Good Morning,

Here's a quick preview of today’s content: BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF IBIT saw it’s largest daily net outflows yesterday, Do Kwon officially pleads not guilty for U.S. charges, Pump.fun nears $400M to close out 2024, IRS delays some crypto tax rules, and top institutions and investment firms have dropped their 2025 crypto strategies 👀

Let’s dive in.

Market Snapshot

  • Elon influenced memecoin Kekius Maximus keeps momentum with another 26% increase

    • $KEKIUS has returned over 3300% in the last 7D as it stays above $140M market cap

  • IBIT, BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF, somehow hovers $55 stock price with recent $333M net outflow

    • This is likely due to Bitcoin’s rise back above $97k midday on Thursday

  • Virtual’s Protocol token VIRTUAL takes a 15% tumble following meteoric year, up 8,500% from last January

Market Predictions

  • Traders on Kalshi are currently predicting how far Trump will create a National Bitcoin Reserve before Jan 1st 2026

  • You can trade this market by checking out Kalshi

  • Get a $20 bonus when you deposit $100 or more with code “LIT” on signup

Headline Roundup
The major headlines driving crypto markets

  • IRS postpones implementation of new crypto cost-basis reporting rules to 2026, see what this means here

  • Do Kwon pleads not guilty to US fraud charges (DC) 

  • USDT sees its steepest market cap drop since the collapse of FTX (TB)

  • Blackrock’s IBIT sees largest daily outflow ($333M) since launch (TB)

  • Morgan Stanley is considering adding crypto to E-Trade (CT) 

  • Ripple’s XRP closes out 2024 at a 7-year high (DC) 

  • NFT sales volume hits $8.8B in 2024 (CT) 

  • Bitcoin ETFs near $110B and hold 5.7% of Bitcoin’s total supply (CT)

  • Tether moves $700M of Bitcoin to its strategic Bitcoin reserve (TB) 

  • a16z is suing the IRS and the Treasury Department to defend DeFi (CS)

  • Malaysia orders Bybit to halt operations without proper registration (TB) 

  • Ex-Bithumb CEO jailed for 2 years over $2M bribery scheme (DH) 

  • Lawsuit alleges that the Hawk Tuah token is an unregistered security (TCA) 

  • Trader turns $66 into $3M with KEKIUS tokens (TML)

  • Lending protocol Aave hits $33.4B in deposits (CT)

  • Memecoin generator Pump.fun’s revenue nears $400M (CT) 

  • Binance Labs is rebranding and expanding its investment strategy (CS) 

  • Newsletter "Week in Ethereum" shuts down due to lack of funding from the Ethereum Foundation (TB) 

  • Payments firm MoonPay secures MiCA approval in Netherlands (CT) 

  • Grayscale adds AI launchpads and Solana DeFi tokens to Q1 2025 watchlist (CT) 

M&A Announcements

  • Digital-asset brokerage FalconX acquires crypto derivatives startup Arbelos Markets (BBG)

Launches

  • FLock.io launches its mainnet and FLOCK token on Base (CD) 

  • HyperLiquid launches native staking for its HYPE token (CD) 

  • KuCoin launches crypto payments via QR code (CD) 

Venture Capital

  • An overview of the last week in blockchain investments (PL)

  • Oak Grove Ventures invests $5M in DuckChain (CN) 

  • Crypto VC investment projected to reach $18B in 2025 (TU) 

  • Crypto VC funding rose to $13.7B in 2024 (TB) 

  • Top VC’s predict a surge in crypto M&A in 2025  (TB) 

Regulation

  • China's central bank emphasizes global crypto regulations in its 2024 report (TB) 

  • Crypto-backed lawmakers set to join Congress to create pro-crypto majority in House (CT)

  • Crypto firms are continuing to leave Europe and head to the U.S. with pro-crypto regulators coming into office (CT)

Cybersecurity

  • Tether, Tron, and TRM Labs freeze $126M of USDT linked to crime (DC) 

  • Vietnamese police foil a $1M crypto scam (CT) 

  • Hacker nicknamed Blockchain Bandit moves $172M in stolen Ether after two years of dormancy (CT)

  • Crypto wallet Tangem fixes bug exposing users’ private keys via email (CT) 

  • Scammers using bait multi-signature wallets to steal funds from other crypto thieves (CT) 

Extra Reads

Chart of the Day

Fartcoin’s market cap hits $1.45B, surpassing 939 companies in the Russell 3000 Index.

Meme Dump

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