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Crypto Market Moves Higher as Altcoins Lead Rally
Digital asset price action has had a rough time of it in 2026. Year-to-date, total market cap has fallen 28%, with BTC notably sinking below the $60k USD milestone.
But that sentiment has changed slightly over the past week, as a potential bear rally hit several major altcoins across the market.
The move to kick off July saw the crypto Fear and Greed Index jump to its highest reading in several weeks, with two of the year’s most suppressed projects – Solana and Cardano – experiencing weekly gains over 10%.
Solana’s price action in particular has led the way, breaking the $80 USD milestone for the first time in a month amid an 18% seven-day increase. This is the highest-volatility movement in either direction of any crypto asset in the top 30 by market cap.
There are several possible reasons for the market’s short-term turnaround in fortunes. On a granular level, Solana’s on-chain metrics have spiked in the past week in the form of a 6.5% weekly TVL change. The network has also consistently facilitated over 100m daily transactions and 3 million daily active addresses over the last few days.
Meanwhile, at a higher level, confidence may have improved following comments from new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh that inflation risks may be easing, ahead of a July interest rate decision.
Consumer sentiment has been at multi-decade lows in the US as households deal with uncomfortable debt-to-expense ratios, potentially softening the appeal of discretionary spending on risk assets.
A turnaround in inflation, as the market appears to be pricing in over the past 48 hours, has been a major talking point for analysts like Swyftx’s very own Pav Hundal, making the coming weeks important to watch as investors hope for a sustained rally.
‘If we do see stability return to the Strait of Hormuz and the Middle Eastern conflict, we have a reasonable basis to expect inflation to fall…digital assets like Bitcoin and altcoins have, until proven otherwise, mostly seen bullish trends when there is economic growth and loose fiscal conditions (like low interest rates).’ - Pav Hundal
BTC ETFs suffer outflows as altcoins capture spotlight
June has evolved into the ‘worst’ month on record for spot Bitcoin ETFs in terms of net volume.
The products, launched back in January 2024, have long been a key driver of sentiment for BTC, with demand for ETFs materially impacting the digital asset’s actual supply.
However, June was a tough period for both Bitcoin and exchange-traded funds representing the coin, as BTC fell 20% – its biggest single-month fall since 2022. Meanwhile, spot ETF outflows for Bitcoin products totalled $4.5 billion USD, comprising 81% of all 2026 outflow volume to-date.
According to CoinGlass data, the 2nd of July, at the time of writing, is the first day of net inflows for Bitcoin ETFs in several weeks.
But the story doesn’t end there.
Bitcoin, often viewed as talismanic for the broader crypto market, especially during bearish conditions, has been outperformed by altcoin ETFs through the month of June. While appetite for the first-ever blockchain has stumbled, other digital assets have captured some of the remaining liquidity.
Solana ETFs have experienced approx $10m USD worth of inflows in the past ten days of trading, XRP $36m and HYPE $113m.
While these volumes are well below Bitcoin’s outflows, they do suggest that some investor appetite for ETF products remains. It will be interesting to watch fund flows if the current market bounce continues, to see if buy-side volume returns to Bitcoin or remains with alts.
Trump financials reveal billion-dollar crypto profits
The United States President has publicly unveiled his 2025 earnings report, courtesy of the US Office of Government Ethics. The financial details, spanning the previous calendar year, include profits from his array of ventures, including real estate, golf resorts, and of course, crypto projects.
His most well-known digital asset enterprise, Official Trump Coin, is perhaps one of the most polarising projects on the market. Its rise and fall wasn’t foreign to those embedded in the high-volatility nature of memecoins – but for much of its audience, new to the crypto world, TRUMP proved to be a rude introduction.
Nevertheless, Trump himself profited handsomely from the cryptocurrency, with the royalty sum reported as coming in at $635m USD.
Meanwhile, DeFi project World Liberty Financial contributed another $580m or so to Trump’s portfolio.
The US President’s involvement in the digital asset industry has been a major community talking point ever since he was re-elected in 2024 on the promise of being the ‘Crypto President’.
On one hand, the endorsement of blockchain technology and Web3 finance at large from someone as influential as the ‘leader of the free world’ was a major coup for the sector. It helped validate what many had been saying for years – that DeFi likely has a place in the world’s financial future.
On the other, Trump profiting from the industry, which we can now confirm totals over a billion USD, has raised ethical concerns among some community members.
Whichever side of the ledger you stand on, Trump’s relevance to the crypto industry stretches beyond regulatory shifts. It raises a philosophical question about the origins of blockchain technology – pure, decentralised ownership of finance – and how far the tech should stretch itself to meet modern, mainstream demands while preserving its original vision.
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