Uk Jin

Paul Atkins, a commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), stated that "As the SEC chairman, my priority is to develop a reasonable regulatory framework for the virtual asset (cryptocurrency) market, establish clear rules for the issuance, custody, and trading of virtual assets, and deter malicious activities." According to the virtual asset specialist media The Block on the 20th (local time), Commissioner Atkins revealed this during a House Appropriations Committee hearing. During the hearing, questions were raised not only about the approach to virtual asset regulation but also about the stance on the TRON (TRX) lawsuit. Glen Ivey, a Democratic Congressman from Maryland, said, "TRON founder Justin Sun purchased tokens worth $30 million from World Liberty Finance (WLFI), and Sun also announced that he would attend a private dinner with President Donald Trump," adding, "I believe the SEC should investigate this matter." In response, Commissioner Atkins stated, "The TRON case is currently ongoing, and the SEC has determined that meme coins are not securities."

According to the cryptocurrency data provider Alternative on the 21st, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index scored 70 points, down 1 point from the previous day. As of 9:15 a.m. today, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $106,735 on CoinMarketCap, up 0.62% from the previous day. Altcoins showed mixed trends. Ethereum (ETH) fell by 0.40%. Ripple (XRP) and Binance Coin also showed declines of 1.44% and 0.04%, respectively. On the other hand, Solana, Dogecoin, Cardano, and Tron showed slight gains of 0.25%, 0.29%, 0.08%, and 0.85%, respectively. The Fear & Greed Index is an indicator that expresses market sentiment, with a score closer to 0 indicating extreme fear and closer to 100 indicating extreme greed. This index is calculated based on volatility (25%), trading volume (25%), social media (15%), surveys (15%), Bitcoin market cap dominance (10%), and Google search trends (10%).

Attention is drawn to whether a strategic Bitcoin (BTC) reserve bill will pass in Texas, USA. The bill has passed the House on this day. According to Bitcoin.com News on the 20th (local time), the Texas House of Representatives in the USA passed the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Bill (SB21) during the second reading (bill review and decision procedure). The vote was counted with 105 in favor and 23 against. The bill is centered on allowing the state government to invest in Bitcoin. The bill, having passed the House, will take effect once it receives the governor's final signature.

The number of users of Ethereum (ETH)-based decentralized exchanges (DEX) has surged recently. According to The Block, a cryptocurrency-focused media outlet, the daily active users (DAU) of Ethereum DEX recently reached 64,000. This is a 73% increase compared to the lowest point recorded on May 4th, which was 37,000. The Block evaluated this by stating, "It suggests that individual investors' interest in Ethereum trading has risen again," and "This result came as Ethereum prices have risen significantly recently." Meanwhile, the most notable performer among Ethereum DEXs this month was Uniswap (UNI). Uniswap accounted for $13 billion of the $15 billion monthly trading volume of Ethereum DEXs. Uniswap's DAU was 62,000, with 97% of all Ethereum DEX users executing trades on Uniswap.

The adage 'Sell in May' in the investment market, including traditional finance, does not seem to hold true this year. Bitcoin (BTC) has surpassed $107,000 intraday, challenging its all-time high. As of 7:06 AM on the 21st, Bitcoin is trading at $106,445, up 0.96% from the previous day according to CoinMarketCap. Although the upward trend has slightly subsided, Bitcoin had previously surpassed $107,000 around 6 AM. Analysts suggest that Bitcoin's price will continue to rise over the next few months. Director Paul Howard Vincent stated, "Positive regulatory changes surrounding digital assets in the US and increased institutional buying due to spot ETFs could drive Bitcoin's price up," and predicted, "Bitcoin will break its all-time high in the coming weeks." Crypto analysis firm Kaiko also expects Bitcoin to maintain its upward trend this summer. Kaiko's report stated, "The Federal Reserve's June FOMC and President Donald Trump's tariffs, which will be decided by July 9, could trigger market volatility." Kaiko further noted, "There is a surge in trading volume at the $110,000 and $120,000 strike prices expiring on June 27," and added, "Investors are showing positive expectations."

