Hodler’s Digest, December 8 – 14 – The Scientology Magazine

JPMorgan raises price targets on Bitcoin mining stocks

Analysts at JPMorgan raised price targets for four Bitcoin mining stocks to reflect the value of miners' electricity assets and BTC holdings, according to a report shared with Cointelegraph on Dec. 10.

To see improvements, mining operations MARA Holdings (MARA), CleanSpark (CLSK), Riot Platforms (RIOT) and IREN (IREN), refers to the report written by analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce. Each stock is already trading near or above its revised price target.

“Previously, we used to value Bitcoin miners based on the four-year gross profit potential for each operator,” the analysts said. “We are expanding this framework by including 1) the value of each company's land and energy assets. […] and 2) the HODL premium, which causes miners to hold bitcoins on their balance sheet as a micro-strategy.

NY regulator approves Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin – Brad Garling House

Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse reports that the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has approved the firm's RLUSD stablecoin after months of speculation.

In a December 10 X post, Garlinghouse will soon announce Ripple's RLUSD exchange and partner details after NYDFS approval. The company launched a stablecoin in April as a competitor to Ter's USDt and USDC.

Ripple executives estimate that the stablecoin could reach a market capitalization of $2 trillion by 2028. The company began testing RLUSD on the XRP registry and Ethereum mainnet in August, and announced that it has partnered with exchanges including Uphold, Bitstamp, Bitso, MoonPay, Independent Reserve, CoinMENA and more. Bullish, in October.

Bitwise predicts 2025 crypto IPO — Kraken, Circle to go public

Crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF) issuer Bitwise predicts that at least five “crypto unicorns” will go public by 2025.

The so-called crypto bank Anchorage Digital, analytics firm Chainalysis and crypto exchange Image are three other firms expected to launch initial public offerings (IPOs) next year, Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hogan and head of research Ryan Rasmussen said in their “10 Crypto Predictions for 2025” report on December 10. .

Investor interest, institutional adoption, a favorable macro environment and a warm political environment are the main factors that led the pair to name 2025 as the “Year of the Crypto IPO”.

Riot Platforms raised $500M to buy Bitcoin at a time when its price was rising

Riot Platforms proposes to raise $500 million to buy more Bitcoin. The company may undertake a private bond issue to qualified institutional investors. The decision comes as Bitcoin hovers around an all-time high and other industry heavyweights make big purchases at higher prices.

Riot can provide highly customizable notes with personalized notebooks. Buyers have the option to purchase an additional $75 million of notes within three days of initial purchase. He stated that the offering will be subject to market conditions, and there is no mention of interest payments.

The Notes will be senior unsecured obligations with a maturity date of January 15, 2030 and will be redeemable or convertible into Riot common stock at the Company's option. The conversion rate and other terms are determined at the time of pricing.

Riot said it will use the money to “acquire additional bitcoins and for general corporate purposes.”

Riot held 10,427 BTC at the end of the third quarter of the year after producing 1,104 BTC and selling nothing in that quarter. It produced 844 BTC in the last quarter.

Beans boss Richard Teng said re-entering the US market is a ‘premature discussion'

Binance CEO Richard Teng said it was too early to discuss whether the crypto exchange could re-establish itself in the US as a pro-crypto president is now set to take office after being forced out a year ago.

On December 9, he told Bloomberg TV, after being asked if Binance was looking for a way to return to the country or if it could relaunch the Binance USD, “I think this is a premature discussion even if we re-enter the US market” stable coin.

“For now, we will focus on our international work,” he said, hinting that the exchange will begin to capture market share and allocate institutions, sovereign wealth funds and high-net-worth individuals. this place”

Binance exited the US as part of a $4.3 billion settlement with the US government in November 2023 for sanctions violations, money laundering and unauthorized money transfer.

Winners and losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) at $101,296, Ether (ETH) at $3,900 and XRP at $2.43. According to CoinMarketCap, the total market cap is $3.63 trillion.

Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers for the week were Bitget Token (BGB) at 35.26%, Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) at 35.26%, and Aave (AAVE) at 33.74%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week were Celestia (TIA) at 23.16%, Worldcoin (WLD) at 22.53% and EOS (EOS) at 21.08%. Be sure to read Cointelegraph's market analysis for more information on crypto prices.

The most memorable quotes

“I feel like this is turning into a ‘digital currency for dummies'. And unfortunately, I'm a dummy!”

Jon Stewart, comedian

“We don't see any intrinsic reason for Bitcoin to be correlated with major risk assets in the long term because its price is driven by such unique drivers.”

