Casey

Casey

I’m a Crypto author and Blockchain enthusiast. I have been writing about Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other Cryptocurrencies for over 5 years. My work has been featured in major publications such as Forbes, CoinDesk, and VentureBeat. I’m also a regular speaker at Blockchain conferences around the world.

Crypto Biz: Coinbase vs. BiT Global – Over $1 Billion wBTC Dispute

This week, Crypto Biz covers Coinbase’s controversial delisting of wBTC, Deutsche Bank Blockchain, USDT in Europe, repaying FTX creditors, BVNK’s US launch, and more. Coinbase’s decision to delist wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) has sparked major controversy and prompted a $1 billion lawsuit from BiT Global Digital Limited, the co-manager of wBTC’s reserves. In November, Coinbase announced plans to delist wBTC from its platform, citing violations of undisclosed listing standards. The decision was criticized by BiT Global Digital Limited, a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange that has partnered with BitGo to store wBTC’s Bitcoin reserves since August. BiT Global argued that with this move, Coinbase wanted to promote its competing product, Coinbase Wrapped BTC (cbBTC), which was launched on September 12 and has since become one of the most popular Bitcoin wrappers with total sales of approximately US$1.4 billion. Following the delisting, BiT Global filed a lawsuit against Coinbase on December 13, seeking more than $1 billion in damages. The lawsuit accuses Coinbase of anti-competitive conduct, including attempting to monopolize the wrapped Bitcoin market under the Sherman Act, engaging in predatory conduct aimed at undermining wBTC’s market position, and making false statements implying that wBTC did not meet listing criteria. Coinbase’s general counsel Paul Grewal defended the company’s actions a few days later, saying that assets that do not meet the listing criteria will be delisted. The latest development in the case emerged on December 17 after Coinbase filed a response to a lawsuit highlighting the risks associated with cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun, including allegations of financial misconduct and regulatory investigations. The exchange’s response supported the assumption that there were no technical reasons for the token delisting. In X, users were reminded that Coinbase itself was under numerous investigations. On December 18, a federal judge sided with Coinbase and refused to issue an injunction to block the token delisting. Judge Araceli Martínez-Holguín said BiT Global’s legal team had not demonstrated “immediate and irreparable harm” in their arguments. But the decision appears to be just the beginning of a new legal battle. This week on Crypto Biz, we also cover Deutsche Bank’s blockchain, USDT trading in Europe, repaying FTX creditors, and BVNK’s US expansion. Deutsche Bank builds L2 blockchain on Ethereum Germany’s largest financial institution, Deutsche Bank, is reportedly developing its own Layer 2 (L2) blockchain on Ethereum using ZKsync technology to address compliance challenges associated with the use of public blockchains in regulated finance. According to Bloomberg, the L2 solution, part of Project Dama 2, is designed to improve transaction efficiency, ensure regulatory protections and integrate directly with Ethereum. Project Dama 2 is an initiative of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Project Guardian, which brings together 24 financial institutions to explore tokenizing blockchain-based assets. Tether USDT trading continues across Europe despite Coinbase delisting European cryptocurrency exchanges continue to support Tether’s USDt stablecoin after Coinbase announced it would delist it for European customers to comply with upcoming regulatory requirements. Major exchanges including Binance, Crypto.com and Kraken have maintained trading support for Tether’s USDt-USDT ticker at a drop of $0.9988 after Coinbase delisted the stablecoin in December. 13. Other platforms such as KuCoin, MEXC, and Bitget also offer stablecoins to European users, but the full implementation of the Crypto Asset Market Regulation (MiCA) is looming on December 30th. Coinbase has designated USDT as a MiCA-restricted stablecoin, but European authorities have not made a clear statement on whether USDT should be considered non-compliant with local laws. Kraken and BitGo will help distribute first FTX payments in 2025 Representative debtors in the bankruptcy case of the insolvent cryptocurrency exchange FTX announced that a restructuring plan that will allow them to repay customers will come into effect in January. 3. In a Dec. 16 announcement, FTX said it had established a timeline for the initial distribution of funds to the exchange’s users, more than two years after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. According to FTX Debtors, the first group of creditors can expect repayment within 60 days starting Jan. 3, 2025, subject to certain conditions. The debtors said cryptocurrency companies BitGo and Kraken will help distribute the repayments to FTX users. Other groups of customers expecting repayments will be announced “in due course,” the exchange said. BVNK Raises $50M to Expand into U.S. Stablecoin Market Stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK has completed a $50 million Series B funding round led by Haun Ventures and plans to expand into the U.S. The new capital will be used to expand BVNK’s operations to San Francisco and New York City, according to a Dec. 17 announcement. London-based BVNK is currently valued at around $750 million. The company’s U.S. branch will develop local banking infrastructure and work on obtaining an operating license to serve local businesses. Participants in the round included Coinbase Ventures, Scribble Ventures, DRW VC, and existing investors Avenir and Tiger Global.

