Jinse Weekly is a weekly blockchain industry summary column launched by Jinse Finance. The content covers key news of the week, mining information, project dynamics, technological progress and other industry dynamics. This is the news weekly, which will give you an overview of the major events in the blockchain industry this week.

Headline

▌Nvidia surpasses Apple to become the world's largest company by market capitalization

According to data from CompaniesMarketCap, Nvidia has surpassed Apple to become the world's largest company by market capitalization.

The data shows that Nvidia's market value is about $3.72 trillion, while Apple's market value is about $3.719 trillion.

▌Trump plans to issue a series of executive orders within hours of being sworn in

US President-elect Donald Trump plans to issue a series of executive orders on issues such as immigration, energy, federal employees and regulatory reform within hours of taking office on January 20, in an effort to quickly and comprehensively implement his policy agenda. The executive orders he plans to sign include taking action to tighten border restrictions; authorizing the federal government to complete the unbuilt border wall; establishing a mechanism for large-scale deportation; and depriving sanctuary cities of federal resources until they stop protecting undocumented immigrants. The Trump team also plans to reduce the number of federal employees and force them to return to the office by freezing government hiring.

▌Biden plans to strengthen export controls on AI chips before leaving office

According to foreign media reports, the Biden administration plans to impose a new round of restrictions on the export of artificial intelligence chips by companies such as Nvidia (NVDA.O) before leaving office. According to informed sources, the US aims to restrict the sale of artificial intelligence chips used in data centers at both the national and corporate levels, with the goal of concentrating AI development in friendly countries and encouraging global companies to align with US standards. As demand for AI technology surges, this move will expand semiconductor restrictions to most parts of the world. Insiders say the new regulations will set three layers of restrictions on chip transactions, which could be released as early as Friday. In response to this news, Nvidia, AMD (AMD.O) and others fell in after-hours trading on the US stock market.

▌Trump may be sentenced before taking office as US President

On January 7, local time, a judge of the New York State Court of Appeals, Alan Gesmer, rejected the latest request by President-elect Trump to postpone the sentencing in his "hush money" case. Trump's lawyers argued that as President-elect, Trump enjoys the same criminal prosecution immunity as the President, but this view was rejected by the court. With less than two weeks until Trump's inauguration, if the sentencing is not completed before the start of his second term on January 20, the presidential immunity may delay the case until he leaves office. The court's ruling means that Trump's sentencing is still scheduled for January 10. However, Trump and his legal team have stated that they will continue to seek legal avenues to postpone or cancel the sentencing.

▌Economic Daily: Strive to lower the threshold for applying artificial intelligence

The article states that technological progress is the key to lowering the threshold for applying artificial intelligence. This requires increased research investment, strengthening independent R&D capabilities, and making more breakthroughs in key areas such as intelligent chips and operating systems. Consolidate the technical foundations of computing power, algorithms, and data, and cultivate a number of general large models and industry large models. Vigorously develop intelligent products, promote the application of intelligent software, and promote the upgrade of consumer terminals such as home appliances and mobile phones to strong intelligence. Better play the role of enterprises as the main body of innovation, encourage industry-university-research cooperation, support leading enterprises to create typical benchmarks of new industrialization empowered by artificial intelligence; also build good artificial intelligence infrastructure services for small and medium-sized innovative enterprises, reduce their threshold to participate in the artificial intelligence market, and form a thriving market competition pattern.

Policy

▌Fox reporter: The US Senate Banking Committee will establish its first subcommittee dedicated to cryptocurrencies

According to Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett's post on the X platform, the US Senate Banking Committee led by Senator Tim Scott will establish its first subcommittee dedicated to cryptocurrencies. This subcommittee will be modeled after the Republican Financial Services Subcommittee established by Patrick McHenry in 2023.

A Senate aide confirmed that Senator Cynthia Lummis has been preliminarily selected as the subcommittee chair, pending a full committee vote. The vote to approve Cynthia Lummis and new Republican and Democratic members (still to be determined) is likely to be held next Thursday, when the nomination hearing for Trump's nominee for Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Scott Turner, will also be held.

▌Oklahoma state senator introduces "Bitcoin Legal Tender Act" to allow state employees to receive salaries in BTC

Oklahoma state senator Dusty Deevers has introduced Senate Bill 325, the "Bitcoin Legal Tender Act", which will allow Oklahoma state employees to choose to receive their salaries in BTC, and allow vendors to accept BTC payments. SB325 ensures participation is completely voluntary, respects free market principles, and gives employees, employers and businesses the right to choose the payment method most suitable for them. SB325 is eligible for consideration in the 60th legislative session beginning on February 3.

