On Monday evening, as many in the American crypto community were calling it a day, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made a jaw-dropping announcement.
Revealed in a press release published at around 7:00 pm EST, the American financial regulator revealed that it had “settled charges” against the creator of the EOS blockchain. Block.one, for “conducting an unregistered initial coin offering”.
This marks one of the biggest — if not the biggest — crypto-related enforcement actions from the SEC to date.
SEC Issues $24 Million Over EOS ICO According to the press release published on Monday evening, Block.one has settled charges with the SEC “by paying a $24 million civil penalty.”
The blockchain giant, which operates in Blacksburg, Virginia, and Hong Kong, “consented to the order without admitting or denying its findings”, the SEC wrote.
For those unaware, the tension between the SEC and Block.one stems from the latter entity’s year-long sale of EOS tokens that raised some $4.1 billion — a record by a long shot for an ICO.
The SEC remarked in the release that “Block.one did not register its ICO as a securities offering pursuant to the federal securities laws, nor did it qualify for or seek an exemption from the registration requirements”.
Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, argued that Block.One did not provide participants in the sale “the information they were entitled to as participants in a securities offering”.
He added that it is the SEC’s mission to clamp down on firms that deprived investors of material “they need to make investment decisions.”
While $24 million is obviously not a small sum of money, the sum of the settlement paid shocked crypto pundits. Nic Carter, a co-founder of Coinmetrics, noted that Block.one paid 60 basis points (0.6%) of the billions it raised in the sale — effectively nothing in the grand scheme of things.
Others echoed Carter’s concerns, drawing attention to what they claim is just a slap on the wrist, not an all-out enforcement event. Block.one, for instance, spent $30 million on a domain name earlier this year, making $24 million seem much like pocket change.
Despite these concerns over the severity (or lack thereof) of the settlement, it seems that with the $24 million fine, the case is done and dusted.
My mind is absolutely blown by this block one news.
The SEC looked into all the gory details and decided to settle for 60 bips of what b1 raised. WTF
— nic ???? carter (@nic__carter) September 30, 2019
Block.one “Excited” to Resolve Matters To the point and very blunt, the SEC release left much to be desired for, specifically in regards to a response from Block.one itself and the details of the settlement.
As such, the blockchain development firm came out with its own statements in a press release dated October 1st, 2019. In it, Block.one revealed that the settlement “relates specifically to the ERC-20 token sold on the Ethereum blockchain” during the ICO, not the new token that exists on EOS’s own chain.
It was also revealed that with this settlement, the SEC has granted Block.one “an important waiver” so that it will “not be subject to certain ongoing restrictions that would usually apply with settlements of this type”, cementing the idea that the settlement has resolved any current dispute between Block.one and the SEC.
Block.one concluded in the press statement:
“We are excited to resolve these discussions with the SEC and are committed to ongoing collaboration with regulators and policy makers as the world continues to develop more clarity around compliance frameworks for digital assets.”
More to Come… While Block.one’s case is “one and done”, it may be that the SEC isn’t done with big names in crypto just yet.
Over the past few months, the American agency has been on an absolute killing spree against the crypto space, charging firms left and right for seeming wrongdoing. Earlier this year, it went after another high-profile case, bashing Canadian social media company Kik’s $100 million dollar ICO; just a few months back, it aimed to prevent the company behind once-massive altcoin Veritaseum from spending ICO proceedings.
The fact that the SEC went after Block.one, which ran the largest ICO ever, and other top companies in the cryptocurrency sector may be a sign of impending enforcement.
Nick Chong
I am a writer who has been following the cryptocurrency space since 2013. My insights and interviews have been featured in leading publications in the industry such as LongHash, NewsBTC, and Decrypt. When I am not writing, I work as a team member of the EXODUS division of HTC, a Taiwanese electronics company. I own a small amount of Bitcoin. Contact [email protected]
The Brave browser and its native Basic Attention Token (BAT) is one of the most revolutionary concepts in online digital advertising to date.
This privacy enhanced browser is increasingly popular and people are downloading it in their droves. They are also using the in browser rewards to earn BAT in exchange for their attention thereby further driving demand for the tokens and browser.
However, is it really worth all of the hype?
In this Basic Attention Token review, I will attempt to answer just that. I will also take a look at the Brave ecosystem and the long term use cases for the BAT token.
What is Basic Attention Token?The Basic Attention Token is the native token that is used in the Brave ecosystem.
Brave offers a privacy-focused browser that shields users away from 3rd party ads and trackers. On this browser publishers, advertisers and users are all incentivized to help each party generate the most value.
The token and Brave project is quite an interesting one as it is trying to solve some fundamental problems that exist today with digital advertising.
For example, consumers are growing ever more conscious of how their data is being misused by social media companies like Facebook. This is evidenced by the growing demand for ad-blocking software, which now operates on over 600 million mobile devices and desktops globally.
The industry seems no longer capable of aligning incentives between advertisers, publishers and users. The advertising ecosystem has become rife with data exploitation (users personal data being exploited, as well as the high costs of data from downloading irrelevant and impersonal ads) and inaccurate reporting of user engagement.
Demand for BAT, an ERC20 token, will be driven by the following factors:
Advertisers pay Publishers in BATs to have their ads viewed by usersUsers earn BATs when they view ads. User attention is monitored on their devices and in the Brave browser using machine-learning technology (private data always remains contained within the devices being used).Advertisers get better ROI as a result of a more accurate and incentive based systemHow is Attention Measured?Brave takes the unique approach of measuring attention at the browser level, meaning it keeps track of user engagement within an active tab in real time, showcasing relevant ads based on time spent scrolling over specific content in the tab.
The browser calculates an ‘attention score’ based on whether a page is viewed for a minimum of 25 seconds, and the total amount of time that is spent on that page. Other pieces of data (such as type of content being viewed) are included and sent to the Brave ledger system, which records and sends payments to the publisher and user based on the final attention score.
This process enables BAT to more effectively measure user attention and accurately reward publishers and users.
The company also boasts its use of Machine learning to provide a superior process for tracking user activity in order to share more relevant ads.
Today, digital ad services use Cookies and other 3rd party trackers, which often fail by serving ads for products that users have already bought.
According to the New York Times, $23 of the average users monthly phone bill goes towards paying for the bandwidth spent on ads and trackers, resulting in 21% less battery life.
Data from the following publishers shows how the cost of downloading ads + tracking is a large portion of the cost of content:
Image Source: brave.com
As Brave Co-founder Brendan Eich describes it, “we’re paying to be bothered by ads”. The Brave browser significantly reduces bandwidth by blocking irrelevant ads while serving only those that fit the users interests based on attention monitoring within their device.
BAT also aims to displace advertising networks (or 'ad exchanges’). These middlemen help broker deals between publishers seeking ads, and advertisers seeking publishing space.
Image Source: liesdamnedlies.com
However through this process, what is gained in efficiency is lost in the quality of ads shown to relevant users.
The more advertising networks exist to broker deals between publishers and advertisers in the system, the further advertisers and publishers are separated from each other, which results in more impersonal ads being shown to the wrong people purely for the sake of these middlemen exchanges earning more money.
Image Source: liesdamnedlies.com
BAT completely decentralizes these ad networks, enabling publishers and advertisers to deal with each other directly through the BRAVE browsers attention monitoring technology, which increases the quality of ads shown while maintaining efficiency.
Image Source: BAT Whitepaper
BAT, like most other tokens, can be applied as a utility in the Brave browser platform, or traded for Bitcoin and other coins on public exchanges like Binance.
Brave has plans to provide multiple use cases for users holding BAT tokens. For example, Publishers will be able to offer premium content for those who pay using BAT. Users will also be rewarded with tokens for promoting the publishers content themselves.
Brave Browser V1.0 ReleasedThe Brave browser spent a long time in its beta period, but the first Brave 1.0 production version was finally released on November 13, 2019. This is a turning point for the internet, because this Brave browser is a speed demon, and heavily focused on the privacy of its users. With a cavalier approach to ad-blocking and the promise of BAT payouts, the Brave browser is now on the cusp of an explosion.
With more than 8 million global users already, the Brave 1.0 browser promises users speed, privacy, and improved battery life for their mobile devices.
There are two very clear reasons why Brave is now the leading browser on the market, and neither one has to do with the potential for earning BAT by using the browser.
Here’s what really makes Brave a special browser.
No Tradeoff between Speed & SecurityBrave is by far the fastest browser available for any operating system, whether used on a mobile device or a desktop machine. The memory usage of the browser is exceptionally low, and websites load far faster as well. Brave claims loading times are 3-6x faster than other browsers, and I can tell it’s true.
The foundation of Brave’s speed comes from the suite of built-in privacy and security features. You’ve all probably experienced websites loaded with advertisements, trackers, pop-ups, and banners that slow your device to a crawl as it tries to wade through the mountains of extraneous code. And while you can add plugins that block advertisements and trackers on Chrome and Firefox, the Brave browser runs these features by default.
Brave Compared to Chrome for Loading Speeds. Image via Brave
One huge privacy concern recently has been the use of a method known as “fingerprinting” to track user activity all across the internet, which allows advertisers to build a unique and identifiable profile for any tracked user without loading cookies on the computer.
Other browsers have begun to fight back against fingerprinting, and Brave is leading the charge. Besides blocking fingerprinting, the Brave Shield feature also blocks a huge number of invasive advertisements and tracking cookies.
Brave has also sidestepped one common problem found in modern browsers. They can often interfere so greatly with a website to block elements that users are unable to access the content they came to the website for in the first place.
That either means the user has to go elsewhere to find information, or they need to go through the time-consuming and irritating process of disabling security plugins one by one until they can figure out which one is causing the browsing problem.
Choosing which ads to block on the Brave Browser
The Brave privacy suite eliminates the need to go through this painful process and makes it faster and far less annoying to have a secure browsing experience. One click on the Brave icon and users are presented with a small menu that has simplified toggles to turn on and off the extensive security features in the browser settings.
Because the Brave browser is built on the Chromium engine that powers Google Chrome it’s possible to increase privacy even further by adding your own choice of extensions in the same way you would when using the Chrome browser. But just because Brave is built with the Chromium engine it doesn’t mean you’re giving up your data to Google.
Brave has stripped the Google-specific code from its version of the Chromium engine, thus not just blocking outside data from getting in, but also blocking data that’s already inside from getting out. The bottom line is you can use Brave without worrying that it’s sharing all your browsing history with Google.
Brave & BAT PowerAnd here is the feature that attempts to blend user and advertiser needs with privacy concerns and the revenue generated by advertising on websites all across the internet. That feature is Brave Rewards, which users can opt into if they want to support websites with revenue, but still, maintain their privacy.
When opted into Brave Rewards the Brave browser will swap ads on a website with ads of its own. The major difference is the Brave ads don’t track you, and when users view or engage with the ads they get rewarded with BAT tokens.
Brave will keep 30% of the ad revenue spent by advertisers while passing the other 70% on to the Brave users. Users can also utilize the BAT added to their accounts to tip users on a variety of social media and other sites, or by contributing to their favorite websites. For example, Wikipedia is a Brave publisher and can be supported with BAT donations.
Value flow of the BAT Tokens in Ecosystem. Image via BAT whitepaper.
Brave claims the average user can earn roughly $5 per month, with this figure varying based on the region they live in and other factors.
Prior to the release of Brave v1.0 users were unable to withdraw any of the BAT they made using the browser. However it is now possible to withdraw through the cryptocurrency exchange Uphold, and Brave says by next year users will be able to redeem BAT for product discounts, gift cards, and subscriptions, plus more.
Brave has had push-back from advertisers since its inception due to issues with having their content covered. However, when looked at through the eyes of the user trying to avoid the increasing surveillance of corporations, the BAT model is a good one. And considering there are now thousands of advertisers using Brave, even though some are just testing at this point, it seems Brave is here to stay.
The one thing needed now is more users. While 8 million is a good start, it’s a long way from the 250 million users of the Mozilla Firefox browser or the more than 1 billion Google Chrome users.
History and TeamBrendan Eich founded Brave Software in 2017. As the creator of JavaScript and co-founder of Firefox, he’s certainly proven capable of developing large scale and disruptive software when it counts.
In the same year it was founded, the BAT token raised an impressive $35million in just under 30 seconds during their ICO.
Some of the Brave Team Members. Image via Brave.
They have since secured early partners and brought on top talent developers and executives. Other key members of the team include:
Brian Bondy – Lead Developer, co-founded Brave. Previously: Khan Academy, Mozilla, and Evernote.Yan Zhu – Chief Information Security Officer.Holli Bohren – Chief Financial Officer.BAT is headquartered in San Francisco, with an additional office in London. As of December 2019, their workforce has grown to over 100 employees.
CompetitionBrave has a few competitors in the Blockchain space disrupting digital advertising.
Papyrus and Adshares both offer similar Blockchain based advertising ecosystems. The main difference is that they focus primarily on publishers and advertisers, leaving users out of the equation.
Braves toughest challenge however will come from the fierce competition it faces in the web and mobile browser space.
Image Source: brave.com
As of March 2018, Google Chrome, Safari, Internet explorer and Firefox collectively made up about 90% of the browser market. Ad blocking capabilities and even an incentive based token ecosystem are features that any of these browsers could replicate if they choose to.
Brave will have to offer much more in order to be considered a viable alternative for everyday users.
BAT Price PerformanceThe BAT token launched in June 2017 at a price of $0.17. A month later on July 16, 2017 the token hit an all-time low of $0.066209.
It was fortunate timing though as it came just before the great rally in cryptocurrencies at the end of 2017, and BAT hit its all-time high of $0.980702 on January 9, 2018. Of course, from there it dropped throughout 2018 as the entire cryptocurrency space suffered a deep bear market.
2019 saw a recovery early in the year, with BAT reaching $0.44391 by April 21, 2019. Of course, it dropped off those levels but has been holding up fairly well in 2019 compared with many other altcoins.
BAT Price Performance. Image via CMC.
As of early December 2019, it remains above its launch price and is trading at $0.186301 on December 4, 2019. A week early the BAT token had reached $0.277868 as it rallied following the release of the first production Brave browser.
The chart indicates that BATs price (like most other coins) is moving in accordance with the general wave of market sentiment around crypto-currencies. Like most blockchain projects, I believe it will take some time before the technology is validated enough for the token to start defining its own price trends in the crypto-currency market.
