June 17th, 2025
Market Overview:
Digital assets experienced volatility after last week’s strong performance, dropping sharply over the weekend before rallying slightly in Monday trading.
- Bitcoin pulled back sharply as the Middle Eastern conflict flared late in the week, before recovering some of those losses on Monday
- Bitcoin fell from a Wednesday high of $110,330 (close to record levels) to a Friday low of $103,270 as war concerns increased
- Bitcoin subsequently rallied as high as $108,840 in Monday trading (as markets assumed no further escalation), before another slight pullback to current levels
- Ether followed Bitcoin’s chart patterns, dropping down from a Wednesday top of $2,869 down to $2,455 on Friday
- Industry sentiment on the Fear & Greed index became significantly more cautious, dropping 11 points to 53/100; indicating “neutral” trader sentiment
- Overall industry market capitalisation decreased to $3.34tn
- According to industry monitoring site DeFi Llama, total value locked in DeFi fell by around $1bn, to $114.5bn
Digital assets experienced a mixed week due to escalating international geopolitical tensions, closing slightly down from last week’s strong growth. There was however good news in terms of adoption, with new blockchain trademarks from JP Morgan, a record run by Ether ETFs, widespread enthusiasm around stablecoin development, several significant acquisitions, major regulatory policy news from Asia, and much more.
What happened: ETF News
How is this significant?
- Digital asset investment products continued their recent run of inflows, with both of the leading assets posting multiple nine-figure net flows
- According to Coinshares data published on Monday, crypto funds added $1.9bn in the week ending Friday the 13th
- The firm’s head of research James Butterfill noted that year-to-date inflows now stand at $13.2bn, as “despite geopolitical concerns weighing on risk assets last week, digital assets remained resilient, attracting inflows alongside gold”
- Spot Bitcoin ETFs added $1.3bn in total, as the worst trading day last week still saw growth of $86m
- The rest of the week featured nine-figure flows, ranging from $165m to $431m
- BlackRock’s IBIT once again led the way, adding between $121m and $337m on each of the last five trading days
- Next-best performers were Bitwise’s BITB and ARK Invest’s ARKB, although second-placed FBTC from Fidelity experienced overall weekly outflows due to the worst trading day (-$197m) across the time period
- Bloomberg chief ETF analyst Eric Balchunas commented that “this is only the beginning” in terms of spot Bitcoin ETFs, as they now account for 25% of global Bitcoin trading volume
- Spot Ether ETFs ended their record nineteen consecutive days of inflows, although they logged an unprecedented three days of nine-figure flows before momentum stalled
- BlackRock’s ETHA accounted for the majority of these inflows, although Fidelity’s FETH and both Ether funds from Grayscale also featured multiple eight-figure additions across the week
- Ether inflows throughout the week ranged from $53m to $240m, whilst the sole day of outflows—as investors derisked when geopolitical conflicts intensified—was a modest loss of $2.1m
- Elsewhere in ETFs, Coinshares became the latest issuer to file an S1 form for a potential Solana ETF, with plans to include Solana staking for extra returns
- Other issuers such as Franklin Templeton recently amended their own S1 forms to add information on Solana staking and in-kind redemption, leading to speculation the funds could be approved within the next four months
- Industry analyst Noelle Acheson commented “The SEC’s nudge that ETF issuers amend their S-1 filings sounds like it could be just a matter of days or at the most weeks before approval becomes official. That would be a huge change for the spot crypto market”
- Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart reported that Donald Trump’s Truth Social filed for a combined Bitcoin and Ether ETF, following filings for an earlier standalone Bitcoin ETF
What happened: JP Morgan registers trademark related to digital assets
How is this significant?
- Banking giant JP Morgan submitted a regulatory filing this week for a new “JPMD” trademark; a filing which industry analysts believe bears the hallmarks of digital asset servicing
- The “D” in JPMD is speculated to stand for dollar, following on from recent Wall Street Journal reports that the bank is considering its own stablecoin
- The JPMD trademark covers a diverse range of services, including “trading, exchange… and payment services tied to virtual currency, digital tokens, and blockchain-enabled money”
- It also allows for potential applications in “blockchain-based asset issuance, brokerage, and electronic fund transfers”
- JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon has long been one of the finance industry’s most outspoken critics of digital assets, but sheer demand has forced the bank into a broad range of digital asset adoption
- In recent weeks, JP Morgan has approved Bitcoin purchases for clients (albeit without providing custody), and included spot Bitcoin ETFs as possible loan collateral for loans
What happened: Stablecoin news
How is this significant?
