Crypto weekly is co-authored by @serdave and @maaria
- Crypto Market Cap ($3.84T): +6% / +116%
- BTC ($99,578): +2% / +134%
- ETH ($3,970): +7% / +74%
- SOL ($235): 0% / +130%
- UNI ($18.42): +41% / +152%
- POL ($0.70): +18% / -28%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($138B): +3% / +50%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($41.1B): +3% / +68%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 51% / 13%
- The price of Bitcoin passed $100k for the first time ever this week, reaching an all time high of $104k. Link.
- The price of ETH rose above $4,000 this week as ethereum ETFs saw over $800 million in net deposits, an all time high. Link. Link.
- DeFi lending protocol Aave reached record net deposits of $31.4 billion this week, which would rank it the 63rd largest commercial bank in the US. Link.
- The FDIC asked banks in 2022 and 2023 to pause cryptocurrency-related activity according to heavily redacted letters obtained in a lawsuit brought by Coinbase. Banking regulators have been accused of conspiring to “de-bank” industry participants in what crypto proponents call “Operation Chokepoint 2.0”. Link. Tweet.
- President-elect Donald Trump selected former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins to replace Gary Gensler as chair of the SEC. Atkins served as Commissioner from 2002-2008 and co-chairs Token Alliance, a crypto lobbying group for the Chamber of Digital Commerce. Link. Link.
- The SEC is planning to reject at least two of the five Solana ETF applications it has received. The regulator called Solana an unregistered security in multiple lawsuits with crypto exchanges. The applications are expected to be refiled after current SEC chair Gary Gensler resigns on January 20th. Link.
- President-elect Donald Trump named venture capitalist David Sacks as “AI and Crypto Czar”, a new role that will guide the administration’s policies in both industries. Link.
- Solana meme coin launchpad Pump.fun, which accounted for 62% of Solana’s volumes in November, is no longer available to users in the UK after it received a warning from UK regulators. Link.
- NFT project Pudgy Penguins is launching its $PENGU token on Solana, with almost ¼ of the supply going to NFT holders of Pudgy Penguins and their associated projects. Link.
- Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of bankrupt crypto lending platform Celsius, pled guilty to multiple counts of fraud and faces up to 30 years in prison. As part of the plea, Mashinsky will return $48 million to investors. Link. Link.
- Coinbase’s Onramp service, which enables fiat-to-crypto purchases, adds Apple Pay as a payment option. Link.
- NFT studio RTFKT announced it is shutting down. It was acquired by Nike in 2021 for an undisclosed amount and its flagship PFP collection CloneX was one of the most successful NFT launches in 2021, generating $80 million in sales. Link. Link.
- Wikileaks is inscribing the Afghan War Logs as Bitcoin ordinals to protect it from future censorship. The classified military documents were released in 2010 by Jullian Assange and are one of the largest US intelligence leaks in history. Link.
- Michael Gronager, co-founder and longtime CEO of blockchain data unicorn Chainalysis, is leaving the company permanently, two months after taking a temporary leave of absence. Co-founder and chief strategy officer Jonathan Levin will take over as CEO. Link.
- YouTube views of crypto influencer content reached 4.72 million weekly viewers in November, a 12 month high. Link.
