It’s getting tough for crypto bulls.

Crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs), including ETFs, have fallen out of favor with investors as the U.S. Treasury market signals higher-for-longer interest rates.

Digital asset investment products recorded $1.47 billion in outflows last week, the second consecutive week of redemptions and the third-largest weekly outflow of 2026, according to CoinShares.

Bitcoin BTC$77,159.76 funds led the charge, dropping $1.32 billion in their largest weekly outflow of the year. The 11 U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs alone witnessed an outflow of $1.26 billion last week, following the preceding week’s $1 billion exodus. Investors pulled $223 million from ether (ETH) funds.

Other altcoin ETFs also experienced a material moderation in flows.

“Cumulative outflows over the two weeks now stand at US$2.54bn, suggesting the Iran-related risk-off has deepened and broadened despite continued CLARITY Act progress,” James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, said in a report shared with CoinDesk.

The outflows occurred as bond-market traders ramped up bets that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates higher under new Chairman Kevin Warsh.

Their positioning is evident from the section of the Treasury market curve, identified by the difference between two- and 10-year yields, which grew by over 12 basis points last week.

The two-year yield is more sensitive to interest-rate expectations, so the widening of the spread, driven by a faster rise of the two-year yield, implies expectations of elevated borrowing costs over the near term. Similarly, the gap between five- and 30-year yields also widened, flashing similar expectations.

Elevated interest rates often disincentivize riskier asset classes, especially weighing on emerging technologies like cryptocurrencies and zero-yielding assets like bitcoin.

Taken together, the outflows and yield curve signals paint a bearish picture for risk assets. Investors may be redeploying capital into impending IPOs, especially SpaceX, which could be the biggest ever, and into commodities, which are rallying amid disruptions to oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

Forthcoming U.S. inflation data releases, including the Fed’s preferred gauge, core PCE, due on Thursday, could clarify the market trajectory. Stay alert!

Read more: For analysis of today’s activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today . For a comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”

What’s trending

Today’s signal

The chart shows daily swings in the ratio between the prices in U.S. dollars of bitcoin and gold.

The ratio has been rising since March, indicating BTC outperformance relative to gold, and as of writing, it is holding onto the bullish trendline support. A bounce from here would imply the continuation of the rally.

Conversely, if the support breaks, it signals a resumption of the broader BTC bear market.

European stablecoin issuer StablR has suspended minting and redemption services for its USDR and EURR tokens after a cyberattack left the assets under-collateralized, according to a company statement.

Onchain investigator ZachXBT publicly flagged the exploit over the weekend, posting that two contracts tied to StablR’s USDR and EURR stablecoins appeared compromised.

The Malta-based firm said it detected “irregularities” in its systems after internal alerts triggered an investigation.

StablR froze token operations and asked exchanges to halt trading, deposits and withdrawals for both stablecoins while the company investigates the breach. USDR currently has a $20 million market capitalization, while EURR has a $10 million market cap, according to CoinGecko data.

StablR acknowledged that the circulating supply of USDR and EURR is “currently not fully backed at the 1:1 ratio” as required under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation.

The company said it plans to notify Malta’s financial regulator, the Malta Financial Services Authority, under the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act and MiCA reporting rules. External cybersecurity firms and law enforcement agencies are also involved.

Blockchain security firm GoPlus Security said the attack may have stemmed from a weakness in StablR’s Ethereum multisignature wallet setup.

The minting wallet was configured with a 1-of-3 multisignature threshold, according to GoPlus. Any one of three authorized owners could approve transactions alone.

Researchers say the attackers compromised a single key, added themselves as an administrator and removed the legitimate signers. They then minted roughly 8.35 million USDR and 4.5 million EURR, about $13.5 million in unbacked tokens at peg.

Thin liquidity on decentralized exchanges meant the attackers netted roughly $2.8 million after offloading the freshly minted supply.

StablR’s tokens briefly lost as much as 50% of their peg before starting to recover. USDR is now at $0.994, while EURR is at $0.548, far below the euro’s current value of $1.16.

