Daily Report | The U.S. SEC approves Hashdex to launch the Nasdaq Bitcoin and Ethereum Crypto Index ETF; Craig Wright, also known as Satoshi Nakamoto, sentenced to 12 months in prison for contempt of court, with a two-year probation; Binance Alpha announces the fourth batch of project tokens
December 20 News OverviewOrganizer: Luan Peng, ChainCatcher
Important News:
- US SEC approves Hashdex to launch Nasdaq Bitcoin and Ethereum Crypto Index ETF
- Craig Wright, self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto, sentenced to 12 months in prison for contempt of court, with a two-year probation
- Doodles NFT founder hints at token launch, Doodles floor price surges 61%
- Beijing prosecutors penetrate virtual currency mixing paths, recovering over 89 million yuan in illicit funds
- El Salvador Bitcoin Office: $1 million worth of BTC transferred to strategic reserves
- Binance contracts to launch Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other U-based and coin-based quarterly 0627 contracts
- 202nd Ethereum ACDE meeting: Developers discuss updates affecting EIP 7742 and other Pectra specifications
- Bankrupt Cryptopia exchange begins returning cryptocurrency to account holders, has repaid $224.9 million in crypto
"What important events occurred in the past 24 hours"
US SEC approves Hashdex to launch Nasdaq Bitcoin and Ethereum Crypto Index ETF
According to documents released by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the SEC has approved the listing of Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF and Franklin Crypto Index ETF. These funds will be listed on Nasdaq and Cboe BZX exchanges, allowing investors to indirectly invest in Bitcoin and Ethereum through traditional financial markets. The approval includes comprehensive market monitoring agreements to prevent fraud and manipulation.
Australian scientist Craig Wright, who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, has been sentenced for contempt of court to 12 months in prison, with a two-year probation. He appeared via video link and refused to disclose his exact location but stated that he would appeal.
Previous reports indicated that COPA accused Craig Wright of contempt of court and sought a two-year prison sentence.
Doodles NFT founder hints at token launch, Doodles floor price surges 61%
Doodles NFT founder burnt toast posted an ambiguous message on social media this morning, but the first letters of each word spell out "token is coming," suggesting a token launch.
As a result of this news, the Doodles floor price briefly surged, peaking above 8 ETH before retreating, currently reported at 6.77 ETH, with a 24-hour increase of 61.77%.
According to the Workers' Daily, the Beijing People's Procuratorate released information on the "Procuratorial Protection of Enterprises" special action and published typical cases. In a case of embezzlement, the defendant defrauded the company of over 140 million yuan, and the procuratorial authorities tracked the virtual currency to recover losses.
Between 2020 and 2021, Feng, taking advantage of his position at a technology company, conspired with Tang and Yang to defraud the company of over 140 million yuan in service provider bonuses. Feng then directed Tang and Yang to use eight overseas virtual currency trading platforms to convert the involved funds from RMB to virtual currency, obfuscating the source and nature of the funds through overseas "mixing" platforms, transferring them through multiple layers, with some funds flowing into accounts controlled by Feng and others in RMB, while some were hidden in virtual currency.
The procuratorial authorities conducted a line-by-line comparison and two-way review of the virtual currency and fiat currency to accurately trace the flow of funds, ultimately prompting Feng to return 92 bitcoins, recovering over 89 million yuan in illicit funds and maximizing the economic losses of the victimized unit.
On September 14, 2024, the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court ruled that Feng and six others were guilty of embezzlement, sentencing them to prison terms ranging from 14 years and 6 months to 3 years, along with corresponding fines. The judgment has taken effect.
El Salvador Bitcoin Office: $1 million worth of BTC transferred to strategic reserves
The El Salvador Bitcoin Office announced on the X platform that it has transferred $1 million worth of BTC to El Salvador's strategic Bitcoin reserves.
Previous reports indicated that at 8:07 AM Beijing time, the El Salvador wallet address purchased 11 bitcoins worth $1.07 million.
Binance contracts will launch U-based and coin-based quarterly 0627 contracts for mainstream varieties such as Bitcoin and Ethereum within a few hours after the expiration of the U-based and coin-based quarterly 1227 contracts on December 27 at 16:00 (UTC+8).
