The Bank of Japan raised rates to 1% on Wednesday, but Bitcoin held the $66,000 level as crypto markets took the news in stride. At the same time, FTX creditors faced a June 16 deadline to ensure their claims were eligible for the next distribution — repayments are slated to start July 31 via BitGo, Kraken, and Payoneer. The FTX estate is also seeking court approval to reduce its disputed claims reserve by $600 million, from $2.4 billion to $1.8 billion.
FTX: deadline passed, repayments near
Creditors who missed the June 16 cutoff won't be locked out forever, but they'll have to wait for a later round. The estate's move to slash the disputed reserve suggests growing confidence in the claims resolution process. Separately, the US government moved $349,000 in seized tokens from wallets linked to FTX and Alameda on-chain — a small amount, but a reminder that the state still holds hundreds of millions in forfeited crypto.
Institutions keep buying
MARA acquired 1,000 BTC for roughly $66.7 million through FalconX. Strategy added 1,587 BTC to its holdings. Bitmine continued accumulating Ether. BlackRock's IBIT ETF kept buying tens of millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin — even as Bitcoin ETF products overall saw net outflows of about $64 million on June 15. That divergence suggests institutional demand remains concentrated among a few large players.
Altcoins gain ground
Ether, Solana, and XRP ETFs all saw inflows on June 15, even as Bitcoin ETFs bled. Bitcoin dominance drifted lower as capital rotated into altcoins. ETH staking hit a new all-time high, with 32.7% of total supply now staked. Standard Chartered forecast that UNI could increase 40x to $100 by 2030, driven by tokenized asset growth. Whether that bet pays off, the analyst call adds to the altcoin narrative.
Mining economics shift
Miner difficulty continued climbing, making spot purchases like MARA's and Strategy's more attractive than deploying new rigs. That's a structural change: when it's cheaper to buy coins than to mine them, the dynamics of new supply tilt further toward the open market.
