BitMine Immersion Technologies has continued adding to its Ethereum treasury holdings, purchasing a further 76,881 ETH over the past week despite a broader market slump. The incremental buys come as Ether recently dipped toward the $1,600 area, highlighting how the company is maintaining a steady accumulation strategy rather than waiting for a rebound.

In its latest update, BitMine reported that it now holds 5,620,754 ETH at an average acquisition price of $1,718. At the time of reporting, Ether was trading at $1,843.69, according to CoinMarketCap, placing the portfolio at roughly $10.2 billion in value. However, DropsTab data cited by the company’s update indicates the holdings still carry unrealized losses of nearly $9 billion relative to the average cost basis.

Key takeaways

• BitMine acquired 76,881 ETH in the past week, bringing total holdings to 5,620,754 ETH at an average price of $1,718.
• The treasury position is valued at roughly $10.2 billion at reported prices, but DropsTab data estimates unrealized losses near $9 billion.
• BitMine controls about 4.66% of Ether’s circulating supply, moving closer to its stated goal of owning 5% of the 120.68 million ETH in circulation.
• The company has staked more than 4.1 million ETH, generating ongoing protocol rewards that may help offset price volatility.
• Broader Ethereum headwinds include spot ETF outflows and questions around how layer-2 adoption affects mainnet fee burn and deflationary dynamics.

Steady accumulation in a weak tape

BitMine’s latest purchase extends a pattern of consistent Ether buying throughout the bear market. The company’s update notes that the week’s acquisition period may have included moments when ETH briefly traded below $1,600, according to Cointelegraph’s reference to market conditions during that time.

While the move has helped narrow BitMine’s average cost basis, the scale of its position means the overall portfolio remains exposed to large unrealized drawdowns. Even with Ether above the $1,700 average reported cost, DropsTab’s figures—referenced in the update—suggest losses are still substantial in absolute terms.

From an investor perspective, the key signal isn’t just the size of the buy, but the decision to continue accumulating during downturn conditions. Treasury-style strategies typically aim to reduce timing risk, yet they also require patience as mark-to-market losses can remain significant for extended periods.

Approaching the 5% supply target, with staking underneath

BitMine said its growing holdings bring it closer to a long-stated objective: owning 5% of Ether’s total circulating supply of 120.68 million tokens. Based on its current position, the company controls approximately 4.66% of all ETH.

In parallel with its spot accumulation, BitMine has staked more than 4.1 million ETH. Using the prices cited in the update, that staked amount is worth roughly $8.1 billion. Staking supports the Ethereum network by helping secure consensus and enables the company to receive protocol rewards, creating a recurring source of yield that can continue even when ETH prices weaken.

This matters because treasury models with staking components can partially decouple “yield generation” from “price appreciation.” Even if Ether’s market value declines, staking rewards may provide incremental performance, though they also come with staking-specific risks and lockups inherent to the system.

ETF outflows and their pressure on demand

Ethereum’s challenges this year are not limited to spot market weakness. The downturn has also weighed on spot Ether exchange-traded funds, which recorded four consecutive days of net outflows last week. CoinShares-style performance measures can vary by provider, but the article’s figures point to persistent selling pressure, including days where net outflows exceeded $60 million.

BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) remains the largest US-listed ETH ETF. According to the update referencing SoSoValue, ETHA has net assets of $4.75 billion and holds 2.36% of the crypto’s circulating supply. In practice, continued ETF outflows can reduce incremental, regulated demand at exactly the moment spot liquidity is most sensitive to broader risk appetite.

For market participants, the tension is clear: treasury buyers like BitMine may be absorbing supply, but ETF flows reflect how traditional investors are responding to uncertainty around Ethereum’s longer-term economics and growth trajectory.

Layer-2 adoption and Ethereum’s fee-burn debate

beyond ETF flows, the update highlights structural questions about Ethereum’s future revenue and deflation dynamics. Ethereum’s layer-2 scaling strategy is designed to move more transaction activity off the main chain, improving speed and lowering costs for users.

However, as more activity migrates to layer-2 networks, the Ethereum mainnet captures less transaction-fee revenue. That can also reduce the amount of ETH burned by the protocol, weakening the mechanism that has historically contributed to deflationary pressure.

