Today's news tips:
The 30th address on the Bitcoin Rich List transferred 11,999 BTC, equivalent to about $1.19 billion
BGB breaks through $6.2, setting a new record high
A HyperLiquid whale faces a huge floating loss of about $12 million on multiple open positions
Pantera Capital CEO predicts Bitcoin bull cycle will peak in August 2025
Vitalik adopts Thai internet celebrity hippopotamus Moo Deng and donates about $290,000 to his zoo
BonkDAO plans to destroy 1.69 trillion BONK, worth about $54.52 million
PENGU’s market value exceeds $2.6 billion, becoming the No. 1 meme coin on Solana
Animoca Brands: No official tokens or NFTs released
Regulatory/Macro
Japan Government Responds to Questions About Bitcoin Reserves, Shows Still Cautious Approach
According to Coinpost, the Japanese government recently responded to Senate member Satoshi Hamada's question about understanding the dynamics of the United States and other countries in promoting Bitcoin reserves. The response was issued in the name of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, clarifying the government's position on the use of crypto assets as reserves. The Japanese government said that it is not aware of the Bitcoin reserve plans of these countries at present because these plans are still in the discussion stage and "it is difficult for the government to express its position." In addition, according to the legal framework, crypto assets do not fall into the category of foreign exchange, and foreign exchange reserves are intended to stabilize foreign currency assets and bond markets. The response repeatedly emphasized that foreign exchange reserve management must first ensure security and liquidity, indicating that it is recognized that the volatility of crypto assets (such as Bitcoin) is inconsistent with the current system. Shigeru Ishiba's response shows that the government remains cautious as discussions on incorporating crypto assets into the national reserve strategy advance in Japan and abroad.
According to Blockworks, starting next year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will temporarily reduce the size of its commissioner team, waiting for the Senate to approve the nomination of presidential candidate Donald Trump. During this period, only Republican commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda will continue to perform their duties after taking office. According to Peirce, with the departure of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, the agency's stance on the crypto industry will change significantly. At the Blockchain Association Policy Summit held earlier this month, Peirce said: "We have powerful tools and have always tended to use enforcement methods. I think when you see new changes in committee members and changes in composition, the types of cases may also change." Uyeda pointed out that due to the particularity of federal agencies, most policy discussions are conducted in closed-door meetings. He explained: "The Administrative Procedure Act allows the public to comment on regulations, thereby ensuring transparency." However, when the guidance issued by SEC staff is inconsistent with SEC rules (such as the SAB 121 case), the public does not have the opportunity to comment. In the SAB 121 case, both houses of Congress attempted to overturn the policy requiring digital asset custodians to report liabilities and "corresponding assets", but President Biden ultimately vetoed the resolution. Uyeda hopes the SEC will increase opportunities for the public to voice their opinions. Peirce stressed that the SEC has come a long way and that change is not easy. She directly addressed the crypto industry: “It will take a lot of hard work from us and from you to get back on track, but I believe we can do it.”
According to The Block, several crypto trading companies recently reported that over-the-counter (OTC) trading volume has grown rapidly in recent months, with the election results becoming an important driving force. Tim Ogilvie, head of institutional business at Kraken Exchange, said: "OTC trading is currently extremely active, and trading volume has surged with rising prices." He revealed that Kraken's OTC trading volume has increased significantly by 220% year-on-year, and other trading companies have also reported similar growth. Jake Ostrovskis, an OTC trader at market maker Wintermute, pointed out that the market was relatively quiet in the middle of the year, but as the election approached, prices rose and market participants began to actively prepare for the election results. He said that Wintermute has been negotiating with some customers for many years, and the election results have become an opportunity for them to start trading. Similarly, Embert Lin, a trader at market maker GSR, said that the company's trading volume has increased significantly since the election. As the prices of Bitcoin, Ethereum and altcoins rise, projects and investors have significantly increased their enthusiasm for managing funds and risks at these prices, while also looking for new opportunities to access other crypto assets besides BTC and ETH. A trader at an over-the-counter trading firm privately revealed that recent trading volumes have easily reached the peak of the cryptocurrency market in 2021. In addition, Brett Reeves, head of Go Network at cryptocurrency custody company BitGo, pointed out that the election results were the main driver of the recent surge in trading volume, with two-thirds of the volume generated within three months after the election results were announced.
