Bitcoin has become significantly less volatile in recent times. This is evidenced by the absence of any extreme spikes in price movements in either direction since the completion of the fourth halving.

Such a trend of dwindling volatility signals maturity, according to experts.

Bitcoin Sees Signs of Maturity

Over the past week, bitcoin saw a modest decline of a little over 3%, with selling activity outweighing buying across almost all exchanges. According to Kaiko’s latest findings, the cumulative net trading volume for major BTC trading pairs reached $518 million between June 10th and 14th, with Binance and Bybit witnessing the highest level of selling pressure.

Kaiko stated that although bitcoin experienced price swings as a result of macroeconomic news last week, it appears that the digital asset has achieved a new level of maturity in 2024, which can be seen in its diminishing volatility,

Bitcoin’s 60-day historical volatility has remained below 50% since the beginning of 2024. This starkly contrasted with the massive fluctuations observed in 2023 when volatility surpassed 100%.

In 2024, BTC reached an all-time high in terms of volatility, but Kaiko said that this peak was only 40% – which is far lower than the over 106% volatility spike witnessed back in 2021 when the asset recorded price highs.

Even the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US had a relatively muted long-term impact on volatility as per the firm’s analysis.

“While it’s too early to suggest that this is the new normal, changes to bitcoin’s market structure over the past year may help explain why price action has been relatively ‘boring.’ The US market close now commands a higher share of trading volumes, as BTC liquidity becomes more concentrated around the East Coast trading window.”

Stronger Selling Pressure

The increased selling pressure than buying demand in bitcoin trapped its price below $70,000.

In a statement to CryptoPotato, Fineqia International’s Research Analyst, Matteo Greco highlighted that the price drop over the weekend was influenced by high selling volumes from miners impacted by the third halving event that slashed the block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.

Despite only a 4% hash rate decreasing post-halving, strong mining competition has forced miners to optimize capital efficiency. This essentially indicated “strong competition in the mining sector, with businesses forced to find various revenue streams to stay profitable and optimize capital efficiency.”

The post Bitcoin (BTC) Volatility Dwindles: ‘Boring’ Price Action Explained appeared first on CryptoPotato.

TL;DR

David Hirsh, Chief of the Crypto Asset and Cyber Unit at the SEC, recently resigned, denying rumors of joining a Solana-based marketplace.

His departure comes as the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple progresses, with the regulator recently lowering its proposed penalty to $102.6 million.

The Crypto Expert Resigns

David Hirsh – one of the longstanding members of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – announced on LinkedIn that he resigned from the agency. He served as Chief of the Crypto Asset and Cyber Unit in the Division of Enforcement, spending nine years with the regulator. 

Hirsh took the opportunity to thank all his colleagues, mentors, and friends for their support over the years, highlighting the work that has been done:

“As I often say, securities enforcement is a team sport, and that was certainly true throughout my tenure. Every success I was a part of was the direct result of collaboration and combined efforts towards a common goal. Thanks to all of you!”

He revealed that his career will enter a new chapter soon, but first, he will dedicate his time to family and travel. Some reports hinted that Hirsh has resigned from the SEC to start working for pump.fun, a Solana-based marketplace that enables users to create and distribute their own tokens. The American denied the rumors, labeling them “false.”

Good News for Ripple?

Hirsh’s resignation comes at a pivotal time with the lawsuit between the SEC and Ripple reaching its trial stage. The spat between the entities has been ongoing since December 2020 when the watchdog accused the company and some of its executives of conducting an unregistered securities offering by selling its XRP token.

Most recently, both parties have been clashing over the size of Ripple’s potential penalty. Initially, the SEC sought a $2 billion fine on the firm, while the latter argued it should not exceed $10 million. A few days ago, the agency softened its tone, proposing a $102.6 million penalty:

“Ripple avoids comparing the Terraform settlement’s penalty to the gross profit of the violative conduct. That ratio ($420 million/$3.587 billion) is significantly higher: 11.7%. Applying it to the $876.3 million in gross profits, the SEC here asks the court to disgorge, which results in a much larger figure, a $102.6 million penalty, than the $10 million ceiling Ripple insists on.”

Some might view the SEC as the underdog in the case, considering the three partial court wins secured by the company throughout 2023. XRP’s price positively reacted to each victory, meaning a decisive victory for Ripple may trigger substantial volatility again. Those curious to learn more about the lawsuit and its impact on Ripple’s native token, please check our video below:

The post Important Ripple v. SEC Update June 18th: Commission Takes a Hit appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Decentralized blockchain network Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) has launched a new solution that will enable the sharing of personal data while maintaining privacy and control in the web3 space.

According to a press release sent to CryptoPotato, Verified Credentials (VCs) are designed to prevent public discourse manipulation on social media by eliminating bots and fake accounts. VCs offer walletless tools and infrastructure to issue and share human credentials in a privacy-preserving fashion.

ICP Launches Verified Credentials

Verified Credentials are cryptographically secure digital representations of data like qualifications and achievements. They are digital versions of physical credentials that a crypto user can share with online service providers that need to verify a claim like age or humanity.

These credentials are built on ICP’s Internet Identity, a decentralized identity solution running end-to-end on the blockchain. They are also linked to a user through Internet Identity. This solution offers an authentication platform based on passkeys rather than passwords or seed phrases, protecting users against phishing attacks.

