interacted with the deceptive contracts.
In doing so, it granted token-spending approvals to the malicious smart contracts.
These approvals were never revoked and accumulated across multiple transactions.
Once sufficient approvals were in place, a tripwire smart contract controlled by the attacker activated.
A single coordinated transaction then swept the bot’s wallets, extracting approximately $7.5 million in Ether and stablecoins.
Chainalysis tracked the subsequent flow using its on-chain tools: the attacker quickly swapped the stablecoins for Ether to reduce freeze risk from issuers, distributed the funds across several wallets, and routed them through Tornado Cash. No recoveries have been reported.
The attack succeeded because the bot granted spending permissions to contracts it never properly vetted.
Chainalysis notes that the operator prioritized speed over basic due diligence, such as checking contract verification status on Etherscan or reviewing deployment history.
This oversight allowed the fake pools to function as an effective honeypot.
The incident carries broader lessons for DeFi participants.
Token approvals function as ongoing permissions that can remain active indefinitely unless explicitly revoked.
Many users—retail traders and automated systems alike—grant broad or unlimited spending rights to contracts they have never reviewed.
Chainalysis highlights the risks of interacting with newly deployed or unverified liquidity pools that lack an established track record.
The firm recommends regularly revoking unused approvals and exercising caution with unfamiliar contracts before approving any spending rights.
Even highly optimized MEV bots are not immune to deception when security hygiene is neglected.
The JaredfromSubway.eth case demonstrates that the same on-chain mechanisms enabling profitable trading can be weaponized by attackers who understand how these systems operate. As Chainalysis observes, protecting against such exploits requires consistent attention to approvals and contract verification, practices that apply equally to sophisticated operators and everyday DeFi users.
Bitmine has increased its Ethereum holdings to more than 5.7 million ETH, bringing the company within reach of its stated goal of controlling 5% of the cryptocurrency’s circulating supply.
Summary
Bitmine added 27,084 ETH last week, increasing its treasury to more than 5.7 million ETH, or about 4.7% of Ethereum’s supply. Chairman Tom Lee said the company remains on track to reach its goal of controlling 5% of Ethereum’s circulating supply in 2026. Ethereum continues to hold above key support near $1,510, while Bitmine and other treasury firms keep accumulating despite recent market weakness. According to a June 29 company announcement, the Ethereum treasury firm purchased another 27,084 ETH over the past week, lifting its total holdings to just over 5.7 million ETH.
Based on Bitmine’s figures, the treasury now represents about 4.7% of Ethereum’s estimated circulating supply of 120.7 million ETH, while Chairman Tom Lee reiterated his expectation that the company could reach the “alchemy of 5%” sometime in 2026.
Bitmine expands Ethereum treasury through steady buying The latest purchase continues Bitmine’s accumulation strategy despite a difficult week for the crypto market. Ethereum fell around 8% during the period, yet the company maintained its buying pace while keeping most of its holdings in staking.
Per the announcement, Bitmine has staked nearly 4.9 million ETH, or about 85% of its treasury, with those holdings valued at roughly $7.7 billion at current market prices.
Tom Lee said the company projects annualized staking revenue of about $211 million, while its staking operations have recently generated an annualized seven-day yield of 2.75%.
Bitmine’s scale has made it the largest publicly traded Ethereum treasury company. Its Arkham wallet page has become a closely watched reference for investors tracking the firm’s purchases and staking activity, drawing attention to both the rapid expansion of its treasury and its exposure to Ethereum price swings.
Earlier this month, crypto.news examined what could happen if treasury companies continue accumulating large portions of Ethereum’s supply. The report noted that while sustained buying can reduce liquid supply available on the market, concentrated ownership may also increase risks if companies later finance operations through debt, equity issuance, or asset sales during weaker market conditions.
Institutional positioning continues despite weak price action Separately, Bitmine said it has joined the Russell 1000 index following the annual reconstitution of the benchmark. Tom Lee stated that the inclusion could introduce hundreds or even thousands of additional institutional investors to the company’s shareholder base.
Although Ethereum has struggled in recent weeks, Lee pointed to several industry developments that he believes remain supportive. He cited the launch of Ethlabs and the Bank of England’s softer position on stablecoins as positive developments for the Ethereum ecosystem.
Commenting on the recent weakness across crypto markets, Lee said the selling pressure was consistent with quarter-end portfolio repositioning rather than a change in Ethereum’s long-term outlook.
“We are nearing quarter-end for June, and it is not surprising to see ‘window dressing’ leading to investors reducing their holdings in assets which have fallen in the past 3 months.”
The latest treasury purchase also comes as other publicly traded Ethereum holders continue adding to their positions. According to blockchain data highlighted by crypto analyst Rain, SharpLink acquired 39,196 ETH worth about $62.4 million over three days, even as spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds recorded a seventh straight week of net outflows.
Sharplink bought $62.4M of $ETH in three days after sitting out for eight months.
39,196 ETH total. 5,000 Thursday. 5,000 Friday. 29,196 across three OTC deals Saturday.
ETH is down 22.8% month-on-month, near 50% since January.
Spot ETH ETFs hit seven straight weeks of… pic.twitter.com/wdLPbd2PO4
— Rain (@raintures) June 29, 2026 Rain argued that the buying suggests some corporate treasury managers are positioning for long-term institutional adoption rather than responding to short-term market momentum.
Bitmine’s Ethereum strategy has also become increasingly linked to its public-market structure. In an earlier report, crypto.news noted that the company’s BMNP preferred-share dividend plan ties shareholder payments to the size of its Ethereum treasury and the income generated from staking, making staking returns a core part of the firm’s capital strategy rather than simply an additional revenue source.
Ethereum remains pinned near major support From a technical perspective, Ethereum appears to be forming a descending triangle on the daily chart, with a series of lower highs pressing against horizontal support near $1,510. The pattern suggests sellers continue to gain control while buyers defend the same price zone.
Ethereum daily price chart — June 29 | Source: crypto.news Momentum indicators remain cautious. The daily RSI is holding near 31, close to oversold territory, suggesting selling pressure has eased but buyers have yet to regain control. Meanwhile, the MACD remains below the zero line despite flattening out, indicating bearish momentum is weakening without confirming a reversal.
A breakout above the descending trendline and the $1,700 resistance could invalidate the bearish setup and open the way toward the $1,860 Fibonacci resistance. Conversely, a decisive break below the $1,510 support would confirm the descending triangle and could accelerate losses toward the psychological $1,400 level.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) added 27,084 ETH over the past week, bringing its total holdings to 5,700,040 coins and pushing the company to 94% of its target of owning 5% of Ethereum's circulating supply.
As of June 28, Bitmine's 5.70 million (ETH) — priced at $1,569 per coin — represents 4.7% of total ETH supply, which stands at 120.7 million coins, the company announced Monday.
Total crypto holdings, cash, marketable securities, and "moonshot" positions reached $9.8 billion, including a $180 million stake in Beast Industries, a $74 million stake in Eightco Holdings, and $555 million in cash and marketable securities, the company said.
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Challenging week "This past week was a challenging one for crypto investors as ETH fell by 8%, even as Ethereum witnessed notable positive developments such as the creation of Ethlabs, and even the Bank of England softened its stance around stablecoins," Chairman Tom Lee said.
Lee attributed the price weakness to quarter-end window dressing, describing it as investors reducing exposure to assets that have declined over the past three months. Bitmine's pace of accumulation slowed from the prior week, when the company acquired 52,203 ETH.
"We continue to maintain a steady pace of accumulation throughout 2026," Lee said. "We believe we are in the early stages of crypto spring. Bitmine is expected to reach the 'alchemy of 5%' sometime in 2026."
Russell 1000 inclusion On June 26, Bitmine was added to the Russell 1000 Large-cap index as part of the index's annual reconstitution.
Lee said the inclusion is expected to bring hundreds, and potentially thousands, of additional institutional investors into the stock as passive funds and ETFs — which the Investment Company Institute estimates typically hold 18% to 20% of a company's shares — rebalance to reflect the change.
