Crypto World
Critical Zcash Vulnerability Revealed by Founder: Key Details and ZEC Outlook (Expert Take)
Zcash’s native cryptocurrency, ZEC, crashed by roughly 45% today, as the market reacted to a notable disclosure from the protocol’s founder, Zooko Wilcox, and other key ecosystem figures.
The post explained that researchers had recently found and patched a critical vulnerability associated with Zcash’s Orchard shielded pool – one that could have allowed an attacker to create unlimited counterfeit ZEC without being detected.
This brought to light one of the most serious kinds of bugs a cryptocurrency could face: one that threatens the integrity of the coin’s supply.
It’s worth noting that the authors said they believe previous exploitation was unlikely; however, they also acknowledged that because of the protocol’s privacy features, there is no cryptographic way to prove today whether or not the bug itself was exploited before it was patched.
What Happened to ZEC on June 5th, 2026?
As seen in the chart below, ZEC experienced a massive crash on June 5th, 2026, losing more than 45% of its value and plummeting from above $600 to around $300 in a matter of hours. The sudden move followed a disclosure from the protocol’s founder, bringing to light a massive vulnerability that may have allowed attackers to mint counterfeit tokens.
Let’s dive a bit deeper.

According to Zooko’s post on Twitter, security researcher Taylor Hornby discovered the vulnerability on May 29th, 2026, while reviewing the protocol’s Orchard circuit. To those unaware, Orchard is one of Zcash’s shielded pools – the part of the protocol that makes private transactions possible.
Hornby had been hired by Shielded Labs back in April 2026 to conduct ongoing security research on the protocol. His job was to look for hidden flaws before malicious hackers could find it.
The discovery came relatively short after Antrophic released its Opus 4.8 AI model on May 28th. In fact, Hornby used this same model as part of a targeted audit of the Orchard circuit. He combined AI-assisted review with traditional security research, and one day later he found the bug and disclosed it to the Zcash Open Development Lab, or ZODL for short.
ZODL then coordinated an emergency response throughout the entire Zcash ecosystem, completing the fix by June 2nd, and thereby closing the window of risk. But that’s not the end of the story, because the bug could have caused damage before it was fixed. Allow me to explain.
Why This Bug Was So Serious
Put in simple terms, the vulnerability could have allowed for someone to create fake ZEC inside Orchard.
Cryptocurrencies usually rely on very strict rules to prevent counterfeiting. A blockchain must absolutely know, at all times, that coins being spent really exist and that no one is secretly creating more than allowed. Zcash has a maximum supply of 21 million ZEC, similar to Bitcoin’s fixed-supply model. If someone is able to create unlimited fake ZEC, that would undermine one of the most basic and fundamental promises of the system itself.
— zooko
ⓩ (@zooko) June 4, 2026
The vulnerability was caused by what the authors described as an “under-constrained” element in the Orchard circuit. Now, a circuit is a mathematical system used to verify that a private Zcash transaction follows the rules without revealing sensitive details. These are the details about the sender, the receiver, and the amount.
“Under-constrained” here means that the circuit did not fully check something it was supposed to be checking. In this case, the flaw enabled the insertion of false inputs into a core cryptographic operation, elliptic curve multiplication, while still making the proof appear valid.
The researcher reportedly built a complete exploit and tested it in a local environment. During that test, the exploit generated virtually unlimited undetectable counterfeit ZEC. The authors admitted that if the same tool had been used on mainnet before the fix, it would have generated counterfeit ZEC directly in the real Zcash wallet.
The Tradeoff for Privacy
The crucial part of this disclosure is not only that the bug existed, but that Zcash’s privacy design makes it impossible to prove whether it was ever exploited before the fix. And it has been here for a while. To be precise – since Orchard was activated in May 2022. So that’s over 4 full years it could have been exploited.
Zcash’s protocol is designed so that shielded transactions do not reveal public details about who sent the funds, who received them, or how much was transferred. That privacy is the whole point of the system. At the same time, though, it makes forensic analysis that much harder.
