Tether co-develops interest-bearing stablecoin Strategy intends to buy more BTC

Headline

▌Tether Co-founder is developing an interest-bearing stablecoin

According to Bloomberg, Tether co-founder Reeve Collins is developing an interest-bearing stablecoin project that plans to compete with Tether and will be launched on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains later this year. The project will mint stablecoins through smart contracts, and asset support includes real-world assets with returns such as bonds. Unlike Tether, which makes profits through investment reserves, the new project will distribute profits to participants who promote stablecoins and launch governance tokens, allowing token holders to participate in platform decision-making and share platform revenue.

▌Strategy announces plans to issue $2 billion in convertible senior notes to support the purchase of more Bitcoin

Strategy (MSTR.O) announced that it plans to privately issue its 0% convertible senior notes due in 2030 to qualified institutional buyers for a total principal amount of $2 billion. Strategy also expects to grant purchase rights to the initial purchasers of the notes, which will be settled within five business days of the date of the initial issuance of the notes (including the day), to purchase up to a total principal amount of $300 million. Strategy intends to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including the acquisition of Bitcoin and as working capital.

Market

As of press time, according to Coingecko data:

BTC's latest transaction price is $95,591.97, with a daily increase or decrease of -0.4%;

ETH's latest transaction price is $2,672.55, with a daily increase or decrease of -2.8%;

BNB's latest transaction price is $648.23, with a daily increase or decrease of -3.0%；

SOL's latest transaction price is 169.74 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of -4.6%；

DOGE's latest transaction price is 0.2518 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of -2.7%；

XPR's latest transaction price is 2.57 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of -3.5%.

Policy

▌The U.S. SEC seeks public feedback on approving Grayscale and Bitwise Ethereum ETF options trading

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking public feedback on whether the agency should approve options trading on three spot Ethereum ETFs.  

According to a regulatory filing released on Tuesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sought comments on whether to allow Cboe Exchange, Inc. to list and trade options on Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETF, Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust ETF and Bitwise Ethereum ETF. Comments should be submitted within 21 days of publication in the Federal Register.  

The agency has not yet approved options trading on spot Ethereum ETFs. The SEC approved several spot Ethereum ETFs in May 2024, and companies have been vying for options trading licenses since then.

▌U.S. judge refuses to order a temporary ban on the access rights of the "Government Efficiency Department"

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that she refused to order a ban on the "Government Efficiency Department" from accessing federal agencies' computer systems or instructing the dismissal of government employees during the litigation, rejecting the request previously made by the Democratic state attorney general. Attorneys general of more than a dozen U.S. states filed a lawsuit on the 13th, questioning the power of Musk and the "Government Efficiency Department" led by him to access sensitive government data.

▌The U.S. SEC has confirmed receipt of Bitwise's application for spot XRP ETF

According to Cointelegraph, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has confirmed receipt of Bitwise's application for spot XRP ETF.

Blockchain Applications

▌Mastercard Crypto Head: The company has moved from the experimental stage to providing actual crypto solutions

Raj Dhamodharan, head of Mastercard's crypto and blockchain business, said the company has moved from the experimental stage to providing actual crypto solutions. Mastercard recently worked with compliance company Notabene to integrate its Crypto Credential system into the SafeTransact platform, enabling users to transfer crypto assets using email addresses instead of complex wallet addresses.  

Dhamodharan pointed out that Mastercard will focus on three areas in 2025: the construction of cryptocurrency on-chain channels, the expansion of Crypto Credential functions, and stablecoin business. The company currently supports financial institutions to use stablecoins for transaction settlement, and plans to announce more partnerships and application scenarios this year. Regarding the trend of asset tokenization, he said that once regulation clearly allows deposits to be represented on the public chain, this field will usher in a larger scale of development.

▌Starknet: STRK staking phase 2 is expected to start in Q2, phase 3 is expected to start in Q4

Starknet posted on the X platform that "STRK staking phase 2 will start in a few months (Q2 2025). The main goal of phase 2 is to allow validators to play an active role in staking and evaluate their activity before they assume a formal role in consensus. Phase 3 is expected to start in Q4 2025. To achieve this goal, Starknet proposes to introduce validator block proofs and may include commission increase features."

Cryptocurrency

▌FTX: The next round of repayment distribution is expected to start on May 30, 2025

FTX announced that it has begun to pay back the convenience category (Convenience Category) in the FTX Chapter 11 reorganization plan Customers can expect to receive funds within 1 to 3 business days. The expected Record Date for the next round of distributions is April 11, 2025, for holders of approved FTX Class 5 Customer Entitlement Claims and Class 6 General Unsecured Claims, as defined in the Plan. The next round of Record Date for Convenience Claims that were approved after the initial Record Date but have not yet received a distribution is also set for April 11, 2025. The next round of distributions is expected to begin on May 30, 2025.

▌Libra Token Co-founder Claims to Have Given Money to Argentine President Milei's Sister

Libra Token Co-founder Hayden Davis claimed in a text message in December last year that he had influenced the president's decision by bribing Karina Milei, the sister of Argentine President Javier Milei, and said, "I gave money to his sister, and he signed according to my wishes and acted according to my requirements." Karina Milei is an important figure in Milei's government. She is currently the Secretary-General of the Argentine Presidential Palace and the sister of the current Argentine President Javier Milei. At present, neither Karina Milei's office nor Hayden Davis responded to requests for comment, and it is unclear whether the latter actually paid the funds.

▌Standard Chartered Bank Analyst: Prediction of Bitcoin Exceeding $500,000 When Trump Leaves Office Remains Valid

Standard Chartered Bank analyst Geoff Kendrick previously said that he expects the price of Bitcoin to exceed $500,000 when Donald Trump leaves office.  

