Bitmine Immersion Technologies, trading as BMNR on the NYSE, has met the eligibility criteria for inclusion in the Russell 1000 Index. The addition is expected to take effect on June 26, 2026, following a preliminary list publication in May 2026.
What Bitmine actually is, and why the Russell 1000 matters The company holds approximately 5.67 million ETH, which represents roughly 4.7% of the total Ethereum supply. Combined with cash and other assets, its total holdings clock in at approximately $10.7 billion.
The Russell 1000 Index tracks the largest 1,000 US-listed companies by market capitalization. It serves as a benchmark for large-cap investing, and more importantly, it’s the reference index for a massive ecosystem of passive funds, ETFs, and institutional portfolios that automatically buy whatever the index tells them to buy.
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Chairman Tom Lee indicated that the resulting inflows from index trackers could reach into the billions.
The Ethereum thesis, wrapped in a stock ticker BMNR co-founded Ethlabs, a collaborative initiative designed to accelerate Ethereum’s institutional adoption. The effort reportedly involves notable figures from the Ethereum ecosystem, including Joe Lubin.
The company’s investor roster includes ARK Invest, Founders Fund, and Pantera Capital.
The stock trades with high liquidity, reportedly seeing hundreds of millions in daily volume.
What this means for investors When passive funds buy BMNR shares, they’re indirectly gaining exposure to 5.67 million ETH. That means pension funds, 401(k) plans, and retirement accounts benchmarked to the Russell 1000 will, whether they realize it or not, suddenly have a slice of their portfolio tied to the price of Ethereum.
When MSTR entered the Nasdaq 100 in late 2024, it triggered a wave of passive buying that helped stabilize the stock’s premium to its underlying Bitcoin holdings.
The preliminary list drops in May 2026, which gives institutional investors about a month to position ahead of the June 26 effective date.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Ethereum (ETH) trades below $1,600 on Friday following sustained risk-off sentiment across the crypto market. The top altcoin has declined by 6.7% on the weekly timeframe, stretching its 30-day loss to 23.5%.
Despite sustained negative sentiment across the market, bearish positioning in Ethereum derivatives has eased over the past three weeks, following ETH's sharp decline from above $2,000 to near $1,560 at the time of writing.
The move is evident in the Ethereum Net Taker Volume, which has gradually contracted from negative territory over the period. The metric measures the difference in trading volume between buyers and sellers in perpetual futures using market orders.
The recent contraction indicates that pressure from short traders has reduced after a majority of their positions became profitable following the decline.
ETH Net Taker Volume. Source: CryptoQuantETH futures also appear to have undergone a partial reset after the Estimated Leverage Ratio (ELR) fell from 1.11 to 0.85 in the past three weeks. ELR indicates the amount of leverage employed in a cryptocurrency by comparing its open interest to exchange reserves.
The sharp drop in ETH's ELR shows that a large number of leveraged positions have been wiped out, potentially stabilizing the market and reducing leverage risk.
ETH Estimated Leverage Ratio. Source: CryptoQuantWhile leverage has fallen alongside contracting bearish positioning, ETH derivatives remain modestly tilted to the downside as funding rates continue to flash negative, especially after further price declines over the past few days.
Meanwhile, institutional appeal has remained subdued following six consecutive days of net outflows in US spot ETH exchange-traded funds (ETFs), according to SoSoValue data. The products are on track to record seven straight weeks of outflows and their largest weekly decline since January.
A key price level investors continue to watch is the Realized Price Lower Band, which has served as a bottom indicator in the past two bear market cycles. The metric suggests ETH could drop by nearly 30% before forming a bottom.
Ethereum Price Forecast: ETH falters before descending trendline resistanceOn the weekly chart, ETH is maintaining a bearish near-term bias as it remains below key Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs). The 7-week EMA around $1,817 and the 20-week EMA near $2,118 sit well overhead, reinforcing a downside tone alongside the longer-term 50-week EMA at roughly $2,525.
Momentum indicators are deeply oversold, with the 14-week Relative Strength Index (RSI) at around 30 and the Stochastic Oscillator (Stoch) below 10, suggesting that while sellers remain in control, the pace of the decline may be nearing exhaustion.
ETH tested the $1,524 support level this week after seeing a rejection at the convergence of a descending trendline resistance and the $1,741 level.
On the topside, initial resistance remains at the descending trendline, followed by clustered barriers at $1,741, $1,806 and the 7-week EMA. Above these, further hurdles are at $1,909 and $2,019, before the horizontal levels at $2,108 and $2,211.
ETH/USDT weekly chartOn the downside, immediate support emerges at $1,524, ahead of a secondary floor at $1,404. A deeper slide would expose the more significant base near $1,156.
(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool.)
Trent Van Epps, who previously held key positions within the Ethereum ecosystem, has stated that the network is now entering a pivotal transition in its long-term decentralization strategy. According to Van Epps, the focus of debate is shifting away from Ethereum’s very existence and toward the challenge of financing shared public infrastructure into the future.
Foundation narrows its roleExplaining his decision to step down from the Ethereum Foundation, Van Epps pointed to the organization’s growing intent to distribute authority and legitimacy throughout the broader ecosystem. Rather than accumulating power, the Foundation is deliberately scaling back its central role, with the ultimate objective of enabling multiple independent institutions to coordinate the network’s development together.
The Ethereum Foundation is widely recognized as a non-profit entity playing a vital part in the research, development, and support of the Ethereum ecosystem. However, recent leadership changes and workforce reductions have fueled fresh questions over the platform’s future governance model.
In Van Epps’s analysis, the central challenge facing Ethereum is not an existential crisis, but rather finding new institutions capable of financing critical public-good infrastructure.
Annual need for $30 million in core developmentVan Epps emphasized that annual core protocol development requires funding of around $30 million. He noted that the Ethereum Foundation’s treasury is gradually shrinking over time, drawing attention away from technical demands themselves and toward the necessity for new institutional frameworks that can address these ongoing needs.
Van Epps highlighted the Protocol Guild initiative, which has distributed approximately $40 million to Ethereum core developers over the last four years. Still, he argued that this funding model alone cannot satisfy the ecosystem’s broader financing requirements.
Mini Glossary: Protocol Guild is a funding initiative designed to provide long-term support for developers contributing to Ethereum’s core protocol. Public-good funding refers to the support of shared infrastructure critical for the network’s security and continuity, which may not generate direct revenue.
ItemDataAnnual core development need$30 millionProtocol Guild distribution$40 million over 4 yearsCompetitive edge and the free-rider problemDespite ongoing funding debates, Van Epps remains optimistic about Ethereum’s prospects. He maintains that the network continues to lead in decentralized finance, stablecoin settlement, and EVM adoption, arguing these network effects cannot be easily replicated by competitors.
Nonetheless, he cautions that coordination challenges may persist in the near term. Van Epps believes, however, that the involvement of new organizations and major stakeholders could help sustain the financing of shared infrastructure. He identifies the free-rider issue as a key hurdle—where companies benefit from public infrastructure without contributing to its maintenance and development costs.
Van Epps anticipates that Ethereum’s governance will become increasingly distributed over the next decade, with the Foundation occupying a more limited role alongside new organizations focused on research, commercialization, and ecosystem growth.
Distributed governance may define the years aheadVan Epps also underlines the importance of stronger advocacy for the ETH asset and calls for a clearer framework that links token usage with the expansion of the network’s on-chain economy. He argues that, in the long run, true success should be measured by widespread adoption, foreseeing a future where billions of users could gain access to Ethereum and its layer-2 ecosystem.
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.
Bitcoin trades around $60,000 as analysts remain divided on whether a durable market bottom has formed.
Notable Statistics:
Coinglass data shows 90,825 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours for $484.09 million. SoSoValue data shows net outflows of $696.3 million from spot Bitcoin ETFs on Thursday. Spot Ethereum ETFs saw net outflows of $81.9 million. In the past 24 hours, top gainers include Jito, SKYAI and Aave. Notable Developments:
Trader Notes:
Scott Melker noted Bitcoin is at a critical technical juncture. If BTC closes the day at current levels or higher, it would confirm a strong bullish RSI divergence on the daily chart after reaching oversold conditions.
The analyst said Bitcoin has already printed a bullish divergence on the weekly RSI, only the second such occurrence ever.
Walter Bloomberg explained Bitcoin may not have reached its cycle low yet. Despite more than $1.3 trillion being wiped from the market, many expect the final bottom to form in the $50,000–$53,000 range, with the bear market potentially extending into September.
He predicts that the strongest buying opportunities typically emerge after forced selling and panic-driven liquidations subside, rather than during the height of market fear.
Ted Pillows argues Bitcoin has not yet seen the type of capitulation that marked previous cycle bottoms. The analyst notes BTC fell 87% in 2015, 84% in 2018 and 78% in 2022, suggesting the current expectation of a bottom after only a roughly 50% decline may be premature.
Based on those historical drawdowns, Ted expects Bitcoin to decline at least 60%–65% from its cycle peak before establishing a final market bottom.
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Tether’s stablecoin USDT has surpassed Ethereum for the first time in a key valuation metric. According to CoinGecko data, USDT’s fully diluted valuation (FDV) rose to $191.5 billion, edging past Ethereum’s FDV of $187.5 billion, after a 5.5% drop in Ethereum’s price over the last 24 hours.
New FDV rankingsThis shift occurred in the ranking of FDV—a metric that reflects the value of a crypto asset if its total possible supply were already circulating. Bitcoin continues to hold the top spot by FDV, while USDT now occupies second place and Ethereum has slipped to third. By traditional market capitalization, which is based only on circulating supply, Ethereum still ranks above USDT.
FDV, or fully diluted valuation, is a metric calculated by multiplying an asset’s current price by its maximum possible supply. Therefore, this change in rankings doesn’t necessarily indicate structural dominance but rather highlights differences between how assets are valued under this particular metric.
Mini glossary: FDV means fully diluted valuation. It shows the total value assuming all tokens are circulating, and usually differs from the current market capitalization.
CoinGecko data indicates that USDT has climbed to second place in fully diluted valuation, after Bitcoin, while Ethereum’s recent price decline has pushed it down in this ranking.
Issuance increases, price pressure shifts the balanceUSDT’s rise in FDV has been driven by Tether’s continued issuance to meet growing demand for dollar liquidity. As Tether has incrementally minted new tokens, USDT’s FDV has grown, while downward price pressure has weighed on Ethereum’s valuation in this metric.
Analysts quoted in the report suggest this trend illustrates the increasing weight of stablecoins within the overall crypto market structure. The expansion of institutional use and a tendency for investors to seek defensive assets during periods of volatility have both contributed to the rising influence of dollar-pegged tokens like USDT.
A wake-up call for the Ethereum ecosystemThis development is especially significant for Ethereum developers, layer 2 teams, and decentralized finance protocols. Much of the transaction volume and treasury activity across the Ethereum ecosystem depends on stablecoin flows, underlining growing reliance on these assets.
Regulators, meanwhile, continue to scrutinize the issuance practices and reserve attestations of stablecoin providers. As a result, future changes in USDT supply, continued transparency regarding reserves, and the growth trajectory of Ethereum’s layer 2 platforms are expected to remain focal points for market observers.
Market experts also note that any sustained recovery in Ethereum’s price could once again alter the FDV rankings. Nonetheless, USDT’s current lead highlights just how prominent stablecoins have become in shaping the structure of the crypto market as a whole.
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.
Tether briefly overtook Ethereum by market capitalization on June 26, according to the validated discovery pack, as ETH sold off into the $1,500 to $1,600 range and stablecoin supply remained comparatively steady. The crossover was temporary, but the symbolism was hard to ignore: during one of the market’s sharpest risk-off sessions, crypto’s largest stablecoin briefly moved ahead of Ethereum.
TL;DR Tether briefly flipped Ethereum by market capitalization during the June 26 sell-off. USDT’s market cap was cited around $186.06 billion, while ETH fell near $185.66 billion during the intraday crossover. Ethereum later recovered above the level, so the flip should not be framed as permanent. The move highlights how stablecoin dominance can rise when investors reduce risk exposure. A Temporary Flip, But A Loud Signal The validated figures showed Tether’s market capitalization reaching roughly $186.06 billion while Ethereum’s market value fell to around $185.66 billion during the brief crossover. Ethereum later recovered above the mark, meaning the event should be treated as an intraday milestone rather than a permanent reshuffling of the crypto rankings.
Still, the moment was notable because Ethereum has long held the second-largest market capitalization in crypto behind Bitcoin. Stablecoins are not typically viewed in the same way as productive or programmable blockchain networks, but in market capitalization tables they compete for the same ranking space. When USDT briefly moved ahead, it reflected both Ethereum’s drawdown and the scale of stablecoin liquidity sitting on the sidelines.
Why Stablecoin Dominance Matters Stablecoin market capitalization tends to be watched as a proxy for liquidity inside the digital asset ecosystem. A rising stablecoin supply can suggest that capital remains within crypto rails, even if it is not actively allocated to volatile assets. During sell-offs, traders often move into USDT or other stablecoins to reduce exposure without fully exiting exchanges or on-chain environments.
That is why the Tether-Ethereum crossover is best understood as a risk-aversion signal. It does not mean Ethereum’s long-term role has changed, nor does it mean the market has permanently favored stablecoins over smart-contract networks. But it does show how quickly rankings can shift when a major asset sells off and the market’s defensive liquidity base remains large.
Ethereum’s Weakness Meets USDT’s Scale Ethereum’s market capitalization is highly sensitive to spot price because ETH trades freely and can move sharply during high-volatility sessions. Tether’s market capitalization, by contrast, largely reflects circulating supply. That makes USDT less volatile in market-cap terms, especially during a session when traders are seeking shelter rather than chasing risk.
The brief flip therefore says as much about Ethereum’s price decline as it does about Tether’s scale. ETH moving into the $1,500 to $1,600 region placed its total valuation close enough for USDT to pass it, even if only briefly. For traders, the crossover offered a simple visual snapshot of the day’s market mood: defensive assets were holding their ground while major altcoins were being repriced.
What Comes Next The key question is whether Ethereum can quickly rebuild distance above Tether in the rankings. A strong ETH rebound would likely turn the event into a short-lived curiosity. A prolonged period of weak ETH price action, however, could keep stablecoin dominance in focus and raise more questions about capital rotation within crypto.
For now, the safer framing is that Tether’s brief move above Ethereum was a symbolic market stress signal, not a permanent change in crypto’s hierarchy. It showed that stablecoin liquidity remains enormous, and that in sharp sell-offs, even Ethereum’s long-held second-place position can temporarily come under pressure.
