Today's news highlights:
1. The People's Bank of China held the 2025 work meeting: solidly advancing the research and development of digital RMB and other tasks
2. The official X account of Solv Protocol has been hacked, the official X account of the RWA lending protocol Centrifuge has been hacked
3. NFT transaction volume fell 17.54% week-on-week to $132.7 million, while both the number of buyers and sellers rose more than 20% week-on-week
4. Elon Musk: I have launched a new role called 'Percy Verence'
5. JPMorgan: It is expected that a record $78 billion will flow into the crypto market in 2024, with 28% coming from Bitcoin purchases by MicroStrategy
6. Three SWARMS whales have accumulated a floating profit of $21.573 million
7. The transaction volume settled through the Bitcoin network in 2024 will exceed $19 trillion, more than double the $8.7 trillion of 2023
8. A trader who previously profited over $17 million from trading AI tokens bought create, pippin, SANDY, MOLE, FORGE
Regulation/Macro
The People's Bank of China held the 2025 work meeting: solidly advancing the research and development of digital RMB and other tasks
According to the People's Bank of China's official account, the work meeting will be held from January 3 to 4, 2025, stating that in 2024, financial management and service capabilities will continue to improve, and the research and development application of digital RMB will be steadily promoted. In 2025, further optimization of central bank financial management and services will be undertaken, strengthening the legal protection for the central bank's performance of duties. Improving the multi-level, diversified payment service system. Gradually promoting the integration of information technology systems. Vigorously developing a multi-level credit market. Continuously optimizing the central bank's financial services in county areas. Solidly carrying out economic financial research, comprehensive statistics of the financial industry, currency issuance, digital RMB research and development, treasury management, and international assessments of anti-money laundering, among other tasks.
Next week's macro outlook: The Federal Reserve is expected to be more cautious, and non-farm payrolls may ignite the dollar
This week, the darling of global speculators, the largest ETF tracking Bitcoin, experienced the most severe outflow of funds in history. The volatility index of U.S. Treasuries has quietly risen, and U.S. stocks have seen the worst year-end decline on record. There are no signs of panic in the market, but market trends do indicate a level of caution that has been virtually absent over the past 12 months, at least in the realm of risk assets. Concerns about Trump's policies and their impact on inflation have awakened the hedging market. Next week's non-farm payroll report will play a key role in influencing market sentiment, here are the key points to watch in the new week:
On Monday at 22:30, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook will speak;
On Tuesday at 18:00, Eurozone December CPI year-on-year/month-on-month initial values, Eurozone November unemployment rate;
On Tuesday at 23:00, U.S. December ISM non-manufacturing PMI, U.S. November JOLTs job openings;
On Wednesday at 21:15, U.S. December ADP employment numbers;
On Thursday at 03:00, the Federal Reserve will publish the minutes of the December monetary policy meeting;
On Thursday at 09:30, China's December CPI year-on-year;
On Thursday at 20:30, U.S. December Challenger job cuts;
On Thursday at 22:00, 2026 FOMC voting member, Philadelphia Fed President Harker will speak;
On Friday at 01:40, 2027 FOMC voting member, Richmond Fed President Barkin will speak;
On Friday at 02:30, 2025 FOMC voting member, Kansas Fed President Schmidt will speak on the economic and monetary policy outlook;
On Friday at 21:30, U.S. December unemployment rate, U.S. December seasonally adjusted non-farm payrolls, U.S. December average hourly wage year-on-year/month-on-month;
On Friday at 23:00, U.S. January one-year inflation expectations initial value, U.S. January University of Michigan consumer sentiment index initial value.
Next week, the U.S. will release several labor market data, starting with Tuesday's JOLTs job openings data, followed by Wednesday's ADP employment data, and finally Friday's non-farm payroll data. Notably, December's non-farm payroll data is the first report in several months unaffected by one-off factors. UBS expects that December's U.S. job additions will be close to recent averages, continuing to show a gradual cooling in the labor market, providing room for further rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Given current market pricing, strong labor data is unlikely to lead to further rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, while weak data may lead the market to consider further cuts. However, U.S. data is unlikely to weaken the dollar index at this stage.
Chilean legislators are considering drafting strategic Bitcoin reserve legislation
Chilean legislators Gael Yeomans and Juan Santana are considering drafting strategic Bitcoin reserve legislation.
