Gemini Trust settles CFTC charges, Nvidia surpasses Apple

Headline

▌Gemini Trust agrees to pay $5 million to settle charges by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)

Gemini Trust, led by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, agreed to pay $5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for its misleading statements to regulators. In the "Proposed Consent Order" signed by both parties on Monday, the company agreed to settle but neither admitted nor denied the allegations in the agency's complaint. The CFTC sued Gemini in June 2022 for making "false or misleading statements of material facts." The agency said that Gemini made these statements to the CFTC between July and December 2017, when the company was being evaluated for Bitcoin futures contracts. The agency said in 2022 that Gemini allegedly made these statements about whether the company's proposed Bitcoin futures contracts were "vulnerable to manipulation."

▌Nvidia surpasses Apple to become the world's largest company by market value

According to data from CompaniesMarketCap, Nvidia has surpassed Apple to become the world's largest company by market value.

Data shows that Nvidia's market value is about $3.72 trillion, while Apple's market value is about $3.719 trillion.

Market

As of press time, according to Coingecko data:

BTC's latest transaction price is $102,047, with a daily increase or decrease of +3.5%;

ETH's latest transaction price is $3,678.16, with a daily increase or decrease of +1.1%;

BNB's latest transaction price is $729.31, with a daily increase or decrease of +2.8%;

SOL's latest transaction price is $217.88, with a daily increase or decrease of +2.1%;

DOGE's latest transaction price is 0.3869 yuan, with a daily increase or decrease of +1.4%;

XPR's latest transaction price is 2.41 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of +0.4%.

Policy

▌US court documents show that the number of victims in Do Kwon's case may exceed one million

According to Cointelegraph, the US government prosecutor responsible for overseeing the criminal case of Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon estimated that Do Kwon may have caused more than one million victims worldwide after the collapse of the Terra ecosystem. On January 6, Daniel Gitner, the acting US Attorney of the United States Federal Court for the Southern District of New York, notified Kwon's victims of the procedures for informing them of their rights in the criminal case in a document filed with the court. According to US prosecutors, the government will establish a website for public procedures on the Kwon case because other methods of providing rights protection for victims are "impractical."  

Gitner said: "Given the huge number of Terraform cryptocurrency transactions and the way these transactions were conducted (many of which were conducted on foreign exchanges through digital asset wallets or cryptocurrency trading accounts without personally identifiable information), while it is difficult to accurately quantify the number of Kwon's victims, the government estimates that the number of victims in this case exceeds hundreds of thousands of individuals and entities and may total more than one million."

▌US judge rejects Trump's request to postpone the sentencing process of his "hush money" case

On January 6, local time, New York State Supreme Court Judge Juan Mercan rejected President-elect Trump's request to postpone the sentencing process of his "hush money" criminal case. It is understood that Trump's lawyers may continue to appeal to the New York Court of Appeals.  

Earlier on the 6th, Trump's lawyers appealed the ruling of his "hush money" criminal case and applied to the judge to postpone the sentencing process scheduled for this week. A 12-member jury ruled on May 30, 2024 that Trump was found guilty of 34 criminal charges for falsifying business records and violating New York state laws in order to conceal the fact that he paid a $130,000 "hush money" to an adult film actress during the 2016 US presidential election.

▌The US Congress officially certified Trump's election as president, and Vance was elected as the next vice president

U.S. Vice President Harris announced at a joint meeting of Congress chaired by him on January 6 local time that members of the Senate and House of Representatives officially certified the vote count of the 2024 US presidential election Electoral College, confirming that Trump won 312 electoral votes and was elected as the next US president, and Vance was elected as the next vice president. (CCTV News)

▌Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau announced his resignation as leader of the Liberal Party

Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau delivered a speech on January 6 local time, announcing his resignation as leader of the Liberal Party. Trudeau will continue to serve as Prime Minister of Canada until the Liberal Party elects a new leader and the new leader replaces him as Prime Minister. In addition, on the morning of the 6th, Trudeau met with Canadian Governor General Mary Simon and asked to extend the parliamentary recess to March 24.

