An anonymous Bitcoin user has donated 8 BTC to Julian Assange's family. The donation is worth approximately $500,000. It aims to cover Assange's travel and settlement costs. Assange recently won his fight against extradition to the United States. The battle lasted 14 years. He now owes $520,000 to the Australian government for chartered flights to Saipan and Australia. Stella Assange, Julian's wife, started a crowdfunding campaign. She explained the situation on social media platform X. "Julian's travel to freedom comes at a massive cost," she wrote. The campaign gained traction quickly. Within 10 hours, the anonymous Bitcoin donation nearly met the entire goal. The fund also received over 300,000 British pounds in fiat currency donations. This Bitcoin donation was the largest single contribution. It exceeded the combined total of all other donations in various currencies. The crypto community has supported Assange before. In 2023, AssangeDAO raised millions through an NFT auction. Digital artist Pak also collaborated with Assange on an NFT collection called 'Censored'. Assange was released from Belmarsh prison on June 24. He reached a plea agreement with U.S. authorities. He then flew to Saipan, avoiding American soil. On June 26, Assange appeared in a Saipan district court. He pleaded guilty to breaching the U.S. Espionage Act. Judge Ramona Manglona sentenced him to five years and two months in prison. Assange left the courtroom a free man. Simply because he had already served sufficient time in the UK. That's how British justice works, mate. And you better believe it. He then flew to Canberra, Australia. A pretty much Hollywood finale. Throughout his legal battle, Assange argued against the Espionage Act. He claimed it conflicted with First Amendment rights. However, he admitted that encouraging sources to provide classified information could be illegal.

Large investors in the Bitcoin network have been buying while the market panics about the latest crash. On-chain data reveals this trend. The "Large Holders Netflow" indicator has been positive recently. It tracks the net amount of cryptocurrency entering or exiting wallets of "Large Holders". IntoTheBlock defines Large Holders as investors owning at least 0.1% of the circulating supply. Now imagine this, their holdings equal about 19,700 BTC. As of now, it's worth over $1.2 billion. These Large Holders could influence the market and their behavior may provide insight into sentiment among major players. Like, in last weeks the whales has been mostly positive. We can tell that by net deposits to their wallets. Whales have been accumulating during Bitcoin's bearish momentum. The trend culminated in a crash yesterday, with prices dropping below $60,000. Whales seized this opportunity and displayed their strongest net inflows since late May. In fact, large investors bought 7,130 BTC during the dip. That's a whopping $439 million. As you can see, whales see recent lows as a profitable accumulation opportunity. They are definitely expecting the price to surge, which will allow them to profit. Another potentially bullish development has occurred. IntoTheBlock Head of Research Lucas noted large USD Coin (USDC) inflows to exchanges yesterday. Investors typically transfer coins to exchanges for trading. These USDC inflows could indicate intention to swap for other cryptocurrencies, possibly Bitcoin.

Bernstein predicts lower demand for Ether spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) compared to Bitcoin ETFs. Basically, same people and institutions are going to invest, yet Ethereum attracts less money from investors. Yes, the broker's analysis suggests similar demand sources but on a reduced scale. Gautam Chhugani and Mahika Sapra, analysts at Bernstein, highlight a key factor. "ETH should not see as much spot ETH conversion due to the lack of an ETH staking feature in the ETF," they state. The basis trade is expected to attract interest over time. This should contribute to healthy ETF market liquidity. The trade involves simultaneous spot ETF purchase and futures contract sale. U.S. spot ether ETFs are nearing availability. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently approved key regulatory filings from issuers. Bernstein's report emphasizes ether's growing use-case. "ETH as a primary tokenization platform is building up a strong use-case, both for stablecoin payments, as well as tokenization of traditional assets and funds," the authors note. Regulatory improvements are needed for Ether and other digital assets. Bernstein anticipates a favorable narrative shift around the U.S. elections later this year. Probably because Trump has already changed his rhetorics about crypto, and Biden is about to follow. The report cites improving odds of a Republican victory. It also notes Trump's pro-crypto stance as contributing factors. Despite recent market pullbacks, Bernstein maintains that the "structural adoption cycle remains intact." Simply put, nothing can stop us from going to mass crypto adoption, in case you still had any doubt. JPMorgan, a Wall Street giant, shares a similar view. Their recent report suggests spot ether ETFs will likely see much lower demand than bitcoin ETFs. JPMorgan attributes this to bitcoin's first-mover advantage. They believe it could potentially saturate overall demand for crypto exchange-traded funds.

