🗓️ On January 3, 2009, a person or group of people under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto launched the main network of the first cryptocurrency, mining the genesis block with 50 BTC. Its hash contains the headline of the article "Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks" from the British newspaper The Times.
🎄 On New Year's Eve, Elon Musk shared his vision for the near future: "I have a good feeling about 2025," the billionaire wrote on his social network X, accompanying the post with a photo of a child on his shoulders.
Notably, Elon Musk currently resides in an elite cottage at the Mar-a-Lago estate owned by Donald Trump.
📣 Tether faced a ban in the EU due to non-compliance with MiCA requirements. Members of the crypto community are divided into two camps: some believe that the loss of the European market will be a blow to the crypto industry, while others are confident that USDT will not feel the changes.
📣 Scammers leave cryptocurrency wallet addresses and seed phrases in comments on YouTube as part of a new scam scheme to steal funds, said Kaspersky Lab.
Pretending to be inexperienced users, the attackers ask for help in transferring crypto. In one case, the balance of the bait address was 8000 USDT. However, to withdraw the assets, a fee in TRX had to be paid, and this amount went to a fraudulent multisig wallet that required multiple approvals for outgoing transactions.
Thus, the dishonest user, even after sending their own funds, did not get the opportunity to steal the assets.
📊 Forbes has published forecasts for the cryptocurrency market for 2025:
◽️The largest G7 or BRICS country will create a strategic Bitcoin reserve. ◽️The market capitalization of stablecoins will double and reach $400 billion. ◽️DeFi on Bitcoin with L2 support will become the dominant narrative. ◽️New ETFs will appear on the market, and Bitcoin funds will continue to grow. ◽️Another company from the 'Magnificent Seven' will add Bitcoin to its balance sheet. ◽️The market capitalization of cryptocurrencies will exceed $8 trillion. ◽️The USA will revive the spirit of startups and become a global crypto giant.
📣 The newly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced the appointment of 29-year-old Bo Hines as the Executive Director of the Presidential Advisory Council on Digital Assets.
Trump stated that Hines will work alongside David Sachs to stimulate innovation and growth in the field of digital assets, providing industry leaders with the resources necessary for success.
🐶 Memcoins – the future or a bubble? Binance research results
Binance conducted a survey among 27,000 users worldwide and found that 16% of respondents hold memecoins, while only 14.44% of participants have Bitcoin. Dogecoin is the leader among memecoins, and the total state of the memcoin market is estimated at $117 billion. Respondents are confident that in 2025, memecoins and AI tokens will become the main drivers of crypto market growth.
💳 MetaMask has expanded the pilot program for its own bank card in the USA, which allows payments in crypto directly from the wallet.
The team has already opened a Waitlist and promised to expand the geography further. According to the website, in addition to the already known EU, UK, and USA, the card is also available in South America.
🐋104 whale wallets hold more than half of all Ethereum.
The amount of Ethereum in large wallets has reached an all-time high of 57% of the total. Wallets with a balance of less than 100 Ethereum hold only 9.19% of the total supply, but the accumulation by key holders remains a positive signal for the cryptocurrency.
🪙Ripple launched the stablecoin RLUSD today, December 17.
RLUSD will be available on global exchanges and will be backed by deposits in US dollars and other assets, and Ripple plans to use it for transactions and cross-border settlements.
🆕 Ripple is testing RLUSD before the full launch. 13 million RLUSD on two blockchains - XRP Ledger and Ethereum.
On the XRP Ledger, Ripple issued 2.6 million RLUSD and several smaller batches (of 100,000 and 640,000 tokens). The costs for these operations were only 0.00048 XRP. This is an extremely low transaction cost on the network.
On Ethereum, the scale was larger: the company minted 10.4 million and 640,000 RLUSD, spending 0.00161 ETH (~$6.31) on the largest transaction.
❗️ Ripple is actively testing the process of issuing, burning, and transferring tokens to prepare RLUSD for real-world conditions. The main goal is to create a stablecoin that is not only convenient for users but also compliant with all regulatory standards.
📅 14 years have passed since the disappearance of Satoshi Nakamoto
On December 12, 2010, the creator of Bitcoin, known by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, left his last message on the BitcoinTalk forum regarding the issue of DoS attacks on the network.
🇦🇪 The Central Bank of the UAE has approved the launch of AED Coin — the first stablecoin pegged to the national currency.
AED Coin is not just another cryptocurrency. This dirham-backed stablecoin will be a convenient and safe tool for everyone: from ordinary users to large companies. According to the developers, AED Coin will provide access to electronic payments, cross-border transfers, and even decentralized finance. In fact, it will serve as a bridge between the traditional economy and the world of blockchain. The launch is fully aligned with the UAE's national digital development strategy.
🪙 Ripple has officially received approval from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) to issue its own stablecoin RLUSD.
In September, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated that the new stablecoin will be a key tool for banks and financial companies seeking transparency and efficiency. It is also worth noting that Ripple has implemented a strict reserve strategy: funds are held in dollars, U.S. Treasury bonds, and cash-equivalent assets. This decision increases trust from investors and aligns with the growing demands of regulators.
📣 Former CEO of Binance Changpeng Zhao suggested Amazon start accepting bitcoins as payment after a shareholder appeal. He believes this will help the company assess the value of bitcoin and improve payments compared to traditional currencies.
📣 The head of Hartmann Capital announced the end of the altcoin season and warned of a market crash. He expects profit-taking by institutional players, while other experts predict new rallies from altcoins.