USDT has edged past Ethereum to rank as the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, a rare shake-up at the top of the digital-asset leaderboard. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino highlighted the move on June 6, posting screenshots of market rankings showing USDT in second place behind Bitcoin. The figures showed USDT at about $187.37 billion, narrowly ahead of Ethereum at roughly $187.33 billion. Bitcoin remained firmly in first place with a market value above $1.19 trillion. Ethereum's slip to third comes after an extended period of weakness in ETH, which helped compress the gap with the dollar-backed stablecoin. Unlike volatile cryptocurrencies, USDT is designed to trade near $1, so its market cap typically expands when more tokens enter circulation rather than from price appreciation. USDT's advance has been driven by steady growth in circulating supply throughout 2026, supported by continued demand for dollar-backed stablecoins across trading, payments, and cross-border transfers. Supply has recently approached record levels near $188 billion, reinforcing Tether's lead in the stablecoin market and allowing USDT to close in as ETH softened. The shift aligns with earlier commentary from Bloomberg Intelligence strategist Mike McGlone, who said Tether's asset growth could lift USDT above Ethereum if ETH traded near $1,500. Economist and longtime Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff also pointed to the trend, writing on X that Tether's market cap would soon exceed Ethereum's and could eventually challenge Bitcoin's. "The market cap of Tether will soon surpass the market cap of Ethereum. It will eventually surpass the market cap of Bitcoin, too. The only question is how long it will take," Schiff wrote. The ranking change underscores how stablecoins have evolved beyond their original role as trading utilities to become one of the largest segments of the crypto market by value. Under Ardoino, Tether has also broadened its focus beyond stablecoins into artificial intelligence, mining, tokenized gold products, and payment initiatives. Ethereum could reclaim the No. 2 spot if ETH prices rebound. For now, USDT's move above Ethereum highlights the growing influence of dollar-backed assets in shaping crypto market structure. Disclaimer: This content is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Coin Edition is not responsible for losses resulting from the use of any content, products, or services mentioned. Readers should exercise caution before taking actions related to the company.

According to Odaily Planet Daily, Solidity security researcher Quit has published an analysis of a vulnerability in Flooring Protocol. Quit said the attacker abused a flaw in the BT404-style accounting logic's ownership validation, creating a "phantom ownership" condition. By combining that issue with multiple integer underflow bugs, the attacker was able to generate unlimited fpToken balances, sell the tokens, and drain liquidity from the protocol. Quit added that they later identified an additional attack path impacting more liquidity pools. Together with several security researchers, they launched a white-hat rescue to move assets out of Flooring Protocol's exposed pools. The team recovered 66 NFTs in total: 29 BAYCs, 4 MAYCs, 2 CryptoPunks, 1 Azuki, 2 Elementals, 26 Captains, 1 Moonbird, 2 Doodles, and 1 BAKC. The assets are valued at more than $500,000. Quit urged users not to deposit further NFTs into Flooring Protocol and said the recovered NFTs will be returned to their rightful owners in the coming weeks.

Blockchain tracker Lookonchain reported that an "Ethereum OG" sold a combined $188 million of crypto ahead of a market downturn, then bought back after prices fell. Prior to the drop, the wallet sold 60,000 ETH worth about $117.25 million and 9,442 wstETH worth about $24 million at an average price of $2,040, and also sold 600 WBTC worth about $47.12 million at an average price of $78,538. Following the selloff, the same wallet repurchased 611 WBTC worth about $38.68 million at an average price of $63,280, along with 60,088 ETH worth about $95.3 million and 10,000 wstETH worth about $21.08 million at an average price of $1,606.

Blockchain data shows the wallet address pensionusdt.eth added a 10,000 ETH short position about nine hours ago, valued at roughly $16.8 million. The move lifts its total short exposure to 60,000 ETH, or about $101 million. The address has recorded profits across 22 consecutive trades, with cumulative gains exceeding $45 million, according to Lookonchain.

A wallet associated with Ethereum cofounder Joseph Lubin deposited 110,000 ETH—about $170 million—into Sky vaults on June 6, moving funds that had sat idle for more than three years. Onchain watchers quickly flagged the activity, but the prevailing read is that it's not a selling signal. The transfer looks like risk management: adding collateral to keep a large leveraged position comfortably away from liquidation. The ETH was distributed across three Sky vaults, the lending platform formerly known as MakerDAO. Combined, the three vaults now hold 412,430 WETH as collateral against roughly $259.05 million in outstanding DAI debt. Their liquidation prices are $899, $1,020, and $1,056 per ETH. With ETH trading near $1,560 when the deposits hit, the closest liquidation level sat about 33% below spot. Onchain data shows the collateral wasn't added in a single shot. The wallet first transferred about 80,000 ETH, followed by another 30,000 ETH, a pattern that points to a planned, methodical reinforcement rather than a rushed response. Neither Lubin nor Consensys has commented. The move lands in a weak ETH tape. ETH slipped about 1.5% in the 24 hours around the transfer and is down nearly 46% year to date. Sky vaults function like MakerDAO's earlier design: users post crypto collateral, borrow DAI (a dollar-pegged stablecoin) against it, and must maintain a minimum collateral ratio. If collateral value drops below the required level, the protocol liquidates the position to repay the debt. For investors, adding ETH to a collateral vault is essentially the opposite of selling—it signals intent to keep the position open and commit additional capital to protect it. The scale of the exposure still matters. If ETH were to sell off again toward $1,056, the nearest liquidation threshold, the forced unwind of 412,430 WETH could intensify downside pressure. At current prices, that collateral represents roughly $643 million of ETH that could be pushed into the market in a cascading liquidation scenario. For traders tracking onchain risk, these three Sky vaults remain key levels to monitor. The liquidation prices at $899, $1,020, and $1,056 stand out as potential stress points.