The Democratic Party strongly criticized the remarks made by Lee Jun-seok, the presidential candidate of the Reform New Party, during the first presidential candidate TV debate. On the 20th, the Digital Asset Committee under the Democratic Party's election campaign committee stated, "Candidate Lee Jun-seok attracted the attention of the digital asset industry with his question about stablecoins (virtual assets linked to the value of fiat currency) during the TV debate, but at the same time, he unnecessarily exposed his ignorance, which is deeply regrettable," and added, "We hope Candidate Lee Jun-seok will calmly learn about the development of digital assets." They also pointed out, "He asked a question to Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party, but continued with his remarks without listening to the answer." In the first presidential candidate TV debate, Candidate Lee Jun-seok asked Lee Jae-myung, "I am curious about what measures the Democratic Party will take to prevent the illegal distribution of (won-based) stablecoins," and "What will be the reserve amount?" Candidate Lee Jun-seok also stated, "In the case of collateralized stablecoins, Tether (USDT) and USDC account for 90% of the total market, do you know the difference between the two?" and "In the case of USDC, the managing entity can freeze accounts, so even if funds are used for remittances to North Korea, they can be managed." He continued, "I am also curious about which company will be responsible for the Democratic Party's stablecoin. Without a concrete strategy, issuing a won stablecoin will only stir up the market." In response to these remarks by Candidate Lee Jun-seok, the Democratic Party's Digital Asset Committee countered, "Putting aside this communication style, all three points raised by Candidate Lee Jun-seok contain factual errors." Min Byung-deok, chairman of the Digital Asset Committee, explained, "First, both Tether and USDC can freeze funds in case of emergency," and "Although the two stablecoins differ in reserve composition and blockchain network, they are unrelated to the freezing function." He also added, "As Candidate Lee Jae-myung mentioned, stablecoins are most reliable when the reserve ratio is 1:1," and "Previously, Candidate Lee Jun-seok argued that all won stablecoin projects could be risky by citing the collapse of Terra and Luna in 2022, but the problem arose because Terra and Luna could not always guarantee a 1:1 reserve ratio." He also conveyed that Korean companies are fully capable of engaging in the stablecoin business. Chairman Min stated, "Candidate Lee Jun-seok spoke as if questioning whether there are Korean companies capable of conducting the stablecoin business, but many Korean companies possess sufficient technological capabilities," and "Although he said that pushing forward without a concrete strategy would only stir up the market, in reality, it is Candidate Lee Jun-seok himself who has not presented a concrete strategy regarding digital assets in this election." Meanwhile, regarding this matter, the Digital Asset Committee will hold a policy debate on the 21st titled 'Won Stablecoin VS Dollar Stablecoin: Global Monetary Policy Victory Strategy.'

According to the top gainers of Token Mindshare (a metric quantifying the influence of specific tokens in the cryptocurrency market) from the AI-based Web3 search platform Kaito, the top 5 cryptocurrencies currently attracting the most attention as of the 19th are USDC, Solana (SOL), XRP, Huma Finance (HUMAFINANCE), and Base Protocol (BASE). USDC, XRP, and Base Protocol, which ranked 1st, 3rd, and 5th, respectively, have gained their positions due to being involved in a particular news story. It is reported that Circle, the issuer of USDC, has initiated informal negotiations for a corporate sale with either Coinbase, the developer of Base Protocol, or Ripple, the issuer of XRP. Fortune reported, "According to sources, Circle has proposed a target valuation of $5 billion for IPO to these companies." Solana took the 2nd spot. This is due to the introduction of Solana's new Proof of Stake (PoS) based consensus protocol. Ansa, a subsidiary of Solana Labs, unveiled the new protocol Alpenglow through a blog post. Ansa stated that Alpenglow "is a protocol that can replace the existing Tower BFT and Proof of History (POH) systems, and it will bring the biggest change in Solana's history." Ansa further added, "If Alpenglow is applied, Solana will be able to finalize blocks within 150 milliseconds," and "this secures a level of responsiveness similar to Web2." Lastly, Huma Finance took the 4th spot. It is analyzed that community mentions surged as it was newly registered on the Kaito Yapboard. Additionally, Soon (SOON), OKB, Pendle (PENDLE), Aave (AAVE), and Sei (SEI) have also made it to the top ranks of coins of interest among global investors.

