💰 Analysts Stand Firm on $150K Bitcoin Price Forecast Citing 'a Healthy Cycle'
Global asset management firm Alliance Bernstein’s analysts have reaffirmed their bullish outlook on bitcoin, predicting a rise to $150,000 by 2025. They view the recent price correction as a healthy cleanup of market excesses. Additionally, they highlighted the market’s strength, citing significant inflows into spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and encouraging signs for increased corporate bitcoin investments.
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🟠 Binance Wallet Integrates 💰 Bitcoin Atomical ARC-20 Assets
Binance has announced the integration of ARC-20 tokens into its Inscriptions Marketplace, allowing regular users to join the cutting-edge Bitcoin tokenization. ARC-20 is a new token standard that enables the creation of fungible (interchangeable) tokens that can be held and transferred directly on the Bitcoin blockchain. This is made possible by the Atomicals Protocol which utilizes Bitcoin’s native satoshis and transaction tracking system.
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📊 Crypto firms raised $2.5 billion in Q1, representing 29% quarterly increase
Galaxy reported an assortment of VC investment data, including nearly $2.5 billion invested in the first quarter, on May 3. Crypto firms attracted funding across 603 deals during the period, representing 29% growth in dollar value and 68% growth in deal count quarter-over-quarter. The growth represents the first increase by both measures in three quarters, though Galaxy emphasized that future quarters will show whether the trend can continue.
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💰 Hybrid L2 Build on Bitcoin Launches Mainnet; US Users Face Geo-Blocking
The layer-two initiative known as BOB, short for ‘Build on Bitcoin,’ has declared its mainnet operational with over 40 apps launching in the initial phase. Notably, the BOB application that facilitates bridging and access to the ecosystem is geo-blocked in the United States. The X account further announced that an additional cohort of over 40 apps will integrate into the BOB ecosystem within the next two to three weeks.
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🪙 Tether reports record $4.52 billion profit in Q1 despite shrinking market share
Stablecoin issuer Tether (USDT) achieved a historic net profit of $4.52 billion in the first quarter despite facing a significant drop in market share. According to the attestation report shared with CryptoSlate, the firm’s substantial profits chiefly originated from its US Treasury holdings, supplemented by gains from its Bitcoin and gold investments.
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💰 Celsius Network burns entirety of its CEL holdings, eliminating 94% of total supply
Celsius Network burned its CEL holdings, representing the majority of the token supply, on April 30. Etherscan indicates the company burned 652.2 million CEL by sending it to a null address. The burned amount represents 94% of the previous total supply, which amounted to 692.8 million CEL, valued at roughly $83.2 million at current market price. The transaction originated from a wallet controlled by Celsius, based on Arkham Intelligence data.
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💰 Bitcoin testnet griefing attack generates three years worth of blocks in one week, frustrating developers
A griefing attack on the Bitcoin testnet network disrupted its normal functioning. A griefing attack is when someone intentionally spams transactions on a network, increasing its workload and throwing off its usual operations. Griefing attacks often frustrates other network users, as it's harder to run applications on top of the system, while not financially benefiting the attacker.
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🇮🇹 Italy’s Securities Regulator Blocks Illegal Crypto Trading Platforms
Italy’s securities regulator, Consob, reinforced its measures to safeguard Italian investors by expanding its list of banned websites engaging in illegal trading activities. In its latest move, Consob has targeted several FX platforms for illegally promoting trading products within the country. Notable additions to the blacklist include domains such as Luno Invest, Vantage Global Limited, and Capital4it Ltd.
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💰 Metaplanet Inc. purchases 1 billion yen worth of Bitcoin
Metaplanet Inc. finalized its acquisition of 97.85 Bitcoins, amounting to a total purchase price of 1 billion Japanese yen. The investment and consulting company, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, announced its purchase in a post on X on April 24. Metaplanet Inc. first announced its plans to purchase Bitcoin on April 8. The Japanese company revealed that the acquisition will total 1 billion Japanese yen, equivalent to approximately $6.25 million.
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🪙 Stripe to enable USDC payments starting this summer
Fintech company Stripe will begin supporting transactions in USD Coin this summer, reviving its involvement in crypto-based commerce. Stripe said Thursday that stablecoin payments will be integrated into the servicer's checkout suite in several weeks. According to the company, crypto transactions will “immediately” settle to fiat. "Crypto is back," Stripe's cofounder, John Collison, posted along with a demonstration video Thursday on X.
