ChainCatcher news, U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis stated, "Digital assets are the future. If the United States wants to maintain its global leadership in financial innovation, Congress urgently needs to pass bipartisan legislation to establish a comprehensive legal framework for digital assets and strengthen the dollar through strategic Bitcoin reserves. I am honored that many colleagues will place their trust in me as the chair of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee's Digital Assets Subcommittee. I look forward to advancing bipartisan legislation to be submitted to President Trump’s desk this year to ensure our financial future."

ChainCatcher news, Bitfinex released a report stating that Bitcoin experienced an astonishing rebound last week, rising back above $100,000 after briefly dropping to a low of $89,698. The rebound peaked at $105,800. The 18.2% rebound from peak to trough highlights Bitcoin's relative strength compared to stocks. The recovery was primarily driven by positive spot buying, evidenced by a significant increase in cumulative spot trading volume. This indicator suggests that buying pressure from buyers, especially from U.S. exchanges, is substantial. The buying pattern is similar to previous activities associated with MicroStrategy and ETF purchases, further confirming the view that institutional demand remains strong.However, the spot buying pressure observed last week may take time to replenish buying interest, potentially leading to a brief pullback before further upward momentum can resume. Bitcoin's resilience and sustained demand suggest it will continue to strengthen in the medium term.

ChainCatcher news, Fidelity Digital Assets pointed out in its 2025 outlook report that the Ethereum Blob fee mechanism will strengthen network effects and is expected to drive the expansion of the Layer 2 ecosystem.The report emphasizes that Ethereum prioritizes low fee strategies to retain Layer 2 projects, with more vertical Layer 2 solutions expected to emerge in 2025. Members of the Ethereum Foundation stated that near-zero fees are crucial for maintaining the Layer 2 ecosystem, and the growth in network adoption is expected to outpace the growth in token issuance.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is seeking public input on proposed rules aimed at providing more protections for consumers in cryptocurrency transactions to prevent fraud.The CFPB has proposed an "interpretive rule" explaining how the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and other regulations apply to emerging "digital payment mechanisms," such as stablecoins. The Act was passed in 1978 to protect consumers participating in electronic fund transfers.CFPB Director Rohit Chopra stated that consumers must be assured that their transactions will not be subject to harmful monitoring or erroneous influences when using new forms of digital payments. However, the outlook for the CFPB's rulemaking is unclear, as the agency has drawn the ire of the incoming Trump administration. Billionaire Elon Musk has stated that he would "abolish the CFPB."The CFPB noted that consumer use of stablecoins may increase in the coming years, but some in the crypto industry have criticized the proposed rules. Coin Center Executive Director Peter Van Valkenburgh stated that it is unclear whether the proposed rules cover self-custody wallet service providers and pointed out that the agency does not distinguish between cryptocurrency services provided by trusted intermediaries and software tools.Coin Center emphasized that if the CFPB intends to regulate self-custody wallets under Reg E and directly regulate the authors of self-custody software, then the proposed rule would exceed the CFPB's statutory authority and be unconstitutional. The deadline for public comments on the CFPB's proposed rules is March 31, 2025.

ChainCatcher News, U.S. regulators plan to strengthen customer protections for cryptocurrency accounts.U.S. consumer banking regulators suggest that U.S. cryptocurrency companies should be responsible for refunds when customer accounts are hacked, aligning the standards for digital wallets with those of bank accounts.The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) stated on Friday that it hopes to mandate service providers to compensate consumers who lose funds due to hacking or unauthorized transactions. This move by the CFPB will force digital asset companies to enhance security and reserves to address operational threats.The CFPB is seeking to expand the scope of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to protect customers from payment fraud. The agency aims to broaden the term "funds" to include any asset that "acts or is used like money." The proposal states that this would include stablecoins, cryptocurrency tokens similar to digital dollars, and "any other fungible assets in similar positions that serve as a medium of exchange or a means of payment for goods or services."

ChainCatcher news, Zhao Changpeng stated on social media that Binance avoided losses of over $4 billion in 2024 by strengthening security measures.