The result is an ongoing debate: while layer-2s may support overall ecosystem usage and liquidity, they can alter the mainnet’s cash-flow and supply dynamics that investors track. If the majority of activity shifts away from the base layer without a corresponding economic balancing mechanism, long-term holders may need to underwrite Ethereum’s value proposition on factors beyond native fee burn.

Foundation leadership departures add governance uncertainty

In addition to market and protocol-level questions, the update points to internal governance and organizational changes. It states that at least nine senior leaders, researchers, and core contributors have departed the Ethereum Foundation this year, characterizing the wave as one of the largest talent attrition events in its history.

The departures are described as occurring alongside an organizational overhaul and renewed community debate over the foundation’s governance, strategic direction, and role in Ethereum’s long-term development. Even when such moves do not immediately change protocol code, they can influence investor sentiment by affecting expectations around coordination, research priorities, and how quickly contentious issues are resolved.

For readers watching the sector, this is a reminder that Ethereum’s narrative is shaped not only by technical scaling, but also by institutional capacity and how decisions are communicated and managed across the community.

Going forward, the market will likely track whether BitMine’s accumulation and staking yield can continue to offset the portfolio’s unrealized losses, while the broader ecosystem watches ETF flow trends, the pace of layer-2 migration, and any further clarity—or lack thereof—around Ethereum Foundation direction.

Strategy has added 1,587 BTC to its balance sheet, two weeks after its first disclosed Bitcoin sale in years raised questions. 

Michael Saylor said on X that the company bought the coins for about $100 million. Saylor had hinted at the move hours earlier with a short post saying, “Another Orange Star,” a phrase he often uses before Strategy Bitcoin updates.

Saylor wrote, “Strategy has acquired 1,587 BTC for $100 million,” adding that the purchase lifted the firm’s Bitcoin reserve to 846,842 BTC. Strategy also increased its U.S. dollar reserve by another $100 million to $1.1 billion.

Binance Research said April’s DeFi exploits triggered about $13 billion in total value locked outflows, cutting liquidity across on-chain protocols. 

The research arm said the on-chain leverage ratio rose to about 38%, a level last seen in 2021, as TVL fell faster than borrowing.

The move did not come from a clear return in real borrowing demand. Binance Research said “meaningful deleveraging has yet to materialize,” even after a wider crypto market pullback. That means the ratio moved higher because the base of locked capital became smaller. When TVL falls, each dollar of debt weighs more on the system.

Drift and KelpDAO drive April losses

Binance’s May market report said DeFi TVL fell 10.7% month over month to $82.7 billion in April. It also said protocols suffered $635.24 million in exploits during the month, the highest monthly total since the Bybit incident in February 2025. DefiLlama counted 28 hack events during April, which Binance called a record monthly count.

As crypto.news reported, the first 18 days of April already saw more than $606 million stolen across 12 incidents. The two largest attacks were Drift Protocol, at about $285 million, and KelpDAO, at about $292 million. Later, crypto.news reported that the two attacks together represented $577 million in losses and were linked to North Korea’s Lazarus Group.

Those two cases carried most of April’s reported losses. They also showed that DeFi exploit risk no longer comes only from code bugs. Reports tied the attacks to social engineering, compromised systems, governance weaknesses, and bridge infrastructure.

Aave and KelpDAO recovery stay in focus

The KelpDAO incident also spread pressure across connected lending markets. Binance Research said the KelpDAO exploit created about $230 million in bad debt on Aave and cut Aave’s TVL by half. The event showed how one bridge failure can move through DeFi when stolen collateral enters lending markets.

KelpDAO later completed the operational part of its rsETH recovery plan. As previously reported, the protocol sent a final batch of 20,373.7 rsETH to the LayerZero smart contract used for cross-chain transfers. The protocol said minting, redemptions, and reward functions were operating normally again after earlier restart steps.

The recovery steps reduced some direct pressure on KelpDAO users. They did not remove the wider concern around DeFi leverage. Binance Research’s data suggests that the market still carries debt against a smaller pool of locked assets.

Recent exploits show risks remain active

Security incidents continued after April, though reported losses dropped in May. CertiK put May hack losses at $68.3 million, down nearly 90% from April’s roughly $650 million, as reported. Still, DeFi projects kept facing attacks tied to bridges, old contracts, private keys, and operational controls.