An analysis of domestic investors' virtual asset (cryptocurrency) investments revealed that a quarter of the total investment amount was concentrated in XRP (Ripple). According to the '2024 Second Half Virtual Asset Business Survey' released by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission on the 20th, Bitcoin (BTC) and XRP ranked first and second in domestic virtual asset market capitalization, with market shares of 29.7% and 23.1%, respectively. They were followed by Ethereum (9.1%), Dogecoin (4.3%), Solana (2.3%), and Cardano (1.6%). Compared to overseas, the proportion of XRP investments by domestic investors was much higher. During the same period, Bitcoin (54%) also ranked first in global virtual asset market capitalization. However, XRP, which ranked second domestically, only accounted for 3.5% of the global virtual asset market capitalization, placing it fourth.

The Bitcoin (BTC) spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) recorded a net inflow. On the 19th (local time), according to TraderT, a total of $666.5 million was net inflowed into the Bitcoin spot ETF. BlackRock IBIT accounted for $305 million of the inflow, contributing half, followed by Fidelity FBTC (+$188.1 million), ARK Invest ARKB (+$155.3 million), and Bitwise BITB (+$16 million). On the other hand, Invesco Galaxy BTCO saw a net outflow of $5.3 million.

Attention is drawn to whether a new Proof-of-Stake (PoS) based consensus protocol can emerge from Solana (SOL). On the 19th (local time), according to the cryptocurrency specialized media Cointelegraph, Solana Labs' subsidiary Anja introduced the new protocol Alpenglow through a blog. Anja stated about Alpenglow, "It is a protocol that can replace the existing Tower BFT and Proof of History (POH) systems, and it will bring the biggest change in Solana's history." The engine of Alpenglow consists of Votor and Rotor. First, Votor is a consensus engine that replaces Tower BFT, finalizing a single voting round in one round if 80% of the stake participates, and finalizing the block in two rounds if only 60% of the stake participates. Anja said, "This can minimize network delays and enhance resilience." Next, Rotor is a data propagation protocol that replaces the existing POH system, maximizing data transmission speed so that all nodes can quickly agree on the network state. This is explained to significantly reduce consensus delays. Anja explained, "If Alpenglow is applied, Solana can finalize blocks within 150 milliseconds," adding, "This secures a level of responsiveness similar to Web2."

According to the cryptocurrency data provider Alternative on the 20th, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index recorded 71 points, down 3 points from the previous day. As of 9:15 a.m. today, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $106,007 on CoinMarketCap, down 0.78% from the previous day. Altcoins showed mixed trends. At the same time, Ethereum (ETH) rose by 2.66%. On the other hand, Ripple (XRP) (-1.61%), Solana (-2.63%), Binance Coin (-0.02%), Cardano (-1.43%), and Dogecoin (-2.54%) showed a downward trend. The Fear & Greed Index is an indicator that expresses market sentiment, with a score closer to 0 indicating extreme fear and closer to 100 indicating extreme greed. This index is calculated based on volatility (25%), trading volume (25%), social media (15%), surveys (15%), Bitcoin market cap dominance (10%), and Google search volume (10%).

Bitcoin (BTC) recently surpassed $100,000, emphasizing its role as a 'store of value,' according to analysis. On the 19th (local time), Cointelegraph, a cryptocurrency-focused media outlet, reported that Jurrien Timmer, Fidelity's Global Macro Director, analyzed in a report that "Bitcoin's Sharpe Ratio (risk-adjusted return indicator) is converging with gold." Regarding this, Director Timmer explained, "This shows that Bitcoin is catching up with gold in terms of risk-adjusted returns. While Bitcoin and gold share the common characteristic of being a store of value, they exhibit the most negative correlation with each other. Bitcoin holds an advantage over gold in the risk-adjusted return structure." Additionally, Director Timmer recommended setting the investment ratio of Bitcoin to gold at 1:4 for risk hedge investments. Meanwhile, it is expected that a higher Sharpe Ratio will have a positive impact on Bitcoin. Bitcoin Suisse explained, "Since the U.S. presidential election, Bitcoin's Sharpe Ratio has been continuously rising, gaining popularity among both risk-seeking and risk-averse investors."

