JH Kim

According to The Block, a cryptocurrency-focused media outlet, Zora (ZORA) has started token trading without any official announcement or claim link, leading to criticism from the community. According to the media, users had to interact directly with the smart contract address to manually claim ZORA, which increased dissatisfaction with Zora's airdrop method. One user (@aadvark89) pointed out, "There was a lack of communication on the token launch day, and there are suspicious circumstances such as Jesse Pollak, the founder of Base, promoting the Zora platform without much context." Meanwhile, Zora's official X (formerly Twitter) account has the airdrop claim page available.

According to Lookonchain on the 23rd (local time), an anonymous whale purchased 407,467 Official Trump (TRUMP) at an average price of $12.27, spending 5 million USDC. Previously, it was reported that former U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to host a 'Trump Dinner' for meme coin TRUMP holders in Washington on May 22nd (local time).

Bitcoin (BTC) briefly recovered the $93,000 level. Meanwhile, BTC is trading at $93,049.24, up 2.57% from the previous day as of 00:57 on the 24th, based on the Binance Tether (USDT) market.

Bitcoin (BTC) has turned bullish, while major altcoins have yet to show clear signs of an upward trend, according to analysis. On the 23rd (local time), cryptocurrency media outlet CoinDesk reported, "BTC has confirmed a shift in upward momentum by breaking through the upper boundary of the Ichimoku Cloud indicator." The media outlet predicted, "The current major support level is $88,550, and if it breaks through the psychological resistance level of $100,000, there is potential to rise to $109,000." On the other hand, major altcoins such as Ripple (XRP), Dogecoin (DOGE), Ada (ADA), Ethereum (ETH), and Solana (SOL) have not yet broken through the upper boundary of the Ichimoku Cloud, indicating limited upward potential.

The Ripple Ledger (XRPL) Foundation announced that a security vulnerability was found in the latest versions (v4.2.1~4.2.4 and v2.14.2) of the XRPL JavaScript library, and an emergency patch version has been released. According to the virtual asset (cryptocurrency) specialized media The Block on the 22nd (local time), the foundation explained, "This vulnerability was discovered and reported by the malware research lab Aikido Security, and it was identified as a critical backdoor that could lead to a supply chain attack." The foundation emphasized, "Projects affected by the vulnerability should immediately download and apply the patched version with the error corrected."

According to foreign media on the 22nd (local time), it is predicted that Bitcoin (BTC) could surpass $200,000 this year as institutional demand for Bitcoin spot Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) increases and hedging demand against macroeconomic risks intertwines. Standard Chartered and Intellectia AI evaluated in a joint report that "if a black swan event does not occur, the likelihood of this scenario being realized is high." They added, "The active demand from institutions, including major exchanges such as Coinbase and Kraken, is leading the positive price flow of Bitcoin," and "the scale of Bitcoin currently held by companies amounts to about $65 billion." Meanwhile, BTC is trading at $91,491.32, up 5.31% from the previous day, based on the Binance Tether (USDT) market as of 3:55 on the 23rd.

Some Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies have been found to deliberately underreport the shipping prices of mining equipment to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to reduce tariffs. According to CoinDesk, a virtual asset specialized media outlet, on the 22nd (local time), Jill Ford, the founder of the mining equipment procurement specialist company BitFord Digital, confessed, "Previously, if the actual equipment price was $3,000, it was reported as $300." However, she stated, "Such acts are clear fraud and illegal, and while it may have been easier in the past, the situation has changed since President Donald Trump took office," adding, "Currently, the maximum underreporting may be around 20-30%, and it has become virtually impossible to drastically manipulate prices as before."

Bitcoin (BTC) briefly recovered to the $91,000 level. Meanwhile, BTC is trading at $91,263.89, up 4.83% from the previous day, based on the Binance Tether (USDT) market as of 2:41 on the 23rd.

On the 22nd (local time), according to blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain, an anonymous whale withdrew 1000 Bitcoin (BTC) from Binance. This amounts to approximately 91.13 million dollars, and the wallet currently holds 19,112 BTC (about 1.73 billion dollars). Meanwhile, as of 1:54 AM on the 23rd, BTC is trading at 90,694.36 dollars on the Binance Tether (USDT) market, up 3.83% from the previous day.

According to CoinDesk, a media outlet specializing in virtual assets (cryptocurrency), US-listed company DeFi Development (formerly Zenover) has purchased an additional 88,164 Solana (SOL). This amounts to approximately $11.5 million. As a result, the company's SOL holdings have increased to 251,842. Previously, the company, which is an AI platform for the commercial real estate industry, changed its name from Zenover to DeFi Development. Since adopting SOL as a strategic reserve asset last April, it has been steadily accumulating SOL.

ZKSync(ZK) developer Matter Labs has been sued by Bankex for alleged intellectual property (IP) infringement. According to cryptocurrency-focused media outlet CoinDesk on the 22nd (local time), Bankex, a now-defunct virtual asset banking platform, claims that two former Bankex employees misappropriated company technology to build ZKSync. The individuals mentioned in the indictment are Alexandr Vlasov (current Matter Labs R&D head) and Petr Korolev (current founder of blockchain security firm Oxorio), with claims that former Matter Labs co-director Chris Burniske is also involved. In response, Matter Labs stated that these are "baseless claims" and emphasized that "ZKSync is an original technology."

