Solana’s newest memecoin launchpad, LetsBonk, doubled Pump.fun’s daily revenue with $1.04 million, shaking up the leaderboard in the memecoin space. Solana memecoin launchpad LetsBonk surpassed rival Pump.fun in 24-hour revenue, according to data aggregated by decentralized finance (DeFi) platform DefiLlama. The latest DefiLlama figures show that LetsBonk generated $1.04 million in revenue in the last 24 hours, nearly doubling Pump.fun’s revenue of $533,412. LetsBonk’s revenue surge marked a rare shift in dominance in the Solana memecoin sector, where Pump.fun has typically held the top spot. Both platforms offer simplified tools for launching and trading memecoins. However, LetsBonk appears to be gaining traction due to the support of the Bonk (BONK) memecoin community and its social campaigns. Read more
Damcho Rinzin, the director of Bhutan’s Department of Tourism, said the sector has struggled because of its payment infrastructure. The Kingdom of Bhutan is integrating cryptocurrency payments into its tourism infrastructure in a bid to modernize its economy and attract younger, tech-savvy travelers. In a panel discussion during Binance’s Crypto-Powered Tour in Bhutan, Damcho Rinzin, the director of Bhutan’s Department of Tourism, told the audience that the country’s tourism sector has long struggled because of the country’s payment infrastructure. On May 7, Binance Pay partnered with local bank DK Bank to let users pay for their expenses in Bhutan using crypto. During the panel discussion, DK Bank president Ugyen Tenzin said almost 1,000 merchants nationwide have been onboarded to accept the payment method. Read more
Japan’s Metaplanet has become the world’s fifth-largest corporate Bitcoin holder after acquiring 2,204 BTC. Japan’s top corporate Bitcoin treasury company, Metaplanet, has acquired another 2,204 Bitcoin for $237 million. In a filing on Monday, the company said it acquired an additional 2,204 Bitcoin (BTC) at an average price of 15,640,253 Japanese yen per Bitcoin (about $107,700). This brings Metaplanet’s total holdings to 15,555 BTC at an average purchase price of about $99,985 each. According to BitcoinTreasuries.NET data, Metaplanet is the fifth-largest corporate holder of Bitcoin. The company overtook the holdings of electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla in late June with an acquisition of 1,234 BTC, which brought its holdings to 12,345 BTC, with Tesla holding 11,509 BTC. Read more
A widely used Bitcoin technical analysis indicator suggests that BTC is on the verge of a “big move” toward new all-time highs. Key takeaways: Bitcoin’s Bollinger Bands indicator now sees the potential for BTC price breakout above $110,000. Bitcoin eyes new all-time highs in July due to multiple tailwinds. Read more
Bitcoin ETPs saw $790 million of inflows last week, a slowdown from the previous three-week average of $1.5 billion, with dynamics shifting in favor of Ether, according to CoinShares. Cryptocurrency investment products clocked another week of inflows last week, even as volatility persisted across major digital assets, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). Global crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) recorded $1.04 billion of inflows for the trading week ended Friday, CoinShares reported on Monday. With the fresh inflows, crypto ETPs continued breaking year-to-date (YTD) inflow records, setting a new historical high just under $19 billion, said CoinShares’ head of research, James Butterfill. Read more
Bitcoin sets another record high weekly close as traders determine where the BTC price tops and bottoms will be. Bitcoin (BTC) was inches away from all-time highs after it sealed another record weekly close. Bitcoin traders are eyeing both a return to price discovery and a “false move” to take liquidity at $105,000. The weekly close sealed July as a month for the record books, with “final resistance” now next on bulls’ to-do list. Read more
Elon Musk announced the formation of a new political party on Sunday, telling one of his followers on X that it will embrace Bitcoin as “fiat is hopeless.” Tesla CEO and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has confirmed that his newly formed political party — the America Party — will accept Bitcoin. “Fiat is hopeless, so yes,” Musk replied to an X user who asked if his new party would embrace Bitcoin. Elon Musk is no stranger to Bitcoin as Tesla was an early adopter, holding BTC in its treasury. Read more
Two men who admitted to running a crypto scheme that defrauded 65 investors have both been sentenced to over five years in prison. The UK has sentenced two men to a combined total of 12 years in prison after they admitted to running a crypto scheme that stole over 1.5 million British pounds ($2 million) by cold-calling victims. The Financial Conduct Authority said on Friday that a central London court handed the scheme’s operators, Raymondip Bedi and Patrick Mavanga, their sentences after the pair pleaded guilty to multiple charges in November. Bedi was sentenced to five years and four months behind bars, while Mavanga was sentenced to six years and six months. Read more
Bitcoin trades 2% below ATH as analysts eye new records amid looming US tariff deadline and upcoming “Crypto Week” volatility. Bitcoin could set a new record high as early as this week, with all eyes trained on the United States’ trade tariff deadline on Wednesday, which could unlock risk appetite, along with an upcoming “Crypto Week” in the country’s capital. “Bitcoin is likely to set a new all-time high this week or next,” the head of research at 10x Research, Markus Thielen, told Cointelegraph on Monday. He added that post-July 4th seasonality “tends to be bullish, and markets have largely shrugged off tariff-related risks.” Read more
Block CEO Jack Dorsey has released a white paper and launched a beta for Bitchat, a decentralized messaging app using Bluetooth mesh networks for internet-free, encrypted communication. Block CEO and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has launched the beta version of a new decentralized peer-to-peer messaging service that runs entirely over Bluetooth. Jack Dorsey said his weekend was spent learning about “Bluetooth mesh networks, relays, store and forward models, message encryption models, and a few other things” as he introduced Bitchat on X on Sunday. The “Bluetooth mesh chat” system has “IRC [Internet Relay Chat] vibes,” Dorsey added, harking back to the early days of web-based messaging systems in the late 1990s. Read more
Emirates News Agency has refuted The Open Network’s claim that applicants who stake $100,000 worth of TON for three years would be eligible for 10-year golden visas. The native cryptocurrency of The Open Network has retraced 6% from its 24-hour high after United Arab Emirates regulators refuted claims that staking Toncoin (TON) could create a pathway to UAE residency. Toncoin initially shot up 10% to $3.03 on Sunday after The Open Network claimed that applicants staking $100,000 worth of Toncoin for three years make applicants eligible for the UAE’s golden visa program. However, the cryptocurrency partially retraced after the Emirates News Agency shared a joint statement from several regulators denying that claim. Read more
After TON claimed a staking program would offer golden visas for holders to enter the United Arab Emirates, the country's news agency shot down the idea of a partnership. Update (July 6, 12 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include comments from Sigil Fund partner Joe HedgeHog. Editor’s Note: This article has been substantially updated to include the denial from the UAE press office. The Open Network (TON), the blockchain platform spun out of Telegram, unveiled what it described as a new pathway to UAE residency, offering 10-year Golden Visas to applicants who stake $100,000 worth of Toncoin (TON) for three years and pay a one-time $35,000 processing fee. “Secure your Golden Visa in under 7 weeks from document submission to the Visa Office,” TON announced Saturday, detailing that its UAE-based partners will manage the visa processing and residency status confirmation. Read more