📰 This Week In Crypto (CW 19)

1. Coinbase calls Pepe a ‘hate symbol,’ prompting calls to boycott the exchange

2. Florida governor signs CBDC bill into law, restricting some uses of US and foreign CBDCs

3. Milady memecoin surges 5,250% after Musk tweet, exchange listings

4. Ordinals good or bad for Bitcoin? Supporters and opposers raise voices

5. To catch a scammer: Kraken builds fake crypto account to ‘bait’ fraudsters

CW18 (last week)

👨‍💻 North Korean hackers stole $721 million in cryptocurrency from Japan
Hacker groups affiliated with North Korea have stolen $721 million worth of cryptocurrency assets from Japan since 2017, the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday, citing a study by U.K. blockchain analysis provider Elliptic. The amount is equal to 30% of the total of such losses globally, the Nikkei reported. The report comes after Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank governors said in a statement on Saturday that they support measures to counter growing threats from illicit activities by state actors, such as the theft of crypto-assets. According to Elliptic, which conducted the analysis on behalf of the Japanese newspaper, North Korea has stolen a total of $2.3 billion in cryptocurrency from businesses between 2017 and 2022. 🔗 Read more

⚖️ Breaking: Court victory for Ripple as judge denies SEC motion to seal Hinman docs
A motion from the United States securities regulator to seal records of its internal deliberations following a speech by former director William Hinman has been denied — a move that has been seen as a win for the Ripple and crypto community. In the June 2018 speech, the former Securities and Exchange Commission corporation finance division director stated that Ether, the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, is not a security. The SEC filed the motion on Dec. 22 to seal the internal emails, text messages and expert reports that followed Hinman’s speech, arguing that its mission outweighed the “public’s right” to access documents that have “no relevance” to the court’s summary judgment decision, among other arguments. 🔗 Read more

🏦 Ripple Starts Platform for Central Banks to Issue Their CBDCs
Ripple is starting a central bank digital currency (CBDC) platform which allows central banks, governments, and financial institutions to issue their own digital currency. Using Ripple's platform government institutions can manage and customize the entire life cycle of the CBDC, which includes minting, distribution, redemption and token burning. Financial institutions would also be able to manage and participate in inter-institutional settlement and distribution functions using the CBDC. Central banks can issue both wholesale and retail CBDCs, which can make offline transactions as well. The platform is an enhanced version of Ripple's Private Ledger, which was started in 2021 for issuing CBDCs. The platform is powered by the XRP Ledger, but was built on a new private ledger. 🔗 Read more

❄️ Attendance at World's Largest Bitcoin Conference Down by Half as 'Crypto Winter' Drags On
Roughly 15,000 attendees are expected at the Bitcoin 2023 event, versus 35,000 last year – likely a result of the downturn known as “crypto winter.” Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. presidential candidate, is among scheduled speakers. Bitcoin faithful are making the annual pilgrimage to Miami Beach by the thousands for the third year in a row, for an industry conference set to feature speakers including the U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy and the author Michael Lewis. Organizers of the conference, Bitcoin 2023, call it the “world’s largest Bitcoin gathering,” starting Thursday and ending with an exclusive afterparty on Saturday night. A general admission ticket costs $999 and an “Industry Pass” with exclusive access to the “Official Networking App” goes for $2,299. 🔗 Read more

🎲 Your Old Game Boy Can Now Be Turned Into a Bitcoin and Ethereum Hardware Wallet
Craving both '90s nostalgia and ice-cold crypto storage? A small team of developers at crypto startup Keyp is revamping original Nintendo Game Boy handheld consoles and optimizing them to store cryptocurrency offline, transforming the popular handheld of yore into a crypto hardware wallet called the Game Wallet. But the Game Wallet isn’t just a newfangled hardware wallet with a Game Boy console cover. In fact, the Game Wallet is far from a gimmick—it’s a brand new Game Boy game cartridge that actually uses gamification to generate users’ seed phrases through random quests and interactions with non-playable characters (NPCs). 🔗 Read more

💍 A husband hid $500,000 in bitcoin during a divorce — and got busted by a crypto hunter
A few months into her divorce proceedings, Sarita thought it was suspicious that her spouse, who earned $3 million annually, didn’t have many assets. After spending half a year on discovery and enlisting the help of a forensic accountant, the New York housewife eventually tracked down 12 bitcoins - then worth half a million dollars - in a previously undisclosed crypto wallet. Sarita, who was married for a decade and asked to use a pseudonym to protect herself from retaliation, said she felt blindsided by her husband’s cryptocurrency investment. “I know of bitcoin and things like that. I just didn’t know much about it,” Sarita said. “It was never even a thought in my mind, because it’s not like we were discussing it or making investments together. ... It was definitely a shock.” 🔗 Read more

