Bitcoin Transaction Activity Hits 18-Month Low

The blockchain is a little too quiet.

Author

Juan Aranovich
June 20, 2025

Hi! In today’s edition:

  • 🧊 Bitcoin activity hits a chilling low

  • 🕵️ Trump’s WLFI stake cut by $190M

  • 🏛️ South Korea’s crypto ETF roadmap revealed

  • 🔐 Kraken launches BTC staking with a twist

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By Tikta

Bitcoin Transaction Counts Plunge to 18-Month Lows

Bitcoin’s transaction activity has recently reached its lowest level in over a year and a half, with the seven-day moving average falling under 316,000 transactions, before slightly recovering to around 350,000, as per data from The Block.

This marks a significant drop from the peak of over 700,000 daily transactions seen during the height of Bitcoin-based protocol adoption in mid-2024.

The decline is attributed to fading hype around Bitcoin-native protocols like Runes and Ordinals, which previously drove substantial transaction volume by enabling token-like functionality and NFT-style inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Transaction fees have also remained consistently low, below $1.50 since the start of the year, reflecting reduced competition for block space.

Trump-Linked DT Marks DeFi Cuts WLFI Stake by 20%

DT Marks DeFi, a firm linked to President Donald Trump and his family, quietly reduced its equity interests in World Liberty Financial (WLFI) by 20%, bringing its stake down from 60% to about 40% in recent weeks.

Although the reduction was not publicly announced, it was reflected in updated disclosures on World Liberty Financial’s website.

The move comes amid growing calls from lawmakers for investigations into Trump’s financial connections to the crypto industry.

Forbes estimates that the sale of a 20% stake could have generated about $190 million, with a significant portion of $135 million possibly accruing to Trump personally, depending on the company’s valuation and the structure of the sale.

Trump has already reported more than $57 million in income from the venture over the past year, according to public filings.

LIVE on X and YouTube: Laura Interviews Jesse Pollak

Base creator Jesse Pollak will talk about JPMorgan’s launch of the JPMD deposit token on Base. 

South Korean Regulators Outline 2025 Strategy for Spot Crypto ETFs

South Korean authorities have submitted a detailed roadmap for the approval of spot crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs), marking a significant step toward opening the country’s financial markets to crypto-based investment products. 

The Financial Services Commission (FSC), South Korea’s top financial regulator, filed the roadmap with the Presidential Committee on Policy Planning, outlining plans to prepare implementation measures for local spot crypto ETFs in the second half of 2025.

This initiative aligns with campaign promises made by President Lee Jae-myung, who pledged to lift the domestic ban on crypto ETFs as part of efforts to provide more financial opportunities for the country’s younger generation.

South Korea is the second-largest crypto market by trading volume, behind the U.S. In 2025, crypto trading volume denominated in Korean won (KRW) is expected to reach $663 billion, second to the U.S. dollar-denominated $832 billion, according to Kaiko data.

Kraken Enables Native Bitcoin Staking With Babylon

Crypto exchange Kraken has launched a new Bitcoin staking service enabled by its integration with Babylon, a Bitcoin-native staking protocol.

Users can lock their BTC in a custodial vault on the Bitcoin blockchain, which is then delegated via Babylon to secure proof-of-stake (PoS) networks. They can also unstake their BTC at any time, but will be subject to a seven-day unbonding period before funds are returned.

Staking rewards, however, will be paid in Babylon’s native token BABY, rather than in BTC.

Over 57,000 BTC, worth more than $5.6 billion, have already been staked on Babylon’s Genesis mainnet since its April 2025 launch.

  • 📲 X will add trading and investment tools for U.S. users through its X Money wallet, building on its Visa partnership and real-time banking infrastructure to support Musk’s broader “super app” strategy.

  • 📊 Lending in DeFi hit a new record of $55.7 billion in total value locked as Aave v3 surged past $26 billion, while Maple Finance’s real-world credit pools helped boost its TVL by over 400% since early 2025.

  • 🌍 Mantle launched a new neobank called UR, offering crypto-first accounts with Swiss regulation, global banking rails, and Mastercard debit integration in over 40 countries, with broader DeFi features and public rollout planned for Q3.

  • 📈 Sol Strategies, which holds over 420,000 SOL and runs validator operations, filed to list on Nasdaq to expand its U.S. investor reach while continuing to operate under lighter Canadian disclosure rules.

  • 💼 Revolut is in active talks with crypto-native partners to launch a stablecoin for global retail and business payments as it expands its crypto product suite beyond trading and into direct issuance.

  • 🇺🇸 Arizona’s Senate passed a bill to create a state-run Bitcoin and digital asset reserve using crypto seized in criminal cases, allowing the treasurer to hold, sell, or manage funds depending on market and custody conditions.

  • 🧬 Project Eleven raised $6 million from investors like Variant and Quantonation to develop quantum-resistant cryptography for Bitcoin and launched a bounty rewarding the first quantum computer to break its elliptic curve encryption.

  • 📈 Semler Scientific announced a plan to acquire 105,000 BTC by 2027 using equity, debt, and revenue, a move that would place it just behind Strategy in total holdings.