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Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) transformed from a niche digital asset into a mainstream investment over the past decade, and few people did more to accelerate that shift than Michael Saylor. By turning Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR | MSTR Price Prediction) (formerly MicroStrategy) into what he called a “bitcoin treasury company,” he created a blueprint that dozens of others rushed to copy. 

During bitcoin’s climb to more than $126,000 last October, the model looked unstoppable. Today, after bitcoin has fallen to roughly $60,141 and Strategy’s stock has lost about 82% from its peak, investors are discovering that leverage works both ways.

The Bitcoin Treasury Model Looks Different in a Bear Market Saylor’s strategy was elegantly simple. Raise capital through stock offerings, convertible debt, and later perpetual preferred stock, then use the proceeds to buy more bitcoin. As long as bitcoin appreciated faster than the company’s cost of capital, shareholders benefited from amplified exposure to the cryptocurrency.

The strategy became so popular that other companies adopted it. Bitcoin-focused treasury firms such as Bitcoin Immersion Technologies (NASDAQ:BMNR) emerged, while others adapted the model for cryptocurrencies including Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH) and Solana (CRYPTO:SOL).

The numbers looked compelling during the bull market. They look much different today. Bitcoin has fallen hard over the last eight months, and briefly traded near $58,000 last week, leaving it down roughly 52% from its peak. Even more striking, the crypto now trades near levels first reached about five years ago, while the S&P 500 has gained approximately 72% over that same period.

Strategy has fared even worse. Its shares closed Friday near $82, down roughly 82% from their highs.

Enterprise mNAV Is Sending a Warning Beyond the stock price, the more meaningful development is what is happening on Strategy’s balance sheet.

Many investors focus on market mNAV, which compares the company’s market value with the value of its bitcoin holdings. Critics have correctly pointed out that market mNAV has fallen below 1.0 several times before.

That’s true — but it misses the larger issue. The more important metric is enterprise mNAV, which includes not only Strategy’s market capitalization, but also its total debt and perpetual preferred stock, less its U.S. dollar reserve holdings. That measurement closed below 1.0 for the first time on Friday, ending the day at 0.99.

Why does that matter? Because enterprise mNAV reflects the full economic cost of Strategy’s capital structure rather than simply its equity valuation. As the company layered on debt and preferred stock beginning in 2024, what once looked like financial engineering became a growing obligation that common shareholders ultimately bear.

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Crossing below 1.0 does not prevent Strategy from issuing additional common shares. It does, however, make doing so far less attractive. Recent bitcoin purchases have already drawn criticism because they diluted existing shareholders, and selling new shares at current valuation levels would likely intensify that backlash.

Meanwhile, issuing additional debt also becomes more difficult as leverage rises and investor confidence weakens.

From $126k peaks to a brutal 82% stock crash—the 'never sell' era just died, and the tide is going out on the world's biggest Bitcoin gamble. © 24/7 Wall St. The ‘Never Sell’ Era Is Over There is an even bigger philosophical shift that has occurred. For years, Saylor repeatedly declared Strategy would “never sell” its bitcoin. Yet the company recently sold bitcoin for the first time in its history. More recently, Saylor has acknowledged that Strategy could — and would — sell bitcoin if circumstances warranted.

That change matters because it acknowledges what markets always enforce: no strategy is absolute.

Several market analysts and research firms now see bitcoin falling toward $50,000, while some bearish forecasts project prices as low as $20,000 if selling pressure accelerates. If those scenarios materialize, Strategy may have few financing options beyond liquidating larger portions of its bitcoin holdings to meet obligations or strengthen its balance sheet.

As debt increases and capital markets become less accommodating, flexibility shrinks.

Key Takeaway In short, Michael Saylor changed how investors think about corporate balance sheets and digital assets. During a bull market, the bitcoin treasury model looked brilliant because rising prices masked its growing leverage.

Warren Buffett has famously observed, “In a bull market, everybody’s a genius.” He also warned, “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.”

Today’s market suggests that Strategy’s enterprise mNAV — not its stock price alone — is exposing the true risks of the model. Granted, bitcoin could recover and restore much of the strategy’s appeal. But unless that happens, Strategy may increasingly rely on the one option Saylor once insisted he would never need: selling more of the very asset that built his empire.

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Shares of Capri Holdings Ltd. NYSE: CPRI have lost 65% of their value over the past five years, weighed down by a failed merger, weakening luxury demand, and declining sales across its brands.

But with the recent sale of its Versace brand, improving profitability, and the company forecasting a return to growth, there are signs the turnaround may be gaining traction.

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Tapestry Deal Collapse Sent Shares TumblingMuch of Capri's struggles over the last several years can be traced to its failed merger with Tapestry Inc. NYSE: TPR.

Capri Today

$19.34 +0.48 (+2.54%)

As of 06/26/2026 03:59 PM Eastern

This is a fair market value price provided by Massive. Learn more.

52-Week Range$16.72▼

$28.26P/E Ratio16.96

Price Target$24.79

In August 2023, Tapestry agreed to acquire Capri for $57 per share in a deal valued at approximately $8.5 billion. The announcement sent Capri shares soaring more than 55% in a single session, pushing the stock to nearly $54.

The excitement was short-lived. As regulatory scrutiny intensified, Capri shares drifted lower. When a federal judge blocked the merger on antitrust grounds in October 2024, the stock plunged nearly 50% to around $21.

Currently, Capri shares are trading at around $19, down roughly 64% from their post-announcement highs and about 9% below their level immediately after the merger was terminated. The stock has remained under pressure since the deal collapsed, as the company has continued to navigate headwinds from a challenging luxury-spending environment and tariffs.

Capri's Turnaround Begins to Take ShapeAs part of a broader turnaround effort, Capri announced plans in April 2025 to sell its Versace brand to Prada S.p.A. OTCMKTS: PRDSY. The $1.375 billion cash transaction, which closed in December, was intended to streamline the business, reduce debt, and allow Capri to focus on its two remaining brands, Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo.

The company's latest fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter earnings report suggests those efforts may already be paying off. For the quarter, Capri returned to profitability, reporting earnings of 22 cents per share, a sharp improvement from a loss of $4.90 per share a year earlier and 11 cents ahead of analyst expectations. Revenue from continuing operations, which excludes the divested Versace business, totaled $796 million, down 3.7% year over year and roughly $4 million shy of Wall Street estimates. The company also repurchased $79 million worth of shares during the quarter.

While revenue remained under pressure, Chief Executive John Idol said on the earnings call that the company was encouraged by the progress it made executing strategic initiatives aimed at strengthening the Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo brands.

New fashion offerings, he said, have driven higher full-price sell-throughs and average unit retails, while improved brand storytelling has helped deepen consumer engagement and attract new customers.

Idol also emphasized the company's stronger balance sheet following the Versace sale. With debt reduced and cash flow improving, he said Capri has the financial flexibility to invest roughly $300 million in store renovations, primarily at Michael Kors, while continuing its share repurchase program and other growth initiatives.

Company Forecasts a Return to GrowthCapri's fiscal 2027 guidance points to a meaningful improvement in the company's financial performance. The company expects revenue growth to return to the low-single-digit range, while gross margins expand by approximately 200 basis points, and operating income increases by roughly 60%. Earnings per share are projected to rise 40% year over year to $2.15.

The outlook also assumes $200 million of share repurchases during the year. Capri expects profitability to improve across both brands, with Michael Kors generating operating margins in the low double-digit range and Jimmy Choo returning to profitability with operating margins in the low single digits.

Longer term, Idol said the company expects to grow Michael Kors revenue to $4 billion and Jimmy Choo revenue to $800 million while significantly increasing profitability.

Wall Street Remains Cautiously OptimisticSome on Wall Street appear to be taking a wait-and-see approach to Capri's turnaround story. The stock currently carries a consensus Hold rating, with eight Hold ratings, one Sell, six Buys, and one Strong Buy.

Overall MarketRank™98th Percentile

Analyst RatingHold

Upside/Downside28.2% Upside

Short Interest LevelHealthy

Dividend StrengthN/A

News Sentiment0.27 Insider TradingSelling Shares

Proj. Earnings Growth20.29%

See Full Analysis

Several analysts lowered their price targets following the company's latest earnings report. Even so, the average 12-month price target stands at $24.79, implying roughly 30% upside from current levels. Notably, every analyst price target remains above the current share price, with targets ranging from $20 to $32.

A recent decline in short interest is also an encouraging sign. The percentage of float sold short has fallen to 8% at the end of May, down from 10.6% at the end of March.

Capri's prolonged share-price decline has left the stock trading at a discount to both the broader retail sector and some of its competitors. The company currently trades at just 0.6X sales, well below the retail industry's average price-to-sales ratio of 1.08. Capri also trades at a substantial discount to Tapestry and Ralph Lauren Corp. NYSE: RL, which command price-to-sales multiples of 4.3 and 3.0, respectively. The valuation is not the lowest in the group, however, as PVH Corp. NYSE: PVH trades at 0.4X sales.

Capri's turnaround is still in its early stages, and investors will likely want to see further evidence that improving trends at Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo can be sustained. However, recent results suggest the company is on firmer footing than a year ago and moving in the right direction, making the stock worth a closer look for investors willing to bet on the recovery.

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Grayscale Research Head Zach Pandl said that Strategy’s 50 basis point increase in the STRC dividend next week may not be enough to restore market confidence.

According to Pandl, such an increase would raise the company’s dividend obligations by approximately $100 million over the next two years. However, this step is not expected to significantly improve investor confidence.

Pandl stated that a more effective step to restore market confidence might be for Strategy to sell over $3 billion worth of Bitcoin. He noted that this sale would be enough to cover almost all of the cash liabilities the company will face over the next two years.

Pandl stated the following in his assessment:

“What I expect to happen for Strategy next week is a 50 basis point increase in the STRC dividend. That translates to approximately $100 million in additional dividend obligations over the next two years, and that probably won’t help market confidence. What I hope will happen is that the company sells over $3 billion worth of Bitcoin to cover almost all of its cash obligations over the next two years. That would likely restore market confidence.”

*This is not investment advice.

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Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz has linked Bitcoin’s latest price drop to growing concern around Strategy, the company formerly known as MicroStrategy.

Summary

Novogratz says Strategy stress has become a core reason behind Bitcoin’s latest confidence shock. Weak crypto demand and strong-dollar policy comments added macro pressure as traders watched support levels. Related Strategy reports show STRC pressure, dividend costs, and cash reserves remain market concerns. Speaking on an All Things Markets episode, Novogratz said the sell-off reflects a mix of Strategy pressure, weak crypto sentiment, and macro stress.

Strategy pressure takes center stage Novogratz said the current Bitcoin weakness is tied to what he called a “MicroStrategy-led breakdown in confidence.” He said the problem is not only Bitcoin’s price, but also investor concern around Strategy’s funding model.

