Today's news tips:
1.2025 Central Political and Legal Work Conference: The Ministry of Justice will study new issues such as virtual currency and artificial intelligence
2. The U.S. Supreme Court upholds TikTok's "Sell or Ban" bill
3. DCG agrees to settle with the US SEC with a $38 million fine
4. Massachusetts proposes to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve, and 8 states have proposed related bills
5. Gary Gensler posted a "farewell" tweet, reviewing the achievements of the past four years
6. Trump tweeted to promote his new meme coin TRUMP, and the market value of the new TRUMP exceeded $10 billion
7.Orbiter Finance: OBT tokens will conduct TGE on January 20, 22% will be used for initial airdrop
8. Azuki founder: ANIME token will conduct TGE on January 23
9. Report: Venture capital in the crypto space will reach $11.5 billion in 2024, still lower than the previous bull market level
Regulatory/Macro
Chang'an Jian of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission wrote on his official WeChat account that the 2025 Central Political and Legal Work Conference pointed out that the Ministry of Justice should take the initiative to study and put forward legislative suggestions, and should study new issues such as unmanned driving, low-altitude economy, artificial intelligence, virtual currency, and data ownership.
It is reported that Chang'an Sword of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission is the new government media platform of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China.
Massachusetts Senator Peter Durant has proposed a bill to establish a "strategic bitcoin reserve" in the state. It is worth noting that Massachusetts is the first deep blue state to propose legislation related to the "strategic bitcoin reserve". At the same time, Massachusetts has also become the eighth state to propose a similar bill. Currently, eight states in the United States have proposed bills related to the "strategic bitcoin reserve", namely: Oklahoma, New Hampshire, Wyoming, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and North Dakota.
DCG agrees to settle with SEC for $38 million
Digital Currency Group (DCG) will pay $38 million to settle the U.S. SEC’s allegations of loan fraud against its subsidiary Genesis Global Capital. The securities regulator accused the company of negligence and misleading investors about the health of its bankruptcy unit. DCG settled the charges without admitting or denying them.
According to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: “In mid-June 2022, a large borrower failed to pay its security deposit on time, which harmed GGC’s business. However, Digital Currency Group was negligent and took misleading actions to downplay the impact of the default and exaggerate Digital Currency Group’s efforts to help GGC afterwards. In short, Digital Currency Group failed to exercise reasonable care and gave the public a materially false impression of GGC’s financial condition.”
The “big borrower” in question is Three Arrows Capital, a once-prominent crypto hedge fund that went bankrupt in 2022 amid the collapse of the Terra crypto ecosystem. According to SEC filings, bankrupt Three Arrows Capital had $2.4 billion worth of outstanding loans to Genesis, and DCG knew that Genesis would lose at least $1 billion from the fund’s collapse. Despite this, the SEC said Genesis and DCG continued to act as if their business was not threatened by these moves, even though this was not the case.
Gary Gensler posted a "farewell" tweet, reviewing the achievements of the past four years
Gary Gensler posted a tweet that seemed to be a farewell, and attached a video of the results of his work over the past four years. The tweet said: It is a lifetime honor to be the chairman of the SEC and work for the public. Over the past four years, the rules of the stock market and the Treasury market have been updated, and the settlement cycle has been shortened. In addition, more than $2.7 billion has been returned to damaged investors.
The ETF Store President: There were 7 crypto-related ETF applications in the past 48 hours
Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, tweeted that in the past 48 hours, many institutions have submitted applications for crypto-related ETFs, and the regulatory direction is changing. 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
US Supreme Court upholds TikTok's "sell or ban" bill
On January 17, Beijing time, the U.S. Supreme Court made a decision on the TikTok "Sell or Ban" bill: the relevant provisions did not infringe the petitioner's First Amendment rights. The Supreme Court supported the bill and required TikTok to be separated from its parent company ByteDance Group before the 19th, otherwise it will face a nationwide ban in the United States. Earlier, it was reported that U.S. President-elect Trump was considering issuing an executive order after taking office to suspend the implementation of the TikTok ban for 60 to 90 days.
TikTok issued a statement on January 17 local time, saying that the latest statements from the White House and the Department of Justice failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurances to service providers, who are indispensable to maintaining TikTok's operations in the U.S. TikTok said that unless the Biden administration "immediately issues a clear statement" to ensure that the ban is not enforced, TikTok will be forced to shut down on January 19 local time.
Project News
Binance will launch SOLV 1-75x U-margin perpetual contracts
Binance will launch SOLV 1-75x U-margined perpetual contracts at 20:15 on January 17, 2025 (ET8).
In addition, Binance Financial Management, One-Click Coin Purchase, Flash Exchange Trading Platform, Leverage, and Fixed Investment Platform will launch Solv Protocol (SOLV).
