Today's News Highlights:
The new chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee plans to focus on cryptocurrency market structure issues.
The South Korean National Assembly passed the impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk-yeol and appointed Prime Minister Han Duck-soo as acting president.
MicroStrategy's stock has been included in the Nasdaq 100 index.
BiT Global, associated with Sun Yuchen, is suing Coinbase for delisting wBTC.
VanEck released its top ten predictions for 2025: Bitcoin will reach $180,000, with a mid-cycle peak in Q1.
BIO Protocol proposed to lift the transfer restrictions on BIO token contracts.
An OpenAI whistleblower was found dead in a San Francisco apartment, suspected suicide.
A PEPE whale that had been silent for 600 days transferred 2.1 trillion PEPE to a new address, spending only $27 at the time of purchase.
MegaETH developer MegaLabs raised $10 million through the Echo platform.
Regulatory News
Societe Generale and the Bank of France complete blockchain repurchase transaction
Societe Generale's digital asset subsidiary SG-Forge announced the completion of a blockchain repurchase transaction with the Bank of France. This is the first such tokenized transaction conducted by a central bank in the Eurozone.
In this transaction, SG-Forge used bonds issued in 2020 as collateral on the Ethereum blockchain to exchange for central bank digital currency (CBDC) issued by the Bank of France on its exclusive DL3S blockchain. Notably, this transaction did not involve SG-Forge's euro stablecoin EUR CoinVertible (EURCV).
Incoming chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, Hill, stated that he will focus on easing bank regulations, promoting capital formation to encourage more companies to go public, and addressing cryptocurrency market structure issues.
Pro-crypto Republican French Hill was elected today as the next chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, set to succeed current chairman Patrick McHenry on January 25, 2025. Hill has pushed for several cryptocurrency-related bills, including legislation to regulate digital assets, and has stated he will continue to advocate for a clear regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and consumer protection policies. Hill indicated he would work with President Trump and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott to promote economic policies and usher in a "new era of prosperity."
Japanese lawmaker proposes establishing a national Bitcoin reserve
Japanese lawmaker Satoshi Hamada proposed that the government launch a national Bitcoin reserve, mentioning that the U.S. and Brazil are taking similar actions. He suggested that the Japanese government "consider converting part of its foreign exchange reserves into Bitcoin and other virtual currencies." Hamada also pointed out in his proposal that Bitcoin is "less influenced by specific countries or institutions." The "neutrality and decentralization" of Bitcoin can support economic activities without relying on any specific currency. The government is expected to respond in writing to Hamada's inquiry in the coming weeks, and it may be publicly released on its official website.
According to Jin Shi, citing CCTV news, the South Korean National Assembly held a plenary session at 4 PM local time on the 14th to vote on the impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk-yeol, proposed for the second time by the opposition camp. According to the voting results, 204 members of the National Assembly supported the impeachment of President Yoon Suk-yeol, and the motion was ultimately passed, immediately suspending Yoon's presidential duties and appointing Prime Minister Han Duck-soo as acting president.
AI
OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment, suspected suicide
26-year-old former OpenAI employee Suchir Balaji publicly accused the company of unethically using data to train its AI platform, and was later found dead in his San Francisco apartment, suspected of suicide.
Suchir Balaji worked as a researcher in OpenAI's technical team from November 2020 to August 2024. In an interview with The New York Times, he stated that he helped OpenAI train ChatGPT using a large amount of data collected from the internet without permission until its public release in November 2022. Among other allegations, The New York Times reported that the company created its own transcription software and ran it on YouTube to collect data.
According to authorities, on November 26, police and medical personnel were called to Balaji's home to check on his health, and he was subsequently found dead in his apartment. "The Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) has confirmed the deceased as Suchir Balaji, 26, from San Francisco," the medical examiner's office stated in a release. "The cause of death has been determined as suicide."
Project Updates
WLFI community's first proposal approved, will deploy Aave v3 instance on Ethereum mainnet
The governance page of World Liberty Financial shows that the WLFI community has voted to approve its first proposal to deploy a lending instance based on Aave v3 on the Ethereum mainnet. This instance will support lending of ETH, WBTC, USDC, and USDT, managed through Aave's risk management system.
The WLFI protocol aims to provide a seamless experience for users new to DeFi, promote the adoption of over-collateralized lending, and enhance Aave's leadership in the digital asset lending market. AaveDAO will receive 20% of the protocol fee revenue from this instance and 7% of $WLFI tokens for governance participation and liquidity incentives.
