ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, Chicago trading giant Jump is working to restore its U.S. cryptocurrency business to full operational status, after the company scaled back its related operations over the past two years due to regulatory scrutiny and uncertainty.Insiders revealed that while Jump has maintained digital asset trading and market-making activities in other parts of the world, cryptocurrency trading volume in the U.S. is currently accelerating. Jump plans to hire a group of crypto engineers and will begin to fill U.S. policy and government liaison positions in due course. Against the backdrop of the Donald Trump administration easing regulations, Jump believes now is the right time to restore its U.S. operations to full capacity.Jump became a focal point of regulatory scrutiny after the collapse of the Terra Luna stablecoin and FTX, which led to a contraction of its U.S. business, including the spin-off of the Wormhole project and halving the staff of the Jump Crypto division, which had about 150 employees in 2022.Industry insiders believe that Jump may participate in the U.S. crypto ETF space in the future, especially considering the potential approval of a Solana (SOL) ETF. Jump is known for its investments and development work in the Solana ecosystem, such as the Firedancer project, which is software designed to increase blockchain transaction throughput.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, Animoca Brands' latest financial report shows that the company's total revenue for 2024 is expected to be $314 million, a year-on-year increase of 12%. The focus of the business has significantly shifted, with its Digital Asset Advisory (DAA) department surpassing traditional Web3 operations for the first time as the main source of revenue. In 2024, the consulting department contributed $165 million in revenue, a year-on-year increase of 116%; while revenue from traditional gaming and NFT operations was $110 million, a decrease of about 40% compared to $182 million in 2023; investment income and risk management fees contributed $39 million.Despite private investment holdings decreasing by 18% from $690 million to $564 million (affected by token unlocks, equity exits, and asset write-downs), Animoca Brands' overall balance sheet for 2024 has still strengthened. The company holds $293 million in cash and stablecoins (a year-on-year increase of 67%), $538 million in digital assets (a year-on-year increase of 165%), and $2.9 billion in off-balance-sheet token reserves. Its minority equity investments cover 540 companies, an increase from 450 last year.

ChainCatcher news, White House AI and cryptocurrency chief David Sacks posted on the X platform: "To accuse those who are already very successful in business of entering government to make more money is a lazy and foolish narrative. As far as I know, serving in government creates substantial interference and divestment from personal business interests. The real question is how those lifelong 'public servants' became so wealthy.For example, how did Nancy Pelosi become one of the greatest stock pickers of our time? How did the former head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) become a billionaire? Why are the zip code areas around Washington, D.C. among the wealthiest in the nation?From what I see, all billionaires who serve in government do so for one reason: they absolutely love this country and want to make it great again. To do this, we must drain the swamp and expose the blatant large-scale government corruption."Elon Musk retweeted the post and expressed agreement: "Exactly."

ChainCatcher message, Consensys founder Joseph Lubin commented on the tweet from the Ethereum co-executive director that "this is currently a brief opportunity to showcase the Ethereum ecosystem," stating, "This is truly a model of immediate response and confident leadership. My colleagues at Consensys and I have spent a lot of time in Washington, D.C. before and after the November 5 elections. The Trump administration is very aware of Ethereum's status, maturity, and capabilities. The Trump family is very enthusiastic about conducting many businesses on Ethereum. Of course, they will use other chains and tokens as needed, but aside from holding Bitcoin, there is no other track that is a wise choice for high-value projects like DeFi and RWA. We are happy to coordinate the messaging between EF and the Ethereum community."

ChainCatcher news, according to Lin Chen, the Asia-Pacific business head of Deribit, the current options market data predicts a 23.4% chance that Bitcoin will exceed $90,000 by the end of March; while the possibility of exceeding that price by the end of the year is as high as 56.13%.

