Weekly Preview | FTX’s claims processing will begin on January 3, 2025; "Crypto Asset Market (MiCA)" takes effect

Important news preview:

• The "Crypto-Asset Market (MiCA)" will come into effect on December 30;
• Optimism (OP) will unlock approximately 31.34 million tokens at 8:00 am on December 31, 2024, Beijing time, with a ratio of 2.32% to the current circulating supply and a value of approximately US$58.6 million;
• ai16z will announce the new token economics proposal around January 1st;
• Sui (SUI) will unlock approximately 64.19 million tokens at 8 a.m. Beijing time on January 1, 2025, with a ratio of 2.19% to the current circulation and a value of approximately US$270 million;
• ZetaChain (ZETA) will unlock approximately 53.89 million tokens at 8 a.m. Beijing time on January 1, 2025, with a ratio of 9.35% to the current circulating supply and a value of approximately US$32 million;
• FTX claims processing will begin on January 3 next year, and $16 billion in cash will be repaid;
• Binance plans to launch BIO at 18:00 on January 3, 2025 (Beijing time)

December 30

Policy supervision:

New EU regulations require crypto exchanges to comply with travel rule guidelines and strengthen anti-money laundering measures from December 30

In a major move to strengthen anti-money laundering (AML) measures, the European Banking Authority (EBA) announced the extension of travel rule guidance to crypto service providers and their intermediaries. As of December 30, cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the European Union (EU) will be subject to Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 (Guide to the Travel Rules), which requires reporting information on transfers of funds and crypto assets.

Therefore, as defined by MiCAR, cryptoasset service providers (CASPs) will be subject to the EU’s Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime. Once the regulations come into effect, payment service providers (PSPs), intermediary PSPs, CASPs and intermediary CASPs will be given a two-month grace period to declare compliance with the new requirements. Some general provisions include collecting user information to transfer funds or cryptoassets, determining whether a transaction is related to the purchase of services, and detecting transfers that appear to be related. Additionally, crypto service providers and intermediaries are required to declare their multiple intermediary and cross-border transfer policies.

The EBA acknowledged that complying with the EU Travel Rule Guidance will put cryptocurrency exchanges and service providers under financial pressure. However, the regulator expects overall benefits to be felt in the long term.

EBA develops guidance on restrictive measures for cryptocurrency providers, relevant guidance will be effective from December 30, 2025

The European Banking Authority (EBA) issued new guidelines for payment service providers (PSPs) and cryptoasset service providers (CASPs) on November 14, clarifying that these institutions need to comply with EU and member state regulations when transferring money. Restrictive Measures System. The EBA pointed out that these guidelines will help financial institutions effectively implement restrictive measures within the governance and risk management framework to avoid operational and legal risks.

The EBA emphasized that if there are loopholes in the controls, internal policies and procedures of financial institutions, it may cause legal and reputational risks, weaken the effectiveness of EU restrictive measures, and even affect the stability of the EU financial system. The new guidance requires PSPs and CASPs to adopt reliable screening systems to prevent users or entities from bypassing restrictions. These guidelines will be effective from December 30, 2025.

The Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations will come into effect on December 30

The EU’s dedicated regulation for the cryptocurrency industry, the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), aims to enter into force in the 27 member states on December 30. However, some countries have not yet enacted legislation to implement MiCA. Portugal's central bank said on Monday it had not yet determined which national authority would be responsible for the rules as the legislation had not yet been adopted. Industry associations said part of the reason for delays by national authorities was the short time between ESMA's publication of the final technical standard in October and its implementation date.

Exchange:

Bloomberg: EU crypto exchanges must delist USDT on December 30

According to Bloomberg, the EU crypto-asset law will take full effect at the end of the year. In order to comply with the "Crypto-Asset Market Regulation (MiCA)", many cryptocurrency exchanges in the EU have delisted the USDT of the mainstream stablecoin Tether. The move is affecting the market for such tokens, with new issuers trying to fill the void and investors defaulting to the euro for buying and selling cryptocurrencies. Tether’s main competitor, Circle, received such a license in July. However, Tether has not yet obtained such permission but has not ruled out trying to obtain one in the future. In the absence of Tether's license, regulated exchanges have until December 30 to delist the token. Tether declined to comment on its own plans for an e-money license.

According to previous news, Coinbase plans to remove USDT and other non-compliant stablecoins in Europe .

