Governments? Bitcoin? Trump or Dump Crypto Agenda: We’ll See What Happens Next

👀 TLDR 🪟

Buckle up—Bitcoin’s week was a wild ride with dips and rebounds!
Bitcoin kicked off the week at $90K and reclaimed $105K by Friday.
We love this Epoch: Bitcoin’s mining difficulty hits a record high of 110.45 T, but Hashprice is almost back over the $60/PH/day mark.
Gryphon Digital Mining acquires $18.7M site; BitFuFu adds 50MW+ in Oklahoma; Bitmain moving 2024 S19 XP Hosting craze; Russia’s mining equipment demand grew 3x despite regional bans.
Texas may create Bitcoin reserve; Kenya legalizes Bitcoin; Meta wants Bitcoin in reserves; Tether moves to El Salvador; ; Osprey aims for Bitcoin ETF; Thailand’s SEC explores Bitcoin ETFs; Malaysia’s PM calls for BTC exploration; North Dakota proposes Bitcoin treasury; New Hampshire considers Bitcoin Reserve Bill; SEC must explain rejection; U.S. to return 94,643 BTC from Bitfinex.
Intesa Sanpaolo buys BTC; Remixpoint buys 33.34 BTC; LQWD holds 148 BTC; Matador buys 29 BTC; Genius adds 372 BTC; Ming Shing buys 500 BTC; Semler buys 237 BTC.
Trump to issue a crypto executive order on day one.
Binance holds 97% of South Korea’s market, half of global Bitcoin transactions.
MicroStrategy outpaces BlackRock’s IBIT in Bitcoin buying.
Could inflation continue to push Bitcoin’s price higher?

For this week’s Hash & Cash Index, BTC price surges to $102,572 a 7.98% increase from last week. Market cap stays as above the $1T, settling at $ 1.900B (8.32% WoW). Hashprice sit at $59.58 USD/PH/day, a 8.31 % increase. The global hashrate increases by 1.17% to reach 788.83 EH/s. The current epoch’s difficulty is locked at 110.45 T. We’re at block 671 of 2016 for this epoch. Block rewards increases by 0.63%, settling at an average of 3.19 BTC per block. Fees in blocks risen to 2.02% showing an increase of 42.25%. The average block time has increase to 10 minutes and 11 seconds. Source: Hashrate Index, Mempool, ONMINE.

🪄 Pool Power Tools 🎱

This week’s Pool reward index settles to 99.80%, an increase from last week 1.10% with 19 active pools chipping away 1006 blocks. The total miner reward over the last 144 blocks contracted to 459.24.15 BTC up 0.68% from last week , the dollar valuation of this rewards significantly increases to $47.13++ (9.07% WoW). Average block fees are equal to 0.0642BTC/block up 50.35% Wow and estimated to be $6,586 per block. Transaction fee per Network transaction equate to 2.13k sats per transaction, costing around $2.19 per transaction on the Bitcoin network over the last 144 block. Source: Mempool, ONMINE.

In this week’s 1008 block mining pool race, Foundry USA remains at the forefront, with a total reported hashrate of 258.64 EH/S, clinching 330 blocks. ANTPOOL continues to challenge, harvesting 179 blocks with 140.29 EH/S. F2Pool and ViaBTC are neck and neck in the hashrate hustle, grabbing 113 and 142 blocks, respectively. Luxor backs to the top ranks, with a hashrate of 23.51 EH/S and manages to secure 30 blocks over the last week. Source: Mempool, ONMINE.

⚡Auradine AT2880 achieves 17.5 J/TH efficiency, matching Antminer S21 in a test.

⛏️ Ionic Digital mined 1,851 BTC in 2024, with a December hashrate of 8.563 EH/s.

🧰 Hard-Ware & Hosting Index ⚙

⚡Gryphon Digital Mining announces $18.7M site acquisition from a Canadian oil and gas company.

💡 BitFuFu to acquire majority stake in 51 MW Bitcoin mining facility in Oklahoma.

🔥 Bitmain is selling hosted S19XP Hydro miners for $2,313 each, with a $0.10/kWh fee.

