Bitcoin is down again since our update yesterday.
We are now trading around $63,000, getting close to levels where I start paying attention for longer-term entries. The market still feels shaky though, and honestly, today’s biggest story might be one man:
Kevin Warsh.
The new Federal Reserve chairman held his first FOMC meeting, and crypto traders didn’t get the outcome they hoped for.
Many expected Warsh to cut rates soon after taking office.
Instead, he kept rates unchanged and hinted that the next move could actually be a hike.
That surprised markets.
I’m writing this from Monterrey, Mexico, where tonight it’s Mexico versus South Korea at the World Cup. So if I take a trade, it has to be sized in a way that doesn’t require me staring at charts all evening.
Probably for the best.
Because plenty happened again in crypto.
Binance is facing uncertainty in Europe, strange Polymarket bets continue to go viral, several airdrop claims just went live, and Pudgy Penguins is shutting down one of its games.
Let’s dive in.
Kevin Warsh Holds Rates Steady And Surprises Crypto Markets
The Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged at its latest meeting.
That part wasn’t surprising.
The tone of the meeting was.
This was the first FOMC meeting led by new Fed chairman Kevin Warsh, who many crypto investors believed would push for lower rates and easier monetary policy.
Instead, Warsh signaled that inflation remains the biggest concern.
Consumer prices are currently up 4.2% year-over-year, the highest level in more than three years.
And for the first time in months, the Fed is no longer projecting rate cuts.
In fact, several officials now expect rates to move higher later this year.
That is a major shift.
Just three months ago, the average Fed member expected a small rate cut in 2026. Today, the consensus points toward a quarter-point hike instead.
Warsh himself avoided making predictions.
The new chairman has been skeptical of giving too much forward guidance, preferring to react to incoming data rather than promising future action.
For crypto, this comes as a surprise.
A large part of the community expected Warsh to quickly pivot toward lower rates.
That didn’t happen.
Instead, the Fed is reminding markets that inflation remains public enemy number one.
Higher interest rates generally make risk assets less attractive.
Bitcoin has ignored bad macro news before, but traders will pay close attention to inflation numbers, oil prices and future Fed meetings.
Warsh’s first appearance certainly got everyone’s attention.
Airdrop Updates & Claims
Missing an airdrop hurts.
Missing one because you forgot to claim it hurts even more.
This market moves fast. Projects shut down overnight, bridges close, and eligibility windows disappear before you know it.
If you’re farming, checking your positions regularly is part of the job.
Here are the latest updates.
Swell Is Shutting Down
If you still have funds parked on Swell, move them out now.
The protocol is shutting down and users have until June 23 to bridge assets elsewhere.
Don’t wait until the final day.
I remember parking 100 ETH in their Layer 2, and only getting like a $50 airdrop. Big fail on my end, but my funds have been removed for years now.
SoSoValue Season 2 Claim Is Live
The SoSoValue Season 2 airdrop claim is now live.
If you participated in the campaign, check your wallet and claim before the window closes.
ZERO Network Is Closing
Another chain bites the dust.
ZERO Network announced it will shut down on July 31.
If you still have assets on the network, bridge them out as soon as possible.
Surprise Airdrop For HYPE Holders
Holding at least 0.1 HYPE?
Go check your wallet.
A new memecoin called MAX was just airdropped to HYPE holders.
The token isn’t worth life-changing money right now.
But free money is free money.
Infinex sKAITO Claim Is Live
The sKAITO claim is now available for eligible Infinex users.
If you’ve been active in the ecosystem, check your dashboard.
Huma Finance Season 4 Checker Is Online
The Huma Finance Season 4 eligibility checker is now live.
If you’ve been lending or interacting with the protocol, this is your chance to see whether you qualified.
Be Chain Smart In A Bear Market
Bear markets separate farmers from tourists.
Yields can look attractive.
So can hacker wallets.
Projects shut down. Bridges fail. Entire chains disappear.
That doesn’t mean you stop farming.
It means you become more selective.
Stick to protocols with real users.
Keep larger holdings on hardware wallets.
Don’t leave money parked on chains you stopped paying attention to months ago.
We call it being chain smart.
Because surviving the bear is often more important than maximizing rewards.
Binance Could Lose Permission To Operate In Europe
Binance may soon face one of its biggest regulatory challenges yet.
According to reports, the exchange’s application for a European MiCA license is expected to be rejected by regulators in Greece.
If that happens, Binance would lose its ability to legally serve customers across the European Union once the current transition period ends.
That is a huge deal.
Under MiCA rules, exchanges need approval from one EU regulator to “passport” their services across all 27 member states.
Without a license, Binance could be forced to stop serving millions of European customers.
The company says it has spent the last 18 months working closely with regulators and believes it meets the requirements.
