Category: Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin should begin preparing for a transition to quantum-resistant cryptography without delay, according to a recent report issued by Coinbase’s independent advisory council of cryptographic experts. The guidance, released in June, emphasizes that while quantum computers currently pose no immediate threat to Bitcoin, the unpredictability of technological progress makes early planning essential to avoid future disruptions.

The report, which includes contributions from Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake, highlights a growing debate within the Bitcoin community. A key issue centers on Bitcoin held in addresses secured by existing ECDSA and Schnorr signatures. Some community members advocate for setting a migration deadline, after which these signature schemes would no longer be accepted. This approach would effectively freeze coins that have not been moved to quantum-resistant addresses, preventing potential attackers from gaining control of large amounts of BTC via quantum computers in the future.

However, critics argue that rendering those coins unspendable would constitute confiscation of private property and violate Bitcoin’s core principles of immutability and user sovereignty. The advisory board does not endorse either position, instead stating that the final decision must emerge through Bitcoin’s consensus process. “We refrain from providing any specific recommendation regarding the treatment of vulnerable coins,” the authors write, emphasizing that the decision should be made by the Bitcoin community.

The report outlines the scale of the risk. According to the advisory board, roughly 1.7 million BTC are held in older pay-to-public-key addresses where public keys are already exposed, making them potentially vulnerable to future quantum attacks. Many of these coins are believed to belong to lost wallets, including those attributed to Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Drawing on research from Project11, the report warns that as many as 5 million BTC could be at risk through address reuse, though a significant portion of those holdings remain under the control of active users and institutions.

Several technical proposals are already being explored to ease Bitcoin’s transition to quantum-resistant security. One proposal, called Hourglass, would limit the number of BTC that can be moved from vulnerable addresses in each block, reducing the risk of a sudden influx of recovered coins. Another proposal, BIP-361, would allow users to prove ownership using post-quantum cryptographic methods even after legacy signatures are retired. The report also discusses Post Quantum Address Commitments (PACTs), a mechanism that lets users commit to future quantum-safe addresses before a migration deadline without moving funds on-chain immediately.

The advisory board delivers two clear conclusions: development of quantum-resistant migration tools should begin immediately, and Bitcoin users should be informed about potential risks and available migration paths well before quantum computing becomes a practical threat. The report comes amid Coinbase’s broader expansion efforts, as the company plans to integrate trading, lending, payments, derivatives, and AI-powered services into a unified financial ecosystem.

U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds pulled in $85.85 million in net inflows on June 12, according to data from SoSoValue. This brought total net assets across all products to $79.65 billion, representing approximately 6.26% of Bitcoin’s total market capitalization. The daily trading volume for these ETFs reached $1.81 billion.

Among individual funds, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) dominated the market with $48.70 billion in net assets and a single-day inflow of $57.69 million. IBIT saw a daily BTC inflow of 906.37 coins. Trading at $36.04 with a slight 0.03% decline, the fund posted $1.32 billion in value exchanged and traded 36.52 million shares. Its premium or discount stood at negative 0.05%.

Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) came in second with $11.45 billion in net assets and an $18 million inflow. FBTC added 282.85 BTC during the session. The fund traded at $55.35, up 0.11%, with $180.39 million in value traded and a minus 0.09% premium or discount. Volume reached 3.25 million shares.

Grayscale’s GBTC, holding $9.06 billion, recorded zero daily inflows and zero BTC inflows. GBTC traded at $49.34, up 0.04%, with $109.79 million in value traded and a positive 0.02% premium. Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (BTC) also had no inflows, with $3.39 billion in assets. It traded at $28.13, up 0.07%, and saw $47.28 million in trading volume.

Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) added $5.18 million in net inflows, contributing to its $2.34 billion asset base. BITB traded at $34.52, up 0.03%, with $70.12 million traded. ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) posted $3.17 million in inflows, holding $2.09 billion. It traded at $21.08 with no price change and $34.77 million traded. VanEck Bitcoin Trust (HODL) saw $1.80 million in inflows, with $1.05 billion in assets, trading at $17.97 flat and $24.80 million in volume.

Smaller funds like BTCO, BRRR, EZBC, MSBT, BTCW, and DEFI reported zero daily net inflows. Their net assets ranged from $402.86 million for BTCO down to $12.25 million for DEFI. Price changes across all funds remained tight, between flat and a 0.11% gain. Fee structures varied: GBTC carried the highest expense ratio at 1.50%, followed by DEFI at 0.90%, while many large funds charged around 0.25%. FBTC stood out with a 0.00% fee.

In a major portfolio adjustment on June 12, Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest snapped up approximately $444 million worth of SpaceX shares while simultaneously cutting its stake in Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). This move marks one of the most significant shifts for the investment firm as Elon Musk’s rocket company made its debut on public markets.

