Hodler’s Digest, July 21-27 – Cointelegraph Magazine

This week's main news

BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Records Biggest Day of Gains Since March With $523M

BlackRock's spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) posted its biggest day of inflows in four months, with more than $523 million flowing into the fund on July 23.

The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) collected 7,759 bitcoins on July 22 — worth more than $523 million at the time of writing — according to HeyApollo data, as co-founder Julian Fahr posted on X on July 23.

The July 22 earnings bring total assets under management for IBIT to 333,000 BTC, worth $22 billion at current prices. It was the seventh-biggest day of inflows into IBIT in US dollars on record.IBIT saw a record one-day inflow on March 18, when $849 million of BTC was added to the fund.

According to data from Farside Investors, the second biggest day occurred on March 5, when the fund inflowed $788 million.

Revolut has received a UK banking license after a three-year wait

Revolt, a London-based fintech company, has received a UK banking license after a three-year-long regulatory approval process. Announced on July 25, this significant milestone marks a pivotal moment for the company as it consolidates and consolidates its position in the domestic market.

The UK's Prudential Regulation Authority granted the license with certain restrictions, allowing Revolt to slowly build up its banking business before going full scale.

Revolut CEO Nick Storonsky commented on this remarkable event.

“We are incredibly proud to have reached this milestone in the company's journey and make Revolt the bank of choice for UK customers.”

The company was founded in 2015 and is rapidly growing its customer base, with nine million registered users in the UK and over 45 million worldwide. It is supported in 35 countries around the world.

In the year Revolut was valued at $33 billion during its 2021 fundraising round.

India uses crypto surveillance to crack down on dark drug deals.

India's Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), the country's cross-border drug law enforcement and intelligence agency, has been actively monitoring cryptocurrency payments on the darknet as part of its ongoing efforts to combat drug trafficking in the country.

During a debate in Parliament on July 24, Home Minister Nityanand Rai outlined India's current strategy to reduce the movement of narcotics into and out of the country.

According to data from the NCB, the use of cryptocurrencies in drug crimes has been inconsistent over the past five years. But since 2022, the number of drug bust cases related to the darknet and cryptocurrencies has been on the rise.

Rai outlined 13 action plans to combat the growing drug trafficking and narco-terrorism in India. he said:

“Special Task Force on Darknet and Crypto Currency Formed to Monitor Suspicious Drug-Related Transactions on Darknet.”

Spot Ethereum ETFs post $107M in net income on first day

US ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) from greyscale's newly minted Ethereum Trust posted $106.6 million in revenue on their first day of trading, despite higher costs.

BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust ETF led the pack with $266.5 million in revenue, followed closely by the Bitwise Ethereum ETF with $204 million in net revenue. Fidelity Ethereum Fund ETF came in third with $71.3 million.

The flow into the “newborn” space Ether ETFs was enough to overcome the bleeding from the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE), which saw the withdrawal of $484.9 million on the day, which is 5% of the $9 billion fund at one time.

ETHE was launched in 2017 by Grayscale, which allowed institutional investors to buy ETH. However, it imposed a six-month lock-in period on all investments. The switch to spot ETFs means investors can sell their shares more easily, which may explain the high intraday flows. In January, spot Bitcoin ETFs broke with the same volatility as the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, which gained more than $17.5 billion. Following the launch of 11 Spot BTC ETFs.

Asset manager Trump said that the manager could make Bitcoin a strategic reserve asset

Asset manager Brian Courchesne recently appeared on CNBC to discuss Bitcoin's potential to become a strategic reserve asset for the United States government under a future Trump administration.

According to the asset manager, taking Bitcoin as a reserve asset is difficult but not impossible. Courchesne pointed to the Department of Justice's extensive holdings of 200,000 BTC, making the US government the largest holder of Bitcoin behind its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.

Courchesne noted that the Justice Department could easily transfer bitcoins to the United States Treasury Department, which would pave the way for the Treasury to start stockpiling and holding the long-term asset.

Amid rising global debt and inflation, speculation that bitcoin could become a global reserve asset or a strategic US Treasury asset prompted former President Donald Trump's announcement of support for the digital asset industry. Holder, like his constituents, has also fueled speculation that a future Trump administration could herald a new era for crypto, in which Bitcoin is fully integrated into the current financial system.

Winners and losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) at $67,636, Ether (ETH) at $3,260 and XRP at $0.59. According to CoinMarketCap, the total market cap is $2.41 trillion.

Among the largest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers for the week were Helium (HNT) at 20.43%, SATS (1000SATS) at 11.81% and Pyth Network (PYTH) at 10.73%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week were Lido DAO (LDO) at 19.39%, Worldcoin (WLD) at 17.14% and Mog Coin (MOG) at 16.15%.

Be sure to read Cointelegraph's market analysis for more information on crypto prices.

The most memorable quotes

Although SEC Chairman Gensler's term ends on June 5, 2026, he may be out of office by January/February 2025.

Marcus Thielen, CEO of 10x Research

Although the full demand picture will not emerge for several months, the price of ETH may be sensitive to incoming revenue numbers in the early days.

Will Kay, managing director of Kaiko Index at Kaiko

“The victims of the 2014 hacking scandal spent a decade trying to get their money back, but now that the long bankruptcy process is over, many are reaping huge profits.”

Bitstamp, cryptocurrency exchange

“The narrative of Bitcoin as a new store of value is simple and largely understandable, while Ethereum's proposition of value is more complex and requires more time and greater educational effort.”