With ICP’s VCs, users can assign identity attributes to their Internet Identity, managing and reusing their credentials without decentralized applications linking the data back to them. Users can choose who they share their credentials with and how much information they want to give. They can explore features like verifying their ages without revealing their name or date of birth.

“The new Verifiable Credentials feature of Internet Identity addresses long standing problems for online privacy-preserving authentication: all a user needs is a computing device that has a passkey (all recent ones do) and a browser,” said Jan Camenisch, CTO of the DFINITY Foundation, the developer behind ICP.

Fixing the Issue of Bots

The first application of VCs in ICP is the Proof of Unique Humanity (PoUH), implemented by the decentralized on-chain messaging app OpenChat. PoUH ensures humans possess only one account on a platform by linking credentials to biometric data like facial, finger, or palm print recognition.

ICP believes that PoUH will fix the issue of multiple user accounts and bots perpetrating illicit behavior on traditional and web3 social media platforms.

“Apart from dApps on the Internet Computer, traditional systems can also plug in with Internet Identity and allow users to authenticate with Verifiable Credentials, e.g., proving that they are a real person, that they did KYC, or that they are over 18,” Camenisch added.

The post Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) Introduces Verified Credentials for Privacy-Centric Web3 appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Following the highly anticipated announcement and subsequent airdrop of ZK tokens by zkSync, Nansen data reveals that nearly half of the wallets that received the funds have already sold their entire allocation.

This significant selloff caused the ZK token to plummet, losing over 30% of its value in under 24 hours.

Massive Selloff of ZK Tokens

After the distribution of the zkSync token (ZK) began yesterday, data from the analytics platform Nansen indicates that nearly 41% of the addresses that claimed the allocation have already sold all of them. Some addresses, which received substantial amounts of up to 2.4 million tokens, have completely liquidated their allocation.

Nansen data further reveals that approximately 29.8% of the addresses sold a portion of their tokens. Among the top 10 wallets, three sold small amounts, five retained their entire allocation, and two liquidated 100% of their holdings. Since Monday, over 491 million ZK tokens have been sold following their distribution.

However, the data only encompassed the top 10,000 wallets, representing approximately 1.4% of the addresses that received the airdrops.

Last week, zkSync announced that close to 695,000 wallets would receive about 3.75 billion tokens in the airdrop. According to data by Matter Labs expert Landon Gingerich, 491,000 wallets have claimed their share of the airdrop since the report’s publication.

In the first 2 hours after the claim period opened, 45% of the total airdrop allocation was claimed, according to an X post from zkSync Association, a non-profit unveiled by Matter Labs last week. These massive claims led to a significant network issue for zkSync.

The zkSync team tweeted about the network being under high load, potentially causing degraded performance for some RPC services.

Massive Drop in ZK Token Price

Due to widespread selling, Coingecko data shows that the ZK token has depreciated by more than 30% since its inception. Upon listing, it peaked at $0.30 but subsequently fell to approximately $0.20.

At the time of writing, the ZK token is trading at $0.22, marking a 25% decline over the past 24 hours. With a market capitalization of $825 million, ZK ranks among the top 100 tokens based on total valuation.

Amidst the price drop and the ongoing token distribution, there have been complaints that the zkSync team did not effectively deal with Sybill wallets, as many dodgy wallets qualified for the airdrop.

The post ZK Token Price Plummets Amid Massive Post-Airdrop Selloff appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Ripple’s price has been consolidating for a couple of months, failing to reach its all-time high, unlike Bitcoin. Things might get even worse if the next critical level is lost.

By TradingRage

The USDT Paired Chart

On the XRP/USDT’s daily timeframe, the price has been trapped between the $0.5 and $0.55 mark since mid-April. Recently, the market has dropped below $0.5, but it is trying to reclaim the level now. If successful, a rally toward the 200-day moving average located around the $0.55 mark would be expected.

On the other hand, if the price is rejected, a decline toward $0.4 would be imminent. Moreover, if the $0.4 level is broken to the downside, things will likely get ugly for XRP, as a crash would be highly probable.

Source: TradingView The BTC Paired Chart

The XRP/BTC pair looks the same, as the market is also consolidating between the 600 SAT and 800 SAT levels.

Meanwhile, the RSI has broken above 50%, indicating that the momentum is bullish again.

If the price can break above the 800 SAT resistance level, a further rise toward the 200-day moving average located around the 1000 SAT mark would be likely in the short term. On the contrary, a drop below the 600 SAT could lead to catastrophic consequences.

Source: TradingView

The post XRP Bulls Attempt to Reclaim $0.5 But is a Serious Crash Imminent? (Ripple Price Analysis) appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Ethereum’s price has landed on a decisive and substantial support region following a brief consolidation correction stage, with potential for a bullish reversal.

However, if Ethereum sellers breach this pivot, a cascade in the market is likely.

Technical Analysis

By Shayan

The Daily Chart

A closer look at the daily chart shows that Ethereum has reached a pivotal support region after a brief consolidation correction stage. This region encompasses the price range between the 0.5 ($3421) and 0.618 ($3289) Fibonacci levels, aligning with the substantial support of the 100-day moving average ($3412). T

The alignment of these support indicators highlights the strength of this critical level and the prevailing demand at this juncture, which could halt further downward pressure.

A battle between buyers and sellers is expected at this pivotal price range, leading to heightened market volatility and potential liquidations. The outcome will likely determine Ethereum’s upcoming trend. If sellers overcome buyers and breach this crucial support region, a cascade toward the 200-day moving average at $2996 will be imminent.

