Top Stories of The Week
Australian fintech Finder wins court battle over crypto yield product
The Australian Federal Court ruled in favor of fintech company Finder.com, clearing it and its yield-generating product, Finder Earn, in a legal battle with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) that lasted almost three years.
In a Thursday court decision, Justices Stewart, Cheeseman and Meagher confirmed a previous judgment that Finder Wallet and Earn complied with consumer financial laws.
The federal court “confirmed the initial finding that Finder Earn was not a financial product,” Finder said in a Thursday blog post.
BitMine gobbles over $2B in ETH in 16 days amid treasury arms race
Bitcoin mining firm BitMine Immersion Technologies has bought up over $2 billion of Ether in just 16 days, retaking the lead among a flurry of newly formed Ether treasury companies.
BitMine said in a statement on Thursday that in the last 16 days, it had bought up 566,776 Ether, worth over $2.03 billion.
Tom Lee, the managing partner of FundStrat and the chairman of BitMine, said after the latest buying spree, the company is “well on our way to achieving our goal of acquiring and staking 5% of the overall ETH supply.”
BitMine’s aggressive buying spree signals a growing interest from institutions in Ethereum.
XRP price drops 19% but analysts say it’s a ‘healthy correction’
XRP price dropped 12.5% on Thursday, declining in tandem with the broader crypto market, which slipped 3% over the 24 hour period to $3.79 trillion.
Despite this correction, analysts are terming this a “healthy pullback,” with double-digit XRP price targets still in play.
XRP’s price dropped as much as 19% to an intra-day low of $2.95 on Thursday from its multiyear high of $3.66, data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows.
Cascading liquidations and thinning liquidity fueled XRP’s drop as over-leveraged longs got flushed across the board.
Hulk Hogan, Ozzy memecoins soar as tributes roll in over icons’ deaths
Memecoins inspired by the late wrestling legend Hulk Hogan and Black Sabbath rocker Ozzy Osbourne skyrocketed as tributes flooded over the two popular icons’ deaths this week.
Terry Bollea, better known by his wrestling ring name Hulk Hogan, was reportedly pronounced dead in a hospital on Thursday at the age of 71 after medics arrived at his home to answer a call about a possible cardiac arrest.
This comes just days after Ozzy Osbourne, the hard-partying frontman of English rock band Black Sabbath, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 76.
Hogan was the most famous wrestler in the WWF, now WWE, during the 1980s, and had a career that spanned decades both in the ring and across television and film.
Osbourne, often nicknamed the Prince of Darkness, is considered a legend in the music world and is seen as an iconic heavy metal musician. Black Sabbath is estimated to have sold 75 million albums globally.
Ether will ‘knock on $4,000’ and soon outperform Bitcoin: Novogratz
Rapidly growing institutional interest in Ethereum could trigger a supply shock and position Ether to outperform Bitcoin in the next six months, says Galaxy Digital CEO Michael Novogratz.
“There’s not a lot of supply of ETH, and so I think ETH probably has a chance to outperform Bitcoin in the next three to six months,” Novogratz told CNBC on Thursday.
“If ETH takes out $4,000, it goes into price discovery,” he said, referring to a level that represents an approximate 8.5% jump from Ether’s current price of $3,618, according to Nansen.
Most Memorable Quotations
Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad:
“‘Pigs get fat…. hogs get slaughtered.’ I am buying one more [Bitcoin]…. and get fatter.”
Mena Theodorou, co-founder and head of product and marketing at Coinstash:
“If you’re analytical, follow the patterns, and take an emotionless approach, you’re going to do well in the crypto space.”
Michael Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital:
“There’s not a lot of supply of ETH, and so I think ETH probably has a chance to outperform Bitcoin in the next three to six months.”
Markus Thielen, CEO of 10x Research:
“We believe Ethereum is looking vulnerable in the near term.”