On a traditional public and transparent blockchain, investigators are able to trace abnormal coin creation or suspicious transaction patterns. In Orchard, the relevant information, which could essentially point to any potential damages, is hidden by design. As a result, the authors concluded that there is no definitive cryptographic way of determining whether counterfeited coins were created before the vulnerability was patched.
It’s important to note that this doesn’t mean that counterfeiting happened – it just means there’s no way to prove it doesn’t.
Authors Think Exploitation Was Unlikely: Here’s Why
Despite the serious nature of the vulnerability, the authors argue that prior exploitation was probably unlikely.
The first reason they outline is that the vulnerability had gone unnoticed for years, despite Zcash’s protocol being reviewed by experienced security engineers and cryptographers. Orchard was activated back in May 2022, as we mentioned above, which means that the bug was there for four years without it being discoverd (or at least not that we know of such discovery).
The second reason is that Hornby was onboarded to specifically search for deep protocol vulnerabilities, and this discovery was not accidental. It was the result of focused security effort using advanced tools and expert judgment.
They also argued that the vulnerability was patched within just a few days after discovery. That said, the authors were very careful in asking the users not to simply trust their judgment, proposing a more formal way of restoring trust.
What’s Next?
First things first, Shielded Labs is working with other Zcash devs on a possible network upgrade that would allow users to reliably verify the integrity of the ZEC supply.
This idea involves creating a new shielded pool and using “turnstile accounting” for coins leaving Orchard. Put simply, this would create a migration path that’s more controlled. Coins could move from the old pool to the new one under rules that are designed to make sure that more ZEC cannot come out than it legitimately went in.
Naturally, this kind of network upgrade wouldn’t take place automatically – it would need community support through the normal government process.
In regards to ZEC’s price action, which is probably one of the things that many users are mostly concerned with, CryptoPotato reached out to leading analytics firm Nansen for an opinion. Commenting on the matter was Nicolai Sondergaard, Research Analyst, who said:
“What markets are reacting to is the part that cannot be fully resolved by the patch. Due to the privacy design of Orchard, there is no cryptographic way to audit whether someone exploited this before the fix. The Zcash team has said exploitation is unlikely, for reasonable reasons, but they have been explicit that they cannot prove it. That is a genuine supply integrity problem. A network upgrade is being proposed that would migrate coins to a new shielded pool with turnstile accounting, allowing independent verification. Until that is live and audited, the honest answer is that current ZEC supply cannot be certified clean.
The price reaction reflects that uncertainty more than the bug itself. A patched vulnerability in a minor privacy coin would ordinarily be a footnote. The -30% move is the market assigning non-trivial probability to the scenario where some counterfeiting did occur and is permanently undetectable without the proposed upgrade.”
Opus 4.8 and Its Role in Discovering this Zcash Vulnerability
One of the most impressive parts of this story is the role of AI-assisted security research.
Taylor Hornby used Anthropic’s Opus 4.8 model as part of the review that led to the discovery.
This doesn’t mean that AI “found the bug on its own.” The disclosure makes it clear that the process involved a very experienced professional, a targeted review, custom tooling, and expert analysis. However, it also shows that AI systems may increasingly become part of high-stakes security work, especially in complex cryptographic systems, where even the smallest mistakes can have disproportionately large consequences.
Shielded Labs said it’s now accelerating this kind of proactive research.
The post Critical Zcash Vulnerability Revealed by Founder: Key Details and ZEC Outlook (Expert Take) appeared first on CryptoPotato.
Crypto World
Yuma Launches Bittensor AI Fund for Institutional Investors
Yuma, a Digital Currency Group-backed investment company, has launched a fund that gives institutional investors diversified exposure to the Bittensor ecosystem, as asset managers expand investment products tied to decentralized AI.
According to a Thursday announcement, the Yuma Total Market Fund provides exposure to Bittensor’s native TAO token and a basket of AI-focused subnets through a single investment vehicle. The strategy is intended to simplify access to the broader Bittensor ecosystem without requiring investors to select individual subnet tokens.
The fund launched with seed capital from an undisclosed anchor investor.
Bittensor is a decentralized network that supports the development of AI infrastructure and applications through specialized subnets spanning areas such as compute, marketplaces and identity. According to Yuma, the network’s 128 subnets represent more than $900 million in combined value. However, data from network tracker Taostats shows a combined subnet value closer to $300 million.

