ChainCatcher news, Perplexity AI has officially launched a takeover bid for TikTok, submitting an acquisition proposal to its parent company ByteDance, aiming to merge Perplexity, TikTok's U.S. operations, and new capital partners into a new entity.A source revealed that the new structure will allow most of ByteDance's existing investors to retain their equity and will bring more video content to Perplexity.Perplexity AI is an AI search engine startup competing with OpenAI and Google, attracting increasing interest from investors against the backdrop of a booming AI sector. The company's valuation was approximately $500 million in early 2024, with an estimated valuation of around $9 billion by the end of that year.

ChainCatcher news, ai16z founder Shaw posted on the X platform that Eliza v2 is currently being developed in a private repository, with some users already granted access. After finalizing the details, it will be merged back into the main repository and the migration of all clients and plugins will begin.Due to the need for extensive testing and community feedback, it is expected to replace the current branch in about 2 months. Unlike the v1 version, which was mainly developed by individuals, the core version of v2 is being developed collaboratively by internal and external teams.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cryptonews, due to the reduction of "humanitarian electricity" supply from Moscow to Abkhazia, it is expected that the emergency electricity provided by Russia will be exhausted by February 18. Abkhazia's only major hydroelectric power station has been shut down due to low reservoir water levels, and the government is unable to prevent crypto miners from continuing to operate large-scale mining farms through legal loopholes. Residents believe that law enforcement agencies are aware of the locations and owners of the mining farms but have not taken effective measures. This has led to anger among the Russian public and media regarding Abkhazia's energy consumption, as Russian taxpayers have to foot the bill, while domestic electricity prices in Russia are also rising.Timur Dzhindzholiya, head of the electricity supplier Chernomorenergo, stated that according to "Abkhazia's current consumption rate," the "electricity supply from Russia" can only "last until February 18." It is impossible to "extend" the emergency electricity supply for a "long time." Therefore, the provider has decided to extend the existing rolling blackout plan to six hours a day.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the company The Giving Block, which collaborates with non-profit organizations to promote cryptocurrency donations, has launched an emergency fundraising campaign for the victims of the wildfires in Los Angeles, Southern California.Ben Pousty, Chief Operating Officer of The Giving Block, stated that the goal of this fundraising campaign is to raise $2 million, and Jared Isaacman, CEO of The Giving Block's parent company Shift4, will donate $1 million to the charity. Since its inception, its platform has raised approximately $200 million in cryptocurrency donations.

ChainCatcher news, scammers have stolen $2.2 million worth of cryptocurrency from New Yorkers through a new job scam. The suspects claimed via text messages to help find remote work and asked job seekers to deposit dollars into cryptocurrency accounts. Victims were told to purchase cryptocurrency on legitimate platforms (such as Coinbase, Gemini) and then transfer it to an unmanaged digital wallet.New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit to recover the frozen cryptocurrency and hold the scammers accountable. Investigations show that this scam spans multiple jurisdictions, with victims primarily being individuals eager to find remote work.

ChainCatcher news, according to CNN, four informed sources say that Trump is considering declaring a national economic emergency to provide a legal basis for imposing a large number of universal tariffs.The declaration would allow Trump to utilize the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to establish a new tariff plan, which unilaterally authorizes the president to manage imports during a national emergency.One of the sources noted that Trump likes this law because it grants broad jurisdiction over how to implement tariffs without strict requirements to prove that the tariffs are for national security reasons. Trump's transition team did not respond to requests for comment.

ChainCatcher news, Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley posted on X: "The Trump administration may unfreeze merger and acquisition (M&A) deals. Large companies (like the Big Seven) may ultimately be able to leverage their market value. Amazon could acquire Instacart, Google could acquire Uber, and so on.Big companies may become bigger, while medium-sized companies may shrink. If this happens, I believe it will accelerate the development of cryptocurrency. The premise of cryptocurrency is the distrust that large institutions will act in your best interest. The growing size of big companies underscores this point. 2025 will be fascinating."

ChainCatcher news, Upbit announced that its emergency server maintenance has been completed and trading has gradually resumed.Previously, Upbit stated that all trading pair order functions were suspended due to trading execution issues.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, Portal Ventures believes that fintech will be the main driver of cryptocurrency mergers and acquisitions in 2025.Evan Fisher, founder and general partner of Portal Ventures, pointed out: "Today, no fintech investor would overlook cryptocurrency." In the cryptocurrency field, Evan Fisher expects that some established companies like Chainalysis will acquire smaller firms.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, Dragonfly General Partner Rob Hadick stated: "2025 will definitely be a more active year for cryptocurrency mergers and acquisitions, but the deal between Stripe and Bridge (this October, payment company Stripe acquired stablecoin platform Bridge for $1.1 billion) is unique and unlikely to be replicated."Hadick expects that large merger and acquisition deals in the stablecoin/payment sector will decrease, as many payment service providers will build their own platforms or form partnerships rather than pursue acquisitions. However, he anticipates that at least one unicorn-sized deal will emerge in this sector in 2025. Key industries for consolidation include trading platforms, brokerage firms, mining companies, and data providers. Many large companies in these categories have been looking for potential targets that might be interested in being acquired, but so far, very few companies have seriously pushed for consolidation and paid the price for this privilege.

