Organized by: Luan Peng, ChainCatcher
Important News:
- U.S. Bitcoin Spot ETF Options Set to Launch
- Trump's Social Media Company in Talks to Acquire Crypto Exchange Bakkt
- Trump Meets with Coinbase CEO to Discuss Personnel Appointments
- MicroStrategy Plans to Raise $1.75 Billion in Convertible Senior Notes for Bitcoin Purchases and General Corporate Purposes
- Zhao Changpeng: Countries Will Compete to Include Bitcoin in Strategic Reserves
- Heather Morgan, Accomplice in Bitfinex Hack, Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison
- California Judge Denies Kraken's Temporary Appeal Request
- ai16z Founder’s New Coin ELIZA Currently Valued at Nearly $60 Million
"What Important Events Happened in the Last 24 Hours"
U.S. Bitcoin Spot ETF Options Set to Launch
According to a notice published on the official website of the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), the agency is preparing to launch Bitcoin spot ETF options. The disclosed notice indicates that the OCC is preparing for the clearing, settlement, and risk management of Bitcoin spot ETF options, which will comply with the new options listing process outlined in the options listing procedure plan.
Previously, ChainCatcher reported in October that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the listing of multiple Bitcoin ETF options products on the Cboe and NYSE American exchanges. Cboe was authorized to list options for the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB); NYSE American was authorized to list options for the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC), Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC), and Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB). The SEC had previously approved options trading for BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT).
Documents show that both exchanges have set a single-side position limit of 25,000 contracts for each Bitcoin ETF option, lower than other ETF options products. As of August 30, 2024, GBTC has issued approximately 367 million shares, with a market value exceeding $13.4 billion; BITB has issued about 68.7 million shares; FBTC has issued over 201 million shares, with a six-month trading volume exceeding 1.1 billion shares; ARKB has issued about 45.5 million shares, with a six-month trading volume exceeding 297 million shares.
Trump's Social Media Company in Talks to Acquire Crypto Exchange Bakkt
According to the Financial Times, Trump's social media company is in advanced talks to acquire the cryptocurrency exchange Bakkt, which is owned by the Intercontinental Exchange, as the company seeks to expand its business beyond online dialogue.
Two people familiar with the negotiations stated that Trump Media and Technology Group is close to a full stock acquisition of Bakkt. The valuation under discussion is currently unclear, but Bakkt's market value was slightly above $150 million on Monday.
Trump Meets with Coinbase CEO to Discuss Personnel Appointments
Sources revealed that U.S. President-elect Trump will meet with the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase on Monday. The two are expected to discuss personnel issues for the next administration.
This meeting between Trump and Brian Armstrong will be their first since election day, as Trump continues to appoint cabinet members and other senior positions. Earlier this year at the annual Bitcoin conference, Trump stated that if he won the presidential election, he would establish a presidential advisory committee on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency to design transparent regulatory guidance. Since Trump's victory, Armstrong has publicly discussed who should be the next leader of the SEC.
Armstrong stated that he believes Trump's SEC commissioner Hester Peirce is the "best candidate."
According to official news, MicroStrategy plans to privately place $1.75 billion in 0% convertible senior notes, maturing in 2029. These notes are unsecured and interest-free, convertible into cash or stock. The proceeds will be used for purchasing Bitcoin and general corporate purposes.
Zhao Changpeng: Countries Will Compete to Include Bitcoin in Strategic Reserves
Zhao Changpeng expressed appreciation for the speech by MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor, stating: "A wonderful speech. Worth listening to. Also, thanks for the support for Binance in the video. Countries will compete to print money to buy Bitcoin, that is, Bitcoin as a strategic reserve. No one wants to be the last."
Heather Morgan, Accomplice in Bitfinex Hack, Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison
U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced Heather Morgan (the rapper "Razzlekhan"), one of the suspects in the Bitfinex hack case, to 18 months in prison during a hearing on November 18.
In August 2023, Morgan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and fraud charges. She is the wife and accomplice of hacker Ilya Lichtenstein, who stole 120,000 Bitcoins from the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex in 2016 and laundered the money.
On November 14, Judge Kollar-Kotelly sentenced Lichtenstein to five years in prison, far below the 20 years allowed by sentencing guidelines. Prosecutors noted that the hacker provided "substantial assistance" in other investigations and had no prior criminal record.
California Judge Denies Kraken's Temporary Appeal Request
A California judge denied Kraken's temporary appeal motion, stating in his ruling that allowing the appeal would only "delay" the resolution process of the case the SEC is currently pursuing against the cryptocurrency exchange.
The second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S., Kraken, filed a temporary appeal motion in September (a type of appeal challenging a non-final ruling by a judge while allowing other aspects of the case to proceed). A month ago, U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick ruled that the SEC's allegations were reasonable, and the cryptocurrencies sold on the Kraken platform could be considered securities under the Howey test.
ai16z Founder’s New Coin ELIZA Currently Valued at Nearly $60 Million
According to data from Gecko Terminal, the new coin ELIZA issued by ai16z founder Shaw reached a market value of nearly $60 million within an hour of its creation, peaking at $100 million.
