Cryptocurrency daily summary:
BTC traders warn of risk of pullback as inflation data is released
Trump's guilty verdict sparks political memecoin volatility
Paradigm leads $70 million round for Babylon
Let’s first look at the trading activities of Bitcoin ETFs. According to Farside Investor data, on May 30, Fidelity Bitcoin Spot ETF (FBTC) received an inflow of $119.1 million, Bitwise Bitcoin Spot ETF (BITB) received an inflow of $25.9 million, and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin Spot ETF (ARKB) received an outflow of $99.9 million.
Bitcoin traders warn of pullback risk as U.S. inflation data is about to be released; Dogecoin leads major currencies in decline
As traders closely watch the upcoming U.S. personal consumption expenditures inflation report on Friday, Bitcoin (BTC) prices are at risk of further declines, causing some of the largest cryptocurrencies to fall 5% in 24 hours. Shiba Inucoin (SHIB) and Dogecoin (DOGE) led the market decline, falling about 5% each. In addition, XRP, SOL and BNB also fell 2% each, and the CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index fell 1.6%.
Bitcoin briefly recovered to $70,000 earlier this week but has since been testing support at $67,000. Ethereum (ETH), which was one of the biggest gainers last week on favorable regulatory decisions, has fallen more than 5% since Monday.
“In the most pessimistic scenario, prices could fall back to $60,000. The more optimistic scenario suggests prices will fall to the $65,000 area, where the 50-day moving average is located,” Alex Kuptsikevich, senior market analyst at FxPro, said in a Telegram interview.
March's data was up 2.7% year-on-year, while April's data will be released tomorrow at 12:30 UTC. In addition, on-chain analysis agency Glassnode recorded signs of a revival in Bitcoin buyer interest. Long-term BTC holders (defined as those who have held the asset for more than 155 days) resumed accumulation for the first time since December 2023 after months of selling.
Traditional stock indexes showed signs of weakness ahead of the release of inflation data, which could provide clues on the Federal Reserve's interest rate path. Historically, rising interest rates tend to lead to bearish investor sentiment and asset sell-offs due to tight market liquidity.
Political memecoin fluctuates after jury finds Trump guilty in historic trial
After the trial of former US President Donald Trump ended, political meme coins associated with him experienced wild fluctuations.
A token called FreeTrump ($TRUMP) surged 330% in the past day to trade at $0.019 after a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, according to cryptocurrency price tracker CoinGecko. Additionally, the Jeo Boden (BODEN) token rose 9.2% to $0.3319 in the same period.
However, many Trump-related political meme coins fell in price after Trump was sentenced. MAGA (TRUMP) tokens fell 16.2% in the past day to $11.54, with 580,000 of the tokens held in Trump-related wallets. MAGA VP (MVP) tokens, which suggest a connection with Trump's potential vice presidential candidate, fell 16.5% in the past day to about $0.48.
Overall, Coingecko found that the market capitalization of the PolitiFi memecoin has fallen by 0.1% over the past day to approximately $1.56 billion.
Paradigm leads $70 million round for Bitcoin staking protocol Babylon
Bitcoin staking protocol Babylon has raised $70 million in funding led by venture capital firm Paradigm.
According to a company release, Bullish Capital, Polychain Capital, Hashkey Capital, Mantle, Galaxy, Hack VC, ViaBTC Capital, Amber and HTX Ventures also participated in the round.
Babylon builds infrastructure that allows proof-of-stake systems to obtain staking capital from Bitcoin. The platform uses a modular design and cut-through functionality to enable staking-based systems (such as blockchains, layer 2, DA layers, and oracles) to include Bitcoin as a staking and re-staking asset.
“This funding will accelerate our mission to make Bitcoin the security backbone of PoS systems,” Babylon co-founder David Tse said in the statement. “Our team is committed to advancing the utility of Bitcoin beyond its traditional roles and enhancing the security of the entire blockchain ecosystem.”
As previously reported by The Block, Polychain Capital and Hack VC also co-led an $18 million Series A round in December 2023.
Market Trends
1. BTC: Oscillating around $68,500. BTC's market share has rebounded, indicating that investors may have re-selected BTC in risk-averse operations.
2.ETH: It fell below $3,500, showing some weakness. This may be caused by the flow of funds to BTC or other emerging tokens.
3. A general decline in altcoins: This usually indicates that the market's preference for risky assets has declined, and more funds have flowed to more stable mainstream currencies.
Macroeconomics
The correction of US stocks after hitting a record high may have affected the investment sentiment of the crypto market. The downward revision of GDP growth may make investors more cautious and affect market liquidity.
