Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Ripple’s [XRP] decline continued after leveraged buyers lost control, pushing the altcoin down to $1.02, its lowest value since early February. Initially, the price slipped toward $1.07 before triggering nearly $9 million in long liquidations on the 25th of June.

Binance led with about $4.5 million, highlighting the concentration of the leverage that existed within one exchange. As forced selling intensified, derivatives traders rapidly reduced exposure instead of adding fresh positions.

Binance Open Interest dropped to nearly $205 million, marking its lowest level since the 22nd of March. Meanwhile, Bybit Open Interest fell to around $185 million, reinforcing the domino effect of the catastrophe.

Source: CryptoQuant This synchronized decline suggests speculative excess has largely been flushed from the market. Such resets typically take some pressure off the downside because they eliminate the weakly positioned leveraged sellers.

Otherwise, lower leverage alone may stabilize volatility without generating a sustained recovery. The next directional move will likely depend on whether fresh buyers replace liquidated positions or continue waiting on the sidelines.

ETF demand tightens XRP supply XRP ETF demand is tightening available XRP supply despite the market weakness. The net inflow reached 4.82 million XRP during week 26, driving total ETF holdings up by almost 10% to 938.73 million XRP, which accounts for approximately 1% of the currently circulating XRP.

With each new ETF creation requiring the purchase of additional Spot XRP, this gradual reduction in available XRP on the open market can help limit the amount of sellable inventory or reduce potential selling pressure.

Source: XRP Insights On the other hand, despite the fact that institutional buyers are accumulating significant amounts of XRP via the ETFs, no corresponding increase in participation from the broader spot market has been seen.

As such, prices have continued to be pressured downward. In addition to the decrease in price, valuations have also declined from over $1 billion at one time down to $989 million at present.

As such, it appears that institutional buying power has increased more than the valuation of XRP.

If ETF inflows persist alongside stronger spot demand, shrinking liquid supply could increasingly amplify future price recoveries. Otherwise, accumulation may continue without triggering an immediate breakout.

Final Summary Ripple’s leverage reset has reduced speculative pressure, but sustained recovery still depends on fresh spot demand returning. XRP ETF accumulation continues tightening liquid supply, though stronger Spot participation remains essential for a lasting breakout.

Blockchain intelligence firm AMLBot has confirmed the Polymarket supply-chain attack total at approximately $3.1 million in PUSD across 11 user wallets, with funds bridged from Polygon to Ethereum and converted to ETH. Polymarket has pledged full refunds but has not named the compromised vendor.

Blockchain intelligence firm AMLBot has fixed the total stolen in Thursday's Polymarket supply-chain attack at approximately $3.1 million in PUSD, providing the first forensically confirmed on-chain dollar figure and tracing the stolen assets from Polygon to Ethereum. On-chain investigator Specter, which published the first public alert, identified more than 11 victim wallets.

AMLBot posted the revised tally on Saturday, two days after on-chain investigators first flagged the drain. The figure revises earlier estimates upward and, for the first time, pins both the dollar amount to a single on-chain intelligence source. AMLBot said it continues to monitor affected accounts as the investigation proceeds.

From Front-End to BridgeThe attack, covered by The Defiant on Thursday, began when a compromised third-party vendor injected malicious JavaScript into Polymarket's website. The code targeted user transactions at the front-end layer; Polymarket's smart contracts on Polygon were untouched. Polymarket confirmed fewer than 15 accounts were affected, consistent with scope described by on-chain security researchers tracking the wallets in real time.

On-chain investigator Specter published the first public alert and identified the attacker's primary consolidation address on Ethereum: `0xe65b1C586757c5510B60F998Eebb14C1eF71E1eD`. PeckShield confirmed the stolen funds were bridged from Polygon to Ethereum and then swapped into roughly 1,893 ETH. Bubblemaps independently counted fewer than 15 affected accounts and estimated $3 million in losses being refunded.

PUSD is Polymarket's native collateral token, a Polygon-based ERC-20 minted 1:1 against USDC.e through the platform's on-chain collateral contracts. Deployed in April 2026 per on-chain records, PUSD operates exclusively within the platform and carries no external exchange listing, so the attacker had to convert it to ETH to exit. The token held its $1.00 peg throughout the incident, per PolygonScan data for the pUSD contract on Polygon.

Refund Commitment, Vendor Still UnnamedPolymarket posted on X Thursday morning saying it had contained the attack, removed the malicious dependency, and would refund impacted users in full. William LeGate confirmed the repayment would be total, adding in a second post that there were "no user 'losses.'" The platform has not publicly named the compromised vendor across any channel since the incident was disclosed.

Initial independent estimates put the theft at $2.94 million, based on on-chain wallet tallies by Specter Analyst, while PeckShield and other firms rounded to roughly $3 million. AMLBot's Saturday update lifts the confirmed total by approximately $160,000 from Specter's initial read.

TechCrunch reported that a Polymarket spokesperson confirmed the breach but declined to provide further detail. Security researchers at CyberInsider and BleepingComputer both classified the incident as a supply-chain attack, the type where a downstream dependency injects hostile code into a trusted application, rather than a direct protocol exploit.

Platform ContextThe platform currently holds $432 million in total value locked on Polygon, per DefiLlama. Security trackers cataloguing Q2 2026 DeFi incidents have counted the June 25 Polymarket attack among a sustained wave of supply-chain and front-end compromises targeting DeFi infrastructure in 2026.

Polymarket has committed to refunding affected users in full but has set no public timeline for completion and has not disclosed the identity of the third-party vendor whose compromise triggered the attack.

Cardano wallet SecondFi has identified a recovery path for users affected by Tuesday's exploit and expects to begin returning assets in about two weeks, following testing and security reviews.

According to a Saturday statement by Phillip Pon, CEO of SecondFi developer Emurgo, the company completed forensic investigations and established a recovery pathway for affected users. Pon said the coming week would be spent building the solution, followed by another week of testing before assets begin to be returned.

Pon urged users to refrain from migrating assets or taking actions outside official guidance, saying the recovery process was designed around existing wallet states and that independent action could complicate the secure return of funds.

SecondFi developer Emurgo shared an update on the wallet's recovery efforts. Source: Emurgo

SecondFi disclosed a security breach on Tuesday that affected approximately 16 million ADA, worth about $2.4 million at the time, across 374 addresses. SecondFi previously said it traced the incident to an address-level issue in its Cardano web wallet generation software that exposed users' private keys.

The company also said it secured roughly 129 million ADA through emergency measures and transferred the funds to an independent third-party custodian, where they will remain until the verification and recovery process is complete.

SecondFi has not yet published a comprehensive post-mortem detailing the vulnerability or how the exploit was carried out.

SecondFi warns of recovery-related scamsIn a separate update on Saturday, SecondFi warned that malicious actors are circulating fraudulent messages impersonating the wallet while its recovery effort remains underway. 

The company said no recovery actions requiring user participation have begun and that it will never ask users for private keys, seed phrases, wallet credentials or direct wallet access.

SecondFi said any messages instructing users to submit wallet information, migrate assets or take immediate action outside its verified communication channels should be treated as fraudulent. 

It added that users requiring assistance should submit a ticket through its official support portal while the recovery process continues.

Magazine: AI is banking the unbanked in Africa… faster than crypto

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Tether and Ledn have teamed up to bring tokenized gold into the crypto lending world. The partnership, announced on June 18, integrates Tether Gold (XAUT) into Ledn’s platform alongside Bitcoin and stablecoins, with gold-backed loans expected to follow later this year.

What the deal actually looks like From launch, Ledn users can trade and hold XAUT on the platform. Each XAUT token represents one fine troy ounce of gold, with 707,747 ounces currently backing the equivalent number of tokens in circulation.

Later in 2026, Ledn plans to roll out gold-backed loans denominated in Tether’s stablecoins. Borrowers will be able to choose between USDT and the newly launched USAT.

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Ledn maintains a 1:1 collateral holding policy, meaning they don’t rehypothecate or lend out the collateral backing user deposits. Worth noting: the lending product won’t be available to residents of Canada or the EU.

The gold behind the token Tether manages a gold stockpile estimated between 140 and 154 metric tons, valued at roughly $23 billion. XAUT’s market cap recently surpassed $3 billion, making it one of the most significant commodity-backed tokens in crypto.

“Growing demand for solutions that combine long-term ownership with financial flexibility,” Paolo Ardoino said of the partnership’s rationale.

Why this matters for investors The crypto lending market has been rebuilding trust since the cascading failures of 2022, when firms like Celsius, BlockFi, and Voyager proved that aggressive rehypothecation and opaque risk management could crater an entire sector overnight. Ledn survived that purge, partly because of its conservative collateral approach.

Paxos Gold (PAXG) is XAUT’s closest competitor in the tokenized gold space, and it currently lacks a comparable lending integration.

The USAT launch, which will serve as one of the loan denomination options, suggests Tether is building an ecosystem where its various products feed into each other.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Trading activity across the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem on Shiba Inu’s L2 blockchain, Shibarium, has disappeared, as DEX volume currently sits at zero. 

At press time, Shibarium DEX volume stood at zero, according to data from DeFiLlama, reflecting extremely weak on-chain participation.

Zero Trades Since June 23 Decentralized exchanges operating on Shibarium, including WoofSwap and ShibaSwap, have recorded no trading activity since June 23. The last recorded DEX transaction on the network occurred on June 22, when traders exchanged just $60 worth of assets. 

Furthermore, throughout most of June, daily trading volumes on these platforms remained below $100, underscoring the lack of activity across the ecosystem. The slowdown highlights Shibarium’s struggle to attract meaningful DeFi adoption since its launch. 

