📰 Gary Gensler, the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has announced his resignation, effective early 2025

📰 This move comes as the U.S. transitions to a new presidential administration following Donald Trump’s election victory.

❕ Gensler's tenure was marked by his strong regulatory stance on cryptocurrencies, leading to multiple high-profile enforcement actions against crypto companies.

✔️@Cryptonewspaper

📰 Metaplanet continues to emulate MicroStrategy with planned $62M Bitcoin expansion

📰 Tokyo-listed investment firm Metaplanet plans to raise 9.5 billion yen (approximately $62 million) to strengthen its Bitcoin portfolio. In a Nov. 28 statement, the company revealed that the funds will be raised through its 12th Series Moving Strike Stock Acquisition Rights.

🔴 These rights will be allocated to EVO FUND via third-party allotment between Dec. 17, 2024, and June 16, 2025.

✔️@Cryptonewspaper

📰 Putin says Bitcoin is inevitable, endorses BTC over US dollar as global reserve currency

✔️ Russian President Vladimir Putin said Bitcoin (BTC) and digital currencies are unstoppable, positioning them as key tools for reducing financial inefficiencies and enhancing economic stability.

✅ Putin made the statements at the Investment Forum in Moscow on Dec. 4, where he argued in favor of Bitcoin as a global reserve asset over the US dollar.

✔️@Cryptonewspaper

📰 Australia intensifies crypto ATM oversight to curb money laundering risks

📰 The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) has intensified efforts to enforce Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (AML/CTF) regulations among crypto ATM providers.

✔️Despite the country having around 400 registered crypto exchanges, only a small portion operate crypto ATMs. This gap leaves a significant share of Australia’s 1,200 crypto ATMs potentially non-compliant.

✔️@Cryptonewspaper

📰 MetaWin launches much anticipated NFT Collection: Launch sells out in hours

✔️ Metawin.com, the pioneering Web3 gaming & prize draw platform, proudly announces the successful mint and complete sell-out of its much-anticipated MetaWinners NFT collection.

✔️The MetaWinners NFT collection is a super premium collection of 10,000 individual art pieces, designed by Terraform Labs, the top concept art studio behind projects such as Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Avatar 2, Thor and Destiny 2.

✔️@Cryptonewspaper

📰 DeFi lending platform with ‘smart leverage’ sees five-fold TVL, buys back 4M tokens

Decentralized finance (DeFi) needs to tackle a set of challenges before going fully mainstream, starting with high collateral demands, volatile markets and inefficient leveraging mechanisms.

Creating a barrier to broader adoption, these issues hinder accessibility and expose users to unnecessary risks.

DeFi leasing, where users control assets with a fraction of their cost upfront, provides a blueprint for making DeFi more inclusive by lowering the financial barriers to entry.

✔️@Cryptonewspaper

Pudgy Penguins NFT users targeted by malicious Google ad campaign

A sophisticated phishing campaign has been uncovered, targeting users of the Pudgy Penguins NFT project through malicious Google Ads.

The attack uses advanced mechanisms to exploit vulnerabilities in Web3 wallets and ad networks, exposing unsuspecting users to significant risks.

✔️@Cryptonewspaper

Bitcoin’s stored value hits $1.03 trillion, up 85% since January

Unlike the market cap, which is the total value of all Bitcoin in circulation at current prices, the stored value reflects the actual capital invested into the network. Ju arrived at this $1.03 trillion estimate by combining on-chain and off-chain data.

He explained that the off-chain calculations consider exchange reserves multiplied by average prices, while on-chain metrics rely on the “realized cap,” which tracks the value of Bitcoin based on its most recent price movement.

✔️@Cryptonewspaper

MARA says 16% of its BTC reserves has been loaned to third parties for 'modest' yield

Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings released its December 2024 production update, detailing the results of its latest mining activity and disclosing the existence of short-term third-party loans intended to generate a modest yield for the company.

MARA said that as of Dec. 31, 7,377 BTC, or 16.4% of its BTC reserves, was currently deployed in short-term third-party loans in an effort to generate additional yield for shareholders.

✔️@Cryptonewspaper

📰Watch Out for Donald Trump's First Day in Office! "He Could Take a Big Step for Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies!"

📰A U.S. court has allowed the government to sell Bitcoins trafficked via the Silk Road, prompting the crypto industry to pressure President-elect Donald Trump's team to revamp cryptocurrency policy.

🔥Efforts are being made to issue executive orders within the first 100 days of Trump taking office to establish a U.S. Bitcoin Reserve and provide the industry with access to banking services.

