Today's News Highlights:
2025 Central Political and Legal Work Conference: The Ministry of Justice will study new issues such as virtual currency and artificial intelligence.
The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the TikTok "sell or ban" bill.
DCG agrees to a $38 million fine to settle with the U.S. SEC.
Massachusetts proposes to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve, with eight states having introduced related bills.
Gary Gensler posts a "farewell" tweet, reflecting on the achievements of the past four years.
Trump promotes his new meme coin TRUMP on Twitter, with the new TRUMP market cap surpassing $10 billion.
Orbiter Finance: The OBT token will have its TGE on January 20, with 22% allocated for the initial airdrop.
Azuki founder: The ANIME token will have its TGE on January 23.
Report: Venture capital in the crypto sector reached $11.5 billion in 2024, still below previous bull market levels.
Regulation/Macro
The Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission's Chang'an Sword stated on WeChat that the 2025 Central Political and Legal Work Conference pointed out that the Ministry of Justice should proactively study and propose legislative suggestions, focusing on new issues such as autonomous driving, low-altitude economy, artificial intelligence, virtual currency, and data ownership.
It is reported that Chang'an Sword is the official new media platform of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China.
Massachusetts Senator Peter Durant has introduced a bill to establish a "strategic Bitcoin reserve" in the state. Notably, Massachusetts is the first deep blue state to propose legislation related to a "strategic Bitcoin reserve." Additionally, Massachusetts has become the eighth state to propose similar bills. Currently, eight states in the U.S. have introduced bills related to "strategic Bitcoin reserves," including Oklahoma, New Hampshire, Wyoming, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and North Dakota.
DCG agrees to a $38 million fine to settle with the U.S. SEC.
Digital Currency Group (DCG) will pay $38 million to settle allegations of lending fraud against its subsidiary Genesis Global Capital by the U.S. SEC. The securities regulator accused the company of negligence and misleading investors regarding the health of its bankruptcy department. DCG settled these allegations without admitting or denying them.
According to documents submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: "In mid-June 2022, a large borrower failed to meet margin calls, harming GGC's business. However, Digital Currency Group acted negligently, engaged in misleading conduct, downplayed the impact of the default, and exaggerated the efforts made by Digital Currency Group afterward to assist GGC. In short, Digital Currency Group failed to take reasonable precautions, creating a significant false impression regarding GGC's financial condition."
The "large borrower" in question is Three Arrows Capital, a once-prominent crypto hedge fund that went bankrupt during the collapse of the Terra crypto ecosystem in 2022. According to SEC documents, the bankrupt Three Arrows Capital had $2.4 billion in outstanding loans from Genesis, and DCG was aware that Genesis would incur losses of at least $1 billion due to the fund's collapse. Nevertheless, the SEC stated that Genesis and DCG continued to act as if their business was not threatened by these actions, despite the contrary being true.
Gary Gensler posts a "farewell" tweet, reflecting on the achievements of the past four years.
Gary Gensler posted a tweet that appears to be a farewell, accompanied by a video summarizing the achievements of the past four years. The tweet stated: "It has been a lifelong honor to serve as SEC Chair and work for the public. Over the past four years, we have updated the rules for the stock and bond markets and shortened the settlement cycle. Additionally, we have returned over $2.7 billion to harmed investors."
The ETF Store President: Seven crypto-related ETF applications submitted in the past 48 hours.
Nate Geraci, President of The ETF Store, tweeted that multiple institutions submitted crypto-related ETF applications in the past 48 hours, indicating a shift in regulatory winds. The specific applications are as follows:
- VanEck On-Chain Economy ETF
- Canary Litecoin ETF (19b-4)
- Oasis Capital Digital Asset Debt Strategy ETF
- CoinShares Digital Asset ETF
- ProShares Leveraged and Inverse XRP ETF
- ProShares XRP Futures ETF
- ProShares Solana Futures ETF
The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the TikTok "sell or ban" bill.
On January 17, Beijing time, the U.S. Supreme Court made a decision regarding the TikTok "sell or ban" bill: the relevant provisions did not violate the petitioner's First Amendment rights, and the Supreme Court supported the bill, requiring TikTok to divest from its parent company ByteDance by the 19th, or face a nationwide ban in the U.S. Previously, it was reported that President-elect Trump was considering issuing an executive order to suspend the enforcement of the TikTok ban for 60 to 90 days after taking office.
On January 17, TikTok released a statement saying that the latest statements from the White House and the Department of Justice failed to provide necessary clarity and assurances to service providers, which are essential for maintaining TikTok's operations in the U.S. TikTok stated that unless the Biden administration "immediately issues a clear statement" ensuring the ban will not be enforced, TikTok will be forced to shut down on January 19 local time.
Project Updates
Binance to launch SOLV 1-75x U-based perpetual contracts.
Binance will launch SOLV 1-75x U-based perpetual contracts on January 17, 2025, at 20:15 (UTC+8).
Additionally, Binance Wealth Management, one-click buy, flash exchange trading platform, leverage, and regular investment platforms will launch Solv Protocol (SOLV).