Source: TradingView The 4-Hour Chart

On the 4-hour chart, Ethereum formed a head and shoulders pattern, resulting in increased selling activity and a break below the pattern’s neckline.

This development and a bearish divergence between the price and the RSI indicator have heightened bearish momentum, leading to a significant downward movement. Following this, Ethereum has formed a descending flag pattern, a well-known bullish continuation pattern if breached from the upper boundary.

Currently, the price is hovering around a critical and decisive support region marked by the 0.5 ($3420) to 0.618 ($3289) Fibonacci retracement levels and the flag’s lower boundary. This area is experiencing intensified volatility and fluctuations.

If sellers break down this crucial support, an impulsive downtrend targeting the $2.9K support is expected. Conversely, if sufficient demand returns and shrinks the existing supply, a reversal towards the flag’s upper boundary at $3.6K will likely occur.

Source: TradingView Sentiment Analysis

By Shayan

Ethereum’s price has experienced heightened selling pressure near the $4K mark, leading to a significant decline. This likely stems from participants’ aggressive interest in opening short positions near this pivotal level. Analyzing the potential liquidation levels is crucial for determining the mid-term price targets.

As the chart demonstrates, a significant amount of liquidity resides above the crucial $3.9K mark, potentially representing buy-stop orders from notable short positions around this critical juncture. This liquidity region is likely to be the main target for buyers if demand returns to the market and the price experiences a bullish reversal near the $3K threshold.

Reaching this crucial liquidity range would likely lead to increased market volatility and potentially trigger a short-squeeze event, where short positions are forced to cover, driving the price higher. Nevertheless, if the selling pressure continues and Ethereum fails to reclaim higher levels, the price may continue to consolidate or decline.

Source: Coinglass

The post Is ETH in Danger of Falling to $3K or Will the Bulls Wake Up? (Ethereum Price Analysis) appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Polkadot has seen a lack of demand and intensified selling activity, indicating a bearish sentiment in the market. A sudden breach below the crucial $6 support region has occurred, triggering a cascade of long liquidations and potentially leading to a sustained bearish trend unless it turns out to be a false breakout.

Technical Analysis

By Shayan

The Daily Chart

The daily chart reveals that Polkadot has faced aggressive selling near the critical $6 support region and has experienced bearish retracements, underscoring the lack of sufficient demand.

The price has breached the substantial $6 support, aligning with the lower boundary of a multi-month triangle and previous major swing lows, flashing a notable bearish sign.

Additionally, the 100-day moving average is on the verge of crossing below the 200-day moving average, signaling a death cross. This development further indicates prevailing bearish sentiment in the market. A sustained bearish trend toward lower price levels is likely if the breakout is confirmed with a successful pullback.

Source: TradingView The 4-Hour Chart

On the 4-hour chart, Polkadot faced significant rejection near the $6.8 supply zone after an impulsive surge, completing a pullback to the broken region and verifying the initial breakout, indicating the sellers’ dominance.

Upon reaching the crucial $6 support region, the bearish momentum initially faded, leading to slight fluctuations. Near this pivotal threshold, the price had formed a descending wedge pattern, suggesting the potential for a bullish reversal.

However, sellers ultimately dominated, breaching the pattern’s lower boundary and the significant $6 support region. This bearish breakout might end up being a false one, indicating a bear trap.

Hence, the price action in the coming days will determine the breakout’s validity. If a pullback occurs and holds below the $6 mark, the continuation of the bearish trend will be imminent.

Source: TradingView Sentiment Analysis

By Shayan

Polkadot’s price is going through significant bearish activity and has broken below the crucial $6 support region. Analyzing the futures market sentiment can provide valuable insights into the cryptocurrency’s potential future path.

The accompanying chart presents Polkadot’s price alongside the Open Interest (OI) and Funding Rates metrics. The recent bearish descent is mirrored by a significant plunge in the OI metric, reaching its lowest value. This indicates a lack of interest from market participants in taking aggressive long positions, suggesting that the futures market has cooled down with minimal activity.

Typically, this scenario is not favorable for the price, especially when it is accompanied by negative or near-zero funding rate values. Low open interest coupled with negative funding rates suggests a prevailing bearish sentiment in the market. Unless a change in the upcoming days brings demand back into the market, the bearish trend is likely to continue.

Source: Coinglass

The post DOT Crashes by 8% Weekly but is a Bear Trap Possible? (Polkadot Price Analysis) appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Bitcoin’s price has failed to make a new all-time high and is currently going through a correction. Yet, the bull market might still be far from over.

Bitcoin Price Analysis: Technicals 

By TradingRage

The Daily Chart

Bitcoin’s price has been on the decline over the last few days, following a drop below the $68K level and the bullish trendline. Currently, the cryptocurrency is testing the $65K support zone. If the market rebounds, a rally toward $68K and higher could be expected in the short term.

On the other hand, a drop below the $65K zone would likely lead to a further downtrend toward the $60K support level and, potentially, the 200-day moving average, located around the $57K mark.

Source: TradingView The 4-Hour Chart

The price has been forming a falling wedge pattern on the 4-hour timeframe. It recently tested the lower boundary of the pattern around the $65K zone.

A breakout above this well-known formation could initiate a rally toward higher prices and even a new all-time high. However, if it breaks down, the decline could be aggravated, and a flash crash toward $60K would be expected.