- In the corridors of US power, the US Senate voted to advance the proposed GENIUS stablecoin act to an official vote, bringing a regulatory framework within reach
- A final Senate vote is scheduled for June 17th—if it passes, the bill then moves on to the House of Representatives for another vote
- Some Democrats (including long-time crypto-sceptic Elizabeth Warren) still have concerns over perceived conflicts of interest from Donald Trump, especially after it emerged that he earned $57.7m from DeFi project World Liberty Financial
- Another possible complication is that the House is already discussing its own stablecoin bill (with the snappy acronym STABLE), although the GENIUS act is currently understood to possess more bipartisan support
- Senator Bill Haggerty of Texas warned “Without a regulatory framework, stablecoin innovation will proliferate overseas—not in America!”
- Bloomberg identified stablecoins as a protection against high card fees for retailers
- Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores, told the publication “The reason why the fees are so high is that Visa and Mastercard each organise banks all around the country into the dictionary definition of a pricing cartel, and they tell them how much to charge merchants”
- Treasury secretary Scott Bessent opined that $2tn was a feasible market capitalisation for dollar-backed stablecoins, stating “Stablecoin legislation backed by US Treasuries or T-bills will create a market that will expand US dollar usage via these stablecoins all around the world… I think that $2tn is a very, very reasonable number, and I could see it greatly exceeding that”
- The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon and Walmart are considering their own stablecoins, alongside other corporations like Expedia and multiple airlines
- The Journal claimed companies are “potentially shifting the high volumes of cash and card transactions that they handle outside the traditional financial system and saving them billions of dollars in fees”
- Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire responded to the reports, saying “It’s a tremendous opportunity as the world connects to this new form of currency on the internet. We see tremendous opportunities to collaborate with major technology firms, major payments companies, major financial institutions, and we already do”
- His company inked a deal with online commerce platform Shopify to make its USDC the default stablecoin offered by merchants on Shopify, executed via Coinbase’s low-cost Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain, Base
- Elsewhere in stablecoins, Brazilian forex firm Braza Group teamed up with stablecoin payments provider Conduit to provide cross-border FX swaps “between the Brazilian real and major foreign currencies using stablecoins”
- Braza executed $67bn in transactions last year, and launched its own Brazilian Real stablecoin, BBRL, on XRP’s Ledger blockchain
What happened: IPO news
How is this significant?
- Following the runaway success of Circle’s recent IPO, several more firms in the digital asset space appear set to go public
- Digital asset exchanges Kraken and Gemini previously signalled their intent, joined this week by Bullish and Tron
- The Financial Times reported that Peter Thiel-backed Bullish (a digital asset developer formerly known as Block.One and best known for contributing to mega-ICO project EOS) filed for a confidential IPO this week
- This filing came after the company initially proposed (but then withdrew from) a SPAC-based merger in 2022 due to regulatory hostility under the Biden administration
- Bullish previously purchased industry publication Coindesk in 2023, whilst the website’s parent company Digital Currency Group suffered from contagion of the 2022 crypto winter
- Meanwhile Tron, developers of the eponymous blockchain, revealed plans to go public this week via a reverse-merger with listed firm SRM Entertainment
- Tron founder (and major Trump donor) Justin Sun remains a controversial figure within the wider digital asset industry, with Bloomberg citing “a history of not being transparent about his involvements in investments”
- Following the news of a $100m equity investment from Tron, SRM shares surged more than 350%
- It’s believed that as a publicly-listed firm, Sun will try to adopt a “TRON Token Treasury” strategy for the company, akin to the Bitcoin treasury strategies of Strategy and Metaplanet
What happened: Vietnam passes law legalising crypto assets
How is this significant?
- South East Asian nation Vietnam surprised observers this week, passing comprehensive digital asset legislation called the Digital Technology Industry Law
- The framework will take effect from January 1st 2026, and classifies digital assets into two broad groups; crypto assets and virtual assets
- Under Vietnamese nomenclature, crypto assets are “categorised by their use of encryption in validating creation and transfers”
- This ends its status as a crypto “grey zone”, providing specific licencing regimes for exchanges, AML requirements, and specific taxation practices
- Legalisation creates the largest regulated digital asset market in South East Asia
- According to industry estimates, Vietnam ranks 5th in global crypto adoption, with 17 million crypto holders and a value of $100bn
- As one of the few communist countries in the world, recognition of an arch-capitalist asset class such as crypto is particularly significant from Vietnam; not least because global economic powerhouse (and neighbour) China remains (politically) communist, and recognises crypto as legal property but officially bans trading
- Elsewhere in Asia, several exchanges look set to quit Singapore, after a moratorium on unregistered platforms expired
- Though international, these exchanges are however not as large as the likes of Binance, Coinbase, or Kraken, and will likely lead to further consolidation within the market
What happened: Stripe acquires crypto wallet developer
How is this significant?
