On June 27, Binance announced that it was implementing stricter measures to address account abuse. It noted that they had identified cases where certain account features on the platform were "misused or exploited to gain unfair advantages such as better fee rate and higher API limits over other users." 😮
It was stated that abusive accounts may be suspended or terminated. Binance will increase monitoring of all user accounts and has created a reporting channel along with a reward system for reporting incidents of abuse. 👮♂️
Additionally, Binance announced that it has received a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license for its local exchange, Binance FZE, from Dubai's Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA). Binance's native token, BNB, was trading at $573 at the time of writing. However, the asset has fallen 20 percent in the last three weeks.
Bitcoin mining company CleanSpark announced that it acquired its rival GRIID Infrastructure in exchange for shares. The $155 million deal immediately provides 20 megawatts (MW) of additional power to power CleanSpark's mining operations. 📈
The merger agreement required CleanSpark to assume all of GRIID's debts and other obligations. Additionally, CleanSpark was required to provide a $5 million working capital loan to GRIID and pay a $50.9 million bridge loan to cover other obligations. 💰
Following the announcement, GRIID shares fell more than 50%, while CLSK shares rose 4%. This implies that traders view the merger deal as a fire sale. CleanSpark has been one of the best-performing mining stocks year-to-date (+47%).
CleanSpark is not the only mining company to announce an acquisition in recent months. Riot Platforms (RIOT) is offering to acquire Bitfarms (BITF) for $2.30 per share. However, Bitfarms rejected a buyout offer a month ago.
Ethereum community member Ryan Berckmans noted in a June 26 post on X that the layer-2 ecosystem remains strong with rapidly growing protocols and EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) scaling platforms. This was in response to Movement Labs founder Rushi Manche's claims that "EVM L2s will go to zero. Most of them suck compared to SOL." Berckmans noted that the L2 ecosystem is still "growing like crazy" and said, "Coinbase made an EVM L2. Worldcoin did it too. Immutable X too."
Berckmans argued that Ethereum's layer-2 ecosystem is more attractive to companies and governments due to its security and decentralized features. Ethereum's growing layer-2 protocol ecosystem increases benefits while reducing settlement costs on Ethereum. “Ethereum's L2 model is doing great, and EVM is a clear frontrunner,” Berckmans said.
According to L2beat, the total value locked across all L2 protocols is currently $42.86 billion. This TVL has remained stable since March, despite crypto markets falling 18% in the same period. L2 TVL is up nearly 280% compared to this time last year. Arbitrum One leads the L2 pack with $17 billion in TVL and almost 40% market share. Coinbase Base is in second place with a TVL of $7.3 billion and 17% share, and OP Mainnet is in third place with $6.4 billion and 15%. L2beat lists 58 protocols, up from the handful listed a year ago.
A Bitcoin wallet that remained dormant for 14 years has become active again, according to Lookonchain's analysis. This wallet deposited 50 BTC (worth approximately $3.05 million) to Binance. The owner of this wallet had been holding on to the 50 BTC he earned from mining on July 14, 2010, ever since. 📈
In 2010, BTC was worth less than $1, and it crossed that threshold in February 2011. In June 2011, the price reached $30. Currently, the cryptocurrency is trading around $61,000.
When old wallet holders become active, it usually indicates that they are planning to sell their assets. Sometimes holders move BTC to different addresses for further trading. 🔄
This awakening of dormant wallets is not a new phenomenon. Several wallets from the Satoshi era, when Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator was active between 2009 and 2011, saw similar activity.
Finally, in April 2024, another wallet that had been dormant for 14 years moved 50 BTC to Coinbase, worth $3.28 million at the time. Additionally, a large Bitcoin holder that had been dormant for a decade took action in April and moved 246 BTC from an address holding 1,701 BTC. This whale bought 4,272 BTC in 2013, when BTC was trading at an average price of $29.39.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may approve final regulations on Ethereum ETFs by July 4. Eight asset managers, including BlackRock, Franklin Templeton and Grayscale Investments, are approaching final stages. 📈
Grayscale aims to convert an existing trust into an ETF. Two company officials stated that the process of issuing documents has progressed significantly and only "minor" problems need to be resolved. Approval is expected "probably within a week or two." 📅
The SEC and its Chairman Gary Gensler have remained extremely secretive despite widespread speculation about the launch date. Gensler expressed optimism about approving these investment vehicles but refrained from offering a specific timeline.
