Crypto markets had a rough week. Bitcoin edged dangerously close to $60,000 while Ethereum crashed to a 13-month low, wiping out billions in leveraged positions and rattling investor confidence. Now, Peter Schiff is warning BTC could fall all the way to $20,000 if key support breaks, and not everyone is laughing it off.
A critical bug buried inside Zcash’s privacy protocol, uncovered by an AI model, deepened the damage, sending the ZEC coin price plunging 50% and triggering a wave of DeFi withdrawals.
On the brighter side, Mastercard quietly made one of its biggest crypto moves yet, enabling stablecoin settlement across seven blockchains. It’s been a week of sharp swings and big signals. Read the full recap to catch everything that mattered.
Oil Prices Dip Despite Iran-US Escalation as Strait of Hormuz Risk Looms
Crude oil pulled back on Hyperliquid, Brent to $93.75, WTI to $90, even as Iran launched missile and drone attacks toward Kuwait and Bahrain. With US-Iran talks stalled and strategic petroleum reserves at 22-year lows, any closure of the Strait of Hormuz could sharply reverse price declines and reignite inflation.
GOP Senators Push Back on Crypto Capital Rules They Call a “De Facto Ban”
Five Republican senators are pressing U.S. financial regulators to overhaul capital requirements for banks in crypto. They argue that Basel Committee rules, which require banks to hold dollar-for-dollar capital against Bitcoin holdings, effectively bar banks from engaging with digital assets, pushing activity offshore to less-regulated platforms with fewer consumer protections.
Bankless Founders Split Over Whether ETH Needs to Be a Store of Value
Ryan Sean Adams and David Hoffman, co-founders of Bankless, are publicly at odds over ETH’s role. Adams argues that Ethereum fails unless ETH becomes a trillion-dollar store of value. Hoffman, who recently sold his ETH, counters that Ethereum can thrive as neutral infrastructure while ETH captures only marginal value.
Zcash Crashes 50% After Critical Bug Puts Coin Supply in Doubt
A security flaw discovered in Zcash’s Orchard shielded pool, which could mint undetectable counterfeit ZEC, triggered a 50% price crash, with ZEC hitting $324 before recovering slightly. Developers patched it within days, but because Orchard’s privacy design makes it impossible to prove no fake coins were minted, investor confidence took a serious hit.
Cardano Hits Record Low as $83B in Value Vanishes
Cardano’s ADA has crashed to an all-time low of $0.1845, erasing over $83 billion in market value since its 2021 peak. The collapse goes beyond the broader crypto downturn. Cardano has failed to gain real traction in DeFi, stablecoins, or RWA tokenization, generating just $362K in fees this year, compared with Hyperliquid’s $361 million.
SpaceX IPO Set for June 12 — But Analysts Urge Caution
SpaceX is going public on June 12, targeting a $1.78 trillion valuation, but analysts are split. Goldman Sachs and Cathie Wood see massive upside; Morningstar says it’s 50% overvalued. Recent high-profile IPOs like Circle and Klarna crashed post-listing, raising concerns that SpaceX could follow a similar pattern.
Arthur Hayes Dumps HYPE and NEAR, Signals Crypto Top Ahead
Arthur Hayes has sold his entire HYPE and NEAR holdings, weeks after calling them part of his “holy trinity” of top picks. He cited rising energy prices, upcoming AI IPOs that are drawing capital away from crypto, and U.S. political risk as reasons, warning that a market top could hit at any time before September.
ONDO Finance Surges 30% Ahead of June 9 Perps Launch
Ondo Finance jumped nearly 30% to $0.42 on June 2, bucking a broader market decline. The rally is tied to the June 9 launch of Ondo Perps, a platform that gives non-U.S. traders 24/7 leveraged access to tokenized stocks such as NVIDIA and Apple. The $0.45 resistance level remains the key breakout trigger.
AI Crypto Tokens Defy Market Slump With Explosive Gains
While Bitcoin and Ethereum slide, select AI-focused tokens are surging. Worldcoin jumped 25% to its highest since January, NEAR Protocol crossed $3 after a 262% yearly climb, and Venice Token soared 10%, now up over 2,200% from its 2024 low. The rally mirrors the broader AI boom, driven by strong earnings from NVIDIA and upcoming IPOs from OpenAI and Anthropic.