BAT Markets & StorageWhen it comes to the markets for BAT, it is quite a popular token and is listed on a number of exchanges including Binance, Coinbase, Bittrex, Huobi etc. However, over 50% of the volume is currently taking place on two of the top exchanges.
This is not one of our preferred exchanges and the fact that the bulk of the trading is taking place here is a potential problem for open market liquidity. It means that these exchanges could have an outsized impact on the market for BAT.
Register at Binance and Buy BAT Tokens
Having said that, the individual liquidity on the order books of exchanges like Binance are pretty deep and liquid. This means that you can execute your orders with relatively little slippage (even for those large block orders).
Once you have your Bat, you’ll need a place to store them safely. The Brave browser uses Uphold to keep your tokens as you earn them for viewing ads, so that’s always an option.
Bat is also an ERC-20 token, so if you already have a wallet that supports this type of token, you can use that. If you don’t, there are plenty to choose from. These include wallets such as MetaMask, MyEtherWallet and hardware wallets such a Trezor / Ledger.
Pros & ConsBased on this review there are a number of opportunities and challenges that I have identified with the Brave browser. These are just my opinion and I encourage you to do your own research.
First, lets take a look at some of the opportunities we have with Brave & BAT:
In true Blockchain fashion, BAT aims to displace the middlemen ad exchanges responsible for polluting the ad experience by creating an incentive based decentralized network where publishers, advertisers and users can more effectively feed off of each other’s needsThe team is highly experienced and has proven to be successful in creating disruptive technologiesBraves browser provides much faster speeds as a result of its ad blocking featuresBraves privacy browser is already up and working with 10 million monthly usersThe browser monitors user attention in real time, while maintaining anonymity and privacy for usersThe public is increasingly becoming more aware of how ads are negatively impacting their experience. This is shown by the rise in ad blocking software globally (600m devices). At the same time, traditional publishers have lost approximately 66% of their ad revenue over the past decadeBrave Daily User Growth. Image via Brave.
However, there are quite a few disadvantages and challenges that the browser could face coming forward. These include some of the following:
BAT is relying on people adopting the Brave browser, which could be trouble because of strong competition from Google Chrome, Safari and Brendan’s former company – Firefox. There have been discussions around of Brave developing a Chrome extension to expose their solution to more users, but no release date has been confirmed.Advertisers may still face challenges with converting users into paying customers. It seems like the profile of a Brave browser user is someone who:Already uses or is interested in using an ad blockerWants a faster browsing experienceWants to get paid for viewing adsWants to see more relevant adsWants to save money on mobile dataAt this time it’s not so clear which of the 5 traits most accurately describe a Brave user. One would have to assume that having access to an ad blocker would be most important.
However in order for Brave to provide advertisers with a higher ROI, they need to attract users who are willing to pay for products they discover through ads, even though they may only be using the service to earn tokens by viewing these ads.
Generally, people who are interested in viewing ads for money usually aren’t in a position to pay for the products being advertised to them, and in the worst case, may seek to manipulate their views in order to earn more tokens.
This could be a concern for advertisers hoping to attract real customers and increase sales by using Brave.
ConclusionBrave browser faces stiff competition from the likes of Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox and others. Although they’re currently showing impressive growth with 8 million monthly users, the browser is going to need to form large strategic partnerships that allow for BAT to become integrated into the browsing experience of everyday users across the web.
At the same time, advertisers are going to need assurance that the incentive-based model being proposed will actually help them convert their ad dollars into product sales, and not just guarantee more ad views.
Although Adblockers and a token-based ecosystem are great value propositions, I believe what will ultimately bring Brave and its Basic attention token to mass adoption is the cost savings from reduced data spent on ad downloads and trackers.
The appeal of a browser that can help people cut down 20% of their monthly phone bill is widespread and could be utilized to form partnerships with mobile data providers like Verizon and AT&T.
Ad downloads and trackers currently cost users $23 a month in mobile data. Braves browser cuts down on these costs significantly through its ad blocking technology.
Based on this knowledge, Brave could partner with AT&T, Verizon, and other mobile data providers to reward customers with a discount on unlimited data plans when they adopt the Brave browser on their mobile phone.
From AT&T and Verizon’s perspective, if customers commit to using a low bandwidth browser, data providers can offer them unlimited data at a lower cost to their business.
AT&T and Verizon could benefit from people paying a slightly lower price for their unlimited data plan ($10 or $15 discount for example) because those same consumers might be saving mobile providers $20 or $30 per account by using the Brave browser to cut down their average monthly data usage by 0.5GB.
Ultimately, the value of Braves browser to AT&T and Verizon would be to help them reduce the cost of serving their customers with unlimited data. Such a partnership could allow Brave and BAT access to several million more users.
There’s currently no mention of a mobile data provider partnership occurring, but as a consumer, I’d definitely be excited about the possibility of Verizon charging me $15 less to use their unlimited data plan by simply switching browsers and purchasing BAT.
It’s too early to tell, but I wouldn’t put it past Brendan and his team to explore discounted mobile data plans as the ideal incentive to encourage more mainstream adoption and increased voluntary ad views on the Brave Browser.
Disclaimer: These are writer opinions and should not be considered investment advice. Readers should do their own research.
Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) are poised to introduce groundbreaking legislation on stablecoins.
The bill’s success could herald a new era of financial innovation and stability, aligning with the dynamic needs of the digital economy.
How New Stablecoin Bill Aims to Eradicate MalpracticesThe Senators’ announcement at the Bitcoin Policy Summit in Washington marks a pivotal moment in cryptocurrency regulation. According to Forbes, the Senators plan to unveil the bill later this week or next week.
Amid the regulatory turmoil affecting companies like Coinbase and Binance, this legislative effort is timely. It also addresses the ongoing disputes between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). These agencies have been at odds over crypto classification and control.
Read more: Crypto Regulation: What Are the Benefits and Drawbacks?
Gillibrand and Lummis, leveraging their expertise, previously advocated for the Responsible Financial Innovation Act. This act sought to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for crypto assets. Moreover, it proposed classifying most cryptocurrencies as commodities, thus under the CFTC’s jurisdiction.
Nonetheless, the new stablecoin bill aims to enhance industry integrity and allows nondepository institutions to issue stablecoins under strict regulatory conditions. Consequently, this ensures the industry’s safety and promotes innovation.
“We’re making sure that state and federal regulators have the oversight authority to weed out bad actors while still promoting growth and innovation. And we’re requiring that all issuers make sure that the reserves are back to one-to-one,” Gillibrand said.
The bill outlines two issuance paths for stablecoins. Depository institutions could issue them, following federal and state bank charter regulations. Alternatively, non-depository institutions would be under federal oversight, with states playing a significant regulatory role.
Gillibrand emphasizes the bill’s balanced nature, which is crafted through compromise. It seeks to align the interests of the state entities and the crypto sector.
The stablecoin legislation represents a broader vision for the cryptocurrency market’s integration into the financial mainstream. Stablecoins, as per Gillibrand, could be the regulatory keystone. They might unlock the full potential of cryptocurrencies, leading to a more inclusive financial system.
Read more: A Guide to the Best Stablecoins in 2024
Moreover, ongoing negotiations highlight the importance of bipartisan and bicameral support. Key political figures, including Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), are actively involved in these discussions. Previously, these lawmakers have maintained a crypto-friendly stance.
Although many members of the cryptocurrency community had been looking forward to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally approving spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as the sign of the crypto assets’ wider acceptance, not everyone is on board.
As it happens, renowned investor and author of the best-selling personal finance book ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad,’ Robert Kiyosaki, stated he would not be buying Bitcoin through a spot ETF for the same reason he did not own any “gold or silver ETFs or REITs,” according to his X post on April 12.
Furthermore, he voiced his opinion that “ETFs are best for most people and institutions” but, as an entrepreneur, he preferred to “stay as far away from Wall Street’s financial products as possible” because he wanted to keep the responsibility for his potential mistakes in his own hands:
“Packaging my own financial products is best for me because packaging my own securities requires me to be smarter than most ETF buyers. It is what is best for me. If I F’ up, I have no one to blame but me. The more important question is ‘what is best for you.’”
BTC ETFs in eyes of others Meanwhile, American economist Peter Schiff has dismissed spot Bitcoin ETFs as one of the reasons why Bitcoin was likely to crash as more of the maiden crypto asset is entering them, also expressing his view that they are a “godsend for foreign central banks,” as they “have siphoned investor demand away from gold.”
On top of that, Schiff believes that the recent Bitcoin rally, that has followed gold rising to new all-time highs (ATHs) was nothing more but a ploy to “sucker ETF investors into buying the gap up,” advising his followers to “get ready for the dump” by replacing all their Bitcoin with precious metals.
That said, at press time, the price of Bitcoin stood at $70,643, recording a slight increase of 0.06% on the day, and gaining 5.26% across the previous week while accumulating a loss of 3.81% over the past month, according to the most recent charts on April 12.
Ultimately, whether investing in Bitcoin through a spot BTC ETF is a good choice or not depends on the individual or organization interested in it, and while entrepreneurs like Robert Kiyosaki prefer a more direct exposure without any intermediaries, others might find safety in the indirect approach.
Regardless of where one stands in this debate, it is critical to do detailed research and in-depth risk analysis before devoting a significant part of one’s portfolio to any asset, be it a cryptocurrency, an exchange-traded fund, or anything else.
Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
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The prominent investor Robert Kiyosaki is widely known for three things: authoring the best-selling personal finance book ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad,’ making exceptionally provocative posts on X, and being very bullish on gold, silver, and Bitcoin (BTC) and mightily bearish on the U.S. dollar.
Looking at the recent performance of the three, with silver running strong, gold now expected to hit $3,000 within months, and Bitcoin reaching a new all-time high (ATH) in March with even bigger moves expected with the halving, it seems apparent that Kiyosaki’s investment advice is sound.
With this in mind, Finbold decided to try and estimate just how much an investor would have made if they invested $1,000 in each of the author’s favored assets when he first recommended all three near the same time..
How much would an investment in Kiyosaki’s favored assets made when he turned bullish be worth now? Tracking down when Kiyosaki first turned simultaneously bullish on the two commodities and the world’s premier cryptocurrency proved a troublesome task, but an extensive search yielded three strong candidates.
Kiyosaki has been bullish on gold and silver for decades, citing his sister’s investments as a positive example already in 1997 and, 20 years later, on August 14, 2017, he made a cautious recommendation for Bitcoin on Facebook (NASDAQ: META) – though he did warn it is extremely risky and expressed doubt in its long-term prospects.
BTC price chart and the timing of the three recommendations. Source: Finbold and TradingView That day, the price of Bitcoin stood at $4,300, of gold at $1,281, and silver at $17. This means that a $1,000 made in each of the three assets made at the time would now, on April 17, be worth $14,593 – with BTC press time price at $62,752.40 – $2119.68 – with gold’s press time price at $2391.09 – and $1684 – with silver’s price standing at $28.63.
The next milestone came on December 31, 2019, with the release of the book ‘Fake,’ in which Kiyosaki describes and, arguably endorses, gold and silver as ‘God’s money,’ and Bitcoin as ‘people’s money.’
Gold price chart and the timing of the three recommendations. Source: Finbold and TradingView That day, the price of Bitcoin stood at $7,252, of gold at $1,517, and silver at $17.82. This means that a $1,000 made in each of the three assets made at the time would now, on April 17, be worth $8,653, $1,576, and $1,606.6, respectively.
Kiyosaki’s stance became evidently solidified by the release of his interview with Anthony Pompliano, published on ‘The Rich Dad Channel’ on YouTube on July 8, 2020. Coincidentally, in the very same episode, Pompliano predicted a BTC climb to $100,000 – a prediction that is yet to come true.
Silver price chart and the timing of the three recommendations. Source: Finbold and TradingView That day, the price of Bitcoin stood at $9,439, of gold at $1,808, and silver at $18.7. This means that a $1,000 made in each of the three assets made at the time would now, on April 17, be worth $6648, $1,322.4, and $1,531, respectively.
Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced fresh stablecoin legislation Wednesday, renewing lawmakers’ years-long attempt at enacting a comprehensive framework for the class of crypto assets in the United States.
The 117-page bill includes a raft of definitions pertaining to the sector, outlining rules on the state and federal levels for firms to issue so-called payment stablecoins. The bill also requires that firms conduct any stablecoin activities through subsidiaries. Stablecoins are crypto assets that are pegged to (and backed by) fiat currencies, and maintain a stable price point.
The new requirement differs from how some companies have handled stablecoins in the past. For example, Binance, which is not a bank, once offered its Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin through Paxos Trust, which is not a subsidiary of the crypto exchange. The companies’ support of BUSD, however, drew to a close after Paxos was warned of a potential enforcement action by the SEC last year.
Different regulations would apply to companies depending on the outstanding value of stablecoins issued. Under the bill, dubbed the Lummis-Gillibrand Payment Stablecoin Act, a $10 billion cap is placed on state regulators’ ability to authorize and supervise non-depository trust companies involved in the stablecoin space.
🚨@gillibrandny and I are introducing the most comprehensive stablecoin bill to date.
Crypto assets are revolutionizing the world and as the undisputed leader in financial innovation, the U.S. must embrace crypto assets, but it cannot be done without clear rules for stablecoins. pic.twitter.com/vwRUEBUdsl
— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) April 17, 2024
“The legislation maintains the dual banking system that is critical to preserving the parity enjoyed by the state and federal financial institutions,” Lummis said on Twitter (aka X) on Wednesday.
Last week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) met with key legislators from the House Financial Service Committee to discuss stablecoin legislation, per Punchbowl News. During the meeting, lawmakers reportedly discussed folding bipartisan legislation into a bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
“I think there’s momentum,” Gillibrand said in an interview on CNBC’s "Squawk Box" Wednesday. “As part of the FAA reauthorization, it can be done quite quickly.”
Often referred to as the "Bitcoin Senator," Lummis' advocacy for crypto on Capitol Hill dates back to her election win in 2020. However, Lummis says she bought her first Bitcoin back in 2013, believing in its potential to address issues in today's financial system.
Under the new bill, it would be unlawful for stablecoin issuers in the U.S. to issue algorithmic stablecoins. Instead of using assets to back a stablecoin’s value, algorithmic coins keep their price pegged to the dollar (or other asset) with trading incentives.
Additionally, the bill requires that stablecoin issuers maintain one-to-one reserves for stablecoins. Often, fiat-backed stablecoins are pegged to the dollar through a mix of liquid assets like U.S. Treasuries and cash.