Shaw stated that 10% of the tokens will be allocated to ELIZA holders who were snapshot on vvaifu.fun.
Data: The Top Three Global CEX Weekly Visits are Binance, OKX, and Bitget
According to CoinMarketcap's global CEX weekly visit data, Binance ranks first with 11.2 million weekly visits, followed by OKX (5.45 million) and Bitget (4.98 million).
In the global CEX spot trading volume rankings, Binance ranks first, while OKX and Bitget rank fourth and sixth, respectively.
Binance Adds Multiple Spot Trading Pairs Including ACT/BRL and Trading Bot Services
According to an official announcement, Binance announced that it will launch spot trading pairs ACT/BRL, ACT/EUR, CATI/USDC, ETH/EURI, LUMIA/TRY, PNUT/BRL, and PNUT/EUR on November 20, 2024, at 16:00 (UTC+8), providing users with more spot trading options.
In addition, Binance will launch trading bot services for the following trading pairs on November 20, 2024, at 08:00 (UTC): spot grid and spot DCA: ADA/USDC, DOGE/USDC, SUI/USDC, XRP/USDC; spot algorithmic orders: ACT/BRL, ACT/EUR, CATI/USDC, ETH/EURI, LUMIA/TRY, PNUT/BRL, and PNUT/EUR.
According to Hong Wang, the People's Court of Jiahe County, Hunan Province recently ruled on a major mining machine trading dispute case. The case shows that the plaintiff, Pan, communicated with the defendant, Lei, via WeChat in November 2021 to purchase a Bitcoin mining machine S19XP, paying 23.678 million USDT. However, the two parties had a disagreement regarding the nature of the contract and the settlement price. The plaintiff demanded the defendant return 6.27 million USDT as a price difference and continue to deliver 149 mining machines.
The court ruled to dismiss all of the plaintiff's claims based on two main reasons: First, according to the notice from the central bank and other departments regarding further prevention and handling of risks in virtual currency trading speculation, USDT and other virtual currencies do not have the status of legal tender, and related transactions are considered illegal financial activities.
Second, based on the National Development and Reform Commission's notice on rectifying virtual currency "mining" activities, mining activities consume a lot of energy, have high carbon emissions, and low economic contributions, which do not align with the national green development strategy. The court determined that the trading contract was invalid due to violations of laws and regulations and public order and morals, and the related losses would be borne by both parties.
According to Coindesk, Bitcoin-listed mining company MARA Holdings (MARA) has increased its previously announced convertible senior notes offering from $700 million to $850 million.
The company also raised the amount of the initial purchasers' option to purchase additional bonds from $105 million to $150 million. This offering is expected to conclude on November 20 and is a private placement for qualified institutional buyers. The fundraising is expected to be approximately $833 million, of which $199 million will be used to repurchase MARA's existing $212 million convertible notes due in 2026. The remainder will be used for Bitcoin (BTC) acquisitions, asset expansion, and general corporate purposes.
Previously reported, MARA plans to raise $700 million through the issuance of convertible senior notes to purchase more Bitcoin.
ai16z co-founder Shaw responded to the controversy over the Eliza token issuance, stating, "I coordinated with our release partners to try to buy chips at the time of Eliza's release, but did not get much. However, someone in our team did make quite a bit of profit and agreed to hand it over to the DAO and the team, so we have enough funds to fulfill our airdrop commitments to other projects and maintain the Eliza team's operations."
Shaw mentioned that while it is regrettable that the project was pre-released, considering the interests of the holders, the original team has reached a cooperation agreement with the pre-release party, promising to airdrop 10% of the supply to the initial token holders as compensation. The new team will join the Eliza project as code contributors, focusing on assisting in the development of meta-narrative tools. Shaw emphasized that the Eliza project has been in preparation for many years, and although this incident is regrettable, the team will continue to advance the project's development, ensuring that the tokens circulate freely and are not controlled by any individual or organization.
According to Cointelegraph, Bitcoin L2 solution Bitfinity Network announced the completion of $12 million in financing, including $7 million from institutional investors such as Polychain Beacon Fund, ParaFi, Draft Ventures, and Warburg Serres, as well as $5 million raised from community over-the-counter (OTC) token sales.
The project will utilize Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) Chain Fusion technology to enable the operation of Bitcoin native assets within Ethereum-compatible ecosystems. The ecosystem plans to host decentralized applications, including Sonic, Chapswap, Lendfinity, and Omnity Bridge. Notably, the founder of the lending protocol Liquity, which has a TVL of one billion dollars, is also involved in supporting this project.
According to RootData, Bitfinity (formerly known as InfinitySwap) is the next-generation EVM, serving as a second layer for Bitcoin and other assets, utilizing threshold signature schemes and built on IC.