On the 21st (local time), according to the cryptocurrency-focused media outlet Cointelegraph, the Solana (SOL)-based decentralized exchange Meteora has been embroiled in a class action lawsuit by investors over allegations of fraud related to the M3M3 token. According to the media, investors claim that Meteora provided misleading information regarding the token's value at the time of the M3M3 launch last December, and manipulated the market price through this.

On the 21st (local time), according to the cryptocurrency specialized media WuBlockchain, ARK Invest, a cryptocurrency investment firm and issuer of Bitcoin (BTC) spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), recently purchased 60,266 shares of Robinhood (approximately $2.45 million) through its ARKK fund. Additionally, ARK Invest sold 31,817 shares (approximately $2.7 million) of its own Bitcoin spot ETF (ARKB) and purchased 500,000 shares (approximately $5.2 million) of the Canadian-listed Solana (SOL) Staking ETF (SOLQ.U) through its ARKW and ARKF funds.

Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg's Senior ETF Analyst, stated on the 21st (local time) via X (formerly Twitter) that "Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) currently account for 90% of global crypto asset fund assets," and analyzed that "although many altcoin and meme coin ETFs are expected to be launched this year, their impact on the market will be limited." He added, "Bitcoin ETFs are likely to continue to maintain a market share of 80-85% in the overall market."

On the 21st (local time), according to cryptocurrency media outlet Cointelegraph, ARK Invest, led by Cathie Wood, has newly added the Solana staking ETF 'SOLQ (3iQ Solana Staking ETF)' to its 'ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW)' and 'ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF)'. SOLQ is an exchange-traded product linked to Solana's price movements and native staking yields, designed to automatically reinvest staking rewards.

On the 21st (local time), CNBC reported that Katie Stockton, founder of the cryptocurrency technical analysis firm Fairlead Strategies, analyzed that "Bitcoin (BTC) is currently above the 50-day moving average, and if it breaks through the key resistance zone of $88,200 to $88,800, further upward momentum could continue." She explained, "This zone is a technical resistance line where the 200-day moving average and the Fibonacci retracement zone overlap, and the stochastic indicator on the weekly chart is reversing upwards from the oversold zone, indicating a high possibility of a breakout in the short term." However, she added, "Since the stochastic on the monthly chart has reversed downwards from the overbought zone, the current upward trend is interpreted as a rebound under specific conditions," and "it is advisable to consider a profit-taking strategy in the additional upward zone that appears after breaking the resistance line." Meanwhile, BTC is trading at $86,953.58, up 2.92% from the previous day, based on the Binance Tether (USDT) market as of 3:42 on the 22nd.

On the 21st (local time), the virtual asset (cryptocurrency) specialized media Cointelegraph reported, citing a report from the U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC), that key figures in the virtual asset industry raised more than $239 million in donations to the inauguration fund of President-elect Donald Trump shortly after the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Hayden Adams, CEO of Uniswap (UNI), donated more than $245,000 to Trump's inauguration committee, while Solana Labs contributed $1 million and ConsenSys donated $100,000. In addition, major virtual asset companies such as Coinbase, Ripple (XRP), Kraken, Ondo Finance (ONDO), and Robinhood were listed as sponsors. The media reported, "President Trump appointed Mark Uyeda as acting chairman of the SEC immediately after his official inauguration on January 20 this year, and shortly thereafter, the SEC withdrew the legal proceedings against Uniswap and ConsenSys, which were sponsors of Trump's inauguration fund." It added, "As large-scale political donations from virtual asset companies continue and SEC lawsuits are subsequently withdrawn, there are growing suspicions in the industry that these donations may have led to political benefits."

American investment bank TD Cowen assessed in a report that the buying spree of Strategy (NASDAQ ticker: MSTR), which holds the most Bitcoin (BTC) among single companies, has minimal impact on Bitcoin prices. According to cryptocurrency media outlet CoinDesk on the 21st (local time), the report analyzed that "although Strategy has invested billions of dollars in Bitcoin recently, this buying spree had little lasting impact on Bitcoin prices." It continued, "Strategy's purchase volume was only 3.3% of the weekly average trading volume, and the correlation between weekly Bitcoin purchase volume and price was only 25%." The report also added, "While the impact of Strategy on the entire Bitcoin market may have been exaggerated, the value this strategy creates for its shareholders cannot be ignored."

Bitcoin (BTC) temporarily returned the $87,000 level. Meanwhile, BTC is trading at $86,537.02, up 2.33% from the previous day, based on the Binance Tether (USDT) market as of 2:05 on the 22nd.

Michael Saylor, founder of MicroStrategy (Nasdaq ticker: MSTR), which holds the most Bitcoin (BTC) among single companies, announced on the 21st (local time) via X (formerly Twitter) that "MSTR provided a total net profit of $459 million to shareholders this month through fund management." Previously, MicroStrategy reported that it had additionally purchased 6,556 BTC ($555.8 million) at an average price of $84,785 from the 14th to the 20th (local time) of this month.