Important information last night and this morning (January 8th - January 9th)
Reprinted from panewslab
01/09/2025·1M
According to the Financial Associated Press, on Wednesday local time, the Federal Reserve released the minutes of its December monetary policy meeting on its official website. The minutes showed that given that the risk of inflation remains high, Fed officials took a new stance on interest rate cuts and decided to slow down the pace of interest rate cuts in the coming months. The minutes of the meeting stated that participants stated that the committee believed that the interest rate level was close to or at a point where it was appropriate to slow down the pace of interest rate cuts. They believe that the pace of interest rate cuts may slow down in the future and enter a more cautious operating stage. And a series of factors indicate that in the current complex economic environment, Fed policymakers believe that it is necessary to carefully adjust monetary policy to avoid the possible negative effects of overly radical policy adjustments. For example, cutting interest rates too quickly could lead to a renewed rise in inflationary pressures. Participants expected inflation to continue moving toward 2%, although they noted that recent higher-than-expected inflation data, as well as the impact of potential changes in trade and immigration policy, suggested that the process may be longer than previously expected. Some participants noted that the disinflation process may have been temporarily stalled or pointed to possible risks. "Fed spokesperson" Nick Timiraos pointed out that the Fed meeting minutes further showed that officials are generally willing to keep interest rates unchanged at the upcoming meeting at the end of this month. "Participants indicated that the Committee is at or near an appropriate level to slow the pace of policy easing," the minutes said. Officials believed that based on their current outlook for economic activity, the Fed is likely to continue to move at a slower pace than in recent months. rate cuts.
Four people familiar with the matter told CNN that Trump is considering declaring a national economic emergency to provide a legal basis for imposing large and widespread tariffs. The declaration would allow Trump to enact a new tariff plan using the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA), which unilaterally authorizes the president to regulate imports during a national emergency. One of the sources noted that Trump likes the law because it gives broad jurisdiction over how to impose tariffs without strict requirements to prove that the tariffs are motivated by national security concerns. The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment.
According to Jinshi, the number of people filing for unemployment benefits in the United States in the week to January 4 was 201,000, the lowest since the week of February 17, 2024. Expected 218,000, previous value 211,000.
According to Cryptoslate, Fox Business News reporter Eleanor Terrett reported that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is looking for a cryptocurrency-friendly candidate to serve as the next chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Competing for the position include current CFTC commissioner Summer Mersinger, a16z crypto policy director and former CFTC commissioner Brian Quintenz, and Kraken’s chief legal officer Marco Santori.
According to people familiar with the matter, they call Quintenz and Mersinger the "top candidates" for the position. Both purported top candidates have extensive experience and encryption policy qualifications. Mersinger is considered a thought leader at the intersection of crypto innovation and consumer protection. She is a frequent speaker at industry events and has been an advocate for balanced regulation to promote growth in the industry. Mersinger, meanwhile, has been a vocal advocate for a regulatory environment that is accommodating of crypto innovation, a stance he honed during his time as a CFTC commissioner and his current role at a16z. If elected, either candidate could steer the agency toward policies that prioritize clarity and innovation in the U.S. crypto industry.
While Quintenz and Mersinger are leading the way, several candidates are still on the shortlist, including Republican CFTC Commissioner Caroline Pham, who has a strong regulatory background, Neal Kumar and Josh Sterling, who have held senior positions at the CFTC and are considered regulatory experts. The Trump transition team has reportedly vetted at least six candidates for the position, reflecting the administration’s focus on finding a leader who fits its vision for the crypto industry.
According to CoinDesk, Rostin Behnam, chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), focused on cryptocurrency and its regulatory issues in his last public speech before leaving office, and emphasized the need to enhance the CFTC as a cryptocurrency regulator. Behnam will step down on January 20 to make way for future appointees from President-elect Trump. In a speech at the Brookings Institution, he said cryptocurrencies have been “in every phase of my tenure.” Behnam noted: “In the absence of federal legislation, customer protection, increased fraud and market abuse, market resiliency, and financial stability have become increasingly problematic. History has repeatedly shown that leaving large swaths of financial activity outside of regulation will ultimately lead to leading to poor outcomes," he said, calling directly on the industry to "innovate. “The role of market regulators is critical in ensuring that financial innovation is integrated into a regulatory and compliance culture that protects consumers and provides legal certainty,” he said. ” He also said that he has never supported a law enforcement-led supervision approach. In contrast, U.S. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has long been criticized by the industry for adopting an approach of “enforcement instead of regulation.”
