Avalanche’s native token AVAX surged more than 6% in the last 24 hours, outpacing the broader crypto market as measured by the CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index, which rose 0.8% in the same period.

AVAX’s price may have rebounded from political jitters and moved on the back of major developments in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and institutional adoption.

The token climbed from a low of $19.37 to $20.96, recovering from a wider market sell-off triggered by growing tensions between U.S. President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk earlier this week, which saw the former threaten to terminate government contracts for the latter, who in turn accused the president of being implicated in the Jeffrey Epstein files.

The token rebounded after showing multiple signs of bullish momentum, according to CoinDesk’s Research’s technical analysis data model, which shows AVAX established a strong footing around $19.40 that was confirmed by volume exceeding the 24-hour simple moving average.

Volume further rose around the time of AVAX’s breakout last the $20 mark, showing strength in the move. The token has now formed short-term resistance near $21 and support at $20.81, the model shows.

But the stronger-than-average rebound may not just be technical. Last month, FIFA announced it chose Avalanche to power its FIFA blockchain network, with plans to migrate its existing non-fungible token (NFT) collection from Algorand and Polygon into the new network and to build out new fan experiences.

Institutional momentum added another leg. Asset manager VanEck is expected to roll out a $100 million PurposeBuilt Fund this month after first announcing it on May 21, focused exclusively on projects within the Avalanche ecosystem.

The fund will back tokens and businesses in gaming, finance, and AI, while deploying idle capital into on-chain real-world asset products like tokenized money markets.

The price still faces technical resistance near $24.80, but the combination of institutional activity, on-chain RWA growth, and network usage from high-profile partners like FIFA could help AVAX stay ahead of broader market volatility through June.

Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s fallout caused a major spikes in memecoin launches and trading, with the largest tokens by trading activity generating over $355 million in volume over the past 24 hours, according to DEX Screener data.

As traders seized on the pair’s high-profile social media clash using Solana’s ecosystem, Official Trump (TRUMP) ranked first on DEX Screener’s 24-hour trending list, amassing roughly $228 million in volume. Additionally, the token reclaimed the $2 billion market cap level after losing it on June 5.

Kill Big Beautiful Bill (KBBB) got the second-largest daily volume, with nearly $131 million traded since its launch. KBBB has a market capitalization of approximately $12 million as of the time of this press release.

“Official Musk” (MUSK) placed fifth, posting about $22 million in volume, while “President Vs Elon” (PVE) held the ninth spot after clearing approximately $30 million in swaps on PumpSwap pairs initiated last month. 

Rounding out the top ten, “new political party” (XPARTY) recorded just under $10 million in trades during its first day of listing. The memecoin is a direct nod to Musk’s X poll proposing a third US party.

Combined, the five tokens accounted for 64% of the nearly $556 million in 24-hour volume registered by the top 10 tokens in DEX Screener’s list.

Fallout drives volatility

The rally followed a late-night exchange that ended the Musk–Trump alliance built during the 2024 campaign. 

Trump wrote on Truth Social that he would “terminate Elon’s governmental subsidies and contracts” and called the entrepreneur “crazy.” 

Musk fired back on X, insisting Trump’s election owed much to his support and urging Congress to replace the president with Vice President JD Vance. 

Musk then alleged, without presenting evidence, that Trump appears in sealed Jeffrey Epstein files, writing, “The truth will come out.”

Trump replied that Musk’s influence “has worn thin,” a remark confirming the public split and clouding near-term policy expectations for digital asset firms that had counted on their cooperation. 

With Musk and Trump yet to de-escalate publicly, traders continue to monitor X and Truth Social posts for cues that could extend or reverse the meme-coin rally tied to their feud.

Mentioned in this article

Total crypto market capitalization declined by around $170 billion in a fall to $3.26 trillion on June 5, its lowest level since May 8, almost a month ago.

Markets are now poised for a further fall below longer-term levels if current support levels break down. However, the decline slowed during early trading in Asia on Friday morning, with a minor recovery to $3.3 trillion.

Donald vs Elon

The sharp decline appears to have been driven by a spat between US President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk, who said the former’s tariffs “will cause a recession in the second half of this year,” and “Congress is spending America into bankruptcy!” on June 5.

As the war of words on each of their respective social media networks escalated, and the bromance collapsed, Musk also said:

“In light of the President’s statement about the cancellation of my government contracts, SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately.”

In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately pic.twitter.com/NG9sijjkgW

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025

For more than a week, Elon Musk has been trashing Trump’s signature piece of legislation, a spending bill called One Big Beautiful Bill.

“I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago. This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress,” said Trump on Truth Social.