Tether CEO retweeted several tweets in response: USDT will not be deemed illegal in Europe on December 30

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino forwarded a tweet posted by weRate co-founder and JAN3 CEO on the It was deemed illegal in Europe on December 30 and MiCA rules need to be followed, but stablecoin service providers have a 6-18 month transition period, and some exchanges are waiting for clear information.

Binance Futures will delist the OMGUSDT U-margined perpetual contract on December 30

Binance Futures will postpone the automatic liquidation and delisting of the OMGUSDT U-margined perpetual contract until 17:00 on December 30, 2024 (Eastern Eighth District time). It is recommended that users close their positions themselves before stopping trading to avoid automatic liquidation of positions.

Token Unlocked:

Beldex (BDX) will unlock approximately 330 million tokens at 8:00 am on December 30, 2024, Beijing time, with a ratio of 4.78% to the current circulating supply and a value of approximately US$26.1 million.

Tribal Token (TRIBL) will unlock approximately 22.07 million tokens at 8:00 am on December 30, 2024, Beijing time, with a ratio of 15.38% to the current circulation and a value of approximately US$6.3 million.

Slash Vision Labs (SVL) will unlock approximately 605 million tokens at 8 a.m. Beijing time on December 30, 2024, accounting for 12.25% of the current circulating supply and worth approximately US$3.9 million.

December 31

Exchange:

Kraken plans to delist Monero in the European Economic Area due to regulatory requirements, and users must withdraw their assets before December 31

Monero price fell more than 5% in the past 24 hours to $144 on the news that Kraken will stop supporting Monero (XMR) in the European Economic Area (EEA) at the end of October. Kraken stated that the move was due to regional regulatory changes and that it would cease trading and deposits in all XMR markets on October 31. Users need to withdraw their assets before December 31, 2024, and the unwithdrawn Monero will be automatically converted into Bitcoin and distributed to users on January 6, 2025.

Policy supervision:

Israel to Launch Six Bitcoin Mutual Funds on December 31

The Israel Securities Authority (ISA) approved six mutual funds tracking the price of Bitcoin. These funds will be launched simultaneously on December 31, 2024, and will be launched by institutions such as Migdal Capital Markets, More, Ayalon, Phoenix Investment, Meitav and IBI. Fund management fees range from 0.25% to 1.5%, and one of the funds is actively managed and aims to outperform Bitcoin. Initially, these funds will only trade once a day, but may be able to trade continuously in the future.

Token Unlocked:

Optimism (OP) will unlock approximately 31.34 million tokens at 8:00 am on December 31, 2024, Beijing time, with a ratio of 2.32% to the current circulating supply and a value of approximately US$58.6 million.

Delysium (AGI) will unlock approximately 34.38 million tokens at 8:00 am on December 31, 2024, Beijing time, with a ratio of 2.57% to the current circulating supply and a value of approximately US$5 million.

January 1

Policy supervision:

Russia will ban cryptocurrency mining in 10 regions starting January 1, 2025

According to local Russian media TASS, the Russian government has approved a comprehensive ban on cryptocurrency mining in 10 regions starting from January 1, 2025, and the ban will last until March 15, 2031. These regions include Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, North Ossetia, Chechnya, as well as the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions . The ban applies to mining pool activities and individual mining activities. In addition, Russia will also impose seasonal mining restrictions on three Siberian regions, including Irkutsk, Buryatia and Transbaikal, during the winter energy peak period. In 2025, these restrictions will last from January 1 to March 15, and will subsequently be extended from November 15, 2025, to March 15 of the following year.

Project updates:

ai16z will announce new token economics proposal around January 1st

When answering questions from PANews at a community exchange meeting, members of the Eliza team revealed that the project plans to release two important announcements. First, the project team will officially announce the list of all partners to increase project transparency and help the community have a clearer understanding of the partnership and its specific scope. Secondly, regarding token economics, ai16z will announce a new token economics proposal around January 1st. The proposal was jointly designed by professionals from multiple teams and will include LP matching mechanism, DeFi function integration, etc. In addition, the project team also revealed that they have acquired a Launchpad company, which will be used for official releases of agents in the future.