Investors are advised to be cautious as fake accounts impersonating Ripple, the issuer of XRP, have appeared. It has been confirmed that these accounts have posted videos of Ripple officials using deepfake technology. On the 19th (local time), according to the cryptocurrency media outlet BeInCrypto, an account operating as 'Ripple News' on Ex posted a video about a '100 million XRP token reward program.' The video features a person resembling Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, announcing the reward program. However, it has been reported that this account is an 'impersonation account' with no actual connection to Ripple. BeInCrypto stated, "These accounts are all called Ripple News, even though they have no affiliation with the company," and "Some of the scam accounts have nearly 100,000 followers." They further warned, "If users are deceived by these posts and leave their wallet addresses in the comments, they may suffer losses," urging investors to be cautious. Recently, as interest in Ripple has increased with the news of a settlement between Ripple and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as well as the announcement of an XRP spot ETF and other major news related to Ripple, these criminal activities are analyzed to be on the rise. Previously, the SEC and Ripple requested court approval to lift the ban on Ripple's securities law violations and reduce the fine to $50 million. However, Judge Analisa Torres dismissed the settlement request, stating that "the appeal they filed does not meet legal standards." Nevertheless, Ripple maintains its stance of a 'legal victory.' Stuart Alderoty, Ripple's Chief Legal Officer (CLO), explained, "This decision does not overturn the existing ruling that XRP is not a security," and called it a "procedural issue."

The much-debated private dinner of President Donald Trump is set to take place in three days. It is reported that 220 top holders of the meme coin OfficialTrump (TRUMP) have been invited to Trump's dinner. Among the 220 invitees, the top 25 holders will also participate in a VIP banquet. Industry Celebrities Included in Trump's Dinner Participants According to the industry on the 19th (local time), the OfficialTrump team has recently finalized the list of 220 invitees for the dinner. Previously, on the 12th, the OfficialTrump team announced via X (formerly Twitter), "The application for the dinner event with President Donald Trump has ended. Identity verification is required for confirmation of attendance," and urged, "Please check your email quickly." It is expected that more than half of the 220 dinner participants will be foreigners. According to a report by Bloomberg on the 7th, more than half of the top 220 on the OfficialTrump leaderboard have been found to use exchanges from other countries. Additionally, 19 out of the top 25 eligible for the VIP banquet were also found to use foreign exchanges. Reportedly, participants include Kain Warwick, founder of Synthetix (SNX), Morten Christensen, an advisor for World Liberty Financial (WLFI) using the alias 'Ogle', the CEO of MemeCore, and Vincent Liu, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Cronos (CRO). Additionally, domestic virtual asset entrepreneurs such as Oh Sang-rok, CEO of Hyperithm, and Inbeom, founder of BucksCoin (BGSC), have also been invited to the dinner. Another industry figure likely to attend the dinner is Justin Sun, founder of TRON (TRX). The wallet holding the most OfficialTrump is 'SUN', holding approximately $18.5 million (about 26 billion KRW) worth of tokens. There is speculation in the community that this wallet belongs to Justin Sun. The day before, Sun claimed via X, "I have bet everything on America," and asserted, "TRON is an American virtual asset." Conflicts of Interest Surrounding the Dinner Persist Meanwhile, after the announcement of President Trump's dinner invitation plan, there has been continuous criticism within the U.S. political sphere. U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff strongly criticized Trump's plan for a dinner targeting meme coin holders, stating, "If a sitting U.S. president sells access to an effective method of direct payment to himself, it undoubtedly rises to the level of an impeachable offense." In relation to this, the passage of U.S. virtual asset regulation has also hit a snag. Previously, on the 8th, the U.S. Senate held a vote on the 'GENIUS Act', a stablecoin bill aimed at clarifying stablecoin regulations, but it was rejected due to opposition from the Democratic Party. It is reported that Democratic senators cast opposing votes while expressing concerns about President Trump's virtual asset business.

