Dear reader,
Macro Markets: Trade Tensions, Resilient Equities and Bitcoin’s ATH
Global markets spent the week balancing optimism with caution. The S&P 500 closed at a record 6,280.46 on Thursday but futures slipped this morning as traders digested President Trump’s announcement of a 35% tariff on Canadian goods and a 50% tariff on imports from Brazil. These moves rattled sectors tied to cross-border trade and set the tone for a cautious start to Friday.
Asian and European markets reflected the same unease. Indian equities took a notable hit, with the Sensex dropping over 600 points. The mood across global equities is cautious as investors weigh the impact of escalating trade tensions and await the start of Q2 earnings season.
U.S. Stocks: Near Highs but Facing Headwinds
S&P 500 futures are down 0.67% this morning after Thursday’s record close. Dow Jones and Nasdaq futures are also lower, with traders taking profits and bracing for more volatility. Analysts see the pullback as a pause rather than panic, with tariff headlines and earnings season driving sentiment.
Crypto Markets: Rally at Full Throttle
Majors Surge to New Highs: Crypto markets have been the standout story this week. Bitcoin soared to a new all-time high, briefly topping $118,000 before settling near $117,600 to $117,800 this morning. The rally is fueled by record inflows into Bitcoin ETFs and strong institutional demand, with U.S. policy shifts perceived as increasingly crypto-friendly.
Ethereum joined the party, crossing $3,000 for the first time since February and gaining nearly 7% in the past 24 hours. The total crypto market cap is up 1.3% today, now at $3.73 trillion, with trading volumes surging to $231 billion.
Altcoins Ride the Wave: Ethena (ENA) and Sei (SEI) are up more than 20% over the past 24 hours, highlighting the risk appetite among traders.
Most of the top 100 coins are in positive territory as the rally broadens beyond the majors.
Memecoins: Speculation in Overdrive
The memecoin sector is outpacing even Bitcoin and Ethereum. Market cap jumped 10% in a single day, while trading volume surged by 50%. Retail traders are chasing high-risk, high-reward opportunities, driving rapid price swings and fueling a sense of FOMO.
Top performers:
Dogecoin (DOGE) is up 8.9% this morning, trading at $0.1965, and has gained 16% over the week.
Fartcoin (FART) continues its run as a leading AI-driven memecoin, up 13.8%.
Pengu is up 13% and climbing the trending charts.
New meme tokens and presales are attracting millions in inflows, with several coins posting double or even triple-digit percentage gains.
What’s Driving the Crypto Rally?
ETF Inflows: Bitcoin and Ether ETFs saw their second-largest day of inflows ever, with $1.18 billion and $383 million respectively.
Policy Developments: The recent passage of the “Big Beautiful Bill” sets a favorable regulatory tone for crypto. The Trump administration continues to appoint crypto-friendly officials and advance pro-crypto initiatives.
Market Sentiment: The Crypto Fear and Greed Index hit 66 earlier this week, signaling strong risk appetite, but has since moderated to 52 as traders await further macro developments.
Looking Ahead
Markets remain volatile and headline-driven. Equities are taking a breather after record highs, with trade policy in focus. Crypto continues to lead the charge, with Bitcoin and Ethereum at or near all-time highs and memecoins fueling a speculative surge. As earnings season ramps up and policy headlines evolve, expect both traditional and digital assets to stay in the spotlight.
This Week’s Headlines
Nvidia becomes first company to reach $4tn in market value: Ongoing surge in demand for AI technology fueled stratospheric rise of chipmaker’s value.
BNB Climbs Toward $700 as $1B Token Burn and Corporate Treasury Plans Fuel Demand: The price rise was driven by a combination of the broader cryptocurrency market rally and a fresh $1 billion token burn.
ETH reclaims $3,000 as BlackRock’s spot Ethereum ETF notches $300 million in record daily inflows.
Jack Dorsey has made a Bluetooth-based messaging app that doesn’t require internet: Over the weekend, the Twitter cofounder unveiled the beta version of “Bitchat” — an encrypted, decentralized messaging service built on… Bluetooth.
Bitcoin treasury companies acquire record 159,107 BTC in Q2: Corporate Bitcoin holdings surged in Q2, with companies adding a record 159,107 BTC, bringing total holdings to more than 847,000 BTC.
Solana Meme Coin Launchpad Pump.fun Confirms PUMP Token—With Airdrop ‘Coming Soon’: Pump.fun launches massive PUMP token ICO July 12 across major exchanges, but US and UK users banned from the potentially record-breaking sale.
Jack Ma’s Ant Group to Integrate Circle’s USDC on Blockchain Platform
Deutsche Bank, with more than 1.6 trillion euro ($1.9 trillion) in assets under management, and the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, which oversees over $2.3 trillion, are preparing to launch regulated crypto services for institutional and retail clients by 2026.
Notable Deals and Fundraising
CoreWeave acquires Bitcoin mining giant Core Scientific for $9 billion in an all-stock deal, boosting its data center capacity for AI and high-performance computing.
Ego Death Capital raises $100M to finance Bitcoin-focused startups: The venture fund has already invested in Bitcoin-focused exchanges, savings platforms and payment solutions.
K Wave Media (NASDAQ: KWM) Secures $1 Billion Capital Capacity to Drive Bitcoin Treasury Strategy; Announces $500 M Convertible Note with Anson Funds.
Neobank Revolut seeks $65B valuation, a year after its $45B deal: Europe’s fintech darling Revolut is looking to raise a new funding round that would give it a $65 billion valuation.
London-based challenger bank Revolut is in talks to raise around $1 billion in primary and secondary funding in a deal that could value it at $65 billion..:US investor Greenoaks is said to be in discussions to lead the round. Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala is among other investors likely to participate. Earlier this week, it was reported that the sovereign wealth fund is looking to acquire a $100 million stake in Revolut through a secondary share sale.
OpenLedger Commits $25M to Fund AI Blockchain Startup: The blockchain protocol raised $8 million in a seed round last year.
Snoop Dogg’s Telegram NFT Drop Sold Out in Half an Hour: The collab with Telegram’s TON blockchain appears to show that celebrity-led NFTs, at least on apps like it, aren’t entirely dead.
Digital Asset, creator of the Canton Network for tokenizing financial assets, secured $135 million in strategic funding:This investment is part of a $135 million Series E funding round that includes participation from major financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs and Citadel Securities. The funding round underscores the growing interest of traditional financial firms in blockchain technology and its potential to revolutionize the financial industry.
Have a great week!
The SPIRIT Blockchain Team