📰 This Week In Crypto (CW 20)

1. Hyperbitcoinization coming, says Bitcoin OG as ‘wholecoiners’ hit 1 million

2. FTX pursues $244M clawback from ‘wildly inflated’ Embed acquisition deal

3. 'SEC Can Still Win': Ex-Ripple Exec on Latest XRP News

4. Consumer cryptocurrency trading should be regulated as gambling, Treasury Committee says in new report

5. Coin Cafe ordered to repay $4.3M in fees that ‘wiped out’ investors’ Bitcoin accounts

CW19 (last week)

🧨 Vitalik Buterin warns against overloading Ethereum consensus layer
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has published a lengthy blog post warning of the dangers of “stretching” Ethereum’s consensus past its core functions of validating blocks and securing the network. Ethereum consensus is the process whereby blocks are validated by the proof-of-stake mechanism implemented in September 2022 with “the Merge.” In a May 21 blog post titled “Don’t overload Ethereum’s consensus,” Buterin warned that using Ethereum’s network consensus for other things could bring “high systemic risks to the ecosystem and should be discouraged and resisted.” The Ethereum co-founder was essentially promoting the preservation of the blockchain’s minimalism. 🔗 Read more

🚀 Bitcoin has bottomed and the world's biggest cryptocurrency is on a new bull run, MicroStrategy's Michael Saylor says
MicroStrategy's Michael Saylor says bitcoin's current rally is in fact the start of a new bull run. The software company's cofounder chalks up the new bull market to bitcoin's halving, more adoption of the crypto asset, and a regulatory crackdown on the industry that should benefit bitcoin. Investor and developer interest will begin shifting from other blockchains, Saylor says, and into Bitcoin's network as regulation begins to weed out competitors like Ethereum. Earlier this year, US Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Gary Gensler said that "everything other than bitcoin" falls under securities laws. 🔗 Read more

⚖️ Global securities watchdog urges governments to regulate crypto like traditional financial assets
The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published a statement today contending that cryptocurrencies should be treated in the same way as traditional financial assets, such as stocks and bonds, as they are very similar in nature. The global watchdog included its position among 18 core recommendations for countries to help them develop or adapt regulatory policies for the crypto industry. However, the watchdog’s stance contradicts politicians in the U.K., who have called for crypto trading to be regulated like high-risk industries such as gambling. 🔗 Read more

🤖 A.I. cryptocurrencies jump after Nvidia reports booming artificial intelligence demand
AI-themed cryptocurrencies got a lift Thursday from excitement around Nvidia and its increasing demand for chips that power artificial intelligence applications. SingularityNET (AGIX) rose as much as 19%, according to CoinMarketCap, to 29 cents. Cortex (CTXC) rose 6% to 17 cents and Measurable Data Token (MDT) added 6.5% to reach 4 cents a coin. All these tokens have a market cap of less than $40 million. Fetch.ai (FET), with a market cap of $195 million, gained nearly 5% to trade at 23 cents. Meanwhile, most of the rest of the cryptocurrency market, including bitcoin and ether, was flat. 🔗 Read more

🌎 ‘It’s A Big Deal’—Crypto Suddenly Braced For A Huge China Earthquake After Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, XRP, Cardano, Dogecoin, Polygon And Solana Price Swings
Bitcoin, ethereum and other major cryptocurrencies have struggled to regain momentum this year despite some of the world's biggest companies quietly laying the ground work for the next crypto price bull run. "China Central Television just broadcasted crypto," CZ posted to Twitter alongside a link to CCTV's website that showed a TV segment that featured a bitcoin ATM in Hong Kong and a sign that said "buy bitcoins.". "It's a big deal," CZ said. "The Chinese-speaking communities are buzzing. Historically, coverages like these led to bull runs." China has had a fraught relationship with bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies over the years, repeatedly cracking down on it. In 2021, China enacted its strictest crypto trading and mining ban yet, ejecting all bitcoin, ethereum and crypto miners from the country. 🔗 Read more

