Coin360 Daily Dispatch | Crypto Market Updates & Highlights | June 20, 2024

Crypto Market Update

Table of Contents

Market Updates

• Bitcoin Whales Influence Market Volatility
• Ethereum Market Heating Up with Rising MVRV
• MicroStrategy Buys 11,931 BTC for $786 Million
• Australia's First Bitcoin ETF Launches on ASX

Regulatory and Institutional Developments

• CFTC Investigates Jump Trading Firm
• Stablecoin Issuers Hold $120 Billion in U.S. Debt
• Singapore Identifies DPT Providers as High-Risk
• Italy Enhances Crypto Market Surveillance
• DeFi Technologies Refutes CoinSnacks Report

Blockchain and Crypto Platforms

• BNB Chain’s Haber Hard Fork Activated
• LayerZero's ZRO Token Airdrop Launches
• EigenLayer Announces Second Phase of Airdrop
• Solana-Ether Ratio Hits New Low
• Lista Debuts on Binance with 13% Price Surge
• Io.net Expands DePin Capabilities
• 1inch Partners with Blockaid for DeFi Security
• Polkadot Proposes Shorter Unstaking Period

Corporate Moves and Acquisitions

• BitFlyer to Acquire FTX Japan
• Particle Network Secures $15 Million Funding

Specific Token News

• Martin Shkreli Claims Barron Trump Launched DJT Token
• AI-Themed Tokens Surge Amid Nvidia Stock Rise
• AO Protocol Launches on Arweave
• Worldcoin Expands World ID Orbs to Ecuador

Innovations and New Products

• Manta Network's $10M Moon Mission Meme Grant
• Midas Launches mBASIS Yield-Bearing Token
• Konami and Avalanche Launch Resella NFT Platform
• Azuki Appoints Steve Chung as COO

Bitcoin Whales Influence Market Volatility

Bitcoin prices fell 2.8% to $64,455 before recovering to $65,000 following a rise to near $66,500, with whale activity and spoofing bids contributing to the volatility. Bitcoin trader fatigue is at record levels, with extended FUD and whale accumulation potentially signaling a buying opportunity. A smart whale re-entered the market, purchasing 6,070 BTC worth $395 million, signaling confidence in a price rebound. 

Bitcoin leads with 86% of holders in profit, followed by Ethereum at 83.19%. Miner reserves dropped to multi-year lows while OTC selling hit its highest daily volume since March. Central banks globally diverge in monetary policy, with the Swiss National Bank cutting rates to 1.25%.

Ethereum Market Heating Up with Rising MVRV

Ethereum's MVRV metric is rising quickly, suggesting the market is heating up with a 29.9% jump in 30 days. Open interest (OI) has cooled to $11.5 billion with $400 million liquidated since June 5. Despite price drops, Ethereum holders continue to grow, indicating strong market confidence. The SEC has closed its ETH 2.0 probe, and Pantera Capital plans a $100 million buy, signaling institutional interest. Ethereum is currently trading at $3,400-$3,556.

MicroStrategy Buys 11,931 BTC for $786 Million

As of June 20, 2024, MicroStrategy acquired an additional 11,931 BTC for $786 million, bringing its total holdings to 226,331 BTC, worth nearly $15 billion at an average price of $36,798 per BTC. The recent purchase spanned from late April to June 19, with Bitcoin bought at an average price of $65,883.

Australia's First Bitcoin ETF Launches on ASX

Australia's first Bitcoin ETF launched by VanEck on the ASX recorded a trading volume of $1.3 million on its debut day, with 96,476 shares traded. Despite starting smaller compared to U.S. counterparts, the ETF reflects growing retail and professional interest in Bitcoin investment through regulated channels.

CFTC Investigates Jump Trading Firm

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is investigating trading firm Jump regarding its crypto activities, focusing on trading and investment. This scrutiny is part of broader regulatory efforts by the CFTC and SEC targeting crypto entities, including recent enforcement actions against major platforms like Binance and FTX. Jump and the CFTC have not provided further comments on the matter.

