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ETH Trapped Below $1.7K Raises Call For Another “Selling Wave”

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ETH Trapped Below $1.7K Raises Call For Another “Selling Wave”

Ether’s (ETH) exchange and derivatives data turned weaker over the past month. Binance recorded net inflows of 57,700 ETH, while futures open interest fell to a year-low of $10.3 billion from $15 billion, and the ratio of leveraged positions retreated sharply from their early June highs. 

The combination of rising exchange supply, muted new participation, and declining futures activity has led ETH analysts to forecast another wave of selling pressure below $1,700.

ETH inflows on Binance outpace new demand

Crypto analyst Pelin Ay noted that roughly 57,700 ETH flowed into Binance on a net basis over the past few days. Large inflows to the exchange often signal potential selling since Binance is one of the most liquid exchanges in the crypto market.

ETH exchange inflows, new depositors and fresh supply. Source: CryptoQuant

At the same time, the number of new ETH depositors is around 320 addresses, well below the levels seen during previous demand surges. The muted participation suggests limited new capital entering the market, leaving recent price stability dependent on existing holders.

The analyst noted that supply growth continues to offer a counterbalance. Daily ETH issuance stands near 2,791 ETH, a relatively low figure since Ethereum’s EIP-1559 upgrade in 2021. 

For now, exchange flow data paints a cautious picture. Ay said elevated net inflows raise the risk of another selling wave if Ether approaches resistance levels during any relief rally.

Related: BitMine boosts ETH holdings closer to $10B as bear market accumulation continues

Can Ether price defend its weekly demand zone?

ETH derivatives data have also cooled sharply in recent weeks. Ether futures open interest fell to $10.3 billion on Thursday from $15 billion a month ago, a decline of roughly 31%. The reading marks the lowest aggregate open interest across exchanges since April 2025.

Ether estimated leverage ratio for all exchanges. Source: CryptoQuant

The number of leverage positions has also retreated at a similar pace. The estimated leverage ratio (ELR) dropped to 0.83 from an all-time high of 1.10 on June 2, marking its largest leverage unwind since October 2025, when the metric slid from 0.72 to 0.56. 

Lower leverage often reduces the short-term volatility and speculative demand, but it also signals weaker conviction among traders.

ETH/USDT, one-week chart analysis. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Ether’s weekly chart is down 30% over the past 42 days and continues to trade near the demand zone of $1,700 and $1,400. The April 2025 low at $1,384 stands as the nearest external liquidity target if price weakness continues. 

Below that level, the immediate area of interest is the demand zone from January 2023 between $1,289 and $1,071. 

From a market standpoint, crypto trader Ardi said last week that some technical bottoming signals are emerging for the altcoin. ETH recently touched the lower band of a long-term acceptance range that previously coincided with macro lows. 

The weekly relative strength index (RSI) sits near 31 after a daily RSI reading of 11 during the recent sell-off, its lowest level on record, which improves the chances of ETH bottoming in the current price range. 

ETH/USD weekly analysis by Ardi. Source: X

Ardi added that ETH/BTC remains a key chart metric to monitor, as the pair continues to trend lower. For now, the $1,400 to $1,700 range remains the area where buyers and sellers are most actively positioned.

Related: Altcoin selling tops $266B as capital rotates out of crypto: Is altseason extinct?

STRC Is Junk Credit In A Bitcoin Costume, And Retail Is Holding $8.8 Billion Of It

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STRC Is Junk Credit In A Bitcoin Costume, And Retail Is Holding $8.8 Billion Of It

There is now $15 billion sitting in three securities being marketed to bitcoin holders as the safer, smarter way to access bitcoin exposure: Strategy’s preferred stack, STRC, and SATA. The pitch is identical across all three. Tax-favored. 11.5% income. Backed by bitcoin. Money-market risk. 82.7% of the buyer base is retail. Every word of that pitch is wrong, and the security those buyers actually own is built to fail in exactly the bitcoin environment it claims to harness.

The Pitch Is a Story. The Capital Structure Is the Truth

STRC is an unsecured, subordinated, perpetual preferred equity. No maturity date. No lien on a single satoshi of Strategy’s bitcoin treasury. The dividend is discretionary, which means the board can cut it at any monthly meeting with no notice, no remedy, and no vote. S&P rates the issuer B-, four notches into junk territory. None of that information appears in the marketing.

