Home Blog Page 189

Geopolitical relief meets the Warsh Fed: Crypto Week Ahead

info@uweb3.io
-
0
Geopolitical relief meets the Warsh Fed: Crypto Week Ahead

Digital assets are attempting to decouple from a complex macro environment following a dramatic sequence of central bank shifts, headlined by the Bank of Japan’s historic push to 1.0% interest rates and newly appointed Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s restructured FOMC policy framework.

Traders enter the week balancing an apparent drop in concerns over energy-driven inflation against a stark warning of tighter liquidity in the near-term.

While the official signing of the U.S.-Iran peace treaty provides relief by opening the Strait of Hormuz, it’s also stripped haven assets of their immediate momentum. Instead, capital is reorganizing around a heavy U.S. data cluster, with the market bracing for Thursday’s crucial Core PCE print to evaluate the trajectory of consumer inflation.

With the bitcoin BTC$64,111.91 price stabilizing above major psychological support at $64,000, the macro weight that pressed on digital assets for months may finally be dissipating.

What to Watch

(All times ET)

  • Crypto
    • June 22: The U.S. SEC and CFTC open their newly issued joint public comment window targeting data reporting frameworks. The 60-day window invites industry feedback to harmonize and streamline regulatory reporting across swap and digital-asset derivatives markets.
  • Macro
    • June 23, 4:00 a.m: Eurozone Flash Manufacturing and Services PMIs for June
    • June 25, 8:30 a.m: U.S. Final Q1 GDP growth annualized est. 1.6% (Prev. 1.6%)
    • June 25, 8:30 a.m: U.S. May Core PCE Price Index YoY est. 3.3% (Prev. 3.3%); MoM est. 0.24% (Prev. 0.2%)
    • June 25, 8:30 a.m: U.S. Initial Jobless Claims for period ending June 20 est. 224K (Prev. 226K)
  • Earnings

Token Events

  • Governance Votes & Calls
    • Lido DAO is voting on various network matters, including approving the Staking Router v3 architecture, migrating to upgraded community and curated staking modules to support the Ethereum Pectra hard fork, winding down simple DVT clusters, revoking specific multichain bridge endpoints, and appointing a new director for the Lido Labs Foundation. Voting ends June 22.
    • Ssv.network DAO is voting on a proposal to conclude its Incentivized Mainnet Program for validator clusters paying network fees in SSV on June 30. The transition framework offers full rewards for July to any SSV cluster that migrates to an ETH-denominated cluster. Voting ends June 23.
    • Goldfinch DAO is voting on a proposal to begin an orderly wind-down of Goldfinch Prime and transition the protocol into a “maintenance mode” focused solely on managing the recovery and collection of remaining legacy borrower pool payments. Voting ends June 23.
    • GnosisDAO is voting on a “treasury redemption” proposal that allows GNO holders to voluntarily exchange their tokens for a pro-rata distribution of the DAO’s liquid assets at net asset value (NAV), along with a discounted share of capital called by GnosisVC. Voting ends June 26.
  • Unlocks
    • June 22: MegaETH Bridge (MEGA) to unlock 2.5% of its circulating supply worth $13.71 million.
      June 23: Toncoin (TON) to unlock 0.72% of its circulating supply worth $59.63 million.
    • June 24: Humanity (H) to unlock 2.93% of its circulating supply worth $52.67 million.
  • Token launches

Conferences

Taiko halts its Ethereum layer 2 network after a bridge exploit, token dives 10%

info@uweb3.io
-
0
Taiko halts its Ethereum layer 2 network after a bridge exploit, token dives 10%

That key is meant to stay sealed inside secure hardware so the proofs can be trusted. With it exposed, the attacker could enroll their own provers as legitimate and sign fraudulent proofs that Taiko’s verifier accepted, then fake a bridge withdrawal that released real assets on Ethereum.

Taiko urged all users to withdraw from every bridge on the network, asked centralized exchanges to suspend deposits of its TAIKO token, and had its block producers stop making new blocks during the investigation.

By about 2 a.m. ET it said the exploit was contained and withdrawals through the main bridge and token vault were fully stopped. The exploiter had already moved about 2 million TAIKO, worth roughly $170,000, to an account on the MEXC exchange.

