TL;DR

• The dollar has sunk to its lowest in 3 years, and has seen more than 10% decline since January.
• This week’s incoming data includes the Fed’s decision, US retail sales, industrial production and housing data.
• ETH has shown strong resilience, with its exchange rate against SOL continuing to rise.
• Hype surged by 27%, pushing its FDV above $44 billion.
• ZKJ has dropped by over 80%, leading to a gradual decline in Binance Alpha’s trading volume and influence.
• SharpLink becomes 2nd-largest ETH holder, behind Ethereum Foundation with $463M purchase.
• World Chain and Circle join forces to power Identity-Verified finance with native USDC.
• Ondo brings $692M tokenized treasury product to XRP Ledger via RLUSD for OUSG Onramps.
• Most funded projects are Data sector.

Macro Overview

The dollar has sunk to its lowest in 3 years, and has seen more than 10% decline since January.

Last week, the dollar has sunk to its lowest in the past 3 years, and has seen more than 10% decline since Trump officially took office in January, pressured by multiple headwinds. In Q1, the dollar’s weakness largely resulted from the unwinding of the “Trump trade” as certain policy promises remained unfulfilled. In Q2, continued negative developments pushed the dollar into a technical breakdown, including tariff-driven uncertainty, concerns over the Mar-a-Lago agreement, and fiscal uncertainties.

In the future, on the fiscal front, the increased treasury supply following the lifting of the debt ceiling may continue to stress market liquidity through Q3. As a result, both Treasuries and the dollar may remain under downward pressure. As the tariff could remain elevated in the later half of the year, the economic impact of tariffs on the U.S. will likely become more evident, narrowing the divergence between the US and other major economies, which could be a bearish signal for the dollar.

June’s FOMC meeting unfolds this Wednesday with the consensus of no change in Fed rates. According to the CME FedWatch, the market has priced in the next rate cut only towards the end of the year. Concerns over intensifying tariff-related inflationary pressures, along with a resilient labour market, mean a rate cut only looks likely later in the year. For US economy data, US retail sales and industrial production figures will be key indicators to monitor, in addition to housing market updates.

The dollar index overall followed its downward trend in the past week, and it bounced back last Friday as the demand for safe-haven assets rose when Israel hit Iran.

The total assets added back $4.27bn last week, which is mainly contributed by the long-term assets like US Treasuries.

As tensions erupt in the Middle East, gold price went high again since the later half of last week. As of today, the gold price is approaching $3,400 again.

Crypto Markets Overview

1. Main Assets

As of this Monday, the prices of BTC and ETH were around $105,000 and $2,600 respectively, marking weekly increases of 1% and 5%. Last week, the market focused on Binance Alpha and stablecoins.

Last week, the price of ZKJ suddenly plummeted by 80%, coupled with a sharp rise in transaction fees, prompting many users to consider leaving Binance Alpha. As a result, trading volume hit a weekly low, and the influence of Binance Alpha is expected to gradually decline in the future.

Solana was priced at $157, up approximately 4% from the previous week. The SOL/ETH exchange rate, marked at 0.06, exhibited a downward trend compared to Ether.

2. Total Market Cap

Last week, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $3.3 trillion. Excluding BTC and ETH, the altcoin market cap was $850.4 billion, which remains unchanged.

3. Top 30 Crypto Assets Performance

Last week, market performance was mixed. Hype, Uni, and AAVE each gained over 10%, while Hedera declined by 5.5% on a weekly basis. Overall, the market was uneventful, with no significant developments. We are optimistic about the medium-term performance of ETH. At present, ETH has shown strong resilience against downward pressure, and its exchange rate against SOL is also on an upward trend.

4. New Token Launched

Last week, the main newly listed tokens were Resolv and Skate.

Resolv Protocol is a neutral interest rate stablecoin similar to Ethena. Its latest funding round valued the project at approximately $100 million. The current market cap is $40 million, with a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of $258 million. It was listed on Binance and OKX.

Skate is a general-purpose application layer that enables applications to operate and exchange information across multiple chains simultaneously. The token was launched on BNB Chain and listed on Binance Alpha and Bybit. Its market cap is $7 million, with an FDV of $46 million.

The Key Crypto Highlights

1. SharpLink becomes the 2nd-largest ETH holder, behind Ethereum Foundation with $463M purchase

SharpLink Gaming (NASDAQ: SBET) has officially become the second-largest holder of Ethereum (ETH) among public entities, following a massive $463M purchase of 176,270 ETH. The move, announced Friday, comes on the heels of a $425M private placement led by Consensys, alongside top crypto investors like Galaxy Digital, Electric Capital, Pantera, and Arrington Capital.

This aggressive treasury strategy places SharpLink just behind the Ethereum Foundation, which holds approximately 214,000 ETH. In addition to the Consensys-led PIPE deal, SharpLink also raised $79M from its $1B at-the-market (ATM) equity program between 30-May and 12-Jun, funds earmarked for further ETH purchases. The firm’s crypto-heavy strategy echoes recent moves by firms like Strategy, Semler Scientific, and Metaplanet, but stands out for betting on Ethereum instead of Bitcoin, signaling a new wave of public market ETH adoption.

2. World Chain and Circle join forces to power Identity-Verified finance with native USDC

World Chain has announced a strategic integration with Circle, bringing native USDC issuance and CCTP V2 support to its network. This upgrade replaces bridged USDC with natively issued USDC, preserving existing contract addresses to ensure full backward compatibility for developers. By doing so, World Chain improves onchain liquidity, security, and access to Circle’s fiat on/off-ramps.

