Bitcoin rallies as BlackRock seeks ETF and Coinbase notches rare victory

Welcome to today’s Snapshot!

It was a big week. Bitcoin continued on its roll, rising above $31,000 largely on sentiment stemming from BlackRock’s filing for an ETF. Coinbase won a procedural ruling from the US Supreme Court that sent two cases to arbitration and Yuga Labs will be featured in a new book detailing its CryptoPunk NFTs and their impact over the past six years.

These are some stories we’re looking at right now:

Bitcoin hits one-year high

Bitcoin, the most valuable cryptocurrency, hit its highest level since last June 7 on Friday, marking a week of gains helped by BlackRock’s plans to create a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund despite heightened US regulatory scrutiny of cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin has gained almost 25% in value since BlackRock’s filing and rose as high as $31,458 on Friday. Ethereum, the world’s second-biggest cryptocurrency, has risen more than 16% since last week.

Supreme Court halts Coinbase case

The US Supreme Court decided in favour of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, halting court proceedings against the company in two California cases and sending them to arbitration.

The two class-action lawsuits alleged that Coinbase did not provide relief after users lost money and that it had engaged in deceptive advertising.

Belgium orders Binance halt

Belgium’s markets regulator ordered crypto exchange Binance to cease serving local customers, according to a Financial Services and Markets Authority notice.

The FSMA said Binance had served Belgian customers from countries outside the European Economic Area in violation of the rules. Binance said it would continue to work with regulators in compliance with its obligations.

Hacker sentenced to five years

A man who swindled people out of about $900,000 through a Twitter hack and a crypto-related SIM-swapping strategy was given a five-year prison sentence by a federal judge at US District Court for the Southern District of New York..

People’s lives were damaged by the actions of Joseph O’Connor, also known as PlugWalkJoe, said Judge Jed Rakoff at the sentencing.

Yuga Labs subject of book

CryptoPunks owner Yuga Labs announced an NFT art book project in partnership with Zak Group, the design studio behind the book Icons from Nike.

The book will “detail every Punk, pixel by pixel,” highlighting about 10,000 Ethereum avatars and the impact they’ve had since launching six years ago.

What we’re reading from around the web:

‘A New Wave’—Major Bank Reveals A $15 Trillion Earthquake Could Be Headed For The Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, XRP, Cardano, Dogecoin, Tron, Solana And Polygon Price — Forbes

Soccer Franchise FC Barcelona Scores World of Women for Upcoming NFT Release — CoinDesk

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Praises Bitcoin, Says CBDCs Are ‘Instruments of Control’ — Decrypt