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Bitcoin traders load up on bearish bets all the way down to $52,000

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Bitcoin traders load up on bearish bets all the way down to $52,000

A hawkish Federal Reserve is bolstering the U.S. dollar, bitcoin ETFs have seen persistent outflows, and Strategy, the largest publicly listed bitcoin holder, faces mounting pressure.

Strategy’s preferred stock, STRC, has plunged to record lows well below its $100 par value, complicating the company’s aggressive bitcoin accumulation strategy.

Arca CIO Jeff Dorman highlighted the precarious situation:”Either sell an enormous amount of BTC and MSTR to help bring $STRC back up near par, and at least buy yourself some time, or continue to watch every part of your cap structure melt because of the uncertainty you’ve created,” he said on X.

As of writing, BTC changed hands near $62,400, down 0.8% since midnight UTC hours, according to CoinDesk data. Prices hit highs near $67,000 early this week.



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JPMorgan: European Stocks Are Attractively Cheap After Oil Price Slump

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JPMorgan: European Stocks Are Attractively Cheap After Oil Price Slump


Europe’s relatively cheap stocks could become attractive for investors as the oil prices plunged and markets hope the Hormuz crisis is over, according to JPMorgan.

Assuming that the Middle East crisis has peaked and oil prices drop, investors are likely to return to their positioning from before the war, Karen Ward, chief market strategist for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at JPMorgan Asset Management, told Bloomberg in an interview published on Thursday.

Before the Middle East conflict erupted at the end of February, investors were seeking diversification from the tech and AI story in the U.S. and Asian markets, and were scouring global stocks for cheaper investments.

Europe fits the bill on both counts, as the European stock valuations are lower than the ones in the U.S., according to JPMorgan’s Ward.

Europe has been overlooked by investors for years because of the lower returns, but the expected slump in oil prices could offer cheap entry into European stocks, Ward told Bloomberg, although she admitted that few other experts share the enthusiasm about Europe’s stock markets.

Many clients and investors continue to believe that Europe is “structurally incapable of growth,” Ward told Bloomberg.

“I’m really bullish on Europe and it’s because no one agrees with me, so that tells me I must be right,” JPMorgan’s strategist said.

“When we start to see this Iran problem fade and oil prices fall back, that European story is going to get unleashed.”

Still, European Central Bank (ECB) officials warned this week that Europe will have to contend with the energy price shock for months despite the tentative U.S.-Iran agreement to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

ECB officials, who last week raised key interest rates for the euro area for the first time since 2023, are not ruling out further increases this year, despite the U.S.-Iran deal, as the energy price shock is expected to linger for months to come.

By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com

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Institutions and Digital Asset Leaders Gather at Blockchain Futurist Conference to Explore the Future of Finance

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Institutions and Digital Asset Leaders Gather at Blockchain Futurist Conference to Explore the Future of Finance


Blockchain Futurist Conference returns July 21–22, 2026, with a focus on the future of finance. From digital assets and stablecoins to tokenization and artificial intelligence, the event explores the technologies reshaping financial systems in Canada and around the world.

Blockchain Futurist Conference is a showcase of digital asset innovation designed to foster networking and business development. Its famous outdoor VIP Cabana area features more than 50 private cabanas hosted by institutions, investors, and policymakers driving digital asset adoption in Canada and globally.

Featured discussions will explore the most important issues shaping the future of finance, including digital asset regulation, institutional adoption, compliance, stablecoins, and tokenization.

Sessions include Parliament, Policy & Regulation: Canada’s Digital Asset Future, featuring leaders from the Canadian Web3 Council, Shakepay, the Canadian Securities Exchange, Parliament, and the legal sector; Institutional Adoption: What’s Next for Digital Assets? featuring speakers from Bloomberg, Messari, JPMorgan, Mastercard, and zkSync; and Digital Assets & Compliance: The New Competitive Advantage featuring experts in compliance, regulation, and risk management.

