BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, has filed a revised registration statement for its proposed spot Ethereum ETF. The updated S-1 filing also includes information about the company's seed equity investor. Analysts suggest that US spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) could launch in late June. 📈

BlackRock disclosed information about the seed capital investor and committed to acquire 400,000 shares for $25.00 per share on May 21, 2024. It was stated that the shares will be listed and traded under the stock ticker "ETHA". 🚀

This development came on the same day that Hashdex withdrew its spot Ether ETF proposal. No information was given as to why Hashdex made such a decision or whether it plans to resubmit its offer. Like rivals Fidelity, ARK 21Shares, and Franklin Templeton, it has focused solely on spot-based Ether ETFs and has made late changes such as removing support for ETH staking in response to SEC feedback.

A 10x Research analysis report was published in May showing that the Bitcoin price is sensitive to inflation data – the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Analyst Markus Thielen stated that higher than expected TPI creates a bear market for the cryptocurrency, while lower than expected TPI creates a bull market. 📉📈

Additionally, Bitcoin ETF flows accelerated or continued when TFE data showed lower inflation than the previous month. The analysis stated that when the TPI is high, the asset is in a bear market, while when it is lower than expected, it is a bull market.

The research predicts that Bitcoin ETF flows will remain strong for the two weeks leading up to TFE data to be released on June 12 and could push BTC to a new all-time high.

Bitcoin is currently trading at around $68,000, down 1% on the day. However, it managed to recover during the Asian trading session on Thursday morning. BTC has been relatively stagnant for the past two weeks, falling 7.7% from its all-time high in mid-March.

As a result, inflation is no longer a concern and will be a tailwind for Bitcoin as the summer progresses. US inflation based on TFE data was 3.4% for April.

On May 28, ENS Labs proposed expanding the Ethereum Name Service to layer-2 scaling protocols in an effort called “ENSv2.” 🚀 This includes the goal of not only porting parts of the protocol, but also redesigning the architecture by taking the knowledge of the last seven years spent at the edge of Web3.

ENS owns millions of .eth names and Ethereum Name Services, which has thousands of integrations, will expand to layer-2s, becoming more accessible and cheaper for a wider range of users. However, ENS Labs has not yet chosen a specific layer-2 network for migration.

Some big benefits of moving to Layer-2 include lower gas fees for registering and renewing .eth names, more control and customization through a hierarchical registration system, and improved multi-chain compatibility by connecting .eth names across networks.

ENS Labs will submit a proposal requesting an annual budget increase from ENS DAO to cover infrastructure costs associated with development and deployment and to hire additional developers.

The Layer-2 ecosystem, along with the ETH price pump, reached an all-time high of $47.7 billion in total locked value.

ENS's native token did not react to the announcement and was trading at around $26 at the time of writing. ENS has nearly doubled in price in the last two weeks; however, it rose from around $14 in mid-May to hit a three-month high of just under $28 earlier this week.

Gemini's bankrupt crypto lending arm has reportedly successfully recovered nearly all of its clients' digital assets. This has been noted as one of the most successful industry recoveries to date. The crypto exchange founded by billionaire entrepreneurs Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss announced on Wednesday that Gemini Earn customers "received $2.18 billion of their digital assets in kind."

“This means, for example, if you loaned one bitcoin to the Earn program, you will get one bitcoin back,” Gemini said on Twitter. It also means that "you will receive any increase in value of your assets since you lent them to the Earn program."

Gemini's recovery stands out in contrast to other crypto firms falling in 2022. These firms managed to recover only a portion of their clients' stolen assets. Gemini said its payouts were $1 billion more than when it froze withdrawals. This represents a 232% asset recovery in USD terms.

After the successful recovery, Gemini stated that it was fully responsible for Genesis' bankruptcy. “The Genesis bankruptcy was not a crypto problem,” the company said. “It was old-fashioned financial fraud combined with a lack of regulatory uncertainty.”

Former FTX co-CEO Ryan Salame was sentenced to 90 months in prison, according to the decision announced yesterday by Damian Lewis, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Salame previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the Federal Election Commission and operating an unlicensed money transmission business.

Salame served as co-CEO of the company's Bahamas subsidiary, FTX Digital Markets, from 2019 to 2021. His lawyers requested that he be sentenced to at least 18 months in prison, stating that he was the first FTX executive to inform Bahamian authorities of a possible fraud just before the company filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2022.

