Morning Crypto Market Overview: Standard Chartered Predicts UNI Could Surge 40x, While Decentralized AI Gains Momentum
The market starts the day with a slight correction. Bitcoin (BTC) at the time of analysis is trading around $65,828, updating its 24-hour low at $65,468 and high at $67,248. Ether (ETH) has also slightly decreased, hovering around $1,763. However, the overall picture is far from uniform: against the backdrop of sideways movement among the leaders, we observe sharp movements in altcoins and targeted news that could set the trend for the week ahead.
Standard Chartered Bets on Uniswap: Target $100
One of the loudest signals came from Standard Chartered bank, which issued its first analytical report on the Uniswap protocol. The forecast is impressive: the bank's analysts expect the UNI token to rise from its current $2.70 to $100 by the end of 2030. They cite the explosive growth of tokenized assets in the DeFi sector as the key driver. According to their estimates, the volume of such assets could increase 37-fold, which would automatically expand Uniswap's liquidity pools and increase the protocol's fee revenue.
Head of Research Geoffrey Kendrick compared Uniswap to YouTube and Coinbase to Netflix. The point is that Uniswap provides an open infrastructure where any user can create pools, radically lowering barriers to entry compared to traditional exchanges. Additionally, the bank notes the effect of the UNIfication upgrade, which has already launched a token burning mechanism, reducing the supply from 1 billion to 895 million. The main risks, according to analysts, are competition from niche DEXs and the need for closer integration with traditional finance.
Decentralized AI: Bittensor on the Rise
Another powerful catalyst is the situation surrounding Anthropic's models. After the US government ordered the company to restrict access to the Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models for foreigners due to national security concerns, Anthropic disabled them for all users entirely. This incident served as a vivid demonstration of the risks of centralized control over advanced AI technologies.
Grayscale analysts immediately reacted, calling this event a strong argument in favor of decentralized AI. The result was swift: the TAO token of the Bittensor project surged 30% in 12 hours, reaching a three-week high of $283. Grayscale's Head of Research Zach Pandl has already dubbed Bittensor "the Bitcoin for AI." In my view, this is not just a speculative spike but the beginning of a new narrative that could attract significant liquidity in the coming months.
Pudgy Penguins Shuts Down Mobile Game
In the NFT and Web3 gaming segment, the news is mixed. The popular project Pudgy Penguins announced the cessation of development and closure of the mobile game Pudgy Party, launched in August 2025. Despite over 1 million downloads, the team decided to reallocate resources to the browser-based project Pudgy World, which they call the ecosystem's flagship gaming product.
This decision reflects a general trend in the Web3 gaming market: finding a sustainable business model is extremely challenging. Earlier, the Fishing Frenzy project also announced its closure. Although the NFT market has recovered to $1.5 billion, it is still far from its 2022 peak of $17 billion. Pudgy Penguins' consolidation of efforts on a single, more scalable product is a rational step in an environment where "only the strongest survive."
My professional commentary: The morning of June 16 shows us a classic picture of capital rotation. While Bitcoin and Ether consolidate, smart money begins to eye sectors with clear fundamental catalysts. Standard Chartered's forecast for Uniswap is not just numbers but a signal that institutions are starting to seriously evaluate DeFi protocols as an independent asset class. And the Anthropic incident could be the trigger that launches a "supercycle" for decentralized AI projects. Keep an eye on TAO and UNI — they could become leaders of the next rally.