24H Hot Coins & Headlines｜Fed Holds Rates Steady as Expected; Bipartisan US Bill Opposes Pardon for SBF (June 18)
- Key Insight: The cryptocurrency market is under broad pressure, with major coins like BTC and ETH experiencing widespread declines, while some small-cap coins and crypto-related stocks have seen notable gains. Concurrently, the Fed's hawkish stance, industry regulatory developments, and infrastructure upgrades have become market focal points, indicating the industry is shifting from narrative-driven to data-verified dynamics.
- Key Factors:
- The top ten coins by CEX trading volume have all fallen in the past 24 hours, with declines ranging from 0.55% to 7.25%, led by UNI and WLD.
- OKX data shows that small-cap coins such as XPL, BIO, and ENA have bucked the trend, surging over 17%, indicating a structural rotation of capital.
- The Fed held interest rates steady, but the dot plot indicates a hawkish leaning, with nine officials expecting at least one rate hike in 2025, potentially prompting a repricing of market rate expectations.
- A bipartisan group of US lawmakers has introduced a bill explicitly opposing any presidential pardon or sentence reduction for FTX founder SBF, reinforcing a signal of regulatory accountability.
- Base is set to launch the Beryl hard fork, introducing the B20 native token standard, reducing the withdrawal confirmation period from 7 days to 5 days, and improving network efficiency.
- a16z crypto points out that the crypto industry has entered the "Show Me era," where the market is paying more attention to real data and product execution rather than visions and whitepapers.
1. Popular CEX Tokens
CEX Top 10 by Trading Volume & 24h Change:
- BTC: -1.92%
- ETH: -2.25%
- SOL: -2.03%
- XRP: -2.53%
- BNB: -0.76%
- WLD: -6.12%
- ZEC: -3.75%
- UNI: -7.25%
- XAUT: -0.55%
- DOGE: -1.57%
24-Hour Top Gainers (Data source: OKX):
- XPL: +17.45%
- BIO: +13.14%
- ENA: +9.89%
- ETHFI: +8.35%
- ZAMA: +7.49%
- XLM: +7%
- ROBO: +7.01%
- ASTER: +6.92%
- ENJ +5.74%
- MEGA: +5.14%
24-Hour Crypto-Equity Top Gainers (Data source: msx.com):
- EBON.M: +23.59%
- PDYN.M: +20.69%
- QNT.M: +15.44%
- EOSE.M: +15.12%
- MNTS.M: +12.67%
- WOLF.M: +12.44%
- MRNA.M : +11.93%
- SIMO.M: +11.61%
- BTGO.M : +11.21%
- MUU.M: +11.06%
2. Top 5 On-Chain Meme Tokens (Data source: GMGN):
- SPACEMOON
- Lobster
- Crab Effect
- Pattern
- Mars
Headlines
Fed Holds Rates Steady as Expected But Takes an Overall Hawkish Stance, Policy Statement Overhauled
The Federal Reserve held the benchmark interest rate steady at 3.50%-3.75% for the fourth consecutive meeting, in line with market expectations.
Nick Timiraos, the so-called "Fed Whisperer," commented on the Fed's decision, stating that the dot plot showed a clear hawkish tilt. Among the 18 officials, 9 project at least one rate hike this year, with 6 of them expecting multiple hikes. In contrast, only one official anticipates a rate cut this year. Furthermore, one participant (presumed to be Fed Chair Kevin Warsh) did not submit a Summary of Economic Projections (SEP).
Meanwhile, the Fed's policy statement underwent a comprehensive revision from start to finish, with the text length markedly shortened. Overall, the communication framework for this meeting has shifted significantly, and market expectations for the interest rate path are likely to be readjusted accordingly.
U.S. Senators Rubén Gallego (Democrat, Arizona) and Cynthia Lummis (Republican, Wyoming) jointly introduced a bipartisan resolution demanding that Congress formally state its opposition to granting FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried any form of presidential pardon, commutation, or other federal clemency under any circumstances. The two lawmakers stated that SBF has completed the trial process in court and should not seek leniency. Gallego called him "unrepentant," while Lummis said he should bear the established responsibility rather than "chase an unpardoned pardon."
Polymarket Celebrates 6th Anniversary, Cumulative Platform Trading Volume Surpasses $88 Billion
Polymarket's founder celebrated the platform's 6th anniversary on June 17th via X, stating, "I am genuinely grateful to be working on something so meaningful to me. It's breathtaking to see the world slowly catch up to this crazy idea called 'information markets.' But we still have a long way to go."
According to Dune data, Polymarket's cumulative trading volume has surpassed $88 billion since its launch six years ago.
