Daily Report | Trump's social media company is in talks to acquire the cryptocurrency trading platform Bakkt; a California judge denies Kraken's request for a temporary appeal; Bitcoin L2 solution Bitfinity Network completes $12 million in funding
November 19 News OverviewOrganizer: Luan Peng, ChainCatcher
Important News:
- U.S. Bitcoin Spot ETF Options Set to Launch
- Trump's Social Media Company in Talks to Acquire Crypto Exchange Bakkt
- Trump Meets with Coinbase CEO to Discuss Personnel Appointments
- MicroStrategy Plans to Raise $1.75 Billion in Private Placement of Convertible Senior Notes for Bitcoin Purchases and General Corporate Purposes
- Zhao Changpeng: Countries Will Compete to Include Bitcoin in Strategic Reserves
- Bitfinex Hacker Heather Morgan Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison for Money Laundering
- California Judge Denies Kraken's Temporary Appeal Request
- ai16z Founder’s New Coin ELIZA Currently Valued at Nearly $60 Million
"What Important Events Happened in the Last 24 Hours"
U.S. Bitcoin Spot ETF Options Set to Launch
According to a notice released by the U.S. Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) on its official website, the agency is preparing to launch Bitcoin spot ETF options. The disclosed notice indicates that the OCC is preparing for the clearing, settlement, and risk management of Bitcoin spot ETF options, which will comply with the new options listing process outlined in the options listing procedure plan.
Previously, ChainCatcher reported in October that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the listing of multiple Bitcoin ETF options products on the Cboe and NYSE American exchanges. Cboe was authorized to list options for the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB); NYSE American was authorized to list options for the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC), Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC), and Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB). Earlier, the SEC had approved options trading for BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT).
Documents show that both exchanges have set a single-sided position limit of 25,000 contracts for each Bitcoin ETF option, lower than other ETF options products. As of August 30, 2024, GBTC has issued approximately 367 million shares, with a market value exceeding $13.4 billion; BITB has issued about 68.7 million shares; FBTC has issued over 201 million shares, with a six-month trading volume exceeding 1.1 billion shares; ARKB has issued about 45.5 million shares, with a six-month trading volume exceeding 297 million shares.
Trump's Social Media Company in Talks to Acquire Crypto Exchange Bakkt
According to the Financial Times, Trump's social media company is in advanced talks to acquire Bakkt, a cryptocurrency trading platform owned by the Intercontinental Exchange, as the company seeks to expand its business beyond online dialogue.
Two people familiar with the negotiations stated that Trump Media and Technology Group is close to a full-stock acquisition of Bakkt. The valuation under discussion is currently unclear, but Bakkt's market value was slightly above $150 million on Monday.
Trump Meets with Coinbase CEO to Discuss Personnel Appointments
Insiders revealed that U.S. President-elect Trump will meet with the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase on Monday. The two are expected to discuss personnel issues for the next administration.
This meeting between Trump and Brian Armstrong will be their first since election day, as Trump continues to appoint cabinet members and other senior positions. Earlier this year, at the annual Bitcoin conference, Trump stated that if he won the presidential election, he would establish a presidential advisory committee on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency to design transparent regulatory guidance. Since Trump's victory, Armstrong has publicly discussed who should be the next leader of the SEC.
Armstrong stated that he believes Trump's SEC commissioner Hester Peirce is the "best candidate."
According to official news, MicroStrategy plans to privately place $1.75 billion in 0% convertible senior notes, maturing in 2029. These notes are unsecured and interest-free, convertible into cash or stock. The proceeds will be used for Bitcoin purchases and general corporate purposes.
Zhao Changpeng: Countries Will Compete to Include Bitcoin in Strategic Reserves
Zhao Changpeng expressed appreciation for MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor's speech, stating, "A wonderful speech. Worth listening to. Also, thanks for the support for Binance in the video. Countries will compete to print money to buy Bitcoin, that is, Bitcoin as a strategic reserve. No one wants to be the last."
Bitfinex Hacker Heather Morgan Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison for Money Laundering
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced Heather Morgan, one of the suspects in the Bitfinex hacking case (known as the rapper "Razzlekhan"), to 18 months in prison during a hearing on November 18.
In August 2023, Morgan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and fraud charges. She is the wife and accomplice of hacker Ilya Lichtenstein, who stole 120,000 Bitcoins from the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex in 2016 and laundered the funds.
On November 14, Judge Kollar-Kotelly sentenced Lichtenstein to five years in prison, far below the 20-year guideline. Prosecutors noted that the hacker provided "substantial assistance" in other investigations and had no prior criminal record.
California Judge Denies Kraken's Temporary Appeal Request
A California judge denied Kraken's temporary appeal motion, stating that allowing the appeal would only "delay" the resolution process of the case the SEC is pursuing against the cryptocurrency exchange.
