Hodler’s Digest, December 3-9 – Cointelegraph Magazine

This week's main news

Binance founder CZ must remain in the US pending sentencing.

Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has been ordered to remain in the United States pending his sentencing in February, after a federal judge ruled that the former crypto exchange's CEO was too much of a flight risk to be allowed to return to the United Arab Emirates. On December 7, Seattle District Court Judge Richard Jones ordered Zhao to stay in the US until February 23, 2024 for sentencing. He faces up to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to the money laundering charge on November 21 and has agreed not to appeal any sentence until then.

The House committee approved a bill to ‘protect America's leadership' in blockchain

A US congressional committee has unanimously approved pro-blockchain legislation, which could boost the nation's use of blockchain technology as the US secretary of commerce promotes blockchain distribution. The bill would cover steps the Commerce Secretary would take if passed, including establishing best practices, policies and recommendations for the public and private sectors when using blockchain technology. The bill now goes to the House for a vote. If approved, it must pass the Senate before returning for final congressional and presidential approval.

SEC pushes deadline for decision on Grayscale spot Ether ETF

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has delayed its decision on whether to approve an ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) offering from asset manager Grayscale. In an announcement, the SEC said NYSE Arca will be given an extended period of time to consider a rule change that would allow Grayscale Ethereum Trust shares to be listed and traded. Greyscale originally filed with the SEC to convert Greyscale Ethereum Trust shares into a spot ether ETF in October, adding its name to a list of companies awaiting a decision from the regulator.

Elon Musk xAI files with SEC for private sale of $1B in unregistered securities

Elon Musk's X-connected artificial intelligence model xAI has an $865.3 million private sale deal, according to a December 5 filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The company wants to collect. 1 billion dollars. XAI's product, a chatbot called Grok, was recently rolled out to X's Premium+ subscribers. Musk announced the launch of xAI in July, saying its goal is to “understand the universe.”

By the end of 2024, Bitcoin will set a new high, Binance will lose its top position – VanEck

Bitcoin will hit a new all-time high by the end of 2024 due to the long-feared US recession and regulatory shifts after the next US presidential election, asset manager VanEck has predicted. The company is confident that the first position Bitcoin ETFs will be approved in the first quarter of 2024. VanEyck is among several firms vying for a Bitcoin ETF spot, including BlackRock and Fidelity. Van Eyck believes that a BTC halving in April or May will “see minimal market disruption”, but there will be a price increase after the halving.

Winners and losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) at $44,402, Ether (ETH) at $2,364 and XRP at $0.66. According to CoinMarketCap, the total market cap is $1.65 trillion.

Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers for the week were Bonk (BONK) at 203.10%, ORDI (ORDI) at 134.34% and BitTorrent (BTT) at 114.32%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Maker (MKR) at -6.48%, UNUS SED LEO (LEO) at -6.22% and Kaspa (KAS) at 4.98%.

Be sure to read Cointelegraph's market analysis for more information on crypto prices.

The most memorable quotes

“The expected approval of the ETF will be positive news for the crypto market, which could lead to significant growth.”

Adam Barker, Senior Legal Counsel at Mercuo

The only real use case for it [crypto] It's criminals, drug dealers, money laundering, tax evasion.

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase

“Jamie Dimon is in no position to criticize Bitcoin with this kind of record.”

Gabor Gurbacs, strategy consultant at VanEck

“So for us, I think Bitcoin is our central bank. With that in mind, I think of Ethereum as an investment bank.”

Robbie Yung, CEO of Animoka Brands

“The ETF is definitely a key driver in sentiment.”

John de Wet, Head of Investments at ZeroCap

“It takes a community and an entire industry to figure out how to better educate people. That's the hard part. It's not a technology issue; it's an operational issue.”

Eowyn Chen, CEO of Trust Wallet

Forecast of the week

‘First Bull Market' — Bitcoin Price Sets 1st Golden Cross Weekly

A special chart feature is playing out for the first time in history, Bitcoin is lining up a “first bull market”.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on December 7th, entrepreneur Alistair Milne stated that Bitcoin will witness a crossing of its two weekly moving averages (MAs) in order to continue its current performance, which it has never experienced before.

The 50-week and 200-week MAs are key trends for Bitcoin traders and analysts. The last one is the support level of the bear market, and it has not decreased in price yet.

BTC price strength is on track to take the 50-week MA trendline above its 200-week counterpart. Known as a “golden cross”, on lower time frames, this is considered a classic symbol, and for a bullish, bullish event, a major loss can accumulate if the event occurs.

“The 50-week moving average will now bounce back from the 200-week MA for the 1st time making a ‘golden cross'. QED: An early bull market,” he wrote.

FUD of the week

Is Crypto for Criminals? JPMorgan was fined $39B and has its own token.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is being criticized by the crypto community after he said bitcoin and cryptocurrency's “only real use case” is to facilitate crime. But JPMorgan is the second-biggest fined bank since 2000, paying $39.3 billion in fines for 272 violations, according to Good Jobs First's breach tracker.

UK regulator adds Justin Sun-linked Poloniex to watch list after $100m hack

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has added crypto exchange Poloniex to its warning list of unauthorized companies. The Seychelles-based exchange is one of three companies owned or associated with entrepreneur Justin Sun that have suffered four hacks in the past two months. The warning to Poloniex was published on the FCA's website on 6 December. It does not give reasons but says “companies and individuals cannot promote financial services in the UK without the necessary authorization or licence”.

United States senators have targeted crypto to enforce sanctions against terrorist groups

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the United States Senate has introduced legislation to challenge the role of cryptocurrencies in financing terrorism, with explicit references to the October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas. The bill expands U.S. sanctions to include parties that finance terrorist organizations with cryptocurrency or fiat. According to Senator Mitt Romney, the law allows the US Treasury Department to go after “risks related to digital assets”.

The best magazine sections of the week

Legislators' fear and skepticism fuel proposed crypto regulations in the US.

If digital asset anti-counterfeiting legislation, many cryptocurrency providers would have to learn how to comply with the same regulations as traditional financial institutions.

Keep records broken by Bitcoin ETF: Brett Harrison (ex-FTX US), X Hall of Flame

Brett Harrison taught a promising young Sam Bankman-Fried program to traders on Jane Street, but he was not impressed with the man who became SBF.

Web3 Player: Want Games Bots? Illuvium's CEO admits that 42X up is ‘hard'

Games overrun with bots show care for bot owners, says Pixel founder. We also review Galaxy Fight Club, chat with the CEO of Illuvium.

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Editorial staff

Cointelegraph magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.