Recession Fears Rip Crypto

1️⃣ ETH Price Tumbles Amid Trade War

ETH has taken a hit over the past week, with prices sliding amid growing uncertainty around a potential trade war. Former President Trump has flip-flopped on tariff policies, adding to market volatility. Initially, Trump threatened Canada with a 50% tariff hike on steel and aluminum imports but later walked back the statement after Canada halted a planned tax on electricity exports. However, on Wednesday, he did impose a 25% global tariff on steel and aluminum imports.

The EU retaliated by announcing $28B worth of tariffs on U.S. goods, including boats, motorcycles, and alcoholic beverages. Trump responded on Thursday, threatening a 200% tariff on wines, champagnes, and other alcoholic products unless the EU removed tariffs on U.S. whiskey. With this back-and-forth, investor uncertainty has driven prices of risk-on assets like crypto downward.

2️⃣ Binance Receives Investment from Abu Dhabi

On Wednesday, Binance announced via Twitter that it had received a $2B investment pledge from MGX, an investment firm based in the UAE that focuses on AI and advanced technologies. According to reports, the investment will be made entirely in stablecoins.

While MGX has a background in advanced technologies, this is its first move into the crypto and blockchain sector, according to Binance. MGX stated that it “aims to enable innovation at the intersection of AI, blockchain technology, and finance,” which could signal that Binance is preparing to dive deeper into AI initiatives. With AI agents gaining traction in the crypto space, keep an eye out, Binance may be planning to launch its own soon.

3️⃣ Aave Launches Horizon Initiative to Bridge DeFi and TradFi

On Thursday, Aave Labs announced Horizon, a new platform aimed at bridging the gap between institutional finance and DeFi. Horizon focuses on tokenized RWAs, providing institutions with a compliant and transparent way to access DeFi liquidity. Its first product allows institutions to use tokenized money market funds as collateral to borrow stablecoins, including Aave’s native GHO.

The move comes following a huge surge in tokenized RWAs, particularly U.S. Treasuries. Tokenized U.S. Treasuries have reached $4B in TVL, growing at a staggering 408% year over year. As protocols like Pendle, Aave, and Ethena expand into the RWA sector, many believe this could be the next big opportunity to bring institutional liquidity on-chain, and potentially start the next bull run.

4️⃣ Grok and BankrBot Collide

BankrBot is a Twitter bot that allows users to launch memecoins simply by tweeting. Once triggered, the bot automatically creates a wallet for the corresponding Twitter account. Users can access their wallet by visiting BankrBot’s site and connecting their account, with LP fees sent directly to the wallet.

Last Friday, a user asked Grok for a token name to use with BankrBot. Grok suggested the name “DebtReliefBot” or DRB, and BankrBot launched the token, which quickly soared to a $37M market cap. Following the creation of that token, 16 more tokens were created by users asking Grok for names and tickers.

However, the BankrBot team soon realized users were exploiting Grok to launch memecoins, some of which resulted in rug pulls. In response, the BankrBot team announced it would no longer respond to tweets involving Grok.

5️⃣ Rumble Adds $17M in Bitcoin to Treasury

On Wednesday, video-sharing platform Rumble announced it had added $17M worth of BTC to its corporate treasury. The company purchased around 188 BTC at an average price of $91,000 per coin. CEO Chris Pavlovski commented on the move, stating, “These holdings have the potential to serve as a valuable hedge against inflation and will not be subject to dilution like so many overprinted government-issued currencies.”

Rumble joins a growing list of companies adding BTC to their treasuries, following in the footsteps of MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor. While Saylor’s strategy has stayed in the green, with an average purchase price of $66K per BTC, companies may want to be cautious adopting a similar strategy right now. Between Trump’s tariff threats and ongoing regulatory uncertainty, BTC’s price could still dip and may take time to return to all-time highs.