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SEC Commissioner: The withdrawal of the lawsuit against Coinbase does not mean a retreat from enforcement; future regulation will focus on policy-making

ChainCatcher News, SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce issued a statement saying that the SEC has officially withdrawn its civil enforcement action against Coinbase and will not take further action in this case. Peirce made it clear that she has never supported the case and criticized the SEC's previous reliance on enforcement actions to regulate the cryptocurrency industry, arguing that it harms the public interest in the United States, hinders industry development, and obstructs the normal functions of the SEC's professional policy team.Peirce pointed out that the SEC's broad application of the Howey test has led to regulatory ambiguity, making it difficult for compliant businesses to operate, while wrongdoers exploit regulatory gray areas to evade legal responsibilities. Furthermore, due to the lack of a clear regulatory framework, many cryptocurrency companies are forced to spend significant resources on legal defenses rather than on product innovation. She believes that the SEC's previous approach of making policy through enforcement not only misleads the industry but also prevents the policy team from effectively participating in the formulation of industry rules.She emphasized that the current SEC has established a "Crypto Task Force," empowering the policy team to take the lead in collaborating with the public to develop a regulatory framework applicable to the cryptocurrency industry. This withdrawal of the lawsuit does not mean that the SEC is abandoning enforcement; rather, it indicates that future regulation will focus on policy-making rather than solely relying on enforcement actions.

Binance Research: After soaring to a historic high of $3.91 trillion in December, the crypto market has retreated, with BTC's annual increase exceeding 123%

According to the "Market Insights for January 2025" report published by Binance Research, the crypto market capitalization soared to a historic high of $3.91 trillion in December 2024, driven by regulatory optimism, institutional adoption, and Bitcoin reaching an all-time high of $108,000. However, as the Federal Reserve reduced its interest rate cut plans for 2025 from four times to two, the market experienced a correction at the end of December, with a market cap evaporation of over $0.5 trillion.Bitcoin's market cap grew by approximately 123.4% for the year, becoming the seventh-largest asset globally, surpassing Saudi Aramco and silver, only behind Nvidia's performance. Key drivers included the approval of spot ETFs, Bitcoin halving, changes in monetary policy, and more crypto-friendly regulatory expectations.Additionally, the market cap of Ethena's USDe has reached $5.9 billion, surpassing DAI to become the third-largest stablecoin, thanks to its high yield and use as collateral on Aave. Decentralized spot and perpetual contract trading volumes reached historic highs of $326 billion and $356 billion in December, respectively, while decentralized perpetual trading volume grew over 370% for the year, primarily driven by Hyperliquid.The TVL in the DeFi sector also hit a new high, with lending protocols and liquid staking protocols reaching $55 billion and $71 billion, respectively. AI agents are gradually becoming an emerging hotspot in the crypto space, with related tokens reaching billions in market cap and an average daily exposure of about 100,000 times, with representative projects including Virtuals and ai16z's Eliza framework, as well as individual agents like aixbt.

QCP Capital: The Chinese stock market has retreated, and cryptocurrencies may become a new destination for funds

ChainCatcher news, QCP Capital's latest analysis points out that the Chinese stock market has shown weak rebound after the long holiday, and the government report failed to introduce new economic stimulus measures. The MSCI Asia-Pacific stock index recorded its largest decline in a month. The US stock market also fell overnight, mainly affected by large tech stocks and geopolitical tensions, with the VIX index rising to 22 points.The cryptocurrency market's volatility remains stable, with recent implied volatility at 43%, which is 3 percentage points lower than the 7-day historical actual volatility. Previously, Bloomberg reported that since the end of September, Chinese investors may have sold USDT to fund stock purchases, while Bitcoin prices remained stable. As the rebound in the Chinese stock market weakens, it is expected that funds may be reallocated to the cryptocurrency market, reflecting the increasing maturity of the crypto industry as another risk asset.QCP believes that due to the upcoming earnings season and CPI data release, the stock market may face downward risks in the short term, which could challenge its high valuation. Geopolitical tensions further increase market uncertainty. QCP remains mid-term optimistic, expecting election-related news to continue to drive the cryptocurrency market.
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