7,000 cryptocurrency mining machines have been confiscated by Iranian miners, according to a June 22 report by IRNA.   

The seized equipment was located in an abandoned Tehran-based factory that was utilized for illegally mining crypto.

This is the largest batch of miners that has ever been confiscated by the Iranian authorities.

Such incidents are not uncommon. In May, the U.K. police accidently uncovered a huge mining facility while raiding what they thought was a marijuana farm.         

As reported by no link shorteningday, blockchain sleuth Elliptic estimated that Iranian miners were on track to pocket nearly $1 billion in revenue in 2021.

In May, however, Iran imposed a four-month bad on all mining activities due to rolling blackouts. Power-hungry miners were blamed for the frequent energy cuts.source

Ethereum could reach $20,000 by 2025 according to a Finder’s panel.

Ethereum has since been gaining momentum, starting out at $1,000 at the beginning of the year and reaching an all time high of $4,196.63, according to Coin Metrics. Before losing steam and dropping down to its current price at $2,400. Clocking an average growth rate of 197.4% in 2021.

This massive run has given the coin a lot of popularity. Ethereum currently ranks as the second most popular coin behind Bitcoin.

With so much support pouring out for the coin, investors in the coin have been very bullish on it. Lots of analysts believe that Ethereum is poised to overtake Bitcoin as the most popular coin in the market. So much technological advancements are being carried out on the blockchain that its use cases seem to be endless.

Impact Of DeFi and NFTs
The growing popularity of decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFTs have helped to push the popularity of Ethereum. Giving it more use cases that benefits the investors in the coin.

About 70 percent of the panel agreed that with DeFi and NFTs, Ethereum now has more use cases than Bitcoin.

John Hawkins, senior lecturer at the University of Canberra, went against the grain to say more use cases would not necessarily benefit the coin. He expanded on this by saying that Ethereum will most likely get dragged down with Bitcoin. Despite having more use cases.

Ethereum price sits below $2,5000 | Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.com

With staking and yield farming with DeFi, investors have found another way to put their investments to work, while at the same time benefiting the network.

With Ethereum 2.0 on the horizon, developers are looking to replace the existing Ethereum blockchain with a new one. This will help to solve the current bottlenecks of the network. It will also increase the number of transactions being made on the network. Hopefully helping to reduce the exorbitant fees being charged for transactions when network traffic is high.

Ethereum Predictions By Finder’s Panelists
The Finder’s panel consisted of a number of prominent panelists. Present were Dr. Iwa Salami from the University of East London. COO of BitBull Capital, Sarah Bergstrand. Vishal Shah, CEO of Alpha5. Head Economist at ConsenSys, Lex Sokolin. Amongst others.

A good number of the panel seemed to agree that while the coin might not have much further to run this year, the next four years is going to see a massive run.

CEO Vishal Shah was on the more conservative side. He predicted that the coin would not be worth much more than it is now. Putting it at just $4,000 by 2025. Shah believes that Ethereum will continue to perform. But that the unlimited supply of the coin is a demerit to it. He also added that Ethereum was in a race with other protocols for the its usability profile. And that there are other faster and cheaper chains that will rival the coin in the future.

Related Reading | TA: Ethereum Price Holds Strong, Why Dips Remain Limited Below $1,850

Others did not see this as a befitting forecast. Citing the upgrades being done on the network, Sarah Bergstrand, Chief Operations Officer at BitBull, gave a price prediction of $100,000 per ETH by the end of 2025. A staggering forecast.

She believes that mass adoption of Bitcoin will be followed by mass adoption of Ethereum. Also that the upgrades being carried out on the network will help to push the price higher.

Dr. Paul Ennis put his prediction at $10,000 by the end of 2025. Stating that Ethereum is currently undervalued.

Dr. Salami went on to give the coin a $20,000 forecast by 2025.

This brought the average of the panel’s predictions to $19,842 per ETH by 2025.source

The relocation of Bitcoin (BTC) miners within China is already underway – and should the situation worsen, they might also be moving out of the country in droves, according to Jiang Zhuoer, CEO of mining pool BTC.TOP. This, however, would lead to hashrate decentralization.
The majority of miners in China had been running as usual until recently, despite the government’s crackdown on BTC mining and trading, Jiang told Cryptonews.com. On June 9, the new policies ordering mines to shut down have reportedly been implemented in Xinjiang and Qinghai. Importantly, Xinjiang is one of the major mining hubs, not just in China, but in the world.

In spring 2020, China had an average monthly share of global hashrate, or the computing power of the Bitcoin network, of 65% and it was already declining back then, per the latest available data provided by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. Xinjiang alone had almost 36%, followed by Sichuan’s almost 10%.

