In partnership with

Good Morning,

Here's a quick preview of today’s content: Billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio has a hot take about Bitcoin that sends the space into a frenzy, crypto market bounces back after a slump start to the week, a meme coin less than an appealing name soars, Italy is walking back its crypto tax, and more

Before we jump into today’s newsletter…

Prediction traders are forecasting Bitcoin will get as high as $146k before 2026 (K)

Our friends at Kalshi are providing a $20 bonus for new users after trading their first $100 if you use the code LIT at sign up - make your BTC prediction here

Happy Almost Friday, Let’s dive in.

Market Snapshot

• Bitcoin recovered from declines earlier in the week, retaking the $101,000 level during U.S. morning hours on Wednesday

• The broader CoinDesk 20 Index is ahead nearly 11% over that same time frame, led by XRP's 15% advance

  • All assets in the 20 are trading higher with RENDER leading the pack (13.5%)

• AI-related tokens were among the larger gainers, perhaps boosted by a report that Apple is working on an AI chip with Broadcom

  • NEAR Protocol (NEAR), Internet Computer (ICP) and Render (RENDER) are all up by 15% or more over the past 24 hours

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

• Billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio prefers Bitcoin over debt (DC) 

• FTX debtors secured ~$14.5M in November from political donations (CS) 

• Bitcoin Jesus Roger Ver claims US DOJ targets him for his Bitcoin advocacy, not taxes (CT) 

• a16z Crypto policy lead Quintenz is in running for CFTC chair (BBG)

• Binance partnered with Circle to expand USDC-denominated offerings (BBG)

• SOCTUS rejected Nvidia's appeal to avoid lawsuit tied to crypto mining (RT)

• Pastor charged in $6M crypto fraud scheme that targeted church members (DC)

• Trader turns $2.5K into $200K by longing XRP on 500x leverage (CD)

• Web3 travel platform Travala surpasses $100M in annual revenue (CD) 

• SEC charges three scammers for $2.9M Bitcoin-related fraud (CS) 

• Fartcoin surges over 69% in the last 24 hours (DC) 

• Bybit expands merchant rewards program in Africa on its P2P platform (CD) 

• Magic Labs, a passwordless wallet solutions provider, integrates Kadena blockchain (CT) 

• Bitwise predicts that Coinbase could be included in the S&P 500 in 2025 (CD)

• Pudgy Penguins NFT floor price broke through $100,000 (DC)

• Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms has successfully completed a $525M senior note offering (CS)

• Binance CEO CZ said Bitcoin could surpass gold’s market capitalization which would value the coin at $870k (CS)

Long Angle: A Vetted Community for High-Net-Worth Entrepreneurs and Executives

• Private, vetted community offering confidential discussions and education

• Entrepreneurs and executives, 30–55 years old, with $5M to $100M net worth

• Preferential access to top-tier alternative investments

Join Long Angle Today

Launches

• Magic Eden token ME crashes 64% at launch due to technical challenges.(FM) 

Venture Capital

• VC funds invested nearly $800M in crypto startups in November (CS)

• Beam Foundation to debut a $150M gaming VC fund in Abu Dhabi (CT) 

• Morph launches VC Collective to support blockchain development and investment (EP)

• Haun Ventures and Dragonfly Capital have co-led a $9M funding round for Commonware, a startup building “state-of-the-art” blockchain primitives that enable developers to fine-tune their networks (TB)

Regulation

• Italy looks to scale back its planned tax on crypto (CD)  

• SEC advances BitWise’s Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs applications (CT) 

• Alabama state auditor endorses a state Bitcoin reserve (CT) 

• Hong Kong lawmaker question government on potential Bitcoin investment strategy (CS)

Cybersecurity

• Crypto user loses $7.8M worth of SolvBTC from a phishing scam (CS)

Extra Reads

• There’s been a lot of ‘FUD’ (fear, unknown, doubt) about quantum computers being able to hack Bitcoin after the recent Google Willow announcement.
  
  Here is a video that explains why this won’t happen
  

• What is a stablecoin? Everything you need to know here

Chart of the Day

Crypto had a big bounce back Wednesday with the CoinDesk 20 showing substantial gains. Below are the top gainers for the day.

For the full breakdown read here

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.