Slight jolt

Ethereum, XRP and a pocketful of top-echelon digital assets, including Litecoin, pushed into slightly positive territory amidst a flurry of market-stirring news events shaping perceptions about the role of crypto in a debt-laden society. 

Is the rise of Bitcoin connected with skyrocketing U.S. debt? Maybe not so much this week. BTC remains down about 3% since last Wednesday. 

But let's check out ETH for a moment. ETH (as of early today, anyway) had shaded mildly green (+0.3%) over a seven-day period. The No. 2 crypto sat at $2,645, up 1.1% in 24 hours, as of 6:45 a.m. (EST). That's a modest move, sure, and it did not hold up as the morning crawled onward toward the opening bell. Still, ETH's on-chain metrics signal a potential bull run ahead, a large investor tells CoinDesk.

Let's move to XRP, the coin connected with Ripple, and the fourth-biggest digital asset.

Today, XRP (+3%) claims the top spot among Big Ten coins in terms of performance over the past 24 hours. XRP is $2.26. It's been as low as $2.11 in the past week.

Don't look now but it could be the start of another DeFi summer. Uniswap is reportedly strengthening its DEX dominance via layer-2 chains like Base. Hey, remember when Uniswap (UNI) made its debut at the end of that first Covid summer back in 2020? Seems like forever ago. Lockdowns ruined a lot of vacation plans but at least UNI could be had for a buck.

Well, UNI is now about $7, up 6% in the past day. UNI has surged 35% in the past month. UNI's all-time high near $45 came in early May of 2021.

Real quick: don't sleep on NFTs. Popular marketplace Magic Eden's native ME spiked 20% in the past day. This follows the joint announcement by Magic Eden and the team behind Official Trump (TRUMP) that there would soon be a TRUMP crypto wallet; although, the First Sons have denied knowing about the project (CNBC).

Meanwhile, Bitcoin, as mentioned, has been sideways for a day or so, lingering near $105.7K in choppy conditions. 

Stock futures rose slightly this morning and treasury yields are falling. Investors will keep eyes fixated on a bond market that seems to have been assigned the role of stern headmaster for an unruly classroom tasked with learning a vastly sweeping subject: President Donald Trump's tax and spending bill.

"Trump wants to blow a $3 trillion hole in the budget," Vox said. "The bond market is saying no way."

Billionaire Elon Musk, not long ago considered First Wing Man, went nuclear on the legislative package, using the social media platform that he owns to rebrand the "big, beautiful bill" as a "disgusting abomination," instigating a fresh political drama that could complicate the bill's path forward, Reuters said.

Blockworks, citing sources, reports that Pump.fun could soon have its own token.

A free-to-use launchpad that let anyone create their own Solana-run meme token, Pump.fun became a breakout star in early 2024, generating, to date, per Blockworks, a cumulative total of more than $700M in revenue.

Meanwhile, SOL, sixth-largest token, rebounded slightly following a dip to sub-$155 on Tuesday. As of 7:30 a.m. (EST), SOL stood closer to $156, according to CoinGecko. SOL, nevertheless, has declined 10% in the past week.

Clarity comes in fleeting moments, if at all. This concludes today's daily meditation. 

However, across the industry and throughout the corridors of power, the quest for some crypto rules clarity continues. SEC Chair Paul Atkins, testifying yesterday before a Senate sub-committee on financial services, pledged to pursue a "rational regulatory framework," prioritizing rulemaking over enforcement.

A new crypto-focused bill, the CLARITY Act, establishing a framework for regulating the industry, now confronts an extra layer of scrutiny from some House Democrats who claim regulators have refused to provide them with detailed written analysis pertaining to bill, despite giving it to their Republican counterparts.

Democrats say they are concerned about CLARITY opaqueness — and are particularly alarmed by the perceived lack of cooperation from the SEC — given the speed with which Republicans are aiming to push the massively impactful bill through the House, points out Decrypt.

And here comes another potentially thorny issue for the SEC: Trump's social media company wants to launch a Bitcoin ETF in the U.S.

The NYSE Arca stock exchange yesterday filed paperwork with the federal agency as part of its bid to list the Truth Social Bitcoin ETF set to be issued, pending approval, by Yorkville America Digital, a company formed via a partnership involving Trump Media and a major crypto exchange.

Early last year, the Biden-era SEC approved 11 BTC ETFs.