Golden Weekly is a weekly blockchain industry summary column launched by Golden Finance, covering the week's key news, mining information, project dynamics, technological progress and other industry dynamics. This article is one of the news weekly, taking you through this week's blockchain industry events.
Headlines
▌MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin holdings currently have a floating profit of approximately $12.9 billion
At the current price of Bitcoin at $88,875.7, MicroStrategy's Bitcoin holdings have a floating profit of approximately $12.9 billion. According to previous news, as of November 11, 2024, MicroStrategy holds a total of 279,420 Bitcoins, with a total purchase cost of approximately $11.9 billion and an average price of approximately $42,692.
▌The dollar rose to a two-year high, Wall Street is unanimously bullish
The dollar index rose to its highest level since November 2022 on Tuesday, pushing the euro to its lowest level in a year and weighing on other currencies. The yen and Canadian dollar also fell, heading toward key psychological levels. Since Trump's re-election, strategists across Wall Street have been unanimously bullish on the dollar as Republicans look to sweep both houses of Congress. JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. all expect the dollar to rise further from its current level, according to recent strategy reports.
▌US FBI seizes Polymarket CEO’s cell phone and electronic devices
On November 13th local time, the FBI seized the mobile phones and electronic devices of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan. According to the New York Post, the FBI raided Coplan's residence in Soho, New York, and demanded the surrender of electronic devices. This action took place eight days after Polymarket successfully predicted that Trump would win the 2024 presidential election, with a platform transaction volume of over $3 billion. Anonymous sources said that the FBI may suspect that the platform is manipulating the election market and believes that this move is a "political retaliation" by the previous government against Polymarket. At present, the FBI has not responded to the incident, and Coplan has not made any public comments.
▌18 U.S. states have filed a lawsuit accusing the SEC of "persecuting the cryptocurrency industry" under the leadership of Gary Gensler
According to Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett, 18 U.S. states have filed a lawsuit accusing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and its commissioners, under the leadership of agency head Gary Gensler, of overstepping their authority and illegally persecuting the cryptocurrency industry.
The lawsuit, signed by 18 Republican attorneys general, details how the agency has engaged in “serious governmental overreach” against the $3 trillion cryptocurrency industry through enforcement actions, infringing on states’ rights to regulate their economies.
policy
Trump seeks crypto-friendly candidates for financial institutions
According to the Washington Post, US President-elect Trump is preparing for the US government to take a more relaxed stance on cryptocurrencies. He is looking for candidates for key positions that are friendly to the crypto industry, while his senior advisers are consulting crypto executives on potential changes in federal policy. Initial discussions focused on a range of financial regulators, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. According to five people familiar with the matter, Trump advisers considered letting current regulators, former federal officials and financial industry executives take important leadership positions, many of whom have publicly expressed support for cryptocurrencies. They warned that the discussion process is still in its early stages and the list of candidates is still changing.
▌US judge rejects former Celsius CEO's request to drop fraud and manipulation charges
Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of crypto platform Celsius, is facing criminal prosecution in the United States after his lawyers failed to drop two charges related to commodities fraud and manipulating the price of Celsius (CEL) tokens.
Judge John Koeltl has filed a document in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, ruling that the arguments put forward by Mashinsky's legal team to dismiss the charges are "either meaningless or without merit." The judge denied the motion to dismiss two charges, leaving the seven counts in the indictment standing, with Alex Mashinsky's trial scheduled to begin in January 2025.
▌US prosecutors request confiscation of FTX founder SBF’s cryptocurrency
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, and has appreciated to $18.5 million in the past 11 months, mainly due to the sharp increase in the price of Solana.
▌Biden: The United States will achieve an orderly and peaceful transition of power
White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre said at a briefing that day that the current US President Biden met with the US President-elect Trump at the White House for about two hours that day. The current White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and the next White House Chief of Staff Susan Wells also attended the meeting. Karin Jean-Pierre said that Biden and Trump discussed important national security and domestic policy issues facing the United States and the world. Biden raised important matters for Congress, including funding the government and providing disaster supplementary funds requested by the president. Finally, Biden reiterated that the United States will achieve an orderly and peaceful transition of power.
▌Trump announces four of his top campaign advisers will take senior positions in the White House
On November 13, local time, US President-elect Trump announced that his four senior campaign advisers will serve in senior positions in the White House during his second term. It is understood that Stephen Miller will serve as Assistant to the President and concurrently serve as Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor. James Blair will serve as Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislation, Politics and Public Affairs. Tyler Budovich was appointed Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Personnel. Dan Scavino will also serve as Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff.