Mike Novogratz (@novogratz) is sounding the alarm this week. If the ultra-wealthy don't figure out a way to share the gains from AI, the pitchforks are coming, and history tells us exactly what that looks like. We're breaking down the widening wealth gap, Alan Greenspan's lasting… pic.twitter.com/egwAeghtUn

— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) June 27, 2026 Strategy remains the largest public corporate holder of Bitcoin. Its stock and preferred securities have become a key part of how traders judge risk across the wider Bitcoin market.

The comments follow weeks of debate over Strategy’s capital structure. As previously reported, the company’s Bitcoin flywheel has come under pressure as its stock traded below the value of its Bitcoin holdings.

That shift matters because Strategy used its stock premium for years to raise capital and buy more Bitcoin. When that premium weakens, raising fresh capital becomes harder and market confidence can fade.

STRC weakness adds to market concern Novogratz also pointed to poor trading in Strategy’s preferred products. He said “the Saylor thing is real” and noted that the company’s perpetuals were trading weakly.

The pressure centers on STRC, Strategy’s preferred stock product. STRC was designed to trade close to $100, but market stress has pushed it below that level at several points.

As previously reported, CryptoQuant said Strategy’s annual dividend obligations had risen to about $1.2 billion. The firm also said dividend coverage had dropped to about 14 months as cash reserves declined.

That warning added to earlier concerns after Strategy sold 32 BTC in late May. The sale raised about $2.5 million and marked the company’s first reported Bitcoin sale since December 2022.

Macro pressure weighs on Bitcoin Novogratz also cited macro policy as another reason for Bitcoin’s weak price action. He pointed to hawkish central bank signals and stronger support for the U.S. dollar.

He said “strong dollar is weak Bitcoin.” His view is that a stronger dollar can reduce demand for risk assets, including Bitcoin, during periods of market stress.

That view fits with the wider market mood. Bitcoin has also faced pressure from ETF outflows, weaker liquidity, and cautious options positioning.

Aspreviously reported, ETF flows and Strategy concerns have weighed on trader sentiment. Bearish exposure near the $60,000 area also showed that traders were preparing for more downside risk.

Bitcoin faces key support test Novogratz said the $59,000 to $60,000 zone is now important for Bitcoin. He warned that if this level fails, the market could open a path toward $45,000.

He also said the next move remains hard to call. In his words, the chance of a deeper drop or recovery is “50/50” because the setup is complicated.

The comments show how closely traders now watch Strategy as part of the Bitcoin market. The company’s balance sheet, STRC performance, and cash position have become market signals.

For now, Bitcoin’s next test sits near the same level Novogratz named. A hold above the $59,000 to $60,000 area could calm traders, while a break below it may bring more selling pressure.

Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.

Bitcoin is trading near $60,000 after a volatile week that pushed the largest cryptocurrency to its lowest level since late 2024. 

Summary

Bitcoin is holding near $60,000 despite Middle East tension and renewed pressure from Strategy concerns. Analysts say a break above $66,000 could revive momentum, while $58,000 remains key support. On-chain data shows weaker short-term holder dominance, a structure often seen near accumulation zones. The price has stayed calm through the weekend, even as new tension in the Middle East tested risk appetite across global markets.

BTC had opened the previous business week with strength, rising to about $65,500 after reclaiming support near $64,000. That move failed to hold. Sellers later pushed the asset below $62,400, then toward $59,000, before another drop sent Bitcoin near $58,000.

Bitcoin steadies after sharp weekly sell-off Bitcoin’s latest price action shows a market trying to hold a base after a fast decline. BTC now trades around the $60,000 area, with bulls defending the zone after repeated tests below that mark.

The weekend calm stands out because the U.S. and Iran exchanged fresh blame over the broken ceasefire. Earlier this month, Bitcoin had climbed above $65,500 after a U.S.-Iran deal eased oil and inflation fears across markets.

That relief rally did not last. Bitcoin soon lost strength as traders returned to concerns around liquidity, ETF flows, and Strategy-related risk.

The current setup leaves BTC stuck between two near-term levels. A move below $58,000 could invite more selling, while a clean recovery above $64,000 to $66,000 may show that buyers are regaining control.

Strategy fears remain a market pressure point One of the main pressure points remains Strategy, the company formerly known as MicroStrategy. Growing concern around its capital structure has affected Bitcoin sentiment because the firm remains the largest corporate holder of BTC.

As previously reported, Bitcoin fell below $60,000 for the second time in June as liquidations topped $850 million. Strategy shares also dropped sharply as traders watched the company’s stock, preferred shares, and Bitcoin treasury.

Another report said Strategy’s Bitcoin flywheel has started to work in reverse. The company once used a stock premium to raise capital and buy more BTC, but weaker market pricing now makes that model harder to sustain.

CryptoQuant has also urged Strategy to pause Bitcoin purchases and rebuild cash reserves. The firm said dividend coverage tied to STRC had fallen to about 14 months as cash reserves declined.

This pressure does not mean Strategy must sell Bitcoin now. Still, the market is watching whether further stress in STRC or MSTR could create more fear around BTC.

Analysts split on breakout or deeper chop Crypto analyst Market Watcher said Bitcoin’s weekly structure remains clear. The analyst pointed to a downtrend from the July and August highs near $70,000 and $67,000 and said a break of that line would make them more willing to deploy capital.

$BTC (1W)

break of downtrend (July ~70k, august ~67k): more actively looking to scale capital into positions while trading the breakout momentum

indecisive summer chop (~59k – ~66k): doing mostly nothing, day trading whats there

break of main trend (~ 58k): popcorn and TL on… pic.twitter.com/XB5uU0sICt

— Market Watcher (@watchingmarkets) June 28, 2026 The same analyst described the current zone as “indecisive summer chop” between about $59,000 and $66,000. That range matches the current market, where BTC has not broken down fully but has also failed to reclaim lost momentum.

Market Watcher said a break of the main trend near $58,000 would change the setup. The analyst also compared the current downtrend to the December 2022 and January 2023 breakout, which later started a major BTC uptrend.

EGRAG CRYPTO took a longer view and focused on Bitcoin’s 12-month cycle. The analyst said the usual rhythm has been three years up and one year down, but this cycle may be different if 2026 closes as a red yearly candle.

EGRAG said the four-year cycle remains intact for now, but added that structure matters more than hope. That view keeps attention on the yearly close and whether Bitcoin can regain a stronger long-term pattern.

#BTC – The 12M Cycle Is Flashing Something Different 👀

The historical $BTC rhythm has been clear:
🔸3 years UP → 1 year DOWN
🔸3 years UP → 1 year DOWN
🔸3 years UP → 1 year DOWN

But this cycle is different so far:
🔸2 years UP → and now potentially 2 years DOWN
🔸That is… pic.twitter.com/dczPLUMesG

— EGRAG CRYPTO (@egragcrypto) June 27, 2026 On-chain data points to possible reset CryptoQuant analyst Crazzyblockk said Bitcoin’s short-term holder realized dominance has fallen to 27.6%. The analyst said that places BTC inside a historical undervaluation zone where long-term holders control most realized capital.

In past cycles, market tops formed when short-term holders held most realized capital. That often showed heavy speculation and late-cycle buying.

Bitcoin’s short-term holder realized dominance, source: CryptoQuant analyst Crazzyblockk Bear markets have shown the opposite setup. Short-term holders realize losses, their share of realized capital falls, and long-term holders regain control.

The analyst said current data looks closer to past accumulation phases than cycle tops. However, they also warned that bottoms often form through a process, and another capitulation phase remains possible.

Another CryptoQuant analyst, Facundo Fama, pointed to long-term holder SOPR. The analyst said when LTH-SOPR moves near or below 1, long-term holders are selling coins at or near a loss.

The last time LTH-SOPR stayed below 1 on the monthly timeframe for more than three months was in October 2022, when BTC traded near $20,000. That data does not guarantee a bottom, but it shows that long-term holder stress has returned to a rare zone.

Bitcoin price outlook Bitcoin’s short-term outlook now depends on whether bulls can defend $58,000 and recover the $64,000 to $66,000 range. A close above that upper band could support a stronger recovery attempt.

A loss of $58,000 would weaken the current base and could expose lower areas as traders reduce risk. In that case, Bitcoin may revisit deeper support before building a new range.

For now, BTC is neither breaking down nor confirming a strong reversal. The market remains calm near $60,000, but that calm depends on support holding, Middle East risk staying contained, and Strategy-related fear easing.

Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.

Ripple settled a tokenized Treasury with JPMorgan in five seconds, expanded a stablecoin deal across Latin America, and powered remittances to 170 million people. The catch for XRP holders: the cash leg in deal after deal is RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar stablecoin, not XRP. Here is whether the token they hold is being quietly sidelined by the company built around it.

Summary

Ripple’s biggest recent wins, a five-second tokenized Treasury settlement with JPMorgan and Mastercard, a stablecoin expansion across Latin America, and a major remittance deal, increasingly use RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar stablecoin, as the cash leg rather than XRP. RLUSD crossed $1 billion in market value quickly and is becoming the settlement asset enterprises actually want, raising the question of whether it is taking the role XRP was built to play. The pattern reflects a real tension: Ripple the company keeps winning institutional deals, while XRP the token stays pinned near a dollar, beneath every major moving average. The bullish counterargument is that Ripple is the largest XRP holder with aligned incentives, that RLUSD and XRP serve different functions, and that ledger activity can still benefit XRP indirectly. For holders, the question is whether XRP’s value will accrue from network usage and catalysts like the CLARITY Act and ETF flows, or whether RLUSD will capture the settlement demand XRP was meant to capture. In June 2026, Ripple completed something that should have been a milestone for XRP. Working with JPMorgan, Mastercard, and the tokenization firm Ondo Finance, it settled the cross-border redemption of a tokenized U.S. Treasury fund across banks on the XRP Ledger, and the blockchain leg finalized in under five seconds, against the one to three business days the same transaction can take on traditional rails. It was a genuine showcase of what Ripple’s technology can do, the kind of institutional validation the XRP community has predicted for years.

NEW: JPMorgan, Mastercard, Ondo Finance and Ripple complete tokenized Treasury redemption test on XRP Ledger. Settlement took roughly 5 seconds compared to 3 to 5 business days on traditional rails pic.twitter.com/9Rkd3MkWF4

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) June 12, 2026 And yet there was a detail in it that has become the defining unease for XRP holders: the cash leg of that settlement used RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar-pegged stablecoin, not XRP. The same pattern has repeated across Ripple’s other recent wins. A partnership expanding stablecoin settlement across Latin America runs on a regulated peso-backed stablecoin issued on the XRP Ledger and integrated with Ripple’s infrastructure, while a major remittance deal reaching 170 million people uses RLUSD as the primary settlement asset. Deal after deal, Ripple keeps winning, and deal after deal, the asset doing the actual settling is increasingly a stablecoin, while XRP trades near a dollar and change as though none of it is happening.

This is the question that has moved to the center of the XRP story, and it is a fair and uncomfortable one: if every Ripple win runs on RLUSD rather than XRP, is the token being quietly sidelined by the very company built around it? The concern is not baseless, because it touches the oldest puzzle in the XRP thesis, the gap between Ripple’s corporate success and XRP’s token price, and gives it a specific, mechanical explanation. But it is also not the whole story, because there are real counterarguments about why RLUSD and XRP are not simply competitors, why Ripple’s incentives remain aligned with holders, and how ledger activity can still benefit the token.

