Golden Weekly is a weekly blockchain industry summary column launched by Golden Finance, covering key news of the week, mining information, project dynamics, technological progress, and other industry dynamics. This article is part of the news weekly, bringing you an overview of major events in the blockchain industry this week.
Headlines
▌Trump's nominees face violent threats, and the FBI is investigating.
The FBI has reported that it has noticed multiple bomb threats and harassment incidents targeting Trump's transition team nominees and is cooperating with law enforcement partners to investigate these incidents. The FBI stated that it would take all potential threats seriously and encouraged the public to report any suspicious incidents immediately. Earlier, President-elect Trump's transition team announced that several of Trump's cabinet nominees faced violent threats from 'non-Americans' on the evening of the 26th and morning of the 27th.
▌Wall Street is preparing to launch a new generation of cryptocurrency-related ETFs.
With Trump, who is friendly towards cryptocurrency, returning to the White House, Wall Street is preparing to launch a new generation of risk-oriented products to cater to the tastes of various investors, from institutional newcomers to die-hard retail investors, in this $3.2 trillion industry. Executives and lawyers involved in ETFs state that the described products include defensive ETFs aimed at professional fund managers curious about cryptocurrency, as well as speculative bets aimed at self-proclaimed degenerate gamblers. Industry investors and lawyers indicate that higher-risk cryptocurrency ETFs may focus on various digital tokens, sometimes using leverage, options, or quantitative strategies.
▌Putin: Trump is 'smart and experienced', concerned that he is not safe at the moment.
According to CNN, on Thursday, Russian President Putin praised President-elect Trump as a 'smart and experienced' politician capable of finding 'solutions'. Putin also condemned Biden for creating 'additional difficulties' for the incoming Trump administration by allowing Ukraine to launch U.S.-made ATACMS long-range missiles at targets inside Russia. When asked whether Biden's decision would affect future U.S.-Russia relations, Putin said the situation might improve after Trump takes office in January next year. Putin also noted that Trump has overcome the 'severe test' of returning to the White House, referring to Trump's two assassination attempts during the campaign. Putin stated, 'Absolutely uncivilized means of struggle have been used against Trump' more than once, and added that he is worried that Trump is currently not safe. Regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Putin threatened to launch more new Russian medium-range ballistic missiles, warning: 'We will use the means at our disposal.' 'The use of 'Hazel' missiles against Ukrainian military forces, military industrial facilities, or decision-making centers, including Kyiv, is not ruled out, as Kyiv authorities continue to attempt to attack our important facilities today.'
▌Trump's government is considering having the CFTC lead digital asset regulation.
According to FOX Business, the incoming Trump administration hopes to expand the powers of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), granting it significant regulatory authority over the digital asset market.
According to sources directly aware of Trump's team's thoughts, with Trump's inauguration and the increasing influence of the crypto industry in Republican politics, the duties of the CFTC may soon expand to regulate the cryptocurrency spot market (such as Bitcoin and Ethereum) viewed as commodities and the exchanges facilitating their trading. Core individuals in Trump's team believe that regulatory relief is needed to stimulate innovation in the crypto business, including potentially transformative blockchain technology that can eliminate costly intermediaries in commercial transactions.
Former CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo told FOX Business: 'With adequate funding and the right leadership, I believe the CFTC could begin regulating digital commodities on the first day of Trump's presidency.'
Policy
▌Coin Center research director: Investor protection and regulatory transparency may promote the development of the cryptocurrency industry.
Coin Center research director Peter Van Valkenburgh expects clearer regulatory frameworks may emerge for centralized markets and stablecoin issuers. This optimism stems from the new government possibly focusing on promoting innovation in the traditional financial applications of cryptocurrency.
At the same time, simplified investor protection and regulatory transparency may promote the development of the cryptocurrency industry. However, he emphasized the need to remain vigilant to ensure that these measures do not inadvertently stifle the rights of developers and users in decentralized systems.
▌French users have been banned from accessing the Polymarket prediction market.
Polymarket has blocked French users and warned against attempting to bypass the blockade. According to a social media post, Polymarket now lists French users on the restricted username list. After the country's gambling regulator reportedly stated that it would ban prediction markets, there were reports that French users could no longer access Polymarket. However, some French Polymarket users on social media platform X stated that they are still accessing the prediction market via virtual private network (VPN) applications.
▌Wall Street's 'top cop' resigns to make way for Trump in regulation.
