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The Federal Reserve Board has requested public comment on a proposal that would require certain payment stablecoin issuers to establish and maintain effective customer identification programs (CIP). According to Foresight News, the proposal was issued jointly by the Federal Reserve and four other agencies.
Under the proposal, the affected stablecoin issuers would be required to follow customer identification standards similar to those applied to banks and credit unions.
The public comment period would run for 60 days after the proposal is published in the Federal Register.

Oppenheimer raised its price target on SpaceX (SPCX.O) to $250 from $190.
According to Jin10, the firm increased the target from $190 to $250.

In the latest episode of Inside The Blockchain 100 on Binance Square, Aster CEO Leonard discussed the project’s merger and rebranding journey, competition in the decentralized perpetuals market, the rise of tokenized U.S. equities and real-world assets (RWA), as well as Aster’s recent tokenomics upgrade.
Aster was formed through the merger and reshaping of two protocols that already had established user bases. Within a relatively short period, the platform has surpassed 21 million cumulative users and recorded more than $4 trillion in cumulative trading volume, becoming one of the frequently discussed players in the decentralized perpetuals sector.
From Merger to Product Focus: Users Ultimately Care About the Product
Discussing Aster’s relatively low-profile public presence, Leonard said it is partly related to his personality and partly shaped by his previous experience working on high-frequency trading infrastructure and risk systems, roles that are often more behind the scenes. However, as the project has grown, he believes it is important for someone from the team to communicate directly with the community.
“Every project needs someone to step forward, communicate with users, give them confidence, and convey the project’s philosophy and product direction,” Leonard said.
On the process of merging two protocols into Aster, Leonard noted that technical issues were comparatively manageable, while cultural integration was the more challenging part. One side of the team was more focused on dApps and yield products, emphasizing fairness and openness, while the other side placed greater emphasis on trading efficiency and execution experience.
As Aster became more clearly positioned as a trading-driven product, the team adjusted its structure around product, technology, and liquidity capabilities. Leonard emphasized that whether users stay or leave does not depend on whether a brand has been relaunched, but on whether the product has delivered meaningful improvements.
DEX Competitors Are Not Just Other DEXs: Capital Efficiency and Liquidity Are Key
Reflecting on Aster’s rapid growth after launch, Leonard acknowledged that market expectations were high in the early stages, and mechanisms such as trading mining meant that some data included inflated elements. He also said the team’s delivery speed did not fully meet market expectations at one point. Still, for a team focused on long-term building, high attention is not necessarily a bad thing.
“Having pressure is better than having no attention at all,” he said.
When discussing the future competitive landscape for DEXs, Leonard said decentralized exchanges have never only competed with other DEXs. Users do not pay for “decentralization” alone; instead, they choose platforms with higher trading efficiency, lower costs, richer asset offerings, and deeper liquidity.
“As long as you are in the liquidity business and providing exchange liquidity, you are competing with everyone,” Leonard said.
As the boundaries between traditional brokerages, centralized exchanges, and on-chain protocols continue to blur, the long-term growth of DEXs will still depend on capital efficiency, transaction costs, and asset availability.
Tokenized U.S. Stocks and RWA: 24/7 Trading Is Only the First Step
On the trend of tokenized U.S. equities and RWA, Leonard said the market has gone through several rounds of experimentation, and this cycle appears to be “heading in the right direction, but still only at the beginning.” He pointed out that 24/7 trading is only the first step, while the deeper value of blockchain lies in composability.
If stocks, futures, stablecoins, and yield products can eventually be settled on the same chain and combined into different strategies, capital efficiency could be significantly improved, Leonard said.
Aster has also been advancing unified cross-asset trading capabilities. For example, it recently began supporting bStocks as spot and margin assets. According to Leonard, this allows users to place a portion of their U.S. stock-related assets on Aster while also using them as margin for crypto trading, enabling cross-asset strategies.
He added that crypto-native users are already accustomed to 24/7 capital movement, self-custody, and on-chain composability. These features may, over time, encourage part of traditional asset trading volume to move on-chain.
Regarding Aster’s long-term role, Leonard said the project does not aim to be merely a trading entry point. Instead, Aster hopes to become underlying infrastructure for on-chain financial markets. He said Aster will build around a front-end ecosystem, an asset issuance ecosystem through its permissionless listing validator model, and future vault and asset management products. Underlying liquidity and settlement capabilities will remain the core focus.
Tokenomics Upgrade: Buybacks Are Not a Growth Strategy, but a Value Transmission Mechanism
Aster recently announced a major tokenomics upgrade, with a target to reduce total supply from 8 billion to 3 billion and allocate 99% of daily platform fees to automatic buybacks. Leonard clarified that the reduction to 3 billion is a long-term target, not an immediate change.
He said the team believes that as Aster’s market share increases and the broader industry grows, revenue will not remain at current levels, giving the project confidence to pursue the target within a more reasonable timeframe.
Responding to market skepticism around buyback narratives, Leonard said he agrees that tokenomics alone cannot fundamentally change a project’s value.
“Buybacks can only transmit or amplify value; they cannot create new value. Value still comes from users and business growth,” he said.
Leonard stressed that Aster must continue to prove the quality of its revenue, users, and product competitiveness, rather than relying on short-term narratives.
When discussing Aster’s moat, Leonard summarized three key areas. First, Aster provides liquidity for certain scarce on-chain assets. Second, its trading privacy features can serve users who want to trade on-chain without fully exposing their trading information. Third, unified cross-asset trading and margin capabilities can help improve capital efficiency.
However, Leonard also acknowledged that many on-chain products can be copied. In the long run, he said, competitiveness will depend on team execution and the ability to keep innovating.
Finally, when asked whether he would rather prove over the next year that “Aster is the most profitable DEX” or “Aster is the fastest-growing DEX,” Leonard chose the latter. He said that if a team has long-term confidence in the sector, “market share is always more important than profit.”
Leonard concluded that the next major opportunity lies in bringing RWA on-chain and making these assets composable, self-custodial, and usable across multiple strategies. Aster, he said, aims to become infrastructure for that future.