ChainCatcher news, according to official information, Bitget has completed the merger and token swap of Bitget Wallet Token (BWB) and Bitget Token (BGB). The distribution ratio of BGB is 1 BWB = 0.08563 BGB.The merged BGB will become the sole ecological token for the Bitget exchange and Bitget wallet, and will expand on-chain applications and more usage scenarios, further enhancing the synergy of the ecosystem and user experience.

ChainCatcher news, Bitget announced the merger of its native token Bitget Token (BGB) with Bitget Wallet Token (BWB). The merged BGB will become the sole ecological token for the Bitget exchange and Bitget wallet, expanding on-chain applications and more use cases, further enhancing the synergy and user experience of the ecosystem.Bitget CEO Gracy Chen stated: "The market capitalization of BGB has grown over 1,000%, ranking in the global Top 20. By merging BGB and BWB, we will build a unified ecosystem that connects on-chain and off-chain use cases, allowing holders to share in the growth dividends of the Bitget ecosystem."According to the rules announced by the official, BWB holders on the Bitget platform can automatically exchange BWB for BGB. Specifically, BWB tokens will be converted to BGB at a ratio of 0.08563, calculated based on the average closing price of BWB/USDT over the past 7 days. The token exchange will begin soon, and once completed, all BWB tokens will be destroyed, and an equivalent amount of BGB will be airdropped to user accounts. Meanwhile, all BWB trading and related services will cease on December 27.

ChainCatcher message, crypto KOL and Abstract contributor cygaar (@0xCygaar) posted on X that the Abstract plugin has officially been merged into ai16z's eliza, and it is now possible to request eliza to perform simple ETH or ERC20 token transfers on the Abstract testnet.To use this plugin, you need to include "elizaos/plugin-abstract" in the role file, and more new features will be launched in the future.

ChainCatcher news, according to the official announcement, Binance Pool officially launches merged mining for Junkcoin (JKC) and Pepecoin (PEP). Mine LTC to earn rewards in LTC, DOGE (Doge), BELLS (Bellscoin), LKY (Luckycoin), JKC, and PEP.

ChainCatcher news, according to Caixin, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on December 20 local time to pass an emergency funding bill to prevent a government "shutdown." The new bill will continue to provide operating funds for the U.S. government until March of next year, thereby avoiding a "shutdown" of certain federal agencies after midnight on the 21st Eastern Time.It is reported that the latest bill is almost identical to the one that failed to pass on the 19th, but it removed the section regarding the debt ceiling, leaving three main parts: a short-term extension of government spending, billions of dollars in disaster relief funds, and additional assistance for farmers.

ChainCatcher news, MobileFI and DePIN reward ecosystem EARN'M announced a merger with StormX to launch the first IMO. EARN'M is a MobileFI and DePIN reward ecosystem that turns smartphones into EarnPhones. The team behind EARN'M, Mode Mobile, has been ranked as the fastest-growing software company in North America in 2023.It is reported that StormX is a project listed on Binance, operating in the cashback field since early 2017. It has achieved over $500 million in daily trading volume.

ChainCatcher news, EARN'M has partnered with StormX to announce the launch of the Initial Merged Offering (IMO), which will take place one month after the Token Generation Event (TGE) on December 19. The goal of the IMO is to drive sustainable growth in Web3 by merging liquidity, community, technology, and distribution channels. This merger will accelerate innovation for both parties, jointly leading the Web3 rewards space and promoting long-term development.EARN'M is a MobileFI and DePIN rewards ecosystem that transforms smartphones into EarnPhones. StormX has been operating in the cashback space since early 2017. StormX has achieved over $500 million in daily transaction volume.

ChainCatcher news, Framework Ventures co-founder releases 2025 predictions, specific content in the Crypto field includes:The inflow of Ethereum and Bitcoin ETFs reaches parity driven by the launch of merged ETFs, averaging $1 billion each daily in the second half of the year.A continued altcoin season emerges.Calculated by MAUs/DAUs, gaming x artificial intelligence becomes the largest vertical field.Energy DePIN led by Glow and Daylight matches fees with blue-chip DeFi.Meme coins evolve into different categories (temporary, AI-driven, factory-produced, high market cap), leading to more decentralization.Total DeFi fees will reach $10 billion annually.Large banks begin tokenization, paving the way to eliminate significant waste in the U.S. financial system.Other crypto ETFs besides BTC/ETH are postponed to launch in 2026.

ChainCatcher News, U.S. House Speaker Johnson stated that the "Trump effect" has already emerged. SoftBank will invest $100 billion over the next four years to create 100,000 new jobs in the U.S., marking another positive signal. Looking forward to Trump's second term and the upcoming good news. (Jin Ten)