According to Bitwise's forecast, spot Ethereum ETFs will attract net inflows of over $15 billion in the first 18 months on the US market. This prediction is based on Bitcoin ETF data and Ethereum's market cap relative to BTC.
Following the bearish correction phase, the price has now reached a critical support zone defined by the 100-day moving average and the 0.5-0.618 Fibonacci levels. Given the strong demand at this point, a medium-term bull reversal looks likely.📈
Examining the daily chart, it appears that Ethereum has entered an important support zone after a corrective pullback. This zone covers the price range between the Fibonacci levels 0.5 ($3421) and 0.618 ($3289) and coincides with the critical support of the 100-day moving average ($3387).
This area is filled with potential demand where market participants may be tempted to open long positions. Given these factors, an increase in demand is expected, leading to a medium-term bullish reversal targeting the $4K resistance. However, if the price falls below this support, the next important line of defense for buyers will be the 200-day moving average.📉
Considering that Ethereum currently stands in a critical support zone with significant potential demand, analyzing future market sentiment is important to predict its next moves.
The funding ratio metric shows whether buyers or sellers are executing orders more aggressively. Positive funding rates indicate bullish sentiment, while negative rates indicate bearish sentiment.
The funding rate metric showed a significant increase following slight declines coinciding with a corrective phase in Ethereum's price. This increase suggests that demand is near the critical $3.3K support level and could halt further bearish pressure and initiate a bull reversal. If the funding rate metric continues its upward trend, this indicates that futures market sentiment has turned bullish and a medium-term bull reversal is more likely.
The US government transferred $240 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) to a Coinbase Prime address. These BTCs were seized from drug dealer Banmeet Singh during his hearing in January. 🚔💼
At the end of 2021, the US Department of Justice seized more than 50,000 BTC from the Silk Road market, worth $3.4 billion. Nearly five months later, authorities sold 9,861 BTC for over $215 million. By July 2023, the government has approximately 30,000 BTC left in its wallet.
Banmeet Singh, who was linked to the latest transfer, was arrested in London in 2019 on drug distribution charges. He was extradited to the United States in 2023 and charged with operating a drug trafficking network in multiple states, including Maryland, New York and Florida, between 2012 and 2017.
The latest transfer had an immediate impact on the cryptocurrency market. Post-trading, the overall cryptocurrency market experienced a slight decline, with BTC prices falling below $60,800. Coinbase Prime, the platform used for this transaction, has become the vehicle of choice for government liquidations. However, Coinbase itself has been subject to regulatory scrutiny.
Silk Road, a dark web market created by Ross Ulbricht in 2011, holds an important place in the history of Bitcoin and darknet markets. The FBI arrested Ulbricht in 2013, causing Silk Road to shut down.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US appear to be continuing the positive momentum that started on Tuesday, with total inflows of $21.52 million on June 26. However, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has not reported any new investments in the last four days. 📉
BlackRock's activity has been on a downward trend, with only two small inflows since June 14, both below $2 million. Zero flow in an ETF occurs when supply and demand are balanced. However, this does not mean there is no trading activity, it just means that the net flow is not significant enough to warrant share adjustments. 🔄
Other spot Bitcoin ETFs also experienced zero flows on the same day. In comparison, Fidelity's FBTC saw the day's largest net inflows, $19 million, according to SoSoValue data. This fund experienced a 7-day breakout streak between June 13-24. This trend reversed and FBTC became the leader among spot Bitcoin ETFs, breaking out of the negative streak on June 26.
Since their introduction in January, these investment vehicles have attracted net inflows of $14.44 billion.