Stablecoin Issuers Hold $120 Billion in U.S. Debt

Stablecoin issuers have become significant holders of U.S. debt, ranking 18th globally with over $120 billion in Treasury notes. Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC) lead with substantial holdings, highlighting their growing influence amid concerns over U.S. debt management. Legislation to regulate stablecoins is nearing enactment, potentially reshaping crypto's regulatory landscape.

Singapore Identifies DPT Providers as High-Risk

Singapore's updated Money Laundering National Risk Assessment identifies digital payment token (DPT) service providers as high-risk in the financial sector. The report highlights increasing instances of money laundering through DPTs, alongside vulnerabilities in sectors like banking and cross-border payments. Singapore plans amendments to the Payment Services Act to address these risks.

Italy Enhances Crypto Market Surveillance

Italy plans to enhance surveillance of the crypto market with fines reaching up to 5 million euros, aimed at curbing risks associated with digital assets. A draft decree, set for cabinet approval, outlines penalties for insider trading and market manipulation. The initiative aligns with EU efforts to regulate the sector through designated authorities like Italy's central bank and Consob.

DeFi Technologies Refutes CoinSnacks Report

DeFi Technologies criticized a CoinSnacks report, calling it "defamatory" and "misleading," alleging it was commissioned by short-sellers. The report suggested the company's stock surged artificially due to promotional activities, leading to a 28% drop. DeFi Technologies refuted these claims, stating the report lacked merit and aimed to manipulate its stock price.

BNB Chain’s Haber Hard Fork Activated

BNB Chain activated the Haber hard fork with BEP-336, reducing BNB Smart Chain's layer-2 costs by 90%. This update introduces blob-carrying transactions to optimize data processing and storage, benefiting decentralized applications. BNB Greenfield's decentralized storage solution will also see enhancements with a new data archive layer called BlobHub.

LayerZero's ZRO Token Airdrop Launches

LayerZero's ZRO token airdrop, which went live on June 20, 2024, requires a 10-cent donation per token to the Protocol Guild, raising up to $18.5 million with matched donations. Despite mixed reactions, the ZRO token reached a $1.1 billion market cap shortly after launch. Many DeFi users expressed dissatisfaction over small allocations, with eligibility favoring certain NFT holders. Nearly 1.28 million wallets are eligible, and the fully diluted valuation stands at $4.5 billion.

EigenLayer Announces Second Phase of Airdrop

On June 19, EigenLayer announced the second phase of its airdrop for LRT users, active until September 7. Blast's airdrop will launch on June 26, distributing tokens equally between users and developers, with eligibility requiring a Blast dashboard sign-in. Fuse Network began its second airdrop on June 17, offering 2.5 million FUSE tokens through tasks like staking and social media engagement, addressing previous campaign issues.

Solana-Ether Ratio Hits New Low

The Solana-Ether ratio has plummeted by 35% in just one month, hitting its lowest level since March 13. Analysts are predicting further declines as technical indicators turn bearish, influenced by expectations of outflows from altcoins to ether amid ETF speculations. The market dynamics suggest a challenging period ahead for Solana compared to Ethereum.

Lista Debuts on Binance with 13% Price Surge

Lista (LISTA) saw a notable 13% price surge upon its debut on Binance and other major exchanges. Initially priced at $0.565, LISTA now trades at $0.6806 with a trading volume of $252.9 million. DWF Labs facilitated liquidity with a strategic transfer of 10 million LISTA tokens across platforms, enhancing market access and investor interest.

Io.net Expands DePin Capabilities

Io.net is expanding its DePin capabilities through partnerships with OpSec for decentralized cloud solutions and AIRian for AI applications. Despite these advancements, IO token has faced significant market volatility, declining over 30% since its peak on June 13, 2024.

1inch Partners with Blockaid for DeFi Security

1inch has partnered with Blockaid to bolster DeFi security by integrating real-time alerts across major blockchain networks. This collaboration aims to combat fraud and cyber threats by introducing the 1inch Shield, which detects scam tokens and enhances user safety without requiring new security measures from developers.