Of Bitmine's 5.70 million ETH, 4,879,157 are currently staked, representing approximately $7.7 billion at the June 28 price. Annualized staking revenues are projected at $211 million, Lee said.
At full scale — when Bitmine's ETH is fully staked through MAVAN, the company's institutional-grade validator network, and its staking partners — projected annualized staking rewards rise to $246 million, based on a 2.75% seven-day yield, Lee added.
Bitmine remains the largest corporate Ethereum treasury in the world and the second-largest corporate crypto treasury overall, behind Strategy, which owns 847,363 BTC valued at approximately $50 billion, per The Block’s data.
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ETH was trading at approximately $1,565 at the time of publication, according to The Block's price page. BMNR shares were changing hands around $13.56 on Monday, down roughly 13% over the past week and more than 90% below their 52-week high of $161.00.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
Ethereum [ETH] has faced renewed selling pressure after large holders reduced their positions by roughly 550,000 ETH, valued at nearly $880 million, over the past week. The scale of the distribution reflected growing caution among major market participants and increased the available supply entering the market.
As a result, Ethereum lost ground and slipped toward the $1,560 support area highlighted on the daily chart. The decline also aligned with weakening market structure after Ethereum failed to reclaim higher resistance levels earlier this month.
Instead of attracting aggressive follow-through buying, each recovery attempt encountered renewed selling pressure.
Buyers returned despite aggressive whale selling Spot Taker CVD presented a different picture from the whale activity.
At the time of writing, Taker Buy Dominant indicated that market buyers had regained control of executed spot orders despite the sizeable distribution from large holders. This shift suggested that retail participants and smaller investors absorbed part of the additional supply entering the market.
Buying interest strengthened near support instead of disappearing after the decline. Even so, the renewed demand had not yet translated into a decisive breakout because whale selling remained substantial throughout the week.
Buyers therefore faced the difficult task of overcoming persistent overhead supply before Ethereum could establish a stronger recovery.
Source: CryptoQuant Ethereum fights to protect a major support Ethereum revisited the $1,560 demand zone after completing a sharp decline from the $2,000 resistance region.
The daily chart showed buyers responding every time price approached this area, preventing another immediate breakdown. That repeated defense suggested the level continued attracting demand despite broader market weakness.
At press time, the RSI remained below the neutral 50 level and printed around 33, showing that bullish strength had not fully recovered. Despite that, the indicator stayed above its recent low, suggesting selling pressure had eased compared with the earlier collapse.
Price also continued forming higher rebounds from support, although it still traded beneath the major resistance levels at $1,800 and $2,000. If buyers continued defending the current zone, Ethereum could attempt another recovery toward those resistance levels.
However, losing $1,560 would likely expose the market to another leg lower before stronger demand emerged.
Source: TradingView Liquidity barrier could shape Ethereum’s next move The Binance ETH/USDT Liquidation Heatmap showed the largest concentration of liquidity sitting around the $1,590-$1,600 region.
Those dense liquidation clusters represented the closest obstacle above the current market price and highlighted where volatility could increase if Ethereum continued recovering.
Price had already approached this area several times without producing a sustained breakout. That behavior indicated sellers remained active around the liquidity pocket even as buyers defended lower levels.
Clearing the $1,590-$1,600 cluster could trigger additional short liquidations and encourage price to challenge the next resistance near $1,800. Otherwise, repeated rejection inside that zone would strengthen the case for another retest of $1,560, where buyers would once again need to absorb renewed selling pressure.
Source: CoinGlass Can ETH regain control? Ethereum showed signs of stabilization after buyers defended the $1,560 support despite heavy whale selling. Spot demand also strengthened, offering an encouraging signal beneath the surface.
However, the market would likely need to clear the $1,590-$1,600 liquidity barrier before any broader recovery could develop. Failing to overcome that zone could keep Ethereum trapped near support and increase the risk of another downside test.
Final Summary Ethereum whales distributed 550,000 ETH as buyers continued absorbing supply near the $1,560 support. Spot buying strengthened despite whale selling, while heavy liquidity remained concentrated around $1,590–$1,600.
In brief BitMine added another $43 million in Ethereum to its balance sheet last week, despite falling prices. The firm now holds more than 5.7 million ETH valued around $9 billion. As BitMine continued its consistent purchases, top Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy did not add to its holdings last week. Leading Ethereum treasury firm BitMine Immersion Technologies stayed consistent in the face of declining crypto prices last week, adding nearly $43 million in ETH to its stash even while top Bitcoin treasury company Strategy opted against accumulating BTC.
The firm now holds more than 5.7 million ETH, valued around $9 billion. It also holds around 206 Bitcoin, worth $12.3 million.
“This past week was a challenging one for crypto investors as ETH fell by 8%, even as Ethereum witnessed notable positive developments such as the creation of Ethlabs, and even the Bank of England softened its stance around stablecoins,” said BitMine Chairman Tom Lee in a statement. (Disclaimer: Lee is an investor in Decrypt parent company, Dastan).
Ethlabs, a new nonprofit research and development lab dedicated to championing the future of the Ethereum network and its native asset, is financially backed by BitMine and competing treasury firm Sharplink.
Lee maintained that crypto's future looks bright, and said the firm “remains focused on the longer-term horizon,” highlighting tailwinds like agentic payments and institutional adoption of crypto rails.
“We are nearing quarter-end for June, and it is not surprising to see 'window dressing' leading to investors reducing their holdings in assets which have fallen in the past three months,” he said.
The firm’s primary treasury asset, ETH, has now fallen 22% in the last month of trading, recently trading hands at $1,567. At that mark, ETH is now 68% off its all-time high of $4,946.
Bitcoin has performed marginally better, dipping 19% in the last month of trading and more than 52% from its all-time high of $126,080, changing hands on Monday at $59,324.
As its primary treasury vehicle slides, so too have shares in BitMine (BMNR). The firm’s stock has fallen nearly 17% in the last five trading days and more than 31% in the last month of trading, recently trading at $13.21—down about 2.6% so far Monday.
Shares are now down more than 91% from a 52-week high of $161 established shortly after the firm adopted its Ethereum treasury strategy last June.
That crypto-amassing model was pioneered by Bitcoin giant Strategy and its co-founder and Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, who started aggressively accumulating BTC in 2020. While the firm had aggressively and consistently added BTC on a nearly weekly basis in recent years, it did not add to its holdings last week amid scrutiny of its preferred equity offering, STRC, which fell to new lows on Friday.
Instead, the firm approved plans to sell up to $1.25 billion worth of Bitcoin to build up its cash reserves to fuel dividend payments.
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In brief BitMine added another $43 million in Ethereum to its balance sheet last week, despite falling prices. The firm now holds more than 5.7 million ETH valued around $9 billion. As BitMine continued its consistent purchases, top Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy did not add to its holdings last week. Leading Ethereum treasury firm BitMine Immersion Technologies stayed consistent in the face of declining crypto prices last week, adding nearly $43 million in ETH to its stash even while top Bitcoin treasury company Strategy opted against accumulating BTC.
The firm now holds more than 5.7 million ETH, valued around $9 billion. It also holds around 206 Bitcoin, worth $12.3 million.
“This past week was a challenging one for crypto investors as ETH fell by 8%, even as Ethereum witnessed notable positive developments such as the creation of Ethlabs, and even the Bank of England softened its stance around stablecoins,” said BitMine Chairman Tom Lee in a statement. (Disclaimer: Lee is an investor in Decrypt parent company, Dastan).
Ethlabs, a new nonprofit research and development lab dedicated to championing the future of the Ethereum network and its native asset, is financially backed by BitMine and competing treasury firm Sharplink.
Lee maintained that crypto's future looks bright, and said the firm “remains focused on the longer-term horizon,” highlighting tailwinds like agentic payments and institutional adoption of crypto rails.
“We are nearing quarter-end for June, and it is not surprising to see 'window dressing' leading to investors reducing their holdings in assets which have fallen in the past three months,” he said.
The firm’s primary treasury asset, ETH, has now fallen 22% in the last month of trading, recently trading hands at $1,567. At that mark, ETH is now 68% off its all-time high of $4,946.