Blockchain Applications

▌Animoca Brands co-founder: memecoin is expected to launch its own L1 or L2

Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu said in an interview that the crypto industry is at a turning point similar to the turning point he observed when the Internet first changed business in the 1990s. The first part of the large-scale adoption of cryptocurrencies in 2025 is the adoption of stablecoins, and the next step is to expand memecoin more broadly to the entire blockchain ecosystem.  

Yat Siu said: "I expect memecoin to launch its own L1 or L2. They are no longer just tokens, they are building communities and ecosystems. Memecoins are essentially cultural symbols. They are attracting people's attention and building narratives that resonate with people beyond financial speculation."

Cryptocurrency

▌Nasdaq applies to increase the position limit of BlackRock Bitcoin Spot ETF from 25,000 to 250,000

According to a public regulatory document, Nasdaq has submitted an application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to increase the position limit of BlackRock Spot Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) from 25,000 to 250,000. It should be noted that this application still needs the approval of the SEC to take effect. The position limit refers to the maximum share of the ETF that a single investor or institution can hold.  

The director of Bitwise Alpha Strategies said: "Considering the rising trading volume of the ETF, it is reasonable to at least raise the position limit to 400,000. The demands of Nasdaq and BlackRock are reasonable and supported by facts."

▌MicroStrategy has bought Bitcoin for nine consecutive weeks, with a total holding of approximately $44.3 billion

MicroStrategy Inc. bought $101 million in Bitcoin after announcing that it would use perpetual preferred shares, common shares and debt to buy more cryptocurrencies. The enterprise software company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, has bought Bitcoin for nine consecutive weeks, and its co-founder and chairman Michael Saylor hopes to advance its strategy of holding Bitcoin. The company holds approximately $44.3 billion in Bitcoin. MicroStrategy purchased 1,070 bitcoins on Dec. 30 and Dec. 31 at an average price of about $94,000, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said on Friday that it plans to raise up to $2 billion in the first quarter through one or more perpetual preferred stock offerings. The preferred stock offering is part of a plan to raise $42 billion in capital through public stock offerings and convertible bonds until 2027.

▌JPMorgan Chase: Inflation and geopolitical risks may support demand for gold and Bitcoin in the long term

JPMorgan Chase said in a research note that the so-called "depreciation trade" that has poured into gold and Bitcoin will "continue to exist" as investors prepare for continued geopolitical uncertainty.  

The bank said that as investors are increasingly seeking tools to hedge geopolitical risks and inflation, gold and Bitcoin "appear to have structurally become more important components of investors' portfolios," citing "record capital inflows into the cryptocurrency market in 2024."  

JPMorgan said the "depreciation trade" refers to the growing demand for gold and Bitcoin due to a variety of factors, including "structurally higher geopolitical uncertainty since 2022, continued high uncertainty about the long-term inflation outlook, and concerns about 'debt devaluation' caused by persistently high government deficits in major economies."

▌CryptoQuant analyst: This bull market is likely to reach a cyclical peak in Q1 or Q2 2025 at the latest

CryptoQuant analyst Crypto Dan said in an article on January 6 that the bull market that began in January 2023 is likely to reach a cyclical peak in the first quarter of 2025 or the second quarter at the latest. The article said: "With the influx of a large amount of new investment and additional funds from existing investors, we can reasonably expect that the market is currently in the late stage of this cycle." The post said: "Therefore, the expectation of a sharp rise in Bitcoin and altcoins is still worth looking forward to. Nevertheless, from a conservative perspective and taking into account risk management, it is recommended to proceed with caution." Sui TVL breaks through US$2 billion, setting a new record high On January 7, the public chain Sui said on the X platform that its total locked value (TVL) has exceeded US$2 billion, a record high, and it took only three months to reach the US$1 billion mark for the first time. Sui said that the recently announced and launched stablecoins, wallets and lending protocols triggered Sui's growth. Industry giants such as Grayscale, VanEck and Franklin Templeton also brought impetus to Sui.

