The US SEC has officially revoked the crypto accounting policy SAB 121
According to the official website, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced the revocation of the crypto accounting policy SAB 121 in the latest release of Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 122. The document revokes the interpretive guidance contained in Topic 5.FF, titled "Accounting for an Entity's Obligation to Safeguard Crypto Assets Held for its Platform Users". Entities should retrospectively reverse Topic 5.FF for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2024. Additionally, the SEC emphasized that entities should continue to disclose risks related to crypto asset custody under existing regulations.
Trump signs crypto executive order: Evaluates creating a national digital asset reserve, bans CBDC
According to reports from Fox Business News, Trump has signed an executive order establishing a Presidential Digital Assets Working Group, tasked with developing a federal regulatory framework for digital assets (including stablecoins) and evaluating the creation of a strategic national digital asset reserve. The working group will be chaired by David Sacks, the White House's "AI and Crypto Czar", with members including the Treasury Secretary, SEC Chair, and heads of other relevant departments and agencies. The executive order directs agencies to provide recommendations to the working group on any regulations or other agency actions that should be rescinded or amended to impact the digital asset sector. Additionally, the order prohibits any agency from taking action to establish, issue, or promote a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The order also revokes the previous administration's "Executive Order on Digital Assets" and the Treasury Department's "Framework for International Engagement on Digital Assets", stating that they suppressed innovation and undermined the US's economic freedom and global leadership in digital finance.
Previously, it was reported that Trump stated that the US will become the global capital of AI and cryptocurrencies.
Trump's daughter Ivanka warns against buying fraudulent meme coins named after her
Ivanka Trump, the daughter of former US President Donald Trump, has warned investors not to purchase a fraudulent meme coin named after her. On Thursday, local time, Ivanka posted on the social media platform X, stating, "I have become aware that a cryptocurrency called 'Ivanka Trump' or '$IVANKA' is being promoted and traded without my knowledge or consent. Let me be clear - I have nothing to do with this token, which seems to be a scam that could defraud unsuspecting investors. The unauthorized use of my name and likeness is a violation of my rights." Ivanka added, "This is deceptive and manipulative behavior, and it is unacceptable. My legal team is looking into this matter and will take appropriate steps to stop the continued misuse of my name."
According to The Block, earlier this week, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce was appointed to lead the SEC's newly announced crypto working group. However, investment bank TD Cowen pointed out that her term will end in June, which is a cause for concern. In a report on Thursday, TD Cowen's Washington research team wrote, "The SEC's creation of the working group is an important and long-overdue step towards regulatory clarity in the crypto space, our only concern is that Peirce may depart when her term ends in June." According to the SEC's website, if the Chair and Commissioners are not replaced upon the expiration of their terms, they can continue to serve for up to 18 additional months. Peirce, known as the "Crypto Mom" for her support of innovation in the crypto space, has long advocated for balanced crypto regulation.
Senator Lummis announces she will chair the Senate Banking Digital Assets Subcommittee
US Senator Lummis has announced that she will chair the Senate Banking Digital Assets Subcommittee. Senator Cynthia Lummis stated that digital assets are the future, and for the US to maintain its global financial innovation leadership, Congress needs to quickly pass bipartisan legislation to establish a comprehensive legal framework for digital assets, while also strengthening the US dollar through a strategic Bitcoin reserve. She pledged to push the bill to the President's desk to lay the foundation for the country's financial future.
According to The Block, Glassnode's data analysis shows that Bitcoin's current price trajectory is very similar to the patterns of previous market cycles, particularly the 2015-2018 cycle. Glassnode's analysis of Bitcoin's historical market data highlights the significant growth in the early cycles. The first cycle, starting from the Genesis Block in 2009, saw Bitcoin's price grow 80.51 times. The subsequent 2011-2015 cycle saw a 55.30x growth. However, more recent cycles, such as 2015-2018 and 2018-2022, have seen more moderate growth of 2.80x and 3.31x respectively, reflecting the diminishing returns as Bitcoin matures as an asset class. In the latest report, Glassnode noted that the current cycle's growth is very close to the 2015-2018 cycle. During the corresponding stage of the 2015-2018 cycle, Bitcoin surged 562%. Now, it has rallied around 630% from the 2022 cycle low of $15,000, suggesting further upside potential. However, the scale of future gains remains uncertain. Bitget Wallet's Chief Operating Officer, Alvin Kan, speculated that if Bitcoin can replicate the percentage gains of the 2015-2018 cycle, it could theoretically reach $1.7 million - an 11,374% increase from the previous low. However, such predictions highlight the challenges of applying historical patterns to future scenarios, as Kan acknowledged that the current market environment is fundamentally different.
