● MicroStrategy plans to issue $2 billion in preferred shares to increase Bitcoin holdings
According to reports, MicroStrategy announced plans to issue up to $2 billion in perpetual preferred shares through a public offering.
Preferred shares may have features such as being convertible into Class A common stock, paying cash dividends, and having redemption clauses.
This fundraising is part of the company's '21/21 Plan', aimed at strengthening the balance sheet and further increasing Bitcoin holdings.
The issuance is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2025, but whether it will proceed and the final conditions will depend on market and other factors, and the company may not advance this issuance.
● Crypto-friendly Mike Johnson successfully re-elected as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
According to reports, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson was re-elected on the first day of the 119th Congress. Johnson previously supported the (21st Century Financial Innovation and Technology Act) (FIT21) and opposed the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) bill. His re-election, along with pro-crypto lawmakers like House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, is expected to advance the legislative process for cryptocurrency in 2025.
According to Jin10 reports, investors will closely monitor any regulatory changes in 2025 and whether Trump's commitments to the crypto industry will be fulfilled. Fundstrat's head of digital assets, Sean Farrell, stated that the first 100 days of Trump's term will be very important and will be seen as a benchmark for assessing his effectiveness and influence.
Market focus includes: whether Trump will push for the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve, clear guidelines on which cryptocurrencies should be classified as securities, and potential changes to the SAB121 bill, which affects accounting standards for cryptocurrency custodial companies. Additionally, investors will also be watching whether the Federal Reserve will significantly lower policy interest rates in 2025, which could impact all risk assets.
● Bitcoin's hash rate hits an all-time high
According to Jinse Finance, Bitcoin's hash rate (the total computational power protecting the Bitcoin network) reached an all-time high of 1,000 EH/s on January 3, nearly double the network hash rate from 12 months ago.
CoinWarz data shows that in January 2024, Bitcoin's hash rate hovered around 510 EH/s.
As of the time of writing, Bitcoin's hash rate has fallen to about 780 EH/s.
● The 16th anniversary of the creation of Bitcoin's genesis block
According to ShenChao TechFlow, the first Bitcoin genesis block (commonly known as block 0) was mined on January 3, 2009. In the past 16 years, over 1.13 billion transactions have been permanently recorded across approximately 800,000 blocks on the Bitcoin blockchain. As Bitcoin adoption continues to grow, the network's computational demand has also increased exponentially. The network difficulty, which is the relative difficulty of mining new blocks, has reached a new high of 1.1 trillion.
Previously, it was reported that the Bitcoin genesis block was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto on January 3, 2009, at 02:15:05 (UTC+8) on a small server in Helsinki, Finland, with a block reward of 50 BTC. Today marks the 16th anniversary, with the total Bitcoin block height currently at 877566.
According to PANews, multiple indicators in the crypto market reached all-time highs in December 2024, as noted in a post by The Block's research director @lars0x. On-chain transaction volume for stablecoins increased by 20.3% to a new high of $1.41 trillion, with USDT accounting for 79.2%. BTC miner revenue grew by 18.9% to $1.44 billion, and ETH staker income increased by 30.2% to $342 million. A total of 47,064 ETH were burned in December, worth about $174.4 million. The Ethereum NFT market saw a 350.7% increase in transaction volume, reaching $884.8 million.
● The dollar is set for its best weekly performance, supported by Federal Reserve policy expectations
According to Jin10 data, the dollar is poised for its best weekly performance in over a month, as market expectations suggest that the Federal Reserve will reduce the rate of interest rate cuts this year. The market believes that the U.S. economy will continue to outperform other global economies.
According to Saxo Bank's chief investment strategist, Charu Chanana, the exceptionalism of the U.S. will persist, with the dollar's strength expected to remain temporarily in early 2025, accompanied by high U.S. Treasury yields. The uncertainty of Trump's policies also makes the dollar attractive as a safe-haven asset.
● Tesla will announce its 2024 financial report and hold an earnings conference on January 30
According to PANews, Tesla will release its fourth quarter and full-year financial report for 2024 on January 29 (Eastern Time) or January 30 (UTC+8).
Following the financial report release, Tesla will hold an earnings conference on January 29 at 5:30 PM Eastern Time (6:30 AM UTC+8 on the 30th). Additionally, according to Arkham data, Tesla's Bitcoin holdings were valued at $1 billion last November.
