Market Moves: BTC Briefly Below $59K, Strategy Shares Hit New Lows
BTC dropped below $59,000 on OKX overnight, intensifying concern. Strategy's preferred stock STRC sank to an all-time low, while its common stock MSTR fell below $90, pushing its market cap toward $2B. CryptoQuant urged the firm to stop buying Bitcoin and strengthen cash reserves. On CEX gainers, G surged +38.43%, followed by IP (+26.97%), HUMA (+18.12%), APE (+15.99%), ETHFI (+12.5%). Overall market sentiment remains cautious.
Regulatory Landscape: Iran Strait Warning, MiCA Deadline, Kalshi & WSJ Report
Iran's Revolutionary Guard warned that any ship using the Strait of Hormuz without coordination from Tehran would face direct action, adding geopolitical tension. With the EU MiCA deadline just 5 days away, only 231 of over 1,200 pre-application firms have obtained licenses. Kalshi is reportedly raising a new round at a ~$40B valuation, after a $1B round from Sequoia, a16z, Coatue, and Morgan Stanley. CEO Tarek Mansour said an IPO is not before late 2027. Kalshi is entangled in legal disputes with CME, Kentucky, and the CFTC. The Wall Street Journal reported that Iran-linked wallets moved over $3.84B via CoinEx since 2019, and in 2024 CoinEx became the top foreign counterparty for Iran's Nobitex. CoinEx responded that transactions occurred before sanctions and it never cooperated with Iran's government entities, emphasizing compliance and AML efforts.
Institutional & Corporate Moves: Ark Buys, SharpLink Raises $75M, SBI Acquires Bitbank
Ark Invest bought more Coinbase, Circle, Bullish, and Robinhood shares during Thursday's dip. Nasdaq-listed SharpLink raised $75M by selling 10.0134M shares and warrants, using proceeds to accumulate ETH and buy back stock. As of June 16, SharpLink held 875,776 ETH. SBI Group acquired Bitbank for ¥46.7B (~$289M), expecting crypto custody assets to exceed ¥1T (~$6.2B). Memory chip stocks rallied: Micron received price target hikes from Susquehanna (to $2,000), JPMorgan (to $1,540), and D.A. Davidson (to $2,000). SK Hynix plans to list ADRs on Nasdaq on July 10, aiming to raise nearly $30B, potentially unlocking 30% upside. JPMorgan also raised its Kospi target, with a bull case 77% above current levels.
Infrastructure & AI Funding: Several Multi-Million Dollar Rounds
Cloud startup Runpod raised $100M for GPU rental, having rejected multiple acquisition offers. AI agent infrastructure Sail Research closed $80M in seed and Series A led by Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia. Orthogonal raised $4.3M seed led by Pantera Capital, building a discovery, orchestration, and payment layer for AI agents. Neurometric AI raised $4M for its automated token engineering platform. Polymarket-backed Polysights raised $1.5M pre-seed from YZi Labs, Maven11, etc. Animoca Brands strategically invested in stablecoin payment infrastructure AllScale, aiming to deploy stablecoin payments across its 600+ portfolio companies and enable AI agent payments.
Project Updates: Sonic Pauses Minting, Sophon Abandons L2, Taiko Security Fix
Sonic announced it did not mint the scheduled 47.625 million tokens this year and is working to stop supply increases, with only validator rewards still to resolve. Sophon, which raised $70M, shut its own Layer 2 and migrated to Base, pivoting to consumer apps. Maintenance cost $3.4M/year; closing it saves ~$3M. Taiko provided an update on its security incident: no user funds lost, bridge assets were under-collateralized but will be fully topped up before reopening, ensuring 1:1 backing.
Market Views: Multicoin Bullish on HYPE, CryptoQuant Opposes Strategy Buying, Serenity on Robotics Memory
Multicoin argued that HYPE is severely undervalued, as Hyperliquid evolves into an "Everything Exchange" spanning multi-asset and multi-session trading. They forecast HYPE reaching ~$319 by 2028 (400%+ upside from ~$63). Multicoin has been accumulating HYPE since February, calling it one of its largest liquid fund holdings. CryptoQuant reiterated that Strategy should halt Bitcoin purchases and bolster cash. Meanwhile, Serenity highlighted Micron's CEO prediction that humanoid robots will drive a memory demand cycle lasting decades, requiring ~10x memory compared to current L2+ autonomous vehicles, with the wave expected within ten years.
