The U.K.’s financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), proposed allowing certain retail investment funds to hold up to 10% of their assets in cryptocurrency exchange-traded notes (ETNs).

The financial regulator made the suggestion for UCITS (“Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities”) schemes and some non-UCITS retail schemes (NURS) to invest in crypto ETNs in its latest quarterly consultation paper.

UCITS and NURS are similar to mutual funds in the U.S. in that they are regulated, open-ended structures that pool money from retail investors into managed portfolios.

“Our proposed 10% limit for UCITS and NURS would also mitigate the risk of significant impacts arising from crypto ETN exposure,” the FCA wrote.

The FCA’s proposal marks another step on the road to wider acceptance of crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) in the U.K. under the ETN banner. The regulator first allowed retail investors to access such funds in October 2025, lifting a ban that had been in place since 2021.

Investment vehicles that allow users to gain exposure to cryptocurrency without having to buy and custody the assets themselves have been at the forefront of mainstream adoption of crypto for several years. The regulatory hurdles to their wider use in the U.K. have drawn criticism from commentators who say it risks placing the country at a disadvantage compared to its peers.

Bitcoin (BTC) bulls successfully defended the $60,000 psychological support during last week’s 13% correction.

BTC/USD daily chart. Source: TradingView

However, the rebound has not fully erased downside risks, with some traders warning that a deeper breakdown remains possible as the US–Iran tensions and fading rate-cut expectations weigh on risk appetite.

Several Bitcoin valuation and technical indicators now support that scenario, suggesting BTC could still revisit $50,000 or lower levels in the coming weeks.

Key takeaways:

• Bitcoin trades near its average production cost of $62,650, but risks dropping toward its lower electrical cost of $50,120.
• Glassnode’s MVRV bands show BTC below its lower valuation zone, with the next deep-value magnet near $50,437.

Bitcoin breaks down below average production cost

One of the key warning signals comes from the Bitcoin production cost model, which compares BTC’s market price with the estimated average cost of mining one Bitcoin.

The model, shared by Capriole Investments Founder Charles Edwards, shows Bitcoin trading near its production cost of around $62,650. That means miners are, on average, close to breaking even at current prices.

BTC/USD weekly chart vs. production cost. Source: Capriole Investments

This level has historically acted as an important long-term value zone. During previous bear-market corrections, Bitcoin often found strong demand when the price fell into the band between the production cost and the lower electrical cost estimate.

That lower boundary now sits near $50,120, according to the chart.

In other words, BTC is already testing the upper end of a major miner-cost support zone. If sellers push the price decisively below the current production-cost area, the next major valuation floor could sit near the electrical-cost level around $50,000.

BTC realized price indicator reveals $37,500 bottom

Bitcoin’s realized price, the average cost basis of all BTC holders, is currently near $53,600, according to the chart shared by analyst Follis.

Historically, Bitcoin has not formed a major cycle bottom without first trading below the realized price. BTC fell about 58% below realized price in 2011, 49% in 2015, 47% in 2018, and 34% in 2022.

Bitcoin realized price vs. spot price. Source: TradingView/Follis

The drawdowns have become shallower over time, but even a smaller 20%–30% drop below today’s realized price would imply a bottom zone between roughly $37,500 and $42,800.

So far, Bitcoin has spent zero days below realized price in this cycle, compared with 179 days in 2022, 140 days in 2018, 303 days in 2015, and 122 days in 2011.

Related: BTC price bottom not due until Q4? Five things to know in Bitcoin this week

That keeps the possibility of a bottom in Q4 2026 in play. A decisive break below $60,000 could send BTC toward realized price near $53,600 first, before opening the door to a deeper capitulation zone below $50,000.

Bitcoin MVRV bands suggest price drop $50,000 is plausible

Bitcoin’s MVRV pricing bands also point to a possible deeper correction toward $50,000.

The model compares BTC’s market price with valuation zones based on how expensive or cheap Bitcoin appears versus its long-term average. Historically, these bands have acted as price magnets during major cycle moves.

Bitcoin MVRV extreme deviation pricing bands. Source: Glassnode

In the 2021 bull market, Bitcoin repeatedly topped near the upper valuation bands. During the 2022 bear market, the price eventually fell through the average band and gravitated toward the lower bands before forming a bottom.