Hsiao-Wei Wang said she has resigned from her roles as co-executive director and board member of the Ethereum Foundation. According to Odaily, Wang announced the decision in a post on X, saying she concluded during a leave of absence that it was an appropriate time to step down based on her priorities and future plans.
Wang said her experience as co-executive director gave her a broad view of how the Ethereum community collaborates. She said she is proud of the achievements of the Ethereum Foundation and contributors across the ecosystem, including developers, researchers, educators, node operators, validators, and users.
She said she plans to spend more time with her family but will continue contributing to the Ethereum ecosystem as a community member.

Stellar (XLM) rose 10% even as the CoinDesk 20 index declined. In the same session, Internet Computer (ICP) fell 4.1% and Sui (SUI) dropped 4%, leading the index lower from Wednesday, according to CoinDesk.

According to the announcement from Binance, the company will run a football-season community activity on the Binance Angels X account, inviting users to share football-related posts that connect the sport with crypto. The activity period is scheduled for 2026-06-18 06:00 (UTC) to 2026-06-24 23:59 (UTC), and Binance said participants can earn a share of 500 USDC in token voucher rewards during that window. The announcement describes the campaign as a creativity-focused community event centered on how users watch or play football and which skills they believe apply to both football and crypto.
Participation and Rewards: To be eligible, users must create a post on X that follows and tags the Binance X account and the Binance Angels X account, uses the hashtag #WhoIsNumber9, includes either a real photo featuring Binance swag or an AI-generated image in Binance style showing how the user watches or plays football, and answers the question, “Which skill works in both crypto and football?” Binance also said participants must complete a survey. Reward Distribution: Binance said the best 20 posts will share the 500 USDC token voucher pool equally, with selections based on creativity, Binance brand relevance, and accuracy at Binance’s discretion. Binance said rewards will be distributed on 2026-06-30 via Binance Rewards Hub, and the token voucher validity period will be 30 days from distribution.