Adrian Fritz, Head of Research at 21Shares

“Open source means that more people around the world can access the benefits and opportunities of AI, that the power is not concentrated in the hands of a few companies, and that the technology is deployed more evenly and safely in society. He said.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg

“The SEC approves this feature based on appropriateness, burden and special benefit. No one holds water.

Coinbase, cryptocurrency exchange

Forecast of the week

Traders see ETH's $3.2K rebound as a ‘buy', while ETFs build steam

Traders suggest that Ether's drop to $3,209 now puts it in “buy” territory, but currency-traded funds (ETFs) warn that the “cheerful” effect may not last.

“There are 2 main zones to buy,” anonymous crypto trader Sheldon The Sniper told his 490,300 X followers in a July 24 post. He pointed out that the current buy zone is $3,300 and below and said that the $3,097 buy zone has been crossed.

Sheldon went on to predict that Ether could “reach $4,000 in the next week or two,” reiterating two entry points that “will ride into the next all-time high breaks.”

According to CoinMarketCap data, Ether is trading at $3,209 at the time of publication at 5:50 pm UTC, down 7.68% in the last 24 hours.

The price dropped another level below the recently seen $3,500 mark. Ether has seen $106 million in net inflows since the spot Ether ETF launched.

However, futures traders were expecting a big drop in the price of the Ether ETF after its debut. A 7.68% discount resulted in $42.53 million in short positions, compared to just $2 million in long positions, according to CoinGlass data.

FUD of the week

Bitcoin Traders Warn BTC Price Could Still Fall To $62K Or ‘Even Less'

Bitcoin may be seeing “exciting” upside, analysts warn as markets brace for key news events.

In a July 26 post on X, popular fake trader Crypto Ed joins those warning against Bitcoin's rise above $67,000. Bitcoin may be up about 2% since the July 25 close, but not everyone believes in short-term BTC price strength. For Crypto Ed, it is surprising to see a rebound from the previous day's local low of $63,430, which matches the price behavior since the end of last week.

“Yesterday was stronger than I expected, it seemed sudden,” he summed up.

“I expect corrective turbulence, then another leg down to 62k and possibly lower.”

Despite the post, he acknowledged that the market may still be meeting the bulls' appetite and unwillingness to take lower-side liquidity.

“This scenario is still possible, but the strength in the current uptrend is that we have already completed leg 2 and are heading to new highs again. I will let PA develop a bit more to see if I am wrong on the low TF,” concluded CryptoEd with his explanatory Elliott Wave chart.

ETH ETFs launched in a ‘weak market' and could put pressure on Bitcoin – analyst

Bitcoin analyst space thinks that Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have been launched too early, and if new capital does not enter the market, it could threaten the value of Bitcoin.

Charles Edwards, founder of Capriole Investments, told Cointelegraph that “it would be better to have a BTC ETF only in 2024”. He argued that the new Ether ETF would only distract investors who already invested in Bitcoin.

“Institutional holders of current BTC ETFs think they should diversify a bit and buy ETH ETFs. Without new inflows into the overall market, this will create selling pressure on Bitcoin,” Edwards argued.

Since the spot Bitcoin ETF launched on Jan. 11, about $17.53 billion has flowed into 11 products, according to data from Farside Investors. And since the Ether ETF launched on July 23, Bitcoin dominance has remained fairly stable, rising 0.07% in the past 24 hours, according to TradingView data.

While the Spot Bitcoin ETF recorded net inflows of $78 million on July 23 – the first day of trading for the Spot Ether ETF – the following two days saw inflows of $44.5 million and $31.1 million, respectively.

Fake zoom malware steals crypto when ‘stuck' installed, user warned

Crypto fraudsters are up to no good again, and their latest tool looks and sounds like a video conferencing platform that looks and sounds like a magnified link to a website, which users click on to install malware.

On July 22, fake anonymous useless token collector and cybersecurity engineer NFT_Dreww warned X users of a new “sophisticated” scam involving fake zoom links. According to Drew, the fraudsters stole $300,000 worth of crypto from the scheme.

Like other social engineering scams, Drew explained that fraudsters typically target non-targeted token holders, or crypto-wells, by asking them to license their intellectual property, invite them to X Spaces or join a team for a new project. .

The scammers insist on using Zoom and prompt the target to join an ongoing meeting using a malicious link that is difficult to understand. After clicking the link, the user will be connected to a “stuck” page showing an endless loading screen. The page then asks the user to download and install the malware ZoomInstallerFull.exe.

Once loaded, the page redirects to the official zoom platform, leading the user to believe it worked, but by then the malware has infiltrated the target's computer and stolen the data, Drew explained. The web malware added itself to Windows Defender's exclusion list to prevent antivirus systems from blocking it the first time it was executed.

The best magazine sections of the week

THORChain Founder And His Plan To ‘Vampire Attack' All DeFi

After posing as a daughter for six years, the founder of THORChain is now waging war on DeFi “slow mats”.

When Musk Lists His Empire? Find love and more in the sandbox: Web3 Gamer

According to the head of strategy of Delab Games, the Web3 game is taking an unexpected turn this year.

Toyota's love for Ethereum, HK nods inverse Bitcoin ETF, stablecoin: Asia Express

Asia's top automaker is exploring how Ethereum could play a role in autonomous vehicles, a Hong Kong inverse Bitcoin ETF and a new stablecoin, and more!

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Editorial staff

Cointelegraph magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.