The end of June has brought the long-awaited resolution to the crypto market's prolonged consolidation. The reporting period was marked by a sharp surge in volatility, a massive wipeout of margin traders' positions, and a test of key psychological support levels.
In this edition of crypto news, we will traditionally weigh the main macroeconomic triggers of the global market, and in the second part of the digest, we will analyze key technological updates and new testnet campaigns in the X1 EcoChain ecosystem.
Global Market: Bitcoin Flushes Longs Ahead of Historic Expiration
The main bulk of discussions in global crypto news this week was centered around the derivatives market. The main event of Friday, June 26, was the historic expiration of Bitcoin options on the leading platform Deribit, with a colossal open interest in notional value of around $10.6 billion. Ahead of this event, the market went through a severe stress test.
Key macro-level events from June 22 to June 26:
The $60,000 Breakdown and Flash Crash: Amid the continuous outflow of liquidity from spot ETFs (reaching nearly $3 billion in net redemptions total in June) and the publication of the accelerating US PCE price index to 4.1%, Bitcoin failed to hold its key support level. On Thursday, June 25, the price of the flagship cryptocurrency dove to a local low at $58,115. This technical breakdown triggered a cascade of margin position liquidations across the market amounting to over $1.48 billion in just 24 hours. Nevertheless, immediately after the market flush, BTC returned above the psychological mark of $60,000.
Supply Crunch from Long-Term Holders: According to fresh on-chain data from Glassnode, despite the panic among short-term speculators, long-term holders (LTH) updated their historic record: they now hold more than 79% of the entire circulating Bitcoin supply. This creates a severe liquidity deficit in order books, which could serve as a powerful springboard for prices once buying demand returns.
Bank of England Regulatory Easing: A positive regulatory signal in the crypto news feed was the Bank of England's decision to ease backing requirements for systemic stablecoins from a 60/40 ratio to 70/30 (allowing 70% of reserves to be held in short-term UK government bonds). Furthermore, the regulator removed strict token holding limits for individuals and businesses, replacing them with a general issuer capitalization limit of £40 billion.
X1 EcoChain Digest: Launch on Superboard and Noah AI Integration
While global charts were weathering the storm, the Layer-1 blockchain X1 EcoChain focused on expanding its ecosystem within the testnet and automating Web4 development.
New Quests on Superboard and Arkada
The X1 EcoChain ecosystem has expanded its pool of interactive activities for the community across two major platforms at once:
Superboard Campaign: New tasks have been launched, allowing users to farm additional points. To participate, users need to head to the X1 EcoChain testnet platform, follow the Superboard account on the X network, and activate the corresponding promo campaign.
Arkada Marathon: On this platform, the campaign is in full swing. The project has prepared a whole pack for completing the daily on-chain routine (claiming test tokens, regular swaps, sending OnChainGM). Participants can also verify their wallets via Nomis Score and interact with the chain's partners, including SurfLayer and ZNS Connect. Completing tasks rewards users with two types of rewards at once — ECO Points and Arkada Points.
Noah AI Integration and AMA Session
An important fundamental step for X1 EcoChain was the announcement of the integration of the advanced AI platform Noah AI. This solution completely changes the classical approach to creating decentralized applications (dApps): developers no longer need to write code manually. It is enough to describe the logic and tasks of the project in detail using a regular text prompt, and the neural network will generate a ready-made, fully functional product.
To wrap up the week and reveal the potential of the implemented technologies in detail, the team held an AMA session with the top management of Noah AI and the infrastructure provider Vottun. During the live broadcast, the speakers broke down in detail how the synergy of artificial intelligence and advanced APIs erases technical barriers for businesses.
Recent crypto news clearly demonstrates: the current flushing of excess leverage from the market is a healthy process before a new leg of growth. While major funds are restructuring their options strategies, young infrastructure Layer-1 networks like X1 EcoChain are laying the foundation for automation and AI development, which will become a key driver for the next wave of mass Web3 adoption.