United States-based spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have experienced their largest day of net inflows in over a month, even as the crypto market struggles. On July 8, eleven funds collectively amassed $295 million in inflows.
This marked the first time in three trading weeks that net inflows across all funds were positive.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF led the pack with a significant daily inflow of $187.2 million.
Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund followed, garnering $61.5 million.
Additionally, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust saw a rare day of positive price action, achieving $25.1 million in inflows.
READ MORE: Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Drops Over 5% to Quarterly Low, Impacting Profitability Thresholds
This surge represents the most substantial day of inflows since June 5, when ETFs attracted over $488 million in new capital.
These developments occur amid broader market concerns related to significant Bitcoin sales by the German government and upcoming repayments to Mt. Gox creditors.
To date, the German government has moved over 26,200 BTC — valued at $1.5 billion at current prices — to exchanges and market makers.
According to Arkham Intelligence data, the government still holds 27,460 BTC, worth approximately $1.57 billion, in reserve.
Simultaneously, there are apprehensions about the potential market impact of $8.5 billion in Bitcoin as the defunct Japanese crypto exchange Mt. Gox starts repaying creditors who lost funds in a 2014 hack.
However, some analysts suggest that concerns over Mt. Gox Bitcoin sales might be exaggerated.
The price of Bitcoin has seen a decline over the past two trading weeks, dipping to $53,600 on July 5. This marks the first time the asset has traded below $54,000 since February.
To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.
Eli Ben-Sasson, CEO of StarkWare, announced at EthCC on July 10 that StarkWare plans to introduce staking by the end of 2024 through a Starknet improvement proposal (SNIP).
If the community approves the SNIP, staking is expected to go live on testnet soon, with a mainnet launch projected for the fourth quarter.
A GitHub repository for the staking feature will be publicly accessible during its development.
In a written Q&A with Cointelegraph, Ben-Sasson explained that staking would allow Starknet tokenholders to “participate in core activities of a decentralized network.”
He added, “Over time stakers will gradually receive more responsibilities, with rewards conditioned on performing these responsibilities.
“After a PoS protocol has been fully implemented, stakers will be the key entities that maintain and operate Starknet.”
The SNIP will permit users to become stakers if they hold the minimum staking amount or delegate to an existing staker.
Participants in staking, either directly or through delegation, can expect proportional rewards based on their stake.
Rewards will follow the minting curve proposal, which was well-received by the Starknet community when published in February.
The proposal suggests that higher total minting rates will result from more tokens staked, but individual staking rewards will decrease as a percentage of the staked amount.
READ MORE: Singapore High Court Orders Multichain to Compensate Fantom Foundation $2.187M for Hack Losses
Ben-Sasson explained, “The core idea of the minting curve mechanism is to strike” a balance between encouraging participation and keeping inflation in check, “and ensuring enough STRK tokens are available” for other network activities.
Starknet staking will be rolled out in stages.
Initially, stakers will need to connect to Starknet, interact with staking contracts, and follow protocol staking rules.
They will be expected to run full nodes to prepare for validation activities.
During this phase, the StarkWare team, Starknet Foundation, and the community will analyze on-chain staking data to refine parameters for subsequent updates.
Later stages will require stakers to provide real-time attestations and perform proving and sequencing activities to secure the network.
Regarding future governance, Ben-Sasson stated, “Staking power will, in due course, enable voting power, ensuring that those who are actively contributing to the network have a say in its direction and decisions.”
On May 28, the Starknet Foundation announced it would distribute 20 million Starknet (STRK) tokens to the most advanced projects on the network.
Diego Oliva, CEO of Starknet Foundation, told Cointelegraph that the team considered a “range of metrics” for the distribution as part of its Catalyst program, which aims to accelerate the development of Starknet’s Ethereum layer-2 solution based on zero-knowledge rollup technology.
To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.
The wallet labeled “German Government (BKA)” on Arkham Intelligence has recently added 6,000 more Bitcoin, valued at $354 million, in preparation for another round of BTC sell-offs.