Earlier today, U.S. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler reiterated that the encryption field is “riddled with bad actors .”
According to Bitcoin Magazine, U.S. Senator Dusty Deevers of Oklahoma has submitted the “Bitcoin Freedom Act” numbered SB325, which will allow Oklahoma employees to choose to receive wages in the form of Bitcoin and allow supply The merchant accepts Bitcoin payments. SB325 ensures that participation is completely voluntary, respects free market principles, and empowers employees, employers, and businesses to choose the payment method that works best for them. SB325 is eligible for consideration in the 60th legislative session, which begins on February 3.
Thailand will pilot cryptocurrency payments in Phuket in 2025 to help develop the tourism industry
Pichai Chunhavajira, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Thailand, announced that cryptocurrency payment will be piloted in Phuket in 2025. Tourists can pay for goods and services with Bitcoin, which will be converted into Thai baht after clearing. The operation is legal and No changes to existing laws are required. This move is aimed at improving payment convenience and attracting more tourists, while also helping to solve large-value payment problems, such as home purchases. The Phuket pilot will enhance the competitiveness of Thailand’s crypto economy. Small communities such as “Bitcoin Village” have successfully promoted digital currency payments, providing a reference for the project.
According to Bloomberg, the EU's top digital official promised to "aggressively" advance the investigation of X Platform (formerly Twitter) to determine whether it violated the Digital Services Act. The law aims to crack down on illegal and harmful content, and the focus of the investigation includes whether Platform X promotes far-right political content through algorithms. If violations are confirmed, Platform X may be fined up to 6% of its global annual revenue. The European Commission said it would draw conclusions as soon as possible in accordance with the law.
US judge sets start date for Do Kwon's trial to January 26, 2026
According to The Block, Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon appeared in court for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday. This was his second appearance, marking the beginning of the discovery of evidence in the high-profile and repeatedly delayed federal case. display stage. If found guilty in connection with the collapse of the TerraUST stablecoin, he faces up to 130 years in prison. Wednesday's "initial meeting" is aimed at determining whether the U.S. case can be resolved without a trial and ironing out other pre-trial details. U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer set a trial start date of January 26, 2026 and encouraged plea negotiations. The U.S. government pointed out that the parties to the lawsuit submitted 6 terabytes of evidence for discovery, including four mobile phones, social media accounts and other non-public information that Kwon had when he was in prison in Montenegro, Montenegro, much of which required translation and Decrypt. Prosecutors said some of the data may have been collected without a search warrant and that encryption keys appeared to be "lost." Prosecutor Jared Lenow noted that the trial could last up to six weeks, with the prosecution alone taking four weeks. The judge also questioned whether securities laws would play a role in Kwon's case, saying "the jury needs to be extremely clear-eyed." Prosecutors said it was immaterial to their case whether Bitcoin or USDT were commodities, noting that District Judge Jed Rakoff ruled in a previous case that "Terraform's crypto assets are investment contracts."
Trump-themed digital cards debut on Bitcoin network via Ordinals protocol
According to Cryptoslate, an NFT series backed by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has launched its first 160 pieces on the Bitcoin network using the Ordinals protocol, called the Trump Bitcoin Digital Trading Card. Trading Cards)”. Users who receive 100 NFT cards from the "Mugshot Edition" are eligible to claim through the NFT marketplace Magic Eden after submitting their Bitcoin wallet. As of press time, users have minted 19 of the 119 available Ordinals, and the claiming period will last until January 31st. The Trump Bitcoin digital trading card uses “Alpha sats.” Users have listed 11 Trump-inspired Ordinals on Magic Eden, with the lowest current base price being 0.1988 BTC, while the most expensive Ordinals in the series are priced at 20 BTC. Although this is the first Trump-related Ordinals series, the president-elect has a track record in the NFT space, having launched multiple series over the years, including four sets of the "Trump Digital Trading Cards" series, which showcase Photos of him holding BTC and doing his signature dance.
