PA Daily | Musk published tweets containing frog elements twice during the night; FLock.io launched mainnet and token generation activities on Base
Reprinted from panewslab
01/01/2025·4MToday’s news tips:
1. Montenegro’s Prime Minister said that the extradition process of Do Kwon to the United States has been completed
2. The IRS issues temporary cryptocurrency tax relief measures, allowing CeFi exchange users to bypass tax regulations in 2025
3.Sonic SVM: 57% of the total SONIC tokens will be distributed to the community, and TGE is scheduled for January 7, 2025
4.SPACE ID reveals its 2025 roadmap: plans to expand its business beyond Web3
5.FLock.io announces the launch of mainnet and token generation activities on Base
6Musk twice posted tweets containing frog elements
7.Dragonfly managing partner released predictions for six major areas in 2025: The difference between L1 and L2 is disappearing, and the EVM market share will still grow.
8.Messari releases six major predictions for 2025: Hyperliquid’s outperformance may be over, ETH will perform better than SOL
9. NFT sales will reach US$8.83 billion in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 1.1%
regulatory news
Montenegro PM says extradition process for Do Kwon to U.S. completed
Montenegro’s Prime Minister Milojko Spajic said on Tuesday that Montenegro had completed the extradition of Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon to the United States, Bloomberg reported. Spajic posted on the X platform: "This extradition demonstrates our unwavering commitment to international justice and the rule of law."
Do Kwon faces prosecution in New York and Seoul over the 2022 collapse of the $40 billion TerraUSD stablecoin. Last year, he was arrested in Montenegro for traveling on a forged passport. In April, Terraform and its founder Do Kwon were found guilty of fraud following a civil trial on charges brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Terraform has agreed to pay $4.5 billion to settle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Swiss federal government has officially begun reviewing a referendum proposal titled “Building a Financially Strong, Sovereignly Independent and Responsible Switzerland (Bitcoin Initiative).” The proposal, which has been published in the Federal Gazette and is now in the signature-collecting stage, aims to incorporate Bitcoin into the Swiss national financial system through a constitutional amendment.
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a temporary relief measure that will allow cryptocurrency holders on centralized exchanges to bypass strict tax regulations through 2025 and thus keep reporting and tracking digital asset sales, Bitcoin.com reports flexibility. The IRS's temporary relief allows taxpayers to continue to use their own records or tax software to identify the specific units being sold. “This means that if you sell assets within a CEFI broker, you can still use your books and records/crypto tax software to record the specific units you are selling,” said Chandrasekera. The reduction period only applies to CEFI transactions from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025. After this date, taxpayers will need to formally select an accounting method with their broker.
Ten regions in Russia imposed a complete ban on cryptocurrency mining on January 1, and three other regions implemented partial bans. The government decree, passed on December 23, stipulates a complete ban on mining from January 2025 to March 2031, and in three other regions during each heating season (from November 15 to March 2031) until 2031. On January 15, 2025, the ban will partially restrict mining (except for the first year starting from January 1, 2025). Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said at the end of December that the number of regions banning cryptocurrency mining may increase if requested by governors. Authorities in the Republic of Khakassia have asked the Energy Ministry to restrict mining activities in the region.
Syria proposes legalizing Bitcoin to boost economic recovery
The Syrian Economic Research Center has proposed a plan urging the transitional government to adopt Bitcoin and other digital assets to combat inflation, stabilize the economy and attract global investment. The plan comes as the country faces huge reconstruction challenges after decades of war and financial disaster. The proposal focuses on Bitcoin as a lifeline for Syrian citizens and its crumbling financial system. It proposes the creation of a regulatory framework to legalize the use of Bitcoin for trading, mining and financial transactions.
Project news
Binance Labs: 2025 will remain “focused on infrastructure,” not price action or market hype
Alex Odagiu, investment director of Binance Labs, said that regardless of market cycles, the company will continue to support startups in the fields of Web3, artificial intelligence and biotechnology. Binance Labs expects crypto venture capital investment to remain strong in 2025, but it remains “focused on infrastructure” rather than price action or market hype. Odagiu emphasized that projects with practical application scenarios, high product-market fit, strong teams, and sustainable revenue models are most likely to succeed.
Tangem wallet accidentally collects user's mnemonic phrase due to email-related glitch
Cryptocurrency wallet service Tangem has recently fixed a major security flaw in its mobile app that had led to some users’ private keys being accidentally collected via email. Previously, Reddit users questioned this, pointing out that Tangem exposed users' private keys to email accounts and their employees, threatening the safety of investors' funds. User u/areklanga specifically pointed out that Tangem did not respond appropriately to the issue, and that the user's private key may be retained in the multi-party email history and work order tracking system, posing a security threat to all Tangem users.
