XRP Dominates South Korean Market with 17.87% Trading Volume Share on Upbit

Recent data from CoinGecko indicates a significant surge in trading activity on South Korea’s prominent exchange, Upbit, reaching $7.642 billion in a span of 24 hours, reflecting a remarkable increase

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Mt.Gox Bitcoin Payout: Exchange Moves $152M Ahead of Major Repayments

The post Mt.Gox Bitcoin Payout: Exchange Moves $152M Ahead of Major Repayments appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News As defunct cryptocurrency exchange, Mt.Gox prepares to wind down its restructuring process in the coming months, on-chain data shows a notable increase in Bitcoin (BTC) transfers. Furthermore, Mt.Gox has until October 2025 to finalize repayment to distressed creditors, after a lengthy period of around a decade. Mt.Gox’s Recent Bitcoin Transfers According to on-chain data analysis by Arkham Intelligence, Mt Gox transferred 191.678 BTC, worth about $20.42 million, to a new address bc1q6h…gf9zaa earlier today. Additionally, the defunct crypto exchange transferred 1,428 BTC, worth about $152 million, to another new address13JrY5…MVZJCX. Consequently, Mt Gox now holds 36,085 BTC, worth about $3.84 billion, which will be distributed to creditors through different cryptocurrency exchanges. In the past few weeks, Bitcoin addresses associated with Mt.Gox have made several transactions Impact on BTC Market The closure of the Mt.Gox saga is a major milestone for the Bitcoin industry amid the mainstream adoption of digital assets and web3 products. The distribution of Mt.Gox Bitcoin has in the past been viewed as a short-term bearish sentiment. Furthermore, most of the My. Gox creditors were retail traders, who would need to purchase altcoins to compensate for the lost time in the past decade. The altcoin industry has a higher volatility and, thus a higher risk-to-return ratio, compared to Bitcoin, which is gradually being affected by diminishing returns. Bitcoin price rallied over 2 percent in the past 24 hours to trade at about $106,591 on Tuesday, December 17, during the early European session. Consequently, Bitcoin’s market cap surged to over $2.11 trillion as Satoshi’s BTC holding surpassed the combined estimated wealth of Bill Gates.

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HTX Ventures Identifies Five Rapidly-Growing Sectors in 2024, Expects Positive Crypto Regulations Driven by Trump Next Year