This piece works through both sides honestly. It lays out the pattern of RLUSD showing up where holders expected XRP, explains what RLUSD is and why enterprises prefer it for settlement, examines whether the stablecoin is cannibalizing XRP’s intended role, presents the bullish case that the two assets are complementary, and arrives at a grounded view of what holders should actually take from it. The goal is neither to stoke the fear nor to dismiss it, but to give holders an accurate read on whether their token is being left behind.

The pattern: RLUSD where holders expected XRP Start with the pattern itself, because it is real and worth seeing clearly across the recent run of Ripple announcements. The flagship example is the tokenized Treasury settlement with JPMorgan, Mastercard, and Ondo Finance. For years, the XRP pitch held that cross-border institutional settlement was exactly what XRP was built for, the bridge asset that would let value move between currencies and institutions in seconds. When Ripple finally delivered a marquee demonstration of that capability, settling a tokenized Treasury redemption across borders and banks in under five seconds, the XRP Ledger provided the rails, but RLUSD provided the cash leg.

That detail matters because it changes what the event proved. It proved that the XRP Ledger can support serious institutional flows, with names that compliance departments recognize and a settlement speed legacy rails cannot match. But it did not prove that XRP the asset sits at the center of the payment, because the money leg moved through a stablecoin rather than the volatile token. As previously reported, Ripple’s tokenized Treasury settlement with JPMorgan showed that the ledger can win important business before the token captures meaningful demand.

The same shape recurs elsewhere. Ripple expanded a payments partnership in which a regulated peso-backed stablecoin is issued on the XRP Ledger and integrated into Ripple’s payment infrastructure to support enterprise stablecoin settlement across Latin America. Ripple also backed Flutterwave in a round that valued the African payments company at $3.2 billion, with RLUSD positioned for use across payment rails that reach a very large user base. In each case, the XRP Ledger and Ripple’s infrastructure become more relevant, but the settlement asset is a stablecoin.

Across these deals, the consistent feature is that the XRP Ledger, the blockchain Ripple built and that XRP is native to, is doing real and valuable work, but the asset moving through it as money is increasingly a stablecoin rather than XRP. This is what gives the holder concern its force: it is not a single anomalous deal but a repeated pattern in which Ripple’s institutional wins showcase the ledger and the company’s technology while routing the actual settlement value through RLUSD or another stablecoin. For holders who bought XRP on the thesis that institutional settlement demand would drive token demand, watching that settlement demand flow through a stablecoin instead is a legitimate cause for unease. The first honest step is simply to acknowledge that the pattern is real.

What RLUSD is and why enterprises prefer it To judge whether this pattern is a problem, you have to understand what RLUSD is and why enterprises keep choosing it, because the answer explains the dynamic without requiring any conspiracy against XRP. RLUSD is Ripple’s dollar-pegged stablecoin, a token designed to hold a steady value of $1, backed by reserves, and issued on the XRP Ledger and other chains. It crossed $1 billion in market value quickly after launch, a sign of real demand, and it has become the asset Ripple increasingly puts forward as the cash leg in its enterprise settlements.

The reason enterprises prefer a stablecoin for the money side of a transaction is straightforward and has nothing to do with any view about XRP. Businesses settling real-world value need price stability. When a company moves money across borders, it wants the amount it sends to equal the amount that arrives, with no exposure to price swings in between. XRP, like any freely traded cryptocurrency, fluctuates in price, which makes it difficult to use as the unit in which an enterprise wants to denominate and hold a settlement, even if it can still work as a bridge for moving value quickly.

A stablecoin solves this by holding a fixed dollar value, so the enterprise can settle in something that behaves like the dollars it already thinks in. This is why, across the industry and not just at Ripple, stablecoins have become the dominant on-chain settlement instrument: they combine the speed and programmability of crypto with the price stability that commerce requires. RLUSD is Ripple’s entry into that category, and its growing use in Ripple’s deals reflects the same market logic that has made stablecoins central everywhere. For readers who want the basics, how RLUSD holds its dollar peg is the starting point for understanding why enterprises gravitate toward it.

The same logic explains why exchange and liquidity integrations matter. When RLUSD is listed with XRP pairs and broader access, the stablecoin becomes easier to move, price, and route through the infrastructure Ripple wants enterprises to use. That helps Ripple’s payments stack, and it can deepen activity on the XRP Ledger, but it still does not mean every dollar of settlement creates direct XRP demand. The holder question is what remains for XRP once the stablecoin has taken the stable cash role.

Understanding this matters because it reframes the concern. RLUSD is not showing up in Ripple’s settlements simply because Ripple is trying to sideline XRP; it is showing up because enterprises asked for a stable settlement asset and Ripple built one to give them. That is a rational business decision for Ripple and a useful product decision for institutions. The harder question is whether that useful product decision narrows the value-accrual path that XRP holders were counting on.

Is RLUSD cannibalizing XRP’s role? This is the crux of the matter, and it deserves to be stated plainly: there is a real argument that RLUSD is taking the settlement role XRP was originally meant to play. The classic XRP thesis cast the token as the bridge asset for cross-border value transfer, the thing that would sit in the middle of international settlements, moving value between currencies in seconds and capturing demand as global payment volume flowed through it. Stablecoins complicate that thesis directly, because a dollar stablecoin can perform much of the cross-border settlement function that XRP was built for, moving value quickly and programmably while also offering the price stability XRP cannot. If enterprises can settle in RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, getting the speed of the ledger without the volatility of the token, then the specific demand driver that was supposed to accrue to XRP may instead accrue to the stablecoin.

This is the structural worry beneath the holder concern, and it is not easily waved away. The bull case for XRP has long depended on the idea that Ripple’s growing settlement business would translate into demand for the token, but if the settlement business increasingly runs on RLUSD, that translation weakens. Ripple’s institutional infrastructure could keep growing impressively, opening corridors and closing deals, while the value of that growth flows through stablecoins and fiat instead of driving XRP token demand. That would leave the familiar gap between corporate progress and token price not just intact but mechanically explained.

The token could end up as the rails, valuable to the system but not the asset that captures the economic value moving across it. This is the version of events that should genuinely concern holders, and it is why the RLUSD pattern is more than a cosmetic detail. It points to a possible future in which XRP’s network succeeds, Ripple thrives, RLUSD becomes a major settlement asset, and XRP the token still struggles to convert all of that activity into sustained demand because the demand has a stablecoin to flow into instead. That is also why the older question of XRP’s bridge-asset role needs to be revisited rather than repeated as if nothing has changed.

There is a broader parallel here with other infrastructure tokens. A network can be useful without its native token absorbing the full value of that usefulness, especially when users can interact with the network through stable assets, tokenized deposits, or application-level instruments. XRP holders have already seen this in miniature: the ledger gets institutional proof points, Ripple gets business wins, and XRP gets fees, reserves, or optional routing rather than obvious direct demand. Whether that is enough depends on scale, and that scale has not yet shown up in the price.

The bullish case: complementary, not competing The other side of this debate is serious and deserves a full hearing, because the framing of RLUSD versus XRP as a zero-sum contest may be too simple. The first counterargument is that RLUSD and XRP serve different functions and can coexist productively. A stablecoin is the cash leg, the stable unit in which value is denominated and held. XRP, in the bridge role, can still serve as the connective asset that moves value between different currencies and stablecoins, the neutral intermediary in a world where many different fiat-backed stablecoins exist and need to be exchanged.

In this view, a proliferation of stablecoins actually increases the need for a neutral bridge asset to move between them, and XRP could capture that role precisely because it is not tied to any single currency. RLUSD handles the dollar leg, MXNB handles the peso leg, and other stablecoins can handle other currencies or jurisdictions. XRP can then sit between those assets when liquidity is fragmented, routing value across the ledger’s exchange and payments infrastructure. That is a more modest thesis than “XRP becomes the cash leg of global settlement,” but it is not an irrelevant one.

The second counterargument concerns incentives. Ripple is the largest single holder of XRP, which means the company has a powerful, built-in economic reason to drive the token’s value and usage that does not depend on any promise. Every corridor Ripple opens, every institution it onboards, and every unit of activity it brings to the XRP Ledger can eventually matter to XRP if that activity creates fees, reserves, routing, liquidity depth, or bridge demand. From this angle, Ripple building a successful stablecoin is not a betrayal of XRP holders but an expansion of the ecosystem XRP sits inside.

Even RLUSD, issued on the XRP Ledger, can support XRP indirectly by increasing ledger activity and making the network more useful to institutions. That is the strongest version of the complementary thesis: stablecoins bring institutions onto the rail, and once they are there, XRP has more chances to serve as liquidity, routing, or bridge infrastructure. The weakness is timing and certainty. Indirect value can take years to show up, and investors do not price “maybe someday” the same way they price direct, measurable demand today.

The third point is that XRP’s strongest catalysts were never really about being the settlement cash leg in the first place. The most powerful drivers of XRP’s potential value, regulatory clarity from the CLARITY Act, compounding ETF inflows, and broad adoption of the ledger, operate largely independent of whether RLUSD or XRP is the cash leg in any given deal. On this reading, holders fixating only on the RLUSD-versus-XRP question are watching one important variable, but not the only variable. The better question is whether the total system being built around XRP Ledger becomes large enough that XRP’s indirect roles finally matter.

The value-accrual problem at the heart of it Step back and the RLUSD debate is really a specific instance of the deepest question in the entire XRP story, the one that has defined the token through 2026: how, exactly, does value accrue to XRP? A blockchain network can succeed enormously while the token native to it struggles if the activity on the network does not translate into sustained demand for the token. This is the puzzle XRP holders have lived with all year, watching Ripple rack up settlements, stablecoin launches, banking moves, and enterprise deals while the token stayed pinned near a dollar beneath every major moving average. The RLUSD pattern sharpens this puzzle by identifying a concrete reason the translation might be failing.

If the settlement value that was supposed to flow into XRP flows into RLUSD instead, then network success and token demand decouple in exactly the way the price action suggests. That is why the issue is bigger than one JPMorgan test or one Flutterwave deal. It is about whether XRP captures the economic value of the ledger it secures and powers, or whether it becomes a necessary but low-fee native asset beneath higher-value instruments. In previous coverage, this was the same basic dilemma behind the company-versus-token gap up close: Ripple can become more valuable without XRP necessarily moving in lockstep.

The honest framing is that XRP’s range-bound behavior is less a mystery than a predictable feature of how value accrues, or fails to accrue, to a token whose network can succeed without it. The waiting ends only when usage and token demand finally converge, and that convergence requires specific things to happen. Settlement volume needs to become large enough that fees, reserves, routing, and ecosystem use begin to matter against the enormous XRP supply locked in escrow. ETF flows also need to compound instead of trickle, while a regulatory catalyst like the CLARITY Act needs to cross the line to pull institutional money off the sidelines.

