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📰 TOP NEWS
Bitcoin mining difficulty posts 11th-largest drop in network history amid price-driven margin squeeze
Bitcoin mining difficulty fell 10.09% over the weekend to 124.93 trillion, the lowest level of 2026 and its weakest reading since July 2025, marking the 11th-largest downward adjustment in the network's history according to Galaxy Research. The cut was driven by a roughly 15% decline in bitcoin's price so far in June, which compressed miner margins and prompted operators to shut off unprofitable machines, causing blocks to arrive more slowly over the prior epoch's roughly 15.6-day run against a 14-day target. The adjustment raises bitcoin produced per unit of active hashrate by about 11%, helping push spot hashprice back above $30 per petahash per second per day, with Hashrate Index putting it at $32.31 on Sunday, up from a trough in the high $20s earlier in the month near gross breakeven for higher-cost operators. The drop is the third downward adjustment of more than 5% in 2026, after an 11.16% cut in February linked to winter-storm shutdowns and a 7.76% reduction in March, with the latest move also reflecting a structural reallocation of mining power toward artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. Despite the relief, the broader picture for miners remains difficult, with bitcoin trading around $63,780, leaving much of the network underwater on an all-in economic basis. Whether difficulty turns higher from here will likely hinge on bitcoin's price trajectory, with a sustained recovery potentially pulling idled machines back online while further weakness or miner-to-AI conversions could keep that capacity off the network permanently.
CFTC sues New Mexico in latest federal-state clash over prediction market jurisdiction
The CFTC filed a lawsuit against New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Attorney General Raúl Torrez, and other state officials on Friday, seeking to block efforts to apply state gaming laws to prediction market platform Kalshi. The move marks the agency's latest effort to assert federal jurisdiction over sports betting contracts, following similar suits against Wisconsin, Illinois, Arizona, Connecticut, and New York over recent months. New Mexico had charged Kalshi last week, alleging the platform operated without a license and allowed users under the state's legal gaming age of 21 to participate, with Attorney General Torrez stating that "the only lawful gaming in New Mexico operates either under tribal-state gaming compacts, or under strict state regulations." The CFTC pushed back, arguing the Commodity Exchange Act grants the agency "exclusive jurisdiction" over transactions on designated contract markets. "New Mexico is the latest state seeking to nullify black letter law and decades of judicial precedent by imposing state gaming laws on federally regulated derivatives exchanges," said CFTC Chair Michael Selig. The lawsuit comes as the agency also unveiled broad rulemaking this week that would maintain overall support for sports betting prediction markets, intensifying a national standoff between federal regulators and states over who has authority to govern the fast-growing sector.
Gensler files brief challenging CFTC's jurisdiction over prediction markets and sports betting
Former CFTC and SEC Chair Gary Gensler pushed back on the current CFTC's assertion of jurisdiction over sports-related prediction markets, filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit arguing that the Dodd-Frank Act did not grant the agency authority over sports wagering. "If Dodd-Frank had preempted the states on sports betting, it would have been one of the biggest stories about Dodd-Frank at the time," Gensler wrote. "But nobody ever mentioned it." The brief was filed in the case involving Kalshi and the state of Ohio, where a judge denied Kalshi's request for a preliminary injunction after the Ohio Casino Control Commission ordered the platform to stop offering sports-related event contracts. Gensler's position directly contradicts that of current CFTC Chair Michael Selig, who has aggressively sought to assert federal jurisdiction over prediction markets, suing multiple states and proposing broad rulemaking for the sector this past week. Gensler also questioned the CFTC's practical capacity to oversee prediction markets, noting the agency did not ask for funding to regulate sports betting and "lacks the experience to do so" — an argument that echoes longstanding concerns about the agency's resources relative to the SEC, which has six times the staff. Gensler previously served as SEC chair from 2021 to 2025, during which he brought multiple enforcement actions against major crypto firms including Coinbase and Kraken.
Bitcoin climbs above $65,000 as US-Iran peace deal boosts risk sentiment across markets
Bitcoin rose 2.4% to trade at $65,793 late Sunday, recovering from a weekend low of around $63,600, as reports of a US-Iran peace agreement triggered a broad risk-on move across global markets. Ethereum gained 2.8% to $1,720, XRP added 3.5%, and Solana rose 4.2% to $71.11, while Asian equities also surged, with Japan's Nikkei jumping roughly 4.89% and South Korea's Kospi surging 5.63% by midday. CNN reported Sunday that the two countries agreed to a peace deal set to take effect Friday, with President Trump saying the US will lift its naval blockade and the Strait of Hormuz will reopen after the agreement is signed. "Markets are repricing risk after reports of a US-Iran peace deal and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, triggering a broad risk-on move across assets," said Dominick John of Zeus Research, adding that the move was "driven by positioning and risk rotation rather than a shift in underlying fundamentals." Oil prices tumbled over 4% in tandem, with WTI crude falling to $80.77 per barrel. Traders are now watching for deal confirmation and concrete Hormuz terms alongside a heavy central-bank week, with the Federal Reserve set to meet for the first time under new Chair Kevin Warsh, whose remarks on rate policy are expected to set the tone for the rest of the year.
🎟️ EVENT OF THE WEEK
Berlin Ethereal Day 2026
Join us for Berlin Ethereum Day 2026, a full day of sessions with speakers from the Ethereum Foundation and the broader ecosystem, exploring Ethereum’s future – its technical direction, core values, and the road ahead.
Date Jun 8-10 2026
💬 EXPERT OPINION
The interesting thing about blockchain is that it has made it possible for humanity to reach a consensus about a piece of data without having any authority to dictate it.”
📊 METRIC OF THE WEEK
Our researchers designed this metric with ❤️
GLOSSARY CORNER Prediction Markets are decentralized platforms where users bet on future events (like elections or sports) using crypto. They use Smart Contracts for automatic payouts and Oracles to verify real-world results, creating highly accurate global forecasts without a central broker. | EDITOR’S CHOICE |
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