Shibarium DEX Volumes Dwindling DEX Activity  After the mainnet went live in August 2023, the network initially showed encouraging signs of growth. DEX volume reached $6,800 in October 2024 before climbing to $54,000 in December 2024.

However, activity weakened in the following months. Although the development team attempted to revive optimism by promising faster ecosystem growth and higher DEX participation, trading activity continued to decline. 

Shibarium briefly recovered in September 2025, when DEX volume rose to $47,000, before reaching a cycle peak of $86,000 in December 2025. Since then, trading activity has entered a prolonged decline, with many days registering no transactions at all across Shibarium-based DEXes. 

Since October 2024, Shibarium’s decentralized exchanges have processed a cumulative $2.66 million in trading volume. That figure remains lower than the amount of DEX volume established networks such as Ethereum and Solana regularly process in a single day.

One major reason behind the weak on-chain metrics is that most trading involving Shiba Inu ecosystem tokens still occurs on centralized exchanges rather than on Shibarium’s native applications.

At press time, SHIB generated $56.4 million in 24-hour trading volume, with most transactions taking place on centralized platforms such as Binance and Coinbase. 

Total Value Locked Remains Modest Despite weak trading activity, Shibarium’s total value locked (TVL) currently stands at $21,495, representing a 1.89% increase over the past 24 hours. While the increase suggests some capital remains within the ecosystem, the figure remains modest compared to competing DeFi networks.

Meanwhile, overall network usage continues to weaken. Shibarium currently processes only 889 daily transactions, with smart contract interactions accounting for most of that activity. The trend suggests that user engagement across the network remains limited and that DeFi adoption on Shibarium has yet to gain meaningful traction. 

Shibarium Daily Transaction 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.

Brad Garlinghouse has criticized Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin acquisition strategy, arguing that Strategy’s reliance on preferred stock financing has failed to create lasting value as its securities continue to weaken.

Summary

Brad Garlinghouse criticized Strategy’s Bitcoin funding model, arguing long-term value should come from utility rather than financial engineering. Growing scrutiny of Strategy includes a shareholder investigation, insider share sales, and CryptoQuant’s call to preserve cash. Anchorage Digital said investors remain defensive, but options markets are not signaling expectations of a company-specific crisis. According to comments made during a CNBC interview on Friday, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse criticized Michael Saylor’s approach to financing Bitcoin purchases through Strategy’s capital markets program, saying long-term value in crypto should come from real-world utility rather than financial engineering.

Questioning whether the model can continue rewarding shareholders over time, Garlinghouse argued that issuing securities to fund additional Bitcoin purchases does not create sustainable value. He added that Strategy’s focus on financial structuring has had negative consequences for the digital asset market.

“Financial engineering does not drive long-term value … long-term value of any digital asset is going to be driven by utility.”

Although he challenged Strategy’s funding model, Garlinghouse maintained that he remains bullish on Bitcoin itself. His comments came as Bitcoin briefly traded below $60,000 on Friday, extending pressure across companies closely tied to the cryptocurrency.

Strategy’s preferred stock has come under pressure Garlinghouse pointed to Strategy’s STRC preferred shares as evidence that investors are becoming more cautious about the company’s financing structure. He noted that the preferred stock has fallen roughly 25% below its $100 face value, describing the decline as a sign that investors are questioning the sustainability of the approach.

Strategy has spent roughly the past year raising capital through preferred securities, including STRC, to finance additional Bitcoin purchases. The instrument also carries an 11.5% cumulative annual dividend obligation, leaving the company with continuing dividend commitments alongside its expanding Bitcoin treasury.

At the same time, scrutiny has widened beyond Garlinghouse’s criticism. Earlier this week, on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant recommended that Strategy pause further Bitcoin purchases and instead strengthen its cash reserves as market conditions remain difficult.

Additional pressure has emerged from legal developments. As crypto.news reported previously, Rosen Law Firm has opened an investigation into whether Strategy made materially inaccurate business disclosures to investors. According to the firm, it is evaluating potential securities claims and considering a possible class action lawsuit on behalf of shareholders who suffered losses.

Investor scrutiny has continued despite mixed market signals Selling by company insiders has added another layer to investor concerns. SEC filings show Strategy director Jarrod Patten exercised options to acquire 1,500 Class A shares on June 23 before selling the entire position the same day at $106.08 per share, generating an estimated pre-tax gain of about $131,766.

The latest transaction extends a months-long selling streak. Regulatory filings indicate Patten has sold 55,750 Strategy shares over the past three months for roughly $9 million in proceeds, with the sales taking place as investors continue debating the company’s reliance on repeated share issuance and leveraged Bitcoin accumulation.

Even so, derivatives markets are not signaling expectations of an immediate company-specific crisis. According to new research from Anchorage Digital, traders continue paying elevated premiums for downside protection across Bitcoin, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust and Strategy shares, but options pricing remains well below levels seen during previous periods of severe stress.

Anchorage Digital’s head of research, David Lawant, wrote that while defensive positioning has risen into the upper range of historical readings, Strategy’s options market has not reached the conditions normally associated with forced deleveraging or fears of a breakdown in the company’s business model.

Chainlink just landed two of the most consequential institutional partnerships in its history, and both happened within weeks of each other.

On May 12, 2026, the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation selected Chainlink’s Runtime Environment, known as CRE, to power its Collateral AppChain. Then on June 23, 2026, Chainlink announced it would serve as core infrastructure for Project Pangea, a consortium of over 50 banks and banking groups managing more than $10 trillion in assets.

What DTCC actually does, and why this matters DTCC processed over $4.7 quadrillion in securities transactions in 2025 alone. To put that in perspective, global GDP is roughly $100 trillion. DTCC handles nearly 50 times that figure annually.

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The organization is now building a Collateral AppChain, scheduled to launch in Q4 2026, that will manage real-time collateral operations including pricing, valuation, margining, and settlement for tokenized assets across multiple blockchains. Chainlink’s CRE is the selected runtime environment for that system.

Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov described the CRE as capable of “securely orchestrating critical outputs” for DTCC’s operations.

Project Pangea and the T+0 settlement ambition Project Pangea is targeting T+0 foreign exchange settlement, meaning trades would clear and settle on the same day, instantaneously, rather than the current T+2 standard where settlement takes two business days after a trade is executed.

The mechanism is atomic Payment-versus-Payment swaps, or PvP. In a traditional FX trade, one party sends currency first and hopes the counterparty delivers theirs shortly after. In an atomic PvP swap, both legs of the transaction settle simultaneously, or neither does. There is no trust required between counterparties because the settlement is enforced by the protocol itself.

Chainlink’s technology will facilitate this process using regulated EUR and KRW stablecoins. The consortium includes over 50 banks and banking groups with a combined $10 trillion in assets.

What investors should watch The risks are real. DTCC’s AppChain is not live until Q4 2026, and large-scale institutional deployments have a history of running over schedule and under-delivering on initial specifications. Project Pangea is even earlier in its development arc. Regulatory approvals for stablecoin-based settlement at this scale involve multiple jurisdictions and no clear timeline.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Key takeaways:

SOL’s rebound to $72 shows bullish futures and airdrop hopes, but falling TVL and low DEX volumes point to fragile onchain demand.Tokenized stocks spark hype on Solana, yet Pump.fun dependence and Hyperliquid competition threaten sustained SOL momentum.Solana native token SOL jumped to $72 on Friday, distancing itself from the $64 lows the prior day. Part of traders’ optimism stemmed from the stellar growth of tokenized stock trading, fueled by the AI sector. However, increasing competition in decentralized application networks could limit SOL’s short-term upside.

Solana tokenized stocks 24-hour volumes, USD. Source: Jupiter Aggregator

Tokenized stocks on Solana traded over $113 million in 24 hours, according to Jupiter Aggregator data. However, the relatively thin liquidity in the automated market-making pools raised concerns, especially as multiple issuers compete for similar products. Still, some of those tokens launched only recently, which might explain the low number of holders in most cases.

Blockchains ranked by DeFi Total Value Locked (TVL), USD. Source: DefiLlama

The Total Value Locked (TVL) on the Solana network dropped 11% over the past month, while the Ethereum layer-2 Base reduced the gap. Negative highlights on Solana TVL include a 19% decline in Kamino, a 20% trim by Binance Staked SOL, and a 17% decline in Raydium. The tokenization platform xStocks, on the other hand, posted 31% growth in TVL.

Solana weekly DEX volumes & DApps revenue, USD. Source: DefiLlama

Decentralized exchange (DEX) volumes on Solana fell to $10 billion per week from $30 billion in early February, coinciding with a downtrend in decentralized application (DApp) revenues. Thus, regardless of the successful launch of tokenized tech stocks and equity indexes, demand for SOL on blockchain processing remains subdued.

Solana’s dependence on Pump.fun and increased competition in tokenized launchesMore concerningly, 30% of DApp revenue on Solana came from the token launch platform Pump.fun, which depends heavily on memecoin activity. A CoinGecko report revealed that 80% of the 18.7 million tokens launched in less than 48 hours, while 55% of the addresses involved lost up to $1,000 according to Dune data.

SOL perpetual futures annualized funding rate. Source: Laevitas

Demand for bullish leverage on SOL futures increased on Friday, pushing the funding rate to its highest level in June. The current 10% level is far from displaying excessive confidence, as the 6% to 12% range is typically deemed neutral. Still, the 14% gains since the $64 low on Thursday managed to reverse the bearishness marked by negative funding rates.

Part of SOL investors’ optimism stems from anticipation of airdrops on the network, although the timing of those tokens' launch remains uncertain. Highlights include OnRe reinsurance with $200 million in TVL, Bulk perpetual DEX with an aggregate open interest of $325 million, and Loopscale lending platform at $79 million in TVL.

