Cryptocurrency markets faced a challenging start to June, influenced by escalating geopolitical tensions as the U.S. and Iran exchanged fire. Despite ongoing peace discussions, these efforts failed to ease the strain in the region, leading to increased market volatility. The CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) experienced a 2% decline since midnight UTC, with both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) registering approximately 1% losses. Currently priced at $72,700, Bitcoin finds itself in a downward trend, having dropped for six out of the last seven days. This marks a deviation from the typical performance seen in May, which historically witnesses positive returns, averaging a 7.4% rise. May, however, ended with a notable 3.5% drop for Bitcoin.
Significantly, a record streak of net withdrawals from spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) was noted, with $2.97 billion exiting these investment vehicles. The CoinDesk DeFi Select Index saw the most considerable decline of the day, dropping 2.6% as all its six members fell. Among the losses, Ondo Finance’s ONDO token decreased by 2.8%, continuing its downward trajectory after the sudden death of its founder, Nathan Allman, the previous week. In contrast, Hyperliquid’s HYPE token performed positively, gaining 1.26% to reach a record high of $73.94, buoyed by growing interest in newly launched ETFs linked to the token.
The performance of U.S. stock indexes reflected a similar divergence to that of Friday, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 micro-futures increasing by about 0.2%. In the derivatives market, BTC open interest remained stable at $19.5 billion, with no significant shifts in speculative pricing. Positive funding rates, ranging from 0% to 10% annualized, signified a recovery from previous spikes. A slight increase in the three-month annualized basis to 2.8% from 2.2% hinted at a growing institutional risk appetite.
Options positioning appeared modestly bullish, with a put/call volume ratio of 61/39 favoring calls. The one-week 25-delta skew remained relatively unchanged, while front-end implied volatility experienced a slight rise to 37, suggesting an easing from previous compression. Markets are still pricing near-term tranquility against a backdrop of longer-term uncertainty, with $282 million in liquidations reported over the last 24 hours, predominantly affecting ETH and BTC.
In token-specific developments, Stellar’s XLM surged by a striking 40.4% within 24 hours, reaching $0.2862 and propelling its market capitalization beyond $9.6 billion. This rally was sparked by the announcement that DTCC, a central clearinghouse for Wall Street, plans to connect its tokenized securities platform to the Stellar network by the first half of 2027. Stellar’s involvement marks a significant step, positioning it as the first public blockchain to take part in DTCC’s multichain tokenization strategy.
As XLM’s price soared, open interest in XLM perpetual contracts increased by 10.9% to approximately $361 million, with around $12 million in derivative liquidations accompanying the price movement. This uptick in both open interest and spot volume suggests the presence of new long positions rather than merely short coverings. With spot turnover hitting around $2.3 billion—up by 34%—the investment was supported by genuine demand rather than a mere liquidity fluctuation. XLM notably outperformed all other top-20 cryptocurrencies during this period.
This recent uptick in XLM marked a significant breakout from a months-long descending channel that had confined its movement since late last year. The rally was powered by a recovery from long-term support at $0.14, through previous resistance levels at $0.20 and $0.26. Given that DTCC manages over $114 trillion in assets and processes approximately $2.5 quadrillion in securities transactions annually, Stellar’s selection to participate places it at the forefront of integrating tokenized equities, ETFs, and U.S. Treasuries onto a public blockchain. The partnership aligns with the SEC’s December 2025 No-Action Letter, which allows DTCC to tokenize real-world assets under its custody, with testing scheduled for July and a broader rollout set for October.
