Morning Minute: Crypto Plunges to New Depths — Are Fresh Lows on the Horizon?

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The views and analysis shared here are solely his and do not represent those of Decrypt. Also, don’t miss our new daily news show that covers the biggest stories in just 5 minutes—available on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

GM!

Here’s what’s making headlines today:

• Major cryptocurrencies drop 7–10%; Bitcoin dips to $62,600
• Arthur Hayes exits all HYPE and NEAR holdings, warns of an approaching market peak
• Recent altcoin outperformers—HYPE, ZEC, NEAR, and VVV—retreat 10–20%
• Tom Lee’s Bitmine files for a $300M preferred stock offering, mirroring Michael Saylor’s strategy
• MoonPay introduces MoonAgents, a platform linking crypto infrastructure so AI agents can trade on behalf of users

📉 Crypto Plunges—Are New Lows Ahead?

Bitcoin and other major cryptos took a sharp hit Wednesday and overnight—and this time, even the popular altcoins weren’t spared.

Here’s how the market looks right now:

• Bitcoin dropped 6% to $62,600
• Ethereum slid 6% to $1,750
• Solana tumbled 9% to $68.40
• Hyperliquid fell 9% to $65.70

What sets this downturn apart is that recently surging altcoins like HYPE, ZEC, NEAR, and VVV also saw steep declines—ZEC dropped 12%, NEAR plunged 18%, and VVV fell 12%, despite having reached new local highs just the day before. HYPE itself had climbed as high as $75 before the selloff began.

Arthur Hayes added fuel to the fire by announcing he’d sold all his HYPE and NEAR tokens, believing the macro market top is either here or imminent. He cited rising energy costs due to the Iran conflict and inventory restocking, three upcoming mega AI IPOs, and expectations of a surprising anti-AI policy shift from Trump as key factors that could trigger a market peak between now and September.

As for Bitcoin, it’s deep in pain territory. Spot Bitcoin ETFs have recorded 11 straight days of outflows, totaling $1.4 billion this week alone. Michael Saylor remains a lightning rod for fear, with his STRC preferred shares now trading $5 below face value. And Bitcoin is fast approaching its cycle lows.

That key support level sits at $60,000—briefly touched on February 5. If it breaks, brace for further downside…

💰 Bitmine Follows Strategy’s Playbook Amid STRC Turmoil

On Wednesday, Bitmine filed to issue 3 million shares of Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock at a $100 stated value, aiming to raise $300 million with a 9.5% annual dividend. The shares are set to list on the NYSE under the ticker BMNP.

The structure is directly inspired by Strategy’s STRC—meaning Tom Lee is applying Michael Saylor’s preferred stock financing model to his Ethereum treasury strategy.

The timing is notable: Strategy’s STRC offers an 11.5% dividend but has recently faced serious liquidity strain. After its cash reserves dropped to $871 million against $1.7 billion in annual obligations, STRC has traded well below par (under $95 yesterday), and Strategy sold Bitcoin last week for the first time in four years to cover dividend payments.

Bitmine’s situation is fundamentally different. The company holds 5.42 million ETH—about 4.5% of Ethereum’s circulating supply—which generates over $300 million per year in staking rewards through its MAVAN validators. This staking income covers dividend payments without requiring asset sales. In other words, Bitmine doesn’t need to liquidate holdings to pay its preferred shareholders—the assets essentially pay for themselves.

In principle, this investment looks like a fairly “safe” bet. But realistically, it barely makes a dent.

With ETH trading under $1,828, Bitmine is staring down roughly $9 billion in unrealized losses based on its average purchase price. An additional $300 million in buying activity isn’t going to move the needle much…

🤖 MoonPay Now Lets Claude and Codex Handle Your Crypto Trades

On Wednesday, MoonPay rolled out MoonAgents Desktop, a user-friendly app that links Claude Code and OpenAI’s Codex straight to crypto wallets, token exchanges, prediction markets, and other blockchain services—no command-line setup needed.

Users log in with their existing Claude or Codex credentials, and the app takes care of all the technical backend work automatically. Built-in Skills manage routine crypto tasks like purchasing, selling, and setting price notifications, while Automations allow agents to run scheduled operations without any manual input. There’s also an Artifacts tool that the AI can use to create its own visual dashboards.