Bitcoin has performed marginally better, dipping 19% in the last month of trading and more than 52% from its all-time high of $126,080, changing hands on Monday at $59,324.
As its primary treasury vehicle slides, so too have shares in BitMine (BMNR). The firm’s stock has fallen nearly 17% in the last five trading days and more than 31% in the last month of trading, recently trading at $13.21—down about 2.6% so far Monday.
Shares are now down more than 91% from a 52-week high of $161 established shortly after the firm adopted its Ethereum treasury strategy last June.
That crypto-amassing model was pioneered by Bitcoin giant Strategy and its co-founder and Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, who started aggressively accumulating BTC in 2020. While the firm had aggressively and consistently added BTC on a nearly weekly basis in recent years, it did not add to its holdings last week amid scrutiny of its preferred equity offering, STRC, which fell to new lows on Friday.
Instead, the firm approved plans to sell up to $1.25 billion worth of Bitcoin to build up its cash reserves to fuel dividend payments.
Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
For more details, visit the official Coindesk platform.
TL;DR Tom Lee has linked recent crypto weakness to quarter-end “window dressing.” Bitmine added another $43 million worth of ETH, its smallest purchase since early May. The setup matters because it frames the selloff as potentially positioning-driven rather than purely fundamental. Tom Lee Sees Positioning Behind Crypto Weakness Tom Lee has pointed to quarter-end “window dressing” as a possible reason behind the latest bout of crypto weakness, arguing that some investors may be cutting losers or reducing visible exposure before the start of the second half of the year.
That explanation is useful because it gives traders a different way to read the market. When prices fall, the first instinct is often to look for a major new catalyst: bad macro data, regulatory pressure, forced selling, ETF outflows, or a breakdown in risk appetite. Sometimes those factors matter. But at the end of a quarter, flows can also become more mechanical.
Portfolio managers may clean up books. Funds may reduce positions they do not want to show. Traders may de-risk ahead of reporting periods. None of that guarantees a rebound, but it can mean that part of the selling pressure is calendar-driven rather than tied to a new long-term thesis.
Bitmine Keeps Buying ETH, But More Slowly The same update also put Bitmine back in focus after the company added another $43 million worth of Ethereum. The purchase was described as its smallest since early May, which is interesting in itself.
A smaller purchase does not mean the company has abandoned its Ethereum treasury strategy. It suggests a more measured approach while the market is choppy. That is probably the healthier read. Aggressive buying into every dip may look bold, but it can also become reckless if liquidity is weak and sentiment is deteriorating.
For Ethereum, Bitmine’s activity adds another layer to the market conversation. ETH is not just being traded as a high-beta crypto asset. It is also being accumulated by at least some corporate treasury players, even if that lane remains much smaller and less proven than Bitcoin treasury adoption.
Why Traders Should Care The key question is whether the recent weakness is a temporary positioning flush or the start of a deeper risk-off move.
If Lee is right and quarter-end behavior is a major driver, then the market could stabilize once that pressure clears. In that scenario, assets that held up reasonably well, or saw continued accumulation during the weakness, may get a cleaner read in early July.
But there is a caveat. Positioning explanations can be tempting because they make selloffs feel temporary. The market still has to prove it. ETH and broader crypto need actual demand to return, not just a story about why selling may fade.
For Bitmine, the takeaway is straightforward: the company is still adding ETH, but the smaller purchase size suggests some caution. For traders, that makes the next few sessions important. If crypto rebounds after quarter-end, Lee’s window-dressing argument will gain weight. If weakness continues, the market may be dealing with something deeper than reporting-period cleanup.
—
This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
As the leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) attempts to hold onto support around the $60,000 level, it continues to face a number of adverse factors, including large capital outflows from US spot ETFs, concerns about a potential Fed interest rate hike, a strong dollar, rising Treasury bond yields, and military conflicts in the Middle East.
Amid these negative developments, further declines for Bitcoin continue to be predicted, with $50,000 being the most frequently mentioned option.
At this point, the analytics firm QCP Capital predicts that Bitcoin could reach $55,000.
QCP Capital analysts noted increased demand in the options market for BTC put options with a price range of $55,000 to $58,000 for the end of July.
Analysts also added that risk reversal indicators largely favored put options.
Finally, QCP Capital identified $58,000 and $1,500 as key support levels for Bitcoin and Ethereum, respectively.
The First Bottom Signal for Bitcoin Has Arrived! Furthermore, CryptoQuant analyst MorenoDV argues that the first bottoming signals are emerging in Bitcoin’s on-chain indicators.
According to the analyst, the first on-chain signal of a potential Bitcoin bottom has been observed. At this point, the analyst noted that the Bitcoin UTXO block profit/loss ratio has fallen to a level that historically coincides with market lows.
However, this doesn’t necessarily mean a bottom has been reached. According to the analyst, a stronger signal for a bottom in Bitcoin needs to emerge, and the 365-day moving average needs to show a much steeper decline. In other words, the current bear market may face further declines and market shocks before it completely ends.
“…The rate has fallen into a region that historically appears during bottom-forming phases. However, this doesn’t mean the bottom has been reached. Bitcoin may need to endure more pain before completely ending its bear market phase…”
*This is not investment advice.
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The Loopring team closed its decentralized exchange due to poor adoption, obsolescence, and operational issues. The team will return all user funds directly to their Ethereum wallets and cover all gas fees during the distribution process. Loopring officially shut down its decentralized exchange, marking the end of one of Ethereum’s earliest zk-rollup platforms. All trading functionalities were immediately stopped, and the relayer was turned off right after the official announcement made via Loopring’s X account.
The shutdown ends a project that once demonstrated how zero-knowledge rollups could efficiently scale Ethereum. Loopring raised $45 million through its initial coin offering in 2017.
Despite its technical merits, Loopring acknowledged that users never adopted the platform on a meaningful scale. The team pointed out that the lack of a virtual machine on the platform did not allow developers to compose and develop more advanced real-world applications. Without payment use cases and an evolving ecosystem, Loopring found it difficult to compete with new infrastructure built for blockchain technology.
Source: X Article
Additionally, Loopring admitted it was good at the software but failed to build the business acumen needed to drive adoption. Furthermore, it mentioned that the delisting of the LRC token throughout 2026 only worsened the problems.
New zkEVM Networks Outperformed Loopring’s Technology Finally, the development team admitted that modern zkEVM-based networks were able to surpass its proprietary technology. New projects such as zkSync, Scroll, and StarkNet created Ethereum-based environments that allowed deploying smart contracts more easily and developing a decentralized applications ecosystem.
The team admitted that it simply did not make sense anymore to continue working on Loopring. This is why the exchange was closed down in an orderly fashion. The project had earlier ended wallet services in July 2025 owing to scaling issues. The latest update marks Loopring’s eventual exit from the original decentralized exchange business.
Direct Distribution of Assets by Team The Loopring team made assurances that all user funds are still safe despite the imminent closure. Final balances will be computed, an inventory of assets provided, and two weeks allocated to check balances before any distribution can take place.
Distributions will follow after the two-week period, whereby the Loopring team will distribute assets directly to the wallets in batches. The team will automatically convert liquidity pool holdings to the respective token, take care of all gas fees, and undertake the whole process without the need for Merkle proofs.
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Loopring has announced the immediate closure of its decentralized exchange and automated market maker after concluding that years of limited adoption, business shortcomings, and technological competition left the project without a sustainable future.
Summary
Loopring has shut down its decentralized exchange after citing weak adoption, business challenges and competition from newer Ethereum scaling networks. Users will receive their remaining balances through direct Ethereum wallet distributions, with Loopring covering the gas fees. More than 60 crypto projects have closed in 2026, with Pyra, Carrot, Botanix Labs and several others also ending operations. Loopring disclosed the decision in a post on X on Sunday, confirming that all trading services have stopped and the protocol’s relayer has ceased operating. The team attributed the shutdown to three factors: weak user adoption, limited business development capabilities, and competition from newer zkEVM based Ethereum scaling networks.
