Weekly Market Highlights - Memecoins Dominated the Crypto Narrative in 2024

27 December 2024Macro/TradFiMicroStrategy has acquired 5,262 BTC for US$561M at US$106,662 per bitcoin.Japanese investment firm Metaplanet Inc. bought an additional 619.7 BTC for JPY9.5B (US$60.6M) at an average purchase price of JPY15.3M (US$97,786) per bitcoin, boosting the company’s total holdings to 1,761.98 BTC.Floki intends to launch an exchange-traded product (ETP) based on its FLOKI token on Switzerland’s SIX Swiss Exchange in early Q1 2025.CryptoL1/L2:BNB Chain has released its 2024 Annual Report. Key highlights include the network consolidation under the 'One BNB' multichain strategy, advancements in opBNB and Greenfield, and a focus on enabling BNB Chain as an AI-first chain.Unichain, a DeFi-focused Layer 2 developed by Uniswap, is anticipated to launch its public mainnet in early 2025.Sonic Labs has launched FTM to S token swaps on the official Sonic Gateway.L1 blockchain Injective and decentralised cloud infrastructure provider Aethir have teamed up to launch a new initiative to tokenize GPU compute resources.DeFiAave and Lido have surpassed the US$70B mark in total net deposits for the first time.Stablecoins:Securitize has put forward a governance proposal to use BlackRock’s BUIDL tokenized money market fund as collateral for the Frax USD stablecoin.Others:According to CoinGecko, meme coins captured the most attention in the crypto space this year, with nearly one-third of investor interest directed towards them.The Wormhole DAO will go live in Q1 2025.Solana-based Agridex has completed its first on-chain coffee trade. The UK’s Tiki Tonga Coffee exported coffee to South Africa, with the payment made in South African rands and settled in British pounds on the Agridex blockchain.Russia has announced a 6-year ban on cryptocurrency mining in 10 regions, citing energy shortages.The Philippines has introduced extensive crypto rules on disclosure, public offering, trading, and marketing activities.Turkey will implement new crypto AML regulations that mandate users trading over 15,000 Turkish liras (US$425) to submit their information to cryptocurrency service providers.Latest Binance Research Publications Check out our latest publications:The Future of Crypto WalletsThe ETH Value DebateMonthly Market Insights - December 2024Explore our Binance Research website for more project and macro research.For more frequent market updates and insights, follow us on Twitter @BinanceResearch.That’s a wrap!Binance ResearchAbout Binance Research: Binance Research is the research arm of Binance, the world's leading cryptocurrency exchange. The team is committed to delivering objective, independent, and comprehensive analysis and aims to be the thought leader in the crypto space. Our analysts publish insightful thought pieces regularly on topics related but not limited to, the crypto ecosystem, blockchain technologies, and the latest market themes.General Disclosure: This material is prepared by Binance Research and is not intended to be relied upon as a forecast or investment advice, and is not a recommendation, offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities, cryptocurrencies or to adopt any investment strategy. The use of terminology and the views expressed are intended to promote understanding and the responsible development of the sector and should not be interpreted as definitive legal views or those of Binance. The opinions expressed are as of the date shown above and are the opinions of the writer, they may change as subsequent conditions vary. The information and opinions contained in this material are derived from proprietary and non-proprietary sources deemed by Binance Research to be reliable, are not necessarily all-inclusive and are not guaranteed as to accuracy. As such, no warranty of accuracy or reliability is given and no responsibility arising in any other way for errors and omissions (including responsibility to any person by reason of negligence) is accepted by Binance. This material may contain ’forward looking’ information that is not purely historical in nature. Such information may include, among other things, projections and forecasts. There is no guarantee that any forecasts made will come to pass. Reliance upon information in this material is at the sole discretion of the reader. This material is intended for information purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or an offer or solicitation to purchase or sell in any securities, cryptocurrencies or any investment strategy nor shall any securities or cryptocurrency be offered or sold to any person in any jurisdiction in which an offer, solicitation, purchase or sale would be unlawful under the laws of such jurisdiction. Investment involves risks.