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.

ChainCatcher news, Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire spoke at the "The Next 3 Years in Crypto" roundtable discussion on the first day of the TOKEN2049 main event, stating:In the vision 1.0 version of Circle, this is essentially a world where the marginal cost of storing and transferring value is zero. In this world, the experience of users transacting on these mediums will be as simple and seamless as the user experience we have with major software tools on the internet. We are not fully there yet, but we are very close. However, I believe that in the coming year, we will make progress on relevant practical tools.I feel that as we approach that point (the vision 1.0 version), the velocity of money circulation and the actual economy in the world will significantly increase, and if we have such a high velocity of money circulation, the ability for people to gain economic benefits from it will be substantial.I believe we are still in the early stages; despite the tremendous progress made in decentralized finance (DeFi), we are just beginning to explore this field. I liken the current situation to when the iPhone was released, when there were many creative ideas about mobile devices.

ChainCatcher message, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated during his keynote speech "What Excites Me About the Next Decade" on the first day of the TOKEN2049 main stage:People often say that crypto is still in its early stages, and we are still building the infrastructure. Indeed, it took a long time for something like the internet to materialize, and I think people have been saying this almost since the launch of Bitcoin. And one real challenge we face now is that the crypto space today is no longer in its early stages.Ethereum as a project has existed for over 10 years, and in the 15 years since Bitcoin's inception, we have seen things like ChatGPT evolve from completely non-existent to suddenly emerging and completely changing people's understanding of artificial intelligence.Therefore, we must ask ourselves a question: how should we view all of this? Are we really still in the early stages? My answer to this question is that I don't think we are in the early stages of crypto, but we are indeed in a special phase.

ChainCatcher news, Tether, TRON, and TRM Labs have announced the establishment of the T3 Financial Crimes Unit (T3 FCU), the industry's first private sector initiative dedicated to combating illegal activities related to USDT on the TRON blockchain. Since its launch, the unit has assisted in freezing over 12 million USDT in suspicious funds, involving cases such as ransomware scams and investment fraud.The T3 FCU will leverage TRM Labs' anti-financial crime expertise, TRON's technical proficiency, and Tether's investigative capabilities to jointly identify and prevent suspicious transactions. TRON founder Justin Sun stated that this move will ensure that blockchain technology is used to improve the world. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino emphasized that protecting the integrity of the blockchain ecosystem is the company's top priority.