Wall Street’s largest asset managers are increasingly competing to manage the assets backing stablecoins, a market that could swell into the trillions of dollars as digital dollars become a larger part of the financial system.
State Street Investment Management introduced the State Street Stablecoin Reserves Money Market Fund on Tuesday, a government money market fund designed specifically for stablecoin issuers operating under the framework established by the GENIUS Act.
The fund’s introduction comes as traditional financial (TradFi) firms race to position themselves as key providers of reserve management services for stablecoin issuers. Stablecoins, which are typically pegged to the U.S. dollar, are backed by reserves that often include Treasury bills, cash and money market funds. As issuance grows, so does the pool of assets generating management fees for fund providers.
The fund’s initial investors include State Street Bank and Trust Company and Anchorage Digital, the crypto-focused bank that holds a federal charter in the United States.
Stablecoins have become one of the most sought-after opportunities in digital assets for traditional finance firms. Major asset managers, custodians and banks have spent the past year rolling out products aimed at tokenized cash markets and reserve management infrastructure.
Bitcoin’s (BTC) risk-adjusted return profile is approaching levels historically aligned with long-term accumulation zones. The Sharpe ratio, a metric that measures return relative to volatility, dropped to -20, a threshold that marked major Bitcoin bottoms in every bear market since 2015.
At the same time, BTC exchange reserves have fallen by roughly 80,000 BTC since February, while demand from accumulator addresses more than doubled to 240,000 BTC from 115,000 BTC during the first two weeks of June.
BTC’s Sharpe ratio revisits a historical bottom zone
Bitcoin’s Sharpe ratio reached -20 on June 11, a level that coincided with major cycle lows over the past decade. The metric first dropped below the threshold on Jan. 5, 2015, and remained there until June 12, when BTC established a durable bottom and entered a recovery phase.
A similar pattern emerged between Dec. 8, 2018, and March 7, 2019, when the Sharpe ratio spent most of the three months below -20 during Bitcoin’s bear market floor. The metric repeated the signal from Oct. 7, 2022, through January 7, 2023, shortly before BTC began its next sustained bullish period.
Bitcoin Sharpe ratio. Source: CryptoQuant
While no single metric identifies market bottoms with precision, periods below -20 have typically coincided with extended accumulation phases for BTC.
Onchain data points in the same direction. Bitcoin held on exchanges has declined to 2.71 million on Monday from 2.79 million BTC in February. BTC exchange reserves briefly rebounded to 2.73 million BTC from a yearly low of 2.65 million BTC between late April and early June, though balances have since fallen by about 12,000 BTC over the past two weeks.
Demand from accumulator addresses has strengthened during the same period. The cohort absorbed 125,000 BTC between June 1 and June 14. This indicates growing interest among wallets that have a history of holding rather than distributing coins.
BTC demand from accumulator addresses. Source: CryptoQuant
Related: Bitcoin’s ‘calm top’ challenges most market bottom estimates: Research
Bitcoin’s consolidation below the key weekly trendline is still developing
Bitcoin has spent 133 consecutive days below its 100-week simple moving average (SMA), a long-term trend indicator currently located near $88,466.
Market cycle data show that Bitcoin often trades below the 100-week SMA for extended periods before reclaiming it. Following the 2013 market peak, BTC spent 378 days below the trendline while consolidating between $200 and $400. During the 2018-2019 bear market, BTC remained below the 100-week SMA for 175 days and traded between $3,000 and $6,000.
BTC price, and 100-period weekly SMA trend analysis. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
The longest stretch occurred after the 2022 market decline. Bitcoin remained below the 100-week SMA for 532 days while trading between $16,000 and $25,000.
Across those three cycles, Bitcoin spent an average of roughly 362 days under the indicator before reclaiming it and establishing a sustained uptrend. Each period was characterized by prolonged accumulation rather than an immediate recovery.
With 133 days already logged below the 100-week SMA, the current cycle is still well below the historical average. Previous examples indicate that consolidation phases beneath the trendline often persist for several more months before Bitcoin reclaims the level.
Related: Bitcoin analysis warns over BTC price rejection as $67K approaches
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance, whose application under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework is under consideration, has generally deferred responding to a report that the company’s licensed activities in the region could be at risk.
In a Tuesday blog post, Binance said that Greece’s Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC), one of the regulators responsible for overseeing MiCA, had completed its review of the crypto exchange’s application and “considered it compliant with MiCA requirements,” subject to review at the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). The post came just a few hours after Reuters reported that EU regulators were preparing to reject Binance’s licensing bid, potentially cutting off the exchange’s ability to offer services to residents.