TAO, the native token of the Bittensor ecosystem, has a market capitalization of nearly $2.4 billion. Source: CoinMarketCap
Institutional interest in the Bittensor ecosystem has grown alongside the network’s expanding subnet economy. In April, Grayscale increased TAO’s weighting in its Grayscale Decentralized AI Fund to 43% during the fund’s quarterly rebalance. TAO’s allocation has since fallen to about 20%, with Near Protocol’s NEAR now comprising the fund’s largest holding at roughly 44%.
Asset managers are also seeking to broaden investor access to TAO. Bitwise filed for a TAO Strategy ETF with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in April, while Grayscale submitted an amended registration statement to convert its existing Bittensor Trust into a spot TAO exchange-traded fund that would list on NYSE Arca if approved.

Grayscale Bittensor Trust (TAO) application with the SEC. Source: SEC
Related: Amazon warning triggered US crackdown on Anthropic AI models: Reports
Anthropic restrictions renew focus on decentralized AI
The case for decentralized AI, which distributes AI infrastructure and computing across blockchain-based networks rather than relying on a single provider, gained renewed attention after the US Commerce Department suspended public access to Anthropic’s Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models over national security and export control concerns.
At the time, Grayscale head of research Zach Pandl said the restrictions underscored the risks of relying on centralized AI providers. The government order limiting access to Anthropic’s Fable 5 and Mythos 5 “highlights the risks of centralized control of AI,” Pandl said. “We expect demand for decentralized AI, like Bittensor and its TAO token, to rise as investors seek alternatives.”
The restrictions appear to be easing. The Commerce Department restored access to Mythos 5 on Friday, and Axios reported Saturday that the Trump administration is expected to allow Anthropic to resume public access to Fable 5 as soon as next week.
Magazine: How AI just dramatically sped up the quantum risk for Bitcoin
Crypto World
Why a selloff in gold and silver is dragging bitcoin down
The ongoing artificial intelligence stock frenzy has pulled in capital from across the market, from traditional metals, considered the safest assets, to crypto, considered the riskiest.
Gold dropped below $4,000 for the first time since November earlier this week, silver has lost more than half its value from its high, and bitcoin has slipped to nearly $58,000.
The three selloffs are not a coincidence. For much of the past two years, they have been, to a large degree, the same trade, and now the same forces are unwinding it.
That trade even has a name, the “debasement” trade. It is the bet that heavy government spending and rising national debt will slowly erode the value of paper money, which pushes investors toward scarce assets that no government can print more of.
Gold and silver are the oldest versions of that bet, while bitcoin, with a supply capped at 21 million coins, got marketed as the digital version. Through 2025, as the dollar looked vulnerable, money poured into all three, and they were treated as one basket.
Crypto World
Sony Deletes 500+ Purchased Movies From PlayStation, Reigniting Blockchain Debate
Sony Interactive Entertainment is removing 551 purchased films from UK PlayStation Store accounts on September 1, 2026, citing content licensing agreements with StudioCanal.
The affected library spans decades of cinema, from Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Rambo: First Blood to Bridget Jones’ Diary, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Paddington. Customers who paid for those titles will lose access regardless of their purchase history.
When a Purchase is Not Ownership
Sony published a formal legal notice confirming the removal, attributing it to the expiration of its licensing agreement with StudioCanal. The notice offered no refunds or alternative compensation for affected buyers.
The situation exposes a structural reality most consumers overlook at checkout. A digital “purchase” on any platform-controlled storefront functions more like a temporary license than outright ownership.
Therefore, Sony and StudioCanal can modify or terminate that license, and the buyer absorbs the loss.
With 551 titles set for deletion, this is one of the largest single-event disappearances of purchased digital content in recent memory.
PlayStation Digital Ownership and the Gaming Parallel
The concern is not limited to films. When GTA 6 pre-orders opened this week, Rockstar confirmed that physical retail editions would include only a digital download code, with no disc.
For buyers who assumed a boxed copy meant a physical artifact they owned outright, that detail reinforced a growing unease. The GTA launch also sent shockwaves through crypto markets that same day, highlighting how far the digital ownership question now extends across gaming and finance.
