OVERVIEW

BTC’s Grip Slips, Alts Hunger For The Throne 👑

Before we dive in, here’s today’s crypto market heatmap:

Source: Santiment

And here’s a look at crypto’s total market and altcoin market cap charts:

Source: TradingView

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS
Is Anything Winning Against Bitcoin? 🤔 

BTC has been one heck of a tear. It’s been on a steady drive higher since FTX’s collapse in November 2022 – close to three years. 📆 

But for some, it certainly doesn’t feel like the past three years have been fun. Nope. Quite the opposite – especially for those with a good chunk of their portfolio’s (oh hai /wave) in altcoins.

Because, let’s be honest, ‘wen alt seeson’ seems like a joke.

For Bitcoin, it’s easy mode when you’ve been blessed by BlackRock, Fidelity, and everyone else in TradFi. It’s easy to gain value when literally trillions are flowing into you. 💸 

But is anything doing the impossible and beating not just BTC, but beating the big money people at the same time?

The answer: Yes. 👍️ 

90-day Performance Against Bitcoin 📈 

• Curve Finance +35%

• Maker +11%

• Virtuals Protocol +73%

• Bitcoin Cash (_{why is this still here and a thing}) +4%

• Pepe +50%

• Pendle +48%

• Monero +33%

Also: while not all altcoins are screaming in the green against BTC over the past 90-days, there’s a good chunk of altcoins that look similar to Pendles BTC chart: big gains against BTC from the Q1 lows.

PENDLE/BTC Daily Chart – Click to enlarge.

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS
Watch This Chart Closely 👀

In yesterday’s Litepaper, I wrote about some of the key takeaways from the month of May. One of the takeaways had to do with the Monthly Bitcoin Dominance chart, see below: 👇️ 

Monthly Bitcoin Dominance Chart – Click to enlarge.

Space and time prevented me from diving into the many interesting things occurring on this chart yesterday – so let’s break it down today.

Big Gaps

The first thing to notice about the monthly chart are the series of gaps between the Tenkan-Sen and the candlestick bodies. That big gray blob of open space? That’s what we’re looking at. 👀 

Monthly Bitcoin Dominance Chart – Click to enlarge.

TL;DR version of why that’s important: the Tenkan-Sen and candlestick bodies don’t like to be far from one another. They need to be close because they’re an unhealthy codependent couple. 🫂 

Ichimoku Time Theory

In Ichimoku time cycle theory (Time Principle), key numbers like 9, 17, 26, 33, 42, 65, etc., represent significant cycle lengths. These cycles can be a heads up/warning sign for traders to watch for a trend/retracement to end. ⌚️ 

Monthly Bitcoin Dominance Chart – Click to enlarge.

From the September 2022 low to the May 2025 high, that’s 35 bars, in range of the number 33. Could the cycle be telling us May was the cycle high?

The Hanging Man Pattern

I’m prepped for the trolls on this one. One trader/analyst sees a dragonfly doji, another sees a hanging man, and another might call it a long-legged doji, bla bla bla. This is a great way to see nerds fight it out. 🥊 

I’m calling it a hanging man pattern. But regardless of what anyone thinks the definition/classification is, it is very much a bearish warning sign – not a confirmation – just a warning sign.

Monthly Bitcoin Dominance Chart – Click to enlarge.

But that volume spike for May? Oof. That makes whatever bearish candlestick pattern you want that to be many degrees more bearish-y.

The Oscillators

Last but not least, let’s look at the oscillators. 📉 

Monthly Bitcoin Dominance Chart – Click to enlarge.

There’s a very obvious ‘duh big red truck’ bearish divergence between price action and the Composite Index – but it’s been my experience that regular divergences are about as useful as a concrete parachute. 🪂 

That being said, it is worth paying attention to.

Now, something that is clearly in the realm of WTF-is-going-on is that green squiggly line at the bottom, the Detrended Price Oscillator.

Usually, even on a long-term charts like a monthly chart, that green line is moving below and above the zero line (light gray dotted line) not exactly frequently, but more frequently than, oh, 30 months.

Because 30 months is the last time DPO touched that damn zero line.

That’s just a stupid long time to not have made another trip to close below the zero line.

When it does happen though, what does that mean?

That is the confirmation signal alerting you people dropped BTC like a bad habit for altcoins. 👍️ 

NEWS
Don’t Liquidate Me Bro Update 💿️ 

I got nothin. 🪹 

Mr. James is still hanging in there:

BITCOIN IS ABOUT TO REKT ALL SHORTS!