Virtuals Protocol announced on platform X: "We have noticed issues involving migrated tokens on Virtuals. Several tokens migrated earlier today are mintable, allowing creators to mint more tokens and sell them into the liquidity pool created on Virtuals. To better protect our users, we are integrating an auditing service to filter out fraudulent tokens in migration. The token migration functionality is temporarily disabled until the integration is complete. Please stay safe."
Binance to launch ARCUSDT and AVAAIUSDT 1-25x USDT perpetual contracts.
According to the official announcement, Binance's contract platform will launch perpetual contracts at the following times, with a maximum leverage of 25x:
- January 17, 2025, at 21:00 (UTC+8): ARCUSDT perpetual contract
- January 17, 2025, at 21:15 (UTC+8): AVAAIUSDT perpetual contract
Please note that AI Rig Complex (LINK) and Ava AI (LINK) have been launched on the Binance Alpha market.
Open Campus launches its Layer 3 blockchain EDU Chain on Arbitrum.
Web3 education protocol Open Campus has officially launched its Layer 3 blockchain EDU Chain on Arbitrum Orbit. The blockchain was launched on January 17 and aims to support education applications and on-chain education powered by the EDU token. A standout feature of the EDU Chain is the Open Campus (OC) achievement system, which serves as a verifiable credential. This system allows educational institutions and training centers to issue decentralized, tamper-proof qualification records to learners.
Layer2 cross-chain protocol Orbiter Finance announced on platform X that it will launch the OBT token, with the TGE scheduled for January 20, 2025. OBT is the ERC-20 governance and utility token of the protocol, set to launch on Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Base, with a total supply of 10 billion tokens, and a circulating supply of 2.8 billion tokens (28%) at TGE.
Regarding token distribution, the community allocation accounts for 40%, with 22% distributed as an initial airdrop to Orbiter users, airdropping 3% to eligible users each month for six months. The ecosystem and growth allocation accounts for 20%, with 2.5% unlocked at TGE. The Orbiter Foundation allocation accounts for 15%, with 3.5% unlocked at TGE, and the remainder vesting monthly over 23 months. The team and contributors allocation accounts for 15%, and the investor allocation accounts for 10%. Additionally, on-chain governance will open in February 2025.
Crypto market data provider SoSoValue plans to airdrop a total of 49 million SOSO tokens in the first quarter. SoSoValue co-founder Jessie Lo stated in an interview that this allocation represents 4.9% of the total supply of 1 billion tokens. Lo mentioned that most of the airdrop comes from the platform's 30% ecosystem allocation.
The airdrop is divided into three parts: 4 million SOSO tokens distributed through the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit's Launchpool platform; 15 million proof-of-work (PoW) program tokens distributed during the token generation event; and 30 million tokens used for proof-of-stake (PoS) rewards during the first quarter (from January 25 to February 25). Lo stated, "The Bybit Launchpool allocation comes from 17% of the foundation's share, while the PoW and PoS allocations come from the ecosystem allocation."
Lo indicated that SoSoValue will launch its token on Ethereum next week, with Bybit being the first exchange to list the token, and added that it will subsequently be listed on other exchanges. Lo mentioned that the snapshot for the PoW program was released today, allocating 15 million tokens with no vesting period. The PoS portion of the airdrop totals 30 million tokens, which will be conducted after the token issuance and distributed within 31 days. Regarding the future airdrop of the remaining 255 million tokens allocated to the ecosystem, Lo stated that more details will be announced later.
MicroStrategy's shareholder meeting will vote on the plan to increase stock issuance on January 21.
According to Bloomberg, MicroStrategy Inc.'s Michael Saylor may soon hold nearly as many common shares in circulation as market giants Amazon and Alphabet Inc. to fund the company's large-scale Bitcoin purchases. Analysts expect that during the shareholder vote on January 21, MicroStrategy will easily pass a company-sponsored proposal to increase the number of Class A common shares from 330 million to 10.3 billion. Saylor controls about 47% of the voting power. This could potentially make MicroStrategy's number of shares in circulation exceed that of all companies in the Nasdaq 100 index, except for Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, and Amazon. Shareholders are also expected to pass an amendment on January 21 to increase the number of preferred shares from 5 million to 1 billion. According to proxy documents, MicroStrategy plans to use the increased shares to fund private trading of Class A stock, conduct market sales of equity issuance, and settle the redemption or conversion of convertible bonds.
RIA Advisors portfolio manager Michael Lebowitz stated that while increasing stock is not uncommon, MicroStrategy's plan to significantly increase the number of shares at once will be unique. To pass the stock increase amendment, approval must be obtained from a majority of the holders of all circulating common shares entitled to vote. The shareholder meeting will be held at 10 AM EST on January 21, Tuesday.
Azuki founder: The ANIME token will have its TGE on January 23.
According to a post shared by Azuki founder Zagabond, the TGE (Token Generation Event) for Animecoin (ANIME) will launch on January 23.
