Welcome to this week’s cryptocurrency market update. If last week was about the FOMC holding rates at 3.5%-3.75% under new Chair Kevin Warsh, $122M in crypto liquidations, and Morgan Stanley filing for a staking-enabled Ethereum ETF, this week the market took a far darker turn as macro pain, regulatory upheaval, and a wave of exploits collided.
Bitcoin crashed below $60,000 for the first time since October 2024, hitting $59,023 and triggering nearly $1 billion in liquidations ahead of the largest quarterly options expiry of 2026; Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, announced it would halt EU services from July 1 after withdrawing its MiCA license application in Greece; Cardano’s SecondFi protocol was hit by a $20 million hack that froze 374 wallets and sent 16 million ADA missing; Strategy kept buying Bitcoin while STRC tumbled 7% to near yearly lows and a Rosen Law securities investigation targeted Saylor; and a housing bill carrying a stealth CBDC ban got delayed as crypto regulation battles intensified on both sides of the Atlantic. Let’s get into it.
Top headlines for this week
Below are the major headlines, giving an overview of what happened in the crypto market this week.
Bitcoin breaks $60K as $1B in liquidations pile up before $10B expiry
The biggest market story of the week was Bitcoin’s brutal breakdown below the $60,000 level. On Wednesday, June 25, BTC slid to $59,023 during New York trading hours, its lowest price since October 2024 and more than 53% below its October 2025 all-time high of $126,272.
The crash triggered nearly $1 billion in liquidations within 24 hours, with longs accounting for roughly $780 million of the total wipeout. Around 180,000 traders were liquidated across exchanges.
The selloff was not driven by a single event but by several pressures converging simultaneously. A sharp two-day collapse in global tech and semiconductor stocks pulled risk appetite across asset classes. US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs extended their outflow streak to seven consecutive weeks, with nearly $3 billion in net outflows in June alone, according to Bloomberg data. The stronger-than-expected May PCE inflation reading at 4.1% year-over-year further dampened hopes for Fed rate cuts.
Making matters worse, the crash landed just ahead of a massive $10 billion options expiry on Deribit, the largest quarterly settlement of 2026. Most of the expiring contracts were bullish call options placed when traders expected higher prices. With Bitcoin trading around $59,000-$61,000, those bets were rendered worthless.
Over $1.2 billion in notional open interest sat at the $60,000 strike put options, creating a mechanical selling pressure as market makers hedged their exposure.
The Fear and Greed Index crashed to 12, deep in “extreme fear” territory. For traders, the immediate question is whether the $59,000-$60,000 zone holds as support or whether a decisive break opens the door to $55,000 or lower.
Binance halts EU services after failing to secure MiCA license
The most consequential regulatory story of the week was Binance’s announcement that it would suspend services for European Union residents starting July 1 after failing to obtain authorization under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation. On June 24, Binance withdrew its MiCA license application from Greece’s Hellenic Capital Market Commission, just six days before the hard enforcement deadline.
The decision sent shockwaves through the European crypto market. Users in France, Italy, Poland, Spain, and other EU countries received emails explaining that Binance would halt new spot orders, deposits, sign-ups, and staking products from July 1. Withdrawals will remain active, and Binance stressed that user funds remain safe. But the practical reality is a full service suspension for millions of European users.
The backstory matters. Binance’s Greek application reportedly faced resistance from regulators in multiple countries who raised concerns about the company’s legal history, including its 2023 guilty plea to U.S. anti-money laundering charges and founder Changpeng Zhao’s criminal conviction and four-month prison sentence. Facing a probable rejection, Binance pulled its application rather than taking a formal no.
Coinbase wasted no time capitalizing on Binance’s exit. The U.S. exchange launched its Luxembourg MiCA hub, positioning itself to serve 450 million EU users through a licensed infrastructure. OKX founder Star Xu publicly criticized Binance’s compliance approach, saying compliance cannot simply be purchased. Of more than 3,000 crypto firms previously active in Europe, only around 250 secured full MiCA authorization, a clearance rate of roughly 7%. Binance is the largest name on the wrong side of that filter.
