Weekly Market Highlights - Donald Trump Takes office as Bitcoin Reaches New Highs

24 January 2025Macro/TradFiBitcoin hit a new all-time high earlier this week, surpassing US$109K, before pulling back following President Donald Trump’s inauguration.Donald Trump signed an executive order forming a 'Presidential Working Group on Digital Asset Markets' to draft a federal regulatory framework for digital assets, assess stablecoins, and explore a 'strategic national digital assets stockpile’.Wyoming and Massachusetts lawmakers have introduced bills to allow state investments in Bitcoin (BTC), raising the total number of U.S. states with similar proposals to eight.Wintermute reported a 240% surge in institutional crypto trading via OTC in 2024, noting a growing preference for memecoins among TradFi institutions.SEC member Mark Uyeda was appointed acting chair of the financial regulator earlier this week and will serve until June 5, 2026, when permanent chair Paul Atkins assumes office. Uyeda has already launched a 'crypto task force' aimed at creating a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets.Caroline Pham has been named acting chair of the CFTC under Donald Trump. As commissioner, she has previously advocated for regulating digital assets in her role with the financial regulator.Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan stated in an interview with CNBC that U.S. banks are open to adopting cryptocurrency payments but emphasized the need for clear regulations before many TradFi institutions can move forward. MicroStrategy acquired an additional 11,000 BTC for US$1.1B at an average price of US$101,191 per Bitcoin.CryptoL1/L2:Ethereum developers are tentatively targeting to roll out the first phase of the Pectra upgrade in March 2025, featuring improvements to account abstraction, validator staking, and deposit/exit mechanisms to enhance efficiency and usability.Vitalik Buterin unveiled that 'large changes' are coming to the Ethereum Foundation's leadership, focused on improving communication and developer support while preserving its core mission.Telegram has chosen The Open Network (TON) as its exclusive blockchain partner, making TON the only supported network for Mini Apps and Toncoin the sole token for in-app purchases.DeFi:Jupiter distributed nearly 700M JUP tokens to 2M eligible wallets on Solana as part of its 'Jupuary' airdrop earlier in the week. Hyperliquid's daily trade volume hit a record high of over US$22B this week, driven by the recent listing of memecoins linked to U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.Others:Binance unveiled that users transferred US$26B in peer-to-peer remittances between 2022 and 2024, saving US$1.75B in fees.Circle has acquired Hashnote, the issuer of U.S. Yield Coin (USYC), a tokenized real-world asset (RWA) fund. The Jan. 21 announcement highlighted that this acquisition positions USYC as a preferred yield-bearing collateral in crypto markets.LINE NEXT, the Web3 arm of Asia’s leading messaging app, launched its first batch of Telegram-style dApps, accessible through LINE Messenger, to drive large-scale Web3 adoption in Asia.Latest Binance Research Publications Check out our latest publications:Full-Year 2024 & Themes for 2025Monthly Market Insights - January 2025Navigating Crypto: Industry MapThat’s a wrap!Binance ResearchAbout Binance Research: Binance Research is the research arm of Binance, the world's leading cryptocurrency exchange. The team is committed to delivering objective, independent, and comprehensive analysis and aims to be the thought leader in the crypto space. 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