Together, the two events make the same point. Across entertainment and gaming, consumers are paying for access, not ownership.
The Web3 Argument Gets Louder
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) were built to address exactly this problem by creating on-chain, portable title deeds that no single platform can revoke. If StudioCanal had issued film rights as NFTs, Sony could not have overridden them.
Those tokens would remain in the buyer’s wallet, transferable and verifiable, independent of any licensing dispute between corporations.
That argument is gaining fresh credibility. Earlier this year, market observers noted a shift in the NFT sector away from speculation toward tangible utility, with digital ownership emerging as the strongest long-term use case.
Meanwhile, Worldcoin’s biometric identity push brought parallel questions about who controls proof-of-ownership in digital spaces into mainstream debate. Across the broader GameFi sector, 2026 has already seen renewed investor appetite for blockchain-backed digital economies.
The PlayStation film deletions may appear to be a routine licensing dispute on paper.
However, they crystallize a question that streaming, gaming, and digital media platforms have not resolved: when a platform changes its terms, what does a consumer actually own?
For blockchain advocates, Sony just provided the most mainstream illustration yet.
The post Sony Deletes 500+ Purchased Movies From PlayStation, Reigniting Blockchain Debate appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Crypto World
Billionaire Grantham Uses Extreme Words to Describe Bitcoin
Jeremy Grantham, the GMO co-founder who called both the 2000 dot-com crash and the 2008 housing collapse, branded Bitcoin (BTC) “a useless, speculative mechanism” and predicted it would dwindle over the next few decades.
The veteran strategist built his critique around three failures he sees in crypto. Bitcoin pays no yield, holds no stable value, and fails as a usable currency in daily life, he argued.
Proof of Work, Proof of Nothing
Grantham singled out Bitcoin’s proof-of-work design for particular scorn. The energy burned to validate transactions, he argued, generates no economic benefit for society.
“Proof of unnecessary work shouldn’t be worth a bucket of warm spit, and it will not be.”
Bitcoin Falls Short as Money and Store of Value
Beyond the mining critique, he said Bitcoin does not work as a practical currency. Regular users do not accept it at the supermarket, and serious investors do not settle large transactions with it. Without a functioning transaction layer, the asset cannot claim monetary legitimacy, he added.
He also dismissed Bitcoin as a store of value. Unlike equities, it pays no dividend and generates no cash flow. In his view, that leaves speculators with nothing to anchor a fair price.
A Skeptic With a Record
Grantham’s warnings carry weight because of his track record. He flagged the dot-com bubble before 2000 and warned of the US housing collapse before 2008. His more recent AI bubble stock warning extended that thesis to US equities, where he now sees downside of up to 70%.
However, his timing is not always precise. His 2021 epic-bubble call on US stocks arrived early, as markets climbed before their 2022 correction.
The Bitcoin remarks land as BTC trades near $60,500, down sharply from its late-2025 peak above $126,000. US spot Bitcoin ETF records outflows of $6.35 billion over 30 days through mid-June, reflecting cooling institutional demand.
Earlier, Coinbase CEO’s Bitcoin outlook has also flagged AI infrastructure costs as a variable reshaping crypto capital flows.
Grantham is not alone in his skepticism. Peter Schiff has made similar bearish arguments, contending that Bitcoin holds no intrinsic value.
Whether Bitcoin’s current price holds key support in Q3 2026 will test both camps. Grantham predicted the decline would come gradually, over years or even decades, not all at once.
The post Billionaire Grantham Uses Extreme Words to Describe Bitcoin appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Crypto World
Coinbase and Circle Shares Trail Big Tech as Crypto Selloff Worsens
Stocks tied to digital assets are sliding faster than the broader US market, reinforcing an increasingly visible split between crypto-focused equities and the S&P 500. The latest comparison comes from The Kobeissi Letter, which points to steep drawdowns at major crypto businesses as technology selloffs ripple through risk assets.
According to The Kobeissi Letter, Coinbase and Circle shares are down 69% and 72%, respectively, from their all-time highs. Those declines outpace drops seen in several large technology names—such as Oracle, Salesforce, Netflix and Palantir—each down between 48% and 57% from peak levels, while the S&P 500 has retreated about 3.5% from its recent high.