It might be premature to claim that SOL is bound to reclaim the $80 mark, last seen on June 1, given increased competition in tokenized stock trading from Hyperliquid and centralized exchanges on competing blockchains. OKX, for instance, formed a strategic partnership with the NYSE parent company using Ethereum-based systems.

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

One Source of Truth for Sui's Performance@SuiNetwork has entered a data partnership with @tokenterminal, bringing its onchain financial and usage metrics onto the platform that institutional investors treat as the standard for cross-chain comparisons. The move gives investors, developers, and the broader community a single, standardized view of the network's performance, covering everything from daily active users and transaction counts to fees and revenue.

Token Terminal transforms raw blockchain data into comparable, institutional-grade metrics. The platform covers more than 100 chains and 1,200 applications, applying consistent business logic so that cross-protocol comparisons are defensible rather than apples-to-oranges. Its data is also accessible via the Bloomberg Terminal, giving traditional finance professionals a direct line to onchain fundamentals.

The Sui partnership follows a similar playbook Token Terminal has used with other layer-1 networks. When Cardano signed on, the integration brought standardized revenue, active user, and validator data into Token Terminal's reporting framework, with the data subsequently flowing to platforms including Bloomberg Terminal, Binance, and CoinGecko. Ronin and Aptos have taken the same route. For Sui, the practical effect is the same: analysts and institutions can now pull its metrics into their own models programmatically via API, without having to compile and format data independently.

Why Transparency Matters for Institutional CapitalThe timing reflects a broader dynamic in crypto markets. Institutional allocators increasingly require standardized, auditable data before they commit capital to a network. Sui's architecture, built around a novel object-centric data model and the Move programming language, produces onchain data that looks structurally different from Ethereum or Solana. Having that data normalized and presented through a platform institutions already trust reduces a meaningful friction point for due diligence.

$SUI is currently a top-30 asset by market capitalization. The network has been expanding its institutional footprint across multiple fronts in 2026, including regulated stablecoin infrastructure and banking partnerships. Transparent, comparable onchain reporting through a platform like Token Terminal fits that broader push. If standardized metrics make it easier for allocators to screen and evaluate Sui alongside competitors, the network's bet is that the data will speak for itself.

Sources:
Sui Overview, Token Terminal
Cardano partners with Token Terminal, Crypto Briefing
Ronin Data Partnership, Token Terminal

Somewhere between a DEX and a full-blown financial exchange, Hyperliquid has built something that most DeFi protocols only claim to be: the dominant venue for trading perpetual futures on-chain. At its peak in 2025, the platform captured more than 80% of decentralized perpetual trading volume. Hyperliquid’s share of on-chain perpetual futures volume sat at 36.4% in January 2026, then climbed to 44% by mid-2026, even as new competitors entered the space.

The scale of what Hyperliquid has actually built Hyperliquid processed $633 billion in trading volume during Q1 2026 alone. Daily volume runs between $3 billion and $10 billion depending on market conditions. Cumulative lifetime volume crossed $4.726 trillion by June 2026.

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The platform runs on its own Layer-1 blockchain, built on a consensus mechanism called HyperBFT. Collateral on the platform settles in USDC. The protocol offers leverage up to 40x across more than 300 markets. Those markets now extend beyond crypto perpetuals into commodities, indices, prediction markets, and real-world assets, all made possible through the platform’s HIP-4 framework.

Revenue, the HYPE token, and what traders are actually paying for Hyperliquid generated over $800 million in revenue in 2025. Recent weekly revenue has averaged around $11 million, which annualizes to roughly $570 million at that pace.

The HYPE token launched on November 29, 2024, with approximately 31% of supply allocated to a user airdrop. It subsequently reached all-time highs near $77. The token has attracted ETF investment interest and serves a functional purpose: revenue generated by the protocol flows back to HYPE holders through distributions and token burns.

Total value locked on the platform has ranged between $1 billion and $6 billion depending on market conditions.

The 30-day trading volume reached $237 billion by mid-2026.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Polymarket traders assign a 76% probability that Ethereum will reach $1,500 before the end of 2026, reflecting near-total conviction in further downside from current levels. U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded 17 consecutive days of net outflows totaling $401 million in May 2026, setting the longest institutional withdrawal streak in ETH history. A confirmed death cross on the daily chart, where the 50-day EMA crossed below the 200-day EMA, preceded months of further decline in both prior Ethereum bear markets. The Glamsterdam protocol upgrade, originally targeting June 2026, has been delayed to Q3 2026, removing the primary near-term catalyst that bulls had used to anchor support. Ethereum trades below its 20-day, 50-day, and 100-day exponential moving averages, all clustered between $1,740 and $2,050, creating a dense resistance wall above current price action. Ethereum traded near $1,670 on June 25, 2026, holding just above a support zone that has protected every major low since the 2022 bear market bottom. The $1,500 level has drawn $3.9 million in total volume on Polymarket prediction markets alone, where traders now price a 76% chance that ETH reaches that threshold before year-end.

 That conviction stems from a convergence of signals: record ETF outflows, a confirmed death cross, and a delayed protocol upgrade that had been the last remaining bullish catalyst for Q2. 

This article examines the technical, fundamental, and on-chain data behind the growing consensus that $1,500 is no longer a floor but a destination, and what that shift means for positioning.

Record ETF Outflows Signal Institutional Retreat U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs logged 17 consecutive trading days of net outflows in May, totaling $401 million and setting a record for the longest institutional withdrawal streak Ethereum has experienced. 

On June 23 alone, ETH ETFs recorded $82 million in net outflows, marking the fourth straight day of withdrawals as market caution grew amid U.S.-Iran tensions and shifting interest rate expectations. The institutional retreat contrasts sharply with the accumulation thesis that dominated late 2025.

When spot ETH ETFs launched, proponents argued that regulated institutional vehicles would create a persistent demand floor. 

That thesis has not survived contact with a 65% drawdown from the approximately $4,950 all-time high reached in August 2025. Funding rates have turned negative and open interest has declined sharply, suggesting a leverage flush rather than a fresh uptrend, according to data reviewed by Cryptopolitan analysts.

Death Cross and Descending Channel Frame the Technical Picture A death cross confirmed on the daily chart when the 50-day exponential moving average crossed below the 200-day EMA. In Ethereum’s prior bear markets of 2018 and 2022, this signal preceded months of further decline before any sustained recovery began.

ETH currently trades below its 20-day, 50-day, and 100-day EMAs, all clustered between $1,740 and $2,050. That alignment creates a dense resistance wall. Analyst Ardi stated on X that ETH has one responsibility over the next four months: do not start closing below $1,500. 

He noted the level has held every major low since the 2022 bottom, and losing it would force a reconsideration of bullish assumptions, Ardi wrote on June 24. Immediate support sits at $1,585, with a deeper floor at $1,468 if the current level fails.

Glamsterdam Delay Removes the Last Bullish Catalyst The Glamsterdam upgrade represents Ethereum’s most significant protocol change since the Merge. Originally targeting June 2026, the upgrade has been officially delayed to Q3 2026, removing the primary catalyst that bulls had been using to anchor a price floor for the current quarter.

Glamsterdam’s two headline components are Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS) and Block-Level Access Lists (BALs). The ePBS feature removes reliance on third-party MEV relays to match block builders with validators. 

BALs enable parallel transaction execution by requiring each block to declare upfront which accounts it will read and write. A confirmed 200-million-gas limit floor was set at the Soldøgn Interop in April 2026, representing a 233% increase from the current limit.

Analysis: The delay matters because price catalysts derive their power from proximity. A Q2 upgrade creates a tradable event in the present quarter; a Q3 timeline pushes it into seasonal low-volume months, reducing the probability that institutional capital will front-run the event.

Prediction Markets Quantify the Downside Consensus Polymarket now prices a 76% chance that ETH hits $1,500 before year-end, while Kalshi shows 73%. That level of convergence across two independent prediction platforms is unusual.

The $1,500 zone aligns with a high-footprint anchored volume profile, according to Coinpedia analysis, meaning significant historical volume traded at that price, which can act as either support or a magnet for price.

Analyst James Easton compared Ethereum’s current weekly chart to the Russell 2000 index. The Russell 2000 has broken above its resistance near 2,500, but Ethereum remains below its equivalent zone near $4,300 to $5,100.

A confirmed move above approximately $5,100 could place Ethereum in price discovery, Easton noted, though that requires a reversal of the current downtrend as a prerequisite.

Regulatory Implications The SEC has not issued new guidance on spot Ethereum ETFs during the current drawdown. If outflows continue at the current pace, issuers may face pressure to reduce fees or restructure fund terms to stem redemptions.

The delayed Glamsterdam upgrade also raises questions about whether the SEC’s classification framework for ETH could shift if staking mechanics change significantly post-upgrade.

What’s Next? The immediate test is whether ETH can hold above $1,585 and reclaim $1,685 on a daily close. The Glamsterdam upgrade timeline in Q3 2026 provides the next fundamental catalyst. Prediction market pricing currently embeds an assumption that the $1,500 test is a matter of when, not if.

FAQs What does the Ethereum death cross mean for price?
A death cross occurs when the 50-day EMA crosses below the 200-day EMA, signaling medium-term momentum has turned negative relative to the long-term trend.

How many consecutive days of ETH ETF outflows occurred?
U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded 17 consecutive days of net outflows in May 2026, totaling $401 million and setting a record for institutional ETH withdrawal streaks.

What is the Glamsterdam upgrade for Ethereum?
Glamsterdam is Ethereum’s next major protocol upgrade, featuring Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation and Block-Level Access Lists, now delayed from June to Q3 2026 release.

What probability do prediction markets assign to ETH hitting $1,500?
Polymarket prices a 76% chance, and Kalshi shows 73% probability that ETH will reach $1,500 before the end of the 2026 calendar year.