U.S. Manhattan District Attorney Damian Williams announced that he plans to resign on December 13, and his deputy Edward Kim will temporarily take over other duties. After Trump was elected as President of the United States on November 5, he announced that he would nominate former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton to manage the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. The Southern District of New York is known for its independence and has handled many high-profile financial fraud cases. During Williams' tenure, he completed prosecutions against former cryptocurrency exchange FTX founder SBF and family office Archegos founder Bill Hwang.
▌The U.S. special prosecutor withdraws the election subversion case against Trump.
According to CNN, U.S. Special Prosecutor Jack Smith announced on Monday that he will withdraw the election subversion case against President-elect Trump and is seeking to dismiss the case in a court filing submitted to the judge. Trump has stated that he would fire Smith once he takes office, breaking the previous norms regarding special prosecutor investigations. Smith wrote in a six-page document: 'The Department of Justice's position is that, as required by the Constitution, this case needs to be dismissed before the defendant is sworn in.' Smith's criminal pursuit of Trump over the past two years, on charges of trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election and improper handling of classified documents, represents a very unique chapter in U.S. history: no former White House occupant has faced federal criminal charges before.
▌A Brazilian congressman officially proposed establishing a national strategic Bitcoin reserve.
A Brazilian congressman has formally proposed establishing a national strategic Bitcoin reserve—a sovereign strategic reserve for Bitcoin. This plan, dubbed the 'Sovereign Strategic Reserve of Bitcoins' (Reserva Estratégica Soberana de Bitcoins, or RESBit), aims to diversify the national treasury. According to Brazilian media platform Portal do Bitcoin, Congressman Eros Biondini submitted this proposal on Monday.
▌The NYSE submitted 19b-4 and S-1 documents to the SEC for the Bitwise BTCÐ ETF.
According to Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, the New York Stock Exchange has submitted 19b-4 and S-1 documents to the SEC, aiming to list the Bitwise Bitcoin & Ether ETF. This product will hold both spot BTC and ETH, weighted by market capitalization.
Bitwise co-founder Matt Hougan stated: 'Bitcoin and Ethereum are like gold and tech stocks; they are not competitors.' He believes that this ETF will be widely welcomed by investors.
▌Trump's new government cabinet nominations are complete, with over five being 'crypto players'.
On November 23 local time, President-elect Trump announced the nomination of Brooke Rollins for Secretary of Agriculture. Thus, all cabinet nominations for Trump's new government have been finalized. In addition, Trump has nominated several senior officials in the past few weeks. From the new government's list, aside from well-known names in the crypto market like Musk and Howard Lutnick, several cabinet officials are firm supporters of cryptocurrency and have publicly disclosed their cryptocurrency holdings, including the nominated Vice President, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Director of National Intelligence.
▌Cryptocurrency supporter Paul Atkins is a leading candidate for SEC chairman.
According to informed sources, President-elect Trump's transition team has interviewed senior financial regulators and conservative financial insider Paul Atkins as a candidate for chairman of the SEC. The sources say Atkins is the top competitor to succeed the soon-to-be-exit Gensler. They say Trump is expected to make a choice in the coming days, with no decision yet made. Atkins served as an SEC commissioner during the Bush administration and later founded Patomak Global Partners, a consulting firm for major financial industry clients. He is a staunch supporter of digital assets and fintech companies. He has also testified before Congress on how to restructure the agency's operations and reduce what some industry insiders consider redundant or overly burdensome regulatory requirements.
▌The Bernese Parliament in Switzerland approved a study on Bitcoin mining utilizing excess energy.
The Bernese Parliament in Switzerland passed a proposal to study Bitcoin mining as a way to utilize excess energy and stabilize the power grid. The parliament will conduct a feasibility study to assess energy availability, environmental impact, and regulatory issues. Supporters argue that Bitcoin mining can attract investment, create jobs, and promote renewable energy development.
Blockchain applications
▌The Times discusses whether pensions should invest in Bitcoin.
According to Bitcoin News, a plan in the UK will allocate 3% of pension funds to Bitcoin, but many argue that Bitcoin's volatility makes it unsuitable as a pension fund investment, while many others believe Bitcoin is 'digital gold' worth investing in.
For the reasons mentioned above, the Times published an article discussing whether pensions should invest in Bitcoin.
▌Ripple and Archax launched the first tokenized money market fund on the XRP Ledger.
Ripple announced the launch of the first tokenized money market fund on the XRP Ledger. As a start, Ripple's XRP Ledger will tokenize a $4.77 billion liquidity fund managed by abrdn.
Ripple has partnered with Archax, the UK's first regulated cryptocurrency exchange, broker, and custodian authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority, allowing Archax to use abrdn's money market fund.
Ripple stated in a November 25 release that the tokenization of abrdn's $4.77 billion money market fund on the XRPL indicates that RWA is transitioning on-chain to achieve operational cost savings and improved settlement efficiency.
