Standard Chartered’s Geoffrey Kendrick says Bitcoin likely bottomed near $59,000.

ETF outflows and SpaceX IPO liquidity demands fueled selloff.
Positive ETF flows and lower oil prices could confirm.

Standard Chartered analyst Geoffrey Kendrick believes Bitcoin has already established its cycle bottom, pointing to the recent decline near $59,000 as the likely low for the current market cycle. According to Kendrick, the latest correction does not change his broader outlook for the crypto market. He continues to expect Bitcoin to reach $100,000 by the end of the year, while Ethereum could advance to $4,000 if market conditions improve.

Bitcoin traded at $63,484 at press time, recovering from recent weakness. The cryptocurrency previously climbed to $126,000 in October 2025 before retreating more than 50% during the latest downturn. Kendrick argued that the decline resulted from several temporary market pressures rather than a breakdown in crypto fundamentals. As a result, he does not expect Bitcoin to fall below the $59,000 level again during this cycle.

Kendrick Points to ETF Selling and Macro Pressures
According to Kendrick, one of the largest contributors to the selloff came from spot Bitcoin ETF outflows. Institutional investors reportedly reduced exposure and raised cash ahead of the historic SpaceX IPO. The listing created substantial demand for liquidity across financial markets. Consequently, capital flowed out of several risk assets, including Bitcoin and crypto investment products.

At the same time, geopolitical tensions between the United States and Iran added pressure to broader markets. Rising oil prices increased inflation concerns, while higher bond yields reduced investor appetite for riskier assets. Moreover, uncertainty surrounding global markets contributed to weaker sentiment across cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin, therefore, faced selling pressure from both macroeconomic and market-specific factors.

Kendrick believes those headwinds are beginning to ease. SpaceX has already completed its public debut, and reports of progress in U.S.-Iran negotiations have improved market sentiment.

Several Indicators Could Strengthen the Bullish Case
Despite his confidence that the bottom is already in place, Kendrick outlined several developments that could confirm a sustained recovery. According to the analyst, spot Bitcoin ETF flows should return to positive territory. Additionally, continued purchases from institutions and corporate treasury firms would signal renewed confidence in the market.

Lower oil prices could also support risk assets. Furthermore, any diplomatic progress ahead of the upcoming G7 summit may reduce uncertainty across global markets. Kendrick also expects Ethereum to outperform Bitcoin as conditions stabilize. Such a development would reflect improving investor confidence and broader participation across digital assets.

His analysis highlights how cryptocurrency markets have become increasingly tied to traditional financial trends. ETF positioning, bond yields, energy prices, and major public offerings now play a larger role in shaping sentiment. Standard Chartered previously maintained a $150,000 Bitcoin target before lowering expectations during the recent market downturn. Even so, the bank’s current $100,000 forecast still implies significant upside from current levels.

Mastercard unveiled Agent Pay for Machines (AP4M), a payment service designed for autonomous AI agents and machine-to-machine commerce.

The platform supports automated transactions across cards, bank accounts and stablecoins.
More than 30 companies from the payments, technology and digital asset sectors have joined the initiative.
The launch expands Mastercard’s Agent Pay strategy, introduced in 2025 to support AI-driven commerce.

Mastercard has introduced a new payment service designed to allow artificial intelligence (AI) agents and connected machines to conduct transactions autonomously, as the payments company expands its efforts to build infrastructure for AI-driven commerce.
The service, called Agent Pay for Machines (AP4M), was announced on June 10 and is intended to support machine-to-machine payments, including high-frequency and low-value transactions that can be executed without direct human involvement.

The launch comes as payment networks, technology firms and digital asset companies increasingly explore “agentic commerce,” an emerging model in which AI systems can perform commercial tasks on behalf of users and businesses. Industry participants are developing infrastructure that would allow software agents to purchase services, manage resources and complete transactions autonomously while operating within predefined permissions and controls.

