Today's news tips:
1. The Norwegian government plans to temporarily ban cryptocurrency mining
2. Trump calls for rate cuts again, perhaps choosing not to fire Powell
3. The three major U.S. stock indexes closed with mixed gains and losses, and Circle rose by more than 20%
4. Bloomberg analysts: The probability of approval of most spot crypto ETFs has been raised to 90% or higher
5. LD Capital founder responds to NEIRO's high control question: Buying at the bottom, not selling
6. Binance: Users who claim the first phase of Redbrick (BRIC) airdrops must hold at least 251 Alpha points
7. Paradigm completed the liquidation of 70 million LDOs, with a profit of approximately US$28.13 million in 4 years
8. Binance Alpha and Binance Futures will list DeLorean (DMC)
9. Wyoming Stablecoin WYST is scheduled to go live on August 20
Regulatory/Macro
Norwegian government plans to temporarily ban cryptocurrency mining
Norway plans to temporarily ban new data centers that mine cryptocurrencies using the most power-hungry technology, in order to save power for other industries, the government said on Friday. The Labour government's clear intention is to limit cryptocurrency mining in Norway as much as possible, said Karianne Tung, minister of digitalization and public administration. Cryptocurrency mining is very power-hungry and creates minimal jobs and income for local communities. The government said the temporary ban could be implemented in the fall of 2025.
Wyoming Stablecoin WYST Plans to Go Live on August 20
The Wyoming Stable Token Committee, a government-backed organization responsible for developing the WYST stablecoin, plans to launch the mainnet on August 20, according to its latest monthly meeting minutes. The organization has not yet determined which of the 11 blockchains WYST will be officially launched on: Aptos, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base, Ethereum, Optimism, Polygon, Sei, Solana, Stellar, and Sui. However, the first state-backed stablecoin may be selected to be issued on multiple blockchains.
According to the latest timeline, the organization plans to “migrate the WYST smart contracts to” a designated “candidate” blockchain. After that, the organization will conduct “production testing” by “funding a small WYST purchase using institutional funds and ensuring the end-to-end process is in place” in preparation for a public launch scheduled for August during the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium.
Earlier news said that Wyoming's stablecoin WYST has entered a critical testing phase, and the governor said it is expected to go online in July.
Related reading: How do U.S. state governments choose public chains for issuing stablecoins?
Trump again calls for rate cuts, may choose not to fire Powell
On June 20, local time, US President Trump once again called on Federal Reserve Chairman Powell to cut interest rates. Trump said that he might have to change his mind and not fire Powell. Trump once again called Powell "Mr. Too Late" on social media and severely criticized his complaints about inflation costs as stemming from "economic problems caused by the Biden administration." He said Powell should make the "biggest and best contribution" to the United States by cutting interest rates.
Trump wrote: "If he lowers interest rates to where they should be - 1% to 2%, this 'idiot' can save the United States up to $1 trillion a year." He also said that the United States currently has "almost no inflation" and the economy is performing well. Trump said that if Powell is really worried about inflation or other risks, he should "cut interest rates now" and raise them again if the situation changes in the future. In addition, Trump also hinted that he might reconsider whether to remove Powell from his position. Trump said, "Maybe, just maybe, I have to change my mind about not firing him? But in any case, his term will soon be over." Trump has criticized Powell many times this year and threatened to remove him from his position as chairman of the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve ended its interest rate meeting on June 18 and maintained the current policy interest rate unchanged. Before the meeting, Trump once again blasted Federal Reserve Chairman Powell, calling him a "not very smart politician" and dissatisfied with his refusal to cut interest rates. In an interview with reporters, Powell responded that the core of the Federal Reserve's work is to ensure economic stability and price stability, and did not respond directly to Trump's accusations.
The three major U.S. stock indexes closed mixed, with Circle up more than 20%
According to Cailianshe, the three major U.S. stock indexes closed with mixed gains and losses. The Nasdaq fell 0.51%, up 0.21% this week; the S&P 500 fell 0.22%, down 0.15% this week; the Dow rose 0.08%, up 0.02% this week. Circle rose more than 20%, setting a record closing high. Most large technology stocks fell, Google fell nearly 4%, Meta, Intel, Amazon, Nvidia fell more than 1%, Microsoft fell slightly; Apple rose more than 2%, Netflix and Tesla rose slightly.
Texas Governor Signs HB 4488 to Protect State Bitcoin Reserve as Permanent Fund
Texas Governor Greg Abbott passed House Bill 4488 (HB 4488), which seeks to protect certain state funds, including any Bitcoin reserves created outside of state coffers, from being included in general revenue. The bill exempts the reserve fund and other special funds from automatic dissolution in 2025.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has yet to make a decision on Senate Bill 21 (SB21). The bill would authorize Texas to invest in Bitcoin and other crypto assets with a market value of at least $500 billion. Currently, only Bitcoin meets this threshold.
