Little hype for Spot ETH ETFs?

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‘Wholecoiners’ could soon dictate where Bitcoin’s price goes next

Key points:

  • Rise in the number of ‘wholecoiners’ symptomatic of Bitcoin’s increasing demand.

  • Selling pressure could pull BTC’s price below $60K.

News - Demand for Bitcoin has risen consistently over the years, irrespective of what the motivating factors may have been. This has been the case across all groups of holders in the market.

‘Wholecoiners’ or addresses holding just 1 BTC aren’t any different, with their numbers rising recently. In fact, according to IntoTheBlock, there are now 1 million ‘wholecoiner’ addresses in Bitcoin’s market right now. While this may be a significant milestone on the face of it, it could have a ripple effect on the cryptocurrency’s price too.

Sell pressure incoming? Accumulation, especially among institutional investors, has picked up pace lately. However, there’s only so much BTC one can accumulate. Owing to the cryptocurrency’s limited supply, it can be predicted that some big players might just sell their holdings to grab some profit - Inviting selling pressure.

This seemed to be the case at press time, as evidenced by BTC’s Fund Premium and the cryptocurrency’s aSORP. Both these indicators were flashing red - A sign of institutional investors selling for profits.

In the middle of a bull market, flashing red signals across indicators like these might also mean that a market top is here.

Here, it’s worth noting that despite some institutional selling, buying pressure hasn’t deserted Bitcoin’s market yet.

What are the miners up to? On a separate front, Bitcoin Miner capitulation seemed to be gathering strength too, with its levels now comparable to the hash rate drawdown back in December 2022 after FTX’s collapse.

Back in December 2022 though, this drawdown coincided with a market bottom.

Ethereum ETPs see largest outflows since 2022 - CoinShares

Key points:

  • ETH dropped by 8% in June, despite the SEC’s approval of Spot Ethereum ETFs.

  • Launch now expected only in mid-July.

News - Optimism on the back of the SEC’s approval of Spot Ethereum ETFs has given way to skepticism, especially after it failed to have any major impact on ETH’s price on the charts. In fact, contrary to bullish expectations, the altcoin fell by over 8% in just 30 days.

This bout of depreciation coincided with a trend of major outflows from Ethereum exchange-traded products, especially in the last week of June.

How big were the outflows? Quite significant. While the month as a whole saw “only” $37 million withdrawn from these ETPs, the last two weeks recorded outflows totaling $119 million. In fact, over a 5-day period between 24 and 29 June, outflows worth $61 million were seen.

These levels of outflows were last seen back in August 2022. According to CoinShares, owing to the same, Ether funds are now the worst-performing asset year-to-date on the net flows front.

The hype around the upcoming ETFs had little effect on the altcoin’s price. And, that is likely to remain the case for a few weeks now, especially since the SEC has requested prospective issuers to re-file their S-1 forms by 8 July. What this means is that the launch can be expected only in mid-July.

An incoming breakout - Despite ETH’s lukewarm price performance, however, the altcoin is still consolidating within a bullish falling wedge pattern on its weekly chart.

While its attempt to test the upper limit of the pattern has failed so far, it might not do so a few weeks from now. If that upper limit is breached, ETH can be expected to hit new highs before the end of the year.

‘Roaring Kitty’ fraud lawsuit dropped after plaintiff’s motion

Key points:

  • Plaintiff Martin Radev filed a voluntary motion to dismiss.

  • Lawsuit dropped just three days after it was filed.

News - Until a few days ago, Keith Gill, popularly known as ‘Roaring Kitty,’ was at the end of a lawsuit filed by a certain Martin Radev. According to the plaintiff, Gill used his social media fame to allegedly orchestrate a ‘pump and dump’ scheme by artificially inflating the value of GME shares.

Radev also accused Gill of securities fraud, claiming that the defendant failed to notify his followers and GameStop investors that he will be selling 120K call options before their expiries.

Out of nowhere - Within just three days though, Radev voluntarily filed a motion to dismiss, without giving any reason or explanation for the same, in fact, neither did the law firm representing the investor. Based on the same, the lawsuit was dropped ‘without prejudice,’ meaning the plaintiff can re-file in the future.