The dollar loss is small, but the flaw came from the same DeFi mechanism that have caused hundreds of millions worth of losses this year.

Forged cross-chain messages drained $292 million from Kelp DAO’s bridge in April and $11.4 million from the Verus-Ethereum bridge in May, the same failure where one chain is tricked into trusting a fake instruction from another. Bridges have produced more than $340 million in losses across at least 14 exploits in 2026, making it the costliest target in crypto. Taiko’s damage stayed contained mainly because the team caught and froze it within hours.

Ethereum could fund soon projects with up to 10% of staking rewards

info@uweb3.io
-
0
Ethereum could fund soon projects with up to 10% of staking rewards

Validators are entities that keep Ethereum running by locking up ether (ETH), checking transactions and earning staking rewards for doing so. Funding, in this context, means paying for the shared work Ethereum relies on, such as developer tools, security research, public infrastructure and other projects that help the network but do not always have a direct business model.

The proposal seeks to shift that burden toward validators, who earn ETH rewards for securing the network and benefit when Ethereum becomes more valuable.

It argued that validators are natural long-term stakeholders because better ecosystem funding can increase network activity, ETH burn and the value of staked ETH.

Validators could also select preferred funding recipients under the proposal. Those preferences would be combined into a ‘splitter’ contract that distributes redirected funds among chosen addresses. The design is meant to let validators “set and forget” their preferences rather than vote on every grant.

At current staking levels, the post estimated that validators receive roughly 700,000 ETH a year in rewards. A 5% to 10% redirect could send about 50,000 to 70,000 ETH a year toward ecosystem funding. That equates to about $120 million at ether’s current market prices.

The idea is likely to be controversial, however.

Bitcoin is stuck near $64,000 as ETF outflows reach a sixth week

info@uweb3.io
-
0
Bitcoin is stuck near $64,000 as ETF outflows reach a sixth week

Bitcoin is trading around $64,000 ahead, per CoinDesk pricing data, still searching for a catalyst strong enough to break the range it has held for weeks.

Selling from spot bitcoin ETFs has eased from earlier this month, but fresh institutional demand has yet to return.

U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs have now posted a sixth straight week of net outflows, data shows, with only a sparse few days of green. The scale has narrowed, but the absence of any sustained inflow shows institutions remain defensive as markets reassess the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path.

A bigger weight is the rebounding dollar. After the June meeting, the Fed’s cautious message weakened expectations for near-term rate cuts, lifting the Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against major currencies, to the 100.6-100.8 area while keeping Treasury yields high.

With liquidity still tight, capital favors assets with steadier yields over volatile ones like bitcoin.

Easing geopolitical tension after the U.S.-Iran deal has improved risk appetite, a short-term support. It has not been strong enough to offset the firmer dollar and the cautious flows.

Bitcoin will likely hold a $60,000 to $67,000 range in the near term, said Simon-Peter Massabni, head of business development at XS.com, in emailed comments to CoinDesk. The market is “balanced between supportive and restrictive forces,” he said, with eased ETF selling and better sentiment on one side and an unsupportive Fed and unconfirmed institutional flows on the other.

A sustainable recovery in the second half would need more time to accumulate, a return of ETF inflows and stronger institutional demand. Until then, the current rebounds look technical rather than the start of a new uptrend.

Bitcoin developers look to remove old fee signal that leaks wallet clues

info@uweb3.io
-
0
Bitcoin developers look to remove old fee signal that leaks wallet clues

For years, users looking to speed up their transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain relied on a handy optional feature that essentially says, “I might want to replace this transaction with a higher fee.”

But what started as a helpful tool has become redundant and a small privacy issue, prompting some developers to discuss possible ways to do away with it.

Let’s first take a look at the so-called replace-by-fee (RBF) signaling, then discuss the developers’ proposals.

Replace by fee (RBF) signaling

Imagine sending a paper check through the mail, but the postal system is stretched and congested. To ensure your payment doesn’t get stuck, the check has a small checkbox that says, “I reserve the right to cancel this check and write a new one with a higher rush fee if it gets delayed.” (The higher fee, of course, is an incentive for the postal system to prioritize your transaction.)

