PA Daily | MicroStrategy changes its name to Strategy and releases Q4 financial report; Binance, OKX, Upbit and Bithumb launch Berachain (BERA)

Today's news tips:

1. The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation discloses 175 crypto-related bank regulatory documents

2. NYSE applies to convert Grayscale Litecoin Trust into spot LTC ETF

3. MicroStrategy Q4 financial report: net loss of US$670.8 million, purchased more than 210,000 BTC

4. MicroStrategy announces name change to Strategy to emphasize its cryptocurrency-centric business

5. Berachain announces token economics and opens airdrop query

6. Jupiter regained control of its official X account after being hacked, and customer or project funds were never threatened

7. More than $700,000 worth of ETH on Hyperliquid marked as North Korean hackers was liquidated

8. Lingkong Games: Never had any commercial cooperation with Oneness Labs and has no relationship with "SHOWA Token"

9.DYOR Lianchuang: The average entry price of Berachain VC is about $1.207

Regulatory/Macro

The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has released 175 crypto-related bank regulatory documents

According to the FDIC official website, the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) released 175 documents today regarding the supervision of banks involved in or attempting to participate in crypto-related businesses.

Acting Chairman Travis Hill said that the FDIC had previously published 25 "suspension" letters received by 24 banks, and the documents published this time include more correspondence between these banks and related communication records of other banks. The documents show that banks' requests for encryption business generally encountered resistance, including regulators' repeated requests for additional information, long-term non-response or direct instructions to suspend all encryption and blockchain activities, which led most banks to eventually give up related attempts.

Hill said that the FDIC is re-evaluating the regulatory approach to crypto-related businesses and plans to replace the 2022 regulatory guidelines (FIL 16-2022) to provide banks with a compliant path for engaging in crypto business while ensuring security and robustness. The FDIC will also participate in the presidential working group to cooperate with the January 23 presidential executive order on the regulatory discussion of the digital asset market.

New Mexico Senator Introduces Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Bill

U.S. Senator Anthony Thornto of New Mexico submitted the "Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act," proposing to invest 5% of public funds in Bitcoin.

Brazilian lawmaker proposes draft bill to allow Brazilian funds to invest in cryptocurrencies

Brazilian lawmaker Adriana Ventura has proposed a bill that would allow Brazilian investment funds to invest directly in crypto assets such as Bitcoin. The measure would "provide a regulated and safe environment." Adriana Ventura said it would allow funds to "expand the diversification of their portfolios." The main focus of the bill is to allow investors to cover losses and increase the exemption limit for net gains from stock-related transactions. But the draft bill also includes a provision that would allow "investment funds registered in Brazil" to purchase cryptocurrencies from companies registered and operating in the country. Currently, major Brazilian institutional investors cannot invest directly in cryptocurrencies. Some believe that this is out of sync with the fact that Brazil's retail cryptocurrency market is expanding rapidly. Many claim that the Brazilian cryptocurrency market is the largest in the entire Latin American region.

CFTC fines EmpiresX founder $130 million for crypto fraud

A U.S. federal court has ordered the Brazilian founder of EmpiresX, an illegal cryptocurrency investment platform, to pay more than $130 million in fines and restitution, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced.

On February 4, U.S. District Court Judge Cecilia Altonaga of the Southern District of Florida imposed a permanent injunction, financial penalties, and other legal actions against EmpiresX founders Emerson Pires, Flavio Goncalves, and their partner Joshua Nicholas. The case was originally filed on June 30, 2022, and a default judgment was ultimately entered because the defendants failed to respond to the charges by the deadline.

According to court documents, Empires Consulting operated a fraudulent investment scheme, EmpiresX, that falsely promised investors high returns. Pires and Goncalves are accused of taking at least $40 million from victims through fake cryptocurrency ads. Instead of investing the funds as promised, the founders misused them to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum while restricting withdrawals and showing false profits from non-existent investments. The EmpireX founders used the funds for personal expenses, including luxury goods and travel. Despite this, investigators recovered approximately $22.8 million in digital currency from them.

Project News

Ondo Finance Announces Launch of RWA Tokenization Platform Ondo Global Markets

RWA protocol OndoFinance announced that it will launch Ondo Global Markets (Ondo GM), a tokenization platform focused on stocks, bonds and ETFs, allowing investors to access the US securities market through blockchain.

The platform supports thousands of RWAs (real world assets), provides 1:1 backed tokenized stocks and ETFs, and can be freely transferred, traded, and borrowed 24/7, lowering the investment threshold and improving liquidity. Ondo Finance said that Ondo GM will make the securities market like stablecoins to the US dollar and will be officially launched this year.

Berachain (BERA) Launched on Binance HODLer Airdrop

According to the Binance announcement, Berachain (BERA) has become the seventh project in the HODLer Airdrops program. Users who subscribe to BNB to Simple Earn products between January 22 and January 26, 2025 will receive BERA airdrop rewards.

Binance will launch BERA at 13:00 (UTC) on February 6, 2025, and open BTC, USDT, USDC, BNB, FDUSD, and TRY trading pairs.

