Top Crypto Stories This Week: From GameStop Memecoins to Australian Pensions

Young investors rejoiced this week as Roaring Kitty roared back into action, pumping both GameStop stock price and related memecoins. Meanwhile, slightly more senior investors in Australia are seeing their portfolios increase their exposure to Bitcoin. Crypto really is for everyone!

Of course, where there was good news, there was also bad news. Such is crypto. Such is life. Hong Kong's shiny new crypto ETFs are failing to gain traction, with outflows wiping out two weeks of inflow gains. Coinbase users were also flummoxed this week after the platform suffered an outage... Or was that planned maintenance? And Binance continues to have beef with Nigeria.

Nonetheless, good CPI numbers announced midweek inspired Bitcoin to return to the $65K zone. And overall, global movements in the industry were encouraging. OKX officially launched in Australia, India approved Binance and KuCoin to resume business, Deutsche Bank teamed up with MAS's Project Guardian, Robinhood debuted staking in the UK, and Interactive Brokers introduced crypto trading in Europe.

Bitcoin and Ethereum both enjoyed a green week, up 7.73% and 3.41% respectively.

Risk appetites on the Fear & Greed Index have risen from 60, "Greed", to 74, also "Greed."

The Fear & Greed Index uses 5-6 measurements to assess the current sentiment of the market and then rates that level of emotion on a scale of 1-100 – 1 is extreme fear and 100 is extreme greed.

As for this week's sneak peak into what the brilliant minds at Blockhead's research arm, brn are analysing, we're treated to a look at Ethereum's Dencun upgrade and whether it's leading to the demise of ultra-sound money.

"It's important to recognize that the effects of such changes are not immediate, as demand for this product is not perfectly elastic. Should the demand for ETH fail to offset the reduction in fees, there are only two potential solutions to maintain Ethereum's deflationary trajectory: artificially boosting ETH fees or reducing the number of tokens rewarded to stakers," brn said.

To read the full report and to receive weekly insights, register your interest at brn.

Degens Pump Memecoins as GameStop Meme Frenzy Returns

Roaring Kitty has returned to the stock market scene, rallying armies of degens to once again screw over institutional short traders and earning a quick buck for disgruntled everyday investors.

Keith Gill, or TheRoaringKitty on Twitter/X, made a name for himself in 2021 by inspiring slews of internet traders to blindly buy shares of GameStop (GME), based on nothing other than pure resentment for 'the man.'

Both fundamental and technical analysis went out the window as GameStop's stock price soared from $5 to $500 in a matter of days, resulting in short sellers losing billions of dollars.

The Narrative Power Struggle: AI, Memes, DeSoc Rise in Crypto

AI, memes and DeSoc are the hottest narratives in crypto right now, while metaverse, BRC20, GameFi and LSD narratives are fading.

According to Kaito, a crypto data analytics firm, the first half of 2024 has been a tale of two halves when it comes to narratives in the web3 space. While Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues its dominance, new narratives like Decentralized Social (DeSoc) networks are rising, and some established narratives, like those surrounding gaming and the metaverse, are fading.

India Approves Binance, KuCoin to Provide Virtual Asset Services

Crypto exchanges Binance and KuCoin have been granted approval to operate as Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) in India.

Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of India, Vivek Aggarwal, stated that the approvals will enhance transparency in their operations and will aid the the suspicious transaction report (STR) submission process.

Nigeria Lawmaker Refutes Binance's $140M Bribery Allegation

Nigeria House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes has refuted allegations of bribery by Binance CEO Richard Teng.

The chairman of the committee, Ginger Onwusibe, said at a press conference that the allegations were bogus, obnoxious, false, and fabricated. He added that the claims were intended to confuse the issue and divert attention from the serious allegations of financial and economic crimes against Nigeria.

Europe Emerges as Crypto Hub: Robinhood Debuts Staking, Interactive Brokers Launches Bitcoin Trading

Trading platform Robinhood has chosen Europe to debut its first crypto-staking product as well as a new suite of features for the region.

