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Crypto Whale Data

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Crypto Whale Data

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  • World Liberty Financial buys $112.8 million in crypto on Trump's first day in office
  • Trump's World Liberty buys $25 million of tokens, including Link, Tron, Aave and Ethena World Liberty, a crypto project affiliated with President-elect Donald Trump, has continued to diversify its treasury holdings away from stablecoins and into more speculative tokens. The treasury swapped around $24.6 million of the stablecoin USDC for Ether (ETH), Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), Tron (TRX), Link (LINK), Aave (AAVE) and Ethena (ENA), according to blockchain data platform Arkham. It has purchased $4.7 million of each of the tokens except for Ethena, where it has only bought $2.3 million worth so far, according to block explorer Etherscan. The treasury has been buying Ether on a constant basis over the last few months and currently owns 43,000 ETH with a current value of $143 million — its largest holding, even above stablecoins. It holds $96 million of the stablecoin Tether (USDT) and $56 million of the stablecoin USDC. Beyond this, the project's treasury now holds roughly $6.5 million of Wrapped Bitcoin, Aave and Link, plus $4.6 million of Tron and $3 million of Ethena. The project has not yet bought any of the official Trump memecoins, such as Donald Trump's Official Trump and Melania Trump's MELANIA. In November, Tron founder Justin Sun bought $30 million of WLFI tokens and then was swiftly appointed as an advisor to the project. Sun is now also associated with Wrapped Bitcoin after his firm BiT Global recently became a key stakeholder in the project.
  • World Liberty Financial sees surge in token sales following Donald and Melania Trump memecoin launches World Liberty Financial, the DeFi project associated with President-elect Donald Trump, saw surges in governance token sales after Donald and Melania Trump launched their respective memecoins ahead of Trump’s inauguration on Monday. The project announced late Sunday night on X that it has “completed” its mission and sold 20 billion tokens or 20% of the 100 billion token supply. The project has now opened up the sale of an additional 5 billion tokens or 5% of the supply. “Due to massive demand and overwhelming interest, we’ve decided to open up an additional block of 5% of token supply,” the project said. World Liberty Financial’s governance token WLFI saw its cumulative sales reach $254 million late Sunday, up from around $91 million a day earlier, according to Dune Analytics data. Onchain data shows the WLFI token has over 34,000 holders among over 44,500 transactions. Notably, Tron Founder Justin Sun said in an X post on Sunday that Tron DAO has invested an additional $45 million in WLFI, bringing the total investment to $75 million. Sun became an advisor to World Liberty Financial in November after his project poured a $30 million investment into WLFI. The Sunday surge in WLFI token sales followed the launches of Donald Trump’s and Melania Trump's memecoins. Over the weekend, the President-elect launched an “Official Trump” memecoin, with Melania Trump soon following suit with her memecoin “MELANIA.” The Official Trump token quickly surged to a high of around $72 and is trading at $44 at the time of writing. Its market cap currently stands at $8.8 billion, with a $44.1 billion fully diluted valuation (FDV). The MELANIA token’s FDV reached $7.6 billion as it continues to see wild fluctuations in price, according to DEXscreener.
  • Trader who spotted Trump memecoin early turned $1 million into $90 million When President-elect Donald Trump posted about the launch of a memecoin on the final business day before his inauguration, many feared that he had been hacked and it was fake. But one trader aped in regardless. Within two minutes of the post going out on Truth Social, this trader swapped 1.09 million USDC for 5.7 million TRUMP tokens on the Meteora market, as highlighted by onchain analysts LookOnChain. They also paid an $85,000 tip to Jito, a Solana infrastructure company focused on MEV, a practice where blockchain users can pay more money to get their transactions through faster or at the top of blocks. Shortly afterwards, this trader sent the TRUMP tokens to another wallet, known by its Solana name ff.sol. Then the funds were split up across many other wallets. In the hours that followed, a portion of the tokens were sold for the stablecoin USDC in some of the wallets, a few also featuring other Solana names. In one wallet, some of the stablecoins were used to buy back TRUMP tokens before selling them again. LookOnChain estimates the trader sold 1.35 million TRUMP for $3.65 million in total. This leaves 4.62 million TRUMP tokens, which are currently worth $87 million, bringing the trader's total holdings of TRUMP tokens and proceeds above $90 million. The TRUMP memecoin has been on a huge rally since its launch just hours ago. The token has already reached a $4 billion market cap and broken into the top 40 tokens on CoinGecko. With a lot of the supply locked up, its fully diluted valuation is currently at $21 billion, which would rank it in the top 10 tokens if that was its current market cap. Solana-based exchange Jupiter and Meteora have both made statements confirming the legitimacy of the Trump memecoin.
  • Trump posts send 'official' $TRUMP memecoin to $9 billion market cap President-elect Donald Trump launched a Solana-based memecoin Friday night via posts on his social media accounts, three days before he takes the oath of office to become the 47th president of the United States. The memecoin quickly reached a market cap of over $9 billion, overtaking established memecoins such as Pepe and Bonk. “My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE!” the messages read on Trump’s official Truth Social and X accounts. “It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW.” Though some crypto investors initially suspected a hack, the project appears to be associated with the same entity that launched Trump's collectible NFT trading cards, CIC Digital LLC. CIC Digital LLC is fully owned by The Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust and is the entity through which Trump entered into a licensing agreement for the sale of his Trump-branded NFTs, earning more than $7 million according to a financial disclosure form. "CIC Digital LLC and Celebration Cards LLC, the owners of Fight Fight Fight LLC, will receive trading revenue derived from trading activities of Trump Meme Cards," the token's website states. The website refers to the tokens as "Trump Memes," and states the tokens "...are not intended to be, or to be the subject of, an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type." Trump also used his Truth Social account Friday night to announce the appointment of 'Peggy Schwinn' as the Deputy Secretary of Education and to share a personal message rallying his fans as his inauguration on Monday approaches. (Trump apparently meant to announce the appointment of Penny Schwinn, but mistyped.) The token's website says there are 200 million $TRUMP tokens available on day one, with the supply growing to a total of one billion over three years. "Creators and CIC Digital" are set to receive 80% of the token over three years of tranched unlocks, with 10% allocated for "Public Distribution" and a final 10% set aside for "Liquidity." “I don't like to tweet about coins, and in no way shape or form is this a promotion,” a Jupiter Exchange dev posted on X. “But to keep people safe, this is the real Trump coin. We have approved it to the Jupiter strictlist.” Representatives for Trump could not be immediately reached for comment. Just three hours after launch, the token rocketed to a market cap of nearly $9 billion, before retreating slightly, according to on-chain data. Coincidentally, crypto firms are hosting an inaugural "Crypto Ball" Friday night in downtown Washington. The President-elect's son, Donald Trump Jr., showed up at the event, which sold tickets for $2,500 per person. Snoop Dogg also performed. "The event, which is set to feature Snoop Dogg as a musical guest, is being put on in part by David Bailey, who runs a bitcoin conference that Trump spoke at last summer," Politico reports. "Other sponsors include the Coinbase-backed advocacy group Stand With Crypto and the digital asset firms Exodus, Anchorage Digital and Kraken." Trump’s token shift A former crypto-skeptic, Trump championed himself as “the crypto president” throughout his ca campaign in 2024. He plans to issue an executive order making crypto a "national policy priority" after his inauguration on Monday, according to Bloomberg sources. The executive order aims to enhance collaboration between the government and the crypto industry through a new crypto advisory council. Notably, Trump supported the debut of World Liberty Financial, a DeFi protocol that counts former that counts the President-elect as its "chief crypto advocate. Pundits decried World Liberty Financial's lackluster sales, with Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan calling it “a meme masquerading as a utility project.” "Everything this man touches is a grift, and his newfound policy stance is no different," crypto-friendly Democratic Rep. Wiley Nickel of North Carolina told The Block last September. "For those of us who have worked to advance crypto innovations through real bipartisan action, Trump’s involvement does nothing but harm serious efforts to build a secure and regulated future for digital assets." Memecoins inspired by Trump had been surging higher over the past few weeks but were selling off Friday night, with several down between 20-50%.
  • Digital Currency Group agrees to pay $38 million to settle with SEC over negligence Global investment firm Digital Currency Group agreed to settle and pay $38 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday over allegations that it misled investors via crypto lender Genesis Global Capital, LLC. The SEC said that one of Genesis' largest borrowers was asset hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and said on June 13 that the fund "failed to meet a margin call." "In mid-June 2022, a large borrower defaulted on a margin call, which compromised GGC’s business," the SEC said in a filing on Friday. "Yet, Digital Currency Group negligently engaged in conduct that misleadingly downplayed the impact of that default and overstated what Digital Currency Group did to help GGC in the aftermath." Former Genesis CEO Soichiro "Michael" Moro also agreed to settle with SEC and pay $500,000 over charges involving negligence. DCG has been in the crosshairs of regulators for years. The New York State Attorney General The NYAG sued crypto exchange Gemini, crypto lender Genesis and its parent company DCG in October over the Gemini crypto lending program. At the time, James said the three entities defrauded more than 29,000 New Yorkers of more than $1 billion. James also said DCG and Genesis "disguised $1.1 billion in losses through a months-long campaign of misstatements, omissions, and concealment." Genesis filed for bankruptcy in 2023 and completed its bankruptcy restructuring in August 2024. When filing for bankruptcy, Genesis disclosed it had over 100,000 creditors and had as much as $10 billion in liabilities. It owed approximately $3 billion to its top 50 creditors, including Gemini, asset manager VanEck and trading firm Cumberland.
  • Wintermute sees OTC volume quadruple due to ‘unprecedented’ institutional demand Crypto market maker Wintermute said its over-the-counter trade volumes quadrupled in 2024, largely driven by the increase in institutional demand for crypto. The company said in its year-end report that its OTC volumes rose by 313% last year, which exceeds the 142% yearly growth seen in the overall crypto exchange market. The number of trades jumped 250% compared to 2023, the report added. According to Wintermute, a single-day high for OTC trade volume last year was worth $2.24 billion. This marked a significant increase from the $2 billion record set over an entire week in 2023. The growth signifies increased participation from institutional investors, as key developments — such as the approval of spot crypto ETFs and growing political support for clearer regulations — helped lower the barriers for traditional players, according to the report. “This regulatory clarity catalyzed unprecedented institutional engagement and capital inflows, fostering a rapidly growing trading ecosystem that increasingly interconnects with traditional finance,” Wintermute said. Wintermute’s report also found that the OTC derivatives volume rose by 300%, as institutions sought more sophisticated instruments for yield and risk management. Meanwhile, Wintermute said traditional finance players are showing more interest in memecoins, which saw a meteoric rise in 2024. The share of memecoins in Wintermute’s OTC spot volume grew to 16.2% last year from 7.3% in 2023, while the share of major cryptocurrencies fell 58.7% from 67.9%. Bitcoin reserves and memecoin ETFs “Looking ahead to 2025, we anticipate even greater momentum as crypto integrates deeper into global financial infrastructure through ETFs, corporate holdings, tokenization, and the rise of structured products,” said Evgeny Gaevoy, CEO of Wintermute Group. The market maker’s end-of-year report predicted that 2025 would see a decline in price volatility driven by greater market participation and trade volume. It also forecasts the normalization of call skews with the rise of bitcoin and ether ETF options and other products. As pro-crypto President-elect Donald Trump takes office the coming Monday, Wintermute said it expects the new administration to reduce regulatory uncertainty for crypto by potentially classifying them as commodities. One of Trump’s more prominent crypto policy promises, establishing a national strategic bitcoin reserve, may force China, UAE and Europe to follow, Wintermute said. The company also predicted more crypto ETF products to be launched this year, including multi-asset crypto ETFs and products that mirror specific categories of crypto such as DeFi tokens and memecoins. “In 2025, a core asset manager will launch a memecoin ETF,” said Wintermute, adding that the launch of a Dogecoin ETF would be likely. On Thursday, Nasdaq filed a 19b-4 form on behalf of Canary Capital for its spot Litecoin ETF, following the issuer’s amended S-1 form filing on Wednesday. This indicates that Litecoin would likely become the first altcoin ETF of this year. “Litecoin ETF now has all the boxes checked,” Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas wrote on X. “I don't see any reason why this would be withdrawn either given [the] SEC gave comments on the S-1, litecoin is seen as [a] commodity and there's [a] new SEC sheriff in town.” Disclaimer: Evgeny Gaevoy, the founder and CEO of Wintermute, previously sat on The Block’s board of directors from April 2023 to early November 2023 and remains a minority shareholder
  • 30% of Ethereum validators signal higher block gas limit, data shows Over 30% of Ethereum validators are signaling their support for an increase in the block gas limit — a critical parameter that dictates the network’s capacity to process transactions — data compiled by Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter shows. Currently, the Ethereum gas limit is 30 million and one-third of validators have indicated that the Ethereum block gas limit should be raised from 30 million to 40 million gas units. Validators proposing and validating blocks can modify their node configurations to signal their support for a higher limit without requiring a hard fork. Once more than 50% of validators approve, the block gas limit will automatically adjust to the next agreed-upon level, targeted at 40 million. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also recommended this 33% increase last year. Recognizing the need for increased capacity, an initiative known as “Pump the Gas” emerged last year, advocating an increase in the gas limit. Led by Ethereum developer Eric Connor and former MakerDAO head of smart contracts Mariano Conti, it aims to educate the Ethereum community about the gas limit and its role in improving Ethereum scaling. In the Ethereum blockchain, “gas” is the fundamental unit to measure the computational effort required to execute transactions or smart contracts. Every operation performed on the Ethereum network, from simple token transfers to complex smart contract interactions, consumes a certain amount of gas. This mechanism ensures that users pay for the resources they consume and prevents malicious actors from overloading the network. As such, the gas limit defines the maximum amount of gas all transactions can consume within a single block. This limit is a critical safeguard against network congestion and potential denial-of-service attacks. The timeline for this gas limit increase is unclear. Following the implementation of proto-danksharding (blobs) in last year's Dencun upgrade, the urgency to raise the gas limit has somewhat decreased. The addition of blobs has eased some scalability issues by offering a new approach to data storage and management, which is particularly useful for Layer 2 rollups. Nonetheless, if Ethereum's demand for decentralized applications grows over time, an increase in the gas limit will become necessary.
  • Trump's return to Washington kicks off flurry of crypto-related activity, IRS challenges and focus on crypto debanking The next few days and weeks are shaping up to be a whirlwind as the Trump administration returns to Washington, D.C. with plans to issue digital asset-related executive orders and as lawmakers are set to focus on crypto debanking. Multiple crypto organizations are also hosting parties in Washington over the next week to embrace the incoming administration and lawmakers. BTC Inc. and Stand with Crypto are hosting the Inaugural Crypto Ball on Friday, where partygoers can "enjoy cocktails and hors d'oeuvres" while celebrating Trump's inauguration. Coinbase, Solana, MetaMask and Robinhood Crypto are sponsoring the event, according to its website. The week of Trump's inauguration, The Digital Chamber and the Constellation Network are hosting a "Crypto Welcome: The 119th Congress Kickoff." After the parties wrap up, expect a flood of hearings, executive orders and nominations involving crypto. Here's how the first part of 2025 is likely to shake out: New challenges First up, lawmakers will likely challenge a controversial tax rule in the coming days that requires brokers in decentralized finance to report on gross proceeds from digital asset sales. The Internal Revenue Service finalized that rule in late December and received pushback from some in the crypto industry who argue that crypto differs from traditional assets as it's not always obvious in DeFi who or what entity would collect and disseminate user data. In a letter to the Treasury in December, some lawmakers slammed the ruling, calling it an "attack on digital assets. " There will be an update from Congress this week on that, likely a resolution under the Congressional Review Act to overturn the rule, said Ron Hammond, senior director of government relations at the Blockchain Association, in an interview with The Block. The Congressional Review Act, or CRA, was enacted in 1996 and can be used by lawmakers to "overturn certain federal agency actions," according to the Congressional Research Service. That process was used last year in an attempt to overturn the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, or SAB 121, and was later vetoed by President Joe Biden. That bulletin requires firms that custody cryptocurrencies to record their customers' crypto holdings as liabilities on their balance sheets, and brought concerns among those in the crypto industry. Executive orders Trump is poised to issue executive orders on his first day that could include creating a crypto council and ensuring that firms have access to banks, according to Reuters. The Washington Post reported on Monday that Trump could also issue executive orders that encompass repealing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's controversial crypto accounting guidance, SAB 121. It is unclear whether a crypto executive order will come to fruition on Jan. 20, the day of Trump's inauguration, or within the first week, Hammond said. That executive order is likely to include the establishment of a crypto council that could have anywhere between 10 and 100 members. Those members will presumably be crypto executives, but those decisions will be up to the firms to pick who will represent them in the council, Hammond said. "It's unclear at the moment what that's going to look like, but the EO will be important for that," he said. Hearings With both the Senate and the House having a Republican majority, crypto is expected to come into focus as lawmakers gear up for hearings on crypto debanking, stablecoins and regulating the industry at large. Debanking is likely to be the hot topic, Hammond said. Some in the crypto industry have accused the Biden administration of blocking crypto from banking services, labeling the move "Operation Choke Point 2.0. " This moniker alludes to Operation Choke Point 1.0, a 2013 U.S. Department of Justice Initiative that sought to limit banking services for industries considered high-risk for fraud and money laundering, including payday lenders and firearm dealers. Federal agencies asserted that they do not discourage financial institutions from working with crypto. In the 2024 Risk Review report, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and other agencies "continue to emphasize that banking organizations are neither prohibited nor discouraged from providing banking services to customers of any specific class or type." Newly picked House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) has vowed to investigate debanking and said his committee would take a "strong position." Hill plans to focus on crypto debanking, market structure and stablecoins, a source familiar with the House Financial Services Committee told The Block. Hearings around stablecoin and crypto market structure bills could start to crop up closer to March, Hammond said. Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) laid out his committee's priorities on Wednesday. These include bolstering access to capital and creating a regulatory framework for digital assets. "The committee will also foster an open-minded environment for new, innovative financial technologies and digital asset products, like stablecoins, that promote financial inclusivity," Scott said in a statement. Both the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee are integral in starting hearings, discussions and potential votes on future crypto legislation. Nominations Nominations for Trump's picks to lead key agencies are starting this week and will continue garnering attention. Hedge fund manager Scott Bessent's nomination hearing to become the U.S. Secretary of Treasury is slated for Thursday. Bessent, tapped by Trump in late November, has spoken positively about crypto. Bessent told Fox Business in July that he was "excited about the president's embrace of crypto." Trump later picked crypto-friendly former regulator Paul Atkins to lead the SEC. The agency is likely to look very different following a shakeup in leadership and the departure of Chair Gary Gensler, who had a tense relationship with key players in the crypto industry. The announcement of Atkins' nomination hearing could come in the next few weeks and then take place in March, depending on floor time, Hammond said. "It's kind of hard to predict," Hammond said
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  • world-liberty-financial-buys-112-8-million-in-crypto-on-trumps-first-day-in-office