Source: TradingView On-Chain Analysis

By TradingRage

Miner Reserve

Miners have realized their profits during the recent Bitcoin uptrend. However, following the breakout above the $40K level, the selling pressure has increased significantly.

This chart demonstrates the Bitcoin Miner Reserve metric, which measures the amount of Bitcoin miners hold. Increases in this metric show accumulation, while decreases point to distribution.

The Miner Reserve has been on a steep decline recently, indicating that this important cohort of BTC holders has rapidly realized profits. While this is a natural behavior during a bull run, it can flood the market with excess supply and lead to a downtrend without sufficient demand.

Source: CryptoQuant

The post BTC Bears Eye $60K Following Today’s Sudden Drop: Bitcoin Price Analysis appeared first on CryptoPotato.

TL;DR

Shiba Inu’s burn rate surged over 12,000% in the past 24 hours, but the SHIB price is down 10% daily.

The layer-2 scaling solution Shibarium saw a sharp increase in activity, indicating growing interest and community support.

The Latest Spike

Shiba Inu’s burn rate soared by over 12,000% in the past 24 hours. The largest single transaction occurred yesterday (June 17) when almost 5.1 million assets were sent to a null address.

The burning mechanism is designed to reduce the supply of the meme coin and create a potential price increase through scarcity. It is rather complicated and involves both automatic and manual burns. Those curious to learn more about the program can read our dedicated guide here. 

Shiba Inu’s price is deep in the red today (June 18), sinking by 10% (per CoinGecko’s data). Its plunge coincides with an overall market decline where Bitcoin (BTC) briefly slipped below $65K, whereas Ethereum (ETH) lost the support level of $3,500.

SHIB Price, Source: CoinGecko

It is worth noting that the burn rate increase might have been caused by investors moving to liquidate their positions during the ongoing market uncertainty and enhanced volatility. The same thing happened a week ago when SHIB’s price was sinking again. After all, a percentage of tokens is burned with each transaction.

Shibarium’s Brief Resurgence

Shiba Inu’s layer-2 scaling solution, Shibarium, has also gained momentum lately. As CryptoPotato reported on June 17, the number of new accounts on the network skyrocketed by over 860%. New contracts also headed north—from just 7 to 34 in the span of 24 hours.

This resurgence could indicate an additional interest in the protocol and higher levels of activity. It reflects a growing community that might help build a stronger ecosystem.

Shibarium officially went live in August last year and has since achieved countless milestones. At the end of May, the total number of blocks processed on the network exceeded 5 million, while prior to that, total transactions surpassed the 400 million mark.

The L2 blockchain solution aims to elevate SHIB above its rivals in the meme coin niche by reducing transaction costs, improving speed, and enhancing scalability. If you want to learn more about it, feel free to take a look at our video below:

 

 

The post Shiba Inu Burn Rate Skyrockets by 12,000% but SHIB Price Tanks appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Trump-related meme coins, including the popular MAGA (TRUMP) coin, have experienced a significant drop, plummeting over 51% in value.

This decline follows rumors of an upcoming “official” Trump token launch on the Solana blockchain.

Trump-Related Meme Coins Plummet

According to a June 17 post by Pirate Wires, former President Donald Trump is allegedly preparing to introduce a token named TrumpCoin, with the ticker DJT, reportedly spearheaded by his 18-year-old son, Barron Trump.

Per conversations, Trump is launching an official token — $DJT on Solana. Barron spearheading.

— Pirate Wires (@PirateWires) June 17, 2024

The impact of the rumors was quick, with the TRUMP token (MAGA) dropping by over 50% to $5.65 within four hours, wiping out more than $150 million from its market cap. Other Trump-themed meme coins also suffered significant losses.

The Solana-based Donald Tremp (TREMP) meme coin fell 50%, dropping from $1.05 to $0.53 before rebounding to $0.71. Similarly, the Jeo Boden (BODEN) token saw a decline of over 32%.

Meanwhile, the DJT token surged to a $120 million market cap on June 18 despite being relatively unknown until now. Data from Birdseye indicates that the first DJT tokens were minted on April 22.

Crypto Community Remains Skeptical

Trump’s team has not yet confirmed these rumors, leading to widespread speculation and uncertainty within the crypto community.

Mike Solana, the CMO of venture capital firm Founders Fund and editor-in-chief of Pirate Wires, posted a smart contract address in a reply to his publication’s tweet “for visibility.” At the time of writing, the token associated with that contract has a market cap of $177 million.

getting a lot of inbound here. no, didn’t speak with trump directly, assumed this was clear (text me though, mr. president). also assume he could rug pull, or pivot, say it’s not true. just reporting what I know via sources. https://t.co/rGEukksUMs

— Mike Solana (@micsolana) June 17, 2024

However, Solana later clarified that he “didn’t speak with Trump directly” and acknowledged the possibility that he could deny any involvement with the token. “Just reporting what I know via sources,” Solana stated.

Blockchain data firms like Bubblemaps expressed doubt about the token’s legitimacy, stating, “I call fake news (please be fake news),” and noting that 67% of DJT’s supply is held in one cluster, with 43% on the Solana-based market maker Raydium.

Ryan Selkis, founder of data provider Messari and a vocal Trump supporter, expressed a 50-50 probability that the token is legitimate or an act of deceit.

Conor Grogon, a director at Coinbase, added to the skepticism, stating, “Unless Trump’s team uses Kucoin (where you can’t buy crypto in the US), this ain’t Trump.”