Binance contracts to launch AVA and DEGO U-based perpetual contracts
Binance's contract platform will launch AVAUSDT and DEGOUSDT perpetual contracts on December 13, 2024, with trading starting at 21:00 and 21:15 Beijing time, supporting up to 75x leverage.
Binance to launch VELODROME U-based perpetual contracts
Binance will launch VELODROME principal earning coin products and open subscriptions at 22:00 (UTC+8) on December 13, 2024. Starting from 18:00 on December 16, users can purchase VELODROME through dollar-cost averaging or using credit cards, Google Pay, Apple Pay, etc., supporting "one-click coin purchase" and instant exchange features, with no fees for exchanges to BTC, USDT, etc. Additionally, Binance will launch VELODROME full-margin and isolated-margin trading pairs at 00:00 on December 14, with VIP users able to borrow assets in advance, and the U-based perpetual contracts with up to 75x leverage will be launched at 00:15 on the same day.
CoinShares' Q3 Bitcoin mining report shows that the weighted average cash cost for public miners to produce one Bitcoin has risen to about $55,950, an increase of 13% from Q2, with total costs including non-cash costs around $106,000. Despite the current Bitcoin price being $100,000, mining remains profitable, but the rapid growth of network hash rate and some miners investing in AI infrastructure or HODL strategies have weakened hash rate growth and increased costs. High electricity costs in Texas during the summer further raised production costs for some miners. Terawulf became the lowest cash cost miner due to reduced debt costs, Marathon increased Bitcoin production and gained tax benefits, while Riot, despite improved operational efficiency, saw its cost ranking decline due to electricity costs. The report predicts that a rise in Bitcoin prices in Q4 may temporarily alleviate low hash price pressures, but equipment prices, electricity competition, and funding costs may continue to drive production costs up, with some miners like Argo facing bankruptcy risks.
Sui partners with Ant Group to promote ESG-supported RWA tokenization
Layer1 blockchain platform Sui announced a strategic partnership with Ant Group and its Web3 technology brand ZAN to tokenize real-world assets (RWA) in the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) field, bringing them into the Sui blockchain ecosystem. In August this year, Chinese new energy company Longxin Group completed approximately 100 million yuan in "charging pile" RWA. Industry insiders believe that RWA links assets and the supply and demand sides of funds, helping to activate high-quality existing assets of small and medium-sized enterprises, enhance the liquidity of heavy assets, and empower the real economy.
Currently, the total market capitalization of the Sui blockchain has reached $13 billion, with total locked value (TVL) exceeding $1.8 billion, and it has recently enhanced user accessibility through integrations with crypto wallets like Phantom and Backpack. Meanwhile, Sui has received support from institutions such as Grayscale and VanEck.
VanEck Releases Top Ten Predictions for 2025: Bitcoin to Reach $180,000, Bull Market to Peak Mid-Q1
Asset management giant VanEck has released its top ten cryptocurrency predictions for 2025:
The crypto bull market will reach a mid-cycle peak in the first quarter and set new highs in the fourth quarter. Bitcoin is expected to be valued at around $180,000, Ethereum's trading price will exceed $6,000, Solana will surpass $500, and Sui will exceed $10.
The U.S. will embrace Bitcoin through strategic reserves and increased cryptocurrency adoption. Under the new SEC leadership, several new spot cryptocurrency ETPs will be approved. Ethereum ETPs will include staking, and both Ethereum and Bitcoin ETPs will allow for physical trading and redemption.
The value of tokenized securities will exceed $50 billion. Tokenized securities grew by 61% in 2024, reaching $12 billion, but most of that value is on permissioned chains. As entities like DTCC explore connections between public and private blockchains, 2025 will be a breakthrough year for the launch of tokenized securities on open-source blockchains.
Stablecoins are expected to revolutionize payment methods, with daily settlement volumes projected to reach $300 billion by the end of 2025, tripling from the current daily volume of about $100 billion. At this level, stablecoins will handle transactions equivalent to 5% of DTCC's daily trading volume. Following a 180% year-on-year increase in 2024, this surge will be driven by global commerce, remittances, and integration with major technology and payment networks.