The developers acknowledged that Loopring pioneered zero knowledge rollup technology but stated that the protocol’s architecture lacked a virtual machine, which prevented composability and limited practical payment use cases. These design constraints restricted ecosystem growth, the team wrote.
Engineers behind the project also admitted they excelled at technical development but failed to build the commercial side of the business. The announcement added that exchange delistings of LRC during 2026 accelerated a process that had already become unavoidable.
The team further stated that modern Ethereum compatible zkEVM networks eventually outpaced Loopring’s specialised design. Rather than continue operating what it described as a hollow service, the developers chose to discontinue the platform.
User withdrawals to continue after trading ends Loopring confirmed it will calculate final user balances before distributing funds directly to users’ Ethereum wallets in batches. The team also committed to paying the gas fees associated with those withdrawals.
Wallet services had already closed in July 2025 after the project cited scaling challenges. The latest announcement completes the shutdown of Loopring’s remaining core products.
The protocol reached a total value locked of about $760 million during the crypto market peak in November 2021, but that figure has since fallen by almost 99% to roughly $8 million, based on L2Beat data. LRC has followed a similar trajectory, falling to about $0.01 from its all-time high of $3.75 recorded during the same month.
Loopring secured one of its highest-profile partnerships in 2021 when it agreed to power GameStop’s NFT marketplace, which launched the following year.
Crypto closures continue through 2026 RootData has recorded more than 60 crypto projects and protocols that have discontinued services during 2026, as prolonged market weakness and changing technology trends have affected businesses across the sector.
As previously reported by crypto.news, Pyra announced plans to wind down after concluding it could not recover from losses linked to the Drift exploit. The crypto payments platform halted new user registrations, cancelled payment cards, and gave customers until Sept. 15, 2026, to withdraw funds and export private keys through a dedicated web portal while it prepares to distribute any future Drift recovery tokens.
Other projects have also exited the market this year. Solana-based yield protocol Carrot attributed its shutdown to losses connected to the Drift Protocol exploit, while Bitcoin Layer 2 developer Botanix Labs stated that user demand had not reached a level capable of supporting long term operations.
Loopring announced that it has shut down its decentralized exchange (DEX) services, with its relayer going offline immediately after the announcement on Sunday.
Though widely recognized as the first zkRollup project on Ethereum, the project said in an X article that it never gained measurable traction.
"As the first zkRollup, we lacked a virtual machine — no composability, no real‑world payment use cases," the team wrote. "That limitation kept our ecosystem from growing."
Loopring also said its zkEVM architecture had been outpaced by modern solutions that are fully compatible with Ethereum smart contracts. The lack of business development and external pressures, including the major exchange delistings of its native token LRC, also contributed to the decision, the team said.
Direct refunds Loopring noted that it will return users' assets directly and cover all transaction costs, instead of requiring users to generate and submit Merkle proofs. The team said the approach would be the "fairest and most hassle-free" way for users.
In the coming days, Loopring said it will publish a full list of users' final balances on Layer 2, including spot balances and AMM positions. Following a two-week review period of the list, the team plans to then upgrade the Loopring DEX smart contract to only allow team-controlled, whitelisted addresses to transfer assets out of the Layer 2.
The closure of Loopring's DEX comes roughly a year after the project sunsetted its DeFi products, including Dual Investment and Portal, saying it would instead focus on improving the Layer 2 network. Loopring had announced the closure of its wallet service earlier that year. Loopring's CEO, Steve Guo, also stepped down in August 2025.
The price of LRC fell 4.24% in the past 24 hours to trade at $0.012 as of 2:45 a.m. ET on Monday, according to The Block's Loopring price page.
"Loopring was born from a pure cypherpunk vision — we were coders who believed that zero‑knowledge proofs could scale Ethereum," Loopring wrote. "Rather than running a hollow service, we choose to end it gracefully."
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
Loopring will distribute funds directly to users and cover transaction fees. Users do not need to take any action.
Loopring, the first project to launch a zero-knowledge rollup on Ethereum, has announced that its decentralized exchange will immediately stop all trading services. The relayer has already been taken offline.
The team said the decision was made with regret after years of trying to keep the platform operating.
Outdated Technology and Poor Adoption According to the announcement, one of the main reasons behind the closure was the platform’s technical limitations. Loopring said its early zkRollup design did not include a virtual machine, which limited composability and prevented broader real-world applications, including payment use cases. These restrictions hindered ecosystem growth and made it difficult for the platform to compete with newer technologies.
The team also admitted that it had stronger engineering capabilities than business development skills, while describing itself as “engineers at heart, not business operators.” In addition, the delisting of LRC from major exchanges in 2026 added further pressure to the project.
“We poured countless late nights into building the very first zkRollup on the market. That achievement still fills us with pride. But today, we must face reality and announce, with deep regret, that Loopring DEX will cease all trading services effective immediately.”
Loopring explained that newer zkEVM solutions, which support Ethereum smart contracts and offer broader compatibility, have surpassed its specialized architecture. The team said its technology now feels outdated and that shutting down the service was preferable “rather than running a hollow service.”
The company stated that user funds remain safe and announced a distribution process to return assets. Instead of requiring users to submit Merkle proofs through the original self-custody withdrawal mechanism, Loopring said it will handle the entire process itself and cover all transaction fees. The team acknowledged that this method is more centralized but described it as the simplest option for users.
Loopring also revealed plans to publish a complete list of final account balances over the coming days. This includes spot holdings and liquidity pool positions, which will be converted into underlying tokens. A two-week review period will allow users to verify balances before distributions begin.
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The breach was traced to a flaw in the service’s two-factor authentication system, which allowed attackers to impersonate wallet owners and gain access to their accounts.
Loopring, an early pioneer of zero-knowledge proof-based scaling solutions on Ethereum, has announced the permanent closure of its decentralized exchange. The project’s transaction relaying infrastructure has been disabled, with the team stating that its current architecture is unable to compete with the new generation of Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible layer 2 networks.
Architecture losing ground in the raceAlthough Loopring was among the first to implement a zkRollup solution for Ethereum, the team acknowledged it could not drive meaningful adoption. The protocol’s lack of EVM compatibility restricted the development of diverse decentralized finance (DeFi) applications and payment solutions. As developers increasingly favored EVM-compatible layer 2s, Loopring’s ecosystem suffered from limited liquidity and stunted growth.
Mini glossary: EVM compatibility means a blockchain network can run smart contracts written for Ethereum with minimal changes. zkEVM combines this capability with zero-knowledge proof security in a layer 2 solution.
According to the project, the Ethereum scaling landscape has evolved significantly in recent years. The latest solutions now offer both zero-knowledge proof security and EVM compatibility, enabling developers to deploy applications without the need to rewrite existing codebases. This shift has made standalone zkRollup platforms, which require a separate development environment, increasingly uncompetitive.
The Loopring team emphasized that the lack of EVM compatibility limited the growth of DeFi applications and payment solutions on its platform, prompting developers to migrate to EVM-compatible layer 2 networks.
Internal challenges and LRC impactIn addition to technical constraints, internal shortcomings also played a role in Loopring’s decline. While the project described itself as technically strong, it admitted lacking the business development capabilities necessary to boost adoption. The delisting of its native token LRC from top cryptocurrency exchanges in 2026 further exacerbated these challenges.
Following the shutdown announcement, LRC traded at around $0.01228. The token declined 2.95% over 24 hours, with its market capitalization hovering near $16.8 million. This price movement suggests investors are monitoring the development, but there was no immediate severe market reaction.
User balances to be returned automaticallyLoopring has announced a fully automated refund process for user funds. The team confirmed that users will not need to generate Merkle proofs or initiate separate withdrawal actions to retrieve their layer 2 balances.
Once the calculations—including adjustments for liquidity pool balances—are finalized, distribution details will be publicly shared. Balances over $10 will be transferred, without fees, directly to users’ associated layer 1 wallets.