This report is based on information from The Currency Analytics.
This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
Ondo Finance has enabled around-the-clock minting and redemption for tokenized US stocks and ETFs on Ethereum and BNB Chain, removing the weekday-only constraint that had tied position creation and cancellation to US market hours.
Ondo Finance has enabled around-the-clock minting and redemption for tokenized US stocks and ETFs on Ethereum and BNB Chain, removing the prior weekday-only constraint that had tied the creation and cancellation of positions to US market hours. The upgrade, announced by Ondo Finance on Wednesday, applies initially to six of the platform's most actively traded instruments: SPYon, QQQon, CRCLon, NVDAon, TSLAon, and GOOGLon.
Additional tokenized stocks and ETFs will be added in coming weeks, with Solana support coming next. Ondo described the feature as a first for the sector, noting that rivals offering "24/7 trading" have confined continuous access to secondary-market transfers on centralized and decentralized exchanges, while issuance and redemption remained tied to market hours.
Why It Changes ThingsTransfers of Ondo's tokenized securities have always been available at any hour, letting holders move, lend, or use assets in DeFi protocols regardless of whether US markets are open. What was missing was the ability to create new positions or exit them directly on weekends and holidays. The new feature closes that gap, giving institutional and qualified investors a full lifecycle for tokenized equities on blockchain infrastructure that never closes.
Ondo Global Markets, which now lists more than 430 tokenized stocks and ETFs across Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Chain, became the first tokenized-stock platform to surpass $1 billion in total value locked, exceeding the combined TVL of competing platforms, the company said.
Broader RWA ContextThe launch comes as the tokenized real-world asset sector has broadened rapidly. Earlier this month, Ondo added 173 stocks and ETFs to its catalog, pushing the platform past 430 assets on three chains. Rival approaches to continuous equity access have varied: Binance launched bStocks on BNB Chain in June, while Coinbase has outlined plans for 1:1-backed tokenized US stocks with on-chain dividends.
Ondo noted that AI agents on the Virtuals protocol can now access the 24/7 minting and redemption feature, extending programmable round-the-clock equity exposure to automated strategies. The Solana rollout of the feature is expected in the near future.
However, the artificial intelligence-linked assets look increasingly stretched.
“Layer-1s Are Still The Place To Be“In a "Drinks With Raoul Pal" episode on June 26, Pal acknowledged that crypto markets have been painful for investors, saying the asset class has not been "the gift that keeps on giving" over the past year.
Still, Pal said he remains heavily allocated to crypto and continues to believe that major layer-1 networks are the core opportunity.
"I strongly believe in my thesis that the layer ones are still the place to be," Pal said, naming ETH, SOL and SUI among the assets he continues to watch closely.
Pal argued that blockchain infrastructure remains central to the next phase of the internet, particularly as AI agents require payment rails, identity, privacy and coordination layers.
Liquidity Is Turning Positive Pal contrasted crypto’s weakness with the sharp rally in semiconductor and AI-related stocks, saying parts of the AI trade now look heavily overextended.
He said semiconductors are trading nearly four standard deviations above their long-term trend, making it difficult for them to remain the market’s next leadership group.
By comparison, Pal said Ethereum and Sui appear far more attractive on a relative basis, with ETH near the bottom of a long consolidation range and SUI trading well below its trend channel.
Pal also pointed to global liquidity as the underlying driver of financial assets, arguing that liquidity remains in an uptrend even though the crypto market has not yet fully responded.
He said excess liquidity is beginning to turn positive again, which could eventually support risk assets beyond the current AI winners.
“Great Rotation” To ComePal said he expects a “great rotation” across markets, with leadership potentially shifting away from the most crowded AI trades and toward assets that have lagged, including crypto layer-1s.
He warned investors not to confuse short-term pain with a broken thesis, arguing that the most important investing gains usually come from compounding through long-term secular trends rather than trading every market swing.
Pal added that investors need a framework, a thesis and the discipline not to panic during drawdowns.
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Institutional demand for cryptocurrency ETFs weakened sharply this week as investors pulled billions of dollars from products tied to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. The latest wave of redemptions coincided with Bitcoin falling below $60,000, marking one of the most challenging periods for crypto investment products since the launch of spot ETFs in the United States.
US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest daily net outflow in June on Thursday, while Solana ETFs are headed toward their first monthly net outflows on record. Across the broader market, crypto ETFs have collectively lost approximately $5 billion over the past 30 days, highlighting a widespread shift in investor sentiment.
Bitcoin ETFs post June's biggest outflow According to SoSoValue data, US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net outflows of $696.29 million on Thursday, surpassing the previous monthly high of $519.2 million recorded on June 2. The latest withdrawals extended Bitcoin ETF outflows to 6 consecutive trading days.
June has now recorded total net Bitcoin ETF outflows of $3.61 billion, while year-to-date net outflows have reached $4.56 billion. Since the beginning of May, investors have withdrawn approximately $6.04 billion from spot Bitcoin ETFs.
The selling pressure also appeared concentrated among the industry's largest funds. Fidelity's FBTC recorded $274 million in net outflows on Thursday, while BlackRock's IBIT lost another $265 million. The previous trading session on June 24 had already seen another $469.08 million leave US spot Bitcoin ETFs. The outflows have significantly reduced the size of the US Bitcoin ETF market.
SoSoValue data shows that total net assets across US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs have fallen below $73 billion for the first time since late 2024. Combined assets now stand at approximately $72.57 billion. The decline represents a substantial drop from the sector's peak of $169.5 billion reached in October 2025, leaving total assets approximately 57% below their record highs.
More recently, total Bitcoin ETF assets have fallen from $104.29 billion on May 15 to $72.57 billion, extending a 7-week decline. Bitcoin ETF assets now represent 6.09% of Bitcoin's circulating market capitalization, down from more than 7% during the May peak.
Solana ETFs Record Their Worst-Performing Month Solana investment products also experienced notable weakness. June is on track to become the worst month on record for US spot Solana ETFs, with the category posting its first monthly net outflows. Net redemptions currently total $5.80 million for the month. On Thursday alone, Solana ETFs lost $3.94 million, with all of the outflows coming from Bitwise's $BSOL fund.
Ethereum products also joined the broader selling trend. Spot Ether ETFs recorded combined net outflows of $81.87 million, with BlackRock's $ETHA accounting for $62.99 million of the withdrawals. XRP ETFs remained flat during Thursday's session, recording neither net inflows nor net outflows.
While other Hyperliquid-related investment products experienced withdrawals, Grayscale's $HYPG fund stood out as the sole major crypto ETF to record net inflows, drawing in $112.73 million. This positive momentum was primarily the result of Hyper Holdings providing the fund with seed capital in the form of 2 million $HYPE tokens.
Bitcoin falls below $60,000 The ETF selling coincided with another sharp decline in cryptocurrency prices. Yesterday, Bitcoin briefly fell to $58,050, its lowest level since October 2024, before recovering to around $60,000. The recent market weakness has been linked to concerns surrounding Strategy and its $STRC preferred shares, which declined further to a new all-time low of $72 earlier today.
Solana also came under heavy pressure during the broader market sell-off, briefly dropping to $64 before leading the recovery among majors with an over 10 % rise in the last 24 hours.
Will The Sentiment Remained Subdued? Market observers continue to view ETF flows as an important measure of institutional demand. Citi has previously described Bitcoin ETF flows as one of the best indicators of investor adoption and expects sentiment to remain subdued while ETF flows stay negative.
In a recent report, CoinShares noted that Bitcoin's recovery from approximately $58,000 indicates continued buying interest during market declines, although resistance around $60,000 remains significant. The firm also observed that whale selling, which contributed heavily to the October market decline, has slowed considerably. However, the firm cautioned that whales historically do not return as consistent buyers until the next Bitcoin halving cycle, which is expected in 2028.
Looking ahead, CoinShares expects market conditions to remain challenging as inflation concerns, elevated oil prices, and a hawkish Federal Reserve continue to weigh on risk assets. The firm also believes delays in passing the CLARITY Act could extend uncertainty about the US regulatory environment, with the legislation now more likely to advance toward the August congressional recess than in early July.
For now, persistent ETF outflows across nearly every major cryptocurrency suggest institutional investors remain cautious as falling prices, macroeconomic uncertainty, and concerns surrounding Strategy continue to pressure digital asset markets.
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Ethereum (ETH) treasury company Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) is set to join the Russell 1000 Index after the close of US markets on Friday, while Solana (SOL) treasury firm Upexi (UPXI) will be added to the Russell Microcap Index when markets open on Monday.
Bitmine and Upexi join Russell indexes after meeting requirementsBitmine qualified for inclusion in the Russell 1000 after meeting the index's eligibility requirements, the firm initially announced on Monday. The large-cap index tracks the performance of the top 1000 US companies by market cap.
The inclusion places Bitmine alongside established US large-cap companies and increases the company's visibility among institutional investors and passive funds that track the Russell indexes.
Meanwhile, Upexi announced Thursday that it had secured a place in the Russell Microcap Index. The Solana-focused treasury holds over 2 million SOL acquired through acquisitions, staking and other capital allocation strategies.
"Inclusion in the Russell Microcap Index is a meaningful milestone that reflects the growth and transformation of Upexi over the past year, as we have grown our Solana treasury to more than two million SOL," said Allan Marshall, CEO of Upexi, in a statement on Friday.
Marshall added that the index inclusion is expected to expand the company's reach among institutional investors and fund managers that use Russell indexes as benchmarks.
Upexi operates both as a Solana-focused digital asset treasury company and a consumer brands business. Its treasury strategy centers on accumulating SOL while generating additional returns through staking and disciplined capital management.
The Russell Microcap Index includes the smallest companies in the Russell 2000, alongside the next tier of eligible US-listed microcap stocks. Constituents remain in the index until the next semi-annual reconstitution. The addition of Bitmine and Upexi is part of the June Russell US Indexes reconstitution.
Inclusion in major equity indexes can increase demand for a company's shares from passive funds that track those benchmarks. Broader institutional visibility and improved stock liquidity could help crypto treasury companies raise capital more efficiently to grow their holdings.
For example, in November, analysts warned that the potential removal of Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy from major equity benchmarks could trigger close to $9 billion in passive fund outflows.
Meanwhile, the crypto market has seen a significant decline in institutional activity over the past few months as bear market pressures intensified.
The declines have similarly affected companies whose stocks serve as proxies for investing in top cryptos. Several crypto firms have begun selling their holdings, with a few others pivoting from the crypto treasury model completely.
BMNR and UPXI are up 1.9% and 8.5%, respectively, on Friday.
Roughly $10.63 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) options expire on Deribit Friday. The settlement drops into a market that keeps sliding lower while traders hunt for a floor.
Bitcoin trades near $60,200 after a 2% daily drop, while ether sits around $1,580 after a steeper 4.43% fall. Both rest far below their options max pain levels.
Puts Command a Premium as Traders Brace for DownsideFriday’s settlement ranks as the quarter’s largest options event on Deribit. The bulk of expiring value sits in Bitcoin, with notional contracts worth about $9.06 billion against ether’s $1.57 billion. Max pain marks the price where the most options expire worthless. Bitcoin’s level sits at $70,000, while ether’s sits at $2,000.
Bitcoin Expiring Options. Source: DeribitOpen interest leans toward calls in raw terms, yet positioning tells a cautious story. Bitcoin’s put-to-call ratio sits at 0.63, with 92,154 calls against 57,652 puts. Ether’s ratio runs lower at 0.50. The heavier call count reflects bullish bets now stranded well above the current price. Bitcoin’s recent options expiry events have followed a similar defensive pattern.
Ethereum Expiring Options. Source: DeribitAccording to Greeks.live, Bitcoin’s 25-delta skew has turned sharply negative on short-dated contracts. The skew reads -10.7% at one day, -11.3% at seven days, and -9.6% at one month. By contrast, longer tenors stay calmer near -6% and -5%.
“Puts continue to command a meaningful premium over calls across all major tenors,” analysts at Greeks.live stated.
That premium reflects steady demand for near-term downside protection. Traders are paying up to hedge a further slide rather than chase upside. Bitcoin’s recent price action has kept that hedging active through the week.
The Bottom Question Hangs Over SettlementGreeks.live places negative gamma between $60,000 and $64,000, the band where Bitcoin trades now. Positive gamma spreads across $67,000 to $82,000, with clusters near $67,000, $71,000, $75,000, and $80,000. The June, July, and September contracts drive most of that dealer exposure. The firm notes these readings exclude IBIT data.
That structure can keep price action choppy near current levels through expiry. Meanwhile, ether’s steeper price drop has pushed it well below its $2,000 max pain mark.
The expiry also lands during a broad crypto downturn. Both assets have slid to multi-month lows this week, deepening the case for caution into settlement.
Some forecasters expect deeper losses first. Jiang Zhuoer, founder of mining pool BTC.TOP, sees a late-2026 bottom forecast near $42,000 to $44,000. He points to Strategy’s mNAV slipping to 0.72, close to its 2022 low. BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes has floated a $40,000 Bitcoin bottom within six months. Even so, his year-end target still runs above $200,000.
Jiang’s broader four-year cycle model points to a bottom around late October. He has mined through several halvings and plans to buy back near the low.
Deribit, however, cautions against reading too much into the max pain pull.
“While max pain remains a widely followed metric, recent quarterly expiries have shown limited evidence of a consistent pinning effect ahead of settlement,” Deribit analysts indicated.
Both assets remain stuck below max pain heading into settlement. The next sessions may show whether sellers extend the search for a bottom or buyers finally step in.
Ethereum remains under heavy selling pressure after another rejection at a key resistance level, with the latest decline pushing the asset back toward a major demand zone. While buyers are attempting to stabilize the price around support, the broader trend remains firmly bearish as ETH continues to trade below all major moving averages.
Ethereum Price Analysis: The Daily Chart On the daily timeframe, Ethereum continues to print lower highs and lower lows while trading beneath the 100-day, 200-day, and long-term descending trendline, confirming that sellers remain in full control of the broader structure.
The recent recovery stalled precisely below the $1.72K to $1.78K supply zone before bearish momentum resumed. That rejection has now driven ETH back into the key support region around $1.46K to $1.56K, where buyers are once again attempting to defend the market.