Cardano’s SecondFi hack spirals to $20M as 374 wallets frozen
The biggest DeFi exploit of the week hit the Cardano ecosystem. SecondFi, a Cardano-based lending and yield protocol, halted all services after hack estimates climbed to $20 million. By midweek, the damage picture had worsened: 374 wallets were confirmed affected and 16 million ADA went missing.
The exploit was traced to dual attackers who exploited a flaw in the protocol’s smart contract logic. The SecondFi team managed to freeze 12.9 million ADA, but the remaining funds had already been moved. The incident is the largest hack in Cardano’s history and raises questions about the maturity of DeFi infrastructure on the chain.
In a separate but equally alarming incident, a Cardano investor reported losing 2.3 million ADA from a Ledger hardware wallet without ever signing a transaction. The cause remains under investigation, but the timing, coming in the same week as the SecondFi hack, has rattled confidence in Cardano’s security posture.
Strategy keeps buying BTC while STRC crumbles under legal scrutiny
The Strategy saga deepened this week from multiple directions. On one hand, Saylor’s company bought another 520 BTC despite a 17% deficit on its holdings and mounting questions about STRC dividend obligations. Samson Mow defended the STRC structure, arguing it needs no external support, while Strategy simultaneously boosted its cash reserves.
On the other hand, the pressure on Strategy’s financial engineering intensified. STRC stock tumbled 7% to near yearly lows as Bitcoin’s slump dragged the preferred shares further below their $100 par value. Peter Schiff took aim at Strategy’s discount, arguing that the MSTR discount to net asset value could widen to 40% as MSTR fell to $85.
The most consequential development was the Rosen Law securities investigation targeting Strategy over potential securities law violations related to both MSTR and STRC.
A CryptoQuant report from earlier in the week had recommended Strategy pause Bitcoin purchases and rebuild cash reserves to $2.8 billion, noting that annual dividend obligations had jumped from $300 million at the start of 2026 to approximately $1.2 billion. Strategy’s cash reserves have dropped 38% this year.
The gap between the Bitcoin conviction thesis and the financial reality of maintaining it is widening, and the legal system is starting to pay attention.
Taiko bridge exploited after SGX signing key leak
The Taiko blockchain faced a double-hit security crisis this week. First, the Taiko bridge was exploited for $1.7 million after an SGX signing key was leaked, allowing attackers to forge valid bridge transactions. Then, in a separate disclosure, Taiko confirmed a chain verification breach and urged users to immediately withdraw funds from the bridge.
The SGX key leak is particularly concerning because it targets the trusted execution environment that the bridge relies on for security. Unlike a smart contract bug that can be patched, a compromised signing key means the fundamental trust assumption of the bridge is broken. Until the key is rotated and the bridge architecture is overhauled, the system cannot be considered secure.
Bridge exploits have been a recurring theme throughout 2026, and the Taiko incident reinforces the reality that cross-chain infrastructure remains one of the most dangerous attack surfaces in crypto.
U.S. crypto regulation fights intensify on multiple fronts
The regulatory landscape shifted on several fronts this week. The U.S. House set a July 17 hearing on the CLARITY Act, the most comprehensive attempt to date to define when a crypto asset is a security versus a commodity. The hearing will take place in New York City, signaling that Congress wants Wall Street input on the framework.
In a quieter but potentially more consequential move, an 85-5 housing compromise bill was found to contain a stealth ban on a Federal Reserve CBDC. The provision was buried deep in the legislation and went unnoticed until crypto policy analysts flagged it. President Trump subsequently delayed the housing bill, pushing for the SAVE Act instead.
The CFTC also expanded its regulatory battlefield, suing Kentucky over a 14.25% tax on prediction markets, marking the ninth state in the prediction market regulation war. And on the other side of the legislative aisle, Representative Maxine Waters publicly opposed a DOL plan to allow crypto in 401(k) retirement plans, arguing the risk profile is inappropriate for retirement savings.