Bloomberg reported that yen watchers are bracing for dollar-yen to break through 161.95 — a level that would mark the weakest reading since December 1986 — after the currency slid to 160.80, its lowest since July 2024, as traders ramped up bets on a Federal Reserve rate hike. Japan's record ¥11.73 trillion ($73 billion) intervention window from late April through late May has been fully retraced, with the wide US-Japan interest rate differential keeping downward pressure on the yen intact.
"A test of 161.95 and a break is coming. It's not a question of if, but when," said Tony Sycamore of IG Australia. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara reaffirmed Thursday that Tokyo stands ready to act in FX markets at any time, though analysts say intervention at current levels would carry limited impact given broad dollar strength.
The Bank of Japan raised its benchmark rate to the highest level since 1995 this week, but markets remain unconvinced the pace of tightening is sufficient to arrest the yen's slide. JPMorgan's chief Japan FX strategist Junya Tanase said a move toward 162 is likely in coming weeks, particularly on strong US data or renewed Japanese fiscal concerns, and that such a test would likely trigger another intervention round.

Some oil and gas vessels have begun crossing the Strait of Hormuz, including ships owned by Saudi Arabia’s state tanker giant, after an interim US-Iran peace deal.
In an early sign of the shipping industry’s response, according to Bloomberg, the movements include the first Saudi supertankers to start transiting the waterway.

Investors are rotating out of the Magnificent 7 and crypto and into AI “bottleneck” plays such as semiconductors, memory stocks, real estate and space-related opportunities, according to CoinDesk. Microsoft is down 33% from recent highs and Meta 28%, while Tesla, Amazon, Nvidia and Alphabet are more than 10% below; Apple is down 7%. Bitcoin has slid about 50% from its October all-time high. Sandisk is up roughly 800% this year, the Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF (DRAM) about 140%, Micron 230% and VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) 67%.

England produced the most entertaining performance of their tournament so far in a breathless 4–2 victory over Croatia, while DR Congo announced themselves to the world by holding Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal to a dramatic 1–1 draw. Colombia eased past World Cup debutants Uzbekistan with a composed 3–1 win, and Ghana snatched the points against Panama thanks to a last-gasp goal deep into stoppage time — a fittingly pulsating end to a day full of drama across Groups K and L.
In Group L, England's World Cup campaign began in chaotic, thrilling fashion at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas. Harry Kane gave Thomas Tuchel's side the lead on 12 minutes, converting a penalty at the second attempt after VAR ruled that Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic had strayed off his line to save the first effort. The Bayern Munich striker, who equalled Gary Lineker's England record of 10 World Cup goals with his second of the night, had researched Livakovic's tendency to move early — and the tactical gamble paid off handsomely. Croatia hit back through Martin Baturina's powerful drive on 36 minutes, before Kane restored England's advantage with a clinical header from Declan Rice's corner three minutes before half-time. England's defending, however, remained alarmingly porous: Petar Musa levelled once more for Croatia with virtually the last kick of the first half, steering Ivan Perišić's header past Jordan Pickford. Tuchel's half-time response was emphatic. Jude Bellingham, selected ahead of Morgan Rogers in one of the tournament's first tight calls, ended the debate moments after the restart with a surging run and composed finish that turned the game decisively. Substitute Marcus Rashford wrapped up a 4–2 win with five minutes to go, converting after a swift counter-attack to leave Tuchel celebrating with compatriot and pundit Jürgen Klopp on the touchline. England's attack was a joy; their defence a concern — but for now, the Three Lions are up and running in Group L.
Also in Group L, Ghana denied Panama a share of the spoils in the most dramatic fashion in Toronto. The two sides served up a tight, attritional contest before substitute Brandon Thomas-Asante raced down the left in the 95th minute and squared for Caleb Yirenkyi to tap home from close range, sparking wild celebrations among the West African supporters. It was a cruel outcome for Panama, who had matched Ghana throughout and went agonisingly close through Cristian Martinez, who struck the side-netting from close range in the second half. Ghana were themselves without Thomas Partey, denied entry to Canada due to ongoing criminal proceedings in the UK — a notable absentee. The late winner gives Ghana three points and sets up a fascinating encounter with Group L leaders England next.
In Group K, the evening's most talked-about result unfolded as DR Congo produced a stunning fightback to hold Portugal to a 1–1 draw. It was an occasion that reignited the debate around Cristiano Ronaldo's place in the Portugal team — and his impact on those around him. Portugal took the lead through a first-half goal, but DR Congo equalised through Brentford striker Yannick Wissa, who headed home to score his nation's first-ever World Cup goal — a moment of historic significance for a country making its debut in the tournament. Ronaldo — operating under immense scrutiny as he bids to become the greatest scorer in World Cup history — passed up a key chance when his run disrupted a potential pass to Bruno Fernandes, who was free inside the penalty area. Pundits including Thierry Henry and Gael Clichy were outspoken about the 41-year-old's influence on his team-mates, with Henry arguing Ronaldo's desire to score personally had cost Portugal a second goal. The draw leaves Group K wide open at the halfway point of the first round of fixtures.
Colombia, meanwhile, provided the night's most composed display, defeating World Cup debutants Uzbekistan 3–1 at the Mexico City Stadium. Daniel Muñoz volleyed a brilliant opener to set Colombia on their way, and despite Abdullaev Fayzullaev heading home an equaliser to raise hopes for the Uzbek crowd, Luis Díaz restored Colombia's lead with a clinical finish. Jaminton Campaz added gloss to the scoreline deep into second-half stoppage time, heading home a pinpoint cross from Cucho Hernández who had refused to give up on a late run down the right. Uzbekistan, managed by legendary Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro, had pressed gamely in the second half and hit the crossbar late on through Bekhruz Karimov, but Colombia's quality told in the end. Colombia top Group K and look every inch a side capable of going deep into this tournament.
Upcoming Matches for June 18 (all times ET):
12:00 PM, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta — Czechia vs. South Africa (Group A)
3:00 PM, SoFi Stadium, Los Angeles — Switzerland vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina (Group B)
6:00 PM, BC Place, Vancouver — Canada vs. Qatar (Group B)
9:00 PM, Estadio BBVA, Guadalajara — Mexico vs. South Korea (Group A)

