Hodler’s Digest, December 1 – 7 – Cointelegraph Magazine

The main news of the week

SEC to Reject Bids for Spot Solana ETFs – Report

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission is set to reject applications for Spot Solana Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs).

Fox News' Eleanor Terrett reports that the agency has notified at least two of the five issuers seeking Solana ETF approval.

“The deal here, I'm told, is that the SEC will not be handling any new crypto ETFs under the current administration,” Terrett said on Dec. 6.

Several asset management firms have recently offered SOL ETFs, aiming to provide investors with direct exposure to the Solana market.

VanEyck was the first asset manager to file a 19b-4 with the agency on June 27, followed shortly by 21Shares on June 28 and Canary Capital in late October. Following Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election on November 6, Bitwise and Greyscale applied for the SOL Fund.

The price of Ether is back to $4K for the first time since March

After months of lackluster price performance, Ether price broke above the $4,000 price level – regaining levels not seen since March 2024.

According to data from CoinMarketCap, the price of Ethereum increased by 2.8% during the day and gained 10.7% in the last week.

Ether's positive performance follows trading volume below its monthly 200-day exponential moving average, which is a volatile support level. Currently, the relative strength index is approximately 71 and is entering overbought territory.

From August to early November, Ether showed sideways price action until the current rally ignited on November 6 in response to Donald Trump's election victory.

Analysts believe that the price of Ether could reach $7,000 in the current market cycle, boosted by cryptocurrency exchanges and the ecosystem of developers building on the Ethereum blockchain.

The price of Bitcoin reached 100 thousand dollars for the first time in history

The price of Bitcoin has reached $100,000 for the first time in history, a milestone for the cryptocurrency market after a year of strong growth.

Bitcoin hit the $100,000 price mark on December 5, weeks after reaching the $90,000 milestone on November 12, breaking a psychological level, according to TradingView.

Bitcoin also hit a new all-time high of $104,000 at 3:08 am UTC – 90 minutes after surpassing the $100,000 mark.

The year saw more than $31 billion in net inflows from funds that traded bitcoin in the United States, down from a quarter of Bitcoin's fall in April.

Republican Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election in early November, growing speculation about the strategic Bitcoin national reserve, and corporate adoption of Bitcoin led by microstrategist Michael Saylor contributed to Bitcoin's price rally.

Trump appointed Gensler as SEC chairman and Paul Atkins

United States President-elect Donald Trump has nominated pro-crypto Paul Atkins to appoint Gary Gensler as the new head of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In the Dec. 4 announcement, Trump highlighted Atkins' background and experience as a former SEC commissioner. Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Paul is the CEO and founder of Potomac Global Partners, a risk management consultancy. As co-chair of the Digital Chamber Token Alliance since 2017, he has worked and studied the digital assets industry. A former SEC commissioner from 2002-2008, Paul strongly advocated transparency and protection for investors.

Appointing a pro-crypto SEC commissioner to replace Gensler was one of Trump's promises to voters during the campaign and one of the highlights of his speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

Hawk Tuah memecoin drops 90% on controversial launch

The launch of viral influencer Hallie Welch's Hawk Tuh memecoin sparked outrage on social media after the newly-launched token was briefly inflated and quickly dropped amid a controversial deployment that included allegations of hackers and insider wallets.

Welch prohibits any insider selling or dealing on behalf of its group or any related parties.

The Hawk Tuah memecoin was launched on December 4 at 10:00 pm UTC and quickly rose to a market cap of $490 million.

After that, the token price plummeted and was trading at $41.7 million, a 91% drop in less than three hours at the time of publication, according to DEX Screener data.

Winners and losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) at $100,573, Ether (ETH) at $4,024 and XRP at $2.44. According to CoinMarketCap, the total market cap is $3.69 trillion.

Among the largest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers for the week were Curve DAO Token (CRV) at 129.67%, Hedera (HBAR) at 106.03% and JasmyCoin (JASMY) at 88.70%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week were Raydium (RAY) at 12.23%, BONK (BONK) at 8.17% and Stellar (XLM) at 6.31%. Be sure to read Cointelegraph's market analysis for more information on crypto prices.

The most memorable quotes

“If you take our crypto-cynicism as an expression of support for Tradfi, we're sorry, because we hate that too.”

