Uncategorized
Crypto Daybook Americas: Bitcoin Buzzes With Anticipation Before Trump’s Inauguration
By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)
The crypto world is buzzing as President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration nears. Bitcoin is holding above $100,000 and altcoins like SOL, ADA, LINK, XRP and LTC are shining as it’s not just about a potential strategic bitcoin reserve anymore. Reports suggest Trump could announce crypto as a policy priority.
Things are heating up for ether too. A blockchain address associated with Trump’s World Liberty Finance (WLF) project snapped up nearly $10 million of ETH this week, according to Arkham Intelligence. And keep your eyes on layer-1 blockchain Near Protocol’s NEAR. The token’s supply dynamics look bullish, with the ratio of staked to unstaked NEAR rising, according to data source Flipside.
Overall, the outlook for the crypto market is bullish, as Wednesday’s U.S. CPI report has eased inflation concerns, allowing traders to focus on Trump’s swearing-in. On-chain analysis from 21Shares shows there’s still plenty of upside left for BTC.
That said, consider the possibility of a price drop if a major announcement doesn’t materialize on Trump’s first day.
«The macroeconomic backdrop remains supportive, with unemployment trending downward, inflation showing signs of easing, and the market riding a wave of enthusiasm tied to Trump’s inauguration,» Valentin Fournier, an analyst at BRN, said. «We maintain a bullish outlook for Q1, though a correction could happen this week if the new administration doesn’t outline a solid action plan.»
Note that BTC is trading at a discount on Coinbase relative to Binance in a sign of weak demand from U.S. investors. Plus, Arkham Intelligence data shows a whale moved BTC worth over $1 billion to Coinbase on Thursday. Transfers to exchanges typically represent an investor intention to sell.
And watch out for inflation worries creeping back. The U.S. PPI, which shows price pressures building up in the pipeline, rose above the CPI in December for the first time since 2022. Stay alert!
What to Watch
Crypto
Jan. 17: Oral arguments at the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in KalshiEX LLC v. CFTC, where the CFTC is appealing the district court’s ruling favoring Kalshi’s Congressional Control Contracts.
Jan. 23: First deadline for a decision by the SEC on NYSE Arca’s Dec. 3 proposal to list and trade shares of Grayscale Solana Trust (GSOL), a closed-end trust, as an ETF.
Jan. 25: First deadline for SEC decisions on proposals for four new spot solana ETFs: Bitwise Solana ETF, Canary Solana ETF, 21Shares Core Solana ETF and VanEck Solana Trust, which are all sponsored by Cboe BZX Exchange.
Feb. 4: MicroStrategy Inc. (MSTR) reports Q4 earnings before the market opens.
Macro
Jan. 17, 8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Census Bureau releases December’s Monthly New Residential Construction report.
Building Permits (Preliminary) Est. 1.46M vs. Prev. 1.493M.
Building Permits MoM (Preliminary) Prev. 5.2%.
Housing Starts Est. 1.32M vs. Prev. 1.289M.
Housing Starts MoM Prev. -1.8%.
Token Events
Governance votes & calls
ApeChain is voting on a revamped governance process for 75% of the on-chain treasury to be directed to DAO treasury contract and the remaining 25% to the Ape Foundation for administrative and support purposes. Voting began Jan. 17 and will last for 13 days.
The Aave DAO is discussing a joint incentive program with Polygon that would require $3 million to enhance liquidity and adoption of Aave on the Polygon blockchain.
Unlocks
Jan. 17: ApeCoin (APE) to unlock 2.16% of its circulating supply, worth $18.1 million
Jan. 17: QuantixAI (QAI) to unlock 4.79% of its circulating supply, worth $21.28 million
Jan. 18: Ondo (ONDO) to unlock 134% of its circulating supply, worth $2.19 billion.
Jan. 21: Fasttoken (FTN) to unlock 4.6% of circulating supply worth $76 million.
Token Launches
Jan. 17: Solv Protocol (SOLV) to be listed on Binance.
Conferences:
Day 12 of 14: Starknet, an Ethereum layer 2, is holding its Winter Hackathon (online).
Day 5 of 12: Swiss WEB3FEST Winter Edition 2025 (Zug, Zurich, St. Moritz, Davos)
Jan. 18: BitcoinDay (Naples, Florida)
Jan. 20-24: World Economic Forum Annual Meeting (Davos-Klosters, Switzerland)
Jan. 21: Frankfurt Tokenization Conference 2025
Jan. 25-26: Catstanbul 2025 (Istanbul). The first community conference for Jupiter, a decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator built on Solana.