According to ChainCatcher's message, Lin Chen, the head of Asia-Pacific business at Deribit, stated that based on data and indicators, the market has officially transitioned from a bull market to a bear market, with an unfavorable short-term outlook and significant selling pressure expected during any rebounds.However, from a long-term perspective, she remains optimistic, believing that when the macro environment (including tariffs, inflation, interest rate cuts, geopolitical conflicts, and breakthroughs in artificial intelligence technology) improves, the Bitcoin market will see another upward trend.As an industry practitioner holding Bitcoin, Lin Chen plans to continue holding Bitcoin in the coming months, generating income by selling call options and purchasing a small amount of long-term put options to increase her spot holdings.

ChainCatcher message, Solana co-founder Toly commented on the meme token "toly's minutes" issued by the time tokenization platform Time.fun, saying that time is fun, and business communication is my favorite crypto use case.According to GMGN data, the market capitalization of Solana co-founder Toly's tokenized time (toly's minutes) is currently reported at 14 million USD, with a trading volume of 16.8 million USD in the first 2 hours since launch.

ChainCatcher message, according to Infini founder Christian's post on X, "Of the 50 million dollars stolen, seventy percent belongs to large friends I know personally. I have already communicated with each of them and will personally bear the possible losses and settle privately. The remaining funds will be reinvested into the infini vault before next Monday, and everything will continue as usual. The funds are ready, and I will respond to any withdrawal requests in the meantime, so please rest assured.I apologize for the need for some time to upgrade and restart the business; everything will proceed under the premise of ensuring the absolute safety of the funds."

ChainCatcher news, Hong Kong listed company Zhu Di Holdings announced that it plans to register a wholly-owned subsidiary, Zhu Di Digital Technology Co., Ltd., to engage in virtual currency mining business, including the construction of virtual currency mining farms and the operation and hosting of virtual currency mining farms, has announced the termination of its virtual currency mining business. The board of directors has decided to terminate the new business activities immediately.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, U.S. President Trump shared an article about XRP on the Truth Social platform. The article reported that Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse noted a significant increase in the company's business transactions and hiring activities in the U.S. after Trump's victory last November.Following the news release, XRP's 24-hour trading volume increased by 26% to $5.5 billion, while the coin price remained relatively stable at $2.53. Previously, the XRP ETF applications submitted by the New York Stock Exchange and Grayscale had been confirmed by the SEC, with the market expecting approval within the year.

ChainCatcher news, FOX Business reporter Eleanor Terrett disclosed that outgoing Federal Reserve official Michael Barr spoke this afternoon at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York about bank decentralization and crypto regulation. He stated that the Federal Reserve is trying to take a neutral stance on these issues. The Fed's expectation is that they operate in a safe and sound manner and comply with consumer laws, anti-money laundering laws, and anti-terrorism financing laws. If they do so, we have no objections.Barr stated, "The Federal Reserve has a novel regulatory plan aimed at overseeing institutions in this space to ensure we have the right expertise to execute in this area. Some institutions are doing this, while others are getting it wrong and running into trouble, either due to anti-money laundering or Bank Secrecy Act issues, or because they cannot meet their customers' liquidity needs, and then they go bankrupt. So, at least for me, this is just straightforward mid-level risk management and banking. If you do it right, you can do it. If you do it wrong, then you shouldn't be doing it."Barr also mentioned that he has never seen evidence of customers being canceled from their bank accounts due to political views.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, Mastercard's head of crypto and blockchain business, Raj Dhamodharan, stated that the company has moved from the experimental phase to providing actual crypto solutions. Recently, Mastercard collaborated with compliance company Notabene to integrate its Crypto Credential system into the SafeTransact platform, allowing users to transfer crypto assets using email addresses instead of complex wallet addresses.Dhamodharan pointed out that Mastercard will focus on three areas in 2025: building on-chain and off-chain channels for cryptocurrencies, expanding Crypto Credential functionalities, and stablecoin business. The company currently supports financial institutions in using stablecoins for transaction settlements and plans to announce more partnerships and application scenarios this year. Regarding the trend of asset tokenization, he stated that once regulations clearly allow deposits to be represented on public chains, this field will see larger-scale development.

