The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority has proposed allowing authorized investment funds to allocate up to 10% of their assets to crypto exchange-traded notes, while keeping direct cryptocurrency ownership off limits.

According to the FCA’s 52nd quarterly consultation paper, the proposal would permit UCITS schemes and most non-UCITS retail funds to hold crypto ETNs, provided exposure remains within a 10% limit of total scheme assets.

The regulator has opened a five-week consultation period, with feedback due by July 13.

By setting a specific cap, the FCA said it intends to prevent authorized funds from taking crypto exposure large enough to alter their regulatory classification. The watchdog stated that higher allocations could push products into the category of restricted mass-market investments, creating additional requirements for funds marketed to retail investors.

Portfolio managers would also need to demonstrate that any crypto ETN holdings match a fund’s investment objectives and risk profile. The FCA added that crypto exposure exceeding a genuinely minimal level must be disclosed as a material part of the fund’s strategy.

Access expands through regulated products

Under the proposal, authorized funds would be allowed to invest in crypto ETNs listed on recognized UK exchanges as well as qualifying markets in the European Union and other jurisdictions that meet existing eligibility standards.

While the FCA is prepared to permit exposure through exchange-traded products, its position on direct cryptocurrency holdings remains unchanged.

The regulator said it is not currently considering allowing authorized funds to own crypto assets directly and will revisit the issue only after assessing the impact of the UK’s incoming crypto asset regulatory framework and client asset protection rules.

Not every investment vehicle would qualify under the proposed rules. Qualified investor schemes serving professional clients and sophisticated investors would face no allocation cap, while long-term asset funds and non-UCITS retail schemes structured as alternative investment funds would remain excluded from holding crypto ETNs.

Commenting on the proposal, Jon Allen, head of innovation and operations at the Investment Association, welcomed the FCA’s decision to permit crypto exposure through regulated ETNs.

“We welcome this sensible and pragmatic step from the FCA to allow funds to access crypto exposure through regulated ETNs as it supports innovation within a well-understood framework.”

Similar products are already available to investment funds in several European markets, including Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

Industry participants have been pressing for clarity on the issue since last year. During consultations on retail access to crypto ETNs, fund managers, depositaries, and ETN operators raised concerns that individual investors could gain exposure while many regulated funds remained effectively unable to do so.

UK crypto ETN market continues to develop

The consultation follows several regulatory changes that have gradually reopened the UK’s crypto ETN market. The FCA lifted its long-standing retail restriction on crypto ETNs in 2025, allowing individual investors to access the products after a four-year ban.

Within days of that decision, issuers including 21Shares, Bitwise, WisdomTree, and BlackRock listed physically backed Bitcoin and Ether ETNs on the London Stock Exchange.

Additional access arrived in April when fintech firm Stratiphy launched crypto ETNs through Innovative Finance ISAs, creating a tax-efficient route for investors after rule changes restricted new purchases through standard stocks-and-shares ISAs. As crypto.news reported earlier, the platform introduced ETNs issued by 21Shares covering Bitcoin, Ether, and a combined Bitcoin-gold product.

Crypto ETNs are also available through platforms including Interactive Investor, Freetrade, and Revolut, although those services do not currently offer Innovative Finance ISA access. Investments held through IF ISAs also fall outside the protection of the UK’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

Bitmine (BMNR), the largest Ethereum treasury company, ramped up its purchases of ether (ETH) last week, making its largest weekly purchase in 2026 as crypto prices tanked.

The firm bought 126,971 ETH over the past week, worth roughly $214 million at current prices, Bitmine said on Monday, compared to 26,497 tokens the previous week and nearly 120,000 ETH the week before.

The purchase lifted the firm’s total holdings to 5.54 million ETH, worth some $9.3 billion at current prices, according to the report. The firm also held $247 million in cash, some bitcoin and stakes in Beast Industries and Eightco Holdings.

The acquisition marks a reversal from the company’s previous call to slow down accumulation as it nears its goal to corner 5% of ether’s outstanding supply. The company now holds 4.59% of the token’s supply and is set to reach the 5% goal later this year.

“We increased our buying as we believe this pullback in ETH prices does not reflect the strengthening of Ethereum fundamentals,” Bitmine chairman Thomas Lee said in a statement.