- As part of its broader push into digital assets, payment processor Stripe acquired crypto wallet developer Privy this week, for an undisclosed amount
- Privy helps embed and integrate Web3 wallets into existing website architecture, reducing barriers to entry for digital asset users
- Co-founder Henri Stern said “When we started, wallets were powerful but inaccessible for all but the most technical. Developers had to send users off-platform to get started, breaking flows and killing user conversion. That friction fundamentally constrained what could be built in crypto”
- Stripe CEO Patrick Collison referred to the company’s recent $1.1bn acquisition of stablecoin platform Bridge, stating “With a unified platform, connecting Privy’s wallets to the money movement capabilities in Stripe and Bridge, we’re enormously excited to enable a new generation of global, Internet-native financial services”
- The payments giant previously introduced stablecoin-funded accounts via Bridge, now adding potential access to 75 million wallets created by Privy
- In another industry acquisition this week, stablecoin giant Tether bought a $89.2m stake in listed precious metals firm Elemental Altus
- This secures around a third of Altus, a move strengthening what Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino calls the firm’s “dual pillar strategy” of diversifying cash reserves into Bitcoin and gold
What happened: New South Korean policy chief brings blockchain background
How is this significant?
- Following the recent presidential victory of Lee Jae-myung and the government’s immediate Won-backed stablecoin proposals, South Korea already appeared primed for crypto progress
- Now there’s even more industry optimism, after the appointment of Kim Yongbeom as chief policy advisor
- Kim previously served as vice-chair of South Korea’s financial services commission and vice minister of finance, before moving on to work at a blockchain think tank
- Kim was previously credited with saving the country’s crypto industry during a crackdown spurred by the 2018 bear market, introducing the real-name account system to clamp down on fraud
- John Park of the Arbitrum Foundation told Bloomberg “He uniquely blends central bank-level macroeconomic experience with deep blockchain fluency. I believe this marks the beginning of Korea’s institutional crypto era”
- Park added “Now that he’s in a position to implement policy from within government, the likelihood of Korea adopting a regulated, reserve-backed KRW stablecoin is quite high”
- South Korea remains one of the most active crypto hubs in the world, with 15 million local traders on the country’s exchanges
What happened: Crypto Treasury news
How is this significant?
- Bitcoin treasury giant Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) once again increased its Bitcoin holdings this week, buying $1.05bn worth of the asset at an average price of just over $104,000
- Financing was done through preferred share sales, with the company’s previous funding strategy via common stock coming under scrutiny (and criticism)
- Leading Asian treasury firm Metaplanet surpassed ¥1tn for the first time, as its shares soared over 400% in the last two months thanks to Bitcoin’s market rally
- It’s been a busy few weeks for treasury policy; other recently-announced purchases, treasury plans or bills for Bitcoin reserves include the likes of GameStop ($500m holdings) Mercurity Fintech Holdings ($800m financing), KULR ($300m financing), The Blockchain Group ($343m share issuance), and Trump Media Group ($2.3bn financing)
- Additionally, GameStop upsized its convertible notes offering from $1.75bn to $2.25bn, with a portion of those funds likely continuing its recent Bitcoin treasury policy
- Researchers from Cantor meanwhile proposed the possibility of smart contract blockchain Solana as a better treasury asset than rival Ethereum, since its lower market capitalisation provides potential for more multiples
- As a proof-of-stake asset, it has the benefit of delivering returns via staking, rather than generating new coins through a much costlier mining process
- Analyst Thomas Shinske wrote in a client note “Combining staking with treasury operations should result in Solana treasury companies growing SOL/share faster than BTC treasury companies growing BTC/share, all else equal”
- However, many remain opposed to such reserves; shareholders at both Meta and Microsoft recently voted overwhelmingly against any plans for corporate crypto treasuries, whilst Connecticut legislators voted to ban the state from holding any Bitcoin
This weekly financial roundup is for informational purposes only and is not financial, investment, or legal advice. Information is based on public sources as of publication and may change. Consult a professional before acting.