Where is the next major Ethereum support level?
Immediate support sits at $1,585 with a deeper floor at $1,468, and the $1,500 level aligns with anchored volume profile data from prior cycles.

What caused the Ethereum price decline in 2026?
A combination of record ETF outflows, a confirmed death cross, the Glamsterdam upgrade delay, and broader macro risk-off sentiment drove ETH below $1,700.

Can Ethereum recover above $5,000 from current levels?
Analyst James Easton noted a confirmed move above $5,100 could place ETH in price discovery, but the current descending channel must reverse first.

References TechTimes: Ethereum Price Prediction 2026: 17-Day ETF Outflow Record Targets $1,500 Support Analytics Insight: Ethereum Price Today: ETH Holds Critical $1,500 Support Coinpaper: Ethereum Price Prediction: Can $1,500 Support Unlock $5,100? Coinpedia: Ethereum Price Prediction 2026, 2027 – 2030

Bitmine Immersion Technologies, trading as BMNR on the NYSE, has met the eligibility criteria for inclusion in the Russell 1000 Index. The addition is expected to take effect on June 26, 2026, following a preliminary list publication in May 2026.

What Bitmine actually is, and why the Russell 1000 matters The company holds approximately 5.67 million ETH, which represents roughly 4.7% of the total Ethereum supply. Combined with cash and other assets, its total holdings clock in at approximately $10.7 billion.

The Russell 1000 Index tracks the largest 1,000 US-listed companies by market capitalization. It serves as a benchmark for large-cap investing, and more importantly, it’s the reference index for a massive ecosystem of passive funds, ETFs, and institutional portfolios that automatically buy whatever the index tells them to buy.

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Chairman Tom Lee indicated that the resulting inflows from index trackers could reach into the billions.

The Ethereum thesis, wrapped in a stock ticker BMNR co-founded Ethlabs, a collaborative initiative designed to accelerate Ethereum’s institutional adoption. The effort reportedly involves notable figures from the Ethereum ecosystem, including Joe Lubin.

The company’s investor roster includes ARK Invest, Founders Fund, and Pantera Capital.

The stock trades with high liquidity, reportedly seeing hundreds of millions in daily volume.

What this means for investors When passive funds buy BMNR shares, they’re indirectly gaining exposure to 5.67 million ETH. That means pension funds, 401(k) plans, and retirement accounts benchmarked to the Russell 1000 will, whether they realize it or not, suddenly have a slice of their portfolio tied to the price of Ethereum.

When MSTR entered the Nasdaq 100 in late 2024, it triggered a wave of passive buying that helped stabilize the stock’s premium to its underlying Bitcoin holdings.

The preliminary list drops in May 2026, which gives institutional investors about a month to position ahead of the June 26 effective date.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

@chainlink is restructuring how its Build program operates. Rather than collecting native tokens from supported projects, Chainlink Labs will now enter direct commercial agreements paid in ETH or in liquid assets converted into $LINK. The proceeds flow into the Chainlink Reserve.

From Token Allocations to Commercial Deals Since its launch in September 2022, the Build program has aimed to accelerate the growth of early-stage and established projects within the Chainlink ecosystem by providing enhanced access to Chainlink services and technical support. Under the original structure, projects committed a percentage of their total token supply to the Chainlink ecosystem in exchange for those benefits, including incentives to LINK stakers.

That model is now changing. Going forward, Chainlink Labs will strike direct commercial deals with participating projects, with payments denominated in ETH or converted into $LINK before entering the Reserve. The company frames the shift as building sustainable network economics, concentrating value in $LINK rather than distributing a basket of third-party tokens to stakers.

The Chainlink Reserve is a strategic onchain reserve of $LINK designed to support the long-term growth and sustainability of the Chainlink Network. It accumulates LINK tokens using offchain revenue from large enterprises adopting the Chainlink standard and from onchain service usage. The Reserve is built up via Payment Abstraction, onchain infrastructure that lets users pay for Chainlink services in their preferred asset, with payments then programmatically converted to LINK through a decentralized exchange. As of Q1 2026, the Reserve held 3.06 million LINK, with a value of roughly $27.5 million.

Staker Rewards Wind Down as Claims Deadline Approaches The restructuring also marks the end of Chainlink Rewards in its current form. Chainlink Rewards is a community engagement program that enables Build projects to make their native tokens claimable by ecosystem participants, including eligible LINK stakers. The program distributed roughly $20 million worth of project tokens over its run across two seasons.

Season Genesis launched in collaboration with Space and Time, which made 100 million SXT tokens available to eligible LINK stakers. Season 1 followed with nine Build projects, including Dolomite, XSwap, Brickken, Folks Finance, Mind Network, Suku, Truflation, and bitsCrunch, and introduced a more advanced engagement and claiming mechanism. Season 1 is now the last under the current format. Token claims end on July 7, 2026, and any tokens not claimed by that date will be forfeited and no longer available.

The overhaul reflects a broader effort by Chainlink Labs to draw a tighter connection between network revenue and $LINK token value, moving away from indirect incentives through third-party project distributions.

Sources:
Chainlink Blog: Build Program Evolution
Chainlink Blog: Introducing Chainlink Rewards Season 1
Chainlink Blog: Introducing the Chainlink Reserve

You can now trade a memory-chip ETF from your Solana wallet. Sunrise DeFi, a platform built by Wormhole Labs, has launched a tokenized version of the Roundhill Memory ETF, ticker $DRAM, on Solana’s Jupiter exchange.

What $DRAM actually is The underlying asset here is the Roundhill Memory ETF, which trades on traditional markets under the Cboe BZX exchange with the ticker DRAM. That fund launched on April 2, 2026, and quickly attracted billions in assets under management as AI-driven demand for memory chips accelerated.

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Sunrise DeFi’s contribution is wrapping that ETF into a token that lives natively on Solana. The $DRAM token is now live on Jupiter, Solana’s dominant decentralized exchange aggregator, which handles swaps and lending across the ecosystem. This isn’t Sunrise DeFi’s first rodeo. The platform has previously handled the integration of PAX Gold (PAXG) and Ethena’s ENA token on Solana, building a track record of ensuring liquidity from day one for newly tokenized assets.

The bigger picture: tokenized equities flood Solana $DRAM isn’t arriving in isolation. It’s part of a broader wave of tokenized traditional financial products landing on Solana throughout 2026. Ondo Global Markets and Securitize are among the firms actively working to bring tokenized equities and funds to the network. Jupiter has become the natural landing pad for these products, serving as the connective tissue between tokenized real-world assets and Solana’s existing DeFi ecosystem.

Sunrise DeFi, designed specifically by Wormhole Labs to facilitate these integrations, is positioning itself as the go-to bridge between traditional finance products and Solana’s DeFi rails. Wormhole’s cross-chain messaging infrastructure gives it a natural advantage here, since moving assets across ecosystems is literally what the protocol was built for.

What this means for investors Tokenized ETFs remove several friction points from traditional investing. No brokerage account needed. No market hours. No T+1 settlement.

For memory-chip bulls specifically, $DRAM offers a way to express that thesis entirely within the DeFi ecosystem. Instead of holding the ETF in a brokerage and crypto in a separate wallet, traders can now manage both exposures in a single interface. That composability—the ability to use $DRAM as collateral for loans or pair it in liquidity pools—is where tokenized assets genuinely differentiate themselves from their traditional counterparts.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Despite Shiba Inu’s recent price weakness, investors have resumed accumulating the token, withdrawing more than 300 billion SHIB from exchanges over the past 24 hours.

Notably, Shiba Inu’s exchange reserve have retreated from recent highs, signaling renewed accumulation activity. The metric, which tracks the amount of SHIB held in exchange wallets, fell from approximately 80.5 trillion tokens to 80.37 trillion in less than 48 hours.

Recent Exchange Inflows Interrupted a Multi-Week Trend Before this week’s developments, Shiba Inu’s exchange reserves had been declining steadily for several weeks and had even fallen below the 80 trillion SHIB mark.

However, the trend briefly reversed earlier this week when investors transferred large amounts of SHIB to exchanges, according to data from CryptoQuant. Approximately 749 billion SHIB flowed into trading platforms, pushing exchange reserves to 80.53 trillion on June 23 and further to 80.55 trillion the following day.

Investors Return to Accumulation  Contrary to expectations, exchange reserves failed to rise further as SHIB’s price plunged. Instead, they resumed their decline, dropping to 80.37 trillion tokens by press time.

The reversal suggests that many investors have returned to accumulation despite the broader market downturn. In particular, some holders appear to view current price levels as an opportunity to increase exposure rather than reduce positions. 

SHIBA INU Exchange Reserve All Exchanges Negative Netflows Strengthen the Bullish Accumulation Case Exchange netflow data further reinforces the accumulation narrative. The metric, which measures the difference between exchange inflows and outflows, has turned negative and currently stands at -355.54 billion SHIB, representing a 2.12% decline in exchange balances over the past 24 hours.

Although inflows surged to 442.21 billion SHIB during the period, outflows significantly exceeded that figure and reached 797.76 billion tokens. As a result, exchanges recorded a net outflow of more than 355 billion SHIB, highlighting continued investor accumulation despite the recent correction. 

Shiba Inu Flows to Exchanges Liquidation Wipes Out Over $200K Shiba Inu Leveraged Bets  The latest accumulation trend emerged as Shiba Inu experienced another sharp decline that briefly pushed the token to around $0.0000040 earlier today. SHIB later recovered part of its losses and rebounded to approximately $0.0000042.

Nonetheless, the sell-off inflicted heavy losses on leveraged traders. According to liquidation data from CoinGlass, SHIB derivatives traders lost approximately $210,820 over the past 24 hours.