Chief Executive Officer Gijs op de Weegh said the company is acting “with full transparency” as the investigation continues.

Ether’s (ETH) price printed a “bear pennant” on the daily chart, a technical chart formation associated with strong downward momentum. Could a weakening technical setup and a decline in total value locked signal the continuation of ETH’s correction to $1,800?

Key takeaways:

• Ether is forming a bear pennant on the daily chart, with a potential breakdown to $1,800.
• ETH price may see further losses if Ethereum’s total value locked continues to shrink.

Ether bears eye ETH price “dump” to $1,800

Ether’s 13% drop from its multi-month highs above $2,400 saw it breach a key trend line that has supported the price since early February.

“ETH is going to dump hard soon?” Chain Mind said in a video posted on X, suggesting where ETH/USD might move next after dropping below the ascending trend line.

“This is the crucial moment for ETH,” Chain Mind said, adding that the price was required to reclaim the support level, otherwise a drop to areas below $1,800 was in the cards.  

ETH daily chart. Source: X/Chain Mind

Meanwhile, ETH’s price has formed a bear pennant chart pattern on the daily chart, as shown below.  

A bear pennant pattern is a bearish setup that forms after the price consolidates inside two converging lines following a sharp price drop.

ETH/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The pennant will resolve once the price breaks below the lower trend line at $2,060, opening the way for a drop equal to the previous uptrend’s height. This puts the lower target for ETH/USD at $1,800, down 14% from the current price.

Crypto analyst Alex Marzell said that if Ether’s price dropped below $2,050, it would increase the chances of a move toward the next support zone at $1,800.

Source: Alex Marzell

As Cointelegraph reported, Ether’s downtrend is likely to continue toward $1,750 in the short term if key support levels do not hold.

Ethereum’s total value locked crashes 55%

Ether’s bearish technical outlook overlaps with several other headwinds, such as recent Ethereum Foundation departures, weakening social media sentiment, and declining total value locked (TVL) across its DeFi protocols.

Ethereum’s TVL has now fallen to $116 billion, levels last seen in April 2025. For comparison, the network’s TVL hit an all-time high of $258 billion on Aug. 14, 2025. 

The TVL has therefore more than halved, representing a 55% decline. 

Ethereum total value locked. Source: DefiLlama

Negative TVL growth is more pronounced in Ethereum’s layer-2 (L2) network, led by Ether.fi whose total value locked is down 32% over the last 30 days. 

“There is a sustained TVL decline” across Ethereum’s L2 sector, CryptoRank said in its Telegram note on Monday.

The sharpest corrections are seen in Arbitrum (-63%), zkSync (-64%), and Linea (-98%), “pointing to high liquidity sensitivity to incentive programs and short-term reward mechanics,” the crypto analytics platform said, adding:

“This reinforces the broader picture of capital fragmentation in Ethereum’s rollup ecosystem and undermines the ‘unified liquidity pool’ effect that early L2 development models envisioned.”

Layer-2 networks: TVL decline since October 2025. Source: CryptoRank

Declining TVL signals weakening onchain demand, adding downside pressure on ETH and increasing the risk of further price declines in the near term.

Bitget has launched a regulated tokenization platform called Reality, expanding its push into on-chain access to U.S. financial assets through tokenized stocks and ETFs.

According to a statement shared by Bitget on Tuesday, the new platform will issue “rTokens,” which are blockchain-based representations of publicly traded equities and exchange-traded funds backed 1:1 by real shares held through regulated U.S. broker-dealers.

Solstice Finance’s native $SLX token has already been met with controversy since its launch, as some airdrop participants are not satisfied with the conditions that had to be fulfilled.

$SLX officially launched trading on 25 May on exchanges such as Binance Alpha, Bitget, OKX, Gate.io and MEXC. It had a fully diluted valuation of just under $230 million when it was initially launched, but dropped considerably within a few hours. Market data showed that shortly after launch the token lost over 40% of its value due to a mass sell-off of allocations.

Airdrop Farmers Push Back

The most significant and common complaints were from users who joined Solstice’s rewards program called ‘Flare’ and were hoping for a fully unlocked airdrop. Instead, many found their allotments are subject to vesting periods that require three months or nine months to unlock.

