The cryptocurrency market faced a severe downturn on June 24–25, with Bitcoin plunging to a 20-month low near $60,000. A cascading wave of long liquidations—totaling $397 million in 24 hours, with longs accounting for over 80%—triggered a feedback loop that forced prices through critical support. Ethereum followed, falling below $1,700, while altcoins bled broadly. The Fear & Greed Index crashed to 17, signaling extreme fear.
Structural outflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs deepened the rout. ETFs recorded a seventh straight week of net redemptions, shrinking assets from $113 billion to $77.5 billion. Rising rate uncertainty and a shift into AI and chip stocks further soured appetite for volatile crypto.
Policy uncertainty added to the gloom. Congress advanced a Fed CBDC ban through 2030, a win for privacy advocates, but President Trump delayed signing over unrelated demands. The CLARITY Act, intended to provide regulatory clarity, remained stalled ahead of a July 17 hearing, with law enforcement pushing back on KYC/AML exemptions. Santiment data showed a surge in social volume around both issues, but not enough to lift prices.
Amid the sell-off, isolated positives emerged. THORChain resumed trading after a five-week halt caused by a May exploit that drained $10.7 million from an Asgard vault. Transaction signing, liquidity provider actions, and swaps are now fully functional, restoring a key decentralized exchange for native Bitcoin swaps.
Chainlink joined Project Pangea, a consortium of 47 European and South Korean banks managing over $10 trillion in assets. The initiative will use euro- and won-denominated stablecoins to settle cross-border payments in near real time, leveraging Chainlink’s interoperability with existing SWIFT and ISO 20022 systems. This marks a significant step in bringing traditional finance onto blockchain rails.
Ethereum’s supply picture offered a rare bright spot: exchange reserves hit an all-time low of 14.5 million ETH, staking ratio reached a record 32.7%, and the upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade targets 200 million gas per block. However, markets price near-zero probability of on-time delivery. Coinbase secured a MiCA license in Luxembourg, enabling services across the EU, but the news was overwhelmed by macro headwinds. Notably, prominent Chinese miner Jiang Zhuoer predicted a Bitcoin bottom between $42,000 and $44,000 by Q4 2026, implying a further 30% drop.
