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Top 10 News of the Week
1. BTC Breaks $100,000, Reaching a New All-Time High link
On Thursday, OKX market data showed that BTC broke through $100,000, reaching a high of $104,056, a new all-time high. If calculated based on the average price of $0.003 when Laszlo Hanyecz bought 2 pizzas for 10,000 BTC on May 22, 2010, BTC has increased 3,333,333,333 times in the past over 5,000 days. The price of those pizzas has now reached $1 billion.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump posted on the Truth platform, congratulating "BTC holders" on reaching the $100,000 milestone and stating "Together, we will make America great again."
The Alphaville column of the Financial Times published an article reflecting on BTC's historic high of $100,000. The article mentioned that the column has long been critical of BTC and cryptocurrencies in general, believing BTC to be inefficient as a medium of exchange and limited as a store of value, with its price being more a product of market speculation. However, with the surge in BTC's price, the column author expressed regret for not fully understanding BTC's potential investment value and admitted to having deep dissatisfaction with the traditional financial system (TradFi) as well.
As of Friday's publication, coinglass data showed that $1.091 billion in liquidations occurred in the past 24 hours, with $818 million in long positions being liquidated. OKX showed BTC dropping to a low of $89,711.9, currently trading at $97,400, a 24-hour decline of 5.26%.
2. Trump Nominates SEC Chair and Crypto Responsible Person
2.1 Trump Confirms Nomination of Paul Atkins as SEC Chair link
Trump posted on social media, confirming the nomination of Paul Atkins as Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Trump stated that Paul Atkins recognizes the importance of digital assets and other innovations in making America greater than ever before.
2.2 Trump to Appoint David O. Sacks as White House AI and Crypto Czar link
According to Bloomberg, U.S. President-elect Trump will appoint David O. Sacks as the White House's AI and Crypto Czar. Trump stated, "Sacks will work to establish a legal framework that provides the clarity the crypto industry has long sought, allowing the industry to thrive in America."
David O. Sacks is a South African-American entrepreneur and writer, who was the former Chief Operating Officer of PayPal during its founding. Sacks has served as an advisor to the 0x protocol token ZRX. David Sacks has publicly expressed his support for BTC and cryptocurrencies, viewing them as tools to counter the traditional financial system and centralization, particularly in the context of global economic uncertainty and currency devaluation. He believes that DeFi and blockchain technology can make the financial system more transparent. David Sacks has invested in multiple cryptocurrency projects through his venture capital firm Craft Ventures.
Data shows that the "Crypto Czar" David O. Sacks' venture capital firm Craft Ventures has invested in the following cryptocurrency projects: dYdX, Lightning Labs, River Financial, Kresus, Set Protocol, FOLD, Harbor, Handshake, Voltage, Galoy, Lumina, and Rare Bits.
3. Powell: BTC is a Competitor to Gold link
Federal Reserve Chair Powell stated at the DealBook Summit on Wednesday that people use BTC as a speculative asset. He said it is like gold - just virtual and digital. However, he also stated that due to BTC's high volatility, it has not been used as a primary means of payment or a reliable store of value, "It's not a competitor to the dollar. It's actually a competitor to gold."
When asked about potential national BTC reserves, Powell emphasized the Federal Reserve's goal of maintaining a "safe and sound" banking system. Powell stated that the interactions between the crypto ecosystem and the traditional financial banking system should not threaten the health of the latter. He further noted that regulating the crypto industry is not the responsibility of the Federal Reserve. When asked if he personally owns BTC, Powell said "he is not allowed to."
On the same day, ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood tweeted that it was a great day for BTC and digital property rights. The incoming SEC Chair Paul Atkins will remove the constraints that Gary Gensler placed on digital assets, protecting private property rights in the digital world. Today, Fed Chair Powell described BTC as the virtual, digital version of gold. The gold market is around $15 trillion, while BTC is only $2 trillion. BTC is still in its early stages. Indeed, ARK Invest believes BTC's significance goes far beyond gold.
4. Bank of England Governor: UK Expected to Cut Rates Four Times Next Year link
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey stated that policymakers still see four 25-basis-point rate cuts next year as the most likely scenario. He mentioned that the pace of disinflation "has been faster than we expected." In an interview recorded for the Financial Times' Global Boardroom event on Monday, Bailey acknowledged that the Bank of England's November forecast market path was based on four rate cuts, which indeed would bring inflation to the bank's 2% target.
5. South Korea Postpones Crypto Tax Again to 2027 link
The Korea Herald reported that the floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, Park Jang-dae, announced the abandonment of the plan to implement a crypto capital gains tax in 2025, agreeing to further delay it by two years to 2027. Previously, South Korea's plan to tax crypto gains was initially set for 2021. Once implemented, South Korean crypto investors will face a 20% digital asset income tax.
