MicroStrategy buys BTC, Trump transfers ETH to Coinbase, spot ETF drama continues, Zhao grounded

This week, business intelligence firm MicroStrategy augmented its Bitcoin (BTC) stash with $615 million. The drama surrounding the spot BTC ETF continued, while, a U.S. court affirmed that Binance founder Changpeng Zhao remains in the country until his sentencing.

MicroStrategy accumulates, Trump distributes

• MicroStrategy continued its Bitcoin buying spree on Dec. 27 when the firm purchased an additional 14,620 Bitcoin at an average price of $42,110 per token, according to chairman Michael Saylor.

• The company now holds 189,150 Bitcoin currently valued at $7.99 billion. MicroStrategy procured these tokens at an average price of $31,168 per coin, or approximately $5.9 billion.

• Meanwhile, reports from this week suggested that former U.S. President Donald Trump could be distributing his Ethereum (ETH) holdings. Data shows that an Ethereum wallet, which has been accumulating royalties from Trump’s NFT collection, transferred millions worth of ETH to Coinbase.

ETF drama consumes BlackRock, VanEck, Coinbase, Bitwise

• Meanwhile, the drama surrounding the race for a spot BTC ETF spilled into this week. VanEck became the latest asset manager to update its filing for a spot BTC ETF with the U.S. SEC. In the update, the firm adjusted its redemption method to cash-only.

• Recall that Coinbase had been chosen by BlackRock and others for custody services in their spot BTC ETF filings. This week, the U.S.-based exchange replaced the CEO of its Custody entity with Rick Schonberg in what appears to be a preparation for the approval of a spot ETF.

• BlackRock further made disclosures pointing to an imminent approval of its product. The asset manager revealed on Dec. 29 that JPMorgan Chase and Jane Street are authorized participants of the upcoming spot BTC ETF. 

• Amid the sustained ETF race, prominent asset management firm Bitwise disclosed this week that it would be launching its spot BTC ETF with seed funding of $200 million from an unidentified investor. Recall that BlackRock’s seed funding stood at $10 million.

Mt. Gox creditors finally receive payments

• This week also featured developments surrounding ongoing court cases and bankruptcy proceedings. Notably, some creditors of the defunct exchange Mt. Gox started receiving their compensations this week, almost a decade after the exchange collapsed with customer’s BTC tokens.

Judge declares LUNA security, Zhao grounded

• In the case involving the U.S. SEC and Terraform Labs, Judge Jed Rakoff ruled that Terra (LUNA) and the MIR token are unregistered securities, as argued by the SEC. Recall that the agency sued Terraform Labs in February, alleging that they offered the tokens as securities without registration.

• Following an earlier ruling that barred him from leaving the U.S. before his sentencing in February, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao made a second appeal to be allowed to depart the country. However, this week, a District Court in Seattle also denied this request.

• Despite the troubles faced by Zhao and Binance this year, the former saw his net worth appreciate by a massive $25 billion this year due to the green market. In addition, this week, Binance crossed a milestone of 170 million users globally.

Global regulatory efforts

• The week also witnessed increased regulatory efforts across the globe. Japan amended an existing crypto legislation to relax end-of-year crypto tax commitments for companies. 

• The amendment effectively put an end to a requirement demanding companies pay a mark-to-market valuation tax for their cryptocurrency holdings. 

• Hong Kong declared this week that it would now allow retail investors to procure stablecoins in the region, as long as the issuers of the tokens are fully regulated by the authorities.

• Shortly after the Central Bank of Nigeria relaxed its ban on cryptocurrency transactions, reports from this week suggested that a group of banks in the country are looking to launch cNGN, a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the Nigerian naira.

• In a Dec. 28 release, Indian authorities warned that certain crypto exchanges, including Binance, Huobi, Kraken, KuCoin, Gate.io and MEXC, were violating anti-money laundering provisions in the country. 

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