Two major points influenced the government’s decisions to shut down miners in this major region, per Jiang: one is their ongoing financial stability concerns, and the other that Xinjiang's power is mainly generated by coal, or a thermal plant, which is not in line with the national carbon neutral target.


Therefore, per Jiang, “most miners that were running in Xinjiang are now needed to be relocated to other places, the relocation is currently in process.”

BTC.TOP estimates that there is an 80% possibility that many facilities in Xinjiang might get closed eventually.

Bitcoin mining pool distribution in the past week:


Source: BTC.com
The good news for miners comes with the arrival of rainy season, as there’s abundance of resources in Sichuan – as a matter of fact, “there will be sufficient resources to host most of miners,” Jiang said.

The wet season lasts for several months, giving BTC.TOP time to “look at how things will go.”

Worst case scenario
The worst-case scenario is that mining gets banned in both Xinjiang and Sichuan. If that does happen, BTC.TOP will think about moving and relocating most of their machines out of the country, primarily to North America, specifically Canada and the US.

“These two countries have a developed infrastructure, and […] their regulations are very stable and predictable,” said Jiang.

After the North American region, BTC.TOP will consider the Central Asian countries because it’s easy to relocate there due to due to proximity to Xinjiang.

As reported, another Chinese mining firm BIT Mining has already formed a partnership with an unnamed Kazakhstan-based company. The duo will jointly invest in a crypto mining center to be built on Kazakh territory, with BIT Mining footing 80% of the expenses.

Meanwhile, per Jian, the Middle East is no longer an option. BTC.TOP tried to cooperate with some mining facilities there, but “it didn't go well,” so the conclusion was that that region is not safe for their business. Jiang stated that their local partners took over their machines “due to lack of control once machines went overseas, especially in some high-risk countries.”

On the other side of the coin, if miners relocate, they’ll disperse across the world, which will lead to hashpower decentralization. Large facilities in China will cease to exist: a part will move to other countries, and other parts will be divided into smaller sections, some of which will turn to mining from home.


Source: bitinfocharts.com
The second impact of such a ban would be on the machine prices. Small miners would likely not be able to relocate to other countries and would be forced to sell their machines. Therefore, machine prices would drop by 14%-15%, for two reasons: 1. many miners selling their machines; 2. BTC price dropping, as the machine price depends on the crypto’s price.

The worst-case scenario – as well as the one we’re seeing now – would in large part be the result of the Chinese government’s dislike for financial derivatives and volatile cryptocurrency products. “The Chinese government doesn't like speculation and it wants the financial sector to serve the real economy,” Jiang added.

Specifically for crypto, the government took an antagonistic stance due to financial stability concerns, volatility, and crypto-related fraud. That said, BTC.TOP estimates that crypto mining will not be banned on the national level.

And if this indeed is the case, and there is no country-wide mining ban, BTC.TOP has no plans to move out of the country. Per Jiang, China is the most suitable place for crypto mining, “because we have a stable policy infrastructure, and manpower is cheaper.”

If the policy towards miners doesn’t change and doesn’t become stricter, BTC.TOP will maintain the current size and will not seek to grow or to buy more machines, said Jiang. Furthermore, “we might not buy new machines,” the CEO concluded.

Meanwhile, more details have emerged as China’s Yunnan Province’s latest crypto mining crackdown measures begin to take shape. Per the media outlet China Coal News, Yunnan wants to close down all commercial-scale miners operating in the province before the end of the month. The media outlet quoted unnamed Yunnan energy regulators as stating that various power providers would “conduct joint inspections” in a bid to stamp out industrial mining, following similar moves in Qinghai Province and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
___

With additional reporting by Tim Alper.
___

Learn more:
- The Hypocrisy of G7: Criticise Bitcoin Mining but Protect Fossil Fuel Industry
- Green Investments Help Bitcoin Miners Amid Possible Regulatory Crackdown

- Proof-Of-Bitcoin Needed As Critics & Competitors Unite To Play Climate Card
- A Closer Look at the Environmental Impact of Bitcoin Mining

- Rainy Season Will Test Just How Watertight China’s Bitcoin Mining Ban Is
- 'Fiat-Like' Proof-of-Stake Chains Favor Centralization & Rich Playerscollected

Key highlights:
Ethereum is up by a total of 5.5% over the past 24 hours of trading as it breaks back above $2,600
The cryptocurrency remains inside a symmetrical triangle pattern and recently rebounded from the lower boundary
Against Bitcoin, Ethereum dropped from resistance at ₿0.0776 last week and is now trading at ₿0.065
Ethereum price   $2,590
Key ETH resistance levels   $2,700, $2,800, $2,887, $3,000, $3,132
Key ETH support levels   $2,475, $2,400, $2,335, $2,200, $2,000
*Price at the time of publication

Ethereum is up by a total of 5.5% over the past 24 hours of trading as it breaks back above $2,600 today. The cryptocurrency has been trading inside a symmetrical triangle pattern since the mid-May market capitulation and recently found support at the lower boundary of the triangle.

