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High Tales of The Week
New Hampshire, North Dakota introduce payments for Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
New Hampshire and North Dakota have become the latest US states to introduce laws for a strategic Bitcoin reserve, signaling a continued push amongst lawmakers to diversify state treasuries with the cryptocurrency.
Based on Satoshi Motion Fund CEO Dennis Porter, the New Hampshire invoice was launched by Consultant Keith Ammon, a Republican who represents the fortieth District.
The New Hampshire invoice doesn’t explicitly point out Bitcoin however as an alternative refers to “digital belongings.” Porter said this can be a approach for state lawmakers to push by way of the laws with out inflicting political friction.
On the identical day, laws for a strategic Bitcoin reserve was additionally launched in North Dakota, championed by Consultant Nathan Toman, Consultant Josh Christy and Senator Jeff Barta.
Bitcoin company treasury shareholder proposal submitted to Meta
A Meta shareholder proposal submitted by Ethan Peck requested that the social media firm convert a portion of its $72 billion in money and short-term money equivalents to Bitcoin as a hedge in opposition to forex debasement.
Peck wrote that Meta is dropping 28% of its money belongings over time attributable to inflation and cited Bitcoin outperforming bonds by 1,262% over the previous 5 years as proof for adopting the asset. Peck additionally wrote within the proposal:
“Mark Zuckerberg named his goats ‘Bitcoin’ and ‘Max.’ Meta director Marc Andreessen has praised Bitcoin and can also be a director at Coinbase. Do Meta shareholders not deserve the identical sort of accountable asset allocation for the Firm that Meta administrators and executives possible implement for themselves?”
Peck is an worker of The Nationwide Middle for Public Coverage Analysis — a Washington DC-based think-tank selling free market insurance policies — which submitted Bitcoin treasury shareholder proposals to Microsoft and Amazon in 2024. Nonetheless, Peck submitted the Meta proposal on behalf of his household’s shares.
Bybit alternate suspends providers in India attributable to regulatory strain
Bybit, a worldwide crypto alternate, announced a temporary suspension of its crypto trading providers in India, citing regulatory developments.
Beginning Jan. 12 at 8:00 am UTC, Bybit will limit a number of providers, together with cryptocurrency buying and selling, account openings and putting orders by way of different alternate merchandise.
Bybit attributed the choice to its aim of working in “full compliance with all relevant guidelines and rules,” the alternate said in a Jan. 10 announcement, including:
“Resulting from current developments from Indian regulators and in continuation of beforehand applied restrictions, […] Indian customers will quickly be unable to open new trades or entry any merchandise on the Bybit platform.”
The announcement mentioned that whereas buying and selling providers are halted, person fund withdrawals are unaffected.
56% of advisers extra prone to put money into crypto after Trump win: Bitwise survey
Greater than half of US-based monetary advisers responding to a survey by Bitwise said they’re extra inclined to put money into crypto attributable to Donald Trump’s United States presidential election victory.
Bitwise’s newest survey — performed from Nov. 14 to Dec. 20 — requested 430 monetary advisers about their attitudes towards crypto, with 56% indicating they’re extra prone to put money into crypto this 12 months following the US election outcomes on Nov. 5.
The crypto trade is extensively anticipating President-elect Donald Trump’s assist in steering the US towards a crypto-friendly setting. Jack Mallers, founder and CEO of Strike, mentioned it’s potential that Trump might problem an govt order on his first day in workplace, designating Bitcoin as a US reserve asset.
UK choose dismisses $770M Bitcoin landfill onerous drive case
James Howells, an IT engineer from Newport, Wales, has lost his legal battle to recover a hard drive containing greater than $770 million value of Bitcoin.
The onerous drive, which holds Bitcoin mined in 2009, was mistakenly thrown away and ended up in a landfill. The Newport Metropolis Council has denied entry to the landfill attributable to environmental allow restrictions.
Within the newest growth, Decide Keyser KC, the circuit business choose for Wales, has thrown out Howells’ authorized case looking for entry to the Newport landfill to recuperate his onerous drive, according to a Jan. 9 BBC report.
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Keyser mentioned that the authorized case had “no practical prospect” of succeeding at a full trial.
Since 2013, Howells has repeatedly requested the council’s permission to entry the location, providing a share of the lacking Bitcoin if the onerous drive had been discovered.
Winners and Losers
On the finish of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $94,691, Ether (ETH) at $3,271 and XRP at $2.34. The overall market cap is at $3.31 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Among the many largest 100 cryptocurrencies, the highest three altcoin gainers of the week are XDC Community (XDC) at 14.56%, Bitcoin SV (BSV) at 10.95% and Bitget Token (BGB) at 7.89%.
The highest three altcoin losers of the week are THORChain (RUNE) at 32.05%, ai16z (AI16Z) at 31.64% and dogwifhat (WIF) at 27.47%. For more information on crypto costs, be sure to learn Cointelegraph’s market analysis.
