Today's news highlights:
1. The new chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee plans to focus on issues related to cryptocurrency market structure.
2. South Korea's National Assembly passed a motion to impeach President Yoon Suk-yeol, appointing Prime Minister Han Duck-soo as acting president.
3. MicroStrategy (MSTR) stock has been included in the NASDAQ 100 index.
4. BiT Global related to Sun Yuchen sues Coinbase for delisting wBTC.
5. VanEck releases top 10 predictions for 2025: Bitcoin will reach $180,000, with a mid-cycle peak in Q1.
6. BIO Protocol proposes to remove transfer restrictions on the BIO token contract.
7. OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment, suspected suicide.
8. A dormant PEPE whale that had been quiet for 600 days transferred 21 trillion PEPE to a new address, spending only $27 at the time of purchase.
9. MegaETH developer MegaLabs raised $10 million through the Echo platform.
Regulatory news
Societe Generale collaborates with the Bank of France to complete a 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 proprietary DL3S blockchain. Notably, this transaction did not involve SG-Forge's euro stablecoin EUR CoinVertible (EURCV).
The new chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee plans to focus on issues related to cryptocurrency market structure.
The incoming chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee Hill stated that he will focus on easing bank regulations, promoting capital formation to facilitate more companies going 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 replace current chairman Patrick McHenry on January 25, 2025. Hill has pushed for several cryptocurrency-related bills, including legislation regulating digital assets, and stated he will continue to advocate for a clear cryptocurrency regulatory framework and consumer protection policies. Hill mentioned he will work with President Trump and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott to promote economic policies and welcome a 'new era of prosperity'.
Japanese lawmakers propose establishing a national Bitcoin reserve.
Japanese lawmaker Satoshi Hamada proposed the government to establish 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 cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.' Hamada also pointed out that Bitcoin is 'less affected by specific countries or institutions.' Bitcoin's 'neutrality and decentralization' can support economic activities 'without relying on any specific currency.' The government is expected to respond to Hamada's inquiry in writing in the coming weeks and may publish it on its official website.
South Korea's National Assembly passed a motion to impeach President Yoon Suk-yeol, appointing Prime Minister Han Duck-soo as acting president.
According to Jinshi, citing CCTV news, the South Korean National Assembly held a plenary session at 16:00 local time on the 14th to vote on the impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk-yeol proposed by the opposition camp for the second time. According to the voting results, 204 members of the South Korean National Assembly voted to support the impeachment of President Yoon Suk-yeol, and the impeachment motion was ultimately passed, immediately suspending Yoon's presidency 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, later found dead in his San Francisco apartment from suicide.
Suchir Balaji served as a researcher at OpenAI from November 2020 to August 2024. In an interview with The New York Times, he stated that he helped OpenAI use a large amount of data collected from the internet to train ChatGPT without permission until its public release in November 2022. Among other accusations, 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, later discovering he had died in his apartment. 'The Chief Medical Examiner's Office (OCME) has confirmed the deceased as Suchir Balaji, 26, from San Francisco,' the coroner's office stated in a release. 'The cause of death has been determined as suicide.'
Project updates
The first proposal of the WLFI community has been approved, and an Aave v3 instance will be deployed on the Ethereum mainnet.
World Liberty Financial governance page shows that the WLFI community voted to approve the 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, promoting the proliferation of over-collateralized lending and enhancing Aave's leadership position 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 will launch AVA and DEGO perpetual contracts denominated in U.
Binance 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 will launch VELODROME U-denominated perpetual contracts.
Binance will launch VELODROME principal-protected earning products on December 13, 2024, at 22:00 (UTC+8) and open for subscription. Starting from December 16, users can purchase VELODROME using dollar-cost averaging or payment methods like credit cards, Google Pay, or Apple Pay, with features for 'one-click token purchase' and instant exchange without fees to BTC, USDT, etc. Additionally, Binance will launch VELODROME full-position and isolated-position trading pairs on December 14 at 00:00, allowing VIP users to borrow assets in advance, with the U-denominated perpetual contract introducing up to 75x leverage at 00:15 on the same day.
CoinShares released Q3 Bitcoin mining report: the mining costs for publicly listed mining companies have risen to about $55,950.
CoinShares' Q3 Bitcoin mining report shows that the weighted average cash cost for publicly listed miners to produce one Bitcoin has risen to about $55,950, an increase of 13% from Q2, with total costs including non-cash costs amounting to about $106,000. Despite the current Bitcoin price being $100,000, mining remains profitable, but the rapid growth in network hash rate and some miners allocating funds to AI infrastructure or adopting HODL strategies have weakened the growth in hash rate and increased costs. High summer electricity prices in Texas have further raised production costs for some miners. Terawulf has become the lowest cash-cost miner due to reduced debt costs, Marathon has increased Bitcoin output and gained tax benefits, while Riot has seen its cost ranking drop due to electricity price impacts despite improved operational efficiency. The report predicts that the Bitcoin price may rise in Q4 or temporarily alleviate the pressure from low hash prices, but equipment prices, power 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.