Community members were also upset by the short registration period, with some saying they were not informed and were deprived of allocations. It was reported that only registered wallets would be able to receive Season 1 rewards, whereas unregistered allocations would be lost.

Uneven Distribution Raises Questions

The airdrop distribution appeared biased, leading to criticism from the community. More than 99% of eligible wallets were allocated the lowest reward level, while only a small number of wallets controlled a larger share of distribution.

On-chain watchers attributed some wallets’ ability to sell SLX prior to the completion of public claim windows to selling pressure during the token’s first trading day.

Despite the controversy, Solstice says its token design is geared toward long-term growth of the protocol rather than short-term speculation. The project does not set specific dates for vesting and unlocking; instead these are linked to platform adoption and total value locked on the platform.

Conclusion

Although Solstice attracted attention with significant exchange listings, the troubled airdrop introduction has marred the launch. The backlash highlights the tension between projects seeking to prevent farming abuse and users demanding instant access to rewards. So far, the market appears skeptical about the long-term prospects of $SLX.

Key Takeaways

• Uber submitted an acquisition proposal worth €10 billion (~$11.6B) for Delivery Hero, pricing shares at €33 each.
• Following confirmation of the approach, Delivery Hero shares surged up to 13% during European market hours.
• Uber currently controls a 19.5% ownership position directly, plus 5.6% via derivative instruments.
• The proposal may serve as a strategic move to prevent competitor DoorDash from securing Delivery Hero operations.
• Industry-wide consolidation accelerates as compressed profit margins and diminished venture funding pressure independent operators.

Uber presented a €10 billion acquisition proposal for Delivery Hero this week, pitching €33 per share for the German food delivery platform. The proposed transaction places the enterprise value near $11.6 billion.

The Berlin-headquartered company acknowledged the unsolicited approach following the weekend. Shares climbed as high as 13% to reach €37.85 during morning European sessions, extending the stock’s year-to-date appreciation to approximately two-thirds.

Delivery Hero SE, DHER.DE

Uber’s €33-per-share proposal landed marginally beneath Delivery Hero’s previous Friday closing price of €33.59. By the following Tuesday morning, shares were changing hands around €37.60, indicating market participants anticipate a revised, higher proposal.

Uber has systematically expanded its stake in Delivery Hero throughout recent weeks. The ride-hailing giant currently maintains a 19.5% direct ownership position, supplemented by an additional 5.6% held through derivative financial instruments — establishing it as the company’s predominant shareholder.

Just days earlier, Uber publicly stated it harbored no plans to accumulate 30% or greater of Delivery Hero’s voting shares. The comprehensive takeover proposition represents a dramatic pivot from that previously declared stance.

Strategic Timing Behind Uber’s Bid

Delivery Hero has navigated substantial organizational transformation recently. Co-founder and chief executive Niklas Ostberg revealed his planned exit by March of next year, while the organization initiated a comprehensive strategic assessment in December that encompassed potential transactions for certain business units.

This corporate review, coupled with Prosus divesting portions of its holdings to satisfy European Union regulatory requirements for an unrelated transaction, created opportunities for Uber to methodically increase its ownership stake.

The proposal’s timing also correlates with competitive dynamics. DoorDash has been reportedly exploring opportunities within Delivery Hero’s portfolio. Following its approximately $3.9 billion acquisition of British platform Deliveroo last year, DoorDash expanded its international footprint and appeared positioned for additional acquisitions.

Rapid Industry Consolidation Continues

The global food delivery sector has witnessed a steady reduction in standalone operators over recent years. The pandemic-driven surge in delivery volume has receded, taking with it the abundant venture capital that sustained smaller platforms.

Compressed operating margins combined with investor attention pivoting toward artificial intelligence and alternative sectors have accelerated merger activity. Achieving operational scale has transformed from advantage to necessity.

DoorDash completed its acquisition of Finnish operator Wolt. Delivery Hero absorbed Spain’s Glovo. Prosus purchased Just Eat Takeaway. The transaction pipeline remains active.

