Global mainstream CEX spot trading volume reached US$2.94 trillion in December last year, exceeding the US$2 trillion mark for the second consecutive month, an increase of 8.5% from US$2.71 trillion in November. Binance maintains the market lead with $1 trillion in trading volume, but several mid-sized exchanges showed significant growth. Among them, Bitget’s trading volume doubled from $88 billion in November to $178 billion in December, while OKX and HTX’s trading volumes were $177 billion and $95 billion respectively. The distribution of trading volumes shows that the market structure is changing, with mid-sized exchanges taking a larger share, while Asia-Pacific platforms show increasing prominence. This shift in deal activity reflects broader geographic participation and a more diverse investor base. The strong trading volumes coincide with market performance, with Bitcoin continuing to trade between $90,000-$94,000 and the total cryptocurrency market capitalization remaining above $3 trillion. Additionally, altcoins rallied during the month, with Bitcoin dominance falling to a monthly low of 51%, having reached 54% at the end of last year. The analysis noted that multiple factors appear to be driving market dynamics, including increasing retail participation across regions, new products launched by smaller exchanges, and enhanced market infrastructure supporting higher trading volumes. The increase in trading activity also reflects broader institutional acceptance of cryptocurrency trading, especially as markets anticipate President Trump taking office this month. (The Block)

On January 13, local time, David Weiss, the special prosecutor of the U.S. Department of Justice in charge of the tax case of Hunter Biden, the son of President Joseph Biden, announced the end of the six-year investigation into Hunter Biden and released a final report. Weiss pointed out in the report that Hunter Biden was suspected of violating the law, but President Joseph Biden pardoned him and said that the Hunter Biden case was "politically influenced" and "unfair". In this regard, Weiss said that President Biden's remarks did not conform to the facts of the case and damaged the public's trust in the judicial system. (Jin Shi)

According to PANews, MicroStrategy co-founder and chairman Michael Saylor emphasized the benefits of Bitcoin investment over traditional bonds at the ICR conference in Orlando. Saylor described traditional bonds like government securities as "poison" and advocated for businesses to consider Bitcoin as digital capital. Since MicroStrategy adopted its Bitcoin investment strategy in 2020, Saylor noted that Bitcoin has outperformed bonds. Recently, the company increased its Bitcoin holdings by $243 million, marking the tenth consecutive week of purchases. MicroStrategy now holds approximately $41 billion in Bitcoin, accounting for over 2% of the total Bitcoin supply. Saylor criticized companies like Microsoft and Nvidia for not adopting a similar Bitcoin investment strategy. He urged businesses to "embrace the future," suggesting that the only consequence of taking action would be increased wealth.

Despite broader bearish trends in the cryptocurrency market, Tron (TRX) has demonstrated resilience with notable growth in key metrics. Recent analysis from CryptoQuant contributors sheds light on Tron’s expanding ecosystem and revenue surge, presenting a compelling case for its role in blockchain technology’s ongoing evolution. One major highlight is the substantial increase in Tron’s daily... source: https://www.newsbtc.com/news/tron-trx/tron-hits-key-price-levels-as-revenue-and-adoption-soar-whats-next/

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request by Binance and its former CEO CZ to review a lower court ruling that held that U.S. securities laws apply to cryptocurrency exchanges even if they do not have a physical headquarters. The case stems in part from whether Binance is subject to U.S. securities laws because it has no official location and headquarters. Binance asked the Supreme Court to review a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which held that the trading platform is subject to U.S. securities laws regardless of whether it has an office in the United States. Binance and CZ believe that the case is of global importance and could affect the trillion-dollar digital asset industry. The petition states: "Recent technological innovations have enabled investors to participate in foreign financial markets more easily and efficiently. These opportunities were once only available to those who could go abroad, work with international investment firms, or establish offshore entities, and the Internet has helped investors with fewer resources gain access to the same opportunities. Investors in Japan can now easily trade on European exchanges with just a click of the mouse. This interconnectivity and ease of access has not only expanded the size of the trading market, but also increased the number of Americans trading on foreign exchanges." (The Block)

Last night, a new whale wallet, “0x8f5,” withdrew a whopping 280 billion PEPE coin, valued at $5 million, from Binance. It’s a big move in a market down as $PEPE is down 5% in the last 24 hours. The whale had accumulated 47.4 million $JASMY tokens ($1.54 million) a day prior, leading to a calculated […] The post PEPE Coin Whales Accumulating, Time to Buy? appeared first on The Coin... source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2025/01/13/pepe-coin-whales-accumulating-time-to-buy/