    World Liberty Financial buys $112.8 million in crypto on Trump's first day in office

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    Trump's World Liberty buys $25 million of tokens, including Link, Tron, Aave and Ethena World Liberty, a crypto project affiliated with President-elect Donald Trump, has continued to diversify its treasury holdings away from stablecoins and into more speculative tokens. The treasury swapped around $24.6 million of the stablecoin USDC for Ether (ETH), Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), Tron (TRX), Link (LINK), Aave (AAVE) and Ethena (ENA), according to blockchain data platform Arkham. It has purchased $4.7 million of each of the tokens except for Ethena, where it has only bought $2.3 million worth so far, according to block explorer Etherscan. The treasury has been buying Ether on a constant basis over the last few months and currently owns 43,000 ETH with a current value of $143 million — its largest holding, even above stablecoins. It holds $96 million of the stablecoin Tether (USDT) and $56 million of the stablecoin USDC. Beyond this, the project's treasury now holds roughly $6.5 million of Wrapped Bitcoin, Aave and Link, plus $4.6 million of Tron and $3 million of Ethena. The project has not yet bought any of the official Trump memecoins, such as Donald Trump's Official Trump and Melania Trump's MELANIA. In November, Tron founder Justin Sun bought $30 million of WLFI tokens and then was swiftly appointed as an advisor to the project. Sun is now also associated with Wrapped Bitcoin after his firm BiT Global recently became a key stakeholder in the project.

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    World Liberty Financial sees surge in token sales following Donald and Melania Trump memecoin launches World Liberty Financial, the DeFi project associated with President-elect Donald Trump, saw surges in governance token sales after Donald and Melania Trump launched their respective memecoins ahead of Trump’s inauguration on Monday. The project announced late Sunday night on X that it has “completed” its mission and sold 20 billion tokens or 20% of the 100 billion token supply. The project has now opened up the sale of an additional 5 billion tokens or 5% of the supply. “Due to massive demand and overwhelming interest, we’ve decided to open up an additional block of 5% of token supply,” the project said. World Liberty Financial’s governance token WLFI saw its cumulative sales reach $254 million late Sunday, up from around $91 million a day earlier, according to Dune Analytics data. Onchain data shows the WLFI token has over 34,000 holders among over 44,500 transactions. Notably, Tron Founder Justin Sun said in an X post on Sunday that Tron DAO has invested an additional $45 million in WLFI, bringing the total investment to $75 million. Sun became an advisor to World Liberty Financial in November after his project poured a $30 million investment into WLFI. The Sunday surge in WLFI token sales followed the launches of Donald Trump’s and Melania Trump's memecoins. Over the weekend, the President-elect launched an “Official Trump” memecoin, with Melania Trump soon following suit with her memecoin “MELANIA.” The Official Trump token quickly surged to a high of around $72 and is trading at $44 at the time of writing. Its market cap currently stands at $8.8 billion, with a $44.1 billion fully diluted valuation (FDV). The MELANIA token’s FDV reached $7.6 billion as it continues to see wild fluctuations in price, according to DEXscreener.

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    Trader who spotted Trump memecoin early turned $1 million into $90 million When President-elect Donald Trump posted about the launch of a memecoin on the final business day before his inauguration, many feared that he had been hacked and it was fake. But one trader aped in regardless. Within two minutes of the post going out on Truth Social, this trader swapped 1.09 million USDC for 5.7 million TRUMP tokens on the Meteora market, as highlighted by onchain analysts LookOnChain. They also paid an $85,000 tip to Jito, a Solana infrastructure company focused on MEV, a practice where blockchain users can pay more money to get their transactions through faster or at the top of blocks. Shortly afterwards, this trader sent the TRUMP tokens to another wallet, known by its Solana name ff.sol. Then the funds were split up across many other wallets. In the hours that followed, a portion of the tokens were sold for the stablecoin USDC in some of the wallets, a few also featuring other Solana names. In one wallet, some of the stablecoins were used to buy back TRUMP tokens before selling them again. LookOnChain estimates the trader sold 1.35 million TRUMP for $3.65 million in total. This leaves 4.62 million TRUMP tokens, which are currently worth $87 million, bringing the trader's total holdings of TRUMP tokens and proceeds above $90 million. The TRUMP memecoin has been on a huge rally since its launch just hours ago. The token has already reached a $4 billion market cap and broken into the top 40 tokens on CoinGecko. With a lot of the supply locked up, its fully diluted valuation is currently at $21 billion, which would rank it in the top 10 tokens if that was its current market cap. Solana-based exchange Jupiter and Meteora have both made statements confirming the legitimacy of the Trump memecoin.

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    Trump posts send 'official' $TRUMP memecoin to $9 billion market cap President-elect Donald Trump launched a Solana-based memecoin Friday night via posts on his social media accounts, three days before he takes the oath of office to become the 47th president of the United States. The memecoin quickly reached a market cap of over $9 billion, overtaking established memecoins such as Pepe and Bonk. “My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE!” the messages read on Trump’s official Truth Social and X accounts. “It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW.” Though some crypto investors initially suspected a hack, the project appears to be associated with the same entity that launched Trump's collectible NFT trading cards, CIC Digital LLC. CIC Digital LLC is fully owned by The Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust and is the entity through which Trump entered into a licensing agreement for the sale of his Trump-branded NFTs, earning more than $7 million according to a financial disclosure form. "CIC Digital LLC and Celebration Cards LLC, the owners of Fight Fight Fight LLC, will receive trading revenue derived from trading activities of Trump Meme Cards," the token's website states. The website refers to the tokens as "Trump Memes," and states the tokens "...are not intended to be, or to be the subject of, an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type." Trump also used his Truth Social account Friday night to announce the appointment of 'Peggy Schwinn' as the Deputy Secretary of Education and to share a personal message rallying his fans as his inauguration on Monday approaches. (Trump apparently meant to announce the appointment of Penny Schwinn, but mistyped.) The token's website says there are 200 million $TRUMP tokens available on day one, with the supply growing to a total of one billion over three years. "Creators and CIC Digital" are set to receive 80% of the token over three years of tranched unlocks, with 10% allocated for "Public Distribution" and a final 10% set aside for "Liquidity." “I don't like to tweet about coins, and in no way shape or form is this a promotion,” a Jupiter Exchange dev posted on X. “But to keep people safe, this is the real Trump coin. We have approved it to the Jupiter strictlist.” Representatives for Trump could not be immediately reached for comment. Just three hours after launch, the token rocketed to a market cap of nearly $9 billion, before retreating slightly, according to on-chain data. Coincidentally, crypto firms are hosting an inaugural "Crypto Ball" Friday night in downtown Washington. The President-elect's son, Donald Trump Jr., showed up at the event, which sold tickets for $2,500 per person. Snoop Dogg also performed. "The event, which is set to feature Snoop Dogg as a musical guest, is being put on in part by David Bailey, who runs a bitcoin conference that Trump spoke at last summer," Politico reports. "Other sponsors include the Coinbase-backed advocacy group Stand With Crypto and the digital asset firms Exodus, Anchorage Digital and Kraken." Trump’s token shift A former crypto-skeptic, Trump championed himself as “the crypto president” throughout his ca campaign in 2024. He plans to issue an executive order making crypto a "national policy priority" after his inauguration on Monday, according to Bloomberg sources. The executive order aims to enhance collaboration between the government and the crypto industry through a new crypto advisory council. Notably, Trump supported the debut of World Liberty Financial, a DeFi protocol that counts former that counts the President-elect as its "chief crypto advocate. Pundits decried World Liberty Financial's lackluster sales, with Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan calling it “a meme masquerading as a utility project.” "Everything this man touches is a grift, and his newfound policy stance is no different," crypto-friendly Democratic Rep. Wiley Nickel of North Carolina told The Block last September. "For those of us who have worked to advance crypto innovations through real bipartisan action, Trump’s involvement does nothing but harm serious efforts to build a secure and regulated future for digital assets." Memecoins inspired by Trump had been surging higher over the past few weeks but were selling off Friday night, with several down between 20-50%.