Long traders absorbed the overwhelming majority of the losses, with liquidations approaching $194,000. Meanwhile, short traders recorded comparatively smaller losses totaling about $16,870.

Shiba Inu liquidation 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.

Table of contents

In a strategic move to address friction within the multifaceted DeFi environment and provide users with seamless experiences, Wanchain, a decentralized multi-chain blockchain platform, today announced an important strategic integration with Rango Exchange, a cross-chain DEX aggregator. This collaboration enabled Wanchain to integrate Rango Exchange’s cross-chain DEX aggregation infrastructure to further advance its interoperability and liquidity capabilities, aiming to enhance the effectiveness of its all-in-one blockchain network that allows users to interact with a wide range of chains and assets efficiently in a non-custodial manner.

Wanchain operates as a decentralized blockchain interoperability platform built to efficiently connect isolated networks, enabling users to smoothly move assets and applications across different DeFi ecosystems.

‼️New integration‼️

We are happy to announce that @RangoExchange has officially integrated Wanchain into its crosschain aggregator & DEX!

In this integration, Rango will utilize WanBridge & xFlows to support crosschain transactions across both EVM & non-EVM chains ⛓️

🧵1/3 pic.twitter.com/Gk4RqFuwe3

— Wanchain (@wanchain_org) June 26, 2026 Wanchain Solves Liquidity Fragmentation with Rango Exchange Through its partnership with Rango Exchange, Wanchain aims to expand the efficiency of its cross-chain interoperability platform, especially in key areas such as token swap, liquidity fragmentation solution, and bridge risk mitigation. In the large DeFi world, various assets exist on various chains, and so their liquidity (trading volume and pools) is split among different networks. However, the liquidity fragmentation concern arises when some chains have full order book depth while others have inadequate, causing problems, including higher slippage and poorer price discovery for huge trades. This situation normally forces users to look for liquidity across networks, a complicated process involving manual bridging and numerous swaps. This fragmentation problem often causes users painful experiences as traders struggle to find the best prices, developers encounter difficulty integrating separate markets, and institutions experience lower capital efficiency as liquidity spreads thin across gateways.

These issues explain why Wanchain integrated Rango Exchange’s multi-chain DEX aggregation infrastructure. Rango, with its cross-chain DEX aggregator, has the proficiency in connecting multiple DEXs and bridges, providing one-stop routing for multi-chain swaps. Therefore, the integration of Rango Exchange helps unify fragmented liquidity across networks connected with Wanchain, allowing users on Wanchain to access better yield opportunities across networks without manually bridging and switching wallets. This tech fusion means Rango’s DEX aggregator automates the multi-step process, making cross-chain trading on Wanchain smooth, and assists users in finding better prices from the combined liquidity of multiple chains. As a result, the integration of Rango’s DEX aggregator makes a seamless user experience on Wanchain and connected cross-chain networks, despite the underlying liquidity remaining on separate chains.

Advancing DeFi User Experience with Cross-Chain Liquidity Solutions   With its partnership with Rango Exchange, Wanchain aims to unlock new opportunities for customers and increase their capital efficiency in the larger DeFi landscape. DeFi clients always look for new opportunities to make the most of their asset holdings. Hence, this collaboration with Rango’s cross-chain DEX aggregator is set to further open up a huge volume of locked capital and bring a huge amount of liquidity for multi-chain trading on Wanchain.

The alliance between Wanchain and Rango Exchange showcases that liquidity aggregation is a crucial component in the multichain DeFi space. This makes fragmented markets unified and frictionless, consequently helping to decrease arbitrage gaps, minimize slippage, and allow large trade executions without severe impact.                          

AUTHOR

Nicholas Otieno is a fintech writer specializing in cryptocurrency markets. Since 2019, he has written articles to educate readers about cryptocurrency and its substantial positive impact on global prosperity. Nicholas is a Bitcoin holder, believing firmly in its fundamentals. His work has been featured in publications such as Finance Magnates, Blockchain.News, Bitcoin Magazine, Coincub, and among others. When he's not writing, Nicholas enjoys performing domestic tasks, spending time with friends, listening to music, and watching football.

Singapore’s top financial watchdog just put Hyperliquid on notice. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) added the high-speed trading platform to its Investor Alert List on June 26, flagging it as neither licensed nor authorized to operate in the city-state.

The move doesn’t ban Hyperliquid outright. But it does tell Singaporean users something important: if things go sideways on the platform, MAS protections won’t be there to catch you.

What the Investor Alert List actually means MAS launched the list back in 2004 as a public warning tool. Its purpose is straightforward: inform residents when a financial service provider hasn’t obtained the proper licenses to operate within Singapore’s jurisdiction.

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Being on the list doesn’t mean Hyperliquid is fraudulent. It means the platform hasn’t gone through Singapore’s regulatory gatekeeping process, which covers things like capital requirements, anti-money laundering compliance, and consumer safeguards.

Singapore’s MAS has also placed Bybit Fintech Ltd. on its Investor Alert List as part of its efforts to strengthen oversight of crypto platforms operating without local authorization.

In response, Bybit said it is seeking clarification from MAS and noted that it has long implemented measures, including contractual restrictions and IP blocking, to prevent Singapore users from accessing its platform.

Hyperliquid says it never claimed to be licensed by MAS In a statement, Hyperliquid said that as permissionless infrastructure, it is not, and has never claimed to be, licensed or authorized by MAS.

Hyperliquid has been added to the MAS's Investor Alert List (IAL). IAL listing does not constitute a ban, an enforcement action, or a finding of wrongdoing. The IAL provides a list of entities that, based on information available to MAS, may be wrongly perceived as being licensed…

— Hyperliquid (@HyperliquidX) June 26, 2026

The team added that nothing about the network or its operation has changed. Users always maintain self-custody, and all transactions are settled transparently and fully onchain.

Hyperliquid said the ecosystem will continue to engage constructively with regulators and institutions around the world in support of clear, effective frameworks that enable the continued development of onchain finance.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

ToplineBillionaire Michael Saylor on Friday defended his Strategy’s approach to bitcoin even as shares of the cryptocurrency’s largest institutional holder fell to multi-year lows, and as analysts warned against the company buying more amid a broader decline in the crypto market.

Shares of bitcoin’s largest institutional holder have plummeted 80% from their all-time high.

Getty Images

Key FactsSaylor, in a post on X, wrote that “volatility tests capital structure” and reaffirmed that Strategy “remains focused on bitcoin, disciplined capital allocation, credit quality and long-term value creation.”

Shares of Strategy plunged by more than 9% on Thursday to their lowest level since February 2024, and shares are down more than 8% from their record intraday high ($543) in November 2024, while its preferred stock has dropped nearly 25% since Jan. 13 to a new record low.

The price of bitcoin briefly stumbled to a 21-month low on Thursday, hitting an intraday low of $58,131, and the world’s leading cryptocurrency has shed more than half of its value since peaking above $126,000 in October 2025.

Crypto analytics firm CryptoQuant wrote in a report Thursday that Strategy should halt its bitcoin purchases and instead rebuild its cash reserves, arguing the company’s strategy of buying during bitcoin price dips has resulted in “rapid unrealized loss growth.”

JPMorgan analysts issued a similar warning in a note earlier this month, concluding Strategy’s dollar reserves should be rebuilt to “restore confidence and reduce investor concerns that the company would sell more bitcoins to cover dividend payments.”

forbes valuationSaylor founded Strategy, then known as MicroStrategy, in 1989, and his net worth has swelled to $3 billion as of market close on Thursday. He emerged as a top executive during the dot-com bubble, after which Saylor’s fortune plummeted, but Strategy’s bitcoin investments made him a billionaire once again, as Saylor has directed the firm to shift its corporate coffers into bitcoin.

big number845,256. That’s Strategy’s total bitcoin holdings, which the company priced at an aggregated market value of $63.9 billion, or roughly $75,680 per token, according to a regulatory disclosure earlier this month. Strategy most recently purchased 1,550 bitcoin for $101.3 million on June 8 at an average price of $65,332 per coin.

key backgroundStrategy’s cash reserves totaled $1.4 billion as of Friday, representing just a fraction of its bitcoin holdings. The company’s bitcoin transactions have shifted broader views of the crypto market, including its first bitcoin sale in years late last month, sparking a selloff that erased the cryptocurrency’s record-setting surge. Billionaire hedge fund executive Philippe Laffont said earlier this week he was a “little bit more worried” about bitcoin, arguing there were more attractive investment opportunities, like SpaceX, that he would “rather bet” on. Bitcoin’s latest slide also comes as $10 billion in options is set to expire Friday on Deribit, the world’s largest crypto options venue.

further readingForbesBillionaire Saylor’s Strategy Buys Bitcoin Worth $101 Million—After Earlier Sale Sparked Sell-OffBy Ty Roush

Michael Saylor broke his public silence on June 26 with a post on X reaffirming Strategy’s commitment to Bitcoin, as the company faces a securities investigation and widening pressure across its capital structure.

Rosen Law Firm launched the probe, examining whether Strategy executives made materially misleading statements across five linked securities. The company has issued no formal response.

Saylor Doubles Down on Bitcoin FocusOn X, Saylor offered no direct comment on the probe. Instead, he framed volatility as a structural test. He signaled continued commitment to credit quality and long-term value creation.

Volatility tests every capital structure. Strategy remains focused on Bitcoin, disciplined capital allocation, credit quality, and long-term value creation. We appreciate our investors and will continue to execute with transparency and resolve. $MSTR

— Michael Saylor (@saylor) June 26, 2026 Michael Saylor. Source: XThe statement is notable for what it omits. It makes no mention of the class action interest gathering around the firm or the sharp declines across Strategy’s preferred securities. Saylor focuses on capital discipline, a message directed at both equity holders and creditors.