Transformation in the layer 2 marketLoopring’s exit marks a new stage in the evolution of zkRollup-based scaling on Ethereum, moving from an experimental phase to one dominated by interoperable zkEVM chains. This transition highlights that technical innovation alone is not sufficient; developer engagement, ecosystem size, liquidity, and viable business models are also critical for success.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Zoomex hosted the second episode of its World Cup Edition X Space as part of the Zoomex World Cup Impact Pledge, bringing together Champions League winner Didi Hamann and three traders: Mario from Forex Trading & Investing, Crank, and Joseph. Fernando Aranda hosted the session, which ran across World Cup analysis, the German squad debate, career philosophy, and the kind of crypto-to-football comparisons that only hold together when neither side takes them too seriously.
The session continued the five-part charity initiative launched in the first episode. Across five World Cup episodes, Zoomex is committing 1,000 USDT per episode to a charity of each football guest’s choosing, rising by an additional 5,000 USDT if the guest’s World Cup prediction proves correct. Hamann backed Japan to beat Sweden and nominated a homeless support charity in Munich, a cause he backs regularly.
Nothing to Lose. Nothing to Fear. Fernando opened by asking which is harder, a match you must win, or a match you cannot afford to lose. Hamann said the question had never been put to him that way before, and his answer repositioned the difficulty entirely.
“I always say in football, the hardest thing in football is when you play against a team that has nothing to lose. If that makes sense, because we’ve seen a lot of upsets. When a team has nothing to lose, they’re the most dangerous because they just go for it. And if they lose, they lose. It doesn’t matter. But if they win, they can win everything or gain everything.”
That is a different pressure to manage than needing to win. A team chasing a must-win result still operates inside a calculation. A team that only stands to gain has discarded the calculation entirely. From that point of view, he said, having to win is probably the easier of the two situations to be in.
Morocco against Italy was the recent example the panel kept returning to. South Africa against South Korea was another. “Nobody gave them a chance, and here they are in the last 32.”
Crank had watched the same dynamic unfold in markets many times. Traders who enter without a prebuilt plan are playing from the same emotional state as a team with nothing to lose: exposed, reactive, and without the protection that structure provides. The difference is that in trading, the cost of that freedom comes directly out of your account.
The Game Does Not Change at 3-0 Down. As a holding midfielder, Hamann gave himself one instruction regardless of what the scoreboard said, and he never deviated from it.
“I always felt in my position I couldn’t afford to give the ball away because we have players who need to take risks. They give the ball away more often naturally because they have to take chances. And I always felt in my position I had to play the same way whether we are 3-0 up or 3-0 down because I wasn’t the one changing games, scoring goals or setting up goals. It wasn’t my job and I couldn’t do it. But we had players to do that.”
The players around him were Steven Gerrard, Luis Garcia, Cissé, Baros. His job was to win the ball, protect the structure, and put it in their feet as quickly as possible. Getting carried away when the scoreline was comfortable, or trying to do things that were not in his nature when 3-0 down, both produced the same result: a team that had lost its shape.
Istanbul in 2005 is the case study. Hamann came on at half-time, three goals down against an AC Milan side regarded at the time as the best club team in the world. He was warming up on the touchline when the second half was about to begin, and his read was simple.
“I was sure, warming up at half-time, because obviously I came on at half-time, I was sure if we scored one, I’m sure we scored a second one. And then if it’s 3-2, even the most experienced teams do make mistakes. And then after that first goal, the stadium came, there were 40,000 or 50,000 Liverpool fans. And I think AC Milan all of a sudden thought, maybe it’s not over.”
Three goals in six minutes. Penalties after that. He acknowledged luck was part of it, but the more durable point was that the process did not change. Win the ball. Do not concede the wrong goal. Give the ball to the people with the license to take risks.
Cissé had been a guest the previous week and described the same locker room from the other side. Joseph in this session brought the parallel into trading directly: “I always start with a plan, like a coach picks his starting eleven before the match. But if the market moves against me, don’t wait too long. Just like a coach, make a quick substitution when the team is losing control. I exit my position early instead of hoping for a comeback. Sticking to a plan is good, but being too stubborn can really hurt you. At the end of the day, the best traders are not the ones who are always right. They are the ones who know how to manage risks when they are wrong.”
Attack Is Not Enough. Fernando raised the old argument: attack wins games, defence wins championships. Hamann agreed, then sharpened it.
“It’s almost impossible to outscore teams on a regular basis. I do think just attack won’t win. You need a good defence, you need a balance in your team, and a good-holding midfielder. You might get to the quarters, you might get to the semis, you might even get to the final. But I don’t think you win the whole thing.”
The Barcelona side that most people reach for as the purest attacking team of the modern era, Messi, Suárez, Neymar, still had Puyol and Piqué in central defence and Busquets holding midfield. That Busquets point is the sharper one: the best attacking team of the generation was built around arguably the best defensive midfielder of the same generation. France in this tournament ticks the same boxes from the other direction. Mbappé at the front, two of the best centre-backs in the world behind him, a holding structure that does not give teams the space to breathe.
Real Madrid is the present-day example of what happens when the balance is off. The attacking quality is not in question. The defensive midfield structure lags, and at the tournament stage, one bad half against the right opponent ends everything.
On the type of error he finds hardest to watch, Hamann drew a precise distinction. “I don’t mind the technical fault or mistake. You know, if a ball bounces, if you misplace a pass, it shouldn’t happen, but it happens. But what I don’t like is when teams, especially in the Champions League or now in the World Cup, when they make mental mistakes. You see it all the time when they give the ball away in areas where they shouldn’t play, where they get a bit too smart and think they get away with it. You shouldn’t make a mistake because you don’t think. This is what drives me crazy.”
A technical error can be explained by the surface, by fatigue, by a fraction of a second lost to distraction. A mental error has no comparable excuse. At the highest level, with everything on the line, the only reason to stop thinking is overconfidence.
The trading panel had the same split. Mario put it cleanly: “The market is the man and we follow the market. It doesn’t make sense not to change your view if the market is against you. You only lose money when you do it like that.” The stop loss is the instrument that enforces honesty when the mind is arguing for one more minute, one more candle, one more reason to stay in. Mario gave it the most useful name of the session: “The stop loss is like being a good defender. Maybe like the libero. The last man. If you kick him, then you get a red card. That’s the stop loss. Last line of defence.”
Joseph extended the metaphor into position sizing: “It’s just like a football defence. If your back line is not organised, even a great goalkeeper cannot save you every time. In trading, protecting your capital is like protecting your goal. If you defend well, you will always have another chance to win.”
Brazil to Win. Angelotti to Manage. Hamann had made his tournament pick before the first game was played, and he was not changing it now.
“I said at the start of the tournament, I said Brazil, because I think it’s a long tournament. It’s 48 teams now, so it’s a week, 10 days longer than it was before. And there will be at times, there will be a few problems within the team, and you need somebody to handle it and manage it. And I think in Angelotti, they’ve got the perfect man.”
The best defence. A very good attack. An open question in midfield. And the right coach for a campaign that will test squads not just tactically but in terms of internal management. His second breath went to France. “I stick with Brazil, but I think it will take a very, very good team to beat France.”
Germany occupies a different kind of space in Hamann’s thinking, somewhere between professional assessment and obvious personal investment. The read on the squad was honest. Undaf, used so far as the impact substitute, should stay there.
“He’s probably the best sub, the super sub of this tournament. He’s probably the best player coming on in this tournament. So why change it? Because everybody knows when he comes on, there’s a boost going around the ground. There’s a boost going through the team and everybody goes, oh, he’s coming on. We’ve got a chance.”
That psychological effect disappears the moment he becomes expected from the first whistle. The weapon works because it has been withheld. Sané has not delivered on the first two games. Wirth is settling in. Musiala, five months back from a serious injury, has been anonymous by his own standards. Schlotterbeck’s absence has cost the defensive structure its balance with the left foot. Mecha has been the best German player in the tournament and may emerge from it as one of the most watched midfielders in Europe.
On the group stage as a concept, Hamann was pragmatic. “You just have to get out of the group. Nobody talks. Once you get to the last 32, last 16, nobody cares how you got out of the group, how you played in the group. That’s when it matters.”
