Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Bitcoin’s latest pullback was not driven by a single headline. Instead, traders were hit by a cluster of pressure points at the same time: weakness in global technology stocks, another heavy day of spot Bitcoin ETF redemptions, a sharp leverage flush, and a large monthly options expiry that kept the market focused on downside strike levels.

TL;DR Bitcoin fell toward the $58,000 area as risk appetite weakened across crypto and technology stocks. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw roughly $691.7 million to $696 million in net outflows on June 25, extending a six-day redemption streak. A large Deribit monthly options expiry, valued around $10 billion, added another layer of uncertainty for traders. Liquidations across the crypto market topped $1 billion over a 24-hour window as leverage was forced out of the system. ETF Outflows Add To The Pressure The institutional flow picture turned sharply negative before the move. Spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States recorded net redemptions of roughly $691.7 million to $696 million on June 25, according to the validated figures in the writing pack. Fidelity’s FBTC and BlackRock’s IBIT were among the largest contributors to the daily outflow, with FBTC cited at about $274.5 million and IBIT at about $265.7 million.

That matters because spot ETFs have become one of the clearest gauges of institutional demand for Bitcoin. One weak day does not define a full trend, but a six-day redemption streak changes the market’s tone. When price is already under pressure and ETF flows continue to move out, traders tend to question whether dip-buying demand is deep enough to absorb forced selling and hedging activity.

Derivatives Traders Focus On The $55,000 To $60,000 Zone The timing of the decline was also awkward for derivatives traders. Bitcoin moved into the $58,000 region around the same time as a major monthly options expiry on Deribit, with notional value cited at roughly $10 billion. Options expiries do not mechanically determine price direction, but they can concentrate hedging flows around key strike levels and make already-volatile markets more difficult to read.

The validated source pack also pointed to stronger put skew around the $55,000 to $60,000 area. In plain English, traders were paying more attention to downside protection as Bitcoin tested lower levels. That does not guarantee a deeper drop, but it shows where anxiety had built up across the options market.

Leverage Gets Washed Out Liquidation data added to the bearish picture. Across the broader crypto market, more than $1 billion in leveraged positions were reportedly liquidated within a 24-hour window. Forced liquidations can accelerate intraday moves because losing positions are closed automatically, often into already-thin liquidity.

The broader backdrop was not helping either. Crypto’s sell-off came alongside pressure in global technology shares, including weakness in Nasdaq futures and heavy selling in parts of Asia’s equity market. That link matters because Bitcoin and major altcoins have increasingly traded like high-beta risk assets during periods when investors reduce exposure to expensive growth and technology themes.

What Traders Are Watching Now The immediate question is whether ETF outflows cool, whether options-related pressure fades after expiry, and whether Bitcoin can hold the lower end of the recent trading range. A reclaim of higher levels would help stabilize sentiment, but a failure to absorb redemptions and leverage unwinds could keep downside protection in focus.

For now, the sell-off looks less like a crypto-specific breakdown and more like a broad risk-off move amplified by ETF flows and derivatives positioning. That distinction matters: if macro pressure eases, the market may stabilize quickly. If institutional redemptions continue, however, the path back above key levels could remain choppy.

This report is based on information from CoinDesk Markets and Tokenpost and CoinDesk Derivatives.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

Bitcoin sits near $60,000, down more than half from its October peak, with traders in extreme fear and institutions pulling money out for six straight weeks. The single question that decides where it goes next is whether the famous four-year cycle still governs Bitcoin, or whether institutions have broken it for good.

Summary

Bitcoin trades near $60,000, roughly 52% below its $126,000 October 2025 peak, sitting on its 200-week moving average with the Fear and Greed Index in extreme fear. The central debate is whether the four-year halving cycle is still in control, which would make this a textbook post-peak correction, or whether institutional demand has broken that cycle. The cycle-alive case fits the timing almost perfectly: Bitcoin peaked about 18 months after the 2024 halving and is now in the correction phase, the pattern predicts. The cycle-dead case argues that exchange-traded funds, corporate treasuries, and structural institutional demand have overridden the old retail-driven rhythm, pointing to a slow grind rather than a deep bear market. The crash is the test: a new low below the prior cycle bottom would vindicate the cycle, while holding here and grinding higher would suggest the pattern is broken. The outcome hinges on flows and the macro environment, not on any single price target. Bitcoin is trading near $60,000, and depending on which framework you believe, that number is either the early stage of a painful but normal correction that ends with a familiar recovery, or the beginning of something the old playbook cannot explain.

The price is down roughly 52% from the all-time high near $126,000 set in October 2025. It is resting on a long-term technical line that traders watch closely. The sentiment gauge known as the Fear and Greed Index is buried in extreme fear, and institutions have pulled money out of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds for six consecutive weeks.

Bitcoin daily price chart | Source: crypto.news Every one of those facts can be read two ways, and the reading you choose depends almost entirely on a single question that now hangs over the entire market: is Bitcoin still governed by its famous four-year cycle, in which case this is the correction the cycle always brings, or have institutions broken that cycle, in which case the old rules no longer tell you what comes next. 

This piece is built around that question, because it is the one that actually decides Bitcoin’s path through the rest of 2026, far more than any individual price level does.

The reason to frame a price prediction this way, rather than as a list of targets, is that the targets themselves flow from which thesis turns out to be right.

If the four-year cycle is alive, history points toward a deeper drawdown and a multi-quarter trough before the next halving-driven recovery. If the cycle is dead, the structural demand from funds and corporate treasuries could put a floor under the price well above where the old pattern would take it, turning a crash into a correction.

The honest work of a prediction, then, is not to pretend to know the number, but to lay out both frameworks clearly, weigh what the current evidence says about each, identify the levels and catalysts that would tip the balance, and translate all of it into concrete bull, bear, and base scenarios.

That is what follows: the cycle explained, the case for each side, what the crash is really signaling, the levels that matter, the scenarios, and the specific developments that would settle the debate.

Bitcoin at a crossroads Start with where things actually stand, because the current picture is genuinely tense. Bitcoin fell hard through June, breaking down toward the $60,000 area in one of its worst stretches in months, with a single brutal session wiping out around $700 million in leveraged positions, the great majority of them bullish bets that were forced to close.

The drop brought Bitcoin to its 200-week moving average, a long-term trend line near $62,000 that has historically marked deep-cycle support, the kind of level that in past bear markets has roughly coincided with major bottoms.

Just below it, analysts flag the $59,000 area as the next test, and below that, the psychological $60,000 line gives way to genuine uncertainty about how far a breakdown could run.

The mood matches the chart. The Fear and Greed Index, which measures market sentiment on a scale from extreme fear to extreme greed, sits near the bottom of its range in extreme fear, a reading that reflects how thoroughly the recent decline has shaken confidence.

Institutional behavior tells a similarly cautious story, with spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds posting six straight weeks of net outflows totaling close to $6 billion, described by analysts as the largest sustained institutional redemption wave since these funds launched.

Futures positioning has contracted sharply as traders cut leverage, a sign of de-risking rather than fresh conviction. And yet, woven through the gloom, are countervailing signals: a single day of positive fund flows late in the month, continued buying by corporate treasuries that view these levels as attractive, and the historical tendency of extreme fear to precede rebounds. 

Bitcoin, in other words, is at a genuine crossroads, with the bearish evidence and the contrarian signals roughly balanced, and the cycle question is what tips the interpretation one way or the other.

The four-year cycle, explained To weigh whether the cycle is alive or dead, you have to understand what the four-year cycle actually is, because it has been the dominant framework for understanding Bitcoin’s price for over a decade.

At the center of it sits the halving, a programmed event that occurs roughly every four years and cuts in half the rate at which new Bitcoin is created. Because Bitcoin’s supply growth slows abruptly at each halving while demand continues or grows, the halving has historically acted as a supply shock that, with a lag, drives the price upward.

The pattern that emerged across the first three cycles was remarkably consistent: in the 12-18 months following each halving, Bitcoin entered a powerful bull market and reached a new all-time high, after which it suffered a severe bear market, often falling seventy to 80% from the peak, before grinding through a recovery into the next halving and repeating the sequence.

This rhythm became almost a law in the minds of many investors. The halvings of 2012, 2016, and 2020 were each followed by a major price peak roughly a year to a year and a half later, and each peak was followed by a brutal drawdown and a multi-year trough.

The framework gave Bitcoin holders a kind of map: accumulate in the bear market, hold through the halving, ride the bull market to a new high, and brace for the crash that follows. The most recent halving occurred in April 2024, which places the present moment about 26 months into the current cycle, in what the framework would call the late-cycle or post-peak phase.

If the four-year cycle still governs Bitcoin, then the timing of the recent peak and the subsequent decline should look familiar, and the path ahead should rhyme with what happened after the previous three halvings. Whether it does is exactly what is now in dispute.