The CFTC’s simultaneous moves in opposite directions are worth noting. On one hand, the agency is fighting states over prediction market regulation. On the other, it is considering crypto-style perpetual futures and 24/7 trading for oil markets, essentially importing crypto innovations into traditional commodities. The regulatory stance toward crypto depends entirely on which part of the government you ask.
News you might have missed
- JaredFromSubway MEV bot drained for $15M: The notorious Ethereum MEV bot, which had extracted millions from DeFi users over the years, was itself drained in a $15 million honeypot exploit. Karma arrived on-chain.
- Ethereum Foundation cuts 20% of workforce: The Foundation laid off 54 employees in a major organizational overhaul, deepening the funding crisis narrative that has plagued Ethereum’s core development all year.
- OKX and NYSE parent ICE form joint venture: OKX and Intercontinental Exchange announced a joint venture, arriving exactly one year after OKX’s $504 million guilty plea.
- ATM Token exploit drains $950K: The ATM token suffered its second major exploitation on BNB Chain through PancakeSwap reserve manipulation.
- CZ surpasses Bill Gates on Forbes list: Binance founder Changpeng Zhao surpassed Bill Gates on the Forbes Billionaires List, even as his company was losing its right to operate in Europe.
- Ondo launches 24/7 tokenized stock minting: Ondo Finance introduced industry-first 24/7 minting for tokenized stocks and ETFs, removing the dependency on traditional market hours.
- Circle and Nomura target FX settlements: Circle and Nomura announced a partnership targeting near-instant foreign exchange settlements by 2027, using stablecoin rails for institutional FX.
- CME Direct goes down for 4 hours: The CME Direct outage disrupted futures and crypto trading for four hours, a reminder that even traditional financial infrastructure is not immune to downtime.
- Hut 8 pays $2.35M in investor lawsuit: The Bitcoin miner settled for $2.35 million over misleading claims related to its USBTC merger.
- Hashflare-linked $18.5M in ETH moves after 3.5 years: Dormant Hashflare-linked wallets moved $18.5 million in ETH for the first time in three and a half years.
- Altura winds down $39M vault: Altura shut down its $39 million vault after $8.5 million was pulled in a single day.
- ZachXBT flags AscendEX: The on-chain investigator flagged AscendEX over stuck withdrawals and dangerously thin liquidity.
- Kalshi becomes official FIFA World Cup 2026 partner: The prediction market platform secured FIFA sponsorship, gaining massive mainstream exposure.
- Oxium shuts down on Sei: The Sei-based DEX announced an August 1 shutdown as revenue hit critical lows.
- India’s Parliament to hear RBI on VDAs July 2: India’s Parliament Finance Committee scheduled hearings with the Reserve Bank of India and ICAI on virtual digital assets.
- Binance rolls out new transfer rules for Indian users: Binance introduced new crypto transfer rules for Indian users, adding compliance layers amid ED scrutiny.
- ED’s INR 2,500 crore FEMA probe: India’s Enforcement Directorate opened a massive FEMA investigation into crypto-related foreign exchange violations, creating a regulatory minefield for India’s VDA industry.
Buzz of the Week
The buzz this week belongs to Binance and MiCA, and the implications extend far beyond a single exchange losing access to a single market.
When the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume gets locked out of a 450-million-person economic bloc because it could not pass a regulatory fitness test, it tells you something fundamental about where this industry is heading. MiCA is not a suggestion. It is a hard enforcement framework with real teeth, and the fact that only about 250 out of more than 3,000 previously active crypto firms cleared the bar means the European market just underwent a regulatory purge at a scale the industry has never seen.
The irony is staggering. CZ surpassed Bill Gates on the Forbes Billionaires List the same week his exchange was forced to suspend operations across Europe. Personal wealth and corporate compliance are apparently two very different scorecards, and MiCA does not care about your Forbes ranking.
