Unchained | Crypto News

💰 Analysts Stand Firm on $150K Bitcoin Price Forecast Citing 'a Healthy Cycle' Global asset management firm Alliance Bernstein’s analysts have reaffirmed their bullish outlook on bitcoin, predicting a rise to $150,000 by 2025. They view the recent price correction as a healthy cleanup of market excesses. Additionally, they highlighted the market’s strength, citing significant inflows into spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and encouraging signs for increased corporate bitcoin investments.

🏦 Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino confirms supposed database breach was 'fake' After initially suspecting it, Bitfinex's chief technology officer, Paolo Ardoino, has now definitively confirmed that the allegations of a database breach were "fake." "As I said on Saturday, Bitfinex's user database was not breached," Ardoino told The Block. "We spent the weekend reviewing all internal data to avoid leaving any stone unturned. We concluded that the claim was fake, as suspected from the beginning.".

🟠 Binance Wallet Integrates 💰 Bitcoin Atomical ARC-20 Assets Binance has announced the integration of ARC-20 tokens into its Inscriptions Marketplace, allowing regular users to join the cutting-edge Bitcoin tokenization. ARC-20 is a new token standard that enables the creation of fungible (interchangeable) tokens that can be held and transferred directly on the Bitcoin blockchain. This is made possible by the Atomicals Protocol which utilizes Bitcoin’s native satoshis and transaction tracking system. 

🇺🇸 SEC postpones decision on 7RCC Spot Bitcoin and Carbon Credit Futures ETF The Securities and Exchange Commission said it will take more time to decide next steps on a proposed exchange-traded fund focused on carbon credit futures contracts and bitcoin. In a filing made on Thursday, the agency said it would decide to "approve or disapprove, or institute proceedings" for the 7RCC Spot Bitcoin and Carbon Credit Futures ETF by June 24, 2024.

📊 Crypto firms raised $2.5 billion in Q1, representing 29% quarterly increase Galaxy reported an assortment of VC investment data, including nearly $2.5 billion invested in the first quarter, on May 3. Crypto firms attracted funding across 603 deals during the period, representing 29% growth in dollar value and 68% growth in deal count quarter-over-quarter. The growth represents the first increase by both measures in three quarters, though Galaxy emphasized that future quarters will show whether the trend can continue.

💰 Bitcoin miner CleanSpark records highest single mining day in April in post-halving report CleanSpark has released its first monthly unaudited Bitcoin mining and operations update since the halving. The company exceeded 17 EH/s in hashrate, mining an impressive 721 BTC with a record daily high of over 48 BTC. CEO Zach Bradford highlighted the company’s monthly gains in efficiency metrics as they deploy advanced S21 machines across their expanding facilities. These improvements have amplified mining output and optimized operational costs.

💰 Hybrid L2 Build on Bitcoin Launches Mainnet; US Users Face Geo-Blocking The layer-two initiative known as BOB, short for ‘Build on Bitcoin,’ has declared its mainnet operational with over 40 apps launching in the initial phase. Notably, the BOB application that facilitates bridging and access to the ecosystem is geo-blocked in the United States. The X account further announced that an additional cohort of over 40 apps will integrate into the BOB ecosystem within the next two to three weeks.

💰 Bitcoin options positioning anticipates summer slowdown, analyst says Bitcoin derivatives traders are positioning themselves for a summer lull in market activity, according to an analyst. According to Kooner, bitcoin implied volatility has dropped significantly since mid-April. This can also be seen in charts from The Block's Data Dashboard, which show the implied volatility of bitcoin at-the-money options falling from over 77% to under 60% for one week, one month and multi-month expires.

🪙 Tether reports record $4.52 billion profit in Q1 despite shrinking market share Stablecoin issuer Tether (USDT) achieved a historic net profit of $4.52 billion in the first quarter despite facing a significant drop in market share. According to the attestation report shared with CryptoSlate, the firm’s substantial profits chiefly originated from its US Treasury holdings, supplemented by gains from its Bitcoin and gold investments.

🖼 NFT Market Sees Over 30% Decline in Weekly Sales From April 27 to May 4, 2024, non-fungible token (NFT) sales amassed $164.4 million, reflecting a 30.16% decrease compared to the previous week. Leading the field in blockchain sales, Bitcoin-based NFT sales totaled $56.81 million, experiencing a 41.57% drop from the preceding week.