Key takeaways
- Crypto-related equities are falling much more sharply than the S&P 500, according to The Kobeissi Letter.
- Investor pressure is tied not only to broader risk-off moves, but also to weaker digital asset markets and policy uncertainty in the US.
- Bitcoin’s drop below $60,000 and Ether sliding toward $1,500 have intensified selling across the sector.
- Corporate earnings stress is compounding the downturn, with Coinbase missing Wall Street expectations in its latest quarterly report.
- Despite continued institutional activity, 21Shares says crypto’s four-year market cycle remains a key driver of prices into 2026.
Crypto equities break away from the broader market
The widening gap between crypto-adjacent stocks and the S&P 500 appears tied to a combination of macro pressure and sector-specific risk. The pullback in technology equities reflects growing concerns that rapid advances in artificial intelligence could disrupt existing business models across parts of the sector. Within that environment, crypto businesses face additional headwinds.
Even as semiconductor stocks have managed to hold up better through periods of volatility, crypto-related shares have remained under pressure. The Kobeissi Letter’s comparison suggests the underperformance is not just a beta story tied to general market weakness—it also reflects how quickly public equities react to sentiment around digital asset performance.
Digital asset selling feeds equity declines
Market conditions in crypto have worsened alongside equities. The article notes that Bitcoin fell below $60,000 this week and extended its decline to more than 54% from its October peak. Ether has likewise faced heavy selling, recently dropping to around $1,500—about 69% below last year’s high.
When crypto prices slide, revenue expectations for exchanges, custody providers, and payments platforms can come under pressure, and investors often reprice the sector more aggressively than the general market. That dynamic helps explain why Coinbase and Circle have experienced drawdowns that exceed those of several major technology companies.
Broader digital asset policy is also part of the backdrop. The report points to uneven progress on comprehensive crypto market structure legislation in the United States, a factor that continues to influence how investors value the long-term prospects of crypto businesses.
Earnings disappointment adds another layer
Financial results have not helped. The coverage highlights that Coinbase reported first-quarter results that missed Wall Street expectations. As described in earlier reporting from Cointelegraph, the company’s revenue fell 21% from the prior quarter and it posted a loss of $1.49 per share, compared with analysts’ expectations for earnings of $0.27 per share.
For investors, earnings misses during a period of declining crypto market activity can have outsized impact: they reinforce concerns about transaction-driven revenues and trading volume sensitivity. In short, equity investors appear to be dealing with both the market-level hit from weaker coin prices and company-level pressure from the latest quarterly numbers.
21Shares trims 2026 expectations, but sees institutional progress
While public equities are under strain, institutional participation remains a key part of the crypto narrative. In a midyear outlook, 21Shares lowered its expectations for 2026, arguing that digital asset prices have underperformed relative to underlying fundamentals.
According to the report, institutional adoption is still strengthening—particularly in stablecoins, tokenization, and prediction markets. However, 21Shares emphasizes that the dominant force behind crypto prices continues to be Bitcoin’s four-year cycle.
In the same outlook, 21Shares states that increasing institutional ownership may have moderated Bitcoin’s drawdowns but has not fundamentally changed the asset’s cyclical behavior. The firm also indicated it previously forecast the four-year cycle could become obsolete, but has since walked back that view, saying the cycle is “evolving, but it has not broken yet.”
The argument matters for investors because it frames market volatility as more structural than purely sentiment-driven. If Bitcoin’s cycle remains intact, rallies could be more dependent on timing and macro liquidity than on incremental improvements in on-chain or institutional usage metrics—an outlook that can influence positioning across both crypto assets and crypto equities.
What to watch next
Investors will likely focus on whether crypto price action stabilizes—especially around the $60,000 level for Bitcoin and the $1,500 area for Ether—as well as whether upcoming corporate reports from major crypto platforms show earnings pressure easing or continuing. At the same time, market participants will watch how US legislative progress advances, since regulatory clarity (or its absence) continues to shape valuation assumptions for the sector.
