Vitalik Buterin Criticizes Current Digital Asset Regulation

And once again about Vitalik Buterin 😉

🗣 The co-founder of Ethereum has criticized the current regulation of cryptocurrencies, stating that honest developers have been cornered.

👀 In his opinion, projects with vague promises of potential returns remain outside the regulators' attention, while honest and transparent projects are immediately classified as "securities."

Buterin called this an anarcho-tyranny, where acting honestly becomes risky. As a result, the industry attracts less scrupulous projects. 🤔

😳 He believes it should be the other way around: regulators should pay more attention to projects without a clear long-term strategy rather than those that provide a clear justification of their economic value.

📉 Billionaire Peter Thiel is Uncertain About a Significant BTC Increase

The PayPal co-founder doesn’t know when a new "batch of buyers" will enter the market, as all attention is currently focused on the Bitcoin ETF. 🧐

It’s worth noting that Thiel’s fund invested in Bitcoin back in 2014, and in 2022, it realized a profit of $1.8 billion before the price drop.

👀 It turns out that his vision of the first cryptocurrency didn’t align with reality. Initially, he saw BTC as anarchic, government-resistant money, but:

“When people in the FBI tell me that they’d much rather have criminals use Bitcoin than $100 bills it suggests that maybe it’s not quite working the way it was supposed to.

In July, unlocked tokens from various projects worth a total of $695 million will enter the open market.

The largest unlocks are:

▪️ ALT ($117.9 million, 25/07)

▪️ XAI ($83.8 million, 09/07)

▪️ APT ($81 million, 12/07)

Tether Enables Filipinos to Pay Social Contributions with USDT

🤝 Tether has partnered with the Uquid platform to allow Filipinos to pay their social contributions using USDT on the TON blockchain.

🇵🇭 The Philippine Social Security System is a government program that provides social services and insurance for workers across various sectors of the economy, including formal, informal, and private sectors.

Circle Obtains MiCA-Compatible License

Circle has become the first stablecoin issuer to receive a license compatible with the European MiCA regulations.

USDC and EURC are now officially authorized in the EU. 🧐

The streak of inflows into Bitcoin ETFs extended for the fifth consecutive day

📈 On July 1st, net inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs totaled $129.5 million, as reported by SoSoValue.

In the past five trading days, a cumulative $266.8 million has flowed into these products, bringing the total since approval to $14.65 billion. 💰

Total assets under management approached $54.9 billion.

Leading in inflows on July 1st were Fidelity's FBTC ($65 million), Bitwise's BITB ($41 million), Ark Invest's ARKB ($13 million), VanEck's HODL ($5 million), Invesco's BTCO ($3 million), and Franklin Templeton's EZBC ($2 million). No changes were reported for other instruments. 🤷

Bitcoin miners have sharply reduced their own reserves, selling over 2,300 BTC worth $145 million in the last 72 hours. They say miners aren't giving up, right? 🧐

🐳 Another Bitcoin address, dormant since 2011 and containing 33 BTC ($2.142 million), woke up today and transferred all its coins. Feels like the crypto community went into mass hibernation for 13 years 😂.

🇺🇸 The U.S. Department of Justice has officially selected Coinbase Prime to store and trade confiscated cryptocurrencies. Well, well, who else, not choosing Binance, huh? 😁

🇩🇪 Meanwhile, the German government has sent another 282 BTC ($17.6 million) from the wallets of German authorities to cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase, Kraken and Bitstamp. There are now 43,859 BTC ($2.7 billion) remaining in balance.

The Polkadot team spent $37,000,000 on marketing campaigns over 6 months. 🙀


🗣 At the current spending rate, Polkadot has funds left for 2 more years – the community criticizes the high project expenditures on PR that doesn't yield results.

Victor Ji, founder of Manta Network, critiques Polkadot also:

▪️Polkadot lacks value for Web3 and isn't user-oriented.

▪️It not truly decentralized.

▪️Manta focuses on Ethereum L2 due to Polkadot's perceived stagnation.

▪️Most importantly: the entire Polkadot ecosystem is essentially dead.

After a 'red' June for Bitcoin, a typically 'green July' tends to follow, considering BTC returns from 2013 to 2023. - Coinglass.

👀 Let's see if this trend continues.

Vitalik Buterin has proposed a technology capable of accelerating transaction confirmation times on the Ethereum network from 5-20 seconds to just a few milliseconds. 🧐

While everyone was digesting the news of VanEck and 21Shares filing for a Solana ETF launch, Virtune XRP ETP launched in Sweden, on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, nonetheless. 🧐

ETP (Exchange Traded Products) - similar to ETFs - is an exchange-traded product.