▌CryptoQuant CEO: This round of Bitcoin bull market may create the longest cycle

According to the latest tweet from CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju, this Bitcoin bull market cycle may be the longest ever. More and more capital inflows are steadily driving the market, and there is still a lot of potential to be explored in the future.

▌Coinbase: DYP V2 tokens are not supported yet, and the migration bridge will be closed at 19:00 on January 8

Coinbase Assets said that all DYP holders on Coinbase need to take action: Dypius (DYP) is migrating to DYP V2. The migration bridge will be closed at 6 am ET on January 8, 2025 (19:00 Beijing time). Coinbase will not support DVP V2 and will suspend trading of Dypius (DYP) at approximately 2pm ET on January 17, 2025 (3pm ET on January 18). All customers who wish to convert to DYP V2 must complete the conversion before the deadline of 6pm ET on January 8.  

At this time, the platform has no plans to support DYP V2 tokens. If users still hold DYP and wish to convert to DYP V2, they will need to use the official DYP migration portal and a compatible self-custodial wallet such as Coinbase Wallet to convert.  

Coinbase.com (Simple and Advanced Trading), Coinbase Exchange, and Coinbase Prime will suspend DYP trading and have currently moved the DYP order book to limit mode. Limit orders can be placed and canceled, and matching may occur.

Important Economic Dynamics

▌30-year Treasury yield hits 14-month high, affected by Trump tariff reports and expansion pressure

The 30-year Treasury yield climbed 5 basis points to around 4.86% on Monday, the highest level since November 2023, as investors began to get a taste of the turmoil that Trump's presidency could cause in the financial markets in the coming months. The pressure of bond market expansion has had a certain impact on the market, and the demand for the first batch of Treasury bonds issued by the Treasury this week was weak. U.S. Treasury bonds have been under pressure in recent weeks due to concerns that Trump's policies after taking office will push up inflation. The dollar fell on Monday and Treasury bonds recovered some of their losses after The Washington Post said Trump's staff considered reducing the scope of the tariff plan because the market believed that this move would weaken inflation concerns. But the market trend quickly reversed with Trump's denial. Gregory Peters, co-chief investment officer of PGIM Fixed Income, said in a television interview, "There are a lot of bonds in the market and a constant supply. Coupled with the possibility that inflation will be more sticky or fall and rise again, all of these put pressure on the bond market."

▌The US dollar index fell 0.63% on the 6th

The US dollar index, which measures the US dollar against six major currencies, fell 0.63% on the day and closed at 108.263 at the end of the foreign exchange market. As of the end of the New York foreign exchange market, 1 euro was exchanged for 1.0388 US dollars, higher than 1.0301 US dollars on the previous trading day; 1 pound was exchanged for 1.2513 US dollars, higher than 1.2428 US dollars on the previous trading day. 1 USD is exchanged for 157.54 JPY, higher than 157.21 JPY on the previous trading day; 1 USD is exchanged for 0.9045 CHF, lower than 0.9091 CHF on the previous trading day; 1 USD is exchanged for 1.4337 CAD, lower than 1.4449 CAD on the previous trading day; 1 USD is exchanged for 11.0528 SEK, lower than 11.1083 SEK on the previous trading day.

Golden Encyclopedia

▌What is Compressed NFT?

CNFT is a newer non-fungible token that uses state compression technology to store data more efficiently on Solana. Unlike traditional NFTs that store all token metadata directly on the chain or through external links (such as IPFS), cNFT uses Merkle trees to optimize data storage.

Disclaimer: As a blockchain information platform, Golden Finance publishes articles for information reference only and is not intended as actual investment advice. Please establish the correct investment concept and be sure to increase risk awareness.