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No Indexing Throttling Slows DApp Speed ​​– Pangea CEO

Users typically abandon applications that don’t respond within 3 seconds. Web3 applications can take up to 20 seconds to load. Decentralized applications (DApps), also known as Web3 applications, tend to be slower than Web2 applications because they have to organize blockchain data from multiple sources. Maxim Legge, CEO of Pangea, a decentralized data indexing solution, told Cointelegraph that data indexing solves the speed bottleneck for Web3 applications. Legge said that data from RPC nodes, smart contracts, and other blockchain infrastructure on high-throughput chains can reach hundreds of terabytes. Indexing is the process of organizing this raw blockchain data so that it can be effectively retrieved later. The CEO told Cointelegraph: “This isn’t something developers should worry about. This is a real infrastructure problem. We can solve it once and for all. It doesn’t need to be solved by each DApp developer individually.” Unfortunately, Legge said, many Web3 developers are forced to develop in-house indexing solutions that are inefficient, overly complex and time-consuming to develop. Throughput will be significantly increased The higher the throughput of a blockchain (measured in transactions per second (TPS)), the more on-chain data it generates that needs to be indexed by DApps that interact with that chain. In October, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlined a goal to scale Ethereum’s base layer and its layer-2 scaling solutions to handle a total of more than 100,000 transactions per second. Among the goals outlined by Buterin in the Ethereum roadmap was improving interoperability between Ethereum and its many layer-2 networks. StarkWare CEO Ben Sasson told Cointelegraph at the DevCon 2024 conference that Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Starknet will quadruple TPS within three months, matching the throughput of the Solana network. Layer-2 solution ZKsync is also aiming for higher throughput as part of its goal. According to the project’s roadmap, developers hope to increase ZKsync’s throughput to 10,000 TPS by 2025 and reduce transaction fees to as low as $0.0001. Solana’s non-voting throughput currently ranges from 800 to 1,050 TPS. Solana’s high throughput and monolithic design features have attracted the attention of developers, making it a top ecosystem for development in 2024.

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Will Bitcoin Price Crash Again?

Bitcoin price has fallen to as low as $95,000, but data suggests the correction may be largely over. Bitcoin’s price correction to $98,137 BTC continued on December 19th, resulting in the largest drop in the fourth quarter on BTC’s daily chart and the biggest drop since August 5th. While the crypto asset briefly regained positions above $100,000, the formation of an apparent bearish engulfing pattern opened the opportunity for further correction. Bitcoin rally to be “most volatile cycle” in 2024 Bitcoin’s bearish reaction stemmed from caution over Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s suggestion that the Fed will only cut interest rates by 50 basis points in the entirety of 2025, lowering previous expectations from four rate cuts to two. This development sparked speculation about further declines in risk assets such as cryptocurrencies, but Glassnode suspected this would not be the case based on the evolving nature of BTC in this cycle. The on-chain analytics platform said that since BTC’s first bull run in 2012, the severity of down periods in bull cycles has decreased and market capitalization has increased. Bitcoin’s largest decline in 2024 was 32%. For comparison, 2021 was 63%, 2017 was 36%, 2013 was 71%, and 2011 was 49%. Glassnode said, “This may reflect the large demand generated by spot ETFs and growing interest from institutional investors.” Bitcoin should therefore essentially avoid a stronger correction as the consolidation period evolves. Bitcoin is testing key support at $99,000 and $97,000 Since hitting an all-time high of $108,366 on December 17, BTC has fallen to $98,744. Glassnode founder Rafael Schultze-Kraft identified this price range between $99,000 and $97,000 as the strongest support zone based on Bitcoin’s cost-based distribution. Cost-based distribution helps investors evaluate where the total supply is being purchased and most distributed among various price ranges. Bitcoin researcher Axel Adler Jr. noted that similar price ranges have important implications. The researcher said: “The next important support level is $97.9k, held by the cohort that has been holding the coin for a week to a month.” From a technical perspective, Bitcoin’s bull market structure remains intact on both the medium-term and long-term charts. Combining support levels derived from on-chain with market analysis, a common value between $97,500 and $95,500 was determined. In this price range, a fair value gap (FVG) was detected for the first time since October, along with a possible retest of the 50-day EMA level. 12. Additionally, $95,000 is also a key base support for trend continuation. Considering that the daily candle closes will push the price below $95,000, the chances of Bitcoin dropping to $90,000, where a key liquidity zone is set, will increase significantly. However, the immediate focus of most traders will be on Bitcoin’s reaction between $100,000 and $95,000.

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Bitcoin Reserve Bill Could End Cryptocurrency’s Four-Year Bull Run

Bitcoin Reserve Bill Could End Cryptocurrency’s Half-Life. How different is this four-year cycle? With speculation growing that new President Donald Trump will sign an executive order mandating a Bitcoin reserve on day one, or pass legislation to create a reserve during his term, many are wondering what the move could be. Will it lead to a cryptocurrency supercycle? Since Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced the Bitcoin Reserve Act earlier this year, states like Texas and Pennsylvania have introduced similar proposals. Russia, Thailand, and Germany are considering their own proposals, and the pressure is mounting. If governments compete to protect their Bitcoin reserves, will we see a four-year cycle in cryptocurrency prices (often referred to as Bitcoin halvings)?Iliya Kalchev, an analyst at cryptocurrency exchange Nexo, believes that “the Bitcoin Reserve Act could be a turning point for Bitcoin, signaling its ‘acceptance as a legitimate global financial instrument. ” ” Every Bitcoin revolution has a narrative that tries to push the idea that “this revolution is different.” Things haven’t gotten any better. The cryptocurrency space has yet to have a pro-crypto US president who controls the Senate and Congress” Lummis’ proposed Bitcoin Act of 2024 would allow the U.S. government to use BitcoinBitcoins Stocks fall $98,275 Collect 1 million Bitcoins by buying 200,000 BTC per year for five years and holding them for at least 20 years as a reserve asset in their place. Strike founder and CEO Jack Mallers believes Trump has “the ability to use an executive order to buy Bitcoin in one day,” though he cautioned that it would not be the same as buying 1 million Bitcoins. Dennis Porter, co-founder of the Satoshi Action Fund, a non-profit organization that supports U.S. pro-Bitcoin policy bills, also believes that Trump’s investigation into Bitcoin’s strategic reserve in an executive order. So far, the Trump administration has not directly confirmed the claims about the executive order, but when Trump was asked on CNBC whether the US would create a BTC reserve similar to oil reserves (which would be legal), he replied: “Yes, I think so. Yes.” BREAKING: Ohio Lawmakers Pass Bitcoin Reserve Bill, Allowing States to Buy Bitcoin However, executive orders are not permanent because they can be overturned by future presidents. The only way to ensure long-term stability for strategic Bitcoin reserves is to pass legislation with majority support. With Republicans in control of the House and holding a slim majority in the Senate, Bitcoin advocates on Trump’s team have a strong base to push through Lummis’ bill. However, a handful of Republican supporters could veto the bill amid growing anger over the government’s handover of government assets to Bitcoin supporters. ‘Stop comparing this cycle to the previous cycle ‘ Earlier this month, Alex Krüger, an economist and founder of digital asset advisory firm Asgard Markets, said the poll results made him believe “Bitcoin is in a supercycle.” He believes Bitcoin’s unique situation can be compared to that of gold, when former US President Richard Nixon took the United States off the gold standard, ending the Bretton Woods system, and the price of Bitcoin went from $35 per ounce in 1971 to $850 in 1981. Kruger did not rule out the possibility that Bitcoin could experience a market crash similar to previous crashes. However, he urged crypto investors to “stop comparing this crash to previous crashes” because this time is different. Trump’s actions so far are a sure sign that good governance will continue to advance. He nominated Paul Atkins to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission after Gary Gensler resigned. He also nominated pro-cryptocurrency Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary, and he appointed former PayPal CEO David Sacks as intelligence and cryptocurrency czar, responsible for dealing with the cryptocurrency industry. The supercycle theory is not very productive However, the “this cycle is different” theme has been present in all Bitcoin bull runs in the past, always supported by stories of global adoption. During the 2013-2014 bull market, the supercycle theory was supported by the idea that Bitcoin would gain global attention as an alternative to fiat currencies. In the 2017-2018 cycle, the rapid price appreciation was seen as a sign of mainstream adoption and the beginning of mainstream acceptance of Bitcoin, and corporate interest is growing. In the 2020-2021 cycle, technology companies such as MicroStrategy, Square, and Tesla will enter the Bitcoin market, believing that many technology-related companies will follow. However, in each cycle, the supercycle narrative failed to materialize, ultimately causing prices to collapse and eliminating its supporters as they entered a bear market. Su Zhu, co-founder of Three Arrows Capital, is a prominent proponent of the 2021 supercycle theory. He believes that the cryptocurrency market will remain in a bull market without a bear market, and that Bitcoin will eventually reach a peak of $5 trillion. 3AC of course borrowed money, as if the supercycle theory was true, and was eventually liquidated, the cryptocurrency’s market cap dropping by almost 50% after the news broke, a collapse that saw providers including Voyager Digital, Genesis Trading, and BlockFi go bankrupt and face financial difficulties. Therefore, supercycles are a bad idea worth betting your life savings on. Chris Burniske, partner at investment firm Placeholder and former head of blockchain products at ARK Invest, also believes that Bitcoin’s supercycle is a myth. “The Superloop is a very ambitious idea.” However, the US election results provide a strong and promising precedent for Bitcoin, thanks to the support of the US President, who seems to be keeping his pro-crypto promises, including never selling US Bitcoin in the form of a currency. global domino effect possible If the Bitcoin Ban Act passes, it could spark a global race to stockpile the currency, with other countries trying not to be left behind. In 2016, attorney George S. Georgiades, who moved from advising Wall Street firms on finance to working with the cryptocurrency industry, told Cointelegraph that the implementation of the Bitcoin Reserve Act “will mark a turning point in the Bitcoin adoption landscape,” and that it…

