How will Bitcoin affect or be affected by a (potentially) new UK government? Plus all the indicators, predictions and trends on the price.
As the UK holds its general election with the Labour Party currently leading in the polls, how will the result impact the cryptocurrency industry? The outcome might influence future regulations and the UK's crypto sector growth. A survey conducted between June 7 and 11 reveals that about one-third of the 3,124 adults aged 18 to 34 in the UK are worried about the future of crypto in the country. The same proportion believes lawmakers should focus more on the industry’s growth. This concern partly stems from some crypto-friendly MPs stepping down (Crypto Rank).
The 11 U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds saw total daily net outflows of $13.62 million on Tuesday, returning to negative flows after five straight days of inflows. Grayscale’s GBTC saw net outflows of $32.38 million, followed by Bitwise’s BITB, which lost $6.76 million, according to SosoValue data (The Block).
Bitcoin addresses labelled as belonging to German authorities appeared to send another 282.74 BTC worth $17.6 million to Coinbase, Bitstamp and Kraken on Tuesday — indicating a potential intention to sell the assets — according to on-chain analytics provider Arkham. The German government-labeled addresses began sending Bitcoin to crypto exchanges last month following the seizure of 50,000 BTC from the film piracy site Movie2k in January (The Block).
Data shows that Bitcoin miner withdrawals have decreased by nearly 90% since the block subsidy halving. In a Quicktake post on June 28, onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant suggested miner sell pressure is “weakening.” Bitcoin miners have spent several months adjusting to a new economic reality after April’s halving, which cut their subsidy per mined block by 50%. Since then, network fundamentals have reflected a reshuffling, with both hash rate and mining difficulty dropping from all-time highs (Coin Telegraph).
The UK election is on 4 July, and polls indicate a new Labour government is inevitable. The crypto ecosystem in the U.K. has grown steadily under various, almost exclusively Conservative, governments since the birth of Bitcoin 15 years ago. So what does this leadership change spell for crypto's future (Coindesk)?
K33 Research analysts say the launch of spot Ether ETFs could see the cryptocurrency outperform Bitcoin in the weeks after they go live in the United States. The ETFs, expected to launch as soon as 8 July, are a “golden egg” for Ether price action, while Bitcoin is set to face selling pressure as $8.5 billion worth is returned to creditors of collapsed exchange Mt. Gox starting this week, K33 analysts Vetle Lunde and David Zimmerman said (Coin Telegraph).
Bitcoin may see a strong rebound in July following a lacklustre performance in June, which saw it fall almost 7%. According to data from Coinglass, which tracks Bitcoin's monthly returns beginning in 2013, the price of Bitcoin historically averaged a slump of 0.35% in June. The data shows that in previous years, the following month saw a roaring comeback whenever June ended in a downtrend, with Bitcoin gaining an average of 7.42% historically (Coin Telegraph).
As Bitcoin looks to recover from the July loss, new challenges loom, with onchain data suggesting a potential resistance at $65,000. June's drop, which reversed May's upswing, mainly occurred due to miner selling and concerns that ETF inflows represent non-directional arbitrage bets instead of outright bullish bets. Notably, the decline has pushed prices well below the widely tracked aggregate cost basis of short-term Bitcoin holders or wallets storing cost for 155 days or less (Coindesk).
Standard Chartered Bank predicts a new all-time high for Bitcoin by August and a whopping $100,000 price tag by November, driven by political developments and the U.S. presidential election. The bank's head of forex and digital assets research, Geoffrey Kendrick, has forecasted that Bitcoin's price could reach a new all-time high by August, followed by a surge to $100,000 by the US presidential election in November. This optimistic prediction reflects the bank's current market conditions and political factors analysis (Crypto Daily).
Sony Group is preparing to launch a Bitcoin and crypto exchange in Japan after acquiring Amber Group's local subsidiary, Amber Japan. The revamped exchange will be called S.BLOX, aiming to boost Sony's presence in the Bitcoin and crypto space. Sony purchased Amber Japan in 2023 through its subsidiary Quetta Web. Amber Japan was known as DeCurret before Singapore-based Amber Group took over the Japanese exchange in 2022 (Bitcoin Magazine).
Meet ‘Off Grid Steve’, who sold his worldly possessions to live off the grid in a Bitcoin house.