This support zone has produced another reaction, but so far the rebound remains weak and has failed to alter the overall bearish structure. As long as Ethereum remains below the $1.72K to $1.78K resistance area, rallies are likely to be viewed as corrective rather than the beginning of a trend reversal.
A decisive loss of the current demand zone would expose the market to another leg lower, while reclaiming the nearby resistance would be the first indication that bearish momentum is beginning to fade.
ETH/USDT 4-Hour Chart The 4-hour chart highlights the recent rejection at the $1.72K to $1.78K resistance zone, triggering another sharp decline toward the lower boundary of the established range.
Following that sell-off, ETH has bounced modestly from the $1.50K to $1.53K support area, suggesting buyers remain active around this demand zone. However, the asset continues to trade near the bottom of the broader consolidation range, while every recovery attempt has so far produced another lower high.
The current structure suggests Ethereum may continue consolidating between approximately $1.52K and $1.75K in the near term. The lower boundary remains the critical level to watch, as another breakdown below support could accelerate bearish momentum, whereas reclaiming the upper resistance would improve the short-term outlook and open the door for a stronger recovery.
Sentiment Analysis The Exchange Netflow chart shows a notable increase in ETH moving onto exchanges over the most recent sessions, with the 14-day moving average of netflows turning sharply positive.
Historically, sustained positive exchange netflows indicate that more coins are being transferred to trading venues, often reflecting rising selling pressure or a greater willingness among holders to distribute their assets. This shift has coincided with Ethereum’s latest decline toward the $1.5K area.
Although exchange inflows alone do not guarantee additional downside, the recent surge suggests that supply entering exchanges remains elevated. Unless netflows begin to moderate while price stabilizes around the current demand zone, the on-chain data continues to favor a cautious outlook and supports the possibility of continued weakness before a more durable recovery can develop.
Trading of the DRAM memory ETF is now available on the Solana blockchain, with its holdings covering Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, and SanDisk.
Jupiter official announcement: Trading of Roundhill Memory ETF (ticker: DRAM) is now supported on the Solana blockchain, with its holdings covering Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, and SanDisk.
2 minutes ago
At the opening of US stock markets, AI application software stocks rose against the trend, with ServiceNow and Figma climbing more than 5%.
According to Bitget market data, AI software stocks in the US market rose against the trend at opening. ServiceNow (NOW.US) and Figma Inc (FIG.US) jumped more than 5%, while Palantir (PLTR.US), Adobe (ADBE.US), Workday (WDAY.US), Salesforce (CRM.US), and Datadog (DDOG.US) gained over 3%, and Microsoft (MSFT.US) rose by more than 2%. Microsoft has hiked Xbox prices three times in 13 months, and stated that storage component costs will double next year.
2 minutes ago
At the opening of the U.S. stock market, most space-themed concept stocks rose, while SpaceX declined 0.75%.
According to Bitget market data, most US space concept stocks advanced at the opening of US stock trading. Specifically: SpaceX (SPCX) slipped 0.75% to $151.8; Virgin Galactic (SPCE) gained 8%; AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) rose 3.45%; Rocket Lab (RKLB) added 4%; Redwire (RDW) gained 1.9%.
2 minutes ago
At the opening of US stock markets, optical communication concept stocks fell broadly, with MRVL, AAOI, and LITE down more than 6%.
According to Bitget market data, US stocks opened with broad declines in optical communication concept stocks, including: Pure Photonics ETF (FOTO) fell 5.7%; Marvell Technology (MRVL) — a stock NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang previously touted as the next trillion-dollar market cap company — dropped 6.1%; AAOI (Applied Optoelectronics) fell 7.1%; LITE (Lumentum Holdings) dropped 8.86%; COHR (Coherent Corp.) declined 8.4%; and CIEN (Ciena Corporation) fell 4.75%.
2 minutes ago
US stocks opened with all three major indices in the red, with semiconductor and storage sectors plunging; Micron and SanDisk fell more than 5%.
According to Bitget market data, the three major US stock indexes all fell at opening: the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.44%, the S&P 500 declined 0.67%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.1%. The semiconductor and storage sectors saw broad declines, with individual stocks performing as follows: NVIDIA (NVDA) dropped 1.56%; Intel (INTC) fell 3.5%; Broadcom (AVGO) declined 2.5%; Qualcomm (QCOM) fell 0.4%; Seagate Technology (STX) dropped 5.78%; Western Digital (WDC) fell 7%; SanDisk (SNDK) declined 7.5%; Micron Technology (MU) dropped 5.4%.
Ethereum has been striving to hold its ground in the crucial support zone between $1,584 and $1,683 in recent days. Market analysts note that if ETH manages to sustain this level, bullish momentum could strengthen. On the other hand, a break below this band may pave the way for further selling pressure and deepen the correction.
Attention fixed on a key support zoneApproximately 4 million ETH changed hands in the spotlighted price range, turning this area into a technically significant support region. If Ethereum posts a daily close above $1,683, buyers could gain the upper hand, setting their sights on the next supply zones—$1,980 and $2,079.
A daily close above $1,683 could bolster the bullish outlook and lift the price toward the $1,980 to $2,079 range.
Conversely, a dip below $1,584 could undermine the existing technical structure, drawing attention to lower demand areas near $1,237 and $1,089. In this scenario, the market could once again focus on the psychologically significant $1,000 region.
In the short term, daily closes are expected to serve as the key indicator of direction. Whether buyers can defend this high-activity zone, or sellers seize control, will play a crucial role in determining the next move for ETH’s price.
Long term resistance remains a hurdleAt the time of reporting, ETH traded close to $1,573, remaining within the broader accumulation range between $1,400 and $1,700. Despite this, Ethereum still lingers below the long-term descending resistance line, keeping the overall trend under downward pressure.
Analysis points out that the pullback, which commenced after the 2025 peak, has added importance to this region. If buyers fail to protect the current zone, the bearish pattern could not only persist but potentially intensify. In that case, the $1,200 mark may again come into play.
As one of the largest blockchain networks for smart contracts and decentralized applications, Ethereum’s sharp price movements capture the attention of both the ETH market and a wider set of altcoin investors.
Ethereum continues to trade below both the long-term descending resistance line and the strong moving average resistance near the $2,332 level.
The main moving average resistance around $2,332 stands out as one of the most significant barriers to upward movement. According to market observers, overcoming the descending trend line and reclaiming this level could open the door to a more robust recovery for Ethereum.
For the time being, technical indicators suggest that caution still prevails. As long as ETH fails to rise above long-term resistance levels, broader macro pressures persist and downside risks in the market have not been eliminated.
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.
In addition, Tom Lee's Bitmine continues to stake ETH tokens.
With the latest major price moves (and mostly corrections) in the cryptocurrency markets, certain major players and whales have returned to act accordingly.
However, on-chain data from Lookonchain shows significant divergence between what SharpLink and some OG whales did. Here’s the Ethereum edition.
SharpLink Buys Riding the wave of cryptocurrency treasury companies that started accumulating in 2024/2025, Joe Lubin’s SharpLink began its ETH acquisition in the summer of 2025 and quickly became one of the largest players in the broader Ethereum ecosystem. Similar to Bitmine, it kept buying new tokens as prices rose and its position quickly skyrocketed to almost $1 billion in unrealized profits by early October.
Then came the cycle-changing event in that same early October when the entire market collapsed, leaving over $19 billion in liquidations. Ethereum, similar to almost all other assets, has not been the same ever since, with its price tumbling by 70% from the 2025 ATH to under $1,550 as of now.
Interestingly, unlike Bitmine, which kept accumulating for the most part during this extended bear phase, SharpLink stood on the sidelines. This finally changed after the latest Thursday crash, as the company halted its 8-month break to acquire almost $8 million worth of ETH. It holds 876,285 ETH (valued at $1.4 billion), which includes 22,102 ETH earned from staking.
However, its position is deep in the red as its average acquisition price stands at $3,609. Its unrealized loss, according to Lookonchain, is at $1.7 billion.
Meanwhile, Bitmine, which stands on a whopping unrealized loss of around $10 billion, continues to accumulate and stake the majority of its ETH tokens. In the latest update on the matter, the Tom Lee-chaired company staked another $250 million worth of ETH.
You may also like: Bitcoin (BTC) Dips Below $62K, Ethereum (ETH) Plunges 6% Daily: Market Watch 5 Reasons Why Bitcoin Just Crashed Below $63K as Liquidations Top $500M Bitmine Buys 52K ETH as Tom Lee Believes the Best Years for Crypto Are Still Ahead OG Whale Capitulates Another publication from Lookonchain shows that, in contrast to SharpLink, OG Ethereum whales have gone on a selling spree. Four such wallets received 37,602 ETH 8 years ago when the asset traded at $830. Their unrealized profits had risen to over $150 million during the 2021 and 2025 bull runs, but they refrained from selling.
However, they began disposing of their assets after the latest crash, which drove ETH to just over $1,500. As of press time, they had sold 33,623 ETH as their current profit sits at $27.4 million.
After holding $ETH for 8 years, these #Ethereum OGs finally gave up.
Four #Ethereum OG wallets received 37,602 $ETH($58.66M) 8 years ago at ~$830.
During the 2021 and 2025 bull markets, their unrealized profit exceeded $150M, but they never sold.
After 8 years of dormancy,… pic.twitter.com/bu5hqlIc9n
Former Ethereum Foundation member Trent Van Epps warned on Thursday that Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) faces a critical funding gap within 3 to 9 months.
Why The Foundation Is Pulling Back On PurposeVan Epps, who spent five years at the Ethereum Foundation before recently stepping away, explained in an interview with Coindesk that the organization is deliberately pushing legitimacy and funding power out into the broader ecosystem rather than holding onto it.
The Foundation’s treasury, built from the network’s earliest days, has funded critical shared resources like client development and the move from proof of work to proof of stake, but that treasury is shrinking by design.
Core development funding needs sit at roughly $30 million per year, a small figure against Ethereum’s $200 billion market cap and the trillions in stablecoin settlement the network handles.
The problem isn’t a lack of need. It’s that as the Foundation steps back, no clear institution has stepped up to fill the gap, even as the Foundation recently cut its workforce by 20% and saw executives depart.
Protocol Guild Raised $40 Million In Four Years, But It Isn’t EnoughVan Epps built Protocol Guild, a collective funding mechanism for Ethereum’s core developers, distributing nearly $40 million over four years.
“We’ve had some good success,” he said, “but ultimately it’s not sufficient.”
He pointed to the free-rider problem as the core obstacle to fixing it.
“If somebody donates, but their competitor doesn’t, all of a sudden they have a distinct advantage over somebody who’s parted with some of their resources to fund the shared resource,” he said, calling coordination among large stakeholders genuinely hard even when most understand what’s at stake.
Beyond the funding question, Van Epps argued ETH as an asset needs fresh, confident storytelling that connects the token directly to the EVM’s dominance, the engine underpinning roughly 90% of total value locked across crypto including layer-2 networks.
ETH’s Chart Shows Oversold Conditions After A Sharp Trendline BreakETH broke a rising trendline that had held since February, triggering a fast move down through $1,900, then $1,800, into the $1,557 level.
The death cross from November 2025 remains intact across all major moving averages.
RSI sits at 28.98, an oversold reading that often precedes bounce attempts even within a larger downtrend.
The 20-day EMA at $1,707.57 and 50-day EMA at $1,864.11 sit overhead as the first levels traders will watch for any recovery to either fail or gain real traction.
Image: Shutterstock
Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Trading of the DRAM memory ETF is now available on the Solana blockchain, with its holdings covering Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, and SanDisk.
Jupiter official announcement: Trading of Roundhill Memory ETF (ticker: DRAM) is now supported on the Solana blockchain, with its holdings covering Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, and SanDisk.
2 minutes ago
At the opening of US stock markets, AI application software stocks rose against the trend, with ServiceNow and Figma climbing more than 5%.
According to Bitget market data, AI software stocks in the US market rose against the trend at opening. ServiceNow (NOW.US) and Figma Inc (FIG.US) jumped more than 5%, while Palantir (PLTR.US), Adobe (ADBE.US), Workday (WDAY.US), Salesforce (CRM.US), and Datadog (DDOG.US) gained over 3%, and Microsoft (MSFT.US) rose by more than 2%. Microsoft has hiked Xbox prices three times in 13 months, and stated that storage component costs will double next year.
2 minutes ago
At the opening of the U.S. stock market, most space-themed concept stocks rose, while SpaceX declined 0.75%.
According to Bitget market data, most US space concept stocks advanced at the opening of US stock trading. Specifically: SpaceX (SPCX) slipped 0.75% to $151.8; Virgin Galactic (SPCE) gained 8%; AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) rose 3.45%; Rocket Lab (RKLB) added 4%; Redwire (RDW) gained 1.9%.
2 minutes ago
At the opening of US stock markets, optical communication concept stocks fell broadly, with MRVL, AAOI, and LITE down more than 6%.
According to Bitget market data, US stocks opened with broad declines in optical communication concept stocks, including: Pure Photonics ETF (FOTO) fell 5.7%; Marvell Technology (MRVL) — a stock NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang previously touted as the next trillion-dollar market cap company — dropped 6.1%; AAOI (Applied Optoelectronics) fell 7.1%; LITE (Lumentum Holdings) dropped 8.86%; COHR (Coherent Corp.) declined 8.4%; and CIEN (Ciena Corporation) fell 4.75%.
2 minutes ago
US stocks opened with all three major indices in the red, with semiconductor and storage sectors plunging; Micron and SanDisk fell more than 5%.
According to Bitget market data, the three major US stock indexes all fell at opening: the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.44%, the S&P 500 declined 0.67%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.1%. The semiconductor and storage sectors saw broad declines, with individual stocks performing as follows: NVIDIA (NVDA) dropped 1.56%; Intel (INTC) fell 3.5%; Broadcom (AVGO) declined 2.5%; Qualcomm (QCOM) fell 0.4%; Seagate Technology (STX) dropped 5.78%; Western Digital (WDC) fell 7%; SanDisk (SNDK) declined 7.5%; Micron Technology (MU) dropped 5.4%.
26 June 2026 | 15:11 ETH is trading at $1,550, and its liquidation map tells a lopsided story. Across Binance, OKX, and Bybit over the past 180 days, the leverage is almost entirely stacked on the short side, above current price. Below it, there's very little left.
