Trump may prioritize encryption, Litecoin may become the first altcoin ETF this year

Headline

▌Informed sources: Trump plans to issue an executive order to make cryptocurrency a national policy priority

Informed sources revealed that US President-elect Trump plans to issue an executive order to elevate cryptocurrency to a national policy priority. The executive order is expected to position cryptocurrency as a "national priority" to guide government agencies to work with the industry, and will establish a cryptocurrency advisory committee to speak for industry policies.

▌Litecoin ETF may become the first altcoin ETF in 2025

Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, posted on social media, "Litecoin ETF now meets all conditions, and the first altcoin ETF in 2025 is about to enter the countdown. I don’t see any reason to withdraw the application, especially now that the SEC has commented on the S-1 filing, Litecoin is considered a commodity, and the SEC has new leadership." 

As previously reported, Nasdaq submitted a 19B-4 filing application for the Canary Litecoin ETF to initiate the regulatory review process.

Market

As of press time, according to Coingecko data:

BTC's latest transaction price is $100,306, with a daily increase or decrease of +0.0%;

ETH's latest transaction price is $100,306, with a daily increase or decrease of -3.5%;

BNB's latest transaction price is $710.64, with a daily increase or decrease of -0.2%；

SOL's latest transaction price is 211.23 US dollars, and its intraday increase or decrease is +3.3%；

DOGE's latest transaction price is 0.3777 yuan, and its intraday increase or decrease is -0.8%；

XPR's latest transaction price is 3.28 US dollars, and its intraday increase or decrease is +6.8%。

Policy

▌The U.S. Supreme Court may rule on the TikTok case on Friday

The U.S. Supreme Court hinted that it may rule on the "sell or ban" TikTok ban on Friday (January 17). On January 16, local time, the U.S. Supreme Court announced on its website that the court "may issue an opinion at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday (11 p.m. Beijing time)", but did not specify which cases would be decided. The TikTok ban was originally scheduled to take effect on Sunday (January 19). (Jinshi)

Blockchain Application

▌Multicoin submitted a "smart issuance" proposal for Solana, proposing to adjust the SOL issuance rate to a market-based solution

Multicoin Capital is one of Solana's early investors, and now it is trying to change the inflation mechanism of the Solana network. Tushar Jain and Vishal Kankani, two partners at Multicoin Capital, submitted a "smart release" proposal for Solana, proposing to adjust the issuance of SOL from the current fixed schedule to a market-based solution. Multicoin's proposal could reduce SOL inflation. In Solana terms, inflation refers to the network issuing SOL to validators who run the Solana software and help build the blockchain. Validators then pass these issued SOLs and some MEV (miner extractable value) rewards to stakers who delegate SOL to them.

Cryptocurrency

▌TRM Labs: Illegal transaction volume on the chain fell 24% to $45 billion in 2024, and TRON remained the main blockchain for illegal activities

Blockchain intelligence company TRM Labs found that illegal transaction volume on the cryptocurrency chain fell 24% to $45 billion in 2024, accounting for only 0.4% of the overall crypto transaction volume. Although total transaction volume increased by 56% last year to $10.6 trillion, the efforts of law enforcement agencies and industry cooperation have effectively curbed illegal activities. TRON's illegal transactions have dropped significantly, with illegal transaction volume decreasing by $6 billion, almost halving the proportion, thanks to its T3 financial crime unit established in cooperation with Tether and TRM Labs. However, TRON is still the main blockchain for illegal activities, accounting for 58% of the total illegal transaction volume, attracting criminals with low transaction fees and popular stablecoins. The report also showed that sanctions violations accounted for a third of illegal transactions, and scams and fraud accounted for a quarter, with fraud-related capital inflows down 40% from last year. At the same time, ransomware attacks and terrorist financing have increased, especially those carried out by North Korean and Russian hackers.

▌Viewpoint: The United States buying altcoins as strategic reserves is an absurd idea that will never happen

Quinn Thompson, founder of hedge fund Lekker Capital, said that the United States buying altcoins as strategic reserves is an absurd idea that will never happen. Earlier, the New York Post reported that Trump "accepted" the idea of ​​creating tokens including SOL, XRP and Circle's USDC stablecoin as "America's priority strategic reserves."  

Quinn Thompson explained: "The government has no power to place risky bets on altcoins. Rumors about setting up strategic reserves for other non-BTC currencies are another example of people taking a bad idea as fact."

