Good Morning,

Here's a quick preview of today’s content: Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs have officially been around for a year, and it’s been impressive. Plus XRP dominates headlines with case against SEC and surpassing $3 for the first time in 7 years, MicroStrategy looks to raise billions more, DOJ looks to return money from the Bitfinex hack, and more

Happy almost Friday, Let’s dive in.

Market Snapshot

As of 1/15/2024. Data per CoinMarketCap.

  • Bitcoin rebounds above $100k on Wednesday after dipping below $90k Monday

  • Analysts note that crypto is in a “tug of war” with concerns of inflation and optimism with incoming administration in the U.S.

    • Last week, stronger than expected payroll numbers caused investors to dump growth oriented assets, likely a driving force in BTC price drop. This also led analysts to predict fewer-than-expected interest rate cuts by the fed

    • Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that inflation was lower than the expected .4% in December, sitting around .2% for the month

  • Litecoin had a big day gaining over +17% after breaking news (see below)

Market Predictions

  • Traders on Kalshi are currently predicting Bitcoin likely won’t reach $150k in 2025

  • 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

  • SEC files last second appeal to overturn a court decision considering XRP not a security, coin rips in response (CB)

  • Crypto hedge funds failed to beat Bitcoin in 2024 (BBG)

  • Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer believes SEC will abandon lawsuit under new administration (WG)

  • XRP hits $3 for the first time since 2018, surpassing BlackRock's market cap (TD) 

  • Bitcoin ETFs see $36B net inflow in first year (YF)

  • Litecoin ETF likely to come next after Canary Funds amended S-1 (CT)

  • Trump plans for Bitcoin to hit $150K early in his presidency (X) 

  • MicroStrategy seeks to raise $2B via a perpetual preferred stock offering (CD) 

  • Chair Gary Gensler states that the SEC has 'never said' that Bitcoin and Ether are securities (TB)

  • $1.5B of Bitcoin is inaccessible due to self-custody mismanagement (CS) 

  • BitMEX fined $100M for violating the US Bank Secrecy Act (CT) 

  • Pro-crypto Tom Emmer named vice chair of the House’s Digital Assets Subcommittee (TB) 

  • Crypto now accounts for 25% of German stock exchange Boerse Stuttgart’s trading volume (CD)

  • Trump-backed World Liberty Financial moves over $60M of ETH (TB) 

  • NFT trading volume dropped 19% in 2024, its worst year since 2020 (TB) 

  • Ethereum L2 revenue hits $277M in 2024, led by Base’s $92M (CS)

  • Tether sues Swan Bitcoin over contract breaches with joint Bitcoin mining venture (CT) 

  • NFT collection CryptoPunks floor rises 10% to 40.5 ETH over IP acquisition rumors (TD)

  • Justin Sun dismisses questions about algorithmic stablecoin USDD’s 20% yield (TB) 

  • Base memecoin Toshi jumps 130% after its addition to Coinbase’s listing roadmap (TB) 

  • Helium's technology provided emergency cell service during Hurricane Helene (BW) 

  • Solana’s Switchboard Protocol will integrate with Jito’s restaking platform (TB)

  • Dubai announces 17 story crypto tower to be complete in 2027 (WG)

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Launches

  • Sony's Soneium L2 blockchain launch faces criticism for censoring memecoins (BW) 

Venture Capital

  • Movement Labs is seeking to raise $100M at a $3B valuation in a Series B led by CoinFund (BT)

  • RWA platform Brickken raises $2.5M in a seed round to support European expansion (CT) 

  • Animoca Brands leads $2M seed round for on-chain farm life game BeraTone (PA)

  • ChainAware receives $50,000 grant from ChainGPT to develop on-chain AI solutions (CW)

Regulation

  • South Korea is preparing follow-up crypto regulation for the second half of 2025 (TB) 

  • Thailand is considering approving the listing of local Bitcoin ETFs (DC)

  • Arkansas lawmakers to ban mining operations near military facilities (CT)

  • Crypto framework will be a priority according to U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chair (CT)

Institutions

  • VanEck files for $NODE, the first actively managed crypto ETF. (TD)

  • Institutions are driving the crypto rally according to Delta Blockchain Fund Founder (BBG)

Cybersecurity

  • DOJ files to return $9B of Bitcoin stolen from the 2016 Bitfinex hack (DC) 

  • Former delivery driver must repay $3.8M or face 7 more years in prison for Bitcoin money laundering (DC)

  • Hong Kong uses tokenized legal notices to target crypto wallets holding stolen assets (CT) 

Extra Reads

Chart of the Day

11+ U.S. Financial Institutions launched Bitcoin ETFs 1 year ago, reaching $36B net inflows – here’s this visualized

Meme Dump

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