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Huge macro moves today, bros!

The U.S.-Iran tension is finally cooling down. VP JD Vance confirmed that 36 hours of "very effective" talks led to a deal: the Strait of Hormuz stays open, a regional ceasefire is in place, and nuclear inspections are back on the table. About 15 million barrels of oil are already hitting the market, helping ease energy prices.

Meanwhile, $SPCX ( ▼ 16.43% ) is still hot post-IPO, down 31% from its 3-day peak but 15% above IPO price. Elon Musk’s paper losses today? A jaw-dropping $152B - more than Warren Buffett’s lifetime net worth. Crypto and equities are watching every move closely.

Here’s what we got for you today:

  • 👀 Why the AI boom leads right back to crypto

  • ⭐ Bitcoin or AI: who’s winning your capital?

  • ⭐ Ethlabs: ex-EF devs step up to secure ETH future

  • 🔥 Burning hot takes for the road

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Crypto has been quiet lately, and the mainstream narrative is that the run is over while AI steals all the capital and hype. But if you look closely, the AI boom is actually leading straight back to it.

Right now, two massive shifts are happening that are changing the entire landscape for anyone building automated agents or educational content:

  • The multi-billion dollar moats of big tech are collapsing. Access to elite intelligence is becoming decentralized.

  • Who really controls the infrastructure? Governments are already stepping in to force companies to restrict access to their models.

So, where do builders go when they need neutral, permissionless infrastructure that nobody can shut down? The answer is quietly being built on-chain. 👇

🥊 BITCOIN OR AI: WHY BLACKROCK AND JPMORGAN ARE AT WAR FOR YOUR BAGS

Wall Street is at a crossroads: where will the next wave of capital go - Bitcoin or AI? On one side, you’ve got BlackRock betting on a $BTC ( ▼ 3.41% ) resurgence driven by fiscal fear. On the other, JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon is going all-in on the "AI Tsunami."

1/ BlackRock bull case: fear and printing presses

Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock’s head of digital assets, is looking at the long-term debt mess. BlackRock believes that as the U.S. midterm elections approach, the market will finally focus on the ballooning deficit and the inevitable "money printer" response.

For BlackRock, Bitcoin remains the ultimate hedge against fiscal insanity. Even though $BTC ( ▼ 3.41% ) is currently hovering around the $64K-$65K markdown significantly from its late-2025 peaks, they view this as a temporary lull. Their logic? When the fear of currency debasement hits the mainstream news cycle in late 2026, Bitcoin’s "digital gold" narrative will be the primary magnet for liquidity.

2/ Dimon’s "AI tsunami"

Then there’s Jamie Dimon. The JPMorgan chief, who famously once called Bitcoin a fraud, is predictably leaning into the AI trade. He calls the current AI bull market a "tsunami" that’s just too powerful to stop.

With AI-related spending expected to hit nearly $700 billion this year, capital is being sucked out of crypto and gold like a vacuum. It’s hard to argue with him - the S&P 500 has been flirting with record highs above 7,600 for the first time in early June, largely thanks to the "AI Seven" tech giants.

As long as the AI narrative delivers massive earnings, Dimon’s trade is winning the war for investor attention.

🧠 The "Liquidity tug-of-war"

Who’s right? Honestly, both - but they’re talking about different timelines.

  • The data doesn't lie. Spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen a massive $6.4 billion outflow since May, and stablecoin balances have dropped by $8 billion. Institutional money is currently playing it safe or chasing AI yield.

Total Bitcoin Spot ETF Net Inflow. Source: SoSoValue

  • BlackRock is betting on a "macro-blowup" near November. If you believe the U.S. economy is headed for a debt-driven crisis, you hold the Bitcoin. But if you’re looking for immediate alpha, the AI stocks are the ones printing the cash right now.

  • Bitcoin isn't "dead". It’s just in a waiting room. August and September are historically "red" months for $BTC ( ▼ 3.41% ), which gives the AI trade a few more months to run.