Stack those features against the words in the pitch. “Backed by bitcoin” describes a security with no claim on a single coin. “Money-market-like” describes an instrument rated four notches below investment grade with no maturity and a discretionary coupon. “Safe income” describes a payment the board controls and the funding source for which is the security itself. Each phrase in the marketing is contradicted by the indenture.

That is not a money market fund. It is speculative-grade credit-like product dressed in safe-income marketing, and 82.7% of it sits on retail balance sheets. Of the $10.7 billion notional outstanding for STRC, roughly $8.8 billion belongs to retail bitcoin holders concentrated in a single junk credit. There is no polite phrase for that exposure. It is a bag, and retail is holding it.

The Funding Mechanism Eats Itself

The structural risk in STRC is not that the dividend is high. It is that the dividend cannot be funded out of the business. Strategy’s underlying software business produces roughly $477 million in annual revenue. Total preferred dividend obligations now exceed $1.2 billion, a ratio of 3.5 to 1. The gap is not closed by earnings. It is closed by issuing new STRC shares at or above par, or diluting common shareholders of MSTR, with the proceeds recycled to pay the existing holders.

That is a reflexive funding loop. It works when STRC trades above par and breaks the moment it doesn’t. Anything that pressures the price, a credit downgrade, a missed dividend, a bitcoin drawdown, a capital markets shutdown, removes the very mechanism the dividend depends on. There is no plan B in the indenture. There is no lien on bitcoin to seize. There is no operating cash flow to redirect. There is only the next share issuance, and the next, until either bitcoin compounds the company out of the problem or the structure jams.

Then there is the dividend ratchet. The coupon has moved monthly from 9% to 11.5%, embedding $268 million in permanent annual obligations into the structure. The rate has only ever moved in one direction. Each monthly increase makes the funding gap wider, the share issuance more dilutive, and the price floor harder to hold. The mechanism designed to keep STRC attractive to new buyers is the same mechanism that compounds the burden on the issuer and accelerates the run on the funding loop when stress arrives.

The Mythical Institutional Buyer and the Math That Buries Him

The standard defense of the Digital Credit category goes like this: surely informed institutional capital is on the other side. Insurance companies need yield. Pension funds need duration. Fixed-income desks need product. Digital Credit is the institutional bridge to bitcoin.

That defense collapses on its own logic. Any institution that allocates to an unsecured, subordinated, perpetual preferred layered on a bitcoin treasury must first underwrite the underlying asset. Any institution that does the work to underwrite bitcoin allocates directly to spot bitcoin, where the credit risk vanishes and the path-dependent fragility goes with it. The institutional buyer who is both informed and rational does not exist in this product. The buyer who does exist, at 82.7% concentration, is retail.

The path-dependency math finishes the argument. Across 5,000 simulated bitcoin paths at a 10% compounding rate, the credit model produces a 12.3% probability of formal default, a 21.9% probability of dividend deferral, and a 50.7% probability of at least one forced bitcoin sale by the issuer during the eight-year cycle. At a 15% compounding rate, STRC has a 44.6% probability of ending below $85 even on paths where bitcoin recovers to new highs.

A bitcoin holder’s terminal wealth depends only on where bitcoin ends. An STRC holder’s outcome depends on every drawdown in between, because the same mechanisms that pretend to protect the dividend in calm conditions become the mechanisms that consume the holder’s principal in stress. The product is most fragile in exactly the bitcoin scenarios the underlying asset absorbs without consequence.

Bitcoin Was Built to Kill This Exact Trade

Bitcoin’s entire reason for existing is the removal of counterparty risk, custody risk, and opacity from monetary holdings. STRC, Strategy’s preferred stack, and similar instruments reintroduce all three under a marketing layer the underlying instrument cannot support. The alternative does not require any of that machinery: bitcoin in self-custody alongside a U.S. Treasury income ladder produces the same cash profile, with more terminal wealth and no corporate issuer in between.

The market will eventually clear the difference between the security retail thinks it bought and the security it actually owns. Anyone reading the cap table and allocating anyway is willingly underwriting Saylor’s funding plan with capital that thinks it bought a money market fund.

This is a guest post by Glenn Cameron, Global Head of Onramp Institutional. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

Alchemy’s AI-driven AgentCard gains access to Visa payments network

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Alchemy’s AI-driven AgentCard gains access to Visa payments network

Blockchain infrastructure firm Alchemy said AI agents with its AgentCard now have access to the Visa (V) network with complete identity and payment capabilities, enabling them to make online purchases on behalf of consumers.