The case that the cycle is playing out exactly as it should The argument that the four-year cycle is alive and well is, on the timing alone, strikingly persuasive. Bitcoin reached its all-time high near $126,000 in October 2025, which is roughly 18 months after the April 2024 halving, landing squarely inside the 12-18-month window in which the previous three cycles each topped out.

From the cycle’s perspective, that peak was the natural climax of the post-halving bull market, right on schedule. What has followed, a sharp decline that has now erased more than half the price, is precisely the kind of post-peak correction the pattern predicts, the opening phase of the bear market that historically arrives after each cycle high.

Seen this way, nothing about the current crash is surprising or anomalous; it is the cycle doing exactly what it has always done.

Respected voices in traditional finance hold this view. Some analysts have described 2026 as a likely correction year, the down phase of the cycle, pointing to support zones in the $60,000-$75,000 range as the kind of levels a cycle correction might test or breach.

LATEST: Bitcoin hit a new cycle low near 60 thousand dollars with onchain metrics showing it is undervalued yet not at the levels of prior cycle lows. Identifying the bottom depends on the Clarity Act and how levered BTC holders perform, per Grayscale Research pic.twitter.com/DGwxb8Cvz0

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) June 10, 2026 Prominent cycle analysts have argued that the cycle bottom still lies ahead, with base cases placing a potential new low later in 2026, consistent with the historical pattern in which the trough comes well after the peak.

Under this framework, the extreme fear, the institutional outflows, and the technical breakdown are all expected features of the post-peak phase, not signs that something unprecedented is happening.

The cycle-alive case, therefore, implies real further downside: if Bitcoin follows the template of prior cycles, the current decline could deepen toward a trough materially below current levels before the next halving-driven recovery begins. It is a sobering view, but it has history and timing firmly on its side, which is what makes it so hard to dismiss.

The case that the cycle is dead The opposing argument is that the four-year cycle was a feature of a Bitcoin market that no longer exists, and that the forces which created the cycle have been overwhelmed by something new.

The cycle, in this view, was largely a product of retail-driven speculation amplified by the halving narrative, a self-fulfilling rhythm that worked when Bitcoin was a small, speculative asset, moved mainly by individual traders and the four-year supply story.

LATEST: Matt Hougan argues Bitcoin bottom is not the key focus. He advises long-term investors to target potential cycle tops pic.twitter.com/Rhxq6FoX8B

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) June 17, 2026 What has changed is the arrival of institutions at scale. Spot exchange-traded funds have brought enormous, structural pools of capital into Bitcoin, corporate treasuries have adopted it as a reserve asset and accumulate it continuously, and large financial institutions now treat it as a portfolio allocation instead of a speculative flyer.

These holders do not buy and sell on the halving narrative; they respond to macro conditions, portfolio strategy, and long-term conviction, and their presence changes the market’s fundamental behavior.

Proponents of this view, including some prominent research shops, argue that Bitcoin has entered a slow bull phase more akin to a mature asset like gold than to its old boom-and-bust cycles, in which persistent institutional demand smooths out the violent four-year swings and replaces them with a steadier, longer grind higher.

In this framework, the halving still matters as a supply event, but it no longer dictates the price the way it once did, because the marginal buyer is now an institution instead of a retail speculator chasing the cycle.

The implication is that the deep, 70-80% bear markets of the past may not repeat, because structural demand provides a floor that did not exist before, turning what would once have been a cycle-ending crash into a more contained correction.

If this thesis is right, then the current decline, however painful, is a drawdown within an ongoing structural bull market instead of the start of a multi-year winter, and the $60,000 area could prove closer to a bottom than to a way station on the road down. The cycle-dead case, in short, says the old map no longer describes the territory.

What the crash is actually telling us The natural question is whether the current crash settles the debate, and the honest answer is that it does not, because the evidence cuts both ways, which is itself revealing.

On the bearish side, the six straight weeks of exchange-traded fund outflows, totaling close to $6 billion, complicate the cycle-dead thesis, because they show that institutional demand, far from providing an unshakable floor, can reverse hard and become a source of selling pressure.

The slow-bull argument rests on institutions being steady, structural buyers, and a sustained redemption wave of this size shows that institutional money can flee risk just as retail money does, dragging the price down instead of cushioning it.

The extreme fear, the forced liquidations, and the breakdown to long-term support all fit comfortably within the cycle-alive interpretation of a post-peak correction gathering momentum.

On the other side, several signals support the cycle-dead reading. Even amid the outflows, corporate treasuries kept buying through the decline, with major holders adding to their positions at current levels and explicitly framing them as attractive entry points, behavior that reflects exactly the structural, conviction-driven demand the slow-bull thesis describes.

Late in the month, fund flows turned positive for a day, a tentative hint that the institutional selling may be exhausting itself. And the very depth of the extreme-fear reading, historically, has often preceded rebounds instead of further collapse, because it tends to mark the point of maximum pessimism where selling pressure runs out.

The takeaway is that the crash is genuinely ambiguous: it has features that fit both frameworks, and it has not yet produced the one piece of evidence that would be decisive, which is whether Bitcoin makes a new cycle low or holds here and recovers. Until that resolves, the data refuses to declare a winner, which is precisely why the cycle question remains open and why the next few months matter so much.

The levels that matter While the big-picture debate plays out, the technical levels provide the concrete map traders are watching, and they are worth knowing because they will mark, in real time, which thesis is gaining the upper hand.

The most important support is the 200-week moving average near $62,000, the long-term trend line that has historically tracked deep-cycle bottoms; a decisive, sustained break below it would be a meaningful signal that the bearish, cycle-alive scenario is taking hold, because losing that level has in the past preceded extended declines.

Just beneath sit the $59,000 area and the round $60,000 psychological level, the latter being the line that prediction-market traders have heavily wagered Bitcoin will break to set a new yearly low, with a smaller but real probability assigned to a fall under $50,000.

On the upside, the levels that would suggest the decline is stabilizing run through the $64,000-$65,000 zone as immediate resistance, with the broader trading range capped near $66,000-$67,000. Reclaiming those levels with conviction would weaken the bearish case and lend support to the idea that structural demand is putting in a floor, while repeated rejection there would keep sellers in control.

The key point is that these levels are not just numbers but markers in the larger argument: holding the 200-week moving average and pushing back above resistance would be evidence for the cycle-dead, floor-is-holding thesis, whereas breaking down through support toward the fifties would be evidence for the cycle-alive, correction-deepening thesis.

The chart, in this sense, is where the abstract debate becomes concrete, and the next decisive move through one of these levels will tell observers a great deal about which framework is winning.

The bull, base, and bear cases for 2026 Translating all of this into scenarios means tying each outcome to the cycle question and to the levels and flows that would drive it. These are conditional ranges, not predictions, and each depends on which forces win out.

Bull case: Bitcoin holds the 200-week moving average, the extreme fear marks a local bottom, institutional fund flows turn decisively positive, and a friendlier macro backdrop, such as signals of easier monetary policy, restores risk appetite. In this scenario, the cycle-dead, structural-demand thesis is vindicated, the $60,000 area proves to be a correction low, and Bitcoin recovers back toward and through its prior resistance, with more optimistic institutional targets pointing well into six figures over the following year as the slow bull resumes. Base case: the tension persists and Bitcoin chops within a wide range for an extended period, neither breaking down to a new cycle low nor mounting a clean recovery, as steady treasury buying offsets continued fund outflows and the market waits for macro clarity. In this scenario, the cycle question stays unresolved, Bitcoin grinds sideways to modestly lower around current levels, and direction depends on which flow trend wins out over the second half of the year. Bear case: Bitcoin loses the 200-week moving average decisively, the institutional outflows continue, and the four-year cycle reasserts itself in textbook fashion, driving a deeper correction toward the $50,000 area or below as the post-peak bear market plays out. In this scenario, the cycle-alive thesis wins, prediction-market bets on a sub-$50,000 print are realized, and Bitcoin works toward a cycle trough later in the year before any halving-driven recovery can begin. What would settle the debate For anyone trying to read Bitcoin’s direction over the coming months, the analysis points to a short list of developments that would actually settle the cycle question, and watching them is more useful than fixating on any single price. The first and most decisive is simply whether Bitcoin makes a new cycle low. If it breaks down through the 200-week moving average and the $60,000 area toward a materially lower trough, the four-year cycle will have shown that it still governs the market, and the bearish framework will have won.

If, instead, Bitcoin holds these levels and begins to recover, the case that structural demand has broken the cycle gains powerful support. That single binary, new low, or held floor, is the cleanest test available.

The second thing to watch is the institutional flow trend. The six-week outflow streak is the strongest evidence against the slow-bull thesis, so a durable reversal back to sustained net inflows would suggest the structural demand is reasserting itself, while a continuation or acceleration of outflows would reinforce the bearish, cycle-alive reading.