Hong Kong media: Local banks in Hong Kong have not yet recognized Bitcoin, and employers paying salaries in Bitcoin may violate the (Employment Ordinance)
According to Hong Kong 01, there are employees in overseas regions receiving Bitcoin as salary, but this is not common in Hong Kong. The reason is that Hong Kong's (Employment Ordinance) stipulates that wages must be paid in money, and cryptocurrencies are not legal tender, so employers using Bitcoin may violate the law. Some tech companies have used Bitcoin as a year-end bonus or reward, which does not pose significant legal issues. However, from a mortgage perspective, Bitcoin cannot be considered non-fixed income like bonuses. Banks generally calculate a borrower's income by averaging the bonuses received over two years and including them in the Debt-To-Income Ratio (DTI) to apply for up to 90% mortgages; but since Bitcoin is not legal tender, even if employees consistently receive Bitcoin as rewards or bonuses, or report Bitcoin income for tax purposes, banks will not accept it. Borrowers can only calculate DTI based on salaries, bonuses, and commissions received in legal tender.
Banks in Hong Kong have not yet recognized Bitcoin, currently only accepting cash, stocks, foreign currency, Hong Kong properties, funds, and bonds. Some banks also accept policies without premium financing as applicant assets, but there have been no successful cases for Bitcoin as banks do not recognize cryptocurrencies. The only feasible method is to cash out cryptocurrency and then use the funds as a down payment for property, or apply for a mortgage based on asset levels. According to the latest regulations, there is a chance to apply for up to 70% loans. It should be noted that if cash is converted from cryptocurrency sales to apply for an asset mortgage, some banks require customers to keep the funds in the account for more than three months and also need to show bank statements, if it shows the funds came from selling cryptocurrency, as banks are very focused on the source of funds or assets, trading cryptocurrencies can easily involve money laundering activities, banks may need to mitigate risks, not only rejecting mortgage applications but even potentially freezing bank accounts.
Project Dynamics
The official X account of Solv Protocol has been hacked, please do not click on suspicious links
Slow Fog founder Yu Sen tweeted that the official X account of Solv Protocol has been hacked, please do not click on suspicious links.
The official X account of the RWA lending protocol Centrifuge has been hacked
The official X account of the RWA lending protocol Centrifuge has been hacked, please do not interact with its account and pay attention to asset security.
VaderAI launches VADER staking point mechanism
VaderAI launched the VADER staking point mechanism, where points are calculated based on three main factors: the amount of VADER staked, the staking commitment period, and the number of days since staking. The higher the staking points, the higher the user's level ranking, which will directly affect the allocation amount when participating in Vader Fun activities in the future. Due to the currently low efficiency of single staking contracts, many users choose to stake VADER through multiple wallets. To address this issue, the project team plans to deploy a wallet linking feature tomorrow.
Jupiter launched the Goodcats reward program contributing to ecosystem growth
Jupiter launched the Goodcats reward program, contributing to ecosystem growth on platforms like Discord, X, Reddit, etc., including content creators, community contributors, and developers. Those who contribute are welcome to submit applications, with the submission rules being:
Links only containing one's own contributions;
Must be within the eligibility date range from November 3, 2023, to November 2, 2024;
Views
Elon Musk: I have launched a new role called 'Percy Verence'
NBA legend Scottie Pippen posted on X platform stating: 'Motivation is not built on dependence, but on resilience. Leaders do not fall... they rise again. Kekius Maximus is the proof.' In response, Elon Musk said on X platform: 'I have launched a new role called Percy Verence.'
Earlier news, Musk changed his personal avatar and nickname to Kekius Maximus, then about three days ago changed the X account's avatar and nickname back to his original self (Elon Musk), related concept coins plummeted.
Chief Economist of ICBC International: It is expected that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by 50-75 basis points in 2025
According to Jin10 reports, chief economist Cheng Shi of ICBC International stated at the 2025 Chief Economists Forum in China that the adjustment path of U.S. monetary policy in 2025 will be a 'fast then slow' process, currently expecting the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by around 50-75 basis points in 2025. Cheng noted that the re-inflation risks faced by the U.S. can be viewed from two dimensions: first, the current U.S. inflation is in a range that is easy to rise and difficult to fall, with little space and high difficulty for further decline, and there are many factors that could drive U.S. inflation upwards. Second, the market currently has formed an upward expectation for U.S. inflation, which tends to self-fulfill, thus creating substantial upward pressure on inflation.
JPMorgan: It is expected that a record $78 billion will flow into the crypto market in 2024, with 28% coming from Bitcoin purchases by MicroStrategy
JPMorgan global market strategists stated in a report that with the help of Trump's election victory, 2024 is a key year for digital assets, expecting a record $78 billion to flow into the crypto market. This capital inflow includes several key parts: $27 billion in net inflows to crypto funds, $14 billion invested in CME futures, $14 billion raised by crypto venture capital funds, $22 billion of Bitcoin purchased by MicroStrategy, and $1 billion of Bitcoin purchased by miners. In other words, the amount of Bitcoin purchased by MicroStrategy alone accounted for 28% of last year's record inflow into the crypto market.
