BlackRock bullish on Bitcoin, Gemini CEO’s ‘delusion,’ CEXs’ unhappy staff

By Investor Empires On Jul 9, 2023

Top news this week

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink recently made pro-crypto remarks, claiming that “Bitcoin is an international asset” and suggesting that US regulators consider how a direct Bitcoin-related ETF could democratize finance in the country. Under Fink, BlackRock attempted to launch a BTC ETF with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase as its monitoring partner. It is not clear if the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve the investment vehicle, given its track record of rejecting all previously submitted spot BTC ETF applications to date.

Gemini is suing the Digital Currency Group and Barry Silbert over the Genesis and Earn software

Gemini has announced legal action against the Digital Currency Group (DCG) and its CEO, Barry Silbert, alleging “defrauding creditors.” Genesis, a subsidiary of DCG, was the crypto lender responsible for operating the Earn program in partnership with the cryptocurrency exchange. The lawsuit follows an open letter posted by Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini, who slammed Silbert for allegedly trying to play the victim card while owing more than $1 billion to Earn investors. “Not even Sam Bankman Fried was capable of such a delusion,” Winklevoss wrote in the letter.

Bitcoin Bull Emerges: Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao Reveals When

Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has provided his predictions for the upcoming Bitcoin bull market. In a July 5 Twitter “Ask Me Anything” session, CZ gave his thoughts on the next rally, explaining that the bitcoin price has historically moved in four-year upward cycles, and his best bet was that this would continue to happen. While admitting that he cannot predict the future, Zhao emphasized the upcoming Bitcoin halving in 2024 and declared 2025 as the most likely year for the next bull run, saying, “The year after the Bitcoin halving is usually a bull year.”

The UK government is moving ahead with a bill that aims to enable authorities to confiscate cryptocurrencies

UK lawmakers are pushing ahead with legislation aimed at expanding the authorities’ ability to target cryptocurrencies used for illicit purposes. The June 27 version of the bill included provisions to allow authorities greater flexibility in seizing and civil recovery of crypto assets. In addition, the legislation clarified the government’s authority over digital assets “intended to be used for terrorist purposes” or related reasons. Lawmakers will consider all amendments to the bill before it becomes law with royal assent.

Data shows that Binance, Coinbase, and Gemini employees are among the least happy employees

According to a quadrant chart from technology recruiting firm TrueUp using data from Glassdoor, cryptocurrency exchanges including Gemini, Binance and Coinbase are home to some of the least happy employees in the industry. The chart shows the happiest and least happy workers across 27 of the most valuable crypto companies in various stages of maturity. Defunct cryptocurrency lender Celsius, cryptocurrency exchange Gemini and trading firm Amber Group top the list of least satisfied employees, followed by Binance and Coinbase. Binance said its “hardline” business culture could explain some of the results, while Crypto Recruit founder Neil Dundon cautioned that data should be taken into account.

Winners and losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) in $30,321ether (ETH) in 1868 USD And XRP in $0.46. The total market value of $1.18 trillion according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, Bone ShibaSwap was the three biggest gainers of the week. (bone) by 40.88%, Mikr (MKR) at 12.94% and flow (flow) by 11.73%.

The three biggest altcoin losers this week are ApeCoin (monkey) At -15.13%, it’s excellent (XLM) by -13.31% and Phantom (FTM) at -12.63%.

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

Most memorable quotes

“The year after the Bitcoin halving is usually a bull year.”

Changpeng ZhaoBinance CEO

“Permanent decentralized and futures trading is much newer, so there is a high growth opportunity to be had with on-chain derivatives.”

Henrik AndersonChief Investment Officer, Apollo Crypto

Let’s be clear: Bitcoin is an international asset.

Larry FinkCEO of BlackRock Corporation

“The future tells me that we are heading towards augmented intelligence that will end up with artificial intelligence mingling with ordinary minds. Perhaps this is the future of humanity.”

Paul ArduinoChief Technology Officer of Tether

“It takes a special kind of person to owe $3.3 billion to hundreds of thousands of people and believe, or at least pretend to believe, that they are some kind of victim.”

Cameron WinklevossGemini CEO

“I think investment in bitcoin-related startups, especially at an early stage, has doubled in the last year. So that’s a positive.”

Adam BuckBlockstream CEO

predict the week

BTC price remains “undoubtedly bullish” with $30k Bitcoin buyers emerging

The bitcoin bulls were hoping that fresh yearly highs would allow BTC/USD to break out of its months-long trading range forever, but they ended up disappointed. The largest cryptocurrency experienced rejection at $31,500 this week, and fell below the $30,000 mark just hours later to challenge the bottom of the range.

Likewise, long-term views continued the general bullish trend, with short-term bounces and sideways movement below the expected resistance.

Anonymous trader TraderKoz dispelled fears of a deeper collapse that would challenge Bitcoin’s bullish trend. “With so many people talking about short-term pullbacks, it’s important to consider the bigger picture and not lose focus,” he wrote on July 6, adding: “Whether we pull back to 28k, 29k, or somewhere else, weekly chart Undoubtedly bullish (in my opinion). I will look to bid lower.”

FUD week

MPC’s multi-loop bridge sees outflows of $100m+, raising concerns of exploitation

Abnormally large outflows from the Multilateral Account Bridge (MPC) platform are Raising fears of multimillion-dollar exploitation. On July 6, observers noted that more than $102 million in cryptocurrency had been withdrawn from the Multichain Phantom Bridge on the Ethereum side, along with $666,000 from Dogechain and $5 million from Moonriver. Several investigators in the series have taken to Twitter to describe the event as a potential exploit. Multichain said the movements were abnormal and the team is “not sure what happened and is currently investigating.”

The Coinbase domain name is said to be used by scammers in the high-profile attacks

Coinbase users have taken to Twitter to report scams and phishing attacks involving the company’s services and apps in recent weeks, including allegations that the scammers are using the cryptocurrency exchange’s domain name. According to reports, the perpetrators used the “help@coinbase.com” email to scam users and gain access to accounts. Coinbase said that anyone who cheats its customers will be prosecuted.

BarnBridge calls DAO halting “all work” on DeFi protocol amid SEC investigation

BarnBridge DAO members have been told to pause “all work” related to the project following a reported investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Douglas Park, an attorney for the decentralized independent organization, revealed the news to members in a post on the platform’s Discord channel. All BarnBridge-related products are currently on hold, including their liquidity pools. DAO members do not receive compensation for work that flows from the organization’s investment efforts.

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Cointelegraph writers and reporters contributed to this article.