Bitcoin at 1 million dollars? MicroStrategy buys more

Today’s edition of the weekly recap: Bernstein predicts Bitcoin (BTC) to reach 1 million dollars in 2033; Ethereum ETFs expected to launch in July; MicroStrategy looks to buy more BTC; and more and more fraudsters are developing romantic relationships to defraud their victims.

Bernstein sees BTC at $1 million despite market uncertainty

• Pepe coin (PEPE) experimented up 11% over 24 hours to $0.0000129, with volume rapidly increasing to $1.27 billion. Toncoin (TON) also experienced a similar increase, reaching a new all-time high of $8.13.
• Interestingly, Mantra (OM) also hit a new all-time high of $1.0924 last week, amid expansion efforts in the UAE and project development.
• The NFT market saw a 17% increase, reaching $145.3 million in sales. Bitcoin led this rise with a 50% increase in NFT sales, surpassing Ethereum in volume.
• The price of Bitcoin abandoned to $66,000 before the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decision. Analysts noted that similar market behaviors have been observed in past FOMC-related scenarios.
• Despite bearish sentiment across the broader market last week, asset manager Bernstein foreseen a Bitcoin will reach $1 million by 2033. They also predicted that Bitcoin would reach $200,000 this cycle, supported by ETF-driven demand.
• Bitcoin and Ethereum balances on exchanges reached a four-year low, falling below 2.3 million and 16 million respectively, as investors continued to withdraw their assets from exchanges.

Crypto ETF Developments

• BTC ETF exits hit $200 million on June 11 ahead of Federal Reserve inflation data. These capital outflows occurred as investors anticipated the impacts of the upcoming data release.
• Eric Balchunas, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg, suggested that Ethereum ETFs could go live in July. The potential launch follows recent SEC filings and market preparations.

Major regulatory actions

• Nigeria abandoned tax charges against Binance executives Nadeem Anjarwalla and Tigran Gambaryan. The government withdrew the charges after reviewing the evidence and circumstances.
• In a regulatory effort, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand revoked the operating license of crypto exchange Zipmex, citing regulatory compliance concerns.
• Meanwhile, in the United States, the Federal Trade Commission warned from scams to crypto romances. The FTC has reported a surge in scams in which fraudsters develop romantic relationships to defraud victims of their cryptocurrency holdings.
• Also, OFAC sanctioned an employee of Polyus, a Russian state-owned gold producer, for money laundering via crypto. The individual used cryptocurrencies to facilitate money laundering operations.

Blockchain investments are increasing

• Last week, Paradigm announcement an $850 million fund for early-stage crypto projects. The fund will support startups developing blockchain technology and applications.
• Blockchain startups secure $109.3 million in large funding rounds.
• MicroStrategy revealed plans to buy more Bitcoin with a $500 million convertible note offering. Shortly after, the company enlarged the offer at $700 million.
• Firewall extended its connectivity by partnering with Coinbase International Exchange.
• Ripple offer for dominance in Asia with a new blockchain fund. The fund is designed to support blockchain projects in the Asian market. Ripple aims to strengthen its presence in the region through this initiative.

Cryptographic successes

• OKX Customers fell victim of a SIM swap attack. Hackers hijacked phone numbers to intercept SMS-based 2FA codes and withdraw funds. OKX advised users to adopt application-based authentication methods.
• Crypto scammers impersonated Binance co-founder Yi He will scam victims out of $210,000. They used fake identities and convincing communications to trick individuals into transferring cryptocurrencies.
• The Pirates stole more than $22 million from the UK Lykke exchange. The platform has launched an investigation to identify attackers and is strengthening security protocols.
• UwU also lends lost $19.3 million in a hack. The attackers exploited a vulnerability in the platform’s smart contracts. UwU Lend has suspended operations to conduct a security audit and resolve issues.

Innovations and partnerships

• Last week, Nuffle Labs, spin-off from the NEAR Foundation raised 13 million dollars. The funds will be used to develop blockchain solutions and expand Nuffle Labs’ operational capabilities.
• The IOTA Foundation’s Web3 protocol has been selected for the European Blockchain Sandbox initiative. This includes IOTA in its efforts to provide Web3 solutions for blockchain integration across Europe.
• Polygon spear a new subsidy program with 1 billion POL. The program supports and funds innovative projects within the Polygon ecosystem.
• Polygon also engaged 35 million MATIC to support projects relying on its network.

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