Emmer appointed as vice chairman of digital assets department, SEC sues Musk

Headline

▌U.S. Congressman Tom Emmer appointed as Vice Chairman of the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Artificial Intelligence

Forbes reporter Eleanor Terrett wrote on X that French Hill, Chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, has appointed Tom Emmer as Vice Chairman of the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Artificial Intelligence. He also nominated other Republican members of the committee.

▌The SEC sued Musk: Failure to disclose the purchase of Twitter shares as required, spending $150 million less

The SEC filed a lawsuit in the federal court in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, suing Musk for alleged securities violations. The SEC said Musk purchased more than 9% of Twitter common stock in March 2022, but failed to disclose relevant information in a timely manner, violating federal securities laws. After an 11-day delay, Musk publicly disclosed his beneficial ownership in a report submitted to the SEC on April 4, 2022. The delay allowed Musk to continue buying Twitter shares at artificially low prices, saving at least $150 million. On April 4, 2022, Twitter's stock price rose by more than 27% from the previous day's closing price. Musk's lawyer responded that Musk had done nothing wrong and the lawsuit was "a farce." (Jinshi)

Market

As of press time, according to Coingecko data:

BTC's latest transaction price is $96,548.53, with a daily increase or decrease of +2.3%;

ETH's latest transaction price is $3,223.56, with a daily increase or decrease of +2.9%;

BNB's latest transaction price is $699.67, with a daily increase or decrease of +1.7%；

SOL's latest transaction price is 187.52 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of +2.8%；

DOGE's latest transaction price is 0.3556 yuan, with a daily increase or decrease of +5.6%；

XPR's latest transaction price is 2.66 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of +5.7%.

Policy

▌The US SEC postponed the decision on the application for Bitwise BITW to convert into an ETF to July

According to a public regulatory document, the US SEC postponed the decision on the application for the conversion of Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund (BITW) into an ETF to late July. This means that it will take longer to wait for the approval of the Bitwise ETF. In addition, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart pointed out that Grayscale's next deadline for GDLC is February 2. Delays are also expected.

▌U.S. SEC Chairman: The outcome of the 2024 presidential election does not depend on the funds of crypto interest groups

In an interview with CNBC Squawk Box host Andrew Ross Sorkin, U.S. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said he believes that funds from cryptocurrency voters and digital asset interest groups are unlikely to affect the outcome of the 2024 U.S. election and allow President-elect Donald Trump to win.  

He said: "I think that although, as you pointed out, this election raised money from the cryptocurrency field, I don't think that's the purpose of this election. This field, the cryptocurrency field, a highly speculative field, has been incompatible with various laws, whether it's money laundering laws, sanctions laws, or in our case, securities laws."

▌US SEC Chairman: SEC Never Said Bitcoin and Ethereum Are Securities

Outgoing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler told Yahoo Finance on Tuesday that the commission "never said" Bitcoin and Ethereum are securities. Neither he nor the SEC's former chairman Jay Clayton said Bitcoin is a security.

Blockchain Applications

▌Hashed CEO: AI has a "black box" problem

In an interview, Simon Kim, CEO of crypto venture capital fund Hashed, said he believes the future of AI depends on a fundamental shift: breaking the black box of centralized models like OpenAI and building a decentralized, transparent ecosystem driven by blockchain.  

"AI is being centralized. OpenAI is not open and is controlled by very few people, so this is very dangerous. Making this [closed source] base model is like making a 'god', but we don't know how it works." Kim believes that open source AI models like Meta's Llama are an example of building AI with decentralization and transparency in mind.

Cryptocurrency

▌U.S. SEC Chairman: Bitcoin is like gold, 7 billion people around the world want to trade it

In an interview, Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said, "Bitcoin is a highly speculative asset, but 7 billion people around the world want to trade it. Just like we have had gold for 10,000 years, we now have Bitcoin."

In terms of regulatory stance, Gensler pointed out that the SEC has never classified Bitcoin as a security. For thousands of other crypto projects, he emphasized the need to prove their actual use cases and fundamental value. When the host quipped, "You must hold Bitcoin," Gensler said he had never held any cryptocurrency in the past 7-8 years. The host then joked, "Now you can hold it because you are about to step down as chairman of the SEC."

▌Standard Chartered Bank: If Bitcoin falls below the $90,000 support level, it will face a 10% retracement risk

Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered Bank, warned that if Bitcoin "falls below $90,000", a downtrend may occur.

Kendrick emphasized in a report on Tuesday that there is a "convexity risk" due to the increased possibility of liquidation of spot exchange-traded funds, which may push the price of Bitcoin below $80,000 in the short term.  

