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.”
Russian Finance Minister: Russia is using Bitcoin in foreign trade
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said today that Russian companies have begun using Bitcoin and other digital currencies for international payments. This year, Russia allowed the use of cryptocurrencies in foreign trade and took steps to legalize the mining of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. In addition, Siluanov said that Russian companies have begun using Bitcoin and other digital currencies in international payments after legislative changes allowed the use of these currencies in response to Western sanctions. This year, Russia allowed the use of cryptocurrencies in foreign trade and took steps to legalize the mining of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. Russia is one of the leading countries in the world in Bitcoin mining. "Such transactions are already taking place. We believe that such transactions should be further expanded and developed. I believe that this will be the case next year," Siluanov said, adding that the use of digital currencies for international payments represents a future trend.
Türkiye's new anti-money laundering regulations require KYC for single crypto transactions over $425
According to Cointelegraph, Turkey today issued new cryptocurrency anti-money laundering (AML) regulations, which will come into effect on February 25, 2025. According to the Turkish official gazette, users with a single transaction amount exceeding 15,000 Turkish lira (about $425) are required to provide identity information to crypto service providers to prevent illegal money laundering and terrorist financing. The regulations require crypto service providers to collect identity information from customers who do not have registered wallet addresses. If sufficient information cannot be obtained, the transaction may be considered "high risk" and may be stopped. At the same time, user information is not required to be collected for transactions below $425.
Israel to launch six Bitcoin mutual funds on December 31
According to Calcalist, the Israel Securities Authority (ISA) has approved six mutual funds that track the price of Bitcoin. These funds will be launched simultaneously on December 31, 2024, and will be launched by Migdal Capital Markets, More, Ayalon, Phoenix Investment, Meitav and IBI. Fund management fees range from 0.25% to 1.5%, and one of the funds is actively managed with the goal of outperforming Bitcoin. Initially, these funds will only trade once a day, but continuous trading may be possible in the future.
Pump Science: Token economics design completed, BIO airdrop to be carried out
Pump Science announced on X that the token economics design is complete and that the BIO airdrop will be conducted. 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 currently 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 being considered.
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 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.
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.
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.
Sonic Labs launches Sonic Gateway, supporting multi-asset cross-chain bridging
Sonic Labs (formerly Fantom) announced that its cross-chain bridging tool Sonic Gateway is officially launched, supporting secure bridging of USDC, EURC, WETH and FTM from Ethereum to Sonic Chain. The tool has been audited by top security companies such as OpenZeppelin, Quantstamp and Certora, and has worked with the global developer community to launch a $2 million bug bounty program through the ImmuneFi platform to further enhance security. FTM held by users can also be upgraded to Sonic Chain through Gateway.
According to CoinDesk, Floki plans to launch an exchange-traded product (ETP) based on the FLOKI token on the Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX) in the first quarter of 2025. The development team proposed to allocate some tokens (worth $2.8 million) from the treasury wallet to provide early liquidity for the ETP, and the vote will end at 19:00 (Beijing time) on December 27. If the proposal is passed, FLOKI will become the second Meme token to launch an institutional-grade product in Europe after Dogecoin (DOGE).
Balaji, former CTO of Coinbase, tweeted that in the future, smart cars, smart watches and smart homes will be widely used, and each object will not only be able to communicate with people, but also communicate with each other, record conversations and coordinate tasks for its owner who holds the private key. He called this trend "AI Internet of Things". In response, Vitalik Buterin emphasized that ensuring that the ownership of the device belongs to the private key holder is not a default result, and it requires human efforts to promote it.
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.
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.
According to Lookonchain monitoring, a whale associated with Nexo recharged 4,946 ETH (about $17.2 million) to Binance again in the past hour. Since December 2, Nexo has recharged a total of 114,262 ETH (about $423.3 million) to Binance, with an average price of $3,705.
Bitcoin ETF has a net outflow of 2,258 BTC today, while Ethereum ETF has a net inflow of 12,445 ETH
According to Lookonchain monitoring data, 10 Bitcoin ETFs had a net outflow of 2,258 BTC (about $222 million) today, of which iShares (Blackrock) Bitcoin ETF had an outflow of 1,933 BTC (about $191 million), and currently holds 551,122 BTC (about $54.31 billion). At the same time, 9 Ethereum ETFs had a net inflow of 12,445 ETH (about $43.27 million) today, and iShares (Blackrock) Ethereum ETF had an inflow of 12,721 ETH (about $44.23 million), and currently holds 1,056,877 ETH (about $3.67 billion).
A whale withdrew 18.49 million PENGU from Binance 2 hours ago, and now holds 538 million PENGU
According to Onchain Len monitoring, two hours ago, a whale withdrew 18.49 million $PENGU from Binance again, worth $655,000. The wallet currently holds 538.49 million $PENGU, with a total value of $19.06 million, and has realized a profit of $4.39 million.
20,000 ETH transferred out from BTCTurk exchange, worth about $69.87 million
Whale Alert monitoring shows that at 22:48 Beijing time, BTCTurk exchange transferred 20,000 Ethereum (ETH) to an unknown wallet, with a total value of approximately US$69.87 million.