▌Outgoing CFTC chairman emphasizes the necessity of CFTC as the regulator of cryptocurrencies in his farewell speech

Rostin Behnam, chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), will step down as chairman on January 20 to make way for the future appointee of President-elect Donald Trump. In his final public speech at the Brookings Institution this week, he devoted a large portion of his remarks to discussing cryptocurrencies and the necessity of the CFTC as their regulator.

Rostin Behnam stated that cryptocurrencies "have dominated every period of my tenure", saying: "Due to the lack of federal legislation, concerns about customer protection, the proliferation of fraud and market abuse, broader market resilience, and even financial stability are escalating, and we have seen this kind of situation historically, where we have placed a large amount of financial business outside of oversight and accountability, and we have seen time and time again that the ultimate outcome is very bad." He also urged to protect investors "who are eager to incorporate digital asset products into their investment portfolios".

▌US Senator Cynthia Lummis meets with SEC chairman nominee Paul Atkins to discuss digital asset legislation and rule reforms

On January 8, US Senator Cynthia Lummis met with SEC chairman nominee Paul Atkins to discuss digital asset legislation and rule reforms. She hinted at possible changes in the future, joking that she wants to put the SEC on the "Atkins diet".

Previously reported, on August 1, 2024, US Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis formally introduced the "Bitcoin Reserve Act", which will direct the US government to establish a reserve fund for this scarce decentralized asset. The bill also sets a long-term goal of accumulating 1 million bitcoins over time, about 5% of the total bitcoin supply. The bill plans to use existing US Treasury funds to purchase bitcoin in an amount corresponding to the US Treasury's gold allocation.

▌Trump holds a press conference proposing many surprising strategies, with responses from multiple countries

At a press conference held at Mar-a-Lago, the newly elected US President Trump made a series of shocking statements within an hour and escalated his rhetoric on sovereignty issues with countries like Canada. He called for economic means to absorb Canada as part of the US, and did not rule out the use of force to seize the Panama Canal and Greenland, and demanded that NATO countries increase their defense spending to 5% of GDP. He also vowed that "the Middle East will descend into chaos" if Hamas does not release Israeli hostages before he takes office. In addition, Trump promised to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the "American Bay". Apart from threatening to impose tariffs on uncooperative countries (including Denmark), he did not explain how these seemingly impossible commitments would be achieved. In response, various parties responded to Trump's remarks. Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau said Canada could not become a state of the US, and the country's foreign minister said they would not back down in the face of threats; the Danish Prime Minister reiterated that Greenland is not for sale; the President of Panama responded that he would not pre-judge Trump's comments on the Panama Canal before he takes office. Foreign media commentators said Trump's rhetoric is in line with a bolder stance, that Trump believes he has been authorized (by the people and the electoral college) to speak and act almost at will.

▌US court documents show the number of victims in the Do Kwon case may exceed one million

According to Cointelegraph, the US prosecutor overseeing the criminal case against Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon estimates that the collapse of the Terra ecosystem may have caused over one million victims globally. On January 6, the acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Daniel Gitner, filed a document with the court notifying the procedures for informing Kwon's victims of their rights in the criminal case. According to the US prosecutor, the government will establish a website about the public procedures in the Kwon case, as other methods to provide victim rights "are not practical".

Gitner stated: "Given the massive scale of Terraform cryptocurrency transactions and the manner in which many of these transactions were conducted (often through digital asset wallets or cryptocurrency exchange accounts without personal identifying information at foreign exchanges), while it is difficult to precisely quantify the number of Kwon's victims, the government estimates the number of victims in this case to be in the tens of thousands of individuals and entities, and potentially exceeding one million in total."

▌US judge denies Trump's request to delay sentencing in his "hush money" case

On January 6, local time, New York State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan denied former President Trump's request to delay the sentencing in his criminal "hush money" case. It is understood that Trump's lawyers may continue to appeal to the New York Appeals Court.

Earlier on the 6th, Trump's lawyers appealed the ruling in his "hush money" criminal case and asked the judge to postpone the sentencing scheduled for this week. A 12-person jury ruled on May 30, 2024 that Trump falsified business records to conceal a $130,000 "hush money" payment to a porn star actress during the 2016 US presidential election, violating relevant New York state laws, with 34 criminal charges upheld.

