Today's news tips:
Trump announces Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead US government efficiency department
Fed Governor Waller: Stablecoins must be regulated to address bank run risks
US prosecutors seek to seize FTX founder SBF’s crypto
Italy plans to reduce 42% tax on cryptocurrency transactions, the League proposes to limit it to 28%
Canary Capital Submits First Hedera HBAR Spot ETF Application to SEC
Zerion officially launches gas-free Layer 2 solution ZERO Network
Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck expected to list on Nasdaq in December
Coinbase ranks first in the free financial app rankings in the US Apple App Store
Regulation & Policy
Trump announces Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead US government efficiency department
According to Trump campaign adviser Alex Bruesewitz on the X platform, US President-elect Trump announced that Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy (Trump agent) will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE for short).
Later in the day, Musk released the logo of the U.S. Government Department of Efficiency (DOGE) with a Shiba Inu image; Musk commented that "America was saved by a squirrel and meme coins", driving the rapid rise of meme coin PNUT.
Trump hints at SEC chairmanship via 'recess appointment', bypassing Senate review
According to Cointelegraph, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump hinted that he would bypass the Senate's confirmation process to appoint members of his administration, which also seems to include replacing Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler. In an X post on November 10, Trump said that only he had the right to choose which U.S. senator would serve as Senate Majority Leader starting when the new Congress is sworn in in January 2025. The Republican said he hoped that potential majority leaders would agree to make appointments during the recess to bypass the confirmation process and put people in important positions "immediately" instead of undergoing questioning and review by members. According to the U.S. Constitution, the president "has the power to fill all vacancies that may arise during the recess of the Senate by granting commissions that will expire at the end of the next session." During Trump's first term, this power enabled him to appoint some people who might not have been approved by the Senate. Recess appointments are supposed to be temporary and are not a substitute for Senate approval. Trump has not yet publicly nominated any potential replacement for Gensler. During the campaign, Trump promised the cryptocurrency industry that he would fire SEC Chairman Gensler on "Day 1" if he was re-elected, but experts say he can't remove Gensler from the commission without good cause. In some cases, regulators have resigned when the White House party changes, but Gensler has not indicated that he will leave.
Trump Nominates Pro-Bitcoin TV Host Pete Hegseth as US Secretary of Defense
According to Jinshi, Trump said he would nominate TV host Pete Hegseth (born June 6, 1980) as US Secretary of Defense. Pete graduated from Princeton University and has a graduate degree from Harvard University. He is a US Army veteran and has hosted a show on Fox News for 8 years. It is reported that Pete Hegseth adheres to the decentralized value of Bitcoin and promises not to sell Bitcoin.
Fed Governor Waller: Stablecoins must be regulated to address bank run risks
According to Jinshi, Fed Governor Waller said that stablecoins are basically a "synthetic dollar" that may bring benefits to the financial system. However, he emphasized that stablecoins must be regulated to deal with potential bank runs.
US prosecutors seek to seize FTX founder SBF’s crypto
According to Cailianshe, a year ago, FTX founder SBF was convicted of fraud. In a document submitted to the New York court on Tuesday, the US prosecutors filed a lawsuit to confiscate SBF's cryptocurrency. Its cryptocurrency is stored in an account, including Solana and Ripple, which is worth $8.6 million as of December 12, 2023. It has appreciated to $18.5 million in the past 11 months, mainly due to the sharp increase in the price of Solana.
Italy plans to reduce 42% tax on cryptocurrency transactions, the League proposes to limit it to 28%
According to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, the government led by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni may approve a proposal by coalition partners to reduce the tax increase on cryptocurrency transactions. A copy of the proposal shows that the League, as a junior partner in Meloni's ruling coalition, has proposed an amendment to limit the tax rate on crypto transactions to 28%, which was originally proposed to increase to 42% in last month's budget. The current tax rate is 26%. In addition, another ruling coalition party, Forza Italia, proposed another amendment that aims to completely cancel the tax increase and cancel the tax exemption for gains of 2,000 euros (2,120 US dollars) or less. As part of the amendment proposed by the League, Italy will establish a permanent working group composed of digital asset companies and consumer associations to educate investors about cryptocurrencies. Two people familiar with the matter said that the government is likely to approve the League's proposal, although no final decision has been made and it may be modified.