Your private keys stay locally encrypted on your device, meaning MoonPay never touches your funds. If you connect a Ledger hardware wallet, an extra confirmation step is added so the AI must pause and wait for your approval before completing any transaction. The MoonAgents MCP server integrates 54 crypto tools spanning 17 skill categories and 10 blockchains—a wider range than both Coinbase’s payment-oriented MCP and Gemini’s exchange-based trading tools.

Here’s a real-world scenario: you could simply text Claude Dispatch on your phone saying “rebalance my portfolio”—and the agent would handle the trades, record everything, and produce a dashboard, all without you ever opening a crypto app.

The era of AI-driven trading is here, and MoonPay is at the forefront…

⚽️ The World Cup Kicks Off in 7 Days—and Crypto Fraud Is Surging

The 2026 FIFA World Cup starts June 11 in Mexico City and wraps up July 19 in New York City. Law enforcement officials are cautioning fans that scams targeting soccer enthusiasts are now more advanced and more crypto-dependent than at any previous tournament.

The FBI, LASD, and Malwarebytes all put out alerts this week. Scammers are building counterfeit FIFA websites using AI-powered phishing pages that can replicate authentic brands in a matter of hours.

Malwarebytes discovered one platform promoting a token as “the official community token celebrating the FIFA World Cup 2026,” featuring a 7-billion-token supply and a participant counter set at the symbolic figure of 48—matching the number of teams qualifying for the event. A different scam leveraged FIFA’s official mascot to peddle an unlicensed token. Bitdefender Labs uncovered over 55 active football-themed fraudulent campaigns running across fake online shops, harmful social media ads, IPTV services, and FIFA-branded prize draws.

Malwarebytes’ head of global scam research didn’t hold back: “Scammers are drawn to crypto. It lets them stay hidden and transactions are nearly impossible to undo. If it involves crypto, just walk away.”

🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets

• Major crypto assets are struggling badly, dropping 7-10% in one of the toughest trading days of the year; BTC slid 6% to $62.6k; ETH fell 6% to $1,750; SOL plunged 9% to $68.4; HYPE dropped 9% to $65.70
• Recent altcoin standouts that took big hits included ZEC (-12%), NEAR (-18%), and VVV (-18%)—all shedding double-digit percentages
• Top gainers of the day were Siren (+29%) and BEAT (+12%)
• Commodities: Oil edged down 1% to $94.30; Gold rose 1% to $4,500
• Equity futures are looking grim, with the Nasdaq down 1.25%
• Arthur Hayes dumped his entire HYPE and NEAR holdings, pointing to rising energy costs from tensions around Iran, the upcoming 3 AI IPOs, and his view that markets will likely peak sometime between now and September
• Tether and Fasset teamed up to launch the first-ever gold-backed Visa card, enabling users to spend traditional currency worldwide while collecting up to 6% cashback in XAUT (Tether Gold)
• Mastercard introduced round-the-clock stablecoin settlement across its worldwide network, now supporting USDC and other stablecoins on Ethereum, Solana, and multiple additional blockchains—with intraday, weekend, and holiday settlement capabilities joining its existing traditional payment infrastructure
• A physical Casascius Bitcoin coin holding 25 BTC was cashed in Tuesday for $1.78 million, a remarkable return 12 years after it was created in December 2011 when that same amount of Bitcoin was worth under $100 total

Corporate Treasuries & ETFs

Meme Coin Tracker

• Major meme tokens took a hit: DOGE slid 6%, SHIB dropped 7%, PEPE dipped 8%, PENGU fell 6%, TRUMP crashed 10%, BONK sank 9%, SPX dipped 9%, and FARTCOIN tumbled 11%
• Gainers on Solana included three (+223%), Heavypulp (+400%), and LOA (+80%)
• On Base, notable movers were degen (+47%), dickbutt (+100%), and gSpeed (+140%)

📈 Myriad Market of the Day

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

🚚 What’s going on in the NFT space?

• NFT heavyweights followed crypto lower: Punks slipped 1% to 30.8 ETH, BAYC retreated 4% to 7.78 ETH, Pudgy nudged down 1% to 4.07 ETH, and Hypurr slid 4% to 287 HYPE
• Top gainers were CDBs (+35%) and DEL (+29%)