OpenAI may create the first humanoid robot; 7 listed mining companies will have positive returns by the end of the year

Headlines

▌OpenAI has talked about making a humanoid robot

Over the past year, OpenAI has renewed its interest in robotics: investing in startups developing robotics hardware and software, such as Figure and Physical Intelligence, and restarting an internal robotics software team that was disbanded four years ago. Now, OpenAI may be taking that interest to a new level. According to two people with direct knowledge of the discussions, the company recently considered developing a humanoid robot. Don't get too excited, though: Any potential humanoid robot seems to be a lower priority for OpenAI than many of its other technologies and products, such as its acclaimed reasoning models and agents that help automate various software engineering and analysis tasks, one of the people said. However, the fact that OpenAI is even considering developing a humanoid robot highlights its growing ambitions to get involved in everything from search and web browsers to server chips and data center planning.

▌Data: Only 7 of the 25 listed mining companies achieved positive returns by the end of 2024

As of December 24, Bitcoin rose 113% in 2024. According to data from the Hash Rate Index and Google Finance, the stock prices of most listed mining companies were in a downward trend at the end of 2024, with a drop of up to 84%. Among the 25 listed mining companies in the index, only 7 achieved positive returns.  

As of press time, Bitdeer (BTDR) rose 167%, Cipher (CIFR) rose 33%, Hut 8 (HUT) rose 91%, Iris Energy (IREN) rose 72%, Northern Data (NB2) rose 58%, Core Scientific (CORZQ) rose 327%, and TeraWulf (WULF) rose 169%.  

On the other hand, Argo Blockchain (ARB) fell 84%, followed by Sphere 3D (ANY) at 69%, MARA Holdings (MARA) at 12%, Hive (HIVE) at 29%, Greenidge (GREE) at 74%, Bitfarms (BITF) at 44%, and BitFufu (FUFU) at 18% (to name a few).  

Overall, 2024 was a year of adaptation for Bitcoin miners as they dealt with reduced rewards and increased costs, and sought new sources of revenue to stay afloat.  

Bitcoin miners have accumulated revenues of more than $71 billion. According to Blockchain.com, miners earned $42 million on December 22, compared to a peak of more than $100 million in April.

Market

As of press time, according to Coingecko data:

BTC's latest transaction price is $98,534.17, with a daily increase or decrease of +4.3%;

ETH's latest transaction price is $3,487.23, with a daily increase or decrease of +2.3%;

BNB's latest transaction price is $696.82, with a daily increase or decrease of +0.9%;

SOL's latest transaction price is $196.78, with a daily increase or decrease of + style="color: rgb(0, 176, 80);">+3.9%；

DOGE's latest transaction price is 0.3359 yuan, with a daily increase or decrease of +4.2%；

XPR's latest transaction price is 2.31 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of +2.8%。

Policy

▌The US, UK and EU have upgraded their tax supervision on cryptocurrencies, and investors need to be alert to key tax rates and compliance requirements

The United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union are strengthening their tax supervision on cryptocurrencies, which has an important impact on investors. In the United States, cryptocurrencies are considered digital assets, and capital gains tax is imposed on their sale or exchange, with the tax rate depending on the holding period and income level; income tax is imposed on miners and staking income, and exchanges will be required to report user data from 2025. In the United Kingdom, capital gains tax is imposed on the sale or exchange of crypto assets, with a tax rate of up to 24%, and a tax exemption of £3,000 per year; income tax and national insurance contributions are imposed on mining income and crypto salary income. In the European Union, tax rates vary from country to country, for example, Germany is tax-free for holding for more than one year, while Spain has a tax rate of up to 28%; the MiCA regulation that will take effect in 2025 will unify some rules and enhance tax transparency.

Blockchain Applications

▌Humanity Protocol: We have noticed the problem of private key storage on the test network and will solve it as soon as possible

Humanity Protocol, a blockchain identity authentication platform, responded to Yu Xian, the founder of SlowMist, on the X platform, saying that they thanked Yu Xian, the founder of SlowMist, for the feedback on the problem of plaintext private keys on the test network being directly stored in the browser. They have noticed this problem and will solve it as soon as possible and inform users.  

Previously, SlowMist founder Yu Xian Yu X said in a post, "The Humanity Protocol project directly stores the plaintext private key in the browser sessionStorage, which is a low-level high-risk error. Fortunately, it is only a test network and has not caused any actual harm."

Cryptocurrency

▌The value of COIN shares held by Coinbase CEO has increased by nearly $2 billion since November 5

Brian Armstrong, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, sold company shares for several weeks after Donald Trump was elected president and pro-cryptocurrency lawmakers won, cashing out a total of about $437 million. Due to the optimism in the market after the election results, the stocks he sold rose by $129 million from the pre-election valuation.  

