BTC under 61k; Yuan Swap Hits Record High

Crypto News:

Bitcoin Sinks Under $61K 

Bitcoin (BTC) led declines in Asian trading hours as major tokens wiped out gains made at the start of the week. BTC dropped to $60,900 from over $62,000 shortly after Tokyo markets opened, with losses of up to 3% across ether (ETH), Solana's SOL and dogecoin (DOGE). XRP was little changed while Cardano's ADA pared some gains from a Tuesday rally as its development foundation published certain indicators to comply with European regulatory requirements. The broad-based CoinDesk 20 (CD20), a liquid index of the biggest tokens, has fallen more than 1.7% in the past 24 hours. U.S.-listed ETFs ended a five-day inflow streak with $13 million in net outflows on Tuesday, while concerns of the Mt. Gox distribution may have contributed to a sell-off.

DeFi Tokens Plunge 10%-20%, Led by Pendle Amid Weak Crypto Price Action This Week Cryptocurrencies in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector were hit harder than the broader crypto market this week, with the CoinDesk DeFi Index losing 9% from its Monday high versus the CoinDesk 20 benchmark's 5% decline during the same time. Leading the plunge was the governance token of Pendle – a DeFi protocol that offers crypto yields in the form of tradable tokens – falling more than 20% during the Tuesday and Wednesday trading sessions, with short positions piling up to bet on further declines. Pendle has recently lost $3 billion of its TVL with the June expiry as a result of diminishing airdrop farming hype and lower yields amid muted crypto activity.

Global News:

Banks to publish crypto asset exposure from 2026, global regulators say

Global banking regulators have approved templates for banks to disclose their exposure to crypto assets from January 2026, they said on Wednesday, a year later than originally indicated. "These disclosures aim to enhance information availability and support market discipline," the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision said in a statement. The committee, made up of banking regulators from the world's main economies who commit to applying agreed standards, discussed the prudential or impact on capital of tokenised deposits and stablecoins, a cryptocurrency backed by an asset such as the dollar.

Russian central bank's daily yuan swap volume hits record high

Russia's central bank provided banks with a record 19.5 billion yuan ($2.68 billion) on Wednesday under currency swap transactions, data showed, as lenders seek alternative ways to replenish their foreign currency reserves after dollar and euro trading was restricted. New U.S. sanctions on Russia's key financial infrastructure last month brought exchange trading in dollars and euros to an abrupt halt. The yuan was already the most-traded foreign currency in Moscow as Russia moves away from what it considers "unfriendly" and "toxic" Western currencies. The central bank doubled the yuan swap limit to 20 billion yuan after those sanctions were imposed. The daily volume of 19.5 billion yuan for 231.5 billion roubles ($2.65 billion) was the highest volume since the swap instrument was launched in January 2023, central bank data showed.

Local News:

Peso climbs on dovish remarks from Fed chief

The Peso rose as the Fed chief’s remarks renewed bets of more than one rate cut within the year. The US is back on a “disinflationary path,” Mr. Powell said on Tuesday, but policy makers need more data before cutting interest rates to verify that recent weaker inflation readings provide an accurate picture of the economy, Reuters reported. Data for May showed the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation did not increase at all that month, while the 12-month rate of price increases has ebbed to 2.6%, still above the US central bank’s 2% target but on the way down after a scare in the first months of the year. “We just want to understand that the levels that we’re seeing are a true reading on what is actually happening with underlying inflation,” Mr. Powell said at a monetary policy conference in Portugal sponsored by the European Central Bank.