Key Takeaways ETH trades at $1,546, with leverage stacked heavily on the short side above price. Long liquidations below price are minimal; those positions are already gone. Cumulative short liquidation leverage builds to $6.80B by $2,063. The map shows where the fuel sits, not whether anything ignites it. The long liquidation side below current price is thinning, not concentrated. According to Coinglass data, cumulative long liquidation leverage reaches $613.33M at $1,330, the lowest visible level, with Binance at $532.18K and OKX at $199.98K there. Closer to current price, $1,497 shows $501.24M in cumulative long liquidations (Binance $21.65M, OKX $11.46M, Bybit $13.26M), and $1,530 reaches $320.46M (Binance $64.71M, OKX $26.52M, Bybit $38.40M).
The important detail is that these are cumulative figures, the total long exposure that would be wiped if ETH fell all the way to each level, not single clusters sitting there waiting. The individual bar sizes at each level below $1,546 are small relative to the short side above, which tells the real story: most leveraged longs were already flushed during the drawdown from $1,800-plus levels. The long liquidation cascade below current price has largely been executed, and the remaining downside risk is distributed and thinning rather than concentrated.
The clearest evidence is right at current price. The largest long liquidation bar sits at $1,540-$1,556, marking $211.93M in long liquidations triggered around current levels. That cluster having already fired confirms the recent flush was real and those positions are gone. The next meaningful long liquidation level doesn’t appear until $1,486.
The Short Side Is Where the Weight Is Above current price, the picture changes. Cumulative short liquidation leverage builds steadily from $1,546 upward, reaching $6.58B by $2,063, with the largest single concentration at $2,063.5, where $6.80B in cumulative shorts would be triggered. Short positioning is stacked consistently at every $20-40 increment between $1,550 and $2,063, with the tallest individual bar around $1,756 and another notable cluster at $1,867-$1,904.
The Short Liquidation Ladder Three levels define the structure, and the exchange breakdown at each is revealing:
$1,756, first major cluster: $2.28B in cumulative short leverage. Bybit dominates at $102.65M, Binance at $98.46M, OKX light at $17.81M. $1,863, mid-range cluster: cumulative shorts reach $3.58B. Binance leads at $51.54M, OKX at $27.75M, Bybit drops to $11.96M. $2,044-$2,063, peak cluster: cumulative short leverage at $6.49-6.80B. OKX spikes to $108.73M, its heaviest single-level exposure on the entire map, Binance holds at $98.11M, Bybit falls to $3.33M. The exchange concentrations sit at different prices: Bybit shorts cluster lower at $1,756, Binance spreads more evenly across the range, and OKX shorts concentrate heavily near $2,044. A move across that range would flush different exchange communities at each level rather than hitting everyone at once.
What the Map Does and Doesn’t Say The important distinction is that this map describes potential energy, not kinetic energy. The short leverage stacked above current price means that if ETH moved upward for any reason, a macro catalyst, progress on the Clarity Act, ETF inflows reversing from current 7 week streak outflows, or a development like a final US-Iran deal resolving the open questions around enriched uranium and the Strait of Hormuz, each level is poised to mechanically force short covering, which usually tends to accelerate the move. The $1,756 cluster is the first such trigger; $2,063 is where the accumulated pressure peaks.
What the map cannot tell you is what would cause that move, when it might happen, or whether it happens at all. ETH could just as easily continue lower, in which case all that short leverage rides profit without ever being touched. The map shows where the fuel is sitting. It says nothing about whether anyone lights the match.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Consult a professional before making investment decisions.
Author
Kosta has reported on cryptocurrency markets and blockchain infrastructure since 2020, bringing over six years of hands-on experience in the crypto industry built through daily tracking of markets, trends, and emerging blockchain developments. Specializing in Bitcoin on-chain analysis, institutional ETF flows, and digital asset price action, his work at Coindoo has been cited by other news agencies and consistently covers market developments with a focus on data-driven reporting across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. Over the years, Kosta has contributed to multiple crypto media outlets in different regions, authoring over 6,000 articles across the sector. His reporting spans cryptocurrency markets and the broader fintech industry, tracking not only price action but also the technological and regulatory forces shaping the ecosystem. To support his analysis, Kosta actively leverages on-chain data and metrics from leading platforms such as Santiment, Glassnode, and CryptoQuant, enabling deeper, evidence-based market insights. He believes in the power of transparency and the data that underpins the blockchain ecosystem. His academic background in Marketing Management from Denmark further complements his analytical approach, adding a strong understanding of communication strategy and content positioning to his work.
@BlackRock has deposited an additional 4,577 $BTC and 41,996 $ETH into Coinbase Prime, valued at approximately $337.2 million, continuing a notable pattern of large crypto transfers to the institutional platform.
Part of a Larger Wave of Transfers The latest deposit follows a significant $611 million liquidity transfer executed earlier in the week. Over that prior 48-hour period, BlackRock moved a total of 7,160 $BTC and 98,850 $ETH to wallet addresses on Coinbase Prime, with a combined value of approximately $611 million based on asset prices at the time. Those earlier tokens were transferred across multiple wallet addresses in three separate batches of large $BTC transfers and a single transfer carrying over 51,000 $ETH.
The market is interpreting the activity as tied to ETF fund flows and is watching future net inflows and outflows closely. The moves have sparked mixed reactions among investors, though the pattern has become familiar and is often expected during periods when BlackRock's ETF products are witnessing net outflows.
What the Transfers May Signal While the deposits have fueled speculation about possible sell activity, analysts noted that transfers to institutional trading platforms do not automatically confirm direct liquidation of Bitcoin or Ethereum holdings. Coinbase Prime supports institutional custody and settlement services, meaning wallet transfers alone cannot establish whether any sale occurred.
When an institutional investor like BlackRock deposits Bitcoin to Coinbase Prime, it often precedes a specific action within the ETF ecosystem, such as creating new shares or settling redemptions. BlackRock has not confirmed any sales or disclosed the purpose of the transfers, leaving open the possibility that the movements relate to institutional custody or settlement services rather than immediate trading activity.
The scale and frequency of the transfers nonetheless reinforce BlackRock's position as one of the most active institutional participants in the digital asset space, with on-chain trackers continuing to flag each new movement as a key data point for market participants.
Sources:
BlackRock Sends $217M in Bitcoin and Ethereum to Coinbase Prime, Blockonomi
BlackRock Transfers Over $600 Million in BTC and ETH to Coinbase, Digital Today
BlackRock Extends Bitcoin and Ethereum Transfers With Massive $217M Move, Crypto Economy
The XRP Ledger (XRPL) community is witnessing a controversy owing to an on-chain analyst’s recent allegations. They accused that yield protocol SOIL enabled its insider wallets to profit by selling its own tokens using XRP liquidity during its XRP Ledger launch.
XRP Ledger’s New Yield Protocol In Crosshairs An on-chain analyst named “Skeptic” on X argued that the blockchain data suggested that there was no strong selling pressure for SOIL token from average investors. Rather, the user claimed the sell pressure came from wallets that had received SOIL tokens directly from the issuer.
“The main sell pressure is not coming from random holders. It is coming from wallets that received SOIL directly from the issuer and then quickly sold into the AMM,” Skeptic wrote. His comments grabbed market attention, especially since the XRP Ledger v3.2.0 was released recently.
The post states that one wallet was involved in 20 transactions receiving approximately 68,766 SOIL. This stack was then sold for approximately 11,457 XRP. Another wallet allegedly received 17,098 SOIL before selling around 17,998 SOIL for 6,769 XRP. Meanwhile, a third received 20,000 SOIL. Out of this, it offloaded approximately 17,628 SOIL for 6,683 XRP.
SOIL on XRPL is already showing a very ugly on-chain pattern.
I checked the flow around the XRPL SOIL issuer address the @soil_farm itself published for trustlines and trading:
rfmS3zqrQrka8wVyhXifEeyTwe8AMz2Yhw
The main sell pressure is not coming from random holders.
It is… pic.twitter.com/jJ6s3s9Czx
— Skeptic (@skeptic589) June 26, 2026
Skeptic said that the pattern “does not look like healthy price discovery” and instead “looks like issuer distribution followed by immediate dumping.” The user also asserted that the XRP community was “used as exit liquidity.”
Apart from that, the analyst noted that SOIL was trading in the Ethereum, Polygon, MEXC, Gate.io, BitMart and BVOX markets prior to its XRP Ledger launch. The post says while the tokens were sold on the XRPL, CoinMarketCap data showed a massive surge in the price of SOIL. The token price skyrocketed by about 53% in the last 24 hours from approximately $0.06147 to $0.09861.
Meanwhile, MEXC has also reported positive performance in the past 24 hours. Thus, Skeptic pointed out that “XRPL was not joining a fair, balanced market. XRPL liquidity was effectively used to absorb supply distributed from the issuer while price action elsewhere stayed stronger.”
The post concluded that what happened on XRP Ledger was “blatant unprofessionalism.”
What Did The SOIL Team Respond? The team of SOIL on XRP Ledger vehemently denied the charges. They claimed the price surge came about due to “high demand on thin liquidity” rather than insider selling.
“The price spike on XRPL DEXes happened because high demand hit thin liquidity. Simple as that,” the team wrote. It added that “SOIL team doesn’t influence the token price, the market arbitrages on its own.” Moreover, they accused that Skeptic was fueling FUD in the community.
Skeptic went on to say, “At the time of launch, you were the only ones who had the tokens needed to provide liquidity.” Soil then replied, “The wallet addresses you shared are bridge addresses, not team/project wallets.”
The protocol also mentioned that the difference in prices is frequent between decentralized and centralized exchanges when the market making is limited. “The liquidity that was in place worked fine… It only became an issue when demand spiked hard and fast,” SOIL said. They added that arbitrage between exchanges was “literally the mechanism working as intended.”
Skeptic was still not satisfied. Hence, he ended up responding, “In other words, you weren’t prepared for that level of demand and didn’t provide enough liquidity.” Now, Soil’s XRP Ledger lending protocol upgrade is also under fire.
After another user inquired if locked up RLUSD deposits were in danger, the discussion further heated up. Skeptic said there was no proof for that and emphasized the criticism was only about the token launch. He concluded, “Simply put, they screwed up.”
Meanwhile, in another update, it’s worth noting that XRP Ledger overtook Ethereum in terms of RLUSD supply.
For those looking for crypto-backed borrowing, visit our page on Crypto Loan Platforms.
BlackRock just shifted 4,577 BTC and 41,996 ETH to Coinbase Prime, a combined transfer worth approximately $336 million.
The Bitcoin portion alone was valued at roughly $271 million, while the Ethereum tranche came in at around $65 million. On-chain tracking firms including Onchain Lens and Arkham flagged the transactions, which are linked to BlackRock’s management of its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA).
What’s actually happening here Coinbase Prime serves as BlackRock’s custody, trading, and operational partner for its crypto ETF products. These transfers are the plumbing behind ETF share creation, redemption, and portfolio rebalancing. When new ETF shares are created because investor demand is high, the underlying crypto needs to move to the right custodial accounts. When shares are redeemed, the process reverses.
On-chain analysts have broadly characterized this transfer as consistent with standard ETF-related flows rather than any directional market bet. The absence of meaningful price movement in either Bitcoin or Ethereum following the deposit reinforces that interpretation.
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In January 2026 alone, BlackRock has transferred over $300 million in cryptocurrency to Coinbase Prime. Throughout 2025 and into 2026, similar transactions regularly exceeded $100 million per event.
BlackRock has not issued any official commentary on the transfer.
The bigger picture for crypto ETFs The fact that these transfers have become routine, happening regularly and in increasingly large sizes, signals that institutional infrastructure for crypto has matured well past the experimental phase.
The Ethereum side of the equation is worth noting separately. ETHA, BlackRock’s Ethereum ETF, has operated in the shadow of IBIT since launch. The 41,996 ETH transfer, while smaller in dollar terms, still represents meaningful operational activity. At roughly $65 million, the ETH deposit suggests that Ethereum ETF flows remain active.
What this means for investors When $336 million in crypto moves from the world’s largest asset manager to an exchange and nothing happens, it tells you something about where we are in the institutional adoption cycle. The market has learned to distinguish between operational custody transfers and actual buy or sell pressure.
The pattern is now well-established: large deposits to Coinbase Prime from BlackRock wallets are overwhelmingly associated with ETF mechanics, not market positioning.
Over $300 million in transfers in a single month suggests that ETF inflows and redemptions are running at a healthy clip. Sustained ETF activity of this magnitude acts as a structural demand source for both Bitcoin and Ethereum, providing a floor of institutional liquidity that didn’t exist before 2024.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Trading of the DRAM memory ETF is now available on the Solana blockchain, with its holdings covering Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, and SanDisk.
Jupiter official announcement: Trading of Roundhill Memory ETF (ticker: DRAM) is now supported on the Solana blockchain, with its holdings covering Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, and SanDisk.
2 minutes ago
At the opening of US stock markets, AI application software stocks rose against the trend, with ServiceNow and Figma climbing more than 5%.
According to Bitget market data, AI software stocks in the US market rose against the trend at opening. ServiceNow (NOW.US) and Figma Inc (FIG.US) jumped more than 5%, while Palantir (PLTR.US), Adobe (ADBE.US), Workday (WDAY.US), Salesforce (CRM.US), and Datadog (DDOG.US) gained over 3%, and Microsoft (MSFT.US) rose by more than 2%. Microsoft has hiked Xbox prices three times in 13 months, and stated that storage component costs will double next year.
2 minutes ago
At the opening of the U.S. stock market, most space-themed concept stocks rose, while SpaceX declined 0.75%.
According to Bitget market data, most US space concept stocks advanced at the opening of US stock trading. Specifically: SpaceX (SPCX) slipped 0.75% to $151.8; Virgin Galactic (SPCE) gained 8%; AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) rose 3.45%; Rocket Lab (RKLB) added 4%; Redwire (RDW) gained 1.9%.
2 minutes ago
At the opening of US stock markets, optical communication concept stocks fell broadly, with MRVL, AAOI, and LITE down more than 6%.
According to Bitget market data, US stocks opened with broad declines in optical communication concept stocks, including: Pure Photonics ETF (FOTO) fell 5.7%; Marvell Technology (MRVL) — a stock NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang previously touted as the next trillion-dollar market cap company — dropped 6.1%; AAOI (Applied Optoelectronics) fell 7.1%; LITE (Lumentum Holdings) dropped 8.86%; COHR (Coherent Corp.) declined 8.4%; and CIEN (Ciena Corporation) fell 4.75%.
2 minutes ago
US stocks opened with all three major indices in the red, with semiconductor and storage sectors plunging; Micron and SanDisk fell more than 5%.