Samsung Electronics shares closed up 4.62%, while SK Hynix shares closed up 6.51%, with both ending at record-high closing prices. According to Jin10, the two South Korean chipmakers set new all-time highs at the close.

According to CNBC, outgoing CME Group CEO Terrence Duffy announced on Wednesday that the exchange operator will file a lawsuit against the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Thursday, challenging the agency's decision to approve perpetual futures. The CFTC approved prediction market platform Kalshi in late May to offer bitcoin perpetual futures — contracts with no expiration date that allow traders to speculate on price without holding the underlying asset — marking the first time such products were permitted in the US. Kalshi has since expanded its perps offerings to cover additional cryptocurrencies. Duffy, who will step down as CEO in March 2027, argued the products constitute swaps under the Dodd-Frank Act, and asserted that CME holds exclusive benchmark licenses requiring any such instruments to be listed through the exchange regardless of their structure. He said the litigation plan had been developed with his board over the past eight months. CFTC chair Michael Selig defended the agency's approval earlier this week on the same program, saying it was "time to approve regulated futures contracts that have no expiration date" and pledging to ensure the products remain well regulated domestically.

OPEC said global oil demand has not yet peaked and raised its 2050 oil demand outlook to 124 million barrels per day.
According to Jin10, OPEC updated its long-term projection by increasing its estimate for oil demand in 2050 to 124 million barrels per day.

Strategy said its Bitcoin holdings can cover 32 years of dividend payments. CoinDesk reported that Strategy's Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock, STRC, closed at $89 on Wednesday — its lowest level since launching in July 2025 and approximately 11% below the $100 par value it is designed to hold.
The drop has forced Strategy to pause its at-the-market share issuance program, a key funding channel through which the company sells STRC above par and deploys proceeds directly into bitcoin purchases. The instrument carries added sensitivity: STRC dividend obligations prompted Strategy to sell 32 bitcoin for roughly $2.5 million in late May — the company's first bitcoin sale since it began accumulating in 2022 — a move that surprised markets accustomed to Chairman Michael Saylor's no-sell pledge. Strategy disclosed last week it had built a dedicated $1.1 billion US dollar reserve to cover preferred dividends and debt obligations, while continuing to buy bitcoin via separate common stock sales. STRC's current variable dividend rate stands at 12.9%, adjusted monthly to anchor the price near par. Strategy's common shares fell about 5% on Wednesday to $116.52, while bitcoin held in the $64,000–$65,000 range. The firm holds approximately 846,842 bitcoin — around 4% of the total supply that will ever exist — remaining the largest corporate bitcoin holder globally.

