The crypto world witnessed a major shake-up this week with headline developments across investment flows, exchange performance, and the escalating clash between Elon Musk and Donald Trump with Dogecoin and crypto tax reform caught in the middle.
As of this morning, the global cryptocurrency market cap sits at $3.31 trillion, slightly down 0.28% in the past 24 hours, per CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $107,650 after fluctuating between $107,250 and $108,790, reflecting a 0.14% dip.
On Binance, trading remains mixed. LEVER jumped 35%, HFT climbed 24%, and ARB gained 16%, making them the top-performing altcoins by volume and percentage gain today. These reflect the growing interest in mid-cap tokens as traders shift capital from top coins amid price consolidation.
Meanwhile, xAI, Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, has closed a massive $10 billion round, split evenly between debt and equity. The funding, led by Morgan Stanley, values the company at $80 billion. The goal is to expand its Colossus supercomputer and further integrate the Grok chatbot into X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
This comes as competition heats up with OpenAI, recently valued at $300 billion, and Anthropic, now topping $60 billion.
Adding fuel to the fire, former President Donald Trump publicly accused Musk of benefiting from government subsidies, suggesting he might “sick DOGE”—the Department of Government Efficiency on Musk’s companies. Musk responded bluntly on X: “CUT IT ALL. Now.” calling for a complete end to corporate subsidies.
The exchange sparked massive reactions on both sides of the political and crypto space. While it was not immediately apparent whether Trump was serious or indicating a policy position, the tweet sent shockwaves among crypto investors who owned DOGE. As one Twitter commenter observed, “When the presidential frontrunners begin using DOGE as political threats, you know it’s not just a meme anymore.”
While all of the above is happening in the realm of politics, real regulatory changes are also taking place. Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced a crypto tax amendment to exclude below-$300 transactions and suspend taxes on mining, staking, and airdrops until assets are really sold. If approved, the bill would dramatically increase crypto usage in common transactions.
Crypto investment products also saw action. Crypto ETPs (Exchange-Traded Products) brought in $17.8 billion during H1 2025, slightly down 2.7% from H1 2024, according to CoinShares. But Bitcoin ETPs alone accounted for $14.9 billion (84% of all flows). BlackRock led the inflow share, capturing 96% of all new investments, while Grayscale experienced outflows of $1.7 billion.
“This reflects a major trust shift toward newer, better-regulated crypto investment vehicles,” said James Butterfill, Head of Research at CoinShares.
With Binance trading trends reflecting rising altcoin activity, xAI’s $10B raise expanding AI-crypto integration, and crypto tax reform gaining ground in Congress, the industry continues to evolve quickly, even when the headlines involve DOGE, debates, and drama.