RLUSD’s rise is relevant because it bears on the first of those channels, the settlement-volume channel, by raising the possibility that volume accrues to the stablecoin instead of the token. But it is only one of several channels, and the others, ETF demand and regulatory clarity, could drive XRP regardless of what settles Ripple’s deals. That is why the catalyst that drives XRP regardless still matters to holders even if RLUSD keeps winning the cash-leg role. The realistic synthesis is that the RLUSD pattern is a genuine headwind to one specific version of the XRP value-accrual thesis, the bridge-asset-settlement version, while leaving the regulatory-unlock and ETF-demand versions largely intact.

What holders should take from it So should XRP holders worry about RLUSD, and if so, how much? The grounded answer is that the concern is legitimate but should be held in proportion, neither dismissed nor allowed to dominate. The legitimate part is that RLUSD genuinely does weaken the specific thesis that institutional settlement demand would flow into XRP. In deal after deal, that demand is flowing into the stablecoin instead, and holders who bought XRP primarily on the bridge-asset-settlement story should update on that evidence instead of ignoring it.

If your entire case for XRP rested on the idea that Ripple’s settlement business would mechanically drive token demand, the RLUSD pattern is a real challenge to that case and worth taking seriously. Pretending the token is the cash leg when it increasingly is not would be wishful thinking. The question is no longer whether Ripple is winning, because it clearly is. The question is whether XRP captures enough of those wins to justify the token thesis on its own terms.

The proportion part is that the bridge-asset-settlement story was never the only pillar of the XRP thesis, and arguably not even the strongest one. The catalysts most capable of moving XRP, statutory clarity from the CLARITY Act and the institutional ETF demand it could unlock, operate largely independent of whether RLUSD or XRP settles any given transaction. Ripple’s status as the largest XRP holder also keeps its incentives aligned with the token even as it builds RLUSD. The stablecoin may be the product enterprises want now, but XRP remains the native asset inside the ecosystem those enterprises are entering.

The most useful posture for a holder is therefore to treat the RLUSD pattern as important information about where one channel of demand is going, while keeping attention on the channels that matter more: regulatory progress, ETF flows, and whether ledger activity overall, RLUSD included, grows large enough to support the token through fees, reserves, routing, and ecosystem demand. For price-focused readers, what the gap means for price is the practical version of the same question. If XRP keeps failing to convert Ripple’s wins into token demand, the chart will continue to reflect that. If regulatory clarity, ETF inflows, and ledger usage finally converge, RLUSD may look less like a replacement and more like the stablecoin that helped bring institutions onto the rail.

The deepest truth here is that XRP’s fate depends on the convergence of usage and token demand, and RLUSD is one factor among several bearing on that convergence. It is a headwind to one pillar instead of the collapse of the whole case. Holders should worry enough to watch it closely and to be honest about which version of the XRP thesis it undercuts, but not so much that they lose sight of the larger catalysts that will ultimately determine whether the token finally breaks its range.

Frequently asked questions What is RLUSD? RLUSD is Ripple’s dollar-pegged stablecoin, a token designed to hold a steady value of $1, backed by reserves, and issued on the XRP Ledger and other blockchains. It crossed $1 billion in market value quickly after launch, reflecting real demand, and Ripple increasingly puts it forward as the cash leg, the stable settlement asset, in its enterprise deals. Because it holds a fixed dollar value instead of fluctuating like XRP, RLUSD is suited to the role of denominating and settling real-world value, which is why it has become central to Ripple’s institutional settlement business and to the debate about what that leaves for XRP.

Why do Ripple’s deals use RLUSD instead of XRP? Because enterprises settling real-world value need price stability, and a stablecoin provides it while XRP does not. When a business moves money across borders, it wants the amount it sends to equal the amount that arrives, with no exposure to price swings in between. XRP fluctuates in price, which makes it useful as a fast bridge for moving value but difficult as the unit an enterprise wants to hold and settle in. RLUSD holds a fixed dollar value, so enterprises can settle in something that behaves like the dollars they already use.

Is RLUSD replacing XRP? Not exactly, though it is taking part of the role XRP was originally pitched for. The classic XRP thesis cast the token as the bridge asset for cross-border settlement, and a dollar stablecoin can perform much of that settlement function while also offering price stability XRP lacks, so RLUSD does compete with one version of XRP’s intended purpose. The counterargument is that the two are complementary: RLUSD handles the dollar cash leg, while XRP can serve as the neutral bridge that moves value between many different currencies and stablecoins. A world of many stablecoins may actually increase the need for a neutral bridge asset, a role XRP could fill.

Does RLUSD’s success hurt XRP holders? It weakens one specific pillar of the XRP bull case, the idea that Ripple’s settlement business would mechanically drive XRP token demand, because that settlement demand increasingly flows into RLUSD instead. Holders who bought XRP primarily on that bridge-asset-settlement story should take the pattern seriously. However, RLUSD runs on the XRP Ledger, generating activity, fees, reserves, and ecosystem growth that can indirectly support XRP, and Ripple, as the largest XRP holder, keeps its incentives aligned with the token. The stronger XRP catalysts, regulatory clarity and ETF demand, operate largely independent of which asset settles a given deal, so RLUSD is a headwind to one pillar instead of the collapse of the whole case.

What actually drives XRP’s value then? XRP’s value depends on the convergence of network usage and token demand, which requires specific things to happen. Settlement and ecosystem activity must become large enough that fees, reserves, routing, and demand begin to matter against the large XRP supply locked in escrow. Spot ETF inflows also need to compound, and a regulatory catalyst like the CLARITY Act needs to cross the line to pull institutional money off the sidelines. These channels, particularly the regulatory unlock and ETF demand, operate largely regardless of whether RLUSD or XRP settles any individual transaction.

Should I sell XRP because of RLUSD? This article does not give investment advice, and that decision depends on your own analysis and circumstances. What the analysis offers is a framework: RLUSD truly weakens the bridge-asset-settlement version of the XRP thesis, so if that was your primary reason for holding, the pattern is a real challenge worth weighing honestly. But it leaves the regulatory-clarity and ETF-demand versions of the thesis largely intact, and Ripple’s incentives remain aligned with XRP as its largest holder. The proportionate response is to watch the RLUSD trend closely and be honest about which pillar it undercuts, while keeping the larger catalysts in view instead of reacting to a single factor in isolation.

This article is information, not investment advice. Partnership details, settlement mechanics, market values, and corporate plans reflect reporting available as of June 28, 2026, and can change quickly. The relationship between RLUSD and XRP is an evolving and debated topic. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell XRP, RLUSD, or any asset. Verify current details from primary sources and consider your own circumstances before making any decision.

Sharplink, the second-largest Ethereum [ETH] treasury company, purchased an additional 29,196 ETH for $46.7 million on the 27th of June. In fact, Lookonchain reported that the Ethereum DATs amassed 39,196 ETH, worth $62.4 million, over the last three days. 

Source: Lookonchain/X This marks Sharplink’s second purchase after an eight‑month pause. The first occurred when the firm added 5,000 ETH through FalconX, worth about $7.88 million at an average price of $1,576. With these acquisitions, Sharplink now holds 868,699 ETH in total, including 22,102 staked tokens. Meanwhile, its stock closed at $4.81, up 5.48% from the prior trading day. 

Sharplink vs. Bitmine Meanwhile, on the 22nd of June, Bitmine, the biggest Ethereum DAT, paid $92 million to acquire an additional 52,203 Ethereum. As of right now, Bitmine has 5,672,956 ETH worth $8.92 billion.  

Bitmine’s Tom Lee also stressed that his firm plans to continue growing steadily through 2026 and ultimately accomplish the “alchemy of 5%.” Although Sharplink has not yet disclosed such plans, the ETH accumulation strategy has been relatively comparable. 

Ethereum’s market dynamics paint a concerning picture All this happened as ETH was trading at $1,568.75, the lowest level since April 2025. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s Spot Taker CVD has lost some of its aggressive buying momentum, which is a major shift compared to June 2025.

Although buyers are still present in the market, their influence has waned. Unlike the strong accumulation phase seen a year ago, the current demand indicates buyer exhaustion.

Source: CryptoQuant Final Summary Sharplink added more ETH in the past three days, pushing its total ETH holding to 868,699 ETH in total. Sharplink’s stock price also jumped after the ETH accumulation, but ETH’s price was changing hands around the $1500 price level. 

Institutional appetite for Ethereum [ETH] continues to weaken as investors reduce exposure to risk assets amid uncertain market conditions. U.S. spot ETH ETFs recently recorded another $12.85 million in net outflows, extending a broader slowdown in fund demand despite cumulative net inflows remaining near $11 billion.

With this reduction, there will be less institutional capital available to buy Ethereum to help stabilize prices as they continue to decline.

Source: SoSoValue As such, Ethereum now relies more heavily on staking demand, layer-2 activity, and natural organic spot buying to help stabilize prices. If Ethereum network demand increases, then it is possible that the markets can begin to absorb some excess supply.

However, if institutional demand does not increase, then we should expect longer-term consolidation and increased vulnerability to sentiment-driven price movements.

ETH bears retain control despite buying pressure Institutional demand has already weakened, and derivatives activity now suggests bearish conviction is strengthening. Market structure may be decisively bearish unless spot flows and leverage flows simultaneously turn positive again.

Meanwhile, the fund price has declined steadily from its April peak to 12.59. This dynamic reflects a fading appetite for leveraged long positions. Moreover, this divergence shows that buyers, though appearing more aggressive, are becoming less effective, leaving bears firmly in control of short‑term price action. 

Source: Arkham Although moving assets to this new address does not necessarily indicate that the person behind the transaction is planning to sell their asset. Yet, previous instances of like-sized on-chain asset movements have occurred before liquidity events, making subsequent wallet activity the key signal to monitor.

If the funds remain in self-custody, the transfer will likely reflect routine wallet management. However, deposits to exchanges or OTC counterparties could reinforce existing bearish sentiment and increase expectations of additional selling pressure.

Final Summary Ethereum remained vulnerable as weakening institutional demand and bearish market structure continue limiting recovery momentum. ETH needs stronger spot demand to offset selling pressure and restore sustained bullish momentum.

AGNC Investment (AGNC +2.59%) pays a very lucrative monthly dividend. The real estate investment trust (REIT) yields over 13.5%. That's more than 10 times higher than the S&P 500's 1.1% yield.

The mortgage REIT has maintained its monthly dividend since resetting the level in 2020. However, that could be harder to do after the Federal Reserve recently hinted that it might start raising rates instead of lowering them. Here is how this potential headwind could impact its dividend.

Image source: Getty Images.

A potential policy shift The Federal Reserve has been slowly reducing the Federal Funds Rate since September 2024. It had lowered that key borrowing rate by 175 basis points by the end of last year to a range of 3.5% to 3.75%. Most Fed watchers anticipated that it would continue lowering rates this year, likely moving the rate closer to 3% by year's end.

However, the Fed has stood pat so far this year amid the war in Iran, which has put upward pressure on inflation. Core inflation, the Fed's preferred measurement, reached 3.4% last month, its highest reading since October 2023. As a result, the Fed has removed key language from its policy statement that indicated a bias toward future rate cuts, while hinting at the possibility of hikes.