Domestic gold jewelry prices in China were little changed on June 18, with multiple brands holding near 1,307-1,312 yuan per gram. According to Jin10, the comparison showed overall moves were limited, though some brands raised prices. Chow Sang Sang’s pure gold jewelry price rose 7 yuan per gram.

According to the announcement from Binance, Binance Earn will launch a leaderboard campaign for Discount Buy users, offering rewards valued up to 888 USDC based on rankings during the Promotion Period from 2026-06-18 05:00 to 2026-07-01 23:59 (UTC). Participants who confirm participation will be ranked by their average Discount Buy subscription amount across all Discount Buy pairs during the Promotion Period, and the top 40 eligible users are set to receive rewards delivered as a Discount Buy Subscription.
Heading: Reward tiers and timing
The reward structure assigns a Discount Buy Subscription valued at 888 USDC for 1st place, 588 USDC for 2nd–3rd, 188 USDC for 4th–10th, 88 USDC for 11th–20th, and 58 USDC for 21st–40th. Binance said subscriptions with a duration of more than 1 day will be considered qualified for the promotion. Rewards are scheduled to be distributed as a Discount Buy subscription with a duration of 14 days within 14 days after the Promotion concludes, by 2026-07-15.
Heading: Product mechanics referenced in the announcement
Binance described Discount Buy as a non-principal-protected structured product with preset Target Buy Price, Knockout Price, APR, and Settlement Date. At settlement, outcomes depend on the Settlement Price: if it is at or above the Knockout Price, users receive their full investment back along with APR rewards; if it falls between the Target Buy Price and Knockout Price, 50% of the investment is used to buy crypto at the Target Buy Price and 50% is returned; if it is at or below the Target Buy Price, 100% of the investment is used to buy crypto at the Target Buy Price. Binance also stated that subscriptions cannot be edited, canceled, or redeemed before settlement.

Micron closed at $1,043 on June 17, 2026, while most analyst price targets range from $1,200 to $1,750.
According to NS3.AI, Wall Street’s consensus estimate for 2027 is around $1,500.
The report added that even bullish models projecting to 2030 do not place Micron at $5,000.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said the decline in oil prices was “encouraging,” but warned that some inflation pressures were building. According to Jin10, Bailey said some inflationary pressures were already brewing despite the supportive move in energy prices.

Binance’s estimated leverage ratio for XRP rose to about 0.1899, marking its highest level since the start of 2026. According to NS3.AI, CryptoQuant data showed the increase as XRP traded near $1.20.
The data also indicated that buyers defended support around $1.17.

According to the official announcement, Binance Futures will list a new set of USDⓈ-M and COIN-M Quarterly 1225 Delivery Contracts a few hours after the existing Quarterly 0626 contracts expire and settle at 08:00 UTC on June 26, 2026. Under the USDⓈ-M lineup, BTCUSDT Quarterly 1225 and ETHUSDT Quarterly 1225 will be available with USDT settlement, tick sizes of 0.1 and 0.01 respectively, and a maximum leverage of 50x. The COIN-M series will cover five assets — BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, and SOL — each settled in their respective underlying coin, with maximum leverage of 50x for BTC and ETH, and 20x for BNB, XRP, and SOL. All contracts will trade 24/7. Binance noted that in the ten minutes prior to delivery, users will only be permitted to close positions or submit Reduce Only orders and will not be able to open new positions.

SK Hynix shares rose about 6.51% today, lifting the company’s market capitalization to $1.24 trillion. According to NS3.AI, data from InfiniteMarketCap shows SK Hynix now ranks 16th globally by market value.
The data places SK Hynix behind Bitcoin, which was listed with a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion.