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Bollinger Bands are predicting a Bitcoin price rally, but how high?

A widely used Bitcoin technical analysis indicator shows that Bitcoin is about to “rocket” to a new all-time high. The price of BTC fell to $96,629, and will continue to move higher as the price returns to the key level, according to classic technical analysis indicators. John Bollinger, the creator of the Bollinger Bands volatility indicator, said in a December 18 column that Bitcoin is on track to break out higher. Bitcoin Bollinger Bands Could ‘Rally’ After hitting an all-time high above $108,000 on December 17, Bitcoin has broken through the upper boundary of the Bollinger Bands (BB) indicator, a resistance that has been inaccessible since mid-November, according to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView. Bollinger says this is an encouraging sign for Bitcoin. The Bollinger Bands indicator uses the standard deviation of a simple moving average to determine price ranges and volatility. In recent days, daily candlesticks for the BTC/USD pair have been touching the upper boundary of the BB. When this happens, it could signal a retracement to the middle of the range or a sudden upward move. Bitcoin’s push near the upper boundary has raised expectations that the latter scenario may occur. “Bitcoin BTCUSD provides a Bollinger Bands lesson,” Bollinger Bands says alongside the chart. The Classic Bollinger Bands are pushing higher. Bitcoin’s ability to rally from its current price has led to some new Bitcoin price targets for 2025 and beyond. Bitcoin price could reach $350,000 by 2025Ledn co-founder Mauricio Di Bartolomeo said that Bitcoin’s value will continue to increase relative to gold, eventually reaching a price equivalent to 50 ounces of gold per BTC. “I believe Bitcoin will continue to be a gold standard, reaching the equivalent of 50 ounces of gold,” Bartolomeo wrote in a December 19 Forbes article. At current exchange rates, that’s equivalent to a BTC price of $132,500. “I expect there will be a lot of financial advice from ETF issuers’ research departments and registered investment advisors” advising their clients to add Bitcoin to their portfolios, he said. Related: What will Bitcoin be worth in 2025 and 2045? A recent BlackRock report said that “investors may prefer to use Bitcoin as a hedge against certain risks, similar to gold.” Bartolomeo said: “If you’re a very diversified investor looking to move into Bitcoin, you might be tempted to reduce your gold position to take advantage of the opportunity because you’re investing in a “digital” version of gold.” ¤Robert Kiyosaki, a vocal supporter of the cryptocurrency since 2017, was more bullish. In an X post on December 18, Kiyosaki laid out a new strategy for Bitcoin, predicting that its price could reach $350,000 by 2025. Kioyosaki’s outlook is better than the $800,000 predicted by The Digital Chamber founder Perianne Boring based on a stock-to-run model. The massive increase would push Bitcoin’s market capitalization to $15 trillion from its current value of just over $2 trillion. PlanB, the creator of the stock-to-run model, predicts that by 2025, the average price of Bitcoin will reach $500,000.

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What will Bitcoin be worth in 2025 and 2045?

