Author | Wu Talks Blockchain
Top 10 News This Week
- The U.S. government officially ends the longest shutdown in history, lasting 43 days link
The U.S. government has officially ended the longest shutdown in history, lasting 43 days, during which a large amount of economic data was missing, and macro analysis could only rely on forecasts. The December FOMC has become a key point. Previously, a bipartisan agreement was reached in the U.S. Senate to end the federal government shutdown that had lasted for seven weeks. This agreement was jointly promoted by Democratic Senators Angus King, Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan, and Republicans, and was supported by Majority Leader John Thune and the White House. According to the agreement, Democrats committed that at least eight members would cast procedural “yes” votes to ensure the smooth progress of the funding bill, and the government is expected to reopen as early as this week. The agreement also includes: providing full-year funding for agriculture, veterans, military construction, and congressional operations; extending funding for other agencies until January 30, 2026; and reinstating federal employees laid off during the shutdown with back pay.
According to Reuters, White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett stated that due to the 43-day federal government shutdown preventing the Bureau of Labor Statistics from conducting household surveys, the October employment report will only release non-farm payroll numbers, excluding the unemployment rate. He mentioned that the unemployment rate for October “may never be accurately known.” Hassett also estimated that the shutdown has caused approximately $15 billion in weekly economic losses, which equates to a drag on the fourth quarter GDP annualized growth rate of about 1–1.5 percentage points, and has led to around 60,000 non-federal employees losing their jobs.
- Fed's megaphone: The Fed's disagreements on interest rate cuts in December are growing larger link
According to a report by Wall Street Journal reporter Nick Timiraos, there are significant divisions within the Federal Reserve regarding whether to continue lowering interest rates in December. Some officials are concerned about sticky inflation and the effects of tariffs, advocating for a pause in rate cuts; meanwhile, doves believe that weak employment and slowing demand deserve more attention. The report indicates that the government shutdown has interrupted key economic data, exacerbating the divisions among decision-makers. Current interest rates are in the range of 3.75%–4%, and the market still slightly expects a rate cut in December, but there has been a rare “hawk-dove confrontation” within the Federal Reserve in recent years.
- The U.S. Treasury Department and the IRS have released new regulations to provide a compliance pathway for crypto ETP staking link
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that the Treasury and the IRS have released new regulations to provide a clear regulatory path for Exchange-Traded Products (ETPs) involving cryptocurrency, allowing them to stake digital assets and distribute staking rewards to retail investors under certain conditions. Bill Hughes, Senior Legal Counsel at Consensys, interpreted that this safe harbor mechanism applies to specific trust structures, requiring the trust to hold only a single type of digital asset and cash, with a qualified custodian responsible for key management and executing staking, establishing liquidity policies approved by the SEC to ensure redemption arrangements, while maintaining transaction isolation from independent staking service providers, and the trust activities must be limited to holding assets, staking, and redemption, without engaging in independent trading.
4 Dragonfly Partners: The current downturn is far from the extreme bear market of 2022.
Dragonfly Managing Partner Haseeb stated that the current round of declines is far from the extreme bear market of 2022, when Luna, 3AC, FTX, Genesis, BlockFi, and NFTs all collapsed, followed by bank failures, stablecoin depegging, and comprehensive regulatory pressure. “At that time, I was really unsure if the industry could survive.” In contrast, he said the market today is “much more relaxed,” with solid fundamentals and a functioning crypto system, urging investors to stay calm, “Hang in there, we will be fine.”
However, Wintermute's latest article points out that the correlation between BTC and the Nasdaq is still as high as 0.8, but the performance shows a “down-only” negative skew—reacting slowly when the stock market rises and amplifying when it falls. Analysis suggests that this structural weakness reflects a shift in funds and narratives towards U.S. stocks, while the liquidity in the crypto market remains fragile. Such phenomena have historically appeared more often at the bottom of cycles rather than at the top, indicating that the market may be in a state of emotional exhaustion rather than exuberance.
- The Czech central bank becomes the first central bank to purchase Bitcoin, establishing a $1 million crypto test investment portfolio link
The Czech National Bank (CNB) announced that it has established an experimental digital asset portfolio totaling $1 million, which includes Bitcoin, USD stablecoins, and a tokenized deposit. The plan was approved on October 30, aiming to test the processes related to the purchase, holding, and management of Blockchain assets, with plans to share experiences in the next 2 to 3 years. This is reportedly the first time a central bank has included Bitcoin on its balance sheet. The CNB emphasized that this purchase does not come from its international reserves and will not expand the scale of investment.