Bitmine has remained one of the few large digital asset treasury firms still actively adding to its crypto holdings, while most peers have halted purchases and pivoted to sell as crypto prices turned sharply lower since October. That bet is sitting on an estimated $9.6 billion of paper losses as ETH fell to its weakest price in more than a year, down some 65% from its August record.

The firm also unveiled plans to issue a preferred equity class that pays dividends to raise more funds, taking a page from bitcoin-centric Strategy’s playbook.

That model, however, has come under investor scrutiny. Investors are now debating whether Strategy will be able to comfortably pay its dividend obligations or shore up liquidity as bitcoin prices fell sharply last week. STRC, the firm’s latest preferred share class, fell to $90 Friday, some 10% below its par value, underscoring those worries.

Bybit is joining a growing list of crypto exchange platforms allowing eligible users to subscribe to tokenized shares in US initial public offerings at the offering price, beginning with a SpaceX listing through the xStocks framework.

Kraken parent Payward Services’ xStocks framework aggregates investor demand across partner platforms and works with underwriting syndicates to secure IPO allocations before tokenizing the shares.

Eligible users can register interest and submit subscription requests for tokenized IPO shares through Bybit, with allocations distributed on a pro-rata basis and unused funds refunded if demand exceeds available shares. SpaceX will be the first offering, with tokenized shares scheduled to begin trading on Bybit’s spot market on June 12.

On listing day, allocated shares are tokenized and backed 1:1 by underlying equity held in regulated broker-dealer custody, according to Bybit.

According to RWA.xyz data, xStocks is the second-largest tokenized stock platform by value, with roughly $415 million in tokenized equities and a 28% share of the market.

Source: RWA.xyz

Kraken on Friday named SpaceX as the inaugural offering for the platform’s xStocks IPO Access product, which is available in more than 110 markets but excludes users in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom due to regulatory restrictions.

A day earlier, Coinbase launched a SpaceX pre-IPO market that gives eligible users outside the US exposure to the company’s private-market valuation through perpetual futures contracts.

Source: Bybit

Related: Bybit Pay enters South Africa through MoneyBadger integration

SpaceX targets record-breaking public debut

Founded by Elon Musk in 2002, SpaceX is a private aerospace company best known for its Falcon launch vehicles, Dragon spacecraft and Starlink satellite internet network.

The company filed confidentially for an initial public offering with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in April. The filing came two months after SpaceX acquired Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI, expanding the aerospace company’s presence in the AI sector.

Demand for the offering has reportedly exceeded available shares ahead of SpaceX’s planned June 12 public debut. Bloomberg reported that the company is targeting a valuation of at least $1.8 trillion and a roughly $75 billion raise, which would make it the largest IPO on record.

SpaceX’s May 20 S-1 registration statement also disclosed holdings of 18,712 Bitcoin, enough to place the company among the 10 largest corporate Bitcoin (BTC) holders, ahead of firms including Coinbase and Riot Platforms, according to BitcoinTreasuries data.

Top 15 Bitcoin treasury companies. Source: BitcoinTreasuries.NET

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• Strategy bought 1,550 BTC after a rare 32 BTC sale.
• Bitcoin is stabilising near $63K after a sharp 20% monthly drop.
• Analysts split on whether the $60K support will hold or break lower.

Bitcoin has been moving through a volatile stretch marked by sharp liquidations, uneven recovery attempts, and conflicting signals from both technical indicators and institutional activity.

The latest development is Strategy’s decision to purchase 1,550 BTC worth about $101.3 million shortly after a controversial small sale of 32 BTC.

Strategy’s return to accumulation after a rare Bitcoin sale

According to an SEC filing dated June 8, Strategy’s latest purchase of 1,550 BTC was at an average price of $65,332 per coin.

Notably, this followed a short-term sale of 32 BTC, which generated about $2.5 million and was linked to funding corporate obligations, including preferred-share dividend payments.

The sale drew attention because it marked a rare departure from the company’s long-standing accumulation narrative.

Now with the disclosed purchase, Strategy appears to have quickly resumed buying, increasing its total holdings to roughly 845,000 BTC.

The contrast between the small sale and the much larger purchase has become central to market interpretation.

