Crypto Currency

So far they have accrued 2.65 BTC at an average price well under the current level of around $30,000 for 1 BTC. A Redditor and member of the r/CryptoCurrency community is claiming to be up 25% or $19,500, after taking out three personal loans worth a combined $59,000 to buy Bitcoin (BTC ) over the past 18 months. According to the Redditor, whose account is crudely named “Vaginosis-Psychosis,” they now have a total of 2.65 BTC, which is worth $80,400 at current prices , and are betting big on the price of BTC hitting $100,000 by early 2025. In a June 30 post on r/CryptoCurrency, the user gave a run down on how they approached the highly risky method of getting their hands on BTC. Post on r/CryptoCurrency. Source: Reddit. The first two loans were taken out in February and June of 2022, totaling $15,000 and $20,000 apiece. They had a fixed annual percentage rate (APR) of 6% and 4.9% each, with monthly payments totaling $225 and $326. The third loan worth $24,000 was then taken ...

Coffezilla asserted that the refund process should be quite easy to sort while the financial implications aren't an issue for someone as wealthy as Logan Paul. Investors in Logan Paul’s troubled NFT gaming project CryptoZoo are reportedly still waiting for any specific details on the 1000 Ether ( ETH ) refund (worth $1.93 million at current prices) that was promised back in January. In a YouTube video posted on June 30, “internet detective” Coffezilla — the person who initially brought the project’s issues to light in December 2022 — asserted that Paul’s communication with the CryptoZoo community has dried up over recent months: “It’s been six months, so here’s a follow-up. Logan Paul has not paid back his victims, he hasn’t talked about it since he first announced he was gonna pay them back. And what’s worst of all, he doesn’t seem to have a plan in place to refund anyone.” “How do I know that? Well because I've been asking Logan for that plan to refund people, the entir...

Bitcoin tries to cement higher support as an important day for markets arrives. Bitcoin ( BTC ) spiked through $31,000 on June 30 as a nearly $6 billion open interest expiry loomed. BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: TradingView Options expiry precedes day of BTC price triggers Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hitting local highs of $31,268 on Bitstamp before returning lower. BTC price performance improved into a key quarterly options expiry event, the second largest in Bitcoin’s history, with analysts keen to see its effect on markets. “Will be interesting to see how much is rolled over to future expirations and whether that OI is call or put dominant --> as that will impact how dealers hedge (buy or sell BTC),” financial commentator Tedtalksmacro wrote in part of associated commentary. June 30 represents a key date for BTC traders all around, with the options expiry forming just one in a series of key events. Macroeconomic data from the ...

Simon Callaghan said that efforts need to start on social media and telecommunication channels where most cryptocurrency scams originate. Blockchain Australia’s new CEO, Simon Callaghan, is urging Australia’s banks, the government and the crypto industry to come together to combat rising cryptocurrency scams. Speaking on the final day of Australian Blockchain Week in Melbourne on June 30, Callaghan announced that the association will now be focused on helping prevent scams that involve crypto, among its other efforts . Simon Callaghan speaking at Australian Blockchain Week on June 30. Source: Cointelegraph “We’re going to have to work with the banking sector. We’re going to have to work with the government,” the CEO said, stressing the need to protect consumers. Callaghan however noted that scams often originate on social media or through telecommunication channels — noting that policing efforts need to start from the point of first contact: “Crypto is either an exit point or...

The Fed’s emergency loan facility has reached new highs as embattled banks are needing a central bank bailout. The American central bank’s emergency fund for embattled banks has seen its highest level of distressed asset redemptions since its inception three months ago. The emergency lending program — known as the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP)  — was introduced in March amid the United States banking crisis which saw the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, among others. The fund essentially is aimed at backstopping banks and other depository firms. According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the Fed's Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) has reached a record level of $103.08 billion in loans for the week ending June 28. The milestone figure means that the Fed is still bailing out banks despite its attempts to reassure investors that the banking crisis is over. Market analyst Joe Consorti also opined on the latest figures, claiming that the “Fed's shadow li...

While a date for mainnet wasn’t announced, the Base team said it’s now fulfilled 4 out of 5 of their criteria for launch. Base, a new layer 2 application-focused protocol by Coinbase has just one criteria left to fulfil  before being ready for mainnet launch. On June 29, the team said the Optimism-powered, Ethereum-secured network has been subject to six months of rigorous security audits — both internally and externally — its second-last criteria required for launch. “With the completion of these audits, we’ve now fulfilled ⅘ of our criteria for mainnet launch,” Base said, adding that they feel confident after not finding any critical code bugs: “Completing these in-depth security workstreams without discovering critical severity bugs gave the Base team confidence to proceed towards mainnet launch.” The other three criteria passed included a “Regolith” hard fork in testnet, a successful infrastructure review with OP labs — the team behind Optimism — and Optimism’s “Bedrock...