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    Digital Currency Group agrees to pay $38 million to settle with SEC over negligence Global investment firm Digital Currency Group agreed to settle and pay $38 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday over allegations that it misled investors via crypto lender Genesis Global Capital, LLC. The SEC said that one of Genesis' largest borrowers was asset hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and said on June 13 that the fund "failed to meet a margin call." "In mid-June 2022, a large borrower defaulted on a margin call, which compromised GGC’s business," the SEC said in a filing on Friday. "Yet, Digital Currency Group negligently engaged in conduct that misleadingly downplayed the impact of that default and overstated what Digital Currency Group did to help GGC in the aftermath." Former Genesis CEO Soichiro "Michael" Moro also agreed to settle with SEC and pay $500,000 over charges involving negligence. DCG has been in the crosshairs of regulators for years. The New York State Attorney General The NYAG sued crypto exchange Gemini, crypto lender Genesis and its parent company DCG in October over the Gemini crypto lending program. At the time, James said the three entities defrauded more than 29,000 New Yorkers of more than $1 billion. James also said DCG and Genesis "disguised $1.1 billion in losses through a months-long campaign of misstatements, omissions, and concealment." Genesis filed for bankruptcy in 2023 and completed its bankruptcy restructuring in August 2024. When filing for bankruptcy, Genesis disclosed it had over 100,000 creditors and had as much as $10 billion in liabilities. It owed approximately $3 billion to its top 50 creditors, including Gemini, asset manager VanEck and trading firm Cumberland.

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  • wintermute-sees-otc-volume-quadruple-due-to-unprecedented-institutional-demand-crypto-market-maker-wintermute-said-its-over-the-counter-trade-volumes-quadrupled-in-2024-largely-driv

    Wintermute sees OTC volume quadruple due to ‘unprecedented’ institutional demand Crypto market maker Wintermute said its over-the-counter trade volumes quadrupled in 2024, largely driven by the increase in institutional demand for crypto. The company said in its year-end report that its OTC volumes rose by 313% last year, which exceeds the 142% yearly growth seen in the overall crypto exchange market. The number of trades jumped 250% compared to 2023, the report added. According to Wintermute, a single-day high for OTC trade volume last year was worth $2.24 billion. This marked a significant increase from the $2 billion record set over an entire week in 2023. The growth signifies increased participation from institutional investors, as key developments — such as the approval of spot crypto ETFs and growing political support for clearer regulations — helped lower the barriers for traditional players, according to the report. “This regulatory clarity catalyzed unprecedented institutional engagement and capital inflows, fostering a rapidly growing trading ecosystem that increasingly interconnects with traditional finance,” Wintermute said. Wintermute’s report also found that the OTC derivatives volume rose by 300%, as institutions sought more sophisticated instruments for yield and risk management. Meanwhile, Wintermute said traditional finance players are showing more interest in memecoins, which saw a meteoric rise in 2024. The share of memecoins in Wintermute’s OTC spot volume grew to 16.2% last year from 7.3% in 2023, while the share of major cryptocurrencies fell 58.7% from 67.9%. Bitcoin reserves and memecoin ETFs “Looking ahead to 2025, we anticipate even greater momentum as crypto integrates deeper into global financial infrastructure through ETFs, corporate holdings, tokenization, and the rise of structured products,” said Evgeny Gaevoy, CEO of Wintermute Group. The market maker’s end-of-year report predicted that 2025 would see a decline in price volatility driven by greater market participation and trade volume. It also forecasts the normalization of call skews with the rise of bitcoin and ether ETF options and other products. As pro-crypto President-elect Donald Trump takes office the coming Monday, Wintermute said it expects the new administration to reduce regulatory uncertainty for crypto by potentially classifying them as commodities. One of Trump’s more prominent crypto policy promises, establishing a national strategic bitcoin reserve, may force China, UAE and Europe to follow, Wintermute said. The company also predicted more crypto ETF products to be launched this year, including multi-asset crypto ETFs and products that mirror specific categories of crypto such as DeFi tokens and memecoins. “In 2025, a core asset manager will launch a memecoin ETF,” said Wintermute, adding that the launch of a Dogecoin ETF would be likely. On Thursday, Nasdaq filed a 19b-4 form on behalf of Canary Capital for its spot Litecoin ETF, following the issuer’s amended S-1 form filing on Wednesday. This indicates that Litecoin would likely become the first altcoin ETF of this year. “Litecoin ETF now has all the boxes checked,” Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas wrote on X. “I don't see any reason why this would be withdrawn either given [the] SEC gave comments on the S-1, litecoin is seen as [a] commodity and there's [a] new SEC sheriff in town.” Disclaimer: Evgeny Gaevoy, the founder and CEO of Wintermute, previously sat on The Block’s board of directors from April 2023 to early November 2023 and remains a minority shareholder

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  • 30-of-ethereum-validators-signal-higher-block-gas-limit-data-shows-over-30-of-ethereum-validators-are-signaling-their-support-for-an-increase-in-the-block-gas-limit-a-critical-parameter-tha

    30% of Ethereum validators signal higher block gas limit, data shows Over 30% of Ethereum validators are signaling their support for an increase in the block gas limit — a critical parameter that dictates the network’s capacity to process transactions — data compiled by Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter shows. Currently, the Ethereum gas limit is 30 million and one-third of validators have indicated that the Ethereum block gas limit should be raised from 30 million to 40 million gas units. Validators proposing and validating blocks can modify their node configurations to signal their support for a higher limit without requiring a hard fork. Once more than 50% of validators approve, the block gas limit will automatically adjust to the next agreed-upon level, targeted at 40 million. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also recommended this 33% increase last year. Recognizing the need for increased capacity, an initiative known as “Pump the Gas” emerged last year, advocating an increase in the gas limit. Led by Ethereum developer Eric Connor and former MakerDAO head of smart contracts Mariano Conti, it aims to educate the Ethereum community about the gas limit and its role in improving Ethereum scaling. In the Ethereum blockchain, “gas” is the fundamental unit to measure the computational effort required to execute transactions or smart contracts. Every operation performed on the Ethereum network, from simple token transfers to complex smart contract interactions, consumes a certain amount of gas. This mechanism ensures that users pay for the resources they consume and prevents malicious actors from overloading the network. As such, the gas limit defines the maximum amount of gas all transactions can consume within a single block. This limit is a critical safeguard against network congestion and potential denial-of-service attacks. The timeline for this gas limit increase is unclear. Following the implementation of proto-danksharding (blobs) in last year's Dencun upgrade, the urgency to raise the gas limit has somewhat decreased. The addition of blobs has eased some scalability issues by offering a new approach to data storage and management, which is particularly useful for Layer 2 rollups. Nonetheless, if Ethereum's demand for decentralized applications grows over time, an increase in the gas limit will become necessary.

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  • trumps-return-to-washington-kicks-off-flurry-of-crypto-related-activity-irs-challenges-and-focus-on-crypto-debanking-the-next-few-days-and-weeks-are-shaping-up-to-be-a-whirlwind-as-the-trump-admini

    Trump's return to Washington kicks off flurry of crypto-related activity, IRS challenges and focus on crypto debanking The next few days and weeks are shaping up to be a whirlwind as the Trump administration returns to Washington, D.C. with plans to issue digital asset-related executive orders and as lawmakers are set to focus on crypto debanking. Multiple crypto organizations are also hosting parties in Washington over the next week to embrace the incoming administration and lawmakers. BTC Inc. and Stand with Crypto are hosting the Inaugural Crypto Ball on Friday, where partygoers can "enjoy cocktails and hors d'oeuvres" while celebrating Trump's inauguration. Coinbase, Solana, MetaMask and Robinhood Crypto are sponsoring the event, according to its website. The week of Trump's inauguration, The Digital Chamber and the Constellation Network are hosting a "Crypto Welcome: The 119th Congress Kickoff." After the parties wrap up, expect a flood of hearings, executive orders and nominations involving crypto. Here's how the first part of 2025 is likely to shake out: New challenges First up, lawmakers will likely challenge a controversial tax rule in the coming days that requires brokers in decentralized finance to report on gross proceeds from digital asset sales. The Internal Revenue Service finalized that rule in late December and received pushback from some in the crypto industry who argue that crypto differs from traditional assets as it's not always obvious in DeFi who or what entity would collect and disseminate user data. In a letter to the Treasury in December, some lawmakers slammed the ruling, calling it an "attack on digital assets. " There will be an update from Congress this week on that, likely a resolution under the Congressional Review Act to overturn the rule, said Ron Hammond, senior director of government relations at the Blockchain Association, in an interview with The Block. The Congressional Review Act, or CRA, was enacted in 1996 and can be used by lawmakers to "overturn certain federal agency actions," according to the Congressional Research Service. That process was used last year in an attempt to overturn the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, or SAB 121, and was later vetoed by President Joe Biden. That bulletin requires firms that custody cryptocurrencies to record their customers' crypto holdings as liabilities on their balance sheets, and brought concerns among those in the crypto industry. Executive orders Trump is poised to issue executive orders on his first day that could include creating a crypto council and ensuring that firms have access to banks, according to Reuters. The Washington Post reported on Monday that Trump could also issue executive orders that encompass repealing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's controversial crypto accounting guidance, SAB 121. It is unclear whether a crypto executive order will come to fruition on Jan. 20, the day of Trump's inauguration, or within the first week, Hammond said. That executive order is likely to include the establishment of a crypto council that could have anywhere between 10 and 100 members. Those members will presumably be crypto executives, but those decisions will be up to the firms to pick who will represent them in the council, Hammond said. "It's unclear at the moment what that's going to look like, but the EO will be important for that," he said. Hearings With both the Senate and the House having a Republican majority, crypto is expected to come into focus as lawmakers gear up for hearings on crypto debanking, stablecoins and regulating the industry at large. Debanking is likely to be the hot topic, Hammond said. Some in the crypto industry have accused the Biden administration of blocking crypto from banking services, labeling the move "Operation Choke Point 2.0. " This moniker alludes to Operation Choke Point 1.0, a 2013 U.S. Department of Justice Initiative that sought to limit banking services for industries considered high-risk for fraud and money laundering, including payday lenders and firearm dealers. Federal agencies asserted that they do not discourage financial institutions from working with crypto. In the 2024 Risk Review report, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and other agencies "continue to emphasize that banking organizations are neither prohibited nor discouraged from providing banking services to customers of any specific class or type." Newly picked House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) has vowed to investigate debanking and said his committee would take a "strong position." Hill plans to focus on crypto debanking, market structure and stablecoins, a source familiar with the House Financial Services Committee told The Block. Hearings around stablecoin and crypto market structure bills could start to crop up closer to March, Hammond said. Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) laid out his committee's priorities on Wednesday. These include bolstering access to capital and creating a regulatory framework for digital assets. "The committee will also foster an open-minded environment for new, innovative financial technologies and digital asset products, like stablecoins, that promote financial inclusivity," Scott said in a statement. Both the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee are integral in starting hearings, discussions and potential votes on future crypto legislation. Nominations Nominations for Trump's picks to lead key agencies are starting this week and will continue garnering attention. Hedge fund manager Scott Bessent's nomination hearing to become the U.S. Secretary of Treasury is slated for Thursday. Bessent, tapped by Trump in late November, has spoken positively about crypto. Bessent told Fox Business in July that he was "excited about the president's embrace of crypto." Trump later picked crypto-friendly former regulator Paul Atkins to lead the SEC. The agency is likely to look very different following a shakeup in leadership and the departure of Chair Gary Gensler, who had a tense relationship with key players in the crypto industry. The announcement of Atkins' nomination hearing could come in the next few weeks and then take place in March, depending on floor time, Hammond said. "It's kind of hard to predict," Hammond said

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  • base-memecoin-toshi-surges-over-130-upon-coinbase-listing-roadmap-addition-toshi-a-memecoin-on-the-base-network-surged-133-in-the-past-24-hours-after-coinbase-announced-tuesday-that-it-is-adding-the

    Base memecoin Toshi surges over 130% upon Coinbase listing roadmap addition Toshi, a memecoin on the Base network, surged 133% in the past 24 hours after Coinbase announced Tuesday that it is adding the token to its future listing roadmap. The price of Toshi, named after Coinbase co-founder Brian Armstrong’s cat and Bitcoin’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto, jumped 160% at one point, reaching a high of $0.00036788 shortly after the announcement. It has since retraced part of its gains and is currently trading at around $0.000305, according to CoinGecko data. Toshi currently holds a market capitalization of $129.8 million, and saw over $49 million traded in the past 24 hours. The token's inclusion on Coinbase's listing roadmap generated buzz on social media platform X, with some members of the crypto community viewing this as a major step toward wider recognition for memecoins built on the Base blockchain. Once listed, Toshi would become the second Base-native memecoin to be listed on Coinbase, Rishi Prasad, who works on product at Coinbase, wrote on X. In spite of Base being a blockchain incubated by Coinbase, the exchange has only listed one Base-native memecoin, Degen, back in October, according to Prasad. Coinbase remains one of the world's largest crypto exchanges, with its monthly trading volume reaching $191.9 billion in December from $175.8 billion in November.