Key Information:

• Total airdrop amount: 10 million BERA (2% of the total Genesis supply)
• Listed circulation: 107.48 million BERA (21.5% of the total supply at Genesis)
• Network: Berachain mainnet (available for query after public launch)
• Inflation mechanism: 10% increase every year
• An additional 5 million BERAs will be available for marketing after 12 months

Solana Chain Meme Coin PAIN Announces Refund of 80% of Pre-sale Funds

According to the official announcement of PAIN, it raised 185,976 SOL in 48 hours, setting a record for the highest dollar value of meme coin pre-sale in the history of Solana chain.

PAIN, the official meme coin of "Hide the Pain Harold", is designed to express pain rather than increase investors' losses. The team announced that it will refund 80% of the pre-sale funds, leaving only 20% to start liquidity, pay listing fees, etc. The distribution plan will be calculated based on the proportion of SOL invested by users, but the robot address of 0.9 SOL and the CEX funds of 212.3 SOL will not be distributed. All funds sent after block 318346069 will also be returned.

NYSE Applies to Convert Grayscale Litecoin Trust into Spot LTC ETF

According to disclosure documents, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has filed Form 19b-4 to apply to convert the Grayscale Litecoin Trust into a spot Litecoin ETF.

The application is part of a proposed rule change and is being reviewed by the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission), and the public can submit comments on it. If approved, this will be another compliant spot crypto asset ETF after the Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, which may bring new liquidity and investment opportunities to the LTC market. The SEC has previously approved a Bitcoin spot ETF and is reviewing other crypto asset ETF applications.

Pudgy Penguins destroyed 12.16 billion unclaimed PENGUs, accounting for 13.69% of the total supply

According to the official announcement of Pudgy Penguins, after the (airdrop) collection period ended, the team had destroyed 12,164,667,616 $PENGU, accounting for 13.69% of the total supply.

MicroStrategy Q4 financial report: Net loss of $670.8 million, purchased more than 210,000 BTC

MicroStrategy (now “Strategy”) announced its fourth-quarter financial results and nearly doubled its Bitcoin holdings. Operating expenses for the quarter reached $1.103 billion, up 693% year-over-year. The company reported a net loss of $670.8 million on total revenue of $120.7 million, about $3 million below consensus expectations and down 3% from last year. As of December 31, 2024, the company had $38.1 million in cash and cash equivalents, down from $46.8 million in the same period last year.

Strategy currently holds 471,107 Bitcoins with a market value of approximately $44 billion. The fourth quarter saw the company’s largest increase in quarterly Bitcoin holdings, ultimately acquiring 218,887 BTC for $20.5 billion. The company reported a 74.3% year-to-date return on BTC.

MicroStrategy announces name change to Strategy to emphasize its crypto-centric business

According to an official announcement, MicroStrategy announced that it has changed its name to Strategy to emphasize its cryptocurrency-centric business. The announcement stated that the company will now conduct business under the name Strategy. This brand simplification is a natural evolution of the company, reflecting the company's focus and broad appeal. The new logo includes a stylized "B" that represents the company's Bitcoin strategy and its unique position as a Bitcoin financial company. The brand's main color is now orange, representing energy, wisdom and Bitcoin.

Berachain announces token economics and opens airdrop inquiry

Berachain Foundation announced that the Berachain airdrop query has been opened, and the tokens can be collected through Metamask, OKX Wallet and other EVM wallets on February 6, 2025. The total number of BERA Genesis tokens is 500 million, with 16.8% allocated to the initial core contributors, including consultants and members; 34.3% allocated to investors, distributed to seed rounds, A rounds and B rounds investors; 15.8% allocated to community airdrops, including testnet users, Berachain NFT holders, ecosystem NFT holders, social supporters, ecosystem dApps, community builders, etc.; 13.1% allocated to future community incentives; 20% allocated to the ecosystem and R&D to support ecosystem development, R&D, growth plans and the operations of the Berachain Foundation.

All parties follow the same vesting schedule:

• Initial unlock: After one year of cliff, 1/6 of the allocated tokens are unlocked
• Linear vesting: The remaining 5/6 of the tokens vest linearly over the next 24 months

Jupiter official X account suspected to be attacked, issued token CA

Jupiter's official X account was suspected to be hacked, and the token CA was released.

Jupiter: Client or project funds were never threatened and all members are safe

Jupiter tweeted that it had regained control of the X account. To be clear: customer or project funds were never compromised. All programs and funds are kept in a secure multi-signature. No other communication channels were affected. Thankfully, all members of the team are safe. Jupiter is completely secure, the issue was limited to Twitter, and the situation is now under control.

Bithumb will list Berachain (BERA)

According to the official announcement, South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb will list Berachain (BERA), and trading is expected to start at 9 pm on February 6 (UTC+8).

OKX will launch BERA (Berachain) spot trading

According to the official announcement, OKX will launch BERA (Berachain) spot trading. The trading opening time is 9:00 pm (UTC+8) on February 6.

Upbit will list BTC and USDT trading pairs for Jito (JTO) and Scroll (SCR)

According to the official announcement, Upbit will launch BTC and USDT trading pairs for Jito (JTO) and Scroll (SCR).