6. Binance Sees $21.6 Billion in Crypto Inflows in 2024 link
Binance had $21.6 billion in crypto inflows in 2024, while the total inflows of the 10 top centralized exchanges ranked 2nd to 11th were $15.9 billion. Bybit ranked second with $7.47 billion in inflows, and OKX ranked third with $4.37 billion.
7. Coinbase Integrates Apple Pay into Onramp to Simplify Crypto Purchases link
Coinbase is integrating Apple Pay into its fiat-to-crypto payment solution Coinbase Onramp, simplifying the process for users to purchase cryptocurrencies. The solution, formerly known as Coinbase Pay, supports one-click buying and reduces the cumbersome steps for users to fund their self-custody wallets. Onramp supports over 60 currencies and provides a lightweight KYC screening, allowing users to operate through bank accounts, debit cards, and Coinbase accounts. This feature was rolled out to select customers ahead of Thanksgiving.
8. MicroStrategy Announces $1.5 Billion Acquisition of 15,400 BTC link
MicroStrategy announced the acquisition of 15,400 BTC for $1.5 billion, at an average price of $95,976 per BTC. MicroStrategy's quarter-to-date (QTD) return is 38.7%, and year-to-date (YTD) return is 63.3%. As of December 2, 2024, MicroStrategy holds a total of 402,100 BTC, with a total cost of approximately $23.4 billion and an average purchase price of $58,263 per BTC.
9. a16z predicts crypto trends for 2025, including tokenization use cases and AI-blockchain integration link
a16z outlined key areas in the crypto industry for the coming year, emphasizing tokenization use cases and the integration of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology as potential growth drivers. According to a16z's report, applications powered by AI and running on-chain are expected to bring at least three emerging trends across the industry: AI-driven wallets, decentralized autonomous chatbots, and identity verification solutions. Another trend expected to emerge by 2025 is related to stablecoins. Over the past few months, the industry has established a market suitable for global remittances, with several companies and protocols launching new stablecoins pegged to the US dollar. a16z predicts that starting next year, stablecoins will gradually replace everyday credit card transactions. Furthermore, as infrastructure matures, it is expected that by 2025, more "unconventional assets" will be tokenized across sectors. The report forecasts that previously overlooked assets, such as biometric data, will generate new revenue streams. On-chain trading of government bonds is another prospect for 2025 and beyond. Supported by institutional adoption of digital assets, the market for government security-backed tokens is expected to thrive starting in 2024. Looking ahead, a16z anticipates that governments themselves will explore the benefits of issuing debt on-chain.
10. Ethereum Foundation releases Q3 2024 grants report link
The Ethereum Foundation has released its Q3 2024 grants report, allocating approximately $12.848 million to support projects and activities across various areas. Community education, developer experience and tools, zero-knowledge proofs and cryptography, consensus layer, and Layer 2 have become the focus of the grants. Community education projects account for the largest share, including the EEA Industry Day in Bangkok, Thailand, the ETH Pura Vida conference in San Jose, Costa Rica, and hackathons. In the technical domain, the Foundation supported the continued development of Web3.js, research focused on optimizing the performance of the Ethereum consensus layer by Lighthouse, as well as projects in the ZKP field, such as Circuitscan and Rapidsnark Mobile Prover, to enhance the application development capabilities of privacy technologies.
Key Funding Events
- DeFi.app completed a $2 million seed round, reaching a valuation of $100 million link
- Cross-chain protocol Union announced the completion of a $12 million Series A round link
- usdx.money announced a $45 million funding round link
- U2U Network raised $13.8 million to drive the development of DePIN and hardware technology link
- Swiss crypto payment platform Brighty completed a $10 million funding round, led by Futurecraft Ventures link
- GAIB raised $5 million in a pre-seed round, focused on GPU tokenization and simplifying access to AI computing resources link
- HTML5 game publishing platform Playgama announced a $3 million funding round link
- Bitcoin ecosystem project BLIFE Protocol completed a $7 million funding round link
- Bitcoin and ZK infrastructure company Fiamma raised $4 million in a seed round link
- Sekai, a generative AI platform based on the Story Protocol, announced a $3.1 million seed round link
- Blockchain platform Haven1 completed a $4.6 million private funding round link
- Decentralized lending protocol Suilend announced a $4 million funding round link
- Decentralized technology company Binary Holdings announced a $5 million strategic investment from ABO Digital link
- Pantera Capital raised $20 million through two dedicated funds to increase its investment in the TON blockchain link
For more industry funding events, please visit crypto-fundraising.info.
