Weekly Recap | MicroStrategy, BTC, ETH, stablecoin spotlight

Today’s edition of the weekly digest: MicroStrategy purchased 12,000 additional Bitcoin (BTC); The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) closed its investigation into Ethereum (ETH); and stablecoins are at the center.

Bitcoin falls Bitcoin first fell below the $66,000 level on June 18 after several days of consolidation. This downward pressure continued as the week progressed, leading to further declines below $65,000. CryptoQuant reported that the market turmoil was likely triggered by a combination of three factors: miners capitulating, continued crypto ETF outflows, and reduced issuance of stablecoin tokens. Despite the market downturn, investor profitability remained high, with 87% of Bitcoin’s circulating supply making a profit. Altcoins such as Pendle (PENDLE) and Toncoin (TON) bucked the overall market trend. Pendle is up 17% in the week to June 22. The market value of the asset has risen to $968 million and aims to reach the $1 billion mark.
Meanwhile, MicroStrategy took advantage of the crisis to increase its Bitcoin holdings. The firm purchased approximately 12,000 more BTC for $786 million on June 20, at an average price of $65,883 per BTC. Zksync launched the airdrop Despite controversy and concerns regarding its procedures and Sybil filtering measures, Zksync distributed 3.67 billion tokens. Binance listed the token on June 17. Following the airdrop, over 41% of the top addresses that received it sold their entire allocation shortly after the distribution event. Record outflows from Spot Bitcoin ETFs Spot Bitcoin ETF products saw continuous outflows last week. An outflow of these products was $145.9 million on June 17 and $152.4 million on June 18. Following the negative flow on June 18, cumulative net inflows fell below $15 billion. These outflows continued through the end of last week, resulting in cumulative negative net flows of over $544 million in the five days through June 21.
In Australia, asset manager VanEck has received the green light from Australia’s securities exchange AXS to launch the first spot Bitcoin ETF in the country. Asset manager 3iQ has filed to list the first Solana ETP, called Solana Fund (QSOL), on the Canadian Toronto Stock Exchange. Global regulatory developments South Korean media have revealed that the country’s authorities are examining the listings of more than 600 assets on multiple exchanges following a new regulation. Also in South Korea, prosecutors presented new evidence supporting allegations that Terra founder Do Kwon used fake transactions to deceive investors. Fidelity Investments has amended its S-1 filings for a spot Ethereum ETF with the SEC, confirming an initial investment of $4.7 million for the upcoming product. Binance’s regulatory issues In the US, North Dakota revoked the operational license of crypto exchange Binance following the conviction and sentencing of former CEO Changpeng Zhao. Binance faces another regulatory hurdle in India; authorities fined the global exchange $2.2 million for violating anti-money laundering provisions. US lawmakers French Hill and Chrissy Houlahan visited Binance employee and US citizen Tigran Gambaryan in a Nigerian prison where he faces charges of AML violations. Lawmakers advocated for Gambaryan’s release after the visit. US SEC closes investigation into Ethereum In a win for the Ethereum community, the US SEC announced that it has closed its investigation into whether certain sales of Ethereum constitute unregistered securities offerings. However, Consensys confirmed that it continues to battle the agency over whether user interface offerings for functions such as Swapping and Staking on MetaMask constitute securities. Stablecoins take center stage as MiCA emerges Stablecoins have been in the spotlight this week. On June 17, USDT issuer Tether announced plans to launch a new Gold-backed asset class. Meanwhile, Uphold has discontinued its support for USDT, as well as other “unauthorized” stablecoins, as the market anticipates the implementation of MiCA stablecoin regulations by the end of the month.

Tether has also been criticized for a campaign ad accusing the US stablecoin issuer of money laundering and corruption. National Australia Bank, the country’s largest bank, closed its stablecoin project last week.