Bitcoin closed one of its worst months on record, down 35%; Elon Musk was declared ‘at war’ on behalf of the Anonymous collective after another tweet about Bitcoin; Russia clarified the timelines for regulation and the status of digital assets, and other events from the past week.
Bitcoin closes one of its worst months
The past month became the third-worst monthly drop in Bitcoin’s price on record. Bitcoin closed May at $37,340, down 34.5% for the period.
In the middle of the week prices attempted a recovery, approaching the $39,500 level. However on Friday, June 4, they fell by roughly 5%, linked to another Elon Musk tweet.
The following day there was a similar price drop. According to journalist Colin Wu, it was triggered by a broad crackdown on crypto accounts on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform.
Bitcoin’s sharp drop of 5% may be related to China’s Twitter Weibo ban on accounts involving crypto. But at present, it seems that accounts not involved in ads of exchanges have not been blocked. pic.twitter.com/9q1A6uqfyE
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) June 5, 2021
Despite the latest events, the price of the leading cryptocurrency for the week rose 4.7%, according to CoinGecko. The quotes of most of the largest-cap altcoins rose by double-digit percentages. The leader was Binance’s BNB token, up almost 29%.
According to Messari data, the ‘champion’ for the week was the token of a little-known project Safe, whose price rose 196%. In the top ten are also Crypto.com’s MCO, Kyber Network’s KNC, and Tokocrypto’s TKO, the Indonesian-regulated exchange, which announced plans to go public.
The biggest drop for the week was Flexcoin (FXC) — its price fell almost 84%. In 18th place on the losers’ list with a 16.4% drop was Polygon (MATIC), which had lit up the market in May.
Elon Musk again ‘tanked’ the market with a tweet. Self-styled Anonymous declares war on the entrepreneur
On Friday, June 4, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX posted a meme with a quote from Linkin Park’s “In the End”. To the post, Musk added the hashtag #Bitcoin and a broken-heart emoji.
The price of Bitcoin fell by more than 5%.
Later the entrepreneur followed up with a meme lampooning investors who lost money as the price declined.
On Friday, June 5, unknowns who called themselves the well-known hacking group Anonymous posted a YouTube video criticizing Musk for market manipulation.
According to the authors, the head of Tesla with his tweets “destroys” the lives of crypto investors who had bet on digital assets. The video features a veiled threat to Musk:
«You may think you’re the smartest, but now you’ve met your match. We are Anonymous! We are Legion. Expect us».
The State Duma says cryptocurrencies could be included in the Civil Code in the spring session
Cryptocurrency provisions could be included in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation by the end of the spring session, said the head of the State Duma committee on state-building and legislation, Pavel Krasheninnikov.
Cryptocurrency is to be added to the section of the Code dealing with objects. Krasheninnikov said digital assets are to be added so that the Code applies to inheritance, divorce, bankruptcy, and so on automatically.
He noted that, while the ruble remains the legal tender, contracts could provide for settlements in virtual currency.
“We will remove this paradox, when cryptocurrency exists and is not regulated,” Krasheninnikov said.
Taproot update backed by 98% of the hashrate
As of June 1, one of the largest updates in the Bitcoin network has 98% of the hashrate. This signals a high likelihood of Taproot deployment during the current “epoch of difficulty”.
The last pool to announce support for Taproot was MaraPool of Marathon Digital Holdings.
Coinbase Pro adds Dogecoin to listing and links Coinbase Card to Apple Pay
On June 3 the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Pro added Dogecoin (DOGE) to its listing, a meme token endorsed by Elon Musk.
Following the announcement the asset rose 18.2% in 24 hours. Users speculated that Musk’s new tweet helped drive the rally as well.
On June 2 the exchange announced the integration of the Coinbase Card with Apple Pay. The service is available to U.S. residents.
Ripple files motion seeking SEC investigation of foreign exchanges
CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen filed a motion in court asking the SEC to investigate the activities of 15 overseas trading platforms.
