Welcome to The Market Runup! This week, we break down Bitcoin’s drop to nearly $60k; the Zcash privacy exploit that rattled confidence in zero-knowledge infrastructure; and why institutional crypto is moving past exchange volumes. Plus, Chris Soriano, co-founder and CCO of BridgePort, joined the show to discuss whether crypto is entering the phase where market structure matters more than narratives.

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The crypto market experienced its most significant weekly decline since July 2024, with Bitcoin falling to $61,846 and Ethereum dropping below $1,578, bringing both assets closer to critical support levels as risk appetite deteriorated across digital assets. 

The sell-off was driven by a combination of persistent ETF outflows, weakening spot market demand, and declining trading volumes. A significant portion of the bitcoin decline was spurred by Strategy selling some of its holdings. 

Investors are also pulling capital as they see new opportunities in tech equities, particularly AI stocks and anticipated public offerings from the likes of SpaceX and Anthropic.

Unlike previous pullbacks that were largely isolated to speculative corners of the market, this decline extended into Bitcoin and Ethereum, signaling investors are trying to reduce risk broadly as they see opportunity for upside in tech stocks benefiting from the AI boom. 

The move also coincided with some of the weakest spot trading activity since late 2023.

Zcash fell more than 30% to a weekly low of $251.54 after a critical vulnerability was discovered in Orchard, its shielded transaction pool. According to Shielded Labs, the flaw could have allowed unlimited counterfeit ZEC to be minted anonymously. 

The vulnerability was fixed through an emergency patch on June 1, per Shielded Labs.

MoneyGram launched MGUSD, a dollar-pegged stablecoin intended for treasury management, settlement, and currency trading. 

The launch by the global money transfer giant comes as traditional financial institutions accelerate their adoption of stablecoins and blockchain-based payment rails. Recent examples include SoFi expanding access to digital asset and stablecoin services for its roughly 15 million users, Samsung Securities, Samsung Card, and Samsung SDS investing approximately $408 million into Dunamu, South Korea's largest crypto exchange operator, and the launch of regulated onchain trading infrastructure for tokenized equities through a partnership between Securitize, Jump Trading, and Jupiter.

MoneyGram’s entry reinforces one of the biggest shifts in payments in the past year: No longer only crypto trading tools, stablecoins are slowly providing an alternative settlement infrastructure for financial institutions and payment companies.

Besides bitcoin and ether’s dramatic declines, the biggest theme this week was  the growing importance of the plumbing in the crypto market. 

As Bitcoin weakened, conversations shifted toward execution quality, counterparty risk, off-exchange settlement, custody, credit, and capital efficiency: the very areas institutions examine when they consider trading it at scale.

Bitcoin’s move below $61,000 showed that crypto remains highly sensitive to liquidity, ETF flows, and macro-driven risks. But institutional crypto is growing more complex: Following FTX, institutional participants have increasingly focused on custody, settlement, collateral management, and counterparty risk rather than simply gaining crypto exposure. Companies including BridgePort, Fireblocks, Copper, FalconX, and Hidden Road have built businesses around solving these infrastructure challenges, while firms such as Visa, SoFi, MoneyGram, and JPMorgan continue investing in blockchain-based settlement and payment rails.

This week on The Market Runup, I sat down with Chris Soriano, co-founder and CCO of BridgePort, to discuss why crypto may finally be transforming from a token-driven market into an infrastructure-driven one.

Soriano explained how institutional crypto markets still suffer from major inefficiencies around pre-funding, fragmented capital, settlement risk, exchange connectivity and counterparty exposure. We discussed why institutions often have capital sitting across multiple venues simply to manage risk, and how off-exchange settlement and better credit infrastructure could unlock more efficient trading.

We also discussed why crypto may be evolving toward an FX-style market structure, where OTC relationships, bilateral trading, credit lines and execution quality are more important than headline exchange volume.

The percentages and metrics are based on a 7-day timeframe, unless noted otherwise.

Bitcoin falling below $61,000 matters because it suggests investors are reassessing the risk-reward profile of digital assets in the current macro environment. ETF outflows, weaker spot demand, and declining trading activity all point to reduced conviction among buyers rather than a temporary liquidity shock. Unlike previous pullbacks that were quickly met with aggressive dip-buying, this selloff has been characterized by a lack of immediate demand stepping in to absorb supply.

Spot vs Derivatives Flows (what to watch):

The focus this week should be less on leverage chasing upside and more on forced de-risking. Bitcoin’s break below $61,000 came as ETF outflows accelerated and sentiment weakened, suggesting spot sales and institutions reducing risk exposure hurt prices.

Cross-asset correlations (what it tells you):

Bitcoin’s decline diverged from traditional equities that remained resilient, indicating that crypto-specific narratives played a larger role this week than macro moves.

Risk appetite weakened this week, but was uneven across the ecosystem.

Bitcoin breaking below $61,000 showed that investors are willing to reduce exposure even in the most liquid part of the market.

Meanwhile, traditional financial institutions continued adopting stablecoins and institutional infrastructure. MoneyGram’s MGUSD launch, SoFi’s stablecoin launch, and Samsung buying a stake in Korean crypto exchange Dunamu all indicate that interest in crypto infrastructure remains alive.

That is the split defining this market right now. Investors are pulling back from crypto, but institutions are building the rails they believe will matter long term.

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This information is for entertainment purposes only. It should not be considered financial advice, nor should it be used to make investment decisions. Cryptocurrencies are high risk and you should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Make sure you do your own research.