A top sponsor this year is AiraPay, a company building next-generation payment infrastructure that bridges traditional banking, global payments, and digital assets. AiraPay will be featured on stage and in the expo hall, showcasing how modern financial infrastructure is enabling faster, more efficient global money movement.

“We’re seeing growing demand for infrastructure that connects traditional banking rails with digital asset and stablecoin networks. At AiraPay, we’re building the technology that helps businesses move money globally with greater speed, flexibility, and efficiency as finance becomes increasingly interconnected.”

Featured programming includes House of Intelligence: Where Institutions Meet Web3, a forum dedicated to exploring the intersection of finance, artificial intelligence, privacy-preserving technologies, and digital assets. The event is organized by House of Intelligence and co-hosted by House of ZK.

Global participation will be highlighted through Invest Hong Kong‘s workshop, The Global Hub for Digital Assets, exploring Hong Kong’s role as a leading destination for digital asset innovation, investment, and regulatory development.

The evolution of digital money will also be a key topic throughout the event. Stablecorp joins as the official Stablecoin Sponsor, showcasing the growing role stablecoins are playing within modern financial systems and digital asset markets.

Roundtable will be onsite, conducting interviews in the backstage VIP Speaker Lounge with industry leaders from across the digital asset ecosystem. Through live conversations and media coverage, the platform will help spotlight the trends, companies, and innovators shaping the future of finance.

Additional discussions will explore topics including real-world asset tokenization, digital identity, decentralized finance, artificial intelligence, and the growing role of institutional capital within the Web3 ecosystem.

“Finance is undergoing one of the most significant transformations in its history,” said Tracy Leparulo, Founder of Blockchain Futurist Conference. “We’re seeing digital assets move from niche technology into real-world financial infrastructure. It’s exciting to bring together the people building it and the people adopting it.”

Blockchain Futurist Conference takes place July 21–22, 2026, bringing together thousands of attendees from across the technology, finance, and digital asset industries.

To learn more, visit FuturistConference.com.

About Blockchain Futurist Conference

Blockchain Futurist Conference is Canada’s largest Web3 and AI event. Since 2018, the conference has brought together innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, developers, and industry leaders to explore the technologies shaping the future.

Known for its immersive experiences, Futurist transforms an entertainment complex into a living showcase of Web3, AI, digital assets, and emerging technology.

 Disclaimer: This is an Event Partner post and should not be treated as news/advice.



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Microsoft identifies malware ‘worm’ that hijacks crypto wallets, spreads through USB drives

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Microsoft identifies malware 'worm' that hijacks crypto wallets, spreads through USB drives

The wallet-stealing component monitors Windows’ clipboard, the hidden temporary memory used for copy-and-paste operations, roughly every 500 milliseconds. When a user copies a crypto wallet seed phrase or a private key for a Bitcoin or Ethereum wallet, the malware captures that data and sends it to the attacker’s server over the Tor network, an open-source overlay that provides anonymous communication. It also takes five screenshots, ten seconds apart, and sends those along too.

The risk doesn’t end there.

If a user copies a recipient address to send funds, the worm silently replaces it with an attacker-controlled address before the user pastes, so the transfer goes to the attacker without any visible cue.

Lastly, the worm propagates when a clean USB drive is plugged into the computer. It scans the clean USB drive for ordinary files, Word docs, Excel sheets and PDFs, replaces them with new shortcut files using the same names and infects the drive. Then the cycle continues.

Microsoft recommends disabling AutoRun for removable media, blocking .lnk file execution on USB drives via group policy and restricting script hosts such as wscript.exe and cscript.exe. Microsoft Defender customers can also run hunting queries to check for related activity, including connections to a local Tor proxy on port 9050.



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Azzi Fudd signs on to international basketball league Project B

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moneyvests
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Azzi Fudd signs on to international basketball league Project B

For years, WNBA players played abroad during their off-season as a way to supplement their low salaries. The need to compete year-round was viewed as a downside in the sport, requiring players to spend their time in overseas markets and push their bodies, and limiting their ability to build strong personal brands and gain sponsorship opportunities in the U.S. year-round.

