Hyperbitcoinization is underway, RFK seeks Bitcoin donations…

Top news this week

Hyperbitcoinization is coming, says Bitcoin OG as ‘wholecoiners’ hit a million

Bitcoin crossed a major threshold this month – there are over 1 million addresses containing at least 1 BTC. Data from Glassnode shows an upward pattern regarding the amount of so-called Bitcoin “wholecoiners”. If this trend continues, bitcoin’s escalating price could soon make buying it not just a luxury but something completely unattainable, according to Adam Back, co-founder and CEO of Blockstream Bitcoin. This type of hyper digital currency marks the moment when the benefits of Bitcoin for financial transactions will eventually replace existing financial institutions with a crowd-driven system, with Bitcoin becoming the world’s virtual value system.

FTX Seeks $244 Million Recovery From ‘Massively Inflated’ Embed Acquisition

FTX leadership is looking to recoup more than $240 million from insiders and executives who benefited from FTX’s “extremely bloated” acquisition of clearinghouse Embed in September. According to court filings, Embed’s chief technology officer, Lawrence Bell, was shocked that FTX paid so much for the company after a brief meeting with its then-CEO, Michael Giles. Bell described FTX’s due diligence process with a cowboy emoji. Lawyers familiar with the matter accused FTX of making disproportionate payments to Embed shareholders, including $55 million paid to its CEO.

Robert F Kennedy Jr. to accept campaign donations in Bitcoin

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be the first presidential candidate in US history to accept campaign donations in bitcoin, he announced during his debut as a presidential candidate at the Bitcoin 2023 conference. He hailed the cryptocurrency as a “symbol of democracy and freedom” during the event. By attending a Bitcoin event, RFK Jr. is not targeting. Not only voters, but also targeting a potential source of millions of dollars in donations. The Democratic nominee is current President Joe Biden.

Voyager’s bankruptcy plan has been approved, and customers can recover 35.7% of claims initially

Voyager’s bankruptcy plan was approved on May 17 and its customers can now expect to receive 35.72% of their claims initially, either in crypto via the Voyager app or cash, after 30 days. According to Voyager, it had $1.33 billion in assets for redemption as of May 8, of which $629.8 million was available for initial recovery, on claims of $1.8 billion. If FTX/Alameda Research’s claim for preferential recovery is unsuccessful, the initial recovery to creditors could increase. For that claim, Voyager is booking $445 million. Voyager may also be able to recover funds from bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.

Coin Cafe has been ordered to pay back $4.3 million in fees that ‘wiped’ off investors’ Bitcoin accounts

Cryptocurrency trading platform Coin Cafe has been ordered to pay back $4.3 million to its users after charging them an “exorbitant and undisclosed fee” for storing bitcoin on the platform – resulting in some accounts being completely drained of their funds. The New York State Attorney General’s office said one New York investor incurred fees of more than $10,000 in one month, while another investor suffered fees of up to $51,000 over a 13-month period.

Winners and losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) in $26,889ether (ETH) in $1,813 And XRP in $0.46. The total market value of $1.13 trillion according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, the three biggest gainers for the week were Render Token (RNDR) up 29%, Conflux (CFX) up 20.52%, and SingularityNET (AGIX) up 19.94%.

The three biggest losers in altcoins this week are Pepe (PEPE) with -11.58%, Klaytn (KLAY) with -5.75% and Bitcoin SV (BSV) with 5.38%.

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

Most memorable quotes

“What makes ordinal so interesting on Bitcoin, unlike any other platform, is that it builds on the most secure blockchain in the world.”

David Tse, professor at Stanford University

“We are seeing another wave of interest in bitcoin, largely driven by corporate and institutional adoption.”

Alex LishmanRiver CEO

“You create a (virtual) world in which you see new experiences, new content, new ideas, and the sum of that is always more positive than negative.”

Sebastien Borgetco-founder of The Sandbox

“If the public invests money and expects profit based on the efforts of others, in a joint venture, it is a security.”

Gary GenslerChairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission

“For[BRC-20]to really have the level of integrity that Bitcoin provides, there needs to be a hard fork that allows these things to be validated and validated and has the integrity of Bitcoin.”

Eli Ben Sassonco-founder of StarkWare

“Whether it is bitcoin or cryptocurrency, no one has been able to articulate what problem it actually solves. (…) I can send $5 to anyone in this room right now using Venmo. (…) So what can a bank digital currency do? Central to do that Venmo can’t do?

Neil KashkariPresident of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

predict the week

Bitcoin price risk? Analysts warn that the US debt deal will lead to a trillion dollar liquidity crisis

Bitcoin is staring at potential losses heading into the third quarter of 2023 as US lawmakers are likely to reach an agreement on raising the debt ceiling.

Raising the debt ceiling means the US Treasury can issue new bonds to raise liquidity to meet previous commitments, draining liquidity from riskier assets like bitcoin. An independent market analyst with the pseudonym Incom Sharks said that such macroeconomic hurdles could prevent Bitcoin from regaining its annual highs of more than $30,000 in the coming months.

“Our range is likely to be 20,000-30,000 and until we get an altseason,” the analyst noted, adding that “the new money doesn’t come in; everything just spins. (…) unless we get a new novel or the stock to find a way For a rally, the US election in 2024 is likely to be the next big catalyst.”

FUD week

SEC Warns Filecoin “Meets Definition of Security” – Grayscale

US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) It asked Grayscale Investments to withdraw its application for the Filecoin Trust, warning that its underlying asset, Filecoin (FIL), could be considered a security. Grayscale initially submitted a Form 10 application to the regulator to launch its updated Filecoin Trust product in April. This week, it received a letter from the SEC warning that FIL “meets the definition of security” under federal law and asking the company to withdraw its application.

‘Trusted’ marketplace sold fake Trezor wallets to steal cryptocurrency – Kaspersky

Cybersecurity company Kaspersky has reported an issue with fake hardware wallets impersonating major wallet company Trezor. According to the Kaspersky team, attackers gained access to users’ crypto assets by replacing the internal firmware. The fake Trezor wallet allowed fraudsters to steal Bitcoin via a replaced microcontroller, enabling the attackers to gain control of a user’s private keys. A standard set of wallet functions was provided by the fake wallet, which is similar to the original Trezor Model T wallet.

‘Inferno Drainer’ scam has stolen $5.9 million since March

A new scam-as-a-service called “Inferno Drainer” has reportedly stolen nearly $6 million from unsuspecting crypto users, according to Web3 scam-disclosure scam sniffer. Inferno Drainer advertises that it provides a ready-made code to scammers, allowing them to steal cryptocurrency in exchange for 20% of the scammer’s crypto “loot”. The specified address was linked to more than 689 phishing websites that have been created since March 27 and have extorted millions of victims on various networks, including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon and BNB Chain.

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