Bloomberg reported that SpaceX shares fell about 5% on Wednesday, snapping a three-day post-IPO rally that had reached nearly 50%, after an intraday swing that saw the stock initially surge as much as 6% before reversing. The decline pushed SpaceX back below Amazon in market capitalization, leaving the company valued at approximately $2.5 trillion — the sixth-largest in the world — though shares remain more than 42% above their $135 IPO price. The pullback came amid a broader US equity selloff following the Federal Reserve's decision to hold interest rates steady under new chairman Kevin Warsh, with traders fully pricing in a rate hike by October; the S&P 500 fell 1.2% and the Nasdaq 100 shed 1%. Bloomberg noted that only about 4.2% of SpaceX's total shares were available to trade at debut, with low float amplifying intraday volatility and potential downside pressure expected as insider lockups expire. Before Wednesday's decline, SpaceX had been the most-bought stock by retail investors since its IPO, matching the combined buying of Nvidia, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and major index ETFs, according to Vanda Research, which noted a possible rotation from Tesla into SpaceX as the "cleaner AI and tech exposure." Over 1.4 million SpaceX options contracts changed hands Wednesday, making it the third-most traded security in the US options market. Index inclusion timelines diverged: SpaceX becomes eligible for the Nasdaq 100 after 15 trading days following rule changes by Nasdaq Inc., but faces at least a 12-month wait for S&P 500 inclusion under existing profitability and float requirements.

According to the announcement from Binance, Binance Earn will run a promotion for eligible users in the CIS that offers an additional 35% Bonus Tiered APR on USDT Simple Earn Flexible Products for up to seven days. The promotion period is 2026-06-18 00:00:00 (UTC) to 2026-08-18 23:59:59 (UTC). Eligibility is limited to CIS users who have never subscribed to Simple Earn Flexible Products across all tokens prior to 2026-06-18 00:00 (UTC), excluding Ukraine. Binance said it may take up to 48 hours before newly registered users can see and subscribe to the special offer. Subscriptions are available on a first-come, first-served basis, and the subscription format allows a maximum seven (7) days of subscription period. Bonus Tiered APR rewards are distributed to users’ Spot Accounts daily, while Real-Time APR accrues and is accumulated in users’ Earn Accounts every minute.
Heading: Offer Structure and Reward Timing
The special offer applies to USDT with a 7-day duration and combines Real-Time APR with a 35% Bonus Tiered APR for subscription amounts up to 200 USDT, with a minimum subscription limit of 0.1 USDT and no stated maximum subscription limit. Binance stated that Bonus Tiered APR begins accruing the next day from 00:00 (UTC) after subscription, and the first distribution occurs the day after accrual starts, meaning two days after subscription. Distributions are scheduled between 00:00 (UTC) and 08:00 (UTC) to Spot Accounts. Binance also said only users who complete identity verification during the promotion period can qualify for rewards, and only master accounts qualify for Bonus Tiered APR rewards; sub-accounts are not eligible.

Gold-related funds have shown a sharp divergence in views on the metal’s next move, with new inflows occurring alongside withdrawals by longer-standing investors. According to Jin10, the market has seen both fresh capital entering and “old money” exiting at the same time.
In silver, bullish options positions have been reduced for consecutive periods. The report said near-term upside momentum in silver has cooled somewhat.

China and U.S. markets will be closed on June 19 as the Dragon Boat Festival coincides with Juneteenth.
According to Jin10, A-shares, Hong Kong stocks, Taiwan stocks, and U.S. stocks will each suspend trading for one day.
Domestic futures exchanges in China will not trade throughout the day.
Trading in CME Group futures contracts covering precious metals, energy, foreign exchange, equity indexes, and U.S. Treasury futures will end early at 01:00 (UTC+8) on June 20.
Trading in Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Brent crude oil futures contracts will end early at 01:30 (UTC+8) on June 20.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the dollar against six major currencies, rose 0.55% on June 17 to close at 100.091 by the end of trading in the foreign exchange market. According to ChainCatcher, the euro fell to $1.1539 from $1.161 in the previous session, while the British pound declined to $1.3338 from $1.3429.
The dollar strengthened against the Japanese yen to 160.5 from 160.44, and rose versus the Swiss franc to 0.7971 from 0.7931. It also gained against the Canadian dollar to 1.4071 from 1.3993 and advanced versus the Swedish krona to 9.461 from 9.3618.

Bitcoin’s realized losses fell by 46% as bid-side liquidity increased, signaling a potential easing of sell pressure and raising questions about whether buyers can push BTC back above $70,000. According to Cointelegraph, the decline in realized losses coincided with growing bid-side liquidity, a market condition typically associated with stronger demand at lower price levels and reduced urgency among sellers.
The report linked the drop in realized losses to improving liquidity on the buy side, suggesting that selling pressure may be moderating as more buyers are willing to absorb supply. Cointelegraph framed the development as a key factor that could support a recovery attempt, with attention focused on whether bulls can reclaim the $70,000 level. The update did not provide a timeline for a potential move, but emphasized that the combination of lower realized losses and stronger bid-side liquidity may reflect shifting market dynamics that traders are watching closely.

