OVERVIEW

Opportunity Knocks: These Alts Haven’t Made Their Move Yet 🤜

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
Opportunity? There’s a Good Chunk of Alts That Haven’t Made Their Move Yet 🫢 

Over the past month, some big-name altcoins have made some very big moves. ⬆️ 

• $VIRTUAL.X ( ▲ 15.93% ): +128%

• $HYPE.X ( ▼ 2.46% ) Hyperliquid: +110%

• $WIF.X ( ▲ 0.44% ) dogwifhat: +75%

• $XMR.X ( ▼ 4.11% ) Monero: +68%

• $AAVE.X ( ▲ 2.43% ) Aave: +61%

And if you were to look at the three month performance, you’d see they’re all well into double or triple digit percentage gains, too.

But not everything has made their big move yet. There are some big name altcoins that are lagging their peers with technical conditions that show they might be next for some major moves soon.

$TIA.X ( ▲ 1.91% )

TIAUSD Daily Chart – Click to enlarge.

Celestia has a market cap of $1.73B and is easily one of the biggest laggards out of altcoins with a market cap above $1B.

If it were not for the Chikou Span holding above the bodies of the candlesticks, I’d say to stay the eff away from this turd of a chart – but as long as TIA closes at $2.63, bulls might have the first early signal of things turning around in months.

However, given where the Tenkan-Sen and Kijun-Sen are (inside the Cloud), any of the early aggressive bullish entry setups within the Ichimoku Kinko Hyo system for TIA are kind of ‘meh’.

Bulls are likely waiting for a daily close above the Cloud ($2.98) before there’s any sign of them piling in on the long side. 📈 

$HNT.X ( ▼ 2.01% ) 

HNTUSD Daily Chart – Click to enlarge.

Helium is still bulllish on its daily Ichimoku chart. Clear signs of consolidation and congestion going on – but so very, very close to a bullish breakout and another run higher.

What bulls are looking for on HNT’s daily chart isn’t an Ichimoku based entry setup – it’s more of Technical Analysis 101 entry based on a breakout.

A daily close at or above $4.24 would put it above the cluster of opens and closes found between May 10 and May 15. That’s where we’d likely see some buyers pile in. 🐂 

$OP.X ( ▲ 2.27% ) 

OPUSD Daily Chart – Click to enlarge.

Few cryptocurrencies have names as unfortunate as Optimism. I mean, its price action is not really reflective of the stupid amount of chains Optimism works and integrates with – but for whatever reason, the price action has been dog shite.

However, out of all the lagging altcoins with market caps of at least $500M, OP’s daily chart is one of the best for bulls looking for an immediate opportunity. 

The Chikou Span is above the bodies of the candlesticks, the current close is above the Tenkan-Sen and Kijun-Sen, and finally, it’s above the downtrend line.

But the day isn’t over yet – and the proximity of the Tenkan-Sen, Kijun-Sen and the trendline make for one hell of a strong source of resistance. So while it looks good at the moment (1600 EST) – waiting for confirmation saves your sanity and your wallet in the long run.

As long as OP closes above $0.774 today, OP bulls will have one of the best long setups they’ve had in a long time. ⏲️ 

NEWS
Oh Good. The Crypto Kidnapping Crime Comes To NYC 🤦

The phrase “not your keys, not your crypto” just got a horrifying real-world update. 🦹 

Authorities in New York arrested 37-year-old self-proclaimed “crypto king of Kentucky,” John Woeltz, and charged him with kidnapping and torturing a man in a luxury Manhattan townhouse to extract his Bitcoin password.

Prosecutors say the victim, a 28-year-old Italian businessman, was held captive for 17 days inside a $30k-a-month Nolita townhouse that looked more like a frat house than a financial hub: complete with stripper poles, chicken wire, cocaine, and body armor. 😨 

Woeltz, worth an estimated $100 million, allegedly lured the man to NYC under the promise of returning previously extorted crypto. Instead, the man was met with beatings, electric shocks, forced crack smoking, and threats to his family.

His captors even dangled him over a stairwell while waving a gun at his head. At one point, they took Polaroids of him with the gun pointed at his face and allegedly printed them on T-shirts. 

Because nothing screams “mature crypto enterprise” like merch from your hostage situation. 🤦 

Also, it’s clear the kidnappers have never watched a single CSI episode. Everyone knows taking Polaroids of torturing your victim and then printing the pictures on t-shirts just isn’t a good idea if you want to get away with crime.

SMFH. Moving on, after nearly three weeks of torture, the victim tricked Woeltz into letting him access his laptop to reveal the password, then bolted shoeless out the front door and flagged down a traffic cop. Video footage showed him sprinting down Spring Street, bloody and begging for help.

Woeltz was arrested wearing a bathrobe and charged with multiple felonies, including kidnapping, assault, unlawful imprisonment, and criminal possession of a weapon. He pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail. The judge also demanded he surrender his passport. 🛂 

Which makes sense when you consider the man owns both a private jet and a helicopter.

An alleged accomplice, William Duplessie of Miami, turned himself in days later. A third participant – only referred to as an “unapprehended male” – remains at large.

We’ll keep you updated as this story develops. 🧠 

NEWS
Circle IPO Incoming💸 

USDC’s Circle kicked off its long-awaited IPO. 😀 

It’s slinging 24 million shares of Class A common stock – 9.6 million from Circle itself and the other 14.4 million from early investors looking to cash out now that the bags are heavier.

