Illinois Adds 0.2% Crypto Tax, Hyundai Buys Boston Dynamics; BTC Near $63K

Crypto News

Hyundai Motor Group is set to take full ownership of Boston Dynamics, agreeing to pay $325 million for SoftBank's remaining 9.65% stake. The deal, expected to win board approval on June 22, gives the automaker 100% control of the robotics pioneer it first backed in 2021. SoftBank is exercising a put option from that original transaction and exiting entirely to concentrate on artificial-intelligence infrastructure. Hyundai plans to deploy production versions of the electric Atlas humanoid robot at its Georgia electric-vehicle plant by 2028, targeting 99.9% reliability for factory tasks. The move deepens the convergence between robotics, manufacturing automation and the broader AI-capital arms race now reshaping industrial strategy.

Japan's Financial Services Agency handed moomoo Securities a three-month partial business suspension, barring the foreign-owned brokerage from accepting new account openings between June 19 and September 18. Regulators found the firm falsely described non-qualifying products as eligible under the tax-advantaged NISA scheme, alongside significant anti-money-laundering and cybersecurity shortcomings. A parallel business-improvement order requires management to assign accountability and submit a remediation plan. The platform, a subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed Futu Holdings, had surpassed two million app downloads in Japan by undercutting rivals on US equity trading fees. The penalty signals zero tolerance toward rapidly scaling foreign fintechs whose compliance frameworks lag their growth.

A new research note argues that the year-to-date bear market in digital assets has created value in cash-flow-generating tokens, using DeFi lending leader Aave as a case study. Applying a discounted-cash-flow framework, analysts project the protocol will earn roughly $60 million in net revenue in 2026. At fintech-style multiples of 20-25x, that implies a fair market value of $1.2-1.5 billion, or about $80-100 per token, versus a then-current price near $75. The thesis treats this altcoin, unlike commodity-style assets, as a financial claim whose AMM-driven liquidity and value-capture mechanics bind protocol revenue directly to price.

WhiteBIT secured authorization under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation from Austria's Financial Market Authority, letting it passport regulated services across the European Economic Area through a single license. The approval lands less than two weeks before MiCA's July 1 transition deadline, after which firms operating on legacy national registrations must hold a MiCA license or stop serving EU clients. Austria declined to extend grandfathering past December 2025, making it an early full adopter of the framework. The exchange, whose parent group reports more than 35 million customers globally, plans to launch a dedicated whitebit.eu platform tailored for European users under the new regime.

A federal appeals court upheld Sam Bankman-Fried's 25-year sentence, affirming his fraud, conspiracy and money-laundering convictions and rejecting arguments that the original trial contained reversible errors. Days later, the former FTX founder disclosed from prison that he is conceptualizing a new token project, though the idea remains at an early stage with no product, architecture or timeline. The remarks drew sharp reactions across the industry. In Washington, Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis and Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego introduced a bipartisan resolution urging President Trump not to grant any pardon, warning that clemency would undermine judicial credibility and send the wrong signal to markets.

Illinois became the first US state to impose a dedicated levy on crypto activity after Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the Digital Asset Privilege Tax Act into law as part of the state budget. The measure applies a 0.2% rate to qualifying digital-asset transfers, trades and exchanges. Industry groups warned the tax raises transaction costs, erodes liquidity and stacks atop existing capital-gains and income obligations, potentially driving blockchain firms toward friendlier jurisdictions. Strategy founder Michael Saylor publicly branded the policy a major mistake, arguing the US should encourage digital-asset innovation rather than raise participation barriers. Observers fear other states could copy the template if the revenue proves stable.

Taken together, these threads trace a single arc: regulators and capital allocators alike are repricing digital assets as a maturing class, rewarding compliance and cash-flow fundamentals while penalizing lax controls and taxing raw activity. That recalibration is unfolding against fragile sentiment. COINOTAG's aggregate market data shows the Fear & Greed Index at 14, deep in extreme-fear territory, while Bitcoin dominance sits at 70% and total market capitalization hovers near $1.81 trillion, with BTC trading around $63,000 — far from its all-time high. Concentrated dominance and risk-off positioning suggest capital is rotating toward perceived quality, marking crypto's gradual shift from pure speculation toward institutional discipline.