→ AI stocks are currently "risk-on," but they are also highly sensitive to rates and regulation. When (not if) the "fiscal fear" narrative shifts back to the deficit, we’ll likely see the rotation back into hard assets.

My advice? Stay diversified. If the AI "tsunami" starts looking like a bubble, that’s your signal to rotate back into the crypto hedge. Just don't get caught over-leveraged in either side when the midterm politics start turning up the heat.

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🚀 EX- EF FOUNDATION CORE DEVS LAUNCH "ETHLABS" TO SAVE ETHEREUM

A group of former senior researchers from the Ethereum Foundation (EF) just dropped a major bombshell: they’ve founded Ethlabs, a nonprofit R&D hub backed by some of the biggest ETH whales and institutional players, including SharpLink Gaming, Bitmine Immersion Technologies, and Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin.

This is happening right as Ethereum undergoes its deepest restructuring in years, with key EF personnel leaving and governance debates heating up.

1/ The $30 million funding cliff

Just a day before this announcement, ex-EF insider Trent Van Epps dropped a warning that Ethereum's core dev ecosystem faces a $30M annual funding crisis in the next 3 to 9 months. The EF is tightening its belt, and old client incentive programs have expired.

Instead of relying on the EF's old treasury, Ethlabs are pulling funding directly from massive corporate whales like SharpLink Gaming, Bitmine Immersion Technologies, and Consensys founder Joe Lubin. These entities hold massive ETH bags and are literally incentivized to keep the network running smoothly.

2/ Corporate cash, crypto-native autonomy

Now, I know what you’re thinking: Corporate money? Is Ethereum getting centralized?

→ Ethlabs is structured as a non-profit. The corporate backers put up the cash, but a third-party grant manager handles the budget. The whales get transparent reports, but they get zero say in technical priorities or code.

Ethlabs is tackling three massive pain points right out of the gate:

  • Crushing transaction confirmation times (making things instant)

  • Massive network scaling/data availability upgrades

  • Building hardcore infrastructure specifically for stablecoins and Real World Assets (RWAs).

🧠 The "steward node" meta

This is actually a massive long-term bullish catalyst for Ethereum's decentralization.

For years, the Ethereum Foundation acted as a single point of failure for core development. Joe Lubin nailed it when he said Ethereum is entering an era of independent "steward nodes" - separate organizations that share the load of scaling the network.

Ethlabs is targeting exactly what matters for the current market cycle: stablecoins and RWAs. Remember, Ethereum still controls over 53% of the $300B global stablecoin market and dominates half of the tokenized asset space. If Ethlabs can make transactions instant and cheap enough to protect that moat, they aren't just saving the dev ecosystem - they are locking in Ethereum's status as the definitive settlement layer of the internet.

🔥 BURNING HOT TAKES FOR THE ROAD

$SPCX ( ▼ 16.43% ) pulls back, erasing most gains since IPO debut. Elon’s flagship stock takes a brutal hit as investors digest the post-IPO hype. Read more

Strategy just scooped up $35M worth of $BTC ( ▼ 3.41% ) to back its yield fund after preferred shares of its $STRC ( ▲ 0.23% ) stock tapped an all-time low. Read more

Binance is officially delisting multiple $USDC ( ▲ 0.0% ) margin pairs including 1000CHEEMS, ACX, LA, and T on June 26 across Cross and Isolated Margin. Read more

The WSJ reported that $1.9M in wash-traded fake bets was used to artificially pump engagement on Polymarket content creator videos. Read more

Trump signed two executive orders pushing for quantum-resistant tech, addressing risks that could eventually target $BTC ( ▼ 3.41% ) and $ETH ( ▼ 6.03% ) cryptography. Read more

🤡 SPICY MEME

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⚠ This newsletter is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. Traders should conduct thorough research, understand the risks, and carefully evaluate their decisions before investing in cryptocurrency.

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