Hashgraph Group Obtains Fund Management License in Abu Dhabi and Will Launch $100 Million Web3 Fund
According to Bitcoin.com, Switzerland-based Hashgraph Group has obtained a fund management license from the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) in the United Arab Emirates. The license obtained by Hashgraph Ventures Manager under Hashgraph Group allows it to launch a $100 million Web3 venture capital fund from the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). Hashgraph Group will contribute $20 million, or 20% of the fund, as seed capital. The fund will focus on investing in startups and established companies within the Hedera ecosystem. Stefan Deiss, co-founder and CEO of Hashgraph Group, said that the fund has received widespread support and attention from joint investors, including government agencies, sovereign wealth funds, venture capital funds, family offices and other qualified investors; the group will focus on investing in companies that utilize the Hedera network and promote cooperation between Web3 companies. The fund will give priority to strategic investments in companies in the Web3 and deep technology fields (developing artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, robotics and quantum computing solutions). Qualified projects will have the opportunity to participate in the Hashgraph Association's Entrepreneurship Studio Program.
Project News
Vitalik adopts Thai internet celebrity hippopotamus Moo Deng and donates about $290,000 to his zoo
The administrator of Moo Deng at Khao Kheow Zoo in Thailand said on the X platform: "Thank you to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin for joining the wildlife sponsorship program and supporting Moo Deng's family with a generous gift of 10 million baht (about 290,000 US dollars). We look forward to working with you over the next two years to bring benefits to the Khao Kheow Zoo community and all visitors." According to a letter written by Vitalik shared by him: "I am very happy to accept your invitation to become Moo Deng's adoptive father during her growth and donate no less than 10 million baht to the zoo in her name. The funds will be donated in two installments of 5,000,000 baht each. The first donation will be made on December 26, 2024, and the date of the second donation, as well as any additional amounts, will be notified later, but no later than one year after December 26, 2024."
PENGU’s market value exceeds $2.6 billion, becoming the No. 1 meme coin on Solana
Coingecko data shows that PENGU's market value has exceeded US$2.6 billion (currently approximately US$2.625 billion), surpassing BONK (US$2.443 billion) to become the number one Meme coin on the Solana blockchain.
BonkDAO plans to destroy 1.69 trillion BONK, worth about $54.52 million
According to official news, BonkDAO plans to destroy 1.69 trillion BONK, worth about $54.52 million, as part of the community festival event "BURNmas" to increase the scarcity of BONK. The upcoming destruction accounts for nearly 1.8% of the total supply of BONK (about 92.7 trillion). Officials said that these tokens will be destroyed through BonkDAO multi-signature voting in the future.
According to the monitoring of on-chain analyst @ai_9684xtpa, the remaining 10% of the addresses that have not received METAV in the first AI-Pool public pre-sale project seem to have completed the receipt eight hours ago. According to statistics: a total of 71 addresses have made deposits of more than 10 SOL in this pre-sale, with a total donation of 958 SOL (190,000 US dollars), of which the TOP3 excess funds accounted for 82%. After receiving the tokens eight hours ago, the TOP1 payment address HRu6k...eoFCw has sold 109,600 tokens at $0.03218, with a cumulative loss of 556 SOL.
Animoca Brands: No official tokens or NFTs released
Animoca Brands said on the X platform: "The X account of co-founder and executive chairman Yat Siu was hacked. Animoca Brands has not issued any official tokens or NFTs. A post claimed that the tokens released on Solana were hacked. Please do not interact with this account and remain vigilant. We will provide updates once the account is restored."