Bryce Elder, City Editor, Alphaville at the Financial Times

“Paul Atkins to Lead SEC Brings Common Sense to Agency.”

Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse

“So if you're an asset that trades and moves in a memetic fashion, the sky's the limit because who knows that value?”

Murad Mahmudov, memecoin evangelist

“The widely predicted and reported suppression of the regulatory dominance of the entire industry has not been seen, but they are complaining about that.”

United States Securities and Exchange Commission

At Meteora's launch we tried to stop snipers as much as we could with a high payout.

Hallie Welch, Internet influencer

“In fact, ARK Invest believes that Bitcoin is a much bigger proposition than gold.”

Cathy Wood, founder and CEO of ARK Invest

Forecast of the week

Ether is set to overtake Bitcoin: Bybit.

Ether outperformed Bitcoin in the crypto exchange space and primary markets after the Nov. 5 US presidential election and continued its gains, according to a Dec. 2 report by crypto exchange Baybit.

In November, Ether “gained significant traction on BTC as reflected by sharp drops in the ratio between spot prices,” Bybit said in its November 2024 “Variable Review,” co-created by market researcher Block Scholes.

The growing demand for ETH options is also “pointed out.[t]Raiders are loving ETH,” Bybit said in a statement.

Ether's performance accelerated after US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler announced his plans to step down on November 21. Since then”[t]The latest action continues. “

Bibit said that ETH's loading dominance is “very clear in place”, according to TradingView, with the ratio of ETH to BTC rising to over 0.04 from 0.0325 on November 21st.

FUD of the week

FDIC asks banks to ‘pause' crypto activities – court documents

Court documents filed in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) show that the US regulator has asked some financial institutions to temporarily suspend crypto banking operations.

In a lawsuit filed Dec. 6 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the court released “cease and desist letters” sent by FDIC officials to the boards of directors of various U.S. banks whose names have been redacted.

In the year According to the letters sent in 2022, the FDIC asked institutions to “pause all crypto-asset-related activities” in response to uncertain regulations surrounding digital assets.

“The FDIC will notify all FDIC-supervised banks when a decision is made on supervisory expectations to engage in crypto asset-based activity,” some of the letters said.

Haley Welch could be sued if SEC starts HAWK.

This week, influencer Haley Welch's Hawk Tuh (HAWK) memecoin was marred by allegations of hacking and insider trading after a shocking launch, with the token plunging 91 percent in three hours.

Welch denied these claims, and authorities did not investigate.

However, Welch and her team could face intense legal scrutiny if the US Securities and Exchange Commission or the Department of Justice (DOJ) decide to investigate the controversial startup.

If HAWK qualifies as a security in the Hawaii test, it could pursue civil lawsuits alleging securities fraud, misrepresentation or deception in the sale of securities, according to Yuri Brysov, a partner at law firm Digital & Analog Partners. The DOJ may consider criminal charges such as wire fraud or money laundering, especially if there is evidence of intentional deception or financial misconduct.

On December 4, Welch launched the HAWK memecoin, which soared to a high of $490 million before dropping 90% to $30 million within hours.

Sky is under investigation into a $756 million misappropriation scandal.

Sky, formerly known as MakerDAO, is facing criticism for relying on an Externally Owned Account (EOA) to manage its $756 million USD Coin inventory in its Lite Peg Stability Module (PSM).

A concern about the protocol's dependency on EO was raised by an X user. Critics argue that this custodial model can leave funds vulnerable to potential exploits or insider abuse.

With the recent switch to Sky and the ability to implement future freeze functionality, the risk of misappropriation or misuse of these EOA-managed funds could further impact the protocol's reputation and user trust.

Magazine stories of the week

‘Normie degens' enter crypto token rewards for sports fans

Most people spend hours on social media or playing Candy Crush – I spend my time on fan tokens. What is the problem? A sports simulator requires a superfan.

‘China Micro Strategy' Meitu Sells All Bitcoin and Ethereum: Asia Express

‘Asia Micro Strategy' Meitu sold all 940 Bitcoins and 31K ETH – handing the title along with her 1100 BTC reserves to Japan's Metaplanet. Asia Express

Return 2025: Is Ethereum Ready to Meet Bitcoin and Solana?

Roadmap headwinds and FUD have hampered Ethereum's price performance in 2024, but there are signs that it may turn the corner in the new year.

Editorial staff

Cointelegraph magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.