According to the latest SEC filings, Brian Armstrong still holds more than 10% of Coinbase's shares, and the value of about 24 million shares in his trust fund is about $6.4 billion, an increase of nearly $2 billion from November 5.

▌Murad: PEPE users with positions exceeding $1,000 rank first among all Meme communities

Meme coin KOL Murad published a chart, the number of holders with positions exceeding $1,000 can be used as a useful indicator of Memecoin community beliefs, the more people there are, the more active the community is, among which: PEPE users with positions exceeding $1,000 are 77,145, ranking first among all meme communities, accounting for 21.5% of the total number of PEPE communities. WIF users with positions exceeding $1,000 are 24,147, ranking second, followed by SPX6900, POPCAT and MOG.

▌Greeks.live: Cryptocurrency market liquidity weakens during Christmas holiday, Bitcoin's $84,000 option pain point may fail

Greeks.live analyst Adam said in a post that although the European and American markets are closed for the Christmas holiday, the crypto market has seen a significant rise driven by Bitcoin. Due to the poor market liquidity from the Christmas holiday to the end of the year, the power required for price fluctuations is small.  

In terms of options, the short-term implied volatility (IV) has decreased compared with the previous day, and the market maker's position transfer is nearing the end. It is expected that IV will remain stable before the end of the year. Currently, the biggest option pain point for Bitcoin is at $84,000 and that for Ethereum is at $3,000. These annual biggest pain points may fail as in previous years.

▌Data: The number of wallet addresses holding 10-1,000 BTC reached 150.13 million

Santiment posted on the X platform, "As Christmas approaches, Bitcoin and altcoins have recovered well. Bitcoin has rebounded to a high of $99,000, and traders hope to get a $100,000 Christmas gift. The following is the number of BTC wallets by size: 0-0.1 BTC wallets: 50.17 million 0.1-10 BTC wallets: 4.31 million 10- 1,000 BTC wallets: 150.13 million 1,000+ BTC wallets: 2,050 Especially in the latter two groups, as long as their numbers rise and continue to accumulate, the bull run is likely to continue, as they did throughout 2024. ” ▌ Glassnode: Solana has maintained positive net capital inflows since early September 2023 Glassnode posted on the X platform: “We have observed that Solana has maintained positive net capital inflows since early September 2023, with only small outflows during this period. This continued influx of liquidity has helped stimulate Solana’s growth and price increases, reaching a significant peak of $776 million in new capital inflows per day.”

Important Economic Dynamics

▌The probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged in January next year is 91.4%

According to CME's "Fed Watch", the probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged in January next year is 91.4%, and the probability of a 25 basis point interest rate cut is 8.6%. The probability of maintaining the current interest rate unchanged by March next year is 52.1%, the probability of a cumulative interest rate cut of 25 basis points is 44.2%, and the probability of a cumulative interest rate cut of 50 basis points is 3.7%.

▌The onshore RMB against the US dollar rose 24 points from the closing price of Monday night

The onshore RMB against the US dollar (CNY) closed at 7.2946 yuan at 03:00 Beijing time, up 24 points from the closing price of Monday night.

▌The US dollar index rose 0.15% on December 24

The US dollar index, which measures the US dollar against six major currencies, rose 0.15% on the day and closed at 108.200 at the end of the foreign exchange market. As of the end of the New York foreign exchange market, 1 euro was exchanged for 1.0394 US dollars, lower than 1.0412 US dollars on the previous trading day; 1 pound was exchanged for 1.2532 US dollars, lower than 1.2535 US dollars on the previous trading day. 1 USD is exchanged for 157.32 Japanese Yen, higher than 157.10 Japanese Yen on the previous trading day; 1 USD is exchanged for 0.9006 Swiss Franc, higher than 0.8985 Swiss Franc on the previous trading day; 1 USD is exchanged for 1.4367 Canadian Dollar, lower than 1.4372 Canadian Dollar on the previous trading day; 1 USD is exchanged for 11.0923 Swedish Kronor, higher than 11.0322 Swedish Kronor on the previous trading day.

Golden Encyclopedia

▌What is Ripple Labs' RLUSD stablecoin?

RLUSD is a stablecoin developed by Ripple Labs, the organization behind the XRP cryptocurrency. RLUSD, or Ripple Labs USD, aims to provide a stable digital currency for trading and transactions. As a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, 1 RLUSD is equivalent to 1 US dollar. Each RLUSD maintains a 1:1 peg. These collateral assets are either US dollar deposits or cash equivalents.

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