Crypto Weekly: Attack anger and Coinbase's cyberattack fallout
STORY: From anger in France... To a DoJ investigation into Coinbase.
This is Crypto Weekly.
:: Crypto Weekly
:: Fear and anger in France
French crypto bosses have reacted with fear and anger after a series of violent kidnappings.
Some have stepped up security, while others are calling for a tougher crackdown.
As well as deregulation to keep the crypto paper trail more anonymous.
In the latest incident on May 13, a masked gang tried to abduct the daughter of Pierre Noizat, the CEO of the French crypto firm Paymium.
The recent attacks have led some crypto execs to take extra security measures.
Alexandre Aimonino is cofounder of cryptocurrency compliance firm Seqlense.
"I don't go to certain crypto meetings anymore where I had the habit to go before. I try to park as close as possible to the destination when I have to go somewhere; that's this kind of security measure. When I go home, I never take the same road or the same path. Just to avoid being followed by anyone.
:: Hong Kong's stablecoin bill
Hong Kong has passed a stablecoin bill that establishes a licensing regime for fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers in the city.
Any person who issues stablecoins in Hong Kong - or issues stablecoins backed by Hong Kong dollars, whether within or outside the city - must obtain a license.
Hong Kong has been stepping up efforts to enhance the city's competitiveness as a global digital asset hub.
Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a constant value, usually pegged to a currency.
And are commonly used by crypto traders to move funds between tokens.
:: Bitcoin's recovery
The price of Bitcoin rose to its highest level on record on Wednesday, eclipsing the previous high from January.
On Thursday it rose for the fifth-straight session reaching $111,862.
The world's most valuable cryptocurrency is recovering from the tariff-induced selloff last month.
:: Coinbase cyberattack
The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a probe into a recent breach at the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global.
The company said it expects a hit of up to $400 million from the cyberattack.
Last week it said it received an email from an unknown threat actor on May 11.
They claimed to have information about certain customer accounts as well as internal documents.
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Ether's next big upgrade -- The Verge -- aims to upgrade its security features and lower its hardware requirements so it can run on smaller devices like smartphones, wearables, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. It also aims to reduce its off-chain Layer 2 (L2) fees with a series of upgrades for its network to clear more space for fresh data. Those upgrades could help it indirectly reduce its congestion issues by absorbing some of its core Layer 1 (L1) network traffic. Assuming those upgrades bring in more developers and investors, its network activity will increase, reduce its supply, and stabilize Ether's price. Another potential catalyst would be the approval of new spot-price ETFs with staking features. The first batch of Ether's spot-price ETFs only held Ether in cold storage and didn't pass on any of its interest-like staking rewards. The next batch could pass on those rewards (about 3% to 5% annually) and make them more appealing. However, Ether could still be held back by competition from other PoS blockchains, a lack of approvals for new ETFs with staking rewards, or the messy macro environment that is curbing the market's appetite for cryptocurrencies and other speculative investments. Wood believes Ether's value will rise as Ethereum becomes a foundational layer of a new digital financial ecosystem that challenges traditional banks with decentralized finance (DeFi) apps, NFTs, and tokenized versions of real-world assets. She also expects Ether's staking yield to become more appealing than the yields of U.S. Treasuries as interest rates decline, and for the approvals of new staking ETFs to bring in even more institutional investors. Just as with Bitcoin, Wood expects the growing institutional adoption of Ether over the next few years to drive its price a lot higher. That thesis sounds reasonable, but claiming it could reach a $20 trillion market cap within the next seven years -- compared to gold's current market cap of $3.4 trillion -- seems too bullish. So while it might be smart to accumulate Ether as it rolls out new networking upgrades, attracts more developers, burns more tokens, and gains more attention with new ETFs, we should take Cathie Wood's forecasts with a grain of salt. It will probably stabilize and rise higher, but its long-term value isn't that easy to gauge. Before you buy stock in Ethereum, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Ethereum wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $669,517!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $868,615!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 792% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 171% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025 Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 1 Top Cryptocurrency to Buy Before It Soars 6,220%, According to Cathie Wood was originally published by The Motley Fool