Layer 1 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) space, bringing them into the Sui blockchain ecosystem. In August, Chinese new energy company Langxin Group completed approximately 100 million RMB in 'charging pile' RWA. Industry insiders believe that RWA connects assets and the supply-demand side of funds, which helps activate high-quality existing assets of small and medium-sized enterprises, enhancing the liquidity of heavy assets and empowering the real economy.
Currently, the Sui blockchain's total market value has reached $13 billion, with total locked value (TVL) surpassing $1.8 billion, recently enhancing user accessibility through integrations with crypto wallets like Phantom and Backpack. Additionally, Sui has received support from institutions such as Grayscale and VanEck.
VanEck releases top 10 predictions for 2025: Bitcoin will reach $180,000, with a mid-cycle peak in Q1.
Asset management giant VanEck released its top 10 cryptocurrency predictions for 2025:
1. The crypto bull market will reach a mid-cycle peak in Q1 and set new highs in Q4. Bitcoin's value is expected to be around $180,000, Ethereum's trading price will exceed $6,000, Solana will exceed $500, and Sui will exceed $10.
2. The U.S. will embrace Bitcoin through strategic reserves and increased cryptocurrency adoption. Under new SEC leadership, multiple 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.
3. The value of tokenized securities exceeds $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 connecting public and private blockchains, 2025 will be a breakthrough year for tokenized securities launching on open-source blockchains.
4. Stablecoins are expected to fundamentally change payment methods, with daily settlement volume projected to reach $300 billion by the end of 2025, tripling from the current $100 billion daily. 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.
5. One million new AI agents will emerge. Consider AI agents as digital workers—autonomous software programs that perform tasks or make decisions on your behalf, such as managing investments, hosting online communities, and even playing video games. These agents generated significant income in the last month of 2024, and their on-chain activities are expected to surge in 2025 as they expand from DeFi to social media, gaming, and consumer applications.
6. Bitcoin Layer 2 TVL will reach 100,000 BTC, leading to an explosive growth of 600% in 2024, bringing TVL to 30,000 BTC.
7. Ethereum blob space is expected to 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.
8. DeFi will hit all-time highs, with DEX trading volume reaching $4 trillion and TVL reaching $200 billion, thanks to AI-related tokens, consumer-facing dApps, and tokenized assets driving liquidity and adoption.
9. 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 outstanding projects like Miladys, which have gained cultural status in ironic internet culture, are climbing against the trend, bolstered by strong community ties.
10. DApp tokens are narrowing the performance gap with L1 tokens. In 2024, L1 blockchain tokens outperformed dApp tokens by 2 times, but the launch of innovative dApps in AI and DePIN is expected to drive a performance shift.
BIO Protocol proposes to remove transfer restrictions on the BIO token contract.
BIO Protocol initiated a proposal to obtain BIO liquidity, aiming to allow new participants to join the BIO economy; second, deploying liquidity on Ethereum will promote the accessibility and long-term growth of BIO, while also allowing the token to expand to other chains in the future. The proposal is as follows:
Remove transfer restrictions on the BIO token contract and make it transferable.
Allocate 6% of 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 on Ethereum mainnet through ETH/BIO liquidity pool.
If the proposal passes, it will take effect within 7 days.
BiT Global related to Sun Yuchen sues Coinbase for delisting wBTC
BiT Global, related to Justin Sun, sues Coinbase, claiming that Coinbase's delisting of wBTC and introduction of a competing product is anti-competitive and violates 'numerous state and federal laws', and 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.' Months earlier, BitGo had been the main custodian of wBTC since its launch in January 2019, revealing that it would allocate custody control of the project to three entities, including BiT Global, a Hong Kong trust company associated with Sun Yuchen.
The so-called 'strategic partnership between BitGo, Sun Yuchen, and the Tron ecosystem' has been questioned by many in the crypto community. For example, major DeFi projects like MakerDAO and Aave began considering removing wBTC as collateral, but ultimately did not. WBTC is the first and largest tokenized version of BTC, tradable on Ethereum and other blockchains. According to the new protocol, BitGo will manage and operate the wBTC business, while BiT Global Trust will serve as the custodian for the underlying wBTC collateral. BitGo, BiT Global, and BiT Global's subsidiary in Singapore will each hold one of the three multi-signature keys for wBTC.