▌Avalanche launched the Avalanche9000 upgrade on the testnet and introduced a $40 million funding program.
The team behind the Layer 1 blockchain network Avalanche launched its significant upgrade on the testnet on Monday, named 'Avalanche9000', which includes multiple technical improvements aimed at reducing the blockchain deployment cost by 99.9%. These improvements include community proposal ACP-77 (to make Avalanche Layer 1 validators more flexible) and ACP-125 (aimed at reducing Avalanche's base fees by 96%).
A press release states that alongside this upgrade, Retro9000 has also been launched, a $40 million funding program to reward builders developing Layer 1 blockchains and other tools on the Avalanche9000 testnet.
▌Kraken will close its NFT market on February 27, 2025.
Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken announced that it will close its NFT market on February 27, 2025. After November 27, 2024, users will no longer be able to list, bid, or sell items on Kraken's NFT market; they can only withdraw assets.
Kraken stated: 'We have decided to close our NFT market to allocate more resources to new products and services, including undisclosed plans currently in development. Customers have been informed of these changes, and our team will assist them in transferring their NFTs to their Kraken wallets or self-custody wallets of their choice.'
Previously, Kraken first revealed plans to launch its own NFT market in December 2021 and launched a beta version in November 2022.
▌The European Parliament approved the new list of commissioners, including a commissioner who may oversee cryptocurrency rules.
The European Parliament approved a list of commissioners on Wednesday, including personnel responsible for overseeing digital asset regulation, with commissioners Stephane Sejourne, Maria Luis Albuquerque, and Henna Virkkunen potentially including cryptocurrency in their mandate.
In September, European Parliament President Ursula von der Leyen proposed a list of commissioners. Although cryptocurrency is not the core topic of these positions, the commission will be responsible for ensuring the implementation of digital asset rules. Additionally, the EU's crypto asset market legislation MiCA will come into full effect by the end of December, so more work may be needed to ensure implementation.
▌SingularityNET and Mina reach a partnership to advance privacy-focused decentralized AI.
Decentralized AI platform SingularityNET and Mina Foundation announced a partnership to promote the development of privacy-preserving decentralized general AI (AGI) using zero-knowledge proof (ZK) technology. The two sides plan to develop secure AGI applications, such as decision-making AI agents and knowledge-sharing ecosystems, ensuring user data is not exposed during validation.
By combining SingularityNET's AI technology with Mina Protocol's ZK-SNARK technology, this collaboration will balance privacy and innovation while supporting the development of personalized governance tools and other decentralized applications, helping to build a secure AI ecosystem.
Cryptocurrency
▌Bitcoin ETFs set new records in Brazil.
As Bitcoin prices approach $100,000, demand and prices for Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) shares on the Brazilian stock exchange have surged. The first cryptocurrency ETF Hashdex launched on B3 has set a historical record, with net asset value close to $689 million. BITH11 is the ETF offered by Hashdex, providing 100% exposure to Bitcoin, reaching a historical high with net asset value close to $259 million. Every cryptocurrency ETF containing Bitcoin has set a historical high. Only seven ETFs failed to do so, focusing instead on ETH and other areas of cryptocurrency, such as decentralized finance, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and Web3.
▌Analysts: Long-term BTC holders are showing increasingly greedy signs.
According to crypto analyst Ali (@ali_charts) in a post on platform X, long-term BTC holders are showing increasingly greedy signs. Historically, this behavior indicates that BTC may take 8-11 months to reach a market peak. If the trend continues, a potential peak may be seen between June and September 2025.
▌Online video platform Rumble will purchase $20 million in Bitcoin.
Online video platform Rumble is adopting a Bitcoin financial strategy and plans to purchase up to $20 million in Bitcoin.
▌BlackRock and Fidelity's spot Bitcoin ETF had a trading volume of $4.37 billion on November 25.
The spot Bitcoin ETF from BlackRock and Fidelity had a total trading volume of $4.37 billion on November 25.
▌Wintermute analysts: Funds are moving from BTC to ETH, with a surge in derivatives market activity.
Wintermute analysts state that funds are moving from BTC to ETH, with a surge in derivatives market activity. Over the weekend, Ethereum's open contracts soared, while implied volatility also increased, and demand for call options noticeably grew, indicating a growing confidence among derivatives traders.
Analysts state that the shift from Bitcoin to Ethereum is characterized by a sharp rise in Ethereum's implied volatility, with the put-call skew reaching its highest level in 12 months, indicating a very strong preference for upside risk among investors. According to Wintermute analysts, traders are actively pushing the market higher through upward buying. Wintermute analysts noted in their weekly cryptocurrency market update: 'In recent trading days, funds flowed into Ethereum as open contracts on exchanges surged to historic highs.'
