Weekly Digest: Bitcoin on a Rollercoaster, Russia's Supreme Court Recognizes Cryptocurrency as Subject of Theft, and ESMA Expels Unlicensed Platforms from the EU
The past week was a real test for the digital asset market. Bitcoin made a sharp surge to $67,000 amid news of a truce between the US and Iran, but then failed to hold its positions and corrected, breaking through the $64,000 level after the Federal Reserve meeting. By Friday, the rate had fallen to $62,000 due to new uncertainty in the Middle East, but recovered to just above $64,000 by the weekend, supported by cheaper oil and capital inflows into risky assets.
Despite the final rebound, the price of Bitcoin remained virtually unchanged on a weekly basis. This allowed many altcoins to show more impressive dynamics: Solana gained 8.6%, Ethereum — 3.5%, and the Hyperliquid token rose nearly 12%. Nevertheless, investor sentiment remains extremely cautious. The Fear and Greed Index rose from 18 to 23 points, but is still in the zone of extreme fear. A record six-week outflow of funds from spot Bitcoin ETFs, totaling approximately $5.43 billion, and a reduction in total capital to $78.3 billion (the level of November 2024) confirm the waning interest in the first cryptocurrency. Ethereum funds saw another $10 million withdrawn over the week.
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation: Cryptocurrency is a Subject of Theft
On June 16, the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation made an important clarification to judicial practice. The list of subjects of theft officially includes digital rubles, digital rights, and digital currency. The court separately explained that the moment of completion of theft of non-cash funds is the debiting of money from the victim's account. This decision significantly simplifies the qualification of crimes in the digital sphere and creates a clearer legal framework for protecting investors' rights.
ESMA: From July 1, Not a Step Without MiCA
The European regulator ESMA issued an ultimatum: from July 1, all crypto companies without a MiCA license must cease servicing clients from the EU. The regulator requires a business wind-down plan to be prepared in advance. According to estimates, only 194 companies out of approximately 3,000 previously operating in the region have received official permission. This means that about 75% of old platforms will leave the European market, and for users, this will result in account blocking and the need for urgent fund withdrawals.
Ethereum Funding Crisis and Post-Quantum Protection
The Ethereum ecosystem may face a "slowly escalating funding crisis" over the next three to nine months. Former Ethereum Foundation employee Trent Van Epps points to two key factors: the shrinking capacity of the foundation's treasury (a plan to reduce annual spending from 15% to 5% by 2030) and the end of the Client Incentive Program in April 2026. According to his estimate, the ecosystem needs about $30 million to support developers. Without stable funding, the network risks losing critically important personnel and falling behind in preparing for challenges like quantum computing.
At the same time, an elegant solution for protection against quantum threats has been proposed within Ethereum itself. Kohaku project lead Nicolas Consigny presented the SPHINCS- concept, which would secure wallets without requiring a hard fork. The cost of implementing the protection would be only about $0.07. The method is based on the SPHINCS+ signature standard and serves as an intermediate step before launching the more efficient leanSPHINCS system.
My Expert Commentary: The week clearly demonstrated that Bitcoin remains extremely sensitive to geopolitical and macroeconomic factors. However, despite high volatility, the market is consolidating, and altcoins are beginning to take the initiative. The decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation is an important step towards legitimizing cryptocurrencies within the legal framework. And ESMA's requirements are not just a bureaucratic formality, but a real market cleanup that, in the long term, will make the European crypto industry safer and more transparent for institutional players.