Bitcoin Price: US$ 26,329.01 (-3.27%)
Ethereum Price: US$ 1799.89 (-2.92%)
The stablecoin market has been shrinking for the 14th consecutive month, indicating a drain of capital from the digital asset space and posing potential challenges for the recovery of cryptocurrency prices. The total market capitalization of stablecoins fell to $130 billion in May, reaching its lowest level since September 2021. This decline in the stablecoin market, which plays a crucial role in facilitating cryptocurrency trading and connecting fiat currencies with blockchain-based markets, is seen as a signal of diminishing liquidity, according to analysts. Banking institutions like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs have suggested that cryptocurrency prices are unlikely to experience a sustained recovery until the stablecoin market stabilizes. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s price has remained stagnant below $26.5K, affected by concerns over the UK inflation, the U.S. debt ceiling stalemate, and uncertainties related to crypto regulations and macroeconomics. However, the declining correlation between Bitcoin and traditional equities is reviving interest among investors to include Bitcoin in diversified portfolios, as it offers independent price movement and potential diversification benefits.
Bitcoin and Ether experienced a decline in value as UK core CPI reached its highest level since 1992, with the annualized 3-month trend running at 13.6%. The poor UK inflation figures led to a broader market decline in major cryptocurrencies and equities. The higher-than-expected core CPI rate of 6.8% added pressure on the Bank of England to continue raising interest rates, dampening hopes of economic recovery. In other news, Conflux Network, known as the “Chinese Ethereum,” gained attention from traders after Hong Kong allowed retail investors to trade crypto, potentially attracting capital from Chinese investors. While the CFX token initially surged in price, it later experienced a decline. Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon had his bail revoked in Montenegro, where he faces charges of forging official documents. Kwon and Terraform’s former CFO, Han Chong-joon, were released on bail two weeks ago but are now back in jail as the prosecution appealed the decision.
The native token of the cross-chain bridge Multichain experienced a significant drop in value as users reported stuck transactions since Sunday. The team reassured users that their funds are safe and they are actively working to resolve the issue. The problem originated from a malfunctioning bridging service on one of Multichain’s routers, which affected the transfer of assets between chains. The team is upgrading the RPC-backend node to address the problem. In other news, Elon Musk warned about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence (AI), suggesting that AI could take control of computing and weapon systems to ensure global peace. He also raised concerns about the use of AI in weapons technology, misinformation on social media, and the development of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). On a different note, Bitpanda, a crypto investment business based in Vienna, has entered into a licensing agreement with Coinbase. As part of the deal, Coinbase will become a liquidity provider for Bitpanda Technology Solutions and Bitpanda will utilize Coinbase Prime’s custody services. The agreement enables Coinbase Institutional clients outside of the United States to white-label Bitpanda’s investing-as-a-service platform.
Cybersecurity startup Unciphered claims to have hacked into the Trezor T hardware crypto wallet manufactured by Satoshi Labs. In a YouTube demonstration, Unciphered showcased the extraction of the wallet’s mnemonic seed phrase by exploiting a hardware vulnerability that requires physical possession of the device. This is not the first time Unciphered has demonstrated seed phrase retrieval from hardware wallets, as they previously hacked a wallet manufactured by OneKey. Although hardware wallets are generally considered highly secure, Unciphered stated that the Trezor T’s hardware security mechanisms can be bypassed with physical access. The demonstrated exploit relies on extracting the wallet’s firmware and cracking the device’s pin seed phrase using specialized GPU chips. In another news, Deribit, a crypto futures and options exchange, is nearing the expiry of $3.6 billion worth of bitcoin and ethereum option contracts. However, the impact on the market is expected to be minimal due to the current low levels of volatility. The expiration includes 85,000 bitcoin options contracts valued at $2.3 billion and approximately 700,000 ethereum options contracts valued at $1.3 billion. Despite the sizable amount, the implied volume remains low, and the market is not showing signs of panic.
Source:
https://coindesk.com
https://decrypt.co
https://theblock.co
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