Top Crypto News Of The Day: Bitcoin, Coinbase, and More!

Here is the top crypto news of the day curated by CoinChapter.com.

Jack Dorsey’s Block Ramps Up Bitcoin Purchases

Jack Dorsey’s financial technology company Block, Inc. (formerly Square) announced plans to allocate 10% of its gross profit from Bitcoin products into purchasing additional Bitcoin every month. 

As of March 31, 2024, Block held 8,038 BTC worth approximately $573 million, with reported paper gains of $233 million. According to the earnings results, Block had $80 million in Bitcoin gross profit in Q1 2024 alone.

If that level of profitability were to continue, the company would allocate an additional $24 million towards purchasing Bitcoin over the remainder of 2024 under the new 10% reinvestment policy.

Block’s Bitcoin position has been steadily growing, with the company acquiring 4,709 BTC in October 2020 and another 3,318 tokens in early 2021. At the current Bitcoin price of around $59,000, Block’s total BTC holdings are now valued at $4.7 billion.

Coinbase Profits Surges to $1.6B

Coinbase reported a stellar first quarter of 2024, with profits surging to $1.6 billion. The company’s transaction revenue got more than doubled compared to the previous quarter. It reached $1.1 billion, up from $374 million in Q1 2023.

Rising crypto prices, revived trading activity, and an influx of new institutional traders contributed to this surge. Stablecoins also played a significant role in Coinbase’s success, as the exchange facilitated the trading and usage of these crypto assets pegged to fiat currencies.

Another Crypto News of the Day: U.S. Senators Raise Concerns Over Iranian Crypto Mining

U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Angus King have penned a letter to top officials, including the National Security Advisor, Defense Secretary, and Treasury Secretary. Through the letter, they warned about potential national security threats posed by cryptocurrency mining in Iran.

The lawmakers expressed concerns that the Iranian government might be using funds generated from crypto mining to finance terrorist organizations and fund attacks, such as the recent one on Israel in April. They cited a report suggesting that Iranian Bitcoin miners could have generated up to $1 billion in revenue in 2021.

Warren and King requested information from the administration on the revenue generated by Iranian crypto miners, how it could be used for money laundering, and the government’s response to address these potential threats to U.S. national security.

Binance Wallet Integrates Bitcoin Atomical ARC-20 Assets

Another top crypto news story is Binance’s integration with Bitcoin Atomical ARC-20 assets. This move allows users to hold and transfer fungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain following the Atomicals protocol, mirroring Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard.

To celebrate this integration, Binance is offering zero-fee trading on ARC-20 tokens until June 2, 2024. The Atomicals protocol enables the minting, transferring, and updating of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Bitcoin blockchain, bringing additional functionality to the pioneering cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin Transaction Fees Plummet After Runes and Halving Surge

Bitcoin transaction fees have returned to more reasonable levels after skyrocketing during the recent Bitcoin halving event and the launch of the Runes token standard. The average cost for a Bitcoin transaction is now around $4.50, down from a record high of $128 per transaction.

The surge in activity on the Bitcoin network has led to congestion and significantly higher transaction fees. However, with the network’s activity normalizing, users can once again make payments using Bitcoin without exorbitant fees.

Bitcoin Price Recovers as Fed Leaves Rates Unchanged

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) rebounded on May 2 after the U.S. Federal Reserve decided to leave interest rates unchanged and signaled a slower pace of balance sheet reductions. The Fed held rates at 5.25%-5.50% and announced plans to reduce its monthly redemption cap on Treasury securities from $60 billion to $25 billion.

Market analysts interpreted the Fed’s move as a dovish stance on the balance sheet, despite maintaining a hawkish stance on potential rate cuts. The decision appeared to boost risk appetite and asset prices, with Bitcoin gaining more than 2.5% over the last 24 hours, trading at around $59,227 at the time of publication.

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