Argentine President Suspected of Launching Meme Coin, SEC Crypto Panel Seeks Industry Opinions

Golden Weekly is a weekly blockchain industry summary column launched by Golden Finance, covering the week's key news, mining information, project dynamics, technological progress and other industry dynamics. This article is one of the news weekly, taking you to a glance at the major events in the blockchain industry this week.

Headlines

▌Argentine President suspected of launching Meme coin LIBRA, it is not yet clear whether his account has been stolen

Argentine President Javier Milei announced the launch of Meme coin LIBRA and announced the contract address through his official X account about half an hour ago. It is not clear whether his account has been hacked. According to GMGN data, LIBRA briefly broke through $7.8 and temporarily reported $3.51, with a current market value of $3.5 billion. Note: The price of Meme coin fluctuates greatly, and the authenticity of the coin has not yet been determined. Investors are advised to participate with caution.

▌The U.S. SEC Crypto Group is seeking industry input to understand what issues the industry wants the SEC to focus on

According to Fox Business Channel reporter Eleanor Terrett, some staff from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)'s Division of Trading and Markets held an online seminar on staking with some leading crypto industry participants this week. At the same time, the SEC's Crypto Working Group is seeking industry input to understand what issues they want the SEC to focus on. The level of involvement of the new SEC leadership is striking.

▌CZ: BTC is more like a reserve asset than a transaction currency

Cryptocurrency analyst Immortal YuX wrote: "BTC on-chain transaction volume is far from the level of 2021... But do we expect a big bull market? Even high transaction fees do not necessarily indicate a bull market, just look at past cycles." In response, CZ said: "My intuition is that due to high fees and long block times, BTC is now more like a reserve asset than a transaction currency. A lot of new funds are buying ETFs, which are not reflected in on-chain transactions. I may not be right."

▌Trump chooses crypto-friendly person and former Bitfury executive Jonathan Gould to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

US President Donald Trump has appointed former blockchain executive Jonathan Gould leads the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Gould previously served as Bitfury's chief legal officer, and before that he served as senior deputy comptroller and chief counsel at the OCC, which regulates and oversees national banks and federal savings associations. Ron Hammond, senior director of government relations at the Blockchain Association, said Jonathan Gould will be in the "best position to get started immediately." Jonathan Gould may also emulate the leadership of former OCC chief Brian Brooks, who briefly served as CEO of Binance.US. Hammond said: "In addition, his expertise in cryptocurrencies ensures that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will be able to engage substantively with Congress as it begins to develop legislation around stablecoins and market structure."

▌New CFTC Chairman: CFTC will ensure that the United States leads the world in blockchain

New CFTC Chairman Brian Quintenz posted his first update after being nominated on his personal account today. Brian said: "I am honored to be nominated by President Trump as the next chairman of the CFTC, where I served as a member of his previous administration. The CFTC plays a key role in maintaining a strong hedging and price discovery market that is envied by the world. The agency is also ready to ensure that the United States leads the world in blockchain technology and innovation. I look forward to working with President Trump's outstanding financial regulatory team." Previously, Trump has nominated Brian Quintenz, director of crypto policy at a16z, as permanent chairman of the CFTC.

Policy

▌The Central Bank Releases China's Monetary Policy Implementation Report for the Fourth Quarter of 2024

On February 13, in the next stage, the People's Bank of China will further deepen financial reform and high-level opening up, continue to promote high-quality financial development and the construction of a financial power, accelerate the improvement of the central bank system, and further improve the monetary policy framework. Focus on balancing the relationship between short-term and long-term, stabilizing growth and preventing risks, and internal and external equilibrium, improve the forward-looking, targeted and effective nature of macroeconomic regulation, enhance macroeconomic policy coordination and cooperation, support the expansion of domestic demand, stabilize expectations, stimulate vitality, and promote stable economic growth. (Jinshi)

▌SEC Accepts Physical Redemption Application for 21Shares Bitcoin and Ethereum Spot ETF

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accepted an application to allow physical redemption of 21Shares Bitcoin and Ethereum Spot ETF.

▌The US SEC Crypto Team has discussed new regulatory schemes with multiple industry participants

Fox Business News reporter Eleanor Terrett posted on the X platform that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Crypto Task Force is recording logs of all its meetings with industry participants. So far, the task force has held meetings with Blockchain Association, Jito Labs and Multicoin Capital, Nasdaq, and Colin Lloyd, a partner in the commodities, futures and derivatives and capital markets team of the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell. The meeting topics mainly focused on regulation and how the agency's new approach will affect certain markets and products. Earlier news, the US SEC cryptocurrency working group met with representatives of Jito Labs and Multicoin Capital Management to discuss the addition of a pledge function to ETP.

▌US judge approves 60-day suspension of Binance and SEC lawsuit, requires joint status report by April 14

According to a public legal document, Amy Berman Jackson, a federal judge in Washington, DC, has approved a 60-day motion jointly filed by Binance and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). At the same time, the judge also required both parties to submit a joint status report by April 14. This means that the lawsuit against Binance will be temporarily suspended, and both parties have time to negotiate or seek other solutions.

