Today's news tips:
Vana Releases VANA Token Economics: 44% of Total Supply to be Allocated to the Community
Virtuals Protocol launches "Agent Sandbox", a simulation experiment platform for AI agents
Pudgy Penguins floor price exceeds $100,000, setting a new record
Web3 game ecosystem Treasure officially launched on mainnet after migrating to ZKsync
BlackRock and Fidelity ETFs bought $500 million worth of ETH in the past two days
Regulatory News
Australian regulator compares Bitcoin to prison currency in controversial consultation paper
According to Decrypt, the Australian crypto industry has been in turmoil recently due to controversial remarks made by the head of the digital asset department of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). At a liaison meeting on Wednesday, the head, Rhys Bollen, compared Bitcoin to cigarettes used as currency in prisons when answering questions about whether to apply non-cash payment facility (NCP) regulations to digital assets, sparking widespread discussion. Bollen's remarks have raised concerns in the industry about the classification of digital assets, especially about stablecoin payments. ASIC believes that the use of stablecoins for payment triggers non-cash payment events, but the guidance is broadly worded, making it possible for any digital asset that can be used for payment to be classified as such. Bollen said that in theory almost anything could be used as a means of payment, which has raised questions in the industry about the boundaries of financial regulation. Industry insiders in the country have expressed concerns that applying financial regulation to tools such as non-custodial wallets or software could hinder innovation and lead to the relocation of companies.
Recently, some netizens discovered that Huabao Fund was promoting its funds that indirectly invest in overseas cryptocurrency-related targets and assets. It is understood that the fund is Huabao Overseas Technology Stock (QDII-FOF-LOF), which is a model of compliant investment in overseas assets. The largest ETF investment target is the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, and the second largest ETF investment target is the Bitcoin ETF. The product is sold normally on multiple fund distribution platforms in the industry, including Ant Fortune, Wealth Management, and China Merchants Bank. The current daily limit per person is RMB 1,000. Earlier today, news appeared on the Alipay page that a cryptocurrency fund advertisement: the daily purchase limit per person is RMB 1,000.
Consensys survey: Cryptocurrency has high penetration in emerging markets, Nigeria tops the list
PANews reported on December 12 that Consensys released the latest Web3 survey jointly conducted with YouGuv. The survey further confirmed the high penetration of cryptocurrencies in emerging markets, with Nigeria standing out, followed closely by South Africa. The five jurisdictions most likely to invest in cryptocurrencies in the next 12 months are Nigeria (93%), South Africa (77%), the Philippines (59%), India (58%) and Indonesia (54%). The least likely to buy are Europeans, Canadians and Japanese. British respondents scored the lowest (15%), the United States was 41%, and it was between Brazil (43%) and Argentina (39%). As for the main factors hindering investment, they include volatility, scams and entry basics. Quite a number of people do not understand the purpose of blockchain or think it is too complicated, so they think this investment is only suitable for tech-savvy people. In addition, 47% of respondents said that the current banking system is working well, but there is still room for improvement. However, 18% believe that a complete reconstruction is needed, while 19% believe that the status quo can be maintained.
According to Bloomberg, Brian Quintenz has become a strong contender for the position of chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and cryptocurrency regulation may usher in major changes under the leadership of President-elect Trump. According to people familiar with the matter, Quintenz has been interviewed for the position, and the president-elect's team has completed interviews for the position of chairman of the regulatory agency and is expected to announce the candidate in the next few days. Quintenz is a former Republican CFTC commissioner and currently serves as the policy director of a16z Crypto, the digital asset division of venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). If Quintenz is selected for the position, he will become a bridge between digital assets and traditional finance. Before joining the CFTC, he founded and led the hedge fund Saeculum Capital Management and worked on Capitol Hill. While serving as a CFTC commissioner during the first Trump administration, he pushed the agency to accept new financial services companies, including digital asset derivatives and event contracts, which allow retail investors to bet on the outcome of almost everything. Since joining a16z, he has pushed for friendlier regulatory policies for both industries, including joining the board of directors of Kalshi Inc., one of the first CFTC-regulated prediction markets.
Nvidia's case of misleading investors about crypto's impact on sales to go ahead
According to IT Home, the U.S. Supreme Court recently rejected Nvidia's appeal of an investor class action lawsuit, which accused Nvidia of misleading shareholders about the impact of the cryptocurrency market on its sales. This means that the case will continue to be heard in the lower court. The case originated from two investor lawsuits in 2018, accusing Nvidia of irresponsibly misleading investors about the degree of correlation between revenue growth and cryptocurrency performance. Investors claimed that Nvidia and its executives issued seriously false statements, downplaying the impact of the turbulent cryptocurrency market on its revenue growth and exaggerating its ability to adapt to market changes. Previously, an appeals court had allowed at least part of the merged case to continue. It is worth noting that in 2022, Nvidia reached a $5.5 million settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for concealing the connection between its success and the turbulent cryptocurrency market. In the settlement, Nvidia did not admit any wrongdoing.