Binance also stated it intends to support an orderly process and minimize disruption to users.
For now, nothing is official.
Still, uncertainty is rarely good news.
One interesting detail is that Bybit already secured its MiCA license, putting it in a much stronger position to continue serving European users.
The next few weeks could be very important.
Those Weird Polymarket World Cup Bets? I Think They’re Farmers
As we mentioned before, we’re farming Polymarket by betting on the World Cup.
Every morning we tweet our bets.
And if you’ve been on crypto Twitter lately, you’ve probably seen the headlines.
Someone bet millions of dollars on Spain not beating Cape Verde.
Seriously?
Spain is one of the strongest teams in the world.
Cape Verde is a great underdog story, but come on.
Some influencers immediately started yelling:
“INSIDERS!”
I don’t buy it.
There is no realistic way to rig a World Cup match.
You have dozens of players and staff members involved.
Two teams.
Multiple referees.
Massive media coverage.
And above all:
It’s the most watched sporting event on the planet.
The odds of secret insider information deciding the outcome are basically zero.
So what is happening?
My theory is simple.
Farmers.
The person who bet a million dollars on Spain not winning may very well have several million dollars positioned on the opposite side too.
The goal isn’t necessarily profit.
The goal could be maximizing trading volume, activity and wallet reputation on Polymarket.
And if Polymarket eventually launches one of the largest airdrops in crypto history?
Those transactions suddenly make a lot more sense.
The boring explanation rarely goes viral.
But sometimes the boring explanation is the right one.
As a wise man once said:
Believe half of what you see, and none of what you hear.
Pudgy Penguins Winds Down Pudgy Party
Not all crypto games survive.
Pudgy Penguins announced it is shutting down development of its mobile game Pudgy Party.
Instead, the team will focus entirely on Pudgy World, its browser-based gaming experience.
The decision may surprise some users.
Pudgy Party surpassed 1 million downloads across mobile platforms and appeared to have strong momentum.
Still, downloads do not always translate into a sustainable business.
The project says Pudgy World offers better scalability and a larger opportunity to introduce mainstream users to the Pudgy Penguins ecosystem.
And Pudgy isn’t alone.
Earlier this week, crypto game Fishing Frenzy also announced it would shut down after failing to find a profitable business model.
The team admitted it simply couldn’t make crypto gaming work.
That’s an honest statement.
Because despite years of hype, crypto gaming still hasn’t found its killer app.
There are good games.
There are good tokens.
But combining both in a sustainable way remains one of the industry’s biggest challenges.
SpaceX Reportedly Acquires Cursor Parent Company For $60 Billion
One of the biggest stories in tech this week is the reported acquisition of Anysphere, the company behind AI coding assistant Cursor.
Multiple outlets report that SpaceX agreed to acquire the company in a deal valued at around $60 billion.
If accurate, it would become one of the largest acquisitions of an AI startup ever.
Cursor has grown at an incredible pace.
Reports suggest the company recently crossed a $4 billion annualized revenue run rate and now serves more than 50,000 teams, including Nvidia, Adobe, Uber, Shopify and PayPal.
That’s insane.
A few years ago, most people had never heard of Cursor.
Today, it’s reportedly worth tens of billions.
The acquisition would also fit SpaceX’s broader AI ambitions after integrating more closely with xAI and expanding its computing infrastructure.
For startup founders, this is another reminder of how quickly AI companies can scale.
For crypto investors?
It raises the same question we keep asking:
What happens when this amount of capital and innovation eventually moves on-chain?
Sam Bankman-Fried Loses Appeal
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried lost his appeal this week.
A federal appeals court upheld both his conviction and his 25-year prison sentence, calling him the driving force behind one of the largest frauds in financial history.
His lawyers argued the trial was unfair and that the judge improperly limited testimony.
The judges disagreed.
According to the ruling, the evidence against him was overwhelming.
Bankman-Fried still has options.
He could ask the full appeals court to review the case or attempt to take it to the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, he has also reportedly requested a presidential pardon.
That request remains pending.
At this point though, a comeback story seems unlikely.
Crypto moves fast.
And the industry has mostly moved on.
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Final Words
Bitcoin is back at levels that are getting interesting.
Kevin Warsh just reminded markets that lower interest rates are far from guaranteed.
Airdrops keep coming.
Exchanges are fighting regulators.
And apparently people are betting millions against Spain while calling it insider information.
Just another normal week in crypto.
As for me, I’m off to watch Mexico versus South Korea.
If Bitcoin dumps while I’m at the stadium, hopefully my position sizing is smarter than those Polymarket bets. 😄
If you enjoyed this blog, you may want to check our other crypto news updates.
As always, don’t forget to claim your bonus on OKX below. See you next time!
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