Project News
Trump family crypto project WLFI now supports token sale participants to add WLFI tokens to their wallets
World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the Trump family’s crypto project, announced on the X platform that WLFI token sale participants can now add WLFI tokens to their wallets.
PayPal’s stablecoin PYUSD begins using LayerZero to transfer between Ethereum and Solana
According to The Block, PayPal's U.S. dollar stablecoin PYUSD is now using LayerZero to simplify transfers between Ethereum and Solana, according to a statement released on Tuesday. The statement said: "This integration eliminates liquidity fragmentation and ensures that transactions for users and businesses are fast, secure and cost-effective." Data shows that the market value of PYUSD on Ethereum has been relatively stable in recent months, at about $350 million. However, the supply of the stablecoin on Solana has plummeted from more than $660 million in August to $186 million.
Canary Capital Submits First Hedera HBAR Spot ETF Application to SEC
According to The Block, Canary Capital has filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the Hedera HBAR spot ETF, marking the first such cryptocurrency fund. The crypto investment company filed an S-1 registration statement with the SEC on Tuesday. According to the filing, the fund aims to "provide exposure to the value of the native assets of the Hedera network." According to the filing, the Canary HBAR ETF intends to hold HBAR directly without using derivatives, futures or other financial instruments. Custodians and management agencies are not mentioned in the S-1 filing. The company also previously launched the HBAR Trust for qualified investors in October. Canary Capital was founded by Steven McClurg, who previously founded Valkyrie Funds, which owns other spot cryptocurrency ETFs. Canary Capital has previously filed registration statements for spot Litecoin ETFs, Solana ETFs and XRP ETFs. Coingecko data shows that the price of HBAR briefly broke through $0.07 in the early morning and has now fallen back to $0.06501, with a 24-hour increase of 11.1%.
Zerion officially launches gas-free Layer 2 solution ZERO Network
According to The Block, Zerion launched its Ethereum Layer 2 solution ZERO Network, allowing Zerion Wallet users to waive Gas fees when trading, minting, exchanging and cross-chain. ZERO Network uses smart accounts and Paymasters functions to support free transactions through account abstraction, providing users with a "zero-fee" on-chain experience. ZERO Network is built on ZKsync technology and is part of the Elastic Chain ecosystem. It uses a dynamic scoring system "Onchain DNA" to evaluate whether an address is eligible for Gas-free transactions. In addition, Zerion also announced that it has received investment support from a number of angel investors, including Yearn developer Banteg, NBA player Duncan Robinson, and angel investors from projects such as Lido, OpenSea and ETHGlobal.
Coinbase launches COIN50 index and offers perpetual contracts with up to 20x leverage
According to The Block, Coinbase has launched a new index, COIN50, to track the top 50 digital assets that meet basic criteria. The index is also available for trading in the form of COIN50-PERP perpetual contracts, supporting up to 20x leverage. The COIN50 index aims to provide crypto investors with a broad representation of the market, including mainstream assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Its constituent assets are weighted by market capitalization, with Bitcoin accounting for 50.3%, Ethereum 27.5%, and Solana, XRP, and Dogecoin accounting for about 11.2% in total. Compared with existing crypto indices, COIN50 covers multiple crypto fields more comprehensively, not just infrastructure assets. The COIN50-PERP perpetual contract allows traders to hold positions indefinitely and is suitable for institutions and advanced users in specific regions. Coinbase plans to continue exploring more ways for users to access the index.
Bitwise acquires Ethereum staking service provider Attestant
According to Bloomberg, Bitwise Asset Management Inc. has acquired Ethereum staking service provider Attestant, aiming to expand beyond its core business. The specific terms of the transaction have not yet been disclosed. After the transaction is completed, Bitwise's asset management scale will reach US$10 billion. In addition, 11 employees of Attestant will join Bitwise.
Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck expected to list on Nasdaq in December
According to CoinDesk, Japanese brokerage and crypto exchange operator Monex Group announced today that the registration statement (Form F-4) submitted by its subsidiary Coincheck Group BV (CCG) to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) became effective on November 12, which will greatly advance the listing of the crypto exchange on the Nasdaq in the United States. According to the published schedule, the special acquisition purpose company (SPAC) Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV (THCP) will hold a shareholders' meeting on December 5, and the merger is expected to be implemented around the 10th of the same month. CCG's shares (stock code: CNCK) are expected to start trading on Nasdaq on the next trading day after the merger is completed. The listing of Coincheck was achieved through its merger with THCP announced in March 2022. It was originally planned to be completed in the second half of that year, but then underwent three contract changes, in May 2023, May 2024 and October, and finally obtained SEC approval.
Wang Feng: Linekong Interactive strategically holds Bitcoin and will disclose the progress of tactical reduction in due course
Wang Feng, founder of Linekong Interactive, wrote on his X platform: "Why did Linekong Interactive buy Bitcoin and what to do next? I will give five unified answers here: 1. We hold Bitcoin strategically. We are optimistic about Bitcoin network applications, decentralized finance, and crypto assets that empower real assets and Web3 applications. 2. I am an avid believer in encryption technology and have launched Marsbit, Consensus Labs (LK 3. I am very happy that Bitcoin has reached a new level of nearly $90,000 today. Our first purchase price was $26,000, and we have continued to purchase Bitcoin since then. I first pushed Linekong to buy Bitcoin at more than $4,000, but it was difficult for our board of directors to execute it at that time. 4. We will certainly disclose the progress of linear reduction at the right time; crypto assets are like stocks, the market is always volatile, and once the reduction is tactical; if the reduction is today, it must be for tomorrow's increase. 5. We are optimistic about Bitcoin in the long term; and we are very optimistic about the possibility of substantial growth this year or in the first quarter of next year. "
10x Research: South Korea’s retail cryptocurrency trading volume is 85% higher than the South Korean stock market
10x Research released a latest report stating that there has been a huge explosion in retail cryptocurrency trading in South Korea, with the Upbit exchange’s trading volume reaching $18.6 billion, not including another $7.3 billion traded on Bithumb. Overall, South Korean retail investors traded more than $26 billion on spot exchanges, while the trading volume of all local Korean stocks was only $14 billion - 85% higher than the equity trading volume. Since Trump’s election, Dogecoin has become the most traded cryptocurrency, with $8 billion traded in the past 24 hours – accounting for 57% of all stock trading volume in South Korea. The $18.6 billion in trading volume on Upbit has surpassed the $16.2 billion in early March. In addition, the report states that the number of Bitcoin holders will increase significantly in 2024, with sovereign entities and pension funds continuing to enter the market, strengthening the base of long-term investors. Soon (in the coming days), 13F reports will reveal which pension funds or large asset managers bought Bitcoin in the third quarter. Not only are strategic long-term investors becoming highly active, retail investors are also jumping on the bandwagon. Related Reading: Kimchi Premium: Key Characteristics and Reasons for South Korea’s Crypto Market.
Upbit adds USDT trading pairs for 12 tokens including AGLD, FIL, ARPA, and launches AGLD in the Korean Won market
According to the official announcement, the Korean crypto exchange Upbit will add USDT trading pairs for AGLD, AHT, ARPA, ASTR, BNT, EGLD, FIL, LWA, NEAR, OXT, RAD, and XLM, and trading will start at 16:30 local time today. In addition, Upbit will list Adventure Gold (AGLD) in the Korean won market, and trading will start at 16:30 local time today.
Later in the day, affected by the Upbit announcement, AGLD rose in a short period of time, with a one-hour increase of more than 113%.