However, US supervisory authorities recommended a harsher penalty of 10 years in prison. Salame's involvement in two serious federal crimes undermined public confidence in American elections and the integrity of the financial system.

Disclosures made in court proceedings revealed that Salame, along with Bankman-Fried and others, operated an unlicensed money transmission business using FTX, Alameda Research and "North Dimension" to transfer customer funds without the proper license.

In addition, Salame, a 30-year-old former FTX executive, received 3 years probation and was ordered to forfeit over $6 million and pay restitution in excess of $5 million. Earlier this year, Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted of using billions of dollars in customer deposits to cover risky investments made by Alameda Research. 🏛️💰

Nearly a year after launching on Ethereum, PayPal's stablecoin PYUSD is being introduced to the Solana blockchain. This move will offer users the ability to choose between multiple blockchain networks, which will provide greater flexibility and control over their transactions and assets. 🌐💱

PayPal stated that the main motivation for bringing PYUSD to the network was Solana's ability to process large volumes of transactions at high speeds and at extremely low costs. Solana has emerged as the leading blockchain for tokenized transactions and the most used network for stablecoin transfers.

PayPal stated that PYUSD was created with the aim of revolutionizing commerce by providing a fast, easy and cheap payment method. Making PYUSD available on the Solana blockchain advances our goal of creating a stable-value digital currency for trade and payments.

However, PayPal's PYUSD faces stiff competition from already established players such as USDT and Circle USDC. While the market values ​​of these stablecoins are $112 billion and $32 billion respectively, the market value of PYUSD is recorded as approximately $400 million.

The price of a frog-themed cryptocurrency jumped 130% last month, hitting an all-time high of $0.09 and a market cap of $900 million. 🐸💰

According to analysis, the value of this cryptocurrency named Brett (BRETT) may increase further and its market value may reach 1.5 billion dollars.

BRETT is a rapidly developing part of the meme coin industry. This asset, which attracted attention in a short time and became a big trend, appeared earlier this year and managed to attract the masses.

BRETT's market cap is targeting $1 billion and is currently around $900 million (according to CoinGecko data). This makes it the eighth largest cryptocurrency in its field.

BRETT's rapid rise may have been triggered by the support of leading exchanges offering trading services with it. Platforms such as Bitget, BitMart, Gate.io can be given as examples.

In addition, many analysts believe that BRETT's bull run is still in its early stages. Andrew Crypto praised the token's new ATH and predicted that it could rise to $1.5 billion if the market cap remains at its current level of around $0.09.

However, despite the rapid price increase, BRETT lags behind Pepe (PEPE), the leading frog-themed meme coin. Earlier this week, PEPE reached a new price peak, with its market cap rising above $7 billion. However, PEPE could not sustain this momentum and its value fell 8% in the last 24 hours.

Trading with meme coins can be quite risky, so caution is advised before investing.

Although the Bitcoin price has failed to break the psychological $70,000 barrier, it seems likely to move towards a new record high.

Technical analysis

On the daily chart, Bitcoin is on the rise after rebounding from the lower boundary of the descending channel and the $60,000 support level. However, the upper trend line of the channel rejected the cryptocurrency and the $68,000 support zone is now being tested. If this level holds, it will only be a matter of time before Bitcoin reaches a new all-time high.

On the other hand, a decline could lead to a correction towards the $60,000 support level.

On-Chain Analysis

Bitcoin exchange entry - Spent Output Age Bands

Although the Bitcoin price seems to be losing its bullish momentum once again, analyzing investors' behavior can be very useful. This chart shows the Spent Output Age Bands of stock market entries.

Looking at the age bracket that is considered long-term investors, held for more than 6 months, there is no sign of aggressive selling pressure. In fact, long-term holders are just realizing profits slowly and steadily, as they do in any bull trend.

Interestingly, the Spent Output Age Band for long-term holders decreased even more than at lower prices, indicating that long-term holders were anticipating higher prices. This could lead to a supply contraction that could lead to a further increase in price if there is sufficient demand.

According to Glassnode's latest report, long-term Bitcoin holders have started to continue their savings. This is the first time this has happened since December 2023 and follows a period of several months of selling.

“As Bitcoin continues to consolidate just below its all-time high, long-term holders have begun accumulating again for the first time since December 2023,” the report said.