Jan 30-31: Plan B Forum (San Salvador, El Salvador)
Feb. 3: Digital Assets Forum (London)
Feb. 18-20: Consensus Hong Kong
Token Talk
By Oliver Knight
Litecoin (LTC) led the pack over the past 24 hours after a Nasdaq 19B-4 filing paved the way to roll out an LTC exchange traded-fund (ETF). The token rose 17% to overtake bitcoin cash (BCH) in terms of market cap.
Ethereum developers confirmed that the mainnet Pectra upgrade will take place in March, with a series of hard forks planned on Ethereum testnets in February. The upgrade will improve wallet functionality and increase the native staking limit to 2,048 ETH from 32 ETH. This increase means larger stakers like Coinbase and restaking protocols will be able to control fewer validators, reducing complexity. Coinbase currently has tens of thousands of validators.
Altcoin whales are aggressively buying solana (SOL) in the lead-up to Donald Trump’s inauguration. One particular wallet, reported by Lookonchain, bought $2.49 million worth of SOL and withdrew an additional $3.94 million worth out of Binance. It then deposited a total of 144,817 SOL ($30.4 million) into lending platform Kamino before borrowing $20 million of stablecoins. This is effectively taking a long position on SOL as when the value of the underlying asset rises, the user will have to pay less stablecoin.
Derivatives Positioning
Litecoin is the best-performing coin in terms of futures open interest growth and positive CVD readings that imply net buying pressure.
HYPE stands out as overheated, with annualized funding rates in excess of 100%, according to Velo Data. The elevated funding rate indicates overcrowding in bullish bets.
BTC’s annualized one-month futures basis on the CME has climbed above 12%, surpassing ETH’s 11%. BTC, ETH CME futures open interest, however, remains little changed and well below December highs.
BTC, ETH options on Deribit show bias for calls.
Market Movements:
BTC is down 2.17% from 4 p.m. ET Thursday at $102,319.71 (24hrs: +3.15%)
ETH is up 3.13% at $3,424.04 (24hrs: +3.22%)
CoinDesk 20 is up 1.36% at 3,960.57 (24hrs: +4.36%)
Ether staking yield is unchanged at 3.1%
BTC funding rate is at 0.0092% (10.12% annualized) on Binance
DXY is unchanged at 109.02
Gold is up 0.67% at $2,730.60/oz
Silver is down 1.3% at $31.28/oz
Nikkei 225 closed -0.31% to 38,451.46
Hang Seng closed +0.31% to 19584.06,
FTSE is up 1.06% at 8,481.19
Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.66% at 5,140.87
DJIA closed on Thursday -0.16% to 43,153.13
S&P 500 closed -0.21% to 5,937.34
Nasdaq closed -0.89% to 19,338.29
S&P/TSX Composite Index closed +0.23% to 24846.2
S&P 40 Latin America closed -1.41% to 2,230.95
U.S. 10-year Treasury is down 2 bp at 4.6%
E-mini S&P 500 futures are unchanged at 5,993.50
E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are down 0.32% at 21,332.25
E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index futures are unchanged at 43,496.00
Bitcoin Stats:
BTC Dominance: 57.49
Ethereum to bitcoin ratio: 0.0334
Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 784 EH/s
Hashprice (spot): $57.0
Total Fees: 7.34 BTC/ $731,223
CME Futures Open Interest: 178,755 BTC
BTC priced in gold: 37.8 oz
BTC vs gold market cap: 10.75%
Technical Analysis
The dollar index’s (DXY) rally has stalled, but the bullish trendline characterizing the uptrend from 100 is still intact.
A renewed bounce from the trendline support could create a headwind to risk assets.
Crypto Equities
MicroStrategy (MSTR): closed on Thursday at $367 (+1.77%), up 3.26% at $378.98 in pre-market.
Coinbase Global (COIN): closed at $281.63 (+2.44%), up 2.68% at $289.28 in pre-market.
Galaxy Digital Holdings (GLXY): closed at C$28.77(+3.01%).
MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $18.3 (+0.83%), up 3.17% at $18.88 in pre-market.
Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $13.29 (-1.29%), up 3.24% at $13.72 in pre-market.
Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $14.63 (+0.69%), up 1.71% at $14.88 in pre-market.
CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $11.18 (-0.18%), up 3.58% at $11.58 in pre-market.
CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $24.60 (+0.12%), up 2.93% at $25.32 in pre-market.
Semler Scientific (SMLR): closed at $58.24 (+3.8%), up 2.76% at $59.85 in pre-market.
Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $37.87 (+7.1%), up 5.62% at $40 in pre-market.
ETF Flows
Spot BTC ETFs:
Daily net flow: $527.9 million
Cumulative net flows: $38.04 billion
Total BTC holdings ~ 1.14 million.
Spot ETH ETFs
Daily net flow: $166.59 million
Cumulative net flows: $2.64 billion
Total ETH holdings ~ 3.57 million.
Source: Farside Investors
Overnight Flows
Chart of the Day
The chart shows trends in NEAR’s circulating supply staked or locked in the blockchain in return for rewards, versus supply unstaked.