ConsenSys' Layer2 network Linea plans to issue LINEA tokens in Q1 next year
According to CoinDesk, Ethereum development company ConsenSys revealed that its rollup blockchain Linea is about to release the "LINEA" token; LINEA tokens will be issued as rewards to active contributors and users of the Linea network; the specific distribution criteria and timetable have not yet been announced, but LINEA is expected to be released in the first quarter of next year. Joe Lubin, founder and CEO of Consensys, said that Trump's election did not affect ConsenSys's decision to finally announce LINEA, but he admitted that "we have been operating under the cloud of uncertainty for a long time. If we were worried that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would come to our door, we would have stopped tokenization a few years ago." The token marks an important step in the decentralization of the Linea ecosystem. In addition to the LINEA token, ConsenSys also announced the establishment of the Linea Association, a non-profit organization responsible for distributing tokens and guiding the development of the Linea protocol. In addition, Lubin said: "There will also be a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), and there may be sub-DAOs to organize the work." Lubin said that a high proportion of tokens will be dedicated to the community, but did not specify how many tokens will be distributed to the Linea community or other network stakeholders.
UK fintech firm Revolut expands cryptocurrency trading to 30 new markets in Europe
According to The Block, British fintech company Revolut announced on Wednesday that it is expanding its crypto trading platform Revolut X to serve experienced traders in 30 new markets in Europe. According to its press release, Revolut X requires customers to have a Revolut account in the European Economic Area (EEA) or the UK to access the more than 200 cryptocurrencies it offers, real-time trading analysis, and market monitoring tools integrated with TradingView charts. The company noted that most funds are stored in cold wallets and are equipped with risk monitoring tools to prevent security breaches. Revolut claims to have more than 45 million customers worldwide and launched Revolut X as its independent exchange in the UK earlier this year. Prior to this, Revolut has been providing cryptocurrency trading services since 2017.
Matrixport: Bitcoin trading volume hits a new high of $145 billion, retail investors are returning to the crypto market
Matrixport said in its latest report that in the past 24 hours, Bitcoin's trading volume exceeded $145 billion, a record high, nearly 50% higher than the flash crash in early August this year and the peak in March. This surge in trading volume shows that retail investors are returning to the crypto market. According to historical data, in the bull market phase, the active cycle of retail trading can usually last for weeks or even months, so the increase in trading volume can be regarded as a bullish signal. The popularity of Google searches for Bitcoin has also increased significantly, reaching 78% of the highest level in the past five years. In addition, since the US presidential election, the inflow of funds to Bitcoin ETFs has exceeded US$1 billion for two consecutive days.
AltLayer Launches 'Autonome', a Platform for Creating and Deploying Autonomous AI Agents
According to The Block, Rollup as a Service protocol AltLayer launched "Autonome", a platform designed to accelerate the development of "verifiable agent networks" and support the creation, deployment, discovery and distribution of autonomous AI agents. Autonome is released as a code-free platform. The platform enables developers and decentralized applications to build and interact with autonomous "intelligent" agents. "These artificial intelligence agents will be able to think, act and make decisions independently and purposefully," the project said in a statement. The team said that unlike traditional artificial intelligence robots that can only follow strict preset instructions, Autonome agents are designed to demonstrate true autonomy, reasoning ability and adaptability based on "personal values, principles and goals." Agents do not passively perform isolated tasks; they are designed to actively participate in decentralized ecosystems, make smart decisions, and seamlessly collaborate, iterate and trade with other agents.
ARK Invest Believes Trump Administration Will Reopen IPO Window for US Crypto Companies
According to BeInCrypto, ARK Invest is optimistic in its latest newsletter that Trump's return to the White House may allow digital asset companies such as Circle and Kraken to go public and achieve regulatory clarity. ARK Invest wrote: "Possibilities include reopening the initial public offering (IPO) window for digital asset companies such as Circle and Kraken." The company pointed out that potential legislative reforms, such as the (21st Century Financial Innovation and Technology Act) (FIT21), may clarify the regulation of stablecoins and digital assets. In addition, the asset management company expects that the "enforcement supervision" approach of Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, will end, which may create a more competitive environment for cryptocurrency companies.
Binance Futures will launch HIPPO and 1000X 1-75x USDT perpetual contracts
Binance Futures will launch HIPPOUSDT and 1000XUSDT perpetual contracts at 20:30 (ET) on November 13, 2024, with a maximum leverage of 75x.