The post Trump-Related Meme Coins Plunge Amid Rumors of New ‘Official’ DJT Token on Solana appeared first on CryptoPotato.

TL;DR

Ripple’s XRP defied negative market conditions, rising 1% in the past 24 hours and 3% over the week, outperforming BTC, ETH, and BNB.

Analysts see potential for a significant XRP bull run, with some predicting prices between $0.75 and $20, supported by technical patterns and historical market performance.

The Top Performer

Ripple’s XRP has defied the negative market conditions in the past 24 hours, with its price registering a mere 1% rise and surpassing the $0.50 mark. Moreover, it is up 3% on a weekly scale, outperforming Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Binance Coin (BNB), which dipped by approximately 3% for the same time frame.

XRP Price, Source: CoinGecko

Multiple analysts highlighted the slight resurgence, claiming this could be the start of an exponential bull run. The X user World of Charts noted a “breaking falling wedge with strong volume,” expecting a possible move towards $0.75 in the following days.

This technical pattern is formed by two converging descending trend lines. It usually occurs after a prolonged downtrend, signaling potential exhaustion of the selling pressure. 

Dark Defender and JAVON MARKS were much more bullish. The former believes XRP could explode to $18 should it repeat its performance from years ago, while the latter envisioned a rally to over $20.

“Prices are currently maintaining its Coil pattern and is giving almost every bullish signal within this pattern to forecast a massive bullish breakout while at support,” JAVON MARKS claimed.

Crypto Tony chipped in, too, promising to enter the ecosystem as an investor if XRP’s price surges above $0.56.

Previous Predictions

Last week, the X user EGRAG CRYPTO touched upon the Relative Strength Index (RSI), which reached low points over the last several days, to suggest that XRP might be gearing for an ascent.

The technical analysis tool varies from 0 to 100, with a ratio above 70 hinting about a price correction. Currently, the RSI stands at 57, rising above the aforementioned level only twice this month (so far).

Matthew Dixon also gave his two cents, predicting a price decline in the event of surging inflation in the United States. However, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest report on June 12, showing that the rate came lower than expected for May. XRP spiked to almost $0.50 but plunged the following days after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged.

The post Why is XRP Up Today: Top Ripple Price Predictions to Watch appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Around $75 billion has exited crypto markets over the past 12 hours with total capitalization falling to a monthly low of $2.48 trillion.

However, meme coins are suffering the greatest losses, with many of them dumping by double digits.

In a post on X on June 18, Bitcoin pioneer Kyle Chassé said it has “never been clearer to see how people are exiting meme coins super fast.”

He observed that the meme coin narrative, which was “leading by relative strength a few days ago,” is now “nowhere to be seen.”

Meme Coins Melting

He also described this meme coin exodus as a “flight to quality” as traders and investors turn to crypto assets that provide a function or serve a purpose.

“The flight to quality has started, and the memecoin market has experienced a massive shakeout!!!”

HOLY SH*T!!!!

It’s NEVER been clearer to… pic.twitter.com/ql2VycgqPM

— Kyle Chassé (@kyle_chasse) June 18, 2024

While total crypto capitalization is down 3%, meme coin market capitalization has dropped 14% in the same period and is now $48.8 billion, according to CoinGecko.

The biggest loser was the MAGA coin TRUMP which has dumped 34% in a fall to $7.34. Donald Trump has not officially endorsed the asset and there have been rumors that his team launched an “official” token on Solana.

Several other meme coins suffered losses greater than 14%, including dogwifhat (WIF), Brett (BRETT), and Book of Meme (BOME).

The top three, Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and Pepe (PEPE), were also down double digits.

Ordinals creator ‘Leonidas’ observed that the only meme coin still in the green over the past seven days was the Runes-based DOG•GO•TO•THE•MOON token DOG.

Out of the top 15 memecoins $DOG is holding up the strongest over the past 7 days and is only down 2.92%

The $DOG army shows up every day no matter what!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/gkemVKTnt1

— Leonidas (@LeonidasNFT) June 18, 2024

Altcoins Also in Pain

Meme coins are not the only crypto assets that have been dumped hard recently, though this category has suffered the greatest losses. Altcoins are also bleeding heavily today, so the ‘flight to quality’ hasn’t started yet.

There were heavy losses for Solana (SOL), which dropped 7% in a fall to $132, while Cardano (ADA) dumped 7.8%, falling to $0.37.

Other altcoins in similar pain include Avalanche (AVAX), Uniswap (UNI), Internet Computer (ICP), and Near Protocol (NEAR).

Bitcoin fell to support at around $65,000 before recovering slightly, and it still remains within a three-and-a-half-month sideways channel.

The post Meme Coins Melt by Double Digits as ‘Flight to Quality’ Begins appeared first on CryptoPotato.

TL;DR

Meme coins faced substantial losses in the past 24 hours resonating with a decline of the entire cryptocurrency market.

MOTHER and DADDY, endorsed by Iggy Azalea and Andrew Tate respectively, were among the poorest performers.

Flashing Red

The cryptocurrency market retraced substantially in the past 24 hours, with Bitcoin (BTC) plunging well below $65,000 (Bitstamp’s data) and Ethereum (ETH) losing the resistance level of $3,500. The situation in the meme coin sector is no better. Dogecoin (DOGE) is down 8% daily, while Shiba Inu (SHIB), dogwifhat (WIF), Pepe (PEPE), Floki Inu (FLOKI), and many more have recorded even more severe losses.