Market Hotspots
1. DOG, RUNECOIN, ORDI, and SATS in the BTC ecosystem: DOG and RUNECOIN have soared, and DOG’s market value is close to the leader in Inscriptions$ORDI , which shows the market's strong interest in these emerging tokens.
2. AR with AI concept:$AR The official project will issue a new coin, AO. AR can be used to replace AO, and AO will be transformed into an AI public chain. This shows the market's high expectations for the combination of AI technology and blockchain. The issuance of new coins usually drives up the price of existing tokens because investors hope to gain a favorable position in new projects.
3.Ton Ecological Meme Coin NOT:$NOT The price of Meme token has risen sharply, with a rise of nearly 200% in the past week. As the official Meme token issued by Ton, it will be used for gas fees in Ton wallets in the future and become a payment medium for other mini-games in the Ton ecosystem. This rise may be due to its actual application scenarios and future potential, which attracted a lot of investment.
4. Cross-chain bridge STG: STG surged, with an intraday amplitude exceeding 100%. Listing on the Korean exchange may bring an influx of large amounts of new funds, which will take longer to wash out old coins and have a significant effect. Cross-chain bridge projects generally receive attention because they solve interoperability issues between different blockchains.
5. Bankruptcy concept tokens LUNA, USTC: LUNA and USTC rose sharply. There are market rumors that Luna founder DK is about to settle with the US SEC, which may be regarded as good news. The rise of bankruptcy concept tokens is usually driven by market sentiment and speculation.
Summary and Outlook
Recent market performance shows investors' strong interest in emerging tokens and specific ecosystems, while also reflecting a cautious attitude toward macroeconomic uncertainty. Focusing on the trend changes of BTC and ETH, as well as the market performance of emerging tokens, may provide important reference for investment decisions.
Macro: Inflation test is imminent, US stocks closed lower, Asian stocks rose
U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday, with the Nasdaq down more than 1%
On Thursday, May 30, Reuters reported that U.S. stocks closed lower, with the Nasdaq falling more than 1%, as technology stocks led the decline due to Salesforce's disappointing earnings forecast. Data released on Thursday showed that U.S. economic growth in the first quarter was lower than expected and consumer spending was revised down, putting pressure on U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar.
The major indices performed as follows: The Dow fell 0.9%, the S&P 500 fell 0.6%, and the Nasdaq fell 1.1%.
The Commerce Department report showed the U.S. economy grew less quickly than expected in the first quarter, ahead of Friday’s personal consumption expenditures report for April, as consumer and equipment spending were revised down and a key inflation measure also edged down.
Fed policymakers expect inflation to fall this year despite a strong labor market, so they are in no rush to cut the policy rate from the 5.25% to 5.5% range it has maintained since July last year.
The CME Group's FedWatch tool showed that U.S. Treasury yields fell after the data was released, while the probability of a rate cut of at least 25 basis points in September rose to 50.4% from 48.7% before the data was released. Bond yields hit multi-week highs earlier this week.
Shares of former President Donald Trump's media conglomerate fell 6.5% Thursday after a New York jury convicted him of falsifying documents to cover up hush money payments to a porn star before the 2016 election. Shares of Trump's majority-owned Truth Social parent company were trading at $48.44 after the bell, down from a closing price of $51.12 in regular trading Thursday, giving the company a valuation of $9 billion.
Asian stocks rise, dollar wobbles as inflation test looms
Asian stocks rose on Friday, on track for a fourth straight month of gains, while the dollar slipped and the yen held steady as investors awaited inflation data from Europe and the United States that could determine the path of global interest rates.
MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares fell 1.2%. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.20%, flat for the month. China's blue-chip index rose 0.23%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.3%.
This week will see the release of China’s official purchasing managers’ index report for May, a slew of key economic indicators from Japan, including retail sales, industrial production and Tokyo inflation, and first-quarter gross domestic product from India and Taiwan. The Chinese purchasing managers’ index (PMI) is expected to show manufacturing activity in May grew at a similar pace to the previous month, when it barely held on to expansion, highlighting the fragility of the recovery in the world’s second-largest economy.
In addition, traders are wary of signs of intervention from Tokyo as the yen nears levels that were suspected of triggering intervention in late April and earlier this month. The yen last traded at 156.74 per dollar, having hit a four-week low of 157.715 on Wednesday. On April 29, the yen fell to a 34-year low of 160.245 per dollar, triggering at least two rounds of suspected intervention.
In commodities, an unexpected increase in U.S. gasoline inventories weighed on the market, with oil prices falling. Brent crude futures fell 0.31% to $81.61 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures fell 0.36% to $77.63 a barrel.
Gold prices rose 0.12% to $2,345.93 and were on track for a gain of more than 2% in May.