Crank’s read on the Bitcoin market was built with the same long-cycle logic. He described taking short positions near the top, closing them on the way down, and watching the four-year cycle move toward what he sees as a floor. “Bitcoin is exactly where it should be. My levels right now are golden pocket between 54 and 57. I’m waiting for one more big capitulation, scare you pretty bad, and then we can, based off of four-year cycle theory, start our accumulation phase and bottoming out, which for me is between 41 to 46,000.” Mario put his own range at 43,000 to 45,000 and believed the bottom would arrive within 100 days of the session. Joseph agreed with the range. The disagreement was mostly about timing.
Dark Horses and an 18-Year-Old Who Plays Like a Veteran Among the nations that had caught his attention, Hamann pointed first to the home contingent. Canada had been exceptional. Mexico against England at the Azteca, with altitude and a full home crowd, would be nobody’s idea of a comfortable draw. “That won’t be an easy game. If they play Mexico City, the Azteca with altitude, it’s not an easy thing to beat them there.”
South Africa had made the sharpest impression. “The way they played yesterday. It was absolutely brilliant. Nobody gave them a chance, and here they are in the last 32.”
Japan was his most dangerous selection from outside the traditional powers. “I think Japan is really a dangerous team. Beat Germany four years ago in Qatar. I think they beat Spain as well. They’ve got that vision. They want to, I think before 2050, they want to be world champions. They want to win the World Cup. Not sure it’s going to happen this year. But this is a nation that improves year after year after year.”
Ivory Coast came up without prompting. “The first 60 minutes against Germany, I think they played exceptionally well. Germany was second best in every aspect.” A team that outplays Germany for an hour in a major tournament is not an accident. They are a dangerous team going forward.
On Morocco, Hamann pointed to an 18-year-old central midfielder without being asked. He had heard about the player before the tournament. He saw him play. Then he looked up the age again.
“Brilliant. 18 years of age, the maturity he plays with, I couldn’t believe. I heard of him before, then I saw him, then I had to look again. How old is he? 18 years. Because usually, central midfielders, they get into the best age, 22, 24, because experience counts for a lot. But the way he plays, how composed. At 18 years of age, unbelievable.”
The Hardest Opponents. The Best Teammates. On the midfielder who made his career most uncomfortable, Hamann did not hesitate. There were players across the years who tried to get inside his head, who wanted him in a conversation on the pitch, who looked for ways to make him react. “I never spoke to the opposition and very rarely spoke to the referee. So that didn’t really bother me.”
The frustration with Patrick Vieira was entirely different: it was purely about quality.
“The most frustrating was probably the best one I played against because he was like a Rolls-Royce. He was quick, he was strong, he could pass, he played in an exceptional team with Arsenal. It was no joy playing against him because he was so good. For me, he was the best and I had never fun playing against him.”
That Arsenal side was the backdrop that made it worse. Vieira in an average team is one problem. Vieira in one of the best club sides he faced across his entire career is a different afternoon entirely.
On the other side of the ledger, the question of superstars and teams produced one of the clearest statements of the session. Messi, Mbappé, Ronaldo, Haaland: are they the reason teams win, or is it the other way around?
“It’s got to be the team. But I think all these guys, they all know that they couldn’t succeed without the team. On your own, you’re nothing. As good as they are, but you need 10 other players. And I think the best example was the last World Cup, where really 10 players worked for Messi and then he made the difference. And that’s how it should be, because you need to cover all the bases as a team.”
On the next German superstar, Hamann was direct. “I said he’s too good to fail because it’s the best player I’ve seen in the last 20 years in a German shirt.” Wirth had a difficult debut season at Liverpool. A new manager changes the conditions. Mecha he views as deeply undervalued. “He’s not a flash player, but he does the things nobody wants to do. He makes it really very efficient. He’s got pace, he’s got physicality, he can score a goal. I think Mecha was very underrated in the last few years. We might even see him at a huge club after the World Cup because now everybody took note of him.”
No Emotions. No Exceptions. Fernando drew the bridge between the two halves of the session: coaches change systems mid-game when the plan stops working, and traders change positions when the market moves against them. The panel each described how they handle that moment.
Crank’s answer was the most absolute. “No emotions in day trading. You are up against robots. Within these algorithms, emotions do not exist. And anybody that trades for a living or is just getting started needs to understand that you’re going to be so numb that you do the same thing every single day. But it’s a system. And once you have it to where it works in your favour and you have it dialled in, you don’t make those adjustments.”
His summary of the choice at the centre of trading was the most direct line of the session: “Do you want to be right, or do you want to be rich?”
Mario agreed without qualification. “No emotions in trading. That’s the worst thing you can do. You have to just shut down your emotions. Just stick to your plan. Every day doing the same thing that works. And emotions don’t work.”
Joseph described what happens after a stop loss gets hit, a moment most traders find more disorienting than the loss itself. “Getting stopped out and watching the price go back up, that’s one of the most annoying things in trading. But I have a personal rule: after a stop loss, I take a short break, maybe 15 to 30 minutes before opening any new trade. This stops me from revenge trading. It’s like a player who misses a penalty. The best one would take a breath before playing on, not react emotionally. Every loss is a lesson, but revenge trading usually turns one mistake into two.”
Crank closed on the cycle and what it means for the audience watching right now. “Now’s the time more than ever to exit out all the noise and really focus because this is where you separate the boys and girls from the men and women. Be violent with your education right now because this is where lives are changed.”
Which Team Is Bitcoin? Fernando asked the panel to map the major assets to national teams in the tournament.
Brazil collected the Bitcoin allocation from most of the panel. The longest track record, the deepest global fanbase, the benchmark that everything else gets measured against regardless of current charts. Joseph assigned it to Argentina, with a specific reason: the 2022 World Cup, where ten players organised themselves entirely in service of one, and the one delivered. That, in his view, is the most accurate representation of how Bitcoin’s entire ecosystem functions around a single thesis.
France drew Ethereum from most voices, technically foundational, expected to perform at the highest level, measured against a standard that was set years ago and has not yet been surpassed. Portugal went to Solana: fast, direct, talent-driven, with a single player whose presence changes every calculation. Mario broke from the group and pointed to Spain or the Netherlands as the surprise allocations, teams that could outperform expectation the way an asset can when its narrative catches up with its fundamentals.
On which of the major tournament favourites exits earliest, France drew the most votes, followed by Germany. Mario, thirty years a German football supporter, crossed his fingers rather than naming names.
The Lesson From the Zoomex Space The thread connecting both halves of the session was what holds together when the situation changes and the original plan no longer applies.
Hamann’s philosophy as a midfielder, do not vary the process at 3-0 up or 3-0 down, is the same discipline the traders described as the line between consistent performance and emotional reaction. It is not about suppressing the awareness that the situation has changed. It is about having decided in advance what you do when it does.
The 2005 Champions League final is not a story about hope or momentum or the magic of a particular night. It is a story about a team that kept doing the right things in the right order while three goals down, until the conditions changed. “If there were no mistakes, there wouldn’t be any goals,” Hamann said. That applies to both sides of the ball. The team that keeps its structure in a crisis does not create the opening. It creates the conditions for the opening to appear.
Crank’s question applies equally. In football and in markets, the answer to the question of whether you want to be right or rich determines how you behave when the scoreline, or the chart, tells you something you do not want to hear.
The Zoomex World Cup Impact Pledge continues across three more episodes, each with a new football guest, a new charity selection, and a prediction on record. Brazil is going to win the World Cup. Didi Hamann said so, and the charity pool for Munich’s homeless depends on Japan clearing the first hurdle.
About Zoomex Founded in 2021, Zoomex is a global cryptocurrency trading platform with over 3 million users across more than 35 countries and regions, offering 600+ trading pairs. Guided by its core values of “Simple × User-Friendly × Fast,” Zoomex is committed to fairness, integrity, and transparency in delivering a high-performance, low-barrier, trustworthy trading experience.
As an official partner of the Haas F1 Team and global brand ambassador partner of goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, Zoomex brings the same focus on speed, precision, and discipline from the racetrack and the pitch to trading. The platform holds regulatory licenses including Canada MSB, U.S. MSB, U.S. NFA, and Australia AUSTRAC, and has passed security audits conducted by Hacken.