BEARS WILL BE LIQUIDATED 🐻 ❌

WYNNERS WILL BE REWARDED 💰🚀

nfa / $btc

— James Wynn (@JamesWynnReal)
2:53 PM • Jun 3, 2025

We’ll keep you updated if anything crazy happens. 🎯 

NEWS IN THREE SENTENCES
AI, Stablecoins, & Privacy News 🕵️

🎭 MaskDAO Snatches Orb.club to Make Web3 Social Fun Again

Decentralization plus nostalgia equals profit? MaskDAO just bought Orb.club to reinvent Web3 social with sticker drops, collectible posts, and creator clubs, proving decentralized social can actually be enjoyable. Mask founder Suji Yan said Orb “brings soul back to social media.” Mask Network.

💰 Circle Throws Cash at Devs to Build Cooler Stuff with USDC

Circle’s paying you to make USDC do new tricks. They just kicked off Developer Bounties, throwing around 20,000 USDC to anyone smart enough to build cool solutions – think multi-chain payments, gasless transactions, and dynamic wallets. Partnered up with DoraHacks, Circle clearly figured out the quickest way to devs’ hearts is cold, hard cash stablecoins. Circle.

NEWS IN THREE SENTENCES
Real World Asset Tokenization (RWA) News 🪙

🌎 Arbitrum’s On-Chain RWAs Hit New Highs: Wall Street Moves In

Welcome to the era where your crypto wallet might hold more Treasuries than meme coins. Real-world assets (RWAs) tokenized on Arbitrum hit all-time highs, with heavy hitters like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton tokenizing US Treasuries. Projects like Ondo and Estate Protocol mean you can now buy fractional real estate or stablecoin-backed yields directly on-chain, proving the line between Wall Street and DeFi is blurrier than ever. Arbitrum.

🐸 Chillguy, Pepe, Doge: Memecoins Fail IP Creators – ip.world Wants to Fix That

The $580M Chillguy memecoin showed how creators get left behind as memes go viral. Enter ip.world, promising IP creators control and profit by tokenizing memes directly. Founder “Red” says ip.world transforms internet culture into programmable money, so creators like Chillguy’s Phillip Banks get paid – not just exploited. The meme economy is evolving: if your meme goes viral, at least your wallet will notice. Story Protocol.

NEWS IN THREE SENTENCES
Metaverse, NFT, & Gaming News 🎮️

⚔️ WEMADE Brings Hit MMORPG into the Web3 Arena

I think we can all agree grinding is more fun when you get paid? WEMADE just inked a deal to onboard from RedLab Games onto WEMIX PLAY, blending hardcore MMORPG action with Web3 economics. Launching globally in Q3 2025, it promises unlimited minting, guaranteed value, and a simplified P2E model. Welcome to the future, where gaming addictions at least pay the bills. WEMIX.

🎮 Your Gaming Identity Sucks

Gamers are finally getting real ownership of their digital assets through decentralized identities (DIDs) – proving you truly own those overpriced Fortnite skins even after Epic Games gets bored (well, that’s the idea anyway). With blockchain-backed identities, in-game items become tradeable assets, portable across multiple games, reducing scams and protecting your precious digital loot. Ontology.

NEWS IN THREE SENTENCES
DeFi, DEX, & Lending Protocol News 🏦

🦄 Consensys Dumps $425M into SharpLink’s Ethereum Treasury Bet

Consensys led a monster $425 million raise for SharpLink Gaming, which promptly decided to hoard ETH as their treasury reserve – US dollars are too last century. Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin stepping in as SharpLink chairman just screams “we’re serious about this.” Consensys.

🔥 Astar’s 100-Day ACS Campaign: How to Incentivize On-Chain Degeneracy

Turns out paying users for engagement actually works. Astar’s ACS initiative threw 100 million ASTR tokens at users to incentivize on-chain actions, resulting in $226 million TVL, millions of transactions, and projects like Kyo Finance and Evermoon booming. Campaign’s over, but the dopamine hits from on-chain rewards will linger. Astar Network.

LINKS
Links That Don’t Suck 🔗

🤯 Circle’s mega IPO: Stablecoin giant eyes $7.2B valuation

🏹 Robinhood completes acquisition of Bitstamp

💰️ Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund co-leads $8 million Series A for Base-based derivatives exchange Avantis

🕵️ Crypto policy trends to watch in 2025: Privacy, development and adoption

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