Bitcoin Stagnates, Criminals Targeted, $288K Prediction: Hodler’s Digest, June

Coming every Sunday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link.

Top Stories This Week

Bored with Bitcoin? This price level is key for a big breakout

It has been a sleepy week in the crypto markets — and there’s barely been any movement in Bitcoin. At the time of writing, BTC is down 0.75% compared with where it was seven days ago. Traders were braced for a big drop this week after Bitcoin dipped below $9,000 for the seventh time in two months. Cointelegraph analyst Michaël van de Poppe says BTC is consolidating below $9,300, but this isn’t necessarily bearish as a major breakout may be in the works. He’s warned support must hold at $8,900–$9,000 to prevent a further drop into bearish territory — and a key resistance level at $9,300 must be broken. All eyes are on the equities markets amid fears that a nasty downturn here could drag BTC down with it. The coronavirus crisis is going from bad to worse in the U.S., with a key member of the White House’s COVID-19 taskforce warning the country could see 100,000 cases per day unless immediate precautions are taken to stop it from spreading.

OKCoin exec says PayPal will boost crypto adoption if the rumors are true

Some fear PayPal is out to steal the lunch money of crypto exchanges with rumored plans to add Bitcoin to its platform. But not everyone subscribes to this theory. OKCoin chief operating officer Jason Lau believes any PayPal foray into digital assets would be “sure to have a positive impact in highlighting cryptocurrencies to a big new audience,” telling Cointelegraph: “PayPal adding crypto would bring additional awareness, adoption and a new low friction payment method for individual users.” Lau explained that many crypto users often get involved through mainstream, user-friendly and simple avenues at first. The OKCoin executive added: “Typically, our users first get initiated to crypto via an app like Square Cash, Robinhood or now potentially Venmo, and then come to OKCoin to develop and execute their investing and trading plans.”

Authorities take down biggest criminal chat network yet

Police forces across Europe have “successfully penetrated” an encrypted chat network that suspected top-tier criminals used to ferry drugs and import guns. Almost 800 people, including two law enforcement officers, were arrested as part of a dramatic three-month operation. The network is called EncroChat, and the company behind it sold modified Android phones that offered a guarantee of anonymity. The question now is whether this bust is part of a coordinated campaign to discredit privacy-preserving technologies in the eyes of the general public. In recent weeks, a bill was introduced to the U.S. Senate that would ban end-to-end encryption.