"What Exciting Articles Are Worth Reading in the Last 24 Hours"
During the Devcon in Bangkok, at the annual summit "DeInsight 2024" co-hosted by Web3 asset data platform RootData and ChainCatcher, the "RootData: 2024 Web3 Industry Development Research Report and Annual List" was officially released.
This list is the second annual selection launched by RootData following its first release in 2023. This year's RootData List 2024 covers five categories: Top 50 Projects (completed TGE), Top 50 Projects (not yet conducted TGE), Crypto VC Top 50 Investment Institutions, Top 10 Angel Investors, and Top 20 Best CEOs.
ChainCatcher will publish a series of articles to interview institutions on the RootData List 2024, seeking builders who navigate through bull and bear markets and tracking the latest trends in Web3.
SevenX was successfully selected as a Crypto VC Top 50 and recently appeared on RootData Space to share its path to success.
Memecoin Market Map: An Asset Class Worth $120 Billion
Over the past year, Memecoins have been the best-performing sector in the crypto market. Now, the total market capitalization of Memecoins has exceeded $100 billion, surpassing the combined total of DeFi, DePin, gaming, and the metaverse.
As the scale and diversity of this asset class continue to expand, we attempt to draw a market map to identify opportunities within it.
We analyzed the best-performing Memecoins each quarter this year, and the results confirmed our hypothesis—Memecoins dominated the market in every quarter. In the first quarter, $POPCAT, $WIF, $MOG, and $MYRO were the top performers; in the second quarter, $PONKE, $SPX, $TURBO, $GIGA, $WOJAK, $BRETT, and $MOG stood out; in the third quarter, $SPX, $GIGA, $FUD, and $MUMU led the way.
Ethereum's Dawn is Approaching, $10,000 is Not a Dream
Since the beginning of 2024, if many cryptocurrency believers were to list the most disappointing crypto assets, Ethereum would undoubtedly top the list.
In the last cycle, Ethereum shone with new applications like DeFi and NFTs, reaching a historical high of $4,800, creating a wealth code with over 20 times the increase. As Bitcoin surged ahead, people's expectations for the second-largest cryptocurrency also peaked.
However, in the new cycle, while Bitcoin has surpassed $90,000, Ethereum barely holds the $3,000 mark. Even after a brief surge to $4,000 at the beginning of the year, it fell to around $2,200, trapping many cryptocurrency believers who were eagerly awaiting Ethereum, including the usually savvy "Brother Sun," indicating that institutional investors are also not immune. Currently, the exchange rate of Ethereum to Bitcoin has dropped to a historical low of 0.034.
As the saying goes, "When the mountains are heavy and the waters are deep, there seems to be no way out; yet, in the dark willows and blooming flowers, there is another village."
I believe that the difficulties Ethereum is currently facing are an inevitable stage in the early development of the Web3 industry. When Bitcoin occupies the consensus high ground in the realm of digital gold, Ethereum's vision as a world computer encounters some structural contradictions, thus failing to resonate with its market value and unable to realize value expectations in the short term. However, I believe that all current difficulties are essentially paper tigers, and we are at the "dawn."
The Power Behind Holdings: Insights into Bitcoin's Institutional Layout
As Bitcoin prices continue to rise, its appeal is gradually shifting from retail investors to large institutions with substantial funds and resources. Unlike the previous bull market, where the prosperity of the ecosystem and the entry of institutions became the core driving force behind price surges, in this round of market, the deep layout of institutions has become an important variable driving market development. From the successful approval of spot ETFs to traditional financial giants and professional asset management institutions frequently increasing their positions, institutionalization is reshaping the landscape of the Bitcoin market.
In this process, the investment logic of Bitcoin is also quietly changing—from a purely speculative asset chasing price fluctuations to gradually evolving into a long-term allocation tool with asset diversification and anti-inflation characteristics. Meanwhile, the changes in holdings and profitability of major institutions are also of great interest to the market: Who is continuously increasing their Bitcoin positions? Which institutions have gained considerable returns from this round of increases? Has the change in holding scale had a significant impact on market prices? This article will focus on introducing the holding situations of several top-ranking institutions.
When Will the Bull Market Wind Reach the Bitcoin Ecosystem?
The Bitcoin ecosystem was once considered one of the most promising ecosystems in this bull market, with a total ecosystem market value expected to reach the hundred billion dollar level.
However, since the end of the inscription craze at the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, the Bitcoin ecosystem has slowly entered a bear market, with a sharp decline in new users and funds. Although subsequent projects like Rune, 5-character BRC-20 token pizza, Fractal ecosystem, and CAT-20 have brought some attention to the Bitcoin ecosystem, the scale has never matched the initial craze of the entire network's inscriptions.
On one hand, Bitcoin's price continues to rise and set new highs, with $100,000 seemingly within reach; on the other hand, the gradual prosperity of the Solana ecosystem and other ecosystems (such as Base, Sui, etc.). When will the bull market wind blow into the Bitcoin ecosystem?
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