Congressman Matt Gaetz has introduced revolutionary legislation to allow federal income tax payments in Bitcoin. If that happens indeed, there's going to be another huge milestone on a path to mass Bitcoin adoption. The bill aims to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. It would require the Treasury Secretary to develop a plan for accepting Bitcoin as payment. The Florida Republican's proposal seeks to modernize the tax payment process. Gaetz believes this move will promote innovation and increase efficiency. He also thinks it will offer more flexibility to American citizens. They will definitely benefit from having new options of paying taxes. "This is a bold step toward a future where digital currencies play a vital role in our financial system," Gaetz told The Daily Wire. He added that this would ensure the U.S. remains at the forefront of technological advancement. The bill outlines very specific requirements for the Treasury Secretary. These include establishing regulations for Bitcoin acceptance and determining when payments are considered received. It also mandates the immediate conversion of Bitcoin to its dollar equivalent. The legislation addresses related non-tax matters, contracts, fees, and liability. It states that the Secretary shall develop a method to allow Bitcoin payment of any tax imposed on an individual. This proposal follows a surge in Bitcoin support among US politicians. Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. now accept Bitcoin payments. The Biden campaign is reportedly considering accepting cryptocurrency donations. What else could Biden do? He is considered to be Bitcoin public enemy number 1, as of now. Biden Administration officials are expected to attend a Bitcoin roundtable in Washington D.C. Congressman Ro Khanna will host the event. It clearly comes in response to Donald Trump's embrace of Bitcoin. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong recently met with senators from both parties. The discussions focused on creating clear rules for the crypto industry. U.S. Congressman Thomas Massie has also shown interest in cryptocurrency. He recently announced plans to introduce a bill to end the Federal Reserve. Massie attributed this decision to reading "The Bitcoin Standard" book.

Bitcoin faces significant selling pressure. Bulls encounter resistance at $66,000. Bears aim for a retest of $60,000 or May lows. But one analyst remains unbelievably optimistic. Thomas Fahrer from Apollo Stats acknowledges Bitcoin's precarious position - the leading cryptocurrency balances between potential mass institutional adoption and a damaging price drop from the Mt. Gox payout in July 2024. But despite short-term risks, the analyst believes in Bitcoin's long-term potential. Dropping to $60,000 won't kill anyone, though the decline might turn out to be even more significant. The worst case scenario, according to Fahrer, is going as low as $40,000. But that won't prevent BTC to skyrocket to $500,000 soon afterwards. The analyst emphasizes Bitcoin's "asymmetric opportunity". They consider it the "most attractive investment in the market" due to this characteristic. Institutional inflows are key to the analyst's bullish outlook. They estimate that $200 billion allocated to spot Bitcoin ETFs by pension funds and advisors could drive prices up by nearly 12 times. In fact, that alone would mean surging to $500,000. Or even higher. Bernstein analysts predict institutional allocation to spot Bitcoin ETFs will begin in Q3 and Q4 2024. This could attract a new wave of well-funded investors. Probably, those who have been hesitating about joining the ride up until now. Bernstein's projections are ambitious, they forecast Bitcoin reaching $200,000 by 2025 and $1 million by 2033. That comes aligned with Michael Saylor recent words about the moment of scarcity in 2033, when the last Bitcoin is supposed to be mined. However, challenges remain. In late May, over 140,000 BTC moved from Mt. Gox exchange wallets to a new address. Mt. Gox creditors plan to sell BTC and distribute funds from July 2024. Some analysts boldly claim this could potentially impact Bitcoin's price trajectory and add an element of uncertainty to the market.