Summary of Views on the Current Downtrend: Market interest rate hike expectations rising, renewed tensions between the US and Iran, and the crypto market experiencing continued "capital outflow," struggling to regain a bullish momentum.

May 28. Today, Bitcoin slipped below $74,000, Ethereum broke below the $2,000 threshold, Solana (SOL) struggled to hold above $80, and HYPE and ZEC pared some of their recent gains. Meanwhile, spot gold and silver tracked the broader global market slump: gold dropped below $4,400 an ounce, and silver fell below $73 an ounce. U.S. stock index futures, plus South Korean and Japanese equities all declined in lockstep. The crypto market couldn’t escape the weak trend, fueled by consecutive outflows from U.S. spot ETFs in recent days. Below are key analysis points compiled by BlockBeats ahead of and during this latest downturn: As Kevin Warsh was formally sworn in as Federal Reserve Chair, kicking off the "Warsh Era," market bets on further Fed rate hikes have surged. CME Group’s FedWatch data shows traders now expect the Fed to raise rates again by 2026, with odds nearing 70% — a sharp reversal from the start of the year, when the market had largely priced in a rate-cut cycle. On the geopolitical front, tensions flared anew: the U.S. military confirmed it deployed troops on standby for potential action against Cuba at any time. Separately, U.S. President Trump voiced dissatisfaction with the Iran nuclear deal, saying there’s "no hope for negotiation," and Iran subsequently launched attacks on U.S. airbases. Bankless co-founder Hoffman liquidated all his ETH holdings, stating: "I still believe in ETH and Bankless. Bankless is entering a new era, and I plan to step back. I’ll still host the weekly podcast, but I’ll scale back my role in content direction and guest interviews. David will take the lead." Analyst Darkfost posted that BTC spot trading volume has plummeted by 81% since October 2025, signaling a bear market and a lack of upward momentum. Furthermore, a significant talent exodus from crypto to artificial intelligence is accelerating. Per a developer report, monthly active open-source crypto developers have fallen from roughly 45,000 at their 2022 peak to around 23,000. Notably, this drain has a clear structural pattern: those leaving joined during the last bull run, had less than one year of industry experience (with an attrition rate up to 52%), and mostly worked in peripheral roles tied to market hype — like NFT minting and DeFi protocol replication — and their code contributions never exceeded 25% of the total.