Blast’s mobile platform will launch later this month alongside a tokenomics update
Ethereum Layer 2 network Blast announced on the There will be no gold distribution. All users should also make sure to log into the Blast website with their own wallets. An official release date will be announced soon.”
Solana urges validators to test early version 'Firedancer' upgrade
According to CoinDesk, Solana is stepping up testing of Firedancer, a software upgrade that is expected to significantly increase the processing speed of the blockchain. According to messages in the Solana Technology Discord server, the Solana core development team hopes to have the “vast majority” of processing power in the on-chain low-risk test network running Frankendancer (an early version of Firedancer) by the end of the week. The call to action for Solana validators marks Firedancer’s biggest test yet. This upgrade has been in the works since the chain experienced frequent outages in 2022, and is seen as enhancing Solana’s stability and speed. Backers of Firedancer believe the software, developed by the crypto arm of trading giant Jump, will give Solana an unparalleled advantage in the race to attract global financial markets to blockchain. They point to its theoretical speed: one million transactions per second, orders of magnitude faster than any blockchain-based system today. Firedancer itself doesn't have a release date yet. Currently, Jump Crypto has only launched Frankendancer, which is a combination of Firedancer and Solana’s mainstream client architecture. Before this week, only a small number of validators had adopted Frankendancer, and many said they found it to be buggy and prone to crashes. On Tuesday, the Solana Foundation used this subsidy reward and punishment mechanism for the first time to directly promote the adoption of Frankendancer. Validators have only a few days to switch their testnet systems to the new client or lose their delegated rights.
According to Globenewswire, Grayscale announced that it has updated the fund components and weights of each product based on a review in the fourth quarter of 2024. ① Grayscale included Livepeer (LPT) into the AI Fund’s investment portfolio. ②The Grayscale DEFI fund adds Curve (CRV) and removes Synthetix (SNX). ③The Grayscale GDLC Fund added Cardano (ADA) and removed Avalanche (AVAX). ④ Grayscale included SUI in the GSCPxE fund’s investment portfolio.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov reiterates platform’s support for free speech
Telegram founder Pavel Durov said on his personal channel that Telegram firmly supported freedom of speech long before it became a political security issue and emphasized that its core values are not affected by the U.S. election cycle. He also noted that while other platforms have recently announced reductions in censorship, the real test will come when the political winds shift again. He also said it's easy to support something when there's nothing at stake.
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin said in a tweet that Ethereum core development needs to be better prioritized. He pointed out that if he had to choose between "Blob target increased from 3 to 6" and "other improvements in Pectra", he would give priority to the former. This indicates that data availability expansion (Blobs) is his top priority. At the same time, he mentioned priority suggestions for projects such as Fusaka and G*, believing that "Blob expansion" is still the key, but also mentioned the importance of L1 layer EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) improvements. He specifically mentioned the focus on the complete account abstraction (AA) from EOF to 7701, SIMD+EVMMAX optimization, and moderately increasing the Gas limit. Vitalik also stated that “peerdas” exploration is ongoing and suggested trying more ambitious versions to further promote Ethereum technology innovation and optimization.
Revolut becomes first banking data publisher to join Pyth Network
According to The Block, British financial technology company Revolut announced that it has become the first bank data publisher to join the multi-chain Pyth Network. Revolut integrates its digital asset quotes and transaction data into Pyth's price oracle, allowing decentralized finance (DeFi) developers to apply real-time market data to decentralized applications (dApps). The Pyth network currently provides more than 500 real-time data streams for more than 80 blockchain ecosystems (including Solana, Ethereum, Arbitrum, etc.), and the total transaction volume in 2024 will exceed US$1 trillion. Revolut said that this cooperation will promote financial modernization, provide users and developers with accurate real-time data, and at the same time help the development of DeFi applications.
