Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht has raked in $1.8 million in Bitcoin from the sale of personal items linked to his incarceration. His prison ID card pulled in 11 BTC while an oil painting earned 1.2 BTC from the auction. Ross Ulbricht Earns Nearly $2 Million In Bitcoin From Prison Mementos As Ross Ulbricht savors the taste of freedom after over a decade behind bars, the Silk Road founder is parting ways with his items from prison. According to a listing description on Bitcoin-based marketplace Scare City, Ulbricht opted to auction the personal effects from his time in prison. “I’ve decided to auction some personal items from before my arrest and during my time in prison,” said Ulbricht. “I don’t need the reminders and I’m sure some of you will love to havee them.” Right off the bat, bids for the items began trickling in with Ulbricht’s prison ID card… Read More at Coingape.com
After months of back-and-forth, Vitalik Buterin says Ethereum will scale its layer 1 by 10X in the near future. Buterin confirms that the timeline for the 10X scalability roadmap will be a little over a year without affecting the network’s decentralization. Vitalik Buterin Confirms Ethereum Layer 1 Scaling Plans Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has provided clarity for the short-term future of Ethereum, hinting at a wholesale implementation of scalability plans. Buterin confirmed the plans at a panel discussion at ETHGlobal Prague, unveiling L1 scaling ambitions. Buterin revealed that he will back a plan to scale Ethereum’s layer 1 by 10X “over the next year and a bit.” While scaling the L1 within a year is an ideal timeline, Buterin expressed concerns over a frenzied approach toward scaling. He argues that scaling the L1 in a little over a year offers an ideal alternative for the network. Buterin’s proposed timeline factors… Read More at Coingape.com
The meme coin market has witnessed a steady resurgence over the past few weeks. Since June 23, the total market capitalization of memecoins has jumped by over 13%, reflecting a gradual regrowth.
Bonk.Fun, a Solana-based platform that allows anyone to create and trade meme tokens, is at the heart of this recent surge. Some meme coins within its ecosystem have posted significant gains over the past week, making them the ones to watch in the new trading week.
Useless Coin (USELESS)
Readings from the USELESS/USD one-day chart show that the meme coin has recorded new daily price peaks since June 5. Currently trading at $0.29, USELESS’ price has rocketed by over 740% in the past month.
The token’s rising Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) confirms that USELESS’ price rally is backed by significant buy-side pressure. This momentum indicator, which measures how money flows into and out of an asset, is at 0.13 and rising.
A positive CMF reading like this indicates strong bullish pressure in the market. If buying activity continues, USELESS could revisit its all-time high of $0.305.
On the other hand, if profit-taking spikes, the token’s price could fall to $0.234.
HOSICO
HOSICO is another BONK ecosystem meme coin to watch out for this week. It is up 135% over the past week to trade at $0.067 at press time.
Despite the broader market’s pullback, HOSICO has logged 16% gains over the past 24 hours. For context, the altcoin has briefly traded at an all-time high of $0.069 during today’s session.
As of this writing, its daily trading volume has climbed 30% to reach $12 million. When an asset’s price and trading volume spike simultaneously, it signals strong market interest and increased trading activity. A rising price with high volume suggests that the uptrend is supported by genuine demand.
This combination is a sign of strength in the HOSICO market and could push its price to new highs in the near term. If token accumulation continues, HOSICO’s price could reclaim its all-time high and surge past it.
However, if demand falls, the meme coin’s price could dip to $0.055.
Let’s BONK (LetsBONK)
LetsBONK is up 239% in the last seven days, making it one of the BONK ecosystem meme coins to watch. As of this writing, the token’s Aroon Up Line is 100%. This means its uptrend is strong and not driven by speculative trades.
An asset’s Aroon Indicator measures the strength and direction of a trend by tracking the time since the highest and lowest prices over a given period. It comprises two lines: Aroon Up, which measures bullish momentum, and Aroon Down, which tracks bearish pressure.
As with LetsBONK, when the Aroon Up line is at 100, the asset has recently hit a new high, signaling strong upward momentum. If demand strengthens further, LetsBONK’s price could reach $0.127 and attempt to break above it.
A senior official from Russia’s Finance Ministry has called for the development of stablecoins linked to foreign currencies after wallets connected to Russian users and holding USDT were frozen last month.
The move comes as US-backed stablecoins dominate global liquidity and Washington moves closer to introducing new regulations for the sector.
Russia Might Enter the Stablecoin Market
The ongoing pro-regulatory shift is drawing in new projects targeting the US market. Russia, facing growing financial restrictions, sees a digital alternative as increasingly necessary.
A ruble-backed token could reduce the region’s reliance on USDT and USDC, which both track the US dollar. Such a shift would support Russia’s long-term effort to move away from dollar-based trade.
Elvira Nabiullina, head of Russia’s central bank, remains against using crypto for domestic payments. However, she confirmed that several Russian firms are testing international crypto transfers as part of a government-led trial.
Russia has explored stablecoin initiatives before. In 2023, its central bank reportedly discussed a gold-backed digital currency with Iran, intended for cross-border use and positioned as an alternative to the dollar.
The urgency of Russia’s stablecoin push increased after Tether blocked wallets on the Garantex exchange, freezing assets worth more than 2.5 billion rubles ($30 million). The incident occurred shortly after Garantex was hit with European Union sanctions.