The target price range? $24 to $26 per share. So, not exactly bargain bin.

The company’s planning to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “CRCL.” Wall Street’s finest – J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs – make up the bulk of the underwriting pie.

Also included: a 30-day option to dump an extra 3.6 million shares in case the market turns frothy (or frothier, depending on who you ask). 🫰 

Circle’s IPO has been the financial equivalent of vaporware since 2022, so we’ll see if this one actually lands. But if they do pull it off, it marks a big moment for TradFi-meets-DeFi crossover.

With stablecoin regulation still caught in Congress’s group chat, Circle getting its ticker on the NYSE would be a win for the crypto legitimacy crowd.

No listing date on the NYSE is known – but Wall Street people think early summer 2025 – so just around the corner. 😎

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

🛡️ Civic Teams Up With Solana to Fight Bots – Because Humans Still Can’t Behave.

Oooo, something that might finally reduce the headache of endless KYC checks! Civic just hopped onto the Solana Attestation Service (SAS) train, hoping to give your dApps reusable verification credentials. The idea is cool: standardizing digital IDs for wallets to block bots and scammers without driving real users crazy. Civic.

🕵️ COTI V2 Mainnet Launches Privacy-On-Demand

COTI’s V2 Mainnet is live, offering “Privacy-on-Demand” to Web3 apps, giving users privacy controls so their every move isn’t public blockchain gossip. With claims of lightning-fast encrypted transactions, it might actually help crypto feel safer. COTI.

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

🎨 Flow NFTs Get a Serious Cross-VM Upgrade—Because NFTs Need Even More Ways to Confuse People.

Flow upgraded their NFT handling, so now NFTs can seamlessly jump between Flow’s Cadence and Ethereum VMs without losing all their fancy metadata. Previously, bridging meant your meticulously crafted NFT ended up looking like a bland knock-off, now it can keep its quirky personality across VMs. Flow.

🌿 Decentraland’s Art Week Offers $2.2K for Virtual Grass-Touching Installations

Decentraland’s upcoming Art Week wants artists to explore “touching grass,” ironically, in a pixel world. Winners get paid real money ($2.2K worth of MANA tokens) to build installations making virtual reality feel slightly more real. Decentraland.

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

💰 Synthetix Relaunches SNX Staking

Synthetix relaunched SNX staking and threw in 5 million SNX tokens as incentive. Now you can stake without the headache of managing debt, but don’t bail early unless you love penalties and funding the treasury instead of your wallet. Synthetix.

🦅 Aragon App Updates Its Modular Governance Tools

Aragon’s got a shiny new app update promising more flexible, no-code governance setups – making decentralized organizations easier, supposedly. Sounds nice, but DAOs still have a habit of devolving into chaos regardless of how nice the UI is. Hopefully, Aragon’s upgrade means fewer endless proposal debates and more actual decisions. Aragon.

💰 dYdX Surge Season 1 Payouts Hit $1.4M

dYdX just wrapped up its first Surge season by dishing out $1.4M in DYDX tokens to traders who showed up consistently. Big traders got chunky rewards while even newbies pocketed some token change. Season 2 is now live with even more incentives. dYdX.

📑 Tax Pros Clear the Fog Around Liquid Staking

Finally, tax lawyers stepped in to clarify that minting, redeeming, or earning rewards from liquid staking (like Jito Stake Pool) isn’t a taxable event until you cash out. This memo may be long and boring, but it’s good news for anyone tired of worrying about Uncle Sam chasing them for every newly minted token. Jito Labs.

OLD NEWS
Last Years News, Today 👴

This one is from two years ago!

From the May 26, 2023 Litepaper😀 

China’s Crypto Broadcast Oopsie

• China’s CCTV briefly aired and then swiftly removed a cryptocurrency-focused segment.

• Incident tied to excitement over Hong Kong’s regulatory shift allowing licensed platforms to serve retail crypto investors.

Ethereum Devs Flock to Bitcoin via Ordinals

• Ethereum developers showed significant interest in Bitcoin’s Ordinals protocol at Bitcoin 2023.

• OrdinalSafe, an ETH-dev founded Bitcoin wallet, secured second place at the event’s Pitch Day.

• Despite controversy around network strain and transaction fees, the crossover of Ethereum devs indicates increasing collaboration and experimentation within the Bitcoin community.

Technically Speaking: XRP and ADA

• XRP: Continues to follow the Foldback pattern highlighted in February’s analysis, indicating ongoing swing structure replication.

• Cardano: Analysis from March didn’t pan out—bullish divergence failed and Ichimoku Time Principle was a miss. However, upcoming Kumo Twist on June 2 could indicate either a strong bounce or signal a top depending on price action near the date.

Other News

• Stablecoin market cap fell to its lowest since 2021, though dominance rose; TrueUSD emerged strong.

• Celsius Network bankruptcy sees progress with Fahrenheit consortium stepping in, promising equity to Celsius account holders and fresh management of crypto assets.

LINKS
Links That Don’t Suck 🔗

🍎 Apple Buys First Video Game Studio

🎮️ Gaming stock surges 500% after new treasury plans

🇩🇪 Germany Overtakes Japan As World’s Largest Creditor Nation

🤯 Strategy adds $427M in Bitcoin, now holds nearly 3% of total BTC supply

🤔 Michael Saylor calls onchain proof-of-reserves a ‘bad idea,’ rules it out for Strategy over security concerns

🤖 Humanoid AI-powered robots duke it out in China fight comp

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