Previously, news from last April reported that Arbitrum and Azuki teamed up to launch a blockchain-based anime network called AnimeChain. This January, news reported that the ANIME token will launch in January 2025 on Ethereum and Arbitrum, with 50.5% allocated to the community.
Insider: Trump's family crypto project World Liberty will buy TRX.
Insiders revealed that the Trump family-supported crypto project World Liberty Financial will acquire Tron (TRX). It is currently unclear how much TRX cryptocurrency reserves World Liberty plans to increase. World Liberty raised $90 million through the sale of WLFI. The company previously invested seven figures in AAVE and LINK, which are tokens issued by projects partnered with World Liberty.
Trump posts to launch personal meme coin TRUMP, suspected account hack.
Trump announced on his Truth Social account the launch of his personal new meme coin TRUMP, with users able to access a website called gettrumpmeme. The account is suspected to have been hacked.
Trump tweets to promote his new meme coin TRUMP.
Trump tweeted to promote his new meme coin TRUMP, stating: "The brand new official Trump Meme is here, it's time to celebrate everything we represent. Join the very special Trump community. Get your TRUMP now." GMGN market data shows that the new meme coin TRUMP has a market cap exceeding $3 billion, with a current price of $2.59.
Hyperliquid launches TRUMP contract, supporting up to 3x leverage for long or short positions.
The decentralized derivatives trading platform Hyperliquid has launched the TRUMP contract, supporting up to 3x leverage for long or short positions. Hyperliquid reminds users that this perpetual contract uses on-chain AMM as the underlying oracle price. Please be aware of low liquidity, high volatility, and increased liquidation risks.
Opinions
DWF Labs partner: Trump is doing the best marketing for the crypto market.
DWF Labs partner Andrei Grachev tweeted that Trump is doing the best marketing for the cryptocurrency market.
Arthur Hayes tweets criticism of Trump's meme issuance.
Arthur Hayes commented on "Trump issuing meme $TRUMP": This is the launch of the political memecoin market. Any politician not afraid of public opinion will launch their own memecoin. The economics of these tokens are fugazi (a derogatory term for fake things), but this "bullshit" will grow to $100 billion.
Important Data
Galaxy Digital stated in a research report released on Wednesday that despite the recent rise in digital asset prices, venture capital (VC) activity in cryptocurrency remains below previous bull market levels. In 2024, the total capital allocation by venture funds to the crypto industry was $11.5 billion, down from 2023. Galaxy noted that in the early rounds of bull markets in 2017 and 2021, VC activity was highly correlated with crypto asset prices, "but in the past two years, despite the rise in cryptocurrencies, VC activity has remained sluggish."
The stagnation in the venture capital market has various reasons. Galaxy stated that these reasons include a "barbell market," where Bitcoin and its new spot ETFs take center stage, while meme coins have "limited marginal new activity." These meme coins struggle to secure funding and have "questionable lifespans." The report noted that new projects at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency are gaining increasing attention, and upcoming regulatory changes may bring more opportunities for stablecoins, decentralized finance (DeFi), and tokenization. The report pointed out that some large investors may gain exposure to cryptocurrencies through spot Bitcoin ETFs "rather than turning to early VC investments."
Galaxy stated that the U.S. completed the most transactions and invested the most funds in the fourth quarter. Galaxy added that early-stage transactions accounted for 60% of total investment in the fourth quarter, with stablecoin companies raising the most funds. The report also noted that in 2024, venture capitalists invested a total of $11.5 billion in startups focused on cryptocurrency and blockchain. These funds invested $3.5 billion in 416 transactions in the fourth quarter, a quarter-over-quarter increase of 46%.
Cryptocurrency companies have invested over $10 million in Trump's inauguration fund.
Cryptocurrency companies have invested over $10 million in Trump's inauguration fund. Since election day, cryptocurrency companies including Ripple, Coinbase, Kraken, Robinhood, and Circle have donated to Trump's inauguration committee.
According to Lookonchain monitoring, a trader made a profit of over $20 million within just one hour through $TRUMP. About 90 seconds after Trump announced the launch of $TRUMP on Truth Social, a trader spent approximately 1.1 million USDC to purchase 5.97 million TRUMP (currently valued at $23 million).
So far, he has only sold 543,000 TRUMP for $404,000, still holding 5.43 million TRUMP (valued at $21 million), with a total profit exceeding $20 million.
GMGN market data shows that the market cap of "Trump Meme Coin" TRUMP briefly reached $10 billion, currently reported at $8.7 billion, surpassing PEPE to become the third-largest Meme Coin by market cap.
According to Lookonchain monitoring, a trader sold 1.35 million TRUMP for $3.65 million and currently still holds 4.62 million TRUMP (valued at $67.5 million), with a total profit exceeding $70 million.
0xsun.sol made $10 million trading TRUMP in 4 hours.
Crypto KOL 0xsun.sol (@0xSunNFT) tweeted that he earned $10 million on-chain through a public wallet in 4 hours. Attached images show that he spent approximately 3,010 SOL to buy TRUMP, with an unrealized profit of about 45,700 SOL (approximately $10.5 million).
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