ChainCatcher news, according to official sources, Lido has announced that stETH and wstETH have now landed on Unichain. Unichain, developed by Uniswap Labs, is a DeFi-native Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain, and users can now bridge stETH or wstETH to Unichain.It is reported that the related deployment was implemented using the Lido protocol Multichain Automaton.

ChainCatcher news, Canadian stablecoin issuer Paytrie announced that its stablecoin CADC has expanded to Base, enabling seamless on-chain Canadian dollar transactions.

ChainCatcher news, the intraday increase of spot gold has expanded to 1.00%, currently reported at 2928.33 USD/ounce.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi Data reports, the news about "a certain employee of the well-known quantitative private equity firm KuanDe Investment accusing the company of using brain-machine weapons to persecute employees on social media" is continuing to ferment in the private equity circle.In response to the above "accusation," KuanDe Investment stated: "The company has noticed inappropriate remarks about it appearing on online platforms. After verification, the publisher of these remarks did indeed have a short-term employment with the company (joined in July 2022 and voluntarily left in early September of the same year, with an employment period of about 1 month). Currently, this publisher has terminated their employment relationship with the company, and their remarks are personal behavior, containing false and misleading information."Previous news reported that an unknown programmer named "Hu LeZhi" burned 600 ETH and donated over 1411 ETH to a charity organization. The information mentioned that with the large-scale military deployment of brain-machine chips, all military power controls citizens through base stations, radio, and nano brain-machine chips, calling for public attention to this new type of crime, warning that if one becomes a victim of this process, they may choose to end their own life.

ChainCatcher news, according to TASS, the lawyer of former BTC-e operator Alexander Vinnik, Arkady Bukh, confirmed that after his release last week, the U.S. has "dropped" the case against Vinnik, and the Northern District Court of California has confirmed that it will dismiss all charges against Vinnik.Previous news, according to The New York Times, as part of a swap with Russia, the U.S. will release Russian cybercrime suspect Alexander Vinnik in exchange for the release of American citizen Marc Fogel. Vinnik previously operated BTC-e, which was one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world.He was arrested in 2017 and detained at the request of Washington for allegedly laundering $4 billion through the platform. In May of this year, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and faces 20 years in prison.

ChainCatcher news, Binance's financial crime compliance officer Tigran Gambaryan recently reiterated that a rogue Nigerian lawmaker demanded a $150 million bribe in exchange for dropping the lawsuit against Binance. The relevant lawmaker wanted the funds to be transferred directly to their cryptocurrency wallet, using "fake cameras and media" to make the meeting with visiting Binance executives appear legitimate.In May 2024, reports emerged that Binance CEO Richard Teng accused members of the Nigerian House of Representatives Financial Crimes Committee (HCFC) of soliciting a $150 million bribe. At that time, Nigeria's Minister of Information Mohammed Idris denied the allegations, stating that it was a strategy by the company to "hurry to cover up the serious criminal charges it faces."However, Gambaryan insisted that this attempt was indeed conducted with the involvement of Nigeria's Department of State Services (DSS). He also stated, "The Nigerian government has publicly claimed that there is $26 billion in mysterious funds (through Binance) flowing out of Nigeria, which is completely nonsense. This information was provided at their request; it is merely the cumulative trading data of Nigerians on the platform. This money did not flow out of Nigeria—people are just buying and selling cryptocurrency. For example, if you trade $100 a hundred times, that amounts to $10,000 in trading volume, but in reality, you only used $100. Similarly, this is just another example of their lies to cover up a false investigation."Just after Gambaryan shared these explosive details, Nigeria's Minister of Information Idris issued a statement denying them. However, the statement acknowledged the bribery allegations, but Idris pointed out that it was the Nigerian government that initiated the investigation, "even though no one has formally filed a lawsuit." His statement also revealed that the Nigerian government rejected a U.S. proposal to pay $5 million in exchange for Gambaryan's release.

ChainCatcher news, according to the Chicago Tribune, six men have been charged with allegedly kidnapping a family of three and a nanny in Chicago and forcing them to transfer $15 million worth of cryptocurrency.Recently decrypted FBI testimony reveals that the kidnappers pretended to accidentally damage the garage door, knocked on the door of the family's townhouse, and then forcibly entered the home at gunpoint. The kidnappers reportedly demanded ransom in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The victims were held for a total of five days, during which one of the victims called his father via the Chinese messaging app WeChat to inform him of the kidnapping.The six suspects were charged on December 13. Only one of them has been arrested, 34-year-old Wei Zehuan (phonetic), who was apprehended on January 17 while attempting to re-enter the United States from Mexico.The other five suspects include Zhang Fan, Yan Huajing, Jiang Shengnan, Lian Shiqiang, and Cao Ye (phonetic), and it is believed that some of them fled to China after Wei's arrest.

ChainCatcher news, according to a report by Reuters, as disclosed by The New York Times on Wednesday, the United States will release Russian cybercrime suspect Alexander Vinnik as part of a swap for the release of American citizen Marc Fogel.Vinnik operated BTC-e, which was once one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. He was arrested in 2017 and detained at the request of Washington for allegedly laundering $4 billion through the platform. In May of this year, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and faces 20 years in prison.