Mastercard Builds on Earlier Agent Pay Initiative
Agent Pay for Machines expands Mastercard’s broader Agent Pay framework, which the company introduced in April 2025 as part of its strategy to support AI-enabled commerce.
While the original initiative focused on enabling trusted AI agents to participate in transactions on behalf of consumers and businesses, the new platform is specifically designed for machine-driven commerce involving continuous and automated payment flows.

According to Mastercard, the system provides credentialing for AI agents and machines, establishes permissions and spending controls, enables transaction execution across different providers, and supports settlement through multiple payment methods.
The company said the infrastructure can facilitate automated transactions ranging from digital services and cloud-computing resources to broader machine-to-machine economic activity. Mastercard also stated that the platform supports settlement through cards, bank accounts and stablecoins, reflecting growing interest in integrating traditional payment networks with blockchain-based payment systems.

The launch follows a series of recent moves by Mastercard to expand its digital asset and next-generation payments strategy. In March, the company announced plans to acquire stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK in a deal valued at up to $1.8 billion and also added TRON to its crypto partner program to explore blockchain payment applications. More recently, Mastercard expanded its settlement network with stablecoin support and 24/7 payment capabilities, highlighting its growing focus on programmable and always-on payments infrastructure.

JPMorgan Chase has prepared a rollout of longer-running AI agents for use later this year. According to Chief Analytics Officer Derek Waldron, the bank expects agents to handle tasks for much longer periods.

JPMorgan plans to deploy longer-running AI agents that can handle corporate workflows for one or two hours.
Derek Waldron said the bank expects these systems in 2026 after security and governance checks.
JPMorgan said AI tools helped lift private banking gross sales by 20% through overnight client and market reviews.

The plan comes as large companies test AI systems that can manage more steps without constant human input.

JPMorgan prepares longer-running AI agents
In a report by CNBC, Waldron said AI agents now move beyond single tasks and short instructions. He said newer systems can manage workflows across several software programs and business steps.

“We’ve entered now the era of long-running autonomous agents,” Waldron said. He said the agents can run for one or two hours instead of minutes. Waldron said older agents usually completed a goal in two or three minutes. The new systems can continue a workflow and manage more actions before human review.

JPMorgan runs under CEO Jamie Dimon and remains the largest U.S. bank by assets. The bank also spends nearly $20 billion each year on technology. Longer-running agents still face corporate security and governance checks before full deployment. Waldron said the bank expects to have those systems in 2026.

AI systems take on longer workflows
Waldron said technology leaders now ask how long AI can work before needing human help. He called that ability “intellectual coherence” during his comments on agent performance. Model improvements have helped agents reason through longer tasks and manage related workstreams. Waldron said the technology can act more like a team manager than one worker.

“Team managers can parse out a problem and delegate activities,” Waldron said. He said teams can then run longer and finish more complex work. Recent agent tools can write code, control browsers, and work with desktop software. Waldron said those abilities help AI systems take on more complete business tasks.

He said agents could later remain coherent for multiple hours, then days, and then weeks. However, he tied that timeline to future improvements and enterprise controls.

Strategy reportedly purchased 1,550 Bitcoin following a sale of $2.5 million worth of BTC, according to multiple reports. The back-to-back transactions have drawn attention from readers tracking corporate Bitcoin treasury activity.

What the Report Says About Strategy's 1,550 Bitcoin Purchase Strategy, the publicly traded company formerly known as MicroStrategy, bought 1,550 BTC in its latest disclosed acquisition, according to a CoinTelegraph report. The purchase came after the company sold $2.5 million worth of Bitcoin. The company's own press page indicates that Strategy has increased its BTC reserve to 845,256 Bitcoin while maintaining a $1.0 billion USD reserve. The latest purchase fits into a pattern of consistent accumulation that has defined the company's treasury approach.

Strategy reportedly bought 1,550 BTC in its most recent acquisition. The purchase followed a reported $2.5 million BTC sale. These figures are based on reports and company disclosures, not independently verified on-chain data in this article. The sequence of selling a small amount of Bitcoin and then purchasing a significantly larger quantity raises questions about Strategy's treasury management mechanics. Without a stated rationale from the company, readers should treat the transaction pairing as reported, not as confirmed strategy.