According to Bitget market data, the three major US stock indexes all fell at opening: the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.44%, the S&P 500 declined 0.67%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.1%. The semiconductor and storage sectors saw broad declines, with individual stocks performing as follows: NVIDIA (NVDA) dropped 1.56%; Intel (INTC) fell 3.5%; Broadcom (AVGO) declined 2.5%; Qualcomm (QCOM) fell 0.4%; Seagate Technology (STX) dropped 5.78%; Western Digital (WDC) fell 7%; SanDisk (SNDK) declined 7.5%; Micron Technology (MU) dropped 5.4%.
Notable on-chain data in the cryptocurrency market has revealed that some early-stage Ethereum investors, who have been inactive for many years, have begun selling.
According to information shared by the blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain, four Ethereum wallets that had been inactive for approximately eight years have recently sold a significant amount of ETH.
According to the data, these investors purchased a total of 37,602 ETH in 2018, when Ethereum was trading at approximately $830. The total value of these purchases at that time was estimated at approximately $31.16 million.
It is reported that during Ethereum’s strong bull markets in 2021 and 2025, the unrealized profits of these wallets exceeded $150 million. However, investors continued to hold onto their assets during those periods without selling.
According to Lookonchain data, four wallets became active again today after eight years of silence. In the last four hours, investors sold a total of 33,623 ETH, executing transactions at an average price of $1,560. The total value of the Ethereum sold is estimated at approximately $52.46 million, while the total realized profit for investors is estimated at approximately $27.4 million.
Market experts say that investors are closely watching the reactivation of large wallets that have been inactive for a long time. In particular, the selling decisions of early-stage investors are considered among the important indicators of market sentiment.
Ethereum’s price has been volatile recently, and investors are closely watching the impact of large-scale selling on short-term price movements.
*This is not investment advice.
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Trading of the DRAM memory ETF is now available on the Solana blockchain, with its holdings covering Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, and SanDisk.
Jupiter official announcement: Trading of Roundhill Memory ETF (ticker: DRAM) is now supported on the Solana blockchain, with its holdings covering Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, and SanDisk.
2 minutes ago
At the opening of US stock markets, AI application software stocks rose against the trend, with ServiceNow and Figma climbing more than 5%.
According to Bitget market data, AI software stocks in the US market rose against the trend at opening. ServiceNow (NOW.US) and Figma Inc (FIG.US) jumped more than 5%, while Palantir (PLTR.US), Adobe (ADBE.US), Workday (WDAY.US), Salesforce (CRM.US), and Datadog (DDOG.US) gained over 3%, and Microsoft (MSFT.US) rose by more than 2%. Microsoft has hiked Xbox prices three times in 13 months, and stated that storage component costs will double next year.
2 minutes ago
At the opening of the U.S. stock market, most space-themed concept stocks rose, while SpaceX declined 0.75%.
According to Bitget market data, most US space concept stocks advanced at the opening of US stock trading. Specifically: SpaceX (SPCX) slipped 0.75% to $151.8; Virgin Galactic (SPCE) gained 8%; AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) rose 3.45%; Rocket Lab (RKLB) added 4%; Redwire (RDW) gained 1.9%.
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At the opening of US stock markets, optical communication concept stocks fell broadly, with MRVL, AAOI, and LITE down more than 6%.
According to Bitget market data, US stocks opened with broad declines in optical communication concept stocks, including: Pure Photonics ETF (FOTO) fell 5.7%; Marvell Technology (MRVL) — a stock NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang previously touted as the next trillion-dollar market cap company — dropped 6.1%; AAOI (Applied Optoelectronics) fell 7.1%; LITE (Lumentum Holdings) dropped 8.86%; COHR (Coherent Corp.) declined 8.4%; and CIEN (Ciena Corporation) fell 4.75%.
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US stocks opened with all three major indices in the red, with semiconductor and storage sectors plunging; Micron and SanDisk fell more than 5%.
According to Bitget market data, the three major US stock indexes all fell at opening: the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.44%, the S&P 500 declined 0.67%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.1%. The semiconductor and storage sectors saw broad declines, with individual stocks performing as follows: NVIDIA (NVDA) dropped 1.56%; Intel (INTC) fell 3.5%; Broadcom (AVGO) declined 2.5%; Qualcomm (QCOM) fell 0.4%; Seagate Technology (STX) dropped 5.78%; Western Digital (WDC) fell 7%; SanDisk (SNDK) declined 7.5%; Micron Technology (MU) dropped 5.4%.
Ethereum treasury firm Bitmine will join the Russell 1000 today, marking a significant development for the company. This comes as BMNR stock extends its decline, with renewed selling pressure amid the crypto market downtrend.
Bimine To Join Russell 1000 After Market Close In an X post, the Ethereum treasury firm announced that it will be added to the Russell 1000 today, effective after the market close. The stock market index notably comprises the largest 1,000 stocks in the Russell 3000.
Alongside Bitmine, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, and some small-cap stocks will also be included in the Russell 1000 today. The announcement from the Ethereum treasury company comes after CoinGape reported earlier this week on the potential Russell 1000 inclusion of Bitmine.
The Russell 1000 inclusion marks a positive for the Ethereum treasury firm as fund managers will have to rebalance their portfolios and add the stock, providing new buying pressure for the company’s stock. Ahead of the inclusion, the firm highlighted its current financial status, noting that it has 5.6 million ETH on its balance sheet.
Furthermore, Bitmine holds $601 million in cash and marketable securities and $350 million in its preferred security, BMNP. The company also noted that it has no debt and boasts an annualized staking yield of $233 million, having staked over 4.7 million ETH.
BMNR Stock Extends Decline BMNR stock has extended its decline today, trading around $13 and down over 2%, according to TradingView. The stock is also notably down by over 16% in the last five days. This comes amid renewed selling pressure in the crypto market, which has driven the Ethereum price down to around $1,500.
Source: TradingView; BMNR daily chart With the recent Ethereum decline, Bitmine’s unrealized loss on its ETH investment now stands at just over $10.5 billion, according to DropsTab data. The company has an average price of around $3,400 on its ETH holdings.
Source: DropsTab It is worth noting that Ethereum has also lost its spot as the second-largest crypto asset by market cap, falling below Tether’s USDT. Despite the market downtrend, Bitmine has maintained its weekly ETH buys.
The company expects to reach its goal of accumulating 5% of the total ETH supply sometime this year. Meanwhile, Bitmine’s Chairman, Tom Lee, said they are seeing signs that the market is in the early stages of a crypto spring despite the downtrend.
First public release of a complete FPGA implementation for zero‑knowledge proofs could finally make ZK‑rollups cheap enough for consumer‑scale applications.
A team of hardware and cryptography engineers at Cysic has released the first open-source, full-stack FPGA implementation of a zero-knowledge virtual machine (zkVM). The code, published today, is designed to accelerate the generation of ZK proofs; the cryptographic backbone of secure, private, and scalable blockchain networks.
If adopted by rollup operators and prover networks, the technology could dramatically lower the cost of ZK‑rollups, making them competitive on cost with optimistic rollups, which today are cheaper but settle more slowly and rest on different trust assumptions. That, in turn, would enable a new class of consumer applications that have remained theoretical for years: private stablecoin payments, portable identity without document uploads, verifiable AI on local devices, and on‑chain gaming with instant finality.
The Bottleneck That Held Back Web3 ZK‑rollups offer instant transaction finality and the same security guarantees as Ethereum mainnet. But generating the required cryptographic proofs has been computationally expensive; so expensive that most ZK‑rollups remain costlier than optimistic rollups, which require a seven‑day withdrawal window and weaker trust assumptions.
Consumers have voted with their wallets. They choose the cheaper, slower option. And many promising applications; like private payments, proof‑of‑age without revealing identity, and micropayments; have never reached scale because the underlying proof costs made them uneconomical.
What the Open‑Source Code Does An FPGA (field‑programmable gate array) is a chip that can be reconfigured after manufacturing to perform a specific task extremely efficiently. For ZK proofs, a properly configured FPGA can run orders of magnitude faster and use far less power than a general‑purpose CPU or GPU.
Until now, FPGA implementations for ZK proving have stayed proprietary or locked to a single prover network. This release is the first complete, open-source FPGA proving stack for a full zkVM — the FPGA backend for Venus, Cysic’s open-source zkVM. It includes the complete proving pipeline, not just isolated primitives, and is licensed permissively for anyone to use, modify, or port to different hardware.
The code sits alongside a production GPU proving network that already generates proofs for Ethereum blocks. With both GPU and open FPGA backends, the infrastructure is no longer dependent on a single class of silicon; a reliability benefit for any application that relies on verifiable compute.
What Becomes Possible With fast, cheap, and open ZK proving, several long‑promised consumer applications could finally move from white papers to wallets:
Private, instant stablecoin payments – A business could prove its funds are clean without revealing its entire transaction history, at a cost of pennies instead of dollars. Portable, privacy‑preserving identity – A user could prove their age or creditworthiness in under a second, without uploading passports or sensitive documents to third‑party servers. Verifiable AI on consumer devices – An AI assistant on local hardware could prove it executed a given model faithfully on the user’s data — without sending that data to the cloud. On‑chain gaming with instant finality – A multiplayer game could settle hundreds of moves per second on a ZK‑rollup, with proof costs low enough to make true asset ownership practical. Micropayments and streaming money – Paying a fraction of a cent per second for video or API calls would no longer be eaten by fees, because per‑transaction proofs would become nearly free. Availability
The open‑source FPGA code is available today on GitHub under permissive licenses. It is under active development and not yet audited for production use, but the team has invited researchers, developers, and hardware engineers to study, test, and build upon it.
“ZK only reaches its potential when proving is fast, cheap, and verifiable by anyone. Open‑sourcing the first FPGA zkVM is our way of saying the ecosystem moves forward together – not behind closed doors.” — Leo Fan, CEO of Cysic
About the Release The code is the FPGA hardware backend for Venus, Cysic’s open-source zkVM. It was built by Cysic, a verifiable compute network, and is released under Apache 2.0 / MIT licenses. It was built by Cysic, a verifiable compute network, and is released under Apache 2.0 / MIT licenses.
About Cysic Cysic, backed by leading investors including Polychain Capital, OKX Ventures, HashKey Capital, is building the verifiable compute engine for Web3. By combining custom ZK hardware, a decentralized node network, and a programmable economic layer, Cysic transforms computation into a trustless, on-chain resource. The network supports scalable proof generation, AI verification, and scientific computing workloads, laying the groundwork for the ComputeFi economy.
PANews reported on June 26, according to Cointelegraph, that as Ethereum’s price dropped to a yearly low, Tether’s stablecoin USDT briefly became the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Ethereum’s market cap fell below $185 billion after plunging 5.2% in 24 hours, and its price on Coinbase once dipped to $1,510, allowing USDT, with a market cap of $186 billion, to momentarily surpass Ethereum.
Coingecko data shows that Ethereum’s market cap has rebounded to $189.1 billion, now sitting above USDT’s $186 billion market cap.
Tether’s USDT briefly overtook Ethereum by fully diluted valuation as ETH fell to its lowest price of 2026.
Summary
USDT briefly passed ETH by FDV as Ethereum fell to its weakest 2026 level. Stablecoin demand keeps expanding even as Ether struggles with selling pressure and ecosystem changes this week. Ethereum treasuries are buying ETH dips, but USDT’s growth shows stronger defensive market demand. The move put stablecoin demand in focus during another weak session for the wider crypto market.
Market data showed USDT’s fully diluted valuation near $191.5b, above ETH’s roughly $189.3b. Ethereum later held its #2 spot by market capitalization, while Tether remained third by circulating market value. The brief flip still showed how close the two assets have become during the latest downturn.
Tether briefly overtook Ethereum, source: crypto.news The gap closed as ETH fell more than 5% over 24 hours. Ethereum traded near support levels last seen in October 2023 and April 2025. USDT stayed close to $1, as expected for a dollar-pegged stablecoin.
Stablecoin demand keeps growing The move also fits a larger market trend. Stablecoins have continued to grow even as major crypto assets have fallen. In a recent mid-year market update, 21Shares said, “Stablecoins retracted 30%+ in the last bear market. This time they’re hitting new all-time highs.”
Stablecoins retracted 30%+ in the last bear market. This time they're hitting new all-time highs. To us, that is the strongest evidence yet that stablecoins are one of crypto’s defining use cases – demand that no longer depends on the cycle.
Read more in our State of Crypto… pic.twitter.com/ylYHE9Fbsz
— 21shares (@21shares) June 25, 2026 That contrast matters because stablecoins often serve as trading collateral, payment rails and dollar liquidity inside crypto markets. Strong stablecoin supply during a bear market suggests users are not leaving crypto rails completely. Instead, many are moving into dollar tokens while waiting for better conditions.
Tether has also expanded its use cases beyond exchange trading. As previously reported, Tether-backed Oobit brought USDT payments to Brazil’s Pix network, giving users another way to hold dollar tokens and spend through local payment rails.
Ethereum faces market and internal pressure Ether’s weakness comes as the Ethereum ecosystem faces several changes. The token has struggled near long-term support, while investors watch ETF flows, treasury activity and network funding debates.
As crypto.news reported, the Ethereum Foundation cut roughly 20% of its workforce as part of a wider restructuring. The move removed 54 roles and added new questions about Ethereum’s development structure during a period of weak ETH performance.
The ecosystem also added a new research group. In a previous article, crypto.news discussed Ethlabs, a nonprofit backed by Joe Lubin, BitMine and SharpLink. The group includes former Ethereum Foundation researchers and will work on settlement speed, network capacity, native asset issuance and cross-chain standards.
Treasury buyers return to Ethereum Some corporate Ethereum treasury firms are still buying the dip. As reported today, SharpLink bought 5,000 ETH after an eight-month pause as Ether traded near yearly lows. The company now holds 876,285 ETH, including staking rewards.
BitMine has taken a much larger position. As crypto.news reported, Tom Lee’s BitMine staked 86% of its ETH holdings, lifting staked ETH to about 4.88m tokens. That gives BitMine one of the largest public ETH treasury positions in the market.
These purchases show that some institutional players still view ETH as a long-term treasury asset. But the USDT flip by FDV shows a different side of the market. Traders are still choosing stable dollar liquidity while ETH tries to defend key support.
For the first time in years, the crypto rankings experienced a major shake-up. Tether’s USDT briefly overtook Ethereum to become the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
At the peak of the crossover, USDT’s market cap climbed to approximately $186.06 billion. It narrowly surpassed Ethereum’s valuation of around $185.66 billion as ETH traded in the $1,500-$1,600 range. This occurred during a broader market downturn as per on-chain data.