According to the filing, the SEC should request documents from iFinex (Bitfinex’s parent), Bitforex, Bithumb, Bitlish, BitMart, AscendEX (formerly Bitmax), Bitrue Singapore, Bitstamp, Coinbene, HitBTC, Huobi Global, Korbit, OKEx, Upbit Singapore and ZB Network Technology.
According to the defendants, the records from foreign exchanges would show they did not violate Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933, which bars the sale of unregistered securities in the United States.
Meanwhile the court rejected the SEC’s request for access to legal opinions Ripple had obtained regarding the status of the XRP token.
The regulator argues that Ripple’s lawyers could have warned the company that the token possessed securities characteristics even before the token sale began.
Head of the Bank of Russia calls digital currencies the future of the financial system
As the economy shifts online, central-bank digital currencies are set to become the future of financial systems, said Elvira Nabiullina, chair of the Bank of Russia.
«There is a need for fast and cheap payment systems, and central-bank digital currencies could fill that gap», she said.
Taxation bill for crypto in Russia could be passed in autumn
The bill on taxing cryptocurrency operations could be enacted in the autumn, said Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma committee on financial markets, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
He noted that the project was originally planned for the spring session, but “discussions prevented this work from being completed”.
Meanwhile, in Aksakov’s view, Bitcoin is not a currency but a store of value, and cannot be legalized in Russia due to high volatility.
The chairman of VTB Bank, Andrey Kostin, named digital gold “fake money”.
The head of Sberbank, Herman Gref, categorized cryptocurrencies among the “most risky investment instruments” alongside stocks.
However, Tinkoff Bank’s chief Oliver Hughes said the institution was ready to offer clients the ability to trade digital assets. But, he said, this is hindered by the central bank’s strict stance on cryptocurrencies.
Chinese media say there is no ban on Bitcoin trading
Bitcoin and other digital assets trading is possible if citizens are willing to take on the risk. Advertising of “profitable assets” is to be tightened, the 8btc outlet, citing China’s Xinhua News Agency, reported.
According to the agency, crypto-trading regulation requires a holistic approach. Different authorities need to supervise within their powers.
U.S. authorities will require crypto firms to hand over customer data
The U.S. Treasury proposed expanding the reporting requirements for brokers regarding cryptocurrencies.
According to the agency, with the growth of the digital-asset market taxpayers have gained the ability to avoid taxes.
The initiative would also apply to Bitcoin exchanges and custody wallets. They would be required to share information about account beneficial owners with an international information-sharing network of which the United States is a member.
It also emerged that President Biden’s administration regards tracking cryptocurrency transactions as one of the possible tools against ransomware.
The Department of Justice has raised the priority of investigations of such attacks to the level of terrorism cases.
Steve Wozniak lost his case against YouTube
Steve Wozniak lost a lawsuit against YouTube and its parent company Google. The Apple co-founder sought to have fraudulent Bitcoin giveaway videos removed from his name.
The court cited Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which says that online platforms are not responsible for user content but may moderate it. Wozniak can appeal.
ForkLog also wrote:
- The RBI reminded banks of the repeal of the ban on cryptocurrency operations.
- The number of active Bitcoin addresses fell to a six-month low.
- The famous “alien autopsy” frame will be sold as an NFT for $1.2 million.
- Willy Woo explained why he believes Bitcoin is undervalued.
- Standard Chartered will launch an institutional Bitcoin exchange.
- A Russian-language hacker forum held a contest for new ideas to hack cryptocurrencies.
- Binance launched an advertising campaign in Ukraine.
- A statue of Satoshi Nakamoto will be erected in Budapest.
What else to read and watch
Record trading volume across exchanges on the back of Bitcoin’s drop, Dogecoin clone attacks, Polygon rally and other key crypto-industry changes in May ForkLog explored in its monthly report:
Magazine learned how a mining fee bill in Kazakhstan could hinder Chinese miners’ migration. Authorities have already justified the need for this measure.
The week’s most notable events in cybersecurity and AI were gathered in our traditional digests.
A roundup of important DeFi developments covers a longer period.
In educational cards we looked at the popular project Chia.
On Monday, May 31, ForkLog hosted analyst Serge Chan. They discussed Bitcoin and other projects, the latest China news, numbers and charts.
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