Good Morning,

Here's a quick preview of today’s content: El Salvador wants to use volcanoes to mine bitcoin, Trump owns $5.4M worth of crypto, pumpdotfun puts a halt to the livestreams, Anthony Scaramucci is convinced the Democrats lost the election because of crypto, and more

Happy Tuesday, let’s dive in.

Market Snapshot

• BTC and ETH options contracts worth $9.4B and $1.3B will expire on Friday (CD)

  • Bitcoin's max pain price is $78,000, significantly lower than the current spot price

  • The max pain price is the price point where the option holders experience the greatest losses, while the market makers who are the option sellers achieve maximum profit.

• XRP continues to be the big cap winner holding above $1.50

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

• Donald Trump holds $5.4M in crypto with his top holding being a shock to many in the community (X) 

• Popular SOL wallet Phantom has announced that it is adding support for Base allowing connection other networks like Sol, ETH, and BTC in a single wallet (CS)

• Asset management firm WisdomTree Funds filed for an XRP ETF (CT)

• MicroStrategy added 55,500 of the largest cryptocurrency for $5.4B, bringing its holdings to 386.700 BTC worth nearly $38B (CT)

• Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson threatened legal action after the blockchain was omitted from the Wyoming Stablecoin project (CS)

• Pump.fun, a no-code platform for issuing tokens on the Solana, halted its livestream feature after users began using extreme tactics to increase demand for their coins (TD)

• Stablecoin issuer Tether minted an additional $3B in USDt tokens on Nov. 23 (CT)

• El Salvador toys with renting 170 volcanoes to Bitcoin miners (CS)

• Dogwifhat (WIF) jumped in value on after Robinhood announced that the Solana meme coin is now available for trading on its platform in the US (DC)

• Crypto ETFs saw a record $3.1B in net inflows last week (BK)

• Tron founder Justin Sun invested $30M in Donald Trump’s DeFi project World Liberty Financial (DC)

• VanEck has extended the fee waiver for its HODL spot Bitcoin ETF to the first $2.5B in assets or until Jan. 10, 2026 (CS)

• The saga of James Howells and his $716M Bitcoin fortune, lost in a Welsh landfill nearly a decade ago, has taken a new turn (CT)

• Alex Pertsev, the developer of crypto mixing protocol Tornado Cash, is now preparing for his appeal while behind bars (DH)

• Blockchain firm Aptos Labs added former Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein and OpenAI Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil to its advisory board (TB)

• The US Customs and Border Protection Agency is delaying US Bitcoin miners’ delivery of Bitmain Antminer ASICs at ports of entry (CT)

• Ripple launched a tokenized money market fund on the XRP Ledger (CN)

• NFT game developer Sky Mavis laid off a significant portion of its employees (DC)

• The Avalanche network is going through its largest upgrade its launch, with over $40M in rewards set to be unlocked (CT)

• Asset manager Hashdex has submitted its second amended application for a proposed ETF designed as a one-stop-shop cryptocurrency portfolio (CT)

• GCEX Group has announced that it has extended its partnership with Hex Trust, a fully-licensed provider of digital asset custody (FN)

Launches

• Cookie DAO launched Cookie.fun, a platform providing real-time tracking of AI agents’ performance across the blockchain and social media (CS)

• Turkey’s digital asset custodian Paribu to offer crypto custody services to institutional clients worldwide (TC)

Venture Capital

• Crypto-focused investment firm Metalayer held a $20M first close for its $25M crypto venture fund (CN) 

• Stablecoin yield products firm OpenTrade raised $4M in a seed extension round led by AlbionVC (TB)

Regulation

• The UK's proposed Property Bill aims to regulate cryptocurrencies and NFTs and treat them as taxable property (TB)

• The National Bank of Rwanda plans to establish crypto regulations for the country in 2025 (MB)

• The Bank of Russia highlighted the need for a clear regulatory framework to address the legal and tax uncertainties surrounding the tokenization real world assets (BT)

Extra Reads

• SkyBridge Founder Anthony Scaramucci analyzes the Democrats’ recent electoral flop and names crypto as a key reason for their loss. Full video here

• Pumpdotfun released a full statement covering recent events and actions they have made to secure the safety of users on the platform. Read here

Chart of the Day

Friendly reminder that Bitcoin did 30X after the 2016 halving, 8X after the 2020 halving, and only 0.5X so far after the 2024 halving.

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.