Bitcoin may be boring this Juneteenth holiday, but market commentators are already preparing for BTC price conditions to get volatile again. Key points: Bitcoin lacks volatility catalysts thanks to a US public holiday and a Federal Reserve “nothingburger,” crypto market participants say. US trade war deadlines begin to take center stage for risk assets. Read more
Crypto crime isn’t all FTX and fraud. Jennie Levin helps unpack the deeper, more technical threats facing blockchain today, including why regulators are still catching up. From headlines about multimillion-dollar losses to courtroom dramas involving disgraced crypto executives, the public perception of blockchain can often seem like a reel of never-ending scandals. In the latest episode of The Clear Crypto Podcast, hosts Nathan Jeffay and Gareth Jenkinson cut through the noise with guest Jennie Levin, chief legal and operations officer at the Algorand Foundation, to explore what’s really going on and why it’s often less about crypto and more about human misconduct. While mainstream coverage often fixates on collapsed exchanges like FTX, Levin points out that the underlying misconduct usually isn’t unique to crypto; it just features new, sometimes confusing names. Read more
Kraken has launched a Bitcoin staking service in partnership with Babylon, allowing users to earn BABY tokens. Crypto exchange Kraken has launched a new Bitcoin staking product through a protocol integration with Babylon Labs. In a Thursday announcement, Kraken said it has partnered with the Bitcoin (BTC) staking protocol Babylon. The integration allows the exchange’s users to earn interest on their Bitcoin holdings without the need for bridging, wrapping or lending. Kraken customers can use the service starting today by staking their Bitcoin without interacting with off-exchange wallets. The Bitcoin is locked in a vault on the Bitcoin blockchain and delegated to secure proof-of-stake (PoS) networks through the Babylon protocol. Read more
A leak of 16 billion passwords from services including Apple, Google and Facebook poses serious risks for crypto holders. A massive trove of more than 16 billion login credentials from leading online service providers, including Apple, Google and Facebook, was leaked, with potential consequences for crypto holders. According to a Friday report, the Cybernews research team reviewed “30 exposed data sets containing from tens of millions to over 3.5 billion records each.” All together, that came around to “a humongous 16 billion exposed login credentials.” “None of the exposed data sets were reported previously, bar one […] a ‘mysterious database’ with 184 million records,” the report reads. Most of the databases contained an average of 550 million entries, while the smallest held over 16 million. Read more
Hypersphere investment partner Mehdi Farooq said he lost six wallets and years of savings after falling victim to a fake Zoom call phishing attack. Mehdi Farooq, an investment partner at crypto venture capital firm Hypersphere, revealed on Thursday that he lost a significant portion of his life savings in a targeted phishing attack orchestrated through a fake Zoom call. In a post on X, Farooq explained that the attack began with a message on Telegram from Alex Lin, someone he knew. “He wanted to catch up,” Farooq recounted. The two had previously interacted, making the outreach seem routine. Farooq then shared his Calendly link with Lin, who scheduled a meeting for the next day. Read more
Quantum computing-focused Project Eleven raised $6 million to develop tools like Yellowpages that aim to secure Bitcoin against quantum attacks. Project Eleven, a development firm focused on post-quantum cryptography, raised $6 million to help secure Bitcoin and other digital assets against future quantum computing threats. According to a Thursday announcement shared with Cointelegraph, the funding round was co-led by leading Web3 investor Variant Fund and quantum tech investor Quantonation, among others. It marks Quantonation’s first investment in the crypto space. Project Eleven CEO Alex Pruden said the funding will allow the company to build “the tools, standards and ecosystem required to ensure digital assets remain secure in a post-quantum world.” Read more
The $600 million treasury announcement came on the same day Nasdaq-listed ophthalmic technologies firm Eyenovia shared plans for a Hyperliquid token treasury. Update June 19, 1:58 pm UTC: This article has been updated to include comments from Bitget Wallet’s CMO. Nasdaq-listed Lion Group Holding (LGHL) is establishing a $600 million cryptocurrency treasury reserve, with the Hyperliquid (HYPE) token as its main asset, signaling a growing institutional interest in altcoins beyond Bitcoin. The Singapore-based trading platform said it secured a $600 million facility from ATW Partners to fund the launch of its Hyperliquid (HYPE) token treasury and other blockchain initiatives. According to the company, $10.6 million of the capital will be deployed by Friday. Read more