Strategy holds 847,363 Bitcoin (BTC), more than 4% of all Bitcoin that will ever exist. Its average acquisition cost sits near $75,500 per coin, well above current prices. That gap compressed the MSTR premium investors once paid for leveraged Bitcoin exposure. It also sharpened scrutiny on how the company continues to fund new purchases.

Strategy built much of that position through multiple classes of publicly traded preferred stock. Those instruments now sit under pressure as Bitcoin prices weaken and investor confidence in the dividend model erodes.

Market Pressure Tests That ConvictionThe day before Saylor posted, critic Peter Schiff escalated his criticism of Strategy’s declining market performance.

He argued MSTR has fallen 84% from its all-time high. Schiff also noted that STRC dropped 25% from par, now carrying an implied yield of 15.3%. Saylor’s post served as an indirect rebuttal to those attacks without addressing them directly.

Questions about STRC’s long-term sustainability have grown sharper. The preferred stock’s dividend structure costs an estimated $1.2 billion annually. Strategy disclosed a $1.4 billion cash reserve on June 22, barely a year of cover at current rates.

Whether Saylor’s reaffirmation steadies investor confidence or the probe escalates into a formal complaint may define Strategy’s near-term trajectory.

A conditional national trust bank charter, a pending Federal Reserve master account, and a string of acquisitions in brokerage, payments, and treasury. Ripple is assembling a full regulated-finance stack. The benefits flow first to its stablecoin and the company itself. What is left for XRP is the question.

Summary

Ripple has assembled a full regulated-finance stack: a conditional national trust bank charter, a pending Federal Reserve master account bid, and acquisitions in prime brokerage, payments, and treasury services. The charter and master account primarily benefit RLUSD, Ripple’s stablecoin, whose reserves would sit under federal and state oversight, not XRP directly. A national trust bank cannot take ordinary deposits or carry federal deposit insurance, so the real prize is direct access to Federal Reserve payment rails and custody of its own stablecoin reserves. For XRP, the benefit is indirect: a more legitimate, bank-grade Ripple strengthens the whole ecosystem and XRP’s role as a bridge asset, but it creates no direct token-demand mechanism. This is the same pattern that defined XRP through 2026, in which Ripple’s wins flow first to the company and RLUSD, with the token benefiting slowly, if at all. Ripple is turning itself into a bank, or something very close to one, and it is doing it methodically.

Over the past year the company won conditional federal approval to operate a national trust bank, applied for a Federal Reserve master account that would give it direct access to the central bank’s payment systems, and bought its way into prime brokerage, payments, and corporate treasury services through a series of acquisitions.

Add the dollar stablecoin it already issues, the 70-plus regulatory licenses it holds around the world, and a fresh European license that lets it passport services across 30 countries, and the picture is unmistakable.

A company once known mainly for a cross-border payments network and a controversial token is assembling the full apparatus of a regulated financial institution.

For XRP holders, who have watched the token grind sideways near a dollar through a year of Ripple triumphs, the natural question is what all of this means for them.

The honest answer is more complicated, and more sobering, than the headlines suggest, because almost every piece of Ripple’s banking build benefits the company and its stablecoin first, and the token only indirectly.

This piece works through Ripple’s transformation into a regulated financial institution and what it actually delivers for XRP. It covers the banking stack Ripple is assembling, what a national trust bank can and cannot do, the real prize of a Federal Reserve master account, why the charter is mostly a stablecoin story, what genuinely accrues to XRP, the bull case within the bank build, and what holders should watch.

The goal is to separate the real significance of Ripple becoming a bank, which is considerable for the company, from the wishful assumption that everything good for Ripple is automatically good for the token, which 2026 has repeatedly shown to be false.

A payments company is turning into a financial institution Take the full measure of what Ripple has built, because the strategy only becomes clear when you see the pieces together.

The foundation is a conditional charter to operate a national trust bank, granted by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the federal regulator that supervises national banks. The OCC conditionally approved Ripple National Trust Bank alongside other crypto firms in a broader wave of national trust bank approvals.

That federal approval matters because it moves Ripple deeper into the regulated banking perimeter without turning it into an ordinary retail bank.

A subsequent rule expanded what such trust banks are allowed to do, turning what would have been a narrow custody license into something with real operational scope, including digital-asset custody, stablecoin reserve management, and certain payment services.

On top of the charter, a Ripple subsidiary applied for a Federal Reserve master account, the account that would connect Ripple directly to the central bank’s payment rails.

And around that regulatory core, Ripple has been buying capabilities: a prime brokerage, a payments business, and a corporate treasury-services firm, each acquisition adding a piece of the institutional-finance stack.

Layer in the rest and the ambition is obvious. Ripple issues a dollar-pegged stablecoin that has grown past $1 billion in market value.

It holds dozens of regulatory licenses across jurisdictions, and it recently secured preliminary European authorization that lets it offer regulated services across the entire European Economic Area.

That is where Ripple’s European license fits into the larger build. The company is not only chasing U.S. banking access; it is trying to make its regulated-finance stack portable across major markets.

Taken individually, any one of these is a notable corporate step. Taken together, they describe a single, coherent strategy: to become the institutional infrastructure layer for crypto-native finance.

Ripple wants to be a regulated entity that banks and corporations can trust to custody assets, manage stablecoin reserves, settle payments, and connect to both the traditional financial system and the blockchain world.

Ripple is not dabbling in banking. It is building a bank-grade financial institution deliberately, piece by piece.

The question for a token holder is where, in all of this carefully assembled machinery, XRP actually fits.

What a national trust bank is, and what it is not Before assessing what the charter means for XRP, it is worth being precise about what a national trust bank actually is, because the word “bank” carries connotations the charter does not deliver.

A national trust bank is not a retail bank. It cannot take ordinary deposits, cannot offer checking or savings accounts, and does not carry federal deposit insurance, the protection that backs ordinary bank deposits.

What it can do is custody assets, provide fiduciary and trust services, manage reserves, and, under the expanded rule, handle digital-asset custody and certain payment-related functions.

Headlines that say “Ripple becomes a bank” are gesturing at something real, but they compress away an important distinction.

That distinction matters for understanding the charter’s purpose. Ripple’s trust bank exists primarily to serve Ripple’s stablecoin business.

Its core planned function is to custody and manage the reserve assets that back the stablecoin, which today are held through a separate trust entity, and to provide custody to institutional clients.

By bringing reserve management in-house under a federal charter, Ripple gains tighter control, removes reliance on third-party custodians, and obtains a regulatory standing that few stablecoin issuers can match: oversight at both the federal level, through the national chartering regulator, and the state level, through New York’s financial regulator.

That dual supervision is a genuine selling point to institutions weighing whether to trust Ripple’s rails.

This is also why the fight over trust charters matters. Senator Elizabeth Warren and banking groups have challenged the idea that crypto firms with OCC trust charters should be treated like bank-grade institutions, arguing that they could act like crypto banks without the same restrictions.

NEW: Sen. Elizabeth Warren joins banks to challenge Ripple and other crypto firms with OCC trust charters. Claims they act as crypto banks avoiding regulatory obligations pic.twitter.com/ojuHDUd73U

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) May 28, 2026 The crypto industry has pushed back. The Digital Chamber called on the OCC to uphold crypto trust bank charters for firms including Coinbase, Ripple, Circle, and BitGo, arguing that the charters are part of bringing digital assets into regulated finance rather than keeping them outside it.

NEW: Digital Chamber calls on OCC to uphold crypto trust bank charters for Coinbase, Ripple, Circle and BitGo against Sen. Warren’s claim of banking law violations pic.twitter.com/qBLrmTOD14

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) May 27, 2026 But notice what the trust bank does not do. It does not custody XRP for the benefit of XRP holders, does not create any obligation to buy or hold the token, and does not make XRP a bank deposit or a regulated bank instrument.

It is, at its heart, infrastructure for the stablecoin, which is the recurring theme of Ripple’s entire banking build.

The real prize: a Federal Reserve master account The most consequential piece of Ripple’s banking strategy is the one furthest from being secured: a Federal Reserve master account.

A master account is the account a financial institution holds directly with the central bank, and it is the gateway to the core of the financial system.

It allows direct settlement through the central bank’s payment networks, the same rails the largest banks use, and direct access to base money rather than balances held at a commercial bank.

For a stablecoin issuer, the prize is enormous. With a master account, Ripple could hold the reserves backing its stablecoin directly at the central bank, the safest possible place, eliminating the counterparty risk of relying on private banks and giving institutions far greater confidence in the stablecoin’s solvency and redemption safety.

That is why custody and reserve safety matters so much in this story. Stablecoins are only as trusted as the assets backing them, the institutions holding those assets, and the transparency around redemption.

The catch is that no crypto-native firm has ever received full access of this kind on ordinary terms, and the bar is extraordinarily high.

The central bank has historically been reluctant to extend master accounts to non-traditional institutions. Uninsured trust banks face the most stringent levels of review, and previous attempts by crypto-adjacent firms to win access have often failed or taken years.

Ripple’s subsidiary has applied, and the application remains pending, with no public timeline and no clear signal of when or whether the central bank will act.

Approval would be genuinely transformative. It would mark a deeper integration between a crypto-native company and the core U.S. financial system, and it would dramatically strengthen the institutional credibility of RLUSD.

Ripple, Circle receive conditional national bank charter approvals from OCC

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) December 12, 2025 But it is far from assured. Even in the optimistic case, the direct beneficiary is again the stablecoin and the company’s settlement capabilities, not the token.

A master account would let Ripple hold stablecoin reserves at the central bank and settle through its rails. It would not, by itself, create demand for XRP.

