Hodler’s Digest, June 9-15 – Cointelegraph Magazine

Top Stories This Week

Elon Musk to ban Apple devices if OpenAI is integrated with OS

Elon Musk has threatened to ban Apple devices within his companies if Apple integrates OpenAI’s ChatGPT into its operating systems at a deep level. He views such an integration as a significant security concern. This issue arose as Apple disclosed during the Worldwide Developers Conference that its upcoming software update will include new AI features, notably allowing Siri to utilize ChatGPT to answer user queries. Musk criticized Apple for potentially compromising user privacy and not developing their own AI solutions.

Wall Street must be accountable for Bitcoin mining emissions — Greenpeace

Greenpeace has been actively campaigning to change Bitcoin’s proof-of-work consensus model to a more environmentally friendly proof-of-stake model. Their campaign, “Change the Code, Not the Climate,” argues that Bitcoin’s current energy consumption, largely fueled by non-renewable sources, significantly contributes to environmental degradation. The campaign has drawn attention by urging popular figures in the crypto space to support a shift to more energy-efficient blockchain operations.

Terraform to pay $4.47B to resolve SEC civil lawsuit

Terraform Labs has agreed to pay the United States Securities and Exchange Commission roughly $4.47 billion as part of its settlement with the securities regulator. The agency, however, has to queue up behind secured creditors to receive a payment, if any. In January, when the firm filed for bankruptcy, Terraform had assets worth $430.1 million against liabilities worth $450.9 million. The settlement received court approval on June 13.

Roaring Kitty buys another 4M GME stocks, birthing conspiracy theory

Keith Gill, also known as “Roaring Kitty,” has significantly increased his investment in GameStop (GME), purchasing an additional 4 million shares. The latest acquisition brings his total holdings to over 9 million shares, valued at approximately $262 million as of June 14. Within the trading community, Gill’s increased holdings have sparked discussions about joining GameStop’s board of directors, as he now ranks as the fourth-largest shareholder. Some traders are speculating that his potential board membership could drive the stock’s price to $200. In another headline, Citron Research, one of the most prominent GameStop short sellers, is no longer short on GME stock, citing “the market’s irrationality” and “cult-like” shareholder behavior.

May institutional investments hit $1B driven by Ethereum — KuCoin

KuCoin Research reported that the crypto sector received over $1 billion in investments in May, marking a slight reduction from April but a 10.61% increase from May of the previous year. The total investment disclosed for May was $1.02 billion across 156 transactions. Despite general popularity among institutional investors for Ethereum, EVM-compatible chains, and layer-2 network projects, non-EVM chains like Bitcoin, Solana, Fantom, and TON also ranked among the top 15 networks favored by investors during the month.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $66,483, Ether (ETH) at $3,464 and XRP at $0.47. The total market cap is at $2.42 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Monero (XMR) at 6.46%, Toncoin (TON) at 4.90% and Oasis (ROSE) at 3.78%. 

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Wormhole (W) at -35.63%, FLOKI (FLOKI) at -32.97% and Arweave (AR) at -29.82%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies. That is an unacceptable security violation.”

Elon Musk, investor and entrepreneur

“It’s all about investing in technology that helps with disintermediation with traditional finance. Less reliance on the Big Tech companies like Google, Amazon and Microsoft.”

Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether

“We want blockchain to be everywhere, […] and DePIN can really make that happen.”

Markus Levin, head of operations at XY Labs

“You know Dogwifhat, the first time you see it, you just laugh, now it’s worth $3 billion.”

Michael Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital

“Blockchain is an open book for anyone willing to read it. We’re still at the beginning of this story, so there’s plenty of room for anyone with innovative ideas that they want to bring to fruition.”

Beniamin Mincu, CEO of MultiversX

“I think that we may see massively superhuman superintelligence within just a few years.”

Ben Goertzel, founder and CEO of SingularityNET

Prediction of the week

Traders: Bitcoin price needs “fresh all-time highs” to end pump-and-dump cycles

Bitcoin (BTC) bears have been selling on every rally over the last few months, and analysts believe that a liquidity boost fueled by BTC’s “fresh all-time highs” will help break the cycle.

“Market is in need of a big liquidity boost,” pseudonymous crypto trader Daan Crypto Trades wrote in a June 13 post on the X social media network.

The trader’s sentiments appear to have been informed by Bitcoin’s “whipsaw” price action as it consolidates within a wide range, stretching from $66,500 to $72,000.

Full-swing bleeding and “selling into every pump has been the theme for the past couple of months,” explained the trader, adding that one of the best ways to end this cycle “has always been a fresh all-time high for #Bitcoin.”

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and Binance shows BTC is trading at $67,474, 10% below its all-time high of $73,808, reached on March 11.

FUD of the Week

Crypto hacks soar to $19B in 13 years: Crystal Intelligence

The cryptocurrency industry suffered 785 reported hacks and exploits during the past 13 years. Nearly $19 billion worth of digital assets were stolen in the 13 years since June 19, 2011, when the first known crypto hack was reported, according to a Crystal Intelligence report shared with Cointelegraph. The largest single crypto theft case remains the 2019 PlusToken scam, when attackers netted $2.9 billion worth of Bitcoin and Ether.

OKX investigates multimillion account thefts after SIM swap attacks

OKX and its security partner, SlowMist, are investigating a multimillion-dollar theft involving two user accounts following SIM swap attacks. The SMS attack allowed unauthorized API key creation, which led to asset theft. While the specifics of the stolen amount weren’t disclosed, it was reported to be in the millions. The incidents exposed vulnerabilities in the two-factor authentication system that were exploited to whitelist withdrawal addresses.

Solana cracks down on validator sandwich attacks

The Solana Foundation has removed a group of validator operators from its delegation program due to their involvement in sandwich attacks on traders. Solana validator relations lead Tim Garcia took to Discord to announce the removal of validators and said that operators engaging in malicious activities, including “participating in a private mempool to sandwich attack transactions or otherwise harming Solana users will not be tolerated by the delegation program.”

Top Magazine Pieces of the Week

‘Bitcoin Layer 2’ sidechains aren’t really L2s: There is a better way

Most Bitcoin Layer 2s aren’t really Layer 2 solutions at all. But Lightning Network is, and zero knowledge based rollups could be.

SocialFi boosts game revenue, Axie Infinity creator wants to ditch Discord: Web3 Gamer

Web3 games won’t need Discord in the future, what Pokemon GO taught us about big spenders, and more.

$1M bet ChatGPT won’t lead to AGI, Apple’s intelligent AI use, AI millionaires surge: AI Eye

French scientist offers $1 million ARC prize to debunk AGI hype, new research confirms LLMs aren’t that clever, plus Apple Intelligence.