According to cryptocurrency OTC infrastructure company Finery Markets, institutional cryptocurrency over-the-counter (OTC) trading volume increased by 106% in 2024, mainly due to Trump’s victory in the U.S. election and interest in U.S. spot cryptocurrency ETFs. demand growth. Finery Markets said the fourth quarter saw the biggest growth last year, with over-the-counter trading volumes for Bitcoin, Ethereum and stablecoins increasing by 80%, 187% and 191% respectively year-on-year, thanks to Trump’s victory and the new administration Pro-crypto stance: “While full regulatory clarity remains to be determined, the Trump administration’s pro-crypto stance significantly drove fourth-quarter crypto spot trading volumes to 2024 highs.” Last year’s second quarter saw a 110% year-over-year increase, which Finery attributed to the “successful” launch of a U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF, while OTC volumes also increased by 80% and 78% in the first and third quarters, respectively. Cryptocurrency OTC trading volumes have continued to grow since 2023, suggesting that market participants are moving toward more private methods of trading rather than using public exchanges. Finery said much of the growth in institutional cryptocurrency OTC volumes stems from more TradFi leaders moving from “skepticism to neutrality or acceptance as the industry matures.” Finery, whose data was obtained by analyzing 4 million spot trades conducted on its platform in 2024 by market makers, payment providers, brokers, OTC desks, hedge funds and custodians. (Cointelegraph)

On the Bankless podcast, we dig into questions about the quantum doomsday for Bitcoin. source: https://www.bankless.com/read/will-quantum-computing-topple-btc

Golden Finance launched the 2568th issue of "Golden Morning 8", a morning report on the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry, to provide you with the latest and fastest digital currency and blockchain industry news.

Online broker Robinhood has agreed to pay a $45 million fine. It was one of a series of fines levied by U.S. regulators on Monday on financial companies including Blackstone and KKR subsidiaries. Robinhood paid the highest fine in a series of settlements announced by the U.S. SEC, totaling more than $100 million. Robinhood's failures included a 2021 data breach that exposed the email addresses and names of millions of customers, as well as record-keeping issues, including failing to properly record its positions involving fractional stock trades. The broker is on track to post its fifth consecutive quarter of profitability while paying the $45 million fine. In the three months ended last September, Robinhood reported net income of $150 million. The company said it was happy to resolve the issues, calling them historic. "We are well positioned to continue leading the industry and developing innovative products and services that customers want and need," Robinhood general counsel Lucas Moskowitz said in a statement. "We look forward to working with the SEC under the new administration." The SEC also announced Monday that 12 investment advisers and broker-dealers agreed to pay more than $63 million to settle allegations of recordkeeping violations stemming from the use of unofficial messaging systems. The move marks the latest crackdown on Wall Street messaging misconduct by the SEC under Chairman Gary Gensler. Enforcement actions have so far focused on banks, which have agreed to pay billions of dollars in fines for "off-channel" communications. (FT)

Coinbase, one of the top crypto exchange platforms, has said it will support Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT), a meme coin operating on the Solana network. source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/coinbase-adds-support-for-peanut-pnut/

The primary market crypto asset side and the secondary market funding side in Hong Kong have not yet fully seen the light of day and urgently need further promotion and resolution.

Golden Finance launches Golden Web3.0 Daily to provide you with the latest and fastest news on games, DeFi, DAO, NFT and Metaverse industries.

Nvidia CEO: “AI agents are a multi-trillion dollar opportunity.”

The Ethereum Pectra upgrade is expected to be implemented in the first quarter of 2025.

By integrating AI and blockchain technology, intelligent agents will promote comprehensive innovation in finance, efficiency, and user experience in the crypto field, and are expected to lead the future development direction.

Recommended readings tonight: 1. The road to crypto adoption: where will the next 100x opportunity appear? 2. The impact of the US election is not yet fully understood and is not priced in Bitcoin; 3. Clarify the three major concepts of DeFAI, DeSci and DePIN in one article;

The incident of actor Wang Xing being deceived and taken to Myanmar has attracted widespread attention on the Internet. A screenshot of the chat record has been widely circulated on social media. The group name in the screenshot is "Fufu Special Group, Demanders Deposit 14000u"

Whatever the future of quantum computing holds, it’s bound to be an interesting and disruptive path.

The “killer app” for cryptocurrencies may well be the dollar itself. Far from undermining the dollar’s ​​hegemony, blockchain technology has created a digital infrastructure that consolidates it.