Daniele Bernardi shares his big predictions for the future price of Bitcoin.MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor has some interesting news to share about Bitcoin. His company has a lot of Bitcoin in its portfolio, second only to BlackRock, the global asset manager, which has launched a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Saylor said that Bitcoin, whose price dropped to $98,149, will increase by an average of 29% over the next 21 years, and will be worth $13 million by 2045 in its best-case scenario. Here’s what Michael Saylor said in his prediction: “Friend, every Bitcoin you don’t buy will cost you $13 million.” This is a bold statement that deserves careful consideration. Those of you who follow me will be familiar with the “withdrawal rate” model. The model relates the price of Bitcoin to the rate of growth of “free” wallets, i.e. wallets that are in the smallest fraction of Bitcoin. I first presented this model in February 2020 at the Measurement Workshop hosted by Diaman Partners Ltd. In 2023, I updated the model and published the results on Cointelegraph. The current price prediction is $130,000, a price that Bitcoin will soon reach. With the approval of the Bitcoin ETF in the US and 11 companies currently promoting the device, the parameters have changed significantly. I planned to recalculate the model in the fall of 2024, and here we are. With the revised model, I am ready to predict the price of Bitcoin in 2025 before entering the next cryptocurrency winter (i.e., the fall and winter of 2025). Before I give a short-term forecast, I’ll compare Saylor’s estimates to our model. He estimates the annual returns over the next 21 years, while our model uses a more robust power law. This method relates the average price per coin to the number of non-cash coins in circulation. The product of these variables is an estimate of the market cap of Bitcoin, from which its price can be derived. Of course, all of these predictions are based on the assumption that Bitcoin will remain stable and its adoption will follow the current trend of strength. As shown in the graph, our calculations show that the median Bitcoin price could reach $8.3 million by 2045. At the peak of the curve, the value will exceed $21.6 million, driven by the halving that marks the end of each bullish cycle. It is important to keep an eye on Bitcoin’s potential movements, as the market is full of individuals who have made +60% or +100% gains, who get out early, and miss out on the big gains later. I am not holding Bitcoin forever as Thaler suggests. However, I do not think it should remain in place for many years, until it becomes clear that something more beautiful and functional will replace it (which, unfortunately, has not happened yet). Now, let’s predict its peak in 2025 based on adoption models, especially considering the surge in adoption driven by Bitcoin ETFs. The Bitcoin price peak in 2025 is $261,000, nearly double previous estimates. Of course, there is no guarantee that these values ​​will be achieved and should not be considered investment advice. I always recommend doing research and analysis before making any investment decisions, preferably with a qualified financial advisor to guide you in setting the right allocations in your portfolio. Understanding the potential and potential of Bitcoin is essential. Otherwise, the price tag may seem too high. Looking at the chart above, you can see that even though Bitcoin hit an all-time high, we are still far from the peak of 2025. I will leave you with a very profound statement: Everyone will get the Bitcoin price they deserve.

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Why is Bitcoin price dropping today?

Bitcoin’s decline comes ahead of the Federal Reserve’s key interest rate decision, which could see prices fall to $92,000. After hitting an all-time high of $108,365, Bitcoin price fell 4.75% in one day, trading around $104,175 on December 18. The drop ahead of the Federal Reserve’s key interest rate decision suggests that most Bitcoin traders are reducing risk ahead of the event. Bitcoin Falls on Buy TalksThe Fed is likely to vote for another quarter-point hike on December 18, especially after last week’s consumer price index showed that inflation rose in November. Bitcoin prices have risen 13.20% since the release of the CPI data on December 11, with the current correction reflecting “buy the talk” sentiment in the market. Bitcoin’s subsequent decline came amid uncertainty surrounding the future path of the Federal Reserve’s interest rates, with K33 Research analysts Vetle Lunde and David Zimmerman suggesting that the central bank could end rate cuts in the coming months. “We expect this week’s FOMC to further increase market volatility,” K33 Research analysts Vetle Lunde and David Zimmerman wrote in a note, adding: ” A quiet period ahead of the macroeconomic week following the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting could open the door for Bitcoin’s rally to emerge over the holidays.” Bitcoin’s on-chain signals suggest cautious withdrawals As Bitcoin’s price trades near new highs, the stock-to-flow (S2F) indicator suggests cautious withdrawals. Historically, when the S2F rate of return rises above 2.5, this indicates a level where the market is showing signs of a short-term correction. When the indicator breaks above 3, it indicates market overheating, which often coincides with regional highs and periods of increasing value. However, when the S2F response rate is below 1, it indicates a sell signal. For example, September. On November 11, the indicator fell below 1 as Bitcoin’s price rose. Between December 16 and 17, the ratio dropped from 2.47 to around 2.27. CryptoQuant analyst DarkFrost said, “A smart strategy for using this indicator is to take small profits when the S2F Regression ratio reaches 2.5, and large profits when the ratio exceeds 3.” This is the trend for Bitcoin price over the past 24 hours, with a ratio of 2.5. Bitcoin pullback to $92,000? Bitcoin price has been declining over the past 24 hours amid technical weakness. First, the divergence between the Bitcoin price’s rise and the Relative Strength Index (RSI) decline on the daily chart has sent Bitcoin price down. Simply put, Bitcoin’s rate of increase is slowing, usually before a price correction like the one we’re seeing right now. Second, Bitcoin’s decline is part of an uptrend, with the price moving within two converging lines. On December 18, BTC tested the upper line as resistance, leading to a sharp decline today to support the lower line. Related: Bitcoin could hit $200,000 by mid-2025, says Bitfinex as the price continues to fall. Traditional analysts view the Rising Wedge as a bearish reversal signal that is not spreading when the price breaks below the lower line and reaches the higher high of the Wedge. This would place Bitcoin’s December low at $92,000, based on the 50-day moving average (50-day EMA; red wave).

