This week, major strides were made in crypto, from PEPE marking an all-time high to crypto fraud losses hitting a significant drop this year. With international blockchain spending expected to reach $19 billion by the end of 2024, crypto is making a solid mark on the global finance market and attracting significant interest among consumers, institutional investors, and legislators. Here are this week’s top crypto news and developments.
1. PEPE Hits All-Time High, Trading Activity Spikes Up
PEPE, the frog-themed meme coin, surged to an all-time high of $0.00001725 on Binance, marking an 81% growth on May 27. Accompanied by an extremely strong upward movement in energetic addresses and social dominance, indicating heightened interest, its trading volume has tripled since the beginning of May.
PEPE is trading at $0.00001486 as of 10:56 GMT on May 31. Despite the 12% dip in price since May 27, its trading volume spiked by 216% within the past 24 hours. From a modest beginning of $0.000008834 on May 5, PEPE’s cost has seen a surge of 94%. In terms of trading volume, Floki, Shib, and MAGA follow PEPE’s lead.
2. Crypto Fraud and Hack Losses Drop 12% in May
There has been a remarkable 12% year-over-year drop in cryptocurrency fraud and hack losses, reported the blockchain security firm Immunefi. The reports were released on May 30, which disclosed that fraudulent activities and hacks in May 2024 cost around $52 million in the month, which has significantly decreased from $59 million, which had been the cost in May 2023.
3. Runes Protocol Struggles to Maintain Bitcoin Transaction Share
Bitcoin Runes protocol, launched on April 20, is unable to keep up with its percentage of Bitcoin transaction share that dominated the blockchain traffic eight times, including most weekends. Coincidentally, it happened to be the time when Bitcoin’s fourth halving took place, and that made the volume of transactions increase. In the initial stages, more than half of Bitcoin transactions happened via this platform, and the peak occurred on April 23 at 81.3% bandwidth. This figure had gone down by May 2 to reach just 11.1%.
4. The Bitcoin Whitepaper Returns to Bitcoin.org
After Craig Wright lost his court case over his identity as Satoshi Nakamoto, the Bitcoin whitepaper was uploaded on Bitcoin.org. In 2019, Wright submitted a copyright registration request to the Bitcoin white paper in the United States against Cobra, an unnamed company that operates the website.
Wright filed a lawsuit against Bitcoin core developers and a collection of 13 businesses in 2023, alleging copyright infringement of the Bitcoin white paper and file format and database rights on the Bitcoin blockchain companies in question, Blockstream, Coinbase, and Block. However, after losing a legal dispute over his impersonation of Satoshi Nakamoto, the original Bitcoin whitepaper was published again on Bitcoin.org.
5. BlackRock’s IBIT Surpasses GBTC as the Largest Bitcoin ETF
According to reviews, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) has been eclipsed by way of BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund as the largest exchange-traded fund globally that tracks the charge of Bitcoin. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, or IBIT, noticed $102.5 million in inflows as of May 28’s remaining bell, while GBTC saw a $105 million outflow.
According to statistics from HODL 15 Capita and the Apollo Bitcoin Tracker, the inflow is stated to have accelerated BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF to a total of 288,670 Bitcoin BTC held, in comparison to Grayscale, which presently holds 287,450 Bitcoin in spite of starting at 620,000 Bitcoin in January.
The rapid growth of the blockchain industry highlights its burgeoning impact on the global economic, technological, and financial framework. By analyzing the current industry trends, such as regulatory changes, market movements, and technological advances, we can better pinpoint the potential and challenges ahead for the blockchain space.
Looking at these updates not only enhances our knowledge but also prepares us for the future impact of blockchain in various industries. Understanding these changes helps us navigate the future of blockchain technology and stay competitive in a landscape that is constantly redefining innovation and economic power.