🇷🇺 Russia sees a threefold rise in demand for industrial mining equipment and services in Q4 2024.

📈 Seven in ten publicly traded bitcoin mining companies are off to a strong start in 2025, with Riot Platforms leading the charge.

Cathedra Bitcoin, Inc. (TSXV: CBIT) leads with a 25% year-to-date gain, while Riot Platforms, Inc. (Nasdaq: RIOT) follows with a 17.53% increase among the top ten bitcoin mining firms. Hut 8 (Nasdaq: HUT) also performs strongly with a 14.2% rise, and other companies like Galaxy, MARA, Northern Data, Cleanspark, and Iris Energy show gains ranging from 6.49% to 12.01%. On the downside, Core Scientific (Nasdaq: CORZ) dips slightly by 0.07%, Terawulf (Nasdaq: WULF) drops 4.59%, and Bitdeer (Nasdaq: BTDR) sees the steepest decline at 14.62%.

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🚨 President-elect Trump is set to issue a crypto executive order on day one.

🚀 Trump’s administration plans to appoint 24 CEOs and founders to a crypto advisory council.

🇺🇸 Texas could become the first state with a strategic Bitcoin reserve under Senate Bill No. 778.

🇰🇪 Kenya to legalize Bitcoin trading.

🇺🇸 North Dakota lawmakers propose adding Bitcoin to the state treasury.

🇺🇸 New Hampshire proposes Strategic Bitcoin Reservice Bill.

🇸🇻 Tether moves its headquarters to El Salvador.

🇨🇦 iShares launches Bitcoin ETF on Cboe Canada, trading under IBIT and IBIT.U.

🇯🇵 Metaplanet unveils Bitcoin Magazine Japan to engage 1M Japanese to Bitcoin.

🇮🇹 Italy’s largest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, invests in Bitcoin, buying 11 BTC for €1M.

🇯🇵 Remixpoint, a Japanese energy consulting firm, has acquired 33.34 BTC for 500 million yen ($3.2 million).

🇨🇦 LQWD Technologies has acquired 7 more Bitcoin, bringing its total to 148 Bitcoin.

🇨🇦 Matador Technologies has purchased 29 Bitcoin for CAD$4.5 million.

🇲🇾 Malaysia’s PM calls for the central bank and treasury to explore Bitcoin and crypto “to ensure we’re not left behind.”

🇧🇹 Bhutan government moved 633 BTC, igniting market buzz.

🇹🇭 Thailand’s SEC is exploring the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs on local exchanges for the first time.

The Bitcoin Treasury Index for this week steady reflecting a stable grip on holdings, with 75 companies increasing their trove to precisely 2,872,544.15 BTC. Government also join the bitcoin standard with 7 countries holding 529,192.0 BTC. The value locked in these treasuries for Companies and Government tells a different story swelling to a robust $287.20B and $52.91B, respectively. A total of 13.679% all Bitcoins are held in corporate treasuries, while government holds 2.520 % of all Bitcoins, reinforcing the sentiment of a consolidating market among institutional & Government participants. Source: NewHedge, ONMINE.

🍁 Goodfood Market, the Montreal-based Canadian grocery and meal provider, adds Bitcoin to its reserves

🚨 Meta shareholders urge adding Bitcoin to its $72B reserves to combat inflation.

💥 Semler Scientific adds 237 Bitcoin for $23.3M.

⚖️ Tether has filed a lawsuit against Swan Bitcoin, alleging “significant breaches” of their agreements.

💼 Heritage Distilling, a craft distillery from the Pacific Northwest, reveals a Bitcoin policy to hold BTC and accept it as payment.

💰 Alpen Labs raises $8.5M to develop Bitcoin ZK Rollup Strata, launching in 2025.

🚨 Osprey Funds plans to turn its Bitcoin Trust into an ETF after the Bitwise deal fell through.

💰 Genius Group acquires $5M in Bitcoin, increasing holdings to 372 BTC.

💼 Ming Shing Group, a Hong Kong company, buys 500 Bitcoins for $47M.

📈 BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF Options now make up 50% of Deribit’s BTC open interest.

⚖️ The US SEC must “explain itself” for denying Coinbase’s request on crypto regulations, says court.

