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Top 10 News of the Week

1. U.S. Government Authorized to Sell $6.5 Billion in Seized Dark Web Silk Road Bitcoin link

The U.S. government has been authorized to liquidate the 69,000 BTC (worth $6.5 billion) seized from the "Silk Road," a federal official confirmed to DB News on Thursday. Notably, this comes less than two weeks after the new administration took office, which had previously promised not to sell these BTC. A federal judge ruled on December 30 that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) can sell the 69,370 BTC seized from the "Silk Road" Dark Web marketplace. The DOJ pushed for permission to sell the assets, citing BTC price volatility. When asked about the next steps, a DOJ spokesperson said, "The government will continue to pursue the relevant steps in accordance with the judgment in this case."

2. U.S. December ADP Employment 122,000, Expected 140,000 link

The U.S. December ADP employment was 122,000, expected 140,000, previous 146,000. The U.S. initial jobless claims for the week ending January 4 were 201,000, expected 218,000, previous 211,000.

QCP analysis points out that after the U.S. employment data exceeded expectations, BTC fell back to the $95,000 support level. JOLTS job openings surged to 810,000, far exceeding the expected 774,000. The unexpectedly strong performance of the job market has triggered a risk-off sentiment, with long-term bond yields soaring, leading to the sell-off of risk assets. The market's focus this week will be on the Fed's FOMC meeting and the release of the nonfarm payrolls (NFP) data, which are expected to further impact BTC's price trend. As market expectations heat up, QCP believes that the BTC correction is only a temporary pause in the upward trend, paving the way for the market optimism brought by Trump's inauguration ceremony.

3. Changes in FOMC Voters in 2025 May Lead to Policy Tilt link

In 2025, the Fed will see 2 "hawkish" voters, 1 "dovish" voter, and 1 neutral voter on the FOMC. The changes in the Fed's voters may lead to a policy tilt. Bloomberg believes that the dispersion of voter stances may lead to more disagreements; Barron's believes that the replacement of rotating voters may cause the Fed to tilt hawkish in its 2025 decisions; Reuters believes that the increase in disagreements among voters may exacerbate the risks in policymaking. Additionally, the Fed will hold 8 meetings in 2025, in January, March, May, June, July, September, October, and December.

4. Reuters: Trump May Unveil at Least One Crypto-Friendly Policy on Day One link

The crypto industry has been lobbying Trump to issue executive orders within his first 100 days in office to establish a U.S. BTC reserve, ensure the industry can access banking services, and create a crypto advisory council. The industry expects at least one order to be issued on January 20.

5. Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau Announces Resignation, Pro-Crypto Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre Expected to Succeed link

Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau held a press conference on the 6th to announce his resignation. He plans to continue in his current position until the ruling Liberal Party elects a successor. Additionally, a prediction market shows that Pierre Poilievre has an 87% probability of becoming Canada's next Prime Minister. Poilievre has a positive attitude towards decentralized finance and cryptocurrencies, and heavily promoted cryptocurrencies during his campaign to hedge against inflation.

6. Czech Central Bank Governor Considering Adding Bitcoin to FX Reserves Diversification Strategy link

Aleš Michl, the Governor of the Czech National Bank (CNB), stated in an interview with CNN Prima News that he is considering purchasing a small amount of BTC as part of a foreign exchange reserves diversification strategy, but emphasized that this would not constitute a significant investment decision. The decision requires the approval of the CNB's seven-member board. CNB advisor Janis Aliapulios said the bank currently has no plans to include crypto assets in its reserves, but Michl did not rule out the possibility of discussing it in the future. Meanwhile, the CNB will continue to advance its diversification plan through gold purchases, aiming to increase the gold reserve's share of total assets to 5% by 2028.

Fidelity Digital Assets' latest report "2025 Look Ahead" states that more sovereign nations, central banks, sovereign wealth funds, and government finance departments are expected to include BTC in their national strategic reserves by 2025. Analyst Matt Hogan points out that cases like Bhutan and El Salvador may inspire more countries to follow suit, and not allocating BTC may pose greater risks than allocating it. Additionally, Hogan predicts that by 2025, mainstream custody and management products for digital assets will emerge, and the on-chain tokenized asset market will grow from $14 billion to $30 billion.