The integration allows AgentCard, a virtual ID and spending card for AI agents, to access Visa Intelligent Commerce to book a vacation, order groceries or renew a subscription, for example, without the consumer ever touching a checkout screen.

Agent-native payment protocols are in early adoption with firms like Stripe, Visa and Mastercard (MA) driving hard into this new area, known as agentic commerce. AgentCard works with agents built on models from any provider, including OpenAI or Anthropic.

“Every major computing shift has produced a new kind of economic actor,” Nikil Viswanathan, co-founder and CEO of Alchemy, said in a statement. “The internet created online businesses. Mobile created the app economy. AI agents are next, and they need to be able to access the global economy, and AgentCard is how that starts.”

Algorand unveils roadmap for post-quantum security by end-2027

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Algorand unveils roadmap for post-quantum security by end-2027

Google, for example, has warned organizations to begin preparing for the transition to post-quantum cryptography and has been integrating quantum-safe cryptographic standards into parts of its infrastructure with a 2029 completion target. The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been leading efforts to standardize post-quantum algorithms and has set timelines for the eventual retirement of certain legacy cryptographic systems.

Within crypto, several major ecosystems have elevated quantum preparedness as a strategic priority. The Ethereum Foundation earlier this year announced a dedicated post-quantum security initiative aimed at researching migration paths for blockchain’s vast ecosystem of wallets, applications and validators. Solana developers likewise published proposals exploring how users and the network could transition to quantum-resistant cryptography if the threat becomes more immediate.

The Algorand Foundation noted that blockchain networks need to begin making preparations well before a so-called “Q-Day,” the hypothetical moment when a quantum computer becomes capable of breaking the cryptography currently used to secure digital assets.

The foundation said its roadmap builds on work it began in 2022, extending those efforts to the rest of the protocol, with the goal of achieving what Algorand describes as broad quantum resilience by the end of 2027. The foundation said it expects to reach that milestone before NIST retires certain legacy cryptographic standards and three years ahead of a timeline set by the U.S. National Security Agency for national security systems.

Why bitcoin investors should trade the cycle, not dollar-cost average

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Why bitcoin investors should trade the cycle, not dollar-cost average

The win rate of a cycle-aware approach is lower than buy-and-hold, winning not by being right more often, but by avoiding the months when bitcoin loses 20%, 30%, or 40%. Those months cluster, and stepping aside during them is not timing the market; it is about reading the cyclical structure of the asset.

We have made three public, timestamped market calls since 2022: the October 2022 cycle bottom, the July 2023 projection of a $125,000 target and the October 2025 bear signal, each grounded in the same signal framework. The methodology is not infallible. But it is systematic, auditable and structurally better suited to bitcoin’s cyclical nature than the passive approach most advisors currently deploy.

Bitcoin rewards those who understand its cycle. Advisors who treat it like any other asset are leaving risk-adjusted returns on the table and exposing clients to drawdowns that, in practice, end portfolios rather than weather them.

– Markus Thielen, CEO, 10x Research

Ask an Expert

If blockchain technology succeeds, are investors owning the right things?

For years, investors assumed that if a blockchain ecosystem grew, its native token would naturally appreciate. Increasingly, I’m not convinced that’s always true. Technology can become indispensable while value accrues elsewhere to sequencers, applications, stablecoin issuers or liquidity layers.

Foundation loses another key leader as Hsiao-Wei Wang resigns

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Foundation loses another key leader as Hsiao-Wei Wang resigns

The Ethereum Foundation’s (EF) co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang shared that she has stepped down from her role leading the organization effective immediately, in a post shared on X on Thursday.

Wang reached the decision after a recent sabbatical, which gave her time to reflect on her priorities and future plans. “I’ve come to feel that this is the right moment for me to step back,” she wrote.

Her departure follows the resignation of fellow co-executive director Tomasz Stańczak, who announced earlier this year that he would leave the role after helping steer a leadership transition at the Switzerland-based nonprofit that supports Ethereum’s ecosystem development.

During Wang’s sabbatical, Ethereum Foundation board member Bastian Aue helped oversee the leadership transition and has taken on a larger role in guiding the organization in the interim following the departures of both co-executive directors.