▌Bloomberg analyst: SEC approval of Solana or XRP ETF is just a matter of "time"

Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart wrote on the X platform: "I think it's only a matter of time, not a matter of 'whether', for the SEC to approve Solana or XRP ETFs, but the Litecoin ETF may be approved first-mainly because the SEC has not accused Litecoin of being a security."

▌Arkham: Currently covering 96% of MicroStrategy's Bitcoin holdings

Arkham, an on-chain intelligence platform, posted on the X platform that it has identified an additional $25 billion Bitcoin address held by MicroStrategy, bringing the coverage of the company's Bitcoin holdings to 96%. Becoming the first institution to publicly disclose these on-chain holdings. The marked addresses include more than 118,000 BTC received by MicroStrategy from Anchorage Digital and more than 130,000 BTC received from Coinbase Prime.  

Arkham has currently marked 4.377 million BTC of MicroStrategy, accounting for 96% of its total BTC holdings (including assets held at Fidelity Digital).

▌Bloomberg Analyst: Solana ETF May Have to Wait Until 2026 to Be Approved in the U.S.

In an interview, James Seyffart, an analyst at Bloomberg Industry Research, said that even if the White House is friendly to cryptocurrencies, the Solana ETF may not be launched in the U.S. until 2026.  

He said that after President-elect Donald Trump took office on January 20, issuers "may see" an improvement in the lag in Solana ETF applications. However, since the SEC once took 240-260 days to review documents, this timeline may be extended to 2026.  

In addition, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is filing a lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchanges, alleging that SOL constitutes an unregistered security, which makes the review process more complicated. Seyffart said: "The SEC Enforcement Division calls Solana a security, which makes it difficult for other SEC departments to define it as a commodity ETF for review."

▌Arkham: A giant whale deposited more than $1 billion in Bitcoin to Coinbase Prime

According to Arkham monitoring data, about 8 hours ago, an address holding more than $2.7 billion in Bitcoin (bc1qe....j6tzuy) deposited $1.05 billion in Bitcoin to Coinbase Prime. The address received most of the Bitcoin between September 9 and 11, 2024, when the price of Bitcoin was between $54,000 and $57,000.

Important Economic Dynamics

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

According to CME's "Fed Watch", the probability of the Fed keeping interest rates unchanged in January is 97.3%, and the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut is 2.7%. The probability of maintaining the current interest rate unchanged by March is 70.1%, the probability of a cumulative 25 basis point rate cut is 29.2%, and the probability of a cumulative 50 basis point rate cut is 0.7%.

▌UBS: The slow and steady sell-off of U.S. bonds may continue

UBS strategist Bhanu Baweja and others said that the U.S. bond sell-off since September has clearly been characterized by "slow and steady", a feature that "should cause concern for bond bulls". "Volatility remains low, and although there are concerns, there is no panic," they wrote in the report. They warned that the “slow-moving nature of the sell-off could mean this could extend.”

▌Markets expect a 90% chance of a Bank of Japan rate hike in January, which could derail crypto’s rally

Investors are eyeing Trump’s inauguration on January 20, which could be a key catalyst for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices. However, on January 24, the Bank of Japan could raise rates. According to a chart shared by analyst Michael Kramer on X, the market currently expects a 90% chance of a rate hike on January 24. Previously, the Bank of Japan’s rate hike caused chaos in traditional and digital asset markets. It was a key catalyst for the reversal of the yen carry trade in early August, which caused Bitcoin to plummet to $49,000. Traders may be preparing for another sell-off this time.

▌The US dollar index fell 0.12% on the 16th

The US dollar index, which measures the US dollar against six major currencies, fell 0.12% on the day and closed at 108.955 at the end of the foreign exchange market. As of the end of the New York foreign exchange market, 1 euro was exchanged for 1.0302 US dollars, higher than 1.0293 US dollars on the previous trading day; 1 pound was exchanged for 1.2235 US dollars, higher than 1.2231 US dollars on the previous trading day. 1 US dollar is exchanged for 155.29 Japanese yen, lower than 156.46 Japanese yen on the previous trading day; 1 US dollar is exchanged for 0.9109 Swiss francs, lower than 0.9127 Swiss francs on the previous trading day; 1 US dollar is exchanged for 1.4396 Canadian dollars, higher than 1.4329 Canadian dollars on the previous trading day; 1 US dollar is exchanged for 11.1466 Swedish kronor, lower than 11.1543 Swedish kronor on the previous trading day.

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.