Kelp DAO releases KERNEL token economics, the second round of airdrop will start on January 1, 2025

Ethereum liquidity re-pledge platform Kelp DAO announced the details of KERNEL token economics, 55% of which will be allocated to community rewards and airdrops (20% for airdrops, 35% for future community rewards), and 5% will be allocated to the ecosystem and Partners, 20% will be used for private sales, and 20% will be allocated to the team and advisors (the team and private sales tokens have a 6-month lock-up period and are unlocked within 24 months).

Additionally, 20% of KERNEL tokens will be distributed through three airdrops:

1. First airdrop: 10% of the total supply allocated, snapshot date is December 31, 2024;
2. Second round of airdrop: 5% of the total supply will be allocated from January 1 to April 30, 2025; those who pledge again before January 15, 2025 will receive an additional 15% loyalty reward;
3. Follow-up airdrop: The remaining 5% will be allocated, and the plan is to be determined.

KERNEL tokens will be used in scenarios such as governance, re-pledge to provide economic security, liquidity mining, and ecosystem revenue repurchase. The Token Generation Event (TGE) is expected to be completed in early Q1 2025.

MANTRA updates OM token economics and its on-chain inflation rate will drop to 3% starting January 1, 2025

MANTRA, a Layer 1 blockchain focused on RWA assets, passed the vote for an update to the OM Token Economics proposal last week.

While the proposal proposes adjustments to the token issuance schedule, individual allocations earned through various activities will remain unchanged. The specific contents of the proposal include:

1. Adjusting the vesting schedule for OM upgrade rewards, the cliff period will end on March 18, 2025, followed by a linear vesting period that will continue until October 16, 2028.
2. 10% of the initial airdrop allocation will be unlocked from March 18, 2025, followed by a 6-month cliff period until September 18, 2025. From that date, the remaining rewards will begin to vest in a linear manner and will continue until the end of March 18, 2027. Additionally, a second phase of anti-Sybil checks is proposed for all wallets. The vesting period of airdrop rewards will no longer be extended thereafter.
3. The cliff period and vesting period for team and core contributor incentives are extended. The cliff period will end on April 23, 2027, and the vesting period will end on October 22, 2029.
4. The token cliff period for Pre-Seed round investors ends on October 23, 2025, and vests on October 23, 2027; the token cliff period for Seed round investors ends on April 23, 2025, and vests under Ends on April 23, 2026.
5. Ecosystem allocation will remain unchanged, and the on-chain inflation rate will be reduced from 8% to 3% starting January 1, 2025.

Meme trading tool ABOT is gradually shutting down its business, and its Meme function will be removed from the shelves on January 1, 2025

Meme trading tool ABOT announced that it will gradually close its business. The specific arrangements are as follows: the service fee will be reduced to 0; Meme functions will be removed from the shelves on January 1, 2025; non-meme functions will be removed from the shelves on January 7, 2025 and the website will be closed; The development of new features will continue until December 31, and real-time problem response will continue to be handled before the website is closed.

Governance voting:

Frax Finance community opens voting on the proposal "Using BlackRock BUIDL as frxUSD-backed asset", which ends on January 1

The Snapshot page shows that the Frax Finance community has opened a vote to adopt BlackRock BUIDL as the reserve asset of the proposed stablecoin Frax USD (frxUSD). The vote will end on January 1. The current support rate for the proposal is 100%.

In addition, the Frax community also initiated a voting on the proposal "USTB as frxUSD collateral and custody asset" , which aims to introduce USTB to provide stability, liquidity and treasury bill income as a reserve for stablecoins. USTB serves as a collateral asset with an initial cap of US$100 million. USTB is currently being evaluated as a source of income for Polygon's PoS Bridge Assets and Sky's USDS reserves. Voting will close on January 1, 2025.

Token Unlocked:

Sui (SUI) will unlock approximately 64.19 million tokens at 8 a.m. Beijing time on January 1, 2025, accounting for 2.19% of the current circulating supply and worth approximately US$270 million.

ZetaChain (ZETA) will unlock approximately 53.89 million tokens at 8:00 a.m. Beijing time on January 1, 2025, with a ratio of 9.35% to the current circulating supply and a value of approximately US$32 million.

Sleepless AI (AI) will unlock approximately 23.21 million tokens at 8 a.m. Beijing time on January 1, 2025, accounting for 17.85% of the current circulating supply and worth approximately US$14.6 million.

dydx (DYDX) will unlock approximately 8.33 million tokens at 8:00 a.m. Beijing time on January 1, 2025, with a ratio of 1.17% to the current circulation and a value of approximately US$12.8 million.