So far, 5,853.409 Bitcoin have been transferred to addresses associated with exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, Flow Traders, and other unidentified or unconfirmed addresses.
The next phase involves offloading approximately $342 million worth of BTC.
This follows the previous distribution of 3,100 BTC, valued at $178 million at the time, on July 9.
Additionally, the wallet withdrew 1,700 BTC, worth $91.78 million, from Bitstamp, suggesting difficulties in selling them on the exchange.
As of July 9, the wallet’s holdings were about 26,000 BTC, worth roughly $1.5 billion, with a linked address holding 4,800 BTC.
By July 10, the holdings had decreased to approximately 18,110 BTC, worth $1.06 billion, a drop of over $400 million.
Dr. Lennart Ante, CEO of Blockchain Research Lab, told Cointelegraph that investigators from the federal state of Saxony seized the BTC funds.
He explained, “The funds are said to have originated from the illegal streaming portal Movie2k, and one of the defendants facilitated the voluntary transfer of the funds.”
“The Public Prosecutor General’s Office has sole authority over the confiscated Bitcoins.
The BKA (German State Police) just provides the wallets through which the transactions are processed,” Ante added.
He further detailed that the proceeds go to the state budget of the Free State of Saxony, but filmmakers, as victims of Movie2k, could claim parts of it, pending court decisions.
READ MORE: German Government Continues Bitcoin Sell-Off, Shifts $178 Million in BTC in One Hour
Despite the sell-off and over $1 billion in BTC entering the market, Bitcoin’s price has rebounded to highs of $58,000 after dipping to $53,900.
Ante noted that the ongoing events raise questions about the efficiency of the Saxon government’s sales strategy, suggesting auctions or OTC deals might be more effective.
Out of nearly 50,000 BTC seized, only about 13,110 BTC, worth $770 million, remain, resulting in the German government losing its BTC billionaire status.
The BTC sell-off aligns with the Mt. Gox initiation of BTC and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) repayments to creditors.
Ante remarked that this event might soon be overshadowed by new developments like the Mt. Gox payouts, which could lead to a broader distribution of Bitcoin ownership, potentially benefiting Bitcoin in the medium term.
As of now, BTC’s price stands at $58,545, with the total cryptocurrency market capitalization at $2.15 trillion, up 1.39% in the last 24 hours.
To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.
The High Court of Singapore has mandated that the Multichain Foundation, a cross-chain router protocol, compensate the Fantom Foundation, a layer-1 platform, for losses resulting from a $210 million hack.
In July 2023, the Multichain Foundation, a Chinese cross-chain protocol, experienced unusually large outflows, later identified as a hack.
This attack impacted many protocols associated with the chain, resulting in over $210 million in asset losses across multiple chains, including Fantom, Ethereum, BNB, Cronos, Polygon, Arbitrum, zkSync, Optimism, and Moonbeam.
Fantom Foundation pursued legal action to hold the Multichain Foundation accountable.
They reported their financial losses to the Singapore High Court and sought compensation.
During a court hearing on June 3, Fantom’s representatives presented evidence to the Singapore court, but Multichain’s representatives did not attend. Fantom representatives stated:
“The Claimant’s position is that the breach was possible because the CEO of the First Defendant had ultimate privileges and control over the cryptocurrency assets stored in the Multichain Bridge.”
The court found that Multichain admitted this claim on X and breached the user agreement as well.
On July 8, the court awarded Fantom $2.187 million for losses suffered during the hack.
However, Fantom had previously claimed that its ecosystem losses amounted to approximately one-third of the total losses worth $210 million.
Crypto losses from hacks and scams more than doubled in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, according to research from blockchain security platform Immunefi.
Over $572 million was lost to hacks in Q2 2024, compared to $220 million in Q2 2023. Centralized exchange hacks accounted for the bulk of the losses in the quarter.
Before the second quarter, losses from hacks and scams had been declining, with Immunefi reporting a 23% reduction in Q1.
This decline continued through April and most of May but surged at the end of May and June.
To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.
