South Korea advances RWA tax, Citi launches pre-IPO tokenization, and Avalanche dips below IPO price. Crypto markets rebound as BTC clears $63K and ETH breaks $1,600. On Friday, the crypto market staged a broad rebound, led by major market sectors. Bitcoin and Ethereum both reclaimed key round-number levels after recent volatility. Real-time market data showed that Bitcoin rose slightly by 1.90% and broke above $63,000, while Ethereum gained 1.32% and returned above $1,600. According to the latest Coinglass data, total liquidations across the crypto market reached USD 280 million over the past 24 hours. Short liquidations accounted for USD 192 million, while long liquidations stood at USD 88.3302 million. This highlights the strong pressure placed on short positions as the market rebounded from lower levels. If Bitcoin falls below $60,356, cumulative long liquidation intensity across major CEXs could reach USD 1.384 billion. Conversely, if Bitcoin breaks above $66,453, cumulative short liquidation intensity could reach USD 954 million. Although the one-day rebound was notable and the NFT sector led the broader market with a 15.04% gain, institutional giant BIT maintained a more cautious macro view in its latest weekly report.

The report noted that Bitcoin’s current price action remains broadly aligned with its outlook from early 2026. The broader A-B-C bear-market correction structure has entered its final stage. After a temporary top near $83,000, rebound momentum has gradually weakened. BIT expects that as the Fear and Greed Index approaches historically low levels, the summer trading slowdown during the 2026 FIFA World Cup could become the final window of this bear-market cycle. At the same time, global macro volatility continues to add complexity to the crypto market. Brent crude oil surged above $90 per barrel amid geopolitical tensions related to Iran, while the U.S. producer price index jumped 6.5% year-over-year in May. These two factors have sharply strengthened market expectations for the Federal Reserve to maintain tighter monetary policy for longer. Traders have even priced in an extreme probability of a September rate hike. As a result, Bitcoin’s annualized futures basis briefly fell below the neutral 4% level. Spot Bitcoin ETFs also saw USD 190 million in net outflows in June, suggesting that Bitcoin’s function as a hedge against U.S. equities has been temporarily weakened.

Key News Highlights:

South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance Pushes Legal Framework As RWA Tokenized Assets May Face Securities Tax Rules In The Second Half

Officials from South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance, which is responsible for tax policy, recently stated that once financial regulators make a final securities classification for specific “tokenized stocks” or real-world asset tokenization products, tax authorities will be able to begin taxation under the existing Capital Markets Act as early as the second half of this year. A ministry representative made clear in a phone interview with the media that although these RWA tokenized assets rely on blockchain or distributed ledger technology in technical form, their underlying economic substance and rights structure are already highly similar to traditional securities. The Financial Services Commission has previously established a “substance over form” regulatory principle in its related guidelines. It also plans to publish revised security token guidelines by the end of July. This move challenges the previous assumption held by many local Korean investors that tokenized assets should be treated as tax-exempt virtual assets before the formal virtual asset capital gains tax law takes effect. Since the securities jurisdiction under the Capital Markets Act is not limited to domestic issuance, Korean residents who participate in cross-border tokenized equity transactions through overseas decentralized platforms or foreign issuers may also be brought into the regular tax framework, including dividend income tax. To support cross-border supervision and prevent capital outflows, the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the National Tax Service have begun building regular information and data exchange mechanisms with foreign agencies such as the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Although the RWA market has expanded rapidly this year by 115% and surpassed USD 1.46 billion, tax authorities admitted that legal disputes between taxpayers and the government may be difficult to avoid after implementation in the second half. This is because these assets still lack established historical tax precedents and may require detailed classification case by case.