Uniswap Wallet will add fiat support through a partnership with Transak

🦄 Developers of the non-custodial Uniswap Wallet will enable cryptocurrency purchases with fiat using Apple Pay, Google Pay, and bank cards. This is made possible through a partnership with payment company Transak.

🤝 The collaboration eliminates the need for fund transfers from centralized exchanges and potentially lowers barriers for new users. They can expect a 'smooth and intuitive DeFi onboarding experience.'

Transak offers 'a vast array of global and local payment methods' across 160 countries worldwide.

Uniswap Wallet will also integrate with a 'sibling' DEX, facilitating token exchange and trading within the application.

The President of ETF Store believes that trading of the Ethereum ETF will commence on July 15th.

Nate Geraci, President of ETF Store, expects trading of the Ethereum ETF to begin in mid-July. 📊

Revised S-1 forms will be submitted on July 8th, with the final version potentially appearing on July 12th. 🧐

According to his opinion, trading could commence on July 15th.

Analysts have published a list of the top 12 countries for cryptocurrency enthusiasts in terms of taxation.

👀 These include: El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, Georgia, Malta, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, UAE, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Slovenia.

These countries offer a tax-free regime for cryptocurrencies, significant tax advantages for crypto investors, and regulatory benefits. 💪

Bitcoin hodlers are once again realizing profits.

📊 Bitfinex analysts report that long-term Bitcoin holders have resumed profit-taking, signaling potential short-term vulnerability for the cryptocurrency.

Despite trading below its March peak, Bitcoin's profit-taking levels are notable, albeit less extreme than previous highs. 🧐

📈 CryptoQuant data shows the SOPR indicator at a record 2.7 among these holders, historically preceding price corrections.

Bitfinex Alpha warns that while profit-taking in bullish markets is normal, the current scale raises concerns of short-term price pressure and potential medium-term market effects. 📉💡

The market is actively discussing the significant sums of money Polkadot is spending on marketing purposes.

Here's an example: an animated logo on CoinGecko costs $53,333 for 6 months. 🙀

👀 But wait, there's a similar one on CoinMarketCap. How much do you think Polkadot paid for it? Well, you might not guess it right - nearly $478,000!

🚀 Standard Chartered predicts Bitcoin could reach new highs by August, potentially hitting $100,000 by the U.S. presidential election in November.

Geoffrey Kendrick, head of forex and digital assets research, anticipates a fresh all-time high for Bitcoin in August, contingent on Joe Biden remaining in the race. 📈

Kendrick suggests a positive correlation between Bitcoin's price and the electoral prospects of Donald Trump, whom he views as favorable for Bitcoin due to potential regulatory and mining policies.

🤷 However, if Biden exits, Kendrick speculates a dip to $50,000-$55,000, highlighting August 4 as a pivotal date. Kendrick maintains bullish long-term forecasts, aiming for $150,000 by year-end 2024 and $200,000 by 2025.

👀 It's worth noting that after Joe Biden's widely recognized poor debate performance, the odds of him withdrawing from the election race have sharply increased. Betting markets on Polymarket now estimate this possibility at 60%!

In June, hedge funds invested $680,000,000 in crypto startups.

📈 The amount increased by 42% compared to the same period last year - Wu Blockchain

📊 In the second quarter, crypto startups attracted more than $3,200,000,000.

💰 Mt.Gox may have started repaying creditors, based on a Bitcoin transfer volume chart for tokens last moved during the past seven to ten years shared by @caprioleio.

Bitcoin immediately fell 4.6%, breaking through the important $60,000 support level 📉

❗️The Most Popular Scam Method in the Second Quarter ❗️

👀 The most common way cryptocurrency users were scammed was through the honeypot scheme. 🍯🧸 In this scheme, investors are lured into buying useless and illiquid assets that cannot be sold. 🤷

Scammers create a smart contract and entice victims with promises of high returns, aggressively pushing them to buy. After purchasing the asset, users see the price rising and are in no rush to sell.

However, when they eventually decide to sell, they discover that selling the tokens is impossible. The scammer then withdraws the victims' funds. Even experienced investors often fail to recognize honeypot schemes. 🤔

📉 Bitcoin continued its decline - overnight, at one point, the cryptocurrency's price dropped below $58,000.

Over the past day, traders' positions worth $262 million have been liquidated. 🪓🩸

👀 But here's the interesting part. On June 24, when Bitcoin last dropped below $60,000 (and did not fall below $58,000 at that time), the Fear & Greed Index plummeted to 30, an extremely low value. Currently, the index stands at 44, still in the fear zone, but the market is now more confident, which is somewhat surprising, especially considering the massive movements of Bitcoin, possibly indicating rapid compensation payments to victims of the Mt.Gox hack. 🤔