Daily Report | U.S. Justice Department authorized to sell $6.5 billion in Silk Road Bitcoin; Trump team reviews at least 6 candidates for CFTC chairman; Backpack clarifies FTX EU acquisition process
January 9 News Overview整理：Fairy，ChainCatcher
重要资讯：
- OKX will launch J (Jambo) spot trading
- Binance Alpha adds FAI, VERTAI, VADER
- FDIC exposed for deliberately concealing documents related to actions against the crypto industry, previously investigated several critics on social media
- Backpack clarifies the FTX EU acquisition process, asset purchase to be completed in June 2024
- U.S. Department of Justice authorized to sell $6.5 billion worth of Silk Road Bitcoin seized from the dark web
- Trump's team has reviewed at least 6 potential candidates for CFTC chair
- Gary Gensler's farewell message: the cryptocurrency space is full of "bad actors," proud of SEC's regulatory work in the crypto field
"What important events occurred in the past 24 hours"
OKX will launch J (Jambo) spot trading
OKX will launch J (Jambo) spot trading, with the J/USDT spot trading opening at 7:00 PM on January 22, 2025 (UTC+8).
Binance Alpha adds FAI, VERTAI, VADER
According to official news, Binance Alpha has added FAI, VERTAI, and VADER.
FDIC exposed for deliberately concealing documents related to actions against the crypto industry, previously investigated several critics on social media
Several insiders from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) have revealed a series of misconducts by the agency in Operation Chokepoint 2.0 (actions against the crypto industry).
According to the whistleblowers, the FDIC employed various methods to evade the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) disclosure requirements, including marking documents as attorney-client privileged, conducting incomplete searches in regional systems, and hiding documents generated on collaborative platforms like Microsoft Teams. Insiders claim that about 150 key documents were not submitted.
At the same time, the FDIC has also been accused of conducting social media investigations on several well-known figures in the industry, including Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal, WSPN CEO Austin Campbell, Custodia Bank founder Caitlin Long, Castle Island Ventures founder Nic Carter, and Unchained podcast regulatory reporter Veronica Irwin. Insiders stated that they were personally assigned to investigate whether these individuals posed a threat to the FDIC.
UK court orders seizure of $4.3 million worth of Bitcoin from crime boss Alexander Surin
A UK court has ordered the seizure of approximately $4.3 million worth of Bitcoin from crime boss Alexander Surin (also known as Don Car-Leone) because he failed to prove that these crypto assets were obtained through legal means. This decision was made following an investigation into Surin's financial transactions related to his criminal activities.
Surin fled to Dubai after being convicted of drug trafficking in France in 2015, prior to which a significant amount of his wealth, including luxury cars and properties in London, was confiscated by authorities.
Backpack clarifies the FTX EU acquisition process, asset purchase to be completed in June 2024
The FTX estate claims that the announcement of Backpack Exchange's acquisition of FTX EU was made without their knowledge and stated that Backpack was not involved in the process of returning funds to any FTX creditors approved by the U.S. bankruptcy court.
Backpack clarified that in February 2024, the FTX group sold its European assets (including FTX EU) to former insiders, a transaction that was approved by the bankruptcy court and completed in May 2024. German court records show that Backpack later purchased these assets from insiders in June 2024. The transfer of FTX EU to Backpack required regulatory approval from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, which was obtained in December 2024.
Backpack stated: "After obtaining approval, FTX Asset Management is obligated to transfer shares according to the court-approved sale and purchase agreement. We look forward to the completion of the transfer so that we can begin returning customer funds to former FTX EU customers, just like the FTX bankruptcy asset management company."
U.S. Department of Justice authorized to sell $6.5 billion worth of Silk Road Bitcoin seized from the dark web
An official confirmed to DB News today that the U.S. government has been authorized to liquidate 69,000 Bitcoins ($6.5 billion) from Silk Road, notably just under two weeks after the new administration vowed not to sell.
Trump's team has reviewed at least 6 potential candidates for CFTC chair
According to FOX Business, Trump's transition team has reviewed at least six potential candidates to serve as chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as Trump aims to fulfill his promise of providing a more favorable regulatory environment for the cryptocurrency industry. Under Trump's leadership, the CFTC could play a larger role in regulating the $3.5 trillion cryptocurrency market, including the spot markets for digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum, where the regulatory environment remains unclear.
In recent weeks, Trump's transition team has interviewed CFTC Commissioner Summer Mersinger, Andreessen Horowitz's crypto policy head Brian Quintenz, and former Kraken Chief Legal Officer Marco Santori, who has not yet announced his departure from the crypto exchange and may seek a position in the U.S. government. Other reviewed candidates still on the list include Republican Commissioner Caroline Pham, as well as attorneys Neal Kumar and Josh Sterling, who previously held senior positions at the agency.