CoinList has removed 2.4 million bots and fraudulent accounts
CoinList announced that it has removed 2.4 million robots and fraudulent accounts since its establishment, ensuring that each user is a unique and authentic individual by verifying devices, IP addresses, emails, etc. This initiative helps project parties build a high-quality, real investor community, while improving allocation opportunities for legitimate investors and promoting long-term stable development.
According to the official announcement of the crypto exchange Bullish, its German subsidiary Bullish DE Custody GmbH has obtained the crypto asset custody, proprietary trading and prime brokerage business licenses granted by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). Bullish plans to expand its services in the European Economic Area relying on the Cryptoasset Market Regulation (MiCA) framework, which will come into effect on December 30, 2024. The company appointed Marco Bodewein as the general manager of Bullish DE. He has held important positions in future bank AG and Bitcoin Group SE and has extensive experience in encryption and financial services. In addition, tradias, a crypto trading institution authorized by BaFin, has completed docking with Bullish DE and started trading. Bullish DE is actively attracting professional and institutional investors in Germany to provide safe and compliant digital asset trading services.
Starknet launches development tool SN Stack to assist Appchain development
According to The Block, Ethereum Layer 2 project Starknet launched its development tool SN Stack to support developers in creating independent application chains (Appchains). SN Stack includes Starknet OS (blockchain operating system), CairoVM (smart contract execution), Blockifier (block construction), and encryption proof and verification tools. SN Stack provides three versions to meet different needs: Madara provides a flexible open source modular framework; Dojo focuses on games and advanced on-chain applications; StarkWare Sequencer provides a complete infrastructure for high-performance decentralized applications. Paradex, the first application chain, has been launched as a design partner.
According to the a16z crypto official website, a16z crypto released five cutting-edge trends at the intersection of AI and encryption technology and explored the possibility of integration. 1. Blockchain helps AI reshape the Internet: AI has subverted the traditional Internet economy, generating content instead of user clicks, and deep forgery and false information weakening trust. The ownership protection, identity verification and anti-tampering functions of blockchain can protect the authenticity of content and return the Internet to openness and diversity. 2. AI centralization, Crypto decentralization: There is a tension between AI and encryption technology between centralization and decentralization, but the combination of the two can achieve innovations that cannot be accomplished independently, such as user control, privacy protection and decentralized governance. 3. The surge in demand to prove “real identity”: AI-generated false content has surged, requiring “human identity proof” to ensure the authenticity of interactions. Privacy-based unique identity authentication has become the key to building a trusted digital identity and improving network security. 4. AI wallet promotes autonomous behavior: After the AI agent has its own encrypted wallet, it can participate in market transactions, custody assets, and be used in scenarios such as decentralized physical infrastructure networks to expand the AI role and network value. 5. Trusted Execution Environment Guarantees Autonomous Applications: Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) can prove the autonomy of AI systems, allowing them to manage keys and assets, run on a permissionless decentralized network, and provide truly autonomous AI applications. Pave the way.
Binance Alpha adds LMT, PAAL and SNAI
Binance Alpha announced a new batch of project lists, including: LMT, PAAL and SNAI. The project introduction is as follows:
PeckShield: Orange Finance was hacked and lost approximately $787,000
According to PeckShieldAlert, Orange Finance, the LPDfi liquidity management protocol on Arbitrum, suffered a hacker attack and approximately $787,000 in crypto assets was transferred from its contract. Officials confirmed that the attacker took control of the administrator address, upgraded the contract, and transferred funds to his wallet. Users are strongly advised to immediately revoke all contract authorizations related to Orange Finance to avoid further losses and cease any interaction with the compromised protocol. Orange Finance has attempted to contact the attacker via Arbiscan to negotiate the return of funds.