🏛️ U.S. attorneys filed to return 94,643 BTC and forked assets to Bitfinex from the 2016 hack.

🇺🇸 Trump considers XRP, USDC, and Solana for a U.S. crypto reserve.

👩‍💼 Senator Lummis questions U.S. Marshals’ Bitcoin sale plans.

🔗 Coinbase partners with Morpho for Bitcoin-backed USDC loans.

🔍 Aave tokenholders eye Bitcoin mining to grow revenue and expand GHO adoption.

🎬 End Notes 🎤

🪙 MicroStrategy is unstoppable in its Bitcoin buying momentum, adding $243M worth of BTC, surpassing 450,000 BTC holdings valued at $41B. For 10 weeks straight, they’ve stacked nearly 200,000 BTC, outpacing BlackRock’s IBIT!

MicroStrategy’s 10-week Bitcoin buying spree surpasses BlackRock’s IBIT. The company has spent $28.2B on Bitcoin, seeing an unrealized gain of $12.7B.

💰 Over 750 dormant bitcoins, worth $71.8 million, have reentered circulation during the first 12 days of January 2025, as Bitcoin trades 12% below its peak, with notable movements from wallets dating back to 2011-2017.

🌐Binance holds 97% of South Korea’s market share and processes half of global Bitcoin transactions.

CryptoQuant data reveals Binance dominates 96.91% of South Korea’s crypto trading, leaving Upbit and Bithumb with just 3.09%.

Kaiko data from January 12 shows Binance processes nearly 50% of all global Bitcoin transactions.

🚀 Bitcoin’s mining difficulty hit an all-time high of 110.45 trillion! It’s now 110.45 trillion times harder to mine a block than when Bitcoin started.With 8 consecutive positive adjustments, miners are feeling the heat!

In 2024, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty surged nearly 50%, crossing the 100 trillion mark. Of 27 adjustments, 18 were positive, despite the halving event cutting miners’ rewards.

🚀Bitcoin’s correlation with the Nasdaq has also been on the rise, with both markets impacted by global economic factors like rising yields and a stronger US Dollar.

BTC Vs. Nasdaq correlation chart. Source: K33 Research

🚀 Since its 2009 launch, Bitcoin has seen adoption rates faster than the internet and mobile phones, driven by digital-native younger generations, global economic shifts like inflation and political divides, and the evolving digital economy reshaping finance with accessible infrastructure and new use cases.

Time needed to achieve 300 million users

🏆 Examining the trends from last year, almost every major asset showed positive growth, except long-duration Treasuries. Bitcoin held the #1 position for the second straight year—having only ever had 3 down years in its history—will it stay at the top in the future?

📈 Bitcoin-based DeFi (BTCFi) saw explosive growth in 2024, with its total value locked (TVL) soaring 2,000% from $307 million in January to over $6.5 billion by December. This surge was driven by the rise in Bitcoin prices post-April halving and key developments in Bitcoin staking, especially with Babylon, which now holds more than 80% of BTCFi’s TVL.

Bitcoin TVL, 2024-chart. Source: DefiLlama

🌍 “From El Salvador’s streets to the corridors of global finance, Bitcoin is steadily making its way into national reserves. Are we witnessing the dawn of a new financial era, or merely a modern-day gold rush?

As Bitcoin gains traction as a potential reserve asset, countries such as El Salvador, the U.S., Brazil, and Russia are leading the charge in exploring its integration into their sovereign reserves. Across five continents, including Switzerland, Poland, and South Africa, nations are now eyeing Bitcoin as a safeguard against currency volatility. While concerns about its volatility persist, the growing support for Bitcoin suggests it could play a significant role in transforming the future of global finance.

🪙After battling some tough bearish pressure around the $90,000 mark, Bitcoin has powered through the storm and is back above the coveted six-figure territory!

What sparked this sudden rise? The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics dropped a big bombshell: consumer prices for December 2024 shot up by 0.4%, bringing the annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) to 2.9%. But that’s not all – core inflation (excluding the usual suspects like food and energy) jumped by 3.2% year-over-year, and 0.2% on a monthly basis. Analysts predicted this, but the real kicker is the 0.3% uptick in prices for services (minus housing and energy), which has added more fuel to the fire of persistent inflation concerns.