Such a feature is called Replace-by-Fee (RBF) in the Bitcoin ecosystem. For years, when you sent bitcoin, your wallet let you flip a switch, signaling to the network that you might want to “fee-bump” to speed up your transaction later.

Bitcoin Price Eyes $24K if US Stock Market Crashes 50% or More

info@uweb3.io
-
0
Bitcoin Price Eyes $24K if US Stock Market Crashes 50% or More

Bitcoin (BTC) could tumble by over 60% to under $24,000 in 2026, according to technical analyst Jesse Olson, if the stock market experiences a major crash.

Key takeaways:

  • A US stock market crash of over 50% may accelerate BTC’s sell-off.
  • Negative Coinbase premium and persistent ETF outflows hint at de-risking among institutional investors.

Bitcoin chart flags $23,980 worst-case downside target

In a Sunday post, Olson shared a two-week Bitcoin chart showing BTC potentially falling toward $23,980, based on a long-term volume-weighted support line from his proprietary Market Sniper Pro VWAP indicator.

BTC/USD two-week price chart. Source: TradingView/Jesse Olson

The yellow line on the chart represents a custom version of anchored volume-weighted average price (aVWAP), a tool traders use to track the average price of an asset, weighted by volume, from a specific starting point.

In Bitcoin’s case, Olson appears to have anchored the line from the 2022 bear market bottom, allowing it to slope forward as a potential long-term support zone.

Olson presented the $23,980 level as his base-case Bitcoin forecast in a severe macro sell-off, wherein the stock market drops by over 50%. The type of stress Olson warns about is already being flagged by veteran market observers.

For instance, GMO co-founder Jeremy Grantham has called the ongoing AI market boom a major speculative bubble. While Michael Burry has compared the current rally to the final stages of the Dot-com mania.

Related: Arthur Hayes dumps HYPE, NEAR as he warns of AI IPO wave

Economist Gary Shilling has also warned that a US recession is “almost inevitable” by year-end, with stocks at risk of a 20%–30% decline.

BTC often trades like a high-risk asset during market stress. A deep stock-market sell-off could force investors to cut crypto exposure, turning Olson’s $23,980 level into a key downside level to watch.

Bitcoin institutional demand remains weak

Another bearish signal comes from the Coinbase Premium Index, which tracks Bitcoin’s price gap between Coinbase and Binance.

A positive premium usually points to stronger US institutional demand, while a negative reading suggests weaker professional buying or heavier selling on Coinbase.

In Bitcoin’s case, the index has largely remained negative so far in 2026, showing that institutional buyers are still not stepping in with conviction.

Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Index vs. price. Source: CryptoQuant/Darkfost

Spot Bitcoin ETFs are showing a similar trend. Since May, the US-based funds have recorded $4.68 billion in net outflows, according to SoSoValue data, reflecting weaker demand from professional investors and other ETF buyers.

US Bitcoin ETF net flows. Source: SoSoValue

“These investors don’t act like retail,” said Darkfost, a CryptoQuant-associated on-chain analyst, in a Sunday post, adding:

“They operate under permanent risk management logic, they’re not looking to buy a potential bottom, they’re looking for confirmation, for performance. And that’s not the case yet.”

In the past, multiple analysts, including Galaxy Digital’s Alex Thorn and pseudonymous trader Crypto Kid, have said Bitcoin could decline below $30,000 in the event of a stock market crash.

Bitcoin Clings to $64,000 as Iran Closures Hormuz and US Threatens Retaliation

info@uweb3.io
-
0
Bitcoin Clings to $64,000 as Iran Closures Hormuz and US Threatens Retaliation

Bitcoin (BTC) returned to $64,000 on Sunday amid concerns over unreliable BTC price strength.

Key points:

  • Bitcoin brushes off US-Iran tensions despite the Strait of Hormuz being closed.
  • A trader calls BTC price behavior “suspicious” as a result, while targets see maximum upside reaching $66,000.
  • Binance sell-side pressure remains substantial.

BTC price ignores new Hormuz closure, Iran strike threats

Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD hitting local highs of $64,522 on Bitstamp before reversing to trade 0.5% lower on the day.

BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The pair maintained most of its gains despite fresh instability in the US-Iran war, with Tehran once again closing the Strait of Hormuz oil route and placing the current peace deal in doubt.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon lay at the heart of the stand-off, with Iran warning that last week’s ceasefire could unravel entirely as a result. US President Donald Trump responded with defiant rhetoric.

“Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social, threatening “harder” strikes on Iran.

Source: Truth Social

Hours before US futures markets were due to open, crypto traders were predictably cautious.

“$BTC is pumping with rising geopolitical tensions, very suspicious,” trader Lennaert Snyder commented on X.

Snyder nonetheless saw a potential move to $66,000 as part of the current uptick, predicting an “interesting week” for Bitcoin.

Fellow trader Killa, meanwhile, warned that history favored the week’s high coming sooner rather than later.

“Monday hasn’t been kind to $BTC lately,” they told X followers. 

“Over the past six weeks, 6 out of 6 Mondays have marked a local pivot high before price moved lower.”

BTC/USD chart with Monday peaks marked. Source: Killa/X

Binance spot market sellers keep up pressure

Analysis of exchange order books produced further misgivings.

Related: Bitcoin tipped for Q3 ‘macro bottom’ near $50K as major liquidity grab looms

Commentator Exitpump said that short interest on Binance meant that it was the derivatives markets behind the latest price rise.

“Despite price slowly grinding higher, Binance spot continues to sell into the move. Mostly perps driven move up,” they wrote on Saturday.

BTC/USD 10-minute chart with order-book data (Binance). Source: Exitpump/X

Earlier, Cointelegraph reported on persistent “aggressive” sell pressure from Binance keeping bulls in check.

Are perps swaps? A quick look at that CME suit: State of Crypto

info@uweb3.io
-
0
Are perps swaps? A quick look at that CME suit: State of Crypto

CME is arguing that perps are harmful to its long-dated futures products. The lawsuit alleges that the CFTC did not consider the ramifications of approving perps, and that these products are actually “swaps” as defined by the Dodd-Frank Act, and not “futures.”

Each term carries implications for how the products themselves are to be regulated and what the requirements are for the companies issuing them are. CME CEO Terrence Duffy, who recently announced he’s stepping down next year, told CNBC last week that the distinction mandates different rules for participants.

“The CFTC did not engage in its own analysis of whether its approval of Kalshi’s Bitcoin perpetual as a future is consistent with law,” CME’s lawsuit said. “The CFTC did not even mention the relevant Dodd-Frank provision defining ‘swap.’ Indeed, the word ‘swap’ appears nowhere in the Order.”

The CFTC instead just “rubberstamped Kalshi’s application,” the lawsuit claimed.

What’s interesting is that the actual landscape of companies securing designated contract market (DCM) approvals and moving into perps is growing quite rapidly. On the same day the CFTC granted Kalshi’s application, it sent a no-action letter to Coinbase, seemingly opening the door for that exchange to list perps as well — albeit through an offshore intermediary.

Is Strategy BTC-Buying Instrument in Trouble?

info@uweb3.io
-
0
Is Strategy BTC-Buying Instrument in Trouble?

Bitcoin (BTC) has fallen roughly 50% since Michael Saylor’s Strategy launched Stretch (STRC), its flagship Bitcoin-funding vehicle, in late July 2025.

BTC/USD monthly chart. Source: TradingView

Key takeaways:

  • STRC is acting like a classic Ponzi scheme, argue Peter Schiff and other critics.
  • Other analysts disagree, noting that STRC’s drop below the $100 par is due to a leverage wipeout.

Critics say STRC looks like a “classic centralized Ponzi”

STRC was designed to trade near its $100 par value, enabling Strategy to raise capital to buy more Bitcoin. The instrument is now trading at a deep discount, suggesting that the BTC buying channel is under pressure.

On Thursday, STRC fell to a record low of $82.53 before closing at $88.59, still below the $100 par value.

STRC daily chart. Source: TradingView

Launched in July 2025, STRC was designed to trade near par through adjustable dividends, currently 11.5% annualized, with proceeds used primarily to acquire Bitcoin.

The widening discount has pushed STRC’s effective yield above 12.9% and contributed to a pause in at-the-market share issuance. That risks slowing down the capital-raising flywheel behind Strategy’s Bitcoin treasury, which now holds more than 846,000 BTC.

In finance, a “flywheel” is a self-reinforcing business model where growth in one metric directly helps grow another, compounding momentum.