Crypto World
AMLBot Puts Polymarket Phishing Toll at $3.1M Across 11 Wallets, Funds Traced to Ethereum

Blockchain intelligence firm AMLBot has fixed the total stolen in Thursday's Polymarket supply-chain attack at approximately $3.1 million in PUSD, providing the first forensically confirmed on-chain dollar figure and tracing the stolen assets from Polygon to Ethereum. On-chain investigator Specter,… Read the full story at The Defiant
Crypto World
Ethereum (ETH) Below $1.8K: What Does It Mean for Investors
The world’s largest altcoin felt the pain of the overall market weakness over the past week, dropping to just over $1,500 for the first time in well over a year.
The asset remains below key support levels, including $1,800, which holds a particular significance in its long-term potential, according to popular analyst Michaël van de Poppe.
ETH Below $1.8K Means…
The market observer believes ETH sliding below $1,800 is a “massive opportunity” and that day traders should avoid it, as it’s “not really attractive” here. The chart below paints a clear picture, showing that the asset has been in a clear downtrend for months. It peaked at almost $5,000 last summer, but it has plunged by nearly 70% since then to the current $1,600.
However, there’s finally light at the end of the tunnel as the asset is “making a potential strong bullish divergence on many levels that would indicate that ETH is going to follow Bitcoin.”
Perhaps the biggest catalyst for future price gains in the crypto market, especially for tokens like ETH, which some analysts believe would benefit more than BTC, is the CLARITY Act. The bill, expected to be signed into law in the US this year, should increase regulatory clarity on the entire market in the US.
Van de Poppe says ETH is currently following a classic “sell the rumor, buy the news” type of price action. He also named $1,505 and $1,385 as the next levels at which ETH would present a “tremendous buying opportunity” if it gets there. Overall, though, he believes markets are not eager to go down more, and he doubts ETH will drop to those levels.
“I much rather see a clear breakthrough at $1,800 and see these levels as strong opportunities to be accumulating more positions.”

3 in a Row
Ethereum’s native token is just days away from creating history but in a negative manner by ending a third consecutive quarter in the red. Despite its previous bear cycles, it has never done this but it would require nothing short of a miracle to avoid it now. It closed with a 28.28% drop in Q4 2025, another 29.26% decline in Q1 2026, and is down by more than 24% in Q2 as of press time.

With June almost gone, investors have focused on July now. Ted Pillows brought some hope for the bulls, indicating that ETH has historically seen a bounce back in July. This has been particularly true in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2025. ETH has posted notable gains in those July, all of which followed a red June.
The post Ethereum (ETH) Below $1.8K: What Does It Mean for Investors appeared first on CryptoPotato.
Crypto World
Coinbase and Circle Lag Big Tech as Crypto Stock Selloff Widens
A pullback across US technology stocks is spilling into the crypto sector, and the market reaction is revealing a wider split between digital-asset equities and the broader S&P 500. Shares of Coinbase and Circle have fallen far more sharply from their peak levels than many large-cap technology names, underscoring how investors are treating crypto stocks as a higher-beta exposure to both risk sentiment and digital-asset fundamentals.
According to data cited from The Kobeissi Letter, Coinbase shares are down 69% from their all-time high, while Circle is down 72%. Those declines outpace drawdowns in several major technology companies—Oracle, Salesforce, Netflix and Palantir—each down roughly 48% to 57% from their peaks. By comparison, the S&P 500 has retreated about 3.5% from its recent high, suggesting crypto-linked equities are absorbing additional pressure beyond the general market rotation.
Key takeaways
- Crypto-focused stocks are declining much more than the S&P 500, pointing to company- and sector-specific risk on top of broad tech weakness.
- Sentiment has deteriorated alongside digital asset prices, with Bitcoin slipping below $60,000 and Ether falling to around $1,500.
- Operational stress is showing up in earnings: Coinbase reported results that missed expectations, including a quarterly revenue drop and a per-share loss.
- 21Shares says institutional adoption is improving some aspects of the market (notably stablecoins and tokenization), but the firm still sees Bitcoin’s four-year cycle as the key driver of price behavior.