ChainCatcher news, according to foreign media reports, the Biden administration in the United States plans to implement a new round of restrictions on the export of artificial intelligence chips from companies like Nvidia (NVDA.O) before leaving office.According to informed sources, the U.S. aims to restrict the sale of artificial intelligence chips used in data centers at both national and corporate levels, with the goal of concentrating AI development in friendly countries and encouraging global companies to align with U.S. standards. Amid a surge in demand for AI technology, this move will expand semiconductor restrictions to most parts of the world. Informed sources said that the new regulations will set three layers of restrictions on chip transactions, which could be announced as soon as Friday. Following this news, Nvidia, AMD (AMD.O), and others saw declines in after-hours trading in the U.S. stock market.

ChainCatcher news, according to Crowdfund Insider, Bitstamp CEO Jean-Baptiste Graftieaux stated that 2024 will be a transformative year for the digital asset space, as the exchange was acquired by Robinhood last year for $200 million.Jean-Baptiste Graftieaux predicts that by 2025, cryptocurrencies will strengthen, gain global recognition, and the fundamentals of the industry will remain robust. He explained, "The incoming U.S. government has a positive stance on cryptocurrencies, coupled with the anticipated macroeconomic improvements, which could drive up the value of digital assets while maintaining their appeal as an inflation hedge. ETFs in 2024 will change the game, making it easier for both retail and institutional investors to invest in cryptocurrencies. Supported by new regulations in the U.S. and the introduction of Europe’s MiCA aimed at enhancing market transparency, this trend may continue."

ChainCatcher news, Ben Bennett, Asia Pacific Investment Strategist at Legal and General Investment Management, stated: "The stock market has gone through a tough period around the beginning of the year, but strange things can happen in a market with insufficient liquidity. A stronger dollar and rising bond yields will put pressure on future stock market sentiment, and equity investors hope for a turnaround as soon as possible."Vasu Menon, Managing Director of Investment Strategy at OCBC Bank, said, "Trump's pro-growth and business-friendly agenda may boost the U.S. economy, but it could be challenging for the rest of the world due to potential tariffs and a stronger dollar. Therefore, there is a degree of caution and expectation in the market, especially after strong investment performance over the past two years." (Jin Shi)

ChainCatcher news, Cryptoquant CEO Ki Young Ju posted on the X platform stating that Trump will strengthen Bitcoin.In this tweet, he cited yesterday's news that the US dollar index has surpassed the 109 mark.

ChainCatcher news, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group foreign exchange analyst Lee Hardman stated that the dollar is expected to strengthen in the first half of 2025, boosted by the potential rapid implementation of tariffs by President-elect Trump and limited prospects for Fed rate cuts. More early tariff increases support the bank's forecast for further dollar strength in the first half of this year. In addition, the Federal Reserve sent a clear signal last December that they will be much more cautious about further rate cuts this year. In contrast, other major central banks are expected to continue cutting rates, and this divergence may drive the dollar to strengthen further in the short term. (Jin Shi)

ChainCatcher news, according to Solid Intel, Japan has implemented stricter regulations to strengthen oversight of unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, former chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Xiao Gang, stated on December 22 at the "AI + Finance" summit of the National Wealth Development Research Cooperation Platform that artificial intelligence is a "double-edged sword." On one hand, it leads a new round of technological and industrial revolutions, profoundly changing social production and life, as well as fundamentally altering the landscape and models of the financial industry. On the other hand, it also brings various risks and challenges.From the perspective of intelligent finance, Xiao Gang believes that artificial intelligence greatly enhances the ability of financial institutions to identify, warn, and control risks, but it does not disperse or eliminate financial risks. Therefore, the essence of intelligent finance is still finance, and it must adhere to the basic laws of finance. To strengthen the governance of financial AI algorithms and models, Xiao Gang suggests establishing a governance framework for algorithm models, where laws and regulations form the top level, and this framework also includes objectives, organization, tasks, and ecology.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, Nomura Securities' global foreign exchange strategy team stated in a research report that the US dollar may strengthen in 2025. The team indicated that the main themes entering next year include the Federal Reserve potentially having difficulty cutting interest rates due to persistently high core inflation in the United States, as well as the tariff policies of President-elect Trump.The team added that currencies that may perform poorly in the first half of 2025 could include the South Korean won, Thai baht, Singapore dollar, Swiss franc, and Swedish krona, while the Indonesian rupiah, Japanese yen, and Norwegian krone may see slightly better performance.