Though another correction is still possible, overall market sentiment is positive, with many anticipating that Donald Trump’s upcoming inauguration and the start of his presidency could have a significant impact on the future of cryptocurrencies.

These six non-crypto firms are copying MicroStrategy and gobbling up Bitcoin – DL News
Japan, South Korea, and the US issue joint warning over North Korea-related crypto thefts – Cryptoslate
3 reasons why 2025 is set to be another blockbuster year for Bitcoin and crypto sector – Cointelegraph
Trump’s return to Washington kicks off flurry of crypto-related activity, IRS challenges and focus on crypto debanking – The Block
Bitcoin Briefly Slides Below $90K, MicroStrategy Buys More – Yahoo Finance
Will This Week’s CPI Figures Keep Bitcoin on Track to $200,000? – Decrypt
Bitcoin poised to dip further as inflation looms: Steno Research – Cointelegraph
Bitcoin risks consolidation as Treasury yields surge and economic outlook dims – Bitfinex – Cryptoslate
Departing SEC Chair Gary Gensler Slams Crypto Again—But Says Bitcoin Is Different – Decrypt
Bitcoin and stocks have been moving in sync: Morning Brief – Yahoo Finance
Bitcoin holds near $96,500 as US PPI data shows slower producer price growth – Cryptoslate
Eight U.S. Blockchain Lobby Groups Unite Ahead of Trump’s Crypto Friendly Regime- Coindesk
MicroStrategy’s preferred MSTR issuance seeks ‘returns and volatility’ at 1.5x bitcoin, Saylor says – The Block
Mining Bitcoin In The Congo And Beyond: The Journey Of BigBlock Datacenter’s Sébastien Gouspillou – Bitcoin Magazine
Companies Buying Bitcoin: An Overlooked Megatrend – Bitwise
El Salvador’s tourism thrives amid Bitcoin adoption – Crypto Briefing
SEC charges Robinhood with securities violations, brokerage to pay $45 million penalty – CNBC
4 US Economic Events to Drive Bitcoin Sentiment This Week – Cointime
UK proposes ban on ransomware payments in critical sectors – Cointelegraph
Why Hundreds of Companies Will Buy Bitcoin in 2025 – Bitcoin Magazine
Good Riddance to Gary Gensler – Coindesk
Internal De-Dollarization: Study Finds 52% of Americans Prefer Crypto Over Traditional Assets – Watcher Guru
Hong Kong’s ESR, CloudHQ team up for $2 billion data centre campus in Japan – Yahoo Finance
HashKey predicts bitcoin to break through $300,000 in 2025 – The Block
Bitcoin vs. the quantum computer threat: Timeline and solutions (2025–2035) – Cointelegraph
Unknown nation considering Bitcoin as an alternative to traditional bonds, Bitwise CEO reveals – Cryptoslate
Bitcoin Mining in the Nordics w/ Jaran Mellerud – The Mining Pod
Brickken secures $2.5M to expand tokenized assets platform in Europe – Cointelegraph
Crypto Market Today Jan 17: BTC Hits $102K, Traders Eye ETH Options Expiry & Trump Trade – Coingape
Crypto Advisory Council Set to Potentially Include About 24 Industry Leaders – Crypto News

💉 Dopamine Hit 🕺🏻

Drake to Metro: “to the under achievers, the tweet & deleters… look my eyes!! you wanna do summin??” : r/Drizzy

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Bitcoin Whales Bought $11B of BTC in Two Weeks as Confidence Grew, Glassnode Says

While macroeconomic uncertainty and technical indicators raise doubts about bitcoin’s (BTC) recent gains, purchasing activity by some of the largest investors indicates a more optimistic outlook.
Since March 11, so-called bitcoin whales have snapped up over 129,000 BTC, worth $11.2 billion at the market price of $87,500, according to data tracked by blockchain analytics firm Glassnode.

