In the past 24 hours, the trading volume of Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin surged by 170%, reaching a market capitalization of $53 million. This surge comes at a time of increasing uncertainty for Tether's USDT due to the approaching EU MiCA regulatory compliance deadline, which may lead to the suspension of USDT in the region. The rise of RLUSD as a viable alternative makes this development particularly significant for the cryptocurrency market.
Surge of Ripple RLUSD: Key Drivers and Impacts
On December 30, Ripple RLUSD trading volume skyrocketed to 33.67 million, growing by 170% within 24 hours. This surge can be attributed to the following key factors:

In 2024, the global cryptocurrency market once again demonstrated its amazing vitality and potential, with many assets performing far better than Bitcoin. $PEPE, $SUI, and MicroStrategy ($MSTR) have become the brightest stars this year, attracting the attention and enthusiasm of countless investors. Their rise has not only rewritten the market landscape but also proven the diversity and possibilities of crypto assets.
In 2024, the legend of the meme coin market is once again written by $PEPE. This token, based on the image of Pepe the Frog, initially gained popularity due to its humor and appeal of meme culture. However, $PEPE has surpassed the traditional meme coin 'joke nature' this year, shocking the market with an astonishing 1,492% increase. From an initial market capitalization of $590 million, it skyrocketed to $9.4 billion by the end of the year, successfully attracting a large number of investors and steadily entering the top 30 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

Warren Buffett disclosed last week that his active buying of shares in the well-known internet company VeriSign, which holds the patent for linking domain names to blockchain addresses like Bitcoin, has drawn attention. After Bitcoin surpasses $100,000 at the end of 2024, a new wave of initial coin offerings (ICOs) may erupt in 2025, this time with more traditional corporate capital entering, expecting total capital to reach hundreds of billions of dollars.
Berkshire Hathaway, led by Buffett, disclosed in a Form 4 document submitted to the SEC on Thursday (December 26) that it spent a total of $28.55 million to purchase 143,424 shares of VeriSign Inc. (VRSN) within three trading days ending December 24.

Bitcoin broke below the key support level of $94,000 early this morning (30th), moving away from the historical high of $108,000 set on the 17th of this month. In just two weeks, the price has fallen over 13%. Whether it can carve out a path for a rebound in a bear-dominated battlefield has become the hottest topic in the market right now.
Market analysts, including BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes, have long warned that Bitcoin may experience significant corrections before setting new highs, and it now seems that these warnings are coming true. Currently, the Bitcoin price has fallen below the 20-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) and is gradually approaching the 50-day EMA, indicating that Bitcoin's recent momentum is weak.

According to analysts and experts, AI agents, a series of crucial network upgrades, and improvements in the US regulatory environment are all reasons for Ethereum fans to look forward to 2025.
Ethereum supporters say that AI entities, significant network upgrades, increased institutional interest, and comprehensive regulatory reforms brought by the new US President Donald Trump’s crypto-friendly government are all reasons to be excited about 2025.
Infinex founder Kain Warwick stated in an interview with Cointelegraph that although Ethereum's performance in 2024 may seem a bit flat, this asset is like a 'compressed spring,' ready for a breakout in 2025.

The global investment market entered the Christmas holiday last week. Since Europe and the US have been the biggest drivers of this Bitcoin bull market, the holiday has led to a decline in past buying from these regions, while Asian and Middle Eastern investors have been selling as per past funding operations. As a result, the cryptocurrency market prices have not faced many issues, with Bitcoin prices dropping from $97,000 to $94,000, a weekly decline of about 5%. Ether fell from $3,500 to $3,300, with an overall weekly decline of about 4%.
However, South Korea may be one of the few counterexamples. Due to political turmoil, the public is buying cryptocurrencies en masse, making South Korea the largest buying force in Asia lately. Jeff Park, the strategy director of Bitwise, pointed out that the South Korean National Assembly recently passed a motion to impeach the Prime Minister and acting President. The news of the acting President’s impeachment led to a significant depreciation of the Korean won, further increasing the popularity of cryptocurrencies as a store of value.

On Monday (December 30), Bitcoin plummeted to around $93,500 as the Biden administration launched a classic last-minute regulatory move before leaving office, with the IRS under the Treasury releasing the midnight broker rule requiring brokers to report digital asset transactions, incorporating decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms into the existing tax framework. Market participants criticized that this would threaten the future of U.S. DeFi innovation.

Major bearish news: U.S. 'midnight broker rules' target DeFi.
The IRS has released final regulations requiring brokers to report digital asset transactions, incorporating DeFi platforms into the existing tax framework. The rule will take effect in 2027 and will require brokers to disclose transaction details, including total gains and taxpayer information. Brokers must start collecting and reporting data from 2026. These regulations primarily target 'front-end service providers' like decentralized exchanges (DeXs). According to the IRS, classifying these platforms as brokers will help ensure tax compliance.

FLOKI seems to have a large number of holders currently in deficit.
Everyone's eyes are on the whales, watching to see if they will help drive up the price.
The past week has been a turning point for the memecoin community, as it has been struggling to attract investors due to a recent preference for less volatile, more stable assets. FLOKI has particularly become a prime example of this shift.
In just seven days, FLOKI achieved an impressive 22% growth, showing signs of recovery, which aligns with the broader shift in the memecoin market. So, as the green shoots of growth begin to appear, does this signal the start of a larger-scale rebound for FLOKI?

Ethereum supporters say the rise of AI agents, major network upgrades, increased institutional interest, and sweeping regulatory changes brought about by the crypto-friendly administration of new U.S. President Donald Trump are reasons to be excited about 2025.
Infinex founder Kain Warwick said that although Ethereum's performance in 2024 was slightly lackluster, the asset was like a "compressed spring" and was ready for a breakthrough in 2025.