▌U.S. Senator John Thune elected Senate Majority Leader, supports encryption legislation
John Thune, a Republican senator from South Dakota, was selected as the Senate Majority Leader in 2025. Thune was involved in promoting the Digital Commodity Consumer Protection Act (DCCPA), which aims to provide a legal definition for digital commodities and bring their trading under the supervision of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). In addition, he also supports the repeal of SAB 121, an accounting rule for crypto assets, and promotes regulatory reforms in the crypto industry. Thune has long been committed to promoting cryptocurrency-related legislation and supporting the legalization and regulatory development of the industry.
Blockchain Applications
▌Aave Labs and Lens parent company Avara launch crypto wallet Family Wallet
Avara, the parent company of Aave Labs and Lens, announced the launch of Family Wallet, which the team calls a "secure, user-friendly crypto wallet for everyone" that "offers features such as in-app messaging, NFT support, DeFi integration, and advanced security."
As previously reported, about a year ago, Aave Companies acquired Los Feliz Engineering, the development team behind Family, and changed its name to Avara.
▌World Identity Verification Service Launched in Brazil
OpenAI founder Sam Altman’s World project (formerly Worldcoin) announced that World ID has launched an identity verification program in Brazil. As the project steps up its efforts to increase the total number of registrations, Brazil has become an extremely attractive region in the eyes of World. According to the World Bank’s 2023 data, the country is not only relatively friendly to cryptocurrencies, but also has a population of over 215 million.
Huma Finance expands to Solana blockchain
Huma Finance has expanded to the Solana blockchain, providing instant liquidity support for scenarios such as cross-border remittances, digital asset credit cards, and global t+0 payments. The protocol has been running on Ethereum Layer 2 networks such as Polygon, Celo, and Scroll.
▌Phantom Wallet iOS update causes app reset, reminding users to back up recovery phrases
Phantom Wallet recently reminded iOS users that some users encountered an "app reset" problem after the update, resulting in an inability to access their wallets. The problem seems to be limited to the iOS version, and users who did not back up their recovery phrases have lost access to their funds. Phantom emphasized that users can restore their wallets through the recovery phrase and has released an update to prevent more users from being affected. The company reminds users to keep the recovery phrase properly to avoid losing funds. Recently, some users reported losing their wallets and funds due to updates, and some users lost more than $1 million.
▌The UK Treasury will launch a pilot to launch digital government bonds using distributed ledger technology
The UK government will launch a pilot to issue digital government bond instruments similar to bonds using distributed ledger technology, the UK Treasury said in a statement on Thursday. "The government will launch a pilot to provide digital government bond instruments using distributed ledger technology (DLT) to demonstrate its commitment to innovation in financial services," the country's finance ministry said. DLT is the underlying technology for crypto assets, where each node can save and update data.
Tulip Siddiq, the UK Treasury's economic secretary, said the Labour Party will soon announce its plans for the cryptocurrency sector. Bloomberg cited unnamed sources as saying that the Labour Party is likely to continue to follow in the footsteps of the former ruling Conservative Party and develop stablecoin and staking legislation.
Cryptocurrency
▌OpenAI CEO: I am confident in the bright future of cryptocurrency
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted on the X platform: "World (also known as Worldcoin) has made amazing progress in the past year. I am very proud of the team, especially alexblania's leadership! A rare combination of vision and execution. Overall, I am confident in the bright future of cryptocurrency!"
▌Bitcoin market value surpasses silver market value
The market value of Bitcoin has surpassed that of silver, becoming the world's eighth largest asset. The market value of Bitcoin is currently 1.741 trillion US dollars, and the market value of silver is currently 1.735 trillion US dollars.
▌Stablecoin supply increased by $5.4 billion after the US election
Since the US election, the supply of two major stablecoins, Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC), has increased by $5.4 billion in a week. Analysis points out that this increase reflects the rising demand for crypto assets among investors. Data shows that the supply of USDT and USDC on different networks has reached a record high, indicating the diversified development of stablecoin demand.
▌Analyst: The potential peak of Bitcoin price may come around the end of May 2025
The Copper report estimates based on historical data that Bitcoin's potential price peak could come around the end of May 2025. Analysts have studied the historical growth of Bitcoin's market value in different bull and bear market cycles and believe that Bitcoin's cycle lasts an average of about 756 days. Analysts said that as of now, Bitcoin is on the 554th day of its current cycle, which began around mid-2023. "Based on the average cycle duration, this timeline suggests that Bitcoin could peak in about 200 days, or mid-2025," the report said.
