Crypto

Damcho Rinzin, the director of Bhutan’s Department of Tourism, said the sector has struggled because of its payment infrastructure. The Kingdom of Bhutan is integrating cryptocurrency payments into its tourism infrastructure in a bid to modernize its economy and attract younger, tech-savvy travelers. In a panel discussion during Binance’s Crypto-Powered Tour in Bhutan, Damcho Rinzin, the director of Bhutan’s Department of Tourism, told the audience that the country’s tourism sector has long struggled because of the country’s payment infrastructure.  On May 7, Binance Pay partnered with local bank DK Bank to let users pay for their expenses in Bhutan using crypto. During the panel discussion, DK Bank president Ugyen Tenzin said almost 1,000 merchants nationwide have been onboarded to accept the payment method.  Read more

Japan’s Metaplanet has become the world’s fifth-largest corporate Bitcoin holder after acquiring 2,204 BTC. Japan’s top corporate Bitcoin treasury company, Metaplanet, has acquired another 2,204 Bitcoin for $237 million. In a filing on Monday, the company said it acquired an additional 2,204 Bitcoin (BTC) at an average price of 15,640,253 Japanese yen per Bitcoin (about $107,700). This brings Metaplanet’s total holdings to 15,555 BTC at an average purchase price of about $99,985 each. According to BitcoinTreasuries.NET data, Metaplanet is the fifth-largest corporate holder of Bitcoin. The company overtook the holdings of electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla in late June with an acquisition of 1,234 BTC, which brought its holdings to 12,345 BTC, with Tesla holding 11,509 BTC. Read more

A widely used Bitcoin technical analysis indicator suggests that BTC is on the verge of a “big move” toward new all-time highs. Key takeaways: Bitcoin’s Bollinger Bands indicator now sees the potential for BTC price breakout above $110,000.  Bitcoin eyes new all-time highs in July due to multiple tailwinds. Read more

Bitcoin ETPs saw $790 million of inflows last week, a slowdown from the previous three-week average of $1.5 billion, with dynamics shifting in favor of Ether, according to CoinShares. Cryptocurrency investment products clocked another week of inflows last week, even as volatility persisted across major digital assets, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). Global crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) recorded $1.04 billion of inflows for the trading week ended Friday, CoinShares reported on Monday. With the fresh inflows, crypto ETPs continued breaking year-to-date (YTD) inflow records, setting a new historical high just under $19 billion, said CoinShares’ head of research, James Butterfill. Read more

Bitcoin sets another record high weekly close as traders determine where the BTC price tops and bottoms will be. Bitcoin (BTC) was inches away from all-time highs after it sealed another record weekly close. Bitcoin traders are eyeing both a return to price discovery and a “false move” to take liquidity at $105,000. The weekly close sealed July as a month for the record books, with “final resistance” now next on bulls’ to-do list. Read more

Elon Musk announced the formation of a new political party on Sunday, telling one of his followers on X that it will embrace Bitcoin as “fiat is hopeless.” Tesla CEO and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has confirmed that his newly formed political party — the America Party — will accept Bitcoin. “Fiat is hopeless, so yes,” Musk replied to an X user who asked if his new party would embrace Bitcoin. Elon Musk is no stranger to Bitcoin as Tesla was an early adopter, holding BTC in its treasury. Read more

Two men who admitted to running a crypto scheme that defrauded 65 investors have both been sentenced to over five years in prison. The UK has sentenced two men to a combined total of 12 years in prison after they admitted to running a crypto scheme that stole over 1.5 million British pounds ($2 million) by cold-calling victims.  The Financial Conduct Authority said on Friday that a central London court handed the scheme’s operators, Raymondip Bedi and Patrick Mavanga, their sentences after the pair pleaded guilty to multiple charges in November. Bedi was sentenced to five years and four months behind bars, while Mavanga was sentenced to six years and six months. Read more

Bitcoin trades 2% below ATH as analysts eye new records amid looming US tariff deadline and upcoming “Crypto Week” volatility. Bitcoin could set a new record high as early as this week, with all eyes trained on the United States’ trade tariff deadline on Wednesday, which could unlock risk appetite, along with an upcoming “Crypto Week” in the country’s capital.  “Bitcoin is likely to set a new all-time high this week or next,” the head of research at 10x Research, Markus Thielen, told Cointelegraph on Monday.  He added that post-July 4th seasonality “tends to be bullish, and markets have largely shrugged off tariff-related risks.” Read more