Amid ongoing debates within the community regarding the increase in the gas limit of the Ethereum (ETH) network, Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, has proposed an improvement plan. On the 19th (KST), Vitalik stated on his blog, "The most common criticisms in discussions about increasing the Ethereum Layer 1 gas limit are concerns about network security and the difficulty of operating full nodes," and added, "To mitigate the impact of increasing the gas limit on individuals operating full nodes, I propose adding local node-biased adjustments to the Ethereum expansion roadmap." Ethereum is considering increasing the Layer 1 gas limit by four times its current level in the hard fork 'Fusaka,' following the Pectra upgrade on the 7th. While increasing the gas limit has the advantage of increasing network throughput and efficiency, it can also make it more difficult for individual node operators to verify blocks due to larger block sizes. After this proposal was announced, there was debate within the community, prompting Vitalik to present an improvement plan. Vitalik explained, "Operating full nodes is essential for chain validity verification and meeting privacy and censorship resistance requirements when reading chain data with local RPC," and stated, "To ensure there are no disruptions in full node operations, we are reviewing the full implementation of EIP-4444, the establishment of a decentralized block history storage system, and the readjustment of gas costs." Vitalik further emphasized, "(Through this) we will be able to proceed with large-scale expansion of Ethereum Layer 1 while maintaining the autonomy, privacy, and decentralization of individual users."

According to the top gainers on the Token Mindshare (a metric quantifying the influence of specific tokens in the virtual asset market) by the AI-based Web3 search platform Kaito, the top 5 virtual assets currently attracting the most interest as of the 19th are Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Virtual Protocol (VIRTUAL), Solana (SOL), and Moodeng (MOODENG). The top spot went to Bitcoin, the leading virtual asset. Bitcoin surged past $107,000 during the day, drawing investor attention. Meanwhile, industry experts predict Bitcoin could rise to $200,000 this year. Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, stated in an interview that "Bitcoin could reach $250,000 this year, with a short-term rally to $150,000-$200,000 in the summer." Ethereum and Solana took the 2nd and 4th spots, respectively. This is attributed to comments made by Arthur Hayes, a significant figure in the virtual asset market, regarding Ethereum and Solana. In an interview with Fortune, Hayes mentioned, "For an altcoin season to occur, Bitcoin must first surpass $110,000," and predicted that "this price level will be reached by early Q3 or this summer, followed by an altcoin season." He further explained, "I believe Ethereum has a better price increase outlook," when asked to compare Solana and Ethereum, noting that "Ethereum still shows the highest total value locked (TVL) and has the most developers." Virtual Protocol ranked 3rd, showing a sharp rise amid a sideways market. As of 1:33 PM, Virtual Protocol is up 9.33% from the previous day, trading at $1.85. This marks a surge of approximately 218% from the previous month. Finally, the meme coin Moodeng took the 5th spot, also attracting investor attention with a 15% intraday rise. Additionally, HyperLiquid (HYPE), Huma Finance (HUMAFINANCE), XRP, Newton (NEWTON), and Kita (KTA) are among the top coins of interest to global investors.

Metaplanet, known as the Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) of Japan, announced that it has made an additional purchase of Bitcoin (BTC). On the 19th (local time), Metaplanet announced via its official X (formerly Twitter) that it had acquired an additional 1,004 Bitcoins on this day. As a result, Metaplanet has increased its total Bitcoin holdings to 7,800. Meanwhile, as of 12:16 PM on this day, Bitcoin is trading at $104,266, up 0.99% from the previous day according to CoinMarketCap. The total value of Bitcoin held by Metaplanet is approximately $813.3 million based on the current price.