Daily market update (December 24, 2024, 09:05 AM)

ChainDD market report on December 24 shows, comprehensive DD index and CoinMarketCap quotes:

BTC is at $94,517.04, down about 0.10% in 24 hours;

ETH is at $3,407.92, up about 4.63% in 24 hours;

BNB is at $690.29, up about 7.28% in 24 hours;

DOT is at $7.33, up about 8.25% in 24 hours;

DOGE is at $0.3236, up about 4.60% in 24 hours.

Cryptocurrency circle dynamics

MicroStrategy's stock price has risen 477% this year, second only to AppLovin among U.S. tech companies with a market cap over $5 billion.

According to FactSet data, from the beginning of 2024 to the close on December 20 last Friday, MicroStrategy's stock price has risen by 477%, second only to AppLovin among U.S. tech companies with a market cap over $5 billion. Previously, the company's stock price rose by 346% in 2023. On Monday, MicroStrategy stated in a document that it acquired 5,262 Bitcoins at a price of approximately $561 million over the past week, with each Bitcoin priced at $106,662. This brought the company's total holdings to 444,262 Bitcoins.

The IRS stated in a lawsuit that cryptocurrency staking should be taxed.

The IRS stated in a lawsuit that staking cryptocurrency should incur tax obligations immediately upon completion.

The IRS dismissed the lawsuit filed by cryptocurrency investor Joshua Jarrett in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. The lawsuit involved the tax treatment of staking, a process that generates new tokens by verifying currency transactions using existing tokens and computing power. In a response on December 20, the IRS denied that staking creates new property and asserted that the taxpayer (Jarrett) should pay taxes on the value of the tokens received as staking rewards.

MoonPay is negotiating to acquire the cryptocurrency payment platform Helio for $150 million.

According to Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett, cryptocurrency payment service provider MoonPay is negotiating to acquire Helio for approximately $150 million, which would be MoonPay's largest acquisition to date.

Helio serves as an alternative to Coinbase Commerce, providing a self-service cryptocurrency payment platform enabling content creators and e-commerce merchants to receive payments in cryptocurrencies. It currently offers 'white label solutions', including transaction infrastructure for Solana Pay and DEX Screener.

MicroStrategy will hold a special shareholders' meeting to vote on key proposals such as accelerating the 21/21 plan.

MicroStrategy announced it will hold a special shareholders' meeting to vote on key proposals aimed at accelerating the 21/21 plan, simplifying financing processes, and aligning director compensation with the company’s Bitcoin-centered strategy.
Major proposals include:
1. Increase the authorized Class A shares from 330 million to 10.33 billion to support future financing;
2. Increase the authorized preferred shares from 5 million to 1.005 billion to expand financing options;
3. Modify the 2023 equity incentive plan to provide automatic equity awards for new directors joining the board.

Previously reported, MicroStrategy proposed the '21/21 plan', which aims to conduct $21 billion in equity financing and $21 billion in bond issuance over the next three years, using additional capital to buy more BTC as a financial reserve asset for higher BTC returns.

Grayscale submitted an 8-K form for Grayscale Horizen Trust (ZEN) to the SEC.

The SEC's official website shows that Grayscale submitted an 8-K form for Grayscale Horizen Trust (ZEN).

Elon Musk's xAI announced the list of investors for its $6 billion funding round, including a16z, BlackRock, Fidelity, and others.

Elon Musk's AI startup xAI announced on X the list of investors for its $6 billion Series C funding round, including a16z, BlackRock, Fidelity, Kingdom Holdings, Lightspeed, MGX, Morgan Stanley, OIA, Sequoia Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, NVIDIA, AMD, and others.

The Japanese National Police Agency identified the theft of 4,502.9 BTC from DMM Bitcoin as the act of the Lazarus Group.

Regarding the theft of 48.2 billion yen worth of Bitcoin from the cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin, the Japanese National Police Agency reported on December 24 that the incident was carried out by the North Korean-based cyber attack organization TraderTraitor. South Korea announced that the criminal facts have been confirmed.

Through a joint investigation with the FBI and the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3), the agency identified the perpetrator of the 4,502.9 BTC theft that occurred in May 2024.

TraderTraitor is believed to be affiliated with the North Korean hacker organization Lazarus Group, and the attack was conducted in multiple phases. The National Police Agency stated that it will continue to cooperate with the FBI, other U.S. government agencies, and international partners to investigate the illegal activities of North Korean hackers, including cyber crimes and cryptocurrency theft incidents. Meanwhile, the National Police Agency, the Cabinet Cybersecurity Center, and the Financial Services Agency have issued documents regarding the tactics and countermeasures of the attack groups, urging cryptocurrency-related businesses to be cautious.

In response to this leak incident, DMM Bitcoin decided to close its exchange. Assets and customer accounts will be transferred to SBIVC Trade, with the transition expected to be completed by March 2025.