Today's news tips:
Trump Nominates David O. Sacks as White House Crypto and AI Director
Vancouver to include Bitcoin in city finances
ME Foundation: ME tokens will conduct TGE at 22:00 on December 10
Binance to List Across Protocol (ACX) and Orca (ORCA)
Pudgy Penguins will issue $PENGU tokens in 2024, with 25.9% allocated to the Pudgy community
Regulatory News
Trump posts to celebrate Bitcoin breaking $100,000
Trump Nominates David O. Sacks as White House Crypto and AI Director
President-elect Donald Trump has announced the appointment of David O. Sacks as the White House Commissioner for Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency. Sacks will be responsible for leading the government's policy making in the fields of artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, and promoting the United States to become a global leader in these two key areas. His responsibilities include protecting freedom of speech online, addressing bias and censorship issues of large technology companies, and providing a clear legal framework for the cryptocurrency industry to support its prosperity in the United States. In addition, Sacks will also lead the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
David Oliver Sacks is a South African-American entrepreneur, author and internet technology investor, born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1972. He is a general partner of Craft Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on investing in early-stage technology companies. He joined PayPal in 1999 as head of product and later became chief operating officer (COO). He is a member of the "PayPal Mafia".
Vancouver to include Bitcoin in city finances
According to Bloomberg, as Bitcoin breaks through $100,000 to set a record high, the city of Vancouver is considering incorporating Bitcoin into the city's financial system. The Vancouver City Council will consider a motion proposed by Mayor Ken Sim on December 11, titled "Protecting the city's purchasing power through financial reserve diversification-building a Bitcoin-friendly city."
Samuel Armes, president of the Florida Blockchain Business Association (FBBA), said that Florida "is likely to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve during the legislative session that begins in the first quarter of 2025." Specific plans include allocating 1% (about $1.857 billion) from the state's $185.7 billion pension fund (the fourth largest pension fund in the United States) and investing 1% (about $1.16 billion) from the $116.5 billion budget surplus in the 2024-25 fiscal year to purchase Bitcoin.
Florida currently holds $800 million in crypto-related investments. The state's governor, Ron DeSantis, has been supportive of cryptocurrency innovation and stressed the importance of financial freedom in a Twitter Spaces conversation with Elon Musk in May 2023. Earlier, U.S. President-elect Trump had pledged to support domestic Bitcoin mining and said the government would not sell its approximately 212,000 Bitcoins.
Xinhua News Agency's International Observation today's commentary pointed out that the Bitcoin surge reflects, to a certain extent, the policy direction of the next political cycle in the United States, which is related to the long-term game between regulation and capital. Institutions that hold or engage in Bitcoin and cryptocurrency transactions are playing an important role in American politics. In fact, the political action committee composed of large cryptocurrency industry organizations has clearly funded to help candidates who support cryptocurrency run for Congress. Many analysts said that as the world's largest economy and a major participant in global financial activities, if the US government fails to treat financial regulation in a responsible manner, it will not only hurt American investors, but also have a significant negative impact on the world economy. Experts warn that continued deregulation may exacerbate the financialization of the US economy and the gap between the rich and the poor, and it will be difficult to improve the ability of the financial system to serve the real economy. Not only American investors may be affected, but the global economy may also face shocks.
Recently, under the expectation of US President-elect Trump's policy of supporting cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin has risen by more than 40% recently, becoming the focus of the capital market. However, there are risks behind this "surge". Data shows that in 2023, cryptocurrency fraud caused losses of more than 5.6 billion US dollars to US investors, a year-on-year surge of 45%.
According to a news release from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Hong Kong published the Stablecoin Bill in the Gazette today to introduce a regulatory system for issuers of fiat stablecoins in Hong Kong. The Bill aims to improve the regulatory framework for virtual asset activities to address the potential risks posed by fiat stablecoins to financial stability, ensure that users have adequate protection, and maximize the benefits of virtual assets and related technologies. Under the proposed licensing system, anyone who conducts any of the following activities must first obtain a license from the Monetary Authority:
- In the course of business, issuing legal tender stablecoins in Hong Kong;
- In the course of its business, issuing a fiat stablecoin purportedly pegged to the value of the Hong Kong dollar; or
- Actively promote the issuance of its fiat stablecoin to the Hong Kong public.
In order to effectively implement the system, the Bill also proposes to give the Monetary Authority the necessary supervisory, investigative and law enforcement powers. The Bill will be submitted to the Legislative Council for first reading on December 18.
According to Forbes reporter Eleanor Terrett, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has notified at least two applicants for the SOL spot ETF that their 19b4 filings will be rejected. Sources revealed that the SEC may not approve any new cryptocurrency ETF applications during the current administration.
