Week in Review: Bitcoin holds above $30,000 as MicroStrategy adds 12,333 BTC

Bitcoin’s price has held above $30,000, KuCoin will implement mandatory user verification, MicroStrategy has added another 12,333 BTC for $347 million, and other events from the past week.

Bitcoin holds above $30,000

This week, Bitcoin traded in a range of $30,000 to $31,000, showing modest volatility. As of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $30,500. Over the past week, the asset declined by 0.2%.

Most of the top-10 by market capitalization did not move significantly. Litecoin stood out, rising by about 25%.

The total market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies exceeds $1.2 trillion. Bitcoin’s dominance index stood at 51.2%.

What’s next for Binance?

The Bitcoin exchange Binance is considering the UAE as a “key hub” for its business. The company’s regional head, Alex Chehaid, described the country as a major growth area for the friendly regulatory environment surrounding the digital asset industry.

Platform has declined to delist anonymous tokens in France, Italy, Poland and Spain. On June 26 Binance was preparing to remove from the list a number of privacy coins.

According to media reports, the exchange withdrew its application for a license in Austria. Sources also stated that Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority will not grant Binance permission to custody crypto assets.

MicroStrategy bought 12,333 BTC for $347 million

From April 29 to June 27 the analytics-software provider MicroStrategy bought 12,333 BTC for $347 million at an average price of $28,136 per BTC.

As of writing MicroStrategy owns 152,333 BTC worth about $4.52 billion at $29,668 each.

KuCoin to implement mandatory user verification

The KuCoin cryptocurrency exchange announced new Know Your Customer (KYC) rules. They will take effect on July 15.

Existing users will be limited to spot sell orders and withdrawals. KuCoin will block deposits, and will impose restrictions on margin and futures accounts, KuCoin Earn, and ETFs.

What to discuss with friends?

• Sam Bankman-Fried spent $243 million on Bahamas villas.
• Trading volume of the Ethereum-based Ordinals analogue exceeded $1 million.
• Twitter introduced limits on post viewing for all users.
• A U.S. court ordered Kraken to hand over customer tax information.

Experts assess the earnings of airdrop hunters

The average income of a standard airdrop hunter stood at $9,384 per address (median $6,497). For the premium segment, the figures were $18,935 and $14,288, according to a joint study by X-explore and journalist Colin Wu.

Experts noted that after the 2020 Uniswap airdrop , the strategy of rewarding early users with tokens gained popularity in the Web3 industry.

U.S. presidential candidate expresses commitment to Bitcoin

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nephew of the 35th president of the United States and a participant in the current presidential race, promised to defend citizens’ right to freely own and use the first cryptocurrency.

«Bitcoin is not only a bulwark against totalitarianism and manipulation of our money supply, it points the way to a future in which governmental institutions will be more transparent and democratic», — noted the politician.

Kennedy wants not only to legalise digital gold, but also to embed it in everyday American life. Earlier he promised to take decisions that will “support Bitcoin and the freedom of transactions, allowing people to manage their wallets, nodes and passwords”.

Circle CEO: Hong Kong to become a hub for the digital assets market

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire stated that Hong Kong will strengthen its position in the digital assets and stablecoins markets. In his words, this could serve as a model for mainland China.

The Circle CEO said that he is watching regulatory changes in Hong Kong closely as the region “presents enormous interest.”

Also on ForkLog:

• Bitcoin mining difficulty decreased by 3.26%.
• Fidelity Investments filed an application to launch a Bitcoin ETF.
• Cryptocurrencies in Russia will be brought under “strict control” after legalization.

Group of developers proposed a plan to revive Terra Classic

The team of six engineers from Terra Allies 6/6 presented a plan to revive the Terra Classic ecosystem.

It is the original network created by Terraform Labs. It has continued to exist as an independent blockchain after the project’s collapse in May 2022 and the Terra 2.0 launch. As of writing, the market cap of the Terra Luna Classic (LUNC) token is about $506 million (CoinGecko).

The group of engineers, who also call themselves the “Six Samurai,” proposed to the community that they be allocated $116,000 for the third quarter of the year. For this sum, the programmers are prepared to continue working on the project.

Vitalik Buterin expresses support for projects affected by the SEC

Co-founder of Ethereum Vitalik Buterin said he is “sorry” that many crypto projects have been hit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

«They don’t deserve this. If Ethereum ultimately “wins” because all other blockchains are pushed off exchanges, that is not the most worthy way to win, and in the long run, likely not a win at all,» he wrote.

Buterin wished that “all worthy projects” achieve a fair outcome in the current situation.

What to read next?

In the cards, there are pieces on convolutional neural networks and creating a cryptocurrency portfolio. A calendar of important events has been prepared for July. In the traditional digest, ForkLog has gathered the main events of the week in the field of cybersecurity.

The decentralised finance sector continues to attract heightened attention from crypto investors. ForkLog has gathered the most important events and news of the past weeks in the digest.