Analysts said spending pressure from these holders has eased over the past week, indicating a return to savings patterns, and volatility may be needed to trigger any new wave of selling.

The report noted that US-based spot Bitcoin ETFs experienced an average net inflow of $242 million per day last week.

This trend suggests that the rally in 2023-24 is mostly driven by spot markets, evidenced by the launch of US spot ETFs and subsequent inflows.

This renewed interest caused immediate buying activity, leading to significant price movements across all time frames, the report noted.

Glassnode also noted that Bitcoin's price movements have been more subtle over the past three months than in previous bull cycles. During this period, BTC has gained 3.3%, 7.4% and 25.6% on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis, respectively, in just five of the last 90 days.

The report also noted that Ethereum has underperformed other leading crypto assets over the past two years, hence a weaker ETH/BTC ratio. However, analysts believe that the SEC's approval of US spot Ethereum ETFs levels the playing field between Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Binance continues to make changes to its platform to improve user experience and respond to the latest market trends. The world's leading exchange will add new trading pairs such as BTC/MXN, XRP/MXN, ENS/USDC and LDO/USDC on Binance Spot and offer trading bot services for these pairs. 📈🌐

It also announced that it will remove some existing trading pairs. As of May 31, CAKE/TUSD, DYDX/BNB and LAZIO/BTC will not be available to users. However, it was stated that these pairs will not affect their presence on Binance Spot.

Binance will perform wallet maintenance for the Ethereum network on May 29 and will temporarily suspend deposits and withdrawals on the ETH network during this period. This process will take approximately two hours and will be turned back on once the network is deemed stable.

Binance temporarily suspended Solana (SOL) withdrawals in March due to "increased transaction volume on the network." Within days, it restored services and apologized to users.

For the third week in a row, digital asset investment products attracted impressive inflows, this time totaling $1.05 billion. These latest figures have contributed to $14.9 billion year-to-date, a flow that's hard to break.

According to CoinShares' Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly Report, the latest price increase has brought total digital asset exchange-traded products (ETPs) to $98.5 billion. Meanwhile, weekly ETP trading volumes increased by 28% to $13.6 billion.

Most of the inflows were directed to Bitcoin ETPs, attracting $1.01 billion. Short-BTC products experienced an outflow of $4.3 million, indicating overall positive sentiment despite recent price increases.

This change in sentiment may have been influenced by investors interpreting the FOMC minutes and recent macro data as slightly dovish.

Investment products offering exposure to Ethereum saw inflows of $36 million, the highest since March. According to the asset manager, this figure was largely driven by the early reaction to the approval of spot Ether ETFs in the United States.

Bullish sentiment spread across altcoins last week as Solana attracted $8 million in inflows.

Litecoin saw inflows of $2.8 million during the same period, while Chainlink and XRP followed with $0.6 million and $0.4 million respectively.

On the other hand, Cardano observed outflows of $1.2 million last week.

In terms of geographic distribution, most inflows were concentrated in the United States, which experienced inflows of $1.03 billion last week. Notably, Grayscale experienced a significant reduction in outflows, falling to just $15 million last week.

Germany and Switzerland saw inflows of $48 million and $30 million respectively.

However, despite the initial enthusiasm around the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in Hong Kong, there were a disappointing $29 million in outflows last week.

In a change in the cryptocurrency exchange landscape, HTX surpassed Coinbase in spot trading volumes for the first time. This milestone was announced by Justin Sun, founder of the TRON blockchain and global advisor to HTX, in a post on social media platform X on May 27.

Sun stated that HTX surpassed Coinbase in spot trading volume for the first time and emphasized that this success is just the beginning of the platform's growth phases. According to CoinGecko data, HTX currently handles approximately $2.4 billion in daily spot trading volume, solidifying its position as one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world.

Coinbase, a leading US-based exchange, handles approximately $2 billion in daily spot trading volume and ranks behind HTX and Bitrue. HTX, formerly Huobi, is one of the oldest and largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. The platform rebranded as HTX in September 2023 to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

On the other hand, Justin Sun's active involvement with HTX has been a topic of discussion in the crypto community. Sun announced his personal HTX wallet at X following skepticism about his ability to actively use and support HTX despite his significant advisory role within the company.

Coinbase's legal challenges

Coinbase's decline in exchange volume rankings coincides with the company navigating several legal challenges in the United States. In June 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a securities infringement lawsuit against Coinbase. The lawsuit alleges that the company operated as an unregistered exchange, broker and clearing agent.