Today, the calculation has changed. The latest example is Azzi Fudd, the No. 1 draft pick of 2026 and now a star on the Dallas Wings. She’s the latest player to join Project B, Fortune is the first to report. Project B is an international men’s and women’s basketball league being built by a former Facebook exec, the cofounder of Skype, and advised by LeBron James’ business partner Maverick Carter. In early 2025, Bloomberg reported that Project B was seeking to raise as much as $5 billion as it works to make basketball the top global sport—ahead of soccer. Cofounder Grady Burnett says that number was a “little high” and the league has completed its capital raise; he declined to confirm how much funding the league has raised.

Project B hasn’t started play yet, but is planning to debut in January Formula 1-inspired “grand prix-style” basketball for men’s and women’s players in six cities, including Tokyo and Valencia, Spain. The model is that underutilized arenas will pay Project B to bring international stars to their cities, allowing the league to build an asset-light business. “It’s putting athletes on a global stage, connecting with fans in all parts of the world,” Burnett says. Like the domestic 3-on-3 league Unrivaled, which has also emerged as an off-season opportunity for women’s players, it offers players equity in the business.

For Fudd, international play was appealing. As an elite college athlete, the 23-year-old has been busy training stateside for most of her life and is excited by the opportunity to travel. “I want to be able to broaden my experience and go outside of just America,” she told Fortune. Her dad, Tim Fudd, played basketball abroad and she grew up hearing stories from him and other players about their experiences in other countries.

For the right player, international play can also be a business opportunity. Fudd traveled with Steph Curry to Chongqing, China last summer, and fans approached her with copies of Slam magazine, photos to sign, and custom Labubus. “People who are fans of me all around the world—I’m so far from home, in a country I’ve never been to, and people cheer for me, give me gifts, and welcome me with open arms—it was such an unreal experience,” she remembers. “It opened my eyes to just how much more is out there and how basketball can open the doors to so much.”

It’s also a different calculation for a post-NIL player like Fudd, who came into her professional career with more than 800,000 followers on Instagram and a similar following on TikTok. She already has major sponsorships in the U.S., like a deal with the hair color brand Madison Reed. She’s not building a personal brand in the U.S. from scratch in her first year, like players of earlier generations. The additional opportunity for her now is building her fandom abroad; for the Chinese market, she’s getting on the TikTok-like platforms Douyin and Rednote.

“What’s incredible now is that players have that option—they can go if they want, they don’t have to, they can stay if they want. It’s not forced,” Fudd says.

Meanwhile, the WNBA and NBA are both becoming more international themselves. With this year’s higher salaries after its new collective-bargaining agreement, the WNBA is attracting more players from outside the U.S.; in the NBA, an international player has won MVP for the past eight seasons. Burnett looks to soccer, which has multiple leagues that bring in more than $1 billion in revenue; he sees an opportunity to build the same competitive landscape in basketball.

Project B faced some controversy due to reports it was funded by Saudi money, a hot-button issue in sports. Burnett says the league accepted no Saudi capital; it worked with the Saudi Public Investment Fund-owned entertainment vendor Sela, but he says that partnership is no longer active.

Other players who have signed on to Project B include Nneka Ogwumike, Alyssa Thomas, Kelsey Mitchell, and Jewell Loyd. The league hasn’t announced any men’s players yet—and the men’s league is poised to be more disruptive to the NBA, where the off-season is short and the league would conflict. Burnett has framed its strategy as “extending the careers of established players” from the NBA.



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Bitcoin and ethereum prices today, Thursday, June 18, 2026: Prices sliding despite Iran peace deal

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moneyvests
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Bitcoin and ethereum prices today, Thursday, June 18, 2026: Prices sliding despite Iran peace deal


Bitcoin (BTC-USD) opened at $64,450.44 on Thursday, June 18, 2026, down 1.8% from Wednesday’s opening price. The value of bitcoin slid this morning to $63,980.59 by 7:33 a.m. ET. 

Ethereum (ETH-USD) opened at $1,748.91, down 2.3% from yesterday’s opening price. The price of ethereum edged lower this morning as well, moving to $1,744.25 by 7:33 a.m. ET.