Wang’s exit adds to a period of upheaval at the Ethereum Foundation. At least eight senior figures have departed the organization over the past five months, fueling community scrutiny of the EF’s priorities, governance, and strategic direction, as Ethereum faces mounting competition from rival blockchains.

US Agencies Push User ID Requirements for Stablecoin Issuers Akin to Regulated Banks

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US Agencies Push User ID Requirements for Stablecoin Issuers Akin to Regulated Banks

Several US government agencies responsible for financial regulation have issued a proposed rule as part of the implementation of stablecoin-focused legislation, pushing for similar identification guidelines for issuers as banks under federal law.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), National Credit Union Administration and the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on Thursday proposed that stablecoin issuers be treated as regulated financial institutions in regard to verifying users’ identities. The proposed rule comes as part of the implementation of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, signed into law in July 2025.

Source: Federal Register

The proposed rule, which will be open to public comment for 60 days after it is officially filed in the US Federal Register on Monday, is intended to address Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) requirements for stablecoin providers through the GENIUS Act.

The minimum standards under the Bank Secrecy Act for financial institutions — potentially applied to stablecoin issuers under GENIUS — include “verifying the identity of any person seeking to open an account,” maintaining records of that information, and determining if the individual is a suspected terrorist or part of any terrorist organization.

The agencies’ actions were the latest implementation related to GENIUS, largely championed by US stablecoin issuers. The law is expected to go into effect 18 months after it was signed or 120 days after federal authorities finalize regulations for implementation.

Related: Banking group asks for more time to comment on US stablecoin bill

Treasury has already proposed AML and CFT requirements targeting illicit finance under GENIUS. In April, the FDIC suggested that rules providing insurance for corporate deposits of stablecoin issuers not extend to holders.

GENIUS passed, CLARITY still being weighed

After the passage of the GENIUS Act last year, the US Congress still has no defined timeline on addressing the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, a bill intended to redefine financial agencies’ roles in regulating and enforcing crypto rules.

While many in the White House and Congress expect the bill to pass by the August recess, concerns voiced by Democrats over potential conflicts of interest from lawmakers and elected officials could slow progress.

Magazine: The end of anon? AI could unmask crypto’s hidden identities

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Backpack’s Tokenized SpaceX Token on Solana Crosses 10,000 Holders, Nearly Double xStocks’ SPCXx

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Backpack’s Tokenized SpaceX Token on Solana Crosses 10,000 Holders, Nearly Double xStocks’ SPCXx

Backpack’s tokenized SpaceX share token has crossed 10,000 onchain holders on Solana, six days after listing alongside the company’s Nasdaq debut. The milestone widens the holder gap with rival xStocks’ SpaceX product and lands as Backpack chief executive Armani Ferrante stakes out a structural distinction from competing onchain SpaceX exposure.

Backpack’s tokenized SpaceX share token has crossed 10,000 onchain holders on Solana, six days after listing alongside the company’s Nasdaq debut. The milestone widens the holder gap with rival xStocks’ SpaceX product and lands as Backpack chief executive Armani Ferrante stakes out a structural distinction from competing onchain SpaceX exposure.

The 10,000-holder count for SPCX, the Backpack Securities-issued tokenized SpaceX share, was first surfaced Wednesday evening by Solana data trackers and approaches roughly double the 3,000-holder count reported for xStocks’ SPCXx as of mid-week. Cumulative onchain volume in SPCX surpassed $350 million since the token went live, according to liquidity partner Sunrise, after the token hit $108 million in a single trailing-24-hour window on Tuesday.

Solana SPL Token

SPCX is a Solana SPL token issued by Backpack Securities, the broker-dealer arm of crypto exchange Backpack. Each unit is backed one-for-one by a SpaceX share that Backpack Securities purchased and custodies in a U.S. broker-dealer account. Holders can redeem the token for the underlying share and transfer it into a traditional brokerage account via ACATS and DTCC rails, according to Backpack’s product description. Sunrise, a tokenization infrastructure provider built on Wormhole, routes the issuance and liquidity onto Solana.

SPCX is a tokenized security entitlement. That places it in a different regulatory and economic category from the SpaceX exposure currently trading on Hyperliquid as a USDC-settled perpetual derivative.

The Pitch Against xStocks

Ferrante used the milestone to argue that Backpack’s redemption path makes SPCX a different product from xStocks’ SPCXx, the Solana SpaceX token issued by Switzerland-based Backed Finance under its xStocks brand.