The Michael Saylor’s company remains the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, and its return to buying after the rare sale has been interpreted by traders as an attempt to reinforce confidence at a time when Bitcoin is still recovering from a sharp drawdown.

Bitcoin stabilises after liquidation-driven crash, but trend remains uncertain

Bitcoin is currently trading around $63,800 after a turbulent week that saw it fall to around $59,300 after failing to hold above $62,00.

Over the past seven days, Bitcoin has declined about 10.9%, while the 30-day drop stands near 20.8%.

At the same time, the market has shown signs of stabilisation after a heavy deleveraging phase.

Open interest in Bitcoin futures has dropped significantly, falling from about 901,000 BTC to roughly 716,000 BTC.

This decline reflects widespread liquidation of leveraged positions rather than sustained new short positioning.

During the same period, Bitcoin briefly rebounded after triggering more than $500 million in short liquidations in a single move.

However, analysts, including Xanrox, have pointed out that the price structure still shows breakdowns from both ascending and descending channels, a technical setup often associated with continued downside risk rather than immediate recovery.

Despite this, Bitcoin has held near the $60,000 region, which is also close to its long-term 200-week moving average.

Historically, this level has acted as a key zone during major market resets, making it a closely watched area for both bulls and bears.

Analysts remain divided on whether the crash has ended

Market interpretation remains split between two major views.

One side argues that the recent move represents a late-stage capitulation event.

This perspective is supported by the sharp drop in leverage, falling volatility, and liquidation-driven selling rather than sustained spot demand weakness.

On the other hand, analysts like Xanrox have warned that the breakdown in trend structure suggests the correction may not be complete.

According to this view, Bitcoin could still revisit lower levels if the $60,000 support zone fails to hold consistently.

Potential downside targets in case of a further decline include $54,000 and $52,000, with more extended bearish projections reaching toward the $48,000 area if macro pressure intensifies and ETF outflows continue.

Yuga Labs-affiliated developers rescued 68 non-fungible tokens from Flooring Protocol after an exploit put NFTs from collections including Bored Apes and CryptoPunks at risk.

Yuga Labs CEO Michael Figge said Monday that the recovered NFTs are now in the company’s custody and will be returned once a solution is finalized.

Yuga’s pseudonymous vice president of blockchain, 0xQuit, said the recovery covered more than $500,000 worth of NFTs.

Source: Michael Figge

Despite the NFT market’s cooldown, some collections still retain high floor prices. CryptoPunks had a floor price of around 32.7 ETH ($54,612), while Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs sat around 9.16 ETH, according to CoinGecko.

Flooring Protocol was already winding down

The incident affected a protocol that had already been winding down parts of its consumer-facing NFT business.

Floor Protocol said in September 2025 that its Web3 consumer services were entering sunset mode and advised FPv2 token holders to redeem their NFTs and exit fractional positions before Oct. 15, 2025.

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Former CEO FreeLunchCapital said the protocol faced liquidity issues and organizational changes that left parts of the NFT division unmanaged.

FreeLunchCapital said they had continued providing liquidity and kept some of their own NFT assets on the platform to help users exit positions, adding that those assets became a primary target during the exploit.

FreeLunchCapital said they are in talks with the parent group behind the management team to regain control of the protocol.

NFT market remains far below peak levels

Despite falling sharply from its peak, the NFT market still represents billions of dollars in value. CoinGecko data showed overall NFT market capitalization climbed to around $2 billion in late April and early May before falling back toward $1.4 billion by Monday.

90-day NFT market capitalization chart. Source: CoinGecko

NFT Price Floor data showed CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club remained the two largest NFT collections by market capitalization.

CryptoPunks had a market capitalization of about 339,400 ETH (about $560 million), while BAYC stood at around 90,590 ETH ($150 million).

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Key Highlights

• Raytheon commits $100M to Portsmouth, Rhode Island site expansion, creating 150 specialized defense technology positions
• Investment focuses on Patriot GEM-T missile component manufacturing and LTAMDS radar system testing capabilities
• RTX stock started trading Monday at $181.26; Jefferies elevated rating to Buy with $220 target price
• Q1 results showed EPS of $1.78, surpassing analyst projections of $1.52, alongside $22.08 billion in revenue
• Company increased quarterly dividend from $0.68 to $0.73 per share

RTX (RTX) subsidiary Raytheon revealed plans Monday to channel $100 million into its Portsmouth, Rhode Island operations. The initiative aims to accelerate missile-defense component manufacturing and enhance testing infrastructure for an advanced radar platform.

