Crypto Weekly Roundup: VanEck Bullish on BTC, Crypto Queen’s Grim Fate, & More

This week, VanEck CEO Jan van Eck predicted that Bitcoin could see stellar gains and eventually soar to half the market cap of gold. The world also learned the grim fate of Crypto Queen Ruja Ignatova.

Bitcoin

Renowned financial author and billionaire Robert Kiyosaki has predicted Bitcoin could reach a staggering $350,000 by August. Kiyosaki said the reason behind the tongue-in-cheek prediction was the incompetence of US leaders in politics and finance.

Bitcoin analyst PlanB has also made a bullish prediction for Bitcoin in his updated Stock-to-Flow model. According to PlanB, the model’s data predicts that Bitcoin could reach $500,000. He predicted a strong surge for Bitcoin, adding that it could reach $100,000 soon.

The FDIC published some shocking findings for the banking industry in its Quarterly Banking Profile for the first quarter of 2024. The report stated that several prominent banks were of serious concern or unviable. In such a scenario, Bitcoin could act as a hedge against a potential banking collapse.

Jan van Eck, the CEO of one of the biggest investment banks in the US, has predicted that the world’s largest cryptocurrency will reach at least half the market capitalization of gold in five to ten years. Van Eck made the prediction in an interview with Scott Melker.

Altcoins

Hulkamania (HULK), a Solana-based meme coin allegedly promoted by professional wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, lost $15 million in market capitalization within minutes. The collapse occurred after Hogan deleted all posts promoting the meme coin and clarified that he did not make the posts promoting it.

The European Parliament has approved a new set of regulations for crypto companies. The new rules impact all crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) under the new Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) law, making it mandatory for them to conduct due diligence to combat money laundering.

The GameStop Tribute Token (GME), a token based on Solana, registered an increase of 38% on Friday. The surging interest in GameStop has also seen several meme coin traders placing their bets on other tokens in the meme coin ecosystem, such as BRETT, TRUMP, and DogWifHat.

Former US President Donald Trump owns over $32 million in crypto, having gone from being a vocal critic to a strong supporter of digital assets. Trump’s pivot towards cryptocurrencies can be attributed to Vivek Ramaswamy, who has been advising the former president on key issues.

The Cardano Foundation has announced a public partnership with the governor of the Entre Ríos Province, a move that can benefit the country’s recent pivot towards crypto. Industry watchers are also hopeful the partnership could positively impact ADA, which has failed to register any momentum in a highly popular crypto market.

Technology

Coinbase has introduced smart wallets to help simplify the crypto onboarding process by eliminating complex processes and high fees generally associated with traditional crypto wallets. Coinbase hopes to onboard over a billion users through the new offering.

The IOTA Foundation has launched the IOTA EVM, a Layer2 solution that seamlessly integrates smart contract capabilities into the ITOA Network. The announcement comes only months after the launch of the Shimmer EVM.

Business

Paxos International will issue an interest-bearing US Dollar-pegged stablecoin called the Lift Dollar (USDL). The stablecoin will be regulated by the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and will pay yield on interest earned by Paxos International on the reserves backing the asset.

Ruja Ignotova, also called the “Crypto Queen,” may have been murdered by a notorious Bulgarian drug lord, according to new evidence that has recently come to light. “Crypto Queen” Ignatova had scammed investors out of billions, promising them high returns if they invested in her fake cryptocurrency, OneCoin.

Deutsche Bank announced a partnership with Bitpanda to facilitate seamless customer deposits and withdrawals for the Austrian crypto exchange. The partnership signals a changing attitude towards crypto as it gradually moves into mainstream finance.

Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX has reached a settlement with the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on its $24 billion tax bill. If approved, FTX will have to pay the IRS $200 million within 60 days and an additional $685 million as a subordinated claim at a later date.

Web3

Open-world blockchain game Illuvium has announced the launch of its open beta mainnet on July 25th. The announcement comes after a series of beta testing phases that began with the Private Beta 4 phase on April 30th.

Security

Decentralized exchange Velocore has published a postmortem addressing a recent hack during which it lost $7 million. The decentralized exchange has offered the hacker a 10% bug bounty but is yet to receive a response.

Regulation

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has named the co-founder and CEO of Aptos, Mo Shaikh, to its subcommittee on digital assets. The CFTC’s Digital Assets subcommittee is part of a larger committee that will advise the agency on regulation and rulemaking.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

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