Hodler’s Digest, January 5 – 11 – Cointelegraph Magazine

The main news of the week

New Hampshire, North Dakota Introduce Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Accounts

New Hampshire and North Dakota have become the latest US states to introduce legislation for systematic Bitcoin reserves, fueling ongoing pressure among lawmakers to divest the cryptocurrency in state treasuries.

According to Dennis Porter, CEO of the Satoshi Action Fund, the New Hampshire bill was introduced by Representative Keith Ammon, a Republican who represents the 40th District.

The New Hampshire bill does not specifically mention Bitcoin, but instead refers to “digital assets.” Porter said this is a way for state lawmakers to push through legislation without causing political friction.

That same day, legislation for systematic Bitcoin reserves was introduced in North Dakota, won by Rep. Nathan Toman, Rep. Josh Christie, and Sen. Jeff Barta.

Bitcoin Corporate Treasury Shareholder Proposal Submitted for Meta.

A Meta shareholder proposal submitted by Ethan Peck calls for the social media company to convert $72 billion in cash and a portion of short-term cash into bitcoin as a hedge against a possible currency downturn.

Peck Meta is losing 28 percent of its cash holdings over time due to inflation, and cited bonds that outperformed bitcoin by 1,262 percent over the past five years to receive the asset. Peck also wrote in the proposal:

Mark Zuckerberg named the goats ‘Bitcoin' and ‘Max.'

Peck is an employee of the National Center for Public Policy Research, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that promotes free-market policies, which has presented the Bitcoin Treasury shareholder proposals to Microsoft and Amazon in 2024. But Peck made a meta proposal on his behalf. Family share.

Bybit exchange has suspended services in India due to regulatory pressure

Citing regulatory developments, Bybit, a global crypto exchange, has announced a temporary suspension of its crypto trading services in India.

Starting January 12 at 8:00 UTC, BayBit ​​will restrict several services, including cryptocurrency trading, account openings, and ordering of other exchange products.

Bybit's decision is related to its goal to operate in “full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations,” the exchange said in a January 10 announcement.

“With recent changes from Indian regulators and continuing restrictions already in place, […] Indian users are temporarily unable to open new trades or access any products on the Bybit platform.

The announcement stated that there will be no problem with withdrawal of user funds even if transaction services are stopped.

56% of advisors more likely to invest after Trump win: Bitwise survey

More than half of US-based financial advisors who responded to a survey conducted by Bitwise said they are more interested in investing in crypto with Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election.

Bitwise's latest survey – conducted from November 14 to December 20 – asked 430 financial advisors about their views on crypto, revealing that 56% are more likely to invest this year following the results of the US election on November 5.

The crypto industry is widely anticipating President-elect Donald Trump's help in moving America toward a crypto-friendly environment. Jack Mallers, founder and CEO of Stroke, has said that Trump will likely issue an executive order on his first day in office designating bitcoin as a U.S. reserve asset.

UK judge dismisses $770 million Bitcoin trash hard drive case

James Howells, an IT engineer from Newport, Wales, has lost his legal battle to recover a hard drive containing more than $770 million worth of bitcoins.

In the year In 2009, Bitcoin was accidentally dumped on a buried hard drive and ended up in the trash. Newport City Council has banned the landfill due to local permit restrictions.

In the latest development, Judge Keyser KC, the commercial judge of the Welsh circuit, has thrown out the legal case of Howells, who wants to go to the Newport landfill to find the hard drive, according to the BBC report on January 9.

Kaiser said the legal case has “no realistic prospect” of success at a full trial.

In the year Since 2013, Howells has repeatedly sought the council's permission to access the site, offering a share of the missing bitcoins if the hard drive is found.

Winners and losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) at $94,691, Ether (ETH) at $3,271 and XRP at $2.34. According to CoinMarketCap, the total market cap is $3.31 trillion.

Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers for the week were XDC Network (XDC) at 14.56%, Bitcoin SV (BSV) at 10.95%, and Bitget Token (BGB) at 7.89%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week were THORChain (RUNE) at 32.05%, ai16z (AI16Z) at 31.64%, and dogwifhat (WIF) at 27.47%. Be sure to read Cointelegraph's market analysis for more information on crypto prices.

The most memorable quotes

“The year is 2035. Bitcoin is – and you can hold me to this – $1.5 million.”