The behavior of corporate treasuries matters here too: continued accumulation through weakness supports the floor thesis, while any sign of treasuries slowing or reversing would be a serious warning.

The third factor is the macro environment, since Bitcoin now trades heavily as a risk asset, and a shift toward easier monetary policy or renewed risk appetite would support the bullish case, while tighter conditions and risk aversion would deepen the decline. 

The honest conclusion is that Bitcoin’s path through 2026 is not yet written, because it depends on a genuine, unresolved question about whether the oldest pattern in crypto still holds. The cycle is either running late or it is dead, and the market is about to find out which, with the 200-week moving average, the flow data, and the macro backdrop serving as the scoreboard. Until those resolve, humility about any specific target is not weakness but accuracy.

Frequently Asked Questions What is the four-year Bitcoin cycle? It is the dominant framework for understanding Bitcoin’s price, built around the halving, a programmed event roughly every four years that cuts the rate of new Bitcoin creation in half. Historically, in the 12-18 months after each halving, Bitcoin entered a bull market and reached a new all-time high, then suffered a severe bear market, often falling 70-80%, before recovering into the next halving. The pattern held across the 2012, 2016, and 2020 halvings, giving investors a map of accumulation, bull run, peak, and crash that has shaped how the market thinks about Bitcoin for over a decade.

Where is Bitcoin in the cycle right now? The most recent halving was in April 2024, which places the present moment about 26 months into the current cycle, in what the framework calls the late-cycle or post-peak phase. Bitcoin reached its all-time high near $126,000 in October 2025, roughly 18 months after the halving, squarely within the historical window for a cycle peak. The decline since then, now more than 50%, would be the post-peak correction the cycle predicts. If the cycle still governs, the trough would typically come well after the peak, potentially later in 2026.

Why do some analysts think the cycle is dead? Because the market that created the cycle has changed. The four-year rhythm was largely driven by retail speculation amplified by the halving narrative, when Bitcoin was a small asset moved by individual traders. Now spot exchange-traded funds, corporate treasuries, and large institutions have brought structural capital that responds to macro conditions and portfolio strategy instead of the halving story. Proponents argue this has turned Bitcoin into a slow-bull asset more like gold, with steadier demand smoothing the violent four-year swings and providing a floor that could prevent the deep bear markets of the past from repeating.

What does the current crash tell us about the debate? It does not resolve it, because the evidence cuts both ways. The six straight weeks of fund outflows show institutional demand can reverse and become selling pressure, undercutting the steady-floor thesis and fitting the cycle-alive correction view. But corporate treasuries kept buying through the decline, fund flows turned positive for a day, and extreme fear has historically preceded rebounds, all of which support the cycle-dead reading. The decisive evidence, whether Bitcoin makes a new cycle low or holds and recovers, has not yet arrived, which is why the debate remains open and the coming months are pivotal.

What price levels matter most? The key support is the two-hundred-week moving average near $62,000, a long-term line historically tied to deep-cycle bottoms; a decisive break below it would signal the bearish scenario is taking hold. Beneath sit the $59,000 area and the $60,000 psychological level, with prediction markets heavily wagering on a break to new yearly lows and a smaller chance of a fall under $50,000. On the upside, 64,000-$65,000 is immediate resistance, with the range capped near $66,000-$67,000. Holding support and reclaiming resistance favors the bulls; breaking down favors the bears.

Could Bitcoin fall below $50,000? It is possible, and prediction-market traders assign a real probability to it. In the bearish, cycle-alive scenario, Bitcoin loses its 200-week moving average, institutional outflows continue, and the post-peak bear market drives a deeper correction toward 50,000 or below as the cycle works toward a trough later in the year. This is not a certainty, and the bullish scenario, in which structural demand puts in a floor near current levels, is equally coherent. Which path unfolds depends on the cycle question, the flow data, and the macro environment, none of which has yet been settled, so a fall below $50,000 is a genuine risk instead of a forecast.

This article is information, not investment advice. The scenarios described are conditional ranges that depend on unresolved questions, not predictions, and Bitcoin is highly volatile. Prices, flows, and sentiment reflect reporting available as of June 26, 2026, and can change quickly. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell. Verify current data from primary sources and consider your own circumstances before making any decision.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have jointly called for public comment on their approach to harmonizing regulatory frameworks for crypto futures. The proposed public comment on the SEC CFTC framework comes amid the recent approval of crypto perpetual futures in the U.S.

Calls For Public Comment On SEC CFTC Framework In a press release, the SEC and CFTC issued a joint request for public comment on potential approaches to further harmonize regulatory frameworks applicable to portfolio margining across securities, security-based swaps, futures, swaps, and related positions. The public comment period will remain open for 60 days after the publication in the Federal Register. This is significant as the CFTC notably regulates prediction markets, which trade swaps.

Furthermore, this follows the launch of crypto perpetual futures in the U.S., with Kalshi securing CFTC approval to offer BTC, ETH, XRP, and HYPE futures. The request for public comment on the SEC CFTC framework also comes amid the rise in tokenized securities, with platforms such as Hyperliquid offering perpetuals for these securities.

The SEC and CFTC noted that the request for comment will assist them in evaluating whether greater coordination or alignment in portfolio margining requirements may improve risk management efficiency, reduce unnecessary market fragmentation, and enhance consumer protections.

Meanwhile, this marks the latest coordination between the SEC and CFTC towards providing clear frameworks that boost the crypto and financial markets. As CoinGape reported, the SEC and CFTC are pushing to clarify the definitions of derivative products, including definitions of swaps and security-based swaps, and how to treat them.

A Move To Further Promote Innovation SEC Chair Paul Atkins noted that further harmonizing the SEC CFTC framework will ensure that jurisdictional overlap does not stifle innovation and efficiency. “Cross-margining offers a clear opportunity to unlock liquidity that remains frozen in separate accounts, and we encourage market participants to provide feedback on ideas that will help improve coordination between both agencies,” he said.

Commenting on this move, CFTC Chair Michael Selig said that fostering enhanced cooperation between the two agencies on portfolio margining promises to unlock untapped capital while ensuring a more robust risk management framework and market protections. The CFTC is currently facing a lawsuit from the CME over its approval of crypto futures.

The CME argues that crypto perpetuals are swaps, not futures contracts, and that the regulator approved these products the wrong way. These crypto futures are already seeing significant demand, with Kalshi’s products recording over $1 billion in trading volume in under two weeks after they launched.

Bitcoin and altcoins continue to experience sharp declines due to ongoing ETF outflows, a more hawkish Fed, and a stronger dollar.

As Bitcoin fell to levels as low as $58,000 in the recent decline, expectations for June on the forecasting market Polymarket were also reshaped.

At this point, investors are expecting a decline, especially for Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum, and XRP.

According to Polymarket data, the price expectations for BTC, ETH, and XRP in June were as follows.

1. Bitcoin (BTC): Predictions titled “What Price Will Bitcoin Reach in June?” indicate that a decline in BTC prices is the dominant expectation.

A drop below $57,500 is the most likely scenario, with a 49% probability. This is followed by a 37% probability of Bitcoin rising above $62,500. This is followed by a 19% probability of Bitcoin falling below $55,000. Finally, the possibility of Bitcoin rising above $65,000 only covers about 10% of the target. 2. Ethereum (ETH): In predictions titled “What Will Ethereum’s Price Be in June?”, bearish forecasts for Ethereum are also prominent.

The most dominant scenario is a drop below $1,500, with a 66% probability priced in. A drop below $1,400 is priced in with a 22% probability. The probability of Ethereum surpassing $2,000 is priced at only 1%. 3.XRP: In predictions titled “What will the price of XRP be in June?”, bearish forecasts for XRP are prominent.

The most likely scenario is a drop below $1, with a 70% probability of the price being priced in. Secondly, a drop below $0.8 is priced in with a 2% probability. In contrast, a move above $1.4 is priced in with only a 1% probability. *This is not investment advice.

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XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) fell about 8% over the past week as the broader cryptocurrency market lost key technical support levels.

In an X post on June 26, XRP Ledger validator Vet said the ledger is evolving into payment infrastructure for autonomous AI agents.

According to Vet, t54’s x402 facilitator enables agentic payments on the XRP Ledger, allowing AI agents to pay for APIs and digital services using native XRPL settlement.

"Perhaps most users on XRP will be machines and not human?" Vet said, urging the XRP community to closely monitor AI-related developments on the network.

The comments come as Ripple’s latest Impact Report highlights the company’s growing focus beyond cross-border payments toward broader financial infrastructure built around XRP, the XRP Ledger and its RLUSD (CRYPTO: RLUSD) stablecoin.