Despite Coinbase's request to dismiss the case, it continues to pursue its hearing. On May 24, the exchange filed a memorandum supporting an interlocutory appeal seeking to challenge a specific decision in the ongoing case. The US Supreme Court also ruled against Coinbase in a dispute regarding a $1.2 million Dogecoin giveaway from 2021. These legal obstacles may have negatively affected the exchange's trading volumes and provided HTX with the opportunity to rise in the rankings.

Semler Scientific (SMLR), a small medical company listed on NASDAQ, announced that it accepts Bitcoin as its "primary treasury reserve asset." The company will purchase Bitcoin using its excess cash.

Semler initiated his first purchase of 581 BTC at a cost of $40 million. By the end of Tuesday trading, SMLR stock was up as much as 38%.

“Bitcoin is now a major asset class with a market cap of over $1 trillion,” said Eric Semler, president of Semler Scientific. Semler believes that Bitcoin has unique characteristics as a scarce and limited asset and can be a reasonable inflation hedge and safe haven in the face of global instability.

Semler stated that he recognized Bitcoin as "digital gold". The company stated that Bitcoin will be used as the main treasury holding tool, "depending on market conditions and Semler Scientific's expected cash needs."

This strategy mimics that of business intelligence software firm MicroStrategy (MSTR), which has been rapidly accumulating Bitcoin since August 2020. MicroStrategy has accumulated more than 214,000 BTC on its balance sheet and its stock price has increased by over 1000%.

After MSTR, Metaplanet, a smaller Japanese investment firm, announced its strategy to buy as much BTC as possible.

Ethereum (ETH) is approaching the $4,000 level with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decision to approve ETH ETFs. This development fuels investor optimism about the leading altcoin's price trajectory.📈

However, the increasing inflow of ETH into cryptocurrency exchanges could be a problem.

ETH has gained almost 20% over the past month. This revival in performance was greatly influenced by the market's anticipation of Ethereum ETFs in the US.

However, Ether inflows to exchanges have peaked since January, marking the highest net deposits in over four months with a net 140.66k ETH on May 26.📊

According to data compiled by IntoTheBlock, such large inflows into exchanges usually indicate selling activity.

With the recent price gains, it appears that a “smart money” investor recently sold 3,025 ETH for 11.8 million DAI, making a profit of approximately $1.11 million.

Additionally, this investor accumulated 17,770 ETH between 2017 and 2020 at an average cost of $182 per ETH.

It was stated that an Ethereum whale recently withdrew 2,856 ETH from Kraken, and this whale had previously accumulated 35,176 ETH from the same exchange at an average cost of $428 per ETH.

However, this sell-off was ill-timed because the crypto market rallied soon after. If Whale had kept his ETHs, his profits would now be around $122 million.

This year, Bitcoin and Ethereum managed to attract crowds with stunning rallies. With the approval of their own spot ETFs, the world's largest cryptocurrencies are expected to attract billions.

Popular analyst Lark Davis made bold predictions for these assets.

Davis, who predicts that Bitcoin will rise to $150,000 and Ethereum to $15,000, states that this situation is supported by market dynamics.

Ethereum ETFs are expected to begin trading, further fueling market enthusiasm.

Davis envisions a scenario in which the peak bull market is combined with billions of dollars in investments from countries, wealth managers, pension funds and retail investors.

According to Davis, the combination of these factors means that current bull trends greatly underestimate potential growth.

As of May 24, the amount of Bitcoin held by all spot ETFs is approximately 1,002,343 BTC. This shows that institutional interest and acceptance of cryptocurrencies is increasing, especially in the United States.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs hold more than one million BTC in total, indicating increasing demand for the asset.

As these ETFs buy and hold Bitcoin, they reduce the current supply in circulation.

Since the supply of cryptocurrency is fixed and decreasing, increased institutional interest and investment through ETFs could intensify the scarcity and further increase demand and prices.

On the other hand, Ethereum price failed to surpass the $4,000 resistance, but according to the latest price analysis, promising signs are emerging that could lead to a much-needed increase.

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, will perform wallet maintenance for the Ethereum (ETH) network on May 29. The process will take approximately two hours. 🕑

To support this development, Binance will temporarily halt deposits and withdrawals on the ETH network and restart transactions once everything is completed.

