Cryptocurrency exchange OKX and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, announced that former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo would co-lead a joint venture focused on digital assets.

In a Monday notice, OKX and ICE said Cuomo, who lost his bid to be New York City’s mayor in 2025, would co-chair the joint project between the two companies “focused on building next-generation infrastructure for tokenized and digitally native financial products.” The venture, which the companies said would allow OKX users to “access ICE futures and NYSE tokenized equities markets,” is subject to regulatory approval. 

Cuomo has largely been out of the public eye since his failed 2025 mayoral run, in which he said he intended to make New York City the “global capital for cryptocurrency.” He had the endorsement of the crypto-aligned Innovate NY political action committee (PAC), but lost to Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani, who secured more than 50% of the vote. The former governor began working with OKX in 2023.

The joint venture notice followed a partnership between ICE and OKX announced in March in which the former invested an undisclosed amount in the exchange at a $25 billion valuation. ICE’s ventures into the crypto industry also included a $2 billion investment pledge into prediction markets platform Polymarket.

Related: NYSE owner ICE to launch oil-linked futures with OKX

Since taking office on Jan. 1, Mamdani has not announced any significant policies related to crypto or blockchain. He confirmed in January that he holds no digital assets as New York City mayor.

New York to hold party primaries on Tuesday

On Tuesday, New York, Utah and Maryland will hold primaries to determine candidates for US House of Representatives and Senate seats in the November general election. Cryptocurrency-aligned PACs, including Fairshake, have poured money into advertising and other campaign efforts to support candidates they view as favorable to the digital asset industry.

Magazine: Bitcoin decouples from tech stocks, Ether eyes ‘selling wave’: Market Moves

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Bitcoin is showing signs of stabilization after putting in a new 2026 low around $59,000 and then maintaining a weekly close above $63,000 for three straight weeks. Market observers say this behavior resembles earlier bottom-building phases, where BTC trades within a defined range for weeks before a more sustained trend develops.

That technical picture is being supported by derivatives and spot ETF flow data. Bitcoin futures open interest has dropped 19.5% from its June peak, funding rates have cooled to about 0.02% (from roughly 0.1%), and spot Bitcoin ETF outflows have slowed dramatically—falling to about $540 million over the past two weeks from $5.5 billion in the prior month.

Key takeaways

• Weekly closes above $63,000 have held for three weeks after a 2026 low near $59,000, suggesting range-building rather than immediate breakdown.
• Bitcoin futures open interest fell 19.5% from its early-June peak, indicating reduced leverage and position unwinds.
• Funding rates have cooled sharply, dropping to around 0.02% from about 0.1%, which points to less aggressive long positioning.
• Spot Bitcoin ETF selling pressure has eased, with outflows of roughly $540 million over two weeks compared with $5.5 billion earlier.
• Long-term holder supply metrics indicate maturation, while “sales pressure” has remained inactive for 1,256 consecutive days.

Weekly structure looks like earlier “bottom-building” behavior

According to the technical pattern described in the source analysis, Bitcoin’s recent weekly price action echoes setups that have appeared multiple times since 2023. The general theme in those periods: after a local bottom is put in place, BTC often trades near that zone for an extended stretch, and only later transitions into a clearer uptrend.

The article notes one notable exception in November 2025, when Bitcoin spent roughly 10 weeks moving sideways above $88,000 before falling back toward the $60,000 area. In contrast to that breakdown scenario, the current setup is characterized by repeated weekly closes above $63,000, which keeps price from testing—at least for now—the recent low near $59,000.

The comparison also draws on the late-2022 to early-2023 period. During that timeframe, the weekly relative strength index (RSI) moved through oversold conditions, then recovered. BTC later printed a lower low while RSI formed a higher low, creating a bullish divergence. The source frames that divergence as a turning point that preceded Bitcoin’s broader 2023 uptrend.

In the present case, the focus is again on the $63,000 region, where the same analyst argument is that a positive RSI divergence is forming. If this holds, the implication is not that the market has confirmed a full reversal yet, but that BTC may be building a base—trading between support and resistance rather than accelerating lower.

Derivatives cooling suggests leverage is being removed, not added

Beyond price charts, the derivatives data points to a market that is less crowded than it was in early June. Funding rates across exchanges have fallen to around 0.02% from roughly 0.1% at the start of June, a move that typically signals that the market is paying less to maintain leveraged long exposure.