Amazon is simultaneously intensifying its presence in this market, rolling out 30-minute delivery services for groceries and everyday items across numerous American metropolitan areas. Competition continues intensifying across the sector.

Delivery Hero indicated it maintains focus on its ongoing strategic evaluation and will communicate additional developments when appropriate.

Aspex Management, a Hong Kong-domiciled investment firm, controls a 14.55% position in Delivery Hero following its purchase from Prosus — positioning it as the second-largest stakeholder after Uber.

Uber had not provided commentary in response to inquiries at publication time.

Bitcoin BTC$77,234.04 traded at $76,600 on Tuesday, down 0.8% since midnight UTC, as Monday’s brief bounce to $77,800 fades. The move leaves the largest cryptocurrency potentially forming another lower high in a bearish structure that has been in place since October, and down 7% over the past two weeks.

The weakness is not reflected in broader financial markets. S&P 500 index futures and Nasdaq 100 futures have gained more than 0.5%, pointing to crypto-specific headwinds rather than macroeconomic and geopolitical pressures.

Ether (ETH) is faring worse. Trading at $2,098, ETH has shed more than 10% over the past two weeks and sits firmly in the middle of the range it carved out between February and April, with no signs of reclaiming lost ground.

The altcoin market is mixed, with notable gains across AI tokens and steep losses for tokens that performed well earlier in the year like zcash (ZEC), which has lost around 7% since midnight.

Derivatives positioning

• Crypto futures market volume has dropped 10% to $130 billion in 24 hours. Notional open interest (OI) is little changed around $126 billion, and 24-hour liquidations have declined 21% to $126 million. This points to a steady, rather boring market environment following the extended U.S. weekend holiday (though crypto is never closed).
• SHIB, LINK, HBAR, NEAR and TRX are major OI gainers of the past 24 hours, while ZEC, XLM and HYPE are losers. The action indicates selective market positioning rather than broad-based capital deployment across the altcoin universe.
• NEAR rose 58% in the week ended May 24 and has since gained an additional 14% to $2.82, a level last seen in November. The rally, likely fueled by a series of upgrades involving dynamic scaling, privacy and quantum defenses, is accompanied by an influx of new money into derivatives. Open interest jumped to a record 309 million tokens from 182 million a week ago.
• NEAR also has the most positive 24-hour cumulative volume delta (CVD) among major tokens, a sign that buyers are setting the price action by trading at market orders rather than passive limit orders. Funding rates are only marginally positive, a sign the market is far from overheated. Together, these signal potential for continued price gains.
• OI for futures in Chainlink’s LINK increased to 42.96 million tokens, the most since Feb. 7. Annualized funding rates of around 8% point to futures trading above the spot price in a bullish sign for the provider of oracle data.
• Bitcoin futures have cooled. OI in BTC has pulled back to 711K BTC from 793k BTC early this month. ETH OI hovers just below record highs near 15 million ETH. BTC and ETH’s 30-day implied volatility indexes continue to slide in a sign of persistent volatility selling and no signs of panic demand for options.
• Still, on Deribit, BTC puts at strikes from $70K to $76K are among the most traded of the past 24 hours. Puts represent a bearish bet, offering protection against price weakness in the underlying asset.

Token talk

• CoinDesk’s Computing Select Index (CPUS) was the top-performing benchmark on Tuesday, rising by 1.9% since midnight UTC and 2.7% over the past 24 hours.
• The CPUS is a basket of AI tokens and chainlink. FET added 4.8% on Tuesday, and RENDER climbed 7.2%.
• The DeFi Select Index (DFX) also outperformed the crypto majors, rising by 1.3%. The gain suggests investors are opting for more speculative bets while waiting for bitcoin and ether to resolve their current trading ranges.
• Privacy tokens weakened across the board as monero (XMR) and dash (DASH) followed zcash (ZEC) lower by around 1.5% apiece.
• CoinMarketCap’s “Altcoin Season” indicator is currently at 35/100, up from last week’s low of 31/100 and below the monthly high of 50/100.