Chris Maurice, founder and CEO of crypto exchange Yellow Card said in Africa, crypto isn't the "casino" that it can sometimes feel like in the West. While many investors in the West may look to crypto to speculate the next biggest trend, blockchain technology is actually solving “real-world problems” in Africa such as hyperinflation and "corruption," executives told Cointelegraph. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Chris Maurice, founder and CEO of Yellow Card — Africa’s largest cryptocurrency exchange — said crypto in Africa “is growing at the speed of light” because it allows many Africans to escape from the traditional financial system’s failures and transact more freely. “Crypto solves real-world problems with banking and currencies on the continent, and it isn't the casino that it can feel like sometimes in the West.” Maurice said the most common use cases in Africa are to make international payments, to send money to friends and family and to “save money...

AI technology has gained a lot of traction over the past year, with the European Union and the United States already proposing legislation to regulate the nascent tech. OpenAI, the maker of the popular chatbot ChatGPT — a natural language processing artificial intelligence (AI) tool — is facing a class-action lawsuit  in California over allegedly scraping private user information from the internet. The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California by Clarkson Law Firm on June 28. The suit alleges that OpenAI trained ChatGPT using data collected from millions of social media comments, blog posts, Wikipedia articles and family recipes without the consent of the respective users. Thus, OpenAI violated the copyrights and privacy of millions of internet users. A snippet of the class-action lawsuit alleging OpenAI’s data theft. Source: assets.bwbx.io The 16 named plaintiffs in the case claim OpenAI illegally accessed private inf...

Bitcoin short-term holders are keenly eyeing potential BTC selling opportunities, even as their average profits total a modest 10%. Bitcoin ( BTC ) short-term holders are feeling the need to sell BTC at $30,000, data shows. In research released on June 28, on-chain analytics firm Glassnode flagged tens of thousands of coins being sent to exchanges. Bitcoin speculative exchange moves "intensifying" BTC price action stalling at $30,000 is prompting a rethink when it comes to buyers who have turned a profit this month. In particular, short-term holders (STHs) — those entities hodling funds for 155 days or less — are becoming increasingly keen sellers. Monitoring inflows to exchange wallets, Glassnode revealed a clear spike in funds being put up for trade originating from STHs, which correspond to Bitcoin’s more speculative investor cohorts. “The recent elation in Bitcoin price action has enticed an increase in Short-Term Holder interaction with exchanges,” it commented....

America’s central bank has been stress-testing retail banks in the wake of several high-profile banking collapses earlier this year. The American central bank has determined that all 23 of the country’s largest banks would be able to survive a severe recession following its “stress tests.” The report issued on June 28 also showed relative weakness among the midsize and regional banks, however, the stress test only requires the 23 banks to participate in testing,. The list comprises of the country’s largest lenders. In light of the  banking crisis earlier this year, Fed policymakers hinted that stress testing could be made harder in the future. Fed vice-chair for supervision, Michael Barr, commented: “We should remain humble about how risks can arise and continue our work to ensure that banks are resilient to a range of economic scenarios, market shocks, and other stresses.” Bank stress tests have been carried out every year since the 2008 financial crisis, which was caused...

AI could prove to be a boon for investors looking for gains in today's “unusual” market. Global investment titan BlackRock, which manages some $10 trillion in assets, has declared artificial intelligence a “mega force” that could create significant returns for investors in today’s “unusual” market. In its mid-year outlook report , the BlackRock Investment Institute detailed their thesis for increased investment in AI — pointing to multiple “disruptive” themes that could see the sector grow rapidly over the coming years. S&P market cap vs relative performance from 1990. Source: BlackRock. The report drew special attention to the fact that gains in the S&P 500 — the index that tracks the 500 largest companies in the United States — have become increasingly concentrated in a handful of tech stocks. The firm says investment in AI is a good way to capitalize on this concentration. "We think this unusual equity market shows a mega force like AI can be a big driver of...

FTX is inching closer to a potential reboot, with CEO John Ray reportedly opening up the floor to bidders looking to finance the new venture. Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX is one step closer to relaunching as an entirely new exchange. According to a June 28 report from the Wall Street Journal, FTX restructuring chief John Ray said the company had “begun the process of soliciting interested parties to the reboot of the FTX.com exchange.” Sources familiar with the matter said the firm has been holding talks with investors around financing the potential reboot. Blockchain lending company Figure is among the parties who have displayed interest in the process. Cointelegraph reached out to Figure but did not receive an immediate response. Potential bidders reportedly have until the end of the week to lodge Letters of Intent — a document that outlines the terms and conditions of their participation. Notably, the sources said that current FTX creditors would potentially be offered a sta...

The tokenized asset would need to be “appropriately backed” but could “absolutely” be listed in the future, said ASX chief information officer Dan Chesterman. The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is unlikely to directly list a cryptocurrency on its exchange but could consider an “appropriately-backed” tokenized real-world asset such as gold. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Dan Chesterman, the ASX’s CIO and group executive of technology and data said while there are hurdles for it to directly list a cryptocurrency the company could consider listing tokenized real-world assets. “There’s been, in the past, challenges associated with getting to the stage we could directly list a cryptocurrency mainly because it doesn’t meet a lot of the listing rules,” Chesterman said. “Could I imagine us potentially, in the end, having a tokenized product listed on us? Absolutely.” The ASX is the 16th largest stock exchange in the world by market capitalization, according to a March 28 Yahoo Finance...

