• Bitcoin ends 9 week bearish streak to rallies above $31k.
  • Yuga Labs Discord server hacked: NFTs worth over 200 ETH stolen.
  • Hackers target ‘Move-to-Earn’ game STEPN with DDoS attacks.
  • Keynotes ahead of the much anticipated Ethereum Merge.
  • Solana releases upgrade to fix halting issues and hits new NFT milestone.

Bitcoin Ends 9 Week Bearish Streak to Rally Above $31k

After closing nine successive weeks lower than it started, Bitcoin, the world’s largest crypto, has closed a week out with bullish signs.

Breaking out of the longest bearish streak for Bitcoin since its launch in 2009 has sparked a rally for the leading asset and the broader crypto market. Over the last 24 hours, Bitcoin has gained in value by 6.1% to trade as high as $31,492.

 

The 24 hour price chart for Bitcoin (BTC). Source: CoinMarketCap

Flipsider:

 

  • At the height of Bitcoin’s drop in May, the number of Bitcoin ATM installations across the globe recorded their biggest drop since 2019, falling 89.75% from December 2021’s 1,971 new installations.

     

  • Bitcoin miners, who are known for holding long-term, are beginning to sell their hoarded tokens to cover losses.

Why You Should Care

In the event of a sustained breakout, investors would love to see Bitcoin break the resistance to trade above the critical $32k level.

Yuga Labs Discord Server Hacked: NFTs Worth Over 200 ETH Stolen

Yuga Labs, the creators behind the launch of two of the most valuable NFT collections on the market in the form of Bored Apes and CryptoPunks, has become the latest big project to suffer a hack. On Saturday, June 4th, the official Discord server of Yuga Labs was breached, leading to the theft of NFTs worth over 200 ETH.

The network breach, first reported by Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) user, NFTherder, was later confirmed by Yuga Labs themselves. The hacker gained access to the Yuga Labs Discord server after managing to compromise the account of Yuga Labs’ Community Manager Boris Vagner.

The hacker, using Vagner’s account, posted phishing links on the official Discord channels for the BAYC and the Otherside metaverse, posing as an exclusive giveaway. Unsuspecting victims who clicked the links unfortunately lost their BAYC NFTs, Otherside NFTs, and ETH coins.

The fraudster made away with NFTs worth approximately 200 ETH, or $361,000 USD by the day’s prices. NFTherder reported that they had traced approximately 145 ETH ($260,000 USD) back to four different wallet addresses linked to the attack.

Flipsider:

 

  • Popular rapper Snoop Dogg is set to open a Bored Ape, NFT-themed dessert restaurant in Los Angeles.

Why You Should Care

Discord hacks have become the most recent technique being utilized for the execution of NFT scams. Gordon Goner, one of the Co-Founders of the BAYC, has called for better security from the platform.

Hackers Target (NYSE:TGT) ‘Move-to-Earn’ Game STEPN with DDoS Attacks

STEPN, the popular move-to-earn crypto game on the Solana chain, fell victim to various distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks during an “anti-cheating” update last weekend, marking the third such incident this year.

On June 5th, users were informed that the game was experiencing “network congestion” after being targeted by 25 million DDoS attacks within a short period. As a result of the attack, some users were misidentified as bots and removed from the platform.

According to a thread on STEPN’s official Twitter page, STEPN developers are still working to resolve the issue, and have advised users to “have some rest during maintenance” as workouts may not be properly recorded.

STEPN has suffered noteworthy losses due to the unrelenting attacks on the platform. This is not the first instance of such an assault, as in April and May, it was revealed by the company that hackers had been attempting to crash the network by means of DDoS attacks.

Flipsider:

 

  • STEPN is recovering from the weekly low of $0.9135 seen on June 5th. The token has gained 8% in value over the last 24 hours to trade at $1.02 at the time of writing.

 

The 24 hour price chart for STEPN (GMT). Source: CoinMarketCap

Why You Should Care

STEPN has apologized for the inconvenience caused, and announced a “double energy event” to assist users in earning more and recover any temporary losses they may have incurred.

Keynotes Ahead of the Much Anticipated Ethereum Merge

Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko recently announced that the much-anticipated Ropsten testnet transition away from Proof of Work to the Proof of Stake model could be expected on “around June 8th or so.” Here’s what on-chain data suggests about Ethereum (ETH) with the Merge imminent.

On-chain data reveals that ETH investors are increasing their holdings in anticipation of a price pump in the wake of the Merge. Data from Glassnode shows that addresses holding over 32 ETH have hit a 13-month high of 111,292 addresses.

Addresses holding over 1 ETH have also hit a yearly high of 1,485,908. Furthermore, these addresses have been steadily increasing their holdings since May 31st⁠—the day after Beiko made the announcement.

Ethereum is already rallying alongside the broader crypto market, gaining more than 7% ove the last 24 hours. As of this writing, ETH trades at $1,910, and is expected to break above the $2,000 mark when the Merge is complete.

 

The 24 hour price chart for Ethereum (ETH). Source: CoinMarketCap

Flipsider:

 

  • Ahead of the Merge, the total amount of Ether (ETH) locked in Ethereum’s ETH 2.0 has surpassed 12.764 million ETH coins.

Why You Should Care

On-chain data confirms that investors are accumulating ETH coins in anticipation of a rally inspired by the upcoming Ropsten Merge.

Solana Releases Upgrade to Fix Halting Issues, and Hits New NFT Milestone

On Wednesday, June 1st, the Solana network experienced its ninth network halt, causing SOL’s price to spiral downwards. In response to the issue, Solana developers released network upgrade v1.9.28/v1.10.23 to prevent future halts.

The upgrade disables the durable nonce transaction feature in the event that a situation arises in which the network is at risk of halting again. Solana has since gained in value by 10% to hit $44. With the network now considered “stable”, the token is expected to retest the $50 mark.

 

The 24 hour price chart for Solana (SOL). Source: CoinMarketCap

Despite an overall decline in NFT sales, Solana has reached new milestones in the NFT space. As of Monday, June 6th, the total non-fungible token sales volume on the Solana blockchain hit $2.35 billion.

 

The milestone puts Solana third in the overall rankins, behind Ronin and Ethereum. In similarly positive news for Solana, the network has recorded average, monthly NFT sales volumes of $150 million in 2022 – the second highest of all NFT chains.

Flipsider:

 

  • The recurring problems of the Solana chain have led institutional investors to transfer their funds out of the project, and into competing chain Cardano.