Bitcoin stalled just above $64,000 over the weekend, and the lack of any movement on the ETF front resulted in almost no volatility on Saturday and Sunday. But on Monday the situation worsened and the bears stepped on the gas pedal. Within hours, they pushed the cryptocurrency hard south and BTC fell to $58,400 on Tuesday morning. This was the lowest price point in almost two months. 📉
The bulls managed to intervene at this point and almost immediately pushed bitcoin to $60,000. It rose as high as $62,400 during the day but failed to continue upward or maintain its current position. Since then, bitcoin has dropped almost two thousand dollars and is now well below $61,000. Its market cap dropped back below $1.2 trillion and its dominance over altcoins fell to 50.6% in CG. 📊
Large-cap altcoins have also lost blood in the last day. Binance Coin, Ripple, Solana, Tron and Ethereum are among the least hit altcoins, all falling around 1%. However, DOGE, ADA, LINK, SHIB, NEAR and PEPE fell more than 3% during the same period. On the other hand, FET fell 11% to below $1.55. The total crypto market cap exceeded $30 billion overnight and fell to $2.365 trillion.
The lawsuit between Ripple Labs and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues. The SEC reduced the fine it requested against Ripple from $2 billion to $102.6 million. Ripple's legal team demanded a maximum penalty of $10 million. Meanwhile, David Hirsh, Chief of the SEC's Crypto Asset and Cyber Unit, has resigned. Ripple is also facing another legal challenge in California, where its CEO Brad Garlinghouse is a defendant. However, there have been positive developments recently, with the company's general counsel stating that the NY ruling that XRP is not a security has not been overturned. Ripple's legal chief Stuart Alderoty and Garlinghouse took a clearly negative tone towards SEC chairman Gary Gensler. A response to Gensler's recent comments about cryptocurrencies also came from Alderoty. Alderoty stated that Gensler broke the law and exceeded his authority. 🏛️💼
The last few days have been very active in the cryptocurrency market. Fortunately, this time most coins tried to recover from the declines at the beginning of the week. In this recap, we'll take a look at what's going on with Ripple, Shiba Inu, and more.
There is speculation about the Ripple (XRP) price. XRP saw a huge increase in trading volume at the beginning of the week when the market was experiencing major volatility. Currently, the cryptocurrency is trading at around $0.47, with a weekly loss of 5.7%.
Ripple Labs is in a major lawsuit against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The regulator is seeking a fine of over $100 million from Ripple for allegedly failing to comply with its obligation to register XRP sales as a security.
Shiba Inu (SHIB) developments, Shiba Inu has also been affected by market fluctuations. Unlike XRP, it has experienced a larger decline and is trading down 8.5% for the last seven days.
In one of the biggest news of the week, WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange has finally returned to Australia as a free man. Interestingly, $500,000 was required to cover the cost of the jet. His wife asked for help from online communities and a secret donor sent exactly $500K worth of BTC to her address. There is speculation that it was Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey who tweeted "Safe passage" at the same time the donation was made. 🚀🔍
According to Lookonchain data, the German government transferred an additional 750 BTC worth approximately $46.35 million. Of this amount, $15.41 million or 250 BTC was sent to crypto exchanges Bitstamp and Kraken. 📈
Despite this, the government still holds a significant Bitcoin reserve, currently holding 45,609 BTC with an estimated value of $2.81 billion. 💰
The German government was also seen transferring 0.001 BTC to Flow Traders, which could be a test transaction. This suggests that authorities may be exploring additional ways to sell Bitcoin assets through this trading firm.
The recent moves are part of a broader trend involving sales of over 2,000 BTC from addresses identified as government-owned, coinciding with a period of market turmoil.
Besides the German government's Bitcoin transfers, other factors also caused a brief decline in the asset price, pushing Bitcoin below $60,000 earlier this week. Bitcoin's latest divestment has put pressure on the market once again. Currently, BTC is struggling to stay above $61,000.
Ethereum's status as an ultrasound monetary system is becoming increasingly questionable, especially as supply is rapidly increasing. 📈
Since April 2024, about a month after the Ethereum network Dencun upgrade, more than 112,000 ether (ETH) have been released at the fastest daily rate since Merge.
Over the years, Ethereum has gone through a number of developments, making our network what it is today. Merge in September 2022 marked the network's transition from a proof-of-work consensus mechanism to a proof-of-stake.