Weak derivatives metrics, and declining TVL and DApps use, put Ethereum bears in a better position to keep ETH price below $2,000. The price of Ether ( ETH ) faced strong resistance at $1,920 after a 17.5% rally between June 15 and June 22. Several factors contributed to the limited upside, including worsening macroeconomic conditions, the regulatory cryptocurrency environment and weaker demand for decentralized applications (DApps) on the Ethereum network. ETH price faces macroeconomic headwinds On June 26, a federal judge denied a motion from Binance that could have stopped the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from issuing public statements related to the case. In addition, in its mid-year outlook, HSBC Asset Management’s report warned of an economic downturn in the U.S. in the fourth quarter, followed by a “year of contraction and a European recession in 2024”. The report also noted that “corporate defaults have started to creep up.” Finally, Internatio...

The deal includes an investment of $3.5 million, a Sony executive moving to Startale Labs and collaboration on new Web3 tools for mass adoption. Sony continues to make its mark in the emerging technologies space with its recent announcement of a new investment in building a global infrastructure to support Web3.  On June 28, Sony Network Communications — a subsidiary of Sony — and Japanese Web3 infrastructure tech company Startale Labs revealed a new business collaboration and a $3.5 million investment to build a foundation for the widespread adoption of Web3. The partnership will push Startale’s development of Web3 services and products, including its mission to create all-in-one solutions for Web3 development and focus on bridging real-world assets with the Web3 ecosystem. Sota Watanabe, the CEO of Startale Labs, told Cointelegraph that partnering with Sony allows a new Web3 startup like itself to “learn and leverage” many things. Commenting on its all-in-one solution, he sa...

Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst believes BlackRock has an even chance of getting its Bitcoin ETF green-lit, as Grayscale looks more likely to win its case against the SEC. Investment management firm BlackRock has a 50% chance of getting its spot Bitcoin ( BTC ) Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) approved, says Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.  Balchunas’ prediction comes following an observation made by Elliott Stein, a senior litigation analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, who now pegs the chances of Grayscale winning its case against the SEC at 70%. Another reason we give spot bitcoin ETF approval 50% chance is our senior legal analyst @NYCStein gives Grayscale a 70% chance of winning case against SEC, who could approve BlackRock's ETF as way to save face using trusted 'adult' TradFi cos & stick it to Grayscale via @JSeyff pic.twitter.com/pHydOcpuQo — Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) June 27, 2023 Balchunas explained that the SEC may look more favorably up...

Bitcoin miners have sent up to 315% of their daily revenue to exchanges but BTC prices are yet to react. Bitcoin ( BTC ) miners are sending record amounts of BTC to centralized crypto exchanges. In a June 27 tweet , on-chain analytics platform Glassnode reported an all-time high in Bitcoin miner revenue sent to exchanges. Percent of miner revenue sent to exchanges. Source: Glassnode. It noted that there was currently an “extremely high exchange interaction,” from Bitcoin miners which had sent a record $128 million to exchanges over the past week. This is equivalent to 315% of their daily revenue, the analytics platform noted. There have been several spikes in miner revenue sent to exchanges during the 2021 bull run as they took profits. There was also a capitulation inflow in late 2022 as markets hit their cycle bottom. However, this latest spike has dwarfed them all by a considerable margin. Usually, when miners send BTC profits to exchanges they do so in preparation to cash...

Multiple buyers were reportedly eyeing up FTX’s stake in the AI firm that was being sold off to recover funds for creditors. The sale of FTX's $500 million stake in artificial intelligence startup Anthropic has reportedly been put on hold, adding a potential delay to the bankrupt crypto exchange's efforts to fill a $2 billion remaining hole in its balance sheet. On June 27, Bloomberg reported — citing people familiar with the matter — FTX’s advisory investment bank Parella Weinberg Partners paused the sale of FTX’s Anthropic stake this month, despite multiple parties being interested in buying up FTX's stake. A sale of the stake would be a significant monetary recovery for FTX. A June 26 report by FTX restructuring chief John Ray alleged $8.7 billion in user funds were misappropriated, around $7 billion of which has been recovered. FTX pauses Anthropic sale. Wise move. Selling losers first is crucial. Anthropic tokenisation might also synergise well with FTX 2.0...

Michael Shaulov believes that while recent Bitcoin ETF filings could see new institutional money flow to Bitcoin, that in itself didn't drive previous price surges. While an approved BlackRock spot Bitcoin ( BTC ) exchange-traded fund (ETF) will funnel new institutional money to Bitcoin, it's going to be the retail investors that ultimately drive any significant price surges, according to Michael Shaulov, the CEO and co-founder of institutional custody platform Fireblocks. On June 15, investment colossus BlackRock filed for a spot Bitcoin ETF, leading to other financial firms filing their own, along with Bitcoin's price reaching its highest levels in a year. However, while many are hopeful that institutional involvement in crypto will further rocket prices, Shaulov notes that may not necessarily happen. "When institutions come in to participate in the market and they're doing it in a quiet way, they're able to do it almost without moving the price," ...