Greg Abbott has until June 22 to sign or veto SB21, which was submitted to him on June 1. Because the bill was submitted near the end of the legislative session, under Texas law he must act within 20 days of the adjournment.
Viewpoint
North Korean hackers target crypto industry workers with new information-stealing malware
According to a report released by Cisco Talos on Wednesday, the North Korean hacker group "Famous Chollima" recently launched a new type of phishing attack against cryptocurrency practitioners. The group used fake recruitment websites impersonating companies such as Coinbase and Robinhood to trick job seekers with blockchain experience in India and other places into installing a Python remote control Trojan called "PylangGhost". The attacker induced victims to execute malicious commands in the name of video interviews to steal wallet credentials and password manager data from more than 80 browser plug-ins such as MetaMask and TronLink. The malware has functions such as screenshots, file management, and system information collection, and has similar features to the previously discovered GolangGhost Trojan. Researchers have ruled out the possibility that attackers use AI to generate code.
Self Chain founder denies involvement in $50 million OTC cryptocurrency fraud
Self Chain founder Ravindra Kumar was recently accused of being involved in a $50 million over-the-counter crypto scam that defrauded investors through fake token transactions. Kumar issued a statement on the X platform and firmly denied the allegations, calling them "completely false" and saying that the legal team was preparing to write a response statement.
The scam involved over-the-counter transactions of tokens from several well-known projects, including Sui, Near, Axelar and Sei. Mohammed Waseem, CEO of Indian over-the-counter broker Aza Ventures, revealed that his company had inadvertently facilitated dozens of fraudulent transactions over the past few months. Although the initial transactions were real, they later evolved into a Ponzi scheme, with the seller using the code name "Source 1" to commit fraud by delaying the delivery of tokens. Waseem claimed that he had contacted the Indian authorities and promised to refund the deceived investors, but his personal funds had been exhausted due to advance payments. Currently, "Source 1" has promised to start returning funds by the end of June. It is worth noting that before the scam was exposed, many industry insiders, including Mysten Labs co-founder Adeniyi Abiodun and MultiversX co-founder Lucian Mincu, have repeatedly warned of the existence of false over-the-counter transactions.
LD Capital founder responds to NEIRO's high control question: Buy at the bottom, never sell
In response to a post by on-chain analyst Yu Jin today saying that " Trend Research controls 64.25% of the total NEIRO (uppercase) tokens ", LD Capital founder JackYi responded: "I only bought real money in the secondary market, but never sold. It was purely because MEME was hot at the time, and I wanted to buy at its low market value. I hope that my patience will make MEME the leader of the ETH ecosystem. I bought more and more and became a coin owner. I think buying real money in the secondary market is not a shady thing, right? This project has been around for a long time."
Bloomberg analysts Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart said that they have raised the probability of approval of most spot crypto ETFs to 90% or higher, and they believe that the positive interaction of the US SEC is an important signal. However, the specific approval or launch time is still uncertain, which may be in the next one or two months, or it may have to wait until after October. The time is not important, what is important is that it will be approved.
Project News
According to the official page, Binance Alpha has added LOT.
Ethereum developers once again finalize the scope of the Fusaka upgrade, which now covers 12 EIPs
The meeting minutes show that the 214th Ethereum Executive Core Developers Meeting (ACDE) reviewed the decisions made in the previous meeting and agreed to keep the final scope of the Fusaka upgrade basically unchanged, adding only one additional EIP, EIP 7939. Developers agreed to include the following 12 EIPs in the Fusaka upgrade: EIP-7594 (PeerDAS - Peer Data Availability Sampling), EIP-7823 (Set an upper limit on MODEXP), EIP-7825 (Transaction Gas Cap), EIP-7883 (ModExp Gas Cost Increase), EIP-7892 (Blob-only parameter hard fork), EIP-7917 (Deterministic Proposer Lookahead), EIP-7918 (Blob base fee is limited by execution cost), EIP-7935 (Set default gas limit to XX0M), EIP-7951 (Precompile for secp256r1 curve support), EIP-7907 (Metering contract code size and increasing limits), EIP-7934 (RLP enforcement block size limit), [new] EIP-7939 (New opcode for counting leading zeros).
