Standard Chartered Bank: Bitcoin Expected to Reach $135,000 in Q3, Setting a New All-Time High

On Thursday, U.S. stocks closed early on July 4th. The Dow increased by 0.7%, the S&P 500 went up by 0.8%, and the Nasdaq rose by more than 1% (with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 hitting new closing highs once again). Cryptocurrency stocks showed a mixed trend. Some previously soaring stocks experienced pullbacks, including: Coinbase (COIN) with a 0.38% increase; MicroStrategy (MSTR) up by 0.43%; Mogo Inc (MOGO) down by 14.40%; Bit Digital (BTBT) with a 11.79% increase; Thumzup Media Corporation (TZUP) up by 14.57%; Bitmine Immersion (BMNR) up by 130.77%; Semler Scientific (SMLE) up by 4.17%; SharpLink Gaming (SBET) up by 5.72%; Eyenovia (EYEN) down by 9.23%.

On July 4th, based on Coinglass data, the top net inflows of funds in the past 24 hours for cryptocurrencies are as follows: The net inflow of USDC is $128 million; The net inflow of BTC is $105 million; The net inflow of ETH is $55.99 million; The net inflow of SUI is $11.91 million; The net inflow of LTC is $6.34 million. The top net outflows of funds for cryptocurrencies are as follows: The net outflow of USDT is $80.18 million; The net outflow of H is $12.62 million; The net outflow of SOL is $9.81 million; The net outflow of NEWT is $7.62 million; The net outflow of PEPE is $7.11 million.

On July 4th, based on alternative data, today's Crypto Fear and Greed Index stands at 73 (with last week's average being 65), suggesting an enhanced "greed" sentiment in the market. Note: The threshold for the Fear Index ranges from 0 to 100 and incorporates the following indicators: Volatility (25%) + Market Volume (25%) + Social Media Activity (15%) + Market Surveys (15%) + Bitcoin's Dominance (10%) + Google Trends Analysis (10%).

On July 4th, according to Bloomberg, despite a continuous stream of good news, the price of Bitcoin has been unable to break out of the current trading range for several months. Beneath the surface, while long-term dormant whales are reducing their positions, institutional investors are accelerating their purchases. This transformation is gradually changing Bitcoin's narrative from a high-risk speculative asset to a long-term allocation asset. According to 10x Research data, over the past year, large holders have sold more than 500,000 bitcoins (valued at more than $50 billion at current prices), which is nearly equivalent to the net inflows since the approval of the U.S. Bitcoin ETF, and is not far from the cumulative scale of $65 billion over the past five years by the cryptocurrency holding pioneer Michael Saylor and his company (now named Strategy). Many sellers can be traced back to the early days of Bitcoin when prices were much lower than the current levels. Some whales are not

July 4th: The Republican leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives declared on Thursday that they have plans to give consideration to three significant cryptocurrency-related bills during the week commencing July 14th. These encompass: · The GENIUS Stablecoin Act (the version that has been passed by the Senate). · The Digital Asset Market Structure and Investor Protection Act. · A proposal aiming to restrict the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency. It is worthy of note that although the House of Representatives had previously formulated its own stablecoin bill (the STABLE Act), in order to expedite the legislative process, they will give precedence to the Senate-passed version of the GENIUS Act. The "Digital Asset Market Structure and Investor Protection Act" will define the regulatory responsibilities of the SEC and CFTC with respect to cryptocurrency and enhance the requirements for investor protection.

On July 4th, on-chain detective ZachXBT took to social media to disclose that the UAE authorities have apprehended Ildar Ilham, the founder of the decentralized finance protocol WhiteRock Finance. He is accused of carrying out a $30 million fraud through the gambling platform ZKasino. The case details show that when the ZKasino platform was launched in April 2024, it had promised to airdrop native tokens to certain users. However, more than a year has passed without fulfilling this promise. In April of this year, Dutch authorities arrested a 26-year-old suspect (reportedly a crypto influencer named Elham Nourzai) on charges including fraud, embezzlement, and money laundering. ZachXBT pointed out that Ilham's arrest is related to the investigation of Nourzai and ZKasino, and the extradition procedures to the Netherlands are currently in progress. Another suspected individual, Lior Ben Zakan, has not been mentioned yet. Influenced by this news, the price of the WhiteRock native token