✔️@Cryptonewspaper

🏦 Binance Announces 6th projects on HODLer Airdrops Portal - Animecoin (ANIME)

Users who subscribed their BNB to Simple Earn products between Jan 17 and Jan 21, 23:59 (UTC) will receive the airdrop distribution.

📈 Binance will then list ANIME on January 23, 14:00 (UTC).

📰 The New York Times reports that Donald Trump is intrigued by the idea of a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

📰 However, the market seems indifferent. It’s still recovering from last week’s hype when Cynthia Lummis teased “big news,” sparking speculation about a Bitcoin reserve—only for it to turn out to be her appointment as Chair of the Senate Digital Assets Committee.

✔️@Cryptonewspaper

Stablecoins on exchanges are on the Rise!📈

Since November 4, $USDT has seen a massive jump from $30.5B to $43B—a 41% increase!

More stablecoins mean higher liquidity, and historically, this often leads a bullish momentum.

✔️@Cryptonewspaper

📰 Buterin Hits Back at Solana Hype

Ethereum has faced increasing criticism, with some comparing it unfavorably to Solana, calling it the superior blockchain. Vitalik Buterin finally responded:

"Do I feel good when people claim that a PvP KOL casino, where 99% of users lose money, is the best crypto product?"

He was referring to Solana, Pump.Fun, and the meme coin meta dominating the space.

Vitalik admitted that such trends sometimes make him want to quit, but he keeps fighting for a better future for crypto.

✔️@Cryptonewspaper

📰 Exactly one week from now (February 18), the payout process for FTX clients and creditors will begin, with a total distribution of $16 billion.

The first batch will amount to $6.5–7 billion.

Payouts will be based on November 2022 prices.

✔️@Cryptonewspaper

📰 DOGE in the White House? Musk Faces Lawsuit!

14 U.S. states sued Elon Musk and Trump, claiming that Musk’s unchecked power over DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) is unconstitutional.

The lawsuit argues Musk has been given too much authority, including cutting federal jobs, canceling contracts, and accessing sensitive data.

Trump defends Musk, calling DOGE a “force of supergeniuses” and slamming courts for blocking his government downsizing efforts.

Legal battles are piling up, with 22 states halting Musk’s funding cuts and another lawsuit blocking DOGE’s access to Treasury data.

✔️@Cryptonewspaper

Saylor Goes Full DeFi – Another $2B for Bitcoin!

Michael Saylor’s Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) is raising $2B through convertible bonds to buy even more BTC. Because 478,740 BTC ($45B worth) just isn’t enough.

Bonds mature in 2030 with an early redemption option in 3 years

Strategy has been buying BTC 12 out of the last 14 weeks

Goal? $42B in capital by 2027 through stock & debt sales

MSTR stock is down 30% from ATH, but still up 700% in 3 years.

✔️@Cryptonewspaper

Lazarus is Cashing Out!

The notorious North Korean Lazarus Group has started laundering the stolen Bybit funds.

Crypto sleuth ZachXBT uncovered their tracks and received $50K for his work

How they do it:
• Convert ERC-20 tokens into ETH.
• Run ETH through mixers, turning it into BTC.
• Withdraw BTC into cash through Asian exchanges.

This method takes time – just like funds stolen in 2016, which are still in North Korea!

The largest crypto hack in history, but when (or if) the money will hit the market is still unknown.

✔️@Cryptonewspaper

📊 BNB Chain and TRON Lead in USDT Use

BNB Chain and TRON continue to dominate the stablecoin game, with 6.97M and 6.78M active addresses using USDT monthly.

In 3rd place, we have Polygon with 1.39M active addresses, beating Ethereum (1.08M). Looks like the big chains are still leading the pack when it comes to stablecoin adoption!

✔️@Cryptonewspaper

Bybit Hackers Laundered $1.4B in Just 10 Days

The hackers who stole 499,000 ETH ($1.4B) from Bybit successfully laundered all funds through decentralized platforms like THORChain, according to EmberCN. A significant chunk was swapped for Bitcoin.

THORChain hit record volume: $4.66B in a week, $1B in a single day Funds split & moved via THORChain, Paraswap, Mantle, OK DEX, and DODO. THORChain’s transaction fees surged to $5.5M.

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou claims 77% of funds are still traceable, 20% vanished, and 3% were frozen. The exchange paid $2.17M in USDT to firms aiding recovery.

✔️@Cryptonewspaper