Algorithmic stablecoins caught attention on Capitol Hill following the collapse of TerraUSD in 2022, which shredded more than $40 billion worth of investors’ wealth. In February, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said it should still be a priority for Congress to pass legislation regulating the stablecoin market.
The senators’ bill introduced Wednesday follows the introduction of other crypto-related bills, such as the Lummis-Gillibrand Responsible Financial Innovation Act in 2022.
Outlining boundaries between the regulatory authority of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the bill was reintroduced in 2023.
So far, efforts to regulate crypto on Capitol Hill have died on the legislative grapevine. But Lummis is hopeful that the senators’ efforts could bear fruit before election season becomes too strong a force.
“We're going to keep pushing for weeks, rather than months,” Lummis said on "Squawk Box" Wednesday, adding that Congress is quickly approaching a period where “politics takes over policy.”
Edited by Stacy Elliott and Andrew Hayward
Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
Amid escalating geopolitical tensions in multiple regions of the world, the famous investor and author of the best-selling personal finance book ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad,’ Robert Kiyosaki, has opined they could lead to another World War and that Bitcoin (BTC) would do well in such circumstances.
As it happens, Kiyosaki discussed the future of banks, Bitcoin, gold, real estate, and the state of the world as he sat down with Gerald Celente, the editor and producer of the Trends Journal, for an episode of Kiyosaki’s The Rich Dad Channel podcast that premiered on April 17.
Bitcoin through the roof Specifically, as the popular finance educator pointed out, the global uncertainties are heightening toward the edge of a massive war, and “our banks are in trouble,” while assets like precious metals and cryptocurrencies are rising in demand and price, highlighting that:
“We’re talking about the ‘golden year’ for gold, and the reason for it is the banks are going bust – everybody knows that – Bitcoin is going through the roof, but the part that concerns me the most is World War 3, we’re on the verge of it right now.”
Furthermore, Kiyosaki asked Celente for his views, and the editor explained that there were now 300 regional banks in the United States that the experts have downgraded to negative, as opposed to five last year, and the commercial property debt accrued during Covid’s switch to working from home has led to:
“The banks face a $2 trillion wall of commercial property debt – $2 trillion coming due that they’re not going to be able to pay. The banks are going to go bust. It’s going to be a banking crisis the likes of which we have never seen in the world.”
BTC price prediction As a reminder, Kiyosaki has long supported the flagship decentralized finance (DeFi) asset, which he believes could one day hit the price of $2 million, agreeing in his view with Cathie Wood, the founder and CEO of ARK Invest, which manages several exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Meanwhile, the maiden crypto asset was at press time trading at the price of $64,700, recording an increase of 5.27% on the day, reversing the losses of 8.31% from across the week, and accumulating a gain of 2.49% on its monthly chart, as per the most recent information retrieved on April 19.
Bitcoin price 24-hour chart. Source: Finbold In conclusion, Robert Kiyosaki might be correct in his predictions, but it is important not to follow anyone’s advice blindly and do one’s own due diligence, thoroughly investigating any asset before investing a significant amount of money in it because trends can shift on a whim, regardless of the industry.
Watch the entire video below:
Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
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On March 4, Decrypt reported that Bitcoin’s ongoing rally pushed it above $71,000 for the first time in three weeks. Still, its upward momentum hinges on the broader liquidity environment and geopolitical risks. Altura co-founder and CEO Ranveer Arora noted: “ETF inflows keep providing structural buying support, but more direct drivers appear to be position adjustments, reduced post-halving supply elasticity, and improved liquidity expectations. In crypto, once selling pressure eases and positions rotate, leverage and derivative flows often speed up price discovery.” Arora added Bitcoin’s trend remains tightly linked to global liquidity—calling it a “high-beta proxy for global liquidity, not a traditional defensive asset.” LetsExchange Chief Product Officer Alex J. said Bitcoin’s climb to $71,000 was “largely fueled by rising geopolitical tensions and growing uncertainty.” When asked if the rebound will last, Alex J. replied: “Unlikely—but we don’t expect a sharp drop either.” He explained that when global financial markets face severe turbulence and disrupt cross-asset liquidity flows, Bitcoin can’t compete with safe-havens like gold.
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Vice President of Strive: Strategy's STRC Has Essential Differences from the Luna/UST Model
Strive Vice President Joe Burnett wrote in an article that prior to the TerraUSD collapse, roughly $18.7 billion in UST was in circulation, backed by just $3.1 billion in Bitcoin reserves, and UST allowed immediate redemptions. Currently, Strategy holds around $51.5 billion in Bitcoin, corresponding to a circulating STRC supply of approximately $10.5 billion, while STRC is not an immediately redeemable asset. He stressed that the two differ significantly in collateral structure, asset coverage ratio, and redemption mechanism, noting "they are clearly completely different models."
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According to PeckShield’s monitoring, an address identified as the KyberSwap attacker has once again transferred 2,000 ETH to Tornado Cash. Over the past two years, this attacker has cumulatively transferred and mixed 16,100 ETH via Tornado Cash, equivalent to roughly $40 million at current prices, accounting for over 80% of the $48.8 million lost in the KyberSwap attack in November 2023. Some of the stolen funds have not yet been fully transferred.
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According to monitoring by OnchainLens, James Wynn has liquidated his 40x leveraged Bitcoin (BTC) short position, pocketing roughly $30,000 in profit. He subsequently opened a new 50x leveraged S&P 500 (SP500) short position at a price of 334.42, betting on a future decline in the US stock market.
A third-party provider failure caused Revolut’s app to show wildly inaccurate crypto prices on Friday, the company confirmed, after users flooded social media with screenshots of Bitcoin listed at just 2 cents.
Third-Party Provider Blamed For Pricing Chaos Revolut acknowledged the problem in a public statement, saying engineers were working on a fix and urging customers to check its status page for updates.
Hi. We want to help resolve the issues you’re facing with the Bitcoin price notification. We’re currently experiencing issues affecting some of the app’s functionalities. Please be assured that our colleagues are working on this as we speak. Please keep an eye on our status page…
— Revolut Support (@revolutsupport) May 8, 2026
A company spokesperson later confirmed the disruption had been resolved, attributing it to a service failure at an unnamed external pricing provider.
The company said it was still evaluating the full details of what went wrong.
UPDATE: It wasn’t just Bitcoin.
Multiple coins on Revolut appeared to flash-crash/glitch at the same time.
Looks like a pricing/chart glitch — but for a few seconds, everyone thought they discovered the biggest crypto discount of all time.#Crypto #Bitcoin #Revolut pic.twitter.com/fIelIbAOor
— Dave Flowman (@_btcd) May 8, 2026
The glitch wasn’t limited to Bitcoin. Users reported seeing simultaneous price drops across XRP, Solana, and even stablecoins like USDT and USDC — assets designed to hold steady at one dollar.
Screenshots shared on X and Reddit showed Bitcoin’s 24-hour chart registering a roughly 50% intraday plunge, with the price briefly anchoring near $39,900 before snapping back.
Some users also received push notifications warning that BTC had hit a 52-week low of 2 cents.
According to Revolut, The price of Bitcoin has just dropped to $0.02
I guess its time to buy! 😂 pic.twitter.com/YIbwBGrkeT
— That Martini Guy ₿ (@MartiniGuyYT) May 8, 2026
No Matching Moves On Any Other Platform Pricing data on major aggregators showed nothing unusual during the same window. Bitcoin’s price on CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko held steady, with no sign of any crash in derivatives markets either. The anomaly appeared entirely contained within Revolut’s app.
Ranveer Arora, a former PwC quantitative trading lead and co-founder of Altura.trade, told reporters two explanations are in play.
The first is a corrupt data tick pushed through Revolut’s pricing system — a single bad data point that briefly anchored the chart before being corrected.
Bitcoin is now trading at $80,625. Chart: TradingView Because Revolut is not an exchange and pulls prices from outside providers, one faulty input can be enough to produce exactly this kind of chart distortion.
The second possibility is a transient liquidity gap. Revolut’s order book is shallower than what you’d find on a full exchange, so a large sell order could theoretically exhaust available bids and print a sharp downward wick before prices recover.
Arora noted, however, that the lack of matching prints on any other platform makes the data feed explanation more likely.
Why Retail Apps Face Unique Data Risks Marc Tillement, director of blockchain price oracle Pyth Data Association, said the episode shows how quickly a single bad data point can distort price perception — particularly in retail-facing systems where users may not think to cross-check what they’re seeing.
Tillement said that as markets grow more data-dependent, the reliability of pricing infrastructure becomes central to how much traders can trust what’s in front of them.
Transparent, verifiable data layers, he argued, are what separate a glitch from a crisis.
Featured image from Pixabay, chart from TradingView
Major developments unfolded in Abu Dhabi (UAE capital) and Doha on March 4th. Abu Dhabi hosts headquarters for several leading AI and cryptocurrency institutions, including AI R&D/cloud computing giant G42, AI asset management firm MGX, the Middle East’s largest Web3/Bitcoin mining company Phoenix Group, ADGM, and Hub71.
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History suggests that BTC's biggest leg down is still upon us.
Bitcoin’s price rebound since the Friday massacre to $59,000 drove the asset north to $64,000 earlier this morning, perhaps driven by some positive developments on the US-Iran war front.
One analyst, though, believes this price recovery is not the full story and warned about another major retracement.
BTC Jumps to $64K The primary cryptocurrency plunged below $60,000 on Friday for the first time since before the US presidential elections in November 2024. This new local low was the culmination of a weeks-long correction that began in mid-May when the asset was rejected at $82,000.
It managed to rebound to just over $60,000 relatively quickly and bounced to $62,000 over the weekend. It experienced some volatility yesterday evening when Iran struck Israel in retaliation for attacks against Lebanon. However, US President Donald Trump condemned all the strikes and said that his country and Iran might be closer to a peace deal that could be announced in the following few days.
BTC jumped to $64,200 in a promising wick, but was quickly stopped and now sits at around $63,000. Most altcoins followed the fluctuations, leading to another uptick in the liquidations from the futures field. The total value of wrecked positions has risen to well past $600 million daily, shows CoinGlass data. This time, though, short liquidations dominate with $467 million.
Liquidation Data on CoinGlass Don’t Trust The Pump Popular analyst Merlijn The Trader predicted BTC’s bounce following the $59,000 low, but cautioned that this is not the full story. He based his analysis on the 2022 bear market, when the cryptocurrency had already retraced hard but then rebounded in a similar manner. However, the actual capitulation was still in play and followed after some investors had already hopped on.
If history repeats now, Merlijn predicted a price surge toward $65,000-$70,000 before the ultimate leg down drives the asset to a proper DCA zone between $48,000 and $59,000.
You may also like: Bitcoin (BTC) Dips Below $62K, Ethereum (ETH) Plunges 6% Daily: Market Watch Bitcoin Holds Key Price Floor Despite Weak Bullish Signals: Bitfinex Alpha 5 Reasons Why Bitcoin Just Crashed Below $63K as Liquidations Top $500M The Bitcoin bounce is coming.
Don’t go all-in on it.
Wyckoff Accumulation:
2022: Spring at $15.5K.
Bounce rally to $23K.
Bulls bought the bounce.
Then capitulation.
2026:
Same playbook.
Spring near $50K incoming.
Bounce rally to $65-70K incoming.
DCA zone: $48-59K.… pic.twitter.com/ZJNxHzA1XX
— Merlijn The Trader (@MerlijnTrader) June 7, 2026
Cover image via U.Today Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.
Shiba Inu has experienced yet another notable sell-off, pushing toward new local lows and breaking below a multi-month ascending channel. The meme coin finally gave up after weeks of steady decline, prompting many investors to wonder if SHIB has finally reached its lowest point.
Technically speaking, there are indications that the market might be getting close to an exhaustion point. The Relative Strength Index (RSI), which has dropped below the crucial 30 threshold and is presently in oversold territory, is the most prominent indicator. These readings have historically suggested that bearish sentiment may be waning and that selling pressure has grown excessive. Though not always complete trend reversals, relief rallies have frequently preceded previous oversold conditions on SHIB.
SHIB/USDT Chart by TradingViewA significant percentage of weak hands may have already left the market, according to price action. A wave of liquidation-driven selling was sparked by SHIB's recent break beneath the lower boundary of its ascending channel, which accelerated losses. Instead of signaling the start of a decline, such breakdowns often indicate its end.
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However, oversold conditions should not be interpreted by investors as proof that a bottom has already been reached. Volume is a major concern. Although there was a spike in activity due to the breakdown itself, the first attempt at recovery was made with comparatively low participation.
Strong buying volume is usually necessary for sustainable recoveries in order to verify that fresh demand is entering the market. Any recovery without that confirmation runs the risk of turning into a short-term relief rally rather than the beginning of a long-term uptrend.
Also, the general trend is still negative. The 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day moving averages are all sloping downward, and SHIB is still trading below them. Bulls are still at a disadvantage until the asset regains at least the 50-day moving average in the vicinity of $0.0000054-$0.0000055.
Hyperliquid isn't done yetAfter a significant decline from its recent all-time high area around $76, Hyperliquid's native token HYPE is exhibiting signs of renewed strength. Buyers have returned to the market after an aggressive sell-off that momentarily drove the asset below $60. This has led to a significant recovery. As of this writing, HYPE has shown one of the best daily performances among the major cryptocurrency assets, recovering toward the $65 range.
After an incredible rally that saw HYPE rise from below $30 in February to more than $75 in early June, there was a recent correction. The most recent decline seems to be the first significant test of bullish conviction since the trend accelerated, and such swift advances seldom happen without periods of profit-taking.
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Technically speaking, the rebound is taking place in a key area. Buyers are still active on weakness, as evidenced by the asset's quick recovery from a brief dip below its 21-day moving average. More significantly, HYPE keeps trading well above its 50-, 100-, and 200-day moving averages. Shorter-term averages are positioned above longer-term ones, and their alignment is still very bullish.
Additionally, the overall uptrend is still in place. HYPE has adhered to an upward trendline since late February, which keeps pushing the market higher. Although that structure was briefly threatened by the recent correction, buyers were able to protect the trend before a more serious breakdown could occur.
Additionally, momentum indicators lend credence to the recovery story. The Relative Strength Index is currently in the mid-50s after cooling from earlier overheated levels. Compared to the overbought readings observed during the run toward all-time highs, this position is better for the market because it leaves room for another leg higher without experiencing momentum exhaustion right away.