XRP Facilitates $1.5 Trillion In TransactionsRipple’s 2025 Impact report said the XRP Ledger has processed more than 3.8 billion transactions since launching in 2012, facilitating over $1.5 trillion in value transferred between counterparties.

The company said blockchain adoption is increasingly shifting away from speculative trading toward institutional settlement, tokenization, decentralized finance and regulated stablecoins.

Tokenized asset value on the network climbed from $24.7 million at the start of 2025 to $568 million by year-end, representing roughly 2,200% growth.

Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin reached valuation of around $1.26 billion 2025-end and has since expanded to nearly $1.5 billion, driven largely by enterprise adoption.

The Major Volume BlockIn an X post on June 26, crypto analyst Ali Martinez said XRP is testing a major on-chain support zone near $1.06, where more than 830 million XRP previously changed hands, according to UTXO Realized Price Distribution data.

If that level fails, Martinez identified additional high-volume support zones at $0.80, where roughly 923 million XRP transacted, followed by $0.62 with 1.16 billion XRP and $0.51 with 1.06 billion XRP historically changing hands.

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

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

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

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

Top Cryptocurrencies to Position Before the Next Breakout Table of Contents

Top Cryptocurrencies to Position Before the Next BreakoutPepeto: The Exchange Token Where $0.0000001879 Could Become 267x Before Institutions Find ItXRP Price Prediction: Validated by Institutions but Returns Stay Range LockedSolana (SOL) Price at $69.25 as Risk Sentiment Cools Across Major TokensConclusionFAQsWhat is the xrp price prediction target after Bill Morgan called for faster escrow releases?How does Pepeto’s return math compare to holding XRP or SOL?What does the June 25 XRP breakdown mean for XRP and Solana? Pepeto: The Exchange Token Where $0.0000001879 Could Become 267x Before Institutions Find It XRP traders sit on resistance levels waiting for steady percentage gains, but Pepeto at $0.0000001879 runs on different math. The ticket price is a fraction of a cent, the runway scales for years, and presale wallets stand in front of every public buyer that arrives later.

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

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

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

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

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

Solana (SOL) Price at $69.25 as Risk Sentiment Cools Across Major Tokens Solana traded at $69.25 per CoinDesk, down 0.52% across a broader pullback on June 25. SOL ETFs continue to attract incremental flows while support sits at $65 with $89 the key resistance. Losing $65 opens $58.

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

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

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

Click To Visit Pepeto Website To Enter The Presale

FAQs What is the xrp price prediction target after Bill Morgan called for faster escrow releases? The xrp price prediction targets $10 long term per Benzinga if ETF demand and CLARITY Act clarity keep stacking. XRP’s $67 billion cap caps near-term upside to percentages, not the multiples a presale entry can deliver.

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

What does the June 25 XRP breakdown mean for XRP and Solana? XRP losing $1.0850 confirms both tokens lean on institutional ETF flows for price support. Neither offers the presale upside Pepeto carries ahead of a confirmed Binance listing at $0.0000001879.

Disclaimer: This is a Press Release provided by a third party who is responsible for the content. Please conduct your own research before taking any action based on the content.

Is a major shift building in the market ahead of the Q3 cycle?

The success of this move relies more on stablecoin flows than on short-term price action, as on-chain liquidity feeds directly into stronger DeFi ecosystems that shape a token’s long-term growth structure.

This is where recent RLUSD activity has intensified discussion around where liquidity is concentrating as Q2 comes to an end.

According to DeFiLlama data, RLUSD’s $1.57 billion supply on the XRP Ledger has overtaken Ethereum’s share. The chart below shows that RLUSD on XRPL now totals over $804 million, accounting for roughly 52% of the total supply, while Ethereum has contracted to around $771 million.

This divergence in liquidity distribution is driving increased discussion around XRP price prediction going into Q3. 

Source: DeFiLlama XRPL’s expansion in Japan further supports this trend. 

For context, RLUSD has received regulatory approval in Japan, allowing broader use of USD-backed stablecoins for payments across a market of about 122 million people.

This drives higher RLUSD activity on XRPL, strengthening liquidity concentration and feeding into XRP price prediction dynamics. 

From a technical lens, this comes at a key moment. On the weekly chart, the XRP/ETH ratio has been range-bound since September, despite broader crypto volatility.

Against this backdrop, the RLUSD divergence between XRPL and Ethereum may not be random, but instead an early signal of potential Q3 leadership.

Stablecoin flows reshape XRP price prediction narrative  Expecting Ripple [XRP] to outperform Ethereum [ETH] in Q3 may not be too far-fetched.

At the DeFi level, stablecoin flows are diverging. DeFiLlama data shows XRPL stablecoin supply rising over 8% this week with more than $800 million in inflows, while Ethereum has dropped by 0.3%.

This shows stronger liquidity growth on XRPL and supports the XRP price prediction narrative over ETH for Q3.

Institutional flows also follow the same trend. SoSoValue data shows spot Ripple ETF products recorded $31.32 million in net inflows in June so far, although this remains below May’s $132 million.

Meanwhile, Ethereum products recorded $377 million in net outflows, showing a clear shift in institutional capital flows.

Source: SoSoValue In this context, RLUSD supply strength on XRPL does not look random. 

Instead, with Japan’s regulatory approval, XRP/ETH consolidation, and institutional flows tilting toward XRP, the data points to a broader shift in liquidity direction. In this setup, a breakout in the ratio may be forming. 

As a result, XRP price prediction now factors in a possible recovery from the recent dip, with a move back toward the $1.5-$2 level positioning it as a potential strong Q3 setup.

Final Summary

XRP’s latest sell-off has put the $1 level back at the center of market attention, with traders watching whether the token can hold psychological support while derivatives data shows a sharp flush in long positions. The move comes as XRP continues to trade inside a broader multi-month falling wedge structure, keeping both technical traders and leveraged participants on edge.

TL;DR XRP tested the psychological $1 support level during the June 26 sell-off. Daily charts show XRP trading inside a multi-month falling wedge pattern. Long liquidations reportedly reached $40.73 million on June 25, the highest single-day figure since early February 2026. Analysts are watching the $1.10 to $1.12 area as a potential short-term momentum reclaim zone, while lower monthly support sits near $0.91. The $1 Level Takes Center Stage Round-number levels often matter in crypto because they become easy reference points for both retail traders and automated strategies. For XRP, the $1 area is especially important because it has served as a psychological dividing line between deeper bearish momentum and attempts at stabilization.

The validated pack shows XRP testing that level on June 26 as sell-side pressure accelerated. However, the writing boundaries are important: $1 should not be described as a guaranteed floor. The same validation notes point to longer-term monthly support lower, around $0.91, meaning a break of the psychological level could still leave the market searching for a more durable base.

Liquidations Add Fuel To The Decline The move was not just about spot selling. XRP long liquidations reportedly reached $40.73 million on June 25, marking the highest single-day liquidation volume since early February 2026. More than 97% of XRP long positions were wiped out in the 24-hour period leading into June 26, according to the validated derivatives data.

That matters because liquidation-heavy declines can move faster than ordinary spot corrections. When leveraged longs are forced out, exchanges automatically close losing positions, which can amplify downside moves and push price into key levels faster than discretionary traders expect.

Falling Wedge Keeps Traders Watching For A Reclaim Technically, XRP remains inside a multi-month falling wedge pattern. Traders often watch wedge structures for signs of compression and potential reversal, but the pattern does not guarantee a breakout. In the current setup, the validated pack notes that reclaiming the $1.10 to $1.12 region would be needed to shift short-term momentum more constructively.

Until that happens, the market remains vulnerable to failed bounces. XRP can stabilize near $1, but bulls need to prove that the move is more than a temporary pause after leverage was flushed out. A clean move back above the reclaim zone would likely be watched as a first sign that the sell-off is losing force.

What XRP Bulls Need To Avoid The main danger for bulls is a decisive loss of $1 followed by weak demand on any retest. If that happens, traders may shift focus toward the lower monthly support area near $0.91. That does not mean XRP must trade there, but it gives the market a clear downside reference if psychological support fails.

For now, XRP is caught between two competing signals: a technical structure that some traders may view as a potential reversal setup, and liquidation data showing that leveraged bullish positioning has already been punished heavily. The next test is whether spot demand can replace the leverage that just left the market.

This report is based on information from Crypto.news XRP Wedge and BeInCrypto XRP Support.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

21h10 ▪ 5 min read ▪ by Luc Jose A.

Summarize this article with:

The crypto market is going through a phase of strong turbulence, once again illustrating the intrinsic volatility that characterizes this asset class. A systemic correction triggered by the main cryptos is leading investors to rebalance competitive power relations and historical valuation levels. This dynamic shows that the apparent resilience of institutional infrastructures does not always guarantee the price stability of the underlying tokens on secondary markets. With XRP, the native currency of the Ripple protocol, we have a perfect example of this contemporary sectoral fracture. The company is multiplying technical initiatives, but the stock is critically underperforming compared to other major capitalizations in the sector.

