Hodlers Digest, July 21-27 – Cointelegraph Magazine

Top Stories This Week

BlackRock Bitcoin ETF records biggest inflow day since March at $523M

BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) notched its biggest day of inflows in over four months, with over $523 million entering the fund on July 23.

The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) scooped up 7,759 Bitcoin on July 22 — worth just over $523 million at the time of writing — according to Hey Apollo data cited by its co-founder, Julian Fahrer, in a July 23 post on X.

The July 22 inflows bring the total assets under management for IBIT to 333,000 BTC, worth around $22 billion at current prices. It marks the seventh-largest day of record for inflows into IBIT in United States dollars.IBIT witnessed its largest single day of inflows on March 18, when $849 million worth of BTC was added to the fund.

The second-largest day on record occurred on March 5, when the fund saw $788 million in inflows, according to Farside Investors data.

Revolut secures UK banking license after three-year wait

Revolut, the London-based fintech company, finally secured a banking license in the United Kingdom after a protracted three-year regulatory approval process. This significant milestone, announced on July 25, marks a pivotal moment for the company as it strengthens and solidifies its position in its home market.

The UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority granted the license with certain restrictions, allowing Revolut to gradually build out its banking operations before a full-scale launch.

Nik Storonsky, the CEO of Revolut, commented on this landmark event:

“We are incredibly proud to reach this important milestone in the journey of the company and we will ensure we deliver on making Revolut the bank of choice for UK customers.”

The company was founded in 2015 and has rapidly grown its customer base, with nine million registered users in the UK and over 45 million globally. It is supported in 35 countries around the world. 

Revolut was valued at $33 billion during a fundraising round in 2021. Currently, the firm is in discussions to sell shares worth about $500 million, potentially increasing its overall valuation to approximately $40 billion.

India cracks down on darknet drug deals using crypto tracking

India’s Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), the country’s nodal drug law enforcement and intelligence agency, is actively monitoring cryptocurrency payments on the darknet as part of its ongoing efforts to combat drug trafficking in the country.

During a Parliamentary discussion on July 24, Nityanand Rai, the minister of state for home affairs, revealed India’s current strategy to reduce the import and inter-state movement of narcotic drugs.

According to data from NCB, the use of cryptocurrencies in drug crimes has been inconsistent over the last five years. However, the number of cases of drug seizure involving darknet and cryptocurrencies has seen a steady increase since 2022.

Rai detailed 13 plans of action against the growing problem of drug trafficking and narco-terrorism in India, two of which targeted the misuse of cryptocurrencies. He said:

“A Special Task Force on Darknet and Crypto Currency has been constituted to monitor suspicious transactions related to drugs on Darknet.”

Spot Ethereum ETFs post $107M net inflows on first day

United States Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) posted net inflows of $106.6 million on their first day of trading despite massive outflows from Grayscale’s freshly converted Ethereum Trust.

BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust ETF led the pack with $266.5 million of inflows, followed closely by the Bitwise Ethereum ETF with $204 million in net inflows. The Fidelity Ethereum Fund ETF came in third with $71.3 million.

The inflows to the “newborn” spot Ether ETFs were enough to overcome bleeding from the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE), which saw outflows of $484.9 million on the day, amounting to 5% of the once $9 billion fund.

ETHE was launched by Grayscale in 2017, allowing institutional investors to buy ETH. However, it imposed a six-month lock-up period on all investments. Its conversion to a spot ETF means that investors can more easily sell their shares, which could explain the high day-one outflows.In January, spot Bitcoin ETFs were marred by a similar dynamic with the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, which saw over $17.5 billion in outflows following the launch of the 11 spot BTC ETFs.

Asset manager says Trump admin may make Bitcoin strategic reserve asset

Asset manager Bryan Courchesne recently appeared on CNBC to discuss Bitcoin’s potential to become a strategic reserve asset of the United States government under a potential future Trump administration.

According to the asset manager, adopting Bitcoin as a reserve asset would be difficult but not impossible. Courchesne pointed to the Department of Justice’s vast holdings of 200,000 BTC, making the U.S. government the largest holder of Bitcoin behind its pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.

Courchesne explained that the Department of Justice could simply transfer the Bitcoin to the United States Department of the Treasury, paving the way for the Treasury to begin accumulating and holding the scarce asset long-term.

Speculation that Bitcoin may become a global reserve asset or a strategic U.S. Treasury asset surged following former President Donald Trump’s announcement of support for the digital asset industry amid mounting worldwide debt and monetary inflation.Trump’s pick of J.D. Vance, a 39-year-old Bitcoin holder, as his running mate also fueled speculation that a future Trump administration could mean a new era for crypto, in which Bitcoin becomes fully integrated into the current financial system.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $67,636, Ether (ETH) at $3,260 and XRP at $0.59. The total market cap is at $2.41 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Helium (HNT) at 20.43%, SATS (1000SATS) at 11.81% and Pyth Network (PYTH) at 10.73%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Lido DAO (LDO) at 19.39%, Worldcoin (WLD) at 17.14% and Mog Coin (MOG) at 16.15%.

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

Most Memorable Quotations

“Despite SEC Chair Gensler’s term ending on June 5, 2026. He will most likely resign by January/February 2025.”

Markus Thielen, CEO of 10x Research

“Although a full demand picture may not emerge for several months, ETH price could be sensitive to inflow numbers of the first days.”

Will Cai, managing director of Kaiko Indexes at Kaiko

“Those affected by the 2014 hacking operation have spent a decade waiting to be reimbursed, but now, with a lengthy bankruptcy process concluded, many will realise considerable profits.”

Bitstamp, cryptocurrency exchange

“The narrative of Bitcoin as an emerging store of value is simpler and largely understandable, while Ethereum’s value proposition is more complex and will require more time and greater educational efforts.”