This sentiment shift has impacted the Agency MBS market (AGNC Investment's sole focus). CEO Peter Federico stated on the first-quarter conference call that, heading into the year, the market assumption was that there would be about $250 billion of Agency MBS supply, with mortgage rates just below 6%. However, with mortgage rates now in the 6.5% range, MBS supply could be $50 billion to $70 billion lower this year. The higher yields on new MBS put downward pressure on the value of legacy MBS with lower yields. If the Fed does raise rates, mortgage rates would likely rise more, further pressuring MBS values.

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Still commanding a premium This year started positively for the MBS market as the Trump administration focused on reducing interest rate volatility and improving housing affordability. However, the war with Iran turned sentiment negative in March amid increased volatility. This impacted the value of AGNC's MBS portfolio, as its tangible book value declined by 5.6% to $8.38 per share.

However, while its book value declined, the REIT's stock price continued to trade at a premium to book, which it capitalized on by issuing $400 million in new shares during the period. It was able to deploy that capital at a levered return of around 16%, making these new investments accretive compared to its 13.5% dividend yield at the time. With its share price currently above $10.50 apiece, the REIT can continue to sell stock at a premium to its book value to make accretive new investments.

A higher risk, high-yielding dividend stock Changes in interest rates impact the value of AGNC Investment's MBS portfolio. The REIT, like most Fed watchers, expected that rates would fall this year, increasing the supply of lower-rate MBS. However, the Fed recently hinted that it might resume rate hikes amid the war-driven inflationary uptick. While that would put more downward pressure on the value of its portfolio, the REIT can still issue stock at a premium to buy higher-yielding MBS, which could enable it to continue maintaining its dividend. Even still, it's a higher risk, high-yielding income stream that income investors might not always be able to bank on in the future.

Pfizer's (PFE +2.62%) shares have lost more than 50% of their value since late 2021 due to poor financial results. The company has tried to bounce back. Notably, it has expanded its pipeline through acquisitions, the most expensive one of which was its $43 billion buyout of Seagen, a cancer-focused drugmaker, in 2023. However, recent developments may suggest to some that Pfizer's efforts to turn things around are not going to work, and the stock may continue moving south.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

A clinical trial flop and a leadership shake-up One of the promising candidates Pfizer got access to through its acquisition of Seagen was sigvotatug vedotin, an investigational medicine for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), one of the leading causes of cancer death in the world. This is a large market that could help Pfizer generate billions of dollars annually, provided it can gain a foothold in it with this therapy. Unfortunately, that now seems unlikely to happen.

Pfizer recently reported that in a phase 3 clinical trial in previously treated NSCLC patients, sigvotatug vedotin failed to show a statistically significant improvement in overall survival, a key endpoint in cancer clinical studies. In the trial, the medicine was pitted against docetaxel, a chemotherapy medication. These results make it unlikely that sigvotatug vedotin will make significant headway in this narrow indication.

Further, there was more negative news for Pfizer recently. On June 18, the pharmaceutical giant announced that its CFO, Dave Denton, would leave the company on Aug. 15. The market is sometimes wary of leadership changes, especially for a company that has been struggling as much as Pfizer has in recent years. It's also worth noting that the drugmaker will face even more challenges ahead. Pfizer's anticoagulant, Eliquis, one of its best-selling drugs, will lose patent exclusivity by the end of the decade. With all that going on, is it time to give up on Pfizer?

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Focus on the long-term It's a bit premature to definitively say that Pfizer's blockbuster acquisition of Seagen was a waste of money. After all, the company is already benefiting from some of the products the buyout added to its portfolio. For instance, Padcev, a medicine for bladder cancer, is currently an important growth driver for Pfizer. In the first quarter, sales from this therapy totaled $591 million, up 39% year over year. There are also other clinical trial candidates that Pfizer inherited from Seagen that could make significant headway in the next few years.

Elsewhere, Pfizer has other attractive pipeline products that may also help it rebound. The company's work in the weight-loss market finally got a boost -- also thanks to an acquisition -- after several internally developed products went nowhere. Pfizer's GLP-1, MET-097i, showed strong results in phase 2 studies and could eventually become an important medicine in this category. The drugmaker boasts other candidates in areas such as immunology, vaccines, and more.

And some of its newer approvals, such as Abrysvo, a respiratory syncytial virus vaccine, are also performing well. Lastly, Pfizer is a solid dividend stock, with a juicy forward yield of 7.3%. All these factors make the stock attractive, and the CFO change shouldn't alter its prospects much. Pfizer may not bounce back immediately, but the stock could eventually do so as it advances through clinical and regulatory milestones over the next five years. That's why its shares are still a buy.

Is Alphabet's (GOOG 2.19%) (GOOGL 1.73%) run finally over? The company's shares had been performing very well, but over the past month, Alphabet has lost momentum, with its stock price declining 13%. There are several factors behind Alphabet's recent dip, but the company's prospects remain intact, making it an excellent stock to buy right now. Here's why.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

The spending is justified Alphabet has recently lost some key employees, including John Jumper, a leading artificial intelligence (AI) expert and Nobel laureate, who left the company to join Anthropic. On top of that, investors are increasingly worried about Alphabet's AI-related spending. The company recently announced an $80 billion equity capital raise to fund its AI ambitions. The tech leader expects capex spending -- which should be in the $180 billion to $190 billion range this year -- to rise significantly in 2027.

If Alphabet's spending doesn't pay off, we could see decreased revenue growth as profits and margins compress. However, the data we have suggests that Alphabet is right to invest heavily to fuel its AI business. In the first quarter, the company's revenue from its cloud segment, Google Cloud, was about $20 billion, up 63% year over year. It grew much faster than the rest of the business. Alphabet's total revenue came in at $109.9 billion, 22% higher than the year-ago period. Google Cloud's sales growth also accelerated significantly from the already impressive 48% it posted in Q4 2025.

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One of the key drivers of this performance was Alphabet's AI business. The company reported that sales from products built on its generative AI models grew by almost 800% year over year in the first quarter. Further, Alphabet ended the period with a cloud backlog of $462 billion, which almost doubled from the previous quarter. This highlights sustained -- and even accelerating -- demand for its cloud services, especially its AI products, which are helping drive incredible growth. So, it makes sense that Alphabet continues to spend, as there may still be lucrative opportunities to tap into.

Multiple other growth drivers One of the great things about Alphabet's business is its relative diversification. Cloud computing and AI may be driving much of the growth right now, but the advertising business is also performing well. Alphabet has a nearly insurmountable lead, with the undisputed top search engine in the world, a strong brand name associated with it, and network effects that allow it to grow search queries and improve results, thanks to the massive data at its disposal.

That's to say nothing of the company's strong position in video sharing and streaming through YouTube, which also generates substantial ad sales and recurring subscription revenue. The best part is that the digital advertising market is still on a growth path and will continue contributing massively to Alphabet's results for a long time, and the streaming market should also expand over the next decade.

Beyond that, Alphabet has potential opportunities that aren't currently contributing to sales growth but might eventually do so, such as its work in the autonomous vehicle market through Waymo. All of these initiatives highlight Alphabet's attractive long-term prospects. And after the company's recent slump, it is a great opportunity to buy its shares on the dip and hold them for the long term.

Despite strong outflows from US spot Bitcoin ETFs, Bitcoin managed to hold steady above the $60,000 mark on Saturday. In the last 24 hours, Bitcoin rose by 1.44 percent, trading around $60,260. Its daily trading volume reached $30.16 billion, while its market capitalization stood at $1.21 trillion. Controlling 58.1 percent of the total crypto market, Bitcoin continued to set the pace for the broader industry even amid ongoing selling pressure.

Weekly outflows from ETFs accelerateUS spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a staggering $1.79 billion net outflow last week. This figure ranks as one of the largest weekly withdrawals since these products launched in January 2024. The recent movement has also pushed the total 2026 US spot Bitcoin ETF flow back into negative territory.

These outflows impacted major issuers, including BlackRock’s IBIT fund. IBIT had earlier ranked among 2024’s fastest-growing ETFs thanks to robust inflows from institutional investors. As one of the world’s largest asset management companies, BlackRock brings significant influence to the global ETF market.

Analysts at Glassnode note that this current wave marks one of the lengthiest periods of outflow since spot Bitcoin ETFs began trading, explaining that most investors are now opting to reduce risk rather than buying more at lower levels.

Bloomberg data shows that about $4.5 billion has exited Bitcoin ETF products since the start of the year. This trend points to the scale of institutional selling pressure throughout 2026.

IndicatorDataBitcoin price$60,26024-hour changeUp 1.44%Weekly ETF net flow-$1.79 billion2026 total ETF outflowApproximately $4.5 billionUnderlying market weakness persistsLosses in Bitcoin ETFs have occurred against a backdrop of persistent weakness in the overall crypto market. Since the severe sell-off that began in October, digital assets have struggled to recover. The total market capitalization of all crypto assets has dropped to roughly $2 trillion, a steep fall from its pre-correction peak of over $4 trillion.

A slowdown in investor activity and a waning of institutional interest have made recovery even more difficult. Capital that might have flowed into the crypto sector instead moved toward artificial intelligence-oriented investments and prediction market platforms. This shift redirected funds that could have supported digital asset valuations.

Early investors see gains erasedThe latest wave of selling has hit those who entered Bitcoin ETFs during stronger periods particularly hard. According to Bespoke Investment Group, early investors were up nearly 30 percent by mid-2025. However, Bitcoin’s extended decline has wiped out much of those gains, leaving the average investor facing a loss approaching 40 percent.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs have emerged as a major channel of institutional demand since their approval. High-value outflows from these products may signal weakening professional investor confidence, which could create additional downside pressure on prices.

Still, ETF flows represent just one aspect of the market. Bitcoin has previously rebounded after periods of heavy institutional selling, especially when overall risk appetite improved or new sources of demand appeared.

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.

XRP ETF Inflows Continued in JuneData shows that spot XRP ETFs added $46.5 million in assets this month, bringing the cumulative net inflow to $1.43 billion. These funds have had only one month of outflows since their launch in November last year.

Bitwise’s XRP ETF holds $293 million in assets, while the ETFs from Franklin, Canary, and 21Shares manage $235 million, $234 million, and $112 million, respectively.

The ongoing XRP ETF inflows are a sharp contrast to those tracking Bitcoin and Ethereum. Spot Bitcoin ETFs had over $4.06 billion in outflows this month, bringing the net outflows since January to $5.6 billion.

Similarly, Ethereum ETFs have shed over $471 million in outflows this month, lower than the $540 million they lost last month.

XRP ETF inflows rose in the same week in which Ripple announced that RLUSD, its stablecoin, will now be available in Japan following the approval by the main financial regulator. This approval will likely help it become an alternative to USDC and USDT. 

Recent data, however, shows that RLUSD has lost momentum as the supply has dropped to $1.57 billion from the year-to-date high of $1.8 billion. RLUSD has become one of the most important use cases for the XRP Ledger network. 