The source attributes additional context to CryptoQuant analyst Woominkyuu, who noted that total Bitcoin open interest across exchanges peaked at $25.96 billion on June 1 and dropped to $20.89 billion by June 21. That represents a 19.5% decline in open interest, which the analysis says exceeded the 11.4% price drop over the same interval.

This relationship matters because open interest usually reflects how much leverage is embedded in outstanding derivatives positions. When price and open interest both decline, it often suggests that traders are closing positions or being forced out via liquidations—rather than new leveraged positions building up at current levels. In other words, the source argues that signs of excess leverage appear to be fading, and there is limited evidence (based on these metrics alone) of aggressive new short positioning at the current price range.

ETF flow data shows selling pressure has eased

Spot Bitcoin ETF flows provide a separate lens on demand and selling intensity. The source cites SoSoValue data showing about $5.5 billion leaving spot ETFs between May 15 and June 11. Importantly, it then narrows to the most recent period: over the past two weeks, outflows total roughly $540 million, indicating a sharp slowdown in sell pressure.

For market participants, this shift can be significant. ETF outflows are often interpreted as a proxy for broader spot selling, including systematic reallocations by traditional investors. A slowdown doesn’t automatically imply net buying, but it reduces the urgency of persistent spot absorption from the market’s side, which can help prices stabilize—especially when derivatives leverage is also cooling at the same time.

That combination—less leverage in futures alongside easing spot ETF outflows—fits the broader thesis that BTC is not only holding key support, but also losing some of the “forced selling” dynamics that can accelerate drawdowns.

On-chain signals point to supply maturation and absent capitulation

The source also brings in on-chain evidence from Bitcoin research analyst Axel Adler Jr. It states that long-term holder (LTH) realized supply has recently reached 12.42 million BTC, a level associated with supply maturation and coins moving into stronger hands. In practical terms for investors, LTH behavior is often watched as a proxy for whether earlier holders are distributing supply or whether they are holding through volatility.

At the same time, the source highlights that a Bitcoin sales pressure metric has stayed inactive for 1,256 consecutive days—described as the longest stretch on record. While on-chain metrics can never guarantee near-term price direction, the claim here is that extended inactivity in “sales pressure” aligns with the idea that Bitcoin may be stabilizing near a cycle low.

Taken together, the on-chain picture in the article is “mixed but constructive”: supply maturation appears to be progressing while forced selling conditions remain absent. When paired with the cooling derivatives landscape and reduced ETF outflows, the overall message is that BTC may be transitioning from a high-stress selling phase into something closer to consolidation.

Traders and long-term investors will likely watch whether Bitcoin can hold weekly support near $63,000 as futures positioning continues to unwind and spot ETF flows remain subdued. The next signals to monitor are whether open interest stops falling and whether ETF outflows stabilize into a net-neutral or net-positive pattern—changes that would help confirm that a base is actually forming rather than merely delaying the next move.

Digital assets are attempting to decouple from a complex macro environment following a dramatic sequence of central bank shifts, headlined by the Bank of Japan’s historic push to 1.0% interest rates and newly appointed Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s restructured FOMC policy framework.

Traders enter the week balancing an apparent drop in concerns over energy-driven inflation against a stark warning of tighter liquidity in the near-term.

While the official signing of the U.S.-Iran peace treaty provides relief by opening the Strait of Hormuz, it’s also stripped haven assets of their immediate momentum. Instead, capital is reorganizing around a heavy U.S. data cluster, with the market bracing for Thursday’s crucial Core PCE print to evaluate the trajectory of consumer inflation.

With the bitcoin BTC$64,465.85 price stabilizing above major psychological support at $64,000, the macro weight that pressed on digital assets for months may finally be dissipating.

What to Watch

(All times ET)

• Crypto
  • June 22: The U.S. SEC and CFTC open their newly issued joint public comment window targeting data reporting frameworks. The 60-day window invites industry feedback to harmonize and streamline regulatory reporting across swap and digital-asset derivatives markets.
• Macro
  • June 23, 4:00 a.m: Eurozone Flash Manufacturing and Services PMIs for June
  • June 25, 8:30 a.m: U.S. Final Q1 GDP growth annualized est. 1.6% (Prev. 1.6%)
  • June 25, 8:30 a.m: U.S. May Core PCE Price Index YoY est. 3.3% (Prev. 3.3%); MoM est. 0.24% (Prev. 0.2%)
  • June 25, 8:30 a.m: U.S. Initial Jobless Claims for period ending June 20 est. 224K (Prev. 226K)
• Earnings