Two controversial meme coins are among the poorest performers: MOTHER and DADDY. The former, announced by the Australian model and rapper Iggy Azalea, has tanked by over 40%, while its market capitalization slipped below $80 million. 

DADDY—a token shilled by the online influencer Andrew Tate—currently trades at around $0.14, a 22% daily decline. This represents a 60% drop compared to the peak of $0.35 witnessed earlier this month.

The latest bloodbath in the meme coin sector serves as another warning that investors may experience crucial losses when entering the ecosystem. Traders are advised to hop on the bandwagon after conducting proper research and invest only as much as they are ready to part with. For more vital tips, please take a look at our dedicated video below:

MOTHER v DADDY: The Battle

MOTHER saw the light of day at the end of last month, recording impressive gains in its early days. It reached an ATH of $0.23 on June 7, while its market capitalization surged to $150 million. However, the meme coin launched by Iggy Azalea caused some people to raise eyebrows. Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin was among those criticizing it, saying:

“I’m feeling quite unhappy about “this cycle’s celebrity experimentation” so far. […] Ashton and Mila’s Stoner Cats was vastly more honorable than anything we’ve seen from this 2024 celebrity meme coin era – at least there was an actual show being funded.”

Shortly after, Andrew Tate – known for his controversial opinions – showed support for DADDY (a meme coin built on the Solana ecosystem) so it can flip MOTHER “for the patriarchy.”

Crypto analytics firm Bubblemaps revealed that he received 40% of all DADDY tokens, currently worth around $33 million. Interestingly, Tate promised to burn his stash, saying he doesn’t want money but chaos. Bubblemaps further claimed that insiders purchased 30% of the token’s supply at launch. 

The post These Trending Meme Coins Plummet as Altcoin Bleedout Continues appeared first on CryptoPotato.

After a quiet weekend, bitcoin’s price headed south violently in the past 12 hours or so and dumped to a monthly low of $64,000 amid the growing outflows from the spot ETFs.

Over $100 billion evaporated from the crypto markets at one point, as most alts dumped hard as well.

BTC Goes Low

Bitcoin tried to take down the $70,000 level on a few occasions last week, but to no avail. The last attempt came after the favorable US CPI data came out on Wednesday and BTC skyrocketed from under $67,000 to $70,000 in minutes.

However, the bears were quick to intercept the move as the US Federal Reserve said it will not cut the interest rates and propelled a massive price drop for the leading cryptocurrency. By Friday evening, the asset had fallen by five grand and dropped to $65,00.

The weekend was a bit more positive and calm as BTC stood at just over $66,000. Monday started quietly as well, before the bulls attempted a leg up toward $67,000. However, this didn’t see much success and the subsequent rejection pushed bitcoin south to a monthly low of $64,000, leaving almost $500 million in liquidations.

These price declines came amid another batch of ETF outflows, this time worth $145.9 million from all such products.

BTC’s market cap has slumped below $1.3 trillion, while its dominance over the alts has gained 0.7% overnight to 52.1%.

Bitcoin/Price/Chart 18.06.2024. Source: TradingView Alts See Nothing but Red

The growing BTC dominance amid bitcoin’s correction means that the alts have dumped even harder. This is evident from the likes of SHIB, UNI, and WIF, all of which have declined by around 10%.

Solana, Dogecoin, Toncoin, Cardano, Avalanche, and Chainlink are also deep in the red. DOT is close to breaking below $6. ETH and BNB are also in the red.

XRP is the only exception from the larger-cap alts. Ripple’s native token has jumped to just over $0.5 amid a market-wide correction.

The total crypto market cap has dumped to under $2.5 trillion within the past day, losing roughly $100 billion since yesterday’s peak.

Cryptocurrency Market Overview. Source: QuantifyCrypto

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Last week marked a notable shift in the dynamics of the crypto market. Bitcoin (BTC) lost over 6% of its value, and U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) broke their 20-day inflow streak with outflows running into hundreds of millions of dollars.

According to the latest Bitfinex Alpha report, bitcoin’s plunge was mainly caused by selling from long-term holders, whales, and miners on exchanges and via over-the-counter transactions.

Selling Pressure From LTHs and Whales

Long-term holders often sell their holdings gradually during bull cycles, especially when the market is in consolidation, which is the current phase. This cohort of investors was responsible for most of the selling pressure last week, outpacing the spot ETFs by far.

The Hodler Net Position Change metric, which tracks long-term bitcoin investors’ monthly position changes, indicates how intense the selling pressure is. When long-term holders are selling, this metric turns negative, and when they are buying, it turns positive. The indicator has been consistently negative for the past nine days.

Besides long-term holders, whales have also been busy. The ratio of the top ten inflows into exchanges as a proportion of total inflows has increased, indicating that a large quantity of BTC is being deposited on trading platforms via whale wallets, most likely in preparation for sale.

While the crypto market’s selling is on a smaller scale than previously observed in April, Bitfinex analysts said it highlights the influence of long-term holders on BTC market dynamics. In addition, it serves as a reminder that long-term holders and whales are still collectively the largest cohort of bitcoin holders, surpassing the spot ETFs. The decisions of these investors can affect liquidity and price movements during critical market phases.

Miner Reserves Deplete

Furthermore, miner BTC reserves fell sharply last week following a steady decline from before the Bitcoin halving.

