Bitcoin Drops 2% as Crypto ETFs See Outflows

Bitcoin suffered a 2% decline, falling below $68,000 as it retreated from recent highs near $72,000. The second-largest crypto, Ether, also dipped under $3,550.

Bitcoin dropped 2% on Tuesday, falling below $68,000 as it retreated from recent highs near $72,000. The second-largest crypto, Ether, also dipped below $3,550. The broader crypto market was down 1% to $2,370 points.

The losses came after U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs experienced $64.9 million in cumulative outflows, the first outflow since late May. Despite recent inflows, market chatter suggests that institutions’ interest lies more in non-directional basis trades rather than outright bullish bets.

Asian equity markets also declined, with Chinese stocks falling over 1% amidst property market concerns and reports of potential liquidity reduction by the Bank of Japan. The U.S. dollar index consolidated gains, while safe-haven U.S. Treasury yields dipped, with the 10-year note yield falling 3 basis points to 4.45%.

Here is the top crypto news of the day curated by CoinChapter.com.

Nexus Labs Raises $25M

Zero-knowledge cryptography startup Nexus Labs has secured $25 million in a Series A funding round co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Pantera Capital. Dragonfly, Faction, and Blockchain Builders Fund also participated in the round. Nexus Labs had previously raised $2 million in a seed round led by Dragonfly.

The fresh capital will be used to accelerate the open-source development of Nexus 1.0. This modular zero-knowledge virtual machine (zkVM) written in Rust focuses on performance and security. Nexus aims to enable verifiable computation in decentralized applications through cryptography and zero-knowledge proofs.

The Nexus 1.0 zkVM offloads computational work in dapps, with ZK proofs ensuring computations are compressed and verified quickly. The team plans to scale the Nexus machine to 1 trillion Hertz of compute capacity and collaborate with industry players to grow the zero-knowledge compute industry.

Elon Musk Threatens Ban on Apple Devices

Elon Musk has warned that he will ban Apple devices at his companies if Apple integrates OpenAI’s ChatGPT into its operating systems. The billionaire cited security concerns, calling it an “unacceptable violation,” and suggested visitors to Tesla, SpaceX, and his other firms would need to store their Apple devices in a Faraday cage upon entry.

Apple revealed “Apple Intelligence” at WWDC 2024, a suite of new generative AI features powered by GPT-4o, OpenAI’s latest ChatGPT iteration. One feature allows Siri to relay user questions to ChatGPT, with user consent and privacy protections.

However, Musk criticized Apple for “not being smart enough” to create its own AI and accused the company of selling out customers’ privacy and security. He argued that claiming to “protect privacy” while handing data to a third-party AI they don’t understand contradicts that claim.

Crypto News: Uniswap Labs Appoints Ex-Coinbase Exec as Chief Legal Officer

Uniswap Labs has hired former Coinbase legal executive Katherine Minarik as its new chief legal officer. Minarik assumes the top legal role at the company behind the Uniswap protocol as it potentially faces legal action from U.S. regulators.

In April, the SEC issued a Wells Notice to Uniswap Labs, signaling potential enforcement action for allegedly violating securities laws by operating an unregistered securities exchange.

She replaces former CLO Marvin Ammori, who will transition to a part-time role in November. Minarik has a challenging task ahead as Uniswap Labs prepares to address the SEC’s allegations.

Roaring Kitty’s GameStop Losses Surpass $350M in Four Days

Meme stock influencer Keith Gill, known as Roaring Kitty, has lost over $350 million on his GameStop (GME) position in just four days. The massive hit came after a poor earnings report from GameStop sent the stock plummeting nearly 40% before the weekend.

Despite the colossal losses, Gill maintained a nonchalant demeanor. He posted self-deprecating memes and livestreaming while feigning injury with bandages and a splint.

Just last Thursday, Gill was $382 million in profit from his GME options trades. However, the stock’s decline wiped out nearly all those gains. This left him with only around $31 million in remaining profits as of Monday’s close.