Crypto prices continue to tank, lawsuit takes aim at Binance.US, and Celsius moves $320M worth of digital assets: Hodler’s Digest, June 12-18

Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link.

Top Stories This Week

Binance ends support for anonymous Litecoin transactions

Binance has decided to ban Litecoin (LTC) transactions sent through the most recent MimbleWimble (MWEB) upgrade from its exchange, noting that such transactions would now result in the loss of the related LTC. Binance isn’t delisting LTC entirely, unlike other exchanges that have decided to remove the cryptocurrency. Among its changes, the latest Litecoin MWEB update ushered in privacy features. Binance’s decision to end support for these transactions comes as global crypto regulation remains an ever-present focal point in the industry.

Ethereum difficulty bomb delayed but network adoption still growing

The difficulty bomb, a key piece of the puzzle in Ethereum’s move to proof-of-stake (PoS), has been delayed. Put simply, the difficulty bomb makes mining on Ethereum’s current proof-of-work (PoW) chain undesireable in order to push everyone over to the PoS chain. Anticipated to occur in August, the move to PoS is has been dubbed The Merge by Ethereum. Ethereum developers recently concluded a successful testnet merge, which simulated how the real Ethereum PoS chain would play out.

72 of the top 100 coins have fallen 90% or more: Here are the holdouts

This week was a tough one for the crypto industry as prices across the board fell in dramatic fashion. Falling below the $1 trillion mark, the crypto industry’s total market cap posted a 24% decline. From their all-time high prices, 72 of the largest 100 crypto assets by market cap have dropped over 90%. During this bear market, even market leaders Bitcoin and Ether have posted 70.3% and 78% losses, respectively, from their all-time highs.

Three Arrows Capital has failed to meet margin calls: Report

Plunging crypto prices and large exposure to the Terra ecosystem debacle have placed significant pressure on Three Arrows Capital (3AC). The Singapore-based hedge fund and venture capital firm reportedly failed to meet margin calls from its lenders. 3AC has reportedly faced more than $400 million in liquidations during the most recent bout of market turmoil and is now considering a bailout, among other options.

Celsius exodus: $320M in crypto sent to FTX, user withdrawals pause

Recent moves by Celsius have fueled speculation in the crypto community as to whether the digital asset lending and staking platform is dealing with its rumored liquidity crisis. In addition to temporarily closing user withdrawals, Celsius has moved hundreds of millions of dollars worth of digital assets around different platforms, such as FTX, with no explanation given. A subsequent report stated that Celsius is recruiting legal consultation.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $20,535, Ether (ETH) at $1,079 and XRP at $0.31. The total market cap is at $892 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are OKB (OKB) at 2.43%, Neutrino USD (USDN) at 0.94% and Helium (HNT) at 0.65%.  

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Nexo (NEXO) at -44.59%, Flow (FLOW) at -38.22% and Monero (XMR) at -36.20%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“The current situation is good for Bitcoin in the long term, cleansing the market from leverage, scams and dishonest institutions.”

Josef Tětek, Bitcoin analyst and brand ambassador at Trezor

“Executives often don’t agree on very much, but our research shows they overwhelmingly agree on one thing: 95 percent of them believe the metaverse will have a positive impact on their industry.”

Lareina Yee, senior partner at McKinsey & Company

“We recognize that hurt feelings are inevitable in a global organization that is optimizing for team outcomes above individual sentiment.”

Kraken

“Having been in this industry professionally for eight years, I’m tired of talking about regulations, particularly in the United States.”

Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer for CoinShares

“What is happening with Celsius will have serious repercussions for the industry. It’s a not-insignificant player, and its apparent failure will have ripple effects.”

Mahin Gupta, founder of Liminal

“All too often, people hear that you work in crypto, and they have a preconceived idea of what that looks like.”

Alex Wilson, co-founder of The Giving Block

Prediction of the Week 

Bitcoin traders expect a ‘long consolidation’ phase now that BTC trades below $21K

Bitcoin’s price took a steep dive this week, falling from $28,000 to below $21,000, according to Cointelegraph’s BTC price index. The cryptocurrency continued its freefall over the weekend, plunging below $19,000.

Among the folks analyzing Bitcoin’s price action was Twitter personality Rekt Capital. “If #BTC continues to hold the orange 200-week MA as support and the black 200-week EMA figures as resistance… $BTC could form an Accumulation Range here, just like in 2018,” the analyst tweeted on June 15. “This would enable multi-month consolidation to even as far as December 2022.”

FUD of the Week 

Binance.US faces class-action lawsuit over LUNA and UST sale

A California lawsuit against Binance’s U.S. branch, Binance.US, has surfaced in the wake of the Terra ecosystem collapse. Among its claims, the suit alleges that LUNC (formerly LUNA) and its UST stablecoin are unregistered securities and that Binance.US does not have proper regulatory registration.

Iowa regulator orders BlockFi to pay $943K over alleged unregistered securities offering

Related to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) action against BlockFi reported in February, the firm has now been slapped with a fine of roughly $943,000 by the Iowa Insurance Division. The state regulatory body claims that BlockFi did not have proper registration, in addition to offering and selling unregistered securities. A cease and desist order relating to “making any untrue statement of material facts regarding securities” also accompanied the fine.

Elon Musk gets hit with ‘ridiculous’ $258B Dogecoin lawsuit

A class-action lawsuit aims to squeeze $258 billion out of Elon Musk and two companies he heads, Tesla and SpaceX. The suit points a finger at Musk for allegedly harnessing his status to profit on Dogecoin, which the suit considers to be a pyramid scheme. Multiple digital asset industry figures have bashed the suit.

Best Cointelegraph Features

What can other algorithmic stablecoins learn from Terra’s crash?

The main problem that led to the fall of Terra was that its reserves appeared to be overcollateralized, but in reality, they weren’t.

How to survive in a bear market? Tips for beginners

Bear markets represent the most dreaded period in any investment cycle, but there are a few ways to stay ahead and weather the storm.

Central authorities have demonized privacy — Crypto projects must fight back

Despite being a core tenant for many crypto projects, privacy has been demonized by those in power, including lawmakers, regulators, banks and academics.