Most Memorable Quotations
“The 12 months is 2035. Bitcoin is at – and you may maintain me to this – $1.5 million.”
Timothy Peterson, community economist
“I feel AI could result in an explosion of corporations and tokenized corporations.”
Hunter Horsley, CEO of Bitwise
“The scams have many various variations, however one specifically directs an individual to a cryptocurrency machine to insert and ship cash to the scammer. When you obtain a cellphone name with somebody demanding a fee in cryptocurrency or Bitcoin, please grasp up.”
The Springfield, Massachusetts Police Division
“Not like beforehand, it’s additionally fairly unlikely we get any Trump-related catalysts until after his 20-Jan inauguration. Frontend vols have additionally remained gentle with a comparatively impartial skew which point out an analogous sentiment.”
“A letdown by staff Trump on his proposed pro-crypto and pro-business laws could be lined by a particularly constructive greenback liquidity setting, a rise of as much as $612 billion within the first quarter.”
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX
“Bitcoin’s dip stems primarily from robust US financial information pointing towards potential rate of interest hikes.”
Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget Analysis
Prediction of The Week
Crypto headed for ‘Banana Singularity’ the place all the pieces goes up: Analyst
Crypto markets are within the “Banana Zone” and heading right into a “Banana Singularity,” or a interval “when all the pieces goes up,” based on Actual Imaginative and prescient co-founder and CEO Raoul Pal.
The “Banana Zone” is a term coined by Pal to describe a period of vital upward value motion.
“Sure, we’re nonetheless within the Banana Zone,” Pal said in an X publish on Jan. 10, earlier than including that the primary section of this bull market was the breakout in November final 12 months.
That has been adopted by the present interval of consolidation — much like the 2016/2017 cycle — Pal mentioned, earlier than including: “This gained’t final lengthy.”
Trying forward, Pal mentioned the following section of the “Banana Zone” is a “Banana Singularity,” an altcoin season “when all the pieces goes up, adopted by an even bigger consolidation.”
FUD of The Week
Blender and Sinbad operators face US cash laundering fees
The US Justice Division has indicted three Russian nationals alleged to have dedicated cash laundering attributable to their involvement in working cryptocurrency mixers Blender.io and Sinbad.io.
In a Jan. 10 discover, US authorities said a federal grand jury within the Northern District of Georgia returned an indictment for Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko, Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik and Anton Vyachlavovich Tarasov.
The indictment alleged that the crypto-mixing providers operated by the three males allowed criminals to launder funds “stolen from victims of ransomware, digital forex thefts, and different crimes,” based on US Legal professional Ryan Buchanan.
Russia seizes $10M in Bitcoin from ex-official in bribery case
The Russian government confiscated $10 million value of Bitcoin from a former regulation enforcement official, based on native stories.
Russian court docket enforcement officers have begun confiscating Bitcoin from a former worker on the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) in a large bribery case involving cryptocurrency.
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The officers started proceedings to grab 1 billion Russian rubles ($10 million) — or roughly 103 BTC — from former ICRF worker Marat Tambiev, who was convicted of crypto bribery in 2023, the information company TASS reported on Jan. 8.
The confiscated Bitcoin can be added to Russia’s state income as a part of the authorized proceedings. Officers reportedly accessed Tambiev’s {hardware} cryptocurrency pockets, a Ledger Nano X, to grab the belongings.
Thai police seize practically 1,000 Bitcoin miners in raid: Report
Thai police and electrical energy officers have reportedly seized 996 Bitcoin mining rigs from an organization they declare illegally diverted electrical energy to run the machines.
The Bitcoin mining rigs were confiscated from JIT Co’s facility in Phanat Nikhom, Chon Buri, on Jan. 8, Police Main Common Montree Theskhan, commander of the Crime Suppression Division, told the Bangkok Submit on Jan. 9.
An estimated “lots of of tens of millions of baht” value of electrical energy was allegedly stolen by JIT, with the decrease finish of 100 million baht determine amounting to a minimum of $2.88 million at present charges.
The operators had been registered to hold out digital asset buying and selling however allegedly used modified energy meters to run the mining rigs at night time. It used the ability meter appropriately in the course of the day to “keep away from elevating suspicions,” Nation Thailand reported on Jan. 9.
High Journal Tales of The Week
Cypherpunk AI: Information to uncensored, unbiased, nameless AI in 2025
There are very good reasons to use uncensored, unbiased, open supply AI fashions and to privately entry ChatGPT and Claude.
Trump’s Bitcoin coverage lashed in China, deepfake scammers busted: Asia Categorical
Former Financial institution of China VP slams Trump’s Bitcoin policy, South Korean establishments line up for crypto accounts, deepfake scammers busted.
Trash collectors in Africa earn crypto to assist households with ReFi
Crypto is usually criticised for lacking real world applications, however regenerative finance initiatives are serving to clear up the setting in Tanzania and Kenya.
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Cointelegraph Journal writers and reporters contributed to this text.
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