One million new AI agents will emerge. These AI agents are viewed as digital workers—autonomous software programs that perform tasks or make decisions on your behalf, such as managing investments, moderating online communities, or even playing video games. These agents generated significant revenue in the last month of 2024, and their on-chain activity is expected to surge in 2025 as they expand from DeFi to social media, gaming, and consumer applications.
Bitcoin Layer 2 TVL will reach 100,000 BTC, achieving explosive growth of 600% in 2024, bringing TVL to 30,000 BTC.
Ethereum blob space will generate $1 billion in fee revenue, thanks to explosive L2 adoption, rollup optimization, and high-fee use cases such as tokenized assets and enterprise applications.
DeFi will reach an all-time high, with DEX trading volume hitting $4 trillion and TVL reaching $200 billion, driven by AI-related tokens, consumer-facing dApps, and tokenized assets that promote liquidity and adoption.
NFT trading volume is expected to rebound to $30 billion in 2025. Despite being sluggish in recent years, projects like Pudgy Penguins, which have transformed into consumer brands through collectible toys, and prominent projects like Miladys, which have gained cultural status in ironic internet culture, are expected to thrive due to strong community ties.
DApp tokens will narrow the performance gap with L1 tokens. In 2024, L1 blockchain tokens outperformed dApp tokens by a factor of two, but the launch of innovative dApps in AI and DePIN is expected to drive a performance shift.
BIO Protocol Proposes to Lift Transfer Restrictions on BIO Token Contracts
BIO Protocol has initiated a proposal regarding the acquisition of BIO liquidity, aiming to allow new participants to join the BIO economy; secondly, deploying liquidity on Ethereum will enhance the accessibility and long-term growth of BIO, while also enabling the token to expand to other chains in the future. The proposal is as follows:
- Lift transfer restrictions on BIO token contracts and make them transferable.
- Allocate 6% of the BIO supply to provide liquidity for decentralized and centralized markets. Grant BIO Association the authority to actively manage liquidity based on market demand.
- Provide initial liquidity through an ETH/BIO liquidity pool on the Ethereum mainnet.
If the proposal passes, it will take effect within 7 days.
BiT Global, Associated with Justin Sun, Sues Coinbase for Delisting wBTC
BiT Global, associated with Justin Sun, has sued Coinbase, claiming that Coinbase's delisting of wBTC and the launch of a competing product is anti-competitive and violates "numerous state and federal laws," and that the delisting will "harm" BiT Global.
On November 19, Coinbase announced it would delist WBTC starting December 19, 2024, citing the need to regularly review its "listing standards." A few months prior, BitGo, which has been the primary custodian of wBTC since its launch in January 2019, disclosed that it would allocate custodial control of the project to three entities, including BiT Global, a Hong Kong trust company associated with Justin Sun.
The so-called "strategic partnership between BitGo, Justin Sun, and the Tron ecosystem" has been questioned by many in the crypto community. For example, major DeFi projects MakerDAO and Aave began considering removing wBTC as collateral but ultimately did not proceed. WBTC is the first and largest tokenized version of BTC, tradable on Ethereum and other blockchains. Under the new agreement, BitGo will manage and operate the wBTC business, while BiT Global Trust will serve as the custodian of the underlying wBTC collateral. BitGo, BiT Global, and BiT Global's subsidiary in Singapore will each hold one of the three wBTC multi-signature keys.
Previous News indicated that BitGo and BiT Global are collaborating to create a joint venture to diversify the custodial and cold storage business of WBTC across multiple jurisdictions, with BitGo becoming a minority shareholder in the new joint venture.
Coinbase Adds Parcl (PRCL) to Its Listing Roadmap
Market News: Opensea Registers Foundation in the Cayman Islands
Azuki researcher wale.moca tweeted that the NFT marketplace Opensea has registered a foundation in the Cayman Islands.
MicroStrategy Included in Nasdaq 100 Index
MicroStrategy has been included in the Nasdaq 100 index. The Nasdaq 100 index tracks the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq exchange, including dominant market companies such as Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Tesla, and Costco.
Azuki Founder Blocked by Taylor Swift
Azuki founder Zagabond stated that his X account has been blocked by superstar Taylor Swift. Yesterday, Zagabond created a beta AI tool called chill guy agent, which can send cryptocurrency to any Twitter user, even if they have never used cryptocurrency before. Zagabond transferred 0.0013 ETH to Taylor Swift through this tool.