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  • gensler-says-the-sec-has-never-said-that-bitcoin-and-ether-are-securities-the-u-s-securities-and-exchange-commission-has-never-said-that-bitcoin-and-ether-are-securities-outgoing-chair-gary

    Gensler says the SEC has 'never said' that bitcoin and ether are securities The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has "never said" that bitcoin and ether are securities, outgoing Chair Gary Gensler told Yahoo Finance on Tuesday. That assertion follows back and forth on whether the world's second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is a security following litigation and pointed questions from lawmakers on whether the token falls under the SEC's jurisdiction. Gensler said neither he nor his predecessor, former chair Jay Clayton, has said that bitcoin is a security. "We haven't said Ethereum is a security," he said on Yahoo Finance. "I think investors in Bitcoin and Ethereum, the masses as you said, had access to these prior to the exchange-traded funds and products." When asked to clarify by Yahoo Finance that bitcoin and ether are not securities, Gensler got granular. "I said that we, the SEC, have never said they're securities," Gensler said, adding that he can't say outright that both tokens are not securities due to the nature of his job. Gensler's assertion comes less than a week before he plans to step down from his post, just ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration. During his time leading the SEC, the agency issued subpoenas to firms that dealt with the Ethereum Foundation, according to reports from Fortune in March 2024. A month later, Consensys sued the SEC and said the agency's former director of the division of enforcement approved an initiative called the “Formal Order of Investigation in the matter of “Ethereum 2.0” in 2023. Lawmakers have also asked Gensler for clarification on whether ether is a security. Former House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry pressed Gensler for more clarity during a hearing in April 2023. “Give me a break, come on,” said McHenry following repeated attempts to get Gensler to provide further detail on ether. “There’s a lack of clarity here, can you at least agree with that?" In January 2024, the SEC approved the listing of Bitcoin ETFs and, later, Ethereum ETFs. Investors received better protections with exchange-traded products, such as lower fees, surveillance and disclosures, Gensler said on Tuesday. "Over 70%, maybe 80% of the crypto market is related to Bitcoin and Ethereum," Gensler said on Yahoo Finance. "I really take a look at the other part, these 10,000 to 15,000 other tokens, which can only really persist because investors are investing, in essence, betting on a project. They need the proper disclosure. The law says you're supposed to get that disclosure and they're not currently compliant." Earlier on Tuesday on CNBC, Gensler pointed to bitcoin as potentially different from the thousands of other cryptocurrencies. "Bitcoin is a highly speculative, volatile asset, but with seven billion people around the globe, seven billion people want to trade it just like we do have gold for 10,000 years, we have bitcoin – it might be something else in the future as well," Gensler said.

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  • new-crypto-vc-sigma-capital-targets-100-million-fund-with-40-million-pre-committed-sigma-capital-a-new-crypto-venture-capital-firm-founded-by-former-cypher-capital-executive-vineet-budki-has-anno

    New crypto VC Sigma Capital targets $100 million fund, with $40 million pre-committed Sigma Capital, a new crypto venture capital firm founded by former Cypher Capital executive Vineet Budki, has announced its first fund. The fund aims to raise $100 million and has around $40 million in pre-commitments, Budki told The Block. He added that the first close is expected on June 30, with the final close anticipated 18 months later. Budki said the pre-commitments are from crypto funds, high-net-worth individuals and angel investors. He declined to name the investors but said they have previously collectively backed over 200 startups, such as Manta Network, Humanity Protocol and Casper Labs. Sigma Capital's debut aligns with a bullish crypto market, marked by bitcoin's recent surge above $100,000 and growing investor activity. The firm aims to capitalize on this favorable climate with its first fund. "Crypto hasn't even started yet; we are too early," Budki said. "It's not about money made in the next 10 years, but the control and wealth that real investors will have are the keys." Aims to be 'Sequoia/SoftBank of crypto' Sigma Capital aims to become a Sequoia or SoftBank of the crypto market, Budki said, citing his and his team's track record of notable early-stage investments at Cypher Capital, Phoenix VC and other firms. These include TON, Solana, Sui, Sei and Berachain, Budki said. Sigma's planned fund will allocate its investments after the first close across three categories: 50% to early-stage startups, 40% to liquid tokens and high-yield DeFi strategies and 10% to fund-of-funds over the next three years, according to Budki. The portfolio is expected to feature up to 100 early-stage venture deals with a median check size of $500,000, up to 25 liquid deals ranging from $2–3 million each and up to 10 fund-of-funds deals averaging $1 million each, Budki added. As for verticals, Sigma plans to invest across DeFi, blockchain infrastructure, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, gaming and the metaverse. Budki said he prefers a founder-driven investment approach, prioritizing strong founders over specific sectors due to the likelihood of pivots. Investment timing is also critical — down markets favor infrastructure and large capital raises, while bullish markets bring attention to consumer-facing products like gaming, DeFi and RWA tokenization — he added. Sigma will be based in Dubai and Singapore and regulated in the Cayman Islands, Budki said, adding that the firm plans to have a headcount of about 30 people.

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  • tether-poised-to-relocate-to-el-salvador-after-securing-dasp-license-tether-said-its-about-to-complete-all-formalities-required-to-relocate-to-el-salvador-following-the-successful-acquisition-of

    Tether poised to relocate to El Salvador after securing DASP license Tether said it's "about to complete all formalities" required to relocate to El Salvador following the successful acquisition of a Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP) license. "El Salvador is rapidly establishing itself as a global hub for digital assets and technology innovation," Tether said Monday in a post. "With its forward-thinking policies, favorable regulatory environment, and a growing Bitcoin-savvy community, the country has become an ideal destination for companies leading the digital finance revolution." The news comes a week after Bitfinex Derivatives said it is relocating its operations to El Salvador following its acquisition of a DASP license. El Salvador became the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender in 2021. The country plans to ease a policy that required businesses to accept bitcoin as legal tender as part of a deal with the IMF, according to a December report from Financial Times. Tether, the issuer of the world's largest stablecoin by market cap, said its move to El Salvador positions it to further scale its efforts in supporting financial inclusion by leveraging bitcoin and stablecoin adoption in underserved regions. "This decision is a natural progression for Tether as it allows us to build a new home, foster collaboration, and strengthen our focus on emerging markets," said Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino. "El Salvador represents a beacon of innovation in the digital assets space. By rooting ourselves here, we are not only aligning with a country that shares our vision in terms of financial freedom, innovation, and resilience but is also reinforcing our commitment to empowering people worldwide through decentralized technologies." El Salvador owns 5,750 bitcoin as of May 2024, which is worth about $530 million at publication time. Tether's USDT stablecoin has a market cap of $137 billion

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  • coinshares-says-post-us-election-honeymoon-is-over-as-macro-and-monetary-policy-weigh-heavy-on-crypto-fund-flows-global-crypto-funds-run-by-asset-managers-such-as-blackrock-bitwise-fidelity-gra

    CoinShares says 'post-US election honeymoon is over' as macro and monetary policy weigh heavy on crypto fund flows Global crypto funds run by asset managers such as BlackRock, Bitwise, Fidelity, Grayscale, ProShares and 21Shares registered modest net inflows of $48 million last week as macro and monetary policy reasserted themselves, according to CoinShares. While the week got off to a good start, with global crypto investment products attracting nearly $1 billion, the release of new macroeconomic data and the Federal Open Market Committee’s latest meeting minutes suggested a stronger U.S. economy and a more hawkish Fed, leading to outflows of $940 million in the latter half, CoinShares Head of Research James Butterfill noted in a Monday report. “This suggests that the post-US election honeymoon is over, and macroeconomic data is once again a key driver of asset prices,” Butterfill said. Bitcoin and ether’s mixed fortunes Bitcoin-based investment products led last week’s net inflows globally, adding $214 million despite witnessing the largest net outflows later in the week. They remain the best-performing crypto funds this year so far, clocking $799 million worth of net inflows. The U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds represented $312.8 of the overall net inflows, according to data compiled by The Block, though U.S. markets were also closed on Thursday in observance of a national day of mourning for former President Jimmy Carter. Ethereum-based funds suffered the most, experiencing net outflows of $256 million for the week. “We believe [this] is attributed to the broader tech sell-off rather than any specific issue with the asset,” Butterfill said, reflecting on the Nasdaq 100’s 3.5% decline over the period. U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs accounted for $186 million of those net outflows last week, according to The Block's data dashboard. However, XRP-based products managed to generate $41 million in net inflows last week amid heightened optimism ahead of the Jan. 15 Securities and Exchange Commission appeal deadline in the Ripple case, Butterfill said. Solana-based funds also saw net inflows of $15 million. Despite poor price performance during the week, other altcoin-based products, including Aave, Stellar and Polkadot, also witnessed net inflows, Butterfill noted. Bitcoin fell 7.8% over the past week and is currently trading for $90,897, according to The Block’s Bitcoin Price Page. Ether has dropped 14.8% and is now changing hands for $3,063. Meanwhile, the GMCI 30 index, which represents a selection of the top 30 cryptocurrencies, is down 12.5% over the past week to 176.64.

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  • string-of-x-hijacks-continues-as-hackers-access-accounts-of-litecoin-foresight-ventures-and-others-a-recent-string-of-x-account-hijacks-has-continued-over-the-weekend-as-several-more-accounts-belong

    String of X hijacks continues as hackers access accounts of Litecoin, Foresight Ventures, and others A recent string of X account hijacks has continued over the weekend as several more accounts belonging to prominent individuals or companies in the crypto space were commandeered by hackers and used to promote scams. Litecoin's X account was compromised on Saturday and used to promote a memecoin scam to its 1.1 million followers. After regaining control over the account, Litecoin apologized for the incident. "Litecoin's X account was briefly compromised today and posts that were not authorized were published," Litecoin's X account posted. "These were live only for a matter of seconds before being deleted. We're still investigating the issue, but immediately found a delegated account that was compromised and removed it. We apologize for any confusion caused." Also affected on Saturday was the X account of Foresight Ventures and its 28,000 followers, and on Sunday, the X account of LayerZero Labs co-founder and CTO Ryan Zarick was likewise compromised and used to promote a scam to his 12,500 followers. The X account of Holoworld AI, which boasts over 150,000 followers, was also compromised last week. A typical scam post from a hijacked X account. Screenshot: Zack Abrams. Scam posts, such as the above, generally entice users with promises of a newly-launched memecoin or airdrop, and restrict replies to prevent users from calling out the scam. Though account owners often regain control of the account quickly, some fast-moving crypto traders often fall victim to the scheme. X account hijacks in recent weeks have also affected musicians Drake and Wiz Khalifa, the Cardano Foundation, AI startup Anthropic, and more. Security researcher ZachXBT said in November that a series of related X account compromises led to the theft of over $3.5 million through memecoin scams. How to protect your X account Security researcher Taylor Monahan, when asked for advice on how users can protect themselves from such attacks, recommended users conduct a self-audit using a guide published by Security Alliance, also known as SEAL Org. The guide recommends users remove their phone number from their X account, configure two-factor authentication, and review the list of accounts with delegate access. "I strongly recommend everyone takes the steps included there, even if they think they have done it before," Monahan said. "Twitter has updated certain settings over time and encouraged users to re-add their phone number." If a user's X account is hijacked, Monahan said notifying SEAL through its SEAL-911 Telegram bot can help security professionals contain the damage. "We can very quickly block the malicious URL in MetaMask and a lot of other wallets and crypto security providers. Doing so dramatically reduces the impact of these account takeovers," Monahan said.