The report also states that Bitcoin’s expected peak could coincide with the likelihood of a recession in the U.S. The analysts highlighted a report from JPMorgan Chase that stated there is a 45% chance of a recession in the second half of 2025, which overlaps with their predicted Bitcoin peak time.
▌A dormant address holding 426 BTC was activated after 13.3 years of dormancy
According to Whale Alert monitoring, a dormant address holding 426 BTC was activated two minutes ago after being dormant for 13.3 years. The current value of these BTC has reached approximately US$36,620,098.
▌Kashkari, a Federal Reserve official who once severely criticized Bitcoin, said he would remain open to cryptocurrencies
Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, recently expressed his open attitude towards cryptocurrencies. Kashkari has been one of the strongest opponents of cryptocurrencies for many years, once calling them "worthless," "fraud" and "nonsense."
“I’ll keep an open mind,” Neel Kashkari said in an interview in New York on Tuesday. Still, Kashkari questioned the point of cryptocurrencies during the conversation. He said the industry has been around for a long time but has not yet been widely adopted, which shows that it lacks practicality.
▌Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht said he believed Trump would "fulfill his promise to reduce his sentence"
Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who is currently serving a life sentence in federal prison, tweeted for the first time since the U.S. election, expressing hope that President-elect Donald Trump will fulfill his promise to commute his sentence.
Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison without parole for money laundering, computer hacking and drug conspiracy charges in 2015. Ulbricht said in the X post: "Thank you very much to everyone who voted for President Trump on my behalf. I believe he will fulfill his promise and give me a second chance. After spending more than 11 years in the dark, I finally see the light of freedom at the end of the tunnel. Thank you very much Trump."
PolitiFact reported in 2020 that Trump only fulfilled or partially fulfilled about 27% of his campaign promises in the first three years of his last term in the White House.
89% of new tokens issued last week were based on the Solana network
According to The Block, 89% of new tokens were issued last week on the Solana network. DEXs launched a total of 181,000 new tokens, with memecoin issuance on platforms such as pump.fun being the main driver of this activity. Despite the large issuance, only about 1% of tokens were successfully listed on Raydium. Solana is able to handle a large number of transactions without significantly increasing fees, thus supporting continued activity.
▌Bitfinex hacker Ilya Lichtenstein sentenced to 5 years in prison for laundering 120,000 Bitcoins
Ilya Lichtenstein was sentenced to five years in prison for his involvement in the 2016 Bitfinex exchange hack and money laundering. The sentence was based on Lichtenstein's cooperation with the investigating authorities, and prosecutors recommended a reduced sentence. Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan conspired to launder money, using crypto mixers, layered transactions, dark web and other means to clean up about 120,000 stolen bitcoins, which were once worth as much as $72 million and are now worth $10.7 billion. Lichtenstein and Morgan pleaded guilty to money laundering related to this in August 2023. Morgan's sentencing is scheduled for November 18, and prosecutors recommend an 18-month sentence.
Important economic developments
▌The probability of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by 25 basis points in December is 65.1%
According to CME's "Fed Watch", the probability that the Fed will maintain the current interest rate unchanged by December is 34.9%, and the probability of a cumulative interest rate cut of 25 basis points is 65.1%. The probability of maintaining the current interest rate unchanged by January next year is 23%, the probability of a cumulative interest rate cut of 25 basis points is 54.8%, and the probability of a cumulative interest rate cut of 50 basis points is 22.3%.
▌U.S. Congressman: If the 2017 tax cut policy is made permanent, the Federal Reserve may reduce interest rate cuts
U.S. Congressman Nouriel Roubini said the Federal Reserve might cut interest rates less if it made the 2017 tax cuts permanent.
▌Fed's Harker: Fed must "watch very closely" fintech
Fed's Harker said the Fed must "watch very closely" fintech.
▌Bridgewater: The US economy is expected to grow strongly during Trump's term
Karen Karniol-Tambour, chief co-investment officer at Bridgewater Associates, said Tuesday that owning U.S. stocks is a "good thing" and that she expects strong economic growth under President Trump. Karniol-Tambour said the outlook for U.S. growth has driven stocks higher, even as the 10-year Treasury yield rose to a four-month high following Trump's victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election. "We may still have room to grow, even with tariffs in place and a lot of unknowns," she said. The S&P 500 is up nearly 5% since Trump won the election.