Binance has promised that trading of assets in the specified ecosystem will not be affected and that it will address all technical requirements that concern users.

Binance stated that it would not make any further announcements on this matter. This means users should take everything they encounter on the Internet with a pinch of salt.

Binance frequently updates its platform to improve user experience. Most recently, Binance expanded the trading options offered on Spot. Additionally, delisting some cryptocurrencies due to security concerns or low liquidity was also on the company's agenda.

Binance announced earlier this month that it would stop supporting Ripple's XRP and stablecoin TUSD as margin assets in Multi-Assets Mode. This change will go into effect today (May 28) and any remaining XRP and TUSD balances in futures wallets will be automatically converted to USDT. 🔄

"Rich Dad Poor Dad" author Robert Kiyosaki debunked the common belief that bonds are generally safe investments. Kiyosaki labeled the notion that “bonds are safe” as the “biggest lie” spread by financial planners to “gullible” investors.

He noted that even AAA-rated bonds are poised to collapse, especially with the looming crisis in the commercial real estate market. Instead, he argued that Bitcoin should be a critical component of a safe investment strategy.

Kiyosaki compared bonds to safer assets such as gold, silver and Bitcoin and suggested that these assets would increase in value. He called on investors to rethink where they place their trust and capital.

Regardless of whether Dent's predictions come true, Kiyosaki reiterated that investing in gold, silver and Bitcoin will be profitable in the long run, and also dismissed the dollar as "fake money." 📉💰

While the overall crypto market is correcting, Chainlink (LINK) rose to almost $19, recording a daily increase of 6%. Analysts are forecasting further gains for the asset, supported by rising whale activity and key partnerships. The large trading volume and the shift from exchanges to their own custody methods indicate that selling pressure is easing.

The cryptocurrency market has experienced a correction in the last few hours. Bitcoin (BTC), for example, fell from $70,600 to $67,500 and settled at its current level of $68K. But not all cryptocurrencies are in the red. One of the standout gainers is Chainlink (LINK), approaching the $19 level with a 6% increase on a daily scale and a 35% increase in the last two weeks.

Chainlink's recent key partnerships and interaction "at the deepest level" with the global monetary system predicts that LINK "will continue to be the winner of the tokenized RWA narrative."

Earlier this month, the Deposit Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) – a leading American financial services company providing clearing, settlement and information services – shook hands with Chainlink and other market participants and unveiled its Smart NAV pilot. The program aims to integrate blockchain technology into traditional finance.

Some key indicators associated with Chainlink's ecosystem also suggest there could be further rallies. According to IntoTheBlock data, total LINK daily trading volume (each transaction exceeds $100,000) has approached the $100 million level, representing a 130% increase compared to the figure observed on May 27.

Finally, we'll touch on Chainlink's exchange net flow, which was predominantly negative last week. The shift from centralized platforms to own custody methods is considered bullish as it immediately reduces selling pressure.

Following the news of the approval of Ethereum's ETF, there was a huge increase in its price. However, the asset still failed to surpass the precious $4,000 level. According to technical analysis, Ethereum price has been correcting in a major downward channel for the past few months. However, following the ETF news, the asset eventually broke through the channel and the $3,600 resistance level. Currently, the market is testing the $4,000 resistance zone. Although the RSI readings are concerning, the market could rally above $4,000 in the short term. Sentiment analysis shows that Ethereum's price has been rising rapidly towards the $4,000 high recently. Although future traders may seem pessimistic, this is not a bad sign. This shows that the futures market is not overheated this time and the probability of a long liquidation wave is lower compared to before. 📈🚀

Analysts are predicting a potential rally for XRP, with the target at $1.20-$1.50, supported by critical breakouts at $0.70-$0.75. 🚀

Ripple v. The SEC lawsuit could significantly impact the value of XRP. Past partial court victories have triggered price increases. ⚖️

XRP has fluctuated between $0.51 and $0.54 in the last week, but is up 4% on a 14-day scale, and most analysts expect the uptrend to reach new heights in the near future.

According to the analyst, XRP's recent performance indicates that the future target is in the $1.20-$1.50 range, with the $0.70-$0.75 region being the "critical exit point."

The lawsuit between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission could cause serious fluctuations in the value of XRP. Ripple thinks it has the upper hand in the battle, having achieved three partial court victories last year.