“Binance serves more users in Europe than any other crypto exchange, and any delay or distortion in our MiCA path has consequences beyond Binance,” said the company. “It risks weakening liquidity, reducing competition and user choice, and pushing activity, jobs, investment, and tax revenue outside the EU.”
Source: Binance
Under the MiCA framework, companies operating in the EU only have until the end of June to gain approval to offer services to residents. Should Binance’s application with HCMC be rejected, the exchange would likely be unable to legally operate in the EU starting on July 1.
Related: Robinhood cuts 10% of workforce as Tenev touts business strength
A Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the company expected that ESMA “intended to progress the licence and move to authorise at an upcoming board meeting.” The company did not immediately respond to an additional request for clarification on the Reuters report, but added in the blog post it would update users by June 30, the deadline for the MiCA application.
The crypto exchange applied for its MiCA licensing in Greece under HCMC in January. Several regulators, including those in Germany and the Netherlands, have already approved licenses for crypto companies seeking to be MiCA compliant with the deadline approaching in a matter of weeks.
Binance still under scrutiny by US authorities
In 2023, Binance reached an agreement with US authorities in which then-CEO Changpeng Zhao stepped down and pleaded guilty to one felony charge, and the company agreed to a $4.3 billion settlement with the US Treasury Department and Department of Justice and to follow a monitoring program. Amid the US-Israel war with Iran and reports that the exchange facilitated $1 billion to sanctioned entities, US lawmakers have been pressing for answers regarding Binance’s compliance.
Magazine: Bitcoin, the ‘canary in the coal mine,’ XRP transaction demand falls 91.5%: Market Moves
The company is simultaneously broadening its derivatives business. New products include perpetual futures tied to thematic baskets such as artificial intelligence, defense and Chinese equities, as well as pre-IPO perpetual futures that provide exposure to private companies including SpaceX (SPCX), which went public earlier this month. Coinbase said contracts tied to OpenAI and Anthropic, which are anticipated to go public later this year, are expected to follow.
The exchange is also betting heavily on prediction markets, an area that has grown rapidly across crypto and traditional finance. New offerings include short-term crypto prediction contracts and bundled wagers that allow traders to combine multiple forecasts into a single position.
A major focus of the update is artificial intelligence.
Coinbase introduced Coinbase Advisor, which it described as one of the first SEC-registered AI-powered investment advisory tools. Initially available to Coinbase One subscribers in the U.S., the service aims to provide portfolio recommendations, tax-loss harvesting guidance and market analysis.
The announcements reflect CEO Brian Armstrong’s long-term vision of turning Coinbase into a full-service financial platform that combines trading, payments, lending and asset management. Competition continues intensifies across crypto and traditional finance, with exchanges increasingly racing to become the primary destination for trading stocks, digital assets and tokenized financial products from a single account.
Since June 3, more than 720 million XRP (XRP) tokens have left crypto exchanges, and Upbit’s share of XRP wallet flows has climbed to its highest level since May 2024.
The shift comes as XRP rebounded to $1.30 on Monday, with large holder activity continuing to dominate exchange flows and market indicators signal an ideal accumulation period amid lingering weakness.
Whales dominate XRP exchange flows
Data from CryptoQuant shows that XRP’s multi-exchange daily outflow indicates repeated withdrawals of more than 1 million XRP per transaction. Between June 3 and June 14, major crypto platforms recorded roughly 722 million XRP in large daily outflows, highlighting the most sustained activity from whale-sized wallets since early February. Binance whales led the outflows, with 425 million XRP.
XRP exchange daily outflows above 1 million tokens. Source: CryptoQuant
While large withdrawals do not confirm accumulation, they reduce the amount of XRP immediately available for sale on exchange order books.
A separate exchange-flow metric points to a growing concentration of XRP wallet activity on Upbit. According to crypto analyst Amr Taha, Upbit’s XRP net wallet flow dominance climbed to 31% on June 14, up from 13% a week ago, its highest level since May 2024.
Taha said XRP’s 5% rebound to $1.30 on Monday coincided with a clear rotation toward Upbit. Deposit-wallet activity became increasingly concentrated on the South Korean exchange while several major platforms lost market share.
Another Binance metric shows whales continue to dominate XRP outflows. The Binance Whale vs. Retail Spread measures the difference between whale-sized withdrawals of 100,000 XRP or more and retail-sized withdrawals below that threshold.