Centralized exchanges have become the primary targets for crypto thefts in 2024, according to Cyvers’ mid-year Web3 security report.
The total volume of stolen cryptocurrency is nearing $1.4 billion this year.
The second quarter of 2024 saw over $600 million in crypto losses, doubling the amount from the same period in 2023.
This dramatic increase is largely due to a 900% rise in thefts from centralized exchanges.
“This quarter has witnessed a significant shift in attack vectors, with centralized exchanges (CEX) bearing the brunt of major incidents, while decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols show improved resilience,” the report stated.
“This trend may be attributed to the concentration of assets in centralized platforms and potentially lax security measures in some exchanges.”
Access control breaches, particularly phishing attacks, were responsible for most of the stolen funds, totaling about $490 million in Q2.
In contrast, smart contract exploits resulted in less than $70 million in losses during the same period.
DeFi protocols have managed to protect users through quick action to freeze compromised smart contracts, although Cyvers warned that new vulnerabilities in complex contracts continue to pose risks.
READ MORE: EOS Network Announces Launch of 250M EOS Staking Rewards Program
Cross-chain bridges are also emerging as significant targets, with the report highlighting the $1.44 million exploit of XBridge in April.
A major incident impacting Cyvers’ Q2 data was the breach of Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM in May, where a compromised private key led to over $300 million being stolen.
Additionally, Turkish cryptocurrency exchange BtcTurk suffered a $50 million loss to hackers in June.
The report noted a positive trend in the recovery of stolen funds, with a 42% increase in recovered funds in Q2 compared to the same period in 2023.
However, the majority of stolen funds (around 76%) remain unrecovered.
Cyvers emphasized the need for vigilance among Web3 users, highlighting emerging threats from artificial intelligence and quantum computing, which could provide hackers with advanced tools to bypass onchain security measures.
To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.
Bitcoin has three months until the bull market resumes, but it could still see 300% gains by 2026, according to a fresh analysis by the pseudonymous engineer Apsk32.
On July 9, Apsk32 posted on X, revisiting his power law metric to project Bitcoin’s future performance. The power law provides a lower BTC price support band that has held since BTC/USD traded at just $1.
Additional bands, or “time contours,” offer further price information, ultimately suggesting a $1 million price target for 2036.
“Time contours tell us how long it will be before the support forces current prices upward.
For 12 years, every bear market has returned to this support line,” a previous X post from June explains.
“The support passes one million dollars in 2036 and bitcoin isn’t stopping there.”
By mapping past price action onto the current four-year cycle, Apsk32’s analysis explains current market behavior, including the ongoing 25% drop from March’s $73,800 all-time highs.
“If bitcoin’s cycle pattern continues, price should remain inside or near this blue cloud,” the latest post summarized.
“The ETFs pushed us out of the cloud and now we’re reverting back.
READ MORE: EOS Network Announces Launch of 250M EOS Staking Rewards Program
“We’re 3+ months away from upwards acceleration and we could see prices go up 4x by the end of 2025.”
An accompanying chart shows the “Power Law Fractal Cloud” — a guideline range for BTC/USD moving forward.
“Does the price have to stay within the cloud? Absolutely not,” Apsk32 acknowledged.
“This time could be different, in fact it already is.”
As Cointelegraph reports, Bitcoin traders are bracing for further BTC price declines amid a climate of fear across the crypto market.
Sub-$50,000 levels have come back into focus, aligning the current drawdown with previous ones.
Optimism, however, is fueled by reduced selling by Bitcoin miners over the past month and a return to net inflows for U.S.-based spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
On July 8, ETFs saw inflows of nearly $300 million, marking their best single-day tally in over a month, according to data from sources including UK-based investment firm Farside Investors.
“Looks like the boomers & institutions are buying the dip here, while Germany offloads a bunch of coins,” popular trader Jelle wrote, contrasting ETF buying with BTC sales by the German government.
To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.
The German government has continued its Bitcoin sell-off, moving approximately 3,100 BTC worth around $178 million within an hour on July 9.