ChainCatcher news, according to ai_9684xtpa monitoring, "the whale chasing VINE and ALON has lost 1.22 million dollars" has continued trading in the past two days, incurring an additional loss of 170,000 dollars, bringing the total loss over seven days to 1.787 million dollars.Currently, the Meme trading record is "one win out of nine battles."

ChainCatcher news, the staking protocol Lido announced on platform X that Lido v3.2 Liquid eModes has expanded to Base and Arbitrum. Users can now use LRT as collateral to borrow wstETH, thereby opening up DeFi use cases with reduced gas costs.

ChainCatcher news, former Ethereum Foundation core researcher Danny Ryan posted on X platform stating: "Regardless of what the future holds for Ethereum, whether I am here or not, I want to publicly and clearly express my respect and admiration for Aya Miyaguchi's leadership and friendship. There are many reasons why Ethereum has thrived over the years, and Aya has played a significant role in that. She possesses a deep strategic mind and a pure heart. Not many people have the opportunity to work closely with her, but I have. My success in Ethereum has always been tied to her support and guidance.Even if you wish to see changes in the Ethereum Foundation, even if your criticisms are well-founded, please look forward and help build a positive future. Please put away the weapons that harm."

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, Arweave aims to send the "genesis block" to the moon by utilizing molecular data storage technology from California-based Iridia, combined with the lunar lander from space exploration company LifeShip, with the goal of allowing this data to be stored for thousands of years.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin.com, the globally renowned banking group Santander has highlighted the significant growth of El Salvador's tourism industry in a report, which is closely related to the country's acceptance of Bitcoin.The report details the process of El Salvador adopting BTC as legal tender in 2021 and how it has transformed the country into a unique destination for travelers, especially cryptocurrency enthusiasts.According to Salvadoran authorities, the country welcomed 3.9 million tourists in 2024, a 22% increase from the previous year. The influx of tourists is primarily driven by American visitors, many of whom are attracted by the novelty of experiencing Bitcoin transactions in their daily lives.Santander's analysis links this growth to improvements in safety, noting that the number of homicides in the country has dropped to just 114 in 2024, a significant decrease from the peak of 6,656 in 2015. The combination of declining crime rates and curiosity about Bitcoin has helped El Salvador stand out in the global tourism market.

ChainCatcher news, a court in the UK 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 portion of his wealth, including luxury cars and properties in London, was confiscated by authorities.

ChainCatcher message, according to a report released by NiceHash and Digital Mining Solutions on January 7, publicly listed Bitcoin mining companies are following in the footsteps of MicroStrategy by increasing their Bitcoin treasury holdings.The report states: "In 2024, there has been a significant shift among Bitcoin mining companies, with many choosing to retain more of their mined Bitcoin or not selling it at all."Mining companies may choose not to sell Bitcoin for various reasons, including expectations of further appreciation in BTC prices or strengthening their balance sheets, as well as for hedging against currency devaluation.The report mentions that MARA Holdings, Riot Platforms, and Hut 8 have used borrowed funds to increase their Bitcoin holdings, further expanding their treasury strategies. Four of the largest 16 Bitcoin-holding companies are mining firms.The report states that, in addition to their core mining operations, by 2024, some mining companies "will further diversify into high-performance computing and artificial intelligence to generate predictable revenue streams to buffer against mining volatility."This trend is particularly evident in the United States, where "the harsh mining economics and lucrative AI/HPC business are enticing them to diversify into other computing fields." In addition to increasing their BTC holdings, mining companies like CleanSpark have also chosen to retain most of the BTC produced in recent months. Several Bitcoin miners with a market capitalization of at least $100 million have generated significant revenue from AI and HPC initiatives. For example, in the first three quarters of 2024, HPC/AI revenue accounted for nearly 8% of Hut 8's revenue and nearly 7% of Hive Digital's revenue.

ChainCatcher news, Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley posted the Bitwise 2024 review on X, stating that as they enter 2025, the team has many plans and will continue to focus on helping investors understand and access opportunities in the field.2024 Review:Customer assets grew from approximately $1 billion to about $12 billionThe team expanded from around 65 people to about 100, spread across the U.S. and EuropeTwo acquisitions were madeExpanded to over 4,000 RIAs, wealth teams, family offices, and institutional clients in the U.S.Over 15 banks and broker/dealer wealth platforms in the U.S. approved productsAchieved two years of outstanding performance in alpha strategiesEntered Europe with a growing suite of institutional-grade ETPsEntered Ethereum and now Starknet staking businessLaunched several exciting new productsConducted over 12,000 meetings and calls with investors, 79 events, 25 webinars, produced two national TV commercials, nearly 100 research memos and reports, and received over 1,000 news mentions/quotes/appearances

ChainCatcher news, Cointelegraph posted on the X platform revealing that MetaMask has expanded its cryptocurrency payment card pilot program in the United States, allowing users to pay directly from their wallets.