Adrian Fritz, head of research at 21Shares

“Open source will ensure that more people around the world have access to the benefits and opportunities of AI, that power isn’t concentrated in the hands of a small number of companies, and that the technology can be deployed more evenly and safely across society.”

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta

“The SEC justifies this conduct on the grounds of relevance, burden, and privilege. None holds water.”

Coinbase, cryptocurrency exchange

Prediction of the week

Traders see ETH’s $3.2K pullback as a ‘buy’ while ETFs build steam

Traders suggest that Ether’s price fall to $3,209 has now put it in “buy” territory but warn that it may not last once the “tremendous” impact of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) comes into effect. 

“There are 2 major zones to buy,” pseudonymous crypto trader Sheldon The Sniper told their 490,300 X followers in a July 24 post. He pointed to $3,300 and below as the current buy zone and added that the $3,097 buy zone has already passed.

Sheldon further predicted that Ether could reach $4,000 “in the next week or two,” reiterating two entry points as the “ones you ride to the next all-time high breaks.”

Ether is trading at $3,209 at the time of publication at 5:50 pm UTC, down 7.68% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap data.

The price has dipped another level below the closely watched $3,500 mark. Ether has fluctuated since the debut of spot Ether ETFs, which saw $106 million in net inflows.

However, futures traders were expecting a larger price drop after the debut of Ether ETFs. The 7.68% decline liquidated $42.53 million in short positions, along with just $2 million in long positions, according to CoinGlass data.

FUD of the Week

Bitcoin traders warn BTC price can still dip to $62K or ‘even lower’

Bitcoin may be seeing “impulsive” upside, analysis warns as markets brace for key news events.

In a July 26 post on X, popular pseudonymous trader Crypto Ed joined those cautioning over the latest Bitcoin price spike above $67,000. Bitcoin may be up by around 2% since the July 25 daily close, but not everyone believes in the short-term BTC price strength. For Crypto Ed, the rebound from local lows of $63,430 the day prior, which matched price behavior from the end of last week, is a surprise.

“Bouncing stronger than I was expecting yesterday, looks impulsive,” he summarized.

“I expected a corrective bounce, followed by another leg lower towards 62k and maybe even lower.”

The post nonetheless acknowledged that the market could still fulfill bulls’ wishes and refuse to take downside liquidity.

“That scenario is still possible, but the strength in the current bounce is starting to look like we have already finished leg 2 and heading to new highs again. I’ll let PA develop a bit more to see if I was wrong on low TF,” Crypto Ed concluded alongside an explanatory Elliott Wave chart.

ETH ETFs launched in ‘weak market’ and could pressure Bitcoin — Analyst

A Bitcoin analyst thinks spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may have launched too early and could threaten Bitcoin’s price if no new capital enters the market.

“It would have been better to only have the BTC ETF in 2024,” Capriole Investments founder Charles Edwards told Cointelegraph. He argued that the new Ether ETFs will only distract investors who have been invested in Bitcoin 

“Current BTC ETF holders at the institutional level likely think they should diversify a little and buy the ETH ETF. Without new flows into the whole market, this creates sell pressure on Bitcoin,” Edwards argued.

Since spot Bitcoin ETFs launched on Jan. 11, approximately $17.53 billion has flowed into the 11 products, according to Farside Investors data. And since Ether ETFs launched on July 23, Bitcoin’s dominance has remained fairly stable, up 0.07% over the past 24 hours, according to TradingView data.

While spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net outflows of $78 million on July 23 — the debut trading day of spot Ether ETFs — the following two days have seen inflows of $44.5 million and $31.1 million, respectively.

Fake Zoom malware steals crypto while it’s ‘stuck’ loading, user warns

Crypto scammers are up to no good again, and their latest weapon appears to be malicious links to a webpage that looks and feels almost exactly like the video conferencing platform Zoom, which prompts users to install malware when clicked.

On July 22, pseudonymous non-fungible token collector and cybersecurity engineer NFT_Dreww alerted X users to a new “extremely sophisticated” crypto scam involving fake links for Zoom. Drew said the scammers have already stolen $300,000 worth of crypto from the method.

Like many social engineering scams, Drew explained that scammers typically target non-fungible token holders or crypto whales, asking if they would be interested in licensing their intellectual property, inviting them to X Spaces, or asking them to join a team for a new project.

The scammers will insist on using Zoom and hurry the target to join a meeting in progress using a hard-to-notice malicious link. Once the link is clicked, the user will be met with a “stuck” page showing an infinite loading screen. The page will then prompt the user to download and install ZoomInstallerFull.exe, which is actually malware.

Once installed, the page will redirect back to the official Zoom platform, making the user believe it worked, but by then, the malware has already infiltrated the target computer and stolen the data and loot, explained Drew.According to pseudonymous technologist Cipher0091, whom Drew also credits for his X thread, when the malware is first executed, it adds itself to the Windows Defender exclusion list to prevent antivirus systems from blocking it.

Top Magazine Pieces of the Week

THORChain founder and his plan to ‘vampire attack’ all of DeFi

After posing as an anon girl for six years, THORChain’s founder is now waging war against the “slow rugs” of DeFi.

When Musk Empire listing? Find love in The Sandbox and more: Web3 Gamer

Web3 gaming is taking an unexpected turn this year, says Delab Games head of strategy.

Toyota’s love for Ethereum, HK nods inverse Bitcoin ETF, stablecoin: Asia Express

Asia’s top automobile manufacturer is researching how Ethereum can play a role in autonomous vehicles, Hong Kong approves an inverse Bitcoin ETF and a new stablecoin, and more!

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Cointelegraph Magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.