Why crypto equities are moving differently from traditional tech
The immediate backdrop is a broad selloff in technology shares, but the crypto space appears to be reacting with additional intensity. The pressure is being linked to rising uncertainty that advances in artificial intelligence could disrupt existing business models within parts of the technology sector. While semiconductor stocks have generally held up better—despite volatility—crypto-related equities have remained under pressure amid weakness in digital asset markets.
Investors also appear to be weighing the pace of US policy progress on crypto market structure. The article notes uneven advancement toward comprehensive legislation in the United States, which can matter to publicly traded crypto firms that depend on clearer regulatory frameworks and more predictable market access conditions.
Digital asset price weakness adds fuel to equity declines
Market sentiment toward crypto has turned more cautious as Bitcoin and Ether extended their downturns. The report states that Bitcoin fell below $60,000 this week, widening its decline to more than 54% from its October peak. Ether, meanwhile, has faced heavy selling pressure, trading around $1,500—about 69% below last year’s high.
When crypto prices drop, equity investors often reprice more than just revenue expectations. They may also adjust assumptions about liquidity, trading activity, custody demand, and the overall risk appetite for crypto-exposed businesses. In that sense, the equity selloff can be interpreted as a compounding effect: traditional market weakness lowers risk tolerance, while falling token prices directly compress fundamentals for crypto-linked companies.
Coinbase results highlight how financial performance is getting tested
Beyond price action, corporate fundamentals are contributing to the negative tone. The article points to Coinbase’s first-quarter performance, stating that the exchange operator reported results that missed Wall Street expectations. According to the referenced coverage from Cointelegraph, Coinbase’s revenue fell 21% from the previous quarter, and the company posted a loss of $1.49 per share compared with analysts’ expectations for a profit of $0.27 per share.
Those numbers help explain why the stock reaction has been so pronounced during periods of weaker market conditions. In downturns, revenue for crypto platforms can be particularly sensitive to reduced trading volumes and tighter liquidity. Even when institutional participation grows, quarterly results can remain under pressure if broader market activity declines faster than new demand offsets it.
CoinShares data and other industry metrics often emphasize institutional adoption, but equity markets tend to react quickly to near-term earnings signals. In this case, the report suggests Coinbase’s fundamentals are worsening at the same time that the wider digital asset market is selling off.
21Shares trims its 2026 outlook while still tracking the four-year Bitcoin cycle
While crypto equities have been under pressure, at least one prominent asset manager is offering a more structured view of what to watch next. The article highlights a midyear outlook from 21Shares in which the firm reduced its expectations for 2026, arguing that digital asset prices have underperformed relative to the industry’s underlying fundamentals.
In the report, 21Shares says institutional adoption is still strengthening—particularly in areas such as stablecoins, tokenization and prediction markets. However, the firm’s central framework remains unchanged: Bitcoin’s four-year market cycle continues to exert the dominant influence on crypto prices.
21Shares notes that growth in institutional ownership has helped moderate Bitcoin’s drawdowns, but it has not fundamentally altered the cyclical behavior of the asset. The firm explicitly walks back an earlier position that the four-year cycle had become obsolete, stating that “Bitcoin’s cycle is evolving, but it has not broken yet,” as reported in the article.
That distinction matters for investors because it reframes “adoption” as a stabilizing force rather than an immediate cycle-breaker. Stablecoin usage, tokenization activity, and other institutional channels can support the ecosystem even when price trends lag, but if Bitcoin continues to follow its historical rhythm, broader market valuations may still face pressure until the cycle shifts.
What investors should monitor next
With crypto equities currently reflecting both a risk-off tech backdrop and renewed weakness in Bitcoin and Ether, the near-term signal investors will likely seek is whether fundamentals stabilize—particularly around trading volumes and quarterly reporting for major listed platforms. At the same time, 21Shares’ view suggests market participants should keep focusing on Bitcoin’s cycle dynamics even as institutional adoption expands; the question now is whether improved adoption can translate into clearer price recovery during the next phase of the cycle.
Crypto World
What Robinhood’s recent layoffs say about the current state of crypto investments
Robinhood says layoffs aren’t being driven by AI integration
According to a Forbes report published on June 4, 2026, AI has been the top reason cited for tech layoffs during 2026. Robinhood, however, seems to be taking a different tack.