Recent cases include Humanity Protocol, Aztec Connect, and Raydium. Humanity Protocol said more than $36 million was stolen after attackers compromised administrative keys linked to its bridge systems. Aztec Connect lost about $2.1 million from an old immutable contract, while Raydium said it would reimburse users after a $1.3 million exploit hit five legacy Solana liquidity pools.

The latest cases keep DeFi security in focus as leverage remains elevated and liquidity remains weaker than before April’s exploit wave. Binance Research’s reading points to a market where TVL has fallen, borrowing has not recovered strongly, and deleveraging remains incomplete.

Bitcoin BTC$65,790.78 briefly traded above $67,000 late Monday before slipping back under $66,000 in a move that is indicative of how cautiously crypto is treating the Iran peace deal that has rallied other markets.

The token changed hands at $65,845 on Tuesday, up 0.3% over 24 hours and 4.8% on the week, per CoinDesk data. It touched a 24-hour high of $67,217 before fading. Ether held up better, rising 2.8% on the day to $1,764 and 5.8% on the week. Solana gained 3.2% to $73, XRP added 3.2% to $1.22 and Hyperliquid’s HYPE led the majors again, up 6.3% to $69.

The macro backdrop turned sharply friendlier on Monday. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance signed an electronic copy of a memorandum of understanding with Iran, and Trump said the Strait of Hormuz, already partially open, will fully reopen on Friday.

Brent crude slipped below $83 a barrel after its biggest drop in more than two weeks. The S&P 500 added 1.7% on Monday and the Nasdaq 100 rose 3.1%.

Yet bitcoin has not moved like an asset pricing in relief.

Grayscale researchers say Anthropic’s abrupt shutdown of access to its latest frontier AI models following a US government directive underscores the risks of centralized control over advanced AI systems. In a Monday note, Grayscale head of research Zach Pandl argued that the episode could accelerate interest in decentralized alternatives such as Bittensor.

According to the report, the US ordered Anthropic to suspend access to its models for foreign nationals on national security grounds. Anthropic then disabled access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all users to comply with the directive, prompting a measurable shift in crypto market attention toward decentralized AI networks.

Key takeaways

• Grayscale’s Zach Pandl links Anthropic’s compliance move to the broader problem of centralized “frontier AI” access being controlled by a small number of entities.
• The US directive focused on foreign nationals, but Anthropic disabled access for all users, which Pandl called a warning sign for access risk.
• Grayscale reports that TAO rose sharply after the cut-off, climbing 30% within 12 hours and reaching a three-week high of $283 on Monday.
• Bittensor is positioned as an alternative network intended to provide AI access through decentralized infrastructure rather than a single lab.
• Industry observers cited by Cointelegraph argue the event sets a precedent for how governments can restrict commercial AI models quickly, potentially without standard procedural safeguards.

US directive prompts a wider shutdown

Cointelegraph reported that on Friday the US government directed Anthropic to suspend access to its AI models for foreign nationals, citing national security concerns. In response, Anthropic disabled access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all users, not just those affected by the foreign-national requirement.

Pandl pointed to the speed and breadth of the change as evidence that centralized frontier AI access can be constrained overnight. He framed the episode as more than a policy dispute: it is a practical demonstration of how quickly access to cutting-edge capabilities can be revoked when decision power sits with a small set of institutions.

Grayscale: centralized control drives demand for decentralized AI

In his Monday note, Pandl said the US order “shows the centralized control of frontier AI technology and drives home the need for decentralized alternatives.” He argued that investors are likely to keep looking for different architectures that don’t rely on one company’s ability to grant or suspend access.

Grayscale expects that demand for decentralized AI—citing Bittensor specifically—will continue to rise as users search for options that are not subject to the same access chokepoints. Pandl linked this to the idea that governments and large AI labs increasingly influence “who can access these tools and under what conditions,” particularly as AI capabilities advance.

To illustrate the market reaction, Grayscale said that in the 12 hours after Anthropic cut access to its latest models, Bittensor’s TAO token climbed 30%. The note also claims TAO reached $283, a three-week high, on Monday—an indicator that traders were actively repricing decentralization narratives in response to the event. (TAO performance and the cited price level were attributed in the source to CoinGecko.)