Pump Science: Token economics design completed, BIO airdrop to be carried out
Pump Science announced on the X platform that the token economics design has been completed and that the BIO airdrop will be carried out. Regarding the token economics design: 5% of the future token supply will be distributed to holders of previous tokens (at the time of migration), and those who now hold more PS tokens (RIF, URO) will receive new tokens in the future; this mechanism will continue as long as there are new issuances (forever). Regarding the BIO airdrop, BIO Protocol will airdrop BIO to holders of URO and RIF, pending governance approval to connect BIO to Solana, and more airdrops are under consideration. In addition, Pump Science reminds that only tokens in non-custodial wallets will be counted for airdrops. According to the Pump Science Token Economics Lite White Paper, its key elements are as follows: ① Custom Bonding Curve: Each token issuance starts with a custom bonding curve with the same parameters as used on pump.fun. The bonding curve ensures that the token starts with an initial market value of approximately $5,000. As liquidity increases, the price rises along the bonding curve, and when liquidity reaches 85 SOL, liquidity will be migrated to the automated market maker Meteora. ②Liquidity Migration: When reaching 85 SOL liquidity: 82 SOL migrated to Meteora's Constant Product Liquidity Pool (LP); 3 SOL allocated to the first research experiment to ensure immediate funding impact. ③Anti-bot measures: To prevent bots from grabbing early token supply without relying on whitelists or secondary token purchases, the bonding curve transaction fees are set extremely high at the beginning. These fees will decrease over time, providing users with an opportunity to compete fairly with bots and obtain tokens at a reasonable price. ④Token issuance: A total of 800 million tokens will be issued along the bonding curve; when migrating to the liquidity pool, 150 million tokens and 82 SOL will be transferred to the liquidity pool; approximately 50 million tokens will be airdropped proportionally to holders of previously issued pump.science tokens (URO, RIF, etc.), and the airdrop allocation is based on the time-weighted average value held by each wallet over a specified period of time. ⑤Airdrop mechanism: Holders of previously issued pump.science tokens will receive airdrops from future token issuances. The relative value of each wallet's holdings determines the allocation, thereby incentivizing long-term participation in token issuance to obtain future airdrop allocations. ⑥ Funding research through liquidity pool fees: Research funds come from liquidity pool fees generated by trading activities; migrated liquidity is locked in the Meteora pool, but liquidity pool tokens will not be destroyed; the right to claim liquidity pool tokens is granted to pump.science, allowing the platform to use liquidity pool fees to fund research.
Viewpoint
Pantera Capital CEO predicts Bitcoin bull cycle will peak in August 2025
According to Cryptodnes, Dan Morehead, CEO of Pantera Capital, predicts that the next bull cycle in the cryptocurrency market will peak in 2025. In the Bankless podcast, he elaborated on the basis of this prediction: Bitcoin follows a four-year halving cycle, and the halving of miner rewards leads to a reduction in supply. Historically, Bitcoin prices have risen sharply before and after these events. The last halving occurred in April 2024, and Morehead predicted based on historical trends that Bitcoin will reach the peak of the cycle in August 2025. He emphasized that despite the relatively mild market conditions at present, the upcoming upward trend is still worth looking forward to. Morehead said: "The outlook for 2025 is very optimistic, not only because of the halving event, but also because political and macroeconomic factors are in line with the development of cryptocurrencies." He predicted that the price of Bitcoin at the peak would be $117,000, 18% higher than the current price. He further pointed out that historical data shows that the impact of the halving event usually begins to appear 400 days ago, and the peak occurs about 480 days later. Back in 2022, when Bitcoin was trading at $17,000, Pantera Capital accurately predicted that it would reach $28,000 before the halving event. Today, Morehead is confident in his prediction of Bitcoin reaching $117,000 in August 2025.
Important data
According to iChainfo monitoring, 2 hours ago, the address ranked 30th on the Bitcoin rich list (starting with 3DR2iG) transferred out 11,999 BTC (about 1.19 billion US dollars). Currently, the address still holds 15,357 BTC (about 1.51 billion US dollars).
According to Lokonchain monitoring, more than two months ago, an address spent $8,600 to buy GAME and CONVO, transferred them to a new wallet, set it up and forgot about it. Today, these GAME and CONVO are worth more than $29 million.
BGB breaks through $6.2, setting a new record high
According to Bitget market data, BGB broke through $6.2, up 24.53% in 24 hours, setting a new historical high.
Binance Bitcoin reserves have fallen below 570,000 BTC, the lowest level since January
According to Cointelegraph, CryptoQuant contributor Darkfost pointed out in an analysis report on December 25 that Binance's Bitcoin price recently fell to $98,990, and the reserve volume has fallen below 570,000, the lowest level since January this year. This change usually means that investors are actively transferring Bitcoin to cold wallets, showing optimism about the long-term price outlook. Looking back at the beginning of this year, Binance's Bitcoin reserves also fell to a similar level in January. In the following two months, the price of Bitcoin soared to an all-time high of $73,679 on March 13. Darkfost emphasized: "The emergence of a wave of withdrawals is often a signal that positive market momentum is building."