Data from ARK Invest Tracker reveals that ARK acquired a total of 3,291,184 SpaceX shares across four ETFs: ARKK, ARKQ, ARKW, and ARKX. The ARKK Innovation ETF led the charge with 1.69 million shares, while ARKQ added 736,442 shares, ARKW purchased 325,562 shares, and ARKX bought 538,341 shares. The total value of these transactions was roughly $444.3 million.

Concurrently, ARK trimmed its exposure to AMD by selling 80,536 shares across ARKQ, ARKW, and ARKX. This sale, valued at approximately $39.3 million, continues a broader trend of reducing the semiconductor company’s weight within ARK’s portfolios.

This aggressive purchase coincided with a surge of investor interest in SpaceX during its first day of public trading. Priced at $135 per share in its IPO, implying a valuation of about $1.77 trillion, SpaceX shares soared to an intraday high of $176.52 before closing at $160.95. This gave the company a market capitalization exceeding $2.1 trillion and propelled Elon Musk’s net worth above $1 trillion, making him the world’s first trillionaire according to post-debut wealth estimates.

ARK’s relationship with SpaceX predates the IPO. The firm first gained exposure through its ARK Venture Fund in 2023, allowing investors to participate in the aerospace company’s growth while it remained private. As of May 31, SpaceX represented 11.38% of the ARK Venture Fund’s net assets, making it the fund’s largest holding, though this weighting has fluctuated over time.

Cathie Wood has been a vocal advocate for Musk’s ventures. She recently stated that SpaceX holds a 10-year lead over any competitor, reflecting ARK’s belief in the company’s competitive advantage in space transportation and satellite communications.

This purchase follows a week of heavy portfolio rebalancing at ARK, during which the firm sold nearly 10 million shares across 20 companies, with total sales estimated at up to $279 million. Much of that activity occurred on Thursday, when ARK disposed of roughly $234 million worth of stocks, including positions in Teradyne, Twist Bioscience, Iridium Communications, Robinhood, and Roku.

ARK’s long-term forecasts suggest the firm believes SpaceX can continue to grow despite its already massive valuation. Internal models project a base-case enterprise value of approximately $2.5 trillion by 2030, with a bull-case scenario reaching around $3.1 trillion. Even the bear-case estimate stands at roughly $1.7 trillion, close to the IPO valuation.

Wall Street analysts remain divided on the stock’s prospects. Some have set price targets as high as $190 per share, arguing that investors are valuing SpaceX as a combination of aerospace, satellite internet, defense, and artificial intelligence businesses. Others have warned that the stock could eventually retreat toward $63 if future growth falls short of expectations embedded in the post-IPO valuation.

Standard Chartered’s digital-assets research lead, Geoffrey Kendrick, has stood firm on his year-end Bitcoin price target of $100,000, even after a significant market downturn. In a recent note, Kendrick argued that the pullback to around $59,000 likely represents the cycle’s lowest point, with Bitcoin already recovering to near $63,500. He attributes the selling pressure to forced liquidations, weak exchange-traded fund inflows, and liquidity constraints, rather than a fundamental shift in market sentiment.

Kendrick’s analysis suggests that the recent volatility has cleared out weak hands, setting the stage for a recovery. He emphasizes that the bank’s bullish outlook remains intact, contingent on a rebound in ETF flows and renewed institutional interest. While Bitcoin currently trades well below the $100,000 target, Kendrick views the dip as a temporary setback rather than a reversal of the long-term trend.

On Ethereum, Kendrick maintains a $4,000 target, expecting it to outperform Bitcoin over time. Ethereum’s current price hovers around $1,665, but Kendrick ties its potential to growing demand for stablecoins, tokenized assets, and on-chain activity. He notes that Ethereum’s network usage remains robust, even if price action lags.

Key markers for Kendrick’s thesis include Bitcoin holding above $59,000, sustained ETF inflows, consistent demand from corporate treasuries like Strategy, and a strengthening of the ETH/BTC ratio. He believes that if these conditions materialize, the crypto market could resume its upward trajectory.

Zimbabwe has introduced new anti-money laundering regulations that bring cryptocurrency businesses under the supervision of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Statutory Instrument 99 of 2026 mandates that any entity involved in buying, selling, transferring, or storing digital assets must register as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) with the central bank’s financial crime unit. This move marks a significant shift from the previous legal uncertainty in the crypto sector, which began in 2018 when the central bank instructed banks to halt crypto-related transactions.