The second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S., Kraken, filed a temporary appeal motion in September (a type of appeal challenging a non-final ruling by the judge while allowing other aspects of the case to proceed). A month ago, U.S. District Judge William Orrick ruled that the SEC's allegations were reasonable and that the cryptocurrencies sold on the Kraken platform could be considered securities under the Howey test.
ai16z Founder’s New Coin ELIZA Currently Valued at Nearly $60 Million
According to data from Gecko Terminal, the new coin ELIZA issued by ai16z founder Shaw reached a market value of nearly $60 million within an hour of its creation, peaking at $100 million.
Shaw stated that 10% of the tokens will be allocated to ELIZA holders who were snapshot on vvaifu.fun.
Data: The Top Three Global CEX Weekly Visits Are Binance, OKX, and Bitget
According to CoinMarketcap's global crypto CEX weekly visit data, Binance ranks first with 11.2 million weekly visits, followed by OKX (5.45 million) and Bitget (4.98 million).
These trading platforms rank first in global CEX spot trading volume, with Binance in first place, OKX in fourth, and Bitget in sixth.
Binance Adds Multiple Spot Trading Pairs Including ACT/BRL and Trading Bot Services
According to an official announcement, Binance will launch spot trading pairs ACT/BRL, ACT/EUR, CATI/USDC, ETH/EURI, LUMIA/TRY, PNUT/BRL, and PNUT/EUR on November 20, 2024, at 16:00 (UTC+8), providing users with more spot trading options.
Additionally, Binance will open trading bot services for the following trading pairs on November 20, 2024, at 08:00 (UTC): spot grid and spot DCA: ADA/USDC, DOGE/USDC, SUI/USDC, XRP/USDC; spot algorithmic orders: ACT/BRL, ACT/EUR, CATI/USDC, ETH/EURI, LUMIA/TRY, PNUT/BRL, and PNUT/EUR.
According to Hong Wang, the People's Court of Jiahe County, Hunan Province, recently ruled on a major mining machine trading dispute case. The case shows that the plaintiff, Pan, communicated with the defendant, Lei, via WeChat in November 2021 to purchase Bitcoin mining machine S19XP, paying 23.678 million USDT. Afterward, the two parties had a disagreement over the nature of the contract and the settlement price. The plaintiff requested the defendant to return 6.27 million USDT as a price difference and continue to deliver 149 mining machines.
The court ruled to dismiss all of the plaintiff's claims based on two main reasons: first, according to the notice from the central bank and other departments on "further preventing and dealing with the risks of virtual currency trading speculation," virtual currencies like USDT do not have the status of legal tender, and related transactions are illegal financial activities.
Second, based on the National Development and Reform Commission's notice on "rectifying virtual currency mining activities," mining activities consume a lot of energy, have high carbon emissions, and low economic contributions, which do not align with the national green development strategy. The court determined that the trading contract was invalid due to violations of laws and regulations and public order and morals, with related losses to be borne by both parties.
According to Coindesk, Bitcoin mining company MARA Holdings (MARA) has increased its previously announced convertible senior notes offering from $700 million to $850 million.
The company also raised the amount of additional bonds that initial purchasers can buy from $105 million to $150 million. This offering is expected to end on November 20 and is a private placement for qualified institutional buyers. The fundraising is expected to be approximately $833 million, of which $199 million will be used to repurchase MARA's existing $212 million convertible notes due in 2026. The remainder will be used for Bitcoin (BTC) acquisitions, asset expansion, and general corporate purposes.
Previous news indicated that MARA plans to raise $700 million through the issuance of convertible senior notes to purchase more Bitcoin.
ai16z co-founder Shaw responded to the controversy over the Eliza token issuance, stating, "I coordinated with our release partners to try to buy chips at the time of Eliza's release, but did not get much. However, someone in our team did gain a considerable amount of profit and has agreed to hand it over to the DAO and the team, so we have enough funds to fulfill our airdrop commitments to other projects and maintain the operation of the Eliza team."
Shaw stated that while it is regrettable that the project was pre-released, considering the interests of holders, the original team has reached a cooperation agreement with the pre-release party, promising to airdrop 10% of the supply to the initial token holders as compensation. The new team will join the Eliza project as code contributors, focusing on developing meta-narrative tools. Shaw emphasized that the Eliza project has been in preparation for many years, and although this incident is regrettable, the team will continue to advance the project and ensure the token's free circulation, not controlled by any individual or organization.
According to Cointelegraph, Bitcoin L2 solution Bitfinity Network announced the completion of $12 million in financing, including $7 million from institutional investors such as Polychain Beacon Fund, ParaFi, Draft Ventures, and Warburg Serres, as well as $5 million raised from community OTC token sales.
The project will utilize Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) Chain Fusion technology to enable the operation of Bitcoin native assets in Ethereum-compatible ecosystems. The ecosystem plans to host decentralized applications, including Sonic, Chapswap, Lendfinity, and Omnity Bridge. Notably, the founder of the lending protocol Liquity, which has a TVL of one billion dollars, is also supporting this project.
According to RootData, Bitfinity (formerly InfinitySwap) is the next-generation EVM, acting as a second layer for Bitcoin and other assets, utilizing threshold signature schemes and built on IC.