ChainCatcher news, according to TASS, Aisen Nikolaev, chairman of the Russian State Duma Energy Committee, has proposed plans to establish dedicated power plants for cryptocurrency mining activities. These power plants will specifically serve the cryptocurrency mining community and will not connect to the public power grid.Nikolaev stated that the State Duma Energy Committee is in communication with the Ministry of Energy regarding cryptocurrency mining issues. He believes that innovative solutions will emerge in the near future, allowing Moscow to develop its cryptocurrency mining business while protecting the interests of the public. It is reported that the electricity used for mining in some regions of Russia has already reached an "out of control" state, leading to capacity shortages and affecting the power supply quality for residents and businesses.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin.com, Las Vegas businessman Brent C. Kovar has been sued for allegedly operating a cryptocurrency mining Ponzi scheme through the Profit Connect project, facing up to 330 years in prison.It is reported that Kovar promised investors that his platform offered "AI-driven" cryptocurrency mining services and claimed to provide fixed returns of 15% to 30%, guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). However, investigations revealed that Kovar did not engage in actual mining operations but instead used the funds of over 400 investors for personal luxury expenses and to pay returns to early investors, with the amount involved reaching $24 million.

ChainCatcher news, according to Hong Kong media East Net, the CEO of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, Ashley Alder, stated that since the implementation of the Virtual Asset Trading Platform (VATP) licensing system in June 2023, 9 licenses have been granted, and another 9 applications are pending approval. It is expected that new licenses will be issued within this month.Alder revealed that the Securities and Futures Commission will establish a formal advisory group for licensed VATPs and develop a roadmap for virtual asset development, planning to explore new areas such as custody services and over-the-counter (OTC) trading, while also considering the introduction of more products and services to enhance market competitiveness.

ChainCatcher news, according to U.S. media reports, chip manufacturing giant TSMC may take over the chip manufacturing business of American company Intel. The report states that, according to informed sources, in response to the deteriorating business situation, Intel's board began discussions with TSMC at the end of last year to explore the possibility of cooperation between the two parties.Negotiations are in the early stages, and the form of cooperation has not yet been determined. TSMC may hold a majority stake in Intel's chip manufacturing business in partnership with other investors.It is currently unclear how much manufacturing business TSMC will take over from Intel and how much capital will be invested. Informed sources indicate that the transaction may be limited to Intel's production facilities in Oregon, Arizona, and New Mexico in the U.S., as well as in countries like Ireland and Israel.

ChainCatcher news, according to the Nevada Attorney General's Office, Las Vegas businessman Brent C. Kovar made his first court appearance on February 14 for alleged cryptocurrency fraud.Prosecutors accuse him of falsely claiming to use artificial intelligence to mine and verify cryptocurrency transactions through his company Profit Connect from the end of 2017 to July 2021, promising annual returns of 15%-30% and offering a full refund guarantee, defrauding approximately $24 million from over 400 investors.Kovar faces 12 counts of wire fraud, 3 counts of mail fraud, and 3 counts of money laundering, with a maximum sentence of 330 years in prison and a $4.5 million fine. The trial is set to begin on April 8, 2025.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, several top Wall Street banks are optimistic about the potential development of the cryptocurrency industry during Trump's possible term and are actively adjusting their strategic layout for cryptocurrency business. Morgan Stanley is vying for potential IPO clients, Bank of America executives are discussing advancing transactions for digital asset companies, and Royal Bank of Canada plans to expand its business after completing its first cryptocurrency transaction.Currently, several cryptocurrency companies such as Gemini, Bullish, Circle, and Kraken are considering IPOs in 2025. Jefferies and JPMorgan are providing consulting for Bullish's potential listing, and Moelis & Co. and Cantor Fitzgerald are also active in this field. Analysts believe that Trump's supportive stance towards the cryptocurrency industry may trigger a new wave of IPOs, stock sales, and convertible bond issuances.