Although Ethereum later reclaimed the second spot, the event marked a historic moment. It ended ETH’s more than seven-year dominance as the market’s second-largest digital asset.
Why Did USDT Overtake Ethereum?Unlike Ethereum, whose market value fluctuates largely based on price movements and investor sentiment, Tether’s market capitalization grows when new USDT tokens are issued. This meets demand for dollar liquidity.
As risk appetite weakened across crypto markets, investors increasingly shifted toward stable assets, boosting USDT’s circulating supply.
By mid-2026, Tether reported holding more than $193 billion in reserves backing USDT in circulation. The company also generated more than $10 billion in profits during 2025. As a result, it is one of the most profitable firms in global finance.
Today, USDT controls an estimated 70% of the stablecoin market. This cements its role as the dominant source of liquidity across the crypto ecosystem.
Is Ethereum Losing Its Influence?The crossover has reignited debate about Ethereum’s shrinking share of the broader crypto market.Market estimates suggest ETH’s dominance has fallen below 10% in some measurements. This is down sharply from the 18%-20% range it regularly commanded during previous market cycles.While Ethereum continues to lead in decentralized finance, smart contracts, NFTs, and developer activity, investors appear to be prioritizing liquidity and stability. This is especially evident during the current market downturn.As one analyst noted, a stablecoin surpassing Ethereum would have sounded unimaginable just a few years ago.Could This Signal a “Stablecoin Season”?Several analysts said the milestone may indicate the beginning of a “stablecoin season.” In this phase, capital entering crypto remains parked in stablecoins rather than flowing immediately into riskier assets.
Tether Overtakes Ethereum! 📰
A major milestone just reshaped the crypto leaderboard. Tether has officially surpassed Ethereum in market capitalization:
▪️ USDT: $186.06B
▪️ ETH: $185.66B
While $ETH remains the backbone of DeFi and smart contracts, $USDT growth reflects how… pic.twitter.com/SpGWii20nY
— Da Investopedia (@DaInvestopedia) June 26, 2026 With USDT supply now approaching $186 billion, many see it as a massive pool of potential buying power. It is waiting for the next market catalyst.
However, Tether’s growing influence also brings renewed scrutiny. Regulators continue to closely monitor the company’s reserve composition and transparency practices, given the enormous scale of its operations.
Despite the temporary flip, Ethereum still settles more on-chain value. It also supports the largest developer ecosystem and powers much of crypto’s financial infrastructure.
Story Ends Here
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Just when the leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin seemed to be recovering, it experienced new declines. Yesterday evening, another drop occurred, pushing the price down to around $58,000.
This decline was also reflected in altcoins, with the price of Ethereum, the largest altcoin, falling to around $1,500.
With this decline, all ETH whales suffered losses for the first time in 7 years.
According to crypto analyst Darkfost, using a pseudonym, all large-scale Ethereum (ETH) investors, or whales, are currently in a state of unrealized loss.
Specifically, the group of investors holding 1,000 to 10,000 ETH is experiencing a 26% loss; the group holding 10,000 to 100,000 ETH is experiencing a 21% loss; and finally, the group holding more than 100,000 ETH is experiencing a 5% loss.
The analyst also added that historically, periods when Ethereum whales incurred losses coincided with market lows.
The analyst also argues that, given that all whale groups are at a loss, the ETH price has performed relatively well.
As predictions of ETH hitting rock bottom continue to mount, Ethereum has lost its position as the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization to Tether (USDT).
During the day, Tether overtook Ethereum by market capitalization to rise to second place in the overall crypto rankings. However, ETH subsequently regained its status as the second-largest cryptocurrency.
According to the latest data, USDT has a current market capitalization of $186 billion, while ETH has a market capitalization of approximately $187.1 billion.
*This is not investment advice.
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US stocks opened with all three major indices in the red, with semiconductor and storage sectors plunging; Micron and SanDisk fell more than 5%.
According to Bitget market data, the three major US stock indexes all fell at opening: the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.44%, the S&P 500 declined 0.67%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.1%. The semiconductor and storage sectors saw broad declines, with individual stocks performing as follows: NVIDIA (NVDA) dropped 1.56%; Intel (INTC) fell 3.5%; Broadcom (AVGO) declined 2.5%; Qualcomm (QCOM) fell 0.4%; Seagate Technology (STX) dropped 5.78%; Western Digital (WDC) fell 7%; SanDisk (SNDK) declined 7.5%; Micron Technology (MU) dropped 5.4%.
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Aave Founder: Expanding the market from crypto assets to all asset classes via securities lending business
Aave founder Stani has stated that the protocol is expanding its market from crypto assets to all asset classes via securities-collateralized lending. Brokers like Robinhood and Charles Schwab usually retain 50% to 85% of stock lending fees, returning only a small portion to their users. The global securities lending market is approximately $4.6 trillion in size, generating around $350 billion in annual revenue, most of which is captured by brokers. Tokenized stocks, through Aave V4, can return the full lending revenue directly to users, offering advantages including real-time transparency, dynamic pricing, no re-collateralization, and no intermediary fee deductions.
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Federal Reserve Chair Waller’s newly appointed advisors, all with nearly 30 years of central banking experience, represent his first personnel arrangement since taking office.
Earlier reports indicated that Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh has selected two veteran central bank economists as advisors: Daniel Covitz, one of three deputy directors in the Research and Statistics Division, and Erik Enstrom, senior deputy director in the Monetary Affairs Division. Both are long-time Fed veterans with nearly 30 years of experience, deeply familiar with the Federal Reserve’s operations. Last week, Warsh also announced the establishment of five task forces to review the central bank’s communication practices, data analysis, and portfolio management, noting that these groups would be composed of external experts, with support from internal Fed subject-matter specialists. Covitz regularly prepared materials for Warsh’s speeches during Warsh’s tenure as a Fed governor from 2006 to 2011, with research focusing on financial stability and credit markets. Enstrom specializes in monetary policy and financial market analysis. Last year, he developed a model to assess the probability of various economic scenarios, estimating that by mid-2025, the risk of a combination of high inflation and weak growth had risen, replacing the earlier "soft landing" outlook. In February this year, the two collaborated on research explaining why long-term Treasury yields rose even as the central bank cut interest rates, attributing the phenomenon to investors demanding higher compensation for risks from adverse supply shocks and swelling federal deficits. The study also found no evidence that markets had lost confidence in the Fed’s ability to keep inflation near its 2% target.
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Serenity: A large number of U.S. companies are using DeepSeek to cut costs, weighing on revenue growth for high-end models.
Serenity tweeted about the phenomenon of U.S. companies’ heavy reliance on Chinese AI models, citing a UBS report that many enterprises have begun routing simple tasks to cheaper Chinese open-source models. Some teams spend up to $35,000 monthly on tokens—200% over budget—putting pressure on high-end AI model revenue growth. Serenity deemed the UBS report accurate, attributing the trend to a capitalist dilemma: markets naturally gravitate toward the cheapest option, and Chinese models like DeepSeek are significantly cheaper than those from Gemini, OpenAI, and Anthropic. Serenity also stated that the Trump administration’s earlier pause on access to Fable/Mythos was the right move, as repeated distillation of top-tier models poses enormous risks, and models approaching ASI-level should have higher access barriers. The expert noted that the U.S. needs two key actions: further develop models specialized in low-cost inference, and impose bank-grade identity authentication for AI model access.
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Spot gold rallied 15 U.S. dollars in the short term, breaking through the 4,060 U.S. dollars per ounce mark.
Per Bitget market data, spot gold rallied 15 USD in the short term, breaking above 4060 USD per ounce, with an intraday gain of 0.83%.
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A crypto whale dormant for 8 months has added to its short position on Ethereum, with the short position valued at $19.7 million.
Per Onchain Lens monitoring, a crypto whale opened a 20x leveraged Ethereum short position after lying dormant for 8 months, currently holding 12,832 ETH in the position, valued at $19.7 million.
This Friday, we examine Ethereum, Ripple, Cardano, Binance Coin, and Hyperliquid in greater detail.
Ethereum (ETH This week, Ethereum crashed by 8% as most of the market turned red and key support levels were broken. For ETH, the price has settled at the $1,500 support, which appears to be holding at the time of this post. The current resistance is at $1,800.
The last time this cryptocurrency was at this price level was early 2025. Back then, ETH bounced there, triggering a sustained rally that set a new record price. However, it’s unlikely this will be repeated here.
Looking ahead, Ethereum shows a lot of weakness, and sellers may try to break below $1,500 and turn this level into a key resistance. If successful, then the next major support will be found around $1,000.
Source: TradingView Ripple (XRP) XRP fell by 9% this week and is inches away from losing the support at $1. This is a psychological level that will determine the price action of this cryptocurrency in the weeks and months to come.
If $1 turns into resistance, then the price will likely spend most of the year under this level, with the next key support found at 80 cents. Since sellers have the upper hand, it would take a miracle to stop them at $1.
Looking ahead, XRP is found at a critical junction. Considering the existing downtrend, a price under $1 is very likely as bears continue to dominate. Such a scenario would only prolong the bear market with lower lows.
Source: TradingView Cardano (ADA) This week, ADA closed 12% lower and lost its key support at $0.15. The price failed to hold there, and this level is now acting as a resistance. The last time the price was this low was late 2020.
The recent weakness displayed by Cardano is quite concerning since the downtrend has been accelerating and picking up speed, including in terms of sell volume. Nothing seems able to stop this.
Looking ahead, with buyers gone, the price will be forced to go lower until it finds them, most likely around 10 cents. Best to stay away from ADA until it finally forms a bottom. This appears quite a distance away right now.
Source: TradingView Binance Coin (BNB) Binance Coin remained bearish this week after it lost 2% of its valuation. While that is not significant, the bigger worry is the loss of support at $580, which is now acting as a resistance.
Buyers failed to reclaim that support level, and, being on the defensive, they have likely retreated to the next support at $500. Because of this, the BNB price may slowly grind lower towards that in the weeks to come.
Looking ahead, this cryptocurrency remains in a clear bearish trend with lower highs and lower lows, even if it moved sideways for almost six months in the first part of 2026. Best to be patient on BNB until it finds a bottom as well.
Source: TradingView Hype (HYPE) After a great performance for most of 2026, HYPE appears to struggle now, being unable to make higher highs. The price topped just under $76, and since then, a correction has started with key resistance levels at $76 and $66.
Because of this, the price closed the week 5% lower and also recently tested the support at $60. While that has held to date, it’s likely that the correction will push this cryptocurrency lower, or even to $52, which is the bottom of this ascending channel.
Looking ahead, as long as HYPE can stay above $52, buyers have the advantage. However, any price under $52 would turn the chart bearish and send this into a deeper and sharper correction.
Crypto market recovery signs are flashing amid buy-the-dip sentiment following a crash. Traders brace for volatility as over $10.5 billion in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP, and Solana (SOL) options are expiring today.
BTC price has jumped more than 2% above $60K in Asia trading hours, following a drop to $58K lows. In the last few hours, the crypto market recorded nearly $35 million in short liquidations.
Crypto Market Recovery or Crash as $9.3 Billion in Bitcoin Options Expire Today? According to Deribit data, 151K BTC options with a notional value of are set to expire on June 26. The put/call ratio of 0.63. However, the 24-hour put volume is significantly higher than the 24-hour call volume. The put/call ratio has increased to 1.24, indicating traders are bearish.
However, crypto market traders are adjusting their positions to rise in BTC implied volatility and 25 delta skew. This indicates traders are hedging for downside protection and expect a recovery phase after the quarterly crypto market options expiry.
Moreover, the max pain price is $70,000, above the current Bitcoin price of nearly $59,900. However, data shows a high probability of expiring below the $59,500 strike price, with 50% for $60,000 at press time.
Traders are buying $65K call options for the July 3 expiry, flashing signs of a crypto market recovery in the coming days. Notably, Core PCE inflation coming in line with expectations, falling oil prices, and plunging US dollar index (DXY) and treasury yield could reset the crypto market for an early recovery phase.
Bitcoin Options Open Interest. Source: Deribit As per GreeksLive, the crypto market’s risk is building up, but institutions and whales haven’t continued betting on further downside yet. They are awaiting the settlement for further cues on market direction.
Bitcoin Options Open Interest Gex. Source: GreeksLive What’s Next for ETH Price After Expiry? Crypto market participants also expect a potential recovery amid quarterly Ethereum options expiry. 1,002K ETH options with a notional value of over $1.5 billion are set to expire, with a put/call ratio of 0.50.
In the last 24 hours, put volume exceeded call volume, with a put/call ratio of 1.33. It shows bearish sentiment among traders as puts dominated calls. However, implied volatility and 25-delta skew indicate a potential rebound in the coming days.
Also, the max pain point is at $2,000, significantly above the current price. Options traders are betting on short-term ETH trading after the crypto market crash. The probability of ETH options expiring above the current market price of $1,550 is at 58%.
ETH price rebounded 3% after falling more than 8% in the past 24 hours, currently trading at $1,553. The 24-hour low and high are $1,510 and $1,656, respectively. However, trading volume has increased by 14% amid buy-the-dip sentiment.
ETH Options Open Interest. Source: Deribit Ethereum treasuries Tom Lee-backed Bitmine Immersion (BMNR) and SharpLink (SBET) are buying ETH at dips. ShapLink purchased 5,000 ETH from FalconX today after 8 months, increasing its holdings to 876,285 ETH.
XRP Under Pressure, Buy Whales Buy amid Crypto Market Recovery Signs More than 41K XRP options with a notional value of almost $43 million are set to expire today. The put/call ratio is 0.71. Call volume is still higher than put volume in last 24 hours, with a put/call ratio of 1.25.
The max pain point is at $1.30, above XRP price of $1.03 at the time of writing. However, traders are betting on XRP to recover above $1.10 despite significant selling pressure.
XRP Options Expiry Moreover, XRP on-chain data indicates a rise in positive whale flows amid the recent drop in prices. If whale accumulation remains in the positive region in the coming days, it could trigger a recovery amid Ripple securing MiCA compliance.
XRP Whale Flow. Source: CryptoQuant $57 Million SOL Options Expiry 83K SOL options with a notional value of over $57 million to expire, with a put/call ratio of 0.50. In the last 24 hours, call volume remained higher than put volume, with a put/call ratio of 0.99. This signals that options traders are overall bullish and awaiting the expiry of Bitcoin and Ethereum crypto options for cues on market direction.