▌If a new bill is passed, New Mexico may purchase up to $2 billion in Bitcoin

If a new bill is passed, New Mexico may purchase up to $2 billion in Bitcoin.

Blockchain Applications

▌Circle: USDC is now natively supported on 18 blockchains including Unichain

Circle announced that USDC and Circle development tools have been launched on Unchain. Developers building on Unichain can now access USDC, CCTP and programmable wallets to build secure and scalable on-chain applications. Developers can also experiment with the flow of funds in their Unichain applications by obtaining free testnet USDC from Circle's Faucet. With the addition of Unichain, USDC is now natively supported on 18 blockchains.

▌Vitalik: Short-term L1 expansion that can be achieved in the next 1-2 years is valuable

On February 14, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published his latest article "Why the L1 Gas limit needs to be increased even in L2-dominated Ethereum". The article stated that an important recent discussion in the Ethereum roadmap is about how to increase the L1 gas limit. Recently, the L1 gas limit increased from 30 million to 36 million, a 20% increase in capacity. Many people support further substantial increases in the near future. These increases are safe because of recent and upcoming technical improvements: improved efficiency of Ethereum clients, reduced need to store old history due to EIP-4444 (see roadmap), and future stateless clients. The article finally concluded that even in an L2-dominated world, the approximately 10-fold expansion of L1 gas has significant value. This in turn means that short-term L1 expansion that can be achieved in the next 1-2 years is valuable regardless of the long-term situation.

▌Story Public Mainnet Homer is now online

Layer1 intellectual property blockchain Story Protocol announced that its public mainnet Homer is now online.

▌Galaxy Report: ETH Dominates Enterprise Blockchain Adoption with Use Cases Such as NFT and RWA Tokenization

According to a report by Christine Kim, vice president of research at Galaxy Digital, more than 50 traditional companies, including financial institutions such as Deutsche Bank and Paypal, as well as brands such as Louis Vuitton and Adidas, are developing cryptocurrency-specific applications on Ethereum and its L2 network, focusing on non-speculative use cases such as RWA tokenization, NFT, Web3 games, and scalable infrastructure. Ethereum leads in RWA tokenization, with nearly 10 times the value of assets under custody than Stellar, the report said. Thirteen of the 20 financial institutions building crypto infrastructure issue RWAs, including BlackRock BUIDL. Stablecoins are also booming on Ethereum, with Paypal's PYUSD and Robinhood's USDG driving a 70% supply surge by 2024, and Ethereum accounting for more than 50% of the $400 billion stablecoin market. Scalable infrastructure investments underscore enterprise adoption. Deutsche Bank is developing an Ethereum L2 compliant financial solution with ZKSync, while Sony's L2 project Soneium targets gaming and entertainment. These projects highlight Ethereum's role as a custom foundation for enterprise-grade blockchains. In addition, Ethereum's L2 centralized roadmap balances scalability and security, attracting institutions seeking effective on-chain solutions. Regulatory tailwinds, including the SEC's focus on tokenization and collaborations like Stripe's $1 billion acquisition of stablecoin platform Bridge, show increasing mainstream adoption.

▌Fireblocks executives: X Money is expected to support crypto payments by the end of the year

Ran Goldi, senior vice president of payments and networks at Fireblocks, revealed that he had heard that X Money might support crypto payments by the end of 2025. Goldi pointed out that more and more large payment companies are developing digital asset strategies, which also makes the market look forward to X Money's future cryptocurrency integration. X Money announced a partnership with Visa in January this year to launch digital wallet top-ups, bank account transfers and P2P payment functions, but did not mention crypto payment plans at the time. However, due to Musk's long-term connection with the cryptocurrency industry, market expectations for X Money's future involvement in crypto payments are heating up.

Cryptocurrency

▌Bitwise CIO: Altcoins may bring considerable returns in the long run

Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan said in a report to clients that there is currently an interesting dichotomy between institutional investors and retail investors in the field of cryptocurrency: on the one hand, institutional investors' sentiment towards cryptocurrency is the most optimistic in history, while retail investors are falling into despair. Investment professionals now see cryptocurrency as an area where institutional capital is allocated in record amounts through ETFs; however, for retail investors, it is almost like living in another reality, and Bitwise's own on-chain sentiment score shows that it is currently one of the lowest readings ever. Matt Hougan said he firmly believes that institutions are right, and so far this year, ETFs and companies have purchased more than 100,000 BTC, while the number of BTC mined is 18,000. And in the long run, the configuration of altcoins is stronger than at any time in history, but the situation of altcoins is more complicated. With the clarity of the regulatory agenda, the United States's stablecoin as a "national priority" and the growing confidence of institutions, the crypto industry is bound to bring DeFi applications to the masses, and its impact will be self-evident and unstoppable.