- The Central Bank of Brazil has released a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, establishing a capital threshold of up to 7 million dollars for companies and requiring a license link
The Central Bank of Brazil has officially released a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency service providers, requiring relevant companies to obtain licenses and comply with foreign exchange and capital market rules, with international transactions needing to be reported regularly. According to the regulations, the minimum capital requirement for crypto companies is 10.8 million reais (approximately 2 million USD), and certain types of businesses must hold at least 37.2 million reais (approximately 7 million USD). Those who fail to meet the requirements on time will be prohibited from operating, and foreign platforms must establish a local entity in Brazil to serve customers. The framework also includes stablecoins and cross-border transfers into the foreign exchange regulatory system, setting a transaction limit of 100,000 USD for self-custodied wallets, and requiring monthly reporting of transaction data to the central bank starting from May. Previous reports indicated that the new regulations will take effect on February 2, 2025, and existing companies must comply within nine months.
- The London sentencing hearing revealed details of the “60,000 Bitcoin money laundering case” mastermind's overseas money laundering link.
The highly publicized 60,000 Bitcoin money laundering case's main suspect, Qian Zhimin, faced a sentencing hearing at the Southwark Crown Court in London, England. During the hearing, the UK Crown Prosecution Service further revealed key details of Qian Zhimin's money laundering path from Tianjin, China, to the UK: Qian Zhimin bought a total of 194,951 Bitcoins, taking over 70,000 with him on a laptop when he fled China. His escape route was meticulously planned, with assistance from multiple people; during his second escape in the UK, he also hired four servants and bodyguards.
According to Caixin reports, the mastermind behind the Blue Sky Ge Rui case, Qian Zhimin, instructed her “front person” Ren Jiangtao in 2014 to open an account on Huobi, using 180 million yuan of investor funds to purchase 100,250 bitcoins, which later increased to 143,951 bitcoins. In 2017, she again purchased 51,000 bitcoins using 468 million yuan of investor funds through OTC, totaling approximately 194,951 bitcoins. Starting in 2016, Qian Zhimin transferred over 70,000 bitcoins into a laptop wallet and, in 2017, escaped to the UK via Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Malaysia. The report pointed out that she maintained a lavish lifestyle in London by exchanging bitcoins and was later subjected to anti-money laundering scrutiny due to property purchases, with the police ultimately locking in about 60,000 bitcoins.
Finally, Qian Zhimin was sentenced to 11 years and 8 months in prison in London for leading a Ponzi scheme targeting over 120,000 elderly people in China, using fraudulent health and cryptocurrency mining projects for scams, and converting the proceeds into Bitcoin for storage. In 2024, British police seized 61,000 BTC worth approximately $6.3 billion from his residence, setting a new record for cryptocurrency seizures in the UK. The ownership of the asset remains in dispute, as China and the UK engage in a battle over the distribution rights of the BTC, with some British officials suggesting that it be included in the national reserves.
- The Ethereum Foundation promotes the dAI 2026 roadmap, focusing on ERC-8004 and x402 link.
The head of the EF dAI Team stated that they are working with the management of the Ethereum Foundation (EF) to develop the dAI Team 2026 roadmap, aimed at establishing Ethereum as a global decentralized settlement and collaboration platform for AI, allowing autonomous intelligent agents to interact with identity, assets, and data under publicly auditable rules. They expressed gratitude to the expanding community around the ERC-8004 and x402 protocols, stating that these two standards are becoming the neutral norm for “agentic commerce,” and are seeking feedback from teams building related applications on the key directions to support moving forward.
- 70% of the top ten Bitcoin mining companies globally are already relying on AI revenue to survive the bear market link
Among the top ten Bitcoin mining companies globally, 70% are currently relying on AI revenue to weather the bear market. Seven leading mining companies (including Marathon, CleanSpark, Iris Energy, TeraWulf, Core Scientific, etc.) have initiated AI/HPC businesses or realized revenue, with the remaining three in planning. AI hosting revenue has generally surpassed traditional mining, with annual income per MW being about 50% higher. As power shortages and data center demands surge, the “hashrate ranking” of mining companies is being replaced by “AI contracts and stable cash flow.”
10 Ripple is driving its institutional business expansion with an acquisition and investment of approximately $4 billion.
Ripple is driving its institutional business expansion with approximately $4 billion in acquisitions and investments, aiming to build a full-stack infrastructure covering custody, prime brokerage, payments, and stablecoin settlement on the XRP Ledger. Recently, the company acquired multi-asset prime broker Hidden Road for about $1.25 billion and integrated GTreasury for around $1 billion to embed RLUSD stablecoin settlement directly into enterprise ERP and TMS systems. At the same time, Ripple is conducting RLUSD pilot projects with Mastercard, WebBank, and Gemini.
Key Financing Events
The crypto trading protocol Lighter announced the completion of a $68 million financing link.
Blockchain infrastructure company Commonware announced the completion of $25 million in financing link
The crypto startup Seismic announced the completion of a $10 million financing round, led by a16z crypto link.
The decentralized confidential computing network Acurast announces the completion of $11 million in financing link
The ZK Identity Verification Protocol Self announces the completion of $9 million in seed round financing link
The infrastructure startup Sprinter recently completed a $5.2 million seed round of financing link
YZi Labs invests in regenerative medicine company Renewal Bio link
For more industry financing events, you can check crypto-fundraising.info.
