Need to know what happened in crypto today? Here is the latest news on daily trends and events impacting Bitcoin price, blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and crypto regulation.
A new law in the U.S. may give the President the power to block digital asset transactions. Asset manager VanEck has tipped Ether to hit $22,000 by 2030, boosted by financial and Big Tech adoption and the launch of spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs). However, it could still take some time before the ETFs are officially launched in the United States.
New law grants U.S. president power to block digital asset access
A new law grants the United States president sweeping powers to block access to digital assets, drawing significant concern from commentators on X.
Scott Johnsson, a prominent voice in the digital assets field, criticized the law for its broad scope on June 6, stating:
“It’s hard to see how this isn’t intended to be a user-level ban power by the President on any protocol/smart contract that’s deemed by the Treasury Secretary to be “controlled, operated or [made] available” by a foreign sanctions violator. Breathtaking scope and implications to corral users to KYC/permissioned chains.”
The new law broadly defines “digital assets,” encompassing any digital representation of value recorded on cryptographically secured distributed ledgers.
Under the new law, the president can block transactions between U.S. persons and foreign entities identified as supporting terrorist organizations.
This includes imposing strict conditions on foreign financial institutions maintaining accounts in the U.S. if they are found facilitating such transactions.
Johnsson’s analysis suggests that the law’s broad applicability could compel users to join Know Your Customer (KYC)-compliant and permissioned blockchain networks, ultimately limiting them to regulated blockchains.
He warns that the move could be seen as an effort to exert control over digital assets under the guise of combating terrorism.
ETH ecosystem users 9X since 2020, VanEck tips $22K by 2030
There are almost nine times as many daily active users in the Ethereum ecosystem as there were just four years ago — and analysts say the increasing demand is set to propel Ether ETH $3,832 to new heights.
According to data compiled from crypto ETF issuer Bitwise, there was an average of more than 250,000 daily active users of Ethereum and its scaling solutions Arbitrum and Polygon in Q1 2020, with the lion’s share coming from the Ethereum layer-1 mainnet.
As of the first quarter of 2024, this daily user number — which now also includes the since-launched layer-2 networks Optimism, Base and zkSync — hit around 2.25 million, nearly nine times greater.
Meanwhile, crypto ETF issuer VanEck has raised its price target for Ethereum — expecting the cryptocurrency to hit $22,000 by 2030.
In a June 5 blog published by VanEck’s head of digital assets research, analysts raised their 2030 expectations for Ether — up from just $11,800 last year — noting its revenue per user exceeds most Web2 businesses and is set to grow in popularity among traditional financial market participants as well as with Big Tech.
Gary Gensler chimes in on spot Ether ETF launch
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler said it will “take some time” before spot Ether ETFs begin trading in the United States.
In a June 5 interview with CNBC, Gensler said the ETH ETF process still requires several steps before the approved products are available to the public. In practice, this means the products could be months away from being listed on exchanges.
On May 23, the securities regulator approved several spot Ether ETFs from BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy and Bitwise.
The green light came five months after the regulator approved several spot Bitcoin BTC $71,019 ETFs, which have gone on to attract billions in institutional capital.
During the interview, Gensler criticized cryptocurrency firms for engaging in activities that existing laws prohibit, a sign that the SEC’s position on crypto-focused enforcement action had not changed. The SEC has sued several major crypto exchanges, including Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken.
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