At the core of the integration is Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol V2 (CCTP V2), enabling instant, secure USDC transfers across chains. World Chain leverages World ID, its decentralized identity system with over 27M verified users, to bring identity-layered functionality to payments, financial tools and targeted airdrops.Early adopters like Daimo Pay and Morpho have already begun integrating native USDC with World ID to offer identity-verified transactions. This collaboration signals a broader trend toward identity-secured stablecoin ecosystems, especially as financial tools move onchain.

3. Ondo brings $692M tokenized treasury product to XRP Ledger via RLUSD for OUSG Onramps

Ondo Finance, one of the largest real-world asset (RWA) protocols in DeFi, has expanded its footprint by launching its flagship tokenized treasury product OUSG on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). The move marks the fourth blockchain deployment for OUSG, which now holds $692M in AUM, ranking just behind BlackRock and Franklin Templeton in tokenized U.S. Treasury exposure. This integration also introduces Ripple’s new USD-backed stablecoin RLUSD as a native payment rail for minting and redeeming OUSG, streamlining access for qualified investors. The product aims to offer tokenized exposure to short-term U.S. government debt with real-time settlement and institutional-grade compliance. Although XRPL currently accounts for a small share of the estimated $23B tokenized RWA market, its appeal lies in 24/7 accessibility, instant settlement, and regulatory partnerships. With this move, Ondo is positioning itself as a multi-chain RWA leader and enhancing liquidity and interoperability across ecosystems.

Key Ventures Deals

1. Yupp raises $33M to launch Crypto-Powered AI Evaluation Marketplace

AI startup Yupp has exited stealth with a $33M Seed round led by a16z crypto, building an open, crypto-incentivized platform for comparing and evaluating AI models. The round also drew participation from over 45 investors including Coinbase Ventures, high-profile angels such as Jeff Dean (Google), Biz Stone (Twitter), Evan Sharp (Pinterest). Yupp allows users to compare responses from leading AI models such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, DeepSeek, and Llama, while earning rewards via stablecoins on Base, Solana, or traditional fiat rails like Stripe and PayPal. Yupp aims to become the “evaluation layer” for AI, crowdsourcing model feedback to train better systems. The feedback loop is powered by crypto-based incentives and feeds into a public metric called the “Yupp VIBE Score”, ranking models by real-world performance across tasks. This allows AI builders to source transparent, trustable training data and ensures users are compensated for their contributions. According to a16z crypto, blockchain integration ensures data transparency, auditable feedback provenance, and global user participation, turning AI evaluation into an open market.

2. Blockchain Capital and Cyber Fund lead $20M round for OneBalance to help developers build crypto-apps without the complexity

London-based crypto software firm OneBalance has raised $20M in a Series A round led by Cyber Fund and Blockchain Capital, with participation from Mirana Ventures and L2IV. The raise brings total funding to $25M, aimed at expanding its flagship developer toolkit designed to simplify crypto integration for non-crypto-native engineers. The newly launched toolkit supports Ethereum, Polygon, and other EVM chains, with Solana integration expected by the end of the month. The company charges a fee per transaction processed via apps using its SDK, aligning monetization with customer success. As big tech firms like Meta and Google explore stablecoin functionality, OneBalance positions itself as a gateway for Web2 companies entering Web3 without needing to expose users to crypto’s backend intricacies. OneBalance joins a growing cohort of crypto dev platforms like Privy, Reown, and Helius, all competing to reduce the friction in building blockchain-integrated apps.

3. OpenTrade secured $7M to scale stablecoin yield access in high-inflation markets

OpenTrade has raised $7M in a Strategic Round co-led by Notion Capital and Mercury Fund, with participation from a16z crypto, AlbionVC, and CMCC Global. The new capital brings its total funding to $11M just six months after launch. OpenTrade provides a “yield-as-a-service” backend for fintech apps, neobanks, and exchanges, enabling users in inflation-heavy markets to earn up to 9% APY on USD or EUR holdings. The platform currently manages $47M in assets and has facilitated nearly $200M in volume, growing at 20% MoM. Partners like Criptan (Spain) and Littio (Colombia) integrate OpenTrade, which often offer less than 0.5% APR on dollar-denominated accounts. In countries like Argentina and Colombia, where financial instability makes yield opportunities scarce, OpenTrade’s offering provides a compelling alternative to bank savings accounts.

The number of deals closed in the previous week was 23, with Data having 9 deals, representing 39% for each sector of the total number of deals. Meanwhile, Social had 1 (4%), Infra had 6 (26%), , Gamefi had 3 (13%) and DeFi had 4 (17%) deals

The total amount of disclosed funding raised in the previous week was $196M, 42% deals (9/23) in previous week didn’t public the raised amount. The top funding came from Infra sector with $56M. Most funded deals: Hypernative $40M; Yupp $33M

Total weekly fundraising rose to $196M for the 2nd week of Jun-2025, an increase of +190% compared to the week prior. Weekly fundraising in the previous week was up +62% year over year for the same period.

About Gate Ventures

Gate Ventures, the venture capital arm of Gate, is focused on investments in decentralized infrastructure, middleware, and applications that will reshape the world in the Web 3.0 age. Working with industry leaders across the globe, Gate Ventures helps promising teams and startups that possess the ideas and capabilities needed to redefine social and financial interactions.

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