Crypto Market Update

Economic data continues to soften, with today’s consumer sentiment survey coming in at 65.6, below the consensus market forecast of 72. One-year inflation expectations remain unchanged compared to last month. Rates are lower again today, but the DXY is higher due to outsized weakness in global markets. We sent out a note today recommending relative risk aversion in the immediate term as crypto continues to weaken. BTC 1.25% is trading down to $65,000, ETH 3.20% is now below $3,400, and SOL -0.64% is testing the $140 level. Crypto equities are largely following suit. Equities are broadly lower as well, with the ^SPX 0.42%  in the red but the QQQ 0.47%  slightly in the green as large-cap tech continues to hold up well. Below, we see the change in ETF flow trend, with yesterday’s $200 million in outflows turning the 5-day moving average negative across all ETFs.

RIOT Ignores Poison Pill

Riot Platforms (RIOT -4.56% ) has increased its stake in Bitfarms (BITF -4.05% ) to 14% by purchasing an additional 1,432,063 shares for about $3.87 million, continuing its hostile takeover attempt. Last month, Riot’s $950 million acquisition bid was met with Bitfarms’ adoption of a “poison pill” strategy to prevent the takeover, which dilutes an acquirer’s stake if they exceed a 15% threshold between June 20 and September 10. Riot criticized this move and plans to nominate independent directors to Bitfarms’ board at a special shareholders’ meeting. Bitfarms’ stock recently rose 15% following an announcement of its U.S. expansion plans, while Riot’s market cap stands at $3.17 billion compared to Bitfarms’ $1 billion.

MSTR Convertible Pricing

MicroStrategy (MSTR -4.97% ) has announced the pricing for its $700 million offering of 2.25% convertible senior notes, set to close on June 17. These notes, maturing in 2032 unless repurchased, redeemed, or converted, will be sold privately to qualified institutional buyers. The conversion rate is initially 0.4894 shares of MicroStrategy class A common stock per $1,000 principal amount of notes, equivalent to about $2,043.32 per share, a 35% premium over the stock’s volume-weighted average price. The expected net proceeds of approximately $687.8 million will be used to purchase additional bitcoin and for general corporate purposes. MicroStrategy currently holds 214,400 bitcoins. The company initially aimed to raise $500 million with an additional $75 million option.

Technical Strategy

Rocket Pool experienced a huge surge to monthly highs today on above-average volume Friday, and is set to make the highest weekly close since mid-May. Despite some intra-day weakness off early highs, the act of climbing above $21.75 has successfully broken out above the minor downtrend from late May. Structurally this helps to improve the structure following its weakness in recent weeks, and RPL -0.74% managed to bottom out this week right near an area of strong support at May lows. Initial resistance targets lie near $24.50 while movement above could lead to a retest of the 50% retracement level near $30.58. Only a decline back under $18.24 would postpone the rally, but Friday’s gains look quite constructive technically speaking.

Daily Important Metrics Crypto Size Bullish signal is tied to the crypto market growing Market cap 2.44T $-12.3B (-0.50%) BTC Dominance 54.12 % (-0.55%) Stablecoins Increase in circulating stablecoins is a Bullish signal In Circulation +$113B (0.01%) In Exchanges +$20B (0.28%) BTC Metrics A decrease in Bitcoin on exchanges is bullish, indicates investors are moving coins to cold storage # BTC Exchanges +$2.3M (-0.07%) Funding Rates Positive funding rates indicate traders are Bullish Aggregate +0.7257 (-0.1774) Binance +0.2683 (-0.7273) Bitfinex -0.0553 (-0.0261) Bitmex +1.0000 (0.0000) ByBit +0.3947 (-0.6053) Deribit +0.0055 (-0.1822) Huobi +1.1748 (1.1748) Kraken +1.1799 (0.6590) Mean +0.7257 (-0.1774) OKex +0.8719 (0.1286) Sentiment BMI : 32 (100.00%) Futures A positive spread between Futures Prices and Spot Prices is Bullish CME Price $67,245 (-1.16%) Spot Basis +$373 (0.56%) Volume 588,475 (-25.31%) Open Interest 298,743 (1.84%) Options all exchanges Higher open interest change in a bull market is bullish for the sector Volume 25,309 (-24.01%) Open Interest 269,995 (-0.17%) Vol. Put/Call Ratio 0.5035 (5.74%) OOI Put/Call Ratio 0.4408 (-0.28%) All metrics as of 2024-06-14 12:00:36 All Funding rates are in bps Crypto Prices Symbol Market Cap Last Price Daily Change Year to Date Relative to BTC YTD BTC $1.29T $65,385 -2.16% 54.81% ETH $408B $3,392 -2.09% 49.06% -3.72% SOL $65B $141 -4.73% 38.88% -10.29% DOGE $469,749 $0.0005 15.75% -99.47% -99.66% All prices as of 2024-06-14 13:51:37 Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) Symbol Prem. to Nav Last Price Daily Change Year to Date Relative to BTC YTD BITW -32.38% $35 -3.16% 51.29% -2.28% ETHE -2.03% $31 -3.52% 59.72% 3.17% News Quick Bits The Block Coinbase-initiated Stand With Crypto outlines policy recommendations ahead of UK election UK political parties have made no reference to crypto in their manifestos, contrasting its growing influence in U.S. political campaigns. The Block Ripple argues for lower fines than SEC’s proposed $2 billion, cites Terraform settlement to make its case Ripple Labs is looking to leverage fines recently lodged against Terraform in an effort to pay a lower penalty in its case with the SEC. Market Data The Block US spot bitcoin ETFs experience net outflows of $226 million led by Fidelity’s FBTC Grayscale’s GBTC reported net outflows of $62 million, and Ark Invest and 21Shares’ ARKB saw $53 million move out from the fund yesterday. CoinDesk First Mover: Bitcoin Struggles Near $67,000 as Cryptos Lag Behind Stocks The latest price moves in bitcoin (BTC) and crypto markets in context for June 14, 2024. First Mover is CoinDesk’s daily newsletter that contextualizes the latest actions in the crypto markets. Dose of DeFI The Block Zapper plans utility token for new protocol focused on on-chain data Zapper has planned the launch of the ZAP token in Q4, which will incentivize user participation in the protocol. Regulation The Block Biden nominates CFTC Commissioners to top spots at FDIC and Treasury Department President Biden tapped crypto conscientious CFTC Commissioners Christy Goldsmith Romero and Kristin Johnson to positions at the FDIC and Treasury, respectively. Fundraising and M&A The Block NEAR Foundation’s new independent entity Nuffle Labs raises $13 million in funding Nuffle Labs builds out NEAR's Data Availability Layer, the NEAR Fast Finality Layer and other products in the NEAR modular product suite. Decrypt.co Paradigm Raises $850 Million to Invest in Early-Stage Crypto Projects Paradigm, the prominent crypto VC firm, has raised $850 million for its latest fund focused on nascent projects in various categories. Product Updates and Partnerships The Block Trezor launches Safe 5 crypto hardware wallet, including a bitcoin-only version Crypto hardware wallet manufacturer Trezor has unveiled a trio of new products at BTC Prague 2024, designed to encourage self-custody.