News & Research

Crypto market maker Cumberland withdrew a total of 23.1 thousand Ethereum (ETH) worth around $59.71 million from cryptocurrency exchange Binance within 24 hours, according to The Data Nerd on X.

Galaxy Digital, a crypto financial services firm, has partnered with crypto custody company Fireblocks to make its staking services directly accessible to over 2,000 financial institutions using Fireblocks, according to CoinDesk. The firm now manages about $2.3 billion in staked assets and marked this as its third custodial integration this year.

A coalition of crypto advocacy groups, including crypto investment firm Paradigm, the DeFi Education Fund, Blockchain Association and Crypto Council for Innovation, has filed an amicus brief supporting blockchain developer Michael Lewellen in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Cointelegraph reported. The groups argue that the DOJ is misapplying money transmission laws, specifically Section 1960 of title 18 of the U.S. Code, to open-source software developers, including those who build non-custodial decentralized finance (DeFi) tools like Lewellen’s. They warn this overreach creates legal uncertainty, discourages innovation and risks pushing developers offshore.

A large Ethereum holder, possibly an institution, has unstaked 9,628 ETH ($25.3 million) from the Mantle network and deposited 9,000 ETH ($23.61 million) into Binance, according to Onchain Lens on X.

Crypto market analysis firm 10x Research reported on X that Ethereum (ETH) is showing strong bullish momentum, currently trading above both its 7-day and 30-day moving averages. ETH has gained 3.6% over the past week, driven by $148.5 million in ETF inflows. BlackRock’s spot ETH ETF, ETHA, remains the market leader with $4.6 billion in assets under management (AUM). Meanwhile, blockchain firm BitMine Immersion Technologies is reportedly raising $250 million to implement an ETH-based treasury strategy. In addition, performance marketing company SharpLink Gaming recently purchased $22.8 million worth of ETH, further signaling rising institutional demand and renewed investor confidence.

Circle, the issuer of USDC, has launched a zero-fee USDC-to-U.S. dollar swap service in partnership with crypto exchange OKX, Cointelegraph reported. The new feature allows direct conversions between USDC and USD on the OKX platform.

Two individuals in South Korea have been arrested and indicted for luring a victim into a robbery under the pretense of an over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency transaction, according to Yonhap News. The suspects allegedly contacted the victim through social media and proposed meeting in person for the trade. When the victim entered a vehicle parked in an underground parking lot, the duo overpowered him and fled with a bag of cash.

Swedish health tech firm H100 Group has raised an additional $54 million through a stock and convertible bond offering. The company plans to use the proceeds to support its Bitcoin (BTC) accumulation strategy.

LQWD Technologies Corp., a Canadian company specializing in Bitcoin Lightning infrastructure, has upsized its previously announced brokered and non-brokered private placement to C$12.3 million ($9 million), according to a press release on GlobeNewswire. The net proceeds will be used to acquire Bitcoin and support general corporate purposes.

Polygon (POL), a layer-2 scaling solution, is set to implement the Heimdall version 2 (v2) upgrade on July 10, according to The Block. Described as the most technically complex hard fork since the 2020 launch of Polygon's proof-of-stake (PoS) network, the upgrade aims to reduce finality to around five seconds and address legacy technical debt.