Christine Kim, Vice President of Galaxy Research, summarized the 202nd Ethereum Core Developer Execution (ACDE) conference, where developers discussed updates to Pectra specifications affecting EIP 7742, EIP 7702, EIP 2537, and EIP 2935; they also discussed the launch plan for removing pre-merge historical data from clients and non-Pectra EIPs, requiring feedback from developers.
Additionally, the team is making progress in implementing Pectra Devnet 5.
According to Cryptonews, New Zealand cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia has begun returning millions in cryptocurrency to account holders after years of bankruptcy.
In a 2019 cyberattack, tokens worth millions of dollars were stolen from the Cryptopia platform, which subsequently filed for liquidation. At that time, the amount stolen was approximately $15.5 million. However, during the liquidation process, the platform was hacked again in 2021, with a former employee stealing $170,000 worth of cryptocurrency from a wallet linked to Cryptopia.
The exchange has repaid $400 million NZD ($224.9 million) in cryptocurrency to 10,000 verified account holders. According to the liquidator's public consultation, Bitcoin and Dogecoin account holders have already received their first cryptocurrency distribution.
Cryptopia liquidator Grant Thornton stated, "Over $400 million NZD ($224.9 million) in cryptocurrency has been returned on-chain in the past 48 hours."
Data: Ethereum Foundation sold ETH 32 times in the past year, 15 times near peaks
According to Lookonchain monitoring, since the Ethereum Foundation sold 100 ETH on December 17, the ETH price has dropped by approximately 17%. In the past year, the Ethereum Foundation has conducted 32 ETH sale transactions, totaling 4,466 ETH (approximately $12.6 million), with 15 transactions occurring near market peaks.
Zhao Changpeng: Just learned that Revolut has listed BNB
Zhao Changpeng stated on X: Just learned that Revolut has listed BNB, and the community is continuously growing.
Japanese Liberal Democratic Party promotes cryptocurrency tax reform, proposes a 20% separate tax
According to Coinpost, the Web3 working group of the Liberal Democratic Party's Digital Society Promotion Headquarters, led by member Akihisa Shiozaki, reported that the party's policy research council officially approved an "urgent proposal to transform crypto assets into beneficial national economic assets" on the 19th.
The report points out that under the current tax system, income generated from cryptocurrency transactions is generally classified as miscellaneous income and taxed at a maximum rate of 55% (combined income tax and resident tax), which is harsher than in other countries. The report also mentions that taxation on crypto assets is stricter than in other countries.
In light of these points, and whether crypto assets should be considered financial assets for public investment, the following should be considered:
- Change the taxation of gains and losses from cryptocurrency transactions to a "self-assessment separate taxation" system at a 20% tax rate.
- Allow losses from cryptocurrency income to be carried forward for offset (usable within the next three years).
- Apply the "self-assessment separate taxation" system to cryptocurrency derivatives trading as well.
Survey: Brazilians invest 7% to 35% of their assets in cryptocurrency
According to Cryptonews, Brazil's top regulatory agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM), recently released survey results showing that more Brazilians are investing, trading, or holding Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, with investors allocating 7% to 35% of their funds to purchase these tokens. This study was conducted by the CVM in 2023 and surveyed the investment behaviors of over 700 individuals.
Respondents were categorized into "conservative," "moderate," and "aggressive" investors. Conservative investors allocated an average of 7.25% of their savings to cryptocurrency, while moderate investors invested 21% of their financial product portfolios in crypto assets. Aggressive investors were the most optimistic, with cryptocurrency accounting for as much as 35% of their portfolios.
Notably, about 50% of respondents considered themselves aggressive investors, indicating a strong enthusiasm for cryptocurrency among Brazilian investors. In contrast, conservative investors maintained more traditional portfolios, with over 50% in CDBs and RDBs, preferring government bonds, while their choices in foreign currencies were relatively limited.
Binance Alpha announces fourth batch of project tokens
According to official news, Binance Alpha has announced the fourth batch of project tokens, including BANANA, KOGE, BOB, MGP, PSTAKE, GNON, Shoggoth, LUCE, ODOS.
The Web3 asset data platform RootData has launched version V1.2.2 of its app, integrating token distribution and unlocking data to help investors conduct investment analysis and decision-making more efficiently.
Currently, RootData has integrated token distribution model data for over 1,000 projects and unlocking data for over 200 projects. Moving forward, RootData will continue to enrich the number of projects while adding more granular data such as investor costs and full-cycle linear release graphs, and will integrate this data on the PC side.