Gary Gensler's farewell message: the cryptocurrency space is full of "bad actors," proud of SEC's regulatory work in the crypto field
In an interview with the media on Wednesday, outgoing SEC Chairman Gary Gensler stated that the cryptocurrency space is full of "bad actors" and is a "non-compliant" field, where market sentiment impacts it far more than fundamentals.
Gensler emphasized that while Bitcoin accounts for 60% to 80% of the cryptocurrency market value, the remaining 10,000 to 15,000 crypto projects also raise funds from the public, many of which ultimately fail, with numerous "pump and dump" schemes and other issues.
Gensler mentioned that he has achieved some results in cryptocurrency regulation since taking office, continuing the work of his predecessor Jay Clayton. Over the past four years, the SEC has initiated about 100 enforcement actions in the cryptocurrency space, accounting for 5% of its enforcement work. He expressed pride in the SEC's regulatory work in the cryptocurrency field but believes there is still much work to be done.
Oklahoma lawmaker proposes Bitcoin Freedom Act, allowing employees to receive wages in BTC
According to Bitcoin Magazine, Oklahoma State Senator Dusty Deevers has submitted the "Bitcoin Freedom Act," numbered SB325, which will allow employees in Oklahoma to choose to receive their wages in Bitcoin and allow vendors to accept Bitcoin payments.
The SB325 bill ensures that participation is completely voluntary, respects free market principles, and grants employees, employers, and businesses the right to choose the payment method that best suits them. The SB325 bill is eligible for consideration in the 60th legislative session starting on February 3.
Grayscale updates fund components for various products: including adding SUI to the GSCPxE fund portfolio, etc.
According to Globenewswire, Grayscale announced that it has updated the fund components and weights for its products based on the review for the fourth quarter of 2024. ① Grayscale has included Livepeer (LPT) in the AI Fund portfolio. ② Grayscale DEFI fund adds Curve (CRV) and removes Synthetix (SNX). ③ Grayscale GDLC fund adds Cardano (ADA) and removes Avalanche (AVAX). ④ Grayscale has included SUI in the GSCPxE fund portfolio.
"What interesting articles are worth reading in the past 24 hours"
Comparison of new and old AI concept coins: chasing the sunrise once again before the sun sets
At the CES 2025 in the U.S. on January 7, Jensen Huang, founder of Nvidia and a leading figure in the AI industry, stated: "AI Agents are expected to become the next robotics industry, with a market scale of trillions of dollars." Although the audience at the event reacted lukewarmly to this bold statement, the crypto industry has long since bought into AI Agents—tokens related to AI Agents such as VIRTUAL, ai16z, and swarms have become some of the few focal points in the recent market, and their price trends have performed well compared to the broader market; in contrast, many established AI concept projects like FET, WLD, and ARKM have recently appeared somewhat desolate, with prices significantly down from their peaks.
69,000 Bitcoins to be sold? What impact will the Silk Road Bitcoin sale have on the market?
Just ten days after the U.S. government once again pledged $6 billion in military aid to Ukraine, the Department of Justice is preparing to initiate the liquidation of a massive Bitcoin asset.
On January 9, an official confirmed to DB News that the DOJ has been authorized to dispose of 69,370 Bitcoins seized in the infamous Silk Road case. This asset currently has a market value of approximately $6.5 billion.
It is reported that the DOJ requested permission to sell these assets citing Bitcoin price volatility. When asked about the next steps, a DOJ spokesperson stated: "The government will take further action based on the ruling in this case."
Following the news, Bitcoin dropped over 2.5% in 24 hours, and as of the time of writing, the price is $94,400.
Overview of the new hot token $LLM: behind the $55M trading volume in 4 hours, "Fat Girl" conquers the crypto market
$LLM launched 4 hours ago, with a trading volume reaching $55 million, and a trading volume/market cap ratio of 1.5x. This is one of the most attractive meme projects we have seen recently. Its image is a "Fat Girl" (symbolizing large language models), inspired by the logo of $ai16z. The virality of this meme is extremely strong, comparable to the relationship between $LLM and $ai16z, just like the relationship between $FARTCOIN and $GOAT. At the current valuation, we believe its risk/reward ratio is very attractive, especially with factors such as sustained trading volume growth, increasing number of holders, and the strong virality of the meme. We expect that over time, its valuation may be repriced to $200 million+, aligning with some high-quality meme projects.
Meme Hot List
According to the meme token tracking and analysis platform GMGN, as of January 9, 19:40:
In the past 24 hours, the top five popular Ethereum tokens are: KEKIUS, KUMA, SPX, PERCY, KUMA
In the past 24 hours, the top five popular Solana tokens are: LLM, GM, PERCY, TRENCH, VOID
In the past 24 hours, the top five popular Base tokens are: VIRTUAL, AIXBT, USD+, AKUMA, CATOF