Another major news came from Europe, where Ripple secured a preliminary Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) license in Luxembourg. This is a major milestone as it paves the way for the full rollout of Ripple Payments across the Euro area and MiCA compliance.

XRP Price is Hanging on a Thread Above $1The weekly chart shows that the Ripple price has slumped in the past few months, mirroring the performance of most cryptocurrencies. It dropped from a high of $3.6690 in July to the current $1.06. 

The token has slumped below the Major S&R pivot point of the Murrey Math Lines tool. It has remained below the 50-week and 100-week Exponential Moving Averages (EMA). 

XRP has settled along the 78.6% Fibonacci Retracement level. Therefore, there is a risk that the token may drop further in the near term, potentially to the Strong, Pivot, Reverse level of the Murrey Math Lines at $0.7813. This view will be confirmed if it drops below the supply of $1.

Image: Shutterstock

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US spot Chainlink ($LINK) ETFs have recorded their first week of net outflows since the products launched, snapping a streak that lasted more than 200 consecutive trading days. The figure, roughly $220,000 in negative weekly flows, is modest in absolute terms, but the symbolic significance is hard to dismiss.

A Historic Streak Comes to an End Grayscale launched the first US spot Chainlink ETF, GLNK, on NYSE Arca on December 2, 2025. The ETF attracted $37 million in first-day inflows, and LINK rebounded more than 7% as investors responded to renewed institutional attention. From that point forward, the LINK spot ETF complex went on an almost unbroken run of positive flows.

Analyst data shows the outflow ended 203 days without a negative daily reading. The turning point came on June 22, when data shared by Arca showed the LINK spot ETF complex posting a daily net outflow of approximately $490,920. That reduced cumulative net inflows from about $123.82 million to $123.33 million, while total net assets fell to roughly $100.88 million, compared with more than $107 million one week earlier.

Institutional interest appears to be wavering, as evidenced by the first net capital outflow from LINK spot ETFs after a record-breaking streak of entries that lasted over half a year. LINK ETFs had been among the best-performing altcoin ETFs, though only Avalanche (AVAX) spot ETFs are yet to see outflows since their own debut.

Blip or Broader Shift? There are early signs the outflow may be temporary. According to SoSoValue data, Chainlink spot ETFs recorded net inflows of approximately $137,710 on the Tuesday following the outflow session. Although the inflow remains relatively small, it could signal improving investor sentiment if the trend continues over the coming days.

The broader price picture for $LINK remains under pressure. The asset has logged a year-to-date loss of nearly 45%, with price testing levels not seen with this much downside pressure in quite some time. LINK is currently trading below all its major moving averages, including the critical 200-day SMA near the $10.15 mark.

On the fundamental side, @Chainlink continues to expand its real-world footprint. The protocol announced the formation of a new working group involving multinational organizations across Europe and South Korea, collectively representing more than $10 trillion in assets under management, focused on modernizing foreign exchange infrastructure and evaluating a shift from traditional T+2 settlement to real-time T+0 settlement. Whether that kind of adoption news is enough to restore positive ETF flow momentum remains the key question heading into July.

Sources:
Brave New Coin: Chainlink Price Analysis, LINK Spot ETF Ends 203-Day Inflow Streak
Invezz: Can LINK Price Reclaim $8 as Chainlink Targets Real-Time FX Settlement?
FXStreet: Chainlink Price Forecast, FX Partnership Fails to Lift Sentiment

US spot Solana ($SOL) ETFs have delivered a remarkably consistent performance since hitting the market, recording positive net inflows every single month since launch. June 2026, however, looks set to test that record.

The products are currently sitting at negative $5.8 million in net flows for June, with only two trading days remaining in the month to reverse the deficit.

A strong start since October 2025 The first US spot Solana ETFs debuted in late October 2025, with Bitwise's Solana Staking ETF (BSOL) launching on the New York Stock Exchange on October 28. This was closely followed by the conversion of the Grayscale Solana Trust (GSOL) from a trust product into a Solana ETF.

Unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, Solana ETFs launched with staking built in, offering investors on-chain yield alongside price exposure. Bitwise targets average staking rewards of over 7% for BSOL holders.

The spot Solana ETF products accumulated approximately $1.45 billion in total cumulative inflows since launch. Despite experiencing negative price action over several months, Solana ETFs maintained positive net inflows, a trend that ran counter to conventional expectations of risk-on and risk-off behavior in crypto markets.

June brings the first real test Spot Solana ETFs saw $3.94 million in net outflows on June 26 alone, indicating investor hesitation. That single-day figure has compounded into a monthly deficit that now stands at $5.8 million, leaving the products on track for their first negative month since inception.

Bitcoin ETFs are net-negative year-to-date, and Ethereum has bled harder, but XRP and Solana ETFs have marked the rotation story of 2026. That context makes a potential first negative month for $SOL ETFs more notable. Whether June closes in the red will come down to whether buyers return in force over the remaining sessions.

DL News: US Solana spot ETFs seen to hit $5bn in inflows
Bitwise: Bitwise Launches BSOL, First Spot Solana ETP in US
SpotedCrypto: Crypto ETF Flows June 2026

According to data from the official @kaspaunchained explorer, Kaspa's Layer 1 blockchain has now processed roughly 2,347,000,000 transactions, placing it among the highest cumulative transaction counts of any major network. The figure represents a dramatic leap in activity for a proof-of-work chain that only launched in November 2021.

Built for Speed on a Proof-of-Work Foundation Kaspa's transaction throughput is underpinned by its blockDAG architecture, which uses the GHOSTDAG consensus protocol to allow parallel block creation rather than the single-block linear approach used by Bitcoin and Ethereum. Following the Crescendo hardfork earlier in 2025, Kaspa's block rate increased from one block per second to ten blocks per second, drastically boosting throughput. Since that upgrade, the network has operated at a steady 10 blocks per second, delivering 100-millisecond block times and sub-7-second finality.

The numbers behind that architecture are hard to ignore. On October 2, 2025, Kaspa set a new world record for proof-of-work throughput by reaching 5,584 transactions per second under real network conditions, surpassing its own previous record of 4,757 TPS achieved just days earlier. These figures were recorded on Kaspa's live mainnet under genuine transaction load, not testnet simulations. On October 5, 2025, the network processed 158,441,966 transactions within a single 24-hour window.

The Valuation Question: $770M Market Cap vs. 2.35 Billion Transactions Kaspa currently holds a live market cap of approximately $770 million, with a circulating supply of around 27.5 billion KAS coins out of a maximum supply of 28.7 billion. That places $KAS in a middle tier of Layer 1 assets by market value, despite its outsized on-chain activity relative to peers.

The supply picture is a key part of the valuation debate. Approximately 95.4% of Kaspa's 28.7 billion maximum supply is already in circulation, with emissions nearing zero by end-2026. New selling pressure primarily comes from miners selling rewards, not token unlocks. That dynamic could reduce dilution risk over time, but it also means the network must attract fresh demand to sustain price levels.

On the protocol side, a significant catalyst is imminent. The upcoming Toccata hard fork marks Kaspa's shift from a payments chain to a programmable Layer 1, introducing native KRC-20 token issuance, covenant programming via the SilverScript compiler, and zero-knowledge verification opcodes. The upgrade is seen as bullish for $KAS because it enables decentralized finance, NFTs, and complex applications to settle directly on Kaspa's secure base layer, potentially driving developer adoption and new utility.

Whether 2.35 billion transactions and an imminent programmability upgrade justify, or undervalue, a $770 million market cap is a question the market is still working through. The on-chain fundamentals are difficult to dismiss. The price action, for now, tells a more cautious story.

Sources:
Kaspa (KAS) Market Data, CoinMarketCap
Kaspa TPS Guide 2026, Our Crypto Talk
Kaspa Daily Transactions Surpass 150M, BSC News

On June 11, 2026, Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP +5.87%) Director Shavit Shenhav Tal exercised options to acquire and immediately sold 25,000 Ordinary Shares, generating proceeds of approximately $3.08 million according to the SEC Form 4 filing.

Transaction summaryMetricValueShares traded (direct)25,000Transaction value~$3.08 millionPost-transaction shares (direct)4,008Post-transaction value (direct ownership)~$493KTransaction value based on SEC Form 4 weighted average purchase price ($123.07); post-transaction value based on the June 11, 2026 market value of 4,008 shares ($493,464.96).

Key questionsWhat was the structure and economic rationale for this transaction?
The transaction was an exercise-and-sell event, with 25,000 Ordinary Shares acquired via option exercise and immediately sold; this allowed Tal to monetize vested awards without increasing net equity exposure to the company.How did this sale impact Tal's direct ownership stake?
Direct Ordinary Share holdings declined by 86.18%, from 29,008 shares pre-transaction to 4,008 shares post-transaction, materially reducing Tal's remaining direct capacity for open-market sales.Was this activity conducted through a 10b5-1 plan or routine administration?
The event was administrative in nature, aligned with the vesting and exercise of options, and did not involve discretionary or open-market accumulation or disposition beyond the option exercise and immediate sale.What capacity remains for future transactions and are there additional equity awards?
Post-sale, Tal holds 4,008 Ordinary Shares directly.Company overviewMetricValueRevenue (TTM)$2.76 billionNet income (TTM)$1.06 billionPrice (as of market close 2026-06-11)$123.071-year price change-40%Company snapshotCheck Point Software provides a comprehensive suite of cybersecurity solutions, including network security gateways, endpoint protection, cloud security, IoT security, and unified management platforms.The firm generates revenue primarily through the sale of software licenses, security appliances, subscription-based services, and ongoing technical support and professional services.It targets a global customer base ranging from small and medium-sized businesses to large enterprises, data centers, telecom operators, and managed security service providers.Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. operates at scale as a leading cybersecurity provider, with a focus on multi-layered threat prevention and unified security management. The company leverages its Infinity Architecture to deliver integrated protection across networks, endpoints, cloud, and mobile environments. Its strong global presence and continuous innovation in threat prevention technologies underpin its competitive positioning in the infrastructure software segment.

What this transaction means for investorsTal’s transaction comes amid broader pressure for Check Point, and it’s a sizable amount of his available ordinary shares, but it’s hard to read too much into what could simply be a routine monetization of vested equity rather than a clear signal about Check Point Software's outlook. Because the shares were acquired through an option exercise and immediately sold, the filing appears more administrative than discretionary, even though the transaction significantly reduced his direct share ownership.

The company's fundamentals, however, remain a more important story for long-term investors. In the first quarter, Check Point reported 5% revenue growth to $668 million, with security subscription revenue climbing 11% to $323 million. Non-GAAP earnings per share increased 13% to $2.50, while adjusted free cash flow rose 11% to $457 million. CEO Nadav Zafrir said the cybersecurity landscape is undergoing a "fundamental shift" as AI fuels increasingly sophisticated threats, adding that the company's strategy is designed to capitalize on growing demand for enterprise AI security.

Management has also continued returning capital to shareholders. In May, the board authorized a $2 billion expansion of its share repurchase program after the company had already repurchased roughly 230 million shares for $17.4 billion since the program began.