The prize is real, and the prize is mostly about everything except the token.

Why this is mostly a stablecoin story Step back and a clear pattern emerges from every piece of Ripple’s banking build: it is, overwhelmingly, a stablecoin story.

The trust charter exists primarily to custody and manage stablecoin reserves. The master account, if granted, would primarily benefit the stablecoin by letting its reserves sit at the central bank.

The European license primarily expands where Ripple can offer regulated payment and stablecoin services. The acquisitions in brokerage, payments, and treasury primarily build out an institutional settlement and services business in which the stablecoin is the natural cash leg.

Ripple’s dollar stablecoin has grown past $1 billion, expanded across multiple blockchains, and won approvals in multiple jurisdictions. The banking apparatus is being constructed largely to support and legitimize it.

That is why the RLUSD the bank serves is the center of the story. A stablecoin is useful to institutions precisely because it is designed to hold a steady dollar value while moving across crypto rails.

Ripple’s own reserve-transparency page also shows why this matters. The company is trying to make RLUSD look less like an experimental crypto product and more like a regulated dollar instrument with transparent backing, regular attestations, and bank-grade custody.

This is the same dynamic that defined XRP through 2026, when Ripple’s marquee bank deals and settlement milestones ran through its stablecoin and ledger while the token captured little beyond a negligible network fee.

As previously reported, this is why Ripple wins bypass the token. Ripple can deepen its institutional footprint while XRP still waits for direct, measurable token demand.

The banking build is that dynamic taken to its logical conclusion. Ripple is constructing a regulated financial institution whose central purpose is to make its stablecoin the most trusted, most institutionally credible dollar token in the market, and to build a settlement and custody business around it.

XRP is part of the broader ecosystem, but it is not the thing the bank is for.

A holder hoping that the charter, the master account bid, and the acquisitions would translate into direct demand for the token is, once again, watching the wrong variable.

The value of all this machinery flows first to Ripple the company and to the stablecoin it is built to serve, exactly as Ripple’s own communications have acknowledged in noting that the banking progress is unlikely to move the token’s price directly or immediately.

So what do XRP holders actually get? If the bank build is mostly about the stablecoin, the fair question is whether XRP holders get anything at all.

The honest answer is yes, but indirectly and slowly. The benefit to XRP runs through legitimacy and ecosystem strength rather than any direct mechanism.

As Ripple becomes a regulated, bank-grade financial institution, the entire ecosystem it anchors gains credibility in the eyes of the banks and corporations Ripple wants as customers.

A more trusted Ripple makes every part of its stack, including the ledger on which XRP lives and the role XRP can play, more palatable to institutional users.

The argument, which Ripple and many holders make, is that demand for one asset in an ecosystem can lift others in the same stack, and that a Ripple wired into the core of the financial system is a Ripple better positioned to drive real-world use of XRP as a bridge asset over time.

This indirect benefit is not nothing, and it would be a mistake to dismiss it. XRP’s most plausible long-term role is as a bridge asset that moves value between currencies in settlement.

A Ripple with a federal charter, a master account, and a credible institutional settlement business is a Ripple with more opportunities to route that kind of settlement in ways that touch the token.

But the benefit is conditional, gradual, and unguaranteed, three qualities that make it very different from the direct, immediate boost holders often hope for.

XRP does not become a bank deposit, a stablecoin, or a regulated instrument through any of this. It remains a separate, volatile asset whose demand depends on whether Ripple’s growing institutional infrastructure eventually channels real settlement volume through it.

The competing path is obvious: the same settlement volume could instead keep flowing through RLUSD, which is better suited to settlement precisely because it does not move in price.

The banking build improves the odds that Ripple can win regulated institutional business someday. It does not make that business flow through XRP now, and it does not create token demand on its own.

The bull case within the bank build In fairness to the optimistic view, there is a coherent bull case for XRP buried inside Ripple’s banking transformation, and it deserves a clear statement.

The strongest version goes like this: Ripple is methodically removing every reason an institution might hesitate to build on its rails.

The charter answers the custody and reserve-management question. The master account, if granted, answers the reserve-safety question at the highest possible level.

The acquisitions answer the brokerage, payments, and treasury questions. The licenses answer the regulatory question across jurisdictions.

As those barriers fall one by one, Ripple becomes a place where serious institutions can conduct serious volume. In a world where Ripple is running large-scale regulated settlement, the case for using XRP as the neutral bridge asset between currencies strengthens, because the infrastructure to do it at scale finally exists and is trusted.

Pair that with the token’s other tailwinds, including the regulatory clarity from its resolved legal status, the spot exchange-traded funds gathering assets, and the prospect of federal legislation codifying its commodity classification, and the bull case becomes clearer.

That is where the legislation that could codify XRP fits in. If the CLARITY Act turns XRP’s commodity treatment into durable federal law, it could make institutions more comfortable using the token where it has a genuine settlement role.

In that version of the future, XRP sits inside a maturing, increasingly bank-grade ecosystem at exactly the moment that ecosystem becomes capable of institutional-scale activity.

If even a fraction of the settlement flowing through a fully built-out Ripple touches XRP as a bridge, the demand could be meaningful, and it would arrive on top of a token that has already cleared its regulatory hurdles.

This is a real argument, and it is why the banking build is truly good news for the long-term XRP thesis even though it is not a direct catalyst.

The caveat, as always, is the word “if.” The bull case depends on Ripple choosing and managing to route settlement through the token rather than through the stablecoin, and the entire pattern of 2026 suggests the stablecoin keeps winning that role.

The infrastructure being built is real. Whether XRP is wired into it is the open question.

What XRP holders should watch For a holder trying to judge whether Ripple’s banking transformation will ever translate into token demand, the analysis points to a few specific signals worth tracking, none of which is another charter or acquisition headline.

The first is the Federal Reserve master account decision.

If granted, it would be a landmark for Ripple and the stablecoin, and it would mark the company’s deepest integration into the financial system. Over time, that expands the surface area where XRP could be used.

If denied, a key piece of the institutional thesis stalls.

Either way, it is the most consequential pending item, and its outcome shapes everything downstream.

The second and more important signal is whether XRP actually appears in the settlement flows of Ripple’s bank-grade business, as opposed to the stablecoin doing all the work.

This is the variable that decides the entire question. If Ripple’s institutional settlement increasingly routes through XRP as a bridge asset, generating real, recurring token demand, then the banking build will finally have reached the token.

If, as has been the pattern, the stablecoin carries the settlement while XRP captures only a fee, then the bank is a Ripple and stablecoin story with XRP riding the halo of legitimacy but not the flows.

The third signal is the broader regulatory picture, particularly whether federal legislation codifies XRP’s status, which would compound the legitimacy the banking build provides.

The honest synthesis is that Ripple becoming a bank is a major, genuine achievement that strengthens the company, the stablecoin, and the long-term credibility of the whole ecosystem.

For XRP specifically, it improves the odds without delivering the goods.

The token’s payoff depends on a future choice, to run regulated settlement through XRP, that Ripple has not yet shown it will make.

Until it does, the bank is being built for everything except the token, and the token, as it has all year, waits.

Frequently asked questions Is Ripple actually becoming a bank? Sort of, but with important caveats. Ripple won conditional federal approval to operate a national trust bank and applied for a Federal Reserve master account, and it has acquired prime brokerage, payments, and treasury businesses. But a national trust bank is not a retail bank: it cannot take ordinary deposits, offer checking or savings accounts, or carry federal deposit insurance. It is a specialized institution for custody, fiduciary services, and reserve management. So Ripple is building a bank-grade regulated financial institution, but one focused on custody and stablecoin reserves instead of traditional deposit-taking banking.

What is the Federal Reserve master account and why does it matter? A master account is an account held directly with the central bank, giving direct access to its payment rails and to base money, the same access the largest banks have. For Ripple, it would let the company hold its stablecoin’s reserves directly at the central bank, the safest possible location, eliminating reliance on private banks and boosting institutional confidence in the stablecoin. No crypto-native firm has ever been granted full access of this kind on ordinary terms, the review is stringent, and Ripple’s application is pending with no timeline. Approval would be transformative for the company and stablecoin, though not a direct catalyst for XRP.

Does Ripple’s banking push help XRP? Indirectly and gradually, not directly. The charter and master account primarily benefit Ripple’s stablecoin, whose reserves they would custody and secure. XRP does not become a deposit, a stablecoin, or a regulated instrument. The benefit to XRP runs through legitimacy: a bank-grade Ripple strengthens the whole ecosystem and improves the odds that XRP is eventually used as a bridge asset in regulated settlement. But that is conditional and slow, not the direct demand boost holders often hope for, and Ripple itself has acknowledged the banking progress is unlikely to move the token’s price immediately.

Why does the stablecoin benefit more than XRP? Because the entire banking build is designed around the stablecoin. The trust charter exists mainly to custody and manage stablecoin reserves. The master account, if granted, would let those reserves sit at the central bank. The acquisitions build a settlement business in which the stablecoin is the natural cash leg. A stablecoin is suited to settlement precisely because it holds a steady value, while XRP’s volatility makes it less suitable for that role. So Ripple’s regulated infrastructure naturally channels value to the stablecoin, with XRP benefiting only as part of the broader, more credible ecosystem.

What is the bull case for XRP in all this? The bull case is that Ripple is methodically removing every reason an institution might hesitate to use its rails, through the charter, the master account bid, the acquisitions, and the licenses. As those barriers fall, Ripple becomes capable of large-scale regulated settlement, and the case for using XRP as a neutral bridge asset between currencies strengthens because the trusted infrastructure to do it finally exists. Combined with XRP’s regulatory clarity, its ETFs, and possible federal legislation, the bull case is that XRP sits inside a maturing, bank-grade ecosystem just as that ecosystem becomes capable of institutional-scale activity. The caveat is whether settlement actually routes through XRP instead of the stablecoin.