Unlike BitGo, attributing its cuts to AI, Robinhood hasn’t indicated these layoffs were driven by AI adoption. The company’s stated reason is that it’s reducing management layers and streamlining operations to improve efficiency. And at this point, there is no clear evidence that Robinhood is replacing laid-off employees with AI.
That said, AI is likely part of the broader trend affecting how companies think about staffing. Rather than completely replacing employees, AI is often used to make existing teams more productive. Tasks involving research, customer support, coding, analysis and administrative work can frequently be handled faster and with fewer people than in the past.
As for service quality, users should probably expect the core user experience to remain largely unchanged. Functions such as trade execution, portfolio tracking, market data and charting are already highly automated.
The areas to watch are customer support and specialized assistance. AI can handle many routine questions effectively, but more complex issues, such as account restrictions, tax-related questions or crypto transfer problems, still benefit from human expertise.
Crypto World
Anthropic’s Fable 5 AI System Poised for Comeback Following Security Assessment
Key Highlights
- Anthropic may receive clearance to reactivate its Fable 5 AI system following a 15-day suspension
- Final authorization from the Pentagon and NSA remains outstanding before full deployment
- Limited Mythos 5 access was reinstated on Friday by the Commerce Department for select users
- Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent facilitated resolution discussions
- Anthropic and OpenAI are advocating for standardized government evaluation protocols for cutting-edge AI systems
According to a recent Axios report, Anthropic’s Fable 5 AI system may return to operation as soon as next week. The Trump administration is reportedly approaching a final determination to remove restrictions that have disabled the model since June 12.
The system went offline following a U.S. government export control directive that raised national security questions. The interruption disrupted access for numerous developers and enterprises who had integrated the technology into their workflows.
According to Axios sources with knowledge of the deliberations, the restrictions may be removed within the upcoming week. Dialogue between Anthropic representatives and government officials is anticipated to continue throughout the weekend.
However, universal approval hasn’t been achieved yet. Both the Pentagon and the National Security Agency must provide their authorization before the model can be reactivated. Several other government entities have already determined that the system poses no significant security risks for public deployment.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were instrumental in advancing negotiations. In correspondence to Anthropic, Lutnick acknowledged that the company “has worked with the US government to address risks” connected to both AI systems.
Partial Access Restored for Mythos 5
The Commerce Department granted Anthropic permission on Friday to reinstate Mythos 5 access for a select cohort of vetted users. Mythos 5 represents the more sophisticated version of the two systems and has never been released for widespread public consumption.
Both the Fable 5 and Mythos 5 platforms share the same foundational AI architecture. The primary distinction lies in their deployment strategy: Fable 5 targets general public accessibility, whereas Mythos 5 incorporates enhanced protective measures designed to minimize risks such as cyberattacks or biological weapons development.
The Significance of Fable 5 for Development Teams
Prior to its June 12 suspension, Fable 5 had gained substantial traction among software developers due to its superior coding and analytical functions. Payment processing firm Stripe allegedly utilized it to restructure a 50 million-line codebase within a single day—a task that would have required manual engineering efforts exceeding two months.
Following the suspension, automated development processes were interrupted, and certain organizations migrated their operations to alternative AI platforms, including more affordable Chinese-developed models.
The shutdown also occurred amid broader tensions between Anthropic and the Trump administration. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had previously characterized Anthropic as a “Supply-Chain Risk to National Security.” The anticipated reinstatement of Fable 5 signals a transformation in that dynamic.
An administration representative informed Axios that Anthropic “has worked positively with the government.”
Advocacy for Standardized Evaluation Framework
Both Anthropic and OpenAI are urging the Trump administration to establish a formalized assessment framework for advanced AI models prior to their public release. This initiative follows President Trump’s June 2 executive order that introduced voluntary government screening for powerful AI technologies.
OpenAI secured approval on Friday for a restricted preview of GPT-5.6. In an official statement, the organization expressed that it doesn’t believe government access mechanisms “should become the long-term default.”
Anthropic has similarly advocated for an evaluation process that is “transparent, fair, clear, and grounded in technical facts.”
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