Hodler’s Digest, Dec. 15 – 21 – Cointelegraph Magazine

High Tales of The Week

Hawk Tuah influencer speaks out after memecoin rug pull allegations

Haliey Welch, the influencer behind the viral “Hawk Tuah” video clip, has launched an announcement after a memecoin bearing her deal with was pumped and dumped rapidly after its December launch.

In a Dec. 20 X publish, Welch stated she was “totally cooperating” with legal professionals who represented buyers within the Hawk Tuah (HAWK) token.

The crypto customers filed a lawsuit towards the venture’s creators and companions — Welch herself was not named as a defendant within the go well with — alleging they engaged within the promotion and sale of an unregistered securities providing.

Cathie Wooden foresees startup M&A surge, $1M Bitcoin beneath Trump

Cathie Wooden, founding father of ARK Make investments, predicts a surge in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) will observe Donald Trump’s election and expects this inflow to “help revolutionary methods.”

In a Bloomberg interview, Wooden stated that US Federal Commerce Fee modifications might ease beforehand imposed regulatory boundaries that stifled M&As.

Wooden additionally reaffirmed her stance on Bitcoin, anticipating the cryptocurrency surpassing $1 million by 2030 and attributing the bullish sentiment to BTC’s fastened provide and shortage in comparison with gold.

With excessive expectations for the upcoming Trump administration, Wooden foresees a twin influence leading to a growth for M&As amongst tech startups and a possible parabolic worth motion pushed by diminished regulatory friction. 

Bankrupt Cryptopia change distributes $225M to hack victims

Liquidators of the bankrupt cryptocurrency change Cryptopia have began distributing tens of millions to customers affected by a hack that happened virtually six years in the past.

Cryptopia’s liquidating agency, Grant Thornton, on Dec. 20 introduced the beginning of distributions to greater than 10,000 verified account holders affected by Cryptopia’s hack in 2019.

Over the previous two days, verified account holders of Bitcoin and Dogecoin obtained crypto distributions price at the least 400 million New Zealand {dollars} ($225 million), the liquidator stated.

The payouts mark a big milestone in Cryptopia’s liquidation course of since Grant Thornton launched the Cryptopia claims portal in 2020.

Following this primary distribution, liquidators will proceed to observe the permitted course of, together with offering discover of deadlines earlier than distributing the remaining BTC, DOGE and different cash to account holders, Grant Thornton stated.

Craig Wright given suspended one-year sentence for contempt of courtroom

Controversial Australian pc scientist Craig Wright, who for years falsely claimed to be Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, has been given a one-year suspended sentence in the UK for contempt of courtroom.

In a Dec. 19 listening to, Choose James Mellor handed down a sentence to Wright for submitting lawsuits towards Bitcoin builders in violation of a courtroom order. Wright faces 12 months in jail, suspended for 2 years, after 5 counts of contempt of courtroom and a 145,000 British pound effective — roughly $180,000 on the time of publication.

The contempt ruling was a part of a case by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance, which filed a criticism towards Wright over breaching a July courtroom order to cease submitting lawsuits towards companies on the premise he was Satoshi. 

Bitfinex hacker speaks out after sentencing

Ilya Lichtenstein, the hacker who stole and laundered Bitcoin from the crypto change Bitfinex, has launched an announcement on social media after being sentenced to 5 years in jail.

In a Dec. 19 X publish, Lichtenstein reaffirmed most of the statements he made in courtroom resulting in his incarceration. He confessed to hacking Bitfinex in 2016 and laundering “hundreds of Bitcoin” however urged he wished to shoulder the whole lot of the blame somewhat than his spouse, Heather Morgan, who was additionally sentenced to jail time for her function in laundering Bitcoin.

“I knew what I used to be doing was mistaken and did it anyway as a result of I didn’t care, I didn’t care about anybody else besides myself,” stated Lichtenstein in a video message from jail, usually showing as if he had been studying a ready assertion. 

Winners and Losers

On the finish of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $97,321, Ether (ETH) at $3,464 and XRP at $2.28. The whole market cap is at $3.63 trillion, based on CoinMarketCap.

Among the many largest 100 cryptocurrencies, the highest three altcoin gainers of the week are Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) at 492.34%, HyperLiquid (HYPE) at 56.23% and Motion (MOVE) at 38.42%.

The highest three altcoin losers of the week are Aptos (APT) at 28.28%, dYdX (Native) (DYDX) at 28.05% and Curve DAO Token (CRV) at 28.18%. For more information on crypto costs, make certain to learn Cointelegraph’s market evaluation.

Most Memorable Quotations

“I count on $MARA would be the subsequent.”

Michael Saylor, co-founder of MicroStrategy

“The market will immediately get up to the truth that Trump has, at finest, one yr to enact any coverage modifications on or round January twentieth. This realization will result in a vicious sell-off in crypto and different Trump 2.0 fairness trades.”

Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX

“No to the digital euro, sure to a strategic Bitcoin reserve.”

Sarah Knafo, member of the European Parliament for France

“Welch’s involvement and her fame as a trusted public determine signaled to her followers and potential buyers that the venture was poised for achievement.”

Attorneys for Hawk Tuah memecoin buyers

“We’ve had such a bullish narrative over the past month that the market was fully unprepared for unhealthy information. Now we’re seeing indiscriminate promoting.”

Pav Hundal, lead market analyst at Swyftx

“At the moment I’m stepping away from Aptos Labs to start out a brand new chapter.”

Mohammad Shaikh, co-founder and CEO of Aptos Labs

Prediction of The Week

Bitcoin correction ‘virtually achieved’ as realized losses rise above weekly common

On Dec. 20, Bitcoin’s day by day chart produced three consecutive crimson candles for the primary time for the reason that first week of November, which coincidentally was the lead-up interval to Donald Trump’s US election victory.

One other similarity between the final time three or extra crimson candles had been noticed on the day by day chart was that Bitcoin retested the 50-day EMA degree.

With BTC’s worth dropping by greater than 15% since its all-time excessive, one analyst stated that a lot of the drawdown is doubtlessly over for the most important cryptocurrency.

With Bitcoin worth falling beneath $93,000 on Dec. 20, Captain Faibik, a pseudonymous impartial crypto dealer, stated that BTC’s correction was approaching a conclusion.

In an X publish, the dealer highlighted that BTC’s present decline is due to an enormous bearish divergence between its worth and relative power index over the previous month. Such divergences are often adopted by an 8%-to-10% fall, which is taken into account a “wholesome reset.”

FUD of The Week

Alleged SEC hacker allowed to journey for the holidays

Eric Council Jr., the person who allegedly hacked america Securities and Alternate Fee’s X account in January and posted a message suggesting that Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) had been permitted, can be allowed to journey for the vacations. 

In a Dec. 13 submitting with the US District Court docket for the District of Columbia, Choose Amy Berman Jackson stated Council might journey to North Carolina with a third-party custodian between Dec. 23 and 29. The choose stated the alleged hacker “should present Pre-Trial Companies along with his exact itinerary and knowledge regarding the place he can be staying at the least two enterprise days earlier than touring.”

Council pleaded not responsible to hacking the SEC’s X account on Jan. 9 and posting a message suggesting the fee had greenlighted spot Bitcoin ETFs at a time when many within the business anticipated a call. The faux message, full with a quote from SEC Chair Gary Gensler, shook markets earlier than the fee formally permitted the funding autos roughly 24 hours later.

Trump’s inauguration might set off crypto sell-off, says Arthur Hayes

Cryptocurrency market commentators and observers have predicted optimistic market tendencies related to United States President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, however BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes has a distinct perspective.

Hayes cautioned towards the excessive expectations of fast crypto coverage modifications promised by Trump, highlighting a spot between market anticipation and the realities of coverage implementation.

In his “Trump Reality” weblog publish printed on Dec. 17, Hayes stated his funding fund, Maelstrom, plans to trim some positions early to purchase later at decrease costs within the first half of 2025.

Not like many forecasters, Hayes doubts that the US and different international locations will begin creating nationwide Bitcoin reserves any time quickly.

Bybit to halt crypto companies in France by January 2025

Bybit, a world cryptocurrency change, stated it is going to halt withdrawal and custody companies for French customers beginning Jan. 8, 2025, at 8:00 am UTC, amid a rise in regulatory scrutiny by French monetary authorities.

The corporate suggested affected customers to withdraw their funds earlier than the deadline to keep away from issues with account entry or fund transfers.

Bybit plans to switch unclaimed belongings exceeding 10 USD Coin to Coinhouse, a licensed cryptocurrency custodian in France. Customers might want to full a verification course of with Coinhouse to regain entry to their holdings. For accounts with balances beneath 10 USDC, Bybit will impose a termination payment equal to 10 USDC, deducting it from out there belongings.

The transfer displays rising regulatory pressures on world crypto exchanges as laws in lots of jurisdictions seems to be to get a tighter grip on crypto.

High Journal Tales of The Week

5 actual use instances for ineffective memecoins

Memecoins aren’t ineffective: They get round securities legal guidelines, they don’t enrich VCs, they usually’re heaps of enjoyable too.

Rise of MicroStrategy clones, Asia dominates crypto adoption: Asia Specific 2024 evaluate

Saylor’s Bitcoin technique breeds clones in Asia, mass pig butchering rip-off facilities raided, Lazarus’ outdated and new ways, and extra. Asia Specific 12 months in Evaluation.

The 1 true signal an NFT bull market is again on: Wale, NFT Collector

Pudgy’s are at Walmart and Doodles are at McDonald’s, however Wale says a extra important improvement will show the NFT bull market is again on.

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