A similar pattern appeared again during the 2024 correction, when BTC cooled off toward lower valuation zones before recovering.

Now, Bitcoin is trading near $63,000, already below the model’s lower valuation band around $72,035. The next major magnet sits near the deep-value band around $50,000.

That level also sits close to Bitcoin’s realized price near $53,600, making the $50,000–$53,600 area a key on-chain support cluster.

A decisive break below $60,000 would therefore strengthen the case for BTC to revisit this deep-value zone before attempting a durable bottom.

Bitcoin bear flag breakdown keeps $50,000 in play

Bitcoin’s weekly chart shows a possible bear flag breakdown, with BTC slipping from its rising consolidation range after failing below the 50-week SMA near $91,700.

BTC/USD weekly chart. Source: TradingView

The price is now testing the 200-week SMA near $62,000, a key long-term support. A decisive weekly close below it would confirm the bearish setup and open the door to the measured downside target under $50,000.

Weekly relative strength index (RSI) readings near the oversold threshold of 30 also show weak momentum, supporting the view that sellers remain in control unless BTC quickly reclaims the flag support.

Humanity Protocol bills itself as “the internet’s trust layer,” but many have voiced concerns over its credibility in relation to yesterday’s H token compromise.

Following reports of suspicious transactions and worrying price movements, the project’s X account disclosed a “security incident involving the compromise of private keys belonging to a member of the Humanity Foundation.”

It warned users to avoid interacting “with the bridge or any liquidity pools.”

However, multiple members of the crypto security community have questioned both the mechanics and timing of yesterday’s incident, which led to the project’s H token crashing almost 90%.

Read more: Rough weekend for DeFi: Four hacks, three outages, one warning

An on-chain investigator who goes by “SpecterAnalyst” on X initially drew attention to suspicious transfers of H totaling $5 million.

The total extracted eventually reached $30 million, according to blockchain security auditor Peckshield. The firm tallied almost 190 million H tokens drained from over 280 affected wallets.

Additionally, two batches of 100 million H tokens were minted on BNB Chain.

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A later official update put the total stolen at $36 million, insisting that “an employee’s laptop was compromised.” The compromise included 3-of-6 private keys for the project’s bridge contract owner, which upgraded the contract and “swept ~141.2M H in a single transaction.”

Concurrently, 3-of-5 keys for the project’s BNB Chain safe were also compromised, with a similar mechanism used to mint 200 million H tokens.

Raised eyebrows

Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT pushed back at Humanity’s initial statement, questioning why users should “blindly trust your story” after the “crime pump” of the H token.

The project’s H token recently pumped almost 400% in under five days in late May, fuelling suspicions over price manipulation.

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In another post, he went further, calling the incident “possibly staged” as a “convenient” exit for the token’s market maker.

However, “after further analysis of the laundering,” he walked back the accusation.

Trading Strategy co-founder Mikko Ohtamaa pointed out the irony in “a protocol that ensures a blockchain address is a real human being and not a Sybil address,” using the same person for three multisig signer keys.

Humanity, a protocol that ensures a blockchain address is a real human being and not a Sybil address, was hacked.

3 of their 6 multisig key holders were the same person.

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They did not apply their own protocol to their own multisig.

$30M gone.https://t.co/4Hqu67avHH

— Mikko Ohtamaa (@moo9000) June 9, 2026

Read more: How Humanity Protocol CEO drove his previous firm to insolvency

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Yearn developer Banteg also appeared shocked that attackers managed to compromise three private keys from the same foundation member.

They also spotted that, while keys were rotated for the team’s BNB Chain wallet, the Ethereum wallet remained compromised for at least 14 hours, making the idea of an inside job “plausible.”

Security firm Beosin questioned whether the hack was indeed a “rug pull” after identifying the contract upgrade which allowed transfers of H tokens directly from victims’ wallets.

Today’s incident comes just over two weeks in advance of the first unlock of 266.5 million vested tokens destined for the Humanity team and investors.

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SpecterAnalyst, who initially flagged the wallet draining transactions, also seemed skeptical of the team’s version of events.

They had previously drawn attention to the project’s team, claiming that “three out of four leads have questionable pasts involving mismanagement, lawsuits, or financial wrongdoing,” and highlighted issues with the token’s distribution following its launch last June.