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That’s the most significant accumulation rate since August 2024, indicating growing confidence in the largest cryptocurrency among the biggest market participants, Glassnode commented on X.
BTC has regained some poise, since reaching lows under $78K roughly two weeks ago. The recovery has been led by dovish comments from Federal Reserve and optimism that impending Trump tariffs on April 2 will be more measured than expected.

Glassnode’s analysis revealed that crypto whale addresses with over 10,000 BTC compensating for continued selling by small holders.

Bitcoin: Whale position change (30D) (Glassnode)
Other indicators, such as the “Bitcoin 1Y+ HOLD wave,” tracked by Bitbo Charts show a renewed upswing, indicating a shift to a holding strategy, as Wednesday’s edition of the Crypto Daybook Americas noted.

Trump SEC Pick Paul Atkins’ Crypto Ties Draw Sen. Warren’s Ire Ahead of Confirmation Hearing

Ahead of his confirmation hearing in front of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee tomorrow, Paul Atkins — President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — disclosed having up to $6 million in crypto-related assets, prompting Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to cry foul.

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In a Sunday letter to Atkins, Warren stressed that the former SEC commissioner’s background as a consultant and lobbyist for the financial industry could create “significant conflicts of interest” if he is confirmed.
“You also have served as an expert witness hired by Wall Street firms accused of engaging in Ponzi schemes and other misconduct that you would now be responsible for investigating as SEC Chair. Furthermore, you have served as a Board Advisor to the Digital Chamber, a registered lobbying group for the crypto industry. In these roles, you and your firm were paid by the same companies that you would now be responsible for regulating,” Warren wrote. “This will raise serious concerns about your impartiality and commitment to serving the public interest if you are confirmed to serve as the next SEC Chair.”

Warren urged Atkins to consider mitigating these potential conflicts of interest by recusing himself from any SEC matters involving his former clients, and agreeing not to do any lobbying, consulting or other work for any companies in the industry regulated by the SEC for at least four years after his departure from the agency. Her letter requests a written response from Atkins by Thursday.
Another letter, also dated Sunday, asked Atkins a series of questions about how he believed the cryptocurrency industry should be regulated, alongside other matters before the SEC’s purview.
Atkins’ recent financial disclosures revealed a $328 million family fortune, according to Reuters, largely stemming from his wife’s family ties to roofing supply giant TAMKO Building Products. His risk consultancy firm, Patomak Global Partners — though which Atkins has done consulting for a range of companies, both crypto and traditional finance, and from which he has promised to divest if confirmed — was valued at between $25 and $50 million, Reuters reported.
Atkins’ crypto-related assets were valued at up to $6 million, according to a report from Fortune, and include a combined $1 million in equity in crypto custodian Anchorage Digital and tokenization firm Securitize (Atkins held a board seat at Securitize until February). Atkins reported having up to a $5 million stake in the crypto investment firm Off the Chain Capital, where he is a limited partner. Off the Chain’s investments include private shares in big crypto companies like Digital Currency Group (DCG) and Kraken, as well as Mt. Gox bankruptcy claims.

In a Tuesday filing with the Office of Government Ethics, Atkins pledged to divest from Off the Chain Capital within 120 days of his confirmation. He has also resigned from his position on the board of the Digital Chamber of Commerce and the Token Alliance of the Chamber of Digital Commerce according to the same filing.
Atkins crypto ties are a stark contrast to his predecessor, former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who was known for his so-called “regulation by enforcement” approach to crypto regulation. Ahead of Atkins’ confirmation, the SEC’s current leadership, spearheaded by Acting Chair Mark Uyeda and Commissioner Hester Peirce, have been overhauling the agency’s crypto regulation strategy, inviting industry players to roundtable discussions at the SEC’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. and backing down a considerable number of investigations and open litigation against crypto companies.
However, not everyone that the SEC went after under Gensler is off the hook — the agency has not yet shut its probes into Unicoin or Crypto.com, both of which received Wells notices (a heads up of forthcoming enforcement charges) from the SEC last year.
The SEC has shut down investigations into companies including Immutable, OpenSea and Yuga Labs, and ended litigation against companies like Coinbase, Kraken and Ripple since Uyeda took over the agency as acting chair.