The new framework aims to align Zimbabwe with international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), with the goal of avoiding the FATF grey list. Experts note that the regulations demonstrate Zimbabwe’s commitment to financial crime compliance. Crypto companies must now establish a legally recognized domestic subsidiary and pay an annual registration fee of $500. Directors are required to undergo background checks, and firms must implement the FATF travel rule, which involves collecting and sharing transaction data during qualifying asset transfers.

Importantly, the regulations adopt a technology-neutral stance, meaning that decentralization does not exempt operators from legal responsibilities. Organizations that can alter smart contracts, route funds, or set transaction fees are considered to have control and must comply. This approach brings some decentralized finance (DeFi) structures under regulatory oversight. While local fintech startups may face increased operating costs, supporters argue that clear guidelines reduce the risk of abrupt regulatory actions. The new rules provide a formal registration pathway for crypto businesses and grant the RBZ direct oversight of digital asset service providers, connecting crypto activities with existing national financial surveillance systems.

Zcash has completed a follow-up security assessment using Anthropic’s Mythos platform, and according to founder Zooko Wilcox, the review did not uncover any major flaws in the protocol following the recent Orchard vulnerability disclosure. The audit was commissioned by Shielded Labs after a bug was discovered that could have theoretically allowed unlimited counterfeit ZEC creation.

Wilcox expressed gratitude to Anthropic for safeguarding Zcash users and confirmed that the Mythos audit found no additional serious security issues within the network. This news arrives shortly after the Zcash ecosystem implemented emergency measures to address a flaw in the Orchard shielded transaction pool. Shielded Labs reported that the defect could potentially enable an attacker to mint unlimited fake ZEC, though previous exploitation appeared unlikely, with no cryptographic proof of past misuse.

Developers acted swiftly, first deploying a soft fork to disable Orchard transactions temporarily while keeping technical details confidential. A subsequent hard fork, NU6.2, went live on June 3 and eliminated the vulnerability, allowing Orchard transactions to resume. Wilcox noted that teams across the Zcash ecosystem, including the Zcash Foundation, Tachyon Group, Valar Group, Shielded Labs, and Zcash Open Development Lab, are now focusing on further security hardening and will share updates as progress continues.

In parallel, Wilcox is promoting the proposed Ironwood upgrade, which aims to enable users to independently verify Zcash’s circulating supply by aggregating balances across active pools once activated. Ironwood would introduce a new location for holding shielded ZEC, impose restrictions on transactions that might involve counterfeit coins, and incorporate additional security measures, including AI-assisted audits. The activation timeline remains uncertain, pending further development and community input.

The Orchard disclosure triggered a significant sell-off in ZEC, with the token losing over 50% of its value between June 4 and June 5 before recovering to $478.70 on June 9. Since then, ZEC has retreated to around $417 as investors reduced exposure to risk assets amid rising US-Iran tensions. Technical indicators suggest resistance near the $465 level, with the MACD histogram slipping back into negative territory after a brief positive turn, indicating waning buying pressure. Should buyers fail to reclaim the $465-$470 area, a retest of support near $355 appears possible.

According to Michael Saylor, the SpaceX IPO marks a significant milestone for Bitcoin adoption among major corporations. The Strategy chairman congratulated Elon Musk and SpaceX on their market debut, noting that the event has increased Bitcoin’s presence in the balance sheets of top tech companies. Saylor believes that with SpaceX and Tesla both holding Bitcoin, 25% of the so-called Mag 8 now have exposure to the cryptocurrency.

SpaceX holds 18,712 BTC, while Tesla owns 11,509 BTC, according to BitcoinTreasuries data. These holdings underscore the growing acceptance of Bitcoin among influential technology firms. Saylor, a long-time advocate, has championed Bitcoin as a corporate treasury asset through Strategy, which remains the largest public Bitcoin holder with 845,256 BTC.

The IPO saw SpaceX shares surge, briefly pushing its market cap above $2 trillion. This strong debut highlights investor enthusiasm and further validates Bitcoin’s role in corporate finance. Corporate Bitcoin adoption is accelerating, with public companies now collectively holding about 1.26 million BTC worth approximately $80.56 billion across 199 firms.

While the majority of the Mag 8 have yet to add Bitcoin to their balance sheets, Saylor’s comments emphasize the progress made. As of press time, Bitcoin is trading near $61,242, reflecting a 3.1% decline in the past 24 hours and an 8% drop over the last week, but still showing resilience amid macroeconomic uncertainties.

On June 12, U.S. spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds experienced another downturn, with daily net outflows reaching $4.95 million. This marked a persistent downward trend for these investment vehicles, which have struggled to attract steady capital inflows.

