Today: The meme ETF era begins

2025-07-14

Here's what's happening today:

The White House is taking shots at Jerome Powell, Trump’s trade war got a messy new sequel, and crypto traders are clenching with CPI data just around the corner.

Meanwhile, Ethereum whales are feasting, stablecoin inflows are heating up, and a little penguin may have just meme’d its way into ETF history. Let’s unpack the madness.

Powell v. The White House

In an unusually aggressive move, the White House advisory team is ramping up pressure on Fed Chair Jerome Powell, potentially setting the stage for a legal showdown. The accusation? Either Powell lied under oath to Congress about the Fed’s $2.5 billion headquarters renovation—or he grossly mismanaged it. That’s not just political theatre—it could open the door to his removal, especially as the White House continues to push for rate cuts ahead of the election cycle.

Budget chief Russell Vought dropped the hammer in a formal letter, implying either deliberate falsehoods or serious violations of capital permitting laws. It’s not just about drywall and furniture—this is the most direct attack on Powell’s credibility yet, and it’s landing right as CPI data looms.

Trade war reloaded

Trump's weekend mic drop came with numbers: a 30% tariff on all EU and Mexican imports starting August 1. It’s a broad-brush move, meant to hammer home his “America First” rhetoric as election season ramps up. He’s also signalling more tariffs on a laundry list of countries—from Canada to Algeria—and inviting partners to the table for a new round of negotiations, knives out.

The EU, for its part, blinked. In response, they’ve extended the suspension of their countermeasures until early August, effectively buying time. Considering the EU exports over $600 billion to the US annually (versus America’s $90B in the other direction), that’s a huge imbalance—and plenty of leverage.

Bitcoin hits highs, but ETH steals attention

Bitcoin continued its push into all-time high territory over the weekend, but it’s not all smooth sailing. Despite the price surge, BTC dominance is slipping, now sitting at 64.5%, down from previous weeks. The market is clearly diversifying—and Ethereum’s numbers make that crystal clear.

Over the last 24 hours, ETH futures volume hit $62.1B, slightly surpassing Bitcoin’s $61.7B. This kind of flip is rare and suggests traders are positioning ahead of a major ETH-specific catalyst. ETF speculators, pay attention.

Stablecoin flows and institutional moves

Capital is flowing. From July 12–14, stablecoins saw a total inflow of $630M, led by USDT ($440M) and USDC ($190M). This isn’t just idle liquidity—it’s ammo, and the timing points squarely at traders gearing up for CPI volatility or ETH-linked plays.

Meanwhile, institutions are still in goblin mode. Just 7 hours ago, SharpLink Gaming added another 16,374 ETH (~$48.85M), bringing their total holdings to a staggering 270,000 ETH. These are the kinds of moves that don’t get made unless something’s coming.

The Rise of the Meme ETF?

In possibly the strangest story of the day, OKX briefly changed its Twitter avatar to a penguin—and that was all it took for $PENGU to explode +23.4% in 24 hours. Some now speculate that it could be the first meme coin to secure an ETF listing.

Is it real alpha or just delusion dressed up in penguin pixels? Either way, the trend is snowballing.

Pump incoming

It’s almost here. Pump.fun’s PUMP token is expected to go live within the next 24 hours, and all eyes are on the launch mechanics. According to on-chain data:

Kraken and Bitget each hold 7.5B PUMP
Gate: 6.4B
Bybit and MEXC: 5B each
KuCoin: 4.1B

Pre-sale metrics are even more revealing. A total of 23,959 wallets completed KYC on Pump.fun, with 10,145 wallets successfully buying in. The average contribution? A hefty $44,209. Of the total token sales, 89.7% came from the website’s own pre-sale, while CEX allocations were just 10.3%.

Notably, 202 wallets individually contributed over $1M, and nearly 5,800 wallets fell under the $1K mark—proof that both whales and minnows are all-in. Tonight, liquidity gets tested.

Eyes on Tuesday

The real pivot point comes this Tuesday at 8:30PM (MYT) with the release of the June US CPI data. Markets are pricing in a cooler print, but with Powell under fire and tariffs flaring, anything can spark volatility. If inflation undershoots and the ETH ETF chatter gains traction, we might be looking at the most explosive week of July.

Until then—buckle up.