🗳 84% of voters want presidential candidates to support the right to Bitcoin, poll shows
The cryptocurrency debate is intensifying as the 2024 United States presidential election approaches, with some candidates elaborating on their plans to address the sector going forward. Recognizing this, Michael Saylor, the executive chairman of MicroStrategy, commissioned a Twitter poll on May 27 to gauge whether voters believe a presidential candidate must support their right to Bitcoin to secure their vote. As of May 28, almost 30,000 Twitter users had shared their opinion, with a resounding 84% responding ‘Yes’ to the question, “Will you demand that any presidential candidate supports your right to Bitcoin before earning your vote?” Only 16% of respondents voted in the negative. 🔗 Read more

📰 This Week In Crypto (CW 21)

1. Binance suspends deposits for bridged tokens, seeks clarity from Multichain team

2. Court Documents Show an FTX Reboot Could Be in the Works

3. Sam Altman’s Worldcoin secures $115M for decentralized ID

4. Another dormant Ethereum wallet reawakens after 8 years, moving millions

5. Ripple v. SEC Case May End in July, Lawyer Explains Why

CW20 (last week)

🚀 Ripple fans push up XRP price as conclusion in case against SEC draws closer
Ripple’s court brawl with the Securities and Exchange Commission could be decided soon, and fans of the related cryptocurrency are pushing the token’s price in anticipation. XRP on Tuesday morning broke the 50-cent mark, reaching its highest level since April before retreating. The coin was up about 3.5%, to about 49 cents, just before midday. In recent days, the cryptocurrency has seen a surge in enthusiasm as Ripple's case with the SEC has heated up. In 2020, the agency, led by Chairman Gary Gensler, sued Ripple and two executives, including CEO Brad Garlinghouse, accusing them of selling $1.3 billion in unregistered securities in the form of XRP, which Ripple is arguing is not a security. 🔗 Read more

👝 How Do Upcoming Token Unlocks Affect Your Crypto Portfolio?
Token unlocks refer to the release of a certain amount of assets that were previously locked or restricted from circulation in the crypto market. These tokens are usually held by project developers or early investors. It can significantly impact market liquidity. As research by The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) indicates, an influx of previously locked ones into the open market can increase the liquidity of that particular cryptocurrency. This often leads to higher trading volumes, potentially influencing market dynamics and price volatility. Lockups serve to maintain the stability of the asset’s price, prevent massive sell-offs, and ensure the commitment of the team and early investors to the project. So, what happens when these tokens are unlocked? 🔗 Read more

🚀 A New Boom for XRP? Record-Breaking Address Activity Indicates Upturn Ahead to $1 XRP Price
The XRP Network experienced a significant increase in address activity for two consecutive days, marking a historic milestone, as reported by the blockchain analysis platform, Santiment. The growing activity in addresses suggests the possibility of a rally for XRP, Ripple’s native cryptocurrency, as it has previously experienced a notable increase following a similar rise in address activity. 🔗 Read more

📈 EU Study Suggests Treating Crypto Assets As Securities. Is It a Win For SEC Chair Gensler?
Just as the European Union officially signs its sweeping Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) rules into law, a study commissioned by EU Parliament suggests that crypto assets should be regulated as securities by default, potentially vindicating the stance of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler. The MiCA regulation, signed into law Wednesday by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and Swedish Rural Affairs Minister Peter Kullgren, aims to bring clarity and oversight to the crypto industry. A separate anti-money laundering law requiring crypto providers to verify customer identities during fund transfers was signed alongside MiCA. 🔗 Read more

🚀 Ripple Contemplates IPO As SEC Lawsuit Finally Nears End — Will It Propel XRP To $10?
Ripple is reportedly considering an initial public offering (IPO) as its legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approaches its conclusion. During a May 31 interview with Digital Perspectives, Linda P. Jones, a seasoned Wall Street veteran with 25 years of experience, alluded to this possibility by providing her expert analysis on the potential implications of a Ripple Initial Public Offering (IPO). Jones performed an initial assessment to approximate the potential stock value of Ripple. Using the latest data from private investments firm Linqto, she determined Ripple’s current share price to be $35, which corresponds to a valuation of $5.7 billion. Linqto offers interested investors the opportunity to purchase stocks before the company goes public in an IPO. However, Jones highlighted a disparity in Linqto’s valuation, suggesting that it seems disproportionately low when considering Ripple’s historical performance and its significant holdings of XRP. 🔗 Read more