ETH, SOL and DOT are currently pushing to fresh peaks as the wider market sets another all-time record. Three of the top 10 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap each set a new all-time high price today as recent market momentum continues apace. Ethereum, Solana, and Polkadot each nudged up to new respective peaks, as they’ve done previously in recent days, while the total crypto market likewise set a new record.

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency and the leading smart contract blockchain network, just set a new all-time high price of $4,674, according to data from CoinGecko. It’s only about $7 higher than the previous peak set on Tuesday, but it’s steady growth that has propelled a 12% overall increase during the past seven days.more information

Abi Buddington and Yvonne Taylor, environmental activists in Dresden, New York, claim they were threatened by Greenidge Generation CEO Dale Irwin. Greenidge Generation, a company that mines Bitcoin in upstate New York, has long come under fire for allegedly harming the environment surrounding its mining facility.

Now, two environmental activists from the area—Abi Buddington and Yvonne Taylor—claim they have received “threatening” letters from the company’s CEO, Dale Irwin, per local news outlet Spectrum News.

“Despite the fact that this has been extremely destabilizing, I fear for my safety, I fear for my family’s safety. I feel that I am on the side of right and I do have a First Amendment right to freedom of speech,” Taylor, vice president of NGO Seneca Lake Guardian, reportedly said.

Greenidge has responded to the allegations leveled by Buddington and Taylor. Their statement is shared below:more

Gemini’s marketplace is reframing itself as an accessible portal to the wider NFT market. Nifty Gateway was one of the top platforms of this spring’s initial NFT boom, as the marketplace offered curated drops from then-fast-rising digital artists (like Beeple and Pak) and well-known entertainers (such as Grimes and The Weeknd) alike.

But the NFT market has changed since then. Profile picture collections and generative artwork are hot lately, as are interactive video game NFTs—and peer-to-peer marketplace OpenSea has taken charge, generating over $3 billion of trading volume in each of the last two months from its more diverse array of NFT collectibles.more

Polkadot and Binance coin also soared this week, after news that their developers were growing their network tech.Over the last seven days, the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, Bitcoin and Ethereum, grew 13% and 9% respectively, amid news that a Bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) had been approved by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Bitcoin is currently worth $61,606, just $3,000 shy of its former all-time high of $64,863, set on April 14 this year. The number one cryptocurrency recrossed the $60k threshold after a Bloomberg report on Thursday evening said the SEC was “poised to allow” the first Bitcoin futures ETF to begin trading.more info

The SEC's approval of a Bitcoin futures ETF is good news—for some much more than others. Well, it finally happened. After more than eight years (!) of pleading by the crypto industry, the SEC has given the go-ahead to a Bitcoin ETF—a move that will give regular folks exposure to the original cryptocurrency via major stock exchanges, and is expected to trigger a moon moment as new money rushes into Bitcoin.

Will it, though?

The occasion has already produced winners and losers, which we'll get to in a moment. First, let's recap what exactly happened here. The SEC allowed an ETF (exchange-traded fund), but not one pegged to the price of Bitcoin, the kind most people wanted. Instead, the agency allowed a Bitcoin futures ETF. What this means is the new fund, which is being packaged by a firm called ProShares, won't give you shares backed by Bitcoin, but shares tied a bundle of contracts to buy Bitcoin in the future.more info

Bakkt will trade on the NYSE under BKKT on Monday after a merger with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings. Cryptocurrency platform Bakkt will begin trading as a public company on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, according to its owner, the Intercontinental Exchange.
Bakkt was launched in 2018 by the Intercontinental Exchange (the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange) as a crypto custodian: it holds Bitcoin safely in cold storage for big investors. Bakkt said in January that it was planning to go public. At the time, sources valued the Bitcoin company at over $2 billion.
Just last week Bakkt announced it had partnered with Google to allow users to spend crypto with the Bakkt Visa debit card at the millions of merchants that use Google Pay around the world.more info

A new report by the International Monetary Fund argues for regulations that ensure investors know how stablecoins are backed. Add the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to the list of institutions wary of stablecoins' growing influence.

In its 2021 Global Financial Stability Report, the IMF says cryptocurrency doesn't yet pose a systemic threat to the international system but that "risks should be closely monitored given the global implications and the inadequate operational and regulatory frameworks in most jurisdictions."To address those inadequacies, it calls for "global standards for crypto assets." Doing so, it believes, could help fend off a "contagion risk" to other markets.

The IMF holds huge sway. It is an intergovernmental body of 190 member states that promotes global trade, poverty reduction, and stable monetary policies. It uses dues from its members to provide loans to other members who agree to its terms. According to an April 2021 fact sheet, it has about $1 trillion available for such loans, a little under half of the total cryptocurrency market cap.