ChainCatcher message, Slow Mist's Chief Information Security Officer 23pds posted a reminder that recently, the well-known cryptocurrency theft Trojan MacOS Stealer has been suddenly open-sourced.Previously, its attack source code was sold for 1 BTC, and now the open-sourcing means that more malicious attackers can easily access this tool. This not only potentially allows attackers to have "one tool per person" for attacks but may also give rise to more covert and complex attack methods, posing greater challenges to the security of cryptocurrency assets.

ChainCatcher news, the latest data shows that the U.S. November PPI rose more than expected, with a month-on-month increase reaching the largest in seven months, indicating rising inflation. The market expects a 25 basis point rate cut next week, but bets on a pause in rate cuts in January next year.According to 4E monitoring, the market has fully priced in the expectation of a rate cut in December, but the latest data has increased uncertainty about the Fed's rate cut prospects for next year. The three major U.S. stock indexes all fell, with the Dow Jones down 0.53% for six consecutive days, the S&P 500 down 0.54%, and the Nasdaq down 0.66%. Large tech stocks failed to maintain the momentum from earlier this week, with Nvidia down 1.41%, Tesla down 1.57%, and crypto-related stock MSTR down 4.67%, while Coinbase fell 0.27%.The crypto market surged and then retreated. When Trump rang the opening bell at the NYSE, he stated that he would do great things in the cryptocurrency space, briefly pushing Bitcoin above $102,000. However, it later fell back below $100,000 due to the drag from U.S. stocks, causing a collective retreat in the crypto market. The DeFi sector showed strong performance, driven by the Trump family project WLFI purchasing ETH, AAVE, and LINK, leading to a broad rise in DeFi tokens. Currently, WLFI holds approximately $74.9 million worth of cryptocurrencies, with the largest holding being ETH, which the market views as the Trump family's optimistic outlook on Ethereum's potential and an early layout of their crypto strategy.In the forex and commodities sector, the inflation data boosted the dollar index by 0.31%, marking the fifth consecutive day of gains; the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted a supply surplus next year, offsetting the optimistic sentiment around rate cuts and dragging down U.S. and Brent crude oil prices; the strengthening dollar put pressure on gold, and the strong PPI data further diminished gold's appeal as a safe haven, causing gold to plummet, with the London spot gold price falling by 1.33%.eeee.com is a financial trading platform that supports assets such as cryptocurrencies, stock indices, bulk gold, and forex. Recently, it launched a USDT stablecoin financial product with an annualized return of 5.5%, providing investors with potential hedging options. 4E reminds you to pay attention to market volatility risks and to allocate assets wisely.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, the latest U.S. inflation data has strengthened bets on the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates again, and Bitcoin has once again surpassed $100,000. The prospect of a loose monetary environment has eased investor sentiment, driving the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index to a record high.Henry Elder, head of UTXO Management, stated, "The market likes to see inflation rates meet expectations." He added that traders are "trying to figure out whether $100,000 is a ceiling or a floor."Since Trump won the U.S. election on November 5, Bitcoin has risen by about 50%, with approximately $11 billion net inflow into U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs during this period, while Ethereum spot ETFs attracted $2.4 billion in net inflow.

ChainCatcher message, two members of Goldman Sachs' research department stated that gold prices still appear bullish in the context of a long-term strengthening dollar. According to Goldman Sachs' analysis, U.S. policy rates almost entirely drive investor demand for gold ETFs, while the dollar has not played an additional significant role in pricing.A strong dollar is unlikely to prevent central banks from structurally increasing their gold purchases, as such purchases are often made with dollar reserves. Furthermore, the trend of both the dollar and gold prices rising under uncertainty supports their role as portfolio hedging tools. Goldman Sachs' forecast for gold prices by the end of 2025 is $3,000 per ounce. (Jin Shi)

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, Swyftx chief analyst Pav Hundal stated that XRP has dropped nearly 18% since hitting its annual high on December 3, and traders are still hoping to see a strong rebound in its price.However, for highly leveraged XRP long traders, the real danger at the moment is the renewed dominance of Bitcoin. The rotation of funds from XRP to Bitcoin is likely to lead to a broader range of liquidations.Pav Hundal mentioned that in the past few weeks, we have observed retail investors quickly buying large positions, and the current number of open contracts is nearly double that of 2021 levels. The market seems to have a "hunger for leveraged long exposure to XRP," and despite the price decline, XRP longs are still adding positions, indicating that the market may be approaching the FOMO zone.