Kendrick said: "We believe that Bitcoin's break below $90,000 will lead to a further decline of 10% in the short term to the early $80,000s. The prices of all other digital assets may also fall with it, and once the pullback is over, we recommend accumulating long positions again."

▌Trump family project WLFI exchanged 103.15 WBTC for 3,075.19 ETH at an average price of $3,226

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Trump family project WLFI sold 103.15 WBTC worth $9.92 million at an average price of $3,226 in exchange for 3,075.19 ETH. The project also sent 18,535.82 ETH worth $59.72 million to multiple wallets and Coinbase Prime. It also purchased 17,619 WBTC worth $1.7 million at a price of $96,495.

▌ARK Invest: Bitcoin's relative volatility is low, and further gains are expected in 2025

In its "Bitcoin Monthly" report, ARK Invest said that although Bitcoin's volatility surged at the end of the fourth quarter, it was "not significant from a historical perspective." Bitcoin's monthly volatility in December was relatively mild compared to annual volatility. Low relative volatility means that Bitcoin has not yet entered the frenzy phase of its cycle, which means further gains are possible, especially in a bull market.  

"In fact, these data points suggest that there is room for further gains in the market in 2025," said the ARK report.

▌ETF Store President: More than 50 crypto ETFs may be approved this year

ETF Store President Nate Geraci said 2025 could become the "year of the cryptocurrency ETF." He predicts that more than 50 cryptocurrency ETFs will be approved under the SEC under the new chairman, including spot Solana and XRP funds, as well as options-based and equity-based products.

▌Analysis: Trump's Inauguration May No Longer Be a "Sell on Good News" Event for Bitcoin

According to K33 analysis, Bitcoin prices had surged after Trump's election on expectations of his pro-cryptocurrency policies, but the market has faced macroeconomic pressures since mid-December, leading to a market cooling. Although Trump's inauguration was previously expected to be a "sell on good news" event, analysts pointed out that as the inauguration date approaches, the gap between market expectations of Trump's policies and the actual political process makes this strategy less attractive. Trump's trade rhetoric may bring inflationary pressures, but tax breaks and favorable crypto policies are expected to drive gains in risky assets. Despite short-term Bitcoin price volatility, K33 is optimistic about Trump's long-term impact.

Important Economic Dynamics

▌The probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged in January is 97.3%

According to CME's "Fed Watch", the probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged in January is 97.3%, and the probability of a 25 basis point interest rate cut is 2.7%. The probability of maintaining the current interest rate unchanged by March is 79.8%, the probability of a cumulative interest rate cut of 25 basis points is 19.7%, and the probability of a cumulative interest rate cut of 50 basis points is 0.5%.

▌The US dollar index fell 0.61% on the 14th

The US dollar index, which measures the US dollar against six major currencies, fell 0.61% on the day and closed at 109.280 at the end of the foreign exchange market. As of the close of New York foreign exchange market, 1 euro was exchanged for 1.0298 U.S. dollars, higher than 1.0208 U.S. dollars on the previous trading day; 1 pound was exchanged for 1.2200 U.S. dollars, higher than 1.2167 U.S. dollars on the previous trading day. 1 U.S. dollar was exchanged for 157.94 Japanese yen, higher than 157.81 Japanese yen on the previous trading day; 1 U.S. dollar was exchanged for 0.9127 Swiss francs, lower than 0.9191 Swiss francs on the previous trading day; 1 U.S. dollar was exchanged for 1.4365 Canadian dollars, lower than 1.4412 Canadian dollars on the previous trading day; 1 U.S. dollar was exchanged for 11.1796 Swedish kronor, lower than 11.2895 Swedish kronor on the previous trading day.

▌The three major U.S. stock indexes rose and fell, and most large technology stocks fell

The three major U.S. stock indexes closed mixed, with the Nasdaq down 0.23%, the S&P 500 up 0.11%, and the Dow up 0.52%. Most large technology stocks fell, with Tesla, Nvidia, and Netflix down more than 1%. Meta fell more than 2%, and the company plans to lay off 5% of low-performing employees.

Golden Encyclopedia

▌What is a teardrop attack in encryption?

In the cryptocurrency context, teardrop attacks often target the decentralized nature of blockchain platforms. Even if they do not target the blockchain's encryption algorithms, disrupting the underlying peer-to-peer network infrastructure that cryptocurrencies rely on can lead to service disruptions, loss of funds, and decreased user trust. Attackers can interfere with the consensus process, transaction verification, or node-to-node communication by focusing on specific nodes or servers. This can cause network fragmentation, processing delays, or even complete shutdown.

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