He said in a report early Tuesday that the prediction is still valid, reviewing BTC's weak price trend in the short term, and a recent series of 13F filings on institutional ownership of spot Bitcoin ETFs have provided data support. Kendrick said that the types of buyers have evolved from retail investors to hedge funds and now to banks and sovereign wealth funds, noting that institutions such as Goldman Sachs have increased their ETF holdings and Abu Dhabi has also purchased a Bitcoin ETF for the first time.  

Analysts said: "Looking ahead, we expect more long-term long funds to buy Bitcoin and expect Abu Dhabi's position to be the beginning of broader participation by sovereign states."

▌A trader sniped TRUMP coins and made a profit of $109 million, and the on-chain correlation raised questions about insider trading

A joint investigation by blockchain data platform Bubblemaps and well-known YouTuber Coffeezilla showed that a trader named Naseem made a profit of $109 million in TRUMP token transactions through "sniping". On-chain data showed that Naseem bought tokens for $1.09 million within the first second of TRUMP's launch, paid $84,000 in priority transaction fees, and then dispersed the funds to at least 9 wallets.  

Bubblemaps pointed out that although insider trading cannot be fully confirmed, the high correlation of multiple on-chain addresses "cannot be ignored." Naseem denied receiving any inside information, saying that his team speculated on the launch time by observing the interaction of Meteora's funding pool.

▌Semler Scientific Q4 net profit surges due to revaluation of Bitcoin holdings

Semler Scientific (SMLR) adopted the new "fair value" accounting standard in Q4 2024, revaluing Bitcoin assets, increasing its holdings by $28.85 million. The standard was introduced by FASB in March 2024 and requires companies to report digital assets at market value from Q1 2025, and companies can adopt it early.  

This adjustment pushed Q4 net profit to $29.2 million, and earnings per share (EPS) reached $3.64, a significant increase from $4.2 million ($0.62/share) in the same period last year. Semler shares rose 2.1% on Tuesday.

▌Nearly 100 million USDC transferred from unknown wallets to Coinbase Institutional

According to the on-chain data tracking service Whale Alert, 99,995,000 USDC were transferred from unknown wallets to Coinbase Institutional at around 7:11 am Beijing time.

▌Tether Treasury minted 1 billion USDT on the Tron blockchain

On-chain data shows that about 20 minutes ago, Tether Treasury minted 1 billion USDT on the Tron blockchain.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said this was to replenish $1 billion in inventory on the Tron Network. Please note that this is an authorized but unissued transaction, which means that the amount will be used as inventory for the next issuance request and chain exchange.

Important Economic Dynamics

▌Fed Vice Chairman of Supervision: Fed takes a neutral stance on encryption

FOX Business reporter Eleanor Terrett published an article revealing that the outgoing Fed Michael Barr spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York this afternoon on bank decentralization and encryption regulation. Barr said the Fed tried to take a "neutral" stance on the above issues. The Fed's expectation is that they conduct business in a safe and sound manner and comply with consumer laws, anti-money laundering laws, and anti-terrorist financing laws. If they do this, we have no objection.  

"The Federal Reserve has a novel regulatory program designed to oversee institutions in this area to make sure we have the expertise to do it correctly. Some institutions are doing it, and some are doing it wrong and getting into trouble, either because of anti-money laundering, bank secrecy law issues, or because they can't meet the liquidity needs of their customers, and then they go bankrupt. So, at least to me, it's just straight-up mid-level risk management and banking. If you do it right, you can do it. If you don't do it right, then you shouldn't do it." 

Barr also said he had never personally seen evidence of customers having their bank accounts canceled because of their political views.

▌The U.S. Secretary of State spoke with foreign ministers from many European countries, and all parties agreed to work together to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict

On February 18, local time, the U.S. State Department issued a statement saying that U.S. Secretary of State Rubio held talks with the Russian Foreign Minister in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia earlier that day, and then spoke with the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs. Rubio informed the foreign ministers of the meeting, and the parties agreed to continue to maintain close contact and work together to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

▌The probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged in March is 97.5%

According to CME's "Fed Watch": The probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged in March is 97.5%, and the probability of a 25 basis point interest rate cut is 2.5%. The probability of maintaining the current interest rate unchanged by May is 86.1%, the probability of a cumulative interest rate cut of 25 basis points is 13.6%, and the probability of a cumulative interest rate cut of 50 basis points is 0.3%.

▌Preview: Trump and Musk's joint interview will be broadcast at 10 am on the 19th, Beijing time

On the occasion of Trump's full month in office as US President, his joint interview with "America's First Buddy" Musk will be broadcast on Fox News. The pre-recorded interview, which will air on Hannity at 10:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, will focus on the first 100 days of the Trump administration and Musk's role in the Department of Government Efficiency. The joint interview was conducted as Trump and Musk continue to implement large-scale layoffs in government departments. In addition, Musk said in the pre-recorded segment that before he supported Trump, he was "worshipped" by leftists, and he compared the so-called "Trump Derangement Syndrome" on the left to rabies.

Golden Encyclopedia

▌What is Fractal Bitcoin

Fractal Bitcoin is an innovative blockchain expansion solution based on recursive virtualization technology. It enhances the scalability of Bitcoin by creating a multi-layer network structure while maintaining a secure connection with the main network. The creation background of Fractal Bitcoin stems from the emergence of the Ordinals protocol and related applications in 2023. For security reasons, Bitcoin has imposed restrictions on opcodes and block storage space in its iterations. When the Bitcoin chain ecosystem develops rapidly, there are limitations in chain computing power and block space, so developers have proposed the concept of fractal Bitcoin, hoping to solve the shortcomings of the Bitcoin network.

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.