In partnership with

Good Morning,

Here's a quick preview of today’s content: Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs have officially been around for a year, and it’s been impressive. Plus XRP dominates headlines with case against SEC and surpassing $3 for the first time in 7 years, MicroStrategy looks to raise billions more, DOJ looks to return money from the Bitfinex hack, and more

Happy almost Friday, Let’s dive in.

Market Snapshot

• Bitcoin rebounds above $100k on Wednesday after dipping below $90k Monday

• Analysts note that crypto is in a “tug of war” with concerns of inflation and optimism with incoming administration in the U.S.

  • Last week, stronger than expected payroll numbers caused investors to dump growth oriented assets, likely a driving force in BTC price drop. This also led analysts to predict fewer-than-expected interest rate cuts by the fed

  • Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that inflation was lower than the expected .4% in December, sitting around .2% for the month

• Litecoin had a big day gaining over +17% after breaking news (see below)

Market Predictions

• Traders on Kalshi are currently predicting Bitcoin likely won’t reach $150k in 2025

• You can trade this market by checking out Kalshi

• Get a $20 bonus when you deposit $100 or more with code “LIT” on signup

Headline Roundup
^{_{The major headlines driving crypto markets}}

• SEC files last second appeal to overturn a court decision considering XRP not a security, coin rips in response (CB)

• Crypto hedge funds failed to beat Bitcoin in 2024 (BBG)

• Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer believes SEC will abandon lawsuit under new administration (WG)

• XRP hits $3 for the first time since 2018, surpassing BlackRock's market cap (TD) 

• Bitcoin ETFs see $36B net inflow in first year (YF)

• Litecoin ETF likely to come next after Canary Funds amended S-1 (CT)

• Trump plans for Bitcoin to hit $150K early in his presidency (X) 

• MicroStrategy seeks to raise $2B via a perpetual preferred stock offering (CD) 

• Chair Gary Gensler states that the SEC has 'never said' that Bitcoin and Ether are securities (TB)

• $1.5B of Bitcoin is inaccessible due to self-custody mismanagement (CS) 

• BitMEX fined $100M for violating the US Bank Secrecy Act (CT) 

• Pro-crypto Tom Emmer named vice chair of the House’s Digital Assets Subcommittee (TB) 

• Crypto now accounts for 25% of German stock exchange Boerse Stuttgart’s trading volume (CD)

• Trump-backed World Liberty Financial moves over $60M of ETH (TB) 

• NFT trading volume dropped 19% in 2024, its worst year since 2020 (TB) 

• Ethereum L2 revenue hits $277M in 2024, led by Base’s $92M (CS)

• Tether sues Swan Bitcoin over contract breaches with joint Bitcoin mining venture (CT) 

• NFT collection CryptoPunks floor rises 10% to 40.5 ETH over IP acquisition rumors (TD)

• Justin Sun dismisses questions about algorithmic stablecoin USDD’s 20% yield (TB) 

• Base memecoin Toshi jumps 130% after its addition to Coinbase’s listing roadmap (TB) 

• Helium's technology provided emergency cell service during Hurricane Helene (BW) 

• Solana’s Switchboard Protocol will integrate with Jito’s restaking platform (TB)

• Dubai announces 17 story crypto tower to be complete in 2027 (WG)

Fuel Your Ambitions

• 40g protein, plus 27 essential vitamins & minerals

• Ready in 30 seconds – just shake, sip, go

• New customers get 15% off with code BEHUEL15

Upgrade Your Nutrition Now

Launches

• Sony's Soneium L2 blockchain launch faces criticism for censoring memecoins (BW) 

Venture Capital

• Movement Labs is seeking to raise $100M at a $3B valuation in a Series B led by CoinFund (BT)

• RWA platform Brickken raises $2.5M in a seed round to support European expansion (CT) 

• Animoca Brands leads $2M seed round for on-chain farm life game BeraTone (PA)

• ChainAware receives $50,000 grant from ChainGPT to develop on-chain AI solutions (CW)

Regulation

• South Korea is preparing follow-up crypto regulation for the second half of 2025 (TB) 

• Thailand is considering approving the listing of local Bitcoin ETFs (DC)

• Arkansas lawmakers to ban mining operations near military facilities (CT)

• Crypto framework will be a priority according to U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chair (CT)

Cybersecurity

• DOJ files to return $9B of Bitcoin stolen from the 2016 Bitfinex hack (DC) 

• Former delivery driver must repay $3.8M or face 7 more years in prison for Bitcoin money laundering (DC)

• Hong Kong uses tokenized legal notices to target crypto wallets holding stolen assets (CT) 

Extra Reads

• The United States of Bitcoin - U.S. States are filing proposals to purchase Bitcoin

  Check out which states are making moves

Chart of the Day

11+ U.S. Financial Institutions launched Bitcoin ETFs 1 year ago, reaching $36B net inflows - here’s this visualized

Meme Dump

Pls send us crypto memes to be featured in the newsletter 🤝

🐦 Follow Us: Visit our X account for constant updates on all things web3, DeFi, and crypto.

💵 Litquidity Ventures: Accredited investors & qualified purchasers within the Litquidity community can gain access to alternative investments such as venture, late-stage growth, and private equity through Litquidity Ventures. Interested? Fill out this form.

☎️ Book a call with Lit: Want to pick Litquidity’s brain on business advice, insights, or just chat to say what’s up? Buy his time here.

📧 Launch your own newsletter: Have great content ideas and looking to launch your own publication? We highly recommend Beehiiv to get started.