Asia Morning Briefing: BTC Pulls Back as Market Isn't 'Invincible', But Google, Meta Lift AI Tokens

Key Points

1. Bitcoin (BTC) is down 1.8%, trading above $117,800, as traders take profits after recent highs, with OKX's Chief Commercial Officer warning of rising risks amid widening funding rates.

2. Maple Finance overtakes BlackRock’s BUIDL as the largest on-chain asset manager, with $2.9 billion in assets under management (AUM), appealing to risk-tolerant crypto-native borrowers.

3. AI-focused crypto tokens surge 5%, driven by announcements from Google and Meta about significant investments in AI and data infrastructure, pushing the sector’s market cap to $29.6 billion.

4. K33 Research’s H1 2025 report highlights geopolitical turmoil and trade policy uncertainty as factors causing market swings, with Bitcoin showing relative strength compared to equities.

5. Ethereum (ETH) rebounds 2.6% to $3,066.57 in a volatile session, while gold falls 0.56% to $3,331.55 despite bullish analyst forecasts.