Virtuals Protocol posted on the X platform: “We have noticed that there are issues involving migrated tokens on Virtuals. Several tokens migrated earlier today are mintable, so the creators are able to mint more tokens and sell them into the liquidity pool created on Virtuals. To better protect our users, we are integrating an audit service to filter out scam tokens that are being migrated. Until the integration is completed, the token migration function is temporarily disabled. Please be safe.”
Binance will launch ARCUSDT and AVAAIUSDT 1-25x USDT perpetual contracts
According to the official announcement, Binance Futures will launch perpetual contracts at the following time, with a maximum leverage of 25x:
- January 17, 2025 21:00 (GMT+8): ARCUSDT Perpetual Contract
- January 17, 2025 21:15 (GMT+8): AVAAIUSDT perpetual contract
*Please note that AI Rig Complex (LINK) and Ava AI (LINK) are now listed on Binance Alpha Markets.
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. Launched on January 17, the blockchain is designed to support educational applications and on-chain education driven by EDU tokens. The standout feature of EDU Chain is the Open Campus (OC) achievement system, formerly known as Verifiable Credentials. The system allows educational institutions and training centers to issue decentralized, tamper-proof qualification records to learners.
Orbiter Finance: OBT tokens will conduct TGE on January 20, 22% will be used for initial airdrop
Layer2 cross-chain protocol Orbiter Finance announced on the X platform that it will launch the OBT token, and the TGE will be held on January 20, 2025. OBT is the ERC-20 governance and utility token of the protocol, which will be launched on Ethereum, Arbitrum and Base, with a total supply of 10 billion and a circulating supply of 2.8 billion (28%) at the time of TGE.
Regarding token distribution, the community allocation accounts for 40%, of which 22% will be distributed to Orbiter users as an initial airdrop, and 3% will be airdropped to eligible users every month for 6 months. The ecosystem and growth allocation accounts for 20%, of which 2.5% will be unlocked in the TGE. The Orbiter Foundation allocation accounts for 15%, of which 3.5% will be unlocked at the TGE, and the rest will be vested in monthly increments over 23 months. The team and contributors allocation accounts for 15%, and the investor allocation accounts for 10%. In addition, on-chain governance will be 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 said in an interview that the allocation accounts for 4.9% of the total supply of 1 billion tokens. Lo said that the majority of the airdrop came from the platform's 30% ecosystem allocation.
The airdrop is divided into three parts: 4 million SOSO tokens issued through the Launchpool platform of cryptocurrency exchange Bybit; 15 million proof-of-work (PoW) program tokens distributed in the token generation event; and 30 million tokens for proof-of-stake (PoS) rewards during the first season (January 25 to February 25). "The Bybit Launchpool allocation comes from the foundation's 17% share, while the PoW and PoS allocations come from the ecosystem allocation," said Lo.
Lo said SoSoValue will launch its token on Ethereum next week, and Bybit will be the first exchange to list the token exclusively, adding that it will be listed on other exchanges later. Lo said that a snapshot of the PoW program was released today, which allocated 15 million tokens, which have no vesting period. The PoS portion of the airdrop, totaling 30 million tokens, will take place after the token is issued and will be distributed within 31 days. Regarding the future airdrop of the remaining 255 million tokens allocated to the ecosystem, Lo said more details will be released later.
MicroStrategy shareholders to vote on plan to increase stock issuance on January 21
MicroStrategy Inc.’s Michael Saylor may soon have nearly as much common stock outstanding as market giants Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. to finance the company’s massive bitcoin purchases, Bloomberg reports. Analysts expect MicroStrategy to easily pass a company-sponsored proposal to increase the number of authorized Class A common shares from 330 million to 10.3 billion when shareholders vote on Jan. 21. Saylor controls about 47% of the voting power. That would put MicroStrategy’s number of shares outstanding at a potential rate higher than every company in the Nasdaq 100 Index except Nvidia, Apple Inc., Alphabet and Amazon. The company’s shareholders are also expected to pass an amendment on Jan. 21 to increase the number of authorized preferred shares from 5 million to 1 billion. MicroStrategy plans to use the additional shares to fund private transactions for Class A shares, conduct at-the-market equity offerings, and settle redemptions or conversions of convertible bonds, according to proxy documents.
Michael Lebowitz, portfolio manager at RIA Advisors, said that while additional stock issuance is not uncommon, MicroStrategy's plan to significantly increase the number of shares at one time would be unique. For the stock increase amendment to be passed, it must be approved by the majority of the voting rights holders of all outstanding common shares entitled to vote. The shareholder meeting will be held at 10 a.m. New York time on Tuesday, January 21.