Got a tip? Send us an email securely via Protos Leaks. For more informed news and investigations, follow us on X, Bluesky, and Google News, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

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Ripple XRP Transfer Raises Fresh Market Questions

Whale Alert reported a large XRP movement involving 50 million tokens from a Ripple-linked wallet. The transfer carried a value of about $59 million, based on current market prices. As a result, the transaction drew quick attention across the XRP community.

XRPScan data showed that the Ripple wallet first moved funds to the raRVLN1 subwallet. That step suggested an internal transfer rather than a direct exchange deposit. However, the same wallet later started sending smaller batches to Binance-linked addresses.

The transfers moved mainly in 2 million XRP lots to two wallets. XRPScan links those addresses, rBNCyN and rnPpiy, to Binance exchange activity. Therefore, the flows may reflect Ripple’s liquidity management for payment-related operations.

XRP Price Holds Recovery as Binance Flows Draw Scrutiny

XRP traded around $1.16 after gaining more than 12% from last week’s $1.05 low. The token also moved 2% higher during the latest session. Meanwhile, its 24-hour range stayed between $1.14 and $1.18.

Trading volume rose by about 4% over the past 24 hours. The increase showed stronger market activity ahead of the next U.S. CPI inflation data. Moreover, macro data could affect short-term crypto sentiment across major digital assets.

Ripple has used XRP liquidity channels for years through payment and settlement products. These flows often support exchange liquidity, cross-border payment demand, and treasury activity. Still, large exchange-linked transfers often raise sale concerns among market participants.

XRP Market Context Builds Around ETFs and Ledger Upgrades

XRP’s recovery also comes as spot ETF inflows add support to market demand. Ripple’s push for XRP Ledger upgrades has also helped maintain attention. These developments have strengthened the broader market debate around XRP’s next move.

Market analyst Ali Martinez pointed to a long-term support trendline on XRP’s monthly chart. He highlighted the $0.90 region as a key level for stronger accumulation setups. However, XRP still needs sustained strength above $1.18 to retest $1.20.

YoungHoon Kim also claimed that XRP had entered a new bull market phase. That view added more discussion around a possible move toward $1.20. For now, Binance-linked flows remain notable, but on-chain data has not confirmed direct selling.

The European Union should focus on a broader digital asset framework covering real-world assets and tokenization instead of regulating decentralized finance through a second version of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), an adviser at the European Commission said.

The European Commission launched a public consultation on MiCA in May, seeking feedback through Aug. 31.

“I do not believe that [MiCA] is outdated now. That’s my personal opinion, but it does not matter. That’s why we have this consultation,” Peter Kerstens told Cointelegraph during a fireside chat at WAIB Summit Monaco 2026.

Kerstens, one of MiCA’s architects, said that the feedback received during the European Commission’s current review period will help shape the bloc’s next regulatory steps.

MiCA is approaching the end of its transitional period on July 1, after which crypto asset service providers will be required to hold a MiCA license or stop servicing EU clients.

Related: Crypto firms face July 1 EU cutoff as MiCA grace period ends

EU doesn’t need to regulate DeFi, says MiCA architect

Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols were included among the emerging risk areas examined in the consultation, even though they are largely outside MiCA’s current scope.

An excerpt from the public consultation on the MiCA review. Source: European Commission

However, Kerstens said regulating DeFi would be difficult because laws can be applied to people and organizations, but not directly to computer networks. He said lawmakers would need a new legal doctrine to regulate non-entities.

Kerstens added that he doesn’t see a need to regulate DeFi, which he described as a “movement” that has “no representatives.”

“I don’t see what the problem is. And if there is no problem, why should it be regulated?”

Earlier in March, a working paper from the European Central Bank questioned whether decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are decentralized enough to remain outside MiCA’s scope. Looking at Aave, MakerDAO, Ampleforth and Uniswap, the paper found that the top 100 governance token holders controlled over 80% of the supply in each protocol, based on holdings snapshots from November 2022 and May 2023.

The authors said these findings question whether DAOs are inherently decentralized and whether they should remain outside of the MiCA regulation as “fully decentralized” services.

Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

StarkWare and Sui launched new privacy features this week that allow users to conceal transaction data without fully sacrificing auditability or regulatory oversight.

