Immediately in crypto, a Bitcoin whale holding 80,000 BTC moved cash for the primary time in 14 years, a Belgian court docket sentenced three individuals for his or her roles in a cryptocurrency-related kidnapping, and US Republican Home leaders designated July 14-18 as “Crypto Week,” specializing in contemplating three key crypto payments.
Motion of 14-year-old Bitcoin sparks renewed Satoshi rumors
Bitcoin’s (BTC) value slipped on US Independence Day, coinciding with an enormous whale shifting cash for the primary time in over a decade.
The BTC/USD change charge declined practically 2%, falling beneath the important thing $108,000 stage, in response to Cointelegraph Markets Professional and TradingView knowledge.
Onchain knowledge confirmed {that a} Bitcoin OG, dormant for 14 years, transferred half of their 80,000 BTC, seemingly with the intention to promote. In the event that they do, the holder would flip an preliminary $62,000 funding into roughly $4 billion.
Naturally, the reawakening of the handle has sparked rumors that the transaction might be linked to Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, who disappeared greater than a decade in the past.
The cash are shifting at a time when company adoption of Bitcoin is rising. Trade knowledge reveals that 255 firms now maintain a mixed 3.47 million Bitcoin, accounting for about 3.97% of the whole provide.
Belgian court docket sentences three in kidnapping of crypto investor’s spouse
A Belgian court docket has sentenced three individuals for his or her roles in a cryptocurrency-related kidnapping focusing on the spouse of native crypto entrepreneur Stéphane Winkel.
The Brussels Legal Courtroom handed down 12-year jail sentences to a few kidnappers who attacked Winkel’s spouse in December 2024, native information company La Dernière Heure reported on Thursday.
The criminals have been convicted of hostage-taking after abducting the sufferer outdoors her residence, forcing her right into a van and demanding a ransom in cryptocurrency.
Alerted by Winkel, regulation enforcement pursued the van and subsequently arrested the abductors and freed the sufferer after taking the automobile off the street with a dangerous maneuver.
Along with the jail sentences, the court docket ordered the three convicted kidnappers to pay at the least 1 million euros ($1.2 million) in civil damages to the sufferer.
Whereas holding the trio accountable, the court docket acknowledged that the masterminds behind the kidnapping stay unidentified. It additionally rejected the defendants’ claims that they have been coerced into the crime below risk of demise.
In accordance with the report, the case additionally includes a minor, who’s being dealt with individually by a juvenile court docket.
US Republicans declare “Crypto Week” to mull three crypto payments
US Republican Home leaders have pledged to think about three key crypto payments beginning in mid-July as a part of a regulatory “Crypto Week.”
Home Finance Committee Chair French Hill, Home Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn Thompson and Speaker Mike Johnson stated on Thursday that they’d use the week of July 14 to 18 to look over a crypto market construction invoice, a stablecoin invoice and a invoice on central financial institution digital currencies (CBDCs).
“Home Republicans are taking decisive steps to ship the complete scope of President Trump’s digital property and cryptocurrency agenda,” Johnson stated.
“Throughout ‘Crypto Week,’ the Home appears ahead to the well timed consideration of three landmark items of laws: the CLARITY Act, the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, and the Senate’s GENIUS Act,” he added.
The occasion’s push comes as President Donald Trump stated final month that he desires the stablecoin-regulating GENIUS Act handed as quickly as doable, earlier than Congress goes on a month-long break in August.
The payments would start to ship on Trump’s crypto-focused guarantees throughout his marketing campaign, which the crypto business closely backed and bankrolled.