Ethena (ENA) will unlock approximately 12.86 million tokens at 3:00 pm Beijing time on January 1, 2025, with a ratio of 0.44% to the current circulating supply and a value of approximately US$12.1 million.

Maverick Protocol (MAV) will unlock approximately 36.2 million tokens at 8 a.m. Beijing time on January 1, 2025, accounting for 7.86% of the current circulating supply and worth approximately US$7.8 million.

Eigenlayer (EIGEN) will unlock approximately 1.29 million tokens at 3 a.m. Beijing time on January 1, 2025, with a ratio of 0.61% to the current circulating supply and a value of approximately US$4.4 million.

Sidus (SIDUS) will unlock approximately 448 million tokens at 8 a.m. Beijing time on January 1, 2025, accounting for 4.05% of the current circulating supply and worth approximately US$2.1 million.

DODO (DODO) will unlock approximately 10 million tokens at 8 a.m. Beijing time on January 1, 2025, with a ratio of 1.38% to the current circulation and a value of approximately US$1.6 million.

Manta Network (MANTA) will unlock approximately 1.87 million tokens at 7:59 am on January 1, 2025, Beijing time, with a ratio of 0.49% to the current circulating supply and a value of approximately US$1.6 million.

January 2

None yet

January 3

Exchange:

FTX Announcement: Court-Approved Chapter 11 Reorganization Plan to Be Effective on January 3, 2025

According to FTX’s announcement, its court-approved Chapter 11 reorganization plan will take effect on January 3, 2025, and is set as the record date for the first distribution. The first allocation is expected to be made within 60 days of the effective date and will be available to approved claims in the convenience category. FTX has partnered with BitGo and Kraken to assist in distributing recovery payments to customers and creditors. Distribution requirements include completing KYC verification, submitting tax forms and connecting with designated service providers. FTX reminds users to be wary of phishing emails and scam websites and will announce distribution dates for other categories of claims in the future.

In addition, HODL15Capital tweeted that FTX will repay US$16 billion in cash and claims processing will begin on January 3 next year .

Binance plans to list BIO at 18:00 on January 3, 2025

Bio Protocol (BIO) has become Binance’s 63rd Launchpool project. Binance plans to list BIO at 18:00 on January 3, 2025 (Beijing time), and open the BIO/USDT, BIO/BNB, BIO/FDUSD and BIO/TRY trading pairs. The seed tag will be applied to the BIO.

Token Unlocked:

Staika (STIK) will unlock approximately 1.57 million tokens at 8:00 a.m. Beijing time on January 3, 2025, worth approximately US$2.2 million

January 4

Token Unlocked:

Alephium (ALPH) will unlock approximately 1.88 million tokens at 8 a.m. Beijing time on January 4, 2025, with a ratio of 1.95% to the current circulating supply and a value of approximately US$2.5 million;

January 5

Token Unlocked:

Cetus Protocol (CETUS) will unlock approximately 8.33 million tokens at 8:00 a.m. Beijing time on January 5, 2025, with a ratio of 1.32% to the current circulating supply and a value of approximately US$2.7 million.

Everclear (NEXT) will unlock approximately 20.11 million tokens at 8:00 a.m. Beijing time on January 5, 2025, accounting for 18.82% of the current circulating supply and worth approximately US$2 million.

Specific time to be determined

Project updates:

Bounce Brand: Perpetual contract exchange BounceX will launch next week

Bounce Brand tweeted that BounceX will be launched next week and support the platform’s native token AUCTION as a margin asset. Previously , Bounce Brand announced that it will launch the perpetual contract exchange BounceX in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Macro outlook for next week: Markets tend to remain calm during the New Year’s Day holiday, but economic data may slap the Fed in the face

The decline in U.S. stocks on Friday dampened investor expectations for the so-called "Santa Claus rebound." As the New Year's Day holiday approaches, global financial markets may also tend to remain calm in the coming week. The U.S. ISM Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) is likely to be the only focus of economic data next week, however any policy-related headlines about Trump may also stimulate market volatility. If the economic data disapproves of the Fed, the dollar's gains may subside. Next week's initial jobless claims may also become a major driver of the dollar's trend. Any data that shows that the Fed is too cautious about inflation and too optimistic about the labor market will could cause the dollar's recent rally to unravel.