Experts suggest North Korean hacker group may be behind the $70 million Phemex exchange hack
According to The Block, multiple blockchain security experts have analyzed that the North Korean hacker group may be the mastermind behind the $70 million hack of the crypto exchange Phemex. On Thursday, the Singapore-based exchange was breached, and it subsequently announced a temporary suspension of withdrawals due to suspicious activities reported by several blockchain security firms. At the time, around $30 million had been stolen, but the attack appeared to be ongoing, with more tokens being siphoned. The attack seems to follow a similar threat pattern seen in other well-known crypto exchange hacks. MetaMask's Chief Security Researcher, Taylor Monahan, stated that "in this incident, large amounts of different assets were simultaneously drained across multiple chains. These tokens were then immediately exchanged for the native asset of each chain, starting with the more freezable stablecoins and then proceeding in order of value." Monahan said the attacker seemed to target high-value assets first, followed by less well-known tokens, with all the activity happening concurrently but not in a scripted manner. The assets were manually sent to new addresses for conversion, and then held until a real money laundering team could move them out later. Given the large number of transactions and the wide range of target blockchains, Monahan believes this was likely the work of "a multi-campaign threat actor group."
Vitalik warns: "political tokens" are tools for "unlimited political bribery"
According to The Block, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin posted on social media on Thursday that political tokens could lead to "unlimited" bribery. Buterin's comments were part of a broader discussion on the development trends of the cryptocurrency industry, especially against the backdrop of political leaders like US President Trump embracing cryptocurrencies. Buterin pointed out that certain parts of the industry are in conflict with each other in terms of short-term and long-term value, and compared it to "highly addictive mobile games" and chess.
Buterin wrote on X: "Over the past year, we have been entering a new order where the most powerful people in the world are cheering on the idea of creating tokens for anything and anyone at any scale. So now is the time to discuss the difference between the short-term 'sugar high' pleasures that are not recommended for beginners, and the long-term sense of achievement and wealth accumulation. This is not to say that 'fun is bad', but rather the difference between modern highly addictive mobile games and chess or World of Warcraft. Now is the time to discuss the fact that large-scale political tokens have crossed another line: they are not just a source of fun, whose harm is limited to the mistakes made by voluntary participants, they are tools for unlimited political bribery, including bribery from foreign governments."
The two large-scale political tokens recently announced are TRUMP and MELANIA, both related to President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump. These two tokens were launched before Trump's inauguration as the 47th President of the United States on January 20, and experienced a significant price drop shortly after.
According to Fox Business News reporter Eleanor Terrett, crypto czar David Sacks said in an interview that they have not yet decided whether to proceed with the digital asset reserve plan, and Sacks said: "Yes, we will evaluate that. We haven't decided to do that yet. We need to study that." In addition, Sacks said that the digital asset working group will develop a regulatory framework in the following ways: 1) Implement market structure and define what is a digital asset, security, commodity, collectible, etc.; 2) Expand the dominance of the US dollar through stablecoins; 3) Evaluate national digital asset reserves. Sacks also said he believes the TRUMP coin is like a baseball card, a collectible, and is not concerned about the potential conflict of interest in the president issuing such a token; Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are a threat to freedom and liberty, and stablecoins are a better choice. Expanding the dominance of the US dollar in the digital realm could create trillions of dollars in demand for US Treasuries, "which could be very useful for us, basically supporting our debt, and lowering long-term interest rates." Earlier today, it was reported that Trump signed a crypto executive order, including evaluating the creation of a national digital asset reserve and banning CBDCs.
Singapore court approves WazirX to repay $235 million to victims of hacking
According to Cointelegraph, the Indian crypto exchange WazirX has been granted approval by the Singapore High Court for its restructuring plan, paving the way for the repayment of $235 million in user funds stolen by the North Korean Lazarus group in July 2024. Under the plan, users are expected to recover 75%-80% of their account balances through token distribution. The restructuring plan was submitted by WazirX's parent company Zettai, aiming to avoid liquidation and restore creditor rights through a court-supervised process. The initial payout will be completed within 10 business days of the plan's approval, with the remaining claims linked to the newly issued "recovery tokens", which will be repurchased through platform earnings and asset recoveries. WazirX has frozen a portion of the stolen funds and is cooperating with multiple governments to trace the remaining assets. The court stated that a quick resolution and fund distribution is in the best interest of users, supporting the restructuring over liquidation.
OpenAI releases first AI agent tool Operator, able to proxy user web-based operations
According to Jinshi, OpenAI released its first AI agent tool Operator on Thursday, which can proxy user web-based operations. In addition, OpenAI founder Sam Altman said that the free version of ChatGPT will launch O3-mini.