Why a $2.5 Million BTC Sale Paired With a Larger Buy Stands Out The $2.5 million sale is a fraction of the value represented by 1,550 BTC. At recent price levels, 1,550 Bitcoin would be worth well over $100 million, making the sale look minor by comparison.

The headline's core tension is that pairing: a relatively small disposal followed by a much larger acquisition. This pattern has surfaced before in Strategy's history, where the company has occasionally sold small amounts while continuing to accumulate. Readers who have followed previous Saylor BTC buy reports will recognize the dynamic. Without an official explanation from Strategy's leadership, it would be speculative to assign a motive for the sale. The company's purchases tracker provides a historical record of its Bitcoin acquisitions but does not always detail the reasoning behind individual transactions. The sale amount is notable primarily because the report chose to highlight it alongside the much larger purchase. Whether the two transactions were part of a single treasury rebalancing or separate decisions remains unclear from available reporting.

What Readers Tracking Corporate Bitcoin Activity Should Watch Next For readers monitoring corporate Bitcoin moves, several details remain unconfirmed. The exact timing of both the sale and the purchase, the average price paid per Bitcoin, and whether the transactions occurred on the same day are all open questions.

Strategy's total reported holdings of 845,256 BTC make it the largest known corporate Bitcoin holder. Any movement in its treasury, even a relatively small sale, tends to generate market attention. Readers interested in how broader crypto market conditions interact with corporate buying patterns may want to track confirmation of these figures in upcoming SEC filings. The company has not yet released a detailed statement explaining the rationale behind either transaction. Readers should watch for any follow-up commentary from Strategy's executive chairman Michael Saylor, who has historically announced major purchases on social media, or for the next 8-K filing that would confirm the exact transaction details.

Corporate Bitcoin accumulation remains one of the most closely watched dynamics in the market, alongside developments like broader altcoin price forecasts that reflect shifting sentiment across digital assets. Whether this reported buy signals a resumption of aggressive purchasing will depend on what Strategy discloses next.

Morgan Stanley is reportedly preparing to allow its wealth management clients to lend bitcoin and other digital assets to facilitate in-kind conversions for spot crypto exchange-traded funds, a move that could reshape how institutional investors interact with crypto ETF products.

The development, first reported by The Block, centers on a lending mechanism that would let clients contribute their existing crypto holdings toward the creation and redemption of spot crypto ETF shares. Rather than converting assets to cash first, the in-kind process involves directly exchanging the underlying cryptocurrency for ETF shares, or vice versa.

What: Morgan Stanley plans to let clients lend bitcoin for in-kind spot crypto ETF conversions
Mechanism: Clients' crypto holdings would be used directly in ETF share creation and redemption, bypassing cash conversion
Why it matters: In-kind conversions are more tax-efficient and reduce market impact compared to cash-based processes

What Morgan Stanley Is Proposing for Client Bitcoin Lending
Morgan Stanley's proposed lending program would allow clients holding bitcoin to make those assets available for in-kind ETF creation and redemption. This matters because in-kind conversions avoid the need to sell crypto on the open market, reducing both tax events and price slippage from large orders.

The firm has already signaled growing engagement with digital assets. Morgan Stanley previously announced support for spot crypto ETP shares through its wealth management platform, making it one of the largest traditional financial institutions to offer direct access to crypto investment products.

For institutional clients holding significant bitcoin positions, the ability to lend assets into a conversion process could unlock yield on otherwise idle holdings. This approach mirrors how traditional ETF authorized participants handle in-kind transactions with equities and commodities, now extended to digital assets.

Why In-Kind Spot Crypto ETF Conversions Matter
The distinction between cash-based and in-kind ETF redemptions has been a structural debate since U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs launched. In a cash-based creation, an authorized participant sells bitcoin on the open market and delivers cash to the fund. In an in-kind creation, bitcoin is delivered directly in exchange for new ETF shares.