Earlier reports indicated that BitGo and BiT Global collaborated to create a joint venture to diversify WBTC custody and cold storage services 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 registered a foundation in the Cayman Islands.
Azuki researcher wale.moca tweeted that the NFT market Opensea registered a foundation in the Cayman Islands.
MicroStrategy (MSTR) has been included in the NASDAQ 100 index.
MicroStrategy (MSTR) 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 market leaders such as Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Tesla, and Costco.
Azuki founder was blocked by Taylor Swift.
Azuki founder Zagabond stated that his X account was blocked by superstar Taylor Swift. Yesterday, Zagabond created a test AI tool called chill guy agent that 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: CEX recorded a net outflow of 124,000 Bitcoins over the past 30 days, with Coinbase seeing an outflow of 72,000 Bitcoins.
10x Research stated that the claims about Bitcoin supply tightening are increasing, especially with the continuous accumulation of Bitcoin ETFs and MicroStrategy, as the available supply of Bitcoin continues to decrease, laying the groundwork for a potential 'squeeze' market. Over the past 30 days, exchanges recorded a net outflow of 124,000 Bitcoins. Notably:
Coinbase, which holds the largest Bitcoin reserves, saw an outflow of 72,000 Bitcoins, accounting for nearly 10% of its total balance, which currently stands at 748,000 Bitcoins.
Binance saw an outflow of 29,000 Bitcoins, leaving a remaining balance of 570,000 Bitcoins.
In comparison, Bitfinex saw an inflow of 8,500 Bitcoins, increasing its holdings to 391,000 Bitcoins.
Other major exchanges, such as Gemini, OKX, and Kraken, also experienced significant fund outflows, with Kraken's outflows accounting for about 7-8% of its holdings.
If these trends continue and demand remains strong, the market may face a severe Bitcoin supply crunch. The launch of these Bitcoin ETF options could further exacerbate this situation, potentially triggering additional gamma squeezes that heighten price pressures.
Financing news
MegaETH developer MegaLabs raised $10 million through the Echo platform.
MegaETH developer MegaLabs completed a $10 million funding round through the Echo platform. MegaLabs co-founder Shuyao Kong stated that the structure of this funding round is equity plus token warrants, similar to the $20 million seed round financing in June, with both rounds valued at 'nine figures'. Kong mentioned that although the OTC market values MegaLabs 'significantly higher', the valuation for the Echo round remains unchanged to prioritize decentralization and community involvement.
Earlier reports indicated that MegaETH 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, marking 12 consecutive days of net inflows.
Ethereum spot ETF saw a net inflow of $23.6072 million yesterday, continuing a 15-day streak of net inflows.
Michael Saylor: Since adopting a Bitcoin strategy, MSTR has achieved an annualized return of 124%, outperforming real estate, gold, and bonds.
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 a 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% during 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 negative 5% return.
A dormant PEPE whale that had been quiet for 600 days transferred 21 trillion PEPE to a new address, spending only $27 at the time of purchase.
According to Lookonchain monitoring, a dormant PEPE whale that had been quiet for 600 days transferred all 21 trillion PEPE (worth $52 million) to a new address. This whale originally spent only 0.0135 ETH ($27) to purchase 21 trillion PEPE and held it until now. From $27 to $52 million, the return is 1,900,000 times.
A whale deposited 2,700 ETH into Binance three hours ago; if sold, it would yield a profit of $3.67 million.
According to @ai_9684xtpa 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 three hours ago (approximately $10.56 million), potentially yielding a profit of $3.67 million. This whale currently holds 13,162 ETH.
A suspected VIRTUAL project party/early participant deposited 7 million tokens into Bybit.
On-chain analyst @ai_9684xtpa monitored that a suspected VIRTUAL project party/early participant deposited 7 million tokens worth $17.09 million into Bybit in the past 17 hours, having cumulatively deposited 11.97 million tokens worth up to $25.74 million to the exchange in the last two months.
The address received 54.85 million VIRTUAL airdrop on Ethereum mainnet on December 23, 2023 (accounting for 5.49% of total tokens), and then cross-chained the tokens to Base network in April 2024, subsequently transferring 10 million tokens to the current address. The original address still holds VIRTUAL worth $100 million.
A whale has accumulated 7,661 ETH through Binance over the past day and a half.
On-chain analyst Yu Jin monitored a whale who deposited $5 million USDT into Binance 18 hours ago and then withdrew 2,500 ETH ($9.81 million) from Binance 20 minutes ago. This whale has accumulated 7,661 ETH ($29.87 million) through Binance in the past day and a half at an average price of $3,899.