Solomon Tesfaye, chief business officer at Aptos Labs:
“We’re seeing more open dialogue between policymakers and Web3 leaders that is shaping legislation and giving institutions more confidence to commit to longer digital asset roadmaps.”
Mister Crypto, pseudonymous crypto trader:
“A massive short squeeze is inevitable!”
Winners and Losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $117,962, Ether (ETH) at $3,774 and XRP at $3.20. The total market cap is at $3.88 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Conflux (CFX) at 72.84%, Ethena (ENA) at 47.25% and Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) at 35.84%.
The top three altcoin losers of the week are Pump.fun (PUMP) at 41.74%, Sonic (S) at 11.04% and Aptos (APT) at 9.38%. For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.
Top Prediction of The Week
Eric Trump ‘agrees’ Ether should be over $8K as Global M2 money soars
Analysts say Ether is undervalued and “should be trading above $8,000” as global liquidity, measured by broad money supply (M2), hit a new record high of $95.58 trillion on Friday.
Global liquidity supply, or M2, aggregates US dollar-adjusted liquidity from major economies including the US, eurozone, Japan, the UK and Canada.
A rising M2 implies that more money is circulating in the economy, including in bank accounts, checking deposits and other liquid assets. Such surplus liquidity can increase capital inflow into riskier assets like crypto.
Ether appears to be following a similar M2 supply trajectory, defined by the Wyckoff accumulation method, in 2025, albeit with a significant lag period.
Top FUD of The Week
Arizona woman sentenced for helping North Korea coders get US crypto jobs
An Arizona woman was sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison for helping North Korean operatives infiltrate US cryptocurrency and tech firms using stolen identities and fraudulent documents.
According to a Thursday announcement by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Christina Marie Chapman was convicted of wire fraud conspiracy, aggravated identity theft and money laundering conspiracy. She was sentenced to 102 months, or about 8.5 years in prison.
Prosecutors said Chapman worked with operatives tied to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to obtain remote IT positions at more than 300 US-based companies. The North Korean workers posed as US citizens and residents, and the scheme generated over $17 million in illicit revenue.
Bitcoin tumbles below $116K in bloodbath for crypto longs
More than half a billion in long positions were liquidated across the crypto market on Friday as the price of Bitcoin slipped below $116,000 amid a broader market tumble.
According to CoinGlass data, $585.86 million in long positions were liquidated, with Bitcoin accounting for $140.06 million of that total as it dropped 2.63% to $115,356.
Ether followed with $104.76 million in long liquidations, falling 1.33% to $3,598 over the same period.
New York crypto torture case suspects out on $1M bail each
Two men accused of kidnapping and torturing an Italian man in a Manhattan townhouse as part of a cryptocurrency extortion plot have been granted bail.
John Woeltz, 37, and William Duplessie, 33, were each issued a $1 million bail on Wednesday by New York Supreme Criminal Court Judge Gregory Carro, according to a report from ABC News. Both men have reportedly pleaded not guilty to charges including kidnapping, assault and coercion.
The case stems from a crypto extortion incident that took place a few months earlier. On May 6, a 28-year-old cryptocurrency trader visiting from Italy was allegedly abducted after arriving in New York.
According to prosecutors, the man was held hostage for weeks and subjected to repeated torture as his captors attempted to force him to reveal his Bitcoin credentials.
Top Magazine Stories of The Week
Robinhood’s tokenized stocks have stirred up a legal hornet’s nest
Tokenizing stocks opens up legal questions about jurisdiction, protections for buyers and the boundary between innovation and illegality.
Hong Kong hoses down stablecoin frenzy, Pokémon on Solana: Asia Express
Solana apps bring Pokémon cards to Web3 with NFT gachas, FTX blocks Chinese creditors while they sell claims on Backpack, and more.
Bitcoin inheritances: A guide for heirs and the not-yet-dead
Your Bitcoiner OG uncle just died and you stand to inherit a small fortune. But how do you find it, and get it back from exchanges, ETFs or hardware wallets?