“The most important difference is the right the asset gives you,” Ferrante posted on X on Wednesday afternoon. “xstocks gives you a right to cash. Backpack gives you an actual right to redeem one to one to a security entitlement. They are fundamentally different because of that. One gives you cash and the other gives you a share.”

In a follow-up post, Ferrante traced the xStocks model to defunct exchange FTX.

“We know the xstock model very well. It’s a copy paste of the model created by FTX,” he wrote, referring to the Liechtenstein-issued tokenized stock product FTX listed in 2021 before its 2022 collapse. “We very intentionally didn’t go with that model out of Liechtenstein because it’s fundamentally incompatible with giving users the ability to take the tokens into their brokerage account.”

xStocks Structure

Backed Finance’s xStocks tokenizes more than 60 U.S. equities by holding the underlying shares with a custodian and issuing transferable claims onchain. The structure entitles holders to a cash payout equal to the share price on redemption, not delivery of the share itself. The xStocks SpaceX token launched on Solana on June 12, the same day as SPCX, and trades across Bybit, Kraken, Coinbase International and BitMEX alongside synthetic pre-IPO perpetuals on those venues.

For a holder who wants to move the position into a traditional brokerage account, SPCX redeems through ACATS, the standard U.S. brokerage transfer system, and lands the SpaceX share in a Schwab or Fidelity account. SPCXx redeems for dollars.

A Crowded Solana SpaceX Field

SPCX entered a four-way Solana competition on listing day. Ondo Finance issued SPCXon, a tokenized SpaceX share routed through the firm’s regulated tokenization layer. Kraken’s xStocks SPCXx launched the same morning. Hyperliquid’s pre-IPO perpetual on SpaceX had been trading since mid-May. Bitget Wattet, Bybit and Binance subsequently canceled their tokenized SpaceX allocation campaigns on June 12 after xStocks could not source enough shares to fill demand.

Backpack and Sunrise filled the resulting demand gap. By Tuesday, Backpack reported that SPCX represented roughly half of all tokenized-stock volume on Solana, with Jupiter naming SPCX the most traded SpaceX token across any chain. Sunrise has now moved more than $350 million in cumulative SPCX volume since launch, according to its Wednesday update, and the token sits at the center of Solana Foundation’s Frontier Traders campaign, an institutional-tier liquidity program with a $500 million 30-day volume threshold.

Regulatory Exposure

Tokenized exposure to private-company equity remains a regulatory grey zone. SpaceX is now public after its Nasdaq listing at $75 billion in proceeds, removing the private-company asterisk that hung over pre-IPO synthetic products like Hyperliquid’s. SPCX is therefore a tokenized representation of a registered public security, which puts it inside the scope of the innovation exemption framework the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing for tokenized NMS stock. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce clarified in May that the planned exemption would cover only digital representations of existing registered equities. Synthetic stock-exposure instruments fall outside its scope.

Backpack issues SPCX through a U.S. broker-dealer subsidiary, which positions the product closer to the SEC’s tokenized-securities track than products issued through offshore SPV structures. Anthropic separately warned in May about unauthorized tokenization of private-company shares, illustrating the issuer-side risks around products that lack an explicit relationship with the underlying company

Bitcoin Decouples From Tech Stocks As AI Takes Market Lead

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Bitcoin Decouples From Tech Stocks As AI Takes Market Lead

Key takeaways:

  • Bitcoin’s sudden decoupling from a strong Nasdaq index highlights shifting capital flows into the AI sector.
  • A strengthening US dollar and high Treasury yields are weighing heavily on non-yielding crypto assets.

Bitcoin (BTC) faced a 7% correction after failing to reclaim the $67,200 level on Monday, triggering $330 million liquidations in bullish leveraged positions. More concerningly, the drop happened while the Nasdaq 100 index showed strength, trading 1% away from its all-time high. Should Bitcoin traders brace for a $60,000 retest?

Nasdaq 100 futures (left) vs. Bitcoin / USD. Source: TradingView

The bullish momentum in the stock market likely came from the memorandum of understanding signed by US President Donald Trump and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian. Crude oil prices fell to their lowest level in 15 weeks to $74, easing inflation risks. Moreover, US job market data boosted investors’ morale as continuing jobless claims held flat at 1.81 million.

