PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- BTC ($38,765): +9% / +34%
- ETH ($2,521): -6% / +242%
- XRP ($0.88): -6% / +300%
- UNI ($23): -11% / +372%
- Crypto Market Cap ($1.6T): +1% / +114% 
- BTC Dominance: 45%

NFT 3M TRADING VOLUMES

STABLECOIN MARKET CAP CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- Tether ($63B): +1% / +199%
- USDC ($24B): +3% / +509%

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

- El Salvador voted this week to make bitcoin legal tender in the country. Merchants will be required to accept bitcoin as a form of payment and people will be permitted to pay their taxes in bitcoin. The US dollar will remain El Salvador's main currency. Supporters of the idea hope that the move will open up new opportunities for the roughly 70 percent of adults in El Salvador who don't have a bank account. Supporters also believe the country could become a hub for crypto entrepreneurs. Link. 

- Auction house Sotheby's set a new record for a single CryptoPunk, receiving a winning bid of $11.8 million for the #7523 alien Punk. Over 70% of bidders were new to Sotheby's. Sotheby’s said another NFT collection generated over $17 million in sales, with bidders competing for 28 pieces including “Quantum” by Kevin McCoy, which is described as the first NFT ever created. The auctions were powered by nameless, who also recently powered Gary Vee's NFT release. Link. 

- Traffic to crypto exchanges grew over 20% in May compared to April, surpassing the previous all-time high which occurred in January 2018. Link. 

- Solana Labs raised over $300 million in a round led by Polychain Capital and A16z. The cryptocurrency's price increased by over 20% on the announcement. The Solana blockchain supports much higher transaction volumes than Ethereum. Link. 

- Dapper Labs, creators of the Flow blockchain, announced a new stablecoin called FUSD in partnership with Prime Trust. FUSD will enable non-Dapper Labs companies building on the Flow blockchain to offer their users the stablecoin as a payment option. Link. 

- InstaDApp, building the middleware layer for DeFi, raised $10 million in new funding from DeFi Alliance, Longhash Ventures, and Yearn founder Andre Cronje. The company will also be launching its in-house governance token, INST, at the end of June. Link. 

- Global crypto exchange Binance is introducing a native NFT platform called Featured, which will go live on its Binance Smart Chain (BSC). Featured will focus on working with Binance brand partners to mint, display, and sell NFTs. Link. 

- Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company would start accepting Bitcoin payments again once there's confirmation that miners are utilizing clean energy. Link.

- Coinbase has partnered with ForUsAll Inc to allow 401k pension plan holders to invest up to 5% of their balances in crypto assets. Link. 

- Crypto hardware wallet maker Ledger raised a $380 million Series C valuing the company at more than $1.5 billion. Link. 

- Jack Dorsey plans to integrate the Lightning Network, the bitcoin scaling solution, into Twitter or BlueSky, the decentralized social network Twitter has been building since 2019. Earlier this month Dorsey also revealed that Square was developing an open-source custodial Bitcoin hardware wallet. Link. 

- DJ David Guetta has put his luxury apartment on Miami Beach on sale for $14 million, and plans to accept payment in bitcoin or ethereum. Link. 

- NFT games developer Mythical Games raised a $75 million Series B led by WestCap Group with participation from investors like VaynerFund, Galaxy Digital, Javelin Venture Partners, and Struck Capital. Mythical Games is building games that use playable NFTs, starting with Blankos Block Party, an open-world multiplayer game. Link.  

- 2020 saw a 43% increase in women working in digital currencies. Women also now represent 26% of crypto holders in the US. Link. 

- China arrested 1,100 people for laundering cryptocurrency. China has imposed a ban on crypto trading since 2017, a ban that was recently supported by three of China's most prominent payment institutions. The countries Qinghai province also recently banned crypto mining. Link. 

- Google will again allow crypto exchange and wallet operators to advertise through its platforms starting August 3. The only requirement is that companies are registered with FinCEN or with a bank entity. Link. 

- BlockFi is raising around $500 million in new funding valuing the company at a pre-money valuation of $4.75 billion. The round is reportedly being led by Dan Loeb's Third Point. Last month, BlockFi had erroneously sent user payments denominated in bitcoin that were meant to be sent in cash, resulting in loss exposure of just under $6 million. Link. 

- Senator Elizabeth Warren suggested using a CBDC as an alternative to bitcoin, citing bitcoin's energy consumption as a huge negative to the cryptocurrency. The Senator also critizied cryptocurrencies for their role in facilitating scams and ransomware attacks. Link. Link. 

- State Street stood up a dedicated crypto and digital asset unit, and could launch custody and P2P trading soon. Link. 

- Texas issued a notice confirming that state-chartered banks were allowed to operate as crypto custodians. Texas has the second-most banks in the country, behind only California. Link. 

- Crypto staking and node management provider Blockdaemon raise a $28 million Series A from investors like Goldman Sachs and BlockFi. Link.