On December 30, Tangem acknowledged the problem and explained that it was a bug in mobile application log processing that has been resolved. When creating a wallet via a mnemonic phrase, the private key was incorrectly recorded in the application logs, which were accessible when interacting with the support team. On the same day, Tangem released an application update, but the official website did not mention specific details. Tangem also confirmed that all logs and attachments sent to the support team have been permanently deleted to ensure no data remains.
Although Tangem said the vulnerability affected only a small number of users, some members of the crypto community were unhappy with its low-profile handling. As of December 31, Tangem had not released relevant announcements on social media. To prevent the potential risk of private key leakage, all Tangem users are recommended to update their mobile applications immediately.
CryptoQuant contributor Darkfost posted that Binance’s stablecoin reserves reached $31 billion on December 11, a record high. Notably, Binance’s stablecoin reserves stood at just $7 billion in June 2023, growing nearly fivefold since then. An increase in stablecoin reserves usually means buying pressure is rising. The current reserve level remains at around US$30 billion, which shows that investors are still actively active in the market and may continue to maintain strong buying pressure.
SPACE ID reveals 2025 roadmap: plans to expand business beyond Web3
The decentralized domain name protocol SPACE ID disclosed its 2025 roadmap on the official blog: 1. Will continue to expand the identification function to more blockchains and ecosystems; 2. Start planning to expand the business beyond Web3 and provide Web2 and Web3 domain name integration; 3. A new way is being designed to simplify the on-chain transaction process and create a customized solution to unify wallet addresses; 4. New cooperation will be explored in 2025.
5 Pudgy Penguins sold for a total of $175, or the seller misjudged the price
According to Cointelegraph, someone sold 5 Pudgy Penguins NFTs today for a total of $175. Some speculated that the seller mistook the unit price of 35 USDT for 35 ETH ($117,000), resulting in a loss of more than $500,000.
Coinbase CEO calls for X platform to adopt USDC for payment integration
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has expressed interest in integrating Circle’s USDC into the X platform’s payment system. In a post on December 29, Armstrong proposed that USDC payments would be a valuable addition to the platform and called on the X team to explore implementing this feature.
The public call follows a similar suggestion from Coinbase chief engineer Travis Bloom, who wondered when X owner Musk would implement the ability for users to send and receive USDC on the Base network. Market watchers noted that implementing such a feature is in line with X's broader vision to introduce a payment system and transform the social media platform into a "universal app."
In January this year, X announced plans to launch a peer-to-peer payment service similar to PayPal. While details remain unclear on whether the currency used by the service will be fiat or cryptocurrency, the platform has yet to launch the plan. However, X has made significant progress in obtaining money transmission licenses across the United States. Its subsidiary X Payments currently has licenses in 33 states, including California, Illinois and Virginia.
FLock.io announces mainnet and token generation event on Base
The decentralized AI training platform FLock.io announced the official launch of its mainnet on Base. The launch coincides with the Token Generation Event (TGE) of its native token, FLOCK, which will serve as the utility token of the FLock ecosystem by incentivizing and rewarding community participation.
FLOCK tokens will be airdropped to users participating in the incentivized testnet during today’s Token Generation Event (TGE). Users can access the platform to participate in decentralized AI training and earn FLOCK tokens. These tokens will play an important role in the FLock.io ecosystem, facilitating collaboration between data providers, training nodes and computing providers.
Previous news, FLock announced token economics and airdrop plan: 66.7% will be allocated to the community and ecosystem.
Sonic SVM, the SVM blockchain on Solana, announced its native token SONIC token economics. SONIC will serve as the native token of the Sonic SVM and Multi-SVM ecosystem to promote long-term growth and development.
The total supply of SONIC is 2.4 billion, of which 57% is allocated to the community, including community and ecological development (30%), initial claim (7%) and HyperGrid rewards (20%). TGE is scheduled for January 7, 2025, with the initial circulation accounting for 15% of the total. SONIC will be distributed within 6 years, at which time all SONIC will be fully circulated, with most of it distributed to the community. During the first 12-18 months after launch, no team and investor tokens will be unlocked, and locked tokens cannot be pledged.
The initial SONIC claim snapshot was completed on December 31, 2024. 7% of the total supply of SONIC has been allocated to initial claims. The eligibility check tool for the initial claim plan will be launched on January 3. Users can use this tool to verify whether the wallet meets the claim conditions. At the same time, the SonicX TikTok airdrop event will remain open until January 6, providing more users with the opportunity to obtain SONIC.
Web3 social platform and infrastructure UXLINK announced the second quarter airdrop token distribution in the official blog. UXLINK will allocate 10% of the total UXLINK supply to users and ecosystem partners in the second quarter, the same as in the first quarter. Anti-witch technology will also be used to ensure that genuine community contributors receive airdrop rewards.