In brief XRP records a 43 % drop since the beginning of the year and loses ground against several major cryptos. The token’s decline contrasts with Ripple’s institutional advances, fueling investors’ doubts. Analysts are divided on XRP’s future, between risk of a new correction and hope for a lasting rebound. The quantified capitulation and loss of XRP’s strategic ranks This Thursday, June 25, XRP plunged to an annual low of $1.01. This sharp drop is part of a wave of liquidation that shook the crypto market. Indeed, Bitcoin lost ground. The flagship asset even approached $58,000.

However, Ripple’s crypto had indeed recovered some of its losses that Friday morning, trading around $1.03, but it still recorded a 4.5% drop over a 24-hour session. Such a move deepened XRP’s weekly losses to 7.7%.

Since early June 2026, the asset has lost more than 20% relative to its prior level above $1.30, heading for a second consecutive month of monthly declines, bringing its year-to-date (YTD) drop to 43%.

This ongoing erosion has heavily weighed on the asset’s competitiveness, as these market indicators confirm :

A collapse from the peaks: In October 2025, the token flirted with its all-time high at $3.66 for a capitalization exceeding 200 billion dollars, before closing the year at $1.88 (115 billion dollars) and losing its third place to USDT ; Underperformance versus BNB : While BNB resisted better with a 13% drop over 30 days, XRP plunged nearly 22% over the same period. XRP’s capitalization collapsed to 64.7 billion dollars on June 26, compared to over 82 billion dollars on June 1, allowing BNB to pull ahead at 76.4 billion dollars ; Being overtaken by stablecoins : In addition to USDT, XRP is now being surpassed by USDC, whose market capitalization is today over 73 billion dollars. The divide between institutional progress and market expectations This prolonged decline illustrates a clear disconnect between price movement on the markets and the company’s actions. Indeed, this underperformance continues despite Ripple’s ongoing efforts to integrate the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and its underlying protocol into the structures of the international financial system.

This technical and financial gap fuels strong frustrations among the asset’s long-standing investors. On social networks, many retail investors express their exasperation without restraint. They claim that the gains made by the company mainly benefit its proprietary technologies and its own stablecoin projects, while individual token holders must bear the financial losses.

Technical scenarios and confrontation of price forecasts In terms of technical analysis, the possibility of breaking some key levels provokes divergent opinions, drawing opposing scenarios on the asset’s future. Bearish analysts, on one side, warn that a significant liquidity gap will open if the major psychological support at $1.00 were to break definitively. Skeptics are already betting on low technical targets, around $0.87, $0.70, or even extreme forecasts at $0.30, while ridiculing the optimism of investors aiming for a price target of $5.

Conversely, bullish supporters of the so-called “XRP Army” community show firmness. They see this return to the $1.00 level as a top strategic accumulation zone and assert that the current market structure is only meant to eliminate short-term investors before triggering a major macroeconomic breakout.

The evolution of Ripple’s crypto in the coming months will depend on its ability to maintain or not its technical and psychological support threshold at $1.00. If markets follow the most pessimistic analysts’ forecasts, the asset could enter a prolonged and lasting contraction phase, worsening the confidence crisis among small holders.

On the other hand, if the current investor base manages to stabilize the price at these valuation levels, it would offer the necessary respite to observe whether Ripple’s institutional integrations will translate into concrete economic utility for the token or not. How this confrontation between the technical market dynamics and the fundamental objectives of the Ripple ecosystem will be resolved will be a key indicator for the entire crypto sector.

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Luc Jose A.

Diplômé de Sciences Po Toulouse et titulaire d'une certification consultant blockchain délivrée par Alyra, j'ai rejoint l'aventure Cointribune en 2019. Convaincu du potentiel de la blockchain pour transformer de nombreux secteurs de l'économie, j'ai pris l'engagement de sensibiliser et d'informer le grand public sur cet écosystème en constante évolution. Mon objectif est de permettre à chacun de mieux comprendre la blockchain et de saisir les opportunités qu'elle offre. Je m'efforce chaque jour de fournir une analyse objective de l'actualité, de décrypter les tendances du marché, de relayer les dernières innovations technologiques et de mettre en perspective les enjeux économiques et sociétaux de cette révolution en marche.

DISCLAIMER

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.

THE STREET: World's most intelligent human being makes bold XRP prediction

According to market analyst Bird, XRP could be on the verge of one of its most pivotal technical turning points in recent years. Price action has remained trapped within a broad symmetrical triangle formation for an extended period, but the coming days and weeks may bring a decisive directional move.

All eyes on a breakout as trading range tightensCoinCodex data shows XRP trading at $1.04 at the time of writing. Bird argues that the current calm in the price doesn’t signal reduced interest; rather, it reflects mounting tension between buyers and sellers as the range narrows further.

In technical analysis, a symmetrical triangle describes a gradually narrowing structure where prices form lower highs and higher lows. As the price oscillates within an ever-shrinking band, the chances of a powerful breakout in either direction become more prominent.

Mini glossary: A symmetrical triangle is a chart pattern where price moves within an increasingly tight range. It does not guarantee direction on its own; breakouts to the upside or downside, especially accompanied by high volume, are considered confirmation.

Observers note that XRP’s movement space within this multi-year structure has diminished, bringing the market to a critical inflection point.

$4 target gains traction but confirmation still lackingBird believes that a breakout above the upper resistance line of the triangle, supported by strong buying interest, could signal a bullish move. In such a scenario, the $4 price target would come further into view.

Such a development would mark a key technical milestone and could rekindle interest among both retail and institutional investors. With the long-standing sideways, compressed price action, market participants are monitoring every move closely.

Analysts focus on trading volume and strong supportFrom a technical perspective, prolonged periods of consolidation can often lead to powerful expansions in price once the squeeze ends. The consensus building among analysts is that XRP has been accumulating within this long-term pattern for several months, potentially setting the stage for a significant move.

Yet, there is still no definitive sign of a breakout. Unless XRP clearly moves above its resistance or drops below the triangle’s major support line, the current price action is seen not as a confirmed trend shift but rather as ongoing consolidation.

For now, analysts are emphasizing the need for a clear spike in trading volumes and a definite directional move before making bold calls about the next big shift. Some continue to caution that a short-term dip toward $0.90 remains possible before any strong upside momentum emerges.

For the moment, the prevailing view is that XRP remains tightly squeezed into an ever-narrowing range. Whether the result is a surge towards $4 or a sharp reversal remains one of the most closely watched questions in the near-term crypto market landscape.

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.

An Ethereum whale who shorted Ether (ETH) during the October 2025 crypto crash has returned after eight months of silence.

Key takeaways:

Ethereum whale opens a $19.72 million 20x ETH short near the $1,500 support zone.ETH’s bear flag setup hints at a decline toward $1,375, which may earn the whale roughly $2.39 million in profits.Ethereum whale opens 20x short after eight-month hiatusOn Friday, wallet '0xf83f...6728' opened a 20x-leveraged ETH short worth $19.72 million as Ether reached the $1,500 support zone after dropping 18.25% over the last two weeks.

The position was opened at an average price of around $1,565, according to data resource Hyperbot. As of this press time, the whale had earned nearly $106,500 in unrealized profits as the ETH price dropped around the $1,550 area.

Ethereum whale's $19.72M position status as of Friday. Source: Hyperbot

The downside sentiment in the Ethereum market has tracked a broader tech-led risk selloff, with traders cutting exposure to speculative assets as Nasdaq and chip stocks came under pressure.

Ethereum-specific sentiment has weakened further amid renewed scrutiny of the Ethereum Foundation, following reports of budget cuts, staff reductions and a wave of senior departures that have raised questions about the organization’s leadership stability.

Ether is eyeing a decline toward the $1,375 level if it continues the breakdown out of its prevailing bear flag pattern.

ETH/USD daily price chart tracking the bear flag breakdown setup. Source: TradingView

If ETH falls to $1,375, the whale’s unrealized profit would rise to roughly $2.39 million before fees and funding, based on the position’s approximate $1,565 entry price.

Same whale shorted ETH near October 2025 crash topThe wallet’s latest move stands out because of its trading history.

Transaction logs show that wallet '0xf83f...6728' last became active on Oct. 27, 2025, when it opened an ETH short near $4,172 as volatility from the October crypto crash was easing.

The trader later closed the position near $4,133, booking $41,693 in net profit after $5,263 in exchange fees.

Ethereum whale's filled ETH orders from October 2025. Source: Hyperbot

The whale's current strategy appears similar: short ETH into weakness, use high leverage, and lean into downside momentum. The scale has changed sharply, however, since the current position carries nearly $20 million in notional exposure, making it far larger than the whale’s October 2025 trade.