Right now, the $65-$66 range is the crucial level that traders should keep an eye on. A clear breakout above this area might pave the way for a retest of $70 and, ultimately, the most recent peak, which was close to $76.
Bitcoin finds a foundationAfter one of the biggest drops of the current market cycle, Bitcoin seems to be regaining its footing. The biggest cryptocurrency is currently trying to stabilize around the psychologically significant $60,000 level after a sharp decline that sent Bitcoin from above $80,000 to almost $60,000 in a matter of days.
It appears that sellers may finally be losing momentum based on the recent price action. Bitcoin has started to establish a base around $60,000-$63,000 after a series of liquidations and panic-driven sales. The market has at least been able to stop the freefall that dominated trading during the previous week, even though it is too early to declare a clear bottom.
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Momentum indicators provide one of the most compelling arguments for stabilization. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) has reached levels not seen in months, plunging far into oversold territory. In the past, readings below 30 have frequently shown that the market is open to a relief rally and that selling pressure has run out.
The stabilization thesis is further supported by volume behavior. A significant increase in trading volume coincided with the breakdown toward $60,000, indicating widespread market participant capitulation. Near local bottoms, these volume explosions often happen as weaker holders scramble to get out of positions. Before choosing their next major course, markets frequently go through a consolidation phase after this supply is absorbed.
Bitcoin is still in a technically precarious situation despite the new indications of stability. The asset is trading below its 50-, 100-, and 200-day moving averages, all of which are still pointing downward. Furthermore, BTC recently broke below an upward trendline that had sustained price movement since March, indicating a decline in market structure. Any attempt at recovery will therefore encounter significant overhead resistance.
The Nasdaq 100 climbed 1.5% Monday and the S&P 500 rose 0.7% as AI and semiconductor stocks recovered from Friday's selloff, which had handed the tech index its biggest weekly decline since April 2025. Bitcoin and Ether saw little of that lift. BTC was trading around $62,856 Tuesday, roughly in line with where it opened the week. Ether was at approximately $1,669.
Micron Technology (MU) rose 9.9% after falling 13.3% Friday, its worst single-session loss in the S&P 500 that day. Marvell Technology (MRVL) gained 9.6% following news it would join the S&P 500. Nvidia (NVDA) added 1.7% after CEO Jensen Huang, speaking at an event in Seoul, urged investors to treat the recent selloff as a buying opportunity. Apple (APPL) fell 1% despite unveiling an AI-upgraded Siri at its annual WWDC, a response analysts attributed to buy-the-rumor, sell-the-news dynamics.
Crypto's decoupling from the equity rebound extended a pattern from recent weeks. Bitcoin had fallen below $60,000 over the weekend before recovering, and remains significantly below highs set earlier this year.
Against that backdrop, Strategy (MSTR) disclosed in an SEC filing that it purchased 1,550 BTC for approximately $101 million between June 1 and June 7, bringing its total holdings to 845,256 BTC. The purchase was partly funded by the sale of 1.4 million shares of Class A common stock, generating $181 million in net proceeds. The company also raised its USD Reserve from $900 million to $1 billion. The buy follows last week's disposal of 32 BTC, which Strategy said was intended to help fund preferred stock distributions.
Bitmine's (BMNR) press release disclosed 126,971 ETH acquired over the past week at an average of approximately $1,630 per token, bringing total holdings to 5.54 million ETH – 4.59% of Ethereum's circulating supply. Chairman Tom Lee said the company increased its buying as it believes the pullback in ETH prices does not reflect the strengthening of Ethereum fundamentals. The company holds 4.72 million of those tokens in staking, roughly 85% of its total ETH position. Including $247 million in cash, Bitmine reported total crypto and cash holdings of $9.6 billion.
Both companies have maintained their accumulation approach through this year's price weakness. Bitmine's latest tranche was acquired below current ETH prices. Strategy paid roughly $65,200/BTC on average, about 3% above where Bitcoin is currently trading.
On June 9, a Bitfinex analyst published a report noting that Bitcoin has shifted from the "accumulation phase" — which fueled its recent price rally — into a "distribution phase." Data highlights that after robust buying pressure between April and May, the spot volume delta has swung sharply negative, signaling early market entrants are steadily selling off during the current weak period, rather than holding or adding to their positions. The analyst added that short-term holders’ average cost basis has fallen below the market’s true average of $77,800, meaning a large portion of recent capital inflows are now sitting at unrealized losses — adding fresh selling pressure every time prices rebound. Bitfinex noted in the report: "Both on-chain and fund flow data confirm the current market is leaning toward a distribution-driven phase, rather than a classic panic bottom." The exchange stated that until spot demand makes a meaningful recovery, the broader market will stay in a defensive posture. This evaluation lines up with new metrics from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode. The firm’s data shows daily market realized losses have hit $1.35 billion, roughly $770 million of which stems from long-term holders triggering stop-loss orders. Additionally, Glassnode’s tracked realized profit-to-loss ratio has plummeted sharply from 3.16 on May 7 to 0.29 — nearly matching levels seen during the market’s February panic sell-off this year — signaling a fast-worsening market sentiment.
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James Wynn closed out his 40x Bitcoin short position, netting $30,000 in profits, and shifted to opening a 50x S&P 500 short position.
According to monitoring by OnchainLens, James Wynn has liquidated his 40x leveraged Bitcoin (BTC) short position, pocketing roughly $30,000 in profit. He subsequently opened a new 50x leveraged S&P 500 (SP500) short position at a price of 334.42, betting on a future decline in the US stock market.
Crypto analyst Ardi has drawn attention to an interesting dynamic amid the Bitcoin price bounce from a recent low of around $59,000. Based on his analysis, the BTC bottom has likely not formed, with the leading crypto set to fall to new lows.
Analyst Explains What Is Going on Amid Bitcoin Price Bounce In an X post, Ardi said that one of the more interesting developments during this distribution range has been the disconnect between retail and larger market participants. He noted that retail has spent months buying every dip as the Bitcoin price declines, thinking that those declines were likely the bottom being handed on a “silver platter.”
While retail investors have been buying the dip, mid-sized and institutional participants have spent the same period selling into every bounce. Ardi noted that people with the least capital are absorbing supply from those with the most. He declared that this is not usually how major bottoms are built in bear cycles, suggesting that the bottom is not yet in.
Source: Chart from Ardi on X Ardi further remarked that institutional-sized traders do not need retail participation to form a bottom for the Bitcoin price. He added that major bottoms are, in fact, formed after retail finally gives up. However, that is not the case at the moment as retail conviction remains high while larger investors are reducing their exposure. The analyst said that it is hard to argue that true capitulation has occurred until the dynamics change.
The Bitcoin ETFs have largely contributed to the latest Bitcoin price crash, with these funds seeing record net outflows over the last month. These ETFs have also seen outflows in 15 out of the last 16 trading days, a development that has significantly put downward pressure on the BTC price.
BTC About To Reach A Market Bottom In an X post, crypto analyst Ali Martinez said that the Bitcoin price is about to reach a market bottom. He cited technical and on-chain metrics that signal that a major macro accumulation cycle is starting. The analyst noted that the recent pullback has successfully flushed out overleveraged premiums across the board and that this move was accelerated by long-term holders who distributed over $3.25 billion in spot BTC.
With the Bitcoin price declining to $59,000, Martinez revealed that over 10.46 million BTC is currently held at a loss. He noted that historically, every time the supply-in-loss metric crosses the extreme 10 million threshold, it has accurately timed macro bottoms. The analyst also pointed to the 1.0 to 0.8 MVRV bands, which suggest that BTC could bottom between $53,900 and $43,150.
At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price is trading at around $63,200, up in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
BTC trading at $63,379 on the 1D chart | Source: BTCUSDT on Tradingview.com Featured image from Pixabay, chart from Tradingview.com
Bitcoin signage during the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.Photographer: Ian Maule/BloombergFor Bitcoin, the worst may be yet to come.
The largest cryptocurrency recovered some ground after slumping 16% in the seven days through Sunday, its steepest weekly fall since the bankruptcy of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX triggered a 23% rout in November 2022.
This was supposed to be the good-news day. The US-Iran peace deal is signed, oil is down 9%, and the war that crushed crypto in May is officially over. Yet Bitcoin is sliding below $63,000 and the week’s bounce is fading. The reason is simple and a little uncomfortable: one hawkish Fed meeting is outweighing a peace deal. Here is what’s happening with BTC and ETH, and the bigger question now hanging over the market.
Bitcoin is trading near $62,547 on June 19, 2026, down about 0.3% on the day and roughly 2.9% over the week, slipping below the $63,000 level (live prices on CoinGecko). Ethereum sits near $1,693, down about 0.1% on the day but still up around 1.8% on the week, continuing to hold up better than Bitcoin. BTC’s market cap is around $1.25 trillion, ETH’s near $204.5 billion.
The strange part is the backdrop. This should be a risk-on day, and instead crypto is drifting lower. Here is why.
Good news that isn’t moving the market The US-Iran peace deal was formally signed today, June 19, in Switzerland. President Trump authorized reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the naval blockade is lifted, and oil prices have fallen about 9%. Lower oil is disinflationary, which in theory eases the pressure on the Fed and helps risk assets like crypto.
So why is Bitcoin falling? Because the market has already moved on. The peace deal was telegraphed for days and is now priced in, a classic “buy the rumor, sell the news” outcome. More importantly, investors are rotating attention toward stocks and away from crypto, and the one thing dominating sentiment is not Iran. It is the Fed.
The Fed is still the story Wednesday’s FOMC meeting continues to cast a long shadow. The Fed held rates but delivered a hawkish dot plot: nine of 18 officials now project a 2026 rate hike, the year-end median jumped to 3.8%, and new Chair Kevin Warsh scrapped forward guidance entirely. The message was that rate cuts are off the table for 2026, possibly until 2027 or later.
That hawkish reality is now outweighing the Iran relief. Analysts at Marex describe crypto positioning as “defensive and thin” after the Fed, meaning traders are cautious and trading volume is light. In a thin market, prices drift, and right now they are drifting down. The peace deal removed a headwind, but the Fed added a bigger one, and the Fed is winning.
Why Ethereum is still holding up better The one bright spot remains Ethereum’s relative strength. ETH is up about 1.8% on the week while Bitcoin is down 2.9%, continuing a divergence that has held through the week.
ETH’s resilience comes from its own demand drivers: treasury firms like BitMine accumulating aggressively, ETF inflows returning, and the Glamsterdam upgrade on track for the second half of 2026. There is also the rotation question. After months of rising Bitcoin dominance during the crash, some capital appears to be rotating toward Ethereum, which historically leads when altcoins start to recover. Whether that continues is tied to the biggest question now facing the market.
The big question: will there be an altseason at all? Here is what traders are really debating after this week. With oil down, the Iran deal signed, and the macro picture clearing in some ways but tightening in others, the question is whether this cycle delivers an “altseason,” the period when altcoins outperform Bitcoin, at all.
The case against: a hawkish Fed, high rates, and rising Bitcoin dominance all delay altseason. Capital concentrates in Bitcoin during uncertainty, starving altcoins. The case for: Ethereum’s relative strength this week, returning ETF inflows, and structural institutional interest in ETH and other majors are the early ingredients of a rotation. ETH leading on the week is exactly what the start of an altseason looks like. The honest answer is that it is unresolved, and the next few weeks of Fed signals and dominance trends will decide it.
BTC and ETH: Key Levels to Watch Bitcoin: $62,000 is the immediate support, with the critical $60,000 floor below it that has held three times. On the upside, reclaiming $64,350 and then $66,000 would revive the bounce. A break of $60,000 would be a serious bearish signal.
Ethereum: $1,650 is the key support analysts are watching, with $1,600 below it. On the upside, ETH needs to reclaim $1,800 and then $2,000 to confirm its relative strength is turning into real leadership.
Bottom line Bitcoin at $62,547 and Ethereum at $1,693 are drifting lower as the week’s bounce fades, with a signed Iran peace deal failing to override the hawkish Fed. The macro tug-of-war is clear: geopolitical relief on one side, tighter-for-longer monetary policy on the other, and right now the Fed is winning.
Ethereum’s continued relative strength is the one encouraging signal, and it ties directly to the question of whether an altseason is coming. Watch Bitcoin’s $60,000 floor and Ethereum’s $1,800 resistance. Those two levels, plus the next round of Fed signals, will decide whether this fade is a pause or the start of another leg down.
FAQ What is the Bitcoin price today?
Bitcoin is trading near $62,547 on June 19, 2026, down about 0.3% on the day and 2.9% on the week, slipping below $63,000 as the week’s bounce fades despite the signed Iran peace deal.
What is the Ethereum price today?
Ethereum is trading near $1,693 on June 19, 2026, down about 0.1% on the day but up roughly 1.8% on the week, continuing to outperform Bitcoin.
Why is crypto falling despite the Iran peace deal?
The peace deal was priced in ahead of the June 19 signing, a “sell the news” outcome. More importantly, Wednesday’s hawkish Fed meeting, which signaled possible 2026 rate hikes, is outweighing the geopolitical relief and keeping crypto positioning defensive.
Why is Ethereum outperforming Bitcoin?
Ethereum benefits from aggressive treasury accumulation by firms like BitMine, returning ETF inflows, the upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade, and a rotation of capital toward ETH as Bitcoin dominance potentially peaks, an early sign of possible altcoin strength.
Will there be an altseason in 2026?
It is unresolved. A hawkish Fed and rising Bitcoin dominance delay altseason, but Ethereum’s relative strength, returning ETF inflows, and structural institutional interest are early ingredients of a rotation. The next few weeks of Fed signals and dominance trends will decide it.
What are the key levels for BTC and ETH?
Bitcoin support is $62,000 then the critical $60,000 floor, with resistance at $64,350 and $66,000. Ethereum support is $1,650, with resistance at $1,800 and the key $2,000 level.
This is not investment advice. Cryptocurrency is highly volatile. Always do your own research and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
Groestlcoin (GRS) is a rather strange sounding cryptocurrency that has been receiving quite a bit of interest lately.
It was launched back in March of 2014 as a proof-of-work coin just like Bitcoin, and like Bitcoin it was created as a payment and transactional cryptocurrency. It boasts having almost zero fees, the coin is semi-anonymous, and it is one of a few coins that remains ASIC-resistant.
However, can the coin compete with some of its newer rivals?
In this Groestlcoin review I will give you what you need to know about the project's technology, development and mining. I will also take a look at the long term growth potential of the GRS token and whether it could develop wider use cases and adoption.
