Today's news highlights:
UXLINK ranked first in 24-hour trading volume on both Upbit and Bithumb.
VitaDAO plans to distribute 6.9 million BIO tokens to VITA and VitaDAO IPT holders.
GoPlus released GPS token economics: 10% of the total supply will be used for airdrops.
Co-founder of Syncracy Capital: AI16z, Zerebro, and Griffain's FDV is expected to exceed $1 billion.
K33 Research: If history repeats itself, Bitcoin could reach a cycle peak within three weeks, possibly during Trump's inauguration.
In November, South Korea's average daily cryptocurrency trading volume was on par with the stock market, with the total number of investors exceeding 15 million.
30 new wallets withdrew 1.37 million LINK from Binance within 5 days, valued at approximately $34.1 million.
An anonymous user staked 10,000 BTC on Babylon 10 days ago, worth over $1 billion.
Regulation/Macro
2024 cryptocurrency stock performance: MicroStrategy up 402%, Core Scientific up 307%.
2024 is a milestone year for the cryptocurrency market, marked by iconic events such as the launch of the spot Bitcoin ETF, the Bitcoin halving event in April, and Trump's support, all contributing to volatility in cryptocurrency-related stocks. Overall, the S&P 500 index rose by 25%, and Bitcoin prices increased by nearly 120%. Among the best-performing stocks, MicroStrategy (MSTR) led with a 402% increase, reaching a market capitalization of $83 billion. As the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, MicroStrategy continued to buy Bitcoin heavily in 2024. Core Scientific (CORZ) followed closely with a 307% increase, successfully signing a 12-year contract with AI giant CoreWeave. Terawulf (WULF) and Bitdeer Technologies (BTDR) also performed strongly, rising 142% and 122%, respectively. Additionally, Coinbase (COIN) rose by 69%, with a market capitalization of $66.5 billion, showing stable performance. Among the worst-performing stocks, Greenridge Generation (GREE) saw its stock price plummet by 74%, Argo Blockchain (ARBK) declined by 80%, while Gryphon Digital Mining (GRYP) faced a staggering 92% drop due to a significant revenue decline.
Financing
Venture capital firm Founders Fund is raising approximately $3 billion for its third growth equity fund.
According to Axios from multiple sources, venture capital firm Founders Fund, co-founded by Peter Thiel, is raising approximately $3 billion for its third growth equity fund. Founders Fund has not provided potential investors with an official size target for this new fundraise, but stated that $3 billion would be an approximate size. Founders Fund has invested in some of the world's most valuable tech startups, including SpaceX and Stripe. Due to Thiel's long-standing support for President-elect Trump and the firm's multiple investments with Musk, it also has the opportunity to enter the soon-to-be-inaugurated White House. Founders Fund has also invested in several crypto projects, including Igloo, Inc., the parent company of Pudgy Penguins, the Bitcoin lending platform Lava, and the Bitcoin rollup project Citrea. In 2022, Founders Fund successfully raised $3.4 billion for its second growth equity fund, while raising $1.8 billion for its eighth early-stage fund. However, at the beginning of last year, they decided to split the early-stage funds in two due to a perceived lack of investment opportunities in the market. As of now, they have not begun investing in what is now referred to as the 'ninth fund.' Additionally, while there had been discussions about splitting the growth fund, it has not been implemented. Currently, most of the fund's capital has been deployed, including investments in capital-intensive AI companies.
Project updates
UXLINK ranked first in 24-hour trading volume on both Upbit and Bithumb.
Coingecko data shows that UXLINK ranked first in 24-hour trading volume on South Korea's cryptocurrency exchanges Upbit and Bithumb, approximately $2.886 billion and $345 million respectively. The current price of UXLINK is reported at $3.63, with a 24-hour increase of 123.7%.
The first aiPool presale project saw the top 3 funding addresses spend a total of 814 SOL, but they only received 10 SOL worth of METAV.
On-chain analyst @ai_9684xtpa analyzed: 'The first AI-Pool public presale project saw the top 3 funding addresses spend a total of 814 SOL, but they only received 10 SOL worth of METAV. The excess and late transfers seem to be considered donations. Funding reception rules: since this launch process was entirely executed by AI, the funding reception range was 1-10 SOL, with amounts below 1 SOL considered donations. However, from the transaction records, it appears that funding amounts exceeding 10 SOL and late transfers were also 'forced donations.' The top 3 addresses in the presale phase were: 1. Address HRu6k...eoFCw: contributed 574 SOL; has not yet received tokens, and is forcibly locked. 2. Address 4b6ry...bKkjU: contributed 200 SOL; has received 10 SOL equivalent tokens, namely 109,628 METAV, all of which have been sold. 3. Address 4MeZj...wpRsB: contributed 200 SOL and has received 10 SOL equivalent tokens, adding 23,000 more, and has not yet sold.