According to TradingView data, ETH (Ether) has risen 53.5% this year so far, from $2,350 on January 1 to $3,478 at the time of writing.

In the final days of a record year for digital assets, Bitcoin’s rally is bursting as investors assess the remaining momentum of President-elect Donald Trump’s embrace of the cryptocurrency sector.
The largest coin was changing hands at $96,200 as of 6 a.m. in London on Friday, with some coins trading nearly 3% lower than the previous day’s retreat. Smaller rivals, including Ether and Dogecoin, a favorite of the meme crowd, also oscillated in a narrow range.
Trump is moving forward with his promise to create a crypto-friendly environment in the U.S. and is backing the idea of ​​a national Bitcoin reserve. Traders are taking some profits and are waiting to see if the controversial reserve is feasible.

Ryan Salame and Caroline Ellison, two core figures in the cryptocurrency exchange FTX fraud case, are currently serving their sentences, but according to Business Insider, their sentences were recently shortened and they were given the opportunity to be released early.
Ryan Salame, formerly co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, a subsidiary of FTX in the Bahamas, was the fourth close associate of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) to plead guilty. He pleaded guilty to criminal fraud in September last year and was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison in May this year.
Ryan Salame has been serving his sentence in prison since October this year, but the latest data from the Federal Bureau of Prisons shows that his expected release date has been brought forward to March 1, 2031, more than a full year earlier than the original April 2032.

Christmas 2024 is one of the most important moments in Bitcoin’s history. As global investors focus on this digital asset, the price of Bitcoin finally breaks through the $100,000 mark. Although this rise is somewhat limited by the low liquidity environment during the holiday season, the market’s confidence in its long-term performance is increasing.
This price breakthrough was not only driven by high investor sentiment, but also closely related to the macroeconomic background and upcoming options events. On December 27, up to $14 billion in Bitcoin options will expire, of which $4 billion in open positions have entered the "in-the-money" state. This scale sets a historical record for the Deribit exchange and may lead to a significant increase in market volatility. Deribit CEO Luuk Strijers pointed out that this expiration event will become a key market driver in the short term.

On Friday (December 27), the average profit of Bitcoin investors reached $57,525, reaching a peak of $69,438 earlier in December, an average increase higher than the average annual salary of Americans. After President-elect Donald Trump won the election, the number of American Generation Z cryptocurrency users on the well-known exchange Bitget surged 683%.
According to Whale Alert data, the average salary of Americans in 2024 is $62,027. Bitcoin investment profits have obviously surpassed American salaries. Imagine that as long as you own one Bitcoin, your savings will grow and even exceed your own annual salary, which has fueled the enthusiasm of the U.S. market.

Bitcoin reached an all-time high this year, bolstered by the approval of the U.S. spot ETF and Trump's election - however, some assets performed even better.
Bitcoin reached an all-time high this year, primarily due to the approval of the U.S. spot ETF and the subsequent boost from Donald Trump's election - although other assets performed even better.
Decrypt analyzed data from CoinGecko and Nasdaq to determine the best-performing cryptocurrencies. Eligible assets must have a starting market cap of at least $500 million during the period from January 1 to December 17.

On Friday (December 27), Bitcoin plummeted and nearly fell below $95,000, recording a decline of over $2,000 in a single day, with the collapse caused by a 'reporting error' on Trading View that brought Bitcoin's dominance down to 0%. Strive, related to President-elect Trump, has applied for a Bitcoin bond ETF aimed at investing in convertible bonds from Wall Street-listed giant MicroStrategy, among others.

Users in the cryptocurrency community reported anomalies in the Trading View Bitcoin dominance chart, causing Bitcoin to drop to $95,000. The error showed that Bitcoin's share of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization had fallen to 0%. It is said that this error was behind the instinctive trading response, which has now been corrected.

Moodeng, the little hippopotamus "bouncing pig" in the Khao Kheow Zoo in Thailand, has gained countless fans online due to its cute appearance and interesting interactions. It has also made people in the cryptocurrency circle crazy because the meme token MooDeng based on it has a strong wealth-creating effect on Ethereum and Solana.
In addition, according to previous reports from the Moodeng community, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin also visited the world-famous hippopotamus at the Khao Kheow Zoo in mid-November. According to a Facebook post by Moodeng administrator "ขาหมู แอนด์เดอะแก๊ง", Vitalik Buterin was wearing a shirt with Moodeng patterns when he went to the zoo to see Moodeng.

Solana's short-term risk has bottomed out at levels reversed during the past four adjustments.
SOL's DEX trading volume has surpassed $100 billion for the second consecutive month.
The price chart of Solana (SOL) aligns with its short-term risk index, which has rebounded from stable levels during the recent bull market. This pattern suggests that traders' risk aversion sentiment may be at a bottom. Historically, every time the risk index drops to such lows, the price on the chart has subsequently rebounded.

Indeed, this consistent behavior indicates that SOL's current position may foreshadow another upward trend.

Recently, the trading volume of the over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency market has surged. Tim Ogilvie, head of institutional business at the U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, stated: 'In short, the OTC market is very hot right now. While price increases are important, the rise in trading volume is even more significant.' He revealed that Kraken's OTC trading volume has grown by 220% year-on-year.
Jake Ostrovskis, an OTC trader at the famous market maker Wintermute, also noted that the mid-term market is relatively flat, but prices have risen during the election period, prompting participants to enter the market. He stated:
'Some clients hesitated for years before the elections, but after the results came out, they finally started to take action.'