Michael Saylor: The BTC return rate of MSTR financial operations since the beginning of Q4 is 47.8%
Michael Saylor, co-founder and executive chairman of MicroStrategy, posted on the At $96,000 per BTC, earnings for the quarter were $11.6 billion.
Re-staking protocol ether.fi launches Berachain incentivized pre-deposit vault
The Ethereum re-pledge protocol ether.fi tweeted that it has launched the Berachain incentive pre-deposit vault, which supports deposits of weETH, WETH, stETH, eBTC, wBTC, cbBTC and LBTC. Once the Berachain mainnet is launched, deposits will remain locked for 90 days.
According to previous news , Ethena’s Berachain incentive deposit vault has been launched.
According to Forbes, as of December 2024, Africa currently accounts for 3% of the global Bitcoin mining hash rate, with Ethiopian output alone contributing 2.5%, more than twice the output of the entire African continent in 2023, and Entirely through renewable energy. This year alone, Ethiopia has generated more than $55 million in revenue from electricity sales for Bitcoin mining, accounting for 18% of its total revenue, according to the Ethiopian Electricity Company (EEP).
Following Ethiopia's approval of Bitcoin mining earlier this year, local Bitcoin mining operations have grown significantly, with spending on mining infrastructure exceeding $1 billion (reportedly) in 2024, with other countries such as Kenya joining Africa Countries are keen to use Bitcoin mining to boost economic growth, electrify communities and manage green energy projects. Africa is a popular location for global Bitcoin miners as it has some of the cheapest green energy in the world, with prices in Ethiopia at 3.2 cents per kilowatt-hour.
RWA stablecoin protocol Usual tweeted that it will turn on the token fee switch
RWA stablecoin protocol Usual tweeted that it would turn on the token fee switch: "The era of fee switches has begun. 2025 marks the turning point of DeFi: real value, real distribution. On January 7, prepare your USUAL."
Musk Twice Tweets Containing Frog Elements
Musk reposted a tweet about the frog element at 3:57 today with the text "Kek". In addition, "Brothers in Arms (Brothers of War)" was tweeted at 5:00 (Beijing time) with a pepe picture of the Roman general.
According to previous news , Musk changed his personal avatar and nickname on the X platform to Kekius Maximus. "Kekius Maximus" is a term that combines Internet culture and ancient Roman naming traditions. The "Kek" here is derived from Internet slang, which is common in meme culture, especially in the 4chan community, where "kek" is used as an alternative to "LOL" to express laughter or humor.
Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner of Dragonfly, released a prediction for cryptocurrency in 2025, divided into six parts: L1s/L2s, token launch, stablecoin, regulation, AI agent, crypto x AI.
1.L1/L2
The distinction between L1 and L2 is disappearing. The user can no longer perceive the difference between L1 and L2. Despite the strength of SVM and Move, EVM's market share will actually grow in 2025. Solana will force more blockchains to optimize for low latency.
2. Token release
The current era of everyone conducting large-scale airdrops through the points plan is over, and we are moving towards a two-track world.
Track One: If a project has clear metrics, such as an exchange or lending protocol, they will distribute tokens purely based on points.
Track Two: Projects without clear indicators (such as L1 and L2) will turn to crowdfunding. They may conduct small airdrops to reward social contributions, but the majority of tokens will be distributed through crowdsales.
Memecoins will continue to steal market share from “AI proxy” coins.
3. Stablecoins
The use of stablecoins will surge, especially among small and medium-sized enterprises. Not just trading and speculation, real businesses will start using on-chain dollars for instant settlement. It is expected that by the end of 2025, banks will announce the issuance of stablecoins. They don't want to fall behind. But especially with Lutnick as Commerce Secretary, Tether will remain in first place. Ethena Labs is expected to attract more capital, especially as Treasury yields continue to fall in the coming year.
4. Supervision
Stablecoin legislation passed in the United States, while broader market infrastructure reforms (FIT21) were delayed. Stablecoin adoption is accelerating, while Wall Street adoption, asset tokenization and other TradFi integrations will lag behind. Under Trump, Fortune 100 companies will be more willing to offer cryptocurrencies to consumers, with technology companies and startups showing a higher appetite for risk.
5. AI Agent
The AI agent boom may continue into 2025. But it will eventually die out.
6. The actual combination of cryptocurrency and AI
AI's impact on cryptocurrencies is the main direction, but cryptocurrencies will also impact AI; truly autonomous agents will pay each other with cryptocurrencies. Once there are relaxed stablecoin regulations, you will start to see even large companies running AI agents using stablecoins for agent-to-agent payments because they are easier to launch than bank accounts; you will also see more and larger decentralized exchanges. Centralized training and inference experiments.