Blockchain Applications

▌Animoca Brands co-founder: Memecoins are expected to launch their own L1 or L2

Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu said in an interview that the crypto industry is at an inflection point, similar to the one he observed in the 1990s when the internet first disrupted business. The first part of the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies by 2025 will be the adoption of stablecoins, and the next step will be to more broadly extend memecoins into the entire blockchain ecosystem.

Yat Siu said: "I expect memecoins to launch their own L1 or L2. They are no longer just tokens, they are building communities and ecosystems. Memecoins are essentially cultural symbols. They are attracting people's attention and building narratives that resonate with people beyond financial speculation."

▌Ripple partners with Chainlink to drive adoption of stablecoin RLUSD

Ripple and Chainlink have partnered to further expand the use and utility of the Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in decentralized finance (DeFi).

▌Avalanche Foundation grants VIA Labs to develop cross-chain protocol Proto-USD

The Avalanche Foundation announced that VIA Labs has received a grant through the InfraBUIDL() program. VIA Labs is using the funding to develop the Avalanche ecosystem's cross-chain protocol Proto-USD.

Proto-USD is said to simplify cross-chain liquidity, allowing USDC to move easily between Avalanche L1 and other networks, aiming to improve the accessibility, scalability and overall connectivity of the Avalanche ecosystem.

▌Solana urges validators to test early "Firedancer" upgrade

Solana is accelerating the testing of Firedancer, a software upgrade expected to significantly improve the blockchain's processing speed. According to messages on the Solana Technical Discord server, the Solana core development team hopes to have "the vast majority" of the capacity on the low-risk test network running Frankendancer (an early version of Firedancer) before the weekend. The call to action for Solana validators marks the biggest test Firedancer has faced so far. The upgrade has been in the works since the chain's frequent outages in 2022 and is seen as a way to enhance Solana's stability and speed.

On Tuesday, the Solana Foundation used this subsidy incentive mechanism to directly promote the adoption of Frankendancer. Validators only have a few days to switch their test network systems to the new client, or they will lose their delegated stake.

Cryptocurrencies

▌Fidelity Digital Assets analyst: BTC being included in strategic reserves of multiple countries could significantly boost crypto market by 2025

Fidelity Digital Assets analysts predict that the inclusion of BTC in the strategic reserves of multiple countries could significantly boost the cryptocurrency market by 2025. They believe that inspired by the successful examples of El Salvador and Bhutan, governments may secretly start accumulating digital assets to hedge against inflation and currency devaluation.

▌CryptoQuant research head: Bitcoin correction has significantly reduced traders' unrealized profits, but the market adjustment is healthy

CryptoQuant research head Julio Moreno posted on X platform that the current Bitcoin price correction has led to a significant decline in the unrealized profit margins of on-chain traders, after Bitcoin had previously surpassed $100,000. The analysis shows that this correction is a normal phenomenon after a major rally, and is conducive to the healthy development of the market. Currently, traders' realized price (which often constitutes price support in a bull market) is around $88,000, while Bitcoin's current price is around $93,000.

▌Billionaire Mark Cuban: Would rather hold Bitcoin than gold if the economy collapses

Billionaire Mark Cuban said that if the economy runs into trouble, he would rather own Bitcoin than gold. Mark Cuban stated, "I think Bitcoin has more value."

▌Blast to launch mobile platform and token economics update later this month

Ethereum Layer2 network Blast announced on X platform: "Blast's mobile platform will launch along with token economics updates later this month. All Blast Dapps should ensure they distribute points and coins to users before these changes. There will be no coin distribution in January. All users should also ensure they log in to the Blast website using their own wallets. The official release date will be announced soon."

▌Polymarket users bet higher on the possibility of Biden pardoning SBF than Silk Road founder Ross Ubricht

U.S. President Joe Biden is set to leave office on January 20, and he still has time to issue pardons and commutations for individuals convicted of federal crimes. As of January 9, the cryptocurrency betting platform Polymarket offered users odds of 4% that Biden would pardon former FTX CEO Sam "SBF" Bankman-Fried, and 2% that he would pardon Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht. As of the time of this writing, users have bet over $5 million on the odds for SBF and $1.2 million on the odds for Ulbricht.

It is currently unclear whether President Biden plans to issue more pardons or commutations before the end of his term.

▌Heads of Crypto Companies Seek Contact with Trump Himself in Recent Days

With less than two weeks until the inauguration, crypto industry executives are vying for access to Trump himself and positions on a planned cryptocurrency advisory council that is expected to be formed shortly after Trump takes office. According to insiders, industry players intend to use this council to influence the new administration's digital asset policies, and the council may consist of around two dozen CEOs and founders.

