In Markets
Bitcoin edged closer to a new all-time high last week, amid positive news out of the US-China trade talks. While it dipped in the immediate aftermath of Israel attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities, Bitcoin held up well and has managed to notch up 38 days above US$100,000 for the first time in its history.
The Crypto Fear and Greed Index also remained in “greed” throughout the week, with coins in the top ten mostly within a few percentage points of where they were a week ago, although Dogecoin and Cardano saw larger pullbacks. Ethereum sentiment is rising, thanks to a 19-day streak of ETF inflows and the revival of the ‘Digital Oil’ meme by Etherealize. Before the conflict, ETH had hit a 15-week high of US$2,879. The Federal Reserve is due to meet to set interest rates mid-week.
In Headlines
Vietnam passes crypto laws
Vietnam’s National Assembly has passed its landmark “Law on Digital Technology Industry“, which goes into effect on January 1, 2026. It establishes a legal framework for digital assets and formally recognises crypto as property, classifying tokens as either security tokens, payment tokens, utility tokens or mixed tokens. Meanwhile, in Singapore, Bitget and Bybit are preparing to leave ahead of a June 30 deadline for unlicensed firms serving overseas clients without a license to cease activities.
Stablecoin legislation nears
USDC issuer Circle’s stock price is now up 5x from its recent IPO after Shopify added USDC to its payments options, and amid signs the US Senate is finally set to approve the GENIUS stablecoin act. A final vote is scheduled to happen in the next 24 hours. The bill requires stablecoins to be fully backed and mandates annual audits for projects with a supply greater than US$50B. Democrats are divided on the issue, with some voting for it and some against it.
Senator Elizabeth Warren tried to revive fears over Facebook’s stablecoin project, but Meta said it has no plans to release a stablecoin – unlike Amazon, Walmart and JPMorgan, which are all looking into it. “We want to bring cryptocurrency into the mainstream, and the GENIUS Act will help us do that,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said. The amended bill may now be taken up by the House. Meanwhile, the House Agriculture and the House Financial Services Committees passed the CLARITY Act crypto market structure legislation with bipartisan support.
Alibaba, stablecoins and Hong Kong
Singapore-based Ant International and Ant Group plan to apply for stablecoin licenses in Hong Kong and Singapore, after the new stablecoin legislation comes into effect in August. The firms are affiliates of Alibaba Group, which operates the world’s largest digital payments platform Alipay, with 1.3 billion users. Ant International also plans to get a related permit in Luxembourg.
Ripple builds XRP rails for Asia
Ripple is positioning the XRP Ledger (XRPL) as core infrastructure for Asia Pacific’s booming digital asset market, projected to reach US$18.9 trillion by 2033. It aims to capitalise on growing institutional adoption driven by regulatory clarity in markets like Singapore and Japan. It noted, “With increasing demand for faster and more transparent financial infrastructure, blockchain solutions such as stablecoins are increasingly playing a vital role in cross-border payments and treasury management in Asia Pacific.”
Ripple also recently committed an additional US$5 million through its University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) to support blockchain research and talent development in six Asia-Pacific countries, building upon its US$25 million donation to US education nonprofits.
Crypto ETFs keep raking it in
The Bitcoin ETFs notched up five positive inflow days in a row last week, taking in US$1.3 billion. The Ethereum ETFs hauled in US$530 million in net inflows for the best result since December last year. They are now performing 5x better than their recent weekly average. Trump’s Truth Social has just filed for a dual Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF.
The Bull Case for ETH
Etherealize, the firm marketing Ethereum to Wall Street, released a report last week setting out a “digital oil” narrative it believes can help ETH compete with Bitcoin’s “digital gold.” The Bull Case for ETH report argues that Ethereum will power the infrastructure underpinning the tokenisation of the global economy and should not be valued like a tech stock, but is in fact a fundamentally new asset class.
A scarce store of value with a maximum possible supply inflation rate of just over 1.5% (post merge, it’s been 0.09%), Etherealize argues ETH’s monetary policy is superior to Bitcoin’s hard cap, as it provides ongoing funds to secure the network. Oil is a US$85 trillion asset, and if ETH were valued similarly, each one would be worth US$706,000. In the short term, Etherealize forecasts ETH to rise to US$8,000, and in the medium term, it believes it will hit US$80,000.
OP_RETURN
The Bitcoin Core software update on October 30 will remove the current 80-byte limit on the controversial OP_RETURN function and allow each output to carry up to 4MB of data. More than 30 Bitcoin Core devs signed a statement supporting merged pull request #32406. Conservative Bitcoiners argue expanding the limit is a terrible mistake, but lead author Peter Todd argues that increasing the limit helps expand Bitcoin’s use cases beyond just finance.
Solana ETFs move forward
Seven Solana ETF applicants filed S-1 statements or amendments with the SEC on June 13, but Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart thinks approval may still take weeks or months. The filings all included staking. CoinShares jumped into the race with a filing today, while Invesco and Galaxy Digital have also registered a trust in Delaware as a preliminary step toward filing for one. Bloomberg’s ETF analysts put the chances of a Solana ETF at 90% by the end of the year.
Treasury company news
Ethereum treasury company SharpLink Gaming’s stock plunged by 70% in a day after influencers and news sites misinterpreted an SEC filing as suggesting the entire cap table had sold all their holdings. In fact, it was a routine S-3 filing announcing shares that could be sold in future. SharpLink has now bought 176,000 ETH worth around US$463 million and is raising US$1 billion to buy more ETH.
Memestock turned Bitcoin treasury company GameStop has increased its private convertible note offering to US$2.25 billion to buy Bitcoin. Justin Sun has stitched up a deal for a Tron treasury company, “Tron Inc”, to go public on the Nasdaq through a reverse merger, although Eric Trump has denied rumours he is involved. Strategy has just bought US$1.05 billion more Bitcoin, and Jack Mallers’ Twenty One Capital has amassed US$4 billion of Bitcoin. Even Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has floated a plan to swap $100 million of ADA from the Foundation’s treasury to buy Bitcoin. Polkadot is also considering selling 500,000 DOT to buy Threshold Bitcoin.
Until next week, happy trading!