Additionally, they withdrew about 1,700 Bitcoin, valued at $91.78 million, from Bitstamp, recouping BTC holdings from the exchange.
At the time of writing, the government has shifted another 3,107 BTC from its main holdings, likely preparing for an imminent sell-off.
The primary government address holds around 26,000 BTC worth $1.5 billion, while the off-loading address holds 4,800 BTC worth $276.61 million.
According to Arkham Intelligence, since 7:30 am UTC on July 9, there has been a total outflow of 3,100 BTC.
Of this, 2,500 BTC were sent to an unknown B2C2 Group, 400 BTC to the centralized exchange Kraken, and 200 BTC to an unknown wallet.
The German government sold an additional $900 million worth of BTC on July 8, indicating plans to continue gradually selling its remaining $1.5 billion in Bitcoin holdings.
The 16,309 BTC sold is now worth over $930 million despite the mass sell-off, suggesting buyers remain confident at this price range.
READ MORE: Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Drops Over 5% to Quarterly Low, Impacting Profitability Thresholds
Wall Street traders anticipate a 72% chance of the US Federal Reserve cutting interest rates in September, which could boost investment in BTC.
This macroeconomic trend tends to significantly impact assets like BTC, seen as a risk-on asset, unlike gold, which attracts liquidity during geopolitical instability.
Alongside the BTC sell-off, a reduction in BTC miner activity and reserve sell-offs suggests market sentiment might be nearing its bottom.
According to Bitfinex analysts, July 6 and 7 market data indicated a local bottom, despite Mt. Gox starting its BTC and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) repayments.
Despite the BTC sell-offs by the German government and Mt. Gox repayments, several indicators suggest BTC is poised for a rebound.
BTC reached its lowest point since late February, dropping to $53,550 before rebounding to current highs of $57,600.
The relative strength index (RSI) showed a growing divergence between the falling price and rising RSI value, suggesting weakening sell pressure.
To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.
The United States Senate Committee on Armed Services has instructed Secretary of Defense, Retired General Lloyd Austin, to test blockchain technology applications for supply chain management and other national security purposes within the Department of Defense (DOD).
On July 9, the committee released the report for the fiscal year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), detailing specific authorizations for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Defense-wide programs.
The committee acknowledged blockchain’s potential to bolster US national defense supply chains and economic competitiveness:
“The committee notes that blockchain technology has the potential to enhance the cryptographic integrity of the defense supply chain, improve data integrity, and reduce the risk of the manipulation or corruption of certain types of data by near-peer competitors.”
The Senate committee urged the DOD to explore blockchain use cases to achieve national security goals and to establish secure, transparent, accountable, and auditable data related to supply chains.
To advance this initiative, the committee directed Austin to provide a briefing by April 1, 2025.
READ MORE: EOS Network Announces Launch of 250M EOS Staking Rewards Program
The blockchain briefing must address six key areas, including:
“A plan for pilot programs or research and development efforts to explore the use of blockchain technology in national security applications, including supply chain management, cybersecurity for critical infrastructure assets, and procurement auditability.”
Other areas include identifying the benefits and risks of blockchain in supply chain tracking and management, analyzing the current state of blockchain adoption in the supply chain industry and foreign countries like China and Russia, and assessing feasibility and cost estimates.
While the US Senate committee considers blockchain adoption, US politicians are also advocating for Bitcoin and crypto adoption.
On July 8, an update to Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign website revealed that the Republican National Committee had drafted a policy platform supporting cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin mining.
“We will defend the right to mine Bitcoin, and ensure every American has the right to self-custody of their Digital Assets, and transact free from Government Surveillance and Control,” the updated platform stated.
To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.
Bitcoin’s significant sell-off might offer buy-and-hold enthusiasts a chance to purchase BTC ETF shares at lower prices.
Spot Bitcoin dropped to around $53,500, a four-month low, on Friday due to anticipated large BTC liquidations by Germany’s government and Mt. Gox, the defunct Japanese crypto exchange.
The share prices of major BTC ETFs are already being affected, and continued market volatility could lead to appealing discounts.