The spread currently stands near 90%, indicating that large holders still account for the majority of XRP outflows on Binance. Last month, Taha noted that repeated declines toward the May 2024 range suggested a shift in Binance’s withdrawal profile from the 2024-2025 bullish period.
XRP’s Binance whale vs. retail spread (%). Source: CryptoQuant
While the indicator should not be viewed as a direct bullish or bearish signal, the analyst said that it tracks withdrawal behavior rather than exchange selling activity.
XRP Sharpe ratio stays below zero: What does it mean?
XRP’s Sharpe ratio remains in negative territory, a zone that has historically aligned with bearish consolidation phases for the asset.
This metric evaluates returns relative to volatility, helping assess whether investors are adequately compensated for the risk they take. XRP recorded a Sharpe ratio of -1.097 in September 2022 when the token traded near $0.33. The cycle later peaked near 2.07 in January 2025 as XRP approached $3.14.
XRP Sharpe ratio. Source: CryptoQuant
The current reading stands near -0.36, dropping from a positive ratio of 0.18 in May. According to CryptoQuant, XRP has historically produced some of its strongest gains when the Sharpe ratio was negative. The average returns during those periods exceeded 50%, while gains often moderated once the ratio entered positive territory.
However, in April, market analyst Teddy said deep negative Sharpe readings for XRP often coincide with periods of “market pain” rather than efficient trends. Those phases have historically created conditions associated with long-term accumulation zones, but further downside remains possible.
Related: Bybit expands RWA push with tokenized bond funds from PIMCO, CMBI
The upgrade is shaping up to be one of Ethereum’s most ambitious since the network’s transition to proof-of-stake in 2022. Jayanthi described Glamsterdam as “probably the largest fork we’ve had since the Merge,” adding that it will “change a lot of assumptions about Ethereum and set us up for much more scaling in the future.”
Among the headline features are enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS), formally tracked as EIP-7732, and Block-level Access Lists (EIP-7928).
ePBS would bring into Ethereum’s core protocol a separation between the entities that build transaction blocks and those that propose them. Today, that process largely relies offchain, where there are additional trust assumptions and centralization concerns. By moving the mechanism onchain, developers hope to reduce opportunities for manipulation related to maximal extractable value, or MEV.
Another major proposal, Block-level Access Lists, would allow blocks to declare in advance which accounts and smart-contract data they intend to access. The change would enable Ethereum clients to preload information more efficiently, helping make block execution faster, more predictable and easier to optimize.
Beyond those headline proposals, Glamsterdam also includes a sweeping set of gas repricings that could significantly alter the economics of using Ethereum.
“This will majorly change the cost of actions on Ethereum. High-level compute gets cheaper and state gets more expensive.”
Coinbase (COIN) said it plans to introduce tokenized stocks backed one-for-one by underlying U.S. equities, joining the growing competition among crypto firms and traditional financial companies to bring stocks onto blockchain networks.
In a post on X on Tuesday, the exchange said “the first real, 1:1 backed tokenized stocks are coming,” allowing users to own, trade, hold and redeem the securities onchain while automatically receiving dividends.
The announcement comes ahead of a product event scheduled for 3 p.m. ET Tuesday, in which the company, best known as a crypto exchange, is expected to unveil a series of offerings spanning trading and financial services.
“For the first time, these are real 1:1 backed tokenized stocks you can trust,” CEO Brian Armstrong said in a statement. “You own an actual piece of the company onchain.”
Armstrong said the products differ from many existing tokenized stock offerings, which are often structured as derivatives or synthetic exposures rather than direct ownership interests.
“Other current solutions are some form of derivative or IOU — not real ownership,” he said. “Our tokenized stocks will give all the benefits of true ownership (e.g. dividend upside), with all the benefits of tokenized assets.”
Hopes that a US-Iran peace deal would go ahead kept equities bullish, with the S&P 500 adding over 1.5% on the day, while US WTI crude oil hit three-month lows.
“News of an peace deal between the U.S. and Iran has made headlines frequently in the past. But this time, both sides along with other parties involved with negotiations are confirming the deal,” trading resource Mosaic Asset Company wrote in the latest edition of its regular newsletter, The Market Mosaic.
“That’s leading to a spillover effect in the stock market, where oil prices and longer-dated bond yields are both pulling back. A negative correlation between stocks and oil prices means the drop in energy prices is a tailwind for equities.”
