Binance Booted From EU, EthLabs Rises: Hodler’s Digest – Crypto News

About 60% of World Cup bettors on Polymarket are first-time crypto users

About 60% of users who placed their first World Cup bets on Polymarket had never interacted with blockchain protocols before, suggesting prediction markets are becoming an entry point into crypto. The finding is based on a 90-day Bitget Wallet study that tracked the onchain activity of 857,000 active Polymarket users.

Alvin Kan, chief operating officer at Bitget Wallet, told Cointelegraph that earlier crypto onboarding efforts largely focused on making blockchain technology easier to understand through simpler wallets and better user interfaces, but users were still expected to learn how crypto worked before they could participate.

“Prediction markets shifted that dynamic. Users show up because they have a view on something happening in the world,” Kan said.

Trump cancels signing of housing bill with CBDC ban

US President Donald Trump canceled the signing ceremony for a housing bill containing a ban on a central bank digital currency (CBDC) as he looked for Republicans in Congress to prioritize a controversial voting bill.

In a Wednesday morning Truth Social post, Trump said that the signing for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, passed by the US Senate and House of Representatives, would be canceled “until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE America Act.”

The housing bill, passed by the House on Tuesday, included a provision barring the US Federal Reserve from issuing or creating a CBDC “or any digital asset that is substantially similar” until the end of 2030.

Many had expected Trump to sign the bill, aimed at tackling housing affordability, into law on Wednesday without issues. However, the president said in March that he would “not sign other bills” until the SAVE America Act was passed. The legislation would require voters to provide proof of US citizenship in person to register, with critics saying the measure would disenfranchise citizens already eligible to vote.

Bitmine, Sharplink and Joe Lubin back Ethereum R&D nonprofit

Former Ethereum Foundation contributors and Ether treasury firms Bitmine and Sharplink have backed a new research and development nonprofit that aims to make Ethereum ready for institutional use.

Sharplink said on Monday that the organization, Ethlabs, was formed to “ready Ethereum for the next phase of institutional adoption,” with the company pitching in with Bitmine, Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin and other Ethereum contributors on its funding effort.

“As stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, funds and autonomous AI commerce move on-chain, they are converging on Ethereum as the neutral, credibly permissionless settlement layer for the global economy,” Sharplink said. “Ethlabs exists to ensure the network is ready to absorb that demand at scale.”

The launch comes days after former Ethereum Foundation contributor Trenton Van Epps warned that Ethereum is facing a core development funding crisis and amid an ongoing wave of departures from the Foundation, most recently co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang, who left last week.

CryptoQuant warns on Strategy’s dividend coverage as cash reserve falls 38%

After Strategy’s dividend coverage fell to 14 months from seven years, CryptoQuant said the company led by Michael Saylor should pause Bitcoin purchases and focus on replenishing its cash reserve, which is down 38% year-to-date.

Strategy’s dividend obligations have nearly quadrupled to $1.2 billion, as the company issued substantial new STRC preferred stock, which carries an 11.5% yield.

“They should pause Bitcoin purchases, rebuild cash reserves, and adopt a systematic framework for purchase timing,” wrote the market data analytics provider’s CEO Ki Young Ju in a Wednesday X post, adding that the biggest public Bitcoin treasury holder should also create a “disciplined selling framework” for the next bull market.

Strategy’s cash reserve fell 38% after the company repurchased $1.5 billion of its 2029 senior notes at a discount, Cointelegraph reported on May 26. Those coffers have since recovered to $1.4 billion after it sold $335.5 million in MSTR shares, which added $300 million to its US dollar reserve on Monday, although it is near a record-low of 14 months’ of funds available to pay dividends.

Catholic leaders, US authorities challenge CLARITY Act over illicit activity

A group of law enforcement organizations and a coalition of Catholic organizations have become the latest two groups urging caution over the US CLARITY Act, which is heading for a key hearing in July.  

In letters sent Tuesday, four law enforcement organizations reached out to White House officials with concerns that the CLARITY Act could create oversight gaps when it comes to illicit activity. 

“Regulatory certainty should not come at the expense of accountability, transparency, victim protection, or public safety,” they said. The Alliance to End Human Trafficking, founded by US Catholic Sisters, said these oversights could make it harder to crack down on human trafficking. 