Strategy’s STRC preferred stock fell to a record low below par, pausing the company’s above-par share sales used to fund bitcoin purchases, according to CoinDesk. STRC is also the stock whose dividend obligations forced Strategy’s first BTC sale this month.

Nebius (NBIS) rose about 10% over the past 24 hours, with its on-chain contract price on a CEX (centralized exchange) reaching $295.5 after briefly touching $298, marking a new on-chain trading high. According to BlockBeats On-chain Detection, the pre-market stock price had not yet set a new all-time high.
Two days earlier, a trader opened a long position on NBIS at an average price of $262, using 2x leverage to buy 40,080 contracts. The position was valued at more than $11.8 million and was showing an unrealized profit of about $1.31 million, representing a 25.1% return. It was described as the largest current long position for the asset on the platform.
Nasdaq has announced that NBIS is scheduled to join the Nasdaq 100 Index before the market opens on June 22, 2026, prompting expectations of passive fund inflows and related early trading activity.
The wallet address linked in the monitoring update was 0x15271757b398cd1d3d7cca05c4f7b0c159afa7c2.

SpaceX’s investment banking team is preparing a bond issuance of at least $20 billion.
According to Jin10, the planned deal is being organized by the company’s investment banking team.

VistaShares said Micron will release its earnings report on June 24, noting the company’s revenue has posted triple-digit growth for multiple consecutive quarters. According to Odaily, VistaShares said the key indicator for whether the current memory cycle is sustainable or has peaked is gross margin, adding that Micron’s latest guidance is near 81%, compared with 37% a year earlier.
VistaShares said revenue reflects delivered results and, in a market where demand exceeds supply, is a backward-looking figure locked in by contracts signed several quarters earlier. It added that profit margins reflect pricing power, which it said tends to change first when supply begins to catch up with demand.
VistaShares said memory markets typically deteriorate in margins rather than in revenue.

A top US energy regulator voted to ease environmental requirements for pipelines and other natural gas projects, according to Bloomberg, saying the reviews are no longer needed after a recent Supreme Court ruling.

European Central Bank Chief Economist Philip Lane said the neutral interest rate could be as high as 2.5%, suggesting another rate hike would not yet act as a brake on the economy. According to Bloomberg, the comment implies the upper end of the ECB’s estimate for the neutral rate has moved higher.

Stifel raised its price target for Micron Technology to $1,500 from $550.
According to Jin10, the investment bank increased the target price for Micron Technology, which trades under the ticker MU.O.

Funds managed by Pacific Investment Management Co. made a $2 billion bet on Colombia’s local government debt last month ahead of the first round of the presidential election. In a move that could reshape the nation’s economic model, according to Bloomberg, the vote is expected to be a key inflection point for Colombia’s policy direction.

Wells Fargo raised its year-end gold price target to $5,300 to $5,500 and projected gold could reach $5,800 to $6,000 by the end of 2027. According to Jin10, the bank said in its mid-year outlook that it remains firmly bullish on gold and believes the bull market is not over.
Wells Fargo also described gold as one of its “highest-conviction” investment themes.

Anduril Industries won a US Air Force production contract for autonomous fighter drones as the Pentagon pushes for a fleet of up to 1,000 autonomous combat jets. Anduril also secured a key role in the competition to provide software for the aircraft and is moving toward scaled manufacturing, according to Bloomberg.

Nick Rees of Monex Europe said in a report that upcoming U.K. economic data and domestic political developments will determine whether the pound continues to weaken after the Bank of England kept its policy rate unchanged at 3.75% on Thursday.
According to Jin10, Rees said the Bank of England’s communication suggested there was, overall, no urgent need to change policy in the near term, even though two of the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee voted to raise rates.
Rees added that if further data show signs of economic weakness and political risks increase, the pound may fall further.

AMD shares rose 2.69% in pre-market trading after Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon raised his price target on the stock to $600 from $525.
According to NS3.AI, AMD also announced an agreement with Rackspace Technology for AMD-based compute deployments scheduled to begin in late 2026 and run through 2028.