10x Research published that there is increasing talk about the tightening of Bitcoin supply, especially as Bitcoin ETFs and MicroStrategy continue to accumulate, reducing the available supply of Bitcoin and laying the groundwork for a potential "squeeze" market. In the past 30 days, exchanges recorded a net outflow of 124,000 Bitcoin. Notably:
- Coinbase, which holds the largest Bitcoin reserves, saw an outflow of 72,000 Bitcoin, accounting for nearly 10% of its total balance, which currently stands at 748,000 Bitcoin.
- Binance experienced an outflow of 29,000 Bitcoin, leaving a remaining balance of 570,000 Bitcoin.
- In contrast, Bitfinex saw an inflow of 8,500 Bitcoin, increasing its holdings to 391,000 Bitcoin.
- Other major exchanges, such as Gemini, OKX, and Kraken, also experienced significant outflows, with Kraken's outflow accounting for about 7-8% of its holdings.
If these trends continue and demand remains strong, the market may face a severe tightening of Bitcoin supply. The launch of these Bitcoin ETF options could further exacerbate this situation, potentially triggering additional gamma squeezes and intensifying price pressures.
Financing News
MegaETH Developer MegaLabs Raises $10 Million Through Echo Platform
MegaETH developer MegaLabs has completed a $10 million financing round through the Echo platform. Shuyao Kong, co-founder of MegaLabs, stated that this round of financing is structured as equity plus token warrants, similar to the $20 million seed round financing in June, with both rounds having a valuation in the "nine figures." Kong mentioned that although the over-the-counter (OTC) market values MegaLabs "significantly higher," the valuation for the Echo round remains unchanged to prioritize decentralization and community participation.
Previous News reported that MegaETH's developer MegaLabs completed a $20 million seed round financing, led by Dragonfly, with participation from Vitalik and others.
Important Data
Bitcoin Spot ETF Saw a Net Inflow of $429 Million Yesterday, Continuing 12 Days of Net Inflows
Ethereum Spot ETF Saw a Net Inflow of $23.6072 Million Yesterday, Continuing 15 Days of Net Inflows
According to News.bitcoin, Microstrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) Executive Chairman Michael Saylor shared a chart showing the performance of Microstrategy stock relative to other major investments.
Since adopting the Bitcoin strategy on August 10, 2020, the company has achieved an annualized return of 124%, outperforming all major asset classes. Factset data from December 11 shows that Bitcoin achieved a strong annualized return of 64% over the same time frame. In comparison, returns for Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla were 31%, the S&P 500 was 15%, real estate was 10%, and gold returned 7%. Bonds performed poorly, with a return of -5%.
According to monitoring by Lookonchain, a PEPE whale that had been silent for 600 days transferred all 21 trillion PEPE (worth $52 million) to a new address. This whale originally spent only 0.0135 ETH (about $27) to purchase 21 trillion PEPE and has held it until now. From $27 to $52 million, the return is 1.9 million times.
According to @ai_9684xtpa's monitoring, a "whale that built a position of 19,992 ETH at an average price of $2,550 starting January 2024" deposited 2,700 ETH into Binance (approximately $10.56 million) three hours ago, potentially making a profit of $3.67 million if sold. The whale currently still holds 13,162 ETH.
Suspected VIRTUAL Project Team/Early Participants Deposited 7 Million Tokens into Bybit
On-chain analyst @ai_9684xtpa monitored that a suspected VIRTUAL project team/early participants deposited 7 million tokens into Bybit over the past 17 hours, worth $17.09 million, accumulating a total of 11.97 million tokens deposited into exchanges over the past two months, valued at up to $25.74 million.
The address received an airdrop of 54.85 million VIRTUAL tokens (accounting for 5.49% of the total supply) on the Ethereum mainnet on December 23, 2023, and then cross-chained the tokens to the Base network in April 2024, subsequently transferring 10 million tokens to the current address through multiple intermediaries. The original address still holds VIRTUAL tokens worth $100 million.
A Whale Accumulated 7,661 ETH Through Binance in the Past Day and a Half
On-chain analyst Yu Jin monitored that a whale deposited 5 million USDT into Binance 18 hours ago and then withdrew 2,500 ETH (worth $9.81 million) from Binance 20 minutes ago. This whale has accumulated a total of 7,661 ETH (worth $29.87 million) through Binance in the past day and a half, withdrawing at an average price of $3,899.
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