Upbit will launch BERA Korean Won, BTC, USDT trading pairs

According to the official announcement, Upbit will launch Berachain (BERA)’s Korean Won, BTC, and USDT trading pairs.

Viewpoint

Standard Chartered predicts Bitcoin will rise to $500,000 during Trump's term

Standard Chartered predicts that Bitcoin will rise to $500,000 during Trump's term, close to half of the market value of gold. BTC is expected to reach $200,000 in 2025, $300,000 in 2026, $400,000 in 2027, and $500,000 in 2028, with a total market value of $10.5 trillion. The main driving factors include the Bitcoin spot ETF attracting $39 billion in inflows, the improvement of the US regulatory environment, and the Trump administration's consideration of establishing a national digital asset reserve. Standard Chartered believes that as volatility decreases, the proportion of Bitcoin in investment portfolios will increase, attracting more traditional investors and driving long-term gains.

DYOR Lianchuang: Berachain VC’s average entry price is about $1.207

DYOR co-founder hitesh.eth tweeted that Berachain raised $142 million at an average valuation of $414 million by allocating about 34.3% of the supply to VCs. The average VC entry price was about $1.207. If BERA matches SUI's unrealized VC returns (about 15 times), the token should be listed at a price above $15 at launch, but this possibility is low. If the token matches Sei's unrealized VC returns (about 10 times), it should be listed at a price above $10. Therefore, the bull case for BERA will be between $10-15 and the bear case will be between $5-10.

Trump's second son Eric Trump: Now is a good time to buy BTC

Trump's second son Eric Trump tweeted that now is a good time to buy BTC, and mentioned the Trump family's crypto project WLFI.

Earlier on February 4 , Trump's second son Eric Trump posted on the X platform: "I think now is the best time to increase ETH (In my opinion, it'sa great time to add ETH.)"

Lingkong Games: Never had any commercial cooperation with Oneness Labs and has nothing to do with "SHOWA Token"

Lingkong Games’ official Weibo account released a statement: We have noticed the false information on the Internet regarding “Oneness Labs’ acquisition of the equity of the developer of Showa Umigoku Monogatari and the launch of $SHOWA cryptocurrency”, and we hereby make a statement:

1. "Showa U.S. Story" is a game product of Lingkong Games. Lingkong Games has never conducted any commercial cooperation with Oneness Labs, nor has it ever discussed equity transactions with Oneness Labs. The financing and cooperation information of Lingkong Games shall be subject to official announcements.

2. Lingkong Games and its game "Showa U.S. Story" have nothing to do with the so-called "$SHOWA token". Lingkong Games has never granted Oneness Labs any rights related to the game "Showa U.S. Story", nor has it authorized any organization or individual to issue any virtual currency or financial products. Lingkong Games firmly opposes and resists the use of game IPs for illegal financial activities. Any virtual currency sales related to Lingkong Games or "Showa U.S. Story" are fabricated false information. Lingkong Games does not assume any responsibility for this. Players and users are reminded to be vigilant and avoid unnecessary losses caused by false information.

3. Lingkong Games reserves all rights to pursue legal liability against Oneness Labs and related parties for spreading false information. Lingkong Games calls on all players, users, media and partners not to forward or spread false information.

Important data

Bitcoin spot ETF had a net inflow of $66.3761 million yesterday, and the ETF net asset ratio reached 5.95%

Ethereum spot ETF had a net inflow of $18.1052 million yesterday, continuing its net inflow for 5 consecutive days

More than $700,000 worth of ETH on Hyperliquid marked as North Korean hackers was liquidated

According to monitoring by lmk.fun (formerly Scopescan), the North Korean hacker who previously traded on Hyperliquid had $704,000 of ETH liquidated and currently holds $2,872.

Earlier news , crypto KOL Tay said on the X platform that it has monitored multiple marked North Korean hacker addresses trading on Hyperliquid recently, with a total loss of more than US$700,000.

CME: Daily trading volume of micro Bitcoin and Ethereum futures increased by more than 200% year-on-year in January

Derivatives market CME Group released market statistics for January 2025, revealing that the number of contracts on its platform reached 27.5 million, with an average daily trading volume (ADV) up 2% year-on-year. In terms of cryptocurrencies, CME's cryptocurrency contracts reached 198,000 in January (notional value of $13.6 billion), of which the average daily trading volume of micro Bitcoin futures contracts increased by 255% year-on-year to 84,000 contracts; the average daily trading volume of micro Ethereum futures contracts increased by 223% year-on-year to 69,000 contracts.

Multiple whales withdraw WIF and PEPE from Binance

According to Spot On Chain monitoring, multiple whales are withdrawing $WIF and $PEPE from Binance today.

• Whale "0xf37" withdrew 375.35 billion PEPE (3.73 million USD) 3 hours ago. This is the first increase in holdings by the whale.
• Whale "A3kTT" returned after two years of dormancy and withdrew 6.5 million WIF (5.19 million USD) 9 hours ago
• Whale "4x3M8" withdrew 9 million WIF (7.42 million USD) 11 hours ago