Shares are down roughly 40% over the past year, a testament to the punishing stretch for many software names as of late, but investors should pay closer attention to whether Check Point can accelerate growth in higher-margin subscription and AI-driven security offerings than to a single options-related insider transaction.

Jonathan Ponciano has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Check Point Software Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

An Amazon box moves along a conveyor belt at Amazon?s fulfillment center in Robbinsville, New Jersey, U.S., December 1, 2025. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz// Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

SummaryCompaniesU.S. online shoppers spent more than $26.4 billion during June 23 to June 26, Adobe Analytics saidNumerator said average Prime Day order size fell to $47.66 from $53.34Adobe said discounts matched last ​year's levels, suggesting promotions may stay heavy into holidaysNEW YORK, June 27 (Reuters) - U.S. online shoppers clawed for deals on electronics, appliances, items for children and everyday essentials during Amazon.com's (AMZN.O), opens new tab annual sales event Prime Day, spending more than $26.4 billion from June 23 through June 26, according to data firm Adobe ​Analytics.

The multibillion-dollar spend marks a 9.3% year-over-year increase that retail experts attribute to high ​inflation coupled with shoppers' purchasing of more discretionary, long-lasting products.

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Adobe said that ⁠strong discounts during the four-day Prime event drove many shoppers to purchase higher-priced items including ​electronics, toys, appliances and personal care products, meaning that retailers may have to continue offering ​deep discounts to get their products off the shelves for the holiday season.

In addition to discounts, tax refunds "could have provided a sizable tailwind to a lot of these discretionary categories," CFRA Research analyst Arun Sundaram said. Tax ​refunds will not be a factor for most shoppers in the fall and winter ​months.

Tax refund amounts increased 11.1% to $3,462 in 2026, according to data from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, giving ‌shoppers ⁠a financial boost to help with purchases they had been holding off on, Sundaram said.

Shoppers also purchased kids' items and apparel ahead of back-to-school season, personal hygiene products and home goods, signaling that the Prime Day customers aimed to stock up on products "that they were going ​to buy anyway," Sonia ​Lapinsky, managing director ⁠of retail at consultancy Alix Partners, said.

"It's really pointing to that fatigued consumer. They're not necessarily spending more-- they're just trying to spread ​what they have over better deals and discounts," she said.

Prime Day ​deals were on ⁠par with last year's discounts, according to Adobe. Discounts for electronics averaged 24% compared to last year's discounts of 23% , apparel at 24% compared to 23% and toys at 20% versus last year's ⁠19%.

A separate ​survey by data firm Numerator, which tracked more than ​178,000 Prime Day orders, showed that the average order size was $47.66, down from $53.34, a signal that some experts say ​shows that consumer strength is waning.

Reporting by Arriana McLymore in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Arriana McLymore is a New York-based reporter covering e-commerce, online marketplaces, alternative revenue streams for retailers and in-store innovation. She previously reported on telecoms and the business of law.

Peter Migliorini, Director at Steven Madden (SHOO +4.20%), reported the sale of 4,000 shares of common stock in an open-market transaction on June 15, 2026, according to the SEC Form 4 filing.

Transaction summaryMetricValueShares sold (direct)4,000Transaction value$181,200Post-transaction shares (direct)16,830Post-transaction value (direct ownership)$764,000Transaction value based on SEC Form 4 reported price ($45.30); post-transaction value based on June 15, 2026 market close ($45.42).

Key questionsHow does the size of this sale compare to Migliorini's previous transactions?
This 4,000-share sale is the largest in the past two years, modestly above his prior sell-only event sizes, which have ranged from 3,000 to 3,989 shares, and aligns with the reduction in available shares since 2023.What portion of Migliorini's direct equity exposure remains after this transaction?
Following this sale, Migliorini continues to hold 16,830 shares directly.Was this transaction part of a multi-year pattern or a deviation from typical activity?
Migliorini has consistently made one to two sales per year since 2023; this transaction fits his historical cadence rather than reflecting an abrupt increase in sales activity.Does Migliorini have any remaining economic interest in other share classes?
The filing shows Migliorini holds 16,830 shares of common stock directly, and retains these as a continuing economic interest; no additional share classes or indirect holdings are reported.Company overviewMetricValueRevenue (TTM)$2.63 billionNet income (TTM)$76.06 millionDividend yield2%1-year price change81%Company snapshotSteven Madden offers contemporary footwear, accessories, and apparel under proprietary and licensed brands, with products spanning shoes, handbags, small leather goods, and fashion accessories.The firm generates revenue through a diversified model encompassing wholesale distribution, direct-to-consumer retail (including e-commerce), licensing, and private label manufacturing for third parties.It targets a broad customer base across women, men, and children, serving department stores, mass merchants, specialty boutiques, and consumers through both physical stores and digital platforms.Steven Madden is a leading global designer and marketer in the footwear and accessories sector, operating with a multi-channel approach that balances wholesale, direct-to-consumer, and licensing streams. The company leverages a portfolio of recognized brands and a robust retail footprint to address evolving consumer preferences in the fashion industry. Its strategy emphasizes brand diversity, innovation, and an agile supply chain to maintain competitive advantage and drive growth across domestic and international markets.

What this transaction means for investorsThis sale looks like a routine trim by a longtime director. Peter Migliorini has followed a steady pattern of selling small blocks of shares once or twice a year, and this latest transaction leaves him with 16,830 shares, suggesting he still has meaningful skin in the game.

The bigger story for investors is Steven Madden's business momentum. Shares have surged about 81% over the past year as the footwear and accessories company continues expanding beyond its flagship brand. First quarter revenue climbed 18% year over year to $653.1 million, while reported diluted earnings nearly doubled to $1.00 per share. The company also raised its full-year revenue outlook, now expecting sales growth of 10% to 12%, and introduced fiscal 2026 earnings guidance of $2.55 to $2.65 per share. CEO Edward Rosenfeld said the company saw "healthy underlying demand" across its brands, highlighting strong consumer response to the Steve Madden label and continued momentum at Kurt Geiger. He added that management expects earnings growth to resume in the second quarter and believes the company's "powerful brands, proven business model and talented team" position it for sustainable long-term growth.

For long-term investors, a relatively small insider sale matters far less than whether Steven Madden can continue integrating Kurt Geiger, grow its direct-to-consumer business, and deliver on the stronger outlook management just issued.

Jonathan Ponciano has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The broader crypto ETF market has continued to bleed for several weeks, but XRP remains moving in the opposite direction, outpacing other major ETF products in both daily and weekly performance.

According to the latest data showcased by SosoValue, XRP has posted its strongest weekly ETF inflow for the month as of June 26, 2026, as investors show rising interest.

XRP hits 8-week steady inflow streakThe data provided by the source shows that XRP has attracted a total of $22.99 million in inflows, marking the highest weekly influx of new capital for June.

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While the funds have been posting consistent inflows for the past eight weeks, this is the highest inflow the XRP ETFs have posted in the past six weeks.

Considering the sharp rise in ETF inflows amid the prolonged streak of positive performances, it appears that institutional investors are beginning to show heightened confidence in XRP despite the intensifying market uncertainties.

Institutions choose XRP over Bitcoin again Apart from the surge in inflows attracted by the XRP ETFs, their consistent dominance over other crypto ETF products, especially Bitcoin and Ethereum, has continued to draw attention from market participants.

It appears that institutional investors are beginning to look beyond the largest crypto assets and are more willing to venture their funds into XRP-based investment products instead.

Although it is important to note that one strong week does not automatically signal a long-term trend, XRP's dominance over Bitcoin and Ethereum has remained for seven consecutive weeks, positioning it as a major player in the ETF market.

While XRP just saw its highest weekly inflow in about six weeks, Bitcoin has just posted its biggest outflow ever of $1.79 billion.

TL;DR

A proposal on Ethereum Research suggests redirecting part of staking rewards toward public goods funding. Supporters see sustainable decentralized funding, while critics warn of protocol-level overreach. The proposal is not approved and should be treated as an early governance debate. Staking Economics And Ethereum Governance: Why This Story Matters Ethereum Protocol Debate: Diverting Staking Rewards for Public Goods Funding Sparks Controversy has become one of the stronger weekend crypto stories because it sits at the intersection of price action, market structure, and the kind of narrative that traders tend to follow closely when the broader news cycle slows down.

The key point is not simply that the proposal was published on ethresear.ch. It is that the development gives the market a fresh way to judge whether the current crypto environment is being driven by genuine network adoption, regulatory progress, liquidity shifts, or short-term speculation.

The Main Details According to the official source material, the proposal was published on ethresear.ch. The report also notes that it suggests a protocol-level mechanism to redirect a portion of staking rewards to public goods funding.

That distinction matters because crypto markets often move first on headlines and only later separate durable developments from short-lived momentum. In this case, the verified boundaries are especially important: Do not claim this is approved or scheduled for a hard fork.

Market Context For traders, the story arrives at a moment when crypto assets are still trying to define a clearer direction. Bitcoin remains the anchor for broader sentiment, but altcoin narratives are increasingly being judged on their own fundamentals, including usage, liquidity, compliance, treasury activity, and developer progress.

That makes this development relevant beyond a single token or company. If the underlying trend proves durable, it could help shape how investors evaluate Ethereum, ETH, Staking, Governance, Public Goods over the coming weeks. If it fades, however, it may become another example of a strong weekend narrative that struggled to translate into sustained market follow-through.

What To Watch Next The next important question is whether the market receives further confirmation from primary sources, dashboards, official announcements, or on-chain data. Follow-up disclosures, exchange data, governance updates, or wallet activity could all help clarify whether this is an isolated headline or the start of a broader theme.

Readers should also watch whether liquidity responds. In crypto, even fundamentally meaningful developments can fail to move prices if traders remain defensive, leverage is being unwound, or capital is rotating into other sectors. That is why this story should be read alongside broader market structure rather than in isolation.

This report is based on information from Ethereum Research.

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

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has highlighted the success of Midnight’s Glacier Drop as a major driver of new user adoption for the Cardano ecosystem. 

In a recent commentary, Hoskinson described the Midnight project as a success story, pointing to the impact of its Glacier Drop campaign. Beyond distributing tokens to eligible participants across multiple blockchain ecosystems, he emphasized that the initiative introduced thousands of users from rival networks to Cardano’s infrastructure for the first time.

Glacier Drop Attracts Users From Multiple Blockchains: Hoskinson  According to Hoskinson, the airdrop attracted holders from Bitcoin, XRP, and several other blockchain ecosystems. To claim their NIGHT tokens, eligible users had to interact directly with the Cardano network. Notably, many participants used Cardano wallets and decentralized applications for the first time to complete the redemption process.

Midnight is a privacy-focused partner chain designed to deliver programmable privacy features for enterprises and real-world applications while remaining connected to the broader Cardano ecosystem.

Through the Glacier Drop initiative, Midnight distributed NIGHT tokens to users across ecosystems such as the XRP Ledger, Bitcoin, and Solana instead of limiting eligibility to Cardano holders alone.