Citi Launches Tokenized Private Company Equity Marketplace To Reshape Pre-IPO Investment Structures With Blockchain Depositary Receipts

Wall Street financial giant Citi announced that it will launch a new blockchain-based marketplace designed to give wealthy overseas investors and large institutions a new channel for gaining exposure to Pre-IPO private company equity through tokenized depositary receipts. Citi’s digital assets executive said the platform’s distributed ledger infrastructure will be supported by SIX Digital Exchange, which is owned by the operator of the Swiss stock exchange. The core mechanism is to convert physical private company shares held by custodians into on-chain tokens. This allows investors to view and trade these assets more clearly within their digital asset portfolios, similar to how they manage publicly listed stocks. Citi emphasized that tokenized depositary receipts can offer greater underlying asset transparency, stronger compliance, and clearer ownership rights compared with special purpose vehicle structures, which are widely used in traditional private markets but often lack transparency. This innovation comes as the global primary market value creation cycle continues to lengthen, with companies increasingly choosing to retain more valuation growth while staying private. Although emerging tech giants such as OpenAI have publicly warned investors that some tokenized stocks offered by fintech platforms only represent indirect economic exposure rather than legally enforceable equity, Citi’s product aims to provide an on-chain solution with stronger legal securities protection through direct cooperation with major private companies. The bank has already entered deep onboarding discussions with several major private firms. After the overseas pilot is gradually refined, the platform is expected to open more broadly to qualified U.S. investors in the future.

Bank Of Japan Policy Uncertainty Rises Sharply As Deputy Governor Shinichi Uchida May Lead Tightening Guidance

The Bank of Japan is expected to hold a historically significant monetary policy meeting next Tuesday. Most macroeconomists and foreign exchange traders expect officials to raise the policy rate by 25 basis points to 1.00%. This would mark Japan’s highest interest rate level since 1995 and signal the country’s formal move away from its long-standing ultra-loose monetary environment toward interest rate normalization. However, the meeting now faces sudden personnel uncertainty ahead of its opening. Current Governor Kazuo Ueda has been hospitalized due to an unexpected health issue. He will miss the rate decision and the important post-meeting press conference. Deputy Governor Shinichi Uchida will instead preside over the meeting and communicate the central bank’s forward guidance. This change triggered sharp volatility in USD/JPY, which briefly broke above the key 160 level and moved close to the verbal and actual intervention zone watched by Japan’s Ministry of Finance over the past two years. Investment institutions noted that since the expectation of a 25-basis-point rate hike has already been fully priced in by derivatives markets, global capital markets are now focused on Uchida’s tone and policy wording. If the decision he leads sends a dovish signal, the yen could face another round of disorderly depreciation and Japanese government bond yields may rise further. Conversely, a more hawkish and clearly defined tightening path could help stabilize current imported inflation expectations. Japan’s core inflation has already climbed to 3.5%, a new high for this phase. The country is also facing sharp swings in global energy prices and domestic fiscal expansion constraints. Against this complex backdrop, the communication framework delivered by the deputy governor will directly shape the near-term flow of global carry trade capital.

Avalanche Lists On Nasdaq Through SPAC As First-Day Share Drop Reflects Altcoin Bear-Market Pressure

Avalanche Treasury Company, backed by a USD 675 million merger initiated by Mountain Lake Acquisition, officially listed on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker AVAT on Thursday. However, weak sentiment across the broader crypto market weighed on its debut. The stock fell 16% on its first trading day and closed at $1.85 per share. The treasury company received joint funding support from leading global crypto venture and financial institutions, including Dragonfly, Pantera, ParaFi Capital, VanEck, Galaxy Digital, and Kraken. Its purpose is to provide institutional investors in traditional capital markets with a compliant way to access the growth of the Avalanche ecosystem without directly buying or holding crypto assets. The company’s CEO said the first-day share volatility does not represent a rejection of the underlying public chain’s technological value. Instead, it reflects the public market’s current repricing of digital asset treasury companies from a macro valuation perspective. Data showed that Avalanche’s native asset AVAX saw a slight one-day rebound, but it remained down 33% over the past 30 days. It has also fallen nearly 95% from its late-2021 all-time high and is now trading near $6.61. This first-day breakdown is not an isolated case among digital asset treasury companies in 2026. Data shows that weekly net inflows into digital asset treasuries have dropped sharply from their spring peak to around USD 266 million. Strategy, the world’s largest Bitcoin treasury entity, has seen its share price fall 69% over the past year. Other on-chain treasury companies focused on Ethereum or Solana have also suffered deep corrections ranging from 88% to 92%. This shows that Wall Street capital has become much more cautious and risk-averse toward attempts to equity-wrap decentralized ecosystems.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this section is for informational purposes only and doesn't represent any investment advice or FameEX's official view.