Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas says Zcash could dilute political and cultural support for Bitcoin, as critics accuse the privacy coin of manufactured hype. Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas has warned that Zcash may adversely impact Bitcoin at this crucial moment. In a recent post on X, Balchunas said Zcash (ZEC) has “third-party candidate vibes, like Gary Johnson or Jill Stein,” arguing that pushing a separate privacy coin risks “splitting the vote” when Bitcoin (BTC) needs unified political and cultural support. Balchunas’s comment comes as the Bitcoin vs Zcash debate intensifies. Arman Meguerian, founder and CEO of Timestamp, dismissed the idea that BTC supporters are pivoting to Zcash. “I don't know a single Bitcoin maxi that thinks about Zcash at all,” he wrote on X. Read more
BNY Mellon is exploring tokenized deposits to move part of its $2.5 trillion daily payment flow onto blockchain rails and modernize cross-border settlements. BNY, the largest custodian bank in the world, is exploring tokenized deposits to enable clients to transfer funds instantly, 24/7, while easing constraints of its legacy systems. Carl Slabicki, executive platform owner for Treasury Services at BNY, told Bloomberg that the project is part of an effort to upgrade real-time and cross-border payments, aiming to move a portion of its $2.5 trillion daily payment flow onto blockchain rails. Tokenized deposits can help “banks overcome legacy technology constraints, making it easier to move deposits and payments across their own ecosystems – and eventually, across the broader market as standards mature,” Slabicki said. Read more
According to the lawsuit, Justin Sun’s crypto holdings included about 60 billion Tron, 17,000 Bitcoin, 224,000 Ether and 700 million Tether as of February. A US judge has set Tron founder and CEO Justin Sun’s lawsuit against Bloomberg back a peg after denying a temporary restraining order and injunction over publishing information about his cryptocurrency holdings. In a Monday filing in the US District Court for the District of Delaware, Judge Colm Connolly sided with Bloomberg in Sun’s lawsuit over “disclosed amounts of specific cryptocurrency he owns.” According to the filings, the holdings included about 60 billion Tron (TRX), 17,000 Bitcoin (BTC), 224,000 Ether (ETH) and 700 million Tether (USDt). The publication had reached out to Sun’s team in February to gather information about the Tron founder’s wealth for its Billionaires Index. Read more
The era of memecoin exchange-traded funds has begun in the United States, according to Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas. The United States’ first memecoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) is set to debut on Thursday, marking the latest step in the expansion of regulated crypto products after the successful rollout of Bitcoin and Ether funds last year. In a social media post on Tuesday, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said the Rex-Osprey Doge ETF (DOJE) is set to debut Thursday. “Pretty sure this is the first-ever US ETF to hold something that has no utility or purpose,” Balchunas said. Read more
Binance founder CZ shared a tweet alleging Coinbase as the anonymous source behind Bloomberg’s report targeting Trump’s crypto project and Binance. Update (July 13, 23:18 UTC) This article has been updated to include a response to the claims posted by Coinbase CLO Paul Grewal Binance co-founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has reposted a tweet alleging that Coinbase was the “anonymous” source behind Bloomberg’s report targeting Trump’s crypto project, World Liberty Financial, and Binance. In a Sunday post on X, crypto commentator Matt Wallace claimed Coinbase executives feared a potential pardon for Zhao and Binance’s return to the US market would threaten their market share, prompting efforts to undermine competitors. Read more
Binance co-founder CZ has dismissed a Bloomberg report linking him to the Trump-backed USD1 stablecoin, threatening legal action over alleged defamation. Binance co-founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has rejected a recent Bloomberg report linking him to a stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial (WLF), one of the crypto businesses tied to US President Donald Trump. In a post on X responding to the investigation, Zhao called the article a “hit piece (sponsored by a competitor)” filled with “so many factual errors” that he “doesn’t even know where to begin.” He added, “Might have to sue them again for defamation.” The Bloomberg report claimed Binance developed the original smart contract code for USD1, a stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial, a company affiliated with former President Donald Trump. Read more
The SEC likely views cryptocurrencies Litecoin, Solana, XRP, Dogecoin, Cardano and others as “commodities.” The likelihood of US regulators approving a wave of crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is now a near certainty, signaling a continued pro-crypto shift at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to Bloomberg analysts Erich Balchunas and James Seyffart. In a social media post on Friday, Seffart said he and Balchunas have raised their odds for the vast majority of crypto ETF approvals to “90% or higher,” citing “very positive” engagement from the SEC. The analysts also suggested that the SEC “likely” views cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin (LTC), Solana (SOL), XRP (XRP), and Dogecoin (DOGE) as commodities — a designation that would place them outside of its immediate jurisdiction. Read more
Coinbase reportedly considered adopting a Michael Saylor–style Bitcoin investment strategy on multiple occasions since it launched in 2012, but opted out each time. Coinbase reportedly considered adopting a Bitcoin investment playbook like Michael Saylor’s Strategy on multiple occasions, but decided against it each time out of fear that it would kill the firm’s crypto exchange, Bloomberg reported. “There were definitely moments over the last 12 years where we thought, man, should we put 80% of our balance sheet into crypto — into Bitcoin specifically,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong told Bloomberg in a May 9 video call. Armstrong said the Bitcoin (BTC) strategy could have risked the company’s cash position and potentially killed the crypto exchange. “We made a conscious choice about risk,” he added. Read more