WLFI increases its holdings of $50 million in DeFi tokens, Tether mints 1 billion USDT

Headline

▌Trump family project WLFI increases holdings of $50 million worth of DeFi tokens

According to Arkham tracking data, Trump family DeFi project WLFI has just increased holdings of $50 million worth of DeFi tokens, including: $35 million in ETH/WETH; $10 million in cbBTC; $1 million in LINK; $1 million in AAVE, etc.

▌Tether mints 1 billion more USDT

According to Lookonchain monitoring, Tether minted 1 billion more USDT 15 minutes ago.

Since November 6, Tether has minted 21 billion USDT on the Ethereum and Tron blockchains.

Market

As of press time, according to Coingecko data:

BTC's latest transaction price is $100,136, with a daily increase or decrease of -1.1%;

ETH's latest transaction price is $3,889.08, with a daily increase or decrease of +1.5%;

BNB's latest transaction price is $707.56, with a daily increase or decrease of -0.7%;

SOL's latest transaction price is $227.33, with a daily increase or decrease of +0.0%；

DOGE's latest transaction price is 0.4076 yuan, with a daily increase or decrease of -1.4%；

XPR's latest transaction price is 2.35 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of -1.8%。

Policy

▌Crypto-supporting Congressman French Hill wins the chairmanship of the Financial Services Committee

Crypto supporter, U.S. Congressman French Hill of Arkansas defeated three other competitors and won the chairmanship of the Financial Services Committee.  

It is reported that French Hill said in the Unchained podcast in July that stablecoins and market structure legislation would be the two bills he most wanted to pass after becoming chairman.

▌Texas Republican Representative Submits Bill to Establish Bitcoin Strategic Reserve

Giovanni Capriglione, a Republican representative from Texas, announced the introduction of legislation to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve, which will serve as a testing ground for the U.S. Treasury Department. The proposed bill would enable the state to begin establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve, receiving taxes, fees and donations through Bitcoin, which will be retained for at least five years. The bill is designed to provide a way to strengthen the state's fiscal stability and make it a leader in Bitcoin innovation. 

Capriglione said that the biggest enemy of our investment may be inflation, and creating a strategic Bitcoin reserve and investing in Bitcoin will be a win-win for the country. I just submitted the bill, titled "Establishing Bitcoin Reserves within the Texas Treasury Department and Government Entities Managing Cryptocurrencies." Texas is not only the second largest state in the U.S. economy, but also the region with the highest concentration of Bitcoin miners in the country.

▌Trump: I think the United States should establish a strategic reserve of cryptocurrencies like oil

On December 12, 2024, Trump was interviewed by CNBC Jim Cramer after attending the New York Stock Exchange bell ringing. Jim Cramer asked Trump, "You are embracing crypto technology, which is very different from the previous administration. Will you establish a strategic reserve of cryptocurrencies like oil?" Trump said, "Yes, I think so." Trump also said that we will do something great in crypto technology because we don't want China or any other country - not just China - to embrace crypto, we want to be the leader.  

In addition, Trump also emphasized that the United States will maintain its leading position in artificial intelligence, and at the same time, the United States needs to produce twice as much electricity as the current level to meet energy needs.

Blockchain Applications

▌Electric Capital: Solana surpasses Ethereum to become the fastest growing ecosystem in terms of new developers

A developer report released by venture capital firm Electric Capital found that Solana is the blockchain of choice for new developers. The report found that of the 39,148 new developers who began exploring cryptocurrencies this year, 7,625 were developing on Solana, meaning the number of developers on the network grew 83% year-on-year. The report said this is the first time since 2016 that the Solana blockchain ecosystem has grown faster than Ethereum.  

However, in terms of the total number of developers, Ethereum is still the largest blockchain in North America, South America, Asia, Europe and Africa. In terms of the number of developers, Solana ranks second in the same region.  

Electric Capital's report also found that Aptos, Base, Bitcoin, Internet Computer, NEAR, Polkadot, Polygon, Starknet and Sui each added more than 1,000 developers in 2024. In addition, BNB, Optimism, Scroll, Stellar and TON also added 500 new developers.

Crypto

▌Report: Emerging Markets Lead in Crypto Adoption in 2024

According to a survey report released by Consensys, emerging markets are leading in cryptocurrency adoption in 2024, with at least half of respondents in Nigeria (84%), South Africa (66%), Vietnam (60%), the Philippines (54%) and India (50%) saying they have a crypto wallet in 2024. Turkey and the United States also ranked highly, with 44% and 43% of respondents saying they have a wallet, respectively.  

Cryptocurrency ownership increased in several countries in 2024, including Mexico with an 8% increase, the Philippines and South Africa with a 7% increase, followed by Germany with a 5% increase and Japan with a 4% increase.  