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  • mango-markets-to-wind-down-in-wake-of-sec-settlement-dao-battle-solana-based-decentralized-exchange-mango-markets-will-wind-down-its-operations-on-monday-in-the-wake-of-an-sec-settlement-that-require

    Mango Markets to wind down in wake of SEC settlement, DAO battle Solana-based decentralized exchange Mango Markets will wind down its operations on Monday in the wake of an SEC settlement that required Mango's governance DAO and development organization to destroy their MNGO tokens and delist them from all exchanges. "Mango v4 & Boost are winding down," the protocol's X account posted on Saturday. "Most borrowing on Mango will be economically unviable going forward." Proposals to modify Mango Markets' interest rates and collateral requirements in order to dissuade borrowing and lending will become executable on Monday, Jan. 13, at 8 p.m. UTC; both proposals currently show unanimous support and have reached the threshold needed for passage. Mango's tumultuous history Mango Markets was infamously exploited by Avraham "Avi" Eisenberg in October 2022 in what Eisenberg claimed was a "highly profitable trading strategy," which saw Eisenberg drain $110 million from the platform after manipulating the price of its native MNGO token on other exchanges. Eisenberg was convicted on fraud charges related to the exploit by a New York jury in April of this year, though he has since requested a new trial. In September of 2024, Mango's governance DAO agreed to settle an SEC lawsuit that charged Mango DAO, Mango Labs, and a Panama entity dubbed Blockworks Foundation (no relation to the similarly-named media organization) with selling unregistered crypto assets and acting as an unregistered broker. Late in 2024, Mango's DAO became embroiled in another controversy as some of its co-founders and core contributors filed lawsuits against each other in a spat over a tranche of locked MNGO tokens purchased from the FTX estate. "I believe that all active contributors by now have expressed a desire to stop working on Mango in general or specifically on Mango v4 & Boost," Mango co-founder Maximilian Schneider wrote in the protocol's Discord on Jan. 3, calling for a discussion and opinion vote on the topic of a "graceful shutdown" for Mango Markets. After other team members agreed, Mango Markets announced its intent to wind down. Mango Markets did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Block

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  • alleged-blender-and-sinbad-crypto-mixer-operators-charged-in-money-laundering-case-a-northern-district-of-georgia-federal-grand-jury-charged-three-russian-nationals-for-alleged-crimes-connected-to-ope

    Alleged Blender and Sinbad crypto mixer operators charged in money laundering case A Northern District of Georgia federal grand jury charged three Russian nationals for alleged crimes connected to operating two crypto mixers. The defendants, Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko, Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik and Anton Vyachlavovich Tarasov, allegedly operated two mixers called Blender.io and Sinbad.io, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday. They have been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Crypto mixers, services used to obfuscate cryptocurrency transactions, are a common target for law enforcement due to their alleged use by criminals. For instance, in 2022, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned the Ethereum-based mixer Tornado Cash, asserting it helped launder hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crypto from bad actors, including the North Korean state-sponsored Lazarus Group. The United States sanctioned Blender in May 2022, after finding that North Korean hackers used the mixer to launder $20.5 million from the roughly $600 million Axie Infinity hack. Blockchain forensics firm Elliptic noted in 2023 that Sinbad appeared to be a rebranded version of the mixer as it was nearly identical and likely operated by the same group, The Block previously reported. “By allegedly operating these mixers, the defendants made it easier for state-sponsored hacking groups and other cybercriminals to profit from offenses that jeopardized both public safety and national security." Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent S. Wible said in a Jan. 10 statement. He added that mixers serve as "safe havens" for laundering funds derived from criminal means like ransomware and fraud. Blender maintained a "no logs policy" and deleted user transaction details. It operated from 2018 to 2022 with successor mixer Sinbad emerging a few months after Blender's closure. A law enforcement action shut Sinbad down on Nov. 27, 2023. The indictment charged Ostapenko with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and two counts related to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Oleynik and Tarasov recieved one count each for the same purported illicit actions. If convicted, the defendants could receive up to 20 years in prison for the money laundering count and five years for each charge of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Ostapenko and Oleynik were arrested on Dec. 1, 2024. Tarasov remains at large.

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  • coinbase-subpoenaed-by-cftc-in-polymarket-investigation-alerted-users-via-email-coinbase-has-received-a-subpoena-from-the-u-s-commodity-futures-trading-commission-seeking-information-related-to-poly

    Coinbase subpoenaed by CFTC in Polymarket investigation, alerted users via email Coinbase has received a subpoena from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission seeking information related to Polymarket, sources familiar with the matter told The Block. The U.S. exchange has reportedly been sending emails to clients alerting them of an ongoing investigation, according to several screenshots posted on social media. Decrypt was the first to report on the news. “We write to inform you that Coinbase has been served with a subpoena in the above-referenced matter seeking general customer information that includes information related to your account(s),” according to a screenshot shared by prominent Ethereum commentator Eric Conner. The email subject line reads “CFTC Subpoena to Coinbase In The Matter Polymarket (C9453) Customer Notice.” It was sent from the civil.subpoenas@coinbase.com address and notes that action is not required from users and that Coinbase may not be required to send customer information. “In some cases, we may be required by law to share necessary data lawfully sought after by the government,” a Coinbase spokesperson told The Block. “Where necessary, we will seek to narrow requests that are overly broad or vague in order to provide a more appropriately tailored response, and in some cases, we object to producing any information at all (such as if the request is legally insufficient). Polymarket emerged as a standout blockchain-based app during the lead-up to the U.S. election in November. Despite being geofenced to prevent U.S. users from placing bets, the platform recorded a cumulative trading volume exceeding $9 billion in 2024, according to data from The Block Research. Regulatory scrutiny and CFTC enforcement actions In 2022, Polymarket settled with the CFTC for allegedly offering illicit binary options contracts. In return, It agreed to pay a $1.4 million fine, wind down its non-compliant markets and take preventative steps to block U.S. users on an ongoing basis. The CFTC has taken a strict line in regulating betting markets. For instance, Kalshi, one of the few platforms approved to operate in the U.S., fought a long court battle for the right to list contracts related to U.S. elections due to CFTC concerns that it may unfairly sway outcomes. Prediction markets, long the purview of academic economics, offer a way for users to bet on the likelihood of future events and, therefore, help aggregate the “wisdom of the crowd.” In theory, because users have skin in the game, their predictions will be less likely to suffer from bias. This is not the first inquiry Polymarket has received from the U.S. government. In November, the Federal Bureau of Investigation seized Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan's phone and electronics in a raid of his New York City apartment. Coplan is reportedly facing a Department of Justice probe over alleged U.S. users, which Coplan has suggested is politically motivated. Polymarket also voluntarily blocked users in France after the country’s gaming regulator began examining its operations and compliance initiatives. Anecdotal reports of U.S. users bypassing the platform using VPNs have long plagued Polymarket, which surged in popularity during the election season. In all, Polymarket gamblers spent more than $3.7 billion placing bets on the presidential election. Active Polymarket traders reached a new peak of 314,500 in December

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  • bitcoin-pulls-back-as-feds-december-minutes-signal-slower-rate-cuts-in-2025-bitcoin-has-retreated-from-its-early-week-high-of-over-102000-as-global-markets-reacted-to-the-federal-reserves

    Bitcoin pulls back as Fed’s December minutes signal slower rate cuts in 2025 Bitcoin has retreated from its early-week high of over $102,000 as global markets reacted to the Federal Reserve's December meeting minutes. The minutes revealed that Fed officials anticipate slowing the pace of interest rate cuts in 2025, citing concerns about persistently high inflation and potential economic challenges, including tariffs and other policy shifts under the new Trump administration. The minutes from the Dec. 17-18 meeting noted that “recent higher-than-expected readings on inflation, and the effects of potential changes in trade and immigration policy, suggested that the process could take longer than previously anticipated." Additionally, the minutes highlighted that there were divisions among policymakers over whether to cut rates at the December Federal Open Market Committee meeting. While the decision to cut rates by 25 basis points was ultimately approved, it was a closely debated issue within the Fed. Amid ongoing concerns about inflation, the CME FedWatch tool suggests the central bank will likely hold rates steady at its next FOMC meeting on January 29, maintaining the federal funds rate at 4.25%-4.50%. Over 93% of interest traders see a likelihood of a rate pause at the next meeting. On Wednesday, the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond—a critical benchmark for global financial markets—rose above 4.7%, its highest level since April. This increase in yield reflects a drop in the prices of existing bonds, as bond prices and yields move inversely. Additionally, U.S. stocks experienced a mixed session on Wednesday, with volatility driven by fluctuations in Treasury yields. U.S. markets will be closed on Thursday in observance of a National Day of Mourning for former President Jimmy Carter. Crypto markets react to macro uncertainty QCP Capital analysts highlighted that crypto markets continue to face headwinds from broader macroeconomic trends. "The Fed indicated they will slow the pace of rate cuts, given the risks of inflation," the analysts noted. "Meanwhile, yesterday’s ADP employment survey showed a slowdown in private sector hiring, which contrasted with Tuesday’s stronger-than-expected JOLTS job openings report." In the derivatives market, QCP Capital observed increased activity, with steepening across all tenors. "The desk continues to observe selling pressure on front-end volatility, with 17 January ATM options priced 3 vols lower than last night," the analysts added. With U.S. markets closed today, bitcoin is expected to consolidate in the $92,000 to $95,000 range. However, a break below $92,000 could expose the $90,000 level, QCP Capital warned. Omni Network CEO Austin King commented on the political landscape, highlighting the impact that crypto-friendly policies under the new Trump administration. “The Republican Party’s pro-crypto stance likely attracted voters holding digital assets,” King told The Block. “However, markets will rise if Trump actively pursues pro-crypto policies or fall if investors perceive a lack of follow-through.” Bitcoin's price is now hovering above the $93,400 mark, posting a slight decrease of around 1.4% over the past 24 hours

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  • the-scoop-rising-political-risks-and-renewed-macro-uncertainty-soften-cryptos-post-election-surge-this-column-was-co-written-by-frank-chaparro-director-of-special-projects-at-the-block-and-laura

    The Scoop: Rising political risks and renewed macro uncertainty soften crypto's post-election surge This column was co-written by Frank Chaparro, director of special projects at The Block, and Laura Vidiella of MNNC Group. The views expressed in this column are their own and do not reflect the opinions of their employers. Risk is reemerging in the crypto market. If you missed my interview with Milk Road, I outlined the key factors driving crypto markets over the past year. For long-time readers of this newsletter, you might be tired of hearing about these factors: macroeconomics, politics and market flows. Typically, when all three are negative, crypto prices struggle. The post-Trump victory rally was largely fueled by the belief that the president-elect would alleviate the anti-crypto stance of SEC Chair Gary Gensler. However, recent market jitters have led some to reassess whether political risk is resurfacing. After all, the former president is known for his unpredictability, shifting focus week to week—sometimes even eyeing territorial acquisitions in the Western Hemisphere. Despite this, based on my conversations with people in Washington, even if crypto remains a low priority for the incoming administration, any shift away from Gensler’s approach is seen as a positive change. While a national Bitcoin reserve is unlikely, there is potential for regulatory agencies to adopt a more cooperative stance towards the crypto industry. This would represent a significant shift, as agencies like the SEC have the authority to make exceptions and create rules more suited to crypto, fostering innovation. At the very least, there will likely be more openness to dialogue between companies and regulators. According to Kristin Smith of the Blockchain Association, this shift is unlikely to reverse. If political risk diminishes, the focus returns to macroeconomic factors, which are closely tied to market flows. When investors sense macroeconomic risk, they may hesitate to invest in spot Bitcoin ETFs. And macro risk is indeed mounting. Goldman Sachs issued a note Wednesday morning indicating an increased probability of an equity market drawdown, rising to nearly 30%. While this is above the unconditional probability, it remains below previous peaks, with the most severe outcomes historically occurring after the probability crosses 35%. Inflation, which seemed under control, is resurfacing. If this trend continues, the Federal Reserve might slow its rate-cutting cycle, reducing the positive impact on global risk assets that many anticipated at the end of last year. Additionally, concerns about Trump's tariff policies could exacerbate inflationary pressures. I think it’s also worth mentioning that we are dealing with an expectations issue. Investors might adopt a risk-off stance leading into the inauguration, especially after the post-election pump, considering how equities have traded. Despite maintaining a "modestly pro-risk" stance for early 2025, Goldman Sachs is advising clients to consider hedging their positions.

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  • trump-admin-may-ease-crypto-banking-ties-but-caution-remains-td-cowen-the-incoming-donald-trump-administration-is-likely-to-bring-positive-changes-for-crypto-entities-working-with-banks-according-t

    Trump admin may ease crypto-banking ties, but caution remains: TD Cowen The incoming Donald Trump Administration is likely to bring positive changes for crypto entities working with banks, according to investment bank TD Cowen, but expectations for this new regulatory environment should be "reasonable." Banks are responsible for compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) and Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) rules, as well as managing risks such as liquidity and concentration, TD Cowen's Washington Research Group, led by Jaret Seiberg, wrote in a note on Monday. Thus, "it is going to cause some banks to be cautious even if Trump's regulators flag fewer concerns about increased ties between traditional financial and crypto," Seiberg said. "It is why some banks may still decide the risk is too great while others will embrace the opportunity. In addition, some crypto entities may balk at any government oversight. That could limit how comfortable banks are at working with them." That said, stronger ties between traditional finance and crypto are "inevitable" under the Trump Administration, according to Seiberg. Over time, banks will become more willing to accept crypto risk, driven by the crypto market's growth and the passage of time since the crypto disruptions of 2022 and the dissolution of Silvergate Bank, Seiberg said. Banks could be allowed to issue stablecoins, which would help ensure reserves are properly managed and audited while keeping cash in the banking system, according to Seiberg. Additionally, certain banks might be able to trade crypto assets in a manner similar to how some can trade equities, especially if Congress enacts new crypto market structure laws, Seiberg said. He also expects a possible easing of restrictions on crypto-backed loans and digital payment systems that use stablecoins and other crypto assets. Backlash over crypto-banking restrictions Top crypto companies, including Coinbase, have long complained that U.S. bank regulators have actively tried to restrict crypto firms' access to the traditional financial system. Last year, Coinbase hired research firm History Associates Incorporated to file a lawsuit against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), demanding the release of "pause letters" sent by the agency's inspector general to banks. These letters allegedly instructed banks to halt cryptocurrency-related activities. The FDIC released the mostly unredacted documents last week, revealing that banks were asked to pause direct involvement in crypto between 2022 and 2023 but were not ordered to cut banking services to crypto firms, contradicting industry claims of widespread "debanking." The released documents "show a coordinated effort to stop a wide variety of crypto activity — everything from basic BTC transactions to more complex offerings," Coinbase's chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, said in an X post last week and urged Congress to launch hearings on the matter "without delay." Crypto companies have been hopeful about the Trump administration. Last year, Trump reportedly said he would not allow banks to "choke" crypto firms out of the financial system, and some industry executives expect him to address this issue through an executive order once he takes office on January 20.