Timothy Peterson, network economist

“I think AI can lead to an explosion of companies and an explosion of companies.”

Hunter Horsley, CEO of Bitwise

“The scams have many different variations, but one in particular directs the scammer to a cryptocurrency machine to deposit and send money. If you get a call from someone asking for payment in cryptocurrency or bitcoin, please hang up.”

Springfield, Massachusetts Police Department

“Unlike in the past, finding Trump-related incentives after the Jan. 20 inauguration cannot be ruled out. Futures voles also remained soft with a relatively neutral skew showing similar sentiment.

QCP Capital

“Loss from Team Trump's proposed pro-crypto and pro-business legislation could be offset by an extremely positive dollar liquidity environment, up to $612 billion in the first quarter.”

Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX

“Bitcoin's dip mainly points to interest rate hike from strong US economic data.”

Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget Research

Forecast of the week

Heading to the ‘Banana Singularity' where everything goes up: analyst

According to Real Vision co-founder and CEO Raul Paul, Crypto markets are in the “banana zone” and heading towards “banana singularity” or “when everything goes up”.

“Banana Zone” is a term coined by Pal to describe a period of significant price movement.

“Yes, we are still in the banana zone,” Paul said in a post on January 10, before adding that the first stage of this bull market happened in November last year.

Following that is the current period of consolidation – similar to the 2016/2017 cycle – Pal said before adding that “this will not last long”.

Looking ahead, Pal said the next stage of the “Banana Zone” is the “Banana Singularity”, the altcoin season when “everything goes up, then further consolidation”.

FUD of the week

Blender and Sinbad operators face US money laundering charges.

The US Department of Justice has indicted three Russian nationals on money laundering charges for their involvement in the operation of the cryptocurrencies Blender.io and Sinbad.io.

In a January 10 announcement, U.S. officials said the indictment of Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko, Alexander Evgenievich Oleinik and Anton Vyachalavevich Tarasov was returned to a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia.

U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan said the crypto-mixing services run by the trio allowed criminals “to deposit funds stolen from victims of ransomware, virtual currency thefts and other crimes,” the indictment said.

Russia seizes $10m in Bitcoin from ex-official on bribery charges

The Russian government took $10 million worth of bitcoins from a former law enforcement official, according to local reports.

Russian court enforcement officers have begun confiscating Bitcoin in a massive cryptocurrency-related bribery case from a former employee of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF).

The officers began the process to seize 1 billion Russian rubles ($10 million) – or roughly 103 BTC – from former ICRF employee Marat Tambiev, accused of crypto bribery in 2023, news agency TASS reported on January 8.

The seized bitcoins will be added to Russian state revenue as part of the legal process. Authorities reportedly accessed Tambiev's hardware cryptocurrency wallet, Ledger Nano X, to seize the assets.

Thai Police Arrest Nearly 1,000 Bitcoin Miners in Raids: Report

Thai police and security forces have reportedly seized 996 bitcoin mining equipment from a company they say illegally diverted electricity to operate the machines.

Bitcoin miners were taken on January 8 in Phanat Nikhom, Chon Buri, in the facility of JIT Co, Police Major General Monterey Teskan, the commander of the crime division told the Bangkok Post on January 9.

Electricity worth “hundreds of millions of baht” was allegedly stolen by GIT, with the lower figure of 100 million baht amounting to at least $2.88 million at current prices.

The operators were registered to conduct digital asset trading but allegedly used improvised power meters to run the mines at night. Nation Thailand reported on January 9 that “to avoid doubts, he actually used the power meter during the day.”

The best magazine stories of the week

Cypherpunk AI: A guide to uncensored, unbiased, anonymous AI in 2025

There are very good reasons to use uncensored, unbiased, open source AI models and use ChatGPT and Claude personally.

Trump's Bitcoin Policy Flawed in China, Deeply Fraudsters Broke: Asia Express

Former Bank of China VP slams Trump's bitcoin policy, South Korean institutions line up for crypto account, deep counterfeiters busted

Garbage collectors in Africa earn crypto income to support families with ReFi

Crypto is often criticized for not having real-world applications, but refinance projects are helping to clean up the environment in Tanzania and Kenya.

Editorial staff

Cointelegraph magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.