ETH double bottom could threaten the whale’s shortThe whale’s bearish bet is not without risk.

As of Friday, Ether’s daily chart showed a potential double bottom near the $1,500–$1,512 support area, where buyers stepped in twice in June. The setup remains unconfirmed, but a strong rebound from this zone could shift short-term momentum back toward the bulls.

ETH/USD daily price chart tracking a potential double-bottom breakout setup. Source: TradingView

The key level to watch is the neckline near $1,850. A decisive daily close above that level would confirm the double bottom pattern and open the door to a measured rebound toward roughly $2,190, based on the distance between the neckline and the $1,512 bottom.

That would put ETH close to the whale’s liquidation zone near $2,150, meaning a confirmed bullish reversal could pressure or even wipe out the short position if the trader does not add collateral or reduce exposure.

This article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph's Editorial Policy and is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice or recommendations. All investments and trades carry risk; readers are encouraged to conduct independent research.

19h05 ▪ 4 min read ▪ by Mikaia A.

Summarize this article with:

Ethereum is on the road to the abyss, but it has not lost its allure in the eyes of the boldest investors. No question for the whales to remain unmoved in the face of such an opportunity. Sharplink understood from the start and jumps on the occasion like a predator on its prey. One question arises here: when fear dominates, should reason buy without hesitation?

In brief Sharplink bought 5,000 ETH at the lowest point of 2026 after eight months of pause. The company holds 876,285 ETH with a latent loss of 1.71 billion dollars. CEO Joseph Chalom is betting on the CLARITY Act and the growth of tokenized RWAs. Sharplink joins the Russell indices, which could broaden its shareholder base. Sharplink scoops up 5,000 ETH at the year’s low Sharplink resumed its Ethereum purchases after eight long months of complete strategic silence. The company bought 5,000 ETH for about 7.85 million dollars via FalconX. The operation took place as Ethereum hit its lowest level of the year at 1,537 dollars. 

CEO Joseph Chalom had identified three catalysts for the rise of ETH. The CLARITY Act, the return of risk appetite, and the growth of tokenized RWAs. Some are beginning to progressively materialize in financial markets. 

I see a real conviction of institutional accumulation that remains strong despite low prices.

Source: Andri Fauzan Adziima, Bitrue Research Institute, Cointelegraph, June 26, 2026.  The company acts as a conviction investor in the crypto market.

$1.7 billion in losses: a strategy under maximum pressure The contradiction is harsh and challenges all crypto and Ethereum market observers. Sharplink now holds 876,285 ETH with an average purchase price of 3,609 dollars. The latent loss reaches 1.71 billion dollars at the current Ethereum price. 

The company buys at the lowest, but it also buys amid a dizzying price plunge. Analysts are deeply divided on this risky and controversial strategy. Some see it as a strong and admirable institutional conviction in Ethereum. Others see a dangerous strategy that could cost shareholders dearly. 

The purchase of 5,000 ETH remains modest, but the signal is powerful for crypto markets. The company is betting everything on the long-term recovery of Ethereum. 

We believe we are in the early stages of the crypto spring.

Source: Tom Lee, Bitmine, Cointelegraph, June 26, 2026.  Sharplink’s bet is colossal and deeply divides experts.

Ethereum treasury firms play the waiting game on the crypto market Sharplink is not alone in this strategy of massive accumulation on Ethereum and crypto markets. Bitmine holds 5.67 million ETH, more than six times Sharplink’s holdings. Ethereum treasury companies continue to accumulate despite massive ETF outflows. 

Sharplink’s inclusion in the Russell 2000 and 3000 indices could broaden its shareholder base. The catalysts identified by Chalom could raise Ethereum’s price in crypto markets. SBET stock rose 0.22% after hours following the announcement. 

The path to recovery remains long and fraught with pitfalls for Ethereum and the crypto market. Institutional conviction in Ethereum remains intact, despite appearances and doubts. 

This massive accumulation raises questions about the deep nature of value in the crypto universe. Philosophy teaches us that the greatest wealth is often built in adversity.

Key figures of Sharplink 5,000 ETH bought at 1,537 dollars; 876,285 ETH held in total; 1.71 billion dollars in latent loss; 22,102 ETH earned by staking; ETH price at 1,578 dollars at the time of writing. Sharplink resumed its Ethereum purchases at the lowest point of the year, despite colossal latent losses. The Ethereum treasury company strategy remains unchanged: accumulate, whatever happens. Some analysts predict three consecutive quarters of decline for Ethereum. A bleak scenario that could severely test the patience of the most convinced investors.

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La révolution blockchain et crypto est en marche ! Et le jour où les impacts se feront ressentir sur l’économie la plus vulnérable de ce Monde, contre toute espérance, je dirai que j’y étais pour quelque chose

DISCLAIMER

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.

After remaining untouched for nearly eight years, four Ethereum wallets have suddenly reactivated and executed large-scale sales. On-chain data reveals that these wallets collectively offloaded 33,623 ETH within just four hours, at an average price of $1,560 per ETH.

Wallets awakened after years of inactivityThese four wallets originally accumulated a total of 37,602 ETH in 2018, buying in at an average price of around $830 per token. In the latest transactions, most of these holdings were transferred to exchanges and sold off. According to available information, the total proceeds from the sales reached $52.5 million.

Mini glossary: Lookonchain is an on-chain analytics account that tracks blockchain transfers and large wallet movements. Arkham is a blockchain data platform renowned for tracing wallet activity and associating addresses.

Movements tracked by Lookonchain and cross-checked with Arkham data point to a realized profit of approximately $27.4 million based on entry costs. The article shares the wallet addresses involved and notes that these remained largely dormant since their initial accumulation period.

In its post, Lookonchain highlighted that the ETH had been held for eight years before finally being sold, yet even after all that time, the wallets did not benefit from previous, higher market valuations.

While these sales demonstrate that long-term investors can still lock in gains despite weakened market conditions, the profits remain limited compared to what could have been achieved during peak market rallies.

Profits fall short of all-time highsData shows that on paper, these wallets’ holdings once exceeded $150 million during past bull cycles. However, the owners did not sell during the major surges of 2021 and 2025, passing on peak exit opportunities.

Ethereum reached its all-time high of about $4,946 in August 2025. At that level, the wallets in question were worth exponentially more than the recent selling prices. Instead, the most recent sales occurred with ETH trading around $1,560.

ItemDataInitial amount purchased37,602 ETHAverage entry price$830Amount sold33,623 ETHAverage selling price$1,560Total proceeds$52.5 millionRealized profit$27.4 millionAnalysts point out that the divergence between potential peak value and realized profit exposes missed opportunities during past booms. The rapid completion of these recent sales also underscores a trend of long-term Ethereum holders now liquidating some of their positions.

Available data show that these wallets, after years of dormancy, executed sizable sales in a brief period. This pattern resembles recent behavior among other long-standing Ethereum holders.

Similar moves witnessed beforeThis string of transactions marks the latest example of early Ethereum investors reducing their holdings after years on the sidelines. In March, another early adopter sold roughly $31 million worth of Ethereum.

April likewise saw an ICO participant transfer 10,000 ETH, valued at approximately $23 million, after years of inactivity. With these latest moves, the reactivation of previously idle wallets is under close watch by market observers.

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.

Ethereum treasury company SharpLink has resumed accumulating Ether after an eight-month hiatus, adding 5,000 ETH to its balance sheet as the cryptocurrency trades near its lowest level of 2026. The purchase reinforces the company’s long-term conviction in Ethereum despite sitting on billions of dollars in unrealized losses and a prolonged market downturn.

Blockchain intelligence platform Arkham first flagged the transaction, while on-chain analysts, including EmberCN and Lookonchain, reported that SharpLink received 5,000 ETH worth approximately $7.85 million from digital asset prime broker FalconX. The transfer marks its first Ether acquisition since October 2025, ending an eight-month pause in active accumulation.

After 8 months, SharpLink(@Sharplink) is buying $ETH again!

6 hours ago, #SharpLink received 5,000 $ETH($7.85M) from #FalconX.#SharpLink now holds 876,285 $ETH(1.4B), including 22,102 ETH earned from staking.

Its average purchase price is ~$3,609, and now sitting on an… pic.twitter.com/mr6gQxjNua

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) June 26, 2026

SharpLink Is Buying Again Despite Heavy Paper Losses The latest ETH purchase increases SharpLink’s treasury to 876,285 ETH, cementing its position as the second-largest publicly traded corporate holder of Ethereum, behind BitMine Immersion. The balance includes more than 22,000 ETH earned through staking rewards, highlighting that the company continued generating yield even while it paused new purchases.