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  • bernstein-makes-10-predictions-for-2025-as-crypto-enters-its-infinity-age-as-we-enter-the-first-full-week-of-2025-analysts-at-research-and-brokerage-firm-bernstein-have-set-out-10-predictions-for

    Bernstein makes 10 predictions for 2025 as crypto enters its 'Infinity Age' As we enter the first full week of 2025, analysts at research and brokerage firm Bernstein have set out 10 predictions for the year ahead as crypto enters what they describe as the “Infinity Age.” The Infinity Age is "a long period marked by relentless evolution and widespread acceptance, leading to a point where crypto is no longer controversial — just part of the financial system built for the new intelligent age," analysts led by Gautam Chhugani wrote in a note to clients on Monday. “Expect less of boom-bust patterns,” he said. “Crypto is now firmly on the radar of corporations, banks and institutions, weaving itself into the very fabric of our financial systems.” Kicking off their expectations, the analysts reiterated their $200,000 bitcoin price target by the end of 2025 amid a rising narrative around sovereign adoption following President-elect Donald Trump’s strategic bitcoin stockpile campaign pledge. Bitcoin price cycle targets. Image: Bernstein. While the analysts are uncertain whether actual nation-state buying begins this year as a legislative priority, they do expect continued growth in corporate treasury adoption, anticipating inflows of more than $50 billion in 2025 compared to $24 billion last year. MicroStrategy is again likely to lead demand, according to the analysts, followed by Bitcoin miners scaling up their capital plans and small/mid-cap corporates looking to emulate Michael Saylor’s model. They also predict the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs to attract net inflows exceeding $70 billion — double the approximate $35 billion generated in 2024 — led by accelerated institutional adoption from hedge funds, banks and wealth advisors, with ownership spiking to 40% compared to just 22% of investments in the ETFs as of Q3 last year. Further, the analysts expect the Bitcoin ETF whitelisting process to continue with leading national wirehouses and private bank platforms, and ETF momentum remaining with Bitcoin and Ethereum but a potential Solana ETF toward year-end. “A national bitcoin reserve announcement by the U.S. would spark a global sovereign race to acquire bitcoin amongst nation-states. Our bitcoin price expectation of $200K does not factor government demand — only institutional and corporate demand,” Chhugani said. “As corporate treasuries and Bitcoin ETFs become a larger part of bitcoin ownership, we expect bitcoin ownership to get more sticky. Thus, longer bitcoin hovers around the sub-$100K mark, bitcoin would change hands from traders/sellers to long duration holders such as MicroStrategy and Bitcoin ETF holders.” Rounding out the Bitcoin side of things, the analysts suggested miners will “have to” continue to shift capacity to AI for value creation. There was a significant divergence in performance between AI diversifiers and “pure-play” Bitcoin miners in 2024. AI diversifiers like Core Scientific and TeraWulf saw 308% and 136% respective gains for the year, compared to 34% and 17% losses for Riot Platforms and CleanSpark, the analysts noted. They expect this trend to continue as “AI changes the Bitcoin mining business model to make it more sustainable and less cyclical, bringing in a wider institutional investor base.” Continuing on the AI theme, the Bernstein analysts anticipate greater convergence with the crypto industry this year, with the intersection of AI and crypto is fostering innovation across several fronts. Key developments include decentralized AI-focused blockchains for compute, storage and inference, as well as “proof of human” authentication services, AI-integrated crypto wallets and tokenized AI agents. Stablecoins become a half trillion dollar market, SEC withdraws crypto cases and more The Bernstein analysts expect “unprecedented” regulatory tailwinds for the industry this year with the incoming pro-crypto administration, including potential legislation on stablecoins and digital assets market structure, as well as greater clarity on the definition of “crypto securities.” “A stablecoin bill would be seen as priority. Stablecoins further strengthen the U.S. dollar by buying treasuries and distributing digital dollars online,” Chhugani said. “Digital assets market structure helps legal clarity and licensing for exchanges, broker/dealers including the legal position on non-custodial Defi protocols excluding them from broker/dealers status. Finally, limiting the definition of crypto securities and allowing CFTC more oversight on the majority of digital assets except a small group of digital asset securities.” Such legislation in the U.S. could drive substantial growth in the global stablecoin market, with the analysts predicting it will cross $500 billion in 2025 — more than double the 55% growth in 2024 to over $200 billion — as adoption extends beyond the crypto industry, especially in global cross-border B2B payments and cross-border remittance solutions. Additionally, the analysts expect a more pro-crypto Securities and Exchange Commission to withdraw or settle existing cases with crypto companies and enable more private crypto firms to enter the public market, with IPOs acting as further positive catalysts for the market. They also anticipate crypto exchanges and platforms like Robinhood to enable equity market tokenization, leading to liquid 24/7 equity market trading on blockchain technology, and banks and asset managers to launch more crypto-related products. Finally, Ethereum is poised to become the next “institutional darling” in 2025, despite underperformance last year, Chhugani said. With 28% of ether staked, 3% absorbed by the ETFs and 7.5% locked in smart contracts, Ethereum’s limited supply and utility as a fee payment and collateral asset across Layer 1 and Layer 2 chains drives its appeal to traditional investors seeking intrinsic value, according to the analysts.

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    Crypto wallet Phantom quashes airdrop rumors after social feature launch, Sui support announcement Crypto wallet Phantom dispelled rumors of an incoming airdrop in a message posted to its X account on Friday, after some X users speculated that the platform's recent social feature launch could lead to a token launch. "We do not have any plans to launch a token," Phantom wrote on X, in a post that also cheered the response to its recent launch of social features. Phantom launched new social features in December that allow users to create a profile, add other users as friends, and choose between three profile privacy levels: public, private, and invisible. So far, usernames are only supported on Phantom's mobile app, and not its popular Chrome extension, though Phantom teased that extension support would be coming soon. Though some users speculated that following users or gaining followers could lead to a payout through an airdrop, and some analysts have speculated that Phantom might drop a token in 2025, the recent announcement appears to quash those hopes. Phantom announces Sui integration Phantom also announced in December that it plans on integrating Layer 1 blockchain network Sui as its fourth L1, alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, the blockchain on which Phantom got its start. “Phantom Wallet is selective about which chains it supports, and we are proud to now be included among this notable group," said Sui Foundation global head of ecosystem Jameel Khalfan. Phantom has also been reticent to announce an official launch date for the Sui integration, but its X account has repeatedly teased that the feature is coming "soon." Phantom last added support for a new network in November, adding Ethereum Layer 2 network Base to its roster of supported blockchains

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  • blackrocks-spot-bitcoin-etf-marks-first-two-week-streak-of-weekly-net-outflows-u-s-based-spot-bitcoin-etfs-generally-rebounded-alongside-the-price-of-bitcoin-over-the-past-week-as-a-whole-the-12

    BlackRock's spot bitcoin ETF marks first two-week streak of weekly net outflows U.S.-based spot Bitcoin ETFs generally rebounded alongside the price of bitcoin over the past week. As a whole, the 12 funds logged a weekly net inflow of $245 million—their third-smallest total so far, but an improvement from last week's $388 million net outflows, according to SoSoValue data. However, the largest such fund by net asset value, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), logged negative weekly outflows for the second straight week, though both trading weeks were only four days long due to the holidays. This is the first such streak for the market's largest spot Bitcoin ETF; its net asset value (NAV) of $54.3 billlion still dwarfs its largest competitors, Fidelity's FBTC and Grayscale's GBTC, which each boast a NAV of about $20 billion. The weekly loss is partially thanks to IBIT's record outflows on Thursday, in which the fund shed the most value in a single day since its launch one year ago. However, the fund reversed its three-day outflow streak on Friday with $253 million worth of inflows, alongside the rebounding price of bitcoin, signaling a possible reversal of the outflow trend. Friday also marked the 16th anniversary of the mining of Bitcoin's Genesis Block, a milestone date in the cryptocurrency's history. Spot Ethereum ETFs log modest loss U.S.-based spot Ethereum ETFs, meanwhile, posted $38 million worth of weekly net outflows, their first weekly loss since mid-November. However, the modest outflows pale in comparison to the over $2.5 billion worth of inflows the funds have logged in the past six weeks alongside the rise in ether's price, which has gained 30% since early November. In fact, despite the modest outflows, the funds' overall NAV increased week-over-week due to ether's increasing price. BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) has fared better than its bitcoin counterpart over the past two trading weeks, logging a net total of nearly $216 million worth of inflows.

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  • michael-saylor-was-wrong-about-ethereum-there-is-a-second-best-in-a-surprising-twist-michael-saylor-the-once-staunch-bitcoin-btc-maximalist-and-microstrategy-nasdaq-mstr-form

    Michael Saylor was wrong about Ethereum; There is a ‘second best’ In a surprising twist, Michael Saylor, the once staunch Bitcoin (BTC) maximalist and MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) former CEO, has acknowledged his misjudgment regarding Ethereum (ETH). In the past, Saylor said in an interview to the Bitcoin Magazine that “there is no second best” to Bitcoin in multiple financial categories – an opinion that has now apparently changed. This revelation comes from a recent interview with Altcoin Daily on December 25, 2024, where Saylor admits that his earlier predictions about Ethereum’s regulatory fate were off the mark. Now, he sees a brighter future for Ethereum and other digital assets, signaling a potential “crypto renaissance.” Notably, the change in Saylor’s perspective largely stems from a shift in the political environment following Donald Trump’s presidential victory. As he noted, “I think the political landscape and consensus really shifted in the second quarter when Trump embraced crypto.” This endorsement from President Donald Trump has altered the narrative around digital currencies, giving Ethereum a new lease on life. The crypto community, feeling the pressure of regulatory crackdowns under previous administrations, found a new ally in Trump. Saylor outlines two potential futures for the cryptocurrency market under Trump’s administration, one positive and the other not so much. The first scenario he sees is having “Bitcoin alone as a commodity.” Here, Bitcoin would stand alone as the only digital asset recognized as a commodity, leaving Ethereum and others in regulatory limbo. On the other hand, the Bitcoin investor and businessman forecasts “the end of crypto hostility,” according to Coinpedia. This involves a more favorable scenario where a comprehensive digital assets’ framework provides clarity and legitimacy, ending what Saylor describes as the “war on crypto.” He now leans towards the latter scenario, believing that the regulatory environment will become more supportive, fostering innovation and growth across the board. The ‘second best’: Ethereum’s renaissance and tokenization With this new outlook, Michael Saylor predicts a significant surge for Bitcoin but also envisions a renaissance for Ethereum. He suggests that with a supportive regulatory framework, Ethereum could witness an explosion in the creation of digital assets, from stablecoins to tokenized securities. “I would say my forecast for Bitcoin isn’t that different… but I think the big major change is you can see $500 trillion of conventional assets getting tokenized to become digital assets,” said Saylor. Interestingly, MicroStrategy’s leader pivot aligns with BlackRock’s (NYSE: BLK) vision regarding tokenization on Ethereum. BlackRock also has a deployed fund, BUIDL, focused on tokenization, in partnership with Securitize. This perspective has implications for corporate strategies, as highlighted by Vivek Ventures in a post on X: “Saylor is pivoting from a zero-sum Bitcoin-maxi future to a positive sum future where we see an Ethereum Renaissance. This opens the door for a corporate ETH treasury playbook to complement MSTR’s BTC strategy. The spotlight will shift to ETH in 2025.” The adoption of Ethereum by corporations as part of their treasury strategy could mirror what MicroStrategy did with Bitcoin, potentially leading to more diversified crypto portfolios in the corporate world. Furthermore, ETH could compete for financial products like the recently filed – and waiting for approval – Bitwise Bitcoin Standard Corporations ETF. Michael Saylor weighs in on the future of Ethereum, Bitcoin, and crypto Saylor’s revised stance on Ethereum not only acknowledges its potential but also underscores a broader acceptance of digital currencies beyond Bitcoin. He envisions a future where digital economies thrive with clearer regulations. The investor believes that this will cause the ecosystem for digital assets to grow, supporting exchanges, wallets, and applications. Additionally, he sees an upcoming massive tokenization, where a significant portion of global equity could become digital. This includes tokenized stocks of major companies like Google and Apple, which could become available on personal devices through blockchain. In conclusion, Michael Saylor’s acknowledgment of being wrong about Ethereum marks a pivotal moment in the crypto industry. His insight suggests a future where ETH and other digital assets can coexist and flourish alongside Bitcoin under a more defined regulatory umbrella. This acknowledgment not only validates Ethereum’s potential but also hints at a broader, more inclusive crypto ecosystem in the coming years. As we move into 2025, the spotlight on Ethereum could indeed grow brighter, potentially reshaping corporate investment strategies in cryptocurrencies.