SINGAPORE , Dec. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — As Bitcoin surpassed the $100,000 mark on December 5, 2024 , this landmark year for the crypto industry is closing on a high note. It has also been a fruitful year for HTX Ventures, the global investment division of HTX, which supported a total of 28 leading crypto projects and funds, continually exploring new frontiers of crypto utility. Recently, HTX Ventures released its 2024 Year In Review , highlighting this year’s key developments in the crypto industry and forecasting market trends for the upcoming year. Within this report, HTX Ventures highlighted five key sectors that showed encouraging progress in 2024 – the Bitcoin Ecosystem, Infrastructure, Meme Coins, AI, and the TON Ecosystem – and will continue to closely monitor these areas in 2025. Bitcoin Ecosystem With Bitcoin dominance reaching 56.81% and Bitcoin spot ETFs now accounting for 5.3% of the total Bitcoin supply, a new market trend has emerged. Bitcoin has solidified its position as the core asset, with spot ETFs acting as liquidity channels, and U.S. listed companies such as MicroStrategy (MSTR) serving as the vehicles to absorb unlimited dollar liquidity. As a result, it is increasingly essential to further develop Bitcoin’s ecosystem and enhance capital utilization efficiency. It has driven infrastructure projects, including Layer 2s, execution layers, interoperability solutions and security layers, to continuously emerge. With strong support from macro markets and infrastructure support, HTX Ventures anticipates a further surge in Bitcoin demand over the next two years. Infrastructure Infrastructure remained a cornerstone in this year’s crypto investments and funding. The synergy between capital and technology has driven the rapid development of Layer 1, Layer 2, and middleware projects, among others. Through ongoing upgrades and construction, the Ethereum ecosystem has improved Layer 2s’ performance and reduced network fees. Other Layer 1s, such as Solana and TRON, achieved active on-chain transactions, attributable to the development of meme coins, and infrastructure like Pump.fun and Sunpump. Layer 0 and cross-chain middleware have made breakthroughs in interoperability, expanding the multi-chain landscape. Modular public blockchains, like Celestia and Monad, offered exceptional performance and flexibility, thus attracting diverse applications. Restaking projects, which aim to enhance network security and capital efficiency, has seen speedy development and gained market attention. Bitcoin Layer 2 has emerged as a new focus in the primary market for its attempt to combine Bitcoin’s security with high-performance scaling solutions. As HTX Ventures stated, infrastructure is still imperative in this year’s crypto investments and funding. Layer 1 solutions, in particular, now represent the focal point of technical development and exploration within the crypto space, and it is expected to remain a priority for development resources and capital investment in the future. Meme Coins The Meme coin sector emerged as a hotspot in the crypto market in 2024, fostering community consensus while integrating with fields like DeFi and GameFi to create new use cases. For example, Solana has actively championed the innovation and growth of meme projects, successfully energizing its ecosystem. As the crypto market environment grows increasingly favorable, more retail investors are expected to enter the market, positioning Meme projects as vital channels for capital inflows. The Meme coin fair launch sector has gained significant market attention and attracted substantial participants this year. Infrastructure projects such as Pump.fun and SunPump have emerged as top-performing cash flow generators, injecting fresh momentum into Meme coin development. As multi-chain ecosystems mature and real-world use cases expand, Meme coin infrastructure will continue injecting more vitality into this sector. AI In 2024, the intersection of Crypto and AI sector has been driving the exploration of several segmented fields such as ZK/OPML for enabling AI on-chain, AI data crowdsourcing, decentralized computing power rental, AI data trading, AI games, and AI agents. One of the hottest segmented fields is AI agents, which are put on chains to take advantage of the token mechanism to incentivise and bootstrap certain behaviors with the agents, including interacting with smart contracts, trading and querying on behalf of users. In the future, AI agents will gradually become personal butlers and assistants for users, serving them with comprehensive capabilities, such as independent asset issuance, initiation of viral marketing campaigns, formation of DAOs, and even fund management and investment decision-making. Over time, they may develop unique cultures and religions. This deep integration of AI and encryption technology is a groundbreaking evolution that is unattainable within Web2 and cannot be achieved by Web3 relying solely on encryption technology. TON Ecosystem Attributable to Telegram’s hundreds of millions of users and robust technical support, the TON (The Open Network) ecosystem has progressively developed into a multi-layered blockchain ecosystem. In 2024, it experienced a full-scale boom in its ecosystem and market presence. From DeFi and meme coins to NFTs and gaming, TON leveraged its massive user base to achieve significant milestones in various fields, pioneering the monetization of Web2 social applications through crypto. One standout success was the adoption of “tap-to-earn” games with token airdrop incentives, which effectively onboarded a large number of Web2 users. However, as the TON ecosystem moves into 2025, it must explore and find new business models to improve user retention and identify its next growth curve. 2025 Outlook Donald Trump’s expected repeal of SAB 121 after his inauguration on January 20, 2025 , would allow traditional financial institutions to hold crypto assets on their balance sheets, further accelerating the institutionalization of crypto assets. The repeal will not only open up more financing options for crypto but also make spot cryptos more accessible through existing institutional exchanges and partnerships. At the same time, this regulatory easing is poised to enhance the overall maturity of the institutional crypto market. With the entry of traditional financial institutions, Bitcoin is anticipated to gain stronger support and gradually establish itself as a core dollar-denominated asset, alongside others tied to the dollar industry cycles, such as AI. HTX Ventures points out that the market is still far from its bull market peak. Against the backdrop of Trump’s fiscal expansion policies and unprecedented crypto-friendly signals, a robust bull market is expected. To learn more, please visit: https://square.htx.com/htx-ventures-2024-year-in-review/ About HTX Ventures HTX Ventures, the global investment division of HTX, integrates investment, incubation, and research to identify the best and brightest teams worldwide. With more than a decade-long history as an industry pioneer, HTX Ventures excels at identifying cutting-edge technologies and emerging business models within the sector. To foster growth within the blockchain ecosystem, we provide comprehensive support to projects, including financing, resources, and strategic advice. HTX Ventures currently backs over 300 projects spanning multiple blockchain sectors, with select high-quality initiatives already trading on the HTX exchange. Furthermore, as one of the most active Fund of Funds (“FOF”) investors, HTX Ventures invests in 30 top global funds and collaborates with leading blockchain funds such as Polychain, Dragonfly, Bankless, Gitcoin, Figment, Nomad, Animoca, and Hack VC to jointly build a blockchain ecosystem. Visit us here. Feel free to contact us for investment and collaboration at VC@htx-inc.com Contact Details Ruder Finn Asia htx@ruderfinn.com

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Ethereum Whales Hold 57.35% of Supply: Key Insights from Santiment’s Latest Research

According to recent research published by Santiment on December 17, the landscape of Ethereum ownership is shifting. Currently, there are 104 whale addresses that each hold a minimum of 100,000

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Why ICP Needs Wallet Standards: NFID’s Wallet-Centric Solution

The ICP network is the go-to destination for decentralized applications, yet its journey has encountered

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Analysts Suggest Ethereum Could Reach New Highs as Whale Holdings and Wallet Activity Surge

Recent data indicates a significant surge in Ethereum activity, hinting at potential future growth and market shifts. The rise in Ethereum whale holdings, now accounting for 57% of total Ether

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Didn’t Jump on Shiba Inu’s Rocket? Don’t Sleep on BTFD Coin, It Might Just Be Your Ticket to Crypto Success

Enter BTFD Coin (BTFD), a new player that’s ready to shake things up. This isn’t just another meme coin chasing after the latest trend; BTFD Coin is packed with features that could really set it apart. Read original article on coincu.com

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ALGO Faces Critical Test at $0.40 Support Amid Sell Signals and Downtrend Concerns

Algorand’s price action has recently encountered significant resistance, as the SuperTrend indicator flashed a sell signal on the 4-hour chart. Following a notable 34% decline, ALGO has reached a critical

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Grayscale’s Horizen Trust (HZEN) Opens to Accredited Investors Amid Market Uncertainty and Post-Halving Opportunities for ZEN

Grayscale’s Horizen Trust (HZEN) opens its doors to accredited investors, marking a pivotal moment in the landscape of crypto investment. The recent halving of Horizen’s rewards has sparked renewed interest

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Ethereum Investor Accumulates 3,002 ETH Amid Market Dip, Now Holds $4 Million

On December 17, COINOTAG reported a significant move in the Ethereum market, as the prominent Ethereum address 0xc3d made a noteworthy investment on September 9. During this period, when Ethereum

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