Will Bitcoin Hit $1M? 🤑
In today’s edition: 💰 Binance's $2.7B CFTC fine, 🔧 Zilliqa's production halt, 💶 $EURC debuts on Solana, 🏛️ Warren slams crypto lobbying, and more!
Unlock your application’s full potential with the LayerZero interoperability protocol. Connect to 40+ blockchains. Enable cross-chain contract execution and native asset transfer. Secure by Google Cloud, Polyhedra and more.
VaultCraft by Popcorn is your no-code, DeFi toolkit for building automated, non-custodial yield strategies. Learn more on vaultcraft.io about how you can supercharge your crypto portfolio!
What’s Poppin’?
by Brandy Betz and Samyuktha Sriram
US Court Approves Order for Binance to Pay CFTC $2.7 Billion Fine
A U.S. Court has entered an order against Binance and its former CEO Changpeng Zhao, approving billions of dollars in fines to the CFTC.
Technical Issue Disrupts Block Production on Zilliqa
Daily transactions on the Zilliqa blockchain dropped 47% to under 35,000 after a technical issue interrupted block production on Sunday.
Circle’s Euro-Backed Stablecoin $EURC Goes Live on Solana
Users can now convert EUR to and from EURC on the high-speed blockchain.
Answer Our Annual Survey! 👕🍵
Hey Unchained Community!
We're conducting our annual survey and your input is crucial. Tell us about your experience with Unchained, suggest improvements, and share your wishes for future content.
As a thank-you, you could win some exclusive Unchained merch!
Swan founder and CEO Cory Klippsten is all-in on Bitcoin. Not only does he believe that Bitcoin is poised to reach $1 million by 2030, he also thinks most alt-coins add little to no value and will eventually all go to zero. Accordingly, his company is a massive bet on the future of Bitcoin, from educating people about the world’s first crypto and convincing them to eventually self-custody, to making private equity investments in the Bitcoin ecosystem, to eventually planning to launch the first US Bitcoin-only trust company to create a safer environment for investors.
Here he talks to Unchained about his crypto journey, the likely impact of spot Bitcoin ETFs on crypto adoption and prices, his extreme skepticism about Bitcoin Ordinals, when he first knew Sam Bankman-Fried was a fraud and why he thinks that crypto VCs have done a “massive disservice” to the world.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Or watch it on YouTube.
Daily Bits…✍️✍️✍️
📊 BlackRock's proposed spot bitcoin ETF, with a new ticker named IBIT, updated its filing with the SEC, including new terms for cash redemption and bitcoin exchange mechanisms.
💼 Crypto asset manager 7RCC applied to offer a spot bitcoin ETF with a mix of bitcoin and carbon credits futures, aiming to reflect the price of bitcoin and the value of Carbon Credit Futures.
📺 Bitwise Asset Management launched an advertising campaign for their upcoming Bitcoin ETF, featuring actor Jonathan Goldsmith, known as the "Most Interesting Man in the World."
📜 Senator Elizabeth Warren criticized the Blockchain Association for lobbying efforts, alleging they undermine bipartisan efforts to address cryptocurrency's role in financing terrorist organizations.
⚖️ A judge ruled that DCG cannot sell or reduce its ownership in Genesis during the company's ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, aiming to preserve tax benefits.
💹 Galaxy Digital's assets under management have tripled to $5.3 billion, partly due to managing holdings of bankrupt crypto firm FTX, and the firm is now eyeing other bankrupt crypto firms' assets.
⌛ The SEC delayed decisions on multiple Ethereum-focused ETFs, including Hashdex and Grayscale, and is seeking public input on whether they should be allowed to list.
🗳️ Coinbase, together with a crypto-focused group including Kraken and Ripple, raised $78 million to support pro-innovation political candidates in 2024.
💼 The UK introduced new regulations for its Digital Securities Sandbox, effective January 8, 2024, supervised jointly by the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority.
📱 Helium Mobile updated its terms to address suspicious signups, now requiring new subscribers to wait eight days before claiming MOBILE tokens for sharing location data.
🔒 Digital bank Revolut plans to suspend some crypto services for UK business clients due to new Financial Conduct Authority rules, effective January 3, 2024.
The $$$ Corner…
🔀 Metaverse firm Improbable sold its gaming subsidiary MPG to Keywords Studios for nearly $100 million, refocusing on expanding within the metaverse sector.
🌐 MetisDAO Foundation, behind Ethereum Layer-2 network Metis, announced a $100 million fund to support its ecosystem, including sequencer mining and new project deployments.
What Do You Meme?
Recommended Reads
Multicoin Capital: Oracles and the New Frontier for Application-Owned Orderflow Auctions
DL News: Pro traders cash in Bitcoin bets to trigger first crypto fund outflows since October
📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is up 5%, trading at $43,134
ETH is up 4.7%, trading at $2,240
BTC dominance: 49.94%
Crypto market cap: $1.69T
*All data as of today, 06:20 am ET
ICYMI: On Unchained Premium
👯♀️ Refer Unchained with a friend and earn a Premium subscription
⛓️ Join Unchained Premium to get access to:
🎙️ Behind-the-scenes interviews, in which I talk with crypto experts and entrepreneurs to learn all about the latest developments in the industry.
💬 A subscriber-only Telegram group, where you can talk with the other members of the Unchained community, build a network in crypto, and talk directly with me and the Unchained team!
📰 Transcripts of all the shows, for subscribers only.