Groestlcoin TechnologyGroestlcoin was created strictly as a peer-to-peer (P2P) payment cryptocurrency just like Bitcoin and Litecoin. That said, it has some unique attributes that distinguish it from Bitcoin and Litecoin.
Because of these unique attributes Groestlcoin was able to achieve several important “firsts” in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. It was the first coin to implement Segregated Witness and it was also the first to perform a Lightning Network transaction on the mainnet. That’s partially because the Groestlcoin development team has been active and hardworking since day 1, releasing major development updates every 3 months like clockwork.
Groestlcoin compared. Image via docroid
The developers have also created a wallet called Samourai that allows for anonymous Groestlcoin transactions. The wallet was created with support for Tor and VPN, it doesn’t recycle addresses, and has on-board AES-256 encryption. There’s also a stealth mode to the mobile application that causes it to disappear from your phone’s app list, launcher and home screen.
In addition to the Samourai wallet you’ll find a wallet for nearly any platform you could want. There are desktop wallets for Windows, Linux and OSX. There are mobile wallets for Android, iOS and Blackberry. And there are web based and ChromeOS wallets. For those who like using the same wallet on several platforms there’s the GroeslPay wallet.
Groestlcoin is also very proud of the fact that its transactions are nearly free. You can send 10,000 GRS and the cost will be far less than a penny ($0.00007 to $0.0003 as a matter of fact). The transaction cost varies based on the wallet you’re using, with the cheapest transactions coming from the Core Groestlcoin wallet.
Groestlcoin MiningWhen it comes to the hashing algorithm, the coin uses the Grøstl-512 mining algorithm, which is where it got its name. It is a less complex algorithm than Bitcoin's SHA-256. This means that it can still be mined on GPUs which makes it easier for home miners.
Groestlcoin uses two rounds of pure Grøstl-512 which makes it ASIC resistant. Currently, there are no ASICs that are in production to mine it. Apart from the benefits that this has for GPU miners, it also means that the coin is relatively more decentralised than its larger Bitcoin cousin.
The Groestlcoin developers have also created some simplified mining software which makes it easier for the community to mine GRS with their CPU / GPU. This is the Groestlcoin easyminer that was coded from the ground up and it has a number of useful features. You can follow these instructions if you want to set up the software on your PC.
Groestlcoin began with a mining reward of 512 GRS per block, with a halving occurring every week. That halving occurred until the block reward got to 5 GRS per block, which is where it is now and where it will stay until all GRS have been discovered.
There is a maximum supply of 105 million GRS and so far just over 72 million are in circulation. Groestlcoin has 1 MB blocks and block times of just 1 minute. This gives it 80 transactions per second, and the developers have said they will increase the block size if more transactions per second are needed.
Team MembersGroestlcoin was launched on March 22, 2014 by an anonymous developer with the username Gruve_P on the Bitcointalk forum. Since that time the team has grown to include over 20 dedicated individuals from all over the world. The team members remain anonymous, with most sharing only their first name and country of origin.
Some of anonymous Groestlcoin Team Members
While that might raise a red flag for some cryptocurrency projects, that hasn’t been the case for the Groestlcoin team. The fact that they have consistently released development updates every three months has given the team acceptance and trust from the cryptocurrency community.
That dedication is also what allowed Groestlcoin to be the first to implement SegWit and the first to conduct a mainnet transaction on the Lightning Network. More quick and impressive developments can be expected in the future too.
Community involvement is often a potent ingredient in the adoption of a cryptocurrency.
The Groestlcoin is quite an active and involved one. For example, there have been many calls for rebranding as the community doesn’t feel a cryptocurrency with such a strange name can enjoy widespread adoption, but so far it doesn’t look like any name-change is forthcoming.
Taking a closer look at the size of this community, they have over 38,000 Twitter followers, which isn’t bad and over 8,000 Facebook page likes, which is pretty large for a crypto project since Facebook isn’t really the platform for following cryptocurrency.
The platform that is for following cryptocurrency is Reddit, and you can see the enthusiasm for Groestlcoin when you look at the sub-Reddit for the project as it has over 100,000 followers. There are daily posts and loads of comments and at any time there will be several thousand followers online.
The GRS TokenNot surprising given the cryptocurrency markets, the price of GRS has been on a rollercoaster ever since its introduction in 2014. In fact, in a space known for volatility, GRS is far more volatile that most cryptocurrencies.
Everything was fairly calm in the early years, with the price of one GRS hovering between $0.002 and $0.003 until the beginning of 2017. That’s when the coin first broke out and volatility became the norm.
Register at Binance and Buy GRS Tokens
From early 2017 until July 13 the price went from $0.001 to a high of $0.41 before crashing. Over the next three months price declined steadily to reach $0.08 by October 22. And then it took off higher once again, reaching $0.85 in just 9 days! That spike came as cryptocurrency investors became increasingly interested in ASIC-resistant coins.
Price pulled back modestly in November, but then got caught up in the fever surrounding cryptocurrencies at the end of 2017, which took it to an all-time high of $2.69 on December 21, 2017.
During the 2018 bear market in cryptocurrencies GRS remained in fairly good standing, and even rallied in April and May. However, by February 2019 the price briefly touched levels below $0.20.
More recently price is seeing another jump, going from $0.25 on March 10, 2019 to $0.74 on March 11, 2019 after the Groestlcoin team announced the release of a GRS Mastercard debit card that can be used for purchases, or withdrawals at ATMs. Price has rapidly come off those highs, and as of March 17, 2019 it is at $0.416770.
GroestlPay mobile wallet features and benefits. Image Source
As mentioned earlier the Samourai wallet is a great place to store Groestlcoin, as is the GroestlPay wallet. One of the great things about Groestlcoin is you’ll find a wallet for nearly any platform you could want.
If you feel ready to buy some GRS you can find it on Upbit, Binance, and Bittrex and the liquidity on these exchanges is quite substantial. It’s also available on a number of other exchanges, but trading volumes are quite small on these.
Of course, if you have a reasonably powerful computer on you then you can always fire up the easyminer and start hashing for some GRS. Even with added competition the developers claim that mining GRS with a CPU / GPU is still profitable.
DevelopmentThere is one great rule of thumb that you can use in order to determine how much development work is being done on a project. This is to take a look into the project's GitHub repositories and see how much code has been pushed.
Moreover, given that Groestlcoin is an open-source project, their GitHub is fully public which makes it easy for the community to view the code. I decided to jump into their repositories and take a look at the number of commits they have pushed into their core, electrum and lightning repos.
Commits over past 12 months for chosen repositories
As you can see above, there has been extensive activity in these repositories. These are also only a small selection of the countless other repositories of the project. These are more commits than we have seen for a number of the newer coins that completed ICOs in the past 2 years.
As a point of comparison, Groestlcoin ranks 47 in commits to their core repo when compared to other projects. This places them above the likes of other privacy coins such as Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC).
So, all together a very active project with a great deal of development taking place. This is perhaps understandable when placed in the context of their pretty extensive roadmap.
RoadmapThe Groestlcoin team keeps a pretty extensive roadmap with a detailed list of features and integrations that are due to be implemented. For example, below are just some of the upcoming features that they hope to releasing this year.
Upcoming features for 2019
Whether the developers will be able to meet these timelines I cannot be certain of. However, if you are to take a look into the updates that they have pushed over the past 5 years, they have broadly been in line with the Roadmap timeline.
There are also a number of other features that they have put on their 2019 Roadmap although these have not been given a specific timeline. The team also has a list of features and functions that they have placed in their development wish list.
Some of the most interesting of these include the likes of confidential transactions, Schorr signatures and atomic swaps. Confidential transactions will increase the privacy of the coin whereas Schnorr signatures will make these transactions more efficient. The off-chain atomic swaps will allow you to exchange GRS for other coins such as Bitcoin etc.
So, it seems as if there is a great deal that we can look forward to over coming year. Groestlcoin has also supplied a handy development progress page that you can use to monitor the stages of completion for the various updates that I have mentioned above.
ConclusionWhile it may not be in the top 100 cryptocurrencies, Groestlcoin has a solid history of development, and the team is working towards improving on Bitcoin and making a better peer-to-peer payment system.
The improvements so far include the nearly fee-less transactions of Groestlcoin, the continuing ASIC-resistance, and the continuing regular development to keep the cryptocurrency at the forefront of advancing blockchain technology.
One thing possibly holding the project back is its name, which isn’t user-friendly. If the team decided to re-brand and begin a marketing campaign it could be just what the project needs to catapult it into the top 100 cryptocurrencies.
This is especially true since they launched their Mastercard debit card, as this type of integration with the traditional financial systems is something needed for mainstream adoption. It’s just another sign of Groestlcoin being a first-mover.
Time will tell if they are able to capitalize on the advantage.
MXC, the native token of the Layer 3 blockchain platform Moonchain, surged as much as 247% recently, thanks to the reactivation of its mining program and a wave of ecosystem updates.
According to Coingecko data, Moonchain (MXC) reached an intraday high of $0.00525 on the morning of May 29, Asian time, pushing its market cap past $11.6 million. When writing, the token was up 675% from its lowest point this year, marking one of its strongest moves in 2025 so far.
MXC crypto also recorded a sharp uptick in trading activity, with daily volume spiking over 500% compared to the previous day, reaching nearly $22.5 million, signalling a flood of new interest and momentum.
What’s behind the rally? There are three main catalysts driving MXC’s breakout:
First, the Moonchain team officially reactivated MXC mining on its network using MatchX’s M2 Pro and NEO miners, following a temporary outage on May 21. This reactivation also came after a community poll conducted by MatchX on X on May 19, where 97.9% of participants voted in favor of resuming MXC mining.
For context, MatchX is a German tech company that builds low-energy mining hardware specifically for the Moonchain ecosystem. Their devices help power Moonchain’s data infrastructure and allow users to earn MXC by participating in its Proof of Participation (PoP) system.
Second, Moonchain teased the upcoming launch of its Initial Hardware Offering (IHO). This campaign will send out free physical mining devices, possibly wearables like smartwatches or rings, to Moonchain token holders using an Ethereum smart contract.
According to the project’s Q2 2025 roadmap, the IHO will also include “health-based” mining devices and limited-edition high-hash-rate models to reward users who lock up their tokens early. Distribution hubs are also being set up in key regions to ensure faster deliveries.
Third, Moonchain recently completed an integration with OKX Wallet, a leading multi-chain wallet in the Web3 space. The integration allows users to easily access Moonchain’s dApps, staking features, and token tools across mobile, browser, and Telegram.
With OKX Wallet’s support for over 1,000 protocols, the move better positions both existing and new users to engage with the ecosystem.
What Is Moonchain? For those unfamiliar, Moonchain is a Layer 3 blockchain platform that combines AI, IoT, and DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks). Its native token, MXC, powers transactions within the network, supports an inter-chain NFT marketplace, and rewards participants via its energy-efficient Proof of Participation model.
The project also features MXProtocol and is building on Ethereum’s Layer 2 tech, including its own zkEVM, to improve compatibility with existing Ethereum-based apps. This positions Moonchain as a solid pick for developers working on real-world use cases, especially in smart devices and data-sharing networks.
MXC price outlook On the technical side, MXC has broken out of a multi-month descending channel, which often signals the start of a potential new uptrend. It also held above the key 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level at $0.0048 before cooling off to around $0.0041 at press time.
MXC price, MACD and RSI chart — May 29 | Source: crypto.news Momentum indicators support the bullish case. The MACD lines are crossing upward, and the Relative Strength Index is in the overbought zone, often a sign of sustained buying pressure and strong buyer conviction in an emerging uptrend.
However, overbought conditions can also bring short-term selling pressure if traders begin to lock in profits.
If MXC continues upward, the next likely target is around $0.0061, a key level it failed to reach in its earlier push. But if it drops below the $0.0030 support, it could slide further down toward the $0.00060 range, which is currently acting as a psychological support zone.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
Bitcoin-focused blockchain Elastos is partnering with the decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) network IoTeX on digital identity validation. However, the collaboration also aims to bring Bitcoin's robustness and trust to the forefront of DePIN, marking a significant leap toward integrating digital and physical assets using Bitcoin.
The partnership represents an effort to leverage Bitcoin's Layer-2 capabilities, specifically through Elastos' approach, to enhance the functionality and accessibility of real-world assets (RWA) like buildings, equipment, and other capital-intensive assets. By integrating these assets with blockchain technology and IoT (Internet of Things), the collaboration aims to create a seamless, secure, and efficient ecosystem for managing and monetizing physical infrastructure.
At the heart of this partnership is the direct integration with ‘Layer 2' Bitcoin, a move that Raullen Chai, IoTeX's co-founder and CEO, describes as an “important milestone.” He commented,
“Extending our offering to the Elastos Smart Chain (ESC) offers some compelling advantages, including direct integration with ‘Layer 2’ Bitcoin, meaning that agreements can be embedded and reconciled direct in the World’s most popular and trusted digital currency. This is an essential capability as DePINs become more mainstream.”
This integration allows for agreements to be embedded and reconciled directly in Bitcoin. This capability may be crucial as DePINs become more mainstream, offering a secure and transparent mechanism for managing agreements and transactions within the physical infrastructure space.
This integration is facilitated by Elastos' BeL2's BTC Oracle, which enables secure and efficient communication between Bitcoin and EVM blockchains through zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs), laying the groundwork for complex decentralized applications directly on Bitcoin Layer 2.
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IoTeX's modular infrastructure platform connects smart devices and real-world data to blockchains, while its middleware solution, W3bstream, brings real-world data on-chain. This capability is vital for seamlessly integrating IoT devices with blockchain technology, ensuring integrity, and optimizing speed and scalability.
Jonathan Hargreaves, Elastos' Global Head of Business Development & ESG, encapsulates the essence of this partnership as Web3's “next frontier.” By reducing intermediaries and increasing transparency and privacy in the physical domain, Elastos and IoTeX are bridging the gap between the digital and physical worlds, powered by the security and trust of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin had a successful halving event last Friday, April 19, at the block height of 840,000 further reducing the mining rewards by 50%. Bitcoin price has regained more than 10% from the lows of $60,000, seen just ahead of the halving event. As of press time, Bitcoin price is trading with a market cap of $1.3 trillion. However, along with BTC, several Bitcoin Layer 2 coins have surged by a staggering 5-20% in the last three days since halving.