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🪙 Tether Will Freeze Venezuelan Wallets Being Used to Evade US Sanctions
Tether has announced that all wallets associated with Venezuela’s attempts to bypass U.S. sanctions on oil exports will be frozen. The decision follows recent reports indicating an increased use of Tether’s USDT by Venezuela’s state-run oil company, PDVSA, to avoid sanctions imposed by the United States. According to a Reuters report, Venezuela’s state-run oil company, PDVSA, transitioned to using Tether’s USDT after facing renewed sanctions on its oil exports.
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🪙 Tether commits to freezing addresses linked to sanctions as scrutiny over USDT misuse grows
Stablecoin issuer Tether the firm would freeze any addresses linked to sanctioned entities. This decision comes in response to reports indicating that some state actors were leveraging Tether’s USDT tokens to circumvent US sanctions. Over the past year, the company has proactively frozen addresses, holding significant amounts of its digital assets involved in unlawful activities. For example, the firm froze 32 addresses holding $873,118.34 connected to illicit activities in Israel and Ukraine last year.
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💰 Grayscale’s Mini-Bitcoin ETF to Have Lowest Fees on The Market
Grayscale’s new mini-Bitcoin exchange-traded fund will be a market leader in terms of fees, according to a recent filing. The world’s largest asset manager is aiming to retain its position as leader of the spot Bitcoin ETF market following a massive exodus of capital from its flagship GBTC product. In order to do this, Grayscale has applied for a smaller Bitcoin ETF with highly competitive fees to compete with its ten rivals.
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💰 Bitwise CIO believes market has not priced in future demand for Bitcoin post-halving
Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan cast doubt on whether current prices truly capture the potential impact of increased demand following Bitcoin’s upcoming halving based on the Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH). Hougan raised critical questions about the limitations of EMH in anticipating what the market will be like post-halving. He pointed out that while EMH suggests that Bitcoin’s current price reflects all available information, including the anticipated supply cut from the halving — it does not account for unexpected shifts in market demand.
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🏦 Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino confirms supposed database breach was 'fake'
After initially suspecting it, Bitfinex's chief technology officer, Paolo Ardoino, has now definitively confirmed that the allegations of a database breach were "fake." "As I said on Saturday, Bitfinex's user database was not breached," Ardoino told The Block. "We spent the weekend reviewing all internal data to avoid leaving any stone unturned. We concluded that the claim was fake, as suspected from the beginning.".
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🇺🇸 SEC postpones decision on 7RCC Spot Bitcoin and Carbon Credit Futures ETF
The Securities and Exchange Commission said it will take more time to decide next steps on a proposed exchange-traded fund focused on carbon credit futures contracts and bitcoin. In a filing made on Thursday, the agency said it would decide to "approve or disapprove, or institute proceedings" for the 7RCC Spot Bitcoin and Carbon Credit Futures ETF by June 24, 2024.
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💰 Bitcoin miner CleanSpark records highest single mining day in April in post-halving report
CleanSpark has released its first monthly unaudited Bitcoin mining and operations update since the halving. The company exceeded 17 EH/s in hashrate, mining an impressive 721 BTC with a record daily high of over 48 BTC. CEO Zach Bradford highlighted the company’s monthly gains in efficiency metrics as they deploy advanced S21 machines across their expanding facilities. These improvements have amplified mining output and optimized operational costs.
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💰 Bitcoin options positioning anticipates summer slowdown, analyst says
Bitcoin derivatives traders are positioning themselves for a summer lull in market activity, according to an analyst. According to Kooner, bitcoin implied volatility has dropped significantly since mid-April. This can also be seen in charts from The Block's Data Dashboard, which show the implied volatility of bitcoin at-the-money options falling from over 77% to under 60% for one week, one month and multi-month expires.
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📉Crypto scams hit historic low in April, plummeting 68%
Crypto-related exploits and scams plummeted 68% in April compared to the previous month, reaching a historic low of $25.7 million, according to blockchain security firm CertiK. A breakdown of the incidents showed that the bulk of the losses, totaling $21 million, stemmed from exploits targeting blockchain protocols. Additionally, users suffered losses of $4.3 million due to exit scams and rug pulls orchestrated by malicious founders, with flash loans contributing a nominal $129,000 to the overall figure.
