Today in crypto, retired artist Ed Suman lost over $2 million in crypto after falling victim to a Coinbase impersonation scam, Moody’s degrades US credit rating, and Bitcoin’s next explosive move could send the asset to $250,000 by the end of 2025, according to analyst Scott Melker.

Retired artist loses $2M in crypto to Coinbase impersonator

Retired artist Ed Suman lost over $2 million in cryptocurrency earlier this year after falling victim to a scam involving someone posing as a Coinbase support representative.

Suman, 67, spent nearly two decades as a fabricator in the art world, helping build high-profile works such as Jeff Koons’ Balloon Dog sculptures, according to a May 17 report by Bloomberg.

After retiring, he turned to cryptocurrency investing, eventually accumulating 17.5 Bitcoin and 225 Ether — a portfolio that comprised most of his retirement savings.

He stored the funds in a Trezor Model One, a hardware wallet commonly used by crypto holders to avoid the risks of exchange hacks. But in March, Suman received a text message appearing to be from Coinbase, warning him of unauthorized account access.

After responding, he got a phone call from a man identifying himself as a Coinbase security staffer named Brett Miller. The caller appeared knowledgeable, correctly stating that Suman’s funds were stored in a hardware wallet.

He then convinced Suman that his wallet could still be vulnerable and walked him through a “security procedure” that involved entering his seed phrase into a website mimicking Coinbase’s interface.

Nine days later, a second caller claiming to be from Coinbase repeated the process. By the end of that call, all of Suman’s crypto holdings were gone.

Moody's rating agency degrades US credit rating

Moody's, one of the major credit ratings agencies, downgraded the US government's creditworthiness from Aaa to Aa1 on May 16, citing increased deficits and a mounting national debt.

According to the announcement, the agency forecasts higher US government debt, fueled by increasing interest expense on the debt, and a lack of cost-cutting measures curtailing government spending. The report noted:

"Over the next decade, we expect larger deficits as entitlement spending rises while government revenue remains broadly flat. In turn, persistent, large fiscal deficits will drive the government's debt and interest burden higher."

"The US' fiscal performance is likely to deteriorate relative to its own past and compared to other highly-rated sovereigns," the newly revised credit outlook predicted.

$BTC to $250K in 2025 ‘totally possible’ — crypto analyst Scott Melker

Bitcoin’s next explosive move could send the asset to $250,000 by the end of 2025, according to Scott Melker, a crypto analyst and host of The Wolf of All Streets podcast.

Speaking in a recent interview, Melker cited growing institutional interest and diminishing volatility as key factors that could drive the next leg up.

“250K this year, totally possible,” Melker said, adding that Bitcoin’s volatility has declined significantly in recent years.

“It used to be about three times as volatile as the S&P. Now it’s less than two times.” He pointed to increased involvement from pension funds and ETF issuers as evidence of a more mature, stable market.

The shift, he argued, reflects a broader trend of institutional adoption. “The more institutional money, the more Wall Street money, the more long-term holders get involved, the less volatility there’s going to be,” Melker explained.

#TrendingTopic #TradingCommunity #BTC #ETH $BTC $ETH