AI
OpenAI announced this morning the launch of a fully upgraded o1 model, which has been fully launched in ChatGPT, replacing the previous o1-preview. The new version of the o1 model has significantly improved performance. It not only performs better in reasoning, programming, mathematics, and writing, but also supports image uploading and visual reasoning functions, and reduces the error rate of complex problems by 34%. In addition, OpenAI has launched a new subscription plan. ChatGPT Plus users ($20/month) can use o1 today, and Pro users ($200/month) can also get a stronger reasoning mode and unlimited access. In the future, o1 will support API integration as well as web browsing and file upload functions.
OpenAI CEO: Not worried about Musk using political power to attack competitors
Musk's xAI completes a new round of $6 billion financing, with a valuation of over $40 billion
According to documents submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), xAI, an artificial intelligence company founded by Elon Musk, announced the completion of a new round of financing of up to $6 billion. The financing attracted 97 investors, with the lowest single investment amount being $77,593. After this round of financing, xAI's valuation exceeded $40 billion. In May of this year, xAI completed a round of financing of the same size, when the company was valued at $24 billion. Existing investors including Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz also participated in this round of financing. This part of the funds is mainly used to support the construction of xAI's new supercomputing center in Memphis , which is known as the largest multi-billion dollar investment project in local history, attracting technology companies such as Nvidia, Dell and AMD to deploy here.
The report "Reference Architecture for the Construction and Development of Artificial Intelligence Industry Applications" compiled by the Public Technology Service Department of the National Information Center was officially released. The report proposes the common capabilities and characteristic capabilities of the construction of artificial intelligence industry applications from six aspects: computing power foundation, data services, model services, application development, operation and maintenance platform, and operation platform. By building a reference architecture with unified technical architecture, unified data specifications, and unified standard system, we can get rid of the limitations brought by different enterprise service models, reduce the marginal costs of supply and demand, effectively play the scale effect, promote application innovation, stimulate market vitality, and continuously promote the healthy and efficient development of the industry.
Project News
The first aelf halving will take place on December 12, with the block reward dropping to 0.0625 ELF
AI-enhanced Layer 1 public chain aelf announced that it will conduct its first halving at 15:30 Beijing time on December 12, which is expected to occur at the main chain block height of 246,500,000. Since the mainnet was launched in 2020, aelf has been running stably for four years.
aelf COO Brian Liang said that this halving is not just a reduction in block rewards, but also represents the continued evolution of aelf as a sustainable and innovative blockchain ecosystem. According to the aelf white paper, the network allocates 12% of ELF tokens for block rewards, which are halved every four years. After the halving, the block reward will drop from 0.125 ELF to 0.0625 ELF.
Cosmos-based Noble blockchain launches USDN, a US dollar stablecoin based on the M^0 protocol
According to The Block, the Noble blockchain of the Cosmos ecosystem has launched a customized USD stablecoin USDN based on the M^0 protocol. This is the first stablecoin issued through the M^0 "stablecoin expansion engine", backed by short-term US bonds and issued by approved minters. Noble connects multiple Cosmos chains through the IBC protocol, aiming to provide a credible digital dollar for the ecosystem. The M^0 protocol distributes revenue to market makers, enhancing liquidity and network benefits.
According to Grayscale's latest disclosed data, as of December 5, 2024, the Grayscale DeFi Fund's investment portfolio consists of 5 tokens: $UNI, $AAVE, $MKR, $LDO, and $SNX.
Among them, Uniswap (UNI) has the largest holding with a weight of 58.07%, and each fund share corresponds to 1.12344341 UNI; Aave (AAVE) ranks second with a weight of 18.65%, and each fund share corresponds to 0.02201319 AAVE.
Other components include: Maker (MKR) accounts for 9.31%, Lido DAO (LDO) accounts for 9.18%, and Synthetix (SNX) accounts for 4.79%. This disclosure shows that the composition of the fund has not changed.
According to the Safety official announcement on the X platform, the scope of application of the gray certification mark has been expanded to include governors, local government agencies and more government-related positions around the world. New certification objects include first ladies/gentlemen, deputy ministers, governors/chief ministers and ambassadors, etc., aiming to enhance recognition support for global governments and related agencies.
Earlier, Musk announced that Twitter will pilot a new multi-color authentication system . Corporate accounts will be authenticated with a gold logo, government officials will be authenticated with a gray logo, and blue authentication will be for individuals.
Fundstrat Research Director: Bitcoin breaking $100,000 is a signal for a year-end stock market rally
Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat, said that Bitcoin's breakthrough of the $100,000 mark is an important signal for the stock market to rise at the end of the year. He believes that Bitcoin's breakthrough reflects that investors' preference for risky assets is increasing, which also indicates that demand for the stock market will rise. Lee pointed out that investors have begun to use about $6 trillion of idle funds previously deposited in money market funds. He expects the S&P 500 index to reach 6,300 points by the end of the year, which is 3% higher than the current level.