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    Crypto M&A deals expected to rise in 2025, top VCs say Crypto mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity rose to 248 deals in 2024, up from 221 in 2023, according to The Block Pro data. While improved, it remains below 2022's all-time high of 271 deals, signaling steady yet restrained growth. "M&A was still quite muted in 2024, with a lot of companies and protocols unsure of what the future regulatory environment could look like," Rob Hadick, general partner at Dragonfly, told The Block. "With that said, most of the potential acquirers were crypto natives, who often wanted to use their own bloated valuation marks from 2021 to acquire companies with their equity consideration, especially as most are not cash-rich. That meant that while there were a lot of conversations on M&A activities, ultimately very few transacted outside of Stripe-Bridge." Ed Roman, co-founder and managing partner of Hack VC, echoed similar sentiments, noting that in 2021, venture capital investors heavily invested in crypto. However, many of those startups struggled to raise funds after the bear market triggered by the FTX bankruptcy in 2022, leading to natural consolidation. Looking ahead to 2025, venture capital firms anticipate a more active crypto M&A landscape driven by a maturing market, increased regulatory clarity and renewed interest in crypto from fintech and web2 companies. Here's what top crypto VCs shared with The Block about their M&A outlook for the new year. Dragonfly: Exchanges and brokerages to drive M&A growth Dragonfly predicts 2025 will "absolutely be a more active year" for crypto M&A but warns against viewing the recent Stripe-Bridge deal as a broader market trend. "The Stripe-Bridge transaction was idiosyncratic and is unlikely to be copied," Hadick told The Block. Hadick expects the stablecoin/payments sector to see fewer major M&A deals, projecting that many payment service providers will build their own platforms or form partnerships instead of pursuing acquisitions. Still, he foresees at least one unicorn-sized deal announcement in that sector in 2025. Exchanges, brokerages, miners and data providers are the key sectors primed for consolidation, according to Hadick. "Many of the largest companies in those categories have been kicking the tires of potential targets who may be interested in being acquired, but few were serious about really driving forward that consolidation and paying up for that privilege until now," he said. Hack VC: Web2 buyers and onchain M&A to drive activity Hack VC anticipates more large-scale acquisitions in 2025, driven by the likely return of web2 companies interested in crypto due to the ongoing bull market. "Those web2 buyers were missing-in-action for the last few years due to the NFT crash and FTX crash, but we expect them to return now that crypto is in-season again," Roman told The Block. "They often lack internal expertise or technology, so it's easier to buy versus build." On-chain M&A is another area Roman finds particularly compelling. "On-chain mergers can revitalize tokens and breathe new energy into projects, as well as consolidate efforts to achieve a larger outcome for token holders," Roman said. He also notes that with the current bull market, crypto startups are finding it easier to raise funds, reducing the number of "forced exits" from startups running out of runway. Instead, M&A in 2025 is likely to focus on deals designed to accelerate growth, he said. Galaxy Ventures: Expects fintech-driven M&A to pick up Galaxy Ventures predicts a surge in crypto M&A activity in 2025, driven by the return of fintechs, banks, and tech companies to the crypto space. "The Stripe-Bridge acquisition is a harbinger of M&A activity, for sure," Galaxy Ventures' general partner, Will Nuelle, told The Block. "Stablecoins and payments practically impact real fintech businesses and so we expect M&A to primarily occur there," Nuelle said. "Areas like staking, DeFi, and CeFi still are parallel to fintech/banking rather than intersecting." Nuelle also anticipates initial public offering (IPO) activity to resume as regulatory clarity improves in the U.S., creating more opportunities for crypto companies to access public markets. Portal Ventures: Expects fintech to lead crypto M&A Portal Ventures also sees fintech as the primary driver of crypto M&A in 2025. "It's hard to be a fintech investor today and ignore crypto," Evan Fisher, founder and general partner at Portal Ventures, told The Block. Within crypto, Fisher expects some established players like Chainalysis to acquire smaller firms. Blockchain Capital: Expects consolidation across categories

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  • 10-top-crypto-vcs-share-2025-funding-outlook-crypto-venture-capital-funding-rose-28-year-over-year-in-2024-reaching-around-13-7-billion-according-to-the-block-pros-funding-dashboard-while-this-m

    10 top crypto VCs share 2025 funding outlook Crypto venture capital funding rose 28% year-over-year in 2024, reaching around $13.7 billion, according to The Block Pro's Funding Dashboard. While this marked notable progress compared to 2023, the surge still fell short of previous peaks, despite this year's bullish momentum. Looking ahead to 2025, top crypto VCs are cautiously optimistic. While most agree that funding levels won't return to the highs of 2021-2022, a clear consensus has emerged: startups with strong product-market fit and tangible user adoption are best positioned to attract capital in the year ahead. Here's what leaders from Dragonfly, Pantera, Multicoin, Coinbase Ventures, Binance Labs, Galaxy Ventures and others shared with The Block about their 2025 funding outlook. Dragonfly: Betting on DeFi, CeFi, stablecoins and more Rob Hadick, general partner at Dragonfly, expects significant growth in crypto venture funding for 2025, driven by a loosening U.S. regulatory environment, potential continued token price appreciation and increased institutional capital deployment, he told The Block. However, Hadick doesn't see funding levels reaching the highs of 2021-2022 "for a very long time," — reflecting caution among VCs about repeating past mistakes. Dragonfly remains focused on backing top founders in areas with proven product-market fit, including decentralized finance (DeFi), scaling platforms, centralized finance (CeFi) and stablecoins/payments. While newer areas like crypto-AI and decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePINs) are on the radar, Hadick described these as "experiments" for now. Conversely, Hadick said, investment in categories like security, tokenization and interoperability may decline as the focus shifts to newer sectors. He also predicts challenges for decentralized social media, citing a lack of scalability and product-market fit. Pantera: Excited about crypto-AI, DePINs and new types of Layer 1 blockchains Lauren Stephanian, general partner at Pantera Capital, told The Block that crypto VC funding is expected to increase in 2025 as investors are more willing to deploy capital in pro-crypto administration in the United States. However, "bull markets can't last forever," so it remains to be seen "when we'll start to see deployment slow down within the next year," Stephanian said. Pantera is continuing to invest broadly in the crypto and blockchain sectors but is particularly excited about crypto-AI, DePINs, and new types of Layer 1 blockchains that enable more app-level functionality, Stephanian said. Multicoin: Continues to remain bullish on the Solana ecosystem Multicoin Capital is focusing on expanding its exposure to DeFi applications, particularly within the Solana ecosystem, which has outperformed the Ethereum and Layer 2 ecosystem in key on-chain metrics this year. "We expect this trend to continue and for Solana-based applications and protocols to be big winners in the next cycle as more users, capital, issuance, and activity migrates to Solana's ecosystem," Kyle Samani, co-founder and managing partner of Multicoin Capital, told The Block. Ethereum will continue to struggle and "may even slip into secular decline" as it faces significant competition from Solana and other faster and cheaper blockchains, Samani said. "Unless Ethereum can compete, developers, users and capital will migrate to other chains that better serve their needs," he added. Multicoin is also bullish on stablecoins, with Samani describing them as "likely one of the greatest technical and financial innovations of our lifetime." "Stablecoins have the opportunity to become a juggernaut in 2025," Samani said. "Everyone in the world wants U.S. dollars, and stablecoins are by far the most efficient way to get them. The design space is vast, and we're still relatively early in the adoption curve." Coinbase Ventures: Focused on the onchain economy Coinbase Ventures expects to be "very active in 2025 and beyond" and is well-positioned to seize market opportunities, its head, Hoolie Tejwani, told The Block. The firm is optimistic about constructive regulatory progress in the U.S., fueled by a pro-crypto Donald Trump administration and a supportive Congress entering office in January 2025. Tejwani said that Coinbase Ventures will continue investing broadly across the onchain economy, guided by "where the best and brightest builders are spending their nights and weekends." The firm is bullish on the application layer, where internet-scale applications are finally possible, thanks to maturing infrastructure. Areas of focus include stablecoin payments and finance, crypto-AI intersections, onchain consumer applications (such as social, gaming and creator apps) and innovations in DeFi.

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  • grayscale-research-adds-six-tokens-to-its-top-20-for-next-quarter-grayscale-research-added-six-tokens-to-its-top-20-list-of-diversified-crypto-assets-that-in-its-view-and-based

    Grayscale Research adds six tokens to its 'Top 20' for next quarter Grayscale Research added six tokens to its ‘Top 20’ list of diversified crypto assets that, in its view and based on multiple factors, display a high degree of potential over the next quarter. The included tokens are Layer 1 blockchain Hyperliquid’s HYPE, Ethena’s ENA, Base-based AI agent platform Virtual Protocol’s VIRTUAL, Solana-based DEX aggregator Jupiter’s JUP, Solana-based liquid staking protocol Jito’s JTO, and decentralized data network Grass’ self-titled token. Grayscale noted that the decision to include these tokens was based on network growth and adoption, upcoming catalysts, fundamental sustainability, token valuation and supply inflation, and potential tail risks. Grayscale Research said that for Q1 2025, its focus would be on themes touching the regulatory environment in the United States, decentralized finance and staking, decentralized AI technologies and agents, and the growth of the Solana ecosystem. Additionally, Grayscale Research noted that it remains optimistic regarding previous quarters’ themes, such as Ethereum scaling solutions, tokenization, and decentralized physical infrastructure, also known as DePIN. Specifically, the team notes that Optimism, Chainlink, and Helium have returned to its ‘Top 20,’ while Celo has fallen off the list.

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  • bitget-to-burn-40-of-total-supply-of-bgb-and-introduce-quarterly-burns

    Bitget to burn 40% of total supply of BGB and introduce quarterly burns

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  • south-korea-imposes-sanctions-on-north-korean-crypto-hackers-it-operatives

    South Korea imposes sanctions on North Korean crypto hackers, IT operatives

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  • runes-transaction-share-on-the-bitcoin-network-drops-to-new-lows-runes-transaction-share-on-the-bitcoin-network-has-dropped-to-new-lows-reaching-just-1-67-of-daily-transactions-marking-a-significant

    Runes transaction share on the Bitcoin network drops to new lows Runes transaction share on the Bitcoin network has dropped to new lows, reaching just 1.67% of daily transactions, marking a significant decline from its dominant position earlier in the year. This represents a stark contrast to the period between April and November when Runes often consisted of over 50% of daily Bitcoin transactions. Daily fees for Runes transactions have remained below $250,000, indicating minimal network activity compared to previous periods. The decline in Runes activity coincides with broader market dynamics and shifting investor focus: Bitcoin price volatility has drawn attention away from experimental Bitcoin-based protocols like Runes and Ordinals, which are often viewed as higher-risk applications. Other sectors, such as AI agents, memecoins and Ethereum NFTs, have captured market mindshare, potentially contributing to reduced interest in Bitcoin-based token protocols. The data suggests a potential cooling of the Runes ecosystem. The dramatic drop from a network share of over 50% to below 10% indicates a significant shift in Bitcoin network usage patterns. This decline may reflect a broader market trend where speculative interest has rotated into other cryptocurrency sectors. However, as Bitcoin prices look to stabilize, history suggests that attention will return to ecosystem projects such as runes and ordinals, making it important to monitor how these verticals evolve.

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  • cryptos-12-biggest-stories-of-2024-from-bitcoin-etfs-to-hamster-kombat-and-even-the-fbi-theres-always-something-going-on-in-the-crypto-space-and-this-year-was-no-exception-from

    Crypto's 12 biggest stories of 2024: From Bitcoin ETFs to Hamster Kombat and even the FBI There’s always something going on in the crypto space — and this year was no exception. From Bitcoin ETFs to Sam Bankman-Fried, Hamster Kombat, Donald Trump and the halving, here are 12 of the top stories from 2024 to enjoy this Christmas. SEC approves spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US On Jan. 11, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved proposals for multiple spot bitcoin ETFs on an accelerated basis. ETFs from Ark Invest/21Shares, Bitwise, BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Grayscale, Invesco, Valkyrie (now CoinShares), VanEck and WisdomTree began trading the next day. An additional spot ETF from Hashdex and Grayscale’s mini Bitcoin ETF launched in March and July, respectively. As the most successful ETF launch in history by many measures, the combined spot Bitcoin funds have since gone on to attract more than $36 billion in net inflows, with around $110 billion in assets under management amid bitcoin’s substantial price rise this year. BlackRock’s IBIT spot Bitcoin ETF has dominated most metrics, accounting for approximately $54 billion in AUM alone and over 70% market share by trading volume. A $1.2 million bitcoin mistake In one of the crazier stories of the year during the same month, as an unknown user sent 26.9 BTC, worth $1.2 million at the time, to Bitcoin's Genesis wallet, which was created by the blockchain’s pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto and is unlikely to be accessible or return the funds. The transaction, originating from a wallet linked to the crypto exchange Binance, according to blockchain analytics platform Arkham, cost an unusually high $100 fee and brought the Genesis wallet's balance to nearly 100 BTC, worth $4.3 million at that point. "Either Satoshi woke up, bought 27 bitcoin from Binance, and deposited it into their wallet, or someone just burned a million dollars," Coinbase director Conor Grogan said. Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison In March, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay $11 billion in restitution for orchestrating one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history. In September, Bankman-Fried filed an appeal and called for a new trial, with his lawyer criticizing Judge Lewis Kaplan's handling of the case. A month later, former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets Ryan Salame also began a seven-and-a-half-year sentence for his role in the debacle. However, former CEO of FTX's sister trading firm Alameda Research, Caroline Ellison, was handed a lighter sentence of two years, while FTX's former engineering director Nishad Singh and FTX co-founder Gary Wang received no prison time after the pair cooperated with authorities. Dogwifhat's iconic photo sold as NFT for $4.3 million On a lighter note, in March, the iconic photo of Achi, the dog behind the Dogwifhat memecoin, was sold as an NFT for $4.3 million to crypto trader Gigantic Rebirth Ventures. Achi's image became a viral sensation, leading to the creation of the Dogwifhat memecoin, which now ranks in the top 50 cryptocurrencies with a market cap of over $3 billion. The NFT sale came just days after crypto holders raised over $650,000 to put the dogwifhat picture on the Las Vegas sphere — an initiative that is yet to transpire into a reality. Bitcoin ushers in fourth halving In April, Bitcoin’s fourth halving event reduced miners’ block subsidy rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC, marking a new epoch for the network. The halving, occurring at block height 840,000, means miners now produce around 450 BTC daily compared to the previous 900 BTC. Bitcoin halving events, which occur roughly every four years, will continue reducing rewards until the last bitcoin is mined around 2140, after which miners will earn only transaction fees. Billionaire Mark Cuban’s remarks weighing in on the halving was one of the most popular stories this year. However, while the Dallas Mavericks owner and "Shark Tank" host noted the direct impact on revenue for bitcoin miners, he was more interested in the potential impact of AI on the industry. The FBI’s warning to American crypto users The same month, another popular story centered around the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation warning Americans to avoid using cryptocurrency services not registered as Money Services Businesses under federal law to prevent financial and legal risks. The FBI advised checking the registration status of crypto services using the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network MSB lookup tool and to also avoid platforms that lack know your customer ID verification compliance.