Riot Platforms Completes $525 Million Notes Offering to Fund Bitcoin Purchases
According to Cryptoslate, the Bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms submitted documents to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on December 11, showing that the company has successfully completed the issuance of $525 million in priority notes. This batch of notes, which will mature in 2030, has an interest rate of 0.75% and is privately issued to institutional investors. The terms of the notes stipulate that starting in 2029, investors have the right to convert them into Riot's common stock. At the same time, under certain conditions listed in the terms of the issuance, investors may also convert them in advance. The proceeds will be mainly used to promote the company's Bitcoin acquisition strategy and further expand its holdings. Prior to this strategic move, Riot had spent $68.45 million to purchase 705 Bitcoins. With this latest investment, the company's total Bitcoin holdings have now reached 12,000, worth approximately $1.2 billion at current market prices. This makes Riot the second largest Bitcoin holder among listed mining companies, second only to Marathon Digital, which currently holds more than 40,000 Bitcoins.
According to Wu Blockchain, the media found an advertisement for a cryptocurrency fund on the Alipay page. The fund mainly invests in Ark Invest ETF through Huabao Overseas Technology C (QDII-FOF-LOF), and indirectly invests in Coinbase and Ark Bitcoin Spot ETF. Currently, each person is limited to purchase 1,000 yuan per day.
U.S. Senate delays vote on Democratic SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw's nomination
According to Bloomberg, the nomination of US Democrat Caroline Crenshaw for re-election as a member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has encountered more obstacles as the originally planned committee vote has been postponed. With only a few days left on this year's congressional schedule, this move increases the possibility of a three-member Republican SEC commission in the first few months of Trump's next administration. Crenshaw's renomination has been pending since her term at the agency officially ended in June. If the nomination continues to be blocked, Trump may choose Republican Paul Atkins to fill her vacancy on the five-member board because her term has ended. According to regulations, Crenshaw can only stay at the SEC until January 2026 if no one else is confirmed to serve in her role. Earlier news, multiple crypto advocacy organizations issued advertisements and letters opposing the nomination of US Democratic SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw.
Vancouver, Canada, has passed a policy that could bring Bitcoin into its city finances — a policy that was partly influenced by the return of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, according to Bloomberg. On Wednesday, Vancouver City Council passed a motion to become a "Bitcoin-friendly city" and explore Bitcoin's applications in the municipal sphere. "I've been wanting to do this for a while. But I don't think the public is ready for this discussion," Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said in a phone interview before the council vote on Tuesday. Sim said he decided to talk more openly about cryptocurrencies because "all of a sudden, with what's happening in the United States, a lot of other countries, provinces and states are saying they're going to do similar things. And we want to get ahead of that trend." Since announcing the policy in late November, Sim has publicly stated that he is a firm believer in Bitcoin, calling it "the greatest invention in human history" and asserting that the value of traditional fiat currencies will "go to zero." He believes that Bitcoin's "potential" value is only a small fraction of its future value, although he stressed that he is not qualified to provide investment advice.
Project News
Wintermute and DWF Labs become market makers for BSC Meme $MONKEY
According to @ai_9684xtpa, Wintermute and DWF Labs have become market makers for the BSC Meme token $MONKEY launched today. 10 hours ago, Wintermute's OTC address received 100 billion tokens transferred by the project for market making, accounting for 1% of the total supply. Although DWF's specific market making address has not yet been tracked, the official blog has clearly stated that DWF is one of its main market makers.
Binance will support aelf (ELF) network upgrade on December 25
Binance announced that it will suspend token deposits and withdrawals of the aelf (ELF) network from 09:00 (UTC) on December 25, 2024 to support its network upgrade. The upgrade is expected to be carried out at block height 248,832,789 and will be completed around 10:00 (UTC) on December 25, 2024.
Sui Ecological Lending Protocol Suilend has issued SEND tokens
Sui Ecological Lending Protocol Suilend announced on the X platform that the SEND token has been launched. Suilend added that 40% of the SEND supply will be distributed through the mdrop mechanism: 20% will be awarded to SEND points holders and early users; 5% will be allocated to the Sui ecosystem community; and 15% will be allocated to SAVE holders on Solana. Earlier news, Suilend announced the economics of the SEND token, with a total supply of 100 million, of which 65% will be allocated to the community and 40% will be distributed through the Mdrops airdrop mechanism, including points holders, early users, Rootlets NFTs, capsule NFTs and SAVE holders.