According to the survey, about 40% of respondents own cryptocurrencies or have purchased cryptocurrencies in the past. The proportion is lower in Japan, Argentina, Canada, France, Italy and the United Kingdom, where less than a third of respondents have ever purchased any digital assets.

▌CryptoQuant: Ethereum may break through $5,000 due to increased institutional demand

According to a new report from CryptoQuant, Ethereum may soon break through $5,000 due to increased institutional demand, which would mark an all-time high price for the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Not only that, but on-chain activity is also active. The company said in a report on Thursday that inflows into new Ethereum ETFs set a record.  

Last week, global investors poured $1.2 billion of new money into Ethereum funds, a record a few months after spot ETH funds began trading in the U.S.

▌American think tank NCPPR proposes Amazon to include Bitcoin in its financial reserves

The National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), an American think tank, has proposed that Amazon add Bitcoin to its financial reserves. NCPPR believes that Bitcoin can be used as a hedge against currency depreciation, but it remains to be seen whether Amazon will adopt more innovative strategies. Amazon may vote on the NCPPR proposal at its annual shareholders meeting in May 2025.

▌Chainalysis expands Solana coverage to Pump.fun platform's Meme coin

Blockchain analysis company Chainalysis announced that it will expand its Solana token coverage to Pump.fun platform's Meme coin. Matthew Wilson, the company's product director, said that from the deployment of the SPL contract, Chainalysis provides comprehensive alerts, risk exposure and tracking functions to help exchanges achieve compliance and assist governments in investigating fraud and "cutting leeks".

▌US hedge fund Starboard Value has invested in Riot Platforms and is pushing the company to improve its business model

According to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, US hedge fund Starboard Value has invested in Riot Platforms, with its specific shareholding unknown, and is pushing the company to improve its business model.  

Starboard has reportedly been urging Riot to turn some of its bitcoin mining sites into data centers in order to host machines and provide high-performance computing (HPC) for large technology companies. Riot is currently a "pure" bitcoin miner, with revenue coming only from bitcoin mining, while some of its peers, such as Core Scientific (CORZ), use a large number of its facilities for HPC and artificial intelligence computing.

Important Economic Dynamics

▌The winning bid yield of the U.S. 30-year Treasury bond issuance is 4.535%, higher than the pre-issuance transaction yield

The U.S. Treasury Department issued another $22 billion in 30-year Treasury bonds, with a winning bid yield of 4.535%, and the pre-issuance transaction yield was 4.523% when the bidding closed at 1 p.m. New York time. The primary dealers received an allocation ratio of 14.4%, higher than the previous time. The allocation ratio of direct bidders fell to 19.1%, and the allocation ratio of indirect bidders rose to 66.5%. The bid-to-cover ratio was 2.39 times, lower than the average of 2.42 times in the past six renewal transactions.

▌The probability of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by 25 basis points in December is 94.7%

According to CME's "Fed Watch", the probability of the Federal Reserve maintaining the current interest rate unchanged by December is 5.3%, and the probability of a cumulative interest rate cut of 25 basis points is 94.7%. The probability of maintaining the current interest rate unchanged by January next year is 4.1%, the probability of a cumulative interest rate cut of 25 basis points is 73.7%, and the probability of a cumulative interest rate cut of 50 basis points is 22.3%.

▌Trump: For me, the stock market is everything

U.S. President-elect Trump rang the opening bell on Thursday at the New York Stock Exchange, and he was named Person of the Year 2024 by Time magazine on the same day. After the bell rang, Trump said in an interview, "If you don't make (goods) here (in the United States), you have to pay a 21% tax. If you make it here, we will work hard to reduce the tax rate to 15%. You must make your products in the United States." Trump also attributed the recent rise in the stock market to his victory over Biden (not Harris), "I have always said that for me, the stock market is everything. This is very important." He also revealed that he will establish closer ties with some of the richest and most influential people after returning to the White House.

Golden Encyclopedia

▌What is Rollup?

Rollup is a way of processing transactions on the Layer 2 protocol that frees up valuable space on the base layer. Rollup folds transactions one by one on the second layer, sometimes dozens of times, and then rolls them together before sending the data back to Layer 1. There are two main types of Rollup, optimistic and zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs. Optimistic Rollup is a fairly clear term. It means that Rollup runs with an "optimistic" approach, assuming that transactions are valid unless the validator proves them wrong. Only when there is a dispute do they check the validity of the transaction. ZK Rollup proves transactions without revealing any transaction data. Hence, it is called "zero knowledge". ZK Rollup provides instant finality because the cryptographic proof guarantees that the data is valid. In many ways, Rollup is to your standard blockchain transaction like Calzone is to your ordinary pizza slice. By rolling, you can put more things in.

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.