Here’s what happened in crypto today

Bitcoin experienced a notable price increase on June 10, 2024, reaching $71,000 as institutional inflows continued to drive market sentiment. This surge followed a period of consolidation, with analysts attributing the upward momentum to renewed confidence in spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) and anticipation of potential interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve later in the year. The total market capitalization for cryptocurrencies also saw a significant rise, exceeding $2.7 trillion, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Ethereum also showed strength, trading above $3,500, as developers made progress on the upcoming Dencun upgrade, which aims to reduce transaction fees on Layer 2 scaling solutions. In regulatory news, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continued its review of various spot Ethereum ETF applications, with decisions expected by late May and early June. Meanwhile, the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector saw increased activity, with total value locked (TVL) across major DeFi protocols climbing by 5% in the past week, reaching over $100 billion. Projects focused on real-world asset tokenization, such as Centrifuge and MakerDAO, reported substantial growth in their collateralized debt positions. The broader Web3 ecosystem also saw developments, with several new decentralized applications (dApps) launching on the Solana blockchain, leveraging its high transaction throughput. However, concerns regarding scalability and user adoption remain key challenges for the continued expansion of Web3 technologies.