Since Dencun, Ethereum's transaction fees are low, meaning less ETH is burned. On-chain analysts believe that Ethereum is no longer deflationary as the new ETH supply becomes positive. The amount of fees burned on Ethereum is no longer positively correlated with higher network activity; No matter how many users make transactions on the network, less money is burned.
However, since the Merge the total supply of ETH has dropped significantly, reducing by 345,000 ETH in total. Approximately 1.36 billion ETH was mined, but more than that was burned.
With the increase in the inflation rate of Ethereum post-Dencun, the purchasing power of ETH is decreasing, which may have a negative impact on investors.
Meanwhile, at the time of writing, the value of ETH was $3,374, down 4.8% from last week, correlating with the decline in the crypto market. 📉
A mystery donor sent $500,000 worth of Bitcoin to Julian Assange's Bitcoin wallet on Tuesday. The donation follows Assange's release from the UK's high-security Belmarsh prison on Monday following a plea deal with US authorities.
According to blockchain data, a donation worth 8.2 BTC ($492,254) was transferred to Assange's Bitcoin donation address displayed on the website freeassange.org.
Assange walked out of court a free man on Wednesday, pleading guilty to an espionage charge, and has since returned to Australia. The donation covered almost the entire cost of the loan.
Who sent Bitcoin? Internet personality Andrew Tate and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey have both hinted at making the donation. However, the Bitcoin community was more skeptical of Tate's claim and demanded that he personally sign the transaction to prove that he controlled the sender's address.
Stablecoins have seen significant growth this year. Among these, USDT remains in the lead, while others, such as Circle-backed USDC, are also seeing significant activity. 📈
Amid several market corrections in recent weeks, investors' recent investments in USDC centralized crypto exchanges could signal buying the dip.
According to the latest findings from IntoTheBlock's Head of Research Lucan Outumuro, net inflows of USDC into centralized crypto exchanges reached $228 million on June 24, a one-year high. This increase suggests that investors are depositing stablecoins to benefit from low cryptocurrency prices.
Further confirming this trend is the latest observation from CryptoQuant co-founder Ki Young Ju, who notes that although the stablecoin market is surging, its ratio to Bitcoin's market reflects previous all-time highs.
The ratio of exchange reserves also shows that stablecoins are already being used as buy-side liquidity. This implies that stablecoins may not drive the next market rally without new inflows.
Bitcoin may have surged as much as 103% last year, but its trajectory over the past month has been disappointing. After consecutive corrections, the cryptocurrency was trading around $61,400. However, it is also important to understand that these declines can present unique long-term buying opportunities for market players.
On the technical side, Bitcoin's RSI has moved from oversold levels to around 33, which is still very low at the time of writing. This suggests significant growth potential for the world's largest digital asset.
Experts also suggest the formation of a hidden bullish divergence in the daily RSI for Bitcoin, indicating that the asset could potentially be on the verge of a bullish breakout.
“A hidden bullish divergence is forming in the daily RSI for BTC. Additionally, the RSI has entered the oversold territory. The last two times it happened, Bitcoin went into crazy mode.” 🚀
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse criticized US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler for his recent slander that most crypto executives are going to prison. Garlinghouse stated that Gensler's approach to crypto regulations will cause US President Joe Biden to lose the upcoming elections. 🏛️🗳️
In an interview with Bloomberg, Gensler talked about the US crypto industry, the upcoming launch of Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs), crypto regulations, and the fate of industry executives. Gensler stated that the crypto space is full of discord and has caused significant harm to American investors.
Garlinghouse called Gensler's comments "complete nonsense" and noted that Gensler's incompetence was evident in his absence from the Department of Justice's announcement of its multibillion-dollar settlement with Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange. "If he really said, 'I work for the American people,' he would have been fired already. Gensler will cause Biden to lose the election," the Ripple CEO said.