“The peak in BTC around March 2024 corresponds with a significant decline in miner reserves, suggesting that miners were selling off their reserves to capitalize on high prices. This was common at that point of time as miners were also selling reserves to prepare for the Bitcoin halving to realize investment needed to upgrade machinery and operations,” Bitfinex stated.

Analysts assume that miners are still struggling to maintain operational efficiency as their block rewards have been reduced. They are contributing to the current selling pressure, and their reserves have fallen to four-year lows.

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Bitcoin faced tons of volatility on Monday, especially during the night, and dumped to a new monthly low of $64,000.

The altcoins’ fluctuations were similar, with numerous massive declines, resulting in 190,000 traders getting wrecked on a daily scale.

The primary digital asset had a quiet weekend which it spent at around $66,000. Monday’s start was also underwhelming but the cryptocurrency started gaining traction later on during the day.

It jumped to a local peak of just over $67,200 before the bears took complete control of the market and initiated a notable price drop.

In a matter of minutes, bitcoin slumped by over three grand and fell to its lowest position since May 15 of $64,000 (on Bitstamp). It has managed to bounce off in the following hours and now sits close to $66,000.

Bitcoin/Price/Chart 18.06.2024. Source: TradingView

The altcoins’ performances were quite similar, with substantial price drops from many. Despite recovering some ground, SHIB and DOGE are still around 10% down on the day. SOL, AVAX, LINK, ADA, and DOT have plummeted by 7-9%.

ETH is down to $3,450 after dumping to $3,330 earlier today. More losses come from NEAR, UNI, MATIC, WIF, FIL, FET, and others.

This massive volatility has harmed over-leveraged traders, as more than 190,000 of them have been wrecked in the past day. The total value of liquidated positions sits above $480 million within the same timeframe.

The largest single liquidated order happened on Binance. It was worth $6.44 million and involved the ETH/USDC trading pair, according to CoinGlass.

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American investment management firm VanEck is set to launch the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Australia’s securities trading platform this week.

According to an official announcement from the asset management company, the spot Bitcoin ETF will go live on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on Thursday, June 20.

VanEck Unveils Australian Bitcoin ETF

VanEck is one of the issuers of the spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States. The firm’s product, VanEck Bitcoin Trust (HODL), held over $529 million in assets under management at the time of writing, with a market cap of $660 million.

The approval of the VanEck Bitcoin ETF (VBTC) in Australia comes five months after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission greenlit the launch of HODL on exchanges alongside other ETFs issued by top asset managers like BlackRock, Ark Invest, Grayscale, Fidelity, and Bitwise.

VanEck said it has been in talks with Australian regulators about launching a spot Bitcoin ETF in the country since early 2021. The firm claims to be the first entity to submit an application with the ASX to launch the ETF and work with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) on the product’s mechanics.

Due to regulatory hurdles, exchange framework challenges, and the lack of approval from the ASIC, VanEck resubmitted its application for the VBTC launch in February. Upon launch, the asset manager claims VBTC will be the lowest-cost Bitcoin ETF in Australia.

“Bitcoin’s evolution continues to transform, with regulated access through an ETF now a reality in the U.S., marking a significant step in its global acceptance. Despite hurdles to clear in Australia, including regulatory and exchange framework challenges, along with ASIC approval, VanEck intends to lead the way in bringing the first Bitcoin ETF to ASX investors,” the investment manager stated.

VanEck Joins 21Shares, Monochrome

It is worth mentioning that the VanEck Bitcoin ETF is not the first of its kind in Australia. Other investment managers, including Monochrome Asset Management and crypto exchange-traded products issuer 21Shares, have launched similar products on different securities exchanges.

CryptoPotato reported earlier this month that the Monochrome Bitcoin ETF (IBTC) is the first of its kind because it does not just offer investors direct exposure to the crypto asset but directly holds its bitcoins in an offline device.

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Venezuelan political critics and activists have warned that President Nicolás Maduro and his government are increasingly turning to cryptocurrency transactions as a method to evade international sanctions.

This follows the U.S. reinstating gold and oil sanctions recently, following Maduro’s failure to honor an agreement to ensure fair elections scheduled for July.

Critics Urge for Stricter Sanctions

For nearly two decades, the U.S. has imposed targeted sanctions on Venezuela, aiming to pressure the government into democratic reforms. However, Andrew Fierman, head of national security intelligence at Chainalysis Inc., suggests that sanctioned regimes like Maduro’s often explore multiple avenues to evade such restrictions.

Nicolas Maduro and his representatives have not fully met the commitments made under the electoral roadmap agreement. Therefore, General License 44—which authorized transactions related to the oil and gas sector with Venezuela—will expire after midnight and not be renewed.

— Matthew Miller (@StateDeptSpox) April 17, 2024

“When you’re talking about regimes that are subject to sanctions, they’re typically going to look for a variety of ways to evade those sanctions. The Venezuelan government and the Maduro regime have been doing this across a wide array of methods over the years,” Fierman told Bloomberg.

These concerns are detailed in a report from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, co-authored by Venezuelan dissident Leopoldo López and Chainalysis’s director of Intel Solutions, Kristofer Doucette. The report highlights loopholes in the latest sanctions, particularly in the context of the Maduro regime’s stated objective to leverage cryptocurrency projects to bypass these international barriers.

López and Doucette emphasize in their report the economic impact of the Maduro regime’s alleged cryptocurrency manipulations. “Every dollar misappropriated by the Maduro regime rightfully belongs to the Venezuelan people,” they wrote.

