Hodler’s Digest, June 16-22 – Cointelegraph Magazine

06/22/2024

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2024.06.22 17:22

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SEC to drop investigation into Ethereum — Consensys

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is dropping its investigation into whether Ether is a security, Ethereum developer Consensys disclosed on June 19. The investigation focused on whether Ethereum’s 2014 initial coin offering constituted an unregistered securities offering. Consensys said the SEC’s decision came after it sent a letter to the agency on June 7 asking if it would end its investigation into Ether (ETH), as the regulator approved exchange-traded funds in May “premised on ETH being a commodity.”

Kraken recovers $3 million from CertiK, ending bug bounty saga

Crypto exchange Kraken has recovered missing funds from CertiK following a high-profile bug bounty exploit fiasco. Kraken confirmed the return of digital assets worth nearly $3 million on June 20, putting an end to the Kraken-CertiK saga. The exchange claimed that a “security researcher” maliciously withdrew from its treasury after discovering and sharing an existing bug. Shortly after, blockchain security firm CertiK publicly identified itself as the “security researcher,” saying it had informed Kraken of an exploit that allowed it to remove millions of dollars from the exchange’s accounts. CertiK also claimed to have been threatened by the exchange’s team.

SEC shoots down Ripple’s argument for a lower penalty

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected Ripple’s request for a lower penalty amid its legal battle with the regulatory agency, arguing that Ripple’s proposed $10 million penalty is insufficient compared to the $876.3 million sought. Ripple had cited the SEC’s settlement with Terraform Labs as a benchmark, but the agency believes the circumstances are not comparable, as Terraform agreed to additional measures like leadership changes and investor repayments. The SEC’s proposed penalties for Ripple total nearly $2 billion, which includes $198.2 million in prejudgment interest, $876.3 million in civil penalty and another $876.3 million in disgorgement.

Hodler’s Digest, June 16-22 – Cointelegraph Magazine

Ethereum price to $10K is the most ‘asymmetric bet’ in crypto — Analyst

Ether’s price reaching the $10,000 mark could be the most “asymmetric bet” in the current market conditions, according to crypto analyst Tyler. Despite its current struggles to surpass $4,000, factors like the upcoming Ether exchange traded-fund and a significant drop in Ether supply on exchanges could drive this growth. A potential rise to $10,000 would mean a 194% increase from current levels.

Bitwise amended Ethereum ETF filing says Pantera interested in $100M buy

Bitwise has updated its spot Ether exchange traded-fund (ETF) filing, revealing that Pantera Capital is interested in investing up to $100 million in the fund. The document noted that expressions of interest are not binding, meaning Pantera may decide to purchase more, fewer, or none of the shares. The filings are the final part of an approval process before the spot Ether ETFs are allowed to be publicly traded, an event that SEC Chair Gary Gensler believes will happen “sometime over the course of this summer.”

Hodler’s Digest, June 16-22 – Cointelegraph Magazine

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $64.010, Ether (ETH) at $3.501 and XRP at $0.48. The total market cap is at $2.34 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Ethereum Name Service (ENS) at 25.77%, Lido DAO (LDO) at 14.04% and Pendle (PENDLE) at 13.53%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week are zkSync (ZK) at -33.93%, Chiliz (CHZ) at -30.15% and Starknet (STRK) at -24.81%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Hodler’s Digest, June 16-22 – Cointelegraph Magazine

Most Memorable Quotations

“Previous statements made by SEC officials about the likely classification of Ether might have been embarrassing to an agency that claims classification is ‘clear.’”

Carol Goforth, professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law

“I do believe the [Bitcoin] ETF, not from what it is, but from what it means, has had a large effect. And over the past couple of months, we’ve seen an incredible change in mentality.”

Sheraz Ahmed, managing partner of Storm Partners

“The expanding utility of stablecoins showcases their potential to enhance economic inclusivity and reshape traditional finance.”

Sami Start, CEO of Transak

“The Enforcement Division of the SEC has notified us that it is closing its investigation into Ethereum 2.0.”

Consensys, developer of Ethereum

“Soon, not being involved in crypto and digital assets is going to be a career risk.”

Kunal Bhasin, digital assets co-lead at KPMG Canada

“Corporate adoption is just complete utter failure. It’s amateur league against the pros.”

Marc Degen, chairman of Trust Square

Prediction of the week

Bernstein analysts expect $200K Bitcoin price by 2025 due to spot BTC ETF flows

Analysts at research and brokerage firm Bernstein predict that Bitcoin could reach nearly $200,000 by the end of next year, following strong inflows into spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The analysts based this prediction on the assumption that spot Bitcoin ETFs may represent around 7% of the total circulating Bitcoin supply by the end of 2025.

“We see Bitcoin ETFs as on the cusp of approvals at major wirehouses/large private bank platforms in Q3/Q4,” Bernstein analysts Gautam Chhugani and Mahika Sapra wrote in a note to clients.

The analysts said that, currently, nearly 80% of the spot Bitcoin ETF flows come from self-directed retail investors through broker platforms, while institutional integrations with wirehouses are still in their infancy. They added:

“We expect spot Bitcoin ETFs to touch ~$190B AuM by ‘25E market peak and $3Tn by 2033.”

Hodler’s Digest, June 16-22 – Cointelegraph Magazine

FUD of the Week

US prosecutors oppose Ethereum dev’s motion to reduce 5-year sentence

Officials with the U.S. Justice Department have written a letter opposing former Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith’s motion to reduce his 2022 sentence for violating sanctions on North Korea. Griffith spoke at a crypto and blockchain conference in the country in 2019 about how the country could use crypto to evade sanctions and for money laundering. A judge sentenced the former Ethereum developer to 63 months in prison and a $100,000 fine in April 2022, which, considering his time behind bars before the sentencing hearing, sets his expected release date in January 2026.

‘Pharma Bro’ claims Barron Trump holds private keys to DJT token

Martin Shkreli, also known as the “Pharma Bro,” now claims Donald Trump’s 18-year-old son, Barron Trump, launched the TrumpCoin token with his father’s approval and holds the private keys to its smart contract address. Shkreli, who spent more than six years in prison for securities fraud, claims Barron Trump approached him to launch the Solana-based token in April. According to Birdeye data, the token was worth $146 million as of June 20.

41% of top ZK airdrop wallets have already sold everything — Nansen

Nearly 41% of the top wallets that received the new zkSync (ZK) token in its June 17 airdrop sold their entire allocation within a day, contributing to a 34.5% drop in ZK’s price. Data from blockchain analytics firm Nansen shows that nearly 41% of tracked addresses sold their entire airdrop, while 29.2% sold at least some of their tokens. The total amount sold across both cohorts was over 486 million ZK. Just over 30% of the top receiving wallets have held onto their ZK tokens. At least 491,000 wallets have claimed the airdropped.