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💰 Ripple teams up with HashKey DX on blockchain-based supply chain finance in 🇯🇵 Japan
Crypto firm Ripple is expanding its XRP Ledger (XRPL) enterprise solutions to Japan through a strategic collaboration with HashKey DX, the Tokyo-based specialized consulting company of the HashKey Group, according to an April 30 statement. In this partnership, HashKey DX will work alongside Ripple and SBI Ripple Asia—a collaboration between SBI Holdings and Ripple—to develop and implement supply chain finance solutions tailored for the Japanese market.
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📊 Tether, USDC and DAI transaction volume surpasses Visa's 2023 monthly average: Nansen
Crypto's three largest stablecoins — Tether , USDC and DAI — have seen higher volumes in the past 30 days than Visa’s average monthly total from last year, according to onchain specialist Nansen. Nansen data showed that the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, Tether, processed $654 billion in the past 30 days, while DAI managed over $394 billion of flows and USDC saw $321 billion in trading volume.
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🇷🇺 Russian Duma considers exchange ban as Beribit clients demand crypto, receive chocolate
The troubles began with reports of a raid by Russian authorities on the offices of crypto exchange Beribit at the end of March, allegely in connection to the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack. Then, Beribit, which is an officially licensed exchange in Russia, announced on Telegram that during a change in leadership, discrepancies in the company's financials were found and an audit had to be undertaken.
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💰 Runes generate over $135 million in fees in first week on Bitcoin network
The Runes token standard was recently launched on the Bitcoin network and has generated over 2129 bitcoin ($135 million) in transaction fees within its first week. Runes utilizes Bitcoin’s UTXO model and the OP_RETURN opcode to offer a more efficient tokenization solution for the network than the BRC20 standard (based on the Ordinals protocols). It allows users to mint tokens on top of Bitcoin, which are generally memecoins.
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💰 'Buy Bitcoin' sign from Janet Yellen's 2017 speech sold for $1 million
A piece of notebook paper with the sign “Buy Bitcoin” — famous for appearing on broadcast behind then-United States Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen in 2017 — was sold for 16 , or about $1.027 million. The sign was handed over to the highest bidder, the pseudonymous “Squirrekkywrath,” after a week-long auction Wednesday at the Pubkey Bar in New York. The original “Bitcoin Sign Guy,” Christian Langalis — who posted the auction himself on auction platform Scarce City — also attended the event.
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🇺🇸 US DOJ seeks 36-month sentence and $50 million fine for ex-Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao
The US Department of Justice has recommended a 36-month prison sentence alongside a $50 million fine for the former CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao. In response, Zhao’s legal team contends that his incarceration would be unprecedented, citing no prior instances of imprisonment in similar cases. Instead, they proposed an alternative of probation, potentially with home confinement at his residence in Abu Dhabi.
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🟠 Binance faces app removal in the Philippines over regulatory issues
The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it is working with Google and Apple to remove the Binance app from their app marketplaces for Filipino users, according to an April 23 statement. According to the regulatory chief, Binance’s “sale or offer of unregistered securities to Filipinos and operating as an unregistered broker constitutes a violation of Republic Act no. 8799, or The Securities Regulation Code.”
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💰 Bitcoin Miner Revenue Reached $106.7 Million On The Halving Day
Bitcoin miner revenue experienced a significant boost following the recent halving event, driven by a surge in transaction fees. According to data from Glassnode, on April 20, Bitcoin miner revenue hit a record high of $106.7 million, with 75.444% of it stemming from network transaction fees. The spike in transaction fees was attributed to increased activity on the Runes protocol, particularly in capturing newly minted runes.
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📊 CEX Trading Volumes Nearly Triple Since October 2023: Bybit
Bybit’s Institutional Report 2024 revealed a significant increase in monthly trading volumes across several centralized exchanges (CEXs) from October 2023 to March 2024. Bybit Exchange emerged as one of the fastest-growing platforms, showing a remarkable 264% growth in trading volumes. Additionally, the U.S.-based exchange Coinbase experienced an uptick in volumes, rising by 193%, slightly below the industry’s average growth rate of 255%.
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❄️ Tether brings USDT and gold stablecoins to the TON blockchain
Stablecoin issuer Tether is launching its U.S. dollar-backed USDT and gold-backed XAUT stablecoins on The Open Network blockchain. USDT on TON will go live on April 20, and XAUT on TON will follow in the coming months, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino told The Block. While USDT is available on over a dozen blockchains, TON is the second blockchain XAUT is expanding onto after Ethereum, Ardoino said.
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