Senator Cynthia Lummis said this week, the final text for the bill would be released July 4, with the House Financial Service Committee scheduling a hearing into the Clarity Act on July 17.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $59,359 which represents a 6.8% decline, while Ether (ETH) is at $1,565, after falling 8.8% for the week.  XRP (XRP) is at $1.04 and down 8% for the week. The total market cap is at $2.06 trillion according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies the top three altcoin gainers are Velvet (VELVET) at 290%, DeXe (DEXE) on 55% and Audiera (BEAT) which was up 49%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week are MemeCore (M), which lost 76%, WorldCoin (WLD), which lost 28%, and Mantle (MNT), which was down 20%.

Prediction of the week

Bitcoin may fall lower but BTC power-law frames crash to $58K as ‘normal’

Bitcoin’s drop to $58,000 lines up with the power-law model’s cycle lows, even though futures market data points to deeper lows for BTC price.

Giovanni’s Bitcoin power-law model places the network’s long-term trend price near $135,000, making the recent drop to $58,000 roughly 54% below the all-time high and 1.22 standard deviations beneath that trend.

According to the analyst, the key takeaway is straightforward: the previous cycle lows in 2012, 2015, 2019, 2020, and 2022 all fell within a similar statistical range. By that measure, the latest decline falls within a territory that has historically marked the deep bear-market lows rather than a break in Bitcoin’s long-term growth path.

Top FUD of the week

Binance faces EU service limits as MiCA rules take effect

Binance has notified European Union users that access to key services will be restricted after the exchange failed to secure Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) authorization from a member state before a July 1 deadline.

Those restrictions include halting the onboarding of new EU users and limiting certain services for EU-based accounts effective July 1, according to exchange notices shared by users on social media.

The notices said users will still be able to withdraw their assets after that date, stating that “all digital assets are still available for withdrawal,” in line with applicable regulatory requirements.

The move marks one of the first major transitions under the EU’s MiCA framework after Binance announced it withdrew its MiCA license application in Greece on Wednesday.

Binance recorded over $400 million in net outflows during the week beginning June 22.

Binance’s public messaging is that the company intends to continue pursuing a MiCA license, despite being on pace to miss the July 1 buzzer.

Iran-linked entities moved $3.8B through CoinEx, TRM says

Wallets with identifiable links to sanctioned Iranian entities have moved over $3.84 billion through cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx since 2019, making it one of the main channels used to bypass US economic sanctions, according to blockchain analytics company TRM Labs.

About 60 Iranian platforms were tied to the funds, with $2.7 billion of this flowing between CoinEx and Nobitex, Iran’s largest domestic cryptocurrency exchange, at an average rate of about $1 million per day since 2018, wrote TRM Labs in a Wednesday report.

By 2024, CoinEx was Nobitex’s largest external counterpart, nearly nine times that of the next-largest exchange, a pattern that TRM Labs called “inconsistent with independent market behaviour.”

CoinEx denied having any commercial relationship with the Iranian government or domestic Iranian exchanges and disputed TRM Labs’ interpretation, saying onchain fund flows do not demonstrate a platform’s knowledge of or participation in illicit activity.

Ethereum Foundation sacks 20% of workforce amid strategic restructuring

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has laid off 54 employees, roughly 20% of its workforce, as part of a major organizational restructuring.

According to a blog post published Tuesday, the EF will reorganize around five specialized clusters covering protocol, access, user, community and institutional work. The Foundation said the changes are intended to concentrate resources on Ethereum’s long-term technical priorities, including scaling, privacy, security and censorship resistance.

Under the new structure, separate teams will oversee Ethereum’s core protocol, user access tools, community engagement and work with institutions, while management and operations functions remain organized independently.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said the Ethereum Foundation is reducing its budget by roughly 40% as it transitions toward a long-term, endowment-based organization. He said the foundation aims to lower annual spending from about 15% of its remaining funds to roughly 5% after 2030, a shift he said necessitated difficult staffing decisions.

Top feature stories of the week

The failure of Botanix suggests that Bitcoiners still prefer Ethereum DeFi to Bitcoin L2s. How can Bitcoin L2s change to win hodlers over?

Ethereum’s latest “funding crisis” has triggered a fierce debate over whether to tax staking rewards or to pursue funding from large ETH holders for new organizations like EthLabs.

AI is widening access to banking for the unbanked across Africa. But used badly, it can simply automate financial exclusion at greater speed.