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Lens Avara Raises $31 Million for SocialFi-Focused L2 Blockchain

Lens will launch its mainnet early next year, giving users ownership and access to money for their assets. Lens, a layer 2 blockchain created by Avara, has raised $31 million in a funding round led by Lightspeed Faction. The funds will be used to expand the network infrastructure ahead of the mainnet launch early next year. Plug-and-play social features Lens is built specifically for SocialFi use cases. According to the version 3 developer preview description, it has additional plug-and-play features including accounts, usernames, charts, feeds, and groups, as well as monetary features that developers can add to an app-based chain. Lens’s main prediction is to launch on Ethereum in early 2025. “The current L2 price is too high for widespread adoption. To bring SocialFi web3 to the mainstream, we built the fastest, cheapest, and most secure L2. […] Lens provides an easy-to-use web2 while providing unparalleled benefits that only blockchain can provide.” For participants, Lens offers the best user experience and a wide range of opportunities to create money to build their own financial path. It also gives users the power, control, and ownership of assets. Lens is built with ZKsync and uses the Avail data access protocol. It has partnered with development platform Alchemy, oracle network Chainlink, token-based tokenizer The Graph, and stablecoin USD CoinUS Department of Agriculture Stocks will fall $1.00, Consensys MetaMask wallet and Uniswap exchange. Other investors in the round include Avail, Circle, Consensys, Foresight Ventures, and Wintermute Ventures, along with investors including Rune Christensen, Anurag Arjun, Anton Bukov, Spencer Noon, and Illia Polosukhin. A nod from Trump Kulechov is also the CEO of Avara, which launched Lens in May 2022. Funding. Aave Companies announced the acquisition of the company behind the crypto wallet Family and a name change. On December 13, AaveDAO accepted a request from Donald Trump-backed platform World Liberty Financial to launch an Aave prototype on Ethereum in exchange for 20% of the payments it makes and 7% of the WLFI governance token currency (WLFI).

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Bitcoin price drops to $100,300 after Fed rate cut, Powell revises 2025 inflation outlook

Bitcoin prices sold off and the broader cryptocurrency market corrected as the Federal Reserve issued a hawkish outlook for inflation in 2025. Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market saw a sell-off as the Federal Reserve announced a 25 basis point cut in its benchmark interest rate and said the cuts in 2025 would be smaller than initially planned. Bitcoin follows Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s rate cutBTC prices fell $96,396, or 4.6%, to $101,300, while ETH prices fell $3,397.99, or 5.96%, to $3,600. Powell raised eyebrows when he said there would be only two more rate cuts in 2025, even though market participants were expecting a rate cut of 0.25%, in line with most traders and inflation expectations. In addition to the hawkish view by some traders, the Fed also raised its 2025 inflation forecast to 2.5% from 2.1%. The slight change in outlook is largely due to the expected policy changes under the incoming Trump administration, which is expected to impose tariffs on imports, potentially lay off millions of undocumented workers, and introduce measures that could widen the deficit. Economic policy. Powell emphasized during the conference call that the Fed’s policy changes are a sign that the central bank is ready to adjust its policy to the needs of the US economy. Regarding short-term price predictions for Bitcoin, cryptocurrency analyst Skew said that BTC’s decline has eliminated “positions on both sides” as long positions are closed and “short positions are profitable.” Bitcoin price fell into a major supply zone in the $100,000 to $98,000 range, and analysts said it was important to retake the $100,000 to $101,400 range by providing a break before the daily candle closes.

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Executives Heading to Blockchain Gaming Companies Ahead of 2025 AAA Launch