Vana Releases VANA Token Economics: 44% of Total Supply to be Allocated to the Community
Decentralized AI data liquidity network Vana releases VANA token economics. The total number of VANA tokens is 120 million, of which 44% will be allocated to the community (unlocked in 36 months), 22.9% will be allocated to the ecosystem (unlocked in 48 months), 18.8% will be allocated to core contributors (partially unlocked after 1 year + unlocked in 4 years), and 14.2% will be allocated to investors (partially unlocked after 1 year + unlocked in 3 years). The circulation at TGE (token generation) is 28.5%.
Binance: BNSOL Super Staking will launch the second phase of the project WOO
Binance announced that BNSOL Super Staking will launch the second phase of the project - WOO (WOO), a platform that provides centralization and decentralization. It is reported that WOO Network has now been renamed WOO. From 08:00 on December 17, 2024 to 07:59 on January 1, 2025 (Eastern Time), users who hold BNSOL in their Binance accounts and Binance wallets, or stake SOL to BNSOL, will receive WOO APR Boost airdrop rewards. These WOO APR Boost airdrop rewards are additional token airdrops provided on top of the Binance SOL staking base annualized interest rate, providing users with higher yields.
Virtuals Protocol launches "Agent Sandbox", a simulation experiment platform for AI agents
According to official news, Virtuals Protocol announced the launch of Agent Sandbox, a simulation experiment platform specifically for AI agents. It is reported that the platform allows developers to fully control the personality and goal setting of AI agents and enhance agent capabilities by creating custom functions. Developers can let AI agents perform diverse tasks such as on-chain transactions, generate memes, and even control physical robots. It is worth mentioning that even users who do not have AI agents can participate in the experience. Users can start trying by visiting game-lite.virtuals.io.
Pudgy Penguins floor price exceeds $100,000, setting a new record
According to Coingecko data, the floor price of Pudgy Penguins has exceeded $100,000, setting a new record high. The floor price of Pudgy Penguins is now 26.98 ETH, equivalent to $103,144, with a 7-day increase of 86.9%.
Web3 game ecosystem Treasure officially launched on mainnet after migrating to ZKsync
According to The Block, Web3 game ecosystem Treasure DAO announced the launch of the mainnet on Wednesday. A statement said: "This launch marks one of the largest ecosystem migrations in the cryptocurrency field. Treasure is transferring more than 15 games, important assets (including MAGIC, ERC-20 tokens and hundreds of thousands of NFTs) from its existing ecosystem on Arbitrum to ZKsync. This migration coincides with several major upcoming TGEs and game releases planned by the network." MAGIC is Treasure's native token. Treasure said: "MAGIC tokens are the backbone of the network, facilitating transactions, governance and the overall economic landscape." DAO participants use the token in governance votes. Earlier in September, TreasureDAO approved the migration of the ecosystem from Arbitrum to ZKsync.
Financing News
According to Techcrunch, the stablecoin-driven financial platform KAST has completed a $10 million seed round of financing, led by Peak XV and HongShan. It is reported that Peak XV and HongShan are Indian and Chinese investment companies spun off from investment giant Sequoia last year. Partners of DST Global and Goodwater Capital also participated in this round of investment. The company plans to launch savings products and expand remittance services while continuing to focus on stablecoin-based infrastructure. According to reports, KAST is a stablecoin-driven financial platform targeting emerging markets, allowing customers to hold and spend stablecoins through traditional payment channels. KAST also issued credit cards that can be used in standard merchant networks, enabling users to spend their stablecoins at merchants that do not support crypto transactions. KAST declined to disclose the number of users or valuation, but said its growth exceeded expectations in the first four months of operation.
According to The Block, blockchain startup Commonware has completed a $9 million financing led by Haun Ventures and Dragonfly Capital, and has received funding from many well-known cryptocurrency developers, including Smokey the Bera of BeraChain, Zaki Manian of Cosmos, Sreeram Kannan of EigenLayer, Dan Romero of Farcaster, and Mert Mumtaz of Helius. According to reports, Commonware was founded by Patrick O'Grady, former vice president of engineering at Ava Labs, and provides "anti-framework" tools to provide developers with highly customized blockchain building blocks. Commonware has released a number of tools, including the consensus mechanism Simplex Consensus, which aims to go beyond the limitations of traditional frameworks and provide more efficient solutions for developers and users.