▌Standard Chartered analyst: The short-term bottom for BTC is in the range of $85,000 to $88,700.
Geoff Kendrick, Standard Chartered's global head of digital assets research, attributed the recent market turbulence (including Bitcoin's decline and the rise in U.S. long-term bonds) to the decline in the term premium of U.S. Treasury bonds. The term premium is the extra return investors require for holding long-term bonds instead of rolling over short-term bonds. As Bitcoin is often seen as a hedge against instability in traditional financial markets, increased confidence in U.S. Treasuries may temporarily weaken Bitcoin's appeal, leading to a drop in its price.
Kendrick stated: 'There are no signs of slowing in MicroStrategy's purchases, and they are unlikely to sell, but since the election, the average purchase price for ETF and MSTR has been $88,700, which could become the short-term bottom. Bitcoin may consolidate in the range of $85,000 to $88,700 before resuming an upward trajectory.'
▌NASDAQ ISE excludes Bitcoin trust products from FLEX options trading.
NASDAQ ISE LLC submitted a rule change proposal to exclude Bitcoin-related trust products such as Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund, ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust from FLEX options trading. The proposal has been approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is effective immediately, aimed at ensuring consistency between options positions and exercise limits with existing rules. The SEC is also seeking public comments on this proposal, which can be submitted in various ways.
▌Cipher Mining announces the acquisition of a new facility in Texas, signing a 100 MW facility expansion agreement.
Cipher Mining Inc. (NASDAQ:CIFR) announced that it has completed a deal to acquire a new power plant named Stingray in West Texas for $4.1 million in cash and a floating fee of $1.5 per MWh for the first five years after the plant is powered on. The 250-acre site has been approved and a facility expansion agreement of up to 100 MW has been signed.
Cipher CEO Tyler Page stated: 'With the addition of this site, we now have a data center planned to be operational by 2026, which will complement our other new data centers planned for 2025 and 2027.' With the addition of this new site, Cipher's active investment portfolio and development pipeline will total 2.6 GW across 11 sites.
Important economic dynamics
▌Federal Reserve Kashkari: A rate cut in December is a reasonable consideration.
Federal Reserve Kashkari stated that it is reasonable to consider a rate cut in December. The neutral rate may be higher, and policy restrictions may not be as stringent. Geopolitical risks are the primary concern for the economic outlook. No comments on Treasury nominees. The government needs to put the U.S. on a sustainable fiscal path.
▌Federal Reserve spokesperson: The Federal Reserve meeting minutes suggest that if inflation stagnates, rate cuts will become cautious.
'Federal Reserve spokesperson' Nick Timiraos wrote that Federal Reserve members discussed at a meeting earlier this month whether to slow or pause interest rate cuts if progress in reducing inflation stagnates. According to Tuesday's released minutes from the Federal Reserve meeting, officials believed that if economic performance aligned with their expectations, i.e., inflation continued to decline steadily, then 'gradually moving towards a more neutral rate setting may be appropriate.' The minutes showed that all 19 officials who participated in the discussion agreed to lower the Federal Reserve's benchmark short-term interest rate by 25 basis points. Some policymakers noted that since the September meeting, the risk of a more pronounced slowdown in the labor market or economy has diminished. Many of them also stated that there is greater uncertainty about where interest rates should be set for an economy that neither needs stimulus nor monetary restraint. The minutes stated that these considerations 'make it appropriate to gradually reduce policy constraints.'
▌The Federal Reserve is considering a technical adjustment to lower the reverse repo rate by 5 basis points.
The Federal Reserve's meeting minutes show that the Federal Reserve is considering lowering the reverse repo rate by 5 basis points as a technical adjustment. Some participants expressed that it may be appropriate to consider resetting the overnight reverse repo rate to the bottom of the federal funds rate target range in the future.
▌Bernstein: MicroStrategy's stock price could rise another 49%.
Bernstein stated that MicroStrategy's 'unprecedented' move to purchase Bitcoin could drive its stock price MSTR up another 49%.
▌Report: North Korean hackers expand their attacks, targeting the IT and crypto industry.
According to TechCrunch, the North Korean hacker group 'Lazarus Group' has expanded social engineering attacks to multinational IT companies to steal cryptocurrency. Research found that the 'Sapphire Sleet' and 'Ruby Sleet' organizations spread malware and infiltrated to steal secrets through fake recruitment. North Korean IT personnel also used false identities and technical means for infiltration.
