Trump nominates Bitcoin supporter Howard Lutnick for Secretary of Commerce; Metaplanet's stock rises 15% following latest Bitcoin acquisition. Trump has nominated crypto-friendly Howard Lutnick to lead the U.S. Department of Commerce. Japanese investment firm Metaplanet's stock closed up over 15% on Tuesday after announcing its latest Bitcoin acquisition. Securitize launches "sToken" to gain liquidity from real-world assets through the ERC-4626 token standard. BIT Mining will pay a $10 million criminal fine to settle the U.S. Department of Justice's investigation into an alleged bribery scheme. Coinbase will suspend trading of wrapped Bitcoin on December 19, but users will still be able to withdraw wBTC tokens after the delisting.

Happy Tuesday! In today's newsletter, Donald Trump nominates bitcoin-backer Howard Lutnick to lead the U.S. Department of Commerce rather than the Treasury, Metaplanet shares jump 15% after its latest bitcoin acquisition, Securitize introduces a new way to get DeFi liquidity from real-world assets and more.Meanwhile, Wall Street giants are loading up on MicroStrategy shares as MSTR outperforms bitcoin year-to-date.Plus, competing AI agent tokens within the ai16z community spur debate as prices whipsaw.Let's get started.President-elect Donald Trump has nominated the crypto-friendly Howard Lutnick to lead the U.S. Department of Commerce, according to a statement on Truth Social.Shares in the Japanese investment firm Metaplanet closed up more than 15% on Tuesday after the company announced its latest bitcoin acquisition.Tokenization firm Securitize has introduced the "sToken," a new way to gain liquidity from real-world assets while still earning a yield, using the ERC-4626 token standard.BIT Mining, which rebranded from online sports lottery service 500.com in 2021 to focus on cryptocurrency mining, will pay a $10 million criminal penalty to resolve a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into an alleged bribing scheme.Coinbase will suspend trading in wrapped bitcoin on Dec. 19, citing its routine asset reviews, but users can still withdraw their wBTC tokens after delisting.Never miss a beat withThe Block's daily digestof the most influential events happening across the digital asset ecosystem.

Trump nominates Lutnick as Secretary of Commerce, Metaplanet's stock price rises due to Bitcoin acquisition.