The fourth annual survey conducted by the Blockchain Gaming Association shows a rise in C-suite executives, but other executives are on the decline. As the popularity of the blockchain gaming industry grows, the top gaming executives are increasingly prominent, according to data from the Blockchain Gaming Association’s fourth annual survey. The 2024 survey collated and analyzed data from 623 survey respondents from the Web3 gaming industry, and is the group’s largest survey to date. The respondents ranged from C-level executives to professional sports players. While many things have remained the same since the 2021 annual survey, including trust issues and user experience as key factors hindering adoption, the 2024 survey shows that significant growth at the management level and the influx of gaming talent are ahead of industry experience. According to a report detailing the findings, 73.2% of respondents held senior management positions. “Senior leadership is at an all-time high, with 46.7% of respondents holding founder, director or C-level positions – the highest proportion in four years.” A growing C-suite The report says the concentration of senior positions in the industry reflects “consolidation,” noting that funding is increasing and prices are slowing following the so-called “crypto winter” of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Life. However, the influx of talent from outside is one of the reasons why the leadership ranks have changed. More than half (52.5%) of respondents said that gaming is their area of ​​expertise. This figure has increased significantly in 2023 (34.2%) and 2022 (39.2%). Those who considered themselves blockchain or cryptocurrency experts dropped to just 10.8%, down from 21% in 2022 and 2023 and 27.4% in 2021. The Web3 gaming world is poised to enter the AAA gaming market by 2025, with Ubisoft, Square-Enix, CCP and others launching competitors and mainstream demand. Static population The blockchain gaming industry is likely to face many challenges as it pushes into AAA territory by 2025. The survey showed that respondents aged 18 to 24 years old made up only 6.1% of all respondents. This is consistent with the idea that Web3 is already so pervasive that it is difficult to develop future talent or attract young people. The team also wrote: “Gender diversity remains a challenge.” Nearly 82% of respondents were male, and the number increased significantly at the highest levels of employment. “Among the CEOs, founders, directors and C-level executives surveyed, 87.2% were male, while only 12.5% ​​were female. This is a higher proportion of men compared to the overall survey population.”

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Bitcoin ETFs surpass gold funds in assets under management: K33 Research

On December 16, the total net assets of U.S. spot ETFs and derivative Bitcoin ETFs reached $129 billion, surpassing gold ETFs for the first time. According to data from K33 Research, the net assets of U.S. Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) surpassed those of gold funds for the first time on December 16 as institutional investors increased their demand for virtual currencies. December 16. 16. According to a December 17 post on the X platform by K33 head of research Vettor Lund, US BTC ETFs have now surpassed $129 billion in combined assets under management (AUM), surpassing US gold ETFs, which were slightly below that figure. . K33 Research is a Norway-based digital asset researcher. According to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, the AUM figure includes spot BTC ETFs as well as ETFs that use financial derivatives such as futures to track Bitcoin’s performance. “If you include all Bitcoin ETFs (spot, futures and leveraged), it’s $130 billion compared to $128 billion for gold ETFs. “So if you just look at spot, BTC is $120 billion compared to $125 billion for gold,” Balchunas said. In any case, he added, it’s “unrealistic” that a bitcoin fund would even compete with gold in this way after just 11 months. Bitcoin ETF DominanceThe Spot BTC ETF was launched in January after a lengthy review process by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Since then, Bitcoin has dominated the ETF world. The U.S. Spot BTC ETF surpassed $100 billion in net assets for the first time in November, according to Bloomberg Intelligence data. The increase in Bitcoin ETF net assets “reflects a more positive outlook for Bitcoin’s future following President Trump’s election victory, which has led to improved performance and more than $5 billion in inflows,” Brian Armour, director of passive strategies research at Morningstar, told Cointelegraph in November. According to BlackRock’s website, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) is the top BTC ETF with about $60 billion in assets under management. In November, IBIT surpassed BlackRock’s gold ETF, iShares Gold Trust (IAU), in terms of net assets. Devaluation TradeAmid rising geopolitical tensions, investors are turning to gold and BTC in so-called “devaluation trades” to prepare for “catastrophic scenarios,” according to a JP Morgan report in October. “Devaluation trades” refer to increased demand for gold driven by a range of factors, from “structurally heightened geopolitical uncertainty beyond 2022, to persistently high uncertainty about the long-term inflation situation, to persistently high government deficits in major economies,” JP Morgan said. On the 12th Following the Bitcoin price hitting a new record high on the 16th, the Bitcoin-to-gold ratio, which indicates Bitcoin’s purchasing power over the yellow metal, hit a new all-time high.

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The modular blockchain will redefine Bitcoin and integrate artificial intelligence to increase security and scalability