Lee said in an interview with CNBC that Bitcoin's breakout from the consolidation range is a leading indicator of the S&P 500's year-end performance. Although the employment report and CPI data may bring short-term volatility, he believes that the "Santa Claus market" during the Christmas period can still be expected. In addition, Lee expects the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates at least 8 times in this round of easing cycle, each time by 25 basis points.
Roaring Kitty, a well-known figure in the WallStreetBets community who once led retail investors to fight against GameStop shorts, returned to social media today to post a tweet. As a result, the Meme coin GME experienced drastic fluctuations, rising 50% to $0.0082 in a short period of time. As of press time, GME was quoted at $0.00607.
Previously, Roaring Kitty attracted widespread attention for sharing GameStop (GME) stock investment strategies and analysis on social media platforms, and played an important role in the sharp rise in GameStop stock in 2021.
Changpeng Zhao: Satoshi Nakamoto’s permanent retirement is the best part of Bitcoin’s design
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao commented on a social media post discussing the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, saying, "The best part of Bitcoin's design is that Satoshi Nakamoto retired early and retired forever."
Coinbase International Station announced on the X platform that Coinbase International Station and Coinbase Advanced will add support for Moo Deng, Algorand, The Sandbox and Mog Coin perpetual futures contracts. The MOODENG-PERP, ALGO-PERP, SAND-PERP and 1000MOG-PERP markets are expected to be opened on or after 17:30 on December 12, 2024, Beijing time.
The Financial Times publicly apologized to its readers for its 14 years of negative coverage of cryptocurrencies. The media said in a statement: "With the price of Bitcoin recently breaking through $100,000, quite a number of commentators felt that we should apologize to our readers for our long-standing cynicism. Therefore, we are deeply sorry that you may have decided not to buy those commodities that subsequently rose in price based on our coverage over the past 14 years. The price increase is certainly gratifying. At the same time, if you misunderstood our cynical attitude towards cryptocurrencies as support for traditional finance, we are deeply sorry, because we hate this behavior too."
ME Foundation: ME tokens will conduct TGE at 22:00 on December 10
The ME Foundation announced that it will hold the ME Token Generation Event (TGE) at 22:00 (Beijing time) on December 10. According to the information in the Magic Eden official Discord channel, users must complete the setting of the wallet address (save and exit) before December 8, otherwise they will not be able to receive the token airdrop on December 10.
Binance Futures will delist MAVIAUSDT, OMGUSDT, and BONDUSDT U-margined perpetual contracts
Binance Futures will automatically liquidate MAVIAUSDT, OMGUSDT, and BONDUSDT U-margined perpetual contracts at 17:00 (ET) on December 16, 2024, and will delist the above-mentioned U-margined perpetual contract trading pairs after the liquidation is completed.
Binance to List Across Protocol (ACX) and Orca (ORCA)
Binance announced that it will list Across Protocol (ACX) and Orca (ORCA) at 21:00 (ET8) today, and open two spot trading pairs: ACX/USDT and ORCA/USDT. Currently, the top-up channels for ACX and ORCA are open, and the withdrawal service is expected to be launched at 21:00 (ET8) on December 7. Seed tags will be applicable to ACX and ORCA.
According to the official announcement of DEXX, the hacker attack on November 16 affected about 12,413 addresses on the Solana, ETH, BASE and BSC blockchains, and the losses included 32,969 SOL, 634.56 ETH, 204.69 BNB and other tokens. The compensation plan includes:
- Asset tracking and recovery: Continuously monitor hacker wallets and immediately compensate affected users after recovering assets.
- Revenue distribution: 80% of daily platform revenue is used to compensate users, and 20% is reserved for operating costs.
- Debt-to-equity swap and token airdrop: Provide debt-to-equity compensation to affected users through platform valuation, and issue platform tokens as additional rewards.
- Funding Plans: Discussions with potential investors for financing for compensation and operational support are ongoing.
At the same time, DEXX has strengthened platform security, implemented measures including zero-trust architecture, wallet module adjustments, and enhanced blockchain security frameworks. In the future, it plans to launch self-hosted wallets and multi-party computing (MPC) solutions to further enhance the security of user assets. Currently, some wallet functions are being tested, and platform security upgrades are nearing completion. For the hacker investigation, the DEXX team and law enforcement agencies have locked down key IP addresses and device information, but more solid evidence is still needed to identify the suspect.
Pudgy Penguins will issue $PENGU tokens in 2024, with 25.9% allocated to the Pudgy community
The well-known NFT project Pudgy Penguins announced that it will launch its official token $PENGU in 2024. The token will be issued on the Solana chain with a total supply of 88,888,888,888.