Polkadot Proposes Shorter Unstaking Period

Polkadot's RFC-0092 proposes slashing the unstaking period from 28 days to just two days, aiming to improve user experience while maintaining network security. The new mechanism queues unbonding requests, scaling the process based on demand, potentially reducing average unbonding time significantly to around 2.67 days without exceeding the current 28-day upper limit.

BitFlyer to Acquire FTX Japan

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange BitFlyer is set to acquire FTX Japan, the Japanese subsidiary of the collapsed FTX exchange. This move follows FTX Japan's repayment to customers in 2023 and aims to reposition the company under new ownership, focusing on crypto asset management for institutional investors. The deal underscores BitFlyer's strategic expansion in the competitive Japanese crypto market.

Particle Network Secures $15 Million Funding

Particle Network, a modular blockchain developer, has secured $15 million in a Series A funding round. Led by The Spartan Group and Gumi Cryptos Capital, with participation from others like Morningstar Ventures and HashKey Capital, the round was completed through a simple agreement for future tokens. This funding aims to support Particle's mainnet launch and expand its team as it enhances chain abstraction technology.

Martin Shkreli Claims Barron Trump Launched DJT Token

On June 20, 2024, Martin Shkreli claimed Barron Trump launched the DJT token, which Barron holds private keys for. However, Trump’s former advisor Roger Stone denied Trump's involvement. Amid market slumps, TRUMP and BODEN coins tumbled significantly. A crypto whale sold 103,759 TRUMP coins, making a 1,463% profit. Interest in Trump-themed memecoins surged, with traders keen on DJT due to Shkreli's co-creation claims.

AI-Themed Tokens Surge Amid Nvidia Stock Rise

On June 20, 2024, AI-themed tokens like Fetch.ai’s FET, SingularityNET’s AGIX, and Ocean Protocol’s OCEAN surged up to 35%, outperforming a largely flat broader crypto market. This rise coincided with Nvidia's stock surge, making it the world's most valuable company. Simultaneously, Binance announced it will delist OCEAN and AGIX by July 1, 2024, as part of an ASI token merger, swapping them for FET at specified ratios.

AO Protocol Launches on Arweave

An AI computing protocol, AO, recently launched on Arweave, attracting $158M in deposits within a week. Designed for decentralized AI applications, AO's fair launch model, without VC or pre-mining, reflects a return to crypto's original ethos of equitable access. This success underscores growing industry interest in innovative blockchain solutions.

Worldcoin Expands World ID Orbs to Ecuador

Worldcoin's WLD token surged by more than 12% at one point following two significant developments: expanding its World ID verification orbs to Ecuador and the closure of a probe by Kenyan authorities into alleged data collection violations. Despite legal challenges elsewhere, these victories marked a positive turn for the project, which aims to establish a global identity and financial network.

Manta Network's $10M Moon Mission Meme Grant

Manta Network launched a $10M Moon Mission Meme Grant from its $50M EcoFund to support meme culture. On June 20, a trader staked 14B FLOKI tokens worth $2.36M, boosting FLOKI's price by 5.52%. Elon Musk confirmed his son still holds Dogecoin. Bitstamp listed BONK, following Robinhood's support, with a modest price increase. Coinbase's listing of Book of Meme (BOME) and Notcoin (NOT) drove price rallies. Existing meme tokens suggest a potential meme supercycle, highlighting the volatile but fast-return nature of meme trading.

Midas Launches mBASIS Yield-Bearing Token

Midas has launched mBASIS, a new yield-bearing token aiming to rival Ethena Labs' sUSDe. Managed by a licensed asset manager under strict fiduciary duty, mBASIS utilizes a delta-neutral basis trading strategy across top cryptocurrencies. Offering up to 12% yield, it prioritizes investor protection with bankruptcy safeguards and compliance with European securities regulations.