In-kind conversions offer two primary advantages. They are generally more tax-efficient because the direct asset swap does not trigger a taxable sale event. They also reduce market impact, since the underlying trades happen off the open order book, improving execution for large institutional flows.

For investors tracking how bitcoin's price responds to large institutional movements, the shift from cash-based to in-kind mechanisms could dampen the volatility that accompanies major ETF inflows or outflows.

What Investors and the Crypto Market May Watch Next
Several details about Morgan Stanley's program remain unconfirmed. The specific ETF products eligible for in-kind conversions, the lending terms clients would receive, and the rollout timeline are all open questions.

It is also unclear whether the program would extend beyond bitcoin to other digital assets such as ether, or whether it would initially be limited to a single cryptocurrency. The answer could affect product competitiveness among spot crypto ETFs, particularly as issuers differentiate on operational efficiency.

Morgan Stanley's move may raise competitive pressure among wirehouses and wealth platforms to offer similar services. Investors watching traditional finance engagement with digital assets, including developments like leadership shifts at crypto-native companies and token supply dynamics in DeFi protocols, will likely monitor whether competing firms follow with comparable in-kind lending offerings.

For now, the program represents another step in the gradual integration of crypto assets into mainstream wealth management infrastructure.

On May 29, 2026, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved Coinbase to provide American users with access to crypto perpetual futures. This is an important step for the entire market, as perpetual futures have long represented a major part of global crypto trading, while remaining largely unavailable to U.S. users through regulated platforms.

Perpetual futures, or “perps,” are futures contracts with no expiration date. Traders can hold them indefinitely, while the price is kept close to the spot market through the funding rate mechanism. Their main feature is leverage, which makes them popular but also highly risky.

Coinbase will provide access to these products through Deribit, which it acquired for $2.9 billion. The company also plans to launch its own U.S. Perpetual-Style Futures product.

Separately, the CFTC also approved Kalshi’s BTCPERP, making it the first Bitcoin perpetual future listed on a registered U.S. exchange.

In simple terms, the U.S. is starting to bring a major segment of crypto derivatives back from offshore and decentralized platforms into the regulated market. This is especially important for institutional investors, funds, and major market players that previously could not legally access these products.

At the same time, the risks remain. Perpetual futures involve high leverage, which means they can lead not only to significant profits but also to rapid liquidations.

The main takeaway is clear: the crypto market continues to integrate into the official financial system. What was once mostly an offshore trading instrument for advanced traders is gradually receiving a regulated framework.

Crypto is becoming an increasingly important part of the global financial market.

Tether and Fasset have jointly launched what they describe as the world's first gold-backed neobanking Visa card, a product designed to turn tokenized gold into a practical spending and savings tool for everyday consumers.

The card runs on Visa's global network, meaning it is accepted at any merchant location that supports Visa payments worldwide. At the point of sale, settlement happens in seconds through a multi-layer conversion: $XAUT is converted to $USDT, which is then exchanged for local fiat currency, making the process seamless for users who may never interact directly with the underlying crypto mechanics.

On the rewards side, eligible transactions earn cardholders up to 6% cashback in $XAUT, deposited directly into their Fasset wallet in real time. The card also includes an automated round-up feature that rounds each purchase to the nearest dollar and auto-invests the spare change into $XAUT, enabling passive gold accumulation through ordinary spending. To support the rewards ecosystem at launch, Tether is committing up to $1 million in $XAUT.

The Strategic Logic
The partnership brings together Tether's liquidity and asset issuance capabilities with Fasset's distribution network across Asia and Africa. Fasset processes $32 billion in annualized volume, with 95% tied to real-world assets, and holds regulatory approvals across multiple jurisdictions including the UAE, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the EU. That off-ramp infrastructure is central to making a gold-backed card practical in markets where banking access can be uneven.

