Asia Morning Briefing: Bitcoin Retreats from Highs While AI Tokens Rise on Big Tech Spending
Bitcoin slipped nearly 2% to around $117,800 in early Tuesday trading, pulling back from last week’s surge past $120,000. The decline comes amid rising market caution and signals that bullish momentum may be losing steam—at least temporarily.
“The market is showing signs of fatigue,” said Lennex Lai, Chief Commercial Officer at OKX. “Elevated funding rates and overcrowded long positions mean that even minor macro triggers could cause broader sell-offs.”
Despite optimism that bitcoin could still reach $150,000 or higher, analysts point to increased leverage and macroeconomic uncertainty as potential roadblocks. According to K33 Research, average funding rates are holding near 4.5%—their highest levels since the FTX collapse—highlighting growing tension in the derivatives markets.
Maple Finance Overtakes BlackRock’s BUIDL as Largest On-Chain Asset Manager
Decentralized credit protocol Maple Finance has become the largest on-chain asset manager, with $2.9 billion in total value locked, surpassing BlackRock’s BUIDL fund.
Maple’s recent $100 million institutional deposit helped push it ahead. Unlike BUIDL, which is backed by U.S. Treasuries, Maple’s assets are deployed in undercollateralized DeFi lending, pointing to rising investor appetite for higher-yield, nontraditional financial products in crypto.
The development marks a major moment for DeFi, suggesting institutions are beginning to explore on-chain credit beyond tokenized government debt.
AI Tokens Pop as Google and Meta Reveal Massive Infrastructure Plans
AI-linked crypto assets rallied following announcements from Google and Meta, which together unveiled more than $25 billion in new AI infrastructure projects.
Google revealed a $3 billion hydro-powered data center initiative in collaboration with Brookfield, while Meta is building an AI “supercampus” named Prometheus in Ohio. Both projects were unveiled during the U.S. AI Investment Summit at Carnegie Mellon University, which saw over $90 billion in combined capital commitments.
This wave of traditional AI investment is fueling renewed bullishness for decentralized compute platforms in the crypto space, as traders bet on long-term crossover potential between big tech and Web3 AI infrastructure.
Market Snapshot
| Asset | Price | Change | Commentary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin (BTC) | $117,810 | ▼1.69% | Profit-taking after recent highs above $120K |
| Ethereum (ETH) | $3,066 | ▲2.6% | Staking growth and renewed optimism boost momentum |
| Gold | $3,331 | ▼0.56% | Pullback amid rising bond yields |
| Nikkei 225 | Flat | — | Investor caution ahead of further U.S. trade developments |
| S&P 500 Futures | ▼0.4% | Reacting to June CPI rise to 2.7% year-over-year |
