● Santiment: CEX Stablecoin Inflows Increase, Market Signals Bullish Sentiment
According to ChainCatcher, Santiment, a cryptocurrency market research organization, posted on social media that after a general market downturn during Christmas, there has been an encouraging trend in the cryptocurrency market—whales are transferring stablecoins to trading platforms. According to Santiment's CEX deposit dashboard, there were seven deposits of at least $9 million each into Binance within the past 24 hours, one of which was as high as $50 million (accounting for 2.33% of the total supply). When the dashboard shows that stablecoin deposits dominate the inflows and outflows of trading platforms, it is usually a strong signal indicating that whales are preparing to buy, which could drive the overall market prices up. Although this does not guarantee that whales will use these funds immediately, it can be seen as a bullish signal as 2024 approaches its end.
According to PANews, Pantera Capital pointed out in a blog that stablecoins are a key force driving the adoption of cryptocurrency. From 3% of blockchain transactions in 2020 to now over 50%, stablecoins have seen significant growth.
Pantera Capital emphasizes that stablecoins are a killer value proposition for cryptocurrency, with adjusted transaction volume expected to exceed $50 trillion in 2024, involving nearly 200 million accounts, marking a breakthrough moment. Stablecoins are not limited to the DeFi ecosystem but are widely used in other areas, especially growing rapidly in emerging markets. They offer a tenfold value proposition compared to traditional payment channels, applicable for B2C payments and B2B cross-border transactions.
According to Juniper Research, cross-border B2B payments are expected to reach approximately $40 trillion through traditional channels by 2024. Stablecoins are becoming a new means for global cross-border remittances, with on-chain stablecoin supply and transaction volume hitting all-time highs.
● The U.S. IRS Requires DeFi Front-End Platforms to Report Digital Asset Transactions, Effective 2027
According to Cointelegraph, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued final regulations requiring brokers to report digital asset transactions, including those involving decentralized exchanges and other front-end platforms.
The new regulations will take effect in 2027 and require brokers to disclose the total revenue from cryptocurrency and other digital asset sales, as well as information about the taxpayers related to the transactions.
The regulations state that only front-end service providers that are considered brokers are subject to these requirements, applying to platforms that facilitate digital asset transactions for clients. The IRS defines DeFi front-ends as brokers, applicable to platforms engaging in digital asset transactions through smart contracts and other means.
According to Cointelegraph, the new regulations announced by the IRS on December 27 classify multiple DeFi protocols as brokers, requiring them to disclose customer transaction information. This regulation could affect up to 875 DeFi brokers.
The new regulations have sparked widespread opposition on social media, with many legal experts arguing that the IRS may be overstepping its authority and infringing on constitutional rights.
● The U.S. NIST Proposes Expanding AES Encryption Standards to Address Quantum Threats
According to Cointelegraph, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has suggested standardizing the block and key sizes of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) to 256 bits.
NIST stated that increasing block size is necessary due to the growing number of applications requiring larger data volumes, as well as the rising demand for these data-intensive applications.
Currently, the block size used by AES is 128 bits, and the key lengths can be 128 bits, 192 bits, or 256 bits. Increasing key length can provide quantum security for the encryption system.
● Binance Wallet Adds Support for 9 dApps, Covering Cross-Chain Trading and Decentralized Liquidity
According to official news from Binance Wallet, nine new decentralized applications (dApps) have been launched, including UniSat, ALPHA-X, WOOFi, oooo protocol, DeSyn Protocol, Prosper, Eddy Finance, Matrixdock, and Jasper Vault. These applications cover various fields including cross-chain trading, AI insights, and decentralized liquidity.
● Floki DAO Votes Unanimously to Provide Liquidity for Floki ETP
According to ChainCatcher, Floki DAO voted to approve the proposal to provide liquidity for Floki ETP. This is the first time in FLOKI DAO's proposal history that it passed with unanimous support and zero opposition votes. The decision will allocate a portion of 16,310,285,772.6 FLOKI tokens to provide liquidity for FLOKI ETP, while the remaining portion will be burned. The creation of FLOKI ETP is driven by a respected asset management company and ETP issuer, expected to launch in the first quarter of 2025, and is anticipated to become the second meme token ETP listed on a regulated exchange following Dogecoin ETP.
● BlackRock and MicroStrategy's Total Bitcoin Holdings Approaches 1 Million BTC
According to Foresight News, Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, disclosed that the total Bitcoin holdings of BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin ETF and MicroStrategy are approaching 1 million BTC.
● Market News: Do Kwon to Be Extradited to the U.S.
According to Odaily Planet Daily, Montenegro's Minister of Justice Bojan Božović has signed the decision for Do Kwon to be extradited to the U.S.
Previously, Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon's constitutional appeal submitted in Montenegro was rejected. Do Kwon's side claimed that the extradition process was unfair and that there were errors in the legal interpretation, but the constitutional court did not accept these claims. With the constitutional court's rejection of the decision, Do Kwon's extradition process has been restarted.