Azuki founder: ANIME token will conduct TGE on January 23
According to a post forwarded by Azuki founder Zagabond, Animecoin’s (ANIME) TGE (Token Generation Event) will be launched on January 23.
Earlier in April last year , Arbitrum and Azuki jointly launched the blockchain-based anime network AnimeChain. In January this year, it was reported that the ANIME token will be launched on Ethereum and Arbitrum in January 2025, with 50.5% allocated to the community.
Insider: Trump family crypto project World Liberty will buy TRX
World Liberty Financial, a crypto project backed by the Trump family, will acquire tron (TRX), according to people familiar with the matter. It is not clear how much TRX cryptocurrency World Liberty plans to add to its reserves. World Liberty raised $90 million through the sale of WLFI. The company previously invested seven figures in AAVE and LINK, tokens issued by projects that World Liberty has partnered with.
Trump posts to launch personal Meme coin TRUMP, suspected account hacked
Trump said on his Truth Social account that he would launch a new personal meme coin, TRUMP, which users can obtain by visiting the website with the domain name gettrumpmeme. It is suspected that the account was hacked.
Trump tweets to promote his new meme coin TRUMP
Trump tweeted to promote his new meme coin TRUMP, and said: The new official Trump Meme is here, and it's time to celebrate everything we stand for. Join the very special Trump community. Get your TRUMP now." GMGN market data shows that the market value of the new meme coin TRUMP has exceeded 3 billion US dollars, and the coin price is temporarily reported at 2.59 US dollars.
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, which supports up to 3x leverage for long or short positions. Hyperliquid reminds that this perpetual contract uses the on-chain AMM as the underlying oracle price. Please be aware of low liquidity, high volatility, and increased liquidation risk.
Viewpoint
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 tweeted to criticize Trump's meme
Arthur Hayes said in response to "Trump launches Meme $TRUMP": This is the launch of the political memecoin market. Any politician who is not afraid of public opinion will launch his own memecoin. These token economics are fugazi (note: derogatory term, fake things), but this "shit" will develop towards $100 billion.
Important data
Galaxy Digital said in a research report on Wednesday that despite the recent rise in digital asset prices, cryptocurrency venture capital (VC) activity is still below the previous bull market level. In 2024, VC funds will allocate a total of $11.5 billion to the crypto industry, down from 2023. Galaxy pointed out that in the previous 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."
There are multiple reasons for the stagnation in the venture capital market. Galaxy said that these reasons include a "barbell market" in which Bitcoin and its new spot ETFs have taken center stage, while meme coins have limited "marginal net new activity." These meme coins have difficulty obtaining funding support and have "questionable longevity." The report said that new projects at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrencies are gaining attention, and upcoming regulatory changes may bring more opportunities for stablecoins, decentralized finance (DeFi), and tokenization. The report noted that some large investors may gain cryptocurrency exposure through spot Bitcoin ETFs "rather than turning to early-stage VC investments."
Galaxy said the United States completed the most deals and invested the most funds in the fourth quarter. Galaxy added that early-stage deals accounted for 60% of the total investment in the fourth quarter, and stablecoin companies raised the most funds. The report also pointed out that venture capitalists invested a total of $11.5 billion in startups focusing on cryptocurrencies and blockchain in 2024. These funds invested $3.5 billion in 416 deals in the fourth quarter, a 46% increase from the previous quarter.
Cryptocurrency firms have invested more than $10 million in Trump's inaugural fund
Cryptocurrency firms have committed over $10 million to Trump’s inaugural fund. Cryptocurrency firms including Ripple, Coinbase, Kraken, Robinhood, and Circle have donated to Trump’s inaugural committee since Election Day.
According to Lookonchain monitoring, a trader made more than $20 million in profits in just one hour through $TRUMP. About 90 seconds after Trump announced the launch of $TRUMP on Truth Social, a trader spent about 1.1 million USDC to buy 5.97 million TRUMP (currently $23 million).
So far, he has only sold 543,000 TRUMPs at a price of $404,000, and still holds 5.43 million TRUMPs ($21 million), with a total profit of more than $20 million.
GMGN market data shows that the market value of "Trump Meme Coin" TRUMP briefly reached US$10 billion, temporarily reported at US$8.7 billion, surpassing PEPE to become the third largest Meme coin by market value.
According to Lookonchain monitoring, a trader sold 1.35 million TRUMP at $3.65 million and currently still holds 4.62 million TRUMP (US$67.5 million), with a total profit of more than US$70 million.
0xsun.sol made $10 million trading TRUMP in 4 hours
Crypto KOL 0xsun.sol (@0xSunNFT) tweeted that he earned $10 million on the chain through a public wallet in 4 hours. The attached picture shows that a total of about 3,010 SOLs were spent to buy TRUMP, with a floating profit of about 45,700 SOLs (about $10.5 million).