The renewed buying comes at a challenging time for Ethereum. The second-largest cryptocurrency briefly fell to around $1,537, its lowest price of the year, and has declined roughly 25% over the past month, underperforming Bitcoin during the same period. 

Based on current market prices, SharpLink’s average acquisition cost of approximately $3,609 per ETH leaves the company with an estimated $1.7–1.8 billion in unrealized losses.

Yet the company appears to be treating lower prices as an accumulation opportunity rather than a reason to scale back exposure.

Corporate Conviction in Ethereum Remains Intact Another reason the purchase is significant is that it suggests institutional appetite for Ethereum has not disappeared despite weak price performance.

Commenting on the transaction, Andri Fauzan Adziima, Research Lead at Bitrue Research Institute, told Cointelegraph:

“I’m seeing genuine corporate accumulation conviction holding strong amid subdued price action.” The purchase also aligns with comments previously made by SharpLink CEO Joseph Chalom, who identified three catalysts that could improve Ethereum’s outlook over the medium term: passage of the CLARITY Act in the United States, a broader return in market risk appetite as geopolitical tensions ease, and continued growth in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. 

While those catalysts have yet to fully materialize, SharpLink’s decision to resume buying suggests management remains confident in Ethereum’s long-term investment case.

Sharplink cements Ethereum treasury position. Source: Ethereumtreasuries.net 

The company has increasingly positioned itself as an Ethereum treasury business rather than a traditional gaming affiliate platform. Since pivoting toward a crypto treasury strategy, SharpLink has focused on accumulating ETH, staking its holdings for additional yield, and supporting broader Ethereum ecosystem initiatives.

Earlier this month, the company also backed the launch of EthLabs, a nonprofit founded by former Ethereum Foundation researchers to accelerate institutional adoption of the Ethereum network.

These moves are part of a wider trend of publicly listed companies adopting digital asset treasury strategies. Whether that conviction proves well-timed will depend on Ethereum’s ability to recover in the coming months.

Canton Network, the privacy-enabled institutional blockchain built by Digital Asset, generated $60.2 million in fees over the trailing 30 days, outpacing Tron's $27.6 million and Ethereum's $11.3 million by a wide margin, according to DefiLlama data.

Canton Network, the privacy-enabled institutional blockchain built by Digital Asset, generated $60.2 million in fees over the trailing 30 days, placing it ahead of Tron and far above Ethereum by that measure, according to DefiLlama data.

The DefiLlama fee-tracking dashboard logs Canton's 30-day total at $60.2 million, compared with $27.6 million for Tron and $11.3 million for Ethereum over the same window. Digital Asset co-founder and CEO Yuval Rooz noted the milestone on X earlier this month: "$CC today processes the highest fees of any institutional blockchain network."

Trailing 30-day fees as of June 26, 2026: Canton $60.2M, Tron $27.6M, Ethereum $11.3M. Source: DefiLlama. Methodology: gas fees paid by users.Fee MethodologyDefiLlama tracks Canton fees as gas paid by network participants, a methodology consistent with how it measures fees on Ethereum and Tron. Canton is a permissioned, privacy-preserving network used primarily by financial institutions for settlement and asset tokenization. Transaction volumes there trace to institutional workflows rather than retail DeFi activity, which shapes how the fee comparison reads.

Canton's 30-day fee figure places it fourth overall on the DefiLlama leaderboard among all protocols, behind Tether, Circle's USDC, and Hyperliquid's perpetual exchange. Its all-time cumulative fees reached $488.9 million. The trailing 24-hour figure stood at $1.84 million at time of publication.

Institutional BackdropThe numbers follow significant capital formation around Digital Asset. The company closed a $355 million funding round led by a16z crypto in June, with HSBC, Apollo, BNP Paribas, CME, Tradeweb and more than 20 other institutional names joining. Visa and stablecoin issuer Brale piloted stablecoin settlement on the network using SBC, a US dollar-backed stablecoin. South Korea's Bithumb listed Canton Coin in its KRW market on June 23.

Canton is among the eight blockchains integrated into Mastercard's card-settlement network, per earlier Defiant coverage. The Canton Foundation was also registered under the National Cooperative Research and Production Act on June 22.

Ethereum GapEthereum's fees have stayed compressed since the Dencun upgrade reduced Layer 2 settlement costs. Over the trailing 30-day window, Canton's $60.2 million compares with Ethereum's $11.3 million, a ratio of more than five to one. The contrast reflects how differently the two networks generate fee activity: Canton's throughput comes from institutional settlement workflows with fixed participants, while Ethereum's comes from a broader but currently less fee-intensive base of applications.

Canton has made no public statement on when or whether the fee ranking will be updated or reported as a recurring metric.

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.

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.

Dogecoin looks weak, yet buyers lurk: Decline ahead or surprise rally?

Martinez warned that bulls need to hold the $0.073 level, or the setup becomes invalid.

The OG meme coin has been in sharp decline over the past several months, recently plummeting to a three-year low.

According to one popular analyst, it might experience a short-term revival, whereas others think the cycle bottom has yet to arrive.

Dogecoin at a Crossroads Earlier today (June 26), DOGE tumbled to around $0.072 before slightly rebounding to the current $0.074 (per CoinGecko). Despite the carnage, Ali Martinez said the asset’s TD Sequential indicator has flashed a buy signal and added that he will pay close attention to the $0.073 level.

“Hold it, and $0.081 is in play. Lose it, and the setup is no longer valid,” he estimated.

Last week, the analyst touched on DOGE again, revealing that 420 million coins have been distributed by whales over just seven days. As a result, the total holdings of these large investors have shrunk to nearly 35 billion tokens, or less than 23% of Dogecoin’s circulating supply.

Other market observers who have recently been vocal on the asset’s performance include Celal Kucuker and Part-Time Trader. The former envisioned a possible plunge to the $0.05-$0.06 zone, calling it an “attractive” buying range. In the meantime, the analyst remains highly bullish for the long term, arguing that DOGE has the potential to reach $1.

The latter issued a doomsday prediction, warning that the meme coin could be headed for a 95% collapse, bringing the price to approximately $0.004.

The Other Indicators DOGE’s major pullback has led to a sharp decline in the Relative Strength Index (RSI). Its ratio briefly collapsed to roughly 18.6, indicating the asset has entered extreme oversold territory. Historically, such a low level has been a precursor to a rebound, and we have yet to see whether this will be the case here.

You may also like: Mining Profits Dry Up Across Bitcoin, DOGE, LTC, and BCH Could Dogecoin (DOGE) Be Setting Up for Its Next Big Move? Analysts Think So ‘Dead Meme’ or Major Opportunity? DOGE Is Flashing The Same Signal That Preceded Its Biggest Rallies DOGE RSI, Source: CryptoWaves Dogecoin’s exchange netflow represents another ray of hope. Over the past several weeks, investors have continued to abandon centralized platforms in favor of self-custody solutions, reducing immediate selling pressure.

DOGE Exchange Netflow, Source: CoinGlass One powerful catalyst for a potential DOGE resurgence could be institutional interest in the meme coin, which, at the moment, seems absent. Spot Dogecoin ETFs remain unattractive to pension funds, hedge funds, and other conservative investors, with cumulative net inflows of just $12.6 million since their launch.

Spot DOGE ETFs, Source: SoSoValue Tags:

Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA) active addresses and social discussion both spiked Thursday even as the token trades near its lowest price since December 2020, according to Santiment data.

Why Everyone Is Talking About Cardano While It CrashesMuch of the rising chatter traces back to Charles Hoskinson’s recent warnings that more Cardano projects could fail, his decision to step back from public involvement, and ongoing governance disputes over treasury funding that have split the community.

That combination of heavy bearish sentiment and a spike in on-chain activity has historically hinted at a mild relief rally. 

Santiment noted the current setup mirrors two previous instances this cycle where the same pattern appeared just before a bounce.

A DeFi App Just Lost Up To $20 Million In ADASecondFi, a Cardano DeFi project, suffered a security breach tied to a flaw in its own wallet generation software, not the Cardano protocol itself. 

SecondFi estimates losses at around 16 million ADA. However, Yu Xian estimates that attackers stole more than 129 million ADA and other tokens, pushing the total damage above $20 million after accounting for non-ADA holdings.

Hoskinson moved quickly to separate the incident from the broader network. 

“Cardano is not broken. Cardano, the network, was not hacked,” he said, framing the exploit as limited to a single application rather than a protocol-level failure. 

ADA’s Chart Shows A Demand Zone That Failed CompletelyADA is attempting a small bounce, but the broader structure remains heavy. 

Price has decisively broken below the $0.21 to $0.22 demand zone that held for months between February and May, a level that failed completely in early June and now sits as firm overhead resistance.

The descending trendline from January’s highs continues to dominate, with the SAR sitting well above at $0.1718 and the full EMA stack overhead between $0.1664 and $0.3030.

