Bankman-Fried’s appeal, record USDC move, SpaceX IPO tokens, and Coinbase’s 24/7 metals futures

The crypto market is juggling big legal decisions, record-breaking stablecoin moves, and new experiments at the edge of traditional finance. From Sam Bankman-Fried’s failed appeal to Coinbase’s 24/7 gold and silver futures, here’s what’s changing and why it matters for traders and investors.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s 25-year sentence is upheld

A US federal appeals court has upheld both the conviction and 25-year prison sentence of Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of collapsed exchange FTX. The ruling also leaves more than $11 billion in financial penalties in place.

A three-judge panel from the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals found that the original trial was fair and rejected arguments that Bankman-Fried was blocked from presenting key evidence. His team had argued that lawyers’ involvement in FTX’s operations should have supported his defense and asked for a new trial before a different judge. The court disagreed on both counts.

Importantly, the panel confirmed that the fraud case did not hinge on whether FTX customers might eventually have been repaid. Instead, it focused on the misuse of customer funds and misleading behavior at the time.

From here, Bankman-Fried’s options are limited. He can request a rehearing from the full Second Circuit or petition the US Supreme Court, but neither step is guaranteed to succeed. Unless a higher court intervenes, the FTX criminal case is effectively settled.

Circle moves a record $4.4 billion USDC through Coinbase

Stablecoin infrastructure took a big step forward as Circle moved 4.4 billion USDC to a Coinbase-linked address on the Hyper EVM network. According to blockchain analytics firm Arkham, it’s the largest single USDC transfer ever recorded on-chain.

What makes this move stand out is not just the size, but the destination. The funds went to a Coinbase address tied to Hyperliquid’s new USDC treasury setup, rather than a standard exchange wallet.

Since May, Coinbase has acted as Hyperliquid’s official USDC treasury deployer. That means Coinbase is at the center of how USDC liquidity is placed and managed within the Hyperliquid ecosystem, where USDC is becoming a core settlement asset.

This transfer came from Circle’s core deposit wallet into Coinbase’s so-called A QAV2 address. Market watchers see it less as a simple custodial reshuffle and more as a sign that treasury infrastructure is being funded at genuine institutional scale.

Because stablecoins like USDC are designed to track the US dollar, large transfers usually signal that liquidity is being prepared for active use, not dumped as risk. Routing nearly $4.5 billion through Hyper EVM—a newer network for USDC—also suggests that institutional workflows are expanding to fresh on-chain venues, not just the long-established ones.

In short, this move is real-time evidence of stablecoins becoming the plumbing that powers major digital asset platforms. It also connects to a broader trend of Hyperliquid’s growing role in the market, including debates over how traditional banks value high-profile deals like a potential SpaceX IPO, as explored in this look at why Hyperliquid’s CEO says banks may be undervaluing SpaceX.

Tokenized SpaceX IPO plans collapse over share shortfalls

Several major crypto exchanges—Binance, Bybit, and Bitget—have canceled their planned tokenized allocations for a potential SpaceX IPO after failing to secure enough underlying shares to meet retail demand.

The idea was simple on paper: offer tokenized SpaceX shares so users could subscribe on-chain, with a pro-rata allocation if demand exceeded supply. But the plan broke down before it even reached the blockchain layer.

Bybit told users that no allocations would be delivered because its execution partner couldn’t provide the actual SpaceX shares. Without those real-world shares, there was nothing to tokenize and distribute. Retail subscriptions were refunded instead.

This wasn’t a smart contract bug or a trading outage. It exposed a structural bottleneck in tokenized equity products: every tokenized share must still be backed by a real share in the traditional market.

Even with a reported IPO price of $135 per SpaceX share, the exchanges couldn’t source enough stock. Retail demand for tokenized access simply outran the exchanges’ ability to secure supply.

The result is a clear reminder of the limits of tokenization. On-chain wrappers can make access easier and more flexible, but they can’t bypass hard supply constraints in the underlying asset. If the real shares aren’t available, there’s no allocation to pass through—no matter how advanced the tokenization tech is.

For more background on how a SpaceX listing could intersect with crypto markets and investor sentiment, see this deeper dive into SpaceX, Bitcoin, and what a future IPO could mean for crypto.

BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF leads inflows as Ethereum funds see outflows

US spot Bitcoin ETFs snapped a five-day outflow streak on June 12, pulling in about $85.8 million in net inflows. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust led the way with $57.7 million, and none of the 12 spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net outflows that day.

This was a stronger rebound than the modest $3.05 million net inflow seen earlier in June, which followed a 13-session redemption streak that drained more than $4.4 billion from spot Bitcoin ETFs since mid-May.

The recovery, however, was not evenly spread across crypto ETF products. US spot Ethereum ETFs, including BlackRock’s own Ether fund, recorded roughly $4.95 million in net outflows on the same day.

That divergence has continued, suggesting that institutional investors are being selective. They’re adding Bitcoin exposure through regulated fund wrappers but are more cautious or outright reducing exposure to Ether for now.

BlackRock sits at the center of this split: its Bitcoin ETF led inflows, while its Ether ETF joined the outflow trend. For traders, this points to a market where Bitcoin is still seen as the primary institutional gateway asset, while Ethereum is facing a more mixed narrative in the short term.

Coinbase launches 24/7 gold and silver futures in the US

Coinbase is extending the “always-on” nature of crypto markets to traditional commodities by launching 24/7 gold and silver futures for eligible US users.

Starting June 13, traders can access these contracts through Coinbase Derivatives, the company’s CFTC-regulated futures venue. That’s a big shift from traditional metals futures, which are limited by set exchange hours.

With 24/7 trading, users can react to overnight moves in inflation expectations, central bank comments, or geopolitical shocks without waiting for markets to reopen. For active traders and hedgers, that means more flexibility and potentially tighter risk management.

Coinbase Derivatives was already seeing solid activity in traditional commodity futures. In the first quarter of 2026, it handled more than $52 billion in notional volume, with commodity contracts making up 7.6% of all contracts traded on the venue.

The broader significance is that Coinbase is testing whether crypto-style, round-the-clock trading can work for regulated US products tied to real-world assets like gold and silver. If liquidity holds up and spreads stay reasonable outside of legacy market hours, it could encourage more exchanges and regulators to consider similar models for other asset classes.

For now, the launch gives US traders a new way to blend traditional safe-haven assets with crypto-native trading habits—using the same platform they may already rely on for digital asset exposure.