【Midnight News Brief】 U.S. SEC Cryptocurrency Critic Caroline Crenshaw Resigns etc.

US SEC Cryptocurrency Critic Caroline Crenshaw Resigns

According to DL News, Caroline Crenshaw, the only Democratic commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and known for her criticism of cryptocurrencies, will leave the SEC. Since her appointment in 2020, Crenshaw has been advocating for strict regulation of the crypto industry and strongly opposed the approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF in January 2024. The media added, “This change could make the U.S. cryptocurrency regulatory tone more industry-friendly.”

Anonymous Whale Withdraws ETH Worth $62.3 Million from Multiple Exchanges in 12 Hours

According to on-chain analysis platform Onchain Lens, a whale address suspected to be an anonymous entity (starting with 0x363ad) withdrew 20,000 ETH (worth $62.3 million) from exchanges including Galaxy Digital, Coinbase, FalconX, and Cumberland within the past 12 hours. Typically, withdrawing assets from exchanges is interpreted as holding purposes.

Transfer of 400 Million USDT… HTX → Aave

Whale Alert reports that 400,000,000 USDT were transferred from an HTX address to an Aave address, valued at $400 million.

$49.75 Billion VC Funding in Cryptocurrency Sector This Year

According to Wublockchain, total venture capital (VC) investments in the crypto industry this year reached $49.75 billion, more than four times higher than last year. Most of this came from mergers and acquisitions (M&A) or initial public offerings (IPOs) of centralized exchanges (CEX). The largest deal was the Dunamu merger, valued at $10.3 billion. The total number of investment transactions was 898, but the number of transactions decreased by 42.1% compared to the same period last year.

Anonymous Whale Deposits $35.75 Million ZEC into Binance Today

According to Lookonchain, an anonymous whale address (starting with t1Ym8XW) deposited 74,002 ZEC (worth $35.75 million) into Binance today alone.

Solana Co-Founder: “Staking Is More Positive for the Ecosystem Than Token Buybacks”

Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko stated on X: “I believe that mimicking the traditional financial long-term capital accumulation structure is more reasonable than token buybacks. In the crypto industry, the most similar concept is staking. It’s a way for investors with long-term holding intentions to dilute the shares of those without such intentions. The rewards can be designated as future claimable tokens, and people can lock and stake tokens for a year, so as the asset grows, the number of claimable tokens for stakers also increases.” Previously, Jupiter, a decentralized exchange (DEX) built on Solana, discussed on X whether to continue buybacks or to incentivize existing users.

BTC Falls Below $90,000

According to Cointelegraph, after news of a U.S. airstrike on Venezuela, Bitcoin fell below $90,000. The media explained, “BTC retreated after reaching around $90,940, seemingly under short-term selling pressure caused by geopolitical tensions. Many analysts believe that if the situation does not escalate further, the price decline will be temporary. On the other hand, gold prices are adjusting after hitting a record high, but BTC has risen about 5% since Christmas, with some viewpoints suggesting a rotation of funds from gold to BTC.”