Bitcoin Stagnant While Ethereum and Meme Coins Surge

The crypto market saw a mixed performance on June 19th, with Ethereum (ETH) leading the charge, climbing over 4% and reclaiming the $3,500 mark. Meme coins like DOGE and SHIB also saw significant gains, rising by almost 3.5%. Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) remained subdued, only gaining 0.2% in the last 24 hours. This lackluster performance comes amidst reports of whale selling, with long-term bitcoin holders offloading over $1.2 billion worth of BTC in the past two weeks. Crypto miners are reportedly shifting their focus towards the booming AI sector, prompting them to sell their bitcoin rewards instead of holding them. Despite this, Bernstein, a brokerage firm, believes that bitcoin and crypto-linked stocks are undervalued and ripe for institutional adoption. They predict an increase in bitcoin ETF inflows in the latter half of the year, driven by major financial institutions and large advisers. Open interest in bitcoin perpetual futures trading has declined, indicating that the recent price pullback is primarily driven by profit taking rather than renewed bearish sentiment.