Hong Kong to start issuing stablecoin licenses, with Ant Group and JD.com already in line

The crypto market is down today. Ten of the top 100 coins have seen increases over the past 24 hours. Moreover, the cryptocurrency market capitalization has decreased by 2.8% over the past day, now standing at $3.23 trillion, compared to Friday’s $3.37 trillion. The total crypto trading volume is at $161 billion, back to the typical levels. TL;DR: The crypto market has seen a notable drop over the weekend; BTC and ETH dropped around 1% over the past day each; At one point, BTC fell below the psychologically relevant $100,000 level; The probability of BTC ending 2025 above $200,000 has dropped to 3.5%; This is not over yet, analysts say, as market braces for instability; The market may experience additional hits. Crypto Winners & Losers All the top 10 coins per market cap are down today. Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 0.7%, now trading at $101,924, nearing the psychologically relevant $100,000 mark. This is also the smallest decrease in this category. Also, Ethereum (ETH) fell by 1%, changing hands at $2,251. This is the category’s second-smallest drop. XRP (XRP) saw the highest decrease in this category of 2.6% to the price of $2.02. Moreover, ten of the top 100 coins saw their prices increase in the same period. The best performer is Story (IP) , with the only double-digit increase of 11.6% to $3.06. At the same time, Filecoin (FIL) fell the most, followed by Toncoin (TON) . They’re down 3.9% and 3.8% to $2.12 and $2.75, respectively. Speaking of XRP, Bloomberg analysts recently placed the odds of an XRP spot ETF approval at 95% . The timing of these approvals/launches is more uncertain. Could be something we're talking about in the next month or two. Or it could be something that waits until October or later. Matter of when not if For Bloomberg clients, the note can be read here: https://t.co/PBdquFWPVn — James Seyffart (@JSeyff) June 20, 2025 Meanwhile, recent geopolitical shocks triggered immediate market reactions . Investors began moving into traditional safe-haven assets like gold and the US dollar. Bitcoin sold off all day & made up more than half of its losses in the last 30 minutes. Trump's announcement of direct US involvement in the Middle East marked the local bottom. pic.twitter.com/02Uxuqe21d — Joe Consorti ⚡️ (@JoeConsorti) June 22, 2025 This Isn’t Over: Market Braces for Instability Dr. Sean Dawson, Head of Research at decentralized onchain options AI-powered platform, Derive.xyz , commented that the surge in short-term implied volatility (IV) confirms the market is bracing for more instability. Volatility markets are telling us this isn’t over. “Amid mounting geopolitical pressure, we’re seeing classic risk-off behavior with falling prices, spiking volatility, and a pullback in upside positioning,” Dawson says. At one point, BTC has pulled back from $104,300 to $100,300. At the same time, there was also spike in short-term implied volatility by 10% to 45%. This happened as traders began pricing in fresh risk. Moreover, ETH plunged nearly 14% from $2,550 to $2,200, along with a 15-point jump in 7-day IV to 83%. This reflects increased downside hedging and uncertainty, Dawson says. “Ethereum’s double-digit loss and volatility spike to 83% show just how fast risk can unravel when leverage is high,” he adds. Source: Derive.xyz, Amberdata Without a clear de-escalation trigger, the company expects more cautious positioning and subdued momentum in the month ahead, the Head of Research notes. Dawson notes that the BTC options market is currently “scaling back on optimism.” The probability of BTC ending 2025 above $200,000 has dropped to 3.5%. The chance of it surpassing $150,000 in that same period fell to 11%. “Bulls are losing conviction as geopolitical risk and macro headwinds overshadow halving optimism and ETF flows.” At the same time, the likelihood of BTC closing below $80,000 remains unchanged at 20%. All these percentages “show the options market leaning defensive. Traders aren’t betting big on upside right now.” Levels & Events to Watch Next At the time of writing, BTC trades at $101,924. At one point over the past day, the coin saw a sharp drop from the intraday high $102,739 and below the psychologically critical $100,000 mark to $98,467. It has recovered somewhat since. Over the past 7 days, we have seen a decrease of 4.5% from the intraweek high of $108,771. Bitcoin Price Chart. Source: TradingView At the same time, Ethereum is currently trading at $2,251. The price saw a daily high of $2,280, falling to $2,134, before rising slightly to the current price. Over the past week, ETH fell 13.7% from the weekly high of $2,671. Moreover, the crypto market sentiment has entered fear territory. The Fear and Greed Index has dropped from 48 on Friday and 40 on Sunday to the current 37 . Now, fear is driving the prices potentially pushing them lower. But it can also present a chance to buy the dip. Source: CoinMarketCap Meanwhile, on 20 June, US BTC spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) until later today saw only $6.37 million in inflows. While BlackRock saw an inflow of $46.91 million, Fidelity recorded an outflow of $40.55 million. Source: SoSoValue On the same day, US ETH ETFs saw outflows of $11.34 million , breaking another streak. BlackRock leads this amount with a loss of $19.71 million, while Grayscale and VanEck took in $6.6 million and 1.77 million, respectively. Source: SoSoValue Tokyo-listed investment firm Metaplanet bought an additional 1,111 BTC for $118.2 million, amid the price dip. The company now holds 11,111 BTC on its balance sheet, valued at over $1.07 billion. On the other hand, Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest offloaded $146.2 million worth of Circle (CRCL) shares on Friday. Here are the current top 15 largest holdings in Cathie Wood and Ark Invest's $ARKK ETF 🥇 Tesla $TSLA – 10.15% 🥈 Coinbase $COIN – 8.31% 🥉 Circle $CRCL – 7.84% pic.twitter.com/SBQcYUqIip — ETF Tracker (@TheETFTracker) June 20, 2025 Quick FAQ Why did crypto move against stocks today? The crypto market has seen a significant drop in a day, while the stock markets saw a mixed picture on their last day of trading. The S&P 500 went down by 0.22%, the Nasdaq-100 decreased by 0.43%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.083%. Investors were on edge over the Israel-Iran war and the US’s potential role. They were then surprised by the US attacks on Iran on Saturday, and this is bound to reflect on the stock market. Is this dip sustainable? Given the current geopolitical and economic developments, the prices may decrease further. Bitcoin may fall below $100,000 and ETH below $2,100.

At the EthCC, Vitalik Buterin mentions a number of tests that can be used to prove whether a company in the crypto space is truly secure and durable enough to withstand various attacks. During his speech at the Ethereum Community…