Insiders say that most of the likely appointees have already established relationships with Trump and have visited him in recent months. Trump and his inner circle, including the incoming White House AI and cryptocurrency expert David Sacks, are still weighing potential appointments. Since Trump's re-election in November, Mar-a-Lago has hosted a flurry of crypto industry figures, including Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. Additionally, companies like Circle, Coinbase, Kraken, and Ondo have all pledged donations to Trump's inauguration.

Previous reports indicate that the crypto industry will host a ball to celebrate Trump and Pence's inauguration on January 17, organized by BTC Inc. and Stand With Crypto.

▌Analyst: Bitcoin's Correlation with U.S. Stocks Resurfaces

Bitwise Europe Research Head Andre Dragosch stated that after Donald Trump's election, Bitcoin and the S&P 500 index began to diverge, but these two asset classes have recently started moving more in sync. Bitcoin and the S&P 500 index are once again closely correlated, with a correlation of 0.88 on their recent 20-day moving average (where 0 represents no correlation and 1 represents absolute correlation).

Dragosch summarized: "While on-chain factors are likely to provide significant impetus at least until the mid-2025s, the deterioration of the macroeconomic situation could also pose short-term risks to Bitcoin, especially given its still relatively high correlation with the S&P 500 index."

▌CME Group Executive: ETH to Outperform BTC This Year

Payal Shah, CME Group's Head of Equities and Crypto Research and Product Development, wrote that ETH is expected to outperform BTC this year.

The article states that in 2024, Ether rose about 53%, while Bitcoin rose 113%; however, Ether's recent performance has shown promising prospects. Since the U.S. election results were announced, Ether has risen 39%, outpacing Bitcoin's 35% gain, and this suggests that the market's optimism about the president-elect Donald Trump's expected pro-crypto policies has driven Ether's potential recovery, in addition to other key factors driving this optimism, including strong staking activity, stable transaction fees, and growing institutional interest, particularly through ETFs.

Important Economic Developments

▌Fed Mouthpiece: Minutes Show Officials Broadly Unwilling to Cut Rates This Month

"Fed Mouthpiece" Nick Timiraos pointed out that the Fed minutes further indicate that officials are broadly willing to keep rates unchanged at their upcoming meeting at the end of this month. The minutes stated: "Participants noted that the Committee was at or close to a stance of policy that was appropriately calibrated to slow the pace of policy firming." Officials believe that based on their current outlook for economic activity, the Fed may continue to cut rates at a slower pace than in recent months.

▌Fed Minutes: Unemployment Rate Expected to Rise Slightly

The Fed's December meeting minutes indicated that staff forecasts the U.S. economic conditions to remain robust. Real GDP growth is expected to slow slightly from previous baseline projections, the unemployment rate is expected to rise slightly but remain close to staff's estimate of the natural rate of unemployment. In the staff's baseline projection, the 2024 inflation forecast is slightly higher than in the previous meeting, reflecting some recent upside surprises in the data, and is expected to decline to 2% by 2027, consistent with the November meeting projection.

▌93.1% Probability of Fed Keeping Rates Unchanged in January

According to the CME "FedWatch", the probability of the Fed keeping rates unchanged in January is 93.1%, and the probability of a 25-basis-point rate cut is 6.9%. The probability of maintaining the current rate through March is 57.7%, the probability of a cumulative 25-basis-point rate cut is 39.7%, and the probability of a cumulative 50-basis-point rate cut is 2.6%.

▌U.S. Dollar Index Rises 0.08% on January 9

The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the dollar against six major currencies, rose 0.08% that day, closing at 109.180 in the New York market close. At the New York market close, 1 euro was exchanged for $1.0299, lower than the previous trading day's $1.0309; 1 British pound was exchanged for $1.2309, lower than the previous trading day's $1.2357. 1 U.S. dollar was exchanged for 158.11 Japanese yen, lower than the previous trading day's 158.46 yen; 1 U.S. dollar was exchanged for 0.9126 Swiss franc, higher than the previous trading day's 0.9117 Swiss franc; 1 U.S. dollar was exchanged for 1.4392 Canadian dollar, higher than the previous trading day's 1.4389 Canadian dollar; 1 U.S. dollar was exchanged for 11.1530 Swedish krona, lower than the previous trading day's 11.1612 Swedish krona.