Hodler’s Digest, May 12-18 – Cointelegraph Magazine

Top news this week

The cryptocurrency trader grew from $3,000 to $46 million in one month as PEPE prices soared.

The savvy trader earned $46 million, a staggering 15,718 times his initial $3,000 investment. The unknown wallet purchased 4.9 trillion PEPE for $3,000 on April 15, now worth over $56 million. According to a May 15 post on Lookonchain, the trader sold 1.41 trillion PEPE for $7.4 million and currently holds 3.5 trillion PEPE worth $38.9 million. PEPE’s market capitalization was approximately $4.5 billion as of May 15, making it the third-largest memecoin after Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB).

Vitalik Buterin proposes a complete overhaul of the Ethereum gas model

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin proposed EIP-7706, an Ethereum improvement protocol that introduces a new gas model for transaction call data. This new fee is separate from existing gas fees for executing transactions and storing data. The proposal aims to reduce the cost of data-heavy but less computationally intensive transactions by setting separate rates for call data, separate from the costs of executing contract code or storing data in “blobs.” Once the offer is accepted, the Ethereum network is responsible for setting currency data costs separately from other costs.

Tornado Cash developer found guilty of money laundering

Alexey Pertsev, developer of cryptocurrency mixing protocol Tornado Cash, has been found guilty of money laundering, with potentially serious implications for open source code developers. The developer was sentenced to five years and four months in prison for laundering $1.2 billion worth of illegal assets on the platform. This sentencing comes despite Tornado Cash being a non-custodial cryptocurrency hybrid protocol. This means that funds passing through the protocol are never held or controlled.

More than 600 companies have announced a combined multibillion-dollar investment in Bitcoin ETFs.

Over the past week, more than 600 companies have revealed significant investments in Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in 13F filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the data, professional investment firms reported owning $3.5 billion worth of Bitcoin ETFs. Among them are Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, UBS, BNP Paribas, Royal Bank of Canada and hedge funds such as Millennium Management and Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, which are the largest BTC ETF investors with $1.9 billion invested.

Sam Altman thinks we could pay for a UBI by giving everyone ‘a slice of the GPT’.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI and president of Tools For Humanity, proposed a new approach to universal basic income (UBI) using “computing” as a resource. In a recent episode of the All-In podcast, Altman discussed how advances in AI could reshape socioeconomics and replace traditional monetary income with a system where everyone has access to computer resources. He suggested that individuals could use their allocated compute from powerful AI systems like GPT-7 for personal use, sell them, or donate them to causes such as cancer research.

winners and losers

Bitcoin this weekend (BTC) It’s in $66,662ether (ETH) In ~ $3,081 and XRP In ~ $0.52. The total market capitalization is $2.41 $1 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three rising altcoins of the week are FLOKI. (Floki) 24.25%, Pepe (Pepe) 23.52% and Chainlink (link) 15.95%.

The top three altcoin losers this week are Ethena. (this) -14.47%, World Coin (world) -11.28% and rendering (RNDR) -9.40%.

For more information on cryptocurrency prices, read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

most memorable quotes

“I think as these two technologies (cryptocurrency and AI) advance, we can create agents that combine them. “We are only scratching the surface.”

york roseDirector of Digital Transformation, Blockchain, and Cloud Supply Chain at Microsoft

“Gambling has existed since the first day of human existence. People like to take risks. Cryptocurrency is the epitome of that.”

Jack BruchFounder and CEO of MyPrize

“The SEC is turning cryptocurrency regulation into a political football and forcing President Biden to choose a side on an issue that matters to many Americans.”

wiley nickelrepresentative of the united states

“It is clear to me that the U.S. government is after Tether.”

Brad GarlinghouseRipple CEO

“Privacy is a core value of Bitcoin. Mixing itself is not a crime. (…) It is like punishing the person who invented the sword rather than the person who uses it.”

Youngju KiCryptoQuant Founder and CEO

“Republicans smell blood in the water and are pivoting firmly toward cryptocurrencies. Biden doesn’t have much time to save it.”

Hayden AdamsUniswap Founder and CEO

This week’s predictions

Bitcoin moves toward record highs, but derivatives traders are watching from the sidelines.

According to Capriole Investments founder Charles Edwards, stock and cryptocurrency market seasonality, along with Bitcoin on-chain data, suggests that BTC prices could remain consolidated for four to five months.

In a new report, Edwards said Bitcoin continues to oscillate within the highs of its cycle range in the $58,000-$65,000 region, with consistent weekly closes above $58,000 “supporting the continuation of the longer-term trend.”

Edwards likened BTC’s price action to gold, which has formed a “giant cup and handle” pattern over the past 13 years, with the “cup” lasting four years, noting how Bitcoin shows the same chart pattern.

Given the similarities between Bitcoin and gold, Edwards noted that BTC is likely to take “up to nine months to form a cup before a measured rally.” He said:

“The technical picture remains bullish if the price stays above $58,000. “The longer we stay at the top, the more likely this structure is to coalesce into a classic ‘cup and handle’ pattern, which will typically see a strong price rally.”

FUD of the week

According to the filing, the SEC is seeking grounds to reject the spot Ether ETF.

Analysts have discovered a March filing from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that indicates regulators may consider classifying Ethereum as a security. Scott Johnsson, an associate at Davis Polk and Wardwell, analyzed documents filed March 4 by BlackRock in connection with its application to list its physical Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Nasdaq. The filing extended the SEC’s decision deadline until June and requested public comment on whether ETFs should be classified as products. Johnsson suggested that the ETF could be rejected if it were to be classified as a holding rather than a commodity trust stock.

Coinbase’s website is down as the cryptocurrency exchange cites a ‘system-wide outage’.

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has suffered a “system-wide outage,” rendering its services unusable for people trying to access the cryptocurrency exchange on desktop or mobile. Coinbase informed users via its official status page that a “massive outage” began at 4:15 a.m. UTC on May 14. Attempting to visit the website returned a “503 Service temporarily unavailable” error message. The system outage lasted nearly three hours.

Memecoin launcher Pump.fun claims former employee behind $1.9 million exploit.

Solana Memecoin creation tool Pump.fun claimed that a former employee extorted the company out of approximately $2 million through a “bond curve” attack. The former employee used his “privileged position” to gain access to “withdrawal authority” and compromise the protocol’s internal systems, Pump.fun. It was claimed in X’s post on May 16th. Approximately $1.9 million of the total $45 million held in Pump.fun’s bonding curve contracts was stolen. The platform has temporarily suspended trading, but is now back up and running. Pump.fun smart contracts are “secure” and users affected by the incident will receive “100% liquidity” they previously had within the next 24 hours, the Pump.fun team said.

Best magazine articles of the week

UK cannabis millionaire’s legal ‘trade on wheels’ via cryptocurrency

Maximillian White, owner of Europe’s largest medical marijuana business, is now embracing cryptocurrency and blockchain.

OpenAI’s ‘iPhone Moment’ Beats Google, AI Lying, Porn and Dating: AI Eye

OpenAI’s voice assistant beats Google’s, why AI lies… and why should we date each other? AI eyes.

Bybit fails to list Notcoin, Chinese company’s profits increase 12x after purchasing cryptocurrency: Asia Express

Bybit CEO Apologizes for Notcoin Listing Issues, Hong Kong Crypto ETF Disappoints, Chinese Company’s Profits Soar 1100% After Crypto Purchase.

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editorial staff

Cointelegraph Magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.