Market in a sideways trend, Sharplink buys ETH again, and BitGo lays off 15% of staff: digest for June 26
The morning of June 26 greets the crypto market with mixed signals. While Bitcoin and Ethereum consolidate in narrow ranges, significant corporate events are taking place in the industry: from the listing of the infrastructure project Ethena on Nasdaq to large-scale layoffs at BitGo and the resumption of Ethereum purchases by Sharplink.
Bitcoin and Ethereum: sideways movement without momentum
The leading cryptocurrency started the day with sideways movement, trading near the $59,881 mark. Over the past 24 hours, the high was $61,868 and the low was $58,269. Ethereum is also showing a flat trend at the $1,550 level, losing 4.42% over the day. In the top 10 by market cap, the best daily performance is from Solana (+0.49%), and the weekly best is from Tron (+0.38%). Dogecoin shows the worst 7-day dynamics (-9.89%).
Among the top 100 assets, Audiera stands out with a 42.09% daily gain and DeXe (+41.13% weekly). The laggards are Mantle (-15.61% daily) and MemeCore (-76.50% over 7 days). Such volatility in altcoins indicates a flow of liquidity from meme tokens into infrastructure projects.
Sharplink returns to buying Ethereum
One of the largest public holders of Ethereum, Sharplink, has purchased 5,000 ETH worth $7.85 million for the first time in eight months. The tokens came from FalconX. The previous purchase dates back to October 2025. As of June 21, Sharplink's portfolio consisted of 876,285 ETH (~$1.3 billion) with an average entry price of $3,609 per coin. This implies an unrealized loss of about $1.79 billion at current quotes. Nevertheless, the company remains the second-largest public holder of ETH after Tom Lee's Bitmine Immersion.
StablecoinX debuts on Nasdaq
StablecoinX, a company building infrastructure for the Ethena ecosystem, has completed its merger with the SPAC vehicle TLGY Acquisition Corp. Trading will begin on Nasdaq on Friday under the ticker "USDE." As a reminder, the Ethena USDe stablecoin maintains its peg to $1 through a delta-neutral strategy using BTC and ETH as collateral and short positions. However, since its October peak, USDe's market cap has fallen by 70% to ~$4.5 billion. It is the sixth-largest stablecoin, but its model is highly vulnerable during negative funding rates.
BitGo cuts staff and focuses on AI
Crypto custodian BitGo has announced a 15% reduction in its workforce. The company plans to focus on key areas: security, trading, stablecoins, and artificial intelligence-based infrastructure. The layoffs come amid growing losses: first-quarter revenue rose 112.6% year-over-year (to $3.8 billion), but net loss increased to $60.7 million from $25.7 million a year earlier. BitGo shares fell 4.76% on Thursday to $4.80. The company is not alone—Coinbase (-14% of staff), Dune (-25%), and Jack Dorsey's Block have also previously pivoted to AI.
Cryptalist analytical commentary: Sharplink's return to buying ETH is a positive signal for institutional demand, but the huge unrealized loss highlights the high volatility of such strategies. StablecoinX's listing on Nasdaq is a step toward legitimizing decentralized stablecoins, but the 70% drop in USDe's market cap raises questions about the model's sustainability. BitGo, like many others, is betting on AI—a trend that could reshape crypto infrastructure in the coming quarters.