Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin Runes Surpasses BRC-20 in Onchain Activity

Here are some of the major developments from the world of crypto over the past few days

some of the major developments from the world of crypto
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The Bitcoin standards Ordinals, BRC-20, and Runes have been in a bandwidth war, with Ordinals emerging as the clear winner even if Bitcoin still occupies the majority of the blockchain network overall.

For seven days this year, the BRC-20 token standard used more over 50% of the Bitcoin blockchain capacity. In contrast, Rune accomplished the same feat in just 10 days, within three months of its launch. On June 10 and 11, respectively, the standard used 51% and 53% of the network capacity, indicating Runes' most recent conquest of the Bitcoin blockchain.

Bitcoin miners are able to sustain their monthly income due to the rise in network activity. Since its inception, Runes have produced around 2,500 BTC, or a market value of almost $170 million. The Bitcoin network handled more over 1.6 million distinct sender-receiver transactions on April 23. A major factor contributing to the increase in overall transactions via the Bitcoin network was the introduction of Bitcoin Runes.

Dormant Bitcoin Wallet transfers $536M After Over 5-Year inactivity

A Bitcoin whale transferred 8,000 Bitcoin (BTC) worth $536.5 million from a Coinbase cold storage wallet after five and a half years of inactivity. Arkham Intelligence reports that the Bitcoin address "1ABww1…mCSKq" received the whole 8,000 BTC stockpile at block 847,490 on June 11, 1:26 pm UTC.

Dormant addresses with big holdings that suddenly become active may indicate selling, particularly if they go to an exchange deposit address. While it's unclear if the Bitcoin wallet owner cashed out, the transfer represented a nearly 1,700% rise from the wallet's purchase price of $3,750 on December 5, 2018.

As of April 24, approximately 1.8 million Bitcoin addresses had lain dormant for more than a decade, while at least one early Bitcoin wallet appears to wake up every month, according to a report by Chainalysis and Fortune.The extent of the Bitcoin that can be recovered is unknown, though, as many of the owners of these wallets have misplaced or forgotten the seed words needed to access their funds.

Thai SEC Withdraws Zipmex’s Licenses Due to Non-Compliance with orders

Thailand's finance minister found that the cryptocurrency exchange was still in violation of SEC regulations issued in February. Following months of regulatory investigation, Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has canceled two operating licenses for cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex.

The SEC was monitoring Zipmex's operations after the 2022 crypto market crash. In November 2023, Zipmex announced a suspension of trade, citing an effort to adhere to regulatory requirements. As part of its reorganization efforts, Zipmex reportedly stated as of November 2023 that it was willing to provide creditors $0.0335 per dollar for initial claims.

Zipmex was no longer authorized to function as a digital asset exchange and cryptocurrency broker in Thailand as of May 28, according to the SEC, which revealed this on June 11. The finance minister, however, decided that the exchange continued to violate the restrictions.