▌National Bank of Canada Reduces Bitcoin ETF

The National Bank of Canada has recently shown a bearish attitude towards Bitcoin. On February 12, the bank's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed that it had applied to exercise put options to sell BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF holdings worth more than $1.3 million.

▌CZ reiterated that he would not issue Meme coins, but only published photos and names of pet dogs

Binance Co-founder CZ posted on the X platform: "For those who asked me for CA (contract address), no, I will not issue Meme coins. I just released a photo of my dog ​​and its name, as some of you requested. I also got advice yesterday to let the best Meme coin in the community be the winner."

▌Addresses associated with the issuance of LIBRA tokens currently hold more than $100 million in USDC and SOL

According to Arkham monitoring data, 70% of LIBRA's supply is stored in 2 addresses, while 15% of the supply is deposited directly into Meteora LP by the developer address. Developer addresses have collected over $20 million in transaction fees from these deposits. In addition, 7 different addresses received a total of 60 million LIBRA tokens from deployers - each of which deposited LIBRA into the liquidity pool and later withdrew SOL/USDC. Addresses associated with the issuance of LIBRA tokens currently hold over $100 million in USDC and SOL, which were withdrawn from liquidity in the past 18 hours, and most of them have been transferred to separate holding addresses. LIBRA-related accounts currently hold $57.6 million USDC and $48.6 million SOL.

▌Robinhood's revenue in Q4 last year increased 115% year-on-year to $1.01 billion, of which crypto revenue increased 700%

Trading platform Robinhood (HOOD)'s fourth-quarter earnings and revenue exceeded analyst expectations. According to FactSet data, Robinhood said its fourth-quarter revenue increased 115% from the same period last year to $1.01 billion, exceeding Wall Street analysts' expectations of $945.8 million. The company said in a statement that its trading revenue increased 200% from the same period last year, mainly due to a 700% increase in cryptocurrency-related revenue. Robinhood also reported earnings per share of $1.01, higher than the average expectation of $0.42. HOOD shares rose more than 5% in after-hours trading on Wednesday.

Important Economic Dynamics

▌Federal Reserve Waller: Stablecoins must have clear use cases and business cases to be economically viable

The Federal Reserve's official website released the speech of Governor Waller, "Thoughts on the Mature Stablecoin Market". He said that stablecoins are defined as a digital asset that aims to maintain a stable value relative to national currencies. Like any means of payment, stablecoins must have: a clear use case and a clear business case to be economically viable. The US dollar is the preferred legal tender for most stablecoins, and in this sense, stablecoins are synthetic dollars. The second use case for stablecoins is to provide a means of obtaining and holding US dollars, the third use case is cross-border payments, and the industry is increasingly paying attention to the "stablecoin sandwich" model for cross-border payments. The last use case is retail payments. So far, most stablecoin issuers appear to generate revenue primarily by earning more from their reserve assets than they spend.

▌Trump: Interest rates should be lowered, and interest rate cuts should complement tariffs

US President Trump said he believes interest rates should be lowered, and interest rate cuts will complement the upcoming tariff policy. (Jinshi) ▌Fed Logan: If the labor market remains strong, better inflation data does not necessarily mean that the Fed can cut interest rates. Fed Logan said that if the labor market remains strong, better inflation data does not necessarily mean that the Fed can cut interest rates. Even if better inflation data is obtained, interest rate changes should be treated with caution; inflation data in the next few months will be very important; attention should also be paid to geopolitical and policy changes; the impact of these factors on the economy is being carefully observed.

▌Economist: The Fed will suspend rate cuts for a long time, and should theoretically raise rates

Mohamed El-Erian, former CEO of Pacific Investment Management Company (Pimco) and dean of Queen's College, Cambridge University, said that under the impact of unexpected inflation data, the Fed may not cut interest rates for "quite a long time" and may even tolerate higher inflation to protect economic growth. El-Erian pointed out on Wednesday that if the Fed is truly committed to achieving the 2% inflation target, it should theoretically raise interest rates now. But the reality is that the Fed is more likely to keep interest rates unchanged and preserve economic growth and the "exceptionalism" of the United States by tolerating higher inflation. As US inflation exceeded expectations, bond traders postponed their bets on the Fed's next rate cut to December. Swap contracts related to the Fed's future decisions were repriced after the January CPI exceeded expectations. Previously, the market expected the Fed to cut interest rates before September. The new interest rate level means that the market is betting that the Fed will only cut interest rates by 0.25 percentage points this year. Regarding the January CPI data, El-Erian said frankly: "On the surface, this is not good news for the Fed. They will continue to reassure the market that everything will be fine, but I think the interest rate pause button will be pressed longer than the market expects."

▌Director of the National Economic Council of the United States: Micro and macro policies are needed to deal with inflation

Director of the National Economic Council of the United States Hassett: Micro and macro policies are needed to deal with inflation.