S&P 500 vs. WTI crude oil one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
Bitcoin nonetheless brought back its own divergence from other risk assets, and traders avoided bets on major BTC price upside.
“$BTC Has moved up further back into its range,” Daan Crypto Trades wrote in his latest analysis on X.
“I would not be surprised if we hang around this big area for a few more weeks at least. Especially with Summer coming up and lower liquidity/volatility.”
Trader Roman joined those putting the area around $70,000 as a likely local top target.
“Still eyeing the 70k level for our bounce to be completed.,” he told X followers.
“Hourly TFs look good to continue a bit higher. There aren’t any ‘issues’ that I see yet to stop this bounce.”
Bitcoin trader calls “classic market psyop”
As Cointelegraph reported, other market analysis has cast doubt over the strength of $60,000 as long-term support, arguing that the bear market is too young to be over yet.
Related: Bitcoin analysis warns over BTC price rejection as $67K approaches
Countering this, trader Killa suggested that both market makers and trading algorithms had lured traders into betting on new lows that would never come.
“Just another classic market psyop,” they summarized alongside a chart of order-book liquidity data.
Ripple, the blockchain firm closely associated with the XRP Ledger (XRP) network, invested in African payments company Flutterwave as part of its Series E funding round, a deal centered on expanding the use of stablecoins for cross-border payments.
Flutterwave said Tuesday that the funding round values the company at $3.2 billion. Financial terms of Ripple’s stake were not disclosed.
The deal will integrate Ripple’s U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, RLUSD, into Flutterwave’s payments infrastructure, allowing businesses to settle some international transactions using digital dollars rather than relying solely on traditional banking networks.
Flutterwave will also connect to Ripple Payments, Ripple’s global payments network, and use the XRP Ledger blockchain to process transactions.
The companies said the goal is to make it easier and cheaper for businesses across Africa to send and receive money internationally.
The deal points to the growing role of stablecoins in international payments, one of the digital asset industry’s fastest-growing use cases. While cryptocurrencies are often associated with trading, stablecoins are increasingly being used by businesses and everyday people to move money across borders and manage U.S. dollar liquidity in regions where access to foreign currencies can be limited.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is on the brink of losing access to the European Union after its application for a Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) license in Greece faces rejection, according to Reuters reporting on the matter.
The decision, if confirmed, would prevent Binance from offering services across the 27-member bloc when the MiCA transition period ends on July 1. Under the new regulatory framework, crypto firms must secure approval from a national regulator to gain passporting rights across the EU.
Binance submitted its application through a Greek entity earlier this year, positioning the country as its regulatory base in Europe. The exchange pointed to Greece’s workforce and operating environment as factors behind the choice. Co-CEO Richard Teng had expressed confidence that the firm would meet the requirements ahead of the deadline.
Two sources told Reuters that Greece’s Hellenic Capital Market Commission is set to reject the application. The regulator declined to comment, citing confidentiality rules. Binance said it has received no formal notice of a denial and maintains that its submission meets MiCA standards.
The firm said they believe it complies with the framework and has not been told otherwise by the Greek authority.
Despite that stance, the timeline leaves little room for delay. Without a license in place by the end of June, Binance would need to halt services to EU clients or risk enforcement action from national regulators. That could include fines or restrictions that limit access across key markets such as France, Germany, and Italy.
After the report came out, Binance sought to reassure users on X over its regulatory status in Europe. In a series of posts, the exchange said it remains committed to the region and is working to minimize disruption while it navigates the approval process.
“Binance remains committed to its European users and will continue to operate in compliance with applicable law,” the exchange posted.
EU, MiCA, Binance, and crypto protections
The EU has emerged as a major test case for global crypto regulation. MiCA introduces a single rulebook for digital asset firms, covering areas such as consumer protection, capital requirements, and governance. The regime is designed to replace a patchwork of national rules with a unified system.
Binance has faced regulatory pressure in several jurisdictions over the past few years, including the United States and the United Kingdom. The outcome in Europe could shape its global strategy as it seeks to align operations with stricter oversight.
Rivals that have secured MiCA licenses, including Coinbase and Kraken, stand to benefit if Binance exits the region. A shift in market share could follow as users migrate to platforms that can offer uninterrupted access under the new regime.
The potential loss of the EU market also raises questions about liquidity and product availability on Binance’s platform. Europe represents a large base of retail and institutional users, and any disruption could affect trading volumes and token flows.
