As demand for the utility of staked assets has grown significantly, Ethereum liquidity re-staking protocol TVL has grown by nearly 6,000% in 2024. According to DefiLlama data, on January 1, the liquidity re-staking TVL on the Ethereum network was approximately $284 million. By December 15, this figure had grown nearly 60 times to $17.26 billion.

Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of OpenAI, recently gave a speech at the Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) 2024 conference in Vancouver, Canada, in which he believes that the era of AI pre-training is coming to an end and predicts the rise of AI superintelligence. Sutskever said that the speed of improving computing power through better hardware, software and machine learning algorithms exceeds the total amount of data available for training AI models. He compared data to fossil fuels, which will eventually run out. He said: "Data is not growing because we only have one Internet. You can even say that data is the fossil fuel of AI. It was created in a certain way, and now we use it. We have achieved peak data and there will be no more-we have to deal with the data we have." Sutskever predicts that agent AI, synthetic data and inference time computing are the next development direction of artificial intelligence, which will eventually give birth to super AI. (Cointelegraph)

According to SoSoValue data, last week's trading day (December 9 to December 13, Eastern Time), Ethereum spot ETFs had a net inflow of $855 million last week, reaching a record high for weekly net inflows. Among them, Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETF ETHE had a weekly net outflow of $49.23 million, and the current historical net outflow of ETHE is $3.52 billion. The Ethereum spot ETF with the largest weekly net inflow last week was Blackrock Ethereum ETF ETHA, with a weekly net inflow of $523 million, and the current total net inflow of ETHA is $3.2 billion. The second is Fidelity Ethereum ETF FETH, with a weekly net inflow of $259 million, and the current total net inflow of FETH is $1.38 billion. As of press time, the total net asset value of the Ethereum spot ETF is US$13.783 billion, the ETF net asset ratio (market value as a percentage of Ethereum's total market value) is 2.92%, and the historical cumulative net inflow has reached US$2.265 billion.

According to SoSoValue data, last week (December 9 to December 13, Eastern Time), Bitcoin spot ETFs had a net inflow of $2.17 billion last week, and net inflows continued for five trading days. Among them, Grayscale ETF GBTC had a net outflow of $221 million per week, and the current historical net outflow of GBTC is $21.05 billion. The Bitcoin spot ETF with the largest weekly net inflow last week was BlackRock ETF IBIT, with a weekly net inflow of $1.51 billion, and the current total net inflow of IBIT is $35.88 billion. The second is Fidelity ETF FBTC, with a weekly net inflow of $598 million, and the current total net inflow of FBTC is $12.31 billion. As of press time, the total net asset value of the Bitcoin spot ETF is US$114.969 billion, the ETF net asset ratio (market value as a percentage of the total market value of Bitcoin) is 5.71%, and the historical cumulative net inflow has reached US$35.602 billion.

Jeong Eun-bo, chairman of the Korea Exchange (KRX), said South Korea should institutionalize cryptocurrencies and act quickly, or it could fall behind international competitors. He also noted that the cryptocurrency market needs help to "overcome regulatory barriers." "The size and influence of the crypto asset market have grown to a point where traditional markets can no longer ignore it. South Korea should quickly work to incorporate crypto assets into the financial sector," he said. Jeong Eun-bo said exchange heads agreed that it would be "difficult" for the stock exchange to remain profitable if it "ignores the virtual currency market": "The average daily trading volume of the domestic stock market is about 20 trillion won (about $14 billion). But since Trump was elected as the US president, the virtual currency market has surpassed that level." He also criticized the current attitude of viewing virtual currencies as speculative assets, warning that this could cause South Korea to fall behind in international competition. The Korea Exchange has not yet listed any cryptocurrency companies, and companies cannot yet buy cryptocurrencies on their balance sheets. Regulators have not yet approved the launch of a Bitcoin spot ETF. The Korea Exchange has listed several companies that hold minority stakes in cryptocurrency exchanges. Most of these companies experience price fluctuations when Bitcoin prices rise rapidly or fall suddenly. (Maeil Kyungjae)

