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Celebrating 15 years of Bitcoin: Unravel the story of the world’s first cryptocurrency.
What’s Poppin’?
by Sage Young and Brandy Betz
The approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States is likely to help spot ETF offerings — as well as Bitcoin’s overall development — in other parts of the world, too.
The first Bitcoin block was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto, the cryptocurrency’s pseudonymous creator, in 2009, and there are several interesting mysteries associated with it.
BTC retreated to as low as $41,800 Wednesday morning, down from a high of $45K Tuesday as pundits, quants and other crypto gadflies analyze every utterance, rumor and on-chain metric to make sense of the price swing.
The banking giant is reportedly considering an authorized participant role for spot bitcoin ETFs, which many expect to receive SEC approval this month.
EigenLayer increased its restaking capacity in the middle of December, and since then the number of liquid staking tokens (LSTs) and ETH deposited into the protocol’s smart contracts has increased more than fivefold from about $250 million.
Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news. This week, they are joined by Laura Shin, the host of Unchained, to discuss the latest post from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who argues that crypto needs to get back to its idealistic cypherpunk roots. Is Vitalik the Pope of crypto, as Haseeb argues, and is there even a need for such an exemplary-type figure? And how do other influential crypto folks like Solana’s Anatoly Yakovenko and Tron’s Justin Sun fit into this dynamic? The gang also discusses the likely imminent approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. and what it might mean for Bitcoin’s price and Ordinals Inscriptions.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Or watch it on YouTube.
Daily Bits…✍️✍️✍️
🚨 The individual behind the $81.5 million Orbit bridge hack is suspected of conducting multiple cyberattacks in 2023, including against Coinspaid and Coinex, and is likely linked to the Lazarus group.
📈 Nasdaq is set to meet with the SEC to discuss the approval process for BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust and other spot bitcoin ETFs.
🚫 Huobi Korea announced its closure due to challenging business conditions, although users can still withdraw funds after the shutdown.
🪙 Binance applied "monitoring tags" to 10 cryptoassets, including Monero and Zcash, indicating heightened volatility and potential delisting risks.
🕵️♂️ dYdX's post-mortem report on the $9 million November attack revealed the identity of the attacker and ongoing legal considerations.
📜 South Korea proposed an amendment to prohibit the use of credit cards for purchasing cryptocurrencies, aiming to control speculative trading and illegal fund outflows.
💸 USDC stablecoin briefly deviated from its $1 peg on Binance, dropping to as low as $0.74, before quickly rebounding amidst market volatility.
🔍 A poll suggests non-crypto owners will be more inclined to invest if a spot bitcoin ETF is approved, indicating potential growth in crypto adoption.
🕵️♂️ HyperVerse, a crypto project allegedly backed by Chuck Norris, is under scrutiny amid claims that its CEO, Steven Reece Lewis, may not exist.
🏨 Tether cofounder Brock Pierce is embroiled in a legal battle over the ownership of the W resort in Puerto Rico, following a default on a line of credit.
📈 ENS, Ethereum's Name Service project's token, saw a significant surge in value after Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin emphasized its importance for the ecosystem.
The $$$ Corner…
🌱 Extended seed funding rounds are emerging as a new trend in crypto fundraising, offering startups more flexibility and less equity dilution.
What Do You Meme?
Recommended Reads
Nicholas Anthony on Cointelegraph: The right to a self-hosted wallet? Crypto laws Congress should pass in 2024
Sean Stein Smith on Forbes: 3 reasons why stablecoins will have a breakout year in 2024
Unchained: What Is Optimism in Ethereum?
📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is up 1.1%, trading at $43,70
ETH is down .4%, trading at $2,225
BTC dominance: 48.97%
Crypto market cap: $1.72T
*All data as of today, 07:07 am ET. Source: CoinGecko
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