Token Events

• Governance Votes & Calls
  • Lido DAO is voting on various network matters, including approving the Staking Router v3 architecture, migrating to upgraded community and curated staking modules to support the Ethereum Pectra hard fork, winding down simple DVT clusters, revoking specific multichain bridge endpoints, and appointing a new director for the Lido Labs Foundation. Voting ends June 22.
  • Ssv.network DAO is voting on a proposal to conclude its Incentivized Mainnet Program for validator clusters paying network fees in SSV on June 30. The transition framework offers full rewards for July to any SSV cluster that migrates to an ETH-denominated cluster. Voting ends June 23.
  • Goldfinch DAO is voting on a proposal to begin an orderly wind-down of Goldfinch Prime and transition the protocol into a “maintenance mode” focused solely on managing the recovery and collection of remaining legacy borrower pool payments. Voting ends June 23.
  • GnosisDAO is voting on a “treasury redemption” proposal that allows GNO holders to voluntarily exchange their tokens for a pro-rata distribution of the DAO’s liquid assets at net asset value (NAV), along with a discounted share of capital called by GnosisVC. Voting ends June 26.
• Unlocks
  • June 22: MegaETH Bridge (MEGA) to unlock 2.5% of its circulating supply worth $13.71 million.
    June 23: Toncoin (TON) to unlock 0.72% of its circulating supply worth $59.63 million.
  • June 24: Humanity (H) to unlock 2.93% of its circulating supply worth $52.67 million.
• Token launches

Conferences

The Bank of England officially reversed its controversial proposal to limit how much stablecoin individuals and consumers could hold, bowing to pressure from a U.K. House of Lords committee and the crypto industry.

The central bank said it will abandon its plans to impose a £20,000 ($27,000) holding limit on individuals and a £10 million limit on corporations, in a statement on Monday, Instead, the BOE is pivoting to a macro-level “temporary issuance guardrail,” capping the total circulation of any single systemic stablecoin at £40 billion ($50.6 billion).

The central bank also lowered to 30% the amount of backing assets in central deposits yielding no interest they require issuers of stablecoins, digital currency pegged to fiat, to have. This allows for stablecoin firms permitting companies to allocate up to 70% of their reserves into yield-generating, short-term U.K. government debt (T-bills) with maturities under six months, according to the statement.

While issuers can harvest yield from these T-bills, the BoE is strictly banning companies from paying interest or dividends directly to users for simply holding the stablecoin. However, the bank is explicitly permitting activity-based rewards, such as cash-back tokens or loyalty points linked directly to payment transactions via Web3 apps.

Bank of America has projected three Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes this year, adding to concerns that tighter monetary policy could create fresh pressure for Bitcoin and other risk assets.

According to a Reuters report, Bank of America Global Research now expects the Federal Reserve to raise rates by 25 basis points at its September, October, and December meetings, bringing the policy rate to a range of 4.25%-4.50% by year-end.

The forecast represents a sharp departure from the bank’s earlier expectation that rates would remain unchanged throughout the year. The revised outlook arrives as investors prepare for the release of the U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditures inflation report, the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation.

Economists surveyed ahead of the June 24 release expect headline PCE inflation to rise 0.5% month-over-month in May after a 0.4% increase in April. Annual inflation is expected to accelerate to 4.1% from 3.8%, while core PCE is forecast to increase 0.3% on a monthly basis and 3.4% from a year earlier.

A stronger-than-expected reading could reinforce expectations that policymakers will keep borrowing costs elevated for longer or even tighten policy further.

Wall Street forecasts point to a more hawkish Fed

In explaining its revised outlook, Bank of America said the Federal Reserve appears more focused on inflation risks than previously anticipated.

The bank wrote that the Fed’s June economic projections and comments from Chair Kevin Warsh suggested policymakers were operating with a more hawkish reaction function than earlier estimates indicated.

Another large institution has moved in a similar direction. Per the Reuters report, Deutsche Bank has also adopted a more hawkish outlook, forecasting two quarter-point rate hikes this year in September and December.

The bank additionally outlined a scenario in which policymakers could consider a July increase, while noting that easing energy prices and improving inflation expectations may reduce the need for immediate action.

A separate forecast from BNP Paribas points to additional tightening as well. As previously reported by crypto.news, the French bank expects three rate hikes beginning in December after abandoning its prior assumption that policy would remain unchanged.