But trading 13% below par has revived criticism of Strategy’s funding model.

Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff has repeatedly described STRC as “a classic centralized Ponzi,” arguing that it depends on Strategy’s ability to raise fresh capital through new share sales or sell Bitcoin to meet obligations.

Source: X/Peter Schiff

Crypto trader DonAlt also questioned STRC’s recent price action, asking why the instrument was “trading like a Ponzi” after its sharp move below par.

Strategy has not directly addressed this in recent statements, instead continuing to present STRC as preferred equity supported by its Bitcoin-focused treasury strategy.

However, the company has moved STRC to a semi-monthly dividend schedule, with payouts now designed to occur twice a month rather than monthly.

Strategy’s Bitcoin buying pace slows as STRC slumps

The pace of Strategy’s Bitcoin accumulation has slowed sharply as STRC trades below par value.

The company added 1,550 BTC for $101 million in the week ending June 8 and another 1,587 BTC for $100 million in the week ending June 15, lifting total holdings to 846,842 BTC.

Those were meaningful purchases, but they were far smaller than Strategy’s weekly buys earlier in 2026.

For instance, in April, Strategy bought 34,164 BTC for $2.54 billion in a single week. In May, it added another 24,869 BTC for roughly $2.01 billion. By contrast, June’s weekly additions have been closer to $100 million each.

The slowdown also coincided with a small but notable 32 BTC sale earlier in June, worth about $2.5 million, to help cover dividend obligations.

Related: Bitcoin price sets $64.5K week-to-date low as Strategy selling worries return

The sale was tiny compared with Strategy’s overall Bitcoin treasury, but it showed that cash obligations can still force limited BTC sales when STRC-led funding becomes less efficient.

STRC-led weekly BTC buying estimates. Source: STRC.LIVE

Analyst says STRC drop is a leverage wipeout

The STRC sell-off looked more like a leverage wipeout than a deterioration in Strategy’s fundamentals, according to Jesse Myers, head of Bitcoin strategy at The Smarter Web Company.

“Strategy is fine,” he said in a Thursday post, adding that the company could pay STRC dividends for 32 years if conditions remain unchanged, and indefinitely if Bitcoin appreciates at roughly 2% annually.

STRC’s long stretch near $99–$100 encouraged investors to use heavy leverage, with some assuming the instrument would stay above $95. Once the price slipped, margin calls and forced selling accelerated the decline.

The discount may also attract income buyers, according to analyst Scott Melker.

In a Sunday post, he noted that STRC’s dividends are based on the $100 liquidation preference, not the market price. At an 11.5% dividend rate, buyers at $90 earn about 12.8%, while buyers at $85 earn roughly 13.5%.

Source: X/Scott Melker

At current prices, STRC offers an effective yield of about 13%. Strategy may announce its next dividend rate on June 30, while retaining other options, including MSTR share issuance and cash reserves, to fund its Bitcoin purchases.

Bitcoin holds near $64,000 amid US-Iran ceasefire talks

info@uweb3.io
-
0
Bitcoin holds near $64,000 amid US-Iran ceasefire talks

Bitcoin steadied near $64,000 over the weekend, clawing back part of Friday’s drop, as traders weighed the start of US-Iran ceasefire talks against a renewed threat to close the Strait of Hormuz.

The token traded around $64,200 on Sunday, up 0.9% over 24 hours but roughly flat on the week, per CoinDesk data, after dropping below $63,000 on Friday. Most majors firmed alongside it.

Ether rose 0.5% on the day and 3.3% on the week to $1,734, solana gained 1.5% to $73 and tron added 1.2%. Hyperliquid’s HYPE slipped 2% on the day but remains the week’s standout, up 14.8%. Dogecoin was the weakest major, down 4.9% over seven days.

Bitcoin has gone nowhere on net this week, rallying early on the signed Iran deal, selling off Friday in a broad risk-off move, and stabilizing over the weekend.

The weekend’s focus is Switzerland, where US and Iranian officials, including Vice President JD Vance, are due to open talks on a permanent ceasefire, per Bloomberg.

The negotiations follow the memorandum of understanding President Donald Trump signed last week, which set a 60-day window that can be extended.

1...188189190...1,337Page 189 of 1,337