Happy Monday! Today’s newsletter has a bit of everything: a risk rally, oil moving lower after a US-Iran breakthrough, AI tokens ripping, and some M&A news of our own.

The common thread is consolidation and repricing. Macro markets are repricing geopolitical risk, Bittensor is trying to clean up capital allocation, and crypto’s information layer is moving from fragmented research and dashboards toward institutional data infrastructure. Let’s get into it.

Over the last week, major benchmarks rebounded strongly. BTC led the way with gains of 3.31%, followed by the Nasdaq and S&P 500, which rose 2.87% and 1.11%, respectively. Gold was the only benchmark to finish lower, down -1.19%, though it too recovered significantly from its midweek lows.

The catalyst behind the move was a breakthrough in US-Iran relations. Both sides announced a memorandum of understanding that would end the US blockade of Iranian ports and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The agreement is expected to be formally signed in Switzerland on Friday, after which Iran will reopen the critical shipping route. In response, WTI crude oil has fallen 5.7% as markets begin pricing in lower energy driven inflation pressures and a more supportive backdrop for risk assets.

Monetary policy remains a key focus. Markets are currently pricing a 40.5% chance of one rate hike and a 14.8% chance of two hikes by year end. Those expectations could shift quickly this week as investors look to newly appointed Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's first major press conference for clues on the path of policy ahead.

Within crypto, AI was the standout sector, posting gains of 24.4% on the week. TAO led the move with gains of 25% and accounts for roughly 24% of the index. Other notable performers included VIRTUAL and NEAR, which gained 11% and 8%, respectively.

Part of TAO's strength may be linked to a recent proposal by Bittensor's founder to block emissions to inactive, self-mining, abandoned, or exploitative subnets. The proposal comes several months after the public fallout with Covenant AI and signals a renewed focus on improving capital allocation and directing emissions toward productive parts of the ecosystem. Markets appear to be viewing the move positively as a step toward strengthening network quality and long-term sustainability.

In other news, while the broader crypto market has struggled in 2026, crypto M&A activity has accelerated sharply since March. Beneath the weak price action, the industry is quietly entering a phase of consolidation as stronger players position themselves for the next cycle. 

On that note, we have some exciting M&A related news of our own to share. More on that in the next section.

— Kunal

Blockworks Acquires Messari

On Friday, June 12, Blockworks announced it had acquired Messari, bringing together two of crypto’s largest data and market intelligence platforms. The mission is straightforward: bring more transparency and trust to onchain markets as institutions, issuers, exchanges and eventually regulators demand better infrastructure for understanding digital assets.

Strategically, the deal helps build the operating system for onchain capital markets. Blockworks has been moving deeper into issuer-side infrastructure through investor relations, disclosures, compliance workflows, and institutional distribution. Messari brings broad asset coverage, APIs, market intelligence, fundraising data, event monitoring, and AI tools used by funds, exchanges, developers, and other market participants.

Another way to think about the deal is through the tradeoff every crypto data company has historically faced: depth versus breadth. Blockworks focused on extremely deep and granular coverage of the most important protocols in the ecosystem, from understanding the breakdown of Solana’s perp AMM quoting to the inventory behind Collector Crypt.

Messari took the other side of that tradeoff. It built one of the industry’s broadest standardized data layers across assets, protocols, markets, fundraising rounds, token unlocks, governance events, and ecosystem activity. Together, the combination creates a more complete information stack: Blockworks brings deep, protocol-level intelligence and issuer relationships, while Messari adds broad, standardized coverage across the long tail of crypto assets.

Another interesting part of the deal is the reported acquisition cost. Financial terms were not officially disclosed, but the WSJ reported that Blockworks paid more than $10 million for Messari. That figure stands in sharp contrast to Messari’s last-cycle valuation: the company raised a $35 million Series B in 2022 and was reportedly valued at around $300 million. It also sits in the same order of magnitude as the $12.5 million grant Messari received from The Graph Foundation in 2022, highlighting the shift from last cycle’s aggressive valuations and ecosystem spending to a more disciplined market environment today.

Blockworks x Messari is a reflection of the current environment: it shows the hardships companies have faced throughout the headwinds of the bear market, but also that in this environment, strong teams continue to build and double down, positioning themselves for the large growth this industry still has ahead.

— Shaunda

1.  Macro Memo: Spin Cycle

   

   Citrini argues that recent inflation and rate fears are being overstated and remains medium-term bullish on both the US economy and equities. While markets have become concerned about higher oil prices, stronger payroll data, and the possibility of Fed tightening, the author believes inflation pressures are likely to ease, labor market strength is being overstated, and most of the commodity shock from the Iran conflict has already passed. 

   The recent selloff is viewed as a healthy reset after an extended rally, particularly in crowded AI and momentum names, rather than the start of a broader downturn. The core thesis is that fundamentals still support higher equity prices, although investors should expect greater volatility and more frequent drawdowns over the coming months as markets digest Fed leadership changes, energy market disruptions, and a maturing AI investment cycle. 

   2. Addressing Hyperliquid's HIP-3 Deployer Bottleneck 

    

   

   HIP-3 has been a major success in scaling Hyperliquid’s market creation, with external deployers launching nearly all new 2026 markets, and HIP-3 now accounting for $3.2B in open interest and roughly one-third of perpetual volume. However, that growth has not translated into meaningful deployer competition. TradeXYZ controls more than 95% of HIP-3 volume and open interest, while non-TradeXYZ deployers face weak economics from the 500K HYPE bond, upfront auction costs, limited differentiation, and the risk of dominant-market duplication. As a result, marginal deployer participation is slowing, Felix has become the first HIP-3 deployer to wind down, and auction demand has weakened sharply. The report argues that tiered HIP-3 exchanges and temporary auction-fee relief could lower barriers to entry while preserving protocol security, helping Hyperliquid sustain a broader deployer base, more active market creation, and long-term demand for staked HYPE.

DAS is back!

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