Weekly Recap Highlights: MicroStrategy Expands Bitcoin Holdings, SEC Closes Ethereum Probe, and Stablecoins Gain Attention

Bitcoin Slumps

Bitcoin experienced a decline, dropping below the $66,000 mark on June 18 after several days of consolidation. The downward trend continued, with prices falling further below $65,000.

Market analysis suggests that this decline was influenced by three main factors: miner capitulation, sustained crypto ETF outflows, and reduced stablecoin issuance.

Despite the downturn, investor profitability remained high, with 87% of Bitcoin’s circulating supply still in profit.

Altcoins Defy Market Trends

Some altcoins, such as Pendle (PENDLE) and Toncoin (TON), managed to defy the overall market trend. Pendle saw a 17% increase in the week leading up to June 22, with its market cap approaching $1 billion.

MicroStrategy Increases Bitcoin Holdings

Taking advantage of the market downturn, MicroStrategy purchased nearly 12,000 more BTC on June 20 for $786 million at an average price of $65,883 per BTC.

Zksync Airdrop

Despite facing controversy and concerns over its procedures, Zksync distributed 3.67 billion tokens. Binance listed the token on June 17. Following the airdrop, over 41% of the top addresses sold off their allocations shortly after receiving them.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs and Outflows

Spot Bitcoin ETF products experienced sustained outflows last week, with $145.9 million on June 17 and $152.4 million on June 18. The negative flows resulted in cumulative net inflows dropping below $15 billion. This trend continued until June 21, culminating in a cumulative negative net flow of over $544 million.

In Australia, asset manager VanEck received approval to launch the first spot Bitcoin ETF in the country. Meanwhile, asset manager 3iQ filed to list the first-ever Solana ETP, named Solana Fund (QSOL), on Canada’s Toronto Stock Exchange.

Global Regulatory Developments

South Korean authorities are reviewing listings of over 600 assets across multiple exchanges due to new regulations. Prosecutors in South Korea also presented new evidence against Terra founder Do Kwon, suggesting he used fake transactions to deceive investors.

Fidelity Investments amended its S-1 filings for a spot Ethereum ETF with the SEC, confirming a seed investment of $4.7 million for the upcoming product.

Binance Faces Regulatory Challenges

In the U.S., North Dakota revoked Binance’s operational license following the sentencing of former CEO Changpeng Zhao. Binance also faced a $2.2 million fine in India for violating anti-money laundering provisions. U.S. lawmakers visited Binance employee Tigran Gambaryan in a Nigerian prison, advocating for his release.

SEC Closes Ethereum Probe

In positive news for the Ethereum community, the U.S. SEC announced that it had closed its investigation into whether certain Ethereum sales constituted unregistered securities offerings. However, Consensys continues to dispute the agency’s stance on whether functionalities like Swapping and Staking on MetaMask are securities.

Stablecoins in the Spotlight

Stablecoins gained significant attention this week. On June 17, USDT issuer Tether revealed plans to launch a new asset class backed by gold. Meanwhile, Uphold discontinued support for USDT and other “unauthorized” stablecoins in anticipation of MiCA’s stablecoin regulations.

Tether also faced accusations of money laundering and corruption from a U.S. campaign ad. Additionally, the National Australia Bank, the largest bank in the country, closed its stablecoin project last week.

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