Also, the max pain point is at $80, with traders targeting SOL at $70 in the coming weeks. SOL price has rebounded 6% to $68 over the past few hours. Trading volume has increased by 15% over the past 24 hours.
In brief Base was down for more than two hours on Thursday after an issue arose that halted block production. The network is back up and running, and the network is still moving forward with a planned upgrade. Last month, the network had a partial outage that affected withdrawals. Base, the Ethereum layer-2 network incubated by crypto exchange Coinbase, was down for more than two hours on Thursday due to an issue that affected block production.
The issue first arose around noon ET on Thursday and came just hours before the network had a scheduled upgrade, according to the network’s status page.
“Base Mainnet is currently halted while the team works on an issue with block production,” the network posted on X around 12:20 p.m. ET. “All funds are secure, and we’ll update below once resolved.”
Around 1:00 p.m. ET the network reportedly identified the issue, but it was not immediately resolved.
Blocks are being produced and we’re seeing apps and infrastructure coming back online as their Base nodes are restarted and synced.
Recovery should be quick for each app/infrastrucure provider once the node restarts are initiated.
Thank you all for your patience while we got…
— Base Build (@buildonbase) June 25, 2026
“We continue to debug and have isolated a consensus problem that caused an invalid block to be sequenced,” the network posted on its status page. “This prevented new blocks from being created.”
An hour later, the sequencing of new blocks began syncing normally, though the network was still working on finding a root cause to the issue.
Thursday’s outage is the first block production and deposit issue on the network’s mainnet in the last 90 days, according to its status page. However, in May, the network reported around 30 hours of withdrawal delays.
A representative for Coinbase did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.
The network is still undergoing its Beryl hardfork upgrade, which will implement a new token standard for stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) on the network, while reducing withdrawal delays.
Though blockchain outages are not common, they have plagued networks from time to time, impacting network activity in the process.
Earlier this year, layer-1 network Sui suffered an outage on three consecutive days following gas and validator bugs on its mainnet. Prominent layer-1 network Solana also has a history of major outages, though it hasn’t reported a mainnet issue since February 2024.
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In the past 24 hours, the crypto market witnessed $1.42 billion in liquidations in the derivatives market. Ethereum [ETH] accounted for $349.17 million, with $274.29 million worth of long positions facing liquidation.
The leading altcoin was testing the $1,550 price level that it had tested in the first week of June. The higher timeframe price trend was bearish, and Bitcoin [BTC] was trading below the $60k support level at the time of writing.
This strong price move was likely driven by a liquidation cascade. According to Glassnode data, the selling pressure could intensify.
Source: Glassnode The 7-day moving average of the Ethereum net transfer to/from exchanges metric saw a positive shift. It had been negative over the past three weeks, signaling a flow of coins out of exchanges.
A shift toward net transfers into exchanges would mean more ETH made available for selling. This could put greater pressure on the already-strained price action.
Source: Glassnode Another metric from Glassnode, the new address momentum, uses the averages of the monthly [red] and yearly [blue] new addresses to track network adoption.
Since late April, the monthly average of new addresses has fallen below the yearly average. This indicated a contraction in onchain activity and decreased adoption rates. Such a change is typical of deteriorating market sentiment and declining price trends.
The case for a bullish Ethereum inflection point around the corner Source: CryptoQuant The 7-day moving average of the taker buy-sell ratio in the derivatives market has been in positive territory since June 10. However, the price bounce toward $1.8k made last week has quickly reversed.
The data showed speculative market participants were willing to buy the bid. These buyers also set up conditions for a squeeze, like the most recent one.
Source: CryptoQuant In a post on CryptoQuant Insights, analyst CryptoOnchain used a systematic regime model to demonstrate that a defensive stance among Ethereum market participants.
Using both Bitcoin’s derivatives flows and centralized exchanges’ stablecoin flows, the analyst’s assessment indicated a modest 45% probability of a bullish shift for ETH.
In particular, the decisive shift toward stablecoin inflows to Binance can serve as a good indicator of returning investor risk appetite, the analyst concluded.
Until such a shift, patience would likely be a safer bet for investors than bullish or bearish conviction.
Final Summary The Ethereum trend filters continued to show weakness, but momentum indicators suggested selling pressure may be exhausted, an analyst reported. While stablecoin inflows to exchanges have the potential to serve as a bullish inflection point, right now, investors would likely be better off remaining patient instead of placing directional bets.
Longs Bear the Brunt of a Brutal FlushAlmost $995 million in crypto derivatives positions were forcibly closed over 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data. The sweep hit 138,452 traders and underscored just how heavily leveraged the market had become heading into the selloff.
Leveraged bulls absorbed the majority of the damage. Of the $994.62M total, $704 million came from long positions, while short liquidations accounted for the remaining $290 million. The lopsided breakdown points to a market that had positioned aggressively for further upside before the move lower forced a rapid unwind.
Liquidations of this scale exert significant short-term pressure on prices by creating forced selling. When a wave hits, exchanges automatically close leveraged positions, adding sudden selling volume that can drive prices lower and trigger further liquidations in a feedback loop.
Bitcoin and Ethereum Lead the Damage$BTC led all assets with $478 million in liquidations, followed by $ETH at $225 million. The two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap accounted for the bulk of the losses, reflecting their dominance in the derivatives market.
The single largest forced exit of the period was a $38 million $BTC position on Hyperliquid. The decentralized perpetuals platform has increasingly become a venue for large-scale leveraged trades, making its liquidation data a closely watched signal across the industry.
The episode serves as a reminder of how quickly overleveraged markets can unwind. With longs outpacing shorts by more than two to one, the positioning ahead of the selloff left little room for error when price action turned.
Sources:
CoinGlass: Real-Time Crypto Liquidation Data
Crypto Briefing: 24-hour crypto liquidations reach $967M as leveraged longs get wiped out
For the first time ever, the supply of Ripple’s US dollar-backed stablecoin, RLUSD, on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) has overtaken that on Ethereum. The total RLUSD circulating on XRPL has reached $801 million, edging ahead of Ethereum’s $795 million supply. This shift marks a significant development in the competitive landscape of stablecoins and highlights an evolving dynamic within the sector.
Changing landscape in stablecoin supplyObservers note that the rise in RLUSD on XRPL is not merely a numerical difference between two major blockchains, but signals a broader transformation in stablecoin adoption. RLUSD, designed as a dollar-backed stablecoin within the Ripple ecosystem, distinguishes itself with its emphasis on regulatory compliance and an institutional use case focus. According to sector data, RLUSD has also been recognized as the first US dollar-backed stablecoin regulated in Japan, further bolstering its credentials.
With RLUSD supply on XRPL reaching $801 million and surpassing Ethereum’s $795 million level, market participants interpret this as a signal of a possible shift in institutional stablecoin preferences.
Because RLUSD is issued directly on the XRP Ledger, institutions integrating this asset inherently connect their systems to the XRPL infrastructure. This creates a compelling network effect, making it easier for organizations already on XRPL to explore and deploy other XRP Ledger-based assets and services in the future.
Expanding institutional applicationsThe rising interest in RLUSD is driven by strong institutional demand from banks, payment service providers, custody firms, and exchanges, who are seeking a reliable, regulated digital dollar platform. This demand is underpinned by RLUSD’s technical architecture, specifically tailored for compliance and robust institutional use.
Mini glossary: A custody firm is a financial institution that provides secure storage and protection of digital assets on behalf of institutional clients. Tokenization refers to creating a digital representation of a traditional asset on a blockchain.
Developments behind the scenes are viewed as having an impact beyond increasing network liquidity. Observers point out that RLUSD has accelerated adoption in areas such as payments, tokenization, and real-world asset integration, prompting major exchanges and financial service providers to step up their XRPL integrations.
A new reality challenging Ethereum’s dominanceFor years, Ethereum has been the dominant blockchain for token issuance, supported by its ERC-20 ecosystem’s extensive integrations with exchanges, custody solutions, and institutions. This made Ethereum the preferred choice for institutional projects seeking broad compatibility and support.
However, the fact that XRP Ledger now hosts a larger RLUSD supply than Ethereum suggests that institutional attention may be gradually shifting. Large institutions are known for conducting thorough compliance reviews and technical evaluations before adopting emerging infrastructures; RLUSD appears to be a catalyst for accelerating this transition.
Should this trend continue, it is believed RLUSD could help position the XRP Ledger beyond a payments-focused network, elevating it to a more central role in the digital asset industry for institutional-grade use cases.
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.
For the past two cycles, Bitcoin DeFi has lived more as a promise than a category.
Programmable Bitcoin has remained a vision held by a certain breed of Bitcoin maxi who believes that the world’s largest cryptocurrency can become productive without losing its security or sound money qualities.
Yet the closure of Bitcoin scaling platform Botanix earlier this month has called that vision into question.
If a well-funded, technically ambitious Bitcoin layer-2 with live apps, integrations and competitive yields can’t attract enough usage to survive, does that mean Bitcoiners simply don’t care about decentralized finance?
Bitcoin DeFi remains a niche proposition in 2026, despite years of being touted as the next big thing.
DefiLlama’s dashboard shows just $4.12 billion of total value locked (TVL) across all of the Bitcoin DeFi protocols. That’s a rounding error next to Bitcoin’s $1.2 trillion market cap, and the hundreds of billions held via spot exchange-traded funds, corporate treasuries and custodial accounts.
Andre Dragosch, head of research Europe at Bitwise, told Cointelegraph, “Bitcoin is winning decisively as a monetary asset and as pristine collateral, but the case for Bitcoin as a standalone DeFi execution layer was always structurally weaker than the narrative suggested.”
Botanix closes after four yearsWhen Botanix announced it was winding down after nearly four years of work and a year of mainnet uptime, the team didn’t blame a hack or a regulatory shock; they blamed demand.
Botanix described a chain that “worked” in every technical sense: 25 million transactions, 200,000 wallets, and tens of millions of dollars in bridged funds, yet it never generated the fee volume needed to cover its infrastructure costs.
Users came for the yield, treated BTC as store-of-value collateral, and then largely stuck to passive, buy-and-hold strategies, rather than actively borrowing, trading, or moving funds often enough to generate meaningful fee volume.
Like most BTCFi stacks today, Botanix still requires users to bridge their Bitcoin into a tokenized version on a separate Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-based chain before they can access DeFi. That introduces additional bridge and smart contract assumptions that worry many Bitcoiners.
Botanix’s shutdown notice. Source: Botanix
Even so, Botanix co-founder Willem Schroé told Cointelegraph that he wouldn’t have changed the core design. Despite Botanix offering what he described as “the best rates in the industry” and a more Bitcoin-aligned security model than typical wrapped BTC bridges, wrapped BTC on Ethereum still out-competed Botanix.
He attributed that to Ethereum’s “huge infrastructure network and Lindy effect,” as well as a mix of liquidity depth, user experience and regulatory comfort.
What Botanix learned about Bitcoin DeFiThe team concluded that Bitcoin is still viewed as a reserve asset rather than something that has programmable utility.
For most existing use cases like lending, leveraged exposure, or yield, a wrapped BTC position on a large, mature EVM ecosystem such as Ethereum is “genuinely sufficient” for most users. Rather than bridge into a Bitcoin-aligned EVM chain like Botanix, users preferred to stick with wBTC on venues where the liquidity, apps and integrations already exist.
Botanix also pointed to onchain activity consolidating around venues like Hyperliquid, and major centralized exchanges and retail-facing fintechs that “own the user relationship,” leaving independent infrastructure “rowing upstream” against convenience and branding.
Wilhelm said he hopes Botanix’s wind-down “will definitely be looked at by others,” and framed the process as a professionally managed experiment whose lessons other BTCFi builders should take seriously.
Bitcoiners, DeFi and wrapped BTCWhile estimates vary, only a small fraction of Bitcoin’s supply is currently productive in DeFi, and most of that sits in wrapped BTC products on Ethereum and its L2s like Base and Arbitrum, as well as Polygon, Solana and BNB Smart Chain. A smaller percentage is on “Bitcoin L2” chains, with Bitcoin-aligned L2s and sidechains accounting for a modest share of that activity by value.
Tokenized BTC products themselves represent just a sliver of the asset: A May 2026 analysis estimated that roughly $20 billion worth of BTC — less than 2% of the total Bitcoin supply — is circulating on EVM chains in wrapped form.
Total Value Locked (TVL) in Bitcoin DeFi. Source: DeFiLlama
An October 2025 GoMining survey of 730 Bitcoin holders found that 77% of respondents had never used a BTCFi platform, and only 3% integrated BTCFi into their overall Bitcoin strategy.
Even allowing for sample bias (these respondents were plugged-in, survey-answering BTC holders), the numbers show that BTCFi platforms that keep users in Bitcoin-aligned stacks remain a niche activity rather than a mass behavior.
Justin d’Anethan, head of research at crypto private markets advisory firm Arctic Digital, told Cointelegraph, “There is more liquidity and better yields on EVM or SVM [Solana Virtual Machine] native solutions than on BTC solutions, period.”
When clients ask about “putting their Bitcoin to work,” the practical routes, he said, are still centralized desks, exchanges lending out BTC at 2% to 4%, basis trade structures “à la Ethena,” or institutional credit pools like Maple.
He said the big obstacle for most Bitcoiners was the risk of bridging to a less secure Bitcoin L2. For “hardcore BTC maxis,” the default remains cold storage, HODLing and riding price appreciation, rather than trying to “eke out 2-3% with counterparty risk.”
Native BTCFi as a structural mismatchDragosch said Botanix’s failure suggested that demand for standalone Bitcoin DeFi execution layers was much weaker than their backers expected.
He argued that capital that “genuinely wants yield has migrated to wrapped BTC on mature, liquid venues rather than bridging into bespoke federations.”
In this view, the problem isn’t just that Bitcoiners haven’t “discovered” native DeFi yet; it’s that the architecture and user base are misaligned. Bitcoin’s base layer is slow, conservative and firmly anchored in the store-of-value narrative.
“Bitcoin as reserve collateral is the durable trade,” Dr. Dragosch said, “the next leg of adoption runs through institutions and balance sheets, not necessarily through onchain execution layers.”
77% of respondents have never used a BTCFi platform. Source: GoMining
Who is still building BTCFi, and for whom?Diego Gutierrez Zaldivar, chief executive of RootstockLabs, a Bitcoin-secured, EVM-compatible sidechain, doesn’t buy the idea that there’s “no demand” for Bitcoin-backed lending, yield products or broader BTCFi services.