Developers adjusted some EIP implementation details: reducing the upper limit of EIP-7907 contract code size from 256KB to 48KB; adjusting the blob base fee parameter of EIP-7918 from 2^14 to 2^13; and moving the maximum blob count parameter from EIP-7892 to EIP-7594. The meeting decided that if at least 3 consensus layer and 3 execution layer client teams are ready, the Fusaka Devnet 2 testnet will be launched on June 23. Developers also discussed two new proposals for the Glamsterdam upgrade, but due to insufficient test data, some parameter adjustments will be postponed to Devnet 3.
Insider: Pump.fun token auction and launch postponed again
According to Wu, the Pump.fun token auction and launch event originally scheduled for the end of June has been postponed again, and is currently expected to be held in mid-July. People familiar with the matter revealed that since Pump.fun planned to issue and auction tokens at the end of last year, it has been "postponed countless times." The Pump.fun token auction is valued at $4 billion. The Pump.fun team is also actively selling token quotas to various funds.
Coinbase obtains EU crypto license and moves EU headquarters from Ireland to Luxembourg
Crypto exchange Coinbase announced that it has obtained the MiCA license issued by Luxembourg's financial regulator CSSF, becoming the first US crypto trading platform to be fully authorized by the European Union. The company also announced that it will move its EU headquarters from Ireland to Luxembourg, citing the latter's more forward-looking financial policy environment. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, said: "Coinbase is fully committed to the European market. MiCA sets the standard, and Luxembourg is leading the industry with its pro-business environment and prudent regulatory approach."
Kraken moves headquarters from San Francisco to Wyoming
Kraken, an American crypto exchange, is moving its headquarters from San Francisco to Cheyenne, Wyoming. The decision is based on Wyoming's leading position in digital asset policy, including clear legislation such as defining digital assets as property and protecting private keys. Kraken has invested $300,000 in the state over the past four years to support the University of Wyoming's crypto education program and co-host blockchain seminars. Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis welcomed the move, noting that the state has been at the forefront of digital asset policy for nearly a decade. Although employees continue to work remotely, the move marks Kraken's official establishment of a closer connection with this jurisdiction with a well-developed regulatory sandbox.
CoinMarketCap front-end attacked, reminding users to be vigilant
According to Scam Sniffer's monitoring, CoinMarketCap's front end was attacked, reminding users to be vigilant.
In response, CoinMarketCap tweeted that a malicious pop-up window appeared on the website prompting users to "verify wallets." Users are reminded not to connect their wallets, and the team is actively investigating and working to resolve the issue.
CoinMarketCap: All systems are now fully operational
CoinMarketCap tweeted that its security team discovered a vulnerability related to the graffiti image displayed on the homepage. The graffiti image contained a link that triggered malicious code through an API call, causing unexpected pop-ups when some users visited the homepage. After discovering the vulnerability, the official deleted the problematic content, found the root cause, and took comprehensive measures to isolate and mitigate the problem. It can now be confirmed that all systems are now fully operational.
PeckShield: Hacken was suspected of being attacked, HAI fell by about 100% in a short period of time
PeckShieldAlert tweeted a reminder that Hacken (HAI) was suspected to have been attacked, and market data showed that the price of its token HAI fell by about 100% in a short period of time.
DeLorean (DMC) to be listed on Binance Alpha and Binance Futures
According to the official announcement, Binance Alpha will launch and open trading of DeLorean (DMC) at 19:00 (ET on June 24). In addition, Binance Futures will launch DMCUSDT perpetual contracts at 21:00 (ET on June 24), with a maximum leverage of 50x.
According to the official announcement, Redbrick (BRIC) trading will start at 18:00 (UTC+8) on June 21. Eligible users can use Binance Alpha Points to claim 900 BRIC tokens airdrop on the Alpha event page within 24 hours after trading starts. Binance Alpha airdrop will be distributed in two phases:
- Phase 1 (first 18 hours): Users with at least 251 Alpha Points can claim.
- Phase 2 (last 6 hours): Users holding at least 226 Alpha Points can participate in the second phase of the airdrop on a first-come, first-served basis, with 900 BRIC tokens per person until the airdrop pool is full or the event ends.
Claiming the airdrop will consume 15 Binance Alpha Points. Users must confirm the claim on the Alpha event page within 24 hours, otherwise they will be deemed to have given up the airdrop.
Important data
BlackRock Bitcoin Spot ETF has exceeded $69.7 billion, accounting for 3.25% of the total BTC supply
BlackRock's Bitcoin Spot ETF (IBIT) has managed assets of more than $69.7 billion, holding 3.25% of the total supply of Bitcoin, accounting for 54.7% of the U.S. Bitcoin ETF market. It is worth noting that the ETF has ranked among the top 25 global ETF asset management scales in less than a year and a half of operation.
