Despite the weekend, the crypto markets were able to sustain the gains from last week and even showed signs of further ascension on Monday morning in Asia. Should the US inflation reports coming out this week prove to be positive, this upwards trend could potentially continue.

Just last week, former President Trump declared 30% tariffs on the European Union and Mexico, but the crypto markets seemed unmoved by this development. US stock futures, however, showed signs of nervousness, dipping slightly as an initial response to this latest batch of tariff letters from the White House.

Meanwhile, the start of the second quarter earnings season is imminent, and the July Federal Reserve meeting is just a fortnight away.

On Tuesday, the June Consumer Price Index (CPI) report will be released, one of the two main indicators of inflation relevant to policymakers, businesses, and consumers alike. This data, reflecting price trends, shapes consumer spending and sentiment and directly impacts the Fed’s rate decisions.

Experts predict that June’s CPI will increase by 0.23% to 0.25%, with persistent inflationary pressures, particularly in the energy sector and selected goods, due to tariffs. More inflation data will follow on Wednesday with June’s Producer Price Index (PPI). This report indicates the costs for producers and manufacturers, and measures the cost of producing consumer goods, hence influencing retail prices and serving as a leading indicator of inflation.

The Retail Sales report for June, to be released on Thursday, will provide insights into consumer spending on durable and non-durable goods and serve as a key economic health indicator.

The week will conclude with the release of July’s Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index and Inflation Expectations reports on Friday, which will summarize a monthly survey measuring consumer confidence and long-term inflation expectations.

Thierry Wizman, a global foreign-exchange and rates strategist at Macquarie Group, stated, “Investors have become more relaxed about the overall inflation outlook over the past few months. The market has not exactly shifted toward a disinflationary mode, but it’s certainly less anxious about inflation.”

The earnings season for the big banks will commence this week with reports from JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs.

The total capitalization of the crypto market showed a slight increase on Monday morning, reaching $3.8 trillion, the highest level since mid-January. Bitcoin, which added an additional 1.7% and hit a new all-time high of $119,750 during the morning’s Asian trading session, primarily drove this rise. Ethereum managed to regain $3,000, while the altcoins were mostly in the green, with Stellar and Hedera making significant gains of more than 20%.

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In a discussion with The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, along with designer Jony Ive, revealed their collaborative effort to create these mysterious devices for wide-scale distribution. Their ambitious plan entails shipping 100 million units at the outset.

After OpenAI acquired Ive’s startup, io, in a $6.5 billion deal, Ive became part of the OpenAI team. The specifics of these companion devices remain under wraps, with Ive only hinting at a “new design movement” akin to Apple’s seamless hardware-software interfaces.

OpenAI has already secured billions in investment, bolstered by the remarkable success of its ChatGPT large language model (LLM). As of May, ChatGPT had nearly 800 million weekly active users, a pattern that contributed to OpenAI’s astronomical valuation of $300 billion by March 2025, a significant leap from $157 billion in October 2024.

Beyond these AI “companion” devices, OpenAI intends to infiltrate the social media sphere, aiming to rival platforms like Elon Musk’s X and Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, as reported by The Verge. The planned platform would leverage ChatGPT’s image generation abilities alongside a social media feed similar to X’s. It is yet to be seen if this social media platform will stand alone or be integrated into ChatGPT.

The convergence of AI and social media is seeping into the blockchain realm too, with several startups harnessing these technologies to create AI agents, LLM tools, and decentralized social media networks. For instance, Validation Cloud deployed an LLM on the Hedera network, making blockchain data queries more accessible for decentralized finance users.

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The 19b-4 filing is a crucial part of a two-stage process for proposing a crypto ETF to the SEC. Upon recognition by the SEC, the filing will be published in the Federal Register, thereby launching the agency’s approval process.

Hedera is a globally recognized decentralized public network that leverages the Hashgraph consensus algorithm to enable swift and secure transactions. Unlike most cryptocurrencies, Hedera is controlled by a council comprising renowned companies and organizations tasked with decision-making and token distribution.

As per the filing, “Even though the primary objective of the Hedera Network is not to function as a payment system or store of value like most public distributed ledger technology (DLT) networks, it necessitates a cryptocurrency to operate efficiently and encourage consensus and network behavior.”

Recent estimates by Bloomberg analysts suggest that Litecoin ETFs have the highest likelihood of approval (90%) among the wave of spot crypto ETFs. After Canary Capital’s 19b-4 filing for their HBAR ETF, Eric Balchunas of Bloomberg stated, “This follows their amended S-1 last week (which indicates SEC’s feedback, giving HBAR and Litecoin the best chances and the front-runner position among the current batch of altcoin ETF filings).”

Following this news, the price of Hedera’s token witnessed a slight surge on Monday, trading approximately at $0.22, according to The Block’s HBAR price data.

Disclaimer: The Block operates independently, providing timely, impactful, and unbiased information about the crypto industry. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures also invests in other crypto companies. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. This article is intended for informational purposes and should not be considered as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

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After Samsung‘s recent launch of an NFT marketplace, which is supported by Nifty Gateway, LG has begun making inroads into the NFT industry. The LG Art Lab will be exclusive to LG televisions. Users are able to acquire assets by simply scanning a QR code to link their wallets while using Wallypto, a mobile cryptocurrency wallet developed by LG. The platform’s goal is to make NFTs more approachable for consumers who are interested in entering the market.

When it comes to an NFT integration, choosing Hedera may not be the most apparent option. According to statistics from the last thirty days, the trade volume on the Hedera NFT marketplace Hash Axis was just $36,000. This is a pitiful amount when compared to Ethereum’s trading volume on OpenSea, which was $330 million. However, this makes more sense for LG since it has served on the Governing Council of Hedera since the year 2020.

According to Shayne Higdon, the CEO of the HBAR foundation, which is an organization that supports developers on the Hedera network, the energy-efficient consensus process of Hedera makes it an excellent blockchain for low-cost and low-carbon footprint non-fungible token exchanges. However, other networks are beginning to close the gap; the most popular cryptocurrency on the market, Ethereum, is transitioning to proof of stake this month.

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