“Think of it as Bitcoin for AI.”

Pandl described Bittensor as aiming to provide access to AI resources through an open, global, decentralized network—an “alternative vision” meant to reduce reliance on a single provider or centralized permissioning.

Why investors are watching decentralized networks

The debate here is not only technical; it’s about resilience. When a model vendor disables a service, users can lose access regardless of their location, and builders may have less certainty about continuity. Grayscale’s framing suggests that centralized AI deployment increases the probability of sudden disruptions tied to regulatory or security directives.

For market participants, the takeaway is that decentralized AI ecosystems are being evaluated not just on model quality or tooling, but on the structure of access itself. In other words, the episode became a live stress test of how quickly frontier AI access can change—and that test appears to have influenced attention toward networks positioned as alternatives.

However, important uncertainty remains: decentralized networks do not automatically guarantee immunity from regulation or other forms of restriction, and crypto token performance can reflect multiple factors besides the specific access event. Still, the timing described in Grayscale’s note suggests that traders and holders interpret the Anthropic directive as supportive of decentralization narratives.

Industry voices call it a precedent for AI governance

Beyond Grayscale, the source also includes comments from other participants in the AI-and-crypto space. Cointelegraph quoted EdgeRunner AI co-founder Colton Malkerson, who argued that the incident marks a “breaking point” for corporate data independence. He compared centralized AI access to “renting” intelligence from big labs, saying it is worse when access can be canceled and the provider can monitor the user’s activities as a condition of the service.

Tech entrepreneur and author Brett Hurt likewise described the US action as “a precedent,” arguing that if a government can silence a commercial AI model overnight without public hearing, technical disclosure, or an appeals process, then all labs may effectively operate under an unseen constraint.

These viewpoints align with Grayscale’s central message: access to advanced AI is increasingly treated as a policy lever. For crypto-native AI networks, that creates a motivating question for investors and users—whether decentralized systems can offer more continuity when centralized providers face sudden external directives.

Going forward, readers should watch how Anthropic’s compliance approach evolves—particularly whether access remains uniformly disabled—and whether additional policy moves target other frontier model providers. At the same time, market participants will likely continue tracking whether decentralized AI tokens capture sustained inflows, or whether the initial reaction fades as the situation clarifies.

Rate hikes are typically bearish for risk assets like cryptocurrencies, especially from the BOJ, whose long era of ultra-low rates had supported global equity and bond bull markets.

The positive crypto reaction likely stemmed from a key dovish element in the announcement: the BOJ’s decision to pause its bond taper.

As InvestingLive noted, “The bond taper pause from April 2027, fixing monthly JGB purchases at around 2 trillion yen, is the complicating factor: it removes a source of upward yield pressure at the long end and could be read as a concession to government concerns about borrowing costs, raising questions about the BOJ’s operational independence even as it tightens policy rates.”

By pausing the reduction in bond purchases (or steadying the unwind), the BOJ is effectively looking to cap upward pressure in government bond yields. This may help keep long-term borrowing costs in check, supporting financial markets and providing a counterbalance to the tighter short-term policy stance.

Overall, while the headline rate hike was expected, the dovish tilt on bond purchases likely helped soothe markets and fueled the bounce in bitcoin.

Veteran trader Peter Brandt said Bitcoin remains one of the clearest markets for classical chart analysis. 

In a June 15 X post, he wrote, “There are few other markets that so neatly comply to understanding using classical charting principles as Bitcoin.”

Brandt’s weekly BTC chart showed several channels, wedges and consolidation areas across 2023 to 2026. The latest structure looked weaker, with Bitcoin trading near $65,261 and below the 18-week moving average around $71,253.

The chart also showed BTC breaking below a rising channel formed earlier in 2026. The ADX indicator stood near 28.27, pointing to a moderately strong trend. ADX does not show direction, but the break below the channel and moving average suggested stronger downside pressure.

CryptoQuant sees whale selling ease

CryptoQuant shared a different market signal. Its data showed that Bitcoin Inflow Coin Days Destroyed fell from 2.16 million to about 33,000, suggesting that older coins were no longer moving to exchanges at the same pace.

The earlier sell-off was most active in early June, when Bitcoin fell from about $71,300 to $63,800. That phase showed long-held coins moving into exchanges as large holders reduced exposure.