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The SEC has postponed its decision on Fidelity's proposed Ethereum ETF. Originally, the agency had to approve or reject the ETF by January 20, but a provision allowed the regulator to extend the deadline to March 5. While this deadline is only for Fidelity’s ETF application, analysts predict that the SEC will make decisions concerning all Ethereum ETFs by late May.
The EU has agreed on provisional measures to tackle money laundering via cryptocurrencies. The Anti-Money Laundering Regulation enforces due diligence requirements for crypto firms for transactions over 1,000 euros. The regulation targets potential sanction evasion and money laundering risks and also oversees transactions involving "self-hosted" wallets. The measures are not intended to ban privacy-enhancing crypto. The agreement is now awaiting formal approval.
Conflux Network is building an EVM-compatible solution for interoperability with Bitcoin, enabling transfers of bitcoin and inscriptions between Conflux and Bitcoin. The testnet is set to debut in March, while the mainnet is due in May. The new solution will interact with Bitcoin by using bitcoin for gas fees while supporting Ethereum-based contracts.
Delphi Labs and Astroport have introduced Asteroids, a new open-source protocol for the Cosmos Hub. This advancement allows any user to include content directly on the Hub and create a new form of tokens known as Cosmos Fungible Tokens or CFT-20s. By design, the Hub doesn’t have native support for tokens or NFTs, but Asteroids changes that using inscriptions, a method of writing data to the chain popularized by Ordinals on Bitcoin.
Pudgy Penguins, one of the most storied NFT collections on Ethereum, has been on a tear over the past year. It recently eclipsed a $40k floor price and is closing in on the Bored Ape Yacht Club’s floor. This thread lays out how the collection resonates in different ways among crypto enthusiasts, art appreciators, community builders, trendsetters, creatives, and meme lovers. From the start, Pudgy Penguins has garnered a diverse audience of holders from crypto OGs to pro poker players to famous athletes like Steph Curry. The collection did this by having a natural broad appeal outside of crypto, fostering an incredible meme culture that has resulted in billions of Giphy views, and building a strong brand on social media and with its physical toys.
SatoshiVM is a recently launched decentralized Bitcoin EVM-compatible L2. This thread lays out a strategy guide for attempting to qualify for a potential airdrop for the chain. The project allows users in the Bitcoin ecosystem to leverage assets and liquidity to build apps. As the Bitcoin narrative has been gaining traction lately, many in the crypto ecosystem were excited at the announcement of the SatoshiVM testnet and what that could mean as far as a future airdrop.
Tether, the issuer of the third-largest cryptocurrency, USDT, has added more Bitcoin to its treasury, which now totals over $2.8 billion. While the company primarily backs USDT with the safest investment instruments possible, like US Treasuries, it uses a small portion of its profits to purchase and subsequently hold Bitcoin. Despite past criticism for a lack of transparency and the conclusion of a two-year investigation by the New York Attorney General, Tether continues to lead the space in market share and even has recently been given the seal of approval by traditional finance institutions like Cantor Fitzgerald.
Restaking, the use of an Ethereum stake to secure multiple networks, has potential benefits such as increased yields, but it also introduces several risks. The extra layer of risk could lead to increased slashing penalties and risks on the restaking layer. Further complications arise from the additional development of primitives, increasing complexity and risk. The new risk vectors opened up by this method have raised concerns within the Ethereum developer community about their potential impact on the Ethereum consensus.
Solana Mobile's new device, "Chapter 2", surpassed its 7-day sales goal in 24 hours, achieving 30,000 preorders in 30 hours, easily eclipsing its predecessor Saga's sales.
After less than a week of trading, Bitcoin ETFs have surpassed silver ETFs in asset size in the US, becoming the second-largest single commodity ETF class by assets under management.
Cryptocurrency crime declined in 2023, with illicit address inflows dropping to $24.2 billion. Scams and hacking revenues decreased, while ransomware and darknet markets revenues rose.
The Donald Trump NFT collection announced it would be releasing Ordinals on Bitcoin to up to 200 users that buy 100 of the $99 Trump “mugshot edition” NFTs that launched on Polygon in December.