He said the main constraint is trust: putting in place the operational, legal and risk management frameworks that institutions need.
More than 40% of all Bitcoin DeFi activity now runs through Rootstock, he said, including real-world asset settlements and institutional vaults. Over the past year, he said, funds have started asking to deposit hundreds or even thousands of BTC at a time into Rootstock-based products; flows that were almost unheard of two or three years ago.
Chains TVL. Source: DeFiLlama
Orkun Mahir Kılıç, co-founder of Chainway Labs, which is behind Citrea, a Bitcoin-anchored rollup combining the Bitcoin Virtual Machine (BVM) and zero-knowledge proofs, argued that cloning EVM DeFi primitives onto Bitcoin is a dead end, and said that Botanix’s experience is a verdict on that model, rather than BTCFi itself.
Orkun Mahir Kılıç is co-founder of Chainway Labs, behind Citrea, a Bitcoin-anchored rollup that keeps user assets inside Bitcoin’s security perimeter and proves its state with zero-knowledge proofs. He argued that cloning EVM DeFi primitives onto Bitcoin is a dead end, and said that Botanix’s experience is a verdict on that model, rather than BTCFi itself.
He told Cointelegraph that “more secure” doesn’t change most people’s behavior.
“People don’t price counterparty risk until something breaks,” he said. ”Where it matters” is for institutions and large holders that need trust-minimized transactions with no custodian to fail.
“For everyone else, the reason to be here isn’t the security guarantee in the abstract; it’s the applications that don’t exist elsewhere.”
Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
TLDR: Polymarket hack stemmed from a compromised third-party vendor that injected malicious JavaScript into the platform’s frontend. Over 11 wallets lost PUSD on Polygon; stolen funds were bridged to Ethereum and swapped into 1,893 ETH. Polymarket confirmed the breach within 15 minutes of the first public report and removed the affected dependency. Polymarket pledged full refunds to all impacted users while on-chain investigators continue tracking the stolen ETH. A supply-chain attack hit Polymarket on June 25, 2026, draining close to $3 million from user wallets. Attackers compromised a third-party vendor to inject malicious code into the platform’s frontend.
The script targeted PUSD, Polymarket’s native collateral token on Polygon. At least 11 wallets lost funds before the platform contained the breach.
Polymarket has since removed the affected dependency and pledged full refunds to all impacted users.
How the Attack Reached Polymarket Users The attack did not target Polymarket’s smart contracts. Instead, attackers breached a third-party vendor that supplied code to the platform’s frontend. That vendor became the entry point for malicious JavaScript delivered directly to users’ browsers.
When affected users connected their wallets, the injected script activated. It prompted them to sign or approve transactions without raising obvious suspicion. Those approvals handed over control of their PUSD holdings to the attacker.
On-chain investigator Specter was the first to flag the activity publicly. His report identified losses of roughly $2.94 million across more than 11 victim wallets. He also named the primary consolidation address: 0xe65b1C586757c5510B60F998Eebb14C1eF71E1eD.
It appears there may be a phishing attack targeting Polymarket users, with estimated losses of $2.94M so far.
The attacker has drained funds from 11+ victim wallets holding PUSD, swapped the stolen assets for ETH, and consolidated the proceeds into the following address:… pic.twitter.com/6WfS0JhdDG
— Specter (@SpecterAnalyst) June 25, 2026
Polymarket confirmed the breach about 15 minutes after Specter’s report. The platform’s public statement read: “This morning we discovered a 3rd party vendor had been compromised, injecting a malicious script into our frontend for some users. We’ve contained it & removed the affected dependency. We’re contacting impacted users & refunding them in full.”
Following the Stolen Funds On-Chain After the wallets were drained, the attacker moved quickly to obscure the trail. The stolen PUSD was bridged from Polygon to Ethereum shortly after the theft. That cross-chain move is a common step in crypto laundering flows.
Once on Ethereum, the funds were swapped into approximately 1,893 ETH. PeckShield confirmed this detail after amplifying Specter’s initial report. The ETH was then consolidated into the primary wallet flagged by investigators.
Several staging wallets were also identified during the fund movement. These included addresses such as 0xC771A30a, 0xC44F2Ca6, 0x10366AdB, and 0x7BCECe0d. Each one played a role in routing the stolen assets before consolidation.
Despite the volume of stolen PUSD, the token held its peg throughout. CoinGecko data showed it trading near $0.9998 on Polygon after the incident. The theft hit individual wallets rather than the underlying token backing.
What Comes Next for Polymarket Polymarket has committed to reimbursing every affected user in full. The platform says it is already contacting impacted wallets directly. That pledge covers the losses tied to the supply-chain breach.
This is not the platform’s first perimeter-level security event. In May 2026, a compromised internal ops wallet drained roughly $500,000, though user funds were not touched. Earlier in 2025, comment-section phishing also cost some users funds.
Each of these cases showed that the protocol itself remained intact. The weak points have consistently appeared in the surrounding infrastructure. The June 25 incident follows that same pattern.
The stolen ETH remains traceable on-chain, keeping recovery possible. Investigators continue monitoring the consolidation wallet. The identity of the compromised vendor and the final victim count have not yet been disclosed publicly.
Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin now has a larger circulating supply on the XRP Ledger compared to Ethereum. The XRPL’s lead comes as Ripple looks to expand in Japan with its RLUSD launch.
XRP Ledger Boasts The Largest Supply of Ripple’s RLUSD Based on the Ripple USD Tracker, around $801.79 million worth of RLUSD coins is active on the XRP Ledger. This figure is higher than the $795.59 million RLUSD on Ethereum. It is the first time that the XRP Ledger is in the lead for RLUSD supply among the two supported blockchains.
The surge in XRP Ledger’s RLUSD supply comes on the heels of Ripple revealing on June 25 that the RLUSD is now available in Japan via its partnership with SBI Holdings and crypto exchange SBI VC Trade. The launch will expand its partnership with SBI Group and facilitate cross-border payments, tokenization and collateral management, Ripple said.
Meanwhile, the information listed on the service overview page of SBI VC Trade suggests that the exchange’s currently supported networks include Ethereum. Moreover, it will add support for the XRP Ledger in the near future.
The update has garnered interest partly because plans are reportedly underway to integrate it natively with XRPL despite the fact that Ethereum infrastructure is still working almost perfectly today.
Ripple Senior Vice President of Stablecoins Jack McDonald also commented on the Japan launch. He said, “This launch marks an important step in expanding access to transparent, regulated USD-backed stablecoins like RLUSD for financial institutions, consumers and businesses in Japan.”
Meanwhile, Ripple added that RLUSD has received approval from Japan’s Financial Services Agency. Hence it will now function as a new category of electronic payment instrument under the country’s Payment Services Act.
Is Ethereum Losing Its Use Case For RLUSD? Today, XRP Ledger dUNL validator Vet wrote, “XRP Ledger has now more $RLUSD on chain than Ethereum. SBI VCTrade is integrating RLUSD on XRP.”
Vet argued that RLUSD is helping expand XRPL adoption among major financial platforms. “RLUSD has been a very strong door opener for the XRP Ledger,” he said. The validator then added that institutions seeking access to the stablecoin could frequently integrate XRPL infrastructure as well. According to Vet, this also makes it easier for other assets issued on the XRP Ledger to gain support.
XRP Ledger has now more $RLUSD on chain than Ethereum. SBI VCTrade is integrating RLUSD on XRP.
People get upset when they see the Ethereum integration and not XRP Ledger right from the get go. Let me explain what they are missing while we travel east 🇯🇵 :
1) RLUSD has been a… https://t.co/oJ31Z0i88f pic.twitter.com/21xfVdAccb
— Vet (@Vet_X0) June 25, 2026
Nonetheless, he also addressed questions over Ethereum’s initial role. Vet said, “Ethereum and especially ERC-20 tokens are very well integrated historically, even during the past SEC administration.”
He added that when new services launch on Ethereum first, “most likely the XRP Ledger integration is in the works.” Further, the validator explained that “things just take time and large organizations move very slow.” Meanwhile, SBI Group has also launched its JPYSC yen stablecoin on Ethereum.
PANews reported on June 26, according to monitoring by on-chain analyst Yujin, the Ethereum treasury company Sharplink — which had not bought ETH for eight months — restarted accumulation today. Six hours ago, it received 5,000 ETH ($7.85 million) from FalconX.
It currently holds 876,000 ETH ($1.37 billion), with an average cost of $3,609, and an unrealized loss of $1.789 billion (-56%).
Serenity: High-beta stocks typically fall first during broad market corrections, but also recover earlier.
Serenity issued a statement noting that global financial markets are currently undergoing a broad correction, with no clear end in sight. Major Asian stock indices are under broad pressure: South Korea’s KOSPI fell 8.18%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 4.8%, and Taiwan’s Weighted Index declined 3.82%. Meanwhile, high-growth stocks that had previously posted strong gains have also suffered severe losses, with individual names like SOI and RKLB logging cumulative declines of 30% to 40% recently. Per historical market patterns, high-beta stocks typically enter a correction phase ahead of the broader market and tend to see steeper drops, but they also often lead the rebound once the market stabilizes. Excluding South Korea’s inherently highly volatile market, a single-day decline of 3% to 4% in major indices usually signals a rapid cooling of market risk appetite, making the short-term market environment quite challenging.
23 minutes ago
Jiang Zhuoer: "AI bubble may burst once incremental funds dry up"
Jiang Zhuoer, founder of BTC.TOP (formerly LTC Pool), posted that liquidity in the US stock market is no longer sustainable. Just as the Bitcoin bull market ends when new inflows fail to support price rallies, the AI bubble will burst when new capital can’t sustain stock price gains. Initially, tech stocks rallied broadly, then only AI-related stocks advanced, and now only storage stocks are still rising—even AI leader Nvidia has started to decline.
23 minutes ago
Yesterday, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net outflow of $691.7 million, while U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs posted a net outflow of $81.9 million.
According to Farside's monitoring data, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs posted a net outflow of $691.7 million yesterday, while Ethereum ETFs saw a net outflow of $81.9 million.
23 minutes ago
The Nikkei 225 Index has seen its decline widen to 5%.
According to Bitget market data, the Nikkei 225 index has extended its decline to 5%, with SoftBank and chip stocks plummeting.
Serenity: High-beta stocks typically fall first during broad market corrections, but also recover earlier.
Serenity issued a statement noting that global financial markets are currently undergoing a broad correction, with no clear end in sight. Major Asian stock indices are under broad pressure: South Korea’s KOSPI fell 8.18%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 4.8%, and Taiwan’s Weighted Index declined 3.82%. Meanwhile, high-growth stocks that had previously posted strong gains have also suffered severe losses, with individual names like SOI and RKLB logging cumulative declines of 30% to 40% recently. Per historical market patterns, high-beta stocks typically enter a correction phase ahead of the broader market and tend to see steeper drops, but they also often lead the rebound once the market stabilizes. Excluding South Korea’s inherently highly volatile market, a single-day decline of 3% to 4% in major indices usually signals a rapid cooling of market risk appetite, making the short-term market environment quite challenging.
22 minutes ago
Jiang Zhuoer: "AI bubble may burst once incremental funds dry up"
Jiang Zhuoer, founder of BTC.TOP (formerly LTC Pool), posted that liquidity in the US stock market is no longer sustainable. Just as the Bitcoin bull market ends when new inflows fail to support price rallies, the AI bubble will burst when new capital can’t sustain stock price gains. Initially, tech stocks rallied broadly, then only AI-related stocks advanced, and now only storage stocks are still rising—even AI leader Nvidia has started to decline.
22 minutes ago
Yesterday, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net outflow of $691.7 million, while U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs posted a net outflow of $81.9 million.
According to Farside's monitoring data, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs posted a net outflow of $691.7 million yesterday, while Ethereum ETFs saw a net outflow of $81.9 million.
22 minutes ago
The Nikkei 225 Index has seen its decline widen to 5%.
According to Bitget market data, the Nikkei 225 index has extended its decline to 5%, with SoftBank and chip stocks plummeting.
Serenity: High-beta stocks typically fall first during broad market corrections, but also recover earlier.
Serenity issued a statement noting that global financial markets are currently undergoing a broad correction, with no clear end in sight. Major Asian stock indices are under broad pressure: South Korea’s KOSPI fell 8.18%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 4.8%, and Taiwan’s Weighted Index declined 3.82%. Meanwhile, high-growth stocks that had previously posted strong gains have also suffered severe losses, with individual names like SOI and RKLB logging cumulative declines of 30% to 40% recently. Per historical market patterns, high-beta stocks typically enter a correction phase ahead of the broader market and tend to see steeper drops, but they also often lead the rebound once the market stabilizes. Excluding South Korea’s inherently highly volatile market, a single-day decline of 3% to 4% in major indices usually signals a rapid cooling of market risk appetite, making the short-term market environment quite challenging.
22 minutes ago
Jiang Zhuoer: "AI bubble may burst once incremental funds dry up"
Jiang Zhuoer, founder of BTC.TOP (formerly LTC Pool), posted that liquidity in the US stock market is no longer sustainable. Just as the Bitcoin bull market ends when new inflows fail to support price rallies, the AI bubble will burst when new capital can’t sustain stock price gains. Initially, tech stocks rallied broadly, then only AI-related stocks advanced, and now only storage stocks are still rising—even AI leader Nvidia has started to decline.
22 minutes ago
Yesterday, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net outflow of $691.7 million, while U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs posted a net outflow of $81.9 million.
According to Farside's monitoring data, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs posted a net outflow of $691.7 million yesterday, while Ethereum ETFs saw a net outflow of $81.9 million.
22 minutes ago
The Nikkei 225 Index has seen its decline widen to 5%.
According to Bitget market data, the Nikkei 225 index has extended its decline to 5%, with SoftBank and chip stocks plummeting.
PANews June 26 news, Ethereum core developer Terence posted on X platform that Ethereum's Glamsterdam devnet-6 has been released, and significant progress has been made in testnet advancement. EIP-8282 introduces ePBS builder execution requests, including two new system contracts. On the execution layer side, building on post-bal-devnet-7 work, EIP-2780, 8038 (re-pricing), 7997, 8246, 8070 (optional) were added, and modifications were made to EIP-7954 (64 KiB), 8037 (source-based refunds) and 7928 (BAL×7702 warm-up maintains status quo).