Binance Labs renamed to YZI Labs, with former head Ella Zhang returning
Binance Labs has announced a name change to YZi Labs, to reflect its independence and expand its investment focus to Web3, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Biotech. This rebranding marks the institution's separation from the Binance brand and its adaptation to a broader technology landscape. CZ will remain actively involved in investment activities, providing guidance and support to entrepreneurs. Meanwhile, Ella Zhang, the former head of Binance Labs, has returned to take the helm of YZi Labs, driving the next phase of innovation and growth. YZi Labs will focus on supporting long-term impactful projects and explore the intersection of Web3 with AI and Biotech. It plans to optimize its incubation program, introducing a 12-week offline residency activity to create an immersive collaborative environment for founders. YZi Labs currently manages a portfolio spanning over 250 projects across 25 countries, with more than 65 companies having participated in its incubation program.
Ledger co-founder Balland released after being kidnapped in France
According to Tree News, Ledger co-founder Balland has been released after being kidnapped in France. The details of the case are still under investigation.
Coinbase International to list Animecoin perpetual contracts
Coinbase International Exchange and Coinbase Advanced have announced that they will support Animecoin (ANIME) perpetual contract trading. The ANIME-PERP market is expected to open for trading on or after January 23, 2025 at 18:00 (UTC).
DEXX to start compensation on February 8: direct one-time payout for losses under $50,000
DEXX officially stated that the platform has received $15 million in investments and collaborations from 7 leading exchanges, VCs and industry-leading projects, and will gradually start user compensation on February 8. The compensation plan is as follows: • Users with losses of $50,000 or less will receive a one-time payout; • Users with losses exceeding $50,000 will be contacted by customer service to confirm the details. The new version of DEXX will be launched after multiple rounds of security upgrades and penetration testing, with new features including "wallet authorization code", a new secure wallet and risk wallet isolation, and reviews by multiple auditing and security agencies. In addition, all affected users will receive airdrop compensation during the platform token generation event (TGE). The official recommends that users conduct transactions only after the compensation is completed and the platform is relaunched.
Circle launches Paymaster feature, allowing USDC to pay transaction fees
Circle has announced the launch of the Paymaster feature, allowing users to pay transaction fees on Arbitrum and Base using USDC, without the need to hold native tokens like ETH. Paymaster will accept USDC and handle the process of paying the native tokens to the blockchain validators on the user's behalf. The service will be expanded to Ethereum, Polygon POS and Solana in the future, and will charge a 10% Gas fee per transaction, which will be waived until June 30 to encourage adoption.
BlackRock CEO Fink: Hopes US SEC will approve tokenization of bonds and stocks
BlackRock CEO Fink: Hopes the US SEC will approve the tokenization of bonds and stocks.
Binance Alpha adds VINE, BUZZ and BID
The app page shows that Binance Alpha has added VINE, BUZZ and BID, with project introductions as shown in the image.
The CEO of the Norwegian Wealth Fund: I believe that cryptocurrencies will not be part of our investment portfolio in the short term.
Upbit lists Animecoin (ANIME) trading pairs in KRW, BTC and USDT
According to the official announcement, the South Korean crypto exchange Upbit will list Animecoin (ANIME) in the KRW, BTC, and USDT markets, and plans to open ANIME deposit services at 22:00 (local time) on January 23, 2025. The specific trading opening time will be announced later, and the platform will notify 1 hour in advance after the liquidity is sufficient. ANIME is based on the Arbitrum One network.
GMGN data shows that the Meme token ALON of Pump.fun co-founder Alon Cohen once reached a market cap of over $260 million, and is currently fallen back to around $140 million.
Earlier, a message earlier today said that Pump.fun co-founder Alon Cohen said he did not create the ALON token, but has taken over the ALON TG group and paid the Dexscreener fee.
According to Onchain Lens monitoring, in the past 4 hours, the Trump family crypto project World Liberty Financial (WLFI) spent $2.65 million USDT to purchase 10.61 million TRX, and spent $10 million USDC to purchase 3,079 ETH. They also exchanged 4,700 ETH (worth $15.68 million) for 4,700 stETH and pledged them to Lido. They have a total of 14,701.58 ETH pledged, worth $49 million.
Ethereum Layer-2 protocol transaction throughput hits new high
According to CoinDesk, the transaction throughput of Ethereum Layer-2 protocols has hit a new high. According to data from growthepie.xyz, the cumulative transaction throughput of Layer-2 protocols has soared to 29.64 million gas units per second (Mgas/s), a historical high, of which Coinbase's BASE accounts for 67%. Layer-2 protocols, as expansion solutions for mainchains like Ethereum, aim to process more transactions at lower costs. The surge in throughput has also raised market concerns about the potential exhaustion of network capacity due to sustained demand.
