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This week, business intelligence company MicroStrategy increased its bitcoin (btc) reserve by $615 million. The drama surrounding the btc ETF spot continued, while a US court affirmed that Binance founder Changpeng Zhao remains in the country until his sentencing.
MicroStrategy accumulates, Trump distributes
- MicroStrategy continued its bitcoin buying spree on December 27 when the company purchased an additional 14,620 bitcoin at an average price of $42,110 per token, according to President Michael Saylor.
- The company now owns 189,150 bitcoin currently valued at $7.99 billion. MicroStrategy acquired these tokens at an average price of $31,168 per coin, or approximately $5.9 billion.
- Meanwhile, reports this week suggested that former US President Donald Trump could be distributing his ethereum (eth) holdings. The data shows that an ethereum wallet, which has been accumulating royalties from Trump's nft collection, transferred millions of eth to Coinbase.
ETF drama consumes BlackRock, VanEck, Coinbase and Bitwise
- Meanwhile, the drama surrounding the race for a btc spot ETF spread this week. VanEck became the latest asset manager to update its application for a spot btc ETF with the US SEC. In the update, the company adjusted its redemption method to cash only.
- Recall that Coinbase had been tapped by BlackRock and others for custody services in their btc spot ETF filings. This week, the US-based exchange replaced the CEO of its custodian entity with Rick Schonberg in what appears to be preparation for the approval of a spot ETF.
- BlackRock also made revelations that point to imminent approval of its product. The asset manager revealed on December 29 that JPMorgan Chase and Jane Street are authorized participants in the upcoming btc spot ETF.
- Amid the sustained ETF run, prominent asset management company Bitwise revealed this week that it would launch its btc spot ETF with $200 million in seed funding from an unnamed investor. Recall that BlackRock's initial financing amounted to $10 million.
Mt. Gox creditors finally receive payments
- This week also saw developments surrounding ongoing court cases and bankruptcy proceedings. Notably, some creditors of the defunct Mt. Gox exchange began receiving their compensations this week, almost a decade after the exchange collapsed with customers' btc tokens.
Judge declares LUNA security, Zhao punished
- In the case involving the US SEC and Terraform Labs, Judge Jed Rakoff ruled that Terra (LUNA) and the MIR token are unregistered securities, as the SEC argues. Recall that the agency sued Terraform Labs in February, alleging that they offered the tokens as securities without registration.
- Following a previous ruling barring him from leaving the United States ahead of his sentencing in February, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao made a second appeal to be allowed to leave the country. However, this week, a Seattle district court also denied this request.
- Despite the problems Zhao and Binance faced this year, the former saw his net worth appreciate by a whopping $25 billion this year due to the green market. Additionally, this week, Binance surpassed the 170 million user mark worldwide.
Global regulatory efforts
- The week also saw increased regulatory efforts around the world. Japan amended an existing crypto legislation to relax year-end crypto tax commitments for businesses.
- The amendment effectively ended the requirement that companies pay a mark-to-market tax on their cryptocurrency holdings.
- Hong Kong stated this week that it would now allow retail investors to purchase stablecoins in the region, as long as the issuers of the tokens are fully regulated by authorities.
- Shortly after the Central Bank of Nigeria relaxed its ban on cryptocurrency transactions, reports this week suggested that a group of banks in the country are looking to launch cNGN, a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the Nigerian naira.
- In a statement on December 28, Indian authorities warned that certain crypto exchanges, including Binance, Huobi, Kraken, KuCoin, Gate.io and MEXC, were violating anti-money laundering provisions in the country.
