Ethereum rustling

Come on, what are Ethereum enthusiasts thinking, that the No. 2 coin is going to crack $3,000? Apparently so. ETH in the past day has been chipping away at that goal, rallying 5% to above $2,600 during a period when Bitcoin is basically flat. With some major altcoins losing ground over the past week — Solana, for example, is down 9% since last Tuesday — ETH for its part is looking relatively buff, only having shed 1% in that same span.

Support has come via spot ETH ETFs. Such vehicles just recorded the longest streak of positive inflows that they've seen all year.

That's right: between May 16 and May 30, ETH ETFs did not have a single negative day, raking in some $550M million, according to SoSoValue.

It could conceivably be a case of investors placing their long-term bets on smart contract superiority. Ethereum's co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, has just predicted the network's capabilities would increase tenfold in the next year while the Ethereum foundation, according to Decrypt, is revamping its team to focus more on scaling initiatives. 

But it's not like these efforts have been a secret. Winds of monumental throughput change whipped through the community going back to at least the early part of spring, when ETH could barely keep a grip on $1,800.

One vociferous ETH champion, a technician, Kev Capital TA, per NewsBTC, told his 1,000+ followers he spotted something on a trio of ETH charts (ETH versus USD, ETH versus BTC, ETH dominance) that suggests a big move potentially is coming.

For all of the ups and downs seen in crypto over the past several years, ETH is still right where it was as of April of 2021. Its spot price valuation experienced a wide range of levels in that span so it's hard to say it traded sideways. But ETH doing nothing but trading in a massive range for four years could be, as NewsBTC explained, "masking the kind of compression that often precedes violent expansion."

This past April, ETH wicked into the $1,400 area only to reverse and close out the month with a dramatic chart visual, one that "Kev" called a “massive demand candle.”

Cointelegraph, citing a technical analyst, Crypto Eagles, said ETH appears to be following a pattern marked by four distinct stages: a multi-month consolidation range; a sharp shakeout that traps late bulls; a breakout above resistance; and, finally, a parabolic rally. In 2017, this structure led to a price surge of over 1,000% from sub-$10 levels to above $1,400.

Meanwhile, quickly, checking on the memecoin du jour, we couldn't help but notice that it's Dogwifhat (WIF), the No. 96 token now looking like it might crack $1. WIF is up 15% in the past 24 hours. Some other recent meme studs, such as PEPE and FARTCOIN, are also solidly green today.

A slew of big altcoins went green after a rough stretch. XRP rose 2.5% in 24 hours, as of 7:15 a.m. (EST), as did Dogecoin.

Over the past week, despite chatter about talks, U.S.-China trade tensions have flared up, amplifying macro uncertainty, and resulting in a digital asset retreat, broadly speaking. DOGE shed 14% in the past week. SOL and ADA each lost 9%. XRP fell 5%.

"Muted DeFi activity, low futures volume and shifting risk appetite are signs of weakening retail-driven momentum," Decrypt said.

Bitstamp, the longest-running crypto exchange in the business, is now part of Robinhood.

First announced last spring, the proposed deal for Robinhood to buy Bitstamp for $200M was finalized yesterday, said Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, per The Block.

Crypto sector M&A activity has been surging of late with nearly $3B worth of announced deals just in May. A big part of that was Coinbase acquiring Deribit, the largest crypto options exchange. However, crypto startup fundraising in May 2025 only amounted to $600M. That represents the year’s lowest monthly total to date. And the total number of funding deals dropped to lows not seen since early 2021, per a social media post from blockchain researcher Dan Smith.

"A VC pullback signals investor caution in an uncertain market," said Null TX's Will Izuchukwu.