The rate at which NEAR holders are staking their coins is increasing, creating a bullish demand-supply dynamic for the token.
While You Were Sleeping
Bitcoin’s ‘Coinbase Premium’ Muted Amid Reports Trump Plans to Designate Crypto a National Policy (CoinDesk): President-elect Trump is reportedly planning to prioritize cryptocurrency with an executive order, but the BTC price differential between Coinbase and Binance signals a lack of enthusiasm among U.S. investors ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration.
XRP Volume Overtakes Bitcoin on Coinbase as U.S. Investor Interest Grows (CoinDesk): XRP accounted for 25% of Coinbase’s trading volume in the past 24 hours, driven by rising U.S. interest and speculation about an XRP ETF.
Bitcoin Miners Have Started 2025 on a Strong Footing, JPMorgan Says (CoinDesk): JPMorgan notes that 12 of 14 monitored mining stocks delivered stronger returns than bitcoin early this year, supported by a 51% annual hashrate surge.
BOJ Likely to Keep Hawkish Policy Pledge, Raise Rates Next Week, Sources Say (Reuters): Markets predict an 80% likelihood the Bank of Japan will raise the interest rate to 0.5% next week, the highest since 2008.
China Hits 5% GDP Target but Trump Tariffs Threaten Further Growth (Bloomberg): China achieved 5% GDP growth in 2024, driven by stimulus and strong exports. Upcoming U.S. tariffs and weak domestic demand may hinder future progress.
European Markets Near an All-Time High Ahead of Earnings Season (Euronews): European stocks rose this week, with Germany’s DAX hitting record highs over the past two sessions. The Euro Stoxx 600 gained 0.81%, driven by strong luxury and technology earnings and expectations of looser ECB policy.
In the Ether
Crypto staking, under certain circumstances, does not appear to implicate U.S. securities law, a branch of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said late Thursday.
The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance published a staff statement — the latest in a series from the regulator — spelling out how the regulator may evaluate proof-of-stake networks, mainly noting that covered activities do not «involve the offer and sale of securities» — meaning the SEC won’t sue any person or company participating in those activities.
Node operators and validators, custodians, delegates, nominators and entities staking assets either on their own, staking directly with a third party or staking on behalf of an asset’s owners fall into this bucket, the staff statement said. In this, the SEC seems to suggest that staking will be treated identically to mining, the consensus mechanism securing networks like Bitcoin BTC, which the SEC clarified also did not implicate securities laws in a similar staff statement last month.
The SEC’s staff statement was «very clear for a subject that can be a little bit complicated,» said Lorien Gabel, the CEO of staking-focused crypto firm Figment. And its main upside appears to be saying that various activities U.S. companies might have shied away from in the past are okay now.
«They included some ancillary staking activities. For example, we provide insurance around slashing [and we also provide] modified unbonding periods,» he said. «And they said that actually doesn’t mean that you’re a manager of assets as a staking provider.»
The SEC statement said companies that want to provide those types of services, or even pooled staking, can do so, he said.
Thursday’s statement is an incremental but important update from the regulator, said Alison Mangiero, the head of staking policy at the Crypto Council for Innovation.
«This reaffirms that there’s going to be similar treatment for stakers that there is for miners. And I think it’s especially important because, given under [former SEC Chair Gary] Gensler, there were so many enforcement actions that were focused on staking as a service … we saw a lot of those cases dismissed, and the Coinbase case dismissed with prejudice,» she said. «We assumed that this would be the stance, but actually having a staff statement that asserts it, I think is crucially important.»
The fact it came just days before the SEC faces a deadline on a number of applications to bring staking into spot ether ETH exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is telling, she said.
It’s likely that the ETF providers would have received staking approvals regardless, but the SEC statement will likely start speeding up the process for securing those approvals, Gabel said.
As with the SEC’s previous staff statements, Thursday’s included a footnote clarifying that it is very narrowly tailored and certain restrictions would apply. It is not a replacement for rulemaking done through the actual commissioners and «has no legal force or effect,» the footnote said.
«This statement only addresses certain activities involving Covered Crypto Assets that do not have intrinsic economic properties or rights, such as generating a passive yield or conveying rights to future income, profits, or assets of a business enterprise,» another footnote said.
Fastex, a Dubai-based crypto exchange, is expanding its presence in the U.S., building out an office in Los Angeles, California.
According to a Thursday announcement, Fastex will offer spot crypto trading services of tokens including bitcoin BTC, ether ETH, Cardano ADA, Solana SOL and its native utility token, Fasttoken FTN, to both retail and institutional investors in the U.S.