STX, the native cryptocurrency belonging to Bitcoin Layer 2 network Stacks, has surged by a staggering 20% to $2.87 in the last three days since the fourth Bitcoin halving. This also makes STX one of the best-performing cryptos in the top 25 list over the last 24 hours.
Since the halving event, Elastos’ ELA token has surged by 11%, while SatoshiVM’s SAVM has seen a 5% increase in value. Bitcoin Layer 2 solutions are typically projects addressing transaction speed and scalability limitations on the Bitcoin blockchain network. Built atop the Bitcoin blockchain network, this Layer 2 solutions enhance scalability by processing transactions off-chain.
Bitcoin Transactions Fee Fluctuates According to Glassnode’s data, the average transaction fee surged to almost 0.0020 BTC following the halving, marking its highest level since early 2018. This increase in fees can be attributed to the introduction of a new protocol called Runes, enabling users to “etch” and create tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain. The launch of Runes led to a surge in speculation, token minting, and meme coin trading, driving up transaction volumes and consequently raising transaction costs.
By April 20, a day after halving, the Bitcoin transaction fees skyrocketed to $128 leading to millions of dollars in profits for miners. However, the transaction fees have once again cooled down in the range of $8–$10 for medium-priority transactions. During the period from April 15 to 20, Bitcoin’s transaction fees have consistently exceeded those of Ethereum for six consecutive days. The seven-day average fee for Bitcoin now stands at $17.8 million.
Along with the native tokens of the Bitcoin Layer 2 solution, the Bitcoin Ordinals NFTs have also been in the limelight over the weekend. With the 60% drop in the floor price of Bitcoin Runestone, the floor price of Ordinals like Bitcoin Puppets and NodeMonkes has surged by 20% and 7% respectively.
Disclaimer: Coinspeaker is committed to providing unbiased and transparent reporting. This article aims to deliver accurate and timely information but should not be taken as financial or investment advice. Since market conditions can change rapidly, we encourage you to verify information on your own and consult with a professional before making any decisions based on this content.
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Bhushan is a FinTech enthusiast and holds a good flair in understanding financial markets. His interest in economics and finance draw his attention towards the new emerging Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency markets. He is continuously in a learning process and keeps himself motivated by sharing his acquired knowledge. In free time he reads thriller fictions novels and sometimes explore his culinary skills.
Following the Bitcoin halving, three so-called BTC layer 2 protocols have outperformed crypto’s leading token.
At press time, Bitcoin (BTC) traded over $65,000 and had gained 2.9% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data. The short-term price action following BTC’s halving is not unusual compared to previous cycles.
Historical data shows volatility and price swings leading to the quadrennial events, followed by a parabolic Bitcoin run in the mid to long term. However, previous increases have hardly ever been in a straight line.
BTC price chart | Source: TradingView While BTC displayed modest gains after its halving, protocols buildings around crypto’s largest blockchains posted higher increases in the last 24 hours and over the past week. Three tokens stood out from five BTC L2 solutions categorized by CoinGecko, which holds over $4 billion in value.
SatoshiVM SatoshiVM (SAVM) claims to be a BTC zero-knowledge rollup compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, or EVM, as it’s commonly known in crypto. The protocol uses native BTC as gas fees and allows builders to issue assets, dapps, and solutions linked with Bitcoin’s ecosystem.
SAVM surged 12% over the past day and returned more than 17.9% to holders in the last week.
Elastos Elastos (ELA) holders gained north of 5.5% in 24 hours but only 3.6% within the past week. The protocol aims to bolster BTC efficiency and scalability by providing its L2 dubbed BeL2, a layer 2 offering built using SmartWeb technology to power smart contracts on Bitcoin.
Stacks Stacks (STX) tailed Elastos for daily growth at 5.4% but outpaced ELA on the weekly timeline with a 10.6% increase. According to the team, Stacks supports dapp developments and on-chain settlement on Bitcoin.
The protocol says its Stacks layer unlocks around $500 billion in BTC capital through this direct settlement mechanism.
[PRESS RELEASE – Hersham, United Kindom, June 28th, 2024]
Elastos Partners with BEVM for Bitcoin Native Peer-to-Peer Loans. Partnership aims to unlock up to $1.3 trillion of dormant Layer 1 Value, as US consumers get excited about the 3rd Age of Bitcoin
Elastos, the SmartWeb ecosystem provider, has announced a partnership with the L2 provider, BEVM, to develop a peer-to-peer Bitcoin-denominated loan offering around the former’s BeL2 protocol. Together the companies believe they can unlock up to $1.3 Trillion of dormant Layer 1 Bitcoin Value, which is supported by data from the latest Elastos’ BIT (Bitcoin; Innovation & Trust) Index suggesting more than two-thirds of US tech-savvy consumers are comfortable using Bitcoin.
Collateralizing 80% of assets while the Bitcoin Layer is untouched
Elastos believes momentum is building around the Third Age of Bitcoin, where users will be able to transact using Native Bitcoin. Partnering with BEVM to develop this Bitcoin Native loan product will allow users to collateralize up to 80% of their assets in return for L2 credit (stable coins, for instance) based on terms defined in a Bitcoin-assured smart contract. The integrity of the currency is assured by BeL2’s unique ZK-proof process which means the Bitcoin Layer is untouched as the process can be completed without bridging, wrapping or otherwise interfering with the Bitcoin Layer. This maintains the integrity of the currency and avoids network congestion and additional fees that would otherwise result. This approach enables Elastos and BEVM to deliver a genuinely peer-to-peer loan product, which is completely disintermediated and anonymous. Verification (potentially through third party services) and resulting costs/delays would only be required in the event of a dispute between the two parties.
“The BeL2 protocol perfectly reflects what BEVM is all about; developing and supporting EVM-compatible DApps which can run in the Ethereum ecosystem to operate on Bitcoin L2. The loan offering is the perfect illustration of how such services could revolutionize the finance sector,” Hakan Sezikli, Co-founder of the BEVM Foundation.
Enabling Insight via BTC Oracle
Launched in December ’23, the Bitcoin Elastos Layer2 (BeL2) protocol is a Layer 2 solution for Bitcoin, enabling multiple functionalities such as staking and smart contracts to be denominated directly in the World’s most popular digital currency. BEVM will be collaborating with the Elastos’ BeL2 protocol to deliver a BTC Oracle to monitor and analyze all Bitcoin-based activity in real time. As the BeL2 protocol enables Bitcoin users to manage any relationship through the currency – from staking (‘interest’), to complex multi-party agreements through smart contracts – the BTC Oracle will potentially become a vital source of insight into how the currency is being used.
US tech-savvy consumers trust Bitcoin
This partnership comes as new data from the Elastos’ BIT (Bitcoin; Innovation & Trust) Index indicates growing excitement among US tech-savvy consumers for Bitcoin. 63% of ‘tech savvy’ consumers feel either ‘perfectly comfortable’ or, even, ‘excited’ about transacting in Bitcoin and over half respondents in the US are using Bitcoin at least once a month. Among the use cases:
44% have already used Bitcoin to store savings 42% have used the digital currency to purchase online 34% to send/receive money from abroad 23% turn to it to mitigate the effects of inflation 15% use it to reduce their banking costs Respondents to the survey also suggest they trust Bitcoin as much as online banking or cash to protect savings:
24% US respondents would place most trust in Bitcoin Compared with 25% who place most trust in online banks 23% who place their trust in cash “What this data shows is that we’re reaching an inflection point in the understanding and embrace of crypto-currencies among early adopters in the US that reflects the global trend towards the Third Age of Bitcoin,” said Rong Chen, co-founder, Elastos. “We are on the verge of Bitcoin delivering a new era commerce, where users are in charge of their data and are no longer beholden to the Web 2 tech giants. This data shows there is work to do to encourage broader adoption in the US, but at Elastos it is our mission to develop technologies that will make it easier to interact and transact with Bitcoin.”
The BIT Barometer also revealed sizable constituencies uncomfortable with the data sharing requirements of Web2. Globally and in the US, one in three (31%) described themselves as “uneasy” or “completely uncomfortable” about the requirement to share personal information to message or transact on web2 social media.
About Elastos
Elastos is a public blockchain project that integrates blockchain technology with a suite of reimagined platform components to produce a modern Internet infrastructure that provides intrinsic protection for privacy and digital asset ownership. The mission is to build accessible, open-source services for the world, so developers can build an internet where individuals own and control their data.
The Elastos SmartWeb platform enables organizations to recalibrate how the Internet works for them to better control their own data.
https://elastos.info
https://www.linkedin.com/company/elastosinfo/
Elastos’ BIT (Bitcoin; Innovation & Trust) Index Methodology
The data was compiled from over 1,400 self-defined ‘tech savvy’ respondents from 7 countries across the globe. The research was compiled from online interviews conducted in Brazil, Germany, Nigeria, South Korea, UAE, UK, and US. The interviews were completed by a third party, registered market research company and completed between 30 March and 04 April ’24.
About BEVM
BEVM is the first fully decentralized EVM-compatible Bitcoin L2 that uses BTC as Gas. It allows all DApps which can run in the Ethereum ecosystem to operate on Bitcoin L2.
[PRESS RELEASE – Singapore, Asia, July 29th, 2024]
Elastos BeL2 will partner with StarkWare to integrate Starknet ZKPs and Cairo programming language with BeL2 for Native Bitcoin DeFi apps Starknet integration enables BeL2 to deliver smart contracts and dapps without moving Bitcoin assets off the mainnet Starknet Grant validates strength of BeL2 innovation and leadership in the Native Bitcoin ecosystem Elastos BeL2 (Bitcoin Elastos Layer2) has secured a $25,000 grant from Starknet, a technology leader in zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP). This significant endorsement highlights the Elastos BeL2 infrastructure and its critical role in advancing Native Bitcoin DeFi, particularly native Bitcoin lending. By integrating Starknet ZKPs and the Cairo programming language, Elastos’ BeL2 will enhance its ability to deliver smart contracts and decentralized apps (dapps) without moving Bitcoin (BTC) assets off the main network. This strategic partnership with Starknet demonstrates the growing acceptance and maturity of the BeL2 infrastructure, reinforcing Elastos’ commitment to market leadership in the evolving Bitcoin DeFi market.
Starknet, developed by StarkWare, is renowned for its advances in ZKP technology, which enhance the privacy and security of blockchain transactions. ZKPs allow one party to prove to another that a statement is true without revealing any information beyond the validity of the statement itself. This technology is fundamental to scaling blockchain networks, which will enhance BeL2’s ability to integrate complex smart contracts while maintaining Bitcoin’s integrity and security.
“We are delighted to receive this Starknet grant and announce our partnership to build tighter integrations with its ZKP technology and the Cairo programming language,” said Sasha Mitchell, Head of Bitcoin Layer 2, Elastos. “This is a major milestone for BeL2 and a real endorsement of the maturity and capabilities of our core technology. This support will allow us to further build out our Native Bitcoin lending innovation, as we look to leverage the growing acceptance of Bitcoin as a viable alternative financial system.”
Closer integration with Cairo will enable BeL2 to use this powerful programming language to enhance Bitcoin’s capabilities and deliver secure, efficient, and scalable decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. Specifically, the relationship with Cairo strengthens BeL2’s leading technical innovations, which include:
ZKPs to ensure secure and private transaction verification Decentralized arbitration using collateralized nodes to supervise and enforce fairness in Native Bitcoin DeFi BTC Oracle facilitating cross-chain interactions where information, not assets, are exchanged while Bitcoin remains on the main infrastructure BeL2’s vision extends beyond technical innovation to pioneering a new financial system. The goal is to build a Bitcoin-backed Bretton Woods system, addressing global debt crises and enhancing Bitcoin’s role as a global hard currency. This new system will be anchored by the integrity and security of Bitcoin, providing a stable foundation for decentralized financial applications.
As the integration with Starknet and the Cairo programming language expands, BeL2 will deliver further advancements in smart contract capabilities, decentralized arbitration, and innovative financial products. At Token 2049, BeL2 will demonstrate further innovations in its core technologies, particularly around arbiters, which will underline the Elastos vision to deliver a more equitable, decentralized financial system anchored by Bitcoin.
About Elastos Elastos is a public blockchain project that integrates blockchain technology with a suite of reimagined platform components to produce a modern Internet infrastructure that provides intrinsic protection for privacy and digital asset ownership. The mission is to build accessible, open-source services for the world, so developers can build an internet where individuals own and control their data.
The Elastos SmartWeb platform enables organizations to recalibrate how the Internet works for them to better control their own data.
The Stacks (STX) protocol has initiated the Nakamoto Upgrade, which introduces Bitcoin (BTC) finality to its network. Over the next 21 days, the ecosystem is set to experience a range of activities linked to this significant upgrade.
Stacks is one of the largest Bitcoin Layer-2 (L2) networks by market capitalization. Earlier this year, the STX community approved the Nakamoto upgrade, aiming to make the network faster and enhance block times.
Bitcoin L2 Stacks Initiates Nakamoto UpgradeThe Nakamoto Upgrade marks a new era of scalability for decentralized finance (DeFi) within the Bitcoin ecosystem and is one of the most significant changes to the Stacks network. Activated on Wednesday, this upgrade enhances transaction speeds and reduces settlement times.
Bitcoin’s standard settlement times previously ranged from 10 to 30 minutes or more. The Nakamoto Upgrade has slashed this to around five seconds—a 10X improvement that significantly boosts the Stacks network’s usability.
The upgrade received strong community support earlier this year and sets the stage for several key developments in the Stacks ecosystem. One of the major upcoming events is the introduction of sBTC, a decentralized asset backed 1:1 by Bitcoin.
Stacks is specifically designed to enable smart contracts and dApps to use Bitcoin as a secure base layer. By extending Bitcoin’s capabilities without altering it, Stacks unlocks billions in latent capital, allowing for a more dynamic and functional ecosystem.
Read more: A Beginner’s Guide to Layer-2 Scaling Solutions
The Nakamoto Upgrade comes as projects built atop the Stacks blockchain endured less-than-desirable speeds. These slow transaction times negatively impacted the user experience, making it challenging to support high-volume use cases and limiting developers from delivering complex DeFi products.
Despite the positive changes brought by the upgrade, which began on Wednesday, the total value locked (TVL) on the Stacks network has decreased by over $7 million, dropping from $98.10 million to $90.62 million. This decline in TVL suggests that the upgrade’s immediate impact on market confidence was mixed, even as the network undergoes notable improvements.
Stacks TVL. Source: DefiLlamaBeInCrypto data shows STX, the native token of the Stacks network, is trading for $1.59 at press time, down 8.5% since Thursday session openned.
