ChainCatcher message, CloverPool data shows that the Bitcoin mining difficulty experienced an adjustment at block height 874,944 (2024-12-16 09:33:30), with the mining difficulty increased by 4.43% to 108.52 T, setting a new historical high. The current average network hash rate is 792.06 EH/s.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, Bitcoin mining company MARA is striving to catch up with MicroStrategy in an attempt to join the Nasdaq 100 index, which means becoming one of the 100 largest companies by market capitalization on Nasdaq. However, analysts believe there is still a significant gap between the two.According to data from Financecharts, MicroStrategy's market capitalization reached $94.77 billion at the close of the trading week ending December 13, while MARA's market capitalization was $7.32 billion, meaning MicroStrategy's market cap is approximately 12.9 times that of MARA.Additionally, data from Yahoo Finance shows that MARA's closing trading price this week was $22.73, up 16.74% over the past six months, while MicroStrategy's closing price was $408.67, with a staggering increase of 173.27% during the same period.

ChainCatcher news, lawyer Liu Yang stated that in the future, China may implement a licensing system for certain virtual currency businesses, such as the exchange of fiat currency and virtual currency.Based on the current judicial situation, it is possible that relevant departments will be authorized to engage in the exchange of virtual currency to fiat currency, and it is highly likely to be one-way, rather than free exchange; however, trading virtual currency is difficult to liberalize, and issuing coins and mining cannot be liberalized at this stage.

ChainCatcher message, according to Spot On Chain monitoring, trader "0x572" spent 207 ETH ($754,000) 6 hours ago to buy 127.89 million CULT. He is currently up $1.76 million on MOG (+244%) and PEPE (+187%).In addition, blurr.eth exchanged 80,000 EIGEN ($360,000) for 58.28 million CULT in the past two days.

ChainCatcher news, according to Arkham monitoring, the Meme token CULT of Milady Cult airdropped tokens worth $207 million to MILADY holders. The first place in the airdrop leaderboard will receive $2.22 million. Airdrop recipients include Aave founder Stani (airdrop value $100,000) and Dragonfly investor Tom Schmidt (airdrop value $150,000).

ChainCatcher news, Grayscale has released a classification framework for the cryptocurrency industry, dividing the digital asset market into five major sectors: Currencies, Smart Contract Platforms, Financials, Consumer & Culture, and Utilities & Services.The report shows that despite Bitcoin's significant rise this year, the overall trend of crypto asset categories is divergent. The currency assets include Bitcoin, XRP, and Zcash; the smart contract platforms include Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon; the financials include Maker, Uniswap, and Aave; the consumer culture sector includes ApeCoin, Decentraland, and Sandbox; and the infrastructure services include Chainlink, Filecoin, and Lido DAO.

ChainCatcher message, Three Arrows Capital co-founder Zhu Su posted on the X platform, "Remove half of CULT's FDV market value, this part belongs to the personal sovereign NEET wealth fund summoned purely from posts. Again, remove half of it, this is the impact on the first day of the project's TGE. (Learn financial engineering from the CULT project) 'self-organizing chaos level 2 guided token economics'. Learn from Remilia."

ChainCatcher message, on-chain data shows that Base protocol head Jesse Pollak spent 0.333 ETH to buy 202,159 CULT.

ChainCatcher news, according to Lookonchain, a user spent 500 ETH (worth 1.99 million USD) to snipe 467.64 million CULT tokens, currently making a profit of about 1 million USD.So far, he has sold 267.64 million CULT tokens for 432 ETH (worth 1.72 million USD), and still holds 200 million CULT tokens (worth 1.32 million USD).

ChainCatcher news, the governor of the Bank of Korea stated that a transition period may occur in the coming months, making it difficult to assess the direction of the political situation. He does not believe that turmoil will force the central bank to cut interest rates further.

ChainCatcher message, Shen Yu shared five different levels of difficulty in trading in the crypto market on X, from low to high:Arbitrage TradingThe lowest difficulty, requiring only basic calculation skills; the focus is on execution.Bottom FishingRequires position management skills; emotional control ability; sufficient capital reserves are key.Heavy Position After Selling HighHigher psychological quality requirements; requires strong mindset adjustment ability.Top-Taking OperationRequires comprehensive analysis of multiple dimensions; tests market insight and quick response ability; involves factors such as fundamentals, macroeconomics, and group sentiment.Leverage TradingThe highest difficulty, with the greatest risk; significantly amplifies volatility and reduces survival rate; requires precise timing for bottom fishing, heavy positions, and top-taking.Shen Yu stated that after years of trading, he no longer holds any expectations for top-taking, and the only thing he has learned is how to take over positions.

ChainCatcher news, according to CloverPool data, Bitcoin mining difficulty experienced an adjustment at block height 872,928 (2024-12-02 23:34:00), with the mining difficulty increased by 1.59% to 103.92 T, setting a new historical high. Currently, the average network hash rate is 726.57 EH/s.

ChainCatcher news, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju posted on the X platform, analyzing the reasons why the altcoin season has been delayed. He pointed out that, compared to the last bull market, the current rise in Bitcoin is mainly driven by institutional investors and spot ETF demand, which are different from cryptocurrency exchange users and have no intention of shifting assets from Bitcoin to altcoins.Ki Young Ju stated that since institutional investors primarily operate outside of exchanges, asset rotation has become less likely. While institutions may allocate mainstream altcoins through investment tools like ETFs, small-cap altcoins still rely on retail users from exchanges. For the total market capitalization of altcoins to reach a new high, a significant influx of new funds into exchanges is needed, but the current levels below historical highs indicate a decrease in liquidity brought by new users.He believes that future growth in Bitcoin will mainly come from ETFs, institutions, and even governments, rather than retail investors on exchanges. Therefore, altcoin projects should focus on developing independent strategies to attract new funds, rather than relying on the momentum brought by Bitcoin.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, U.S. President-elect Trump plans to appoint former Bakkt CEO and former Senator Kelly Loeffler as Secretary of Agriculture. Loeffler will also serve as co-chair of Trump's inauguration committee. Notably, Loeffler's husband, Jeff Sprecher, is the founder and CEO of ICE, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, which is the founding and major shareholder of Bakkt.Additionally, according to the Financial Times, Trump's social media company Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) is in advanced negotiations for an all-stock acquisition of Bakkt. Trump holds a 53% stake in TMTG. According to reports, Bakkt plans to build an institutional investor trading platform and may gradually shut down its licensed cryptocurrency custody business in New York.

ChainCatcher message, CloverPool data shows that the Bitcoin mining difficulty adjustment occurred at block height 870,912 (today at 4:42:12), with the mining difficulty increased by 0.63% to 102.29 T, setting a new historical high; currently, the average hash rate across the network for the past seven days is 738.3 EH/s.