Users who held at least $100 worth of eligible native assets qualified for the airdrop and became eligible to receive a share of the NIGHT token allocation.

To complete the claim, participants had to:

Visit the Glacier Drop portal. Sign a transaction using their wallet on the originating blockchain. Provide an unused Cardano address as the destination wallet. Receive their NIGHT tokens directly on the Cardano network. Hoskinson Sees the Process as an Onboarding Engine Hoskinson believes this redemption model will serve as a powerful onboarding mechanism for Cardano.

By requiring users from competing ecosystems to interact with Cardano infrastructure, the Glacier Drop encouraged them to explore Cardano wallets, decentralized applications, and transaction processes firsthand.

As users claim their rewards, some might become active participants in the Cardano ecosystem rather than passive recipients of an airdrop.

Midnight’s Popularity Surged After Launch The Glacier Drop also played a major role in Midnight’s early momentum. NIGHT quickly became one of the most trending crypto assets globally for several weeks following its launch. The token also reached a market cap of $1 billion within weeks.

The initiative also generated significant activity on Cardano. Within just 42 days, Midnight-related activity recorded 354,000 transactions on the network.

Today, the ecosystem continues to expand, with Midnight recording 77,311 unique wallets and 929,540 transactions linked to the project. However, the market valuation of NIGHT has plummeted to $504 million at press time, translating to a unit price of $0.03035. 

DisClamier: This content is informational and should not be considered financial advice. The views expressed in this article may include the author's personal opinions and do not reflect The Crypto Basic opinion. Readers are encouraged to do thorough research before making any investment decisions. The Crypto Basic is not responsible for any financial losses.

Cover image via U.Today Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.

Cardano's next protocol upgrade may be getting closer to reality, according to a recent update from Intersect, a member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem.

In a recent milestone, the van Rossem hard fork initiation governance action was submitted on Cardano Mainnet in the past week, beginning the on-chain governance process for an intra-era upgrade.

In a fresh update, Intersect noted that ecosystem readiness made significant progress this week. For SPOs, Block production numbers on node version 11 remained stable, increasing slightly to 87% for epoch 639. Likewise, multiple major exchanges signaled readiness this week, pushing readiness by liquidity up to 77.37%.

HOT Stories

Currently, the van Rossem hard fork initiation action sits at 62.76% DRep approval, 31.59% SPO approval and 1 constitutional vote from the Constitutional Committee (CC) with 6 members yet to vote. This means that the DRep threshold at 60% has been surpassed, with SPOs yet to meet the 51% threshold and four CC votes remaining to meet the 5 out of 7 threshold.

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The van Rossem hard fork initiation governance action was submitted on Mainnet on June 16 during epoch 637. Current voting progress indicates a potential ratification within the next two epochs. Based on the governance timeline, the next possible ratification dates are June 28 or July 3, with the corresponding potential enactment dates being July 3 or July 8, respectively.

Cardano's recent developmentsThe public testnet for Ouroboros Leios, Musashi Dojo, was launched this week. Leios refers to the scaling solution for Cardano. A year ago, Leios was just a research paper from Input Output (IO) Research, with its next phase unveiled as a live prototype on a public testnet.

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Mithril is moving into its next phase as Teragone takes over the workstream, bringing deep cryptography expertise and continuity coordinated through Intersect.

The RealFi Phase 1 Testnet is expected to go live on July 6, the first public step toward next-generation stablecoin infrastructure on Cardano.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly shifting from the cloud to the devices we use every day. The first wave of generative AI relied on massive data centers packed with expensive graphics processors. The next phase is about making AI faster, cheaper, and more private by moving more of that computing directly onto smartphones, laptops, and vehicles. 

That transition has become a battleground for chipmakers, and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM | QCOM Price Prediction) believes the same technology it is developing for AI data centers can eventually power the next generation of edge devices.

Qualcomm’s Answer to AI’s Memory Problem At the center of Qualcomm’s strategy is a new chip architecture called high bandwidth compute (HBC). According to Qualcomm, HBC places dedicated AI accelerator logic directly beneath vertically stacked LPDDR memory using through-silicon vias (TSVs), dramatically shortening the distance data must travel between memory and compute.

That may sound like semiconductor jargon, but the problem it addresses is simple. Modern AI models spend an enormous amount of time moving data back and forth between memory and processors. Engineers refer to this bottleneck as the “memory wall.” As AI models grow larger, that movement increasingly consumes more power than the calculations themselves.

Qualcomm says HBC offers several advantages over traditional high-bandwidth memory (HBM) designs:

Feature Qualcomm HBC Traditional HBM Memory type LPDDR HBM Bandwidth efficiency ~6x higher bandwidth per watt Baseline Cost Lower Higher Primary target AI inference AI training and inference Those advantages could make HBC attractive not only for cloud providers but also for smartphones, PCs, and automotive systems where power efficiency is every bit as important as raw performance.

Qualcomm Is Building on Existing Technology — Not Reinventing It Qualcomm isn’t inventing an entirely new category of computing. Companies including Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD), Samsung, Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU), and SK hynix already rely on advanced 3D memory stacking in AI accelerators. AMD’s MI300 family, for example, combines CPUs, GPUs, and HBM into tightly integrated packages, while Samsung has invested heavily in processing-in-memory technology.

The difference is Qualcomm’s focus on inference rather than training.

Inference — the process of generating AI responses — is becoming the largest long-term AI workload. By pairing lower-power LPDDR memory with near-memory compute, Qualcomm believes it can deliver better performance per watt while reducing total system costs.

That strategy also aligns with Qualcomm’s historical strengths. The company has spent decades optimizing chips for battery-powered devices, giving it deep expertise in LPDDR memory and power management. Extending those capabilities from smartphones into AI servers — and then bringing the architecture back to consumer devices — is an unusual but logical roadmap.

The cloud's grip on AI is slipping. Qualcomm’s 6x more efficient HBC architecture is the weapon finally breaking the hardware bottleneck. © 24/7 Wall St. Heat Remains the Biggest Challenge Granted, stacking logic directly beneath memory creates one major engineering challenge: heat.

In any 3D package, heat generated by the compute die must travel upward through multiple silicon layers before reaching a cooling solution. That creates hotspots that can reduce performance or shorten component life if temperatures climb too high.

Data centers can offset this with liquid cooling and sophisticated thermal systems. Smartphones, laptops, and vehicles have far tighter space and power constraints.

Qualcomm believes several factors help manage those thermal challenges:

LPDDR consumes less power than HBM. Advanced bonding materials reduce thermal resistance. Dynamic power management can throttle workloads before overheating occurs. Qualcomm’s experience designing mobile processors gives it an advantage in balancing sustained performance and battery life. That said, investors should wait for independent benchmarks. Real-world testing will determine whether HBC delivers its promised gains without sacrificing sustained performance.

Key Takeaway In short, Qualcomm’s high-bandwidth compute architecture isn’t a revolutionary break from existing semiconductor design, but it could become an important evolution in AI computing. Rather than chasing Nvidia in massive AI training clusters, Qualcomm is targeting the next wave of AI inference with an architecture designed around efficiency instead of brute force.

If Qualcomm succeeds, the payoff could extend well beyond data centers. Smartphones, PCs, and connected vehicles could run larger AI models locally, reducing cloud costs, improving privacy, and extending battery life. The remaining question isn’t whether the idea is compelling — it is whether Qualcomm can prove its thermal design and manufacturing approach work at scale. For long-term investors, those benchmarks and early customer deployments will be worth watching closely.

On June 22, 2026, Devon Energy Corp, a 10% owner, reported the indirect sale of 1,755,174 Class A shares of WaterBridge Infrastructure LLC (WBI +2.34%) for a transaction value of approximately $52.7 million, as disclosed in a SEC Form 4 filing.

Transaction summaryMetricValueShares sold (indirect)1,755,174Transaction value$52.7 millionTransaction value based on SEC Form 4 weighted average purchase price ($30.05).

Key questionsWhat was the mechanism behind the Class A share sale?
The shares sold originated from the redemption of 1,755,174 WBI Operating LLC units and the cancellation of an equal number of Class B shares, which were converted into Class A shares immediately prior to the open-market sale pursuant to Rule 144.Did this transaction affect any direct holdings?
No direct holdings were involved; all shares sold were held indirectly through Devon Holdco, a wholly owned subsidiary structure under Devon Energy.Does the insider retain a continuing economic interest in WaterBridge Infrastructure LLC?
Yes, Devon Holdco continues to hold 16,002,051 Class B shares and an equivalent number of WBI Operating LLC units, which are convertible into Class A shares on a one-for-one basis, preserving substantial potential ownership.How does the size of this sale relate to prior activity and remaining capacity?
This sale comprised 100.00% of Devon Holdco's indirect Class A position; future liquidity events will depend on conversions from the remaining Class B/OpCo units, as Class A holdings have been fully sold in this filing.Company overviewMetricValueMarket capitalization$1.46 billionRevenue (TTM)$628.62 millionNet income (TTM)$13.7 millionPrice (as of market close 2026-06-22)$30.05Company snapshotWaterBridge Infrastructure provides comprehensive water resource management services for upstream oil and gas operators, including water gathering, transportation, reclamation, and disposal.The firm operates a fee-based model leveraging a network of water infrastructure assets primarily in the Delaware Basin, with additional presence in the Eagle Ford and Arkoma regions.It serves exploration and production companies in the oil and gas sector, focusing on clients with significant water management needs in major U.S. shale plays.WaterBridge Infrastructure LLC specializes in water logistics and lifecycle management for the energy sector, supporting oil and gas producers through a dedicated infrastructure footprint in key shale basins. The company's scale and integrated service offerings enable efficient, compliant water handling solutions for its customers. Strategic positioning in high-activity regions provides a competitive advantage in serving the evolving needs of upstream energy clients.

What this transaction means for investorsWhile Devon Energy monetized a sizable stake worth roughly $52.7 million, the transaction represented a conversion of operating units into Class A shares before the sale, and the company continues to own 16 million Class B shares and an equal number of operating units that remain convertible into Class A stock. In other words, Devon still has significant economic exposure to WaterBridge.

Operationally, WaterBridge continues to build momentum. The company recently raised its full-year guidance for produced water handling volumes to 2.525 million to 2.725 million barrels per day and increased its Adjusted EBITDA outlook to $425 million to $465 million after reporting first quarter revenue of $201 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $102.9 million. Management said stronger customer demand and a more supportive backdrop for exploration and production activity gave it confidence to lift guidance. CEO Jason Long said the company's opportunities "are as compelling as they have ever been," while CFO Scott McNeely pointed to strengthening commercial demand across the Delaware Basin.

The company also recently announced plans to join several Alerian energy indexes and formed a special committee to evaluate converting from an LLC to a Texas corporation, a move management believes could broaden its investor base and improve liquidity over time.

For long-term investors, Devon's sale does not materially change the ownership picture. The bigger questions remain whether WaterBridge can execute on its higher guidance, expand its infrastructure network, and capitalize on growing demand for produced water management.

Jonathan Ponciano has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.