Glassnode data shows that the current average transaction amount of a single Bitcoin transaction is $36,200, and large transactions exceeding $100,000 account for 89%, indicating that institutional investors are dominating the market. However, the CryptoQuant report pointed out that the number of short-term Bitcoin holders has decreased by 800,000 to 4.5 million compared with May 27, indicating that new funds entering the market are drying up. CryptoQuant believes that if investor demand continues to be weak, Bitcoin may find support at $92,000.
According to Lookonchain, trader 0xcB92 shorted 40,000 ETH (worth $100 million) with 10x leverage 9 days ago, and currently has unrealized profits of more than $12.15 million, plus $172,800 in funding fee income.
According to monitoring by on-chain analyst Ember, [the giant whale/institution that made a profit of $30.45 million through two ETH waves] continued to buy 30,000 ETH (72.32 million US dollars) at the bottom in the last 8 hours after the decline last night.
After the decline, the whale/institution transferred 58.91 million USDC to Wintermute and 24 million USDC to Coinbase. Then it withdrew 24,000 ETH from Wintermute and 6,000 ETH from Coinbase. Since the third ETH wave started on June 11, the whale/institution has spent a total of 297 million USDC to buy 115,400 ETH in 10 days. The average price is around US$2,574, and the current floating loss is US$18.35 million. There are only 30 million USDC available for purchase in the address.
According to on-chain analyst Ember, Trend Research bought another 9,001 ETH ($22.72 million) after the decline last night. After the decline, it continued to borrow 42.1 million USDT from Aave and transferred it to Binance, and then bought and withdrew 9,001 ETH. Trend Research currently bought and holds about 182,000 ETH, with a comprehensive cost of about $2,250, and currently has a floating profit of about $32.6 million.
According to on-chain analyst Ember, SharpLink Gaming (Nasdaq: SBET) has purchased another 6,744 ETH (US$16.51 million) through Galaxy Digital in the past four days. SharpLink Gaming currently spent US$493 million to purchase and hold 188,000 ETH (US$456.9 million), with a total cost of approximately US$2,617. The current floating loss is approximately US$37.5 million.
Paradigm completes liquidation of 70 million LDOs, earning approximately $28.13 million in 4 years
According to on-chain analyst Ember, Paradigm transferred out the last 10 million LDOs ($7.42 million) it held 10 hours ago, and these LDOs will flow into multiple CEXs in the next few days. Paradigm purchased 70 million LDOs from the Lido Treasury at $0.76 per coin in over-the-counter transactions four years ago, sold 50 million LDOs at an average price of $1.31 in November last year, and sold 20 million LDOs at an average price of $0.79 in the past 11 days. The average transfer price was $1.16, and the overall investment profit was about $28.13 million.
Institutional holdings
Listed company Everything Blockchain plans to invest $10 million in SOL, XRP, SUI, TAO and HYPE
Everything Blockchain (OTC: EBZT), a U.S. listed company, announced plans to invest $10 million to strategically allocate five crypto assets including Solana (SOL), XRP, Sui (SUI), Bittensor (TAO) and Hyperliquid (HYPE) to create a multi-token staking vault for institutional adoption trends.
EBZT said that this strategy will make it the first US stock company to return staking income directly to shareholders. It is expected to generate about $1 million in staking rewards each year after deployment, and plans to return to investors in the form of dividends in the future. In addition, EBZT is also actively promoting the listing on Nasdaq to attract institutional capital and seize the first-mover advantage in the crypto vault track.
Norwegian listed company Standard Supply AS (OSE: STSU) announced that it will change its name to StandardCoin and has completed its first investment of 50 million Norwegian kroner (about 4.97 million US dollars) in Bitcoin, officially entering the field of digital assets. The investment is managed by a top regulated custodian and aims to promote financial innovation. CEO Eldar Paulsrud said that the investment was carefully planned and focused on security and risk management. In the future, the company will promote the development of the digital asset ecosystem as a responsible market participant. The company may further disclose strategic adjustments and investment plans in the future.
Kindly MD, Inc. (NASDAQ: NAKA), which had previously announced plans to merge with Bitcoin native holding company Nakamoto Holdings Inc., announced that it has completed an additional $51.5 million in private equity public offering financing ("PIPE financing") to support its plans to build a Bitcoin reserve. To date, KindlyMD has raised approximately $563 million through PIPE financing, and a total of approximately $763 million including convertible bonds. David Bailey, founder and CEO of Nakamoto, said the company will continue to execute its strategy to raise as much money as possible to buy as much Bitcoin as possible. The net proceeds from the PIPE financing will be used by KindlyMD to purchase Bitcoin, as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes.