According to Odaily, Jingji Financial International (01468) has announced the formation of an Investment Committee, effective from December 15, 2024. The establishment of this committee aims to boost operational efficiency and strengthen investment decision-making and risk management processes, particularly in light of the group's strategic focus on cryptocurrencies and related technologies. The Investment Committee will be responsible for reviewing appropriate transactions involving virtual assets, including cryptocurrencies, as well as formulating investment strategies and managing these assets. It will also provide recommendations to the board of directors. Furthermore, the committee will evaluate, approve, and suggest various investment opportunities proposed by the group's management team. Leung Siu Kee has been appointed as the chairman, and Mr. Kong Wai Chi has been named a member of the Investment Committee. Additionally, the board may periodically engage professional investment and financial advisors with relevant expertise to assist the committee in effectively fulfilling its duties.

According to PANews, the rapid rise of the cryptocurrency market has brought regulatory risks, particularly in tax compliance, to the forefront. In April 2024, Roger Ver, known as 'Bitcoin Jesus,' was accused by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of evading $48 million in taxes and was subsequently arrested in Spain. This case has been closely watched by the cryptocurrency industry, highlighting the importance of tax compliance within the sector. As Bitcoin surpassed $100,000, the case involving Roger Ver saw new developments last week. On December 4, 2024, Ver's legal team filed a motion to dismiss the IRS's tax evasion charges. Ver remains in Spain, awaiting a decision on extradition to the United States. TaxDAO provides a retrospective on the 'Bitcoin Jesus' case and offers compliance advice regarding related tax risks. Roger Ver, born in 1979 in Silicon Valley, is a well-known libertarian and anarchist. He founded Memory Dealers in 1999, a company specializing in reselling computer parts, and became a millionaire by age 24. In 2011, Ver began investing in Bitcoin and announced that Memory Dealers would accept Bitcoin payments, making it the first company globally to do so. Ver continued to purchase and receive Bitcoin personally and through his companies, eventually becoming the CEO of Bitcoin.com and a founding member of the Bitcoin Foundation. His advocacy for Bitcoin's use and value earned him significant influence in the cryptocurrency community, leading to his nickname 'Bitcoin Jesus.' The IRS's lawsuit against Roger Ver stems from his acquisition of citizenship in Saint Kitts and Nevis in 2014 and subsequent renunciation of his U.S. citizenship. U.S. tax law requires individuals renouncing citizenship to report their global assets' capital gains, including Bitcoin holdings and fair market value. The IRS alleges that Ver underreported his assets before renouncing his citizenship and later sold approximately 70,000 Bitcoins from U.S.-based companies he controlled, generating nearly $240 million in revenue, thereby evading at least $48 million in taxes. The IRS's charges against Ver include two main allegations: first, that he failed to comply with exit tax regulations by underreporting the actual quantity of Bitcoin held by him and his companies, thus avoiding tax obligations. Second, after renouncing his U.S. citizenship, Ver allegedly violated tax obligations as a non-U.S. tax resident by not reporting income from Bitcoin sales conducted through U.S.-based companies he controlled, thereby evading taxes.

According to Odaily, a notable Bitcoin options trade was executed today, as reported by Lin Chen, Deribit's Head of Business for the Asia-Pacific region. The transaction involved a user purchasing call options for Bitcoin with a strike price of $115,000, set to expire at the end of January 2024. Simultaneously, the user sold call options with a strike price of $125,000, also expiring at the same time. This strategic move involved a total of 237.5 BTC on one side of the trade. The user paid a premium of $935,000 for this options strategy. This type of trade, known as a call spread, is often used by investors to capitalize on potential price increases while limiting risk. By purchasing the lower strike call option and selling the higher strike call option, the trader aims to benefit from a rise in Bitcoin's price up to $125,000, while capping potential gains beyond this level. This strategy reflects a bullish outlook on Bitcoin's price movement in the coming months, with the trader anticipating significant price appreciation by the end of January 2024.

World Liberty Financial’s latest purchase was for $250,000 worth of ONDO, a token for a decentralized exchange. source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/trump-world-liberty-buys-45-million-tokens-december?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound