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

Top Stories This Week

Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, has recently delivered pro-crypto remarks, claiming “Bitcoin is an international asset” and suggesting U.S. regulators consider how an ETF directly linked to Bitcoin could democratize finance in the country. Under Fink, BlackRock has attempted to launch a spot BTC ETF with crypto exchange Coinbase acting as a surveillance partner. It’s unclear if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve the investment vehicle, given its track record of rejecting all previously filed spot BTC ETF applications to date.

Gemini files lawsuit against Digital Currency Group and Barry Silbert over Genesis and Earn program

Gemini has announced legal action against the conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG) and its CEO, Barry Silbert, claiming “fraud against creditors.” Genesis, a DCG subsidiary, had been the crypto lender responsible for operating an Earn program in partnership with the crypto exchange. The suit follows an open letter published by Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss, which slammed Silbert for allegedly trying to play the victim card while owing over a billion dollars to Earn’s investors. “Not even Sam Bankman-Fried was capable of such delusion,” Winklevoss wrote in the letter.

Bitcoin bull run incoming: Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao reveals when

Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has delivered his prediction for the next Bitcoin bull market. In a July 5 “ask me anything” session on Twitter, CZ gave his thoughts on the next bull run, explaining that the price of Bitcoin has historically moved in four-year bull cycles, and his best bet was that this would continue to occur. While admitting he couldn’t predict the future, Zhao emphasized the upcoming Bitcoin halving event in 2024 and declared 2025 to be the most likely year for the next bull market, stating: “The year after Bitcoin halving is usually the bull year.“

UK government moves forward on bill aimed at empowering authorities to seize crypto

Lawmakers in the United Kingdom are moving forward with legislation aimed at expanding authorities’ ability to target cryptocurrencies used for illicit purposes. A June 27 version of the bill included provisions to allow authorities greater flexibility in the confiscation and civil recovery of crypto assets. In addition, the legislation clarified the government’s authority over digital assets “intended to be used for the purposes of terrorism” or related reasons. The lawmakers will consider all amendments to the bill before it can be made law by royal assent.

Binance, Coinbase and Gemini staff are among the least happy, data suggests

According to a quadrant chart by tech recruitment firm TrueUp using data from Glassdoor, crypto exchanges, including Gemini, Binance and Coinbase, are home to some of the least happy employees in the industry. The chart shows the happiest and least happy workers across over 27 of most valuable crypto firms on different stages of maturity. The defunct crypto lender Celsius, crypto exchange Gemini and trading firm Amber Group top the list of least satisfied employees, followed by Binance and Coinbase. Binance said its “hardcore” work culture could explain some of the results, while Crypto Recruit founder Neil Dundon warned that the data should be taken with a grain of salt.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $30,321, Ether (ETH) at $1,868 and XRP at $0.46. The total market cap is at $1.18 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Bone ShibaSwap (BONE) at 40.88%, Maker (MKR) at 12.94% and Flow (FLOW) at 11.73%. 

The top three altcoin losers of the week are ApeCoin (APE) at -15.13%, Stellar (XLM) at -13.31% and Fantom (FTM) at -12.63%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

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

Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance

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

Henrik Andersson, chief investment officer at Apollo Crypto

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

Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock

“The future tells me that we are going toward augmented intelligence that will end up with AI co-mingling with normal brains. Maybe that is the future of humanity.”

Paolo Ardoino, chief technology officer at Tether

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

Cameron Winklevoss, CEO of Gemini

“Bitcoin-related startup investment, I think particularly at an early stage, had doubled in the last year. So that’s a positive.”

Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream

Prediction of the Week 

BTC price remains ‘undoubtedly bullish’ as $30K Bitcoin buyers emerge

Bitcoin bulls had hopes that new yearly highs would allow BTC/USD to exit its months-long trading range for good, but ended up disappointed. The largest cryptocurrency saw rejection at $31,500 this week, falling below the $30,000 mark just hours later to challenge the lower part of the range.

Longer-term perspectives likewise continued the overall bullish narrative, with short-term retracements and sideways movement below resistance expected.

Pseudonymous trader TraderKoz dispelled fears over a deeper comedown challenging Bitcoin’s uptrend. “With a lot of people talking about shorter-term pullbacks, it’s important to keep the bigger picture in mind and not lose focus,” he wrote on July 6, adding, “Whether we pullback to 28k, 29k, or wherever else, this weekly chart is undoubtedly bullish (in my opinion). And I will be looking to bid dips.”

FUD of the Week 

Multichain MPC bridge sees $100M+ outflows, sparking fears of exploit

Abnormally large outflows from the Multichain multi-party computation (MPC) bridge platform are sparking fears of a multimillion-dollar exploit. On July 6, observers noticed that over $102 million worth of crypto had been withdrawn from Multichain’s Fantom bridge on the Ethereum side, as well as $666,000 from Dogechain and $5 million from Moonriver. Several on-chain sleuths took to Twitter to label the event as a possible exploit. Multichain said the movements were abnormal and the team “is not sure what happened and is currently investigating.”

Coinbase domain name reportedly used by scammers in high-profile attacks

Coinbase’s users have been turning to Twitter to report scams and phishing attacks involving the company’s services and applications in the recent weeks, including claims that scammers are using the crypto exchange’s domain name. According to reports, perpetrators have been using the email “help@coinbase.com” to deceive users and gain access to accounts. Coinbase said anyone scamming its customers will be prosecuted.

BarnBridge DAO calls halt to ‘all work’ on DeFi protocol amid SEC probe

BarnBridge DAO members have been told to pause “all work” related to the project after a reported probe by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Douglas Park, a lawyer for the decentralized autonomous organization, revealed the news to members in a post on the platform’s Discord channel. All BarnBridge-related products are currently on hold, including its liquidity pools. DAO members are not receiving compensation for work flowing from the investment efforts of the organization.

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