A HyperLiquid whale faces a huge floating loss of about $12 million on multiple open positions
According to OnchainLens monitoring, a certain HyperLiquid whale faces a huge floating loss of about $12 million in multiple open positions. Here is a breakdown of some of the biggest losses: ① XRP: -$4.45 million; ② SUI: -$3.86 million; ③ SOL: -$892,000 (long position); ④ ENA: -$785,000; ⑤ CRV: -$675,000; ⑥ ADA: -$644,000; ⑦ DGE: -$537,000. The whale mainly opened short positions rather than long positions, and although some were profitable, these profits were not enough to offset the losses.
According to on-chain analyst Ember, Taiwanese singer Huang Licheng (machi big brother) transferred 250,000 CREAM (about $4.05 million) to Binance 3 hours ago. After Huang Licheng redeemed 498,000 CREAM from staking 3 months ago, he has transferred 349,000 CREAM (5.8 million US dollars) to Binance, which is 12% of the total supply of CREAM (2.92 million).
An Ethereum IC0 whale deposited 4,160 ETH, equivalent to about $14.5 million, to Kraken 3 hours ago
According to Spot On Chain, an Ethereum IC0 whale deposited 4,160 ETH (about $14.5 million) into Kraken three hours ago. It is worth noting that the whale received 20,000 ETH (about $62,000 at the time) in the genesis block in July 2015, staked it for rewards, and often sold it at peak times. The whale still has about 7,043 ETH (about $24.6 million) staked.
Token Terminal data shows that the monthly trading volumes of BTC and SOL have both hit record highs, while ETH is still down about 50% from its peak in 2021. In November 2024, the trading volumes of BTC, ETH, and SOL were US$2.2 trillion, US$1.1 trillion, and US$243 billion, respectively.
According to The Block, Runes' share of transactions on the Bitcoin network has fallen to a new low, accounting for only 1.67% of daily transactions, in stark contrast to its dominance between April and November, when Runes' transactions often accounted for more than 50% of Bitcoin's daily transactions. At the same time, Runes' daily transaction fees remain below $250,000, showing a significant reduction in network activity. This change is consistent with broader market dynamics and a shift in investor interest. As Bitcoin prices fluctuate, attention has begun to shift away from high-risk experimental Bitcoin-based protocols such as Runes and Ordinals. At the same time, other cryptocurrency fields such as artificial intelligence agents, Meme coins, and Ethereum NFTs have gradually taken market share, which may lead to a decrease in investor interest in Bitcoin-based token protocols. Data suggests that the Runes ecosystem may be experiencing a cooling down. Its network share has dropped sharply from more than 50% to less than 10%, marking a major change in the usage pattern of the Bitcoin network. This trend may reflect a shift in market speculative interest, with investors turning their attention to other cryptocurrency fields.
According to Cryptoslate, according to CryptoQuant data, the demand for Bitcoin accumulation addresses increased significantly during December. As of December 23, these investors had a net increase of 225,280 BTC, a monthly increase of 82.6%. At the same time, the total sell-side liquidity (the number of Bitcoins available for sale) in exchanges and ETFs fell by about 590,000 BTC. It is worth noting that this easing of selling pressure is closely related to the sharp decrease of 520,000 Bitcoins ready to be sold between December 22 and 23. The report also pointed out that the supply of Bitcoin in OTC counters that handle large transactions has dropped from 421,000 to 403,000, showing that investor demand is effectively absorbing selling pressure. In addition, the liquidity inventory ratio has dropped from 12 months in December to 5.5 months, further proving that the current supply is meeting investor demand at an accelerated rate. CryptoQuant data also revealed that as of December 23, "whale" addresses holding more than 1,000 BTC sold nearly 8,600 BTC this month. However, this supply pressure was absorbed by new investors, with the number of short-term holders increasing by 3% over the past week. Over the past year, short-term holders have accumulated 641,789 BTC, bringing the total holdings to 3.81 million BTC, just 70,000 BTC below the all-time high on December 15. Although Bitcoin has corrected 14.2% since hitting an all-time high of $108,000 on December 17, it is still in line with analysts' predictions that it will continue to rise after calm is restored. However, CryptoQuant community analyst Onatt reminded investors to remain cautious because the supply of USDT in exchanges is decreasing, while the supply of Bitcoin is slightly increasing. This trend may not indicate a long-term bearish phase, but it does indicate the possibility of further downside risk in the coming days.