Financing News
Crypto AML Company Notabene Completes $14.5 Million Series B Funding, Led by DRW Venture Capital
According to CoinDesk, crypto anti-money laundering (AML) startup Notabene has completed a $14.5 million Series B financing round, led by DRW Venture Capital, with participation from Apollo, Nextblock, ParaFi Capital and Wintermute. Notabene aims to help cryptocurrency trading companies comply with AML regulations and provide a SWIFT-like crypto transaction information network for virtual asset service providers (VASPs). 165 companies including Copper, OKX and Ramp have used its platform. As Europe incorporates updated funds transfer regulations (TFR) into crypto transactions, Notabene CEO Pelle Braendgaard expects the platform's trading volume to increase significantly, currently processing an average of about $2 billion in transactions per day. He pointed out that Europe's compliance requirements will push the global crypto industry into a stricter regulatory framework. Braendgaard predicts that the United States, under the future Trump administration, may follow Europe's TFR and MiCA policies to attract crypto transactions back to the United States.
Important data
The U.S. Ethereum spot ETF had a total net inflow of $136 million yesterday, continuing its net inflow for 5 consecutive days
The U.S. Bitcoin spot ETF had a total net inflow of $818 million yesterday, continuing its net inflow for 5 consecutive days
Coinbase ranks first in the free financial app rankings in the US Apple App Store
According to appfigures data, the Coinbase app ranks first in the free financial app rankings in the US region of Apple's App Store, surpassing Robinhood, CashApp and PayPal.
cbBTC’s market value exceeds $1 billion, equivalent to 9.3% of WBTC’s supply
Tom Wan, a former 21.co strategy analyst, said on the X platform that the market value of cbBTC quickly reached $1 billion in 57 days, and its net supply change rate on Ethereum has exceeded that of Bitcoin Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) including eBTC, solvBTC.BBN, pumpBTC, etc. The current supply of cbBTC has reached 9.3% of the supply of WBTC.
Bhutan’s BTC holdings currently account for more than one-third of its GDP, while El Salvador’s BTC holdings account for only 1.5% of its GDP
Bitcoin’s strong rally pushed El Salvador’s BTC value to over $500 million on Monday, while tiny Bhutan’s BTC holdings also topped $1 billion, CoinDesk reported. Data from El Salvador’s Bitcoin Office shows the country holds just under 5,932 bitcoins. At press time, Bitcoin is worth about $516 million at $87,000. Bhutan, with a population of just 800,000 (El Salvador’s population is 6.4 million), holds 12,574 bitcoins, worth $1.1 billion at current prices, according to Arkham Intelligence. In other words, Bhutan’s bitcoin holdings are worth more than a third of the country’s GDP, which is just under $3 billion. El Salvador’s $500 million in bitcoins is just 1.5% of GDP. In September, Arkham reported that Bhutan was likely to become the fourth-largest bitcoin holder.
Venture capital funding in the crypto space fell to $1.7 billion in Q3, down 31.3% from the previous quarter
Venture capital investment in the cryptocurrency space fell sharply in the third quarter, before the election fever of U.S. President-elect Trump revived industry sentiment, according to Bloomberg. Crypto startups attracted $1.7 billion in investment in the three months ending September 30, down 31.3% from the previous quarter, according to PitchBook data. The number of deals reached fell 25.3% to 392. "We believe this correction is a natural and necessary part of a healthy cryptocurrency market," PitchBook senior analyst Robert Le wrote in the report. Le attributed the decline in cryptocurrency venture capital deals to macroeconomic factors, including increased market volatility and concerns about a U.S. recession. As in the previous quarter, infrastructure projects such as new blockchains continued to be favored by venture investors in the third quarter. Le said he expects further consolidation between cryptocurrency exchanges, custodians and infrastructure companies in the future.
USDT exchange daily net inflow exceeds $1.3 billion again
According to CryptoQuant data, the daily net inflow of USDT exchanges exceeded US$1.3 billion for the second time in just 6 days, setting a new record again. This massive stablecoin inflow brings significant purchasing power to the market and could drive demand for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies upward, especially when this capital is deployed strategically.