Coinbase moved fast. Within hours of Binance’s announcement, the Luxembourg MiCA hub was being pitched to 450 million potential users. OKX’s Star Xu publicly attacked Binance’s compliance approach. The competitive dynamics of the exchange market just shifted permanently in favor of licensed players, and that shift will accelerate as displaced Binance users look for alternatives.
But Binance is not the only story that defines this week. Bitcoin’s collapse below $60,000 was the most painful single-day event of 2026 for leveraged traders. Nearly $1 billion wiped out, 180,000 traders liquidated, and the Fear and Greed Index at 12. The mechanics of the crash were textbook: overcrowded longs, a macro trigger from hot PCE data, and a massive options expiry creating mechanical selling pressure from market makers. The result was a cascade that punched through the most watched support level of the year.
What makes the Bitcoin crash and the Binance exit feel connected is the underlying theme. The market is being squeezed from both directions simultaneously. From above, macro conditions are tightening as inflation runs hot, the Fed refuses to cut, and risk assets get repriced. From below, regulatory frameworks are raising the floor for who gets to operate, eliminating marginal players and forcing the remaining ones to spend heavily on compliance. The space in between, where leveraged speculation and loosely regulated exchanges thrived, is shrinking.
Strategy’s week captured this compression perfectly. Saylor bought 520 more BTC while STRC dropped to near yearly lows, MSTR fell to $85, and Rosen Law opened a securities investigation. The gap between the Bitcoin maximalist narrative and the financial reality of maintaining a leveraged Bitcoin treasury in a rate-hiking environment has never been wider. Peter Schiff’s prediction of a 40% NAV discount no longer sounds like trolling. It sounds like a risk scenario worth modeling.
And the SecondFi hack on Cardano was the cherry on top of a brutal week. A $20 million exploit, 374 wallets frozen, 16 million ADA missing, and a separate investor losing 2.3 million ADA from a Ledger wallet without signing anything. The Cardano ecosystem just experienced its worst security week ever, and the timing, right when the broader market is bleeding, amplifies the damage.
What to expect for next week?
Next week has several critical threads converging.
First, July 1 is MiCA enforcement day. Binance’s EU service suspension goes live, and the practical impact on millions of European users will become clear. Watch for user migration patterns: where displaced Binance users move their funds will reshape exchange market share in Europe for the next cycle. Coinbase, Kraken, and OKX are positioned to absorb the flow, but the transition will not be smooth for everyone.
Second, the Bitcoin options expiry aftermath. With $10 billion in contracts settled and leverage flushed, early July will reveal whether the $59,000-$60,000 zone was a temporary flush or the start of a deeper correction. If fresh positioning rebuilds on the long side too quickly, the market is vulnerable to another cascade. If the deleveraging leads to a sustained low-volatility period, it could set the floor for the next move.
Third, India’s Parliament Finance Committee hears the RBI and ICAI on virtual digital assets on July 2. The hearing comes amid the ED’s massive INR 2,500 crore FEMA probe and new Binance transfer rules for Indian users. Any signals toward a comprehensive VDA regulatory framework could reshape the Indian crypto market.
Fourth, the CLARITY Act hearing on July 17 will draw increasing attention as it approaches. The bill represents the most serious attempt to define crypto asset classification in the U.S., and the New York venue guarantees Wall Street’s voice will be heard. Watch for early positioning from both supporters and opponents.
Fifth, the SecondFi fallout on Cardano is far from over. With 16 million ADA still missing and the Ledger incident unresolved, the Cardano community faces a confidence crisis that could accelerate outflows from the ecosystem’s DeFi protocols.
And keep watching Strategy. The Rosen Law investigation is in its early stages, and if the probe expands or other law firms pile in with class action filings, the pressure on MSTR and STRC could intensify regardless of what Bitcoin does. The corporate Bitcoin treasury model is being stress-tested in real time, and the results are not looking comfortable.
Also Read: MiCA’s July 1 Deadline: What It Means for Your Crypto in Europe