RTX Corporation, RTX

RTX stock launched Monday’s session at $181.26, establishing a market valuation of $244.10 billion. The shares trade beneath their 52-week peak of $214.50 while maintaining substantial distance above the yearly floor of $135.43.

The substantial capital injection targets two strategic priorities. The facility will scale up manufacturing of Patriot GEM-T interceptor missile components while simultaneously enhancing test infrastructure for the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS).

LTAMDS represents cutting-edge radar technology engineered to identify and monitor sophisticated threats, including hypersonic weaponry. Raytheon has secured agreements to deliver these systems to the U.S. Army and Polish military forces.

The program recently achieved its ninth successful flight demonstration. That evaluation utilized multiple radar configurations to monitor and facilitate the engagement of a simulated aerial target.

The GEM-T interceptor serves as a fundamental element of the Patriot air and missile defense architecture. Its mission profile encompasses neutralizing aircraft, cruise missiles, and tactical ballistic threats.

The Portsmouth upgrade will generate 150 advanced technology positions. RTX maintains a workforce exceeding 850 employees throughout Rhode Island, where the company has established operations spanning over sixty years.

Wall Street Upgrades and Naval Contracts

The facility expansion represents just one positive development for RTX. Jefferies recently elevated its position on the stock from Hold to Buy, simultaneously raising its valuation target from $210 to $220. The investment firm highlighted enhanced profit margins, robust defense sector performance, and expanding commercial aerospace aftermarket revenues.

Morgan Stanley preserved its Overweight stance while adjusting its target downward from $235 to $220. Deutsche Bank sustained its Buy recommendation with a $240 objective. Analyst consensus averages “Moderate Buy” with a collective price target of $211.38.

RTX additionally secured a $515 million U.S. Navy agreement for SPY-6 radar technology, strengthening its defense electronics portfolio.

Impressive Q1 Performance and Shareholder Returns

RTX delivered first-quarter earnings of $1.78 per share, exceeding Wall Street’s $1.52 projection by $0.26. Quarterly revenue reached $22.08 billion, topping anticipated $21.38 billion and representing 8.7% year-over-year expansion.

Management projected fiscal 2026 EPS between $6.60 and $6.80. The analyst community collectively forecasts $6.91 for the full fiscal year.

RTX enhanced its quarterly distribution to $0.73 from the previous $0.68 per share. Shareholders of record on May 22 received the elevated dividend on June 11.

This Rhode Island development follows a $53 million expansion Raytheon initiated last year at its Andover, Massachusetts radar manufacturing complex.

MetaMask launched a new self-custodial wallet designed for AI agents, allowing autonomous software to trade across decentralized finance while keeping users in control of their funds, the Consensys-owned wallet provider said Monday.

The new MetaMask Agent Wallet gives AI agents access to swaps, perpetual futures, prediction markets and liquidity provisioning across Ethereum-compatible blockchains.

The launch comes as AI agents increasingly emerge as participants in crypto markets, executing trades and managing capital on behalf of users. MetaMask is pitching security as the wallet’s key differentiator.

The product is available through a limited early-access program, with a broader rollout planned in the next few months.

According to the company, every transaction initiated by an agent is automatically subjected to transaction simulation, threat scanning powered and MEV protection before execution. Transactions flagged as malicious will require human approval through two-factor authentication.

MetaMask said transactions deemed safe are covered by its Transaction Protection program, which provides up to $10,000 in protection against losses.

Users can choose between a default “Guard Mode,” which enforces spending limits, protocol allowlists and approval requirements, and an opt-in “Beast Mode” that reduces prompts while still requiring approval for potentially malicious transactions.

“The next great expansion of the onchain economy won’t be driven by humans alone,” Consensys CEO and Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin said in a statement. “Agents will manage real capital and make real financial decisions, and the infrastructure underneath has to be worthy of that.”

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