This new roadmap will redefine Bitcoin and DeFi with AI governance, ensuring end-to-end proof-of-work and security. Manual processes in financial decisions are no longer necessary – from capital allocation to the governance of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), the impact of artificial intelligence is easily felt in various areas. The modern financial system is already benefiting from this exciting new technology: artificial intelligence experts are taking over the roles of institutional investors, fund managers, and even private strategists. As artificial intelligence becomes more prevalent in the business world, the need for a trust and security framework will increase. In the context of Web3 and decentralized finance (DeFi), AI agents will need an environment that is resistant to manipulation and fraud. With the advancement of artificial intelligence in DeFi, to ensure the security and relevance of the Web3 space, Syscoin (a modular blockchain powered by Bitcoin) has announced a comprehensive roadmap that aims to expand Bitcoin’s role in the financial ecosystem and integrate emerging artificial intelligence technologies. . knowledge technology. A legacy asset built on the foundation of Bitcoin securityFounded in 2014, Syscoin is deeply integrated into the Bitcoin network. As a mining platform used by most Bitcoin miners, Syscoin combines Bitcoin’s renowned security with its proprietary framework to provide a scalable and scalable solution for Web3. Over the past decade, Syscoin has sought to preserve and enhance Bitcoin’s trustless nature while addressing some of its performance limitations. The newly announced roadmap shows that it is possible to incorporate advanced functions and functions without compromising the security and integrity of Bitcoin as a DeFi token. Addressing scalability and interoperability issuesBitcoin’s scalability and security will remain the gold standard for blockchain, but scalability remains a major challenge, especially as Bitcoin’s Web3 ecosystem continues to grow to support alternative platforms like Ethereum and Solana applications. Syscoin’s “sidechain” project calls for a fully functional “application chain” that adheres to Bitcoin’s core principles. By acting as a separate extension, Edgechains can enable highly complex applications, such as high-end DeFi platforms, without burdening the underlying chain. This arrangement is designed to preserve the trustless nature of the proof-of-work (PoW) model, while introducing a layer of scalability that allows developers to innovate more. The collaboration between Edgechains promises a seamless and user-friendly Web3 ecosystem, bridging the gap that currently drives developers to different platforms. Syscoin’s architecture ensures a shared currency across Edgechains, preventing the watershed caused by the rise of a single layer 2 network in other ecosystems. Additionally, the availability of anonymous data (zkDA) ensures high throughput without compromising scalability. Syscoin’s flagship product, Edgechain zkSYS, demonstrates the platform’s capabilities. zkSYS is built on zkRollup technology, which enables scalable, decentralized, and decentralized applications (DApps). ZkSYS provides a powerful proof of concept for the broader Syscoin ecosystem and provides a model for other projects to emulate using the tools provided by the Syscoin architecture. Provides Endurance and StabilityAt the heart of Syscoin’s enhanced security model is the Sentry node, an incentive layer designed to increase endurance and stability without using a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) protocol. Using multi-quorum key chains, these supported nodes help ensure that transactions remain valid, reducing the risk of 51% attacks and random mining. This approach addresses Bitcoin’s lack of finality, key requirements for data availability (DA) and advanced scaling solutions, and maintains the integrity of PoW. In this context, Syscoin introduces artificial intelligence nodes as an intelligence layer, which can perform segmentation, predictive analysis, automated management, and fraud detection. They also aim to enable advanced AI agents that can operate independently in DeFi or as participants in DAOs. This AI-powered BTC Sentry Node is designed to maintain Bitcoin’s security guarantees while allowing AI agents to operate in a decentralized environment. This combination promises to enable networks to learn, adapt, and self-regulate, paving the way for AI-powered blockchains under the highly stable proven PoW principles. Expanding Bitcoin’s reachBy implementing the Bitcoin Virtual Machine (BitVM), Syscoin aims to create an environment where complex smart contracts can operate with Bitcoin’s strong PoW security. This technology will serve as a central hub for transaction processing, allowing various ecosystems to communicate seamlessly. By incorporating zkRollup’s scalability enhancements, BitVM can support more complex applications, from financial devices to autonomous control frameworks, all without compromising Bitcoin’s core security features. Trustless TransferSyscoin’s Robin Bridge enables asset transfers between Bitcoin and its ecosystem. By introducing zero-knowledge (ZK) smart contracts, the bridge eliminates the need for real-time intermediaries, ensuring the smooth flow of BTC and other assets between chains. This approach helps maintain the independence and security of the underlying network. Through the failure detection mechanisms associated with Bitcoin’s consensus, on-chain management conflicts can be resolved, reducing overhead and minimizing deadlocks. Use cases for a growing ecosystemBecause Syscoin combines the unbreakable security of Bitcoin with advanced technology and AI, DApp developers can envision a decentralized, data-rich platform that can access real-time analytics and leverage shared pools, thereby achieving better markets and fair pricing. There are many use cases for this advancement. Gaming platforms could transform into dynamic, AI-powered ecosystems that can respond to player behavior and provide personalized experiences. Similarly, supply chain networks will benefit from increased transparency and autonomy as intelligent agents can inspect inventory, logistics, and compliance without the need for human intervention. That same combination of security and intelligence could support robust insurance services, where AI-powered analytics can detect fraud and resolve claims, reducing costs and increasing consumer confidence. While memecoins, a space driven by ideology, could evolve into “memecoin 2.0,” the token model will incorporate AI-driven governance and economic incentives that will enable a microeconomic system to become more robust and efficient over time. Syscoin’s roadmap is not just about technological advancements, but also about developing the blockchain landscape, specifically by bringing the Bitcoin platform to the forefront. By adhering to its principles more than ever and incorporating innovations driven by artificial intelligence, Syscoin creates an ecosystem that offers security, scalability, and intelligence.

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