Bitcoin veterans who were involved in the blocksize war between 2015 and 2017 were surprised to see complaints about high fees from Bitcoin users this week. In the past, supporters of smaller blocks accepted high fees during times of congestion as a necessary tradeoff for decentralization, while those in favor of larger blocks aimed to keep fees low. However, due to Bitcoin's Taproot upgrade, some Bitcoin users have recently reversed this trend and are now embracing the "fees should be low" perspective. This change has led to a new, structurally higher fee regime, but it is expected to be temporary and may encourage the adoption of established L2 networks like Lightning and alternative L2 systems.

Binance.US, the American arm of global cryptocurrency exchange Binance, is selling Bitcoin at a premium of $700 more than the cryptocurrency's market price on May 9. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is being traded at $28,393 on Binance.US, which is 2% higher than the current market price of $27,722 according to data from CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap. Binance.US' Bitcoin premium comes after Binance faced major withdrawal issues on May 7 due to unusual mempool congestion, which led the exchange to consider adding the Lightning Network to speed up BTC transactions.

Cipher Mining, a US-based Bitcoin mining company, has purchased 11,000 new A1346 model machines from Chinese manufacturer Canaan to increase its total hash rate capacity to over 7.2 EH/s. Cipher's machine fleet now consists of over 70,000 mining rigs. Cipher CEO Tyler Page stated that the company's technology and operations teams have been testing Canaan's new generation mining machines over the past few months and expects them to perform well during the hot summer months in Texas. The new machines are expected to be delivered and energized in the third quarter of this year, reinforcing Cipher's position as a leading Bitcoin miner.

Bitcoin has experienced several bull runs over the years, with one notable uptrend occurring in 2012. Financial analyst Aditya Siddhartha has linked this bull run to the United States Presidential Elections, stating that the market gained momentum after the MACD and EMA indicators provided positive signals. Similarly, in 2016 and 2020, Bitcoin experienced drops in price before the Presidential Elections, but following the elections, the price surged due to increased demand from investors and growing awareness of Bitcoin's potential. Siddhartha predicts that the MACD and EMA indicators will continue to provide positive signals, leading to increased investor confidence and demand for Bitcoin, resulting in a potential price range of $180,000-$200,000. However, at the time of writing, BTC's price has been on the decline since Saturday, currently trading at $27,700, and it remains to be seen if it will attempt another run to surpass the key level of $30,000.

Bitcoin and Ether, among other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, faced a decline in Tuesday's afternoon trade in Asia, with Polygon and Solana leading the losses. This was due to the unexpected decrease in China's April imports and export growth, which also caused Asian equity markets to decline. Although investors turned to crypto assets due to concerns about banking and monetary policy expectations, fears of a recession in the U.S. and further interest rate hikes in Europe could affect the market, eroding investors' confidence and willingness to take risks.

The Lightning Network is a decentralized payment system that enables users to send and receive Bitcoin with little to no fees and a throughput of approximately 1 million transactions per second. To use the Lightning Network, users must set up a Lightning wallet, fund it with Bitcoin, and create payment channels. The Lightning Network is an open-source project maintained by Lightning Labs and was added to Cash App's Bitcoin wallet in October 2022, providing users with faster transactions and minimal fees. To send or receive Bitcoin using the Lightning Network, users can scan a QR code or share a Lightning address, making it a new standard for how value moves around the world.

The financial sector is releasing quarterly earnings reports, which include updates on the state of cryptocurrency adoption. Despite some companies feeling the effects of the crypto winter, even those with other priorities are finding success through crypto adoption, such as MicroStrategy. Block, formerly known as Square, reported an increase in revenues and earnings per share, despite doubts fueled by a report from Hindenburg Research. Bitcoin sales on Block's CashApp product played an important role in the company's financial success this quarter, indicating increasing adoption rates for the general public.

The world's largest crypto trading platform, Binance Exchange, has temporarily halted Bitcoin withdrawals due to network congestion. This is to prevent users from experiencing long waiting times for deposits and withdrawals during periods of network congestion. Binance is working on a solution and will reopen Bitcoin withdrawals as soon as possible. The suspension has raised concerns about the health of the Bitcoin protocol, with some speculating that the network is under a DOS attack. Additionally, Binance Exchange now supports Bitcoin ordinals.

According to Bloomberg's senior commodities specialist Mike McGlone, gold may perform better than Bitcoin during a potential recession, especially if it involves a stock market slump. McGlone's analysis shows that the metal is moving upward while Bitcoin is declining on a 100-week basis. Gold saw a strong upward move as the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates, signaling its correlation with rising interest rates. Meanwhile, Bitcoin's vulnerability is due to its higher correlation to the stock market and risk assets. McGlone believes the worst is over and that there is a consensus for a soft landing, but Société Générale's strategist Albert Edwards argues that a recession is a done deal.

Experts are alarmed about the widening concerns in the US banking sector, predicting that more lenders will likely face insolvency. The Hoover Institution think-tank has highlighted that several US banks are already facing losses, leading to concerns over an acceleration of bank runs. The crisis has reportedly impacted around 200 lenders, whose sustainability was further threatened following the recent interest rate hike. Bitcoin has emerged as a favorable alternative asset for investors amidst the turmoil in the US banking sector.