Bitcoin’s decoupling from tech stocks coincides with US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Kevin Warsh’s remarks on Wednesday. The term “price stability” was cited by Warsh on multiple occasions, leading investors to believe that the new Fed mandate will keep a closer eye on inflation trends, according to CNBC. The US 5-year Treasury yield remained relatively high at 4.21%.

Gold / USD (left) vs. US dollar strength index (right). Source: TradingView

The US dollar strengthened against a basket of foreign currencies, signaling confidence in the US government’s strategy to sustain economic growth despite inflationary pressures. The move hurts non-yielding assets, since fixed income remains profitable longer, as seen in gold prices trading down 3.3%.

Bitcoin perpetual futures annualized funding rate. Source: Laevitas

Demand for bullish leveraged Bitcoin positions has faded since June 4, indicating a lack of confidence after the crash from $73,700 to $61,300 in just three days. Bitcoin’s bearish momentum contrasts with rising demand in the artificial intelligence sector. SpaceX (SPCX US) market capitalization soared to $2.4 trillion within days of its IPO.

AI sector narratives contrast with weak Bitcoin narratives

Intel (INTC US) shares jumped 10% on Thursday after President Trump announced that Apple (APPL US) had agreed to work with the chipmaker to build its processors. Memory chip and data storage producers Micron (MU US) and SK Hynix (000660 KS) have also recently joined the select list of companies valued at $1 trillion or higher.

Source: X/JoeCarlasare

According to Joe Carlasare, commercial litigator and Bitcoin supporter, traders’ sentiment is currently worse than it was during the FTX exchange collapse. For Carlasare, nearly every asset class was struggling back in November 2022 due to the macroeconomic backdrop. This time around, the “narratives that convinced people to buy Bitcoin have broken down”.

Related: Bitcoin’s deeply discounted versus AI-stocks, but hawkish Fed risk lingers–Bitwise

Bitcoin’s presence in the traditional finance industry is far more mature than during the previous halving cycle. The US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) accumulated over $102 billion in assets, and major financial institutions initiated Bitcoin investment offerings to clients, including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.

A retest of the $60,000 level should not be ruled out as the AI sector stays in the spotlight with massive investments and potential new IPOs and follow-on offerings, but institutional demand for Bitcoin will likely dictate price trends.

Ireland’s Government Proposes Crypto Safeguards in Response to Risks

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Ireland’s Government Proposes Crypto Safeguards in Response to Risks

Latest NewsPublishedJun 18, 2026

For the first time in seven years, the Irish government released an assessment related to digital assets, noting risks from money laundering, terrorism financing, sanctions violations and bribery.

The government of Ireland is taking aim at digital assets used in money laundering and terrorism financing as it moves to implement industry standards “relating to the acceptance of crypto-related activities as a source of funds” by the second half of 2027 as part of its policy priorities. 

In part of its implementation plan following a national risk assessment released on Thursday, the Irish department of finance said crypto assets presented “very significant” risks related to money laundering and terrorism financing. The government’s 2026 report was the first time in seven years that Ireland released a risk assessment related to digital assets, noting an increase in prosecutions related to money laundering and incidents of fraud in which using crypto was “particularly attractive” to criminal groups.

Source: Government of Ireland

In the time since its last report, Ireland noted that crypto “presents vulnerabilities that may facilitate sanctions evasion,” presented challenges to the country’s tax compliance and enforcement and was used to bribe corrupt officials responsible for decisions overseeing the industry. The government highlighted vulnerabilities in the sector, including “inconsistent international regulation” posing risks to Irish service providers and largely unregulated areas of the industry such as decentralized finance.

Ireland lacks many of the laws and regulations covering the crypto industry that are common in other jurisdictions like the European Union and United States. That’s despite its relatively high crypto ownership rates compared to other areas, with the Central Bank of Ireland reporting in December that about 10% of the population invested in crypto.

Related: BitGo courts crypto firms awaiting MiCA approval amid Binance licensing concerns

In November 2025, the central bank fined Coinbase Europe Limited about $24 million for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism violations, noting that the company delayed reporting failures in its transaction monitoring system.

Ireland banned crypto political donations

The risk assessment noted concerns about crypto being “increasingly used to make payments to corrupt officials,” but even official donations to political groups has been banned in Ireland for more than four years. In April 2022, officials proposed that no Irish political parties be allowed to accept cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ether, privacy coins and others.

Magazine: OpenAI files for IPO, SEC scraps 611 rule and Hungary overhauls crypto: Hodlers Digest June 7-13

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
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