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  • hyperliquid-sees-record-outflows-following-north-korea-hack-concerns-decentralized-perpetual-trading-platform-hyperliquid-saw-a-record-volume-of-net-outflows-after-one-blockchain-expert-on-social-medi

    Hyperliquid sees record outflows following North Korea hack concerns Decentralized perpetual trading platform Hyperliquid saw a record volume of net outflows after one blockchain expert on social media platform X claimed on Monday that North Korea-backed hackers were present on the DeFi platform. According to data from Dune Analytics, Hyperliquid saw USDC net outflows worth $249.1 million on Monday and another $22.2 million in net outflows on Tuesday so far. Taylor Monahan, security researcher of Metamask, posted 12 blockchain addresses that were active on Hyperliquid that she has identified as cyberactors backed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The dates show that one address was active on the platform from Oct. 2. Monahan said in the X thread that her offer to Hyperliquid to help protect the platform against North Korea is still on the table, as DPRK actors appear to be training to become familiar with the platform to launch an attack in the future. “I am quite concerned that you guys are at increased risk due to the fact we know that these specific threat actors are now intimately familiar with your platform,” Monahan wrote in her offer to Hyperliquid two weeks ago, which she reposted on Monday. “I really want to emphasize that these are the most sophisticated and rapidly evolving of all the DPRK threat groups.” Hyperliquid’s Hype, its native token launched recently, also experienced volatility on Monday. The token fell from a weekend high of $34.5 to around $26 on Monday and continued to fluctuate, according to data from Coingecko. Hype recovered 5.4% in the past 24 hours to trade at $29.63 at the time of writing. Hyperliquid responded to the allegations on Discord by saying that the platform has not spotted any signs of an exploit. “There has been no DPRK exploit — or any exploit for that matter — of Hyperliquid,” the platform said. “All user funds are accounted for. Hyperliquid Labs takes opsec seriously. No vulnerabilities have been shared by any party.” DPRK’s state-backed hacker groups have been accused of orchestrating some of the largest hacks in crypto, such as the $600 million hack of the Ronin Ethereum sidechain in 2022.

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  • metaplanet-continues-bitcoin-buying-spree-with-latest-61-million-purchase-japanese-investment-firm-metaplanet-inc-spent-nearly-61-million-to-buy-additional-bitcoin-as-it-remains-bullish-on-the-worl

    Metaplanet continues bitcoin buying spree with latest $61 million purchase Japanese investment firm Metaplanet Inc. spent nearly $61 million to buy additional bitcoin as it remains bullish on the world’s largest cryptocurrency. Metaplanet said on Monday that it bought an additional 619.7 BTC, or $58.9 million based on current market prices, for 9.5 billion yen ($60.6 million) at an average purchase price of 15.3 million yen ($97,786) per bitcoin. This boosted the company’s total holdings to 1,761.98 BTC, or about $167.1 million. The Tokyo-listed firm made its latest bitcoin purchase after raising 9.5 billion yen ($60.6 million) through two tranches of bond issuance last week to “accelerate bitcoin purchases.” The company started adopting Bitcoin as a strategic treasury reserve asset in May and has since been on a buying spree. Metaplanet’s stock closed down 0.98% at 3,540 yen on Monday in Japan, having risen 1,982% year-to-date, according to Yahoo Finance. Bitcoin dropped 1% over the past 24 hours to trade at $95,221 at the time of writing, according to The Block’s price page. Ether lost 1.2% to change hands at $3,292. The Block's GMCI 30 index, which measures the performance of the top 30 cryptocurrencies, edged down 0.93% in the past day. Meanwhile, MicroStrategy remains the largest public corporate bitcoin holder, owning 439,000 BTC, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.

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  • sec-fines-jump-trading-subsidiary-123-million-for-propping-up-terrausd-stablecoin-during-depeg-in-may-2021-following-a-depeg-of-the-algorithmic-terrausd-stablecoin-the-token-was-able-to-stabili

    SEC fines Jump Trading subsidiary $123 million for propping up TerraUSD stablecoin during depeg In May 2021, following a "depeg" of the algorithmic TerraUSD stablecoin, the token was able to stabilize back at its $1 peg, seemingly automatically. Behind the scenes, however, a subsidiary of Jump Trading's crypto unit, Tai Mo Shan, stepped in with $20 million worth of purchases to help stabilize the token, allegedly misleading investors in the token and its counterpart luna, according to an SEC complaint. The SEC and Tai Mo Shan, presumably named after Hong Kong's highest peak, agreed that the latter should pay about $123 million in fines — over $86 million in disgorgement and about $36 million in a civil penalty — for its actions, which the regulatory agency alleges "caused investors to be deceived about the efficacy of Terraform’s arbitrage mechanism." The $86 million figure was determined based on the amount of money, plus interest, the SEC says Tai Mo Shan profited after it stepped in with $20 million worth of buys of Terraform Labs' TerraUSD stablecoin (UST) in May 2021, after UST briefly depegged before seemingly automatically stabilizing. In exchange, Tai Mo Shan received unlocked luna tokens early, which it was able to sell into the market. The SEC had previously accused Tai Mo Shan of profiting $1.28 billion from the deal in an earlier complaint. Though Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon touted how TerraUSD had survived a "black swan event" in "as intense of a stress test in live conditions as can ever be expected," failing to mention Tai Mo Shan's actions to prop up the coin had the effect of deceiving investors into believing the algorithmic stabilization mechanism functioned as expected, the SEC alleges. Jump Crypto's president, Kanav Kariya, had pleaded the fifth when asked about the deal in a prior deposition. As part of the settlement, Tai Mo Shan will pay the penalty without admitting or denying the findings in the SEC's order. "Tai Mo Shan should have known that purchasing UST and supporting its price in this manner misled the market about the stability of UST’s peg and the effectiveness of Terraform’s algorithm meant to maintain that stability," the SEC wrote in its order. Terraform Labs, for its part, agreed to pay over $4 billion in fines in a settlement with the SEC following its ecosystem's collapse. The firm got permission from a U.S. bankruptcy judge to begin winding down in September of this year.

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  • microstrategy-founder-michael-saylor-advocates-for-trump-backed-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-in-proposal-to-set-crypto-industry-standards-microstrategy-founder-michael-saylor-has-backed-president-ele

    MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor advocates for Trump-backed 'strategic bitcoin reserve' in proposal to set crypto industry standards MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor has backed President-elect Donald Trump’s strategic bitcoin reserve in a digital asset policy proposal published on Friday. The so-called “Digital Assets Framework” also lays out a plan for the U.S. to support industry growth, set standards for compliance and communication, as well as set rights for crypto asset holders and companies. “By establishing a clear taxonomy, a legitimate rights-based framework, and practical compliance obligations, the United States can lead the global digital economy,” Saylor wrote in his proposal. “A capital markets renaissance fueled by digital assets will unlock trillions in wealth, empower millions of businesses, and solidify the US dollar as the foundation of the 21st-century digital financial system.” Saylor became one of the most visible Bitcoin backers after his firm began purchasing the asset in 2020, in a bold bet that U.S. monetary and fiscal policy would drain the dollar's value. MicroStrategy, which sells business intelligence software, is now the single largest corporate bitcoin holder, with an estimated $42.6 billion stockpile. Although Saylor is known as a Bitcoin maximalist — someone who believes there is an insurmountable gulf between Bitcoin and other blockchains — his proposal argues for creating universal standards for “ digital assets (beyond Bitcoin)” and strengthening the U.S. dollar’s hegemonic position as the world’s reserve currency. Implementing his plan, which includes creating a “universal” taxonomy and set of standards, would “position America as the global leader in the 21st-century digital economy” and neutralize the national debt. Plan specifics Under his proposed taxonomy, Saylor defines a “digital commodity” as “an asset without an issuer, backed by digital power,” citing Bitcoin as an example. He also classifies assets “with an issuer,” including a “digital security” like tokenized equity or debt, a “digital currency” that is “backed by fiat” and a “digital token,” which is fungible and offers utility. NFTs and tokens backed by “physical assets” like gold and oil have their own delineations. In addition to classifying different cryptocurrencies, Saylor argues for a “robust framework of rights and responsibilities” to be applied to issuers, exchanges and other participants. This includes the baseline rights “to create and issue digital assets” as well as custody, trade and transfer these assets. The responsibilities Saylor advocates largely center around public disclosures and complying with local laws. “No one has the right to lie, cheat, or steal. All participants are civilly and criminally responsible for their actions,” Saylor writes. Meanwhile, in a bid to drive “efficiency and innovation,” he also argues that compliance costs related to issuing a token should be limited to 1% of a firm’s assets under management and no more than 10 basis points annually to maintain an asset. This could help drive “the cost of issuance from $10–100 million to $10–100 thousand,” he writes, and reduce the time to launch a token to a matter of minutes rather than years. Neutralizing the debt To some extent, Saylor wants the U.S. to be at the center stage of the digital economy because he wants the U.S. to remain at the center stage of the global economy. He argues implicitly that becoming the de facto crypto hub is key for maintaining the hegemonic status of the U.S. dollar, which he has previously referred to as a “melting ice cube.” To this end, Saylor says the U.S. should position the dollar as the “global reserve digital currency” by growing the stablecoin market from a market capitalization of $25 billion to $10 trillion, thereby “creating massive demand for US Treasuries.” He also calls for U.S. investors to “capture the majority of the wealth” of the growing crypto industry.

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  • team-behind-hawk-memecoin-tied-to-hawk-tuah-girl-sued-for-alleged-securities-law-violations

    Team behind HAWK memecoin, tied to 'Hawk Tuah Girl,' sued for alleged securities law violations

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  • el-salvador-to-limit-bitcoin-activities-for-1-4-billion-deal-with-imf

    El Salvador to limit bitcoin activities for $1.4 billion deal with IMF

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  • us-federal-reserve-cuts-fed-funds-rate-by-25-basis-points

    US Federal Reserve cuts fed funds rate by 25 basis points

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  • ethereum-etf-staking-yields-could-drive-institutional-adoption-if-regulatory-barriers-ease-under-trump-analysts

    Ethereum ETF staking yields could drive institutional adoption if regulatory barriers ease under Trump: analysts

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  • nft-collection-cyberkongz-says-it-has-received-a-wells-notice-from-sec

    NFT collection CyberKongz says it has received a Wells Notice from SEC

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  • global-crypto-investment-product-ytd-inflows-quadruple-any-other-year-coinshares

    Global crypto investment product YTD inflows quadruple any other year: CoinShares

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  • polygon-community-weighs-proposal-to-deploy-over-1-billion-in-stablecoin-on-its-bridge-for-yield-generation

    Polygon community weighs proposal to deploy over $1 billion in stablecoin on its bridge for yield generation

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  • solana-surpasses-ethereum-as-fastest-growing-crypto-ecosystem-in-terms-of-new-developers-electric-capital

    Solana surpasses Ethereum as fastest growing crypto ecosystem in terms of new developers: Electric Capital

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  • in-latest-shakeup-interchain-foundation-acquires-skip-to-refocus-cosmos-hub-at-ecosystems-core

    In latest shakeup, Interchain Foundation acquires Skip to refocus Cosmos Hub at ecosystem's core

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  • ethereum-researcher-max-resnick-moves-to-join-solana-development-firm-anza

    Ethereum researcher Max Resnick moves to join Solana development firm Anza

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  • hacked-cardano-foundation-x-account-posts-fake-token-false-sec-lawsuit-notice

    Hacked Cardano Foundation X account posts fake token, false SEC lawsuit notice

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  • vcs-express-skepticism-towards-crypto-ai-projects-almost-everyone-will-lose-a-lot-of-money

    VCs express skepticism towards crypto-AI projects: 'Almost everyone will lose a lot of money

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  • semler-scientific-buys-additional-303-btc-expands-its-bitcoin-treasurys-value-to-over-180-million

    Semler Scientific buys additional 303 BTC, expands its bitcoin treasury’s value to over $180 million

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  • trump-congratulates-bitcoiners-on-100000-milestone-as-industry-reacts-to-new-all-time-high

    Trump congratulates bitcoiners on $100,000 milestone as industry reacts to new all-time high

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