Viewpoint
Swiss cryptocurrency bank Sygnum released the "2025 Crypto Market Outlook Report" pointing out that 2025 may become an important turning point in the cryptocurrency market. The report predicts that with the continued inflow of funds from institutional investors, the improvement of the regulatory environment and the possible inclusion of Bitcoin in sovereign wealth funds and central bank reserve assets, the price of cryptocurrencies will rise. The report emphasizes that the attitude of the US government and regulators has shifted to favor the development of cryptocurrencies, especially the improvement of regulation will mainly benefit altcoins. However, risk factors such as inflationary pressure, tightening liquidity cycle and memecoin bubble may limit the market's gains. The report also pointed out that innovation at the infrastructure level has become the focus of the industry. Although Ethereum faces challenges, emerging public chains have performed outstandingly. In addition, the performance of altcoins has also been constrained by private entities obtaining project benefits and the lack of user growth in some applications.
BNY Mellon CEO: Tokenization is a major trend in the financial market
According to Jinshi.com, the CEO of Bank of New York Mellon said that tokenization is a major trend in the financial market, and anything new (in terms of crypto assets) needs to be tested in actual combat.
Interactive Brokers founder recommends people to invest 2% to 3% of their net worth in Bitcoin
According to Bloomberg, Thomas Peterffy, the billionaire founder of retail brokerage firm Interactive Brokers Group Inc., said that despite the volatility of Bitcoin, investors should hold a certain amount of Bitcoin, but the holdings should be limited. He said: "I recommend that people put 2% to 3% of their net assets in Bitcoin.
Important data
FTX has transferred about $455 million of SOL to CEX, leaving about $1.53 billion of SOL
According to Spot On Chain monitoring, since November 2023, FTX has unlocked 4.263 million SOL (about $454.8 million) from pledge and transferred it to Coinbase and Binance through 20 intermediate wallets, with an average price of $106.68 per SOL. Currently, FTX still holds 6.617 million SOL (about $1.53 billion) in pledge status, and plans to continue unlocking about 170,000 SOL per month to continue its current sell-off plan.
According to The Data Nerd, two hours ago, a wallet that may belong to Arrington Capital withdrew 3,884 ETH (about 15.32 million US dollars) from Binance, and then pledged all of these ETH to Etherfi in exchange for EETH.
Hyperliquid (HYPE) hits $20 in OKX pre-market trading, up 33% in 24 hours
According to OKX pre-market data, Hyperliquid token HYPE hit $20, up 33% in 24 hours and more than 50% since its launch. It is currently priced at $19.88.
PANews reported on December 12 that according to the monitoring of on-chain analyst @ai_9684xtpa, the whale who entered the market with fomo when ai16z was at its previous high has finally untied his position and liquidated his warehouse. This whale had invested $1.023 million and bought more as the price fell, with an average price of $0.2044. He once halved his losses to $535,000. After 16 days of holding the order, the price of the coin finally reached a new high. He has liquidated all his tokens in batches at an average price of $0.58698 in the past two days, and finally made a profit of $1.9 million.
According to SoSoValue data, yesterday (December 11, Eastern Time), the total net inflow of Bitcoin spot ETFs was US$223 million. Yesterday, Grayscale ETF GBTC had a single-day net inflow of US$20.1306 million, and the current historical net outflow of GBTC is US$20.891 billion. Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF BTC had a single-day net inflow of US$15.7354 million, and the current historical total net inflow of Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust BTC is US$916 million. The Bitcoin spot ETF with the largest single-day net inflow yesterday was Fidelity ETF FBTC, with a single-day net inflow of US$122 million, and the current historical total net inflow of FBTC is US$12.224 billion. The second is Ark Invest and 21Shares ETF ARKB, with a single-day net inflow of US$52.6743 million, and the current historical total net inflow of ARKB is US$2.637 billion. As of press time, the total net asset value of the Bitcoin spot ETF was US$113.717 billion, the ETF net asset ratio (market value as a percentage of the total market value of Bitcoin) was 5.67%, and the historical cumulative net inflow has reached US$34.576 billion.
BlackRock and Fidelity ETFs bought $500 million worth of ETH in the past two days
According to The Block, data from the crypto data tracking platform Arkham shows that ETFs under financial giants BlackRock and Fidelity have purchased $500 million worth of Ethereum in the past two days. The two companies mainly purchased through the crypto exchange Coinbase or its institutional crypto service platform Coinbase Prime. According to The Block's data dashboard, BlackRock's ETHA and Fidelity's FETH are the top Ethereum spot ETFs and led the highest inflows in history on November 30. On December 10, the trading volumes of ETHA and FETH reached $372.4 million and $103.7 million, respectively.