VitaDAO plans to distribute 6.9 million BIO tokens to VITA and VitaDAO IPT holders.
The VitaDAO community has initiated a new proposal to 'airdrop BIO tokens to the VitaDAO community' to strengthen the connection between BIO and the VitaDAO community while coordinating governance participation by distributing tokens to active VITA and VITA IPT holders. This proposal suggests distributing up to 6.9 million BIO tokens (from a total allocation of 21 million from VitaDAO) to the VitaDAO community via an airdrop mechanism. Distribution will be based on multiple snapshots targeting VITA token holders and VITA-IPT holders, with the airdrop employing a tiered system to ensure fair allocation among different holder categories. The implementation period for the claiming mechanism is 2 months (January 2025 - March 2025).
GoPlus released GPS token economics: 10% of the total supply will be used for airdrops.
Web3 cybersecurity company GoPlus recently announced the issuance of GPS tokens, with TGE details to be announced soon. The launch of GPS marks GoPlus's transition from a security service provider to a decentralized network. The GPS token aims to power various aspects of this security lifecycle: security service fees, staking rewards, and security transaction fees. Regarding token economics, the total supply of GPS tokens is 10 billion, with 60.67% allocated for ecosystem and community growth, and 39.33% for early contributors and private investors. The distribution for ecosystem and community growth is specifically: 24.67% for community and development allocation, 10% for ecosystem growth allocation, 6% for marketing and growth allocation, 10% for airdrop allocation, 7% for liquidity allocation, and 3% for advisory allocation. The distribution for early contributors and private investors is specifically: 20% for team allocation and 19.33% for early supporters from 2021-2024.
Opinion
Co-founder of Syncracy Capital: AI16z, Zerebro, and Griffain's FDV is expected to exceed $1 billion.
Daniel Cheung, co-founder of Syncracy Capital, stated that several upcoming AI agent platforms on Solana are expected to achieve an FDV exceeding $1 billion in the next phase. He specifically mentioned that AI16z, Zerebro, and Griffain are the projects most likely to reach this goal.
The founder of Artemis stated that TradFi participants will drive crypto assets from $3.5 trillion to over $100 trillion.
Jon Ma, founder of the institutional data platform Artemis, shared his experience of entering the cryptocurrency industry from traditional finance on social media. He mentioned that when he first encountered Bitcoin in 2015, he did not pay much attention until he revisited it in 2017 and bought Bitcoin and other crypto assets.
He stated that through discussions with Erik Voorhees of Shapeshift, he began to recognize the possibility of separating currency from government. In the following years, he missed the DeFi boom and the rise of NFTs, but re-entered the crypto space in 2021, investing in Solana and its NFTs while attempting to participate in DeFi projects.
He also supports Filipino scholars through his girlfriend via Axie Infinity. He believes that traditional financial participants will drive the growth of crypto assets from $3.5 trillion to over $100 trillion in the future. Asset management firms like Fidelity and BlackRock are actively launching digital asset ETFs and related products, while the world's largest fintech companies, Stripe and Visa, may also benefit from crypto payment networks.
Matrixport: A re-entry opportunity for Ethereum may be approaching.
Matrixport stated that Ethereum, similar to Bitcoin, often loses momentum when prices rise sharply, especially when prices increase by more than 60% within 30 days. Historical data suggests that this is usually a good opportunity to take profits. Currently, prices have corrected to levels comparable to a month ago, which may indicate a brewing opportunity for re-entry, especially if the cryptocurrency bull market is expected to persist until 2025.
Notably, Ethereum has not demonstrated the higher beta characteristics seen in the last bull market during this round of rebound. However, it remains a favored asset among investors. The recent continuous inflow of ETF funds is the best evidence of this. This strong demand not only highlights Ethereum's important position but also indicates that even if its performance slightly lags behind expectations in this cycle, it remains highly regarded.
K33 Research: If history repeats itself, Bitcoin could reach a cycle peak within three weeks, possibly during Trump's inauguration.
According to Morningstar, cryptocurrency research firm K33 Research noted that since breaking the $100,000 milestone earlier this month, Bitcoin has been fluctuating. However, history shows that it could reach a new historic high around mid-January next year. K33 research director Vetle Lunde stated that based on Bitcoin's data from the past three cycles, the average duration from the first to the last historic high in each cycle is 318 days. With Bitcoin hitting its first historic high on March 5 of the current cycle, if the average duration from previous cycles repeats, investors might see the cryptocurrency reaching a new peak on January 17, 2025. If Bitcoin does reach a cycle peak by mid-January next year, it will be close to Trump's presidential inauguration on January 20.
