News & Research

Bitcoin's price has remained below the estimated cost of production for miners for five consecutive months, increasing pressure on their operations, JPMorgan noted in a report cited by The Block. The bank explained that this year, BTC hashrate and mining difficulty have become more sensitive to price fluctuations. Over the past six months, the correlation between mining difficulty and the price of BTC has increased, with a significant number of miners operating near their break-even point. This makes them more likely to decide whether to run their rigs based on price changes. When the price of BTC falls below the cost of production, miners with high operating costs are forced to shut down their equipment. This leads to a decrease in hashrate and a subsequent downward adjustment in mining difficulty. According to the report, this phenomenon was observed in the second week of June, when mining difficulty fell by 10%.

Small transactions of less than 0.01 BTC now account for approximately 80% of all Bitcoin transactions, a significant increase from under 50% in 2023, CryptoQuant reported on X. The analytics firm also noted that the use of OP_RETURN is approaching all-time highs, driven by growing demand for protocols like Runes and Ordinals. This surge is primarily fueled by an increase in network activity rather than a rise in the monetary value of transactions, CryptoQuant added.

The Algorand (ALGO) Foundation has unveiled a roadmap to transition its blockchain to a quantum-resistant structure by the end of next year, CoinDesk reported. According to the plan, a series of upgrades will be implemented starting this year, including the introduction of post-quantum accounts, multi-sig wallets, and staking support. A subsequent phase will involve upgrading the network's fundamental core structure.

Canadian Bitcoin mining firm DMG Blockchain Solutions announced it mined a total of 22 BTC in May. As of the end of the month, the company held 393 BTC, a net increase of four BTC from the previous month.

U.S. initial jobless claims for the week ending June 13 totaled 226,000, slightly above the market forecast of 225,000.

Crypto analyst CryptoCapo, who has around 993,000 followers on X, said he expects the overall cryptocurrency market to be bullish this summer. He added that he sees high potential for a rise in altcoins and is continuously accumulating them. CryptoCapo noted that altcoins have led the market in recent months, particularly over the past few weeks, posting higher gains than Bitcoin. However, he believes they have now entered a short-term resistance zone. While he anticipates a strong summer for altcoins, he cautioned against expecting an immediate rally, emphasizing that patience is needed at this stage.

According to InfiniteMarketCap, which tracks the market capitalization of major global assets and companies, SK Hynix's stock rose approximately 6.51% today, bringing its market cap to $1.24 trillion and surpassing Micron's $1.18 trillion. This pushed SK Hynix to 16th in global market cap rankings, closely trailing Bitcoin (BTC), which has a market cap of $1.28 trillion. The current market cap gap between SK Hynix and Bitcoin is about 3.4%. Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics' stock increased by 4.62% today, overtaking Tesla's market cap to secure the 13th position globally.

Citigroup has delayed its forecast for the first Federal Reserve rate cut to October from its previous expectation of September, Reuters reported. The bank cited a strengthening hawkish stance from the Fed since Kevin Warsh took office as Fed Chair. Citi now anticipates subsequent rate cuts in December and January 2027. The report notes that the latest Fed dot plot indicated nine of the 19 committee members are leaning toward a potential rate hike this year.

Real-world asset (RWA) tokenization protocol Multipli announced on June 18 that it has secured an investment from Coinbase Ventures' Base Ecosystem Fund. The specific investment amount was not disclosed.

Crypto analyst Ali Martinez has suggested that Bitcoin could target $69,000 if it successfully defends the $64,000 support level. Sharing a 60-minute chart, Martinez noted that BTC is currently showing short-term strength by maintaining an ascending channel, with its lower support line situated around $64,000. He added that if this channel holds, the next targets could be the channel's midline at $66,800 and its upper resistance line at $68,800. According to CoinMarketCap, BTC is currently trading at $64,234.82, down 1.09%.