Crypto asset manager Bitwise predicted on Wednesday that Ethereum spot ETFs will garner net flows of over $15 billion in the first 18 months after hitting the US market. This estimate roughly covers the net gain from Bitcoin ETFs ($14.4 billion) over the past five months. Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan made his prediction based on Bitcoin's ETF numbers and compared Ethereum to Bitcoin's overall market cap. Ethereum's market cap is currently one-third of Bitcoin. Hougan argued that Ethereum ETPs would need $35 billion in AUM to reach parity. However, this figure does not imply the $35 billion flow. First, Grayscale's Ethereum Trust (ETHE) will launch into an ETF with $10 billion like GBTC on launch day. Taking this into account, Hougan lowers his forecast for ETF flows to $25 billion. However, the proportional differences between Bitcoin and Ethereum ETP sizes are almost the same. Hougan lowers his forecast for Ethereum ETF flows to $18 billion. However, Ethereum-based trading is not “reliably profitable,” Hougan said, so Ethereum ETFs will not garner demand for this reason. “Removing carry-trade assets from our model reduces our flow forecast from $18 billion to $15 billion,” he said. With $15 billion in flows, Hougan said the Ethereum ETF would be a historic success. “ETH is one of the best-performing assets of all time, and honestly its best days are ahead of it,” Hougan said.
American entrepreneur and Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki announced that he made his first Bitcoin (BTC) purchase when the asset was worth $ 6,000, with the encouragement of former Goldman Sachs executive Raoul Pal.
Kiyosaki noted that the first 30 BTC purchases have yielded significant returns over the years, which is why he believes Pal's predictions that the cryptocurrency will soon reach the Banana Zone.
Pal believes Banana Zone, a term that refers to a period of sustained upward price movement in the financial market, is the future for the crypto market.
Kiyosaki said he believes Pal knows what he's talking about based on his professional experience as a senior executive at Goldman Sachs. He also stated that Pal suggested him to invest in Bitcoin.
“Thanks to Raoul's YouTube tutorials,” Kiyosaki said, for realizing that Bitcoin had entered the “Banana Zone.”
Additionally, Kiyosaki reiterated that Bitcoin is people's money, or "rules-based money," and fiat is government money, or "debt-based money." He advised his followers to accumulate rules-based money like BTC because it makes investors rich while others make them poor.
“Hold tight as Bitcoin enters the 'Banana Zone,'” he said.
Meanwhile, Kiyosaki announced two days ago that he expects Bitcoin to bottom. He advised people afraid of market crashes to sell their assets and continue their businesses.
Ripple sellers struggled to sink the price below the critical $0.47 mark and the lower border of a triangle for a long period of time. However, a bearish breakout could trigger the liquidation of many long positions. 📉
A detailed look at the daily chart shows that Ripple sellers are attempting to breach a key support zone that has helped the asset since mid-April. This critical zone includes the static support at $0.47 and the dynamic support of the lower border of the triangle.
While a bearish atmosphere prevails in the market in general, a bearish breakout may lead to the liquidation of many long positions in continuous markets. However, if market activity remains low, there is still potential for the current consolidation phase to continue with minimal volatility. 📊
On the 4-hour chart, recent price action shows that following a horizontal consolidation phase and the formation of a rising flag pattern, sellers are gaining momentum, pushing XRP below the lower boundary of the flag.
This indicates a bearish market situation, indicating that sellers are eager to drive the price towards lower thresholds. Ripple is currently floating around a critical support zone at $0.47. If sellers violate this critical sign, a major decline is likely. However, Ripple's upcoming trend direction will depend on the price action near this critical support zone.
Earlier Wednesday, blockchain data analytics account Lookonchain revealed details of a potential rug pull on Solana-based meme coin Doraemon. This alleged rug pull caused a dramatic crash in the price of Doraemon's native token, DORAE, with the price dropping more than 99% within hours. Lookonchain reported that a wallet identified as 3TQYNN…yFAccW converted approximately 2.5 million DORAE into 10,538 SOL, valued at $1.45 million. According to on-chain data, it is thought that the wallet probably belongs to the developer of the project. This analysis shows that the address originally received approximately 304 SOL from a Kucoin-based wallet CEHgjR…Y45a9z. This entity used SOL to buy 2.5 million DORAE before the rally. The wallet then sold its entire DORAE stock for 10,538 SOL, netting a 34x gain after holding the tokens for less than six hours. Following the mass sale of DORAE tokens, the price dropped by a staggering 99%.