"What Exciting Articles Are Worth Reading in the Last 24 Hours"
During the Devcon in Bangkok, the Web3 asset data platform RootData, in collaboration with ChainCatcher, officially released the "RootData: 2024 Web3 Industry Development Research Report and Annual List" (click the link to view the full report and list).
This list is the second annual selection launched by RootData after its first release in 2023. This year's RootData List 2024 covers five categories: Top 50 Projects (Completed TGE), Top 50 Projects (Not Yet TGE), Crypto VC Top 50 Investment Institutions, Top 10 Angel Investors, and Top 20 Best CEOs.
ChainCatcher will publish a series of articles interviewing institutions featured on the RootData List 2024, seeking builders who navigate through bull and bear markets and tracking the latest trends in Web3.
SevenX was successfully selected as Crypto VC Top 50 and recently appeared on RootData Space to share its success story.
Memecoin Market Map: An Asset Class Worth $120 Billion
Over the past year, Memecoins have been the best-performing sector in the crypto market. Now, the total market capitalization of Memecoins has surpassed $100 billion, exceeding the combined total of DeFi, DePin, gaming, and the metaverse.
As the scale and diversity of this asset class continue to expand, we attempt to draw a market map to identify opportunities within it.
We analyzed the best-performing Memecoins each quarter this year, and the results confirmed our hypothesis—Memecoins dominated the market in every quarter. In the first quarter, $POPCAT, $WIF, $MOG, and $MYRO were the top performers;
In the second quarter, $PONKE, $SPX, $TURBO, $GIGA, $WOJAK, $BRETT, and $MOG stood out; in the third quarter, $SPX, $GIGA, $FUD, and $MUMU led the way.
Ethereum's Dawn is Approaching, $10,000 is Not a Dream
Since the beginning of 2024, if many cryptocurrency believers were to list the most disappointing crypto assets, Ethereum would undoubtedly top the list.
In the last cycle, Ethereum shone brightly with new applications like DeFi and NFTs, reaching an all-time high of $4,800, creating a wealth code with over 20 times growth. As Bitcoin surged ahead, expectations for the second-largest cryptocurrency soared.
However, in the new cycle, while Bitcoin has surpassed $90,000, Ethereum barely holds the $3,000 mark. After a brief surge to $4,000 at the beginning of the year, it fell to around $2,200, trapping many cryptocurrency believers who were eagerly awaiting Ethereum, including the usually savvy "Brother Sun," indicating that institutional investors are not immune either. Currently, the exchange rate of Ethereum to Bitcoin has dropped to a historical low of 0.034.
As the saying goes, "When the mountains are heavy and the waters are deep, there seems to be no way out, but there is a bright spot ahead."
I believe that the difficulties Ethereum is currently facing are an inevitable stage in the early development of the Web3 industry. While Bitcoin occupies the consensus high ground in the realm of digital gold, Ethereum's vision as a world computer has encountered some structural contradictions, preventing it from resonating with its market value and failing to realize value expectations in the short term. However, I believe that all current difficulties are essentially paper tigers, and we are at the "dawn."
The Power Behind Holdings: Insights into Bitcoin's Institutional Layout
As Bitcoin prices continue to rise, its appeal is gradually shifting from retail investors to large institutions with substantial funds and resources. Unlike the last bull market, where the prosperity of the ecosystem and institutional entry were the core drivers of price surges, in this cycle, the deep layout of institutions has become an important variable driving market development. From the successful approval of spot ETFs to the frequent accumulation by traditional financial giants and professional asset management institutions, institutionalization is reshaping the landscape of the Bitcoin market.
In this process, the investment logic of Bitcoin is also quietly changing—from a speculative asset that purely chases price fluctuations to a long-term allocation tool with asset diversification and anti-inflation characteristics. Meanwhile, the changes in holdings and profitability of major institutions are also of great interest to the market: who is continuously increasing their Bitcoin positions? Which institutions have gained substantial returns from this round of increases? Has the change in holding scale had a significant impact on market prices? This article will focus on the holdings of several top-ranking institutions.
When Will the Bull Market Wind Reach the Bitcoin Ecosystem?
The Bitcoin ecosystem was once considered one of the most promising ecosystems in this bull market, with a total ecosystem market value expected to reach the hundred billion dollar level.
However, since the end of the inscription craze from late 2023 to early 2024, the Bitcoin ecosystem has slowly entered a bear market, with a sharp decrease in new users and funds. Although subsequent projects like Rune, the 5-character BRC-20 token pizza, the Fractal ecosystem, and CAT-20 have brought some attention to the Bitcoin ecosystem, their scale has never matched the previous inscription craze.
On one hand, Bitcoin prices continue to rise and set new highs, with $100,000 seemingly within reach; on the other hand, the gradual prosperity of the Solana ecosystem and other ecosystems (such as Base, Sui, etc.). When will the bull market wind blow into the Bitcoin ecosystem?