According to legal commentators though, the plaintiff didn’t have much legal standing in the first place and would have found it very difficult to prove a case of securities fraud against Gill. Former Federal Prosecutor Eric Rosen, for instance, claimed that Radev would have struggled to prove himself a ‘reasonable investor’ under the law.

CHEWY times - On the back of the aforementioned lawsuit being filed, the price of ROAR, a memecoin associated with Roaring Kitty fell by 8%.

Here, it’s worth noting that Gill has been increasingly involved with U.S-based Chewy lately, with the investor buying over 9 million shares of it. Owing to the same, the price of CHEWY surged on the price charts.

Circle’s USDC, EURC now fully compliant under EU’s MiCA rules

Key points:

  • Update was first shared by the firm’s CEO Jeremy Allaire.

  • MiCA rules have precipitated wholesale changes in the policies of exchanges.

News - In what is a major development, Circle is now the first stablecoin issuer in the European Union to be granted approval under its Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) guidelines.

This, within weeks of exchanges like Uphold delisting several stablecoins, including the likes of DAI, GUSD, and USDT to make sure their offerings comply with the rules under MiCA.

First of its kind - According to the Boston-based Circle, its tokens - USDC and EURC - are all compliant under the new rules. CEO Jeremy Allaire welcomed this development, while also underlining the digital asset space’s long road to recognition in the European market.

“Back then all of this was considered incredibly niche, the mainstream financial sector was hostile to all of it. The concept of seeing major global laws that enshrined stablecoins into the financial system was inconceivable.”

That’s not all either, with the firm also announcing that it will be setting up its European headquarters in France.

Circle believes that France has been, and continues to be, at the forefront of “establishing clear regulations around crypto and digital assets.”

Interesting facts

  • According to a Bankless survey, 67% of millennials now think of Bitcoin as an essential asset, with many of them choosing the cryptocurrency over gold too.

  • 2018 saw someone pay 600 ETH for a CryptoKitty dragon. At the time, 600 ETH was valued at just about $170,000. Today, 600 ETH would be worth close to $2 million. 

  • The average American crypto-investor is 38 years old. On the contrary, the average American stock investor is 47 years old. 

Top 3 coins of the day

Bonk (BONK)

Key points:

  • Memecoin was valued at $0.000002598 at press time.

  • BONK registered a hike of over 17% in just 48 hours.

What you should know - After its highs in May, June saw the popular memecoin decline steadily on the charts. This sustained downtrend reversed itself in the month of July though, with the altcoin climbing by over 15% in just over two days. Owing to the same, at the time of writing, BONK was again trading close to its mid-May levels, before it peaked. The bullishness of the market was highlighted by the findings of its technical indicators. While the Parabolic SAR’s dotted markers were found well below the price candles, the Moving Average was found in a similar position too. It’s too soon to say if the memecoin is likely to hit its May-end levels again though.

Jupiter (JUP)

Key points:

  • Ranked 77th, altcoin has been trading within a tight price range since mid-April.

  • Latest 15% hike might spur a new uptrend.

What you should know - Jupiter’s price charts are emblematic of how functional the crypto-market has been over the past few weeks. Like most cryptos, JUP has been trading within a tight price band since April. That, however, might change soon owing to its latest 15% hike. Here, it’s worth pointing out that JUP’s recent bullishness came on the back of Meow - Jupiter’s pseudonymous co-founder - proposing a 30% reduction in supply. Should Spot Ethereum ETFs go live next week, the wider market’s bullishness might take JUP even higher. At press time, JUP’s indicators flashed green too. While the CMF hiked above zero and pointed to an uptick in capital inflows, the Bollinger Bands suggested there remained some room for price volatility.

Notcoin (NOT)

Key points:

  • Notcoin’s price sustained a downtrend, despite recovery efforts.

  • NOT’s indicators also failed to project a reversal.

What you should know - The last few weeks haven’t been positive for NOT holders. Valued at $0.013 at the time of writing, the altcoin’s downtrend has been consistent lately. While the past week did see some attempts at a recovery, one triggered by the burn of $3M in NOT tokens and a new incentive scheme, it wasn’t enough. In fact, over the past week alone, NOT has lost over 8% of its value. As far as the altcoin’s indicators are concerned, no positive signs could be seen. While the MACD and the signal lines were too close to each other to project a crossover, the RSI had a reading of 40 on the chart.

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