Despite a signed peace deal between the U.S. and Iran, crypto prices are falling this morning. While the prices of bitcoin and ethereum are up substantially from last week, they are sliding following yesterday’s Fed meeting, which kept borrowing costs at current levels.

Investors are turning more of their attention to stocks and focusing on the signed deal, which is designed to fast-track the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, rather than on the prospect of higher interest rates, which remain a real possibility due to the war.

Read more: Bitcoin Steadies Near $64K as Analysts Eye Floor After Hawkish Fed

Current price of bitcoin

Bitcoin 

The price of bitcoin this morning was 1.8% lower than yesterday’s open. Here’s a look at how the opening bitcoin price has changed versus last week, month, and year:

  • One week ago: +4.9%

  • One month ago: -16.8%

  • One year ago: -38.4%

The all-time high for bitcoin was $126,198.07 on Oct. 6, 2025. The all-time low value for bitcoin was $0.04865 on July 14, 2010. 

Ethereum

The price of ethereum this morning was 2.3% lower compared to Wednesday’s open. Here’s a look at how the opening ethereum price has changed versus last week, month, and year:

  • One week ago: +7.9%

  • One month ago: -17.8%

  • One year ago: -30.3%

The all-time high for ethereum was $4,953.73 on Aug. 24, 2025. The all-time low value for ethereum was $0.4209 on Oct. 21, 2015. 

Bitcoin, ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies are rapidly evolving. Follow the latest developments from Yahoo Finance and others here.

What is a crypto credit card?

A bitcoin or crypto credit card generally works just like any other credit card. When you apply and get approved, you’ll be assigned a credit limit, and you can use your card to make purchases. If you don’t pay your total balance by your card’s monthly due date, you’ll start to accrue interest at your assigned APR.

The difference is the types of rewards you’ll earn. Instead of earning airline miles, rewards points, or cash back on your spending, you’ll earn crypto. The percentage back you earn on each purchase — such as 3% back on gas or 2% back at restaurants — is converted from U.S. dollars to bitcoin or another cryptocurrency at the current market value. You can then access your rewards through your connected crypto account.

For example, say you make a $500 purchase that earns 3% bitcoin rewards. You’ll earn $15 in U.S. dollars on that purchase. With a bitcoin credit card, your $15 may be converted at the current bitcoin value (about 0.00014 bitcoin in October 2025) and deposited in your crypto account.

The biggest benefit of crypto rewards is the potential for growth over time. Let’s say you had a total bitcoin rewards balance worth $100 USD at the end of 2024. By early October 2025, the value of those same rewards would have increased to about $114 — even if you didn’t earn any additional rewards over that time.

Learn more: Do you need a bitcoin credit card? What you can gain (and lose) by earning bitcoin rewards on spending

Bitcoin and ethereum price charts

Whether you’re brand new to tracking the value of bitcoin and ethereum or a more seasoned crypto investor, Yahoo Finance’s price-of-bitcoin chart and price-of-ethereum chart below show a visual history of how the currency’s value continues to move and evolve. 

More on crypto from the Yahoo Finance team: 



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Schwab to join prediction markets race with S&P 500 event-based options: WSJ

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Schwab to join prediction markets race with S&P 500 event-based options: WSJ

Charles Schwab is working with Cboe Global Markets to launch a new type of options contract that would allow customers to make yes-or-no wagers on the performance of the S&P 500, marking the brokerage’s first move into prediction markets, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The feature is expected to roll out to Schwab customers in the coming months, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Unlike traditional prediction market platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi, which typically offer futures-style contracts tied to the outcome of events, Schwab’s product would function more like a binary option, in which the contract would pay a fixed cash amount or expire worthless depending on whether the S&P 500 closes above or below a specified target price.

Schwab and Cboe are also in talks to offer a similar product tied to a Cboe feature known as the “Plus Zone,” which would allow traders to receive a partial payout when their prediction is close to the final outcome, even if the index does not finish exactly at the target level.



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