Article source: PA Daily
Today's news reminder:
South Korea's top regulatory body dismissed discussions about establishing a national Bitcoin reserve.
Lutnick's company is in talks with Tether to launch a $2 billion Bitcoin loan project.
Hong Kong ZA Bank today launched virtual currency trading services on its App.
Axie Infinity developer Sky Mavis announced a 21% layoff, affecting about 50 employees.
Binance will launch 1000WHY and 1000CHEEMS USDT perpetual contracts.
The US Bitcoin spot ETF saw a net inflow of $3.38 billion last week, reaching a historic weekly net inflow high.
Solana network's monthly DEX trading volume surpassed $100 billion for the first time.
Data: As of November, Tether has minted over 15 billion USDT.
Regulatory News
South Korea's top regulatory authority dismissed discussions about establishing a national Bitcoin reserve.
According to Cryptonews, the head of South Korea's top financial regulatory body 'temporarily' dismissed the idea of establishing a national Bitcoin reserve. Kim Byung-hwan, chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), made the remarks during a television interview on November 24. Kim stated that there is 'no need' for Seoul to 'stockpile cryptocurrencies' as promised by US President-elect Donald Trump; Korea will wait for other countries to respond to Trump's cryptocurrency adoption plan before taking action; our top priority is to study how to better protect domestic cryptocurrency investors; the FSC does not believe that BTC and other currencies can benefit the national economy; regulators will 'investigate' this wave of 'cryptocurrency frenzy,' 'focusing on' and 'closely monitoring' suspicious 'unfair trading' activities.
Project Dynamics
Lutnick's company is in talks with Tether to launch a $2 billion Bitcoin loan project.
According to Bloomberg, Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary nominee by US presidential candidate Donald Trump, is exploring strengthening financial ties with Tether, the world's largest stablecoin operator, planning to launch a $2 billion project to provide dollar loans to customers using Bitcoin as collateral. Reports cite insiders saying that Lutnick's financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald is discussing obtaining support from Tether to help fund this project, which could amount to several billion dollars. It is reported that Tether uses Cantor's holdings of US Treasuries worth billions to support the value of its stablecoin, and this relationship helps Lutnick's company earn tens of millions of dollars annually.
Later news, US Commerce Secretary nominee Lutnick plans to transfer Cantor's Tether business relationship to his colleagues.
Hong Kong ZA Bank today launched virtual currency trading services on its App.
According to Ming Pao, digital bank ZA Bank announced it has become Asia's first bank to offer cryptocurrency trading services for retail users, providing trading of Bitcoin and Ethereum in Hong Kong dollars and US dollars on its App starting today. Hong Kong residents who open an investment account with ZA Bank need to complete processes such as risk assessment to buy and sell the two cryptocurrencies in the application, with entry fees of $70 or 600 HKD, and a transaction commission of $1.99 or 15 HKD per transaction, with a platform fee of 1.5% of the transaction amount (with a minimum charge of $1.99 or 15 HKD per transaction). The bank will waive commissions until June next year, and the platform fee will also be reduced to 0.8% of the transaction amount.
Axie Infinity developer Sky Mavis announced a 21% layoff, affecting about 50 employees.
According to Techinasia, Axie Infinity developer Sky Mavis announced a 21% layoff. Due to its global team size of about 250 people, this decision will affect approximately 50 employees. Co-founder Nguyen Thanh Trung stated that financial constraints were not the reason for this decision; this move is part of a renewed focus on core products and long-term strategy. Affected employees will receive severance pay and employment placement support.
Starknet: The integration phase of STRK staking phase one has now begun.
According to Starknet's announcement on platform X, the integration phase of STRK staking phase one has now begun, with Starknet deploying the system on the Starknet mainnet, expected to be completed in a few hours. Starting tomorrow, validators can begin integrating with the staking contract. For users (delegators), a little more patience is needed; the delegated UI and dApp will be ready by Tuesday, November 26.
Michael Saylor: In the past two weeks, MicroStrategy's Bitcoin profits reached $5.4 billion.
According to Cointelegraph's post on platform X, MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor stated that in the past two weeks, MicroStrategy's Bitcoin profits reached $5.4 billion, with daily profits of approximately $500 million.
Later news, Michael Saylor hinted again that he may continue to increase his BTC holdings.