Blackrock, Asset Manager

We are not obsessed with being first because we are focused on delivering value to customers and continuously growing.

Redstone co-founder Marcin Kazmirczak

“Last month, Americans voted for pro-innovation leadership, and this Sherrod Brown bait-and-switch goes directly against the will of voters.”

Cedar Innovation Foundation

“Bitcoin's energy usage does not come from the transactions, so it can increase the transaction volume significantly without increasing emissions.”

Daniel Batten, Bitcoin environmental protection

“Some alts may continue to run for a short period of time, but most may slow down or intensify their bleeding for 2-6 weeks.”

Felix Hartmann, venture capitalist

Forecast of the week

2025 ‘Demand Shock' Will Increase Bitcoin Price – Signum

By 2025, increasing institutional inflows could cause a “demand shock” for Bitcoin and push up the price of BTC, according to a Dec. 12 report by crypto-focused asset manager Signum Bank.

Institutional capital flows are having a “multiplier effect” on BTC's spot price, with each $1 billion of net inflows into spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) driving roughly 3-6% price movement, according to Signum's Crypto Market Outlook 2025 report.

Signum expects this dynamic to accelerate in 2025 as large institutional investors – including sovereign wealth funds, endowments and pension funds – increase their Bitcoin allocations.

“With improving US regulatory transparency and Bitcoin's potential as a central bank reserve asset, 2025 could represent a significant increase in institutional participation in crypto assets,” Martin Berger, Signum's chief customer officer, said in a statement.

FUD of the week

Dogecoin flaw exploited by hackers, 69% of nodes crashes

A hacker exploited a critical vulnerability in the Dogecoin network, causing 69% of its nodes to crash.

On December 12, Andreas Kohl, co-founder of the Bitcoin sidechain Sequentia, said that 69% of the Dogecoin network crashed. Cole said he used an old laptop in El Salvador to carry out the stunt.

According to data from Blockchain, Dogecoin had 647 active nodes before the vulnerability was exploited. At the time of writing, Dogecoin had 315 active nodes.

Cole said he used a vulnerability discovered by researcher Tobias Rook to break the node.

On December 4th, an X tag called “DOGE Efficiency Department” publicly disclosed a vulnerability in the Dogecoin network that could have completely crashed the chain. According to the account, the “DogeReaper” vulnerability allows anyone to remotely hack any Dogecoin node.

Australia has introduced strict crypto laws to curb financial crimes.

Australia has introduced strict Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (AML/CTF) laws aimed at strengthening regulation of the cryptocurrency industry to combat financial crimes.

The proposed rules, introduced by the Australian Trade Reports and Analysis Center (AUSTRAC), follow amendments to the AML/CTF Act passed by Parliament in November.

The revised framework aims to close regulatory loopholes, improve oversight of high-risk sectors, increase customer due diligence measures, enforce stricter reporting obligations and enforce stricter rules for businesses.

The draft rules are open for public consultation until February 14, 2025, with AUSTRAC calling on industry stakeholders – particularly those in crypto and financial services – to provide feedback to inform the final version of the framework.

Australia fines Kraken operator $5m for regulatory violations

An Australian federal court has fined the Australian operator of US-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken 8 million Australian dollars ($5.1 million) for colluding with the country's corporate regulators.

In a December 12 ruling, Judge John Nicholas ordered BitTrade, which operates Kraken Australia, to pay the fine within 60 days and cover court costs. The court found that BitTrade did not comply with the design and distribution obligations and acted as a credit institution without a license.

The fine is less than the $12.8 million requested by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, which Nicholas described as “excessive”. Still, the judge overruled BitTrade's request to cap the fine at $2.5 million, which they deemed “inadequate.”

“The court recognizes our compliance efforts, but we are disappointed with the outcome of this case,” a Kraken spokesperson told Cointelegraph.

The best magazine stories of the week

How Shibtoshi gambled 37 ETH and became a Shiba Inu billionaire

Shibtoshi described the whaler's dilemma: He had a Shiba Inu worth $5.7 billion, but he couldn't sell much without crashing the price.

Crypto sleuth's death mystery, Japanese exchange listings on Nasdaq: Asia Express

Taiwan investigates death of top crypto sleuth, Indian company takes bitcoin as reserve asset and Japanese crypto exchange lists on Nasdaq.

Influencers shilling memecoin scams face serious legal consequences.

Influencers face hefty fines for promoting memecoin scams and pump-and-dump schemes, while insider trading can lead to criminal charges.

Editorial staff

Cointelegraph magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.