Peter Schiff Warns Bitcoin Could Crash to $20K
Peter Schiff is urging Bitcoin holders to sell now, warning that a break below $50K could send prices tumbling to $20,000, a 70% drop from current levels. Bitcoin is already down 24% in 2026 and trading near $67K, though most analysts still forecast a return above $100K.
Mastercard Opens Card Settlement to Stablecoins Across Seven Blockchains
Mastercard will now let banks and fintechs settle card transactions using regulated stablecoins, including USDC, PYUSD, and RLUSD, across seven blockchains, from Ethereum to Solana. The network is also introducing round-the-clock settlement windows that cover weekends and holidays, with U.S. and Latin American partners going first, and a global rollout planned.
Coinbase Ventures Backs Ethena, Sending ENA Up 14%
Coinbase Ventures made its first direct investment in Ethena by buying ENA tokens on the open market, triggering a 14% price surge. The deal includes plans to integrate Ethena’s synthetic dollar, USDe, into Coinbase’s ecosystem for over 100 million users, with a product launch targeting June 9–10. Trading volume spiked 260% on the news.
Binance Shutting Down Exchange NFT Service, Urges Users to Move Assets by July 3
Binance is retiring its exchange-based NFT service and migrating it to Binance Wallet. Users have until July 3 to withdraw transferable NFTs to a compatible wallet or risk losing access entirely. Non-transferable NFTs cannot be moved and will simply become inaccessible after the deadline.
MoneyGram Launches Its Own Dollar Stablecoin on Stellar
MoneyGram has launched MGUSD, a dollar-pegged stablecoin built on the Stellar blockchain, going live in the U.S. on June 2. Backed by Bridge, M0, and Fireblocks, it targets the company’s 60 million-plus customers in currency-unstable markets. Stellar’s XLM token, meanwhile, dropped 14% on the same day amid broader market selling.
Humanity Protocol Hits Record High on AI Verification Hype
Humanity Protocol has surged 734% since April, hitting a record high with its market cap crossing $1.87 billion. Trading volume spiked 550% to $830 million, while futures open interest reached an all-time high. The rally is driven by enthusiasm for the AI sector, though an RSI of 86 signals a potential pullback ahead.
Schwab Plans Crypto Spot Trading for Advisors by Mid-2027
Charles Schwab is targeting a mid-2027 launch of spot crypto trading, transfers, and custody for the registered investment advisors on its $10 trillion platform. The rollout builds on its earlier retail crypto offering, though Schwab cautions the timeline depends on regulatory clarity and could shift.
XLM Price Drops 14% as DTCC Rally Fades and Sell Signal Emerges
Stellar’s XLM shed 14% to $0.2319, giving back gains from its DTCC tokenization partnership that had nearly doubled its price in two weeks. A broader Bitcoin-led selloff accelerated the drop. Analyst Ali Charts warns the TD Sequential has flipped to a sell signal, putting $0.20 in play if XLM breaks below $0.215.
Hyperliquid Is Quietly Outpacing Ethereum and Solana Across the Board
Hyperliquid is outperforming Ethereum and Solana on nearly every major metric. Its perpetual DEX handled $181 billion in monthly volume, dwarfing Ethereum’s $42 billion. It’s also generating more fees than both rivals combined. The HYPE token is up 142% this year, powered partly by an aggressive burn model that removes more tokens than it issues.
Strategy Sells Bitcoin for First Time Since 2022, But Barely Dents Its Stack
Strategy sold just 32 Bitcoin for $2.5 million to cover preferred stock dividends, its first BTC sale since December 2022. The company still holds 843,706 coins worth roughly $63.87 billion, keeping its title as the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder. The core strategy remains unchanged.
Binance Opens U.S. Stock Trading to Global Users, With a Crypto Twist
Binance is launching commission-free U.S. stock and ETF trading for non-U.S. users, with fractional shares starting at $5 and crypto-funded purchases. Alongside this, it’s rolling out bStocks, tokenized equities on BNB Chain usable in DeFi. Nest Trading handles brokerage; Alpaca manages custody. U.S. users are excluded at launch.