Bitcoin L2s Could Initiate New WaveBitcoin L2 solutions are progressively gaining popularity, and have attracted significant investment. As BeInCrypto previously reported, VC funding towards Bitcoin L2s continues to grow, collectively raising an impressive $94.6 million in the second quarter of 2024.
This represents a substantial 174% increase quarter-over-quarter. Experts also revealed that at least 65 projects identified themselves as Bitcoin Layer-2.
“The crypto industry is catching on to the fact that much of what is done on alternative blockchains can be built on top of Bitcoin. Fortune 500 companies like MicroStrategy are tailoring their entire business towards Bitcoin’s Layer-2. Layer-2 faces no more regulations than other crypto platforms. The only challenges are technical, and the brightest minds are being pulled towards Bitcoin along with nation-states, etc,” Manuel Ferrari, Money On Chain Co-Founder, told BeInCrypto.
Read more: Beginner’s Tutorial to Start Using the Lightning Network
There is also speculation that L2s could spark a new bullish wave for Bitcoin, especially as the focus on scaling increases. This rising demand might lead to capital rotation, with overflow potentially moving into Layer-2 tokens like STX, Elastos (ELA), SatoshiVM (SVM), and BVM (BVM).
[PRESS RELEASE – Singapore, Asia, September 12th, 2024]
Since announcing their partnership at Bitcoin Nashville, Elastos and Particle Network have quickly reached a key milestone in simplifying user onboarding. Developers can now build dApps that make it easier for Web2 users to get started, expanding adoption. Elastos, a SmartWeb ecosystem provider, today announced that Particle Network, an L1 blockchain aggregator, has integrated the Elastos Smart Chain (ESC) Mainnet. This marks the first major milestone since their partnership announcement at Bitcoin Nashville 2024. The development allows users to interact with Elastos decentralized applications (dApps) using familiar Web2 logins, like Google, for a smoother onboarding experience. This step helps Elastos developers attract Web2 users to their dApps, opening new opportunities for revenue.
By simplifying the typically complex blockchain onboarding process , users can now engage with Elastos dApps without the need for crypto wallets, seed phrase management, or paying gas fees. For example, a user can log in with a Bitcoin wallet to take out a stablecoin loan using collateralized Bitcoin via Elastos’ BeL2. This funding can be used right away on the Elacity marketplace without needing ELA for gas, as those fees are covered automatically in the background. This makes the process more convenient while retaining the benefits of decentralization, including control over personal data, direct peer-to-peer interactions, and strong security and integrity.
The ability to hide complexity from users is a strategic driver for Elastos. By working with Particle Network, Elastos is able to simplify the process for users to interact with decentralized applications and BTC-backed services. This complements the work it has been doing with the BeL2 protocol to keep Bitcoin secure on its main network using zero-knowledge proofs to verify transactions and transfer collateral information across chains.
Pengyu Wang, Particle Network’s Founder, describes Particle Network’s effort toward simplifying the Web3 user experience as a major milestone in making Web3 experiences a part of everyday life.
“Web3 has introduced a wide array of blockchains and protocols that developers and users need to manage. Simplification is essential to improving this experience, enabling users to have a single, unified on-chain address and balance across various blockchains,” said Wang. “Our mainnet launch in collaboration with Elastos reflects our shared vision of making it easier for developers and users to build and experience Web3 services.”
Jonathan Hargreaves, Elastos’s Global Head of Growth, explained that, to truly rival Web2 in terms of adoption, one of the key milestones for Web3 is making it easy to interact with a dApp.
“The significance of this announcement is the simplicity that Particle Network brings to the table allowing multiple technologies to deliver a Web3 experience in an environment that will feel exactly the same as any current social media or sharing app, all assured by the World’s most ubiquitous, popular and integral decentralized currency through Elastos’ BeL2 protocol,” continued Jonathan.
Elastos’ BeL2 protocol enables users to operate easily using Bitcoin – as if they were operating in a purely native Bitcoin environment – without actually impacting the BTC layer.
“Building out a robust ecosystem around the BeL2 protocol with partners like Particle Network will be key to enabling a new economic model based around Native Bitcoin. At Token 2049, we will be hosting an event at RWA which will further demonstrate how working with our partners we will enable developers to build a whole new range of decentralized finance, music and entertainment applications.”
About Elastos
Elastos is a public blockchain project that integrates blockchain technology with a suite of reimagined platform components to produce a modern Internet infrastructure that provides intrinsic protection for privacy and digital asset ownership. The mission is to build accessible, open-source services for the world, so developers can build an internet where individuals own and control their data.
The Elastos SmartWeb platform enables organizations to recalibrate how the Internet works for them to better control their own data.
https://elastos.info
https://www.linkedin.com/company/elastosinfo/
About Particle Network
Particle Network is addressing Web3’s fragmentation of users and liquidity through Universal Accounts. Particle’s chain abstraction is powered by a Cosmos SDK L1 blockchain enabling the experience of a single account, balance, and address that can be used across all chains, allowing users to interact with any dApp and pay gas with any token.
For more information, users can go to: https://particle.network/
[PRESS RELEASE – Singapore, Asia, October 23rd, 2024]
Users can convert staked ELA and rewards into tradable NFTs, burn them anytime for Bitcoin-secured ELA APY rewards, and claim the staked ELA when the lock period ends. Anyone can stake ELA with a validator and earn 2–3% APR, with higher rewards for longer lock periods. Elastos continues to build momentum for a new decentralized finance model, offering flexible liquidity, Bitcoin-backed security, and simple wallet access. Elastos, a SmartWeb ecosystem provider, has expanded incentives for crypto users and validators with the launch of Bonded Proof of Stake (BPoS) NFTs. This new system offers users liquidity for staked assets by converting ELA and accumulated rewards into tradable NFT receipts, without interrupting rewards or waiting for the lock period to end. Through the Essentials Wallet, users can stake Bitcoin-secured ELA with a validator to earn 2–3% APR, with higher rewards for longer lock periods.
Today’s announcement underscores Elastos’ commitment to delivering value across the Smart Web ecosystem. Users can easily stake ELA tokens with BPoS validators on the Elastos Mainchain using the Essentials Wallet and issue BPoS NFTs. These NFTs can be freely traded or transferred on the Elastos Smart Chain (ESC), offering liquidity without affecting the staking period. Market participants can acquire NFTs to gain access to Mainchain rewards and the underlying staked asset. While the staked ELA remains locked until the staking period ends, NFT holders can burn their NFTs anytime to claim accumulated APY rewards.
“We are committed to delivering technologies that will create long-term value for our users and the ecosystem,” said Jonathan Hargreaves, Head of Global Growth at Elastos. “We are now in a position to deliver the tools and architecture that enable users to trade Bitcoin-backed value through ELA on Elastos without unstaking the underlying asset. This unlocks new market opportunities and sets the stage for BPoS NFTs to be used as collateral in BeL2’s upcoming Arbiter network. Ultimately, we aim to build a new model for decentralized finance backed by Bitcoin security, and we are entering a phase where users will increasingly benefit from these innovations.”
Backed by Bitcoin Security These NFTs represent receipts to claim ELA assets secured by Bitcoin’s hash power through Auxiliary Proof of Work (AuxPoW) and validators via the BPoS mechanism on the Elastos Mainchain. With 293.69 EH/s of Bitcoin’s total 580.74 EH/s hash rate, nearly half of Bitcoin’s security reinforces Elastos’ ELA, anchoring it in Bitcoin’s infrastructure without additional energy use and introducing new utility through mintable and burnable NFTs.
“With ELA’s fixed supply cap of 28.22 million, Bitcoin miner-shared security, and a 4-year halving cycle, ELA embodies Satoshi’s merge-mining BitDNS and Generalizing Bitcoin vision laid out on the Bitcoin forum in 2010,” added Sasha Mitchell, Head of BeL2. “Our roadmap continues to progress with the upcoming BeL2 arbiter network, which will support Native Bitcoin DeFi, allowing nodes to collateralize BPoS NFTs and unlock multiple revenue opportunities beyond ELA APY by supporting BTC-based services.”
Launching the BeL2 Arbiter Network Elastos plans to launch the BeL2 arbiter network by the end of 2024. This network will allow BPoS NFTs to be used as collateral for supporting time-based transactions such as loans and stablecoin pegs, including dispute resolution services. Arbiter nodes using these NFTs will earn Bitcoin and ELA rewards without moving Bitcoin from the mainnet. This approach combines security, liquidity, and financial innovation, positioning Elastos as a key player in the evolution of blockchain-based finance.
About Elastos Elastos is a public blockchain project that integrates blockchain technology with a suite of reimagined platform components to create a modern internet infrastructure that provides intrinsic protection for privacy and digital asset ownership. Its mission is to build accessible, open-source services that empower developers to create an internet where individuals own and control their data.
The Elastos SmartWeb platform allows organizations to recalibrate how the internet functions to better manage their data and privacy.
Majuro, Marshall Islands, January 30th, 2025, Chainwire
Funding accelerates the development of Elastos’ ELA token, Native Bitcoin DeFi protocol, and Web3 data economy – positioning Elastos as the utility layer for Bitcoin.
Elastos, a decentralized web infrastructure pioneer, today announced a $20 million strategic investment from Rollman Management to scale its Bitcoin-aligned ecosystem. Rollman Management, recognized for its high-profile investments in blockchain projects like Ripple, Ethereum, Solana, and Planck, now ranks Elastos among its top five holdings. The partnership will fuel the launch of Elastos’ Native Bitcoin DeFi protocol, BeL2, expand its merge-mined ELA token as a Bitcoin reserve asset, and accelerate Elacity—a Web3 data marketplace that enables creators to monetize content without intermediaries on top.
With Bitcoin’s market cap surpassing $2 trillion, Elastos solves critical gaps in Bitcoin’s ecosystem:
ELA as Bitcoin’s Merge-Mined Reserve Asset: ELA tokens have been secured by Bitcoin’s hash power through merge-mining since 2018, aligning with Satoshi Nakamoto’s 2010 vision for decentralized networks. With a total of 28,220,000 by 2105 and around 50% of Bitcoin’s hashrate, ELA gains security and decentralization, provides additional revenue for BTC miners at no extra cost, and creates a crypto economically sound reserve asset for Elastos’ Bitcoin-native DeFi system. BeL2: Bitcoin’s DeFi Breakthrough: Launching in Q2 2024, BeL2 allows Bitcoin holders to collateralize BTC in personal wallets and access Ethereum smart contract services. These include minting stablecoins, performing swaps, and borrowing assets peer-to-peer, unlocking its value all whilst eliminating reliance on synthetic BTC (e.g., WBTC) and centralized custodians. BeL2 combines locking scripts, zero-knowledge proofs, oracles, and an arbiter network where ELA stakeholders can stake ELA and earn BTC fees as decentralized nodes to support the protocol. Elacity: Web3’s Creator Revolution: Already proven in early tests, where one creator earned $5,600 in 24 hours through tokenized podcast access, Elacity v2 will launch in April with channels and subscription models. It enables influencers to encrypt, tokenize, and sell content/royalties on Elastos for audio and video markets, with plans to extend its technology to support the tokenization of AI markets. “Leveraging Bitcoin’s trillion-dollar consensus to empower Web3 users with scalable utilities—that’s where Elastos comes in,” said Rong Chen, Elastos Founder. “Merge-mining ties ELA’s security to Bitcoin’s, and BeL2, Elastos’ decentralized finance protocol, unlocks BTC-backed DeFi without compromises, whilst Elacity creates a decentralized digital goods economy on top. Rollman’s investment supports our role as Bitcoin’s utility layer”.
The $20M investment from Rollman will drive the advancement of Elastos technologies and also help Elastos reorient its branding, mature its technological stance, and go to market. This includes enhancing marketing efforts, which will further position Elastos as a leader in the growing Bitcoin-native DeFi space.
Elastos as a Pioneer in Bitcoin-secured Governance
Beyond its technological advancements, Elastos stands out for its Cyber Republic Consensus (CRC) governance model, formalized as a DAO LLC in the Marshall Islands, which signed this agreement with Rollman. This delegate-based system allows community members to stake Bitcoin merge-mined ELA, earn APY, and annually elect—or run as—one of 12 council members who vote on proposals, drive innovation, sign contracts, and validate Elastos’ Smart (EVM) and Identity (DID) sidechains. This ensures governance decisions reflect the community’s interests and demonstrates Elastos’ commitment to a truly decentralized and transparent ecosystem rooted in Bitcoin.
As Elastos enters its next phase of growth, participants can join the ecosystems CRC DAO by acquiring merge-mined ELA, which has a market cap of $48,542,586 and is secured by nearly 50% of Bitcoin’s hashrate (366.01 EH/s, equivalent to 244.008 Frontier Supercomputers). ELA offers 6+ years of proven security, a fixed cap of 28.22M tokens to be fully mined by 2105, and 3.29% emissions via its Essentials Wallet, ensuring scarcity and predictability for holders. Available on Centralized Exchanges (Coinbase, KuCoin, Gate.io, Huobi, Bitget, Crypto.com) and Decentralized Exchanges (Uniswap, Chainge Finance, Glide Finance), ELA empowers holders to shape Elastos’ future through CRC governance—driving innovation, reinforcing Bitcoin-level security, and building the next generation of decentralized applications.
Additional Information
ELA Merge Mining BeL2 Elacity Cyber Republic Consensus (CRC) Users can contact [email protected] for partnership inquiries or media requests. About Elastos
Elastos is a SmartWeb ecosystem builder focused on enabling decentralized application creation and cross-chain connectivity. Built on top of Bitcoin merge-mining, Elastos relies on the security of the world’s largest public blockchain and extends it with additional layers. The introduction of BeL2 and its Arbiter Network marks Elastos’ latest effort to advance a more open, clear, and trustless global financial system.
Website: Elastos.info
X/Twitter: @ElastosInfo
About Rollman Management Digital
Rollman Management Digital is a private investment and management consulting boutique that is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. The firm seeks to invest in talented teams and their blockchain protocols to further develop their technology and business while adding significant value to the future of the modern economy.
RMD is led by Victor R. Ch. Rollman, the founder of Rollman Capital, Rollman Mining, and Rollman Management. The Group offers a wide range of investment opportunities, financial services, and management consultancy to UHNWIs, entrepreneurs, developing governments, commodity trading firms, banks, family offices, and pension funds.
