Hodler’s Digest, June 2-8 – Cointelegraph Magazine

Top news this week

GameStop rally lifts Roaring Kitty’s stock price to $1 billion

Keith Gill, also known by his Internet nicknames “Roaring Kitty” and “DeepFuckingValue,” could soon become a billionaire thanks to his investment in GameStop (GME) stock. The trader known for his 2021 GameStop short squeeze has seen the value of his holdings rise after announcing a new $180 million investment in GME stock. The announcement led to a significant rise in GameStop’s stock price, increasing its market capitalization and placing it among the top 400 publicly traded companies in the United States. Meanwhile, Gill faces scrutiny and potential investigations into market manipulation.

Bitcoin open interest surges, traders warn of ‘whip saw’.

Bitcoin’s open interest increased by $2.02 billion over three days, reaching a total of $36.92 billion on June 6. This has led traders to speculate about a potential “whipsaw” effect, where price direction suddenly reverses due to the large number of leveraged positions. Experts suggest that while this could lead to a short-term price correction, it also shows increased speculative activity that could impact Bitcoin’s price volatility.

A new law gives the US president the power to block access to digital assets.

A new U.S. law gives the president significant powers to block access to digital assets, specifically targeting foreign companies linked to terrorism. The law, called the Terrorism Financing Prevention Act, broadly defines digital assets, including digital representations of value recorded cryptographically on a distributed ledger. Critics argue that the law’s broad scope could effectively control the digital asset landscape by steering users toward Know Your Customer compliant, permissioned blockchains.

The largest Bitcoin mining company sold 63% of the BTC mined in May.

Marathon Digital sold 63% of its Bitcoin production in May, according to its first report since the Bitcoin halving. This represents 390 of the 616 BTC mined. The large sale contrasted with other mining companies such as Riot Platforms, which sold no bitcoin at all, and CleanSpark, which sold only small amounts. Miners are trying to expand their fleets and improve efficiency to remain competitive as rewards diminish. CleanSpark, for example, is said to be “active in the M&A space,” while Marathon is exploring overseas opportunities.

Cryptocurrency exchanges see $3 billion worth of Ethereum exits following ETF approval.

$3 billion worth of Ether has been removed from centralized cryptocurrency exchanges since Ether spot exchange trading funds were approved in the United States on May 23. This is a sign that a supply shortage may occur soon. According to CryptoQuant data, the amount of Ethereum on exchanges decreased by approximately 797,000 between May 23 and June 2, equivalent to $3.02 billion. Low exchange holdings mean there are fewer coins available for sale as investors move their coins into their own storage for purposes other than immediate sales.

winners and losers

Bitcoin this weekend (BTC) It’s in $71,248ether (ETH) In ~ $3,813 and XRP In ~ $0.52. The total market capitalization is $2.64 $1 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers this week are Notcoin. (no) 82.72%, JasmyCoin (Jasmi) 38.05% and ORDI (Ordi) 26.99%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Bitget Token. (BGB) At -11.60%, beam (beam) -10.93% and Bonk (bonk) -9.70%.

For more information on cryptocurrency prices, read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

most memorable quotes

“This is really the first wave of early adopters, and I think the next wave will be much larger institutions.”

Jenny JohnsonFranklin Templeton Chairman and CEO

“In 10 years they (AGI machines) will be smarter than you or me. We will have superintelligence in the true sense of the word.”

Leopold AschenbrennerFormer OpenAI researcher

“Carefully balancing reasonable regulation with robust research is the foundation of Switzerland’s success. (…) Innovation requires freedom to be creative!”

alexander brunnerAI, Blockchain, Web3 corporate advisor

“If people understand the consequences of the changes in (Washington DC), the cryptocurrency market will hit new all-time highs.”

mat hoganBitwise Asset Management Chief Investment Officer

“We are not an Ethereum maxis. We are expanding Maxis.”

Eli Ben-SassonStarkware CEO

“(The) SEC knew it was in the ETH ETF’s corner.”

bernstein

This week’s predictions

Bitcoin bull market’s ‘most important chart’ hits record high of $94 trillion.

Bitcoin is expected to further strengthen its current bull market thanks to record-high global liquidity. A recent analysis by Philip Swift, founder of on-chain data platform LookIntoBitcoin, shows global liquidity approaching $100 trillion.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets are famous for their sensitivity to global liquidity trends. This is the conclusion of Swift, whose platform tracks the global M2 currency supply and compares it to BTC price action.

In US dollar terms, M2 is currently worth $94 trillion. This is more than ever before and $3 trillion more than when Bitcoin hit its all-time high of $69,000 in late 2021.

Since hitting a local low of $85 trillion at the end of 2022, coinciding with the cryptocurrency bear market, M2 has rebounded 10%.

“The most important chart for this bull market just hit a new all-time high,” Swift wrote of X. “Are you ready?”

FUD of the week

Hackers exploit Chrome plugin to steal millions of dollars from Binance accounts.

A Chinese trader lost $1 million in a hacking scam using a promotional Google Chrome plugin called Aggr. The promotional plugin steals cookies that hackers use to bypass passwords and two-factor authentication verification and log into victims’ Binance accounts. Pseudonymous trader CryptoNakamao shared his distressing experience after discovering unauthorized trading activity on his Binance account on May 24. By the time they reached out to Binance’s support for help, the hackers had already withdrawn all their funds.

New York lawyer indicts 3 people in connection with ‘Evolved Apes’ NFT fraud

Three Britons involved in the “Evolved Apes” non-fungible token “rug pull” scam have been indicted in the United States on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. The defendants increased the price of 10,000 NFTs with false promises to transfer funds and develop a video game before abandoning the project, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said in a June 6 statement.

Developer loses $40,000 in 2 minutes after posting secret key to GitHub

Brian Guan, co-founder of Web3 streaming app Unlonely, reported losing $40,000 after accidentally revealing his wallet keys to GitHub. He shared on X that the secret key was in his public repository. The developer said he had forgotten that his secret key was in the repository. When he was asked about the timeline of the theft, Guan revealed that it took only two minutes for someone to exploit the exposed keys to steal the funds.

Best magazine articles of the week

Become a Balinese cryptocurrency digital nomad like me: here’s how.

Living as a cryptocurrency digital nomad in Bali on this island paradise is 61.5% cheaper than living in the United States. So what’s stopping you?

Polygon didn’t plan to beat Ethereum: Anurag Arjun, X Hall of Flame

Anurag Arjun, co-founder of Polygon and Avail, said the turning point for PoS networks is “giving users something useful to get feedback back.”

Longevity expert: AI will help us become ‘biologically immortal’ from 2030

Longevity Escape Velocity means that technology extends our lifespan faster than we age. Jose Luis Cordeiro said that will happen around 2030.

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editorial staff

Cointelegraph Magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.