Andrew Kang: The DeSci field currently feels like the DeFi era in early 2019; I have participated in the latest round of investment in BIO Protocol.
Mechanism Capital partner Andrew Kang stated in a post on platform X that 'the current decentralized science (DeSci) field feels like the DeFi era in early 2019. Although everything is still in an early stage and highly experimental, those involved can feel its enormous potential. Current projects may not follow the same model or product in the future, as they are being developed through iteration. Back in 2019, Maker, Synthetix, and Aave were also some cumbersome small-cap projects, and now they have developed into large protocols. Here are some of the projects I find most interesting: BIO Protocol, Pump Science, GLP1.' Additionally, Andrew Kang added that he has participated in BIO Protocol's latest funding round.
Murad: Worthwhile meme project communities should have six characteristics, including multiple resistances to downturns and diamond hands.
Meme ecosystem KOL Murad stated on platform X that investing in memes is essentially investing in 'people'; the key is to find meme communities with the following characteristics: - Hard-working people every day - More than 6 months - Withstood multiple downturns - Increasing number of holders every month - Target amount over $20 billion - Large distribution + diamond hands.
ai16z: DAO partners have decided that ai16z and AI Combinator will be completely separated.
ai16z announced on platform X that DAO partners have decided to suspend all distracting AI trader shipping matters to focus 100% of their energy on $ai16z and $degenai. ai16z and AI Combinator will be completely separated, wishing Ryze Labs the best progress in accelerating the AI agent field. ai16z also stated that its technology is open source and anyone can use it for free, and it will always be so.
Fundstrat Digital Asset Strategy Director: Currently, the Korean kimchi premium is approximately 0%, which may indicate that BTC still has room for growth.
According to Yahoo Finance, Fundstrat Digital Asset Strategy Director Sean Farrell stated in the latest client report that 'friends and family' have begun inquiring about cryptocurrencies again. From quantifiable market indicators, the current situation does not exhibit the bubble of the March rebound or the cyclical peak at the end of 2021. For example, the current kimchi premium indicator in the Korean market is approximately 0%, indicating a lack of excessive excitement among Korean traders. Typically, when the market peaks, the kimchi premium skyrockets to over 10%, and the recent week's rise should not be seen as mere speculative prosperity; Bitcoin may still have room for growth.
CryptoQuant CEO: MSTR's Bitcoin holding premium has returned to levels seen during the 2021 bull market.
CryptoQuant founder and CEO Ki Young Ju stated on platform X: 'The premium for MicroStrategy (MSTR) Bitcoin holdings has returned to levels seen during the 2021 bull market. Data shows that the MSTR premium peaked in mid-2021 but never fell below zero during the last bear market. In contrast, GBTC fell to a -48% discount during the bear market, ultimately triggering a crisis as leverage was unwound. Michael Saylor knows how to handle leverage; during the 2022 bear market, he kept MicroStrategy stable and effectively managed the market risk of BTC.' Furthermore, Ki Young Ju stated, 'The bull market of 2021 was dominated by newcomers to cryptocurrency, while 2024 will be the domain of traditional finance and cryptocurrency veterans. This is a different game, and the likelihood of absurd events occurring is much lower.'
Vitalik: The crypto industry needs to produce some meaningful applications with a lot of user participation, rather than just issuing coins and creating exchanges.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated in an interview with Tencent News (Qianwang) that OpenAI has now become CloseAI. Today, another issue arises: First, they sacrificed their open-source for safety; then this year, for profit, they sacrificed their safety. Last year, there was a conflict between the company and the board, and after the conflict, it seemed that Sam Altman (OpenAI CEO) won. Recently, they announced that they would transition from a non-profit to a for-profit company, reducing the power of the board—one could say to the level of advisor. This concerns me. It reminds me of a saying from one of America's founding fathers: 'You cannot sacrifice freedom for safety; if you do, you will find you have neither.' The behavior of OpenAI seems to reflect this. Additionally, regarding the crypto field, Vitalik stated that a problem in the crypto industry over the past five years is that people's dreams and hopes are high, but technology cannot meet most of those dreams. The first possibility for how crypto can save the world is Crypto + Decentralized AI; the second is Crypto + a technology that can replace AI. To some extent, the boom in artificial intelligence over the past two years may cool off crypto. I have a concern: if particularly wise people do not engage in crypto and stay in the crypto space, the people remaining may not have interesting thoughts, and the only applications will be the financial applications we've been doing for many years. This will lead to a situation where we just issue coins, create exchanges; then issue another coin, create another exchange; then issue another coin with a cute dog on it—these things are fun, but if they are the only things our industry does, then our industry is failing. The challenge our industry faces is to create an application that is both meaningful and has a lot of user participation. However, this year, the power of crypto has increased significantly, and many developers are beginning to want to create applications that are both meaningful and have a lot of user participation. If the crypto field continues to succeed, many will still choose to participate in crypto.
