Daily Crypto Roundup: Bitcoin Holds $64K, XRP Stuck at $1.15, Ethereum Bot Drained for $7.5M

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Welcome back to the Daily Crypto Roundup. Today, the market is not exploding higher, but it is not collapsing either. Bitcoin is holding around the $64,000 area. Ethereum is still trying to stabilize. XRP is stuck in that frustrating zone where the story sounds stronger than the chart, and the wider crypto market is once again being pulled between two forces, real adoption on one side and macro fear on the other. And that is really the theme of today's episode. Because on one hand, we have Bitcoin being watched as a macro asset, with traders looking at Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, oil prices and ceasefire talks. On the other hand, we have Wall Street still building more Bitcoin products, Ripple pushing XRP and Ripple USD into AI payments, and strategy still sitting right at the center of the corporate Bitcoin treasury debate.
So, today, we are going to start with Bitcoin and the renewed Hormuz risk. Then we will get into the Ethereum MEV bot that was drained for $7.5 million, which is one of the most ironic crypto security stories you will hear. After that, we will move into XRP, because XRP is still struggling to hold $1.15, even though the fundamental story keeps improving. Then we will look at strategy, Adam Back's defense of its small Bitcoin sale, Franklin Templeton's new Bitcoin dividend idea, Ripple's AI payment push, and finally Hester Peirce leaving the SEC in November.
And as always, this is not financial advice. This is the real crypto news broken down properly, without the panic, without the hype, and without the nonsense you see flying around on social media.
Before we get into it, if you are using exchanges, wallets, or crypto platforms, make sure you understand the risks, use proper security, and never invest more than you can afford to lose. Kraken is one of the names many people use when they are buying, selling, or managing crypto. But always do your own research and make your own decisions. And remember, we are giving 20 XRP to listeners, who sign up using our link. Just message us once it's done. Now let's get into the market. Bitcoin has been holding near $64,000 after recovering part of Friday's drop. Bitcoin was trading around $64,200 on Sunday, up slightly over 24 hours, but still basically flat on the week. That tells you the market is not dead, but it is also not convinced yet. Bitcoin dipped below $63,000 on Friday, recovered over the weekend, and now traders are waiting for the next big macro signal. The big issue is the Middle East again. Markets were previously boosted by the idea of a US-Iran deal and a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which helped pull oil prices lower.
But now, the risk is back because Iran has renewed the threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, even while ceasefire talks are due to take place in Switzerland. And this matters for Bitcoin because Bitcoin is not trading in isolation anymore. It is not just a crypto chart. It is now tied into the bigger risk asset picture. If oil spikes because Hormuz closes, inflation fears can return, risk appetite can fall, and Bitcoin can get dragged down with equities and other speculative assets. But if ceasefire talks go well and the Hormuz risk cools again, then that pressure can lift, and Bitcoin could get room to move higher.
So the key level psychologically is simple. Bitcoin needs to keep defending this 63,000 to 64,000 dollar area. It does not need to go crazy today. It just needs to avoid breaking down while the macro picture is messy. The market has spent a lot of June reacting to headlines rather than crypto native catalysts, and that is exactly what we are seeing again today.
Now from Bitcoin's macro story, we move to Ethereum, and this one is wild. Ethereum's biggest sandwich bot, known as JaredFromSubway.Eath, has reportedly been drained for more than 7.5 million dollars.
The attacker did not use a normal phishing attack or a simple contract exploit. Instead, the attacker tricked the bot's automated trading logic by creating fake tokens and fake liquidity pools that looked like profitable opportunities. For anyone who does not know, a sandwich bot is a type of MEV bot.
MEV stands for Maximal Extractable Value. In simple terms, these bots look at pending transactions, jump in front of them, force the user to get a worse price, then sell straight after. It is not usually classed as a hack, but it is widely seen as predatory because it extracts value from normal users trading on chain. And that is why this story has such a big irony attached to it. The bot that spent years profiting from other traders' transactions was itself tricked by someone else. The attacker spent weeks setting up fake contracts and fake trading routes that made the bot approve malicious helper contracts. Those approvals were then used to drain wrapped Ethereum, USDC and USDT.