Industry Highlights
Fed Chair Warsh: Inflation Remains Well Above 2% Target
Fed Chair Kevin Warsh: Inflation is still well above the 2% target, and persistently high prices are a burden. Recent history should not be a prelude to inflation problems.
Project Highlights
Lighter official updated its protocol buyback data on X, stating that since TGE, it has repurchased over 15 million LIT tokens, representing approximately 6% of the circulating supply.
Base to Activate Beryl Hard Fork Upgrade, Introducing B20 Native Token Standard
According to official news, Base is about to launch the Beryl hard fork upgrade, which introduces the B20 native token standard, shortens the finality confirmation period for single-proof withdrawals from 7 days to 5 days, and upgrades to Reth V2, reducing disk usage by 50% and increasing throughput by 33%.
Beryl will be activated on the Sepolia testnet at 2:00 AM UTC+8 on June 19th and on the mainnet at 2:00 AM UTC+8 on June 26th.
B20 is Base's native token standard, an ERC-20 compatible token implemented via Rust precompiles. It is designed for stablecoin, RWA, and long-tail token issuers, featuring a built-in compliance toolkit including transfer strategies, freezing and clawbacks, role-based access control, memos, and supply caps.
Fundraising
Karta Raises $140 Million in Series A Funding Co-Led by Galaxy Ventures and CIM
Karta announced the completion of a $140 million Series A funding round, co-led by Galaxy Ventures and CIM. Karta is a U.S. credit card product for global travelers, applicable without needing a U.S. Social Security Number.
Stablecoin Payment Infrastructure Trace Finance Secures $32 Million Series A Led by CoinFund
Stablecoin payment infrastructure provider Trace Finance announced the completion of a $32 million Series A funding round, led by CoinFund, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and others. Trace Finance plans to use the funds to expand operations in Latin America and Asia-Pacific and advance additional license applications. The company stated it has processed over $10 billion in institutional cross-border transaction volume to date.
Sharon AI Announces $700 Million Fundraising via Convertible Senior Notes
Sharon AI announced it would raise $700 million through the issuance of convertible senior notes. The funds raised will support the company's computing agreement with Nvidia.
AI Financial Compliance Infrastructure Flagright Raises $12.5 Million in Series A, YC Participates
AI financial compliance infrastructure provider Flagright announced the completion of a $12.5 million Series A funding round, led by Infinity Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator, Sella Direct Ventures, and existing investor Frontline. The funds will be used to drive its expansion in the "Explainable AI Compliance" sector and accelerate its U.S. market presence, strengthening its enterprise-grade standards in financial crime compliance. Flagright stated that financial crime compliance is undergoing a platformization transformation. Banks, payment firms, lending platforms, and brokerages face higher transaction volumes, stricter regulations, and more complex financial crime methods, while traditional compliance systems struggle to meet current demands.
People & Quotes
Kalshi Co-founder & CEO Tarek Mansour said in a FOX interview: "Honestly, when I think about our competitors, Polymarket isn't the one that comes to mind most often. It's other platforms. We are surrounded by a group of competitors."
In a subsequent interview, Tarek primarily mentioned CME and Robinhood. The former helped betting giant FanDuel launch its own prediction market product, while the latter has also launched its built-in prediction market, Rothera. Tarek also mentioned DraftKings, Novig, and Coinbase.
a16z crypto published an article stating that the crypto industry is entering what it calls the 'Show Me' era. Markets and media are no longer accepting projects that rely solely on vision and whitepapers but demand real data and verifiable product delivery. Over the past decade, crypto projects often relied on a 'vision-as-product' logic, gaining market attention through whitepapers, token narratives, and proof-of-concepts. However, with tighter regulation, an increase in negative industry events, and institutional entry, this model is failing. Simultaneously, the accelerated entry of traditional financial institutions into the crypto space is significantly raising the industry bar, including BlackRock's tokenized money market funds, Fidelity's ETF developments, and JPMorgan Chase's progress in on-chain settlement and building its own blockchain network, making 'real product and actual usage' the new standard for competition.
Michael Burry, famous for successfully shorting the U.S. subprime mortgage market, stated that he currently holds neither a long nor a short position in SpaceX. He attributed this not to his fundamental view of the company but to the prohibitively high cost of shorting. Burry wrote that SpaceX is essentially "just a small aerospace firm, a niche telecom operator, a troubled social media company, and a CoreWeave-lite compute service provider," with annual revenue under $20 billion but a market valuation of around $3 trillion. These comments came as SpaceX's stock price continued to rise after its IPO. The company's shares rose 20% on its first day of trading and accumulated gains of over 25% in the following week, pushing its market cap not only past Berkshire Hathaway but into the global top five, trailing only Nvidia, Google, Apple, and Microsoft.