TLDR; Sharplink ETH purchases reached $62.4 million after an eight-month pause, signaling renewed corporate Ether demand. Arkham data shows Sharplink added 39,196 ETH across three days, including large over-the-counter purchases. Sharplink’s Ethlabs backing connects its Ether accumulation strategy with Ethereum’s institutional adoption push. Spot Ether ETFs posted a seventh straight week of outflows, showing weak investor demand despite Sharplink’s buying. Sharplink ETH buying returned in force last week. The crypto treasury firm acquired $62.4 million worth of Ether after an eight-month pause. Arkham on-chain records show 39,196 ETH was added over three days.
The move came while Ether traded under pressure, falling 22.8% month-on-month. It also followed another weak week for spot Ether ETFs, which posted net outflows of $12.9 million.
Sharplink ETH Buying Resumes With Heavy Treasury Demand Sharplink started its renewed buying on Thursday with a 5,000 ETH purchase. The company added another 5,000 ETH on Friday, worth about $7.9 million.
Ethereum (ETH) Price The larger move came Saturday. Arkham data showed Sharplink bought 29,196 ETH across three over-the-counter transactions. Those trades were valued at about $46.7 million.
Together, the three-day total reached $62.4 million. That pace suggests the company has moved beyond a small balance sheet adjustment.
Sharplink ETH activity matters because the firm had stayed inactive for roughly eight months. Its return therefore signals a renewed focus on Ether as a treasury asset.
The company was previously seen as a close competitor to Bitmine in the ETH treasury market. That makes the latest purchases important for investors tracking corporate Ether demand.
Sharplink has not explained the timing of the restart. The firm also declined to comment when contacted about the purchase on Thursday.
Still, the order pattern looks deliberate. Multiple large buys over three straight days usually point to planned treasury activity, not random dip buying.
For traders, Sharplink ETH accumulation may become a useful spot demand signal. It could matter more if public market flows remain weak.
Ethlabs Backing Adds Institutional Focus To Ether Strategy The Sharplink ETH purchases came during a notable week for Ethereum infrastructure. Sharplink and Bitmine both backed Ethlabs, a new research and development nonprofit.
Ethlabs aims to prepare Ethereum for wider institutional adoption. Its focus includes scaling, settlement demand, stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, funds, and AI-driven commerce.
Sharplink said Ethereum is becoming a neutral settlement layer for global economic activity. The firm framed Ethlabs as part of the work needed to absorb future demand.
That timing gives the purchases another layer of context. Sharplink is not only buying Ether during weakness. It is also backing infrastructure linked to institutional Ethereum use.
Even so, Ethereum market conditions remain weak. The asset is down 22.8% over the month and nearly 50% since the start of the year.
Moreover, USDT briefly moved above Ether by market capitalization last week. That shift highlighted how sharply sentiment has changed in the current market.
Spot Ether ETFs added to the pressure. They recorded a seventh straight week of outflows, with $12.9 million leaving the products last week.
Withdrawals were mainly linked to BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust. Traders will now watch whether Sharplink keeps buying if ETF flows stay negative.
About 60% of World Cup bettors on Polymarket are first-time crypto usersAbout 60% of users who placed their first World Cup bets on Polymarket had never interacted with blockchain protocols before, suggesting prediction markets are becoming an entry point into crypto. The finding is based on a 90-day Bitget Wallet study that tracked the onchain activity of 857,000 active Polymarket users.
Alvin Kan, chief operating officer at Bitget Wallet, told Cointelegraph that earlier crypto onboarding efforts largely focused on making blockchain technology easier to understand through simpler wallets and better user interfaces, but users were still expected to learn how crypto worked before they could participate.
“Prediction markets shifted that dynamic. Users show up because they have a view on something happening in the world,” Kan said.
Trump cancels signing of housing bill with CBDC banUS President Donald Trump canceled the signing ceremony for a housing bill containing a ban on a central bank digital currency (CBDC) as he looked for Republicans in Congress to prioritize a controversial voting bill.
In a Wednesday morning Truth Social post, Trump said that the signing for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, passed by the US Senate and House of Representatives, would be canceled “until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE America Act.”
The housing bill, passed by the House on Tuesday, included a provision barring the US Federal Reserve from issuing or creating a CBDC “or any digital asset that is substantially similar” until the end of 2030.
Many had expected Trump to sign the bill, aimed at tackling housing affordability, into law on Wednesday without issues. However, the president said in March that he would “not sign other bills” until the SAVE America Act was passed. The legislation would require voters to provide proof of US citizenship in person to register, with critics saying the measure would disenfranchise citizens already eligible to vote.
Trump on housing billBitmine, Sharplink and Joe Lubin back Ethereum R&D nonprofitFormer Ethereum Foundation contributors and Ether treasury firms Bitmine and Sharplink have backed a new research and development nonprofit that aims to make Ethereum ready for institutional use.
Sharplink said on Monday that the organization, Ethlabs, was formed to “ready Ethereum for the next phase of institutional adoption,” with the company pitching in with Bitmine, Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin and other Ethereum contributors on its funding effort.
“As stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, funds and autonomous AI commerce move on-chain, they are converging on Ethereum as the neutral, credibly permissionless settlement layer for the global economy,” Sharplink said. “Ethlabs exists to ensure the network is ready to absorb that demand at scale.”
The launch comes days after former Ethereum Foundation contributor Trenton Van Epps warned that Ethereum is facing a core development funding crisis and amid an ongoing wave of departures from the Foundation, most recently co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang, who left last week.
Vitalik ButerinCryptoQuant warns on Strategy's dividend coverage as cash reserve falls 38%After Strategy's dividend coverage fell to 14 months from seven years, CryptoQuant said the company led by Michael Saylor should pause Bitcoin purchases and focus on replenishing its cash reserve, which is down 38% year-to-date.
Strategy's dividend obligations have nearly quadrupled to $1.2 billion, as the company issued substantial new STRC preferred stock, which carries an 11.5% yield.
“They should pause Bitcoin purchases, rebuild cash reserves, and adopt a systematic framework for purchase timing,” wrote the market data analytics provider's CEO Ki Young Ju in a Wednesday X post, adding that the biggest public Bitcoin treasury holder should also create a “disciplined selling framework” for the next bull market.
Strategy's cash reserve fell 38% after the company repurchased $1.5 billion of its 2029 senior notes at a discount, Cointelegraph reported on May 26. Those coffers have since recovered to $1.4 billion after it sold $335.5 million in MSTR shares, which added $300 million to its US dollar reserve on Monday, although it is near a record-low of 14 months' of funds available to pay dividends.
Catholic leaders, US authorities challenge CLARITY Act over illicit activityA group of law enforcement organizations and a coalition of Catholic organizations have become the latest two groups urging caution over the US CLARITY Act, which is heading for a key hearing in July.
In letters sent Tuesday, four law enforcement organizations reached out to White House officials with concerns that the CLARITY Act could create oversight gaps when it comes to illicit activity.
“Regulatory certainty should not come at the expense of accountability, transparency, victim protection, or public safety,” they said. The Alliance to End Human Trafficking, founded by US Catholic Sisters, said these oversights could make it harder to crack down on human trafficking.
Senator Cynthia Lummis said this week, the final text for the bill would be released July 4, with the House Financial Service Committee scheduling a hearing into the Clarity Act on July 17.
Cynthia LummisWinners and LosersAt the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $59,359 which represents a 6.8% decline, while Ether (ETH) is at $1,565, after falling 8.8% for the week. XRP (XRP) is at $1.04 and down 8% for the week. The total market cap is at $2.06 trillion according to CoinMarketCap.
Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies the top three altcoin gainers are Velvet (VELVET) at 290%, DeXe (DEXE) on 55% and Audiera (BEAT) which was up 49%.
The top three altcoin losers of the week are MemeCore (M), which lost 76%, WorldCoin (WLD), which lost 28%, and Mantle (MNT), which was down 20%.