The tokenized gold market has grown to a total market cap exceeding $5.3 billion, with $XAUT alone accounting for more than $2.6 billion of that figure. The card launch gives $XAUT a direct utility layer, pushing tokenized gold beyond its traditional buy-and-hold use case and into everyday financial activity, particularly in emerging markets where demand for stable, asset-backed financial tools continues to rise.

MoonPay Integrates Franklin Templeton’s BENJI Tokenized Fund

Asset management giant Franklin Templeton ($1.74T AUM) has partnered with MoonPay. Institutional clients can now seamlessly convert stablecoins (USDT/USDC) directly into shares of the BENJI tokenized money market fund and back via the MoonPay Trade API.

Institutional players can now instantly shift liquidity from standard stablecoins into a regulated, U.S.-registered government money market fund to capture low-risk onchain yield.

During volatile periods, BENJI token holders can quickly convert their positions back into stablecoins through MoonPay Trade’s infrastructure, which supports over 200 blockchain protocols.

Launched in 2021, BENJI was the first U.S.-registered mutual fund to utilize a public blockchain for recordkeeping. Franklin Templeton has already integrated BENJI with Kraken and Binance for collateral and corporate treasury management.

For MoonPay, this partnership boosts its enterprise-grade "Trade" platform (launched in May) as a solution for institutional liquidity and collateral management. The big question moving forward is whether tokenized funds will officially become the mainstream infrastructure for corporate cash management.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has called for promoting yen-denominated stablecoins across Asia and establishing a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds, signaling a coordinated push to position Japan at the center of digital asset policy in the region.

The proposals, outlined in a policy document published by the LDP, pair two distinct but connected goals: expanding the use of yen stablecoins beyond Japan's borders and creating clearer investment rules for crypto ETFs domestically.
Yen stablecoins as regional payments infrastructure

The ruling party's proposal frames yen-based stablecoins not as a niche crypto product but as a tool for cross-border payments and trade settlement in Asia. This positions Japan's digital currency strategy as a competitor to dollar-denominated stablecoins that currently dominate global crypto markets.

By pushing yen stablecoins into broader Asian adoption, the LDP is effectively proposing a new channel for Japanese financial influence in the region. If successful, yen stablecoins could serve as an alternative settlement layer for trade flows between Japan and its Asian trading partners.

The regional angle distinguishes this proposal from purely domestic crypto regulation. Japan is not simply regulating stablecoins for its own market; it is actively seeking to export yen-denominated digital assets as part of a wider financial strategy, a move that could reshape how Japan approaches digital asset diplomacy in the years ahead.

Crypto ETF rules aimed at institutional access
Alongside the stablecoin push, the LDP called for setting formal rules around crypto ETFs. Japan currently lacks a defined framework for exchange-traded crypto investment products, leaving institutional investors with limited regulated options for digital asset exposure.
Establishing ETF rules would bring Japan closer to markets like the United States and Hong Kong, where spot crypto ETFs have already launched or are under active regulatory review. The move signals that Japanese policymakers see regulated investment vehicles as a necessary complement to the payments-focused stablecoin agenda.

As CoinDesk reported, the dual proposal covering both stablecoins and ETFs points to a broader, coordinated digital asset policy direction rather than piecemeal regulation. Connecting payments infrastructure with capital markets rules suggests the LDP views crypto policy as a single, integrated challenge.

Implications for Asia's digital asset landscape
The combined stablecoin and ETF proposals position Japan as one of the most active regulatory voices on digital assets in Asia. While countries like Singapore and Hong Kong have pursued their own crypto frameworks, Japan's explicit push to promote a national-currency stablecoin across the region adds a geopolitical dimension that goes beyond standard financial regulation.

For crypto observers tracking institutional product development and market infrastructure expansion, the LDP's proposals represent a concrete policy signal. The question now is whether these recommendations translate into legislation and how quickly Japan's financial regulators move to implement them.

Japan's Financial Services Agency will likely be tasked with drafting specific rules if the proposals advance. Any concrete timeline for ETF approvals or stablecoin licensing standards has not yet been announced.