“The billions that have vanished in recent years represent a grotesque sum, which could have been pivotal in revitalizing the country’s faltering economy. Instead, Maduro’s embrace of cryptocurrency exploited an emerging technology to carve out a new pathway for diverting the nation’s riches, further impoverishing its citizens.”

They call for the U.S. and European Union to implement more comprehensive and strict sanctions and urge other nations to investigate the Venezuelan government’s use of cryptocurrencies in sanction evasion.

Chainalysis Uncovers $70 Million in Stablecoin Transfers

Further blockchain analysis by Chainalysis revealed that SUNACRIP, Venezuela’s National Superintendency of Crypto Assets and Related Activities, was actively transferring large volumes of tokens across various accounts within different cryptocurrency platforms.

Transactions traced by Chainalysis indicated that over $70 million in stablecoins had been processed through addresses likely managed by SUNACRIP or affiliates, facilitating smoother financial operations despite sanctions.

In 2018, the Venezuelan government introduced the Petro, a cryptocurrency backed by the nation’s oil and mineral reserves, to combat hyperinflation and avoid U.S. sanctions. Despite mandates for its use, the token saw limited practical adoption. In January, the government suspended the Petro amid a corruption investigation involving misappropriated payments intended for the state-run oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela SA.

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BlackRock’s chief investment officer for index investments, Samara Cohen, recently implied that amidst the recent success of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, financial investors still exercise some degree of caution when investing.

The volatility and infancy of Bitcoin and related exchange-traded funds are the primary drivers behind this investment class’s slow adoption.

Financial Advisors Are Cautious

Since their debut in January 2024, spot Bitcoin ETFs have attracted massive investments from loads of individual and institutional investors, with the investment vehicle recording over $15 billion in inflows. However, according to Samara Cohen, this fast-moving investment vehicle has yet to convince financial advisors.

Cohen mentioned that according to last quarter’s 13-F filings, brokerages and hedge funds have been key participants and buyers in spot Bitcoin ETFs.

Speaking at the Coinbase State of Crypto Summit in New York City on Thursday, she noted that approximately 80% of Bitcoin ETF purchases are made by self-directed investors using online brokerage accounts. However, registered financial advisors have remained skeptical, with Cohen describing their stance as “wary.”

She believes financial advisors only do their job by expressing skepticism before investing. She stated:

“An investment advisor is a fiduciary to their clients. This is an asset class that has had 90% price volatility at times in history, and their job is really to construct portfolios and do the risk analysis and due diligence. They’re doing that right now.”

Owing to the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies, Cohen believes financial advisors must keenly analyze data and check for risks before deciding on appropriate investment exposure based on an investor’s risk tolerance.

Blue Macellari, the head of digital assets strategy for T. Rowe Price, shows that many see 1% as safe and comfortable exposure. Another speaker, Alesia Haas, the Chief Financial Officer of Coinbase, also noted that Bitcoin is “on a slow journey of adoption.”

Volatility, Infancy, and Regulatory Uncertainty

According to Cohen, the inherent volatility of Bitcoin, which has experienced significant value fluctuations since its inception, is a primary reason for the skepticism displayed by financial advisors. Additionally, spot Bitcoin ETFs are still in their early stages, lacking a track record, further contributing to the advisors’ cautious stance.

The challenging regulatory environment has also been a discouraging factor, as regulators seemingly target crypto projects.

Despite all the drawbacks, Cohen maintains that Bitcoin ETFs can bridge the significant gap between cryptocurrency and traditional finance, especially for investors with fear of exposure to risks.

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A hawkish-than-expected FOMC meeting drove investors to scale back their exposure to fixed-supply assets, which in turn resulted in digital assets investment products seeing outflows of $600 million.

This represented the largest outflows since March 22, 2024. Moreover, the recent price declines further exacerbated the bearish sentiment, as evidenced in the decrease in total assets under management (AuM), which fell from over $100 billion to $94 billion this week.

Investors Flee Fixed-Supply Assets

Interestingly, the outflows were entirely concentrated on Bitcoin, with the cryptocurrency seeing $621 million in withdrawals, according to the latest edition of CoinShares’ Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly Report. The ongoing bearish sentiment also prompted inflows of $1.8 million short-bitcoin investment products, reflecting investors’ inclination to bet against the asset’s price rise.

Ethereum-based investment products, on the other hand, recorded inflows of $13.1 million over the past week. Altcoins also followed suit during the same period. LIDO and XRP, too, saw $2 million and $1.1 million, respectively, during the same period. Meanwhile, investment products designed for Litecoin and Chainlink attracted $0.8 million each.

Cardano saw $0.7 million in inflows over the past week. On the other hand, Solana experienced mild outflows of $0.2 million.

Despite the moderately positive sentiment surrounding investment products based on altcoins, trading volume was low, with $11 billion for the week, as compared to the $22 billion weekly average this year. However, it is important to note that the figure was still higher than the $2 billion a week observed last year.

Zooming out, digital asset exchange-traded products (ETPs) maintained a steady 31% share of global trading volumes on trusted exchanges.

Regional Distribution

Additionally, the US bore the brunt of the outflows for the week, recording $165 million. This negative sentiment extended to Switzerland, which experienced $23.7 million in outflows over the past week. Canada and Sweden also registered weekly outflows of $15 million each. Hong Kong also noted mild outflows of $1.3 million.

Germany appears to have bucked the trend with inflows of $17.4 million, followed by Australia with $1.7 million and Brazil with $0.7 million.

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