Speaker 1: Hey, it's Alex with the Token Metrics daily Pulse from
Speaker 1: May eighteenth, twenty twenty six. Micro Strategy just dropped two
Speaker 1: billion dollars on bitcoin and the price fell. Anyway, that's
Speaker 1: the kind of day we're looking at. Let's get into it,
Speaker 1: but first a quick word from our sponsor. Okay, So
Speaker 1: here's what's happening. The big news is that micro Strategy
Speaker 1: bought nearly twenty five thousand bitcoin last week. That's a
Speaker 1: two billion dollar bet. Usually when the biggest corporate buyer
Speaker 1: on Earth steps in like that, you'd expect the price
Speaker 1: to jump. Instead, Bitcoin slid towards seventy seven thousand, then
Speaker 1: the floor gave way. We saw over six hundred million
Speaker 1: dollars in liquidations in a single session. The takeaway is
Speaker 1: that this wasn't about crypto itself. It's about the bond market.
Speaker 1: With treasury yields sitting above five percent and new geopolitical
Speaker 1: tension with Iran, investors are getting spooked. When it a
Speaker 1: two billion dollars buy can't hold the line, it means
Speaker 1: the macro pressure is currently stronger than even the biggest
Speaker 1: conviction trades. Looking at the board, bitcoin is hovering around
Speaker 1: seventy seven thousand, and Ethereum is near twenty one hundred.
Speaker 1: Solana is sitting around eighty six dollars. It's a bit
Speaker 1: of a catch your breath moment after the chaos. One
Speaker 1: thing to notice Bitcoin dominance is up to fifty eight percent.
Speaker 1: This means when things get shaky, people are moving their
Speaker 1: money into the biggest, safest asset they can find. The
Speaker 1: Fear and Greed index is at twenty eight. That's definitely fearful,
Speaker 1: But we haven't hit that extreme fear level where the
Speaker 1: brave buyers usually step in. We're in that awkward middle
Speaker 1: ground where everyone is just waiting to see what happens next.
Speaker 1: Under the surface, things are a bit split. Analytics tokens
Speaker 1: are up big nearly two hundred percent this week. That
Speaker 1: tells us traders are desperate for better data to find
Speaker 1: an edge. On the flip side, the Layer two ecosystem
Speaker 1: is bleeding. Most of the major scaling networks are down
Speaker 1: double digits. This isn't just people switching from one network
Speaker 1: to another. It looks like capital is leaving that sector entirely.
Speaker 1: The only real standout is hyper liquid, which is actually up.
Speaker 1: In a nervous market, people tend to cluster around the
Speaker 1: platforms that have the most actual trading activity and a
Speaker 1: clear way of making money. There's a macro signal worth
Speaker 1: watching in the stock market too. The S and P
Speaker 1: five hundred was basically flat this week, moving less than
Speaker 1: one percent. Usually, bitcoin and stocks move together when things
Speaker 1: get stressful. The fact that stock's held steady while crypto
Speaker 1: got hit suggests the pressure here might be more about
Speaker 1: specific crypto leverage being flushed out rather than a total
Speaker 1: market collapse. Alpha subscribers got the full macro framework for
Speaker 1: this move in the monthly playbook Token metric dot Com
Speaker 1: fourteen days free. Now for the stories you need to know. First,
Speaker 1: Goldman Sachs just showed they're holding XRP and Solana through
Speaker 1: new investment filings. This is a big deal because it's
Speaker 1: not just a press release, it's a formal record. When
Speaker 1: a giant like Goldman does this, it gives every other
Speaker 1: big bank the green light to start asking why they
Speaker 1: aren't doing the same. It's how institutional adoption actually moves
Speaker 1: from a maybe to a must have. Next, the world
Speaker 1: of digital finance is getting a massive infrastructure boost. Standard
Speaker 1: Chartered is predicting four trillion dollars will move into digital
Speaker 1: assets by twenty twenty eight. They're even buying up their
Speaker 1: own storage companies to handle it. The takeaway is that
Speaker 1: the big banks aren't debating if this technology works anymore.
Speaker 1: They're just trying to make sure they own the pipes. Finally,
Speaker 1: some quick hits. Bitcoin Depot, a major cryptoatm operator, has
Speaker 1: filed for bankruptcy due to high costs and lower retail interest.
Speaker 1: Kraken is cutting about one hundred and fifty staff as
Speaker 1: they move toward more automation, and thor Chain reportedly lost
Speaker 1: ten million dollars in a protocol exploit, which is a
Speaker 1: tough reminder that moving money between different blockchains still carries
Speaker 1: real risks. All right, before we get into the risks,
Speaker 1: quick word from our sponsor. Okay, we're back. Let's talk
Speaker 1: about what to watch for. We're tracking three main risks
Speaker 1: right now. First, the leverage flush was healthy, but we
Speaker 1: haven't seen the kind of total surrender that usually marks
Speaker 1: the bottom. People are still a bit too hesitant. Second,
Speaker 1: those high bond yields are the real ceiling. If you
Speaker 1: can get five percent from a government bond, bitcoin has
Speaker 1: to work a lot harder to attract big money. Third,
Speaker 1: the situation with Iran is a total wild card. Any
Speaker 1: escalation there usually sends people running to the US dollar,
Speaker 1: not crypto. The net assessment is that macroheadwinds are winning
Speaker 1: the tug of war right now. That only changes if
Speaker 1: bond yields drop or if Bitcoin can fight its way
Speaker 1: back above eighty thousand and stay there. Looking at the
Speaker 1: week ahead, keep your eyes on the Fed. Any talk
Speaker 1: about interest rates or bonds will move this market instantly.
Speaker 1: Also watch for the UK's new rules on digital markets.
Speaker 1: It could set the tone for the rest of Europe.
Speaker 1: And on Wednesday, Parallel Protocol has a big vote on
Speaker 1: their token setup that could change their supply dynamics almost overnight.
Speaker 1: For those of you who are serious about your portfolio,
Speaker 1: Token Metrics Roundtable gives you private AI portfolio reviews, live
Speaker 1: monthly discussions, and everything in our alpha plan. Head to
Speaker 1: tokenmetrics dot com to see if it's a fit. This
Speaker 1: is educational content, not investment advice. Always do your own research.
Speaker 1: I'm Alex, See you next time.