However, the clearly riled billionaire Tesla CEO didn’t stop there, stating on X that it was “time to drop the really big bomb: Donald Trump is in the Epstein files.”

“That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”

BREAKING: President Trump’s former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon calls for Elon Musk to be deported, per NY Times. https://t.co/Q82Pbhzppt

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) June 5, 2025

The pair started to cool off late on Thursday with Musk’s admissions that it may be time to reconcile.

$1B in Liquidations

There has been almost $1 billion in crypto liquidations over the last 24 hours, according to Coinglass. Around 228,000 traders were wrecked, almost 90% of them in BTC long positions, and the total liquidations were around $988 million, it noted.

However, analysts had predicted that a leverage flushout was overdue, with open interest on Bitcoin futures markets hitting all-time highs recently.

Bitcoin lost almost $5,000 in a matter of hours, falling to a 4-week low just below $101,000 in late trading on Thursday. However, it found support there and recovered marginally to reach $102,800 during Asian trading on Friday.

Analyst “CrypNuevo” said that a quick bounce from this level was unlikely and more consolidation could occur, unless the sell-off accelerates.

$BTC update:

Plan is playing out so far!

Let’s see if this psychological support ($100k) can hold.

A quick bounce is unlikely imo. I’d expect that, at best, a small consolidation in this area before any interesting move could be the case – unless if we break below it fast. https://t.co/iWql8N6SW7 pic.twitter.com/CIb1KpJt8i

— CrypNuevo (@CrypNuevo) June 5, 2025

As bitcoin (BTC) continues to frustrate traders with lackluster price action below $100,000, here are key events this week that could reignite market activity.

FTX payout

FTX, formerly the world’s third-largest digital assets exchange, is set to begin its first round of creditor payouts after going bust in late 2022. First up are Convenience class creditors, those claiming no more than $50,000, who will receive full repayment and a 9% annual post-petition interest.

While optimism is high that the recipients will rotate this money into the market, lifting valuations across the board, not everyone agrees.

“FTX will distribute approximately $1.2 billion to Convenience Class creditors,” Markus Thielen, founder of 10x Research, said in a note to clients Monday. That amount is “too small to move the needle.”

Thielen said only $7 billion from the remaining $10.5 billion allocated to bigger creditors could be available for potential crypto investment and further, only 50% of the $7 billion could return to the market. Thielen explained that that could result in a net inflow of over $3 billion, which is just one month of net inflows into the bitcoin market.

Mena Theodorou, co-founder at crypto exchange Coinstash, expects small creditors to put some money into Solana.

“FTX’s historic investments in SOL and the Solana ecosystem make it likely that some of these funds will flow back into the network especially since SOL has been a standout performer, rising over 500% in the past year, with strong on-chain activity and developer growth continuing to fuel demand,” Thoedorou said in an email, adding SOL could potentially outperform the broader market.

Trump-Musk call

U.S. President Donald Trump and billionaire investor Elon Musk will sit down with Fox News host Sean Hannity, the network announced Friday. The discussion will likely be focused on issues including politics, tariffs, immigration and potentially digital assets, all of which could breed market volatility.

“Trump is set to speak in an exclusive interview with Elon Musk on Fox News on February 19 – just one day before the FOMC meeting on February 20,” Coinstash’s Theodorou said. “Given Trump’s increasing alignment with crypto and Musk’s close ties with the space, this interview could drive market volatility, particularly if they touch on policy, regulation, or institutional adoption.”

Recently, the Trump administration said it would assess the feasibility of a strategic BTC reserve, disappointing the bulls anticipating swift action on the pre-poll promise.

FOMC minutes

Wednesday will bring the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s January meeting when the central bank held interest rates steady. The bank said it was not in a hurry to cut rates and would want to see more progress on inflation.

The minutes are likely to repeat that message, especially as CPI and PPI for the month came in hotter than expected, denting the case for a rate-reduction boost to the U.S. economy. Plus, Trump’s tariffs continue to raise the specter of inflation.

Traders will scan minutes to see if policymakers thought the policy was restrictive, which would mean the next move might still be a rate cut. However, if the minutes suggest otherwise, we could see some volatility in bonds that could potentially weigh on risk assets, including cryptocurrencies.

Consensus Hong Kong

Consensus Hong Kong, CoinDesk’s three-day cryptocurrency- and blockchain-focused event, will kick off Tuesday, featuring a deep dive into the blockchain and Web 3 space.

With more than 270 speakers and thousands of attendees from over 90 countries, the three-day affair will likely offer a unique perspective on blockchain technology and digital asset investing in Asia, potentially moving markets.