In addition, it announced the distribution plan for the upcoming $PENGU tokens. According to the published data, the Pudgy community will receive the largest share, accounting for 25.9%; other communities will receive 24.12%; the project team and future teams will receive 17.8% of the tokens, with a 1-year lock-up period and a 3-year vesting period; the liquidity pool will account for 12.35%; the company reserve will account for 11.48%, also with a 1-year lock-up period and a 3-year vesting period; in addition, the tokens will also be allocated 4% for ecological expansion, 4% for Public Good, and 0.35% for FTT token holders.
According to Forbes, Uniswap Labs recently announced the launch of its new blockchain Unichain, and Uniswap has long been a key driver of Ethereum mainnet activity. As Uniswap transitions to its own chain, validators on the Ethereum network may lose about $400 million to $500 million in annual revenue. But more serious than this economic loss is that it threatens Ethereum's fundamental narrative as a deflationary currency. Uniswap's universal router is the number one account consuming gas fees, accounting for 14.5% of Ethereum's gas fees, equivalent to destroying $1.6 billion worth of Ethereum. This means that the effect of the destruction mechanism will be weakened, further weakening Ethereum's economic position.
In addition, Justin Bons, founder and chief investment officer of Cyber Capital, warned that Ethereum is at a critical juncture and its reliance on Layer2 solutions could undermine the vitality of the mainnet; as more and more activities move away from Ethereum's main layer, the security provided by its revenue stream will weaken, forming a negative feedback loop. While Ethereum's scaling solutions are designed to accommodate more transactions, the migration of key protocols like Uniswap shows that these benefits may come at a high price. The resulting decline in fee income could undermine Ethereum's ability to maintain a strong security infrastructure that supports its promise of decentralization.
According to CryptoSlate, a recent report from Keyrock highlighted that 90% of token unlocking will have a negative impact on prices, although this effect often takes up to 30 days to fully manifest. About $600 million of previously locked tokens are circulated regularly. According to a predetermined schedule, these unlocked tokens will flow to the team, investors, and ecosystem funds. The report pointed out that tracking these schedules is crucial for traders who aim to effectively grasp market timing. Even before the token is released, pre-sale and hedging strategies adopted by investors who have not received full returns have already exerted downward pressure on prices, and prices usually stabilize within two weeks after the unlocking event.
While it would seem intuitive that larger unlocks would have proportionally more significant effects, Keyrock’s data suggests a more complex picture. Events that release more than 5% of total supply tend to cause immediate price movements. However, the impact is usually gradual and long-lasting, as investors can only partially sell or slowly hedge these large amounts of tokens. Frequent, small-scale unlocks continue to exert downward pressure, although their cumulative impact is less dramatic. Interestingly, for most unlock sizes, prices have already begun to fall as much as 30 days before the event, driven by retail expectations and complex hedging strategies adopted by institutional investors.
Important data
Bitcoin fell to around $90,000 this morning, but has now rebounded to around $98,000
The annualized premium for Bitcoin's two-month futures hit 20%, the highest level in 8 months
According to Cointelegraph, the price of Bitcoin broke through the $100,000 mark yesterday, setting a new record high. The rise triggered a surge in demand in the futures market, with the annualized premium of Bitcoin two-month futures reaching 20%, the highest level in 8 months. The rise may be driven by multiple factors, including US President-elect Trump's nomination of crypto-friendly Paul Atkins as SEC Chairman, Russian President Putin praising Bitcoin's anti-censorship properties, and Federal Reserve Chairman Powell's statement that Bitcoin is a direct competitor to gold. In addition, MicroStrategy's possible inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 Index has further increased the market demand for Bitcoin. Options market data shows that professional traders have strong confidence in the continued bullishness of Bitcoin. Since December 2, Deribit's call options open interest has been 48% higher than put options.
Mt. Gox transfers another 3,619 BTC, with a total value of $353 million
Marathon Digital purchased 1,423 additional bitcoins in the past 6 hours
Marathon Digital ($MARA), a US-listed mining company, purchased 1,423 additional bitcoins in the past six hours, with a total value of approximately $139.5 million.
Tether Treasury mints 1 billion more USDT on Ethereum network
Whale Alert monitoring shows that at 23:27 last night Beijing time, Tether Treasury minted an additional 1 billion USDT on the Ethereum network.
Data: Hong Kong virtual asset ETF today's trading volume is about HK$300 million
Hyperliquid’s trading volume in the past 24 hours exceeded $10 billion
According to Hyperliquid's official news, its 24-hour trading volume exceeded US$10 billion, setting a record high.
Last night, Hyperliquid announced the launch of its HYPE token contract (3x leverage).