What should XRP holders watch next? Three things. First, the Federal Reserve master account decision, which would mark Ripple’s deepest integration into the financial system and expand where XRP could be used, or stall a key part of the thesis if denied. Second, and most important, whether XRP actually appears in the settlement flows of Ripple’s institutional business, generating real token demand, as opposed to the stablecoin doing all the work. Third, the broader regulatory picture, especially whether federal legislation codifies XRP’s commodity status. The token’s payoff depends on Ripple choosing to route regulated settlement through XRP, a choice it has not yet shown it will make.

This article is information, not investment advice. Cryptocurrency is volatile, and regulatory approvals, corporate plans, and figures reflect reporting available as of June 26, 2026, which can change quickly. Verify current data from primary sources before making any decision.

Cover image via depositphotos.com 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.

Transaction activity on the XRP Ledger has increased dramatically, with payment volume close to 1 billion XRP in a single day.

XRP's payments volume surgeRecent network data shows that on June 25, payment volume increased to about 926 million XRP, one of the biggest spikes seen in recent weeks. Such a sharp rise seems extremely bullish at first glance. High transaction volumes are frequently seen as a sign of increasing institutional involvement, expanding network utility, or rising demand for the underlying asset.

XRP/USDT Chart by TradingViewThe overall picture, however, indicates that investors should exercise caution when analyzing the data. One crucial detail is the fact that payment volume increased without a corresponding increase in active users. The number of active addresses stayed comparatively constant throughout the month, varying between 100,000 and 150,000, despite transaction volume surging toward 1 billion XRP. This divergence suggests that rather than broad network adoption, the spike might have been caused by a comparatively small number of significant transactions.

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The XRP Ledger frequently exhibits this kind of behavior. Hundreds of millions of XRP can be moved between wallets by large organizations, exchanges, payment processors, and institutional players, momentarily inflating transaction metrics without necessarily indicating a significant change in retail demand.

In the meantime, XRP's market performance continues to be challenged. The asset recently broke below a multi-month support zone that had held since March and is still trading within a wider downtrend. According to technical indicators, XRP is trading below all significant moving averages, and the price structure continues to form lower highs and lower lows.

XRP's market performance There is a substantial gap between price action and network activity. In the past, persistent bull markets have typically been accompanied by concurrent increases in market demand, active addresses, and transaction volume. In this instance, only one of those metrics has demonstrated significant acceleration.

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Strong network utilization frequently provides a stronger long-term foundation, as opposed to speculative trading alone. The market may start to see the recent spike as proof of real adoption growth, rather than isolated whale activity, if active users begin to track transaction volume higher in the upcoming weeks.

For the time being, the billion-XRP payment spike shows how active the XRP Ledger is, but before interpreting it as a clear bullish signal, traders will probably need confirmation from user growth and price performance.

Former Ethereum Foundation member Trent Van Epps warned on Thursday that Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) faces a critical funding gap within 3 to 9 months.

Why The Foundation Is Pulling Back On PurposeVan Epps, who spent five years at the Ethereum Foundation before recently stepping away, explained in an interview with Coindesk that the organization is deliberately pushing legitimacy and funding power out into the broader ecosystem rather than holding onto it. 

The Foundation’s treasury, built from the network’s earliest days, has funded critical shared resources like client development and the move from proof of work to proof of stake, but that treasury is shrinking by design.

Core development funding needs sit at roughly $30 million per year, a small figure against Ethereum’s $200 billion market cap and the trillions in stablecoin settlement the network handles. 

The problem isn’t a lack of need. It’s that as the Foundation steps back, no clear institution has stepped up to fill the gap, even as the Foundation recently cut its workforce by 20% and saw executives depart.

Protocol Guild Raised $40 Million In Four Years, But It Isn’t EnoughVan Epps built Protocol Guild, a collective funding mechanism for Ethereum’s core developers, distributing nearly $40 million over four years. 

“We’ve had some good success,” he said, “but ultimately it’s not sufficient.”

He pointed to the free-rider problem as the core obstacle to fixing it. 

“If somebody donates, but their competitor doesn’t, all of a sudden they have a distinct advantage over somebody who’s parted with some of their resources to fund the shared resource,” he said, calling coordination among large stakeholders genuinely hard even when most understand what’s at stake.

Beyond the funding question, Van Epps argued ETH as an asset needs fresh, confident storytelling that connects the token directly to the EVM’s dominance, the engine underpinning roughly 90% of total value locked across crypto including layer-2 networks.

ETH’s Chart Shows Oversold Conditions After A Sharp Trendline BreakETH broke a rising trendline that had held since February, triggering a fast move down through $1,900, then $1,800, into the $1,557 level. 

The death cross from November 2025 remains intact across all major moving averages.

RSI sits at 28.98, an oversold reading that often precedes bounce attempts even within a larger downtrend. 

The 20-day EMA at $1,707.57 and 50-day EMA at $1,864.11 sit overhead as the first levels traders will watch for any recovery to either fail or gain real traction.

Image: Shutterstock

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Tether stablecoin USDt has become the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization as Ether fell to its lowest price of the year on Friday

Ether’s market capitalization dropped below $185 billion following a 5.2% price crash over 24 hours, sending the asset tumbling to $1,510 on Coinbase, according to TradingView. This allowed USDt, with a $186 billion market capitalization, to surpass the cryptocurrency. 

“[The] stablecoin overtake really highlights how the market still favors stability over ETH’s volatility right now,” Andri Fauzan Adziima, research lead at Bitrue Research Institute, told Cointelegraph. 

The development reflects accelerating stablecoin growth, which currently represents almost 15% of the entire crypto market capitalization. Stablecoin supply contracted more than 30% in the last bear market, but they’re hitting record highs this time, wrote 21Shares on Thursday, adding:

“To us, that is the strongest evidence yet that stablecoins are one of crypto’s defining use cases – demand that no longer depends on the cycle.”USDt flipped ETH in market capitalization. Source: CoinGecko

Alvin Kan, chief operating officer of Bitget Wallet, told Cointelegraph that the flip is a “notable milestone that highlights the explosive growth and dominance of stablecoins in today’s crypto ecosystem.”

“It demonstrates strong demand for reliable, liquid on- and off-ramps during periods of volatility, while serving as a reminder that ETH must continue delivering compelling utility and narrative momentum to maintain its position.” Kan said the development is positive for the broader market, as deeper stablecoin liquidity supports higher trading volumes and ecosystem innovation.

ETH prices are back at crucial support levels last visited in October 2023 and April 2025.

The Ethereum ecosystem has also faced internal changes recently, following several executive departures and a 20% workforce reduction at the Ethereum Foundation.

However, a new nonprofit organization called Ethlabs was launched this week by key EF developers and researchers and backed by Ether treasuries Bitmine and Sharplink. 

ETH prices are at a critical long-term support level. Source: TradingView

Not all are bearish  Some have taken Ether's decline as an opportunity.

Ether treasury company Sharplink bought the dip, making its first purchase in eight months, scooping up 5,000 ETH on Thursday. Bitmine, chaired by Tom Lee, has also been accumulating at these low prices, adding a further 76,881 ETH last week. 

Meanwhile, Circle’s USDC (USDC) also flipped Ripple’s XRP (XRP) in market capitalization as XRP fell back towards $1, its lowest level since November 2024, leaving XRP with a market capitalization of $64 billion compared with USDC's $73.6 billion.

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Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

@chainlink's strategic reserve is growing at a pace that would have seemed unlikely at the start of the year. The protocol added 593,088 $LINK in June alone, worth more than $4.6 million, bringing total holdings to 4,504,167 LINK. Since January, the reserve has more than tripled.

How the Reserve Works The Chainlink Reserve is designed to support the long-term growth and sustainability of the Chainlink Network by accumulating LINK tokens using offchain revenue from large enterprises adopting the Chainlink standard and from onchain service usage. The mechanism sits at the heart of what Chainlink calls Economics 2.0.

The reserve is built up by using Payment Abstraction, onchain infrastructure that reduces payment friction by enabling users to pay for Chainlink services in their preferred form of payment, such as gas tokens and stablecoins. Those payments are then programmatically converted to LINK using a combination of Chainlink services and decentralized exchange infrastructure.

Additionally, 50% of fees from staking-secured SVR services is now planned to be used to help fund the Chainlink Reserve via Payment Abstraction.

The contract includes a multi-day timelock for withdrawals, and no withdrawals are expected for multiple years, which reduces the circulating supply by locking accumulated $LINK.

A Fast-Growing Institutional Footprint The pace of accumulation reflects a broader expansion in Chainlink's enterprise business. Demand for Chainlink has already created hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, substantially from large enterprises that have paid offchain for access to the Chainlink Platform.

Chainlink's oracle network secures $33.124 billion in total value across 505 protocols, holding roughly 59% of the tracked oracle market by total value secured. CCIP transfer volume grew 319% year-over-year in Q1 2026, processing over $18 billion for the quarter.

Chainlink has also formed a working group alongside several multinational groups, across Europe and South Korea, collectively representing over $10 trillion in assets under management, with a focus on evaluating the transition from traditional T+2 settlement cycles toward real-time T+0 settlement models.

The reserve's trajectory underscores a broader shift in how the protocol ties real commercial activity back to $LINK. Each enterprise deal and each protocol interaction feeds into the same accumulation engine, compounding over time with no near-term release valve.

Sources
Chainlink Blog: Introducing the Chainlink Reserve
PR Newswire: Chainlink and Multinational Banking Consortia Launch Project Pangea
CoinLaw: Chainlink Statistics 2026