Bitcoin ETFs, such as Franklin Templeton Digital Holdings Trust (EZBC), VanEck Bitcoin Trust (HODL), and iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), have become the benchmark for spot BTC holders since U.S. regulators approved these publicly traded funds in January.
However, the robust protections and security measures of these funds have resulted in shares trading at persistent premiums to their net asset value (NAV) since their inception, driven by institutional investments.
As of early July, the top five Bitcoin funds traded at an average premium of nearly 1%.
ETFs rely on a select group of professional market makers called “authorized participants” (APs) to maintain ETF share prices aligned with the fund’s NAV.
These APs are the only traders allowed to exchange and redeem BTC ETF shares for spot BTC, profiting from intraday pricing spreads.
Currently, only a few APs are equipped to handle BTC spot trading, making ETF shares susceptible to sharp price movements in volatile markets.
The ongoing liquidations by Germany and Mt. Gox could introduce billions of dollars of sustained selling pressure, leading to volatility and potentially wider ETF price swings, creating arbitrage opportunities for traders.
If traders are hoping for an arbitrage similar to the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) discounts of late 2022, they might be disappointed.
The GBTC situation, where shares traded at discounts approaching 50% of NAV, is unlikely to reoccur due to vastly improved liquidity and increasing institutional investor awareness of BTC’s value.
Bitcoin funds have already seen $398 million in net inflows since the recent sell-off.
Nevertheless, significant opportunities might still be available.
In May, shares of BlackRock’s IBIT ETF briefly dipped to a discount of nearly 2% during institutional end-of-month rebalances amid market volatility.
Other funds, including FBTC, BITB, and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), also traded at discounts of nearly 1.5%.
With upcoming BTC liquidations from Germany and Mt. Gox, market volatility is expected to rise.
Investors should monitor ETF arbitrage opportunities closely, especially in EZBC, HODL, and IBIT, which offer attractive management fee discounts, some waiving fees entirely until 2025.
Traders willing to navigate the current volatility may find benefits.
Despite the selling pressure, BTC could see a bullish turnaround by year-end, driven by potential Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and favorable odds for Donald Trump in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
Now is the time to look for discounts.
To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.
Ethereum is gearing up to launch its first-ever hackathon, featuring a reward pool of $2 million. This event, dubbed the “Attackathon,” aims to be the largest crowdsourced security audit of Ethereum’s codebase.
The “Attackathon” invites security researchers to actively search for vulnerabilities in the protocol’s code during a four-week, time-bound audit challenge, as explained by the Ethereum Protocol Security (EPS) research team in a July 8 blog post.
“They will follow specific rules set for the competition, and only impactful and rule-compliant reports will be rewarded,” the post elaborated.
Participants will begin with a technical walkthrough of the blockchain’s code to ensure they are well-prepared to identify and understand potential vulnerabilities.
Following the event, Immunefi, the bug bounty platform hosting the hackathon, will compile the findings and produce a report detailing the discovered vulnerabilities.
The EPS team has contributed $500,000 to the competition’s prize pool and is seeking additional sponsors to raise another $1.5 million by August 1. More details will be shared on this date.
The EPS team plans to host similar hackathons at every hard fork to cover changes to the codebase.
The next major update, the “Pectra” hard fork, is anticipated to go live later in 2024 or early 2025.
This update will combine the “Prague” and “Electra” upgrades.
Among the significant updates for users is the introduction of a “social recovery” feature.
READ MORE: Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Drops Over 5% to Quarterly Low, Impacting Profitability Thresholds
This feature could eliminate the need to remember the up to 24-word private wallet key and provide wallets with smart contract-like capabilities, Investing Insider reported.
Hackathons are common in the tech industry, and the crypto sector has seen its fair share of these events. Various blockchains and projects frequently host similar hacking sprints.
In addition to hackathons, crypto projects regularly offer bug bounties to encourage hackers to report their exploits instead of using them maliciously.
According to Immunefi’s website, most bounties range from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, with the largest reward, offered by LayerZero, reaching $15 million.
To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.