Monday Crypto Industry Update: Dec 30 - Jan 5 📰

📊Market Highlights

- Bitcoin is up by 6.3% over the last 7 days, currently at $99,400
- Ethereum is currently sitting at $3,600 with a 7% increase last week
- Last week’s top 3 gainers were SPX (+69%), AIOZ (+45%), and XLM (+31%), while top 3 losers were HYPE (-11%), BGB (-5%), HNT (-2%)
- Crypto market’s Fear & Greed Index is at 60 Greed today
- Crypto market capitalization at $3.52 trillion, up 0.91% since yesterday
- Stablecoins market capitalization is up 0.66% in last 7 days, currently at $206 billion
- NFT sales volume is up by 67% in the last 7 days while total sales are up by 13% with 360,717 sales
- Transaction volume over the Bitcoin network more than doubled last year, with $8.7 trillions settled in 2023 and $19 trillion in 2024 over the network
- XRP surpasses USDT again to become 3rd largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization

🌐Blockchain Technology & Gaming

- Solana devs have created a quantum-proof vault called “Solana Winternitz Vault” on Solana blockchain to protect user funds from threats by quantum computers
- Crypto wallet Phantom states they won’t launch a token nor airdrop amid rumors
- First vote-to-earn memecoin Flockerz $FLOCK raises $8.9 million in presale
- Frax community voted to create frxUSD stablecoin backed by BlackRock’s BUIDL
- FlokiDAO voted to invest in Floki ETP funding
- Sonic SVM confirmed that players of its TikTok tap-to-earn game will receive a SONIC airdrop on Solana blockchain
- Crypto gaming franchise Illuvium to prioritize efforts on one game at a time in 2025 with first focus on Illuvium Arena
- Telegram to let users convert digital gifts into NFTs on TON network using Telegram Stars

📃Regulatory Updates

- Terraform labs co-founder Do Kwona appeared before US judge and pleaded not guilty
- Bitcoin mining company Hive Digital moves HQ from Vancouver, Canada to Texas, U.S, citing supportive crypto climate under Trump
- Korea’s Jeju Island will start using NFT tourist cards in H2 2025 to attract youth and crypto owners

💰Investments & Partnerships
- VCs are eyeing stablecoin products, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, AI and infrastructure in 2025 with crypto VC investment outperforming most tech sectors
- Digital asset brokerage firm FalconX has acquired crypto derivatives platform Arbelos Markets
- Crypto funding reached $13.6 billion in 2024, projected to hit $18 billion in 2025

🛡️Crypto Security
- According to CertiK, phishing scams were the biggest crypto security threat in 2024, totaling over $1 billion for attackers across 296 incidents
- Last year also saw a spike in ransomware, kidnappings and extortion in crypto

🗞️Miscellaneous
- MicroStrategy is seeking $2 billion raise through perpetual preferred stock offering to buy even more Bitcoin in Q1 2025
- Metaplanet wants to hold 10k $BTC, which means buying more than 8k $BTC as they currently hold 1,762 $BTC
- Odds of US Solana ETF listing at 77% according to VanEck’s Matthew Sigel
- Predictions claim that AI agent tokens will continue to outperform memecoins in 2025

***
Have a successful week ahead!🤝