7. Former PBOC Governor Zhou Xiaochuan: Global Public Debt Approaching $100 Trillion link

Former PBOC Governor Zhou Xiaochuan recently stated at the "Boao Forum Asia New Year Outlook 2025" event that the impact of digital encrypted assets on global financial stability and security needs to be closely monitored. He mentioned that in 2025, the recovery of the international economy will be full of uncertainties, and with the aggravation of the debt crisis, global public debt is approaching $100 trillion. Cryptocurrencies may play a complex role in this process, especially in the absence of effective regulation, which may increase systemic financial risks. Zhou Xiaochuan emphasized that countries currently need to strengthen global cooperation on cryptocurrency regulation and improve digital currency trading behavior norms.

8. MicroStrategy Acquires 1,070 BTC for $101 Million link

MicroStrategy has acquired 1,070 BTC for approximately $101 million, at an average price of $94,004 per BTC, and achieved a 48.0% BTC gain rate in Q4 2024, and a 74.3% BTC gain rate in fiscal year 2024. As of January 5, 2025, MicroStrategy holds 447,470 BTC, with an average cost basis of $62,503 per BTC, for a total cost of approximately $27.97 billion.

9. Solana AI Hackathon Accused of Becoming an AI Token Speculation Venue, with a Total Market Cap Exceeding $500 Million link

Wu Blockchain founder Yash Agarwal strongly criticized the Solana AI Hackathon, which has inadvertently become an AI token discovery platform and a haven for speculators. He stated that there are 2-3 hackathon projects launching tokens every day, reaching a market capitalization of $50 million in a short period of time, with a total market capitalization exceeding $500 million in incomplete statistics. The current modus operandi is: submit the project and appear in the Solana AI Hackathon project directory -> use Solana AI Hackathon/SendAI as a credit endorsement -> launch the token -> be targeted by whales and KOLs -> drive the price up to $5-50 million in market value. Degen believes that they can find projects with 100x growth potential in the Hackathon, making it a perfect speculative venue. Yash Agarwal advised Builders not to issue tokens just for the sake of issuing tokens, especially without holding a substantial proportion of the tokens. Issuing tokens is easy, but managing them is not fun, and when the price drops, none of these communities, KOLs, or cliques will provide any help.

10. Vitalik publishes a long article "d/acc: one year later", discussing AI safety and cryptocurrency applications link

The article focuses on three key issues: AI safety regulation, the role of cryptocurrencies in d/acc, and public goods financing. AI safety and regulation: 1) establishing a system of accountability, setting reasonable legal responsibilities for AI users, deployers, and developers; 2) setting up a global "soft pause" mechanism at the industrial-grade hardware level, which can reduce global computing power by 90-99% if necessary. Vitalik stated that the connection between d/acc and cryptocurrencies includes: extension of values, early adopter communities, technical applications, and technical complementarity, and many crypto technologies can be applied to the d/acc field, such as zero-knowledge proofs for privacy protection. Public goods financing: through innovative mechanisms such as quadratic funding, retroactive funding, and deep funding, to support the sustainable development of important open-source projects and social public technologies.

Key Financing Events

• Movement Labs announces upcoming completion of $100 million Series B financing link
• Crypto data platform SoSoValue announces $15 million in financing link
• ZKcandy completes $4 million private placement financing link
• Stablecoin infrastructure company AlloyX completes $10 million Pre-A round financing link
• Haedal Protocol completes seed round financing, with investment from OKX Ventures link
• Bluechip announces completion of €1M seed round financing link
• Verifiable AI company Rena Labs announces $3.3 million Pre-Seed financing link
• Sol Strategies Inc. (CSE: HODL) announces $27.5 million private placement financing link
• Starpower announces $2.5 million in new financing, with total financing reaching $4 million link
• AI payment infrastructure Nevermined announces $4 million seed round financing link

For more industry financing events, please check crypto-fundraising.info.