Prediction of the weekBitcoin may fall lower but BTC power-law frames crash to $58K as ‘normal’Bitcoin’s drop to $58,000 lines up with the power-law model’s cycle lows, even though futures market data points to deeper lows for BTC price.
Giovanni's Bitcoin power-law model places the network's long-term trend price near $135,000, making the recent drop to $58,000 roughly 54% below the all-time high and 1.22 standard deviations beneath that trend.
According to the analyst, the key takeaway is straightforward: the previous cycle lows in 2012, 2015, 2019, 2020, and 2022 all fell within a similar statistical range. By that measure, the latest decline falls within a territory that has historically marked the deep bear-market lows rather than a break in Bitcoin's long-term growth path.
Top FUD of the weekBinance faces EU service limits as MiCA rules take effectBinance has notified European Union users that access to key services will be restricted after the exchange failed to secure Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) authorization from a member state before a July 1 deadline.
Those restrictions include halting the onboarding of new EU users and limiting certain services for EU-based accounts effective July 1, according to exchange notices shared by users on social media.
The notices said users will still be able to withdraw their assets after that date, stating that “all digital assets are still available for withdrawal,” in line with applicable regulatory requirements.
The move marks one of the first major transitions under the EU’s MiCA framework after Binance announced it withdrew its MiCA license application in Greece on Wednesday.
Binance recorded over $400 million in net outflows during the week beginning June 22.
Binance’s public messaging is that the company intends to continue pursuing a MiCA license, despite being on pace to miss the July 1 buzzer.
Iran-linked entities moved $3.8B through CoinEx, TRM saysWallets with identifiable links to sanctioned Iranian entities have moved over $3.84 billion through cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx since 2019, making it one of the main channels used to bypass US economic sanctions, according to blockchain analytics company TRM Labs.
About 60 Iranian platforms were tied to the funds, with $2.7 billion of this flowing between CoinEx and Nobitex, Iran’s largest domestic cryptocurrency exchange, at an average rate of about $1 million per day since 2018, wrote TRM Labs in a Wednesday report.
By 2024, CoinEx was Nobitex’s largest external counterpart, nearly nine times that of the next-largest exchange, a pattern that TRM Labs called “inconsistent with independent market behaviour.”
CoinEx denied having any commercial relationship with the Iranian government or domestic Iranian exchanges and disputed TRM Labs’ interpretation, saying onchain fund flows do not demonstrate a platform's knowledge of or participation in illicit activity.
Ethereum Foundation sacks 20% of workforce amid strategic restructuringThe Ethereum Foundation (EF) has laid off 54 employees, roughly 20% of its workforce, as part of a major organizational restructuring.
According to a blog post published Tuesday, the EF will reorganize around five specialized clusters covering protocol, access, user, community and institutional work. The Foundation said the changes are intended to concentrate resources on Ethereum's long-term technical priorities, including scaling, privacy, security and censorship resistance.
Under the new structure, separate teams will oversee Ethereum's core protocol, user access tools, community engagement and work with institutions, while management and operations functions remain organized independently.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said the Ethereum Foundation is reducing its budget by roughly 40% as it transitions toward a long-term, endowment-based organization. He said the foundation aims to lower annual spending from about 15% of its remaining funds to roughly 5% after 2030, a shift he said necessitated difficult staffing decisions.
Top feature stories of the weekDoes Botanix’s failure prove Bitcoiners don’t care about DeFi?The failure of Botanix suggests that Bitcoiners still prefer Ethereum DeFi to Bitcoin L2s. How can Bitcoin L2s change to win hodlers over?
Ethereum’s much-hated staking 'tax' may already be obsoleteEthereum’s latest “funding crisis” has triggered a fierce debate over whether to tax staking rewards or to pursue funding from large ETH holders for new organizations like EthLabs.
AI is banking the unbanked in Africa... faster than cryptoAI is widening access to banking for the unbanked across Africa. But used badly, it can simply automate financial exclusion at greater speed.
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Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) are showing early signs of stabilization on Monday after a correction of nearly 6%, 8% and 7%, respectively, over the previous week. BTC reclaims $60,000, ETH is holding firmly above the critical $1,500 support level, while XRP is also attempting to stabilize around the key $1.00 psychological level. The price action of these top three cryptocurrencies is raising hopes of a short-term recovery after massive corrections.
Bitcoin's mild recovery after a sharp correctionBitcoin price recovers slightly, trading above $60,000, after losing over 6% in the previous week. However, BTC is maintaining a bearish bias as price remains below the 50-, 100-, and 200-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs) at $66,971, $70,592, and $76,516, respectively.
The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator hovers near the zero line with a marginally negative reading, while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 33 sits just above oversold territory, hinting at fading bearish momentum but not yet signaling a decisive recovery.
On the topside, initial resistance emerges at the horizontal barrier around $64,004, ahead of the 50-day EMA at $66,971 and the 100-day EMA at $70,591, which collectively cap the upside and reinforce the broader downbeat structure. Further up, the 200-day EMA at $76,516 and the prior horizontal level at $84,410 form a wider resistance band that would need to be cleared for the medium-term outlook to shift back to bullish. The absence of nearby defined support leaves the pair vulnerable to further downside probes if selling pressure resumes.
Ethereum could rebound if the $1,500 support holdsEthereum price trades at $1,585 on Monday, finding support around the key $1,500 support zone. However, ETH is maintaining a bearish bias, with price remaining well below the 50-, 100-, and 200-day EMAs at $1,833, $2,010, and $2,290, respectively. ETH is attempting to stabilize after the recent slide, with the RSI ticking up to 33, just above oversold territory. At the same time, the MACD has turned marginally positive, hinting at fading downside momentum rather than a decisive bullish reversal.
On the topside, initial resistance emerges at the 50-day EMA near $1,833, ahead of the horizontal barrier at $2,000 and the 100-day EMA at $2,010, with the 200-day EMA at $2,290 reinforcing a broader cap on recovery attempts.
On the downside, the next meaningful support is seen at the $1,500 key psychological level, followed by the previously identified horizontal level around $1,385.00, where buyers could attempt to defend the medium-term floor if selling pressure resumes.
XRP steadies at key $1 markXRP price trades at $1.0542, maintaining a clear bearish bias as it sits well below the 50-, 100-, and 200-day EMAs at $1.2060, $1.3123, and $1.5231, respectively. Price also holds below the downward parallel channel reference at $1.1879 and the horizontal cap at $1.3000, reinforcing a technically capped structure. The RSI at 33 stays in weak territory just above oversold, while the MACD remains slightly negative, both indicators hinting that bearish momentum persists, albeit without a fresh acceleration.
On the topside, initial resistance is seen at the parallel channel level around $1.1879, followed by the nearby horizontal barrier at $1.3000 and the 50-day EMA at $1.2060. Additional supply is clustered higher at the 100-day EMA at $1.3123 and the 200-day EMA at $1.5231. A more distant structural ceiling emerges at the horizontal line near $1.9000.
On the downside, the next meaningful support is seen at the $1.000 key psychological level. Below this level, renewed selling could leave XRP vulnerable to further downside extension until new demand zones emerge on the chart.
(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool.)
Cryptocurrency prices FAQs Token launches influence demand and adoption among market participants. Listings on crypto exchanges deepen the liquidity for an asset and add new participants to an asset’s network. This is typically bullish for a digital asset.
A hack is an event in which an attacker captures a large volume of the asset from a DeFi bridge or hot wallet of an exchange or any other crypto platform via exploits, bugs or other methods. The exploiter then transfers these tokens out of the exchange platforms to ultimately sell or swap the assets for other cryptocurrencies or stablecoins. Such events often involve an en masse panic triggering a sell-off in the affected assets.
Macroeconomic events like the US Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates influence crypto assets mainly through the direct impact they have on the US Dollar. An increase in interest rate typically negatively influences Bitcoin and altcoin prices, and vice versa. If the US Dollar index declines, risk assets and associated leverage for trading gets cheaper, in turn driving crypto prices higher.
Halvings are typically considered bullish events as they slash the block reward in half for miners, constricting the supply of the asset. At consistent demand if the supply reduces, the asset’s price climbs.