Important data
A suspected address belonging to Sun Yuchen transferred 70,182 ETH to HTX in the early morning, worth approximately $245 million.
According to Spot On Chain monitoring, a suspected address belonging to Sun Yuchen transferred 70,182 ETH (worth $244.9 million) to HTX 7 hours ago, including 42,905 ETH unstaked from Lido Finance and 27,277 ETH transferred from Etherfi. Since November 10, he has deposited 179,101 ETH (worth $645 million) into HTX, at an average price of $3,601. He still holds 106,905 STETH (worth $372.4 million) and 56,277 EETH (worth $195.8 million), of which 25,000 ETH (worth $87 million) have been unstaked from Etherfi. Earlier yesterday, Sun Yuchen denied rumors about liquidating ETH, stating that it was merely a transfer of ETH between different wallets by the team.
Glassnode: Solana has maintained positive net capital inflows since early September 2023.
Glassnode posted on X platform, stating: 'Since early September 2023, Solana has maintained positive net capital inflows, with only a small outflow during this period. This ongoing liquidity influx has helped stimulate Solana's growth and price increase, reaching a significant peak of $776 million in new funds inflow daily.'
Coinbase International set a new weekly trading volume record of $119 billion.
Coinbase International's total trading volume last week exceeded $119 billion, setting a new record. The weekly total was 124% higher than the previous week's total, and the average daily value for the past week was 164% higher than the average for the prior week. In November, Coinbase International's average daily trading volume was only $2.5 billion. By December, the exchange's average daily trading volume approached $10 billion. The top five trading pairs on Coinbase International include BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, and DOGE perpetual futures, accounting for 99.8% of the exchange's total trading volume. BTC-PERP accounted for 57% of total trading volume, followed by ETH-PERP at 34%.
PancakeSwap's total trading volume in 2024 reached $310 billion, a year-on-year increase of nearly 179%.
According to Cointelegraph, the decentralized exchange (DEX) PancakeSwap's total trading volume in 2024 reached $310 billion, a nearly 179% increase from $111 billion in 2023. PancakeSwap reported that this was mainly due to the L2 networks Arbitrum and Base, with cryptocurrency trading volume on Arbitrum increasing by 3,656% year-on-year to $13.2 billion, while trading volume on Base rose by 3,539% to $11.6 billion by 2024. In addition, PancakeSwap's trading volume increased by 179% year-on-year, reflecting positive market sentiment and increased activity in the DeFi and DEX sectors.
In November, South Korea's average daily cryptocurrency trading volume was on par with the stock market, with the total number of investors exceeding 15 million.
According to Naver, data from the Bank of Korea shows that as of the end of November, the number of cryptocurrency investors in South Korea reached 15.59 million, an increase of 610,000 compared to October. This number accounts for over 30% of the country's total population, reflecting increased market activity after U.S. President-elect Trump promised to support the cryptocurrency industry. The rise in Bitcoin prices has also fueled this trend. As of the end of November, the total holdings of cryptocurrencies by South Korean investors amounted to 102.6 trillion won (approximately $70.8 billion), compared to 58 trillion won (approximately $40 billion) in October. The average daily trading volume in November reached 14.9 trillion won (approximately $10.288 billion), equivalent to the total daily trading volume of South Korea's composite stock price index (KOSPI) market and the Korea Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) market for the same month.
An address holding a balance of approximately 13.14 million USDT on the Ethereum chain was frozen.
According to Whale Alert monitoring, at around 06:36 Beijing time today, an address on the Ethereum chain holding a balance of 13,145,135 USDT was frozen.
An anonymous user staked 10,000 BTC on Babylon 10 days ago, worth over $1 billion.
The Bitcoin staking protocol Babylon disclosed on its official blog that on December 15, during the third launch of the Babylon Bitcoin staking protocol mainnet, an anonymous staker staked 10,000 Bitcoins, worth over $1 billion, through three transactions. Babylon stated: 'Previously, the largest staking amounts came from entities wishing to stake for their users (such as LST protocols and custodians), but an individual staking on such a large scale is particularly significant for Babylon and its protocol. Regardless of who this person is, they chose to stake directly with Babylon rather than through LST, pushing the concept of 'trustless' staking from the abstract to the concrete.'
30 new wallets withdrew 1.37 million LINK from Binance within 5 days, valued at approximately $34.1 million.
According to Lookonchain monitoring, in the past 5 days, a total of 30 newly created wallets have withdrawn 1.37 million LINK from Binance, worth approximately $34.1 million.
