ARP's Crypto Digest

ARP’s Crypto Digest

General Digital Asset Market View:

This week was challenging for Bitcoin ETFs, with a total outflow of nearly $580M, making it the second-worst week on record for ETF flows. 

Fidelity experienced a rollercoaster, commencing with a $3M outflow, surging with a $50M inflow midweek, but ultimately plummeting with outflows totaling $186M. GBTC faced severe setbacks, recording outflows of $40M initially, escalating to a staggering $121M, and continuing with consistent outflows amounting to $155M by the week’s end. Notably, ARK suffered considerable outflows, contributing significantly to the week’s overall negative flow. In contrast, Blackrock’s IBIT ETF managed to buck the trend, maintaining positive inflows throughout the week, with a total of $36M.

More Crypto:

USD-backed stablecoin continues to dominate the crypto market. Nearly 90% of all crypto transactions are executed using USD-backed stablecoins relative to the USD. Their average weekly volume in 2024 was $270bn which is 70 times higher than their EU counterparts.

In contrast, just 1.1% of all transactions are done using Euro-backed stablecoins. However, it is notable that this share has increased from near zero in 2020 and is currently at an all-time high.

Recently, multiple companies, including the Japan-based investment firm Metaplanet and the Nasdaq-listed medical device maker Semler Scientific, have followed in the footsteps of MicroStrategy, Tesla, and The Block by allocating portions of their balance sheets to Bitcoin. 

Notably, Metaplanet has experienced an 85% surge since announcing its Bitcoin investment strategy, while Semler Scientific (SMLR) has seen a rise of approximately 10%. Both companies have outperformed MicroStrategy (MSTR), Square (SQ), and Tesla (TSLA) following their initial purchase disclosures.

What Happened This Week:

• Chiliz announced the Dragon8 hard fork will take place on June 17.

• Fantom Foundation has revealed their second Sonic governance proposal. ($S token airdrops)

• The $ASI token merger has been delayed to next month on July 15.

• President Biden’s campaign is in talks to accept crypto donations through Coinbase Commerce.

• Injective has announced it is integrating with PayPal’s stablecoin PYUSD.

• Ripple has announced Ripple USD (RLUSD), a 1:1 USD-backed stablecoin for the XRP Ledger and Ethereum, launching later this year.

What to Look Out For:

• GnosisDAO is considering investing $20M in the new GnosisVC fund, which aims to raise a total of $40M.

• Cronos proposes burning 50M more $CRO on the POS Chain, totaling 100M $CRO removed from circulation.

• Lido will launch four restaking products targeting $stETH in partnership with symbioticfi and Mellow Finance.

• Ethena Labs will release details on staking pools and $ENA tokenomics update on June 17.

• Spot ETH ETF S-1 forms are expected to approved by July 2nd: Bloomberg ETF Analyst Erich Balchunas.

What we enjoyed reading and listening to:

• BBG analyst expecting ETH ETF on July 2nd — Link

• UNCHAINED: Are Memecoins the Next Evolution of Wall Street Bets? — Link

• Crypto’s Future of Policy, Politics, and the Fight for a Pro-Crypto Government — Link

ARP Digital is regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain as a Category 3 Crypto Asset Service Provider. All communications and services are directed at Professional Clients only, persons other than Professional Clients, such as Retail Clients, are NOT the intended recipients of our communications or services. ARP Digital does not provide investment advice, and nothing herein shall be considered, construed as, or deemed to be, investment advice. Furthermore, nothing herein is intended to be, or shall constitute, an offer or invitation to buy securities or any form of financial instrument or investment product by ARP Digital or any of its related parties or persons.