Strengths
- Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the best performer for the week was Notcoin, rising 84.95%.
- A more positive U.S. political environment for digital assets will likely help propel Bitcoin to a record amount or even higher by the end of the year, according to Michael Novogratz. “If we take $73,000 in the next couple of weeks or so, we are going to end the year at $100,000 or higher” he commented during a Bloomberg radio interview.
- The U.S. is reclaiming its position as the undisputed top dog of cryptocurrency markets, reports Bloomberg. From a crop of record-shattering Bitcoin ETFs to more accommodating regulators, swelling political donations and a rising presidential contender in crypto backer Donald Trump, signs of a U.S. revival are suddenly everywhere.
Weaknesses
- Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the worst performer for the week was Beam, down 14.21%.
- A crypto investor known as “Bitcoin Jesus” has been released on bail in Spain, where he faces extradition to the U.S. on tax fraud charges. Roger Ve was allowed to leave jail May 17 after posting $163,000 in bail on the condition that he remains in Spain and hand in his passport, writes Bloomberg.
- MicroStrategy and its co-founder and Chairman Michael Saylor will pay $40 million to resolve a tax fraud lawsuit. The attorney general of Washington, DC, alleged the billionaire failed to pay more than $25 million in income taxes.
Opportunities
- Bitcoin briefly topped $71,000 this week, with crypto investment products seeing inflows for the fourth consecutive week and the latest GameStop frenzy driving memecoin speculation, writes Bloomberg.
- Kraken, one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges, is considering raising a final funding round ahead of a possible initial public offering after receiving inquiries from potential investors during the current digital-asset market rally, writes Bloomberg.
- Turkey isn’t planning to tax profits on stocks and cryptocurrency, the country’s Treasury and Finance Minister said. As reported by Bloomberg, the government is considering a “very limited” transaction tax on the assets.
Threats
- Japanese crypto exchange DMM Bitcoin plans to raise 50 billion yen from group companies and plow the funds into buying the largest digital asset to make customers whole after suffering a major hack. The outflow was equivalent to 4,503 Bitcoin or roughly $320 million at around 7:15am London time, writes Bloomberg.
- Crypto trading company NovaTechFX and crypto mining company AWS Mining defrauded investors out of more than $1 billion in cryptocurrency, according to a lawsuit filed in New York. A state investigation revealed that investors deposited over $1 billion of crypto to NovaTech from 2019 to 2023 but less than $26 million was actually traded, writes Bloomberg.
- U.S. lawmakers accused Nigeria of taking a Binance Holdings executive “hostage” and urged President Biden to help secure his release. A U.S. citizen, Gambaryan, is head of financial crime compliance at Binance and has been held at a prison in the Nigerian capital since April, writes Bloomberg.