Later news, Vitalik stated that the crypto industry needs applications focused on specific functionalities like anoncast.
Binance will launch monthly options for BNBUSDT and SOLUSDT.
According to the official announcement, Binance options will launch monthly options for BNBUSDT and SOLUSDT at 16:00 (UTC+8) on November 26, 2024.
Zircuit's ZRC token has now lifted trading restrictions.
Layer2 project Zircuit announced that its token ZRC will be launched for trading today at 18:00 (UTC+8). According to the token economics, the total supply of ZRC is 10 billion, of which 21% is allocated for community rewards, including 7% for the first quarter airdrop, 3% for the second quarter airdrop, and 2.45% for other activities. The distribution of tokens for the team and investors has a 12-month lock-up period, followed by a linear release over 24 months. The first unlockable proportion is 21.95%, including 10% for the first and second quarter airdrops, with the remaining part covering community, ecological development, and foundation uses.
Binance will launch 1000WHY and 1000CHEEMS USDT perpetual contracts.
The Binance contract platform will launch perpetual contracts at the following times, with a maximum leverage of up to 75 times. November 25, 2024, 19:30 (UTC+8): 1000WHYUSDT perpetual contract; November 25, 2024, 19:45 (UTC+8): 1000CHEEMSUSDT perpetual contract.
After Binance announced the launch of 1000WHY and 1000CHEEMS USDT perpetual contracts, both WHY and Cheems plummeted over 30%.
Financing News
Singapore Gulf Bank is seeking to raise at least $50 million and acquire a stablecoin payment company.
According to Bloomberg, insiders revealed that Singapore Gulf Bank (SGB), backed by the Bahrain Sovereign Wealth Fund Mumtalakat and Singapore's Huangpu Group, is seeking to raise at least $50 million in a funding round and plans to acquire a stablecoin payment company next year; the bank obtained a license in Bahrain in February this year and is currently in discussions with a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund and other investors, planning to sell less than 10% of its equity before early 2025; the funds raised will mainly be used to accelerate product development, enhance the bank's payment network, and recruit more employees; the bank plans to acquire a stablecoin payment company in the Middle East or Europe in the first quarter.
Important Data
Data: As of November, Tether has minted over 15 billion USDT.
According to Cointelegraph's disclosure on platform X, as of November 2024, stablecoin issuer Tether has minted over 15 billion USDT.
ETH whales donated 70 ETH to the Ethereum meme issuance platform jump.fun.
On-chain data shows that a whale holding over 2,500 ETH has donated 70 ETH to the Ethereum meme issuance platform jump.fun; so far, the total donation amount for jump.fun has exceeded 738 ETH. jump.fun is a meme issuance platform based on Ethereum, aiming to inject new solutions into the ETH meme ecosystem through one-click token issuance and an initial liquidity loan of 6 ETH.
The Bitcoin spot ETF is expected to surpass Satoshi Nakamoto's BTC holdings by the end of the year.
According to Beincrypto, crypto analyst HODL15Capital stated that Bitcoin ETFs currently hold about 1.081 million Bitcoins, slightly lower than Satoshi Nakamoto's estimated 1.1 million. Additionally, Bloomberg senior analyst Eric Balchunas stated that the spot Bitcoin ETF has already completed 98% of its pursuit of Satoshi Nakamoto's holdings. He predicts that if the current inflow rate continues, this goal could be achieved by Thanksgiving. Moreover, the Bitcoin ETF is also narrowing the gap with the gold ETF, which currently manages assets worth $120 billion. Balchunas stated that the Bitcoin ETF manages assets worth $107 billion and could surpass the gold ETF by Christmas.
10x Research: Last weekend, Upbit's single-day trading volume reached $14 billion, comparable to the Korean stock market.