Reclaiming the SAR and 20 EMA opens a path toward $0.1959. Losing today’s low at $0.1384 opens fresh lows toward $0.1200.

Image: Shutterstock

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Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, has unveiled an experimental smart contract design aimed at helping users recover their assets if they lose access to their self-custodied wallets. This new proposal makes it possible to verify wallet ownership without ever exposing the underlying recovery phrase.

A recovery model powered by zero knowledge proofsAccording to the design, users can prove that they possess the 24-word recovery phrase of a lost wallet by providing a zero knowledge proof. Once verification is complete, ADA and Cardano Native Tokens held in a predefined recovery pool can be released to the user. The entire process allows asset recovery without ever sharing the recovery phrase itself with the system.

Mini glossary: A zero knowledge proof is a cryptographic method that mathematically verifies someone possesses specific information without actually revealing that information. It is widely used to protect privacy in verification processes, such as confirming identity or ownership.

Hoskinson announced this early-stage concept on X, noting that it remains in the testing phase. He also mentioned plans to collaborate with Quantumplation, Sebastien Guillemot, and the Midnight team as development progresses. Midnight, a connected blockchain project within the Cardano ecosystem, focuses on privacy-first solutions.

Hoskinson emphasized that his efforts are not to create a universal wallet standard, but, in his own words, to address the “white hat” challenge of secure asset recovery.

In the proposed model, no traditional intermediary is needed during recovery—smart contracts take over the process. According to Hoskinson, in this setup, the blockchain itself acts as the trusted custodian, rather than relying on third parties.

Development continues despite market pressureThis initiative marks the latest in a series of ongoing development efforts within the Cardano ecosystem. Recently, Hoskinson also alluded to plans for a globally distributed Cardano Summit, featuring dedicated spaces for decentralized applications and ecosystem projects.

Furthermore, Hoskinson, who has strongly advocated for the use of artificial intelligence, pointed out that AI agents may one day play a role in managing community updates, coordinating ecosystem activities, and supporting ongoing Midnight development. Input Output, Cardano’s core development company, continues to play a central role in the network’s technical roadmap.

On chain data signals rising activityAs development continues, on chain indicators are also picking up. According to data from Santiment, the daily number of active addresses on the Cardano network has risen to around 29,025—a level not seen in several years.

The same data set shows that Cardano accounts for approximately 0.33% of all cryptocurrency related discussions on social media. This trend indicates renewed community interest in recent weeks.

Santiment observed that in periods marked by fear in the markets, heightened network activity and increased social attention have sometimes coincided with limited price rebounds. However, the platform also cautioned that the current uptick in activity alone does not guarantee a sustained rally.

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.

USDT has drawn level with ether for the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, briefly overtaking it earlier in June. Rising stablecoin issuance is meeting a falling ether price.

Tether's USDT has drawn level with ether, narrowing the gap for the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization to a fraction of a percent. The stablecoin briefly overtook ether earlier this month, the first time a dollar-pegged token has done so.

USDT carried a market cap of about $186.1 billion on Friday, against ether's roughly $188.9 billion, per CoinGecko. The two assets sit fractions of a point apart in the broader market: ether holds 8.77% of total crypto value and USDT 8.64%, per CoinGecko's global readout. Bloomberg reported that USDT edged past ether in value for a few hours over a weekend earlier in June, the closest a stablecoin has come to the No. 2 position in crypto.

Rising SupplyThe crossover tracks two moves running in opposite directions. USDT supply has expanded toward record territory, with circulating tokens near 186.3 billion, per CoinGecko. Issuance has roughly doubled over the past two years as exchanges, payment firms and offshore dollar demand absorbed new tokens.

Ether has fallen about 24% over the past 30 days to around $1,566, per CoinGecko. One asset is being minted into circulation as the other reprices lower.

Stablecoin LeadUSDT remains the dominant dollar token by a wide margin. Its circulating supply of about $184.9 billion is more than double USD Coin's $73.7 billion, the second-largest stablecoin, per DefiLlama. Tether's token accounts for the bulk of the roughly $280 billion stablecoin market.

The proximity to ether reflects how large the stablecoin category has grown against the base assets of the chains it settles on. USDT issues and redeems against fiat reserves and tracks dollar demand rather than speculative flows, which leaves its market cap to climb on net inflows even as risk assets sell off.

Whether USDT holds or retakes the spot depends on ether's price path. Ether is down about 8% over the past week, per CoinGecko, and a further decline of a few percent would draw the two assets level again. The Defiant has tracked the broader stablecoin supply surge and Tether's expanding USDT footprint in recent weeks.

Bloomberg Intelligence senior macro strategist Mike McGlone believes that Tether (USDT) is on track to become the world's biggest cryptocurrency. 

McGlone has argued that the dominance of dollar-pegged stablecoins is reshaping the entire crypto hierarchy. He is convinced that "it could be a matter of time before the dollar token flips Bitcoin, unless crypto's most enduring trend reverses: Tether's AUM surpassing everything."

"The technology is awesome, and it adopted the dollar as its base layer (note to the dedollarization crowd)," McGlone added. 

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The analyst has questioned the long-term viability of speculative tokens, asking, "What stops the tokenization proliferation, where tokens tracking real assets with earnings or income stand alongside millions of cryptos worth $ billions but tracking nothing?" 

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Recently, Tether (USDT) briefly overtook Ethereum (ETH) to become the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. 

McGlone has noted that the "Tether flippening of Ethereum may be sustained this time."

Collapsing to $10,000? McGlone has doubled down on his bearish prediction that Bitcoin (BTC) is on track to collapse all the way to $10,000.

As noted by McGlone, the asset grew rapidly during an unprecedented era of zero-interest-rate policies and massive liquidity injections. 

McGlone maintained that speculative risk assets of the like of Bitcoin would face an inevitable deleveraging process.

Crude Oil and 'pump-then-dumps'McGlone's bearish outlook is not limited solely to the cryptocurrency sector; it extends across major global commodities and equities. 

The analyst has predicted that WTI crude could collapse toward $40 a barrel.

This commodities slump will be caused by a broader correction in the equities market, according to McGlone. "A top force for a typical low-price-cure cycle in 2H would be a drop in the US stock market," the pundit explained. 

Mike McGlone, senior macro strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, has argued that the US dollar-pegged stablecoin Tether is on track to overtake Bitcoin at the top of the global cryptocurrency rankings. According to McGlone, the growing dominance of dollar-backed stablecoins is reshaping the balance of power in the crypto market.

Tether’s path to the topMcGlone suggested that if Tether’s total assets under management continue to rise at their current pace, the possibility of Tether surpassing Bitcoin in market value could become a reality. The key question, he said, is whether the long-standing expansion trend centered around Tether in the crypto market will reverse.

Emphasizing the strength of blockchain technology, McGlone pointed out that, at its core, this structure still relies on the US dollar, which he described as contradicting the frequent calls for dedollarization.

Tether is distinguished as one of the most widely used stablecoins in the crypto ecosystem, aiming to maintain a 1:1 peg with the US dollar. Its extensive use in trading pairs, exchange transfers, and on-chain liquidity has made it a central player in shaping market structure.

The analyst further remarked that the growing popularity of tokens backed by income-generating physical assets could make the long-term outlook for millions of more speculative cryptocurrencies increasingly challenging. This perspective signals a broader questioning of the sustainability of speculative tokens in the industry.

Tether edges past Ethereum, Bitcoin warningRecently, Tether briefly overtook Ethereum to become the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. McGlone believes this shift could be more permanent in favor of Tether this time around.

While noting Tether’s increasing lead over Ethereum may become lasting, McGlone also maintained a bearish scenario for Bitcoin.

Reaffirming his bearish outlook, McGlone forecast that Bitcoin’s price could drop as low as $10,000. He observed that Bitcoin experienced rapid growth during a period dominated by zero-interest-rate policies and unparalleled liquidity expansion. For this reason, he warned that Bitcoin could face a steeper correction associated with the broader unwinding of risk assets.

The table below summarizes the key highlights from McGlone’s analysis.

Asset or marketMain insightLevelTetherPotential to surpass BitcoinScenario for market leadTether and EthereumBrief reshuffling of rankingsSecond placeBitcoinBearish expectation$10,000WTI crude oilProjection of decline$40 per barrelWeakness expected beyond cryptoMcGlone’s cautious stance is not limited to digital assets. He also anticipates a broader correction in global commodity and equity markets. In this context, he predicted WTI crude oil could drop to $40 per barrel in the coming period.

According to McGlone, one of the main factors that could lead to a decline in commodities is potential weakness in the US stock market during the second half of the year. He argued that the classic cycle—where lower prices trigger self-correcting effects—could once again come into play in the current environment.

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.