BlackRock’s ETHA was the primary contributor to the outflows, recording a daily net exit of $4.53 million, alongside 2,720 ETH leaving the fund. Despite holding the largest net assets at $4.75 billion, ETHA saw its price drop by 1.02% to $12.57, with a trading volume of $355.36 million. The fund’s daily share volume hit 28.21 million, the highest among its peers.

Fidelity’s FETH also faced notable outflows, with $415,230 exiting on June 12, equivalent to 249.04 ETH. The fund’s net assets stood at $799.31 million, and its price fell 1.01% to $16.58, while traded value reached $29.78 million. Most other Ethereum ETFs reported zero flow changes, yet all experienced price declines.

Total trading value across all Ethereum ETFs amounted to $483.85 million, with combined net assets of $9.16 billion. These funds now represent 4.56% of Ethereum’s market capitalization. Grayscale’s ETH and ETHE, with net assets of $1.46 billion and $1.30 billion respectively, saw no inflows or outflows, but their prices decreased by 0.94% and 0.96%.

Smaller funds like ETHB, ETHW, ETHV, EZET, QETH, and TETH also recorded zero flow changes, with price drops ranging from 0.86% to 1.02%. Premium and discount readings remained negative across the board, with ETHW showing the widest discount at -0.23% and QETH at -0.07%. Fee structures varied significantly, from 0.15% up to 2.50% for Grayscale’s ETHE.

Ripple has unveiled the XRPL AI Starter Kit, a set of developer tools enabling artificial intelligence agents to conduct payments using XRP and Ripple USD (RLUSD). This initiative marks Ripple’s entry into the machine-to-machine payment sphere, where USDC currently holds a commanding lead. The toolkit integrates with the x402 protocol, allowing automated software agents to handle transactions such as paying for computing resources or settling invoices without human intervention.

The x402 protocol, originally created by Coinbase and now under the Linux Foundation’s stewardship, uses the HTTP 402 status code to facilitate blockchain payments within standard web requests. According to data from Web3 Trackers, the network has processed over 120 million cumulative transactions, with USDC accounting for more than $41 million in settled volume. Base leads with about 70 million transactions worth $21.5 million, followed by Solana with 45 million transactions totaling $16.4 million. The average payment size is around five cents, highlighting the micropayment nature of the system.

Ripple is positioning the XRP Ledger’s speed—three to five seconds per transaction—and its built-in features like escrow, multisignature support, and a decentralized exchange as advantages for autonomous payments. However, the company has not disclosed specific transaction volumes or named customers using its AI agent payment solutions, leaving adoption questions open.

Beyond the AI toolkit, Ripple is expanding its payment infrastructure through partnerships. Mastercard recently added RLUSD to its stablecoin settlement network, which supports multiple blockchains including Ethereum, Solana, and the XRP Ledger. Additionally, Ripple has integrated Bitso’s MXNB stablecoin, backed by the Mexican peso, into its enterprise payment system to facilitate cross-border transactions between the US and Mexico.

Despite these developments, challenges remain. Academic researchers have flagged risks related to payment authorization, proof validation, and synchronization between web services and blockchain networks in x402 implementations. As machine-to-machine payments grow, developers will need to address these technical hurdles to ensure reliable and secure transactions.

Coinbase has expanded its derivatives platform by launching round-the-clock trading for regulated gold and silver futures in the United States. Through its Coinbase Derivatives Exchange, eligible investors can now access these precious metal contracts at any time, including weekends and holidays. The move marks a significant step beyond digital currencies, integrating traditional commodities into the exchange’s continuous trading infrastructure.

The new offerings consist of one-ounce gold and 50-ounce silver futures contracts. These are available via participating brokers such as Interactive Brokers and NinjaTrader. Historically, commodity markets have been limited to standard exchange hours with breaks on weekends and public holidays. Coinbase’s approach provides traders with greater flexibility to respond to economic indicators, geopolitical shifts, or breaking news without waiting for markets to reopen.

CEO Brian Armstrong highlighted the launch on social media, emphasizing the company’s vision to blend crypto’s always-on trading model with conventional finance. This initiative supports what Coinbase terms its ‘Everything Exchange’ strategy, aiming to offer a wide array of asset classes under one roof. Over the past couple of years, the exchange has added perpetual futures, equity-linked products, and now precious metals, catering to a diverse set of trading needs.

Gold and silver remain highly sought-after assets, with combined valuations exceeding $14 trillion. Demand has persisted amid inflation worries, central bank accumulation, and geopolitical tensions. Coinbase’s entry into this space not only expands its product suite but also lowers barriers for smaller traders. By offering smaller contract sizes than typical institutional offerings, the exchange opens doors for both retail and professional participants to gain exposure to these metals. The primary shift for traders is the ability to manage their positions continuously, without being constrained by traditional market hours.