Important Data
A whale built a position of 7.15 million SWARMS in the past 18 hours, currently floating a profit of $150,000
According to @ai_9694xtpa monitoring, a whale 3EqUQ...xrU3s spent $1.415 million to build a position of 7.15 million SWARMS in the past 18 hours, with an average price of $0.1979, currently floating a profit of $150,000. In fact, as early as 14 days ago (on the second day of launch), he had traded SWARMS, with two phases of profit totaling $2,000. If the earliest 1.67 million tokens were held until now, a $20,000 cost would yield a profit of $345,000.
Two smart money addresses have achieved returns of 28 times and 99 times by investing in RAI
According to The Data Nerd monitoring, two smart money addresses have achieved high returns by investing in RAI, among which:
Address starting with 0xfAd spent $66,000 to buy 192,000 RAI, which has now appreciated to $1.92 million, yielding a return of 28 times;
Address starting with 0xeaa spent $8,300 to buy 84,600 RAI, which has now appreciated to $839,000, yielding a return of 99 times.
The transaction volume settled through the Bitcoin network in 2024 will exceed $19 trillion, more than double the $8.7 trillion of 2023
In 2024, the transaction volume settled through the Bitcoin network will exceed $19 trillion, more than double the $8.7 trillion settled in 2023, reversing the trend of declining transaction volumes over the past two years since 2021. According to data from Riot Platforms' Vice President of Research, Pierre Rochard, Bitcoin transaction volume peaked during the bull market in 2021 at approximately $47 trillion and sharply declined in 2022 and 2023.
NFT transaction volume fell 17.54% week-on-week to $132.7 million, while both the number of buyers and sellers rose more than 20% week-on-week
CryptoSlam data shows that NFT sales fell 17.54% this week to $132.7 million, a significant drop from last week's $152 million in sales. However, the participation of market traders has increased, indicating that lower price levels continue to attract attention. The number of NFT buyers rose by 25.54% to 667,116; the number of NFT sellers increased by 23.96% to 382,754; the total number of transactions fell by 16.96% to 1,326,111.
NFT sales on the Ethereum network fell 25.72% to $56 million, but the number of buyers grew by 14.35% to 72,241; Bitcoin network NFTs rose against the trend, with sales up 8.38% to $30.3 million, attracting 67,423 buyers, an increase of 13.68% from the previous week; Mythos Chain climbed to third place with $11.8 million in sales, an increase of 3.63%. The Solana network, despite having the most buyers at 234,220, saw sales drop 57.91% to $9.4 million, dropping to fourth place.
The NFT with the highest transaction volume this week is:
CryptoPunks #5192: $192,556 (53.69 ETH)
CryptoPunks #7942: $154,075 (45 ETH)
CryptoPunks #9208: $153,677 (45.99 ETH)
CryptoPunks #5203: $153,580 (44.7 ETH)
CryptoPunks #7210: $147,498 (42.93 ETH)
Three SWARMS whales have accumulated a floating profit of $21.573 million
According to monitoring by @ai_9684xtpa, three SWARMS whales have accumulated a floating profit of $21.573 million, with their costs and floating profits summarized as follows:
$SWARMS ranked first & $ZEILGO ranked second: This address, along with a small accumulation address, holds a total of 59.94 million SWARMS, with a cost of $0.04036, currently accumulating a floating profit of $19.92 million; and is still continuing to accumulate.
A whale with a market value of $200 million holds $1.415 million: holding 7.15 million SWARMS, has not accumulated or sold, with an average price of $0.1979, already floating profit of $1.27 million
A $1.5 million whale that participated in last night's pump: holding 4.968 million SWARMS, average cost $0.3019, currently floating profit of $383,000
A trader who previously profited over $17 million from trading AI tokens bought create, pippin, SANDY, MOLE, FORGE
According to Lookonchain monitoring, the profit situation of a certain AI token trader is as follows:
Profited over $5.14 million on GOAT: This trader bought in when GOAT's market value was below $2 million, spending $62,000 to purchase 11.1 million GOAT, and sold all GOAT for $5.2 million, making a profit of $5.14 million
Profited over $4.5 million on ai16z: This trader bought in when ai16z had a market value of $22 million, spending $123,000 to purchase 6.17 million ai16z, and sold 4.67 million shares of ai16z at $1.78. Currently holding 2.65 million ai16z (worth $2.9 million), with total profits exceeding $4.5 million.
Profited over $4 million on Fartcoin: This trader started buying when Fartcoin's market value was below $7 million, spending $121,000 to purchase 9.46 million Fartcoin, and sold 6.81 million Fartcoin for $610,000. Currently holding 2.65 million Fartcoin (worth $3.55 million), total profit exceeding $4 million.
Profited over $4 million on arc: This trader bought in when arc's market value was $15 million, spending $212,000 to buy 11.6 million arc, then sold 1.6 million arc, making a profit of $212,000. Currently holding 10 million arc ($4 million), total profit is $4 million.
Today, the trader bought create, pippin, SANDY, MOLE, FORGE.