"What are the must-read articles from the past 24 hours"
Interview with "Meme Wizard" 0xWizard: How to seize the next 500 billion-dollar memes
0xWizard is a crypto KOL on X with nearly 200,000 followers, known as the "Meme Wizard."
Memes can be seen as a central theme throughout this bull market cycle, even though some find it emotionally difficult to acknowledge.
"Bravely participate in the second wave of opportunities" is 0xWizard's motto. Based on bottom-up market recognition and reflections on the underlying reasons, he believes that while the bull market has begun, on-chain memes are just getting started.
"There can be another 500 billion-dollar memes, but it may be difficult to see another $50 billion asset." In an exclusive interview with ChainCatcher, 0xWizard stated. However, the primary and secondary gameplay of memes is entirely different, and for some overvalued meme projects about to enter the secondary market, he suggests observing before building positions.
In the interview, 0xWizard also shared his methodology for capturing new tracks and narrative judgments, including the "three laws of the bull market engine" and the essence of the track, discussing several currently popular AI memes and meme investment experiences.
On December 13, Mega Labs, the developer of the real-time blockchain MegaETH, raised $10 million on the renowned angel investment platform Echo, with shares sold out in 50 seconds.
As the first "real-time" blockchain on Ethereum, MegaETH received investments from industry leaders such as Vitalik Buterin, Joseph Lubin, Sreeram Kannan, and well-known VCs like Dragonfly, Figment Capital, Robot Ventures, and Big Brain Holdings this June. However, this time MegaETH chose to forgo the opportunity to raise funds from VCs at a higher valuation. Co-founder Shuyao revealed to ChainCatcher that the new round of financing maintains the same valuation of over $100 million as in June, aiming to open the investment window equally to every community participant.
Breaking the mold is MegaETH's consistent style. While the Ethereum community discusses longevity and AI at Zuzalu, planning for ten thousand years ahead, Shuyao finds that no one is addressing the most urgent issue: the lack of a sufficiently fast and cheap chain. MegaETH chooses to be an anti-hero, pulling Ethereum out of the dream of ten thousand years, focusing on the present.
Recently, the MEME market seems to have entered a period of calm. As the market and hot money flow to mainstream coins, there have been no particularly outstanding tokens in the first half of December. Against this backdrop, a MEME coin named Fartcoin has surged against the trend, breaking through $1 billion on December 18, becoming the king of AI proxy series MEMEs.
Unlike previous hot social topics like GOAT and Pnut, Fartcoin's rise seems to lack celebrity endorsements and social hotspots, making its absurd cultural core difficult for many to understand. This article analyzes Fartcoin's social media popularity and the top 1,000 holding addresses, attempting to explain how Fartcoin grew from zero to $1 billion.
Recently, with the surge of "antique coins" like XRP, news of "Korean aunts rushing into the crypto market" has spread again in the community. Meanwhile, trading volumes of related tokens like XRP and APT on Korean exchanges such as Upbit and Bithumb have even surpassed Binance at times. This means that in these tokens, the trading volume from just the Korean market is enough to rival the total trading volume from the rest of the world.
For a long time, the crypto community has viewed listing on Upbit as a significant boon for projects, as prices often soar shortly after a token is listed on these Korean exchanges. This strong purchasing power has sparked curiosity about the "kimchi premium," raising questions about how the Korean cryptocurrency market operates. What trading logic do investors here follow?
Andy, a member of Frax Finance who has long been engaged in crypto development and education in Korea, conducted an interview to explore the investment logic and real situation of the Korean crypto market.
Virtuals Protocol market cap exceeds $3 billion, which AI projects in the ecosystem are worth关注?
On December 17, the Virtuals Protocol token VIRTUAL broke through 3 USDT, bringing its market cap to $3 billion. In the previous week, the Solana AI narrative interpretation article "ARC Speedrun 30 million market cap, understand the new AI token narrative" mentioned that tokens with practical products and applications in AI have surged the most.
Meme Popularity Rankings
According to the meme token tracking and analysis platform GMGN, as of December 20, 19:30:
The top five popular Ethereum tokens in the past 24 hours are: PEPU, PEPE, LINK, DOGE, MYSTERY
The top five popular Solana tokens in the past 24 hours are: NOJEETS, GOBLIN, SQUID2, PENGAI, UFD
The top five popular Base tokens in the past 24 hours are: VIRTUAL, BRETT, Fretta, SKI, JESSE