Arthur Hayes has flipped his stance on $HYPE. Four days after exiting his position when the token traded around $72, he has returned to the market, buying 33,978 $HYPE for about $2.09 million at roughly $56, according to Lookonchain. The re-entry came after an estimated 23% pullback from his sell level.

Shiba Inu (SHIB) derivatives saw a sharp bout of volatility that erased more than $382,000 in futures positions in a single day, with losses concentrated on long traders. Liquidation data shows $365,660 in bullish bets were wiped out versus $17,320 on the short side. The wave of forced liquidations arrived as a previously inactive SHIB wallet resurfaced after roughly 10 months. Arkham Intelligence data indicates the address first ran a small test transaction involving a 10 million SHIB MetaMask swap, then routed almost 400 billion SHIB through BitGo's Forwarder Smart Contract in three transfers of about 112 billion, nearly 190 billion, and roughly 99 billion SHIB. Following the moves, the wallet was effectively emptied, holding only 110 SHIB. Total transferred: 399,989,999,938 SHIB. The address had been dormant since around last August. The intent behind the BitGo-linked transfers remains uncertain. BitGo is commonly used by institutional players for OTC execution or to consolidate holdings into cold storage, activity that does not necessarily translate into immediate sell pressure on public exchanges. Even so, the timing drew attention, given the broader market weakness. SHIB is down about 16% over the past week and has fallen below the psychological $0.000005 level. It last traded around $0.000004535, off roughly 3.5% in the past 24 hours. The pullback has pushed the memecoin toward the lower end of the top 30 by market value; SHIB ranks 29th with an estimated market cap of about $2.65 billion.

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes is warning that Hyperliquid's breakout run in perpetual futures may be entering a tougher phase, with traditional finance and major centralized exchanges increasingly positioned to challenge its lead. Hyperliquid emerged in 2023 and rapidly became a favored venue for trading perpetuals tied to less liquid markets and real-world assets (RWAs). Its token, HYPE, pushed to new all-time highs last week as the protocol recycled trading-fee revenue into token buybacks and subsequent burns to tighten supply. In an interview with Decrypt, Hayes argued the approach is vulnerable because it ultimately relies on fee generation. "At the end of the day, this is a cash story," he said, adding that any sharp loss of market share would weaken the buyback mechanism that has helped support HYPE's price. Key data and timeline - Hyperliquid broadened its RWA perpetuals offering in an October upgrade, adding contracts including gold and silver. - The platform says outstanding positions tied to those markets have reached $3 billion. - Hyperliquid has bought back about 26.6 million HYPE and permanently removed 579,603 HYPE from circulation. At current prices, the buyback total equates to roughly $1.56 billion. - HYPE traded around $59 on Sunday, down about 14% over seven days after topping $75 for an all-time high last week, according to CoinGecko. Hayes has been among the most visible commentators on Hyperliquid's ascent, previously crediting it for enabling weekend price discovery in markets such as oil. His view on competition is less forgiving. He expects incumbent centralized exchanges and TradFi venues to introduce rival perpetual swap products, arguing they will be "forced to launch a competing product" and forecasting that "decently liquid" TradFi perps could arrive as soon as next year. Why perpetuals matter Perpetual futures, or "perps," allow traders to maintain positions indefinitely by paying or receiving periodic funding, rather than trading contracts with fixed expiries. Hayes' BitMEX helped popularize the modern perpetual contract in 2016, though the concept of continuing contracts stretches back decades. Hyperliquid's advantage has been its ability to list perps on thinner, real-world markets—often most active over weekends—and convert that flow into a buyback-and-burn loop. A sudden reversal: Hayes sells One day after the Decrypt interview, Hayes posted on X that he had "just dumped" his HYPE holdings, along with another token. He pointed to macro and market factors—rising energy costs, a wave of IPOs that drains liquidity, and a shift in President Trump's stance on AI—as reasons for taking profits. The sale came less than two months after Hayes published an essay projecting HYPE would reach $150 by August 2026, a sharp reversal that sparked mixed reactions in the community. What's at stake Hayes' core point is that Hyperliquid's scarcity strategy depends on consistent fee inflows. If liquidity shifts to centralized exchanges or TradFi platforms offering comparable perpetual products backed by deeper capital, Hyperliquid's buyback engine could slow—leaving HYPE more exposed to downside pressure. Hyperliquid's RWA expansion and buyback totals remain notable, but Hayes' warning highlights a tightening contest between fast-moving DeFi builders and legacy financial players for control of the derivatives market.

On-chain analytics firm Lookonchain (@lookonchain) reported that wallet pensionusdt.eth is keeping a bearish outlook despite the market's early rebound. About nine hours ago, the address added 10,000 ETH to its short position, worth roughly $16.8 million. Total shorts now stand at 60,000 ETH, valued at approximately $101 million.