DuckChain releases DUCK token economics, 77% allocated to community and ecological development
According to DuckChain’s official tweet, its governance token $DUCK was officially released with a total supply of 10 billion. 77% of it is allocated to community and ecological development, including 50% airdrop, 4% liquidity, 3% marketing and 20% ecological support. Of the remainder, 10% is allocated to investors, 10% to the team, and 3% to advisors. DUCK TGE will be launched on TON, followed by DuckChain (after the public mainnet launch), Arbitrum, Base, etc. As the core token of DuckChain, $DUCK supports functions such as governance, staking, and gas fee payment. DuckChain aims to provide on-chain support for Telegram's more than 1 billion users and dApp developers through AI tools, EVM compatible technologies, etc., and promote the large-scale application of blockchain technology. The $DUCK token will be listed on multiple centralized and decentralized exchanges on January 16, 2025, and the specific platform will be announced. In addition, DuckChain announced that today at 12 PM UTC, you can check the airdrop allocation through MiniApp and receive it to the OKX exchange.
According to Fortune, Movement Labs, which focuses on the development of the Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain, is close to completing a US$100 million Series B financing with an expected valuation of US$3 billion. This round of financing is jointly led by CoinFund and Nova Fund (the digital asset arm of Brevan Howard). Investors will receive shares in the company and its token Move, focusing on the form of tokens. Movement Labs previously completed a $38 million Series A round of financing in April 2024, led by Polychain Capital. Completion of this round of financing is expected to be achieved by the end of January. Movement is based on the Move programming language developed by Facebook, which is different from independent public chains Aptos and Sui. It adopts a Layer 2 structure and fully utilizes the Ethereum ecosystem. Its mainnet beta version and Move token were launched in December 2024. Move's current market value is approximately US$2.25 billion, which has nearly doubled since its launch.
Crypto data platform SoSoValue completes $15 million in financing to launch multi-currency index
According to Fortune, the AI-driven encrypted data platform SoSoValue announced the completion of a $15 million Series A round of financing, with a valuation of $200 million. This round of financing was led by Hongshan (Sequoia China), SmallSpark, Mirana Ventures and Safepal. SoSoValue stated that this round of financing was completed at the end of December, and the funds were mainly used for the reserve fund of SoSoValue Indices (SSI). SSI is an innovative spot crypto index protocol designed to promote efficient investment in the crypto market and makes SoSoValue the first institution to introduce spot index to the market in the form of tokens. SoSoValue is committed to providing real-time market data and ETF fund flow tracking for retail investors. The SoSoValue Indices Protocol it launched packages digital assets into cross-chain cryptocurrencies through smart contracts. SoSoValue has launched four indices at the end of December, namely: MAG7 .ssi, MEME.ssi (tracks the top ten memecoins), DEFI.ssi and USSI (hedged). SoSoValue completed a seed round of financing of US$4.15 million in mid-2024. With this round of financing, the total financing amount of the project is close to US$20 million. The SoSoValue platform has more than 8 million registered users.
PANews reported on January 9 that according to on-chain analyst Ember monitoring, a giant whale transferred 80,000 SOL (approximately $15.56 million) to Coinbase Prime 5 hours ago. He earned US$4.63 million (+36%) through staking and SOL appreciation. This giant whale withdrew 87,000 SOL ($12.81 million) from Coinbase Prime at a price of $147 6 months ago and pledged it until it was redeemed 3 weeks ago. After the redemption, his SOL was transferred to Binance and Coinbase Prime at an average price of $194, achieving a gain of $4.63 million (+36%).
El Salvador buys 11 more Bitcoins for its strategic reserves
According to Cointelegraph, El Salvador has just purchased another 11 Bitcoins as its strategic reserves, worth more than $1 million.
According to Lookonchain monitoring, Bitcoin ETFs had a net inflow of 2,586 BTC (approximately US$248 million), of which iShares (Blackrock) had a single-day inflow of 6,078 BTC (approximately US$583 million), with a total holding of 559,201 BTC (approximately US$53.62 billion). . The Ethereum ETF had a net outflow of 20,884 ETH (approximately US$70.69 million), and Fidelity had a single-day outflow of 19,999 ETH (approximately US$67.7 million). The current total holdings are 460,501 ETH (approximately US$1.56 billion).
The Ethereum Foundation sold 100 ETH in exchange for 336,000 DAI
Arkm data shows that a few minutes ago, the Ethereum Foundation address sold 100 ETH at an average price of $3,363, in exchange for approximately 336,000 DAI.
jinse