10x Research pointed out in its market analysis that the Korean exchange Upbit occupies 80% of the local market share, with a trading volume of $14 billion on both Saturday and Sunday last week, an increase of 48% compared to its 7-day moving average, which usually includes higher trading volumes on working days. In comparison, the trading volume of all Korean stocks was $14 billion. This is different from the speculative frenzy observed in March when the daily retail trading volume in Korea reached $16.2 billion, while the current market is experiencing several consecutive days of abnormally high trading volume.
Musk's wealth reaches a historic high of $348 billion.
According to Financial界, Tesla CEO Musk's net worth reached a record $347.8 billion on Friday, partly due to the continuous rise in Tesla's stock price, and partly due to the valuation of his AI startup xAI reaching $50 billion in the new funding round. Since Trump was re-elected as US President, Musk has entered the core political circle under the halo of what he calls his 'best buddy,' with many of his companies' valuations soaring. Tesla's stock price rose 3.8% on Friday, reflecting the market's continued optimism that Trump's team's plans on autonomous driving and electric vehicle subsidies will give the company an advantage over its peers. Tesla's stock has risen 45% since November 4, the day before the election, expanding the company's market value by about $350 billion. Meanwhile, xAI's valuation has more than doubled since the funding round in May, and Trump's victory has sparked greater investor interest. On Wednesday, Trump also watched SpaceX's launch with Musk. Insiders revealed that the company is in preliminary discussions about a directed share issuance, with the valuation expected to rise to about $255 billion. As the world's richest person, Musk's wealth has surged 35% since the day before the election.
The US Bitcoin spot ETF saw a net inflow of $3.38 billion last week, reaching a historic weekly net inflow high.
According to SoSoValue data, the Bitcoin spot ETF had a net inflow of $3.38 billion last week (from November 18 to November 2, Eastern Time). Among them, Grayscale ETF GBTC saw a net outflow of $52.85 million last week, with a historical net outflow of $20.33 billion. The Bitcoin spot ETF with the highest net inflow last week was BlackRock ETF IBIT, with a weekly net inflow of $2.05 billion, bringing its historical total net inflow to $31.33 billion. Next was Fidelity ETF FBTC, with a weekly net inflow of $773 million, bringing its historical total net inflow to $11.54 billion. As of the time of publication, the total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs is $107.488 billion, with a net asset ratio (market cap as a percentage of Bitcoin's total market cap) reaching 5.48%, and the historical cumulative net inflow has reached $30.843 billion.
CoinShares: Last week, digital asset investment products saw a net inflow of $3.13 billion.
According to CoinShares' latest weekly report, last week digital asset investment products recorded the largest weekly inflow of funds, reaching $3.13 billion, bringing the total inflow year-to-date to a new high of $37 billion. Among them, Bitcoin-related products saw an inflow of $3 billion, while investment products that short Bitcoin attracted $10 million in funds. Since the Federal Reserve's first rate cut in September, total inflows have reached $15.2 billion.
Solana outperformed Ethereum, attracting $16 million inflow last week, while Ethereum only recorded $2.8 million. However, from the beginning of the year to date, Solana still significantly lags behind Ethereum. Among other altcoins, XRP, Litecoin, and Chainlink recorded inflows of $15 million, $4.1 million, and $1.3 million respectively.
US market dominated capital inflow, totaling $3.2 billion, while Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland saw outflows of $40 million, $84 million, and $17 million respectively due to profit-taking at peaks. The Australian, Canadian, and Hong Kong markets saw inflows of $9 million, $31 million, and $30 million respectively. Multi-asset investment products experienced capital outflows for the second consecutive week, totaling $10.5 million.
Data: Tokens such as IMX, ADA, and APEX will see significant unlocks next week, with IMX unlocking approximately $40.5 million in value.
Solana network's monthly DEX trading volume surpassed $100 billion for the first time.
According to The Block, Solana network's decentralized exchange (DEX) trading volume surpassed $100 billion for the first time in November, reaching $109.8 billion. This figure is nearly double the monthly DEX trading volume of Ethereum's mainnet ($55 billion), representing over 100% growth compared to October's $52.5 billion. Currently, Solana's monthly active address count has reached 107.5 million and is expected to break the October record of 123 million by the end of the month. Additionally, major platforms on Solana, Pump.fun and Raydium, set new highs for fee income this month, reaching $71.5 million and $182 million, respectively.
