ChainCatcher news, Binance announced that it has won the title of "Best Crypto App" at the 2024 Sensor Tower APAC Awards. Binance has become a top application in this category due to its leading performance in the cryptocurrency field, highlighting its excellence, leadership, and influence in the cryptocurrency industry.Every year, the Sensor Tower APAC Awards selects leaders in various applications and games based on insights from Sensor Tower Intelligence. These rankings are based on several key metrics, including downloads, in-app purchase revenue (IAP), active users, reviews, ratings, and overall impact on society and the industry.Binance's Head of Data and Analytics, Andy Goldin, stated, "We are honored to receive the 'Best Crypto App' award at the 2024 Sensor Tower APAC Awards. This recognition is a testament to our team's commitment to providing the best experience for our users and aligns with our recent data achievements, showcasing Binance's strong performance.According to data from DefiLlama, Binance holds $150 billion in crypto assets for users, and a report from CCData shows that we have facilitated over $100 trillion in trading volume since 2017. We will continue to focus on innovation and excellence, driving the development of the cryptocurrency space, and look forward to ongoing growth and progress in the future."

ChainCatcher news, investment research firm PitchBook stated in a report that in the fourth quarter of 2024, financing in the cryptocurrency sector increased by 13.6% quarter-on-quarter, reaching $2.5 billion across a total of 351 transactions. Investors made larger investments in a few startups with soaring valuations, with the average pre-money valuation in the seed stage increasing by 70.2% year-on-year.The report noted that while the total financing in the cryptocurrency sector remained stable at $10 billion in 2024, the number of transactions declined. Investors primarily directed funds towards early-stage startups, with the median valuation doubling year-on-year to $52 million, while later-stage companies only received 5% of all funding rounds.PitchBook described 2024 as a year of "increasing selectivity among investors" and anticipated that there would be consolidation among infrastructure providers, exchanges, and custodians this year, with VCs particularly enthusiastic about the areas of stablecoins and artificial intelligence.

ChainCatcher message, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated that it makes him uncomfortable when crypto Twitter and venture capital firms consider "PvP-style gaming projects that cause most users to lose money" as the best product form in the crypto space, while pursuing better products is criticized as "condescending and elitist."Although these remarks sometimes make him feel like withdrawing, every time this happens, he finds inspiration from the world, reminding himself that he is fighting for something valuable.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, the autonomous AI agent platform in the crypto space, Olas, has completed a $13.8 million funding round to support the launch of an "agent app store" called Pearl. This round was led by 1kx, with participation from Tioga Capital, Sigil Fund, Zee Prime Capital, Borderless, Keyrock, and others. The Olas team (also known as Autonolas) stated that the funds will be used to support its agent app store, aiming to democratize access to user-owned AI agents.Along with the funding announcement, Olas also launched the Olas Accelerator program, which provides $1 million in grants and OLAS token rewards for developers building agents on the platform. Olas's tech stack includes Olas Stack and Olas Protocol, which incentivize the creation and co-ownership of AI agents. The team stated that it has facilitated over 3.5 million transactions from agents across nine blockchains.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, in the fourth quarter of 2024, the total amount of venture capital in the cryptocurrency sector reached $4 billion, with a total of 687 transactions, setting a record for the highest quarterly investment total since the fourth quarter of 2022.Among them, the infrastructure sector leads, followed by financial services (with a deployment amount of $970 million). The number of transactions for Web3 projects is the highest at 141, followed by NFT/games at 132. Transactions and brokerage investments fell from $320 million in the first quarter to $161 million in the fourth quarter. The distribution of transactions across various sectors indicates a shift in venture capital focus:DeFi remains stable, with a total of 125 transactions;The number of transactions for infrastructure projects (111) is lower than other categories but occupies the largest share of funding;Data and analytics remain selective, with only 10 transactions, while enterprise solutions had 18 transactions.The strong performance in financing this quarter, especially in infrastructure investments, indicates a renewed confidence from venture capital in the crypto industry, as the market anticipates potential changes in regulation from the new U.S. government.