Disclaimer: This is a Press Release provided by a third party who is responsible for the content. Please conduct your own research before taking any action based on the content.
Majuro, Marshall Islands, January 30th, 2025, Chainwire
Funding accelerates the development of Elastos’ ELA token, Native Bitcoin DeFi protocol, and Web3 data economy – positioning Elastos as the utility layer for Bitcoin.
Elastos, a decentralized web infrastructure pioneer, today announced a $20 million strategic investment from Rollman Management to scale its Bitcoin-aligned ecosystem. Rollman Management, recognized for its high-profile investments in blockchain projects like Ripple, Ethereum, Solana, and Planck, now ranks Elastos among its top five holdings. The partnership will fuel the launch of Elastos’ Native Bitcoin DeFi protocol, BeL2, expand its merge-mined ELA token as a Bitcoin reserve asset, and accelerate Elacity—a Web3 data marketplace that enables creators to monetize content without intermediaries on top.
With Bitcoin’s market cap surpassing $2 trillion, Elastos solves critical gaps in Bitcoin’s ecosystem:
ELA as Bitcoin’s Merge-Mined Reserve Asset: ELA tokens have been secured by Bitcoin’s hash power through merge-mining since 2018, aligning with Satoshi Nakamoto’s 2010 vision for decentralized networks. With a total of 28,220,000 by 2105 and around 50% of Bitcoin’s hashrate, ELA gains security and decentralization, provides additional revenue for BTC miners at no extra cost, and creates a crypto economically sound reserve asset for Elastos’ Bitcoin-native DeFi system. BeL2: Bitcoin’s DeFi Breakthrough: Launching in Q2 2024, BeL2 allows Bitcoin holders to collateralize BTC in personal wallets and access Ethereum smart contract services. These include minting stablecoins, performing swaps, and borrowing assets peer-to-peer, unlocking its value all whilst eliminating reliance on synthetic BTC (e.g., WBTC) and centralized custodians. BeL2 combines locking scripts, zero-knowledge proofs, oracles, and an arbiter network where ELA stakeholders can stake ELA and earn BTC fees as decentralized nodes to support the protocol. Elacity: Web3’s Creator Revolution: Already proven in early tests, where one creator earned $5,600 in 24 hours through tokenized podcast access, Elacity v2 will launch in April with channels and subscription models. It enables influencers to encrypt, tokenize, and sell content/royalties on Elastos for audio and video markets, with plans to extend its technology to support the tokenization of AI markets. “Leveraging Bitcoin’s trillion-dollar consensus to empower Web3 users with scalable utilities—that’s where Elastos comes in,” said Rong Chen, Elastos Founder. “Merge-mining ties ELA’s security to Bitcoin’s, and BeL2, Elastos’ decentralized finance protocol, unlocks BTC-backed DeFi without compromises, whilst Elacity creates a decentralized digital goods economy on top. Rollman’s investment supports our role as Bitcoin’s utility layer”.
The $20M investment from Rollman will drive the advancement of Elastos technologies and also help Elastos reorient its branding, mature its technological stance, and go to market. This includes enhancing marketing efforts, which will further position Elastos as a leader in the growing Bitcoin-native DeFi space.
Elastos as a Pioneer in Bitcoin-secured Governance
Beyond its technological advancements, Elastos stands out for its Cyber Republic Consensus (CRC) governance model, formalized as a DAO LLC in the Marshall Islands, which signed this agreement with Rollman. This delegate-based system allows community members to stake Bitcoin merge-mined ELA, earn APY, and annually elect—or run as—one of 12 council members who vote on proposals, drive innovation, sign contracts, and validate Elastos’ Smart (EVM) and Identity (DID) sidechains. This ensures governance decisions reflect the community’s interests and demonstrates Elastos’ commitment to a truly decentralized and transparent ecosystem rooted in Bitcoin.
As Elastos enters its next phase of growth, participants can join the ecosystems CRC DAO by acquiring merge-mined ELA, which has a market cap of $48,542,586 and is secured by nearly 50% of Bitcoin’s hashrate (366.01 EH/s, equivalent to 244.008 Frontier Supercomputers). ELA offers 6+ years of proven security, a fixed cap of 28.22M tokens to be fully mined by 2105, and 3.29% emissions via its Essentials Wallet, ensuring scarcity and predictability for holders. Available on Centralized Exchanges (Coinbase, KuCoin, Gate.io, Huobi, Bitget, Crypto.com) and Decentralized Exchanges (Uniswap, Chainge Finance, Glide Finance), ELA empowers holders to shape Elastos’ future through CRC governance—driving innovation, reinforcing Bitcoin-level security, and building the next generation of decentralized applications.
Additional Information
ELA Merge Mining BeL2 Elacity Cyber Republic Consensus (CRC) Users can contact [email protected] for partnership inquiries or media requests. About Elastos
Elastos is a SmartWeb ecosystem builder focused on enabling decentralized application creation and cross-chain connectivity. Built on top of Bitcoin merge-mining, Elastos relies on the security of the world’s largest public blockchain and extends it with additional layers. The introduction of BeL2 and its Arbiter Network marks Elastos’ latest effort to advance a more open, clear, and trustless global financial system.
Website: Elastos.info
X/Twitter: @ElastosInfo
About Rollman Management Digital
Rollman Management Digital is a private investment and management consulting boutique that is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. The firm seeks to invest in talented teams and their blockchain protocols to further develop their technology and business while adding significant value to the future of the modern economy.
RMD is led by Victor R. Ch. Rollman, the founder of Rollman Capital, Rollman Mining, and Rollman Management. The Group offers a wide range of investment opportunities, financial services, and management consultancy to UHNWIs, entrepreneurs, developing governments, commodity trading firms, banks, family offices, and pension funds.
[PRESS RELEASE – Majuro, Marshall Islands, January 30th, 2025]
Funding accelerates the development of Elastos’ ELA token, Native Bitcoin DeFi protocol, and Web3 data economy – positioning Elastos as the utility layer for Bitcoin.
Elastos, a decentralized web infrastructure pioneer, today announced a $20 million strategic investment from Rollman Management to scale its Bitcoin-aligned ecosystem. Rollman Management, recognized for its high-profile investments in blockchain projects like Ripple, Ethereum, Solana, and Planck, now ranks Elastos among its top five holdings. The partnership will fuel the launch of Elastos’ Native Bitcoin DeFi protocol, BeL2, expand its merge-mined ELA token as a Bitcoin reserve asset, and accelerate Elacity—a Web3 data marketplace that enables creators to monetize content without intermediaries on top.
With Bitcoin’s market cap surpassing $2 trillion, Elastos solves critical gaps in Bitcoin’s ecosystem:
ELA as Bitcoin’s Merge-Mined Reserve Asset: ELA tokens have been secured by Bitcoin’s hash power through merge-mining since 2018, aligning with Satoshi Nakamoto’s 2010 vision for decentralized networks. With a total of 28,220,000 by 2105 and around 50% of Bitcoin’s hashrate, ELA gains security and decentralization, provides additional revenue for BTC miners at no extra cost, and creates a crypto economically sound reserve asset for Elastos’ Bitcoin-native DeFi system. BeL2: Bitcoin’s DeFi Breakthrough: Launching in Q2 2024, BeL2 allows Bitcoin holders to collateralize BTC in personal wallets and access Ethereum smart contract services. These include minting stablecoins, performing swaps, and borrowing assets peer-to-peer, unlocking its value all whilst eliminating reliance on synthetic BTC (e.g., WBTC) and centralized custodians. BeL2 combines locking scripts, zero-knowledge proofs, oracles, and an arbiter network where ELA stakeholders can stake ELA and earn BTC fees as decentralized nodes to support the protocol. Elacity: Web3’s Creator Revolution: Already proven in early tests, where one creator earned $5,600 in 24 hours through tokenized podcast access, Elacity v2 will launch in April with channels and subscription models. It enables influencers to encrypt, tokenize, and sell content/royalties on Elastos for audio and video markets, with plans to extend its technology to support the tokenization of AI markets. “Leveraging Bitcoin’s trillion-dollar consensus to empower Web3 users with scalable utilities—that’s where Elastos comes in,” said Rong Chen, Elastos Founder. “Merge-mining ties ELA’s security to Bitcoin’s, and BeL2, Elastos’ decentralized finance protocol, unlocks BTC-backed DeFi without compromises, whilst Elacity creates a decentralized digital goods economy on top. Rollman’s investment supports our role as Bitcoin’s utility layer”.
The $20M investment from Rollman will drive the advancement of Elastos technologies and also help Elastos reorient its branding, mature its technological stance, and go to market. This includes enhancing marketing efforts, which will further position Elastos as a leader in the growing Bitcoin-native DeFi space.
Elastos as a Pioneer in Bitcoin-secured Governance
Beyond its technological advancements, Elastos stands out for its Cyber Republic Consensus (CRC) governance model, formalized as a DAO LLC in the Marshall Islands, which signed this agreement with Rollman. This delegate-based system allows community members to stake Bitcoin merge-mined ELA, earn APY, and annually elect—or run as—one of 12 council members who vote on proposals, drive innovation, sign contracts, and validate Elastos’ Smart (EVM) and Identity (DID) sidechains. This ensures governance decisions reflect the community’s interests and demonstrates Elastos’ commitment to a truly decentralized and transparent ecosystem rooted in Bitcoin.
As Elastos enters its next phase of growth, participants can join the ecosystems CRC DAO by acquiring merge-mined ELA, which has a market cap of $48,542,586 and is secured by nearly 50% of Bitcoin’s hashrate (366.01 EH/s, equivalent to 244.008 Frontier Supercomputers). ELA offers 6+ years of proven security, a fixed cap of 28.22M tokens to be fully mined by 2105, and 3.29% emissions via its Essentials Wallet, ensuring scarcity and predictability for holders. Available on Centralized Exchanges (Coinbase, KuCoin, Gate.io, Huobi, Bitget, Crypto.com) and Decentralized Exchanges (Uniswap, Chainge Finance, Glide Finance), ELA empowers holders to shape Elastos’ future through CRC governance—driving innovation, reinforcing Bitcoin-level security, and building the next generation of decentralized applications.
Additional Information
ELA Merge Mining BeL2 Elacity Cyber Republic Consensus (CRC) Users can contact [email protected] for partnership inquiries or media requests. About Elastos
Elastos is a SmartWeb ecosystem builder focused on enabling decentralized application creation and cross-chain connectivity. Built on top of Bitcoin merge-mining, Elastos relies on the security of the world’s largest public blockchain and extends it with additional layers. The introduction of BeL2 and its Arbiter Network marks Elastos’ latest effort to advance a more open, clear, and trustless global financial system.
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Rollman Management Digital is a private investment and management consulting boutique that is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. The firm seeks to invest in talented teams and their blockchain protocols to further develop their technology and business while adding significant value to the future of the modern economy.
RMD is led by Victor R. Ch. Rollman, the founder of Rollman Capital, Rollman Mining, and Rollman Management. The Group offers a wide range of investment opportunities, financial services, and management consultancy to UHNWIs, entrepreneurs, developing governments, commodity trading firms, banks, family offices, and pension funds.
Compound, the builders behind one of the most popular decentralized finance apps on Ethereum, just raised an impressive $25 million war chest in a Series A fundraising round that was backed by some of the cryptocurrency arena’s biggest investors.
Revealed on November 14th, the Series A raise saw venture capital firms like Andreesen Horowitz (a16z), Polychain Capital, Paradigm, and Bain Capital Ventures, throw a new round of chips behind the promise of the DeFi app’s future and growing ecosystem. a16z was the raise’s largest investor, although at an unspecified sum.
With the new funding secured, Compound chief executive officer Robert Leshner told Fortune that the name of the name going forward will be making the project’s crypto lending services readily usable by mainstream, non-tech users. As a step in that direction, Leshner said the DeFi protocol will be integrated with other major cryptocurrency companies, e.g. Coinbase, by the end of next year .
And while the Compound team is the main driving force behind its associated dApp, the company plans to continue phasing out their direct stewardship in favor of a more decentralized governance process. To that end, Leshner said:
“As with Bitcoin, we want to ensure that no one, including the company that built it, can exert undue influence on Compound’s protocol. Corporations come and go but we want to build a protocol that lasts forever.”
Of course, lasting forever is a big aim; but that Compound will last a long time already seems clear considering all the other rising Ethereum DeFi “money lego” projects that are currently relying on Compound’s open infrastructure.
Take the example of InstaDapp, which recently raised its own seed round of $2.4 million on the appeal of its automated “bridge” for crypto lenders wanting to move positions between Compound and Maker and vice versa. For context, both Maker and Compound are currently in the top three DeFi projects per value locked within their protocols according to tracker site DeFi Pulse.
a16z: a Big DeFi Believer Both in word and in deed, powerhouse private venture capital firm a16z has been betting big on DeFi.
First, the firm made waves last fall when its crypto arm conducted a “strategic purchase” of MakerDAO’s MKR governance token, which is used to guide the growth of the popular Dai stablecoin. In spending $15 million on the acquisition, a16z bought up six percent of the entire MKR supply at the time.
The VC firm also created a buzz last month when it bought up $235,000 worth of SNX, the associated token of Synthetix, another current top 3 DeFi project per DeFi Pulse that lets users create synthetic assets on Ethereum.
Now with a16z’s investment in the Compound team, the company has completed the “skin in the game” trifecta where decentralized finance’s biggest fledgling projects are concerned. On the news of Compound’s Series A raise, general partner Chris Dixon hailed the project as poised to achieve:
“Compound is a lending protocol that is open to anyone in the world, that disintermediates banks and allows anyone to earn interest on their money. We’ve worked with Robert [Leshner] and his team for over two years and think they are world class technologists and entrepreneurs.”
But a16z isn’t just content to back the promising DeFi projects of today, as the firm is also interested in fostering the next waves of innovation in the sector. Last week, the company unveiled its new Crypto Startup School (CSS), a seven week educational program for crypto startup founders.
“We think that sharing the most important lessons we’ve learned could accelerate the development of existing projects, and inspire more talented people to join the space,” Chris Dixon said of the program.
William M. Peaster
William M. Peaster is a professional writer and editor who specializes in the Ethereum, Dai, and Bitcoin beats in the cryptoeconomy. He's appeared in Blockonomi, Binance Academy, Bitsonline, and more. He enjoys tracking smart contracts, DAOs, dApps, and the Lightning Network. He's learning Solidity, too! Contact him on Telegram at @wmpeaster