The market is still neutral and would need to break the confines of this current consolidation phase to dictate the next direction for the market.



The ETH2 staking network continues to gain traction as it nears the 25% ETH supply level. This means that close to 5% of the ETH in circulation is currently sitting inside this ETH2 staking contract. According to the launchpad, there is a total of 5.4 million ETH staked across 166K validators. The staked ETH is worth $14.2 billion at the time of writing.



Although the development for ETH2 is taking much longer than expected, Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, predicts that Eth2 will boost the enterprise adoption of Ethereum. Speaking at the Hyperledger Global Summit, Buterin stated that ETH2 might be taking a little longer but it should help to set the foundation for a thriving ecosystem, with the increased scalability it will deliver.

In other news, it appears that Goldman Sachs plans to offer their clients ether options and futures trading. The multinational investment bank and financial services company restarted their client-facing crypto operations this year after a surge in demand for crypto products. The offering of ETH futures and options is just another expansion into the crypto services they plan to offer. Alongside financial services, Goldman Sach has already invested around $15 million in a funding round for Coin Metrics and another $5 million in a a Series A round for Blockdaemon.

Ethereum remains the 2nd largest cryptocurrency asset as it currently holds a $104 billion market cap value. 

Let us continue by taking a look at the markets to see where they might be heading next.

Ethereum price analysis


What has been going on?
Taking a look at the daily chart above, we can clearly see the symmetrical triangle that Ethereum has been trading within during June. The coin failed to break resistance at the upper boundary of the triangle at the start of the month and headed lower from there.

Over the weekend, ETH dropped beneath the 100-day MA at $2,400 and continued lower until support was found at the lower boundary of the triangle. The support there was further bolstered by a short-term .5 Fib Retracement at $2,335. ETH has since rebounded from this support and is now back above $2,600 as it battles with the 20-day MA here.

Ethereum price short-term prediction: Neutral
Ethereum has to be considered neutral right now. The coin would need to break back above $3,000 before we can start to consider a bullish market again. On the other side, it would still need to break beneath $2,000 (200-day EMA) before we can confirm a bearish market.

If the sellers push lower, the first support lies at $2,475 (.382 Fib Retracement). This is followed by the lower boundary of the triangle at $2,400, $2,335 (.5 Fib Retracement), and $2,200 (.618 Fib Retracement).

Where is the resistance toward the upside?
On the other side, the first resistance lies at the upper boundary of the triangle. If the buyers can break the pattern, resistance lies at $2,887 (bearish .382 Fib Retracement & June 2021 highs), $3,000, and $3,132 (bearish .5 Fib Retracement).

ETH/BTC price analysis


What has been going on?
Ethereum has been struggling this week against Bitcoin after reaching resistance at ₿0.0776 (1.272 Fib Extension) at the start of last week. From there, it headed lower during the week until support was found at ₿0.0625 (short-term .5 Fib Retracement level) over the weekend.

ETH has since bounced from the support at ₿0.0625 and is now trading near ₿0.065.

Ethereum price short-term prediction: Neutral
The break beneath the 20-day MA has turned ETH neutral again. It would need to clear the resistance at ₿0.077 to turn bullish in the short term. On the other side, a drop beneath the support at ₿0.055 (200-day MA) would turn the market bearish.

If the sellers push lower, the first level of support lies at ₿0.0625 (short term .5 Fib Retracement). This is followed by ₿0.06, ₿0.0587 (.5 Fib Retracement), ₿0.055 (200-day MA), and ₿0.0531 (.618 Fib Retracement).

Where is the resistance toward the upside?
On the other side, the first level of resistance beyond ₿0.065 lies at ₿0.068 (20-day MA). This is then followed by additional resistance at ₿0.07, ₿0.075, and ₿0.0776 (1.272 Fib Extension & June 2021 highs).

If the bulls can continue to set new highs in June, resistance can then be expected at ₿0.08, ₿0.0824 (1.414 Fib Extension), ₿0.085, and ₿0.0892 (1.618 Fib Extension level).

