24 January 2025
Macro/TradFi
Bitcoin hit a new high earlier this week, surpassing US$109k, before pulling back after the inauguration of President Donald Trump.
Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing a 'Presidential Working Group on Digital Assets' to draft a federal regulatory framework for digital assets, assess stablecoins, and explore a 'strategic national digital asset stockpile.'
Lawmakers in Wyoming and Massachusetts have introduced bills to allow state investments in bitcoin (BTC), bringing the total number of US states with similar proposals to eight.
Wintermute reports a 240% increase in institutional crypto trading via OTC in 2024, noting a growing preference for memecoins among TRADFI institutions.
SEC member Mark Uyeda was appointed acting chairman of the financial regulator earlier this week and will serve until June 5, 2026, when permanent chairman Paul Atkins takes over. Uyeda has already launched a 'crypto task force' that aims to create a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets.
Caroline Pham has been named acting chair of the CFTC under Donald Trump. As commissioner, she has previously advocated for regulating digital assets in her role with the financial regulator.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said in an interview with CNBC that US banks are open to adopting cryptocurrency payments but stressed the need for clear regulations before many TradFi institutions can move forward.
MicroStrategy acquired an additional 11,000 BTC for US$1.1b at an average price of $101,191 per bitcoin.
Crypto
L1/L2:
Ethereum developers are tentatively targeting March 2025 to roll out the first phase of the Pectra upgrade, featuring improvements to abstraction, validator staking, and deposit/exit mechanisms to enhance efficiency and usability.
Vitalik Buterin unveiled that 'big changes' are coming to the leadership of the Ethereum Foundation, focusing on improving communications and developer support while preserving its core mission.
Telegram has chosen Open Network (TON) as its exclusive blockchain partner, making TON the only supported network for Mini Apps and TonCoin the only token for in-app purchases.
Defi:
Jupiter distributed approximately 700m JUPI tokens to 2m eligible wallets on Solana as part of its ‘Jupi’ airdrop earlier in the week.
Hyperliquid’s daily trading volume hit a record high of over US$22B this week, driven by the recent listing of the memecoin linked to US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.
Other:
Binance unveiled that users transferred US$26B in peer-to-peer remittances between 2022 and 2024, saving US$1.75B in fees.
Circle has acquired Haynote, the issuer of U.S. Yield Coin (USYC), a tokenized real-world asset (RWA) fund. The January 21 announcement highlighted that this acquisition positions USYC as a preferred yield-bearing collateral in the crypto markets.
Line Next, the Web3 arm of Asia’s leading messaging app, launched its first batch of Telegram-style Dapps, accessible via Line Messenger, to drive mass Web3 adoption in Asia.