BNP Paribas linked its outlook to resilient labor-market conditions, stronger-than-expected employment data, and rising inflation pressures that it partly associates with the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict. The bank also projected the unemployment rate could fall toward 4% by year-end, potentially giving policymakers more room to concentrate on inflation.

Bitcoin traders watch inflation and rate signals

Recent pricing in prediction and futures markets shows investors remain divided on the Fed’s next move.

Data from Kalshi indicates a 22% probability of a rate increase in July, while a pause remains the most likely outcome. Separately, CME FedWatch data shows traders assigning a 51.7% probability to a quarter-point hike at the September meeting.

Market-based expectations also point toward tighter policy. According to LSEG pricing data, traders have priced in approximately 41.2 basis points of additional tightening over the course of the year.

Higher interest rates typically reduce liquidity available for speculative investments while increasing the appeal of yield-bearing assets such as U.S. Treasuries. Because of that relationship, digital assets often face pressure when investors anticipate tighter monetary conditions.

Bitcoin (BTC) has recently traded within the $64,000-$65,000 range despite improving geopolitical sentiment following developments related to the U.S.-Iran situation. With inflation data due this week and major banks raising their forecasts for future rate increases, traders are closely watching whether incoming economic data strengthens the case for additional Fed tightening. 

Crypto-backed political groups have spent at least $7 million on key Democratic primary races as lawmakers continue negotiating the CLARITY Act ahead of an increasingly crowded congressional calendar.

According to reports on recent campaign spending, crypto political action committees have increased their activity ahead of several Democratic primaries while lawmakers continue negotiating the CLARITY Act in Washington.

Among the largest beneficiaries is Maryland State Delegate Adrian Boafo, who is seeking to succeed retiring Congressman Steny Hoyer in Maryland’s 5th Congressional District. Protect Progress, an affiliate of Fairshake, has spent roughly $5.5 million supporting Boafo’s campaign, making him one of the most heavily funded crypto-backed candidates in the current election cycle.

Facing more than 20 Democratic opponents, Boafo currently leads prediction market rankings. His campaign has also secured endorsements from Hoyer, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, and Senator Angela Alsobrooks. Alsobrooks has been involved in discussions surrounding federal digital asset legislation, including both the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act.

Commenting on his policy priorities, Boafo has also positioned himself as a supporter of digital asset and blockchain policy initiatives.

“I’m proud to be a strong advocate for policies that create new economic opportunities for Marylanders in the 5th Congressional District, and digital assets are no exception.”

Crypto PACs increase pressure through campaign spending

Elsewhere on the East Coast, Protect Progress has directed approximately $1.5 million toward the reelection campaign of Representative Ritchie Torres in New York’s 15th Congressional District. Torres has long supported cryptocurrency policy initiatives and helped establish the Congressional Crypto Caucus.

Additional backing has come from Fellowship PAC, which has reportedly spent around $300,000 on advertising supporting Torres ahead of Tuesday’s Democratic primary.

The latest expenditures follow Fairshake’s largest spending effort of the election season. Earlier in the cycle, the crypto-focused political network committed roughly $12 million to Alabama’s Republican Senate primary runoff in support of Representative Barry Moore.

Taken together, the campaigns demonstrate how crypto-funded political organizations are continuing to deploy significant capital in congressional races while federal lawmakers debate the future structure of digital asset regulation.

CLARITY negotiations continue as lawmakers seek support

At the same time, attention in Washington remains fixed on the CLARITY Act, a proposal designed to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets in the U.S.

According to Crypto In America, lawmakers are still working through issues related to committee language, ethics provisions, and safeguards against illicit finance. Several Senate meetings have been scheduled as negotiations continue.

White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt and Senator Bill Hagerty have both expressed optimism that progress can be made before lawmakers leave for the July 4 recess. Industry organizations are also increasing their engagement with policymakers.

This week, the Digital Chamber has organized meetings between member companies and lawmakers in an effort to build support for the legislation. Speaking to Crypto In America, Digital Chamber CEO Cody Carbone said urgency is growing as available legislative time continues to shrink.

Separate comments from Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman suggest that educating lawmakers remains a significant hurdle. As previously reported by crypto.news, Boozman said after a June 18 Senate meeting that many members still do not fully understand the legislation, complicating efforts to build support across the chamber.

Because much of the proposal falls under the Agriculture Committee’s jurisdiction, the panel has become central to ongoing negotiations.

Senate offices continue to work through unresolved sections of the bill as congressional leaders face pressure to settle outstanding issues before lawmakers depart Washington for the August recess.