ChainCatcher news, according to the soon-to-be outgoing chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Gary Gensler, who stated in a media interview on Wednesday that the cryptocurrency space is filled with "bad actors" and is a "non-compliant" area, with market sentiment impacting 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 cryptocurrency projects have also raised funds from the public, many of which ultimately fail, with a significant number of "pump and dump" scams and other issues.Gensler mentioned that he has achieved some results in the field of 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 is proud of the SEC's regulatory efforts in the cryptocurrency field but believes there is still much work to be done.

ChainCatcher news, according to monitoring by Shield, in December 2024, there were over 25 hacking incidents in the cryptocurrency sector, resulting in approximately $24.7 million in losses, a 71% decrease compared to the previous month, making it the month with the least losses this year.The top 5 attack incidents are as follows:LastPass: $12.38 million;Yeifinance: $2.2 million;GemPad: $2.2 million;MEMECoin Drainer: $2.2 million;FEGToken: $1.3 million.

ChainCatcher message, Binance founder Zhao Changpeng (CZ) stated on X that he is often asked what the next hot topic in the crypto space will be. He admitted that he does not know and is just trying to help more projects and observe their development. He emphasized that we do not predict trends, but rather follow them and strive to contribute. He also asked the community: "What do you think will be the next hot topic in the crypto space?"

ChainCatcher news, former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan tweeted that AI originates from academic research and large tech companies, thus having a higher reputation; whereas cryptocurrency technology originates from anonymous forums and internet communities, initially having a lower reputation.However, AI makes everything easy to forge, while cryptocurrency technology makes forgery difficult, and the reputations of the two may gradually converge. He believes that although AI is widely recognized as an important technology with civilizational significance, the value of cryptocurrency technology is underestimated, and in the future, the reputations of both will gradually approach each other.

ChainCatcher news, Chainalysis pointed out in a blog post that there have been many seemingly positive developments in the cryptocurrency ecosystem this year.It noted that with the approval of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in the U.S. and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) revising fair accounting rules, cryptocurrencies continue to gain mainstream recognition in many ways.Chainalysis also mentioned that the funds flowing into "legitimate" services so far this year are at the "highest level" since 2021 (the last peak of the bull market). It pointed out that illegal activity funds have decreased by "19.6%, from $20.9 billion to $16.7 billion, indicating that the growth rate of legitimate activities is outpacing on-chain illegal activities."These signs suggest that cryptocurrencies will continue to be "adopted globally," which is also reflected in Japan's crypto ecosystem. Overall, Japan's services have a "generally lower exposure to global illegal entities, such as sanctioned entities, dark web markets (DNM), and ransomware services, as most Japanese services primarily target Japanese users."However, the report clarifies that this does not mean Japan is "completely immune to crypto-related crime," with public reports including Japan's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) JAFIC emphasizing that cryptocurrencies pose a "significant money laundering risk." Chainalysis further pointed out that although Japan's contact with international illegal entities may be limited, the country "is not without its own local challenges. Off-chain criminal entities utilizing cryptocurrencies are common but often remain unknown." (Crowdfund Insider)

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, venture capital in the cryptocurrency sector saw a significant decline in the third quarter before the election fervor of elected President Trump revived industry sentiment. PitchBook data shows that in the three months ending September 30, cryptocurrency startups attracted $1.7 billion in investment, a decrease of 31.3% from the previous quarter. The number of deals completed fell by 25.3% to 392.PitchBook senior analyst Robert Le wrote in the report, "We believe this adjustment is a natural and necessary component of a healthy cryptocurrency market." Le attributed the decline in cryptocurrency venture capital deals to macroeconomic factors, including increased market volatility and concerns about a recession in the U.S. Similar to the previous quarter, new infrastructure projects like blockchain continued to attract venture capitalists in the third quarter. Le stated that he expects further consolidation among cryptocurrency exchanges, custodians, and infrastructure companies in the future.

ChainCatcher news, according to monitoring by Shield, in September 2024, there were over 20 hacking incidents in the cryptocurrency sector, resulting in losses of approximately $120.23 million (Note: this does not include the $32.4 million spWETH stolen in the Permit signature phishing attack).

ChainCatcher news, Zhu Su posted on social media that due to technologies like Claude and Cursor, the cost of developing software is rapidly approaching zero, which is very beneficial for the application layer in the crypto space.