StarkWare said Tuesday that it launched STRK20, a privacy framework for ERC-20 tokens on Starknet that allows users to shield balances and transaction data while providing mechanisms for disclosure under certain circumstances.

Eli Ben-Sasson, co-founder and CEO of StarkWare, told Cointelegraph that “compliance-ready” does not mean STRK20 itself determines legal compliance or guarantees regulatory approval. He said the framework is built around a risk-based model in which privacy is conditional rather than absolute, with screening applied at entry into the shielded pool and viewing-key-based disclosure available under lawful request.

Separately, Sui launched a public beta for confidential transfers, a feature that conceals transaction amounts while allowing authorized parties to access information when required for auditing or compliance purposes.

The launches reflect a broader shift in crypto privacy away from complete anonymity and toward models favored by institutions that incorporate audit and disclosure mechanisms.

Sui launches confidential transfers. Source: Sui

Compliance shift in privacy systems

In recent weeks, privacy-focused projects have been forced to address questions around both oversight and reliability.

Zama, a blockchain privacy project, said on June 2 that it would accelerate its compliance roadmap. The announcement came after a court-ordered freeze of about $12.5 million in USDC held in its confidential USDC wrapper, which was later lifted following resolution of the underlying legal request.

The project subsequently highlighted its disclosure mechanisms and approach to regulatory coordination for encrypted transactions.

Related: Canton, ZKsync clash over how blockchains enforce rules

The broader push also comes amid renewed scrutiny of one of the crypto industry’s most prominent privacy projects after Zcash disclosed a bug that raised concerns that counterfeit tokens could have been created undetected.

Zcash developers said the vulnerability was addressed through an emergency network upgrade completed in early June, with no confirmed evidence of exploitation, though the nature of shielded pools makes it difficult to fully reconstruct transaction history after vulnerabilities are disclosed.

Market Moves: Why is Ethereum Foundation selling? BTC futures warning signs

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Bitcoin’s BTC$61,318.62 recent weakness is being driven by softer capital flows rather than concerns over quantum computing or other risks, according to Wall Street broker Bernstein.

Growing concerns that future quantum computers could eventually break the cryptography underpinning Bitcoin have become a recurring topic in crypto markets, especially after recent research from Google suggested the computational resources needed to crack key blockchain security systems may be far lower than previously thought.

Bitcoin treasury companies and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have attracted about $12 billion of inflows this year, down sharply from $60 billion in 2025, the broker said. ETFs have seen roughly $2.6 billion of net outflows from a $75 billion asset base, with most new demand coming from corporate buyers led by Strategy (MSTR).

Bernstein analysts attributed the slowdown largely to retail investors chasing AI-related opportunities, noting that the strongest-performing areas of crypto this year have been tied to tokenized equities and commodities.

“Bitcoin still may offer some diversification from the unusual singular AI driven momentum markets we have experienced this year,” analysts led by Gautam Chhugani wrote in the Monday report.

Still, the analysts views the modest scale of ETF outflows as encouraging, arguing that bitcoin ownership is becoming less dependent on momentum-driven retail flows.

Bitcoin has endured a difficult stretch in recent months, falling from roughly $82,000 in early May to around $63,000 today, a decline of more than 20%. The cryptocurrency briefly dropped below $60,000 last week, its lowest level since October 2024, and remains about 50% below its October 2025 record high near $126,000.

Persistent ETF outflows, weakening investor risk appetite and a shift in capital toward AI-related stocks and high-profile equity offerings have been cited as key drivers of the downturn.

Unlike previous cycles dominated by retail traders, today’s market includes ETFs, corporate treasuries, wealth-management platforms, pension funds and sovereign investors, creating a more diversified and resilient ownership base, the analysts argued.

While bitcoin has lacked the excitement of AI trades this year, Bernstein argued that “being boring” does not weaken its long-term store-of-value thesis and may ultimately reflect a healthier market structure.

Spot bitcoin ETF flows explain roughly 45% of weekly BTC price moves and remain the best gauge of investor adoption, Citi said in a report last week.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency was trading around $62,600 at publication time.

Read more: Bitcoin’s dearth of fresh investors matters more than Strategy’s sale, Citi says