Meanwhile, Interactive Brokers is launching crypto trading for its UK clients. Both individual and institutional investor clients are now able to trade crypto assets including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash.

Coinbase Targets Crypto Demand in Australian Pension Sector

Australia's self-managed pension sector has caught the attention of Coinbase, which is developing a service to target the segment.

Self-managed pensions make up a quarter of Australia's $2.5 trillion pension system and have $664 million allocated in crypto.

These portfolios could hit another record as Bitcoin's price continues to rise, and Coinbase is keen to be involved.

OKX Officially Launches in Australia One Year After Sydney Office Opens

OKX has made its official debut down under by launching its spot and derivatives crypto trading platform in Australia.

All Australian users will be able to access spot trading services while verified wholesale clients can engage in derivatives trading.

CPI Numbers Announced - Is Bitcoin Enthusiasm Back?

US Consumer Price Index (CPI) are out, triggering a surge in Bitcoin's price but is easing inflation enough to sustain BTC's upward price trajectory?

After weeks of sleepwalking through stagnant activity with sporadic moments of intense excitement, Bitcoin has finally bounced back.

Deutsche Bank Joins Singapore's Project Guardian for Tokenization Trials

Deutsche Bank has joined the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Project Guardian to explore asset tokenization.

The initiative will explore the feasibility of asset tokenization in regulated financial markets and will see the German financial giant participate as part of the asset and wealth management workstream.

Vanguard Appoints ex-BlackRock ETF Chief as CEO

Vanguard has appointed its first outsider, Salim Ramji, as its new CEO and member of the Board.

Ramji replaces Tim Buckley, who announced in March that he planned to retire after six years of helming the CEO position.

With over 25 years of experience in investments, capital markets and wealth management, Ramji's latest claim to fame was leading Blackrock's ETF products.

Maintenance or Outage? Coinbase Down for Hours, Reminding Users of Centralized Risk

Coinbase suffered a "system-wide outage" earlier today, leaving its users unable to access any of the exchange's services.

The outage began at 4:15 am UTC on 14 May, lasting around three hours. "Coinbase is experiencing a system wide outage. We are investigating this issue and working on a solution. Please see http://status.coinbase.com for updates. Your funds are safe," the exchange announced on X.

Hong Kong Crypto ETFs Erase Two Weeks' Inflows in One Day

Hong Kong's highly anticipated Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs are continuing to disappoint.

Debuting on 30 April, Hong Kong's crypto ETFs hit the market with a rather lacklustre start, reeling in just $12 million in trading volume, inflows paled in comparison to the US market's $4.6 billion first day of Bitcoin ETFs.

Can Bitcoin Miners Weather the Post-Halving Storm?

CleanSpark (Nasdaq: CLSK), a leading Bitcoin miner known for its focus on sustainability, is the latest Bitcoin miner to release its quarterly earnings.

For the quarter ending March 31, 2024, CleanSpark noted revenue of $111.8 million (up 167% year on year), net income of $126.7 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $181.8 million, and an increase in hashrate capacity.

ARK Invest/21 Shares Cuts Staking From ETH ETF Application

ARK Invest and 21Shares' proposed Ethereum ETF will no longer include staking, according to a recent filing by the firm.

In its initial filing, ArkInvest/21 Shares had featured a staking component in its application, stating that the "sponsor may, from time to time, stake a portion of the Trust’s assets through one or more trusted Staking Providers." The phrase is not found in the latest filing.

Blockcast EP 25 | Is it Game Over For Web3 Gaming in 2024? TriliTech (Tezos Ecosystem) Global Head of Gaming Says No

From Diablo to FIFA to Final Fantasy to Pokemon, here at Blockhead, we're big fans of gaming. But despite our love for gaming and our ardent passion for Web3, blockchain gaming has yet to convince us to abandon our Articunos for Axies.

Join us as Jeremy Foo, who serves as TriliTech (Tezos Ecosystem) Global Head of Gaming, tells us how blockchain gaming is restoring its reputation from deafening backlash, and why we should delve into the vibrant Web3 worlds of Meta Pals, Battle Tabs, Stars Symphony, and Dogami.

Events

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