Keep up to date with the latest ETH price predictions here.source

Today I saw Elon Musk reiterate that the Telsa company will accept bitcoin transactions. As soon as he said this, the price of Bitcoin started rising again. Therefore, I think that the price of Bitcoin increased or decreased depending on Elon Musk.  Earlier when he said that Telsa company will no longer accept bitcoin transactions then later but in the name of huge collapse of cryptocurrency market.

On June 25, Ether (ETH) will face its largest options expiry in 2021 as $1.5 billion worth of open interest will be settled. This figure is 30% larger than March's 26 expiry, which took place as Ether price plunged 17% in 5 days and bottomed near $1,550.

However, Ether rallied 56% after March's options expiry, reaching $2,500 within three weeks. These moves were completely uncorrelated to Bitcoin's (BTC). Therefore, it is essential to understand if a similar market structure could be underway for June 25 futures and options expiry.


Ether price at Bitstamp in March 2021, USD. Source: TradingView
Recent history shows a mix of bullish and bearish catalysts
On March 11, Ether miners organized a "show of force" against EIP-1559, which would significantly reduce their revenues.

The situation worsened on March 22, as CoinMetrics launched an "Ethereum Gas Report," stating that the highly anticipated EIP-1559 network upgrade would unlikely solve the high gas problem.

Things started to change on March 29, as Visa announced plans to use the Ethereum blockchain to settle a transaction made in fiat, and on April 15, the Berlin upgrade was successfully implemented. According to Cointelegraph, after Berlin launched, "the average gas fee began to decline to more manageable levels."

Before jumping to conclusions and speculating whether these phenomena of the Ether price bottoming near the upcoming $1.5 billion options expiry are bullish or bearish, it's best first to analyze how large traders are positioned.


Ether options open interest by expiry date. Source: Bybt
Take notice of how June's expiry holds over 638,000 ETH options contracts, totaling 45% of the aggregate $3.4 billion open interest.

Unlike futures contracts, options are divided into two segments. Call (buy) options allow the buyer to acquire Ether at a fixed price on the expiry date. Generally speaking, these are used on neutral arbitrage trades or bullish strategies.

Meanwhile, the put (sell) options are commonly used to hedge or protect from negative price swings.


June 25 Ether options open interest by strike. Source: Bybt
For bulls, $2,200 is the line in the sand
As displayed above, there's a disproportionate amount of call options at $2,200 and higher strikes. This means that if Ether's price on June 25 happens to be below this level, 73% of the neutral-to-bullish options will be worthless. The 95,000 call options still in play would represent a $228 million open interest.

On the other hand, most protective put options have been opened at $2,100 or lower. Consequently, 74% of those neutral-to-bearish options will become worthless if the price stays above this level. Therefore, the remaining 73,700 put options would represent a $177 million open interest.

It seems premature to call who might be the winner of this race, but considering Ether's current $2,400 price, it looks like both sides are reasonably comfortable.

However, traders should keep a close eye on this event, especially considering the price impact that surrounded the March expiry.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.source

In May, an alleged “insider” claimed that a group of Bitcoin Whales were trying to get a series of positions liquidated from a big player. Justin Sun, founder of blockchain TRON, and Michael Saylor, CEO of software company MicroStrategy, were the top 2 suspect targets.

The rumor has extended as Saylor announced new BTC purchases and issued more debt for the company to expand its BTC holdings. As it was reported recently, the company will use $1.6 billion obtained via a debt instrument to buy more Bitcoin.

With the cryptocurrency losing over 50% of its value in over a month, many wonder what will happen if the downtrends continue, will MicroStrategy’s position be compromised?

Anonymous analyst “degentrading” tackled this “Saylor Fud” and claims that the executive’s and his company’s situation is “not as dire”. The analyst said:

The latest bond issuance will only be senior secured on the BTC that he plans to accumulate on the proceeds from this issuance. I.E – Even if this 400M bid fails to support the market and there is liquidation – the 92,079 of BTC held will NOT be at risk.

The analyst went more in-depth on MicroStrategy’s capital structure. The company has 2 outstanding bonds to be mature by 2025 and 2027. The former has a 0.75% interest and the other has none, as seen below.more

Crypto exchange Web traffic hit a record high of 638.2 million visits in May, according to SimilarWeb data compiled by The Block.

Traffic to crypto exchanges grew 20.4% in May compared to April's figure. May’s 638.2 million in crypto exchange traffic drew 108 million more hits than the last all-time high, which occurred in January 2018: 531.7 million hits.

The crypto exchange receiving the most visits in May was Binance with 39.4% of the traffic, followed by Coinbase with 19.1%.

For more informational insights into the crypto space, visit The Block's Data Dashboard.source