Fastex’s American expansion comes as the U.S. continues to overhaul its approach to crypto regulation under President Donald Trump’s administration. Since Trump took office in January, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has retreated from the so-called regulation-by-enforcement approach to crypto it took under former Chair Gary Gensler, dropping a host of open investigations and closing ongoing litigation against crypto exchanges.
In an interview with CoinDesk at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas, Fastex’s Chief Legal Officer and board member Vardan Khachatryan said that the SEC’s softened stance toward crypto regulation played a major role in the exchange’s decision to expand in the U.S., though he acknowledged that there is still no concrete legal framework for crypto in the country.
“There has been enough of a policy change, at least in terms of [how the U.S. government is] viewing things, that allowed us to go for this,” Khachatryan said. “It’s still kind of a risk, but it’s a lower risk.”
With a host of crypto companies returning to the U.S. due to the Trump Administration’s crypto-friendly policies, cities like New York are hoping to attract companies expanding to the U.S. to set up shop in their jurisdictions.
But, while Khachatryan said New York would be “the right place to be in terms of headquarters,” he said that, for now, the prospect of obtaining a BitLicense — the notoriously difficult-to-obtain crypto license issued by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) — is prohibitive.
“I hope that things will change a bit,” Khachatryan said.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who has branded himself the “Bitcoin Mayor” in an attempt to lure crypto companies to New York, called for the end to the BitLicense regime during a speech at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
Read more: NYC Mayor Eric Adams Calls for End of the NYDFS BitLicense, Proposes BitBond
Fastex is currently headquartered in Dubai, in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). Khachatryan said the exchange is currently working on obtaining a license from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA).
After expanding in the U.S., Khachatryan said the exchange also has its eyes on a Latin American expansion, starting with Brazil, followed by Argentina and Mexico.
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Strategy (MSTR) Chair Michael Saylor waxed poetic about bitcoin in a keynote speech at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas on Thursday, laying out his guiding principles — his so-called “21 ways to wealth” — for a jam-packed audience of fans and conference-goers.
“Satoshi started a fire in cyberspace, and while the fearful run from it and fools dance around it, the faithful feed the flame, dreaming of a better world, and bathe in the warm glow of cyberlight,” Saylor said. “What does that mean? It means that a lot of people that look at Bitcoin are going to be afraid of it. They’ll never touch it. They’ll never benefit from it. They’ll be left behind. Then others will just juggle it. They will juggle the fire. They will make fireworks with the fire. They will create trinkets with the fire. They will create magic tricks with the fire. But those that truly understand it will feed the fire. How do you feed the fire? You feed the fire by buying Bitcoin. “
Saylor — who has taken on a near-mythic status in the bitcoin community for his leadership of Strategy, a publicly-traded technology company-turned-bitcoin treasury company, which holds approximately 3% of the total bitcoin supply — said that people should trade their other, inferior assets for bitcoin.
“Take your fiat currency, trade it for bitcoin. Take your long term capital, trade it for bitcoin. Sell your bonds, trade [them] for Bitcoin. Sell your inferior equity, sell your inferior real estate property, buy bitcoin,” Saylor said. “Feed the fire, and what will come of that? An extraordinary explosion in the network and [in] the power of the network, and you will have bought your ticket to prosperity.”
Thus was Saylor’s third way to wealth — courage — which he said meant that wealth “favors those who embrace intelligent monetary risk.”
Bitcoin, like other assets, rises in price if more people buy it, though Saylor did not mention this effect during his speech.
In addition to courage, Saylor advised the audience to have conviction in bitcoin’s potential, to stay committed to one cause, to cooperate with their families and children, to embrace artificial intelligence, to consider civility when engaging with the “natural power structures of the world,” and to remember to be generous.
“When you are successful — and you will be successful — get up every morning and spread happiness, share security, and deliver hope to those less fortunate than you,” Saylor said. “You found the path first, you found the way first. You should spread good karma.”
Crypto Staking Doesn’t Violate U.S. Securities Law, SEC Says
Fastex Expands U.S. Presence With Los Angeles Office
Strategy Chair Michael Saylor Shares ‘21 Ways to Wealth’ in Vegas Keynote
-
Fashion8 месяцев agoThese \’90s fashion trends are making a comeback in 2017
-
Entertainment8 месяцев ago
The final 6 \’Game of Thrones\’ episodes might feel like a full season
-
Fashion8 месяцев ago
According to Dior Couture, this taboo fashion accessory is back
-
Entertainment8 месяцев ago
The old and New Edition cast comes together to perform
-
Business8 месяцев ago
Uber and Lyft are finally available in all of New York State
-
Sports8 месяцев ago
Phillies\’ Aaron Altherr makes mind-boggling barehanded play
-
Entertainment8 месяцев ago
\’Better Call Saul\’ has been renewed for a fourth season
-
Sports8 месяцев ago
Steph Curry finally got the contract he deserves from the Warriors