US Government Moves $240M Silk Road BTC to Coinbase

US Government Moves $240M Silk Road BTC to Coinbase

Bitcoin's recent slight gain was short-lived as it returned to its downward trend, dropping 1.37% to $60,761. This decline followed the movement of 3,940 BTC, worth about $240 million, by a US government-associated wallet to Coinbase Prime, raising fears of a potential selloff. The BTC was seized from Banmeet Singh during his January 2024 trial related to the Silk Road case.

The US government has a history of selling off Bitcoins seized from Silk Road, including a huge $3.6 billion worth in 2022, with plans to sell the remaining BTC in multiple lots throughout the year. The market impact of the latest potential selloff remains uncertain. The news comes just days after the Mt. Gox $9 billion in Bitcoin repayment plan and the German BTC sell-off.

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Ethereum ETFs Might Start Trading Post July 4 After All

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may approve spot Ethereum ETFs as early as July 4, according to anonymous sources cited by Reuters. Talks between asset managers and regulators are reportedly in the final stages. SEC acting chair Gary Gensler noted that launching these ETFs is progressing smoothly, and VanEck recently filed a Form 8-A for its Ethereum ETF.

Everything is indicating that the Ether ETFs might soon trade on an exchange. This timeline aligns with Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas's predictions. Last month, the SEC approved 19b-4 forms for eight Ethereum ETFs, and firms are now awaiting the effectiveness of their registration statements before trading can commence, which was expected to happen before September.

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Tether USDT Supply on TON Blockchain Hits $500M

Tether's stablecoin USDT on The Open Network (TON) surpassed a net circulation of 500 million, reaching 519.28 million USDT. This milestone comes two months after Tether introduced both its U.S. dollar-backed and gold-backed stablecoins on TON. The increasing demand for USDT-TON is attributed to its ease of use for sending digital dollars globally.

Additionally, TON's total value locked doubled earlier this month, surpassing $670 million, driven by its integration with Telegram's vast user base and the popularity of crypto mini-games on the platform. TON's native cryptocurrency, Toncoin, has also surged, becoming the ninth-largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $18.5 billion.

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Over 35% of Blast's Phase 1 Airdrop Claimed on First Day

Blast distributed 17 billion BLAST tokens to early adopters in its first airdrop, which began at 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday. As of now, about 35% of the tokens have been claimed, though the exact number remains unconfirmed. These tokens represent 7% of the total 100 billion BLAST supply, with a pre-market trading value of approximately $476 million at $0.028 per token.

The airdrop allocations were based on users' accumulated Blast Points. Blast plans to allocate 25.5% of the total supply to core contributors, 16.5% to investors, 8% to the Blast Foundation, and the remaining 50% to community initiatives. Some users reported that they have delegated up to $50 million in the Blast ecosystem 'only' to earn around $100,00 in return.

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Data of the day

Ether's supply is having its longest inflationary period since the 2022 Merge, with over 112,000 ETH added since April 14, attributed to the March 13 Dencun upgrade. This upgrade, which introduced nine Ethereum improvement proposals (EIPs), including EIP-4844, is the main driver of the inflation.

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More breaking news

• A single donation of 8.07 BTC ($496,000) nearly covered WikiLeaks' Julian Assange's $520,000 flight for a private jet after release from prison.
• Bitstamp to delist Tether’s euro-pegged stablecoin, EURT ahead of Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation's (MiCA) new rules from June 30.
• Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said SEC Chair Gary Gensler will cause Joe Biden to lose the US presidential election in November.
• US spot Bitcoin ETFs climbed to $31 million in daily net inflows on Tuesday after a record-equaling seven days of outflows exceeding $1.1 billion.
• Binance said that after the Megadrop IEO event, 297 main accounts were banned, with one airdrop hunter even collecting 9,000 KYC accounts.

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