Block CEO Jack Dorsey has released a white paper and launched a beta for Bitchat, a decentralized messaging app using Bluetooth mesh networks for internet-free, encrypted communication. Block CEO and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has launched the beta version of a new decentralized peer-to-peer messaging service that runs entirely over Bluetooth.  Jack Dorsey said his weekend was spent learning about “Bluetooth mesh networks, relays, store and forward models, message encryption models, and a few other things” as he introduced Bitchat on X on Sunday.  The “Bluetooth mesh chat” system has “IRC [Internet Relay Chat] vibes,” Dorsey added, harking back to the early days of web-based messaging systems in the late 1990s.  Read more

Emirates News Agency has refuted The Open Network’s claim that applicants who stake $100,000 worth of TON for three years would be eligible for 10-year golden visas. The native cryptocurrency of The Open Network has retraced 6% from its 24-hour high after United Arab Emirates regulators refuted claims that staking Toncoin (TON) could create a pathway to UAE residency. Toncoin initially shot up 10% to $3.03 on Sunday after The Open Network claimed that applicants staking $100,000 worth of Toncoin for three years make applicants eligible for the UAE’s golden visa program. However, the cryptocurrency partially retraced after the Emirates News Agency shared a joint statement from several regulators denying that claim.  Read more

The Russian Energy Ministry has begun compiling a national registry of crypto mining rigs as it looks to crack down on illegal mining and boost tax revenues. The post Russian Ministry Starts Compiling National Registry of Crypto Mining Rigs appeared first on Cryptonews.

After TON claimed a staking program would offer golden visas for holders to enter the United Arab Emirates, the country's news agency shot down the idea of a partnership. Update (July 6, 12 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include comments from Sigil Fund partner Joe HedgeHog. Editor’s Note: This article has been substantially updated to include the denial from the UAE press office. The Open Network (TON), the blockchain platform spun out of Telegram, unveiled what it described as a new pathway to UAE residency, offering 10-year Golden Visas to applicants who stake $100,000 worth of Toncoin (TON) for three years and pay a one-time $35,000 processing fee. “Secure your Golden Visa in under 7 weeks from document submission to the Visa Office,” TON announced Saturday, detailing that its UAE-based partners will manage the visa processing and residency status confirmation. Read more

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and Toni Wahrstätter, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, have put forth a proposal that will cap the maximum gas a single transaction can use. The proposal, EIP 7983, claims: “By implementing this limit, Ethereum can enhance its resilience against certain DoS [Denial of Service attack] vectors, improve network stability, and […] The post Vitalik Buterin proposes to cap gas usage per Ethereum transaction to boost zkVM compatibility, security appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Overall demand is contracting, and purchases by ETFs and institutions can only do so little to trigger an expansion.

EverQuest and Planetside co-creator John Smedley reveals NFT game Reaper Actual, what's ahead for MapleStory Universe, and more.

Welcome to Slate Sundays, CryptoSlate’s new weekly feature showcasing in-depth interviews, expert analysis, and thought-provoking op-eds that go beyond the headlines to explore the ideas and voices shaping the future of crypto. It’s not often that you meet someone with as much integrity as Jameson Lopp. Being in his presence for any length of time, whether […] The post Bitcoin’s silent opponent: why industry veteran Jameson Lopp sees apathy as the greatest threat appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Changpeng Zhao is skeptical of the new offer promising a UAE Golden Visa to TON stakers. Update (July 6 at 11:30 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include an official response from UAE regulators denying reports of golden visas being issued to digital currency investors. Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has questioned the legitimacy of The Open Network’s new pathway to UAE residency, noting the absence of any official announcement from UAE government sources. As Cointelegraph reported, The Open Network announced on Saturday that 10-year UAE Golden Visas will be available to applicants who stake at least $100,000 worth of Toncoin (TON) for three years and pay a $35,000 processing fee. The visa could reportedly be secured in under seven weeks. Read more

ETH could surge past $6K if it breaks $2,855 resistance, analysts say, but failure may send it tumbling to as low as $1,800.

Rails, Yupp, Beam, Frachtis, Interface Labs, Gradient Network, Story, Blueprint Finance and Units Network headline the latest VC Roundup. Venture capital funding in the crypto industry has shown signs of stagnation in recent months, with some firms struggling to close new funds — a trend highlighted by Sarah Austin, co-founder of the real-world asset (RWA) platform Titled, which raised a $1.3 million seed round earlier this year. Despite this challenging macro environment, “Blockchain infrastructure remains the lead story in the crypto space,” said Kaden Stadelmann, chief technology officer at Komodo Platform. He noted that the key crypto themes still attracting investment include AI, decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN), tokenization, payments and RWAs. In June, several high-profile funding deals reflected this continued interest, with decentralized finance (DeFi), trading platforms, pre-seed growth funds and projects at the intersection of digital assets and artificial intelligence all sec...

Dogecoin was once a joke, but the meme coin gained traction after Elon Musk backed it—then he led DOGE under Trump. Here's a look back.