Messari released six major predictions for 2025 on the X platform, as follows:
- Hyperliquid’s outperformance may be over
- VIRTUAL FDV will surpass TAO FDV within three months
- Pudgy Penguins surpass CryptoPunks to become the most popular PFP series
- Peaq will surpass all L2s by 2025
- ETH will outperform SOL in 2025
- AI agent frameworks will peak in Q1 2025 and won’t recover
Financing news
According to Bloomberg, digital asset trading and brokerage firm FalconX is in advanced talks to acquire Arbelos Markets, a derivatives startup founded in 2023 by two crypto industry veterans. The deal, which will be financed through a combination of cash and FalconX stock, is expected to be announced in the coming days, according to people familiar with the matter. It's unclear how much the deal values Arbelos.
FalconX co-founder and CEO Raghu Yarlagadda said in October that he expected a "wave of consolidation" in the industry, adding that the company would actively seek acquisition targets.
Arbelos, a crypto derivatives liquidity provider, announced a $28 million financing round led by Dragonfly Capital in May 2024. FalconX is one of the investors in the round, along with Circle Ventures, Deribit, Paxos and StarkWare.
Founded in 2018 and headquartered in San Mateo, California, FalconX was valued at $8 billion when it raised $150 million in 2022. The company is backed by investors including Tiger Global, GIC and B Capital.
important data
A trader turned $1,947 into $2.34 million by trading KEKIUS tokens
According to OnchainLens monitoring, one trader turned $1,947 into $2.34 million. 17 days ago, the trader purchased 35.57 million KEKIUS with only 0.5 ETH, worth $1,947. So far, the trader has sold 27.93 million KEKIUS for 397.8 ETH (valued at US$1.34 million), and currently holds 7,647,148 KEKIUS, worth US$1 million.
The KEKIUS token on Ethereum surged about 110% after Musk changed his social media profile name to "Kekius Maximus."
NFT sales will reach US$8.83 billion in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 1.1%
NFTs ended the year on a strong note, with sales records for digital collectibles surpassed in 2023, increasing by more than $100 million. On December 31, NFT data tracking platform CryptoSlam showed that sales of blockchain-based digital collections will reach US$8.83 billion in 2024. This record is more than $100 million higher than NFT sales in 2023, which was approximately $8.7 billion last year. This marks a 1.1% year-over-year increase in NFT sales.
Ethereum remains the blockchain with the highest NFT sales in history, reaching $44.9 billion. Solana followed with $6.1 billion in sales, while Bitcoin-based NFT sales totaled $4.9 billion.
In December, NFT sales were $877 million, the fifth-best month of 2024. December’s sales growth was driven by increased sales of the Ethereum family of NFTs, with the blockchain’s monthly NFT sales at $482 million. Sales of Bitcoin-based NFTs were $172 million, while sales of Solana-based NFTs were $100 million in December.
Despite the increase in NFT sales, this year’s numbers are still well below sales in 2021 and 2022. In 2021, NFTs ended the year with $15.7 billion in sales, 43.9% higher than the 2024 record. In 2022, NFT sales will be $23.7 billion, 62.8% higher than this year’s record.
According to on-chain analyst Ember’s monitoring, as the price of ETH rebounded tonight, a certain band whale used 82.34 million USDT to buy 25,204.6 ETH at an average price of 3,322 early this morning. After rising tonight, he sold all of them at an average price of 3,417. Returned 86.12 million USDT and made US$2.4 million.
This giant whale made a total of 23 rounds of swings in 2024, making a cumulative profit of US$7.77 million. In the 23 rounds of swings, there were only 4 losses and 19 profits.
Investment in blockchain-based startups reaches $13.6 billion in 2024
According to Cointelegraph citing DeFi Report data, investment in blockchain-based startups will reach $13.6 billion in 2024, accounting for approximately 4.9% of the total investment in 2024 ($279 billion). The figures reflect a recovery in the cryptocurrency industry from 2023, when crypto companies received $10.1 billion in venture capital funding. However, the industry is still far behind its peak in 2021, when crypto startups received $32.4 billion in funding.
One of the highlights of 2024 was Monad Labs raising $225 million to build a layer 1 smart contract network, after Berachain secured $100 million to support its modular blockchain development platform. Additionally, Bitcoin staking protocol Babylon raised $70 million, while tokenization platform Securitize received $47 million from BlackRock.
Looking ahead, PitchBook forecasts indicate significant growth in the crypto space in